A problem with food (Tag: Any one but particularly Karolina)

[princeoftarnax]

If anything was clear to Xavin it was that she was not familiar with earth customs. It had taken her several hours to realize what the refrigerator functioned as, and still longer to find something remotely edible.

Oddly enough, she found a very desirable food known as "Cheez-its" behind the refrigerator. Why one would put Cheez-its in such a

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[burningpainting]

It had been almost a week since the mini-invasion, and there was still cleaning up to do. Karolina had spent the afternoon excavating downed fliers from the grounds around the Tower. Many had hit the asphalt at such speeds that they'd ended up buried beneath it like ticks under skin. Her laserblasts had proved useful removing the pavement without doing too much damage to the ships themselves. Iron Man, who'd been involved with the day's cleanup, said he wanted to study them. She had no objection to that. In fact, working side-by-side with the adults helped to erase some of her misgivings about them. All she and her friends ever wanted was to be treated like equals, like people capable of making rational decisions and taking care of themselves

[princeoftarnax]

Xavin swallowed a Cheez-It. "These were back here." She said, holding the bag up. "I admit I don't know why, but I assumed it was some odd earth custom of placing certain types of food behind this apparatus." She gestured to the refrigerator.

[burningpainting]

Karolina swallowed a snicker. She'd never gotten the chance to really study the differences between their cultures, but apparently they were much bigger than she would've imagined!

"No, that kind of food would usually go up here," she said, opening the pantry door. "So it was either on top of the fridge and fell back there, or someone was hiding it for later."

She just hoped it wasn't the Kaplan guy. It wouldn't be good to add Cheeze-It theft to his list of reasons to dislike Xavin.

[princeoftarnax]

Xavin stepped out from behind the refrigerator and studied the Cheez-Its bag as if they could tell her why they were put there. "That would explain things."

[burningpainting]

This time Karolina did laugh. She couldn't help it; Xavin was so serious about these ridiculous little things.

"If you're hungry, I could make something," she offered, already opening the fridge. "I just got in from the slave-drivers and I'm starved."

It ocurred to her that she'd been spening a lot of time in the kitchen lately. But then, it was traditionally a meeting place, and she'd found that people were more agreeable over food. What they needed more than anything right now was a little amiability.

[princeoftarnax]

"I appreciate it. The only food I have found agreeable are these Cheez-Its." Xavin set the Cheez-Its down on the counter. "Are you tired as well? Perhaps I could help you somehow."

[burningpainting]

Karolina made a face at the Cheez-It box. Growing up, she hadn't eaten much in the way of processed junk foods. Vegan diets didn't leave much room for snacks of questionable content (or cheese!) so she'd never acquired the taste for them.

"I'm beat," she confessed, fishing out an assortment of veggies. "But we finally got the last of those crashed shuttles out of the sidewalk. Spiderwoman had to boot a coupla homeless guys out of one. Would you grab me the wok from that cabinet? It'll be the big, shallow bowl looking thing with an extension cord

[princeoftarnax]

Xavin discerned which item was the "wok" and offered it to Karolina. "I am sure I will like whatever you make." She said, admiring Karolina's cooking skills. Xavin had, not surprisingly, never learned how to cook.

[burningpainting]

"Thanks," she said, taking the wok and plugging it into the wall to preheat. "But if you don't like it, that's cool. Don't force yourself. Vegan food isn't for everybody. I couldn't eat meat now even if I wanted to, I'm just not used to it."

Sometimes she wondered if Majesdanians as a whole were vegetarian, or if it was just a quirk her parents had picked up on Earth. Nevertheless, she was surprisingly anxious to be cooking for Xavin. It felt oddly intimate (which was ridiculous; she cooked for everyone all the time!), and they hadn't seen or spoken much to each other in the past week. Karolina wasn't sure how she'd take it if Xavin didn't like the food.

Oh God, stop being so dramatic, she scolded herself as she chopped vegetables with more force than was really necessary, You can't possibly take food preference as a rejection!

[princeoftarnax]

Xavin watched Karolina prepare the food intently. Truthfully she couldn't compare earth cooking with Skrullos cooking. It struck her that really, she didn't know as much about her own culture as she should. Things like cooking never seemed important before, and now it was too late to find out about it.

[burningpainting]

The vegetables went first, sizzling in canola oil, ginger and garlic. Karolina stirred them around until their colors began to pop out, brighter and more vibrant than before. The rice noodles, which she'd been soaking in a bowl nearby, were quickly added. The whole thing took only ten minutes to fry up, quick and easy.

"Okay!" she declared triumphantly as she poured the noodley mass back into the now empty bowl. "Normally I'd make you eat this with chopsticks, but I think that might be a little advanced, so stick with a fork." Still, she fished around in the silverware drawer until she found a pair of plastic chopsticks for herself, most likely stolen from a P.F. Chang's somewhere. She served up two bowls and slid one along the counter to Xavin, deftly pinching a moutfull of noodles and an ear of baby-corn between her utensils.

[princeoftarnax]

Xavin poked the noodles with the fork and managed to snath some. She lifted the fork to her mouth and leaned forward to eat it when the noodles fell back down into the bowl. She frowned and glared at the noodles, poking them some more until they were trapped on the fork. This time she managed to slurp a few down while the rest fell into the bowl.

[burningpainting]

"Here," Karolina giggled, leaning forward to take Xavin's fork. "It helps if you twirl them a bit," she demonstrated, easily maneuvering the fork between her thumb and forefinger, winding the noodles around the tines. "That should work."

[princeoftarnax]

Xavin smiled. "Thank you." She ate the noodles on the fork, then imitated Karolina's demonstration and succeeded at capturing the noodles. "These are good."

[burningpainting]

"I'm glad you like them," Karolina beamed. "I take it there isn't really anything similar in Skrull cuisine? Or do you guys just not have fork-like utensils?"

It was kind of hard to imagine a world in which nothing edible was noodle-shaped. Plenty of cultures on earth didn't use forks (observe, her chopsticks), but most had noodly things.

[princeoftarnax]

"No, there are similar foods, but this- fork- is unfamiliar." Xavin twirled the fork in the noodles again and took another bite. She smiled. Karolina was talented, she more than compensated for Xavin's own lack of culinary skills.