murder at disneyland!! ok no not really ... well maybe

[cutefaced]

Comments

[cutefaced]

Great!

[She beams at him, then tugs him over to point out a fancy-looking stove with a lot of bells and whistles.]

Let's start now. Tell me how that works!

[zerotohiro]

Okay. So you know how a normal oven works, right? Heat traveling through coils that warm up and are trapped in an enclosed space so that the temperature circulates and cooks things. This one looks like it's bigger, so more energy should be needed. But the design means it's a shorter distance and the energy needed is less.

[cutefaced]

So you're able to do more cooking with less energy...

[She... sort of gets it? There may be a lot of nuances that she doesn't understand, but she kind of gets it.]

If you were building it, how would you improve it?

[zerotohiro]

Shorter circuits and faster output. Mostly it'd be a way to get things moving at a quicker speed so less energy's wasted especially in the preheating phase. That seems to be where most time is wasted...but doing that is tricky. Especially if you don't want the oven to blow up.

[cutefaced]

Blow up-- do ovens do that often?

[because y i k e s]

[zerotohiro]

Only if they're not built right or you overheat them. [Or if you're Hiro, I guess.]

[cutefaced]

[Definitely if you're Hiro.]

Cooking things over a fire seems a lot simpler.

[zerotohiro]

Simpler but also less effective. You can't always tell the temperature of what you're cooking over an open flame, can you?

[cutefaced]

I don't know. I don't really cook.

[like... understatement of the century.]

[zerotohiro]

...how is it that I know how to cook and you don't? [Microwave meals maybe don't count but whatever.]

[cutefaced]

Your aunt is a chef!

[And her aunt is. ... Dead. Okay, she's not getting into that.]

It's in your blood!

[zerotohiro]

I don't think that's how that works.

[cutefaced]

But isn't that why the child of a blacksmith will usually end up becoming a blacksmith?

[no yona it's because usually they don't get other opportunities]

[zerotohiro]

...I don't know. I've never met a blacksmith. I don't think Varian counts either.

[cutefaced]

Oh... I always figured that's what it was so I never really thought about it much before.

[in other words, she's just stupid]

[zerotohiro]

Well no, by that logic that would also mean Varian would turn into a rock because of his dad? [No it wouldn't, and stop bringing up Varian.] The only time that's really always true is, well, with royalty.

[cutefaced]

...oh.

[Well. That sure explains why she thought that, at least.]

Um, well, anyway. You should teach me to cook! And if there's things we can't figure out on our own we can ask your aunt for help.

[zerotohiro]

[That at least gets his attention and he pauses to give her a critical, examining look.]

You really want to learn? I can teach you a lot to get you started, but it's not going to be easy.

[cutefaced]

Yes!

[She says this immediately and eagerly.]

I can't just keep relying on your aunt to keep me fed forever. Even if she is really good at cooking. I should learn to do it for myself!

[zerotohiro]

True. You know she doesn't mind though. [He gestures for her to follow. Let's go out of the fake kitchen and to the fake living room.] What's your favorite thing to eat anyway? I don't think I've ever asked.

[cutefaced]

That's part of why I want to learn. When it's her birthday, I want to make her something! You'll help me, right?

[She also plans to make Hiro something for his birthday, but that's a surprise.]

...oh, um. It's chicken rice porridge. Have you ever had it before?

[zerotohiro]

Of course I will. She'd really like that, I think. [But he pauses because. No. What the hell is that?]

Noooot that I can think of. What is it? [Porridge is what bears eat in Hiro's little fairytale brain and he's trying to piece this all together.]

1/2

[cutefaced]

Great! ...when is her birthday, anyway?

[Yona should, uh, probably learn that.

Also Hiro please.]

It's kind of like a soup, but thicker, and it has chicken and scallions in it. My father--

[cutefaced]

[Her expression falters for a moment, but then she smiles.]

...my father made it for me once, when I got sick. He was a terrible cook.

[zerotohiro]

You have time, it's not until June. [...ah. He notices the falter and he wonders what that's about.] ...your dad's like a king though, right? It's kind of cool that he tried.