throw it into the pit

[dragonmouth]

Who: Talimo and YOU
What: Food shenanigans, mostly
When: The week following the intro log
Where: Around the station, mostly the kitchen and the common areas/greenhouse
Warnings: Stench

[Throughout the week, Tali can be found in the kitchen, where she's generally just sucking a whole lot at cooking. You suck at cooking, Tali. Yeah, you totally suck.

Maybe it's the time she tried to make soup with peanut butter chips. Or the time she sauteed a bunch of carrots in that disgusting alfredo sauce. Or the time she buttered her pan with that WEED BUTTER and then spent the rest of the afternoon eating an entire loaf of bread. Or the time she did not, in fact, measure the correct amount of rice. Or any number of other culinary mishaps. Really, if there's a way to fuck up in some kind of hilarious fashion, she's probably done it.

On Thursday, she makes her way over to the greenhouse, where she spies something sealed behind a bunch of caution signs and protective magical barriers. Okay, "spies" is a bit of a misnomer, more like... smells.

That afternoon the whole station gets a load of a tiny, tiny girl carrying a giant-ass durian into the kitchen before cutting it open with a large and wiggly sword, then carrying a section to the common room and just... kinda snacking on it. Her cat has followed her here, and he looks properly ashamed.

Jesus fuck.]

Comments

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai walks into the kitchen and stops cold. Her face slightly wrinkles and she stares.]

...Durian.

[dragonmouth]

Oh.

[She turns to face Mai, then breaks off some fruit.]

I don't suppose you want some?

[nojohnyouare]

...[shakes head]

Why in here?

[dragonmouth]

Where would you prefer I eat it?

[ Pretty much any place is enclosed... ]

[nojohnyouare]

[shrug] Outdoors? Not sure. But... People live here.

[dragonmouth]

...oh. Right.

Sorry, I got a little too excited.

[nojohnyouare]

Hungry?

[Mai starts to rummage through the pantry herself, trying to concentrate on not smelling durian and failing.]

[dragonmouth]

I suppose you could say that. I've had many a battle with the demon you know as the "rice cooker", but it wasn't me who emerged victorious.

[ AKA "I know jack shit about modern appliances so I'm eating nothing but fruit, help me." ]

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai is almost sort of laughing. Even Ardyn, clueless as he was those first weeks, knew how to turn on the rice cooker. Even so, she keeps her face steady as she always has.]

I made pea soup. ...A lot of pea soup. So you can have some of that.

[dragonmouth]

...thank you.

Although.

There's no milk in this, is there?

[nojohnyouare]

No. Picky? Or allergy.

[dragonmouth]

The last time I overestimated myself, I couldn't move for hours.

[ ...she's lactose intolerant. ]

[nojohnyouare]

Oh. [nod] At home, allergies aren't taken seriously. But I've been places where they were. People just accommodate instead.

[dragonmouth]

...that sounds dreadful.

[nojohnyouare]

Probably. Accommodating... "Troublesome." But I don't know now. Different places think differently.

[dragonmouth]

I can see why it might be for petty things, but... I think if your health depends on it, it's worth the trouble.

[ SHE'S JUST SAYIN'. Allergies seem kinda important. ]

Although... I hadn't discovered that it would have been a problem until I came here. No one really puts milk in much of anything where I'm from.

[nojohnyouare]

Cultural differences. Like how Americans put corn in everything. And everything in Flavourtown is fried.

[dragonmouth]

...I'd have liked to visit this Flavortown, if I could ever reach it.

[nojohnyouare]

It's having trouble. But people are fighting for it.

[dragonmouth]

That's... reassuring.

But only a little.

[nojohnyouare]

You're worried. Because we're here?

[dragonmouth]

I suppose you could say that.

I'm just saddened by the fact that it's even needed in the first place.

[nojohnyouare]

Like the murder sign. Though that's probably not needed. Still... Just in case.

[dragonmouth]

O-oh.

I thought that murders were a regular occurrence here, to be frank.

[nojohnyouare]

It's reassuring. Saying that they aren't.

[dragonmouth]

...I'd thought that for most people, that would be a given.

Although I have to say, to hear otherwise wouldn't surprise me.

[nojohnyouare]

...

[Mai doesn't say anything for a while, just shakes her head.]

Things are like that.

[dragonmouth]

...I suppose it would be awfully impudent of me to ask for specifics.

[nojohnyouare]

I'm used to it being public knowledge. ...A lot of us came from difficult situations.

[dragonmouth]

I suppose, but... just because you're in the public eye doesn't mean you'd enjoy it. Quite the opposite.

[nojohnyouare]

Mm. ...Sorry. You were eating.

BLAZE... IT...?

[photoshooter]

What is that smell?

[Wait. Wwwaaaaiiit. Prompto is twenty. He knows what this is. Is she cooking with that?]

Is that--are you seriously--? Uhh, warn people, maybe? We don't have windows, girl!

[dragonmouth]

[The eggs, miraculously, are perfectly fried and wobbly, but the butter... ]

...come again?

[Guess who didn't know you could butter your weed.]

[photoshooter]

You can't... [He lowers his voice.] You can't make edibles where everyone can breathe it, there are kids here!

[THINK OF THE CHILDREN.]

[dragonmouth]

...oh.

So...that's what it is.

[ She looks down at her eggs.

Yeah she thought that smelled familiar. ]

[photoshooter]

You. Didn't realize?

[Girl...]

[dragonmouth]

Come to think of it, that's likely why it smelled familiar...

[ SHE'S SO EMBARRASSED. ]

[photoshooter]

...Ohhhh, man, was it the weed butter? Not actual weed? Yikes... I guess that's why it's important to read labels, though.

[He comes over to look at her handiwork. Oh, boy.]

At least the eggs look good?

[dragonmouth]

I suppose I... shouldn't let them go to waste.

[ She stares at the eggs with an unsure expression. ]

[photoshooter]

...Are you... old enough for this stuff?

[He is concerned.]

[dragonmouth]

Oh, come on now! I'm almost seventeen. I'm an adult.

[Said in utmost seriousness. Tali, I don't think you're an adult. ]

[photoshooter]

The age of majority where I come from is twenty.

[Probably. Don't ask me.]

[dragonmouth]

...that's preposterous.

[rhododendronhoney]

[Cori walks into the kitchen, then stares at the boiling peanut butter chips.]

A-ah, if you want to make peanut butter soup, that's the wrong ingredient for it-!

[dragonmouth]

...so that's what this is.

[Guess who didn't even know it was peanut butter.]

[rhododendronhoney]

Did you at least taste it before trying to make soup with it? [Please tell her you at least knew what it tasted like before making that decision.]

[dragonmouth]

...

[ Her silence speaks volumes. ]