one is one too many cooks [OPEN]

[worthpraise]

Characters: Amaterasu (worthpraise) and anyone else!
Setting/Location: The caravan kitchen on level 2
Date & Time: Day 2
Summary: Amaterasu has been officially appointed as one of the caravan cooks! Let's see what Iron Chef Ammy can cook up...

Comments

[worthpraise]

Amaterasu wasn't very sorry for giving Yuusei the extra work of rinsing the various pieces of cookware - better him than her. And they weren't really dirty, not in her opinion.

After stacking a set of frying pans, Amaterasu grabbed the handle of the big soup pot she had been trying for and dragged it away from the others, toward the stove. She looked at it and then at Yuusei, her tail wagging now. She knew that wouldn't completely answer his question, but it was very hard to pantomime "I'm a chef!" as a wolf. And she'd left the Junogam back in her room - she couldn't use it to type out her answer even if she wanted to.

She figured out her answer when she took another look around the kitchen, spotting a previously unnoticed apron hanging on the back of the door. She trotted over to it and pulled it off its hook, nosing around the fabric on the ground until she got her head through the loop. Apron thus "worn" - the fabric dragging on the ground as she tried not to step on it and trip herself up - Amaterasu returned to stand over the pot and barked once, grinning at Yuusei.

[speedsavior]

Yuusei stopped for a minute and took a very good look at Amaterasu for a moment before stifling a laugh. The image in itself was rather amusing and he dried off his hands after finishing the rest of the pans. Leaning down and giving a light ruffle to fur, he then eyed the pot and apron with raised brows. He wondered just how she was planning on making anything really--he'd never seen a wolf cook anything before... or any animal for that matter, but then again, this was Amaterasu, and from what he'd seen not too long ago in the market place, he felt like he shouldn't be surprised that she could do more than the average wolf.

Still... the mess of pots that had been on the floor earlier weren't much of a consolation.

"Do you need help...?" he asked as he then rubbed just under her chin and pulled his hands away. The only thing he really recalled how to make was stew from when he was a kid and that was all they had to eat at the time. You could make anything into stew really when you thought about it...

[worthpraise]

That was exactly why Amaterasu had picked stew. Anything could go into it and it didn't involve a lot of steps that required opposable thumbs, as far as she could recall. She could handle chopping up things easily enough, she could probably turn the burner off and on, but...

She sighed after Yuusei stopped scratching her and lowered her head slightly so she could look up at him instead of straight on and gave the tiniest of nods. Yes, she could use some help; even with her powers, she wasn't sure she could completely do it - though she'd certainly try on her own if he wasn't around! She had no idea if Waterspout would work on stew, though that would be a delicious experiment to try. Even if she was pretty sure it wouldn't work that way.

Getting the pot onto the stove in the first place was another problem - and she knew that no one would appreciate a wolf on the counter, even if she was perfectly clean (at least to her standards). So she left the pot where it was and went - still being careful of the apron - over to one of the iceboxes, pushing the lid open with her nose and standing on her hind legs, front paws on the icebox edge to steady her as she peered inside.

[speedsavior]

The scene was really... rather comical, and never in his life had he thought that he'd see the day when a would would be--attempting to make?--making stew. Though he thought the apron probably got in her way, he didn't say a word about it, if she wanted to wear it, then let her do so. He picked up the pot with both hands and set it down on the stove, walking over to her and observing its contents.

"You'd probably want some vegetables in there, right?" he asked as he lifted the lid up the rest of the way up and pulled out some carrots from off to the side, examining them. Nothing looked particularly wrong with them and so he reached over to set them down on the counter and continued peering down.

[worthpraise]

She barked an agreement. Carrots were good! And she could prepare them; peeling might be an issue, but she was excellent at chopping. She considered a couple of mushrooms skeptically, then passed them up to point her nose at the bins containing potatoes and onions. She gestured once at the onion but several times at the potatoes - not everyone liked onion, but everyone liked potatoes, right?

She pushed off with her paws, landing lightly back on all fours - though when she almost tripped over the apron again, she'd finally had enough of it; she dipped her head and shook herself until it slipped off from around her neck. She looked at the pool of fabric on the floor and decided - perhaps smartly - that it was a disaster waiting to happen. She picked it up in her teeth and deposited it on one of the counters where it would be out of their way.

She snuffed softly in thought. They'd need meat - that would probably be in one of the other iceboxes and broth or stock or something so it wasn't just water and vegetables. She looked up at Yuusei with a happy smile - they were getting someplace! She could practically smell it cooking now. And with that thought as encouragement, she started pawing at the cabinets within her reach, trying to open them and see what was inside.

[speedsavior]

The apron removing. Good thought, Ammy, because you wearing that in itself was an accident waiting to happen. The smile she shot up at him only brought to surface a rare one of his own as he pulled some of the potatoes out from the bin and set them down on the counter next to the carrots. Turning around, he hoped she didn't mind him opening a few down below for her just to make things easier for her to get into. If she had a plan, then by all means, he wanted her to go for it.

The open-jawed smile was something that definitely sparked Yuusei's mood and he headed over towards another icebox to pull out stock in a container, along with some assorted vegetables. He wasn't quiet sure what Ammy had in mind meat-wise, so he figured that he'd let her decide on that, seeing as how it'd bring about the bulk of the dish, in truth. Setting everything out onto the counter, he started to seek out a peeler in one of the drawers to take care of the potatoes and carrots (trained in the fine art of menial kitchen labor thanks to Martha, this was partially the reason why he'd volunteered himself up as a mechanic for the caravan.) The kitchen in itself was well-stocked, and it got Yuusei wondering about how that strange Cid Amon guy had managed to stock the place up with so many different things.

Finding the peeler, he set to work peeling, keeping an eye out on Amaterasu in case she needed him for anything else.

[worthpraise]

She didn't mind at all. She knew that he was being helpful to help, and not because he thought she couldn't do it. Which made all the difference.

Unfortunately for her curiosity, most of the things in the cabinets were assorted cook- and bakeware. Dessert - now there was an idea. No, best to focus on one thing at a time. And she would probably just ruin anything she tried to bake. Amaterasu decided it was definitely time to stop investigating when a miniman poked her in the nose - she reared back and sneezed in surprise. Apparently she had disturbed his nap. She lowered her head to peer at him - were they Poncles? No, they didn't feel or smell the same. With a sigh, she turned away, poking her head into the other iceboxes until she found the one with various meat.

Looked there was a good supply here too - and it smelled good too. Amaterasu turned her head back to Yuusei and barked quietly. She shouldn't pull this out by her teeth either.

[speedsavior]

He turned around at the sound of the barking and gave a nod. She must have found something to add. Striding over, he looked at the icebox filled with meat ranging from parts that were fairly recognizable to some meat that was... a little more unfamiliar. Then again, with the way this place was, he wasn't all that surprised. There were probably other creatures With a curious look, he picked out a decent-looking cut of what might have been beef (but could be something else like beef) that was wrapped rather neatly. "Think this'll be alright?" A simple nod or bark would do for a yes.

[worthpraise]

Amaterasu had been feeling very similarly about the meat - though none of it smelled off, the more familiar food of home would probably be more welcoming and comforting than something new. And what was stew if not comfort food? Let people adjust to their surroundings before adjusting their diet as well.

She nodded, then trotted back over to the counter. That should do it for assembling the ingredients - at least all the ones she could think of at the moment. Were there things to be chopped? She really could do some of the chopping. Since there seemed to be precious few things that she could actually do.

[speedsavior]

Yuusei set the meat onto a separate board from the vegetables that were peeled and ready to be cut. He looked down at Amaterasu and nodded. "That should be it for now, hm? If we find that we need anything else we can probably add it in later..." He trails off and begins to search for a knife to cut the meat and vegetables with, rummaging through a drawer or two to find a decent one to cut with.

The entire normalcy of the situation, aside from the fact that Amaterasu was a wolf and that meat was certainly not beef or chicken or... anything of the sort, brought him back just a bit and for a moment, he paused while holding one of the drawers open and just looking down into it.