Fourth floor common room: Thursday evening

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal was cooking. No, the common room wasn't on fire. No, the stove hadn't exploded, or the fridge. There were no broken plates or twisted spoons. Or eggy books.

That would be because what he was cooking, or rather about to cook, were pancakes. He was hungry, he was starting to become quite bored, and - really - pancakes were perhaps the universal food. Flour and water and apply heat. Simple.

Applying heat was to be done via frypan, and the flour and water had been mixed, with only a little bit of mess, in a bowl.

:This should be entertaining.: Altra was watching from a safe distance away.

"Glory, how difficult can it be?" Karal replied as he spooned some into the pan, then frowned at the sudden sizzle. "Maybe I should turn the heat down."

[ooc: open as common rooms are wont to be.]

Comments

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara found her way into the Common Room after a long day of not doing much at all except for waterbending in the morning. "Hi - is everything alright?" she asked, eyeing the mess and the sizzling warily.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Katara!" Karal greeted her with a smile, then frowned down at the frypan and the now rather dark pancake. "I'm attempting to make dinner. I think I'm not doing well at all."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean was bored so he wandered down to see if anything was happening in the common room. "Oh hey Karal."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Dean, hello!" The frying pan let out a spitting protest as Karal tried to scrape the pancake up enough so he could turn it. "How are you?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

She looked just a little bit amused. ...or a lot. "I think the heat's too high maybe. They're burning before they can cook." She smiled happily at Altra. "Hi Altra. Are you enjoying this?"

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"I'm good." Dean eyed the frying pan warily. "I don't think that's ready to turn yet."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

:It's not quite as entertaining as I hoped, but I can't complain.: He stretched up and slid off the couch, padding over to sit next to her.

Karal rolled his eyes at Altra. "I think you're right," he decided, turning the heat down. Right down. Probably too low. "Are you well?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Cooking is not one of the skills of a Sun-priest." He frowned down at the mess in the pan and poked it with the spatula. "There were cooks and servants at the Temple, so it's not something I ever had to learn. I'm beginning to wish I had."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara reached out to offer scratches to Altra's ears.

"Very," she replied, raising her hand to cover a grin at the heat adjustment. "I love the cold. How are you?" She paused then pointed out. "You do actually have to cook them you know. This is why fires are better. No knobs to fiddle with."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Let it sit for a little and cook," Dean advised. "If you keep poking it, it's never going to set enough to turn." He smiled. "No cooks or servants when you're on the road hunting so I had to learn how to cook pretty young if we wanted to eat something other than cold cereal when Dad was away."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Altra accepted the scratches which were his due and purred with content.

"I think I would prefer a fire, to be honest. I at least know how to make tea over one of those. Even the stoves in my world are heated by fire. You can see how hot it is and not have to guess." He scowled at the stove, then shook his head. "I'm well, I think. I was enjoying the quiet, but you can have too much of it, I'm learning." He poked the not-quite-a-pancake again. "I wanted to thank you for coming to the Fire Kindling ceremony."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal brightened. "Would you show me?" he asked, setting aside the spatula obediently. "It's almost embarrassing not even knowing how to make pancakes."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Dean said, coming over and looking closer at the pan. "Ah, it's probably better to start from scratch," he said, taking the pan off the heat and dumping Karal's attempt in the garbage.

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"It was beautiful," she said softly, trying not to feel weird about saying that about a ceremony that was supposed to be honouring fire. "Are all your ceremonies at home like that?" Katara tilted her head thoughtfully. "It IS too quiet. That's the problem. I was trying to figure out why everything felt weird."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, and yes, that mess is best far away and forgotten." He was watching Dean intently, determined to learn. "Did you care for Sam while your father was away?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Hopefully, people will start returning soon," he said with a quick smile. "They almost all involve fire in some way, Vkandis Sunlord is a god of the sun and of the flame, but that's the only one in which it is the focus."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean nodded, checking the heat and then dropping several smaller spoonfuls of batter into the pan. "Take care of Sammy has always been rule number one."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

Meg checked out each common room floor until she found one that had people on it. She scrunched up her nose at the smell coming from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" she asked.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I'm failing to make dinner," Karal replied, then looked up and smiled. "Hello, Meg. How are you?"

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"Does he not like water?" Katara asked, the question making perfect sense to her. "Maybe Molly'll come back for the new semester too."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal was adding several things to his mental list of how to make pancakes. Not incinerating them was number one. "You and Sam make me miss my brother, a little. Our mother used to make me care for him when I wasn't helping in the stables."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"He still back home?" Dean asked.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal stopped, puzzled, considering what he thought was a very odd question. "I don't think He has anything against water, water is necessary for life," he said slowly, then nodded. "I hope she does. Even though we're no longer together, I do miss her."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"All my family is. I was taken when I was nine," he explained, watching the batter in the pan. "I never thought I'd see them again, but when Solaris ascended, she allowed us to have contact with our families. I was able to visit them," he had to stop and think, "it would be just over three years ago, now. Trenor was doing very well."

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

The puzzlement was obvious enough that Katara stopped to explain. "In my world, they're opposites. Fire and water don't get along at all. So...I didn't know if your God would be offended that I went to his ceremony since I'm from the water tribes." She paused. "You haven't heard anything from her either then? Since the email when she left?"