cardinalrule | Kaisou Inbox

[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?

[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?

[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.

[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?

[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]

[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.

[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.

[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?

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!

[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.

[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!

[Oh joy, more memory things. Hunter knows that's a complicated matter, and he's already regretting bringing it up. It can't be an easy thing for Elliot to talk about, even if he seems okay.]

Oh. [He tries to think of something to say, looking down at his bowl, but ends up just taking the salt shaker. A good amount of salt gets added to the eggs.]

Alright, here. [And because he's Hunter, he's going to be real awkward about this.] I've got no intentions of pretending to intend I failed at something. You don't have to worry about that.

[Oh Hunter, you eternally awkward child. He thought elaborating on the memory would help, but maybe not. Elliot will give him a fond smile]

Aha, I wasn't worried. You're a little too honest and hardworking to do something like that. [Sure, maybe Hunter took failure too hard sometimes, but hard to blame him with his background] ...We're pretty similar in that regard, actually. If I'm not good at something, I want to work on it until I've got it down.

[He gets it, in other words. Anything he seemed remotely skillful at? Had hours upon hours of practice behind it.

Eggs salted, he'll head over to the stove.] Alright, now I already preheated the pan, so it's hot. You never want your skin to touch a hot pan - though with your gloves, you'll probably be fine.

[With that warning out of the way, he'll cut and put in the necessary amount of butter.] Now when you cook on the stove, you'll want to use a cooking oil or fat. Different recipes will use different types or amounts, but for this we'll just use butter.

[He steps to the side of Hunter can be in front of the stove] Once the butter's melted, I want you to pour the egg into the pan. Let it cook for a minute, and then use the rubber spatula to slowly stir it.

Edited 2022-07-14 03:44 (UTC)

[It's nice to hear that Elliot gets it. It's one of those things that's small, but Hunter finds it's easier to talk to him because of it.

He shrugs, he knows well enough to not touch hot things. Modern human appliances might be new to him, but he knows the basics on safety. He stands back while he watches Elliot work, making sure to memorize every step, no matter how minor.]

Is there a difference between cooking oil and butter? And why do you stir it slowly?

[Honestly he was explaining that mostly to be better safe than sorry. He shifts the pan around, so the butter spreads all over as it melts as he patiently answers Hunter's questions]

Mostly the flavor it adds and the temperature it can withstand before it starts to burn- or the smoke point, as they call it. Butter is great at enhancing flavors, but it has a low smoke point so you don't want to use it on recipes that cook at high temperatures. You could cook scrambled eggs with an oil, like if you're cooking for someone who can't eat dairy, but it'd change the flavor some.

And you want to stir slowly because that allows the egg curds to get big and fluffy. Otherwise they'll turn out smaller.

[He checks the pan, the butter now finishing off melting] Okay, it should be ready to add the eggs now.

[He's looking like he's sorely wishing he had a notebook to write all of this down in, even though it's incredibly basic. Don't burn the butter. Common sense, really.

Hunter nods and grabs the bowl of eggs, ready to just dump them in, but pauses.]

How am I supposed to add them? Slowly?

[Hunter it will be ok, promise. ]

Slowly or a normal speed will work. Just pour it in. [You can do it!!]

[He's got this!! Maybe. Hopefully.

Hunter nods, then dumps all the eggs in. Voila! Nothing is set on fire, and he looks pleased about this.]

Alright, that step is done.

Nicely done!

[Sure it was just pouring eggs into a pan, but positive re-enforcement is important here.

He'll hold the spatula over the pan, pantomiming the stirring action to show Hunter. Keeping it slow and gentle ]

Now give the eggs a minute to start to cook, and then you want to slowly stir them like this. It's almost like you're folding them. And you want to do this until there's only a little liquid left.

[He'll offer the spatula to Hunter]

You got this, okay?

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