If your character and Kay need to get together for a personal conversation or some other kind of little-tiny-thing, and we're feeling too lazy to throw up a new post, we can spam it up in here.
[Kay's sorry to see Toothless go--she's terribly curious about him--but cooking's only going to take longer if they put it off. When Toothless is on his way out, Kay leads the way over to the community kitchen and to the sink to wash their hands.]
Most of the time, you'd do all this over a few days--roast a chicken one night, use the leftovers for soup another night. But you can fit it in one day, if you start early enough. [She heads over to the icebox and pulls out the chicken, wrapped up in butcher paper.] Since you're the one learning, you get to pull out the heart.
[She can't hide her amusement at this as she turns on the oven.] Just be glad it comes plucked. When I was a girl, I had to help my grandmother remove the feathers.
[Anyway, Kay unwraps the chicken, and...surprise, it's a chicken like any other.] They've probably put them in a little bag, heart, liver and gizzard. Pull that out and set it aside, and I'll get the roasting pan.
[He squirms a bit just looking at the chicken in question--maaaaaybe that canned stuff wasn't such a bad idea. But...he'd gutted plenty of fish before. This wasn't that different, right? Just...larger. And much grosser.]
Ah....right. I'll just...do that, then.
[So he pulls up his sleeve, gives the chicken one more terrified look, and sticks his hand in. It's a mere matter of seconds before he's yanked out the bag, but he nearly flops on the counter when setting it aside.]
[Kay is busy pulling out a pan, an onion, some potatoes, and a few spices, and thus doesn't notice Hiccup's feat of bravery. When she returns to his side, she sets everything down on the counter and glances over to see how he's doing.]
All right, good. We can fry those up for a snack while we're waiting for the chicken, if you want. Now, d'you know how to peel potatoes?
[If you say "yes," Hiccup, you're rinsing the chicken inside and out. Kay's going to make sure you're doing something you're not familiar with. Fair warning.]
[Kay shrugs. They're better in gravy or stuffing, of course, but she's not in the mood to make all that, too. No fried innards it is.]
Maybe we can throw them to Toothless. Anyway, rinse off the chicken, inside and out, and I'll peel the potatoes. Then you'll put it in the roasting pan--on its back--and we'll put in the vegetables and the sage. All right?
[Easier said than done. More than once, the chicken slips from his hands and into the sink, and Hiccup jumps back a little--oookay, it's a slippery little thing. He can do this. Totally.
He finally does get it on the roasting pan, though, thoroughly cleaned.]
[Hiccup hasn't dropped it on the floor, and so Kay counts it a success. When he's finished, she nods to the onion, whose skin she peeled off.]
You can put that inside the chicken. We'll put the potatoes around it, and then--[She points to the little spice jar]--you can rub the chicken with some sage. Then it's into the oven, and we wait.
[Kay picks up the jar of sage and opens it, pouring a few in hand and spreading them over the breast of the chicken, between the meat and the skin. It's not exactly her favourite job in the world, and she's careful to use her left hand only to hold the skin up out of the way--the last thing she wants to have to do is clean off her wedding ring. But it's not a difficult job by any means, and when she's finished rubbing the spices into the meat on half the breast, she steps back.]
You can take it from there, I think. I'm going to wash my hands.
This? This is definitely one of the weirdest things I've ever done. [He follows her example and starts rubbing the meat with the sage, having absolutely no idea why this was going to help. He only guesses it must add flavor or something, because otherwise...
You don't do much cooking, do you? [Everything you do with raw meat is kind of weird. When he's done, she nods approvingly.] Into the oven, and we'll need a timer...oh, here's one. [An hour and a half in the oven, and it should be done.]
Anyway, now we wait. And you have your pick of books, if you want to read. [Kay takes a seat at the table, near where she's left that stack of books for just this time.]
Ahh...not really. [And in the oven it goes! Despite his questioning of the whole process, Hiccup is rather proud of himself for making it this far, and he can only hope it will actually taste right when it comes back out of the oven.
He hops over to the stack of books, and peers at them curiously.] Any in particular you'd recommend?
That depends. [Kay has a lot of recommendations, really--she's only been here a few weeks, but she's already begun to amass a pretty good collection of books.] What do you like to read about normally?
Ahhh....[Vikings libraries were a little...sparse.] Well, dragons. But to be honest? I'd like to read something that's...very, very different from that. Sooo, whatever you think might fit that description.
All right, no dragons. I think all of these fit that. [Setting aside The Sirens of Titan, which is what she'll be reading, Kay lays each book in a line in front of him in turn.]
[The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen.] This one's a whodunnit--a Greek man dies and--well, I can't give away the book, but there's a crime and clues, and then you see if you can solve it before Queen does. [Crossfire Trail by Louis L'Amour.] A western--main character has to save a ranch that belonged to his dead friend. [A collection of stories by Benny Russell.] This one is by a friend of mine. He writes about space explorers and the like, usually. [Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.] I liked this one a lot when I was a girl--it's the first Tarzan book. [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.] The first Oz book, I loved these ones, too. [And a collection of stories she and Julius wrote.] And this one's one of mine, it's short stories, same kind of thing as Benny writes, though ours are set on Earth more often than his.
[It occurs to her that literary fiction would probably be more in keeping with the no-dragons rule, but Kay didn't think to bring any.] And you can poke through the shelves in my apartment if you aren't in the mood for these.
Ellery Queen, good choice. [She hands him the book, picks up her own, and they can read in the quiet until Hiccup gets bored or the egg timer goes off.]
[This whole mystery thing? Awesome. Totally and completely awesome. While they wait for the timer to run up, Hiccup utters a few gasps in surprise as he reads--he did not see that one coming. By the time the hour and a half runs up, he's completely enthralled in the story.
[Oh, Hiccup, we'll make a genre reader of you yet. Kay sets down her book, nodding.]
Done already. It's about lunchtime, if you'd like to eat some of it. [The rest, they'll use for soup.] We do have to let it sit for ten minutes or so after you pull it out of the oven, but after that, we can have some roast chicken and potatoes before doing some more cooking. [A proper Sunday lunch! Should be delicious.]
Sounds good to me, too. No point to cooking if you don't get to eat the results.
[Atta boy, Hiccup, atta boy. The chicken comes out looking great, and when the ten minutes are up--the longest ten minutes in the whole cooking process, in Kay's opinion--she gets out a knife and fork.]
Do you know how to carve up a bird? It's kind of tricky if you haven't done it before.
Probably not, but I don't think I've ever skinned a fish, so--[Kay shrugs. Her older relatives took care of that when she was young, and Julius has yet to go and catch their dinner out of the Hudson, so it's never really come up.] It'll probably be easiest if I just show you, and then next time you make a chicken, you can take a crack at it.
[So Kay carves it up--not with the greatest of ease, but manages, and sort of talks through how it goes. When she's done, they have two piles: one of meat and one of bones. Aside from the wing and leg bones, anyway.] Looks pretty good. Why don't you make yourself a plate, and I'll start up the broth? That'll take a while to cook, too.
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[Action, May 22]
Most of the time, you'd do all this over a few days--roast a chicken one night, use the leftovers for soup another night. But you can fit it in one day, if you start early enough. [She heads over to the icebox and pulls out the chicken, wrapped up in butcher paper.] Since you're the one learning, you get to pull out the heart.
[Action, May 22]
Wait.
Wait, what?]
Iiiiii think you better repeat that. Uhh...yeah. [Because there was no way he heard that right.]
[Action, May 22]
[Anyway, Kay unwraps the chicken, and...surprise, it's a chicken like any other.] They've probably put them in a little bag, heart, liver and gizzard. Pull that out and set it aside, and I'll get the roasting pan.
[Action, May 22]
Ah....right. I'll just...do that, then.
[So he pulls up his sleeve, gives the chicken one more terrified look, and sticks his hand in. It's a mere matter of seconds before he's yanked out the bag, but he nearly flops on the counter when setting it aside.]
[Action, May 22]
All right, good. We can fry those up for a snack while we're waiting for the chicken, if you want. Now, d'you know how to peel potatoes?
[If you say "yes," Hiccup, you're rinsing the chicken inside and out. Kay's going to make sure you're doing something you're not familiar with. Fair warning.]
[Action, May 22]
Iiiii...I think I'll pass on the fried innards, but...thanks.
[He tilts his head at the potato peeler.] Yes. Well, sort of. Noooot with one of those.
[Action, May 22]
Maybe we can throw them to Toothless. Anyway, rinse off the chicken, inside and out, and I'll peel the potatoes. Then you'll put it in the roasting pan--on its back--and we'll put in the vegetables and the sage. All right?
[Action, May 22]
[Easier said than done. More than once, the chicken slips from his hands and into the sink, and Hiccup jumps back a little--oookay, it's a slippery little thing. He can do this. Totally.
He finally does get it on the roasting pan, though, thoroughly cleaned.]
[Action, May 22]
You can put that inside the chicken. We'll put the potatoes around it, and then--[She points to the little spice jar]--you can rub the chicken with some sage. Then it's into the oven, and we wait.
[Action, May 22]
The next part he really raises an eyebrow at, though.]
Um...rub it with leaves?
[Action, May 22]
[Kay picks up the jar of sage and opens it, pouring a few in hand and spreading them over the breast of the chicken, between the meat and the skin. It's not exactly her favourite job in the world, and she's careful to use her left hand only to hold the skin up out of the way--the last thing she wants to have to do is clean off her wedding ring. But it's not a difficult job by any means, and when she's finished rubbing the spices into the meat on half the breast, she steps back.]
You can take it from there, I think. I'm going to wash my hands.
[Action, May 22]
This is just really, really weird.]
O-okay. I think...I've covered it?
[Action, May 22]
Anyway, now we wait. And you have your pick of books, if you want to read. [Kay takes a seat at the table, near where she's left that stack of books for just this time.]
[Action, May 22]
He hops over to the stack of books, and peers at them curiously.] Any in particular you'd recommend?
[Action, May 22]
[Action, May 22]
[Action, May 22]
[The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen.] This one's a whodunnit--a Greek man dies and--well, I can't give away the book, but there's a crime and clues, and then you see if you can solve it before Queen does. [Crossfire Trail by Louis L'Amour.] A western--main character has to save a ranch that belonged to his dead friend. [A collection of stories by Benny Russell.] This one is by a friend of mine. He writes about space explorers and the like, usually. [Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.] I liked this one a lot when I was a girl--it's the first Tarzan book. [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.] The first Oz book, I loved these ones, too. [And a collection of stories she and Julius wrote.] And this one's one of mine, it's short stories, same kind of thing as Benny writes, though ours are set on Earth more often than his.
[It occurs to her that literary fiction would probably be more in keeping with the no-dragons rule, but Kay didn't think to bring any.] And you can poke through the shelves in my apartment if you aren't in the mood for these.
Re: [Action, May 22]
Ah--hmm. I think...I think I'll go for...the one where you solve the mystery? That sounds pretty good, at least.
[Action, May 22]
[Action, May 22]
But the timer does ring, and his head snaps up.]
Oh, done already?
[Action, May 22]
Done already. It's about lunchtime, if you'd like to eat some of it. [The rest, they'll use for soup.] We do have to let it sit for ten minutes or so after you pull it out of the oven, but after that, we can have some roast chicken and potatoes before doing some more cooking. [A proper Sunday lunch! Should be delicious.]
[Action, May 22]
He beams! A real meal that's not fish! Oh, this was fantastic.]
Oh, y-yeah, I would! That sounds wonderful, actually.
[Action, May 22]
[Atta boy, Hiccup, atta boy. The chicken comes out looking great, and when the ten minutes are up--the longest ten minutes in the whole cooking process, in Kay's opinion--she gets out a knife and fork.]
Do you know how to carve up a bird? It's kind of tricky if you haven't done it before.
[Action, May 22]
Then at her question, he shakes his head.]
Nope. Iiii'm guessing it's not anything like skinning a fish.
[Action, May 22]
[So Kay carves it up--not with the greatest of ease, but manages, and sort of talks through how it goes. When she's done, they have two piles: one of meat and one of bones. Aside from the wing and leg bones, anyway.] Looks pretty good. Why don't you make yourself a plate, and I'll start up the broth? That'll take a while to cook, too.
[Action, May 22]
[Action, May 22]
[Action, May 22]