Private No Food But What We Make (Takui)

[Casaana]

Casaana's hand hurt, not really bad through, more of a smart where the lady cook's spoon had whapped it. Which was totally unfair, she hadn't been trying to steal rolls! Just take a few, she hadn't even attempted to hide. And stealing was wrong, so as a Jedi she wouldn't have. She nodded to herself as she walked down the temple hall. Those rolls were supposed to be eaten by Jedi anyways, so what did it matter if she had one a little early? If she were a pirate she could have just taken the food...

She kicked at a tile which didn't budge as she walked past. Where was she going to find something to eat before dinner? The cook had scolded her and told her to go to get out of his kitchens and go to class, but she didn't have any today! It was self-study and, wait. Class... The cooking class had food! Reinvigorated with purpose anew, Casaana took off full-tilt through the halls. The classes were on the second floor weren't they? She'd never taken one but had sat in a few times as official tester. Just a recognition of her natural talent.

Anyways, food, second floor she was somewhere else though, not the second floor she was sure. Stairs first then! Where were they? Turning a corner she ran smack into another padawan, nearly falling over before recovering. "Ow! Oh hey! Do you know the way to the cooking class?"
Takui

 

[Takui]

The impact took him by surprise.

She wasn't large by human standards, but she was quick. When she turned the corner, he never saw her coming. He was already headed down the corridor and intent on his destination. It was almost the perfect time for a nap. If he just made it before noon, he could sleep until dinner time and feel completely relaxed the entire time.

It was the perfect crime. No one had bothered to catch him as he slipped away from the lecture, or if they had seen him, they had decided he wasn't worth chasing. This was the home stretch.

Then came the little girl. "Oof!" he expelled air loudly as his body folded and collapsed to the floor. She had managed to recover. Taku wasn't so lucky. She seemed to have a better constitution than he did- that wasn't surprising. If he had ever done a full day's work in his life, he couldn't remember it.

"I- hey, uh, what?" he tilted his head, clearly dazed. She was asking about a cooking class? The seminar he was in was as remedial as it got, the basics of the very basics about the Galaxy, various superpowers and the Concord's relationships with them. They hadn't even bothered to teach him real Jedi things yet. Maybe he hadn't proven himself worth the effort.

Maybe there was some kind of method he wasn't taking into account.

"Uh, sure, yeah its right over there," he pointed toward the culinary wing just off the main corridor. It was strategically placed near the mess and the dormitories so that the denizens of the Silver Rest could rest and eat without having to travel far between.

Now that he was thinking about food, he felt a tinge of hunger himself.

"Are you taking a class?" he asked her. Taku wasn't, but maybe if this girl was, he might be able to get a foot in the door.

Casaana

 

[Casaana]

Brow furrowed, Casaana frowned in the indicated direction trying to remember if there were kitchens up here. Hadn't they been on the second floor? Was she on the second floor already? She decided not to worry about it, if they were here then the Force had crought her exactly where she needed to be. At least that's what the Master of the Younglings would have said back on Chalacta.

With a little bounce she held out a hand to help Takui up. "Nope! But I can figure it out." She reassured him. "I'm Casaana, want to tag along? You can help reach the high up stuff."
Takui

 

[Takui]

He looked up at her, mystified. Such a carefree attitude struck him as characteristic of things he had experienced so far. There were all kinds of people attempting to become Jedi Knights. This girl was markedly younger than he was, but she seemed much more aware of herself, and her responsiveness seemed much greater than his own.

She managed to keep her footing when he hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. That was the very first thing he noticed. Sturdy despite her small stature. Or was he just frail next to a little girl?

How embarassing.

"Well, I guess I am hungry," he admitted as his stomach growled its approval to the world. Taku sighed. If there was a chance to regain his dignity, it had already passed. He looked at her hand, his face bright red. An unhealthy mix of embarrassment and anger at himself had painted his expression, but he managed to take her hand in spite of that.

When he got to his feet, he brushed himself off. For someone his size, Taku was not particularly muscular. For that matter, he might seem heavy to a young girl, but he was well beneath the average weight for a man of twenty.

He didn't have the presence of a leader, nor was he about to take the lead here. "What are we going to make?" Taku asked.

 

[Casaana]

"We'll see." She answered blithely unaware of what might be there to be made. "There's always lots a good stuff though!" She reassured her new friend as she turned to lead the way in the direction they'd pointed. When she had helped him up, she had been forced to lean back and pull with both hands, or at least until he managed to get his feet under him. He probably could have gotten up just fine.

Checking the cross corridor to find it clear, the padawan rogue continued on. "So what's your name?" It wasn't the first door she checked, or the second. You would think they would label the cooking class. She looked around until she saw just that on a door opposite the hall. "C- Culin- There it is!"

Bouncing over she opened the door and was gratified to see that the room was empty.
Takui

 

[Takui]

For a proper plan, her answer seemed half-cocked. It occurred to Taku that he may have just been roped into the antics of a child. He hardly had time to form a response before she declared that there were plenty of options, and the fight left him. What use was there in arguing when the path of least resistance ultimately was ultimately harmless?

"Good stuff, huh?" he asked under his breath. They could just as easily headed for the caf and found food already prepared. Then they wouldn't have to go to the trouble of making it themselves, and they could just eat.

It seemed like a waste of energy to... ah, well. They were already here. "Oh, right!" he seemed flustered, and had forgotten all about introductions. That should have been the first thing that came to mind. "I'm Takui. You can just call me Taku, though."

In the temple, family names didn't usually really matter he'd found. He knew there were a few exceptions, like Master Arenais from the defunct House Arenais of Commenor, but when it came to lowly middle class merchant families...

Well, at any rate, no one seemed to know him by his last name. Casaana hadn't given hers either, so he imagined she was in the same situation. They were just Jedi. Trainees at that.

"Culinary" he confirmed. "Yeah, that sounds like what we're looking for." It actually sounded much more sophisticated than what they wanted, but he had already made it this far without a frivolous argument. If the worst he had to do was man a mixer, he wouldn't balk.

 

[Casaana]

First thing Casaana did was run straight to the chiller and pull the heavy double doors open to stare at the contents within. Cool air spilled out as her eyes flitted over the neatly packaged items within softly chanting "Taku Taku Takui Taku," to herself in a sing song voice. Her effort to memorize the name.

She couldn't see the top shelf too well, but there was plenty within reach for the young padawan. Like the bagged rice left to chill and the sliced bits of ham. Opening one of the bins, a sprig of onion and a colorful pepper were added to the stack she was piling up. She went to close the doors back when her eyes suddenly fell on the last thing she knew she wanted and she pulled the carton of eggs free. "Pan please!" she cried out while pointing out the one she wanted. Big and with curving sides. Then she went for a bowl to crack eggs in which she did, giggling as they came apart in her hands. Still she managed to get them mostly in the bowl and she started picking out the shells with a fork she'd found humming all the while in the same sing song tune.

"An can you find some oil? It's yellow. Then chop up the veggies, chop chop chop!" Chopping and handling knives was defiantly not something she was allowed to do.
Takui

 

[Takui]

When the little girl started singing his name, he chuckled quietly. It was rare for him to have anyone take the time to care what his name was these days. "Boy" was usually sufficient, or "you." His family knew it, and they had used it, but they were no longer around. He had almost grown accustomed to never hearing it.

So, it felt nice to be... someone.

He watched her move quickly and deftly, grabbing what items she wanted for whatever it was she intended to make. It was almost like she had experience in this, something Taku only knew the barest minimum about. He chopped and peeled vegetables, but he was never the one to operate the heat. His mother and sisters had always been the predominant homemakers.

Casaana called for a pan, and his hand found it quickly. He passed it along to her with a single movement, and noticed that she was only having a small amount of trouble keeping things organized. "There might be a stepstool, somewhere," he noted just before she spoke up again.

Oil. Oh, no. Where did they keep the cooking supplies? Was it a cabinet above the countertop? Or below? Taku was flinging open doors and frantically searching as she asked him to chop vegetables. "Uh, hold on, I can't-"

Crap!

The loud shifting of metal came just before a landslide of pots and pans spilled across the door at his feet. Taku frantically dropped to his knees to collect them and place them neatly back into place, but it occurred to him that someone had shoved them away in a hurry and left the mess for the next unfortunate person.

"I need to clean this up," he huffed. He started to neatly stack the pans, pulling out the remainder and ordering them so that they would not fall a second time. "I'm not sure where they keep the oil. Do you know?" he asked. It would be much easier if he had some direction.

Taku managed to get another stack of dishes put away before he glanced back to her. While he hated working hard, he understood the necessity of a clean workspace. Clutter was an occupational hazard, and anything near a burner could ignite or melt.

Casaana

 

[Casaana]

"Nope!" Casaana cheerfully replied half way through clambering up onto the couther, she had her pan and the eggs, now to get to the stove-top. Placing the pan on a burner she turned it on before turning around for the bowl of eggs and the fork which she tossed across the walk way into the sink when she saw there was a jar with various cooking implements sticking out of it. She went for the spatula and dumped the eggs into the warming wok, unknowingly further crushing the discarded shells under her shoes.

The mess Taku had made and the one she was making didn't bother her one bit and she knelt on the counter to swirl the eggs around with the spatula to scramble them as they cooked. "Try looking in the cabinets" She suggested. "Oh! And I need a plate and that salty sauce the Artisians put in their food! Ummm, soy sauce!" That was the stuff. reaching back, she grabbed the plastic baggie of rice and began massaging it to break up the big clumps of it sticking together. "And chop the veggies!"
Takui

 

[Takui]

Oh God.

It occurred to Taku suddenly that this girl might actually not know what she was doing. As he finished clearing up the mess he never intended to make, he turned to see her clambering up onto the countertop. "Woah, hey, that's unsafe!" he pointed toward her. "Be careful, you shouldn't be on the countertop," he hurried over to her and saw that she had the burner set.

He checked the heat and lowered it, just to be safe before he noticed the crushed shells she had littered carelessly across the area. "H-hey, Casaana, you should set aside an area for the stuff you discard. Preferably the trash can, unless you can't readily get to it," he told her as he collected the refuse and disposed of it. After that, he found the spices carefully tucked away under the cupboards in a convenient circle rack. From there, he decided the soy sauce would be above it accordingly. Having surmised properly the location of what he was looking for, Taku brought the oil and the soy sauce to the young girl and placed them within reach.

"Just give me a few seconds to get my hands washed and I'll get right on those vegetables," he told her, "but first, here's a stepstool. Stand on this instead of sitting on the counter." He placed the tiny set of stairs within reach of her before he went to the sink, washed his hands, and grabbed a cutting knife.

It was almost like babysitting his youngest sister, but this girl had a much more lively and vivid approach to getting herself in trouble. "Remember, a clean workspace is a safe workspace," he said, "and you won't ruin the food if you're careful while you're preparing it. People can get really sick if you accidentally get the food dirty when you're cooking."

Aw, man.

Taku thought this would be a quick, painless little adventure where he would get to eat. Instead, he had to make sure this girl didn't burn herself or accidentally give someone food poisoning. It was a good thing he'd had to help play homemaker when his mother took ill, or he would be woefully unprepared for this situation.

He lined the vegetables up and held them steady with one hand, fingers closed like a cat's paw as he chopped quickly and carefully from outside to inside, separating them into fine, even cuts. Carrots, spring onions, white onions...

Was she trying to fry rice??

Casaana

 

[Casaana]

Awww, Takui was making her stand on the stool, it was so confining though, forcing her to stand still. Instead of happily kneeling on the counter. Still for the sake of her new friend she climbed down and got on the stool. Somewhat wisely, she didn't ask if he was happy now, instead going back to moving the eggs around so they cooked evenly.

When they looked done, she very carefully moved them to the plate with both hands holding the handle, and added the oil to the still hot pan before returning it to the burner. Then she reached for the bag of rice and dumped it in, using the spoon to break up any clumps. Irrepressible for long, she was back to humming as she poured in the soy, turning the rice from white, to its distinctive brown and giving it its flavor. She wasn't sure how much to use, but stopped adding, figuring that if all the rice didn't color, they could put more in. Now she stirred vigorously, not minding the occasional few grains that flew from the wok.

"Veggie time!" she stepped aside to give Taku space to dump his offerings in. Or at least tried to as she stepped off the stool expecting floor but finding only air. "Eeep!" She yipped as she half fell into a sideways hopping motion as she tried to get her center of gravity back in line before steadying herself. "I'm good!"
Takui

 

[Takui]

Taku watched her clamber down onto the stool, grateful that she simply listened. Certainly he had no authority over her, but he would most likely have gotten an earful from someone if she had hurt herself trying to cook while he was watching. She may have been a more experienced Jedi Learner, but he was technically the adult in the room.

Taku saw her fiddling with the rice and adding in soy, a component both integral to fried rice and common on his homeworld. He moved to the cabinet and grabbed two more elements that would bring out the natural flavors of the dish.

Rice vinegar in one hand and oyster sauce in the other, he deftly turned the two bottles over and gave the rice a light coat as the younger girl stirred. As the heat joined the flavors together, the natural odor of the oyster sauce dissolved and gave way to a richer, more savory scent that combined with the sweetness of the rice vinegar to offset the relative saltiness of the soy.

Taku went to start combining the vegetables, and Casaana suddenly looked as though she might lose her footing and fall. "Oops!" he exclaimed as he hastily allowed the vegetables to haphazardly fall into the wok as he reached out to attempt to steady her.

When she said she was alright, he sighed. "Thank god," he said. "The kitchen is one of the most dangerous places to take a fall."

He gave her a smile and took over stirring for a moment so she could compose herself. "Smells pretty good," he commented offhand.

Casaana