hellwasp - Sunshine

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine had never been stung by a bee or wasp before, and now has spent the last stretch of her dawn run mentally apologizing to her little brothers when teen!her had thought they were exaggerating how much they hurt. She really has no clue whether she is allergic to them, but doesn't find any difficulty breathing or itchiness or any other sign she would expect while she quickly makes her way back to the bar's kitchen. Really, the only new feeling she's aware of on the run back is a desire for breakfast, her stomach rumbling to remind her she hasn't eaten yet today.

The first-aid kit under the sink has antiseptic gel, bandages, and a tiny bottle of antihistamines, one of which she takes with a glass of water while looking over the kitchen and considering what to make. She had planned on making more of those new experiments, the Insomniac's Dream, and testing them out against the tastebuds of the bar patrons for their opinions.

But...

Maybe she'll make herself breakfast first? She's craving a tall stack of fluffy, buttermilk pancakes, slathered over with butter and maple syrup. Or strawberries. Or both. And maybe she'll fry up some eggs and make toast to go with it. She needs some protein to start the day with. Oooh, and some crispy hashbrowns would be amazing.


If one were to wander into the kitchen this morning, Sunshine can be found creating the various components to her dream breakfast, or later, sitting down to the sizeable meal.

(ooc: Sunshine has been stung by the hellwasp, and has lost her visceral aversion to meat, and her desire to make food for other people, while gaining Cyborg's ravenous appetite.)

Comments

[runningred]

Jay wanders in, looking for something. He chuckles at the mess. "Having fun there, Sunshine?"

[sunbaked_baker]

There is a certain amount of skill in multitasking various dishes over the same stove, but cleaning up at the same time may be a superhuman feat beyond Sunshine's ability, in this case. These breakfast foods cook quickly and require frequent attention. The mixing bowls, measuring cups, box grater and empty egg shells still clutter the counter-top.

At the moment, the hashbrowns are sizzling temptingly from one skillet, and in another a series of pancakes are poured, flipped, and added to a growing stack on a nearby plate. A softened stick of butter sits nearby, a few slices of hearty bread have been set aside, ready for toasting, and a cup with three eggs in it wait on the sidelines for a skillet to be empty.

"Oh you know it," Sunshine grins over her shoulder at him. "I was out running when my stomach pointedly reminded me that breakfast hadn't happened yet, and that was a terrible crime. How's your morning been?"

[runningred]

Jay shakes his head and gives her a quick squeeze. "Terrible crime. Tell you what, fees me a couple of those pancakes and I'll clean while you cook."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Help! Thief! He be stealin' my pancakes!" Sunshine chuckles, leaning into the brief hug. "Nah, nah. I can share some of my pancakes, however pitious and hungry I might be."

However teasing her tone, her stomach does choose that moment to rumble in protest.

"The hash browns, though... those are browning gorgeously, and I will defend them against such banditry."

[runningred]

"Pixie Boots strikes again." Jay chuckles, stealing a pancake and taking a big bite before wiping down the bench. "Maybe I should make some scrambled eggs to make it up to you?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"I've got three eggs for frying waiting in the wings for the pancakes to be done, but everything sounds good at the moment. I wouldn't say no," she admits, with a faint laugh. "Don't know why I'm so hungry this morning, but I really am."

[runningred]

"I may not be a very good cook but I can scramble eggs at least." He grabs a bowl and a pan and starts throwing together a pretty respectable plate of eggs to go with her mega breakfast.

"So, what's got your appetite all a flutter?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"No clue," she admits with a slight chuckle, moving the tangle of golden-brown hashbrowns to a plate alongside the stack of pancakes, and moving to put the slices of bread in the toaster. "I was running around the lake like usual and suddenly my stomach was reminding me pointedly that I hadn't eaten yet this morning. Apparently the feeling was going around, as some horsefly or something tried to take a bite out of me, too."

She holds up her arm, briefly. The red welt has been treated with antiseptic and had a bandaid put over it, but it's still noticeable.

"It fared better than most things that try."

[runningred]

"Been a couple of those lately. One got Coral too, poor thing came out in hives." He gives her a hand to plate up. "Well, hopefully this'll help."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh no, poor thing," Rae winces in sympathy. "I hope she's all right. At the best of circumstances, being stung is no picnic. I spent the last part of my run mentally apologizing to my younger brothers for my private thoughts that they were exaggerating how much it hurt when they got stung by bees or wasps in the past."

Her look softens as the food is finished cooking and all plated up. She grabs a fork from a nearby drawer. "It all smells so good. Still don't know why I'm so hungry this morning. Feels like I've not eaten in days."

[runningred]

"We had cupcakes." Jay grins, as that's clearly the cure for everything.

Jay plucks a fork from her hand. "Well, tuck in. After you've eaten, you might be thinking clearer."

[deadeye_shot]

Hawkeye enters the kitchen backwards, shouldering open the door, as her hands are full of paperwork and potato soup ingredients. When she spots Sunshine, Hawkeye offers her a beaming grin. "Hello, hello! How are you doing today? Are you hungry? I'm making potato soup!"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Oh man... that sounds so good right now," Sunshine enthuses, leaning back and looking wistfully up at the ceiling for a moment before turning to offer Hawkeye a replying smile. She is at the sink, currently, washing all the mixing bowls, measuring cups, skillets and plates from breakfast. "I was on my morning run and my stomach pointedly reminded me I hadn't eaten yet today, and just how much a terrible crime that was, so I had to come in."

Then she had breakfast, but that isn't the important part. The important part is the possibility of soup!

"How have you been doing? Enjoying Milliways?" Hawkeye certainly seems to be enjoying herself.

[deadeye_shot]

"Oh, yes!" Hawkeye gushes, setting the soup ingredients down on a free counter. "I've been having a blast. In part because of you. Thank you!"

She strips of her stiff uniform jacket, revealing a black, form-fitting turtleneck and two pistols in shoulder holsters, and drapes the shed garment over a nearby chair. Then she undoes her hair clip, letting her long, blonde tresses fall down her back. She shakes out her hair and runs her fingers through it, and then, after placing the clip in her pocket, heads to the sink to wash her hands.

"So that's a yes on the soup?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yes please!" Sunshine chimes in, chuckling. "And I'm glad I could help - I know Milliways can be overwhelming at first."

She spots the red sting mark at Hawkeye's neck as the other woman comes over to wash her hands. "Though, hey, you want some antiseptic or a bandaid for that welt? I keep a first-aid kit in here."

[deadeye_shot]

"Oh, that'd be great, thanks," Hawkeye says, hand hovering above where the welt is, at the very top of her turtleneck. "I was stung by a wasp or something. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a bee, because there wasn't any dead bugs next to me afterwards."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Dang," she says sympathetically, flicking water off her hands into the sink before drying them and fetching the first aid kit. "Same thing happened to me this morning, out by the lake. Got stung by something."

She turns slightly to show the bandaid covering most of a similar red welt on her arm. "Guess it's just that time of year. Everything's blooming, so the bees and wasps are out and about. You're not allergic or anything, are you?"

[deadeye_shot]

"No," Hawkeye says, accepting the first aid kit. She digs through it gladly and finds an antiseptic gel and a bandaid, the latter of which she's never seen before looking at Sunshine's arm. "What a curious bandage. And it just sticks to you?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yeah," Rae replies with a slight smile. "the ends have skin-safe temporary adhesive, with a bit a padding in the center to put over the bite or scrape or whatever minor injury you need it for. The come in various sizes and shapes. The good ones are waterproof, too."

[deadeye_shot]

"Fascinating!" Hawkeye says, clearly impressed. She peels the wrapper off the bandage and disposes of it before squirting some antiseptic gel on the padding. Then she carefully sticks the bandaid onto her neck, over the welt.

Bandaging taken care of, Hawkeye searches the drawers for the potato peeler. She's actually never been in the kitchen at Milliways before, so she's impressed with how well-stocked it is. Aha, she finds the peeler, and sets to work. "Would you mind giving me some pointers on potato soup? I'm a utilitarian cook, and though I know this recipe by heart, I'm sure it can be improved upon."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine's smile brightens. "I would be happy to help," she affirms.

"Gimme a rundown of the recipe, so I know what we're working with," she suggests, rinsing dishsoap off a mixing bowl. "Ingredients, basic steps, and so on."


(ooc: Feel free to be as specific or vague on the recipe as suits you! We can handwave any details we need to.)

[deadeye_shot]

Hawkeye grins. "Thanks!" she says, and runs through the basic ingredients for the soup--onion, garlic, carrot, celery, potatoes, cream, vegetable broth, butter, marjoram, cream, and salt and pepper. She then describes the basic steps, from sauteing the celery, carrot garlic and onion, to chopping and boiling the potatoes, to adding the cream and spices.

"That's all there is to it," Hawkeye says, working as she speaks, chopping the garlic and onion and melting the butter in a pan. "It's a simple but hearty recipe."

[sunbaked_baker]

Sunshine listens intently, considering the steps involved.

"After the potatoes are cooked through, blending up some of them - but not all of them - would create a thicker soup. It sounds a lovely recipe, though. Hearty and flavorful. It might be good with some grated cheese and chopped green onions sprinkled over the top of it, or a dollop of sour cream."

[deadeye_shot]

"Blending? I can mash them, if that's what you mean," Riza says, sauteing the onion and carrot and celery in the butter. "Cheese sounds like a great idea. I never used it because it was expensive."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Ah, your world might not have things like blenders," Rae realizes belatedly. "Blenders are counter-top machines that have a container on the top and a set of spinning blades at the bottoms of the containers. You can put food in there if you want to quickly chop it all up together. Good for making smoothies and stuff like that. Immersion blenders are essentially that same machine but with a set of blades and a safety shield at the bottom of... what looks like a stick with buttons on it. The blades can be stuck down into a pot of chunky soup and turned on to quickly break down the solid chunks and blend the ingredients in it together."

[deadeye_shot]

"Fascinating," Riza says, after Rae's explanation. "That certainly would make the soup easier to swallow. And adding cheese would make it even more creamy. I have to try this. Where are the immersion blenders located?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Blending up some of the potatoes doesn't change the flavor so much, but it feels better in the mouth, if that makes sense," Rae grins, stepping away from her side of the stovetop briefly. "Immersion blender is over here, in this drawer. It's got multiple attachments - a whisk if you wanted to avoid arm strain while making a meringue or whipped cream, and this one with the spinning blades at the end and the safety and splatter-shield over them."

[deadeye_shot]

"That does make sense," Riza says, nodding eagerly. She skips over to the drawer Sunshine indicates and finds what must be the immersion blender, based on her previous description. "Aha."

Riza crosses to the soup pot and sets the blender down on the counter near it. She adds the sautéed vegetables to the pot and starts chopping potatoes. "So should I add the cream after I blend it all together?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"That'd be the time to add the cream, yes, when the soup is just about ready to be removed from the heat," Rae nods, smiling as she brings the last of the skillets she'd used over to the sink to wash. "And there are tricks to keeping the cream from curdling from the sudden heat. Let it get up to room temperature before adding it, for one, and then tempering it as you add it. By putting the amount of cream you want to add into a bowl first, and slowly adding a bit of the hot soup to it and mixing it in, before adding the mixture back into the pot of soup, you heat the cream more slowly and prevent it from curdling. Tempering or waiting until the last minute is key to using many of the more... sensitive ingredients that either lose their structural or flavor integrity from too much heat."

[deadeye_shot]

Riza adds the chopped potatoes to the soup pot. She hauls the whole pot over to the sink and fills it with water. Then she adds the marjoram, salt, and pepper before stirring all the ingredients together. "I had no idea. Cream has curdled on me before, but I didn't know about tempering. The soup should be done in about twenty minutes."

[coral_sandhu]

Coral can't help pinching a bit of hash brown as she comes past.

"Hi Rae."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Coral," Rae admonishes, surprised and not pleased. "Why would you stick your fingers in someone else's food?"

[coral_sandhu]

"I washed my hands." Coral lies, with a slightly wounded tone. "It was just a little bit."

[sunbaked_baker]

"I didn't ask if you washed your hands, Coral," Rae replies. "I asked you why you put your fingers in someone else's food. I haven't gotten to asking why you'd take someone else's food yet, but it's in the list."

[coral_sandhu]

"Because it looked tasty." Coral says, with a more wounded tone. "I didn't know you'd be so cross about it. Normally you share."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Do you feel differently when someone comes up an takes one of the toys you're playing with, instead of asking first? Even if you'd normally share, it doesn't feel good. If I had known you wanted some, I could have made some 'specially for you," Rae replies.

[coral_sandhu]

"I'm pretty good at sharing, actually." Coral says.

"I'm sorry you're in such a mood today." she adds, turning and flouncing off.

[ooc: Sorry! Blaming the wasp <3]

[sunbaked_baker]

"Hope your friends know the difference between sharing and taking, at least," Sunshine gives a dry little sigh as the girl flounces off, and shakes her head to herself.

(ooc: No worries! Neither of them are really themselves today. <33333)