apocalypsehowcomm | [ LOG ] What do you call a fake noodle?

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[ LOG ] What do you call a fake noodle?

Who: Winter, Yelena and Kate
When: April 1, evening
Where: Their apartment.
Summary: Kate is going to teach Winter how to cook and Yelena how to bake. Then it's movie night!
Warnings: N/A

Kate is going to teach Yelena and Winter how to bake and cook. She has faith in them. They are both competent individuals and she is certain that they can follow written instructions. It's all about the recipe.

She has selected two recipes for them each to follow. Kate will teach them the same day but at different times. After all, the cookies will take longer to prep than the pasta.

After dinner and desert, Kate thought they could watch a movie. She found one in the Library called the Iron Giant. While it is animated, the synopsis of the story seems compelling. And certainly a cartoon would provide more escape than a traditional film. There shouldn't be anything triggering in it.

What could go wrong?

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For Yelena, Kate has picked out a sugar cookie recipe. It's baking. It's an exact science which is why Kate has taken a little more care with the recipe in question. She found one that doesn't require the dough to be chilled first. She'll start Yelena first because of the time needed to combine all the ingredients into one dough. The cookies can bake while she teaches Winter his dish.

Why cookies? Because cookie dough is delicious and they can be shared if they don't eat them all during the movie.

Like she'll do with Winter, she has placed all of the ingredients out but hasn't measured or pre-prepped any of them. Again, baking is a science. Yelena will need to properly follow the directions to ensure an edible cookie.

"One of the most important things to remember about baking is to separate your wet and dry ingredients. Sugar, is usually never a dry ingredient."

Yelena glances from Kate to the container of sugar, which looks decidedly solid and dry, and back again, brow furrowing slightly as though she suspects there might be a joke in play to which she isn't privy.

"That makes no sense," she says after a moment. "Explain?"

"I know it makes no sense but it's true. You have to mix it with the eggs and butter to make sure that it is evenly mixed before you add the flour." Kate takes a breath, "I can answer that more in depth but I don't know how much you want me to go into baking chemistry."

"I want you to go all the way," Yelena says, then reviews her choice of words and wrinkles her nose slightly. "But not the way that sounded, because this is not a terrible porno."

She turns to survey the ingredients, noting their positions, and those of the tools. "I will remember that sugar is wet because that sounds ridiculous enough to stick, but knowing the why will help me apply it when I don't have you to supervise."

"No, it's not but if we're ever strapped for cash..." Kate laughs a little. The idea is too amusing for her to finish the thought. "Okay. Okay."

She reverts to a more serious mode because baking is very serious to her. "So when you mix the sugar in with the other actual wet ingredients, it dissolves quicker and mixes more thoroughly in without having to spend so much time mixing." A pause to let that sink in and then, "Also it has something to do with gluten formation but please don't ask me to explain that. I'd need a whiteboard."

Yelena pretends to consider this gravely for a moment before nodding. "I'll let you off the hook for the gluten explanation. This time."

She scans the recipe - for the third time, having apparently decided to approach the lesson as though it's a mission, all jokes aside - then goes to turn on the oven.

"Are you sure? I use different colored markers to make it more interesting." Kate says with a small smile. In truth, it is not interesting at all. It does explain everything, however.

While Yelena turns the oven on, Kate goes to fix herself coffee. Of course, she's going to make a pot. Yelena might want some and Kate might want a second cup. "Let me know if you have questions. I'm going to try not to interfere," try being the keyword.

"Oh, well if there are coloured markers..." Yelena says teasingly.

She considers a moment, then glances over at Kate. "Are there any other ingredients I should know about that aren't treated like someone who isn't a baker would expect?"

Kate rolls her eyes at Yelena's gentle teasing. Colored markers help! It shows the breakdown of each subject into the various sub-categories and Yelena knows how Kate feels about organization.

"Don't mix up your baking powder and baking soda. And when in doubt follow the recipe."

"What is the difference?" Yelena asks. "I've always wondered."

She pulls out one of the bowls to begin sifting the dry ingredients together, measurements careful and precise, like she's building a bomb, not making cookies.

Yelena is building a bomb. It's good way of looking at it. One wrong move though and instead of an explosion, she'll be left with a dud.

"Both help baked goods rise. Baking soda is just sodium bicarbonate and needs liquid and an acid to work. Baking powder has that already in it plus an acid built in so it only needs a liquid to become activated." She knows this question because she's asked it before. "I know you're going to ask why don't you just use baking powder instead of the soda and my answer is going to be because of chemistry."

For Winter, she has picked out a lemon pasta dish that is fairly straight forward. There are no bells and whistles on the dish; just pasta, parmesan and lemon. She feels it is the perfect starter recipe. A person can live on sandwiches alone but why should they?

The recipe is printed out on white paper. The only prep that Kate has done for Winter is to lay out all of the ingredients but she hasn't measured them or chopped anything. That is all for Winter to do.

Kate intends to mostly supervise but will step in should the need arise.

"Before we start, do you have any questions about the recipe?"

He scans the recipe a moment. Then asks, "What do. TSP mean?" Following instructions is fairly easy, but he needs to know what kind of measurement that is for the lemon.

"Teaspoon," she replies and then takes a quick peak at the recipe again. "TBSP means tablespoon."

"Okay." A pause. "You're going to have to show me what those are." Because he is just baffled. Boil water, check, he can do that. Dump in pasta, yes, he can do that too. Stir it. All that. He's been watching Kate cook for months now.

But the measurements of the lemon juice and cheese are a bit beyond him for the moment.

"I appreciate that you're telling me what you need to me to show you," because Kate doesn't want to assume what Winter knows. She doesn't want to butt in and take over the lesson.

She picks up a set of measure spoons. A set of measure cups had been sitting beside it. "This goes from an eighth of a teaspoon to two tablespoons. All you're going to do is fill it and dump it in the bowl. The measuring cups are all marked with different measurements. I find it best to sit them on a flat surface to fill." And not hold them which might make slight adjustments to the recipe's flavor because the utensils were not at eye-level.

He'd wondered why there were stacked cups and spoons of different sizes like that, but he hadn't wondered enough to ask. Interesting. He picks up the spoons and squints at the labels, then nods. "All right. Boil water first, then."

And he sets about doing that. If the recipe says a specific amount of water to boil, he'll measure it out painstakingly carefully. If not, he'll just eyeball it to what Kate usually uses for about that much pasta.

Kate nods her head but doesn't say anything else. This is Winter's show. She's just an observer who will interfere if need be. While Winter starts water to boil, Kate fixes herself a cup of coffee. Earlier, she had made a pot while making cookies with Yelena.

He follows instructions to the letter. The more specific they are, the better he manages, but he's also filled in the blanks a little from watching Kate for all this time. His one question is: "It says to stir occasionally. How much is occasionally."

It is hard for Kate to not jump in and just do it herself. But she is trying to be more patient, besides Winter is doing a fine job on his own. "With pasta? I give them a good stir at least once every minute. Sometimes more often, it just depends on the pasta." And how she's feeling for the day.

"Once every minute," he repeats, then nods and gets back to it. The lemon and parmesan he can handle while the pasta boils. In between stirring. Which he does, every minute.

Then he runs out of lemon and parmesan to prep, and sits and waits for the pasta to finish boiling. Still stirring once a minute. Maybe on his second or third time he'll be less precise about his instructions, but for his first time, he's going to make sure he gets it right.

Kate nods her head here and there, very happy that she hasn't had to intervene so far. She believes that most people can at least cook if they just have the patience to follow the recipe.

"Are you liking it so far?"

Patience is not a thing Winter is short on. "It's not difficult," is what he answers. "So far, anyway." And the recipe doesn't look like there's much more to it, honestly. Pour out the water, mix in the lemon and sprinkle on the cheese, and that's pretty much it.

He's not sure if that counts as liking it or not. Maybe once he's not worried about doing it perfectly the liking will come.

"So far," Kate smiles. She had picked out a relatively easy recipe to follow along with. There is nothing too complex about it and minimal cooking tools are needed. "I'm going to build your skills slowly but surely. Give me a couple of months and I'll have you capable of preparing a small feast."

"Okay." He shifts to stir again. "It seems like a good skill to have."

Even if he doesn't ever anticipate having to do without Kate and Yelena to help him get by, food-wise, it's still probably smart to know how to at least feed himself beyond sandwiches.

Kate has picked the Iron Giant for the three of them to watch. It's animated. It's set in a different time. It's about a fifty-foot robot befriending a little boy. The movie should be a great escape from the usual ADI nonsense and Gloucester life.

The movie has its funny moments along with some serious ones. It's a good movie, she thinks, but then they get to the near end and finally the actual end.

Kate sniffs. "Well. I wasn't expecting that." She blinks. There is a tear in her right eye. She's not going to cry. She's not. She refuses. "This is supposed to be a kid's movie?"

Edited 2022-04-01 13:44 (UTC)

This was... hard. Actually. Winter thinks he probably missed a third of the movie, distracted by memories hitting hard one after the other, losing time. The weren't... all bad. And they weren't all new, either. It wasn't a lot of fun being catapulted back into the moment where he repeatedly hit Steve Rogers in the face.

It might be hard to notice that he wasn't present for the whole plot, given he spends each flashback still and silent and staring vaguely in the direction of the television, anyway. He's sitting on the floor in front of the couch, knees up, arms folded on top of them and hands gripping his elbows.

He's not crying, either. Mostly because he missed the worst part, from where the giant robot pulled back his guns from the little boy. His flesh hand is maybe a little white where it's holding onto his metal elbow, from how tight the grip is, though, and he's staring at the credits on the screen like he isn't actually seeing them.

Yelena isn't what anyone would call media-blind. There are a number of movies she's seen over the years, things she'd need to be familiar with to hold up a cover, and things that make good packaging for subliminal training.

This particular movie isn't one of them. So she didn't know to give warning ahead of time. Didn't know until partway through to watch Winter as well as the movie. His reaction isn't as obvious as previous ones have been - with all of them sitting around the television, there's no freezing mid-stride. Still, she notes the lines of white at his knuckles, and the fixed stillness with which he regards the screen. From where she sits on the couch, she leans carefully forward, prepared to pull away if she triggers a startle response.

"Winter?"

On this Earth, Kate is media blind. There are so many things that she hasn't seen or heard. She often has to quietly google certain things after pretending that she gets a certain reference or hears a piece come up in conversation. It's exhausting.

Later, she will wish that she had looked up The Iron Giant first before deciding that it would make a good film for movie night. Later, she will feel terrible. She'll end up feeling like a real jackass.

She sniffs and then looks over at Yelena and then down to Winter. Kate had been engrossed in watching the film from start to finish. She had laughed at the wave and is still trying not to cry from the ending. It had been sad and then hopeful. She thought it a good movie only she hadn't been expecting Winter's reaction.

She notices how Winter is completely still. She sees how tightly his right hand is gripping his elbow. Kate does not reach out to touch his shoulder. She pulls back a little into the back of the sofa as Yelena leans forward.

He doesn't startle. He's back to himself now, even if he's chewing hard on memories, and now the inside of his cheek. His voice sounds creaky and tight, though, when he says: "Yelena. Did you ever see. Hear. Words?"

It might not be immediately clear what he's asking. He's vaulted straight back from the painful memory of nearly killing someone his very core insists he protect and care for, and into the equally painful but more urgent memory of the last few words of his triggering sequence. Which he hadn't remembered he even had, until now.

"I..." Yelena pauses, brow furrowing slightly as she turns the disjointed question over in her head.

"I'm sorry, Winter. I am not sure what you mean."

Kate is still and quiet. What words does Winter mean? She looks to Yelena and then to Winter unsure of what to say or even do.

"After the Chair. I. Did you ever hear anyone. Say Words? Specific Words. In Russian. That made me--" He stops, throat closing up against the fear in the memory, then gestures vaguely and helplessly at the screen. He's not sure he can clearly articulate it, he's not sure he can even speak again yet, but he kind of hopes someone puts two and two together with the robot's switch into combat mode and subsequent (if brief) loss of self.

Yelena exhales slowly, hands clenching on the hem of her sweater.

"Trigger words?" she asks, and is distantly pleased that she manages to keep her voice absolutely level. "For your conditioning? No. I'm not surprised they had them."

She shudders slightly, a sharp roll of her shoulders.

"But I don't know what they are."

It's half apology, and half reassurance. Without anyone knowing what the trigger words are, deprogramming would be a much more difficult task, if he wants to pursue it. But without anyone knowing what they are, they can't be used against him again.

She wouldn't - but can't is more certain.

Kate looks to Winter and then to Yelena again. Should I go? She mouths because she is honestly not sure. Yelena and Winter know each other, Kate knows. They have a special bond. He may need some alone time with her to figure out where he is.

Kate does not like seeing Winter like this. It's her fault. She should have researched the movie. She should have taken more than just a librarian's word that it's a good movie. She should have done more.

"That's good that she doesn't know, right? That means no one else that's here knows them." Right?

She understands the gist of their conversation. Whatever had been done to Winter had been started with words or words triggered something in him. She doesn't have to understand it all to know just how horrible it must have been for him.

It might have been a relief... if this wasn't a world with magic. If the magic of this place hadn't already pulled memories out of him that he didn't want, before. "I might know. Somewhere in my head. I. I just remembered two of them. I think." He can only feel the edges of the memory, right now, he wants to flinch away from it, but he knows they're there.

He shudders all over and puts his head down onto his knees. "Which means someone here might be able to get the rest out," he finishes, slightly muffled.

Yelena shakes her head minutely in response to Kate's mouthed question. They're both Winter's people, part of the little family he calls his team.

And, perhaps more importantly, she doesn't share their history, or the context of their world - which means she might see some measure neither of them would spot.

"Maybe," Yelena says, because much as she wishes it were otherwise, it is a risk. "Someone could have that kind of power. But I think they'd have to know what they were looking for - or at least suspect it."

They have another problem than Winter realizing he has trigger words. It's the secret of them. It's a secret that only the three of them know and no one else. It's a good secret too the kind that could ruin a person. Kate isn't aware of it at first but the Eye is feeding.

"Yelena is right. They'd have to know that they existed and know where to look. I'm not going to tell anyone. I know Yelena won't. I think it's a fairly safe secret."

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[ LOG ] What do you call a fake noodle?

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