perfectdistance | Golden Peacock

( and, somehow, this is a familiar scent entering his room, something faint that tugs at the back of his mind. when kirma turns to see nero, a person he has absolutely never met, there’s a clear confusion in the knit of his brow; it quickly fades, though, as he gestures for him to enter properly with a wave of his arm. )

So, you’re— ( eh. what was the username… ) “Entie?”

( … it’s not like he knows what initials are. that’s his best approximation of how TTS chose to read it off before. )

[ Nero, also confused, Entie? Who? ]

Nero Turner. Uh... N. T.

[ It didn't occur to him that somebody might read it that way. ]

( and poor nero gets a blank stare for his efforts. unfortunately, the dog of the hour has no idea what an initial is; neither his world nor his lack of literacy have provided him with any context as to what the relationship there could actually be.

maybe it’s best to just— )

— The kitchen isn’t that big, but… I can help if there’s anything to do.

( he is eyeing the shramps again. they have no idea what fate is in store for them. )

[ He feels the blank stare and feels himself becoming more awkward by the second. But at least they can save it by simply Doing Things. When in doubt, action it out. ]

Yeah. Since these are live shrimp, we need to take their heads off before we cook them.

[ Taking a knife and a shrimp and demonstrating. Sorry about your grim fates, shrimpies. ]

Then we devein them. [ Demonstrating that so Kirma can properly see how he's doing it. ]

( oh, so casually?! kirma’s ears shoot up a little, seeing the ease at which nero moves into beheading an innocent creature. of course— he also shouldn’t be that surprised, as a predator. usually, though, the meat’s already dead before it gets to the kitchen… )

Do they… feel anything?

( he’s eaten shrimp before, but he hasn’t exactly sought them out, either. )

[ He's had to hunt to get his food, so killing animals like this really doesn't bother him ... Though he does see the way Kirma's ears jump and he feels a little bad about handling it so casually. ]

Sorry...

Not when you do it quickly. It's a lot better than throwing them into a boiling pot alive.

[ They do scream. ]

( it's different when they've been going 🥺 at you for the past however long... incidentally, that's pretty close to how kirma looks, right now. )

Let's... certainly not do that.

( BARBARIC. )

Do you want help? ( even if it's sad, he's at least watched nero closely enough to be able to assist. he also doesn't wait for an answer one way or the other before going to grab a knife of his own. )

[Don't look at him like that... You asked him to cook for you. (He feels a little bad about the decapitation of the shrimp.)

Stressful.]

Sure, the faster we get this part done, the faster we can eat.

( but the lil guys…

… it’s fine. with the steak knife he’s grabbed— there isn’t exactly a excess of sharp cookware here on GP premises, for whatever reason— he, too, can become an executioner of shrimp. the movements aren’t quite so seamless or elegant as nero’s, but the results are functional enough. for a while, it’s quiet, save for the sounds of chopping as they stand shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen. )

Why cooking? ( kirma finally asks, as they’re finishing up. (rest in peace, little soldiers.) it’s just a rare point of curiosity for him— though this hotel has a larger share of people interested in cooking for the sake of it than he’s used to, it’s still unusual enough he wants to know if there’s more of a story behind it. )

[ It kind of reminds him of doing prep work at the restaurant, for the few years he had it. If he wasn't outed as a wizard, maybe he could've kept on doing what he loved instead of getting recruited into the... nah, he didn't really have much of a choice. ]

When you don't have a lot of medicine, or other things to make somewhere comfortable, a good meal can fill people's bellies and make them feel like they're at home. At least for a little while.

[ In the ice cold of the North, a hot meal could do more to raise somebody's spirits than anything else. As a kid back then, it was one of the only ways he could really contribute to the gang. ]

( ah... an answer that's surprisingly resonant. if they compared notes, they'd learn their home climates aren't truly so different, given all the factors where divergence can happen. as things are, kirma goes silent, for that contemplation; it gives ease to nero's presence, though, and perhaps the same sort of fleeting comfort that his creations are meant to have. )

... And then, after they're ready?

( the shrimp. it's a veritable massacre: there are no survivors. he can only look to nero for further instruction, though— it's his dish. )

[ The quiet is something Nero's very familiar with, a city full of silence due to the endless amounts of laws. He can't really call it home anymore, but it was for a few fleeting years. ]

Then I get to sear them in the pan.

[ He's starting to heat up a pan, adding the oils and aromatics. It really doesn't take that long to get them all cooked and ready to eat.

Thank you for your sacrifice, shrimps. ]

( thank you for your sacrifice, shrimps.

it’s the technique that interests kirma more than the ingredients. every culture is aware of the simple act of make thing hot, a fact that seems true even across the universe, now, but orders, temperatures, tools— that’s where the variation comes in. his ears twitch in time to the sizzle of the fallen soldiers. )

If there’s anything else I should do…

( too strange of a feeling, being in a kitchen without also being in charge. at least when it comes to food. )

[ It's very different from the stews he would make up in the North. Here it's a quick sear, the herbs mixing in with the oil and sinking their flavors into the shrimp. A delicious, easy meal.

...

Easier if they didn't have to kill the shrimps themselves, but that's fine. ]

If you've got bread, get some slices to sop up the left over sauce.

( bread, huh…

…………………………………………… )

Is rice an acceptable substitute?

( it still takes in sauce, doesn’t it? )

Ah, we don’t… bread isn’t a common thing in my home. ( neither is rice, actually? at least at his income level of none, but— ) I’m not too skilled with it.

Rice is fine, but it takes longer to cook. We'll just have it as an after course thing, no problem.

[ Now, the shrimp are done as he plates them and gives one over to Kirma. The other is for him. ]

( he's learning a lot. there's a note here, to try investing in this "bread" situation; something to consider for a later time, a different meal.

for the plate itself, there's a moment where it looks as if he's about to simply reach in with his fingers, before he pivots to opening a drawer for utensils. please clap. it's chopsticks that he pulls out and, after a pause, he steps aside so that nero can grab a set, too. if he wants. hands are still an option. )

[ He's never had to deal with chopsticks before, and he looks into the drawer before pulling out a fork from a pocket. The set of basic cutlery that he keeps with him everywhere. ]

Thanks. Tell me what you think about it?

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