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[cardinalrule]

I'm doing something more important than staring at my phone. Leave a message.

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[fiddlestick]

Ah, oh right, field rations. I had to do that in military school sometimes. Cooking in a kitchen is a little different than that stuff. Thankfully.

[He mutters the last part under his breath. Don't mind him, field rations are just the bane of his existence.

He'll quickly down the potion, the fur patches and cat ears disappearing. Much better. The bottle will get set next to the kitchen sink]

In that case, grab the other plate, could you? I'll show you how to use it.

[cardinalrule]

[Hunter blinks a bit. What's wrong with field rations, Elliot??]

Okay, sure. [He gets up from his work, going and retrieving the second plate. It doesn't look... totally inedible. The microwave will fix it, yup.]

[fiddlestick]

[Everything, according to Elliot. Everything.

When Hunter brings over the other plate, Elliot will pop open the microwave door and take out the first plate. Shockingly, it did not transform into a plate of amazing looking food. It looks just as bad as before- just warm again.

Then he'll start talking as he directs Hunter, in a pretty similar tone that he uses when he goes over stuff in class. ]

Alright, so you put that plate into the microwave and shut the door. [And once that's done, he'll bring his hand over to the control panel, pantomiming pressing the right buttons as he talks] Then, you enter in the amount of time you want the food to cook for. Since we're just reheating some food that's at room temperature, one minute should be enough. And once you have the time all squared away, you hit start!

[Fake demonstration over, he'll pull his hand away]

Ok, now you try!

[cardinalrule]

[With the plate removed from the microwave Hunter sees just how big of a mess it is, and chews on his lip thoughtfully. He had been hoping the microwave would somehow magically make things better, but no luck.

He hesitates a moment before following Elliot's instructions. In goes his plate, and he his the buttons, then hits start. Even after it's started up, he stands there staring at it.]

I... don't know if this is going to improve any of it.

1/??

[fiddlestick]

[He'll watch as Hunter follows instructions, giving him a nod and sound of approval. Good job kid. You now have the power of the microwave.

But...ah, right. The food. The food that is clearly very bad]

Well...it'll make it not cold at least. But I'll give it a taste and see, okay?

[Internally bracing himself, he's gonna grab a spoon and take a bite of the egg-]

2/3

[fiddlestick]

[Oh....oh God.

At first he tries to poker face his way through eating it, for Hunter's sake. His poker face isn't bad either! A nice neutral face as he chews.

Unfortunately, his poker face skills doesn't really stop the rest of his body from reacting. Namely- the way his face turns a greenish color, the cold sweat appearing on his brow, tears forming at the corner of his eyes, his body trembling as it's trying to suppress the urge to gag and get this poison out of his body.

It's bad. It's so bad. What is wrong with that texture? Are those eggshells? Why is it both too hot and too cold? Is that spice or pain? Is that blood he's tasting?]

3/3

[fiddlestick]

[Eventually, he has to give up the ghost. It's either swallow or spit it out, and he's not sure he'll survive swallowing it. So as bad as it makes him feel, he eventually breaks and sets down the place to grab a papertowel and spits out the food.

Then his legs goes weak and he goes into a crouches down onto the floor, his head in his hands as he has war flashbacks to a time he had a similar reaction to some food given to him by that young girl with blue hair. A girl who watched him collapsed with a energized "Oopsie-daisy, Elliot's dead!"]

....T-The microwave didn't help.

[cardinalrule]

[The wait feels like an eternity. Hunter stands here awkwardly, watching Elliot's reaction with laser focus.

It's bad. It's real bad. Even Hunter, with all his denial skills, can plainly see that. Of course, he's at least expecting Elliot to swallow, so when he does the opposite and then sinks down onto the floor he panics, stepping back a little.

Oh hell, did he poison his music teacher?? Ohhhhhhh he screwed up so badly.]

Are you alright?? Do you need - what's the human equivalent of the Healing Coven??

[fiddlestick]

[You possibly poisoned him a little, yeah. Elliot reaches out to grab one of the cupboard drawers for support. Man, it's good he didn't actually swallow the whole bite. ]

D-Doctor, that's a doctor.

[He'll answer the question, though shake his head at needing one. He rather skip out on an ER visit and try another route first]

No, just- please get my staff, if you would? Should be in the living room.

[Which it'll be there, propped up against a wall next to some boxes since Elliot hasn't figured out where he wants to store the thing]

[cardinalrule]

Okay, okay!

[Hunter races over to the living room, grabbing the staff and returning. Honestly, he kind of prefers a staff over anything else, it's a familiar weight in his hands.]

Here! You know healing magic?

[He assumes that's the solution here, and holds it out.]

[fiddlestick]

[All he really does is nod in response, making an affirmative sound, as he takes the staff. Singing a couple notes out, it'll activate a healing spell that'll send blue ripples of light out. If Hunter got any recent injuries, those will heal up.

As for Elliot? He'll go back to looking normal rather than he's about to keel over and pull himself back up using his staff]

Whew, much better! Thank goodness that worked.

[cardinalrule]

[Wow, that's handy. Healing spells aren't things he's well-versed in, back home he always preferred just having a first aid kit from the Healing Coven. Hunter relaxes, though his worry is quickly replaced by guilt. Just a perfectly normal reaction that he's had a million times before when he failed in the past.]

Good. That's good. [He sighs, resisting the urge to slump.] Sorry, I don't know what I'm doing. I thought I did, but I don't.

[fiddlestick]

[Ah. The guilt. He'll look over at Hunter, scratching his jaw a little.]

...Apology accepted. [Still getting in the habit of saying that] It's not a big deal though. I poisoned myself a few times when I first started cooking on my own. [Ok maybe the times Elliot gave himself food poisoning wasn't as extreme as that, but still. ] And it really did make me happy that you tried.

Do you want me to show you what to do, so you can try again?

[cardinalrule]

[Good, okay, he screwed up but his apology is accepted, so that's alright. He looks a bit surprised to hear about Elliot's cooking, which makes him feel a tiny bit better. More important than that though, is the opportunity to actually learn.

Titan, Belos would likely think it's a waste of his time, but given how long he's been stuck here it really can't hurt to learn how to fend for himself some more.]

Yes. Yes, I think that's a good idea, if only so I don't poison you again.

[fiddlestick]

[Yeah well we can't all live on the souls of innocent woodland animals for nourishment, so Belos can suck it. ]

Eheh, yeah, or you don't poison yourself either for that matter. [Since you were going to eat that breakfast too! Speaking of, he'll be grabbing the plates to start dumping the "food" in the trash.]

I think scramble eggs and toast would be a good place to start ... mind grabbing the eggs and butter from the fridge?

[cardinalrule]

[The burned, cold attempt a meal is a step up from Belos' diet, honestly.]

That would be bad, too.

[If only because that would mean Elliot would probably insist on taking care of him, and he doesn't want to be that big of a burden on him.

He nods and will grab the eggs and butter from the fridge, setting them on the counter.]

Is that all we need?

[fiddlestick]

[Please love yourself Hunter, but also if avoiding Elliot fussing is a motivation to do actual self-care, then hey at least it brings results]

Yep! As well as some salt and pepper, but they're already on the counter.

[As he talks, he'll grab the equipment they need: a frying pan, a spatula, a bowl, and a whisk. Somehow they are still clean despite Hunter's earlier cooking attempts. Let's not question this too deeply.

Putting the pan on the stove, he'll turn on the burner so it can preheat]

Alright, while the pan is heating up, we need to crack some eggs into this bowl. Now it's very important to leave out any shells. Eggshells are not edible.

[He'll demonstrate, taking one of the eggs and tapping it gently against the counter to crack it, before using both hands to drop the inside of the egg into the bowl. His technique is utterly perfect. ]

Okay! Now you try.

[cardinalrule]

[Self-care is a very new concept to Hunter, but he's getting there. Slowly. Inching towards the goalposts.

He's going to do his best to stay out of Elliot's way while he gathers everything and starts cracking the eggs, which is honestly not difficult to do. They're only making scrambled eggs, for crying out loud, but he's taking this very seriously!!]

Okay. That seems simple enough.

[He picks up the other egg and mimics what Elliot did, and voila! An egg in a bowl with no shell!

Which is actually a little impressive since he's wearing his gloves. He looks pretty proud of himself as he discards the shell.]

What's the next step?

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot steps back a little to give Hunter space, watchin how the egg cracking goes. He was half expecting something to go wrong what with Hunter's experience, so he's pretty impressed by him getting it right the first time- in gloves no less!]

Hey, perfect! You're a natural. [Like usual, he's not shy with praises] Alright, crack two more eggs, and then you'll want to whisk them all together until the egg yolks and whites are evenly blended together. Like this-

[He'll take the bowl and whisk for a moment and do a whisking movement for a couple seconds, showing how it it's done. Then he sets the bowl back and steps back again so Hunter can do it]

[cardinalrule]

[It's an extremely silly thing to be proud about, it's only cracking some eggs, but Hunter still feels that way upon hearing Elliot's compliment. He nods and, after watching the demonstration, will break two more before grapping the whisk and whisking like a madman.]

That's all there is to this? I never thought cooking would be this easy.

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot keeps watching, and so far so good. Watching that intense whisking though? It makes his mind wander toward a memory of teaching someone else how to cook eggs. ]

Ha- slow down just a little, Fie, or you'll spill some of the egg. [The name slips out without him realizing it, and he continues on like normal]

Well, cooking's like magic or music. The basics are pretty easy and you can get along pretty well with those, but the advanced skills take more a lot more work. I do cooking just for fun and to feed myself, but there's some people who will devote their whole lives to the craft - like Julieta.

[cardinalrule]

[Elliot might keep going, but Hunter catches that and pauses. He listens, of course, and takes in the whole lesson because he's just like that, but he's still stuck on being called by someone else's name. That... was more than a little weird.]

... Right. [He nods a little, to show he was listening, but -] You called me Fie?

[fiddlestick]

Huh? I did?

[He looks surprised and caught off guard by that. He really hadn't realized he had done it. The surprise quickly goes into embarrassed and apologetic]

Crap- sorry Hunter! I didn't mean to do that. I had one of those memory flashes and I guess I wasn't thinking. I know your name, really!

[cardinalrule]

[Elliot's embarrassed reaction immediately has Hunter feeling equally embarrassed for pointing it out.]

It's... fine. I shouldn't have said anything, it isn't a big deal.

[He doesn't mind the slip up at all, but now he's wondering who Fie is and what that memory was.]

If you're worried about more memory flashes we can stop.

[fiddlestick]

[He scratches his cheek. Right, right - it was a minor slip up, not the end of the world.]

Ah, no no. it's all okay. I just got embarrassed I did that. [Breathe, Craig.] ...Fie was a classmate of mine- or, uh, my other self. I tried to teach her how to make omelets once, but she'd get really into whisking and overly impatient that they'd just turn into scramble eggs. But being Fie, she'd just...smirk and pretend that she intended them to turn out that way.

[See, nothing bad. It's a little weird, recalling something that he knows never happened in this lifetime with a girl. But yet, there was still a feeling of that warm nostalgia with it.

He'll clear his throat though, getting back to business]

Anyway! Those eggs looked whisked enough. [He'll hand Hunter the salt shaker] We wanna add a bit of salt, so shake that about three or four times into bowl and then stir it in with the whisk. Then we'll head over to the stove!