fandomhighdorms | Second Floor Common Room, Friday Evening [9/25]

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Second Floor Common Room, Friday Evening [9/25]

Illyana didn't have anyone here for her and that was fine. Really. She got to go home one weekend a month to see Strange and Wong and have magic lessons, and yes, she wanted to be home more, but it was fine. Whatever.

That totally wasn't why she was trying to make pelmeni on the stove. There wasn't any Feelings that she was trying to ignore. She was just hungry, and had already spent her allowance for the month, and was reduced to using the shit in the back of the freezer to make herself a snack.

//Gods-damned fucking--// Illyana balled-up her dough and started rolling it out again. //Even-out you stupid pile of flour.//

Okay, it wasn't going as easy as she'd hoped. But in her defense, the last time she'd helped her mother make them, she'd been six. It wasn't exactly a skill she'd used while under Belasco's tutelage.

At least she'd gotten the meats and onion all chopped up and mixed easily? But knives were way easier to use than rolling pins...

[OOC: Open post, and open food! Though she'll hit you with the rolling pin if you try to eat them before they're done.]

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Lana also had nobody here for her this weekend, and was trying to avoid being paranoid about that.

She heard what she assumed was cursing in another language and poked her head into the common room.

"Illyana." She nodded. "Is everything all right?"

"The dough is not--" she muttered something in a demonic language under her breath as she hit it with her rolling pin with frustration. "Smooth. I cannot make it be smooth. It needs to be even for cooking."

"Oh." Lana watched her for a moment. "I have no idea if there's anything I can do to help," she admitted. "I don't think shooting lightning at it would be a good idea. I could try flattening it with the Force, I suppose. Or maybe if you channel enough of your anger into that implement it'll help? I've never really done much cooking."

Come to think of it, she'd never met a Sith with enough patience to be much of a baker

Nell was wandering around feeling a bit lost and noticed someone struggling with dough in the common room.

"Could I..." she started hesitantly, "I mean, I'm pretty good with dough and such and I'd be happy to help you'un."

"Lightning might make me feel better," Yana growled, seriously considering it for a moment. "...but I am trying to create, not destroy."

Which, to be fair, was probably why she was so bad at it.

A solution that wasn't giving up and calling Wong for help, or giving in to violence! Illyana looked relieved.

"Yes, please. The dough has to be smooth and thin," she said. "It's for pelmeni...dumplings."

"I can always shoot lightning," Lana said with a shrug. "Nothing in here I really want to destroy, though. Can I help?" she offered. "What are you making?"

Lana smiled and nodded at her roommate. "Good evening, Nell. You bake, too?"

"Pelmeni. It's a sort of dumpling, with meat in it," she replied, pointing at various bowls of ingredients. "It's the only thing I could think to make with what was in the cupboards and freezer."

"We didn't have any venison or mutton, but I did find pork and ground beef, so, good enough."

Nell nodded with a smile. "Well, I don't know pelmeni from nothin', but I can make dumplings."

She quickly washed and dried her hands before coming over to look at the dough. "Oh, that's not so bad,"she said, "Lemme just add a little more flour and..."

Dumplings were something she'd made so many times at home that her hands just knew what to do. "Like this, see? Here, you try."

"Yep. I can cook 'most anything," she said, not bragging, just speaking as someone who'd been cooking practically before she could stand. "Somethin' you'd like me to make for you? It'd give me somethin' to do."

"Do they taste very different?" Lana asked. "I've never had venison or mutton, I don't think. Although as with any cafeteria, the meat the one here serves is best not questioned."

Lana blinked. "I honestly have no idea. But anything you cook, I'd be game to try. I like new things, and I'm not terribly fussy. I've no real idea how to cook myself, apart from following simple instructions."

"We usually fill them with meat, or mushrooms and other vegetables, depending on what you can get," she said, watching Nell's hands intently. "And then you boil them, and eat them either with a broth, or with butter and sour cream."

She scrunched up her nose in concentration, trying to mimic Nell's actions with a smaller bit of dough. "How do you get it so thin? I kept tearing it."

"It depends on how much you have of each meat. I like venison better, it's got finer texture, though it can be salty if someone prepares it badly," she said, flickers of old memories surfacing in response to Lana's question. "If I were not so concerned that the teal deer have too much magic in them, I might try killing one and trying the meat."

"It can't be worse than the cafeteria."

"We'll have to experiment one day," Nell said with a smile. "I kinda miss cooking."

"I can't say I've ever had 'em with butter and sour cream, but I can see where that might be tasty." She smiled over at her.

"I've been doing this sorta thing since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Secret is practice. But mostly you gotta be patient and gentle. The dough doesn't like you being too rough, see?" She demonstrated and added a dash of flour to help Ilyana."

"Are we sure they have magic in them?" Lana asked. "So long as they're not sentient, I have no problem trying the meat."

She smiled wryly. "This place has probably the worst cafeteria I've seen, and that's saying something, given the Sith academy was prone toward poisonings."

Lana smiled back. "I'd like that. Are there foods you miss from back home?"

"Pretty sure science doesn't make deer into a teal color," Illyana laughed. "And this place is so full of magic, I don't want to risk it."

"Now I have to ask...accidental or deliberate poisonings?"

"Strange is always telling me 'patience is a virtue,' but it's not one I'm acquainted with," Illyana said dryly, but she was intently trying to replicate Nell's work. Just a little...more forcefully than she probably should.

At least it was, slowly, improving?

"Might sound crazy, but I kinda miss stew," Nell said. "And things with more herbs and such for flavoring. And fresh baked bread."

Oh, she could almost smell it. "I mean, there's places you can get it here or go by when it's baking and smell it, but makin' it your own self is just - well, I never thought I'd miss it as much as I do. I prob'ly should outa make it here one day."

Nell had helped lots of siblings and halves and other relations learn and she knew it took time and patience to develop the right touch.

"You'un is definitely startin' to get the hang of it," she encouraged. "A little bit gentler, but look how much better that one is!"

"Oh, deliberate," Lana assured her. "Or at least, if any were accidental, nobody owned up to them." She shrugged. "A Sith must always be on their guard. Anyone incapable of detecting poison in time to purge it or at least get to a medkit wouldn't last long in the world."

Lana chuckled. "I wouldn't know where to even start making bread. I know it's got flour and water, but that's about it. I'll do all the smelling you like, though."

That got a laugh!

"Sounds like we'uns got a plan then. And I'll have you'un punchin' down bread dough before you know it!"

"Poisonings might make the cafeteria more bearable," she mused. "Or at least more entertaining."

"You punch it?" Lana laughed. "All right, that I can probably do. And I'll buy the materials if you like; it's only fair if you're doing most of the work."

Lana snickered. "I doubt this school would approve, but there are any number of nonlethal things to do with it."

She was definitely thinking about it now. She probably wouldn't, but still.

Illyana squinted at it critically. "Good enough to eat," she decided, "it should cook evenly!"

She grabbed a shot glass out of the back of the cupboard to start cutting out little two inch circles. "Now we make them like those tortellinis," she said. "Put the meat in the middle, fold it over, pinch, and then pull the corners to each other."

"Here." Illyana passed her a pile of the flat dough-circles Nell had helped her make. "Put a spoonful of meat in the center of each of those for me."

"I mean, I could always make a potion so that everyone blew blue smoke for the rest of the day or something. The trick is getting them to drink it."

Yana. No.

"You do!" Nell assured her. "At least in a bread-punching sort of way. Not a person punching sort of way. And gosh, you don't need to do that. Not like you need much. Some flour and sugar, yeast, a little salt, some melted butter - and a bunch more for putting on the bread after..."

She could maybe add in some of her fresh herbs to a loaf or two and maybe... her mouth was starting to water.

"Gosh, I shoulda been making bread all along here."

Lana found a spoon and started in on the pile.

"That could definitely be fun. How much would someone need to ingest? You could always sprinkle it over a dish, or spike a bowl with it."

Lana. No.

Nell nodded. That was pretty similar to the way they made them back home, but she was happy to follow Ilyana's lead. They were her thing after all.

"These are gonna taste great."

"I certainly won't complain if you start," Lana said. "You've got me craving it now!"

"If it wasn't so late, I'd start now," Nell said. "But maybe later this weekend. Or definitely next week some time!"

"Whenever you like," Lana said. "If you make it next week, I'll get some butter from home, and you can see if you like it. It's blue," she explained.

"Next weekend," Nell agreed. "That sounds like a plan. And I can't wait to try the blue butter. Though we'uns had better get some regular butter for the bread, just to make sure it bakes right. We can experiment with the blue, too."

Lana nodded in agreement, mostly because Nell sounded like she knew what she was talking about. "I don't think they're too different, but best to be safe. Do you want to try stew, too, to go with the bread? Not to make more work for you!" she hurried to add. "We could buy some if it's a lot of work."

"A soul smoke potion has to be drunk... but there's other options," Illyana said absently, her mind already racing through her potions knowledge as her fingers mechanically rolled the dumplings.

"...Seaweed. I can substitute seaweed for the djin's tears, dry it, and it could be mixed in with things to make bubbles come out of people's mouths whenever they talk."

"I have enough to freeze a bunch for later, too," Illyana said, looking at her supplies. "I went a little overboard."

It had been a very long time since she'd cooked anything, and had overestimated how much of everything it would take.

"So if you get hungry later sometime, grab them out of the freezer and help yourself."

"Hm." Lana thought about it as she filled a few more dumplings. "What are djin's tears? Actual tears from someone, or is it a plant or something? I wonder if my galaxy would have something equivalent."

Because experimenting with magic potions couldn't possibly go wrong.

"Actual tears from a magical creature not native to this plane of existence," Illyana clarified, because no. There was no way this could possibly go wrong.

"So seaweed -- which is a plant -- will be easier to obtain, and less-likely to cause unforeseen chaos."

"Probably a good idea," Lana conceded. "Foreseen chaos can be good, but it is best to know what you're doing ahead of time. What other sorts of things can you make?" she asked.

"Oh yes!!" Nell said. "We can set the dough for the first rise and then get our stew in and simmering for a good long time as we make the bread!"

She couldn't help but giggle a little. "Back home I used to make that much and more most every day. It's not a problem."

"Nothing wrong with makin' extra to have on a day you're cravin' them," Nell assured her. "And I do thank you for the offer to share. Might just take you up on that."

"And Lana and I are gonna be baking bread and makin' stew next weekend iffn you want to join us for that."

"If you like to do it, I won't say no," Lana said. "I just don't want you to feel like you have to."

She was already resolving to get a package of meat and herbs and things from home as a present if Nell wanted to experiment.

"Oh no, I think it will be fun!" Nell said cheerfully. "I'm already looking forward to it."

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Second Floor Common Room, Friday Evening [9/25]

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