♩ gentle and warm as the light

[shiritai]

Who: Violet and you!
What: Violet decides to step up and take a shot at cooking. She has... decidedly mixed results.
When: March 26th, early afternoon and night
Where: The kitchen (afternoon) and the viewing deck (night)
Warnings: Terrible violence comitted upon the concept of a scrambled egg.

[ So if you go down to the woods the kitchen today, you might be in for a bit of a surprise. You'll find one (1) Violet Evergarden hard at work at one of the counters with a recipe book cracked open and... just some eggs? Well, if she's starting simple, eggs are a good place to jump off from. How wrong can you go with eggs?

Very wrong, it turns out.

Maybe you'll find her utterly failing at cracking eggs into the bowl. It's a bit of a crapshoot whether she ends up with egg all over the counter or actually gets it into the bowl, but either way it ends with her having a mixture composed of roughly 60% egg and 40% shell. Or maybe you'll find her pouring that mixture into a bowl and... doesn't that look like way, way too much egg for one girl?

Or maybe you'll just see Violet examining the sorry results of her work once she's done. It looks sort of like a badly mutilated omlette but it's so huge she's had to spread it across two plates. One side is burned to a crisp, one looks slightly soggy and undercooked and the whole thing just looks like a slightly greyish yellow hunk of rubber. Violet stares down at it pensively for a long moment before carefully picking up both plates and making her way straight to the trashcan. Atta girl, Violet.

That night, if you happen to be the sort of weirdo who lurks around on the viewing deck after dark, you'll find you've got company. Violet's there, settled on one of the seats with the duvet from her bed wrapped around her nice and snug, to stave off the worst of the sea breeze. She's got her eyes up to the roof, where the night sky would be, if it wasn't for the absolutely torrential rain pouring down and obscuring much of anything. She looks a little bit disappointed (or as disappointed as Violet ever looks, anyway) but she's sat there gazing up diligently at the roof anyway. Very odd. ]

Comments

deck ofc

[founderinglight]

Ah - good evening, Violet.

[Hey look it's this guy, with his own blanket around his shoulders - a thick wool one with black and blue stripes in a zigzag pattern.]

Not much to see tonight, it appears.

[shiritai]

[ Ah yes, it's Grandpa Sleepsalot.

She dips her head in acknowledgement, just once, before turning her gaze back up to the sky, drowned out by the pouring rain. ]

I was hoping to see the stars.

[ She sounds a little disappointed... ]

[founderinglight]

[Hey, he isn't sleeping for once? In spite of what the blanket might make you think.

He looks up at the sky in turn.]

I don't think you'll have any luck with that tonight.

[shiritai]

Perhaps not. I thought that if I waited until the clouds cleared, I would have a better chance, but the sun will likely be rising by then.

[ Oh, well. Disappointed as she is, even Violet has to admin there's something soothing about sitting here with the waves beating against the cliff and the rain hammering down on the clear roof. ]

Were you also here to see the stars?

[founderinglight]

If not longer - we've had a few storms that lasted some days, and I imagine only more as spring sets in.

[There's no chair particularly near her, so he summons his own in a burst of blue light. Without ceremony, he sits.]

I spend quite a bit of time out here, actually. I like to watch the sunrise and sunset whenever I can, even when it's clouded like this.

[shiritai]

Do you see much of the sun, even through all this rain?

[ It's so gloomy out now that she can't really imagine the sunrise doing much more than making everything seem a bit brighter. Which is nice in its own way, but not particularly pretty. ]

kitchen, post-egg disaster

[riderofcharlemagne]

[Astolfo manages to catch a glimpse of the "omelette" shortly before disappearing into the abyss of the garbage, and it's not a pretty sight. It's probably for the best that it's thrown away, no one could safely or happily eat that, but there's something about the act that is profoundly upsetting.]

Giving the cooking a try, I see?

[His tone is more playful than judgmental, he did suggest she try this, after all.]

[shiritai]

Yes.

[ She's busily cramming the Hell Omelette into the trash, where no mortal's eyes shall ever be cursed by it again. This is made slightly more difficult by the fact that the Homelette (Hell Omelette) is slightly too big to comfortably fit in there. ]

My first attempt has not proved successful.

[riderofcharlemagne]

[God, this is a depressing sight.

But, he can't let it get her down too.]

Well, that's what first attempts are for anyway, right? You make a mess of it, and then you make less of a mess of it the next time.

[shiritai]

Yes. I believe the phrase "practice makes perfect" applies here.

[ At least now it's breaking apart, even if Violet is having to savage it with the fork to make it happen. So brutal... ]

Though first I will need to identify precisely what mistake I made, so I do not repeat it a second time.

[riderofcharlemagne]

[He wants to help her tear it apart to be rid of it. His hands itch to just take the plate out of hers and free her of this burden.]

That's the spirit! [Except the "reflecting on your mistakes" part, he can't understand that.] It's best not to let yourself get discouraged with these kinds of things.

Eggs

[rhododendronhoney]

[Cori walks into the kitchen and immediately feels the urge to Leave. But she can't just let this disaster go on unprompted.]

Um...need a few tips? About...how to keep shell from getting in?

[shiritai]

[ Violet looks down at her bowl, which is approaching a 70-30 split of shell and egg and then back to Cori, with a nod. ]

Is there an easier way of doing it?

[rhododendronhoney]

[Cori picks up an egg and taps it lightly against the counter.] Flat surfaces are actually best for cracking the shell without getting bits of it into the egg. [She then hits it harder, holding it up to show the crack.] These are good eggs-they hold their shape well. You can then pull the halves apart on their own or use your fingers to widen the crack-if you have trouble with shell the former might be easier. [She grabs another bowl and demonstrates.]

[shiritai]

[ Oh, it's someone who knows what they're doing. Violet's face shifts just a touch from sincere interest to an almost comical amount of seriousness as she takes all this in. ]

Won't the insides of the egg spill out, if the shell is cracked open on the counter?

[rhododendronhoney]

Well...it's true that can happen if you crack it too hard. But eggshells actually hold together better than you'd think. [She peels back a bit of the shell to reveal the softer inner membrane.] The inner part is softer and won't break as easily, so as long as you don't apply too much pressure it should hold together even when the outer shell cracks.

kitchen nightmares with sleepytime junction

[nightcure]

[ ... Wow, okay. Noctis walks in, and immediately, he's greeted with a feeling of slowly dawning horror. Sure, no one can be as good as Ignis Scientia, but like... this is just sad. And terrible.

At least Noct can manage some tact. ]

Do you, uh... [ He watches as she manages, somehow, to not get egg inside the bowl. ] Do you need help?

[shiritai]

[ With almost pitch-perfect timing, Violet looks up just as she's about to crack one more egg into the bowl. It splits perfectly in two, for the first time, without any shell spilling into the bowl.

Unfortunately, nothing else gets into the bowl either, because she's struck the counter just a bit too hard and the shell falls apart before she can get the egg to the bowl and it just sort of... oozes all over the side.

There's a pause and then Violet just nods. ]

... yes. I would appreciate some assistance.

[nightcure]

I know a couple of things, and I'm definitely not a master chef, but...

Let's... get this stuff cleaned up first.

[shiritai]

Please do not feel any need to concern yourself with cleaning up. This is my own mess and therefore, I should be the one to clean it.

[ and true to her word, that's just what she sets about doing. at the very least, she seems to be just as good at cleaning up messes as she apparently is at making them. ]

viewing deck

[dubiouslychthonic]

Waiting for something?

[Jetshard's paused in the doorway, making an effort not to sneak up on Violet; with human night vision being what it apparently is, she doesn't like to assume that most residents of the station will see her coming in the dark when they're focused on something else.]

[shiritai]

[ Violet turns her attention from the rain-soaked roof to this new arrival in a snap -- her eyes are a little narrowed, but just for a moment and then she relaxes a touch and nods. ]

Yes. [ it comes out a bit muffled, since she's still blanket burrito'd in. ] I'm waiting for the rain and the clouds to pass, so that I might be able to see the stars.

[dubiouslychthonic]

Might be a while. I haven't seen it rain this hard since I arrived.

[She comes out onto the deck and finds a chair - not directly next to Violet's, but close enough to be companionable - and sits, perched at the edge of the seat. Not exactly wary, but still, not exactly settling in, either.]

I don't think we've been introduced? I'm Jetshard.

[shiritai]

I see. That's a shame.

[ And she does look disappointed. Maybe with the severe line of her mouth covered up by the blanket bundle, it's a little easier to read her eyes and therefore her face than usual.

She'd usually give a curtsey here, however abbreviated, but bundled up as she is, she's out of luck. So instead, Violet gives a polite nod. ]

Yes, I believe this is the first time we've met. My name is Violet Evergarden -- have you been here at the station for long?

[dubiouslychthonic]

About six weeks now - I was in the first group to arrive.

[The girl's name is familiar, but it takes her a moment to place it. Once she does, her expression brightens a little in recognition.]

But ah, you were the one who posted on the network offering... some kind of clerical services, right? I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't remember your exact title. [This admission is distinctly sheepish - Jetshard doesn't often stand on formality, but still, the designations people choose to publicly claim can be important. She knows there'd been some specific job title that Violet had cited, but it had been confusing and hadn't fit the pattern of troll titles and she can't recall it now.]