[OTA] comfort foods

[st_ackeddeck]

Emma had spent more of the last four days in front of a fire with her cards than she wanted to admit to herself. She wouldn't even let herself think what Sabine or Dani would've said if they'd seen her. When not there, she'd been curled up in a blanket nest she made in one of the twin beds upstairs, crying until she felt dryer than the desert outside. It still felt too empty to sleep until exhaustion didn't leave her a choice, but it was better than the king bed would've been. She'd left that for her roommate. He'd been back sometime while she was upstairs, gotten his bag, and left again. That was okay. She didn't really want to people, and she'd only hurt him with her face, and her not knowing what to say or not make things worse just by existing.

Four days of only leaving the room long enough to get a bite to eat she wouldn't even taste was ridiculous, and when lying there unable to sleep got to be too much, she showered and dressed. Chop vegetables, boil water, Dani would've said. Shortly before dawn, the hotel kitchen was empty. Emptier than the castle's would've probably been that time of night.

With no appetite, she looked at what was available to decide where to start. Plenty of venison... a confit maybe, since it was so early, and would take time to cook. Once that was in the oven, she was lost for a moment, and grabbed a bag of onions. If a few tears formed as she sliced them thin, it was just the onions, that was all, and once she started them caramelizing, she felt steadier, and maybe ready to think of eating herself eventually. Soup later, from the onions.

Aligot. That was what she wanted. So she gathered her ingredients, and started to peel potatoes, dropping them whole into water with lemon juice. By the time sounds of the inn started to filter through, and others came into the kitchen she had more potatoes than she had any need for, and she started thinking of all the ways she could use them, each dish sounding as welcome as the last. Putting the peeled potatoes in the walk-in to keep cool, she went looking for a small chalkboard she'd seen in the café. In neat even letters, she wrote:

Today's Specials

Potatoes All Day

Latkes
6-11AM
Gratin Dauphinois
11AM-3PM
Raclette
3PM-7PM
Tartiflette
7PM-10PM
Aligot
12N-1PM, 8-9PM
Disco Fries
all day, made on order

DINNER SPECIAL

Confit de Venaison, Pané

Soupes du Jour
Potato Leek
French Onion


She added some scrolling designs in the margins and looked over her work. That would keep her busy. Busy was good. Feeding people, feeling like she was doing something useful, that was even better.

((OOC: Find Emma in the kitchens or the café, any time throughout the day. She's shy and sad, but always willing to talk about food, and willing to take requests.))

Comments

[st_upidgravity]

Steph had a lot of thinking to do and sometimes, the only proper response was to carb load while you did it. The headline of "potatoes all day" seemed promising, so she stopped at the sign and read through the options. Then she looked over at the redhead who was not Ignis. "So...which one of these is mashed potatoes?"

[st_ackeddeck]

"Aligot," Emma answered as she turned to look at the woman who'd asked. "Think... the love child of mashed potatoes and cheese fondue. But if you'd rather have mashed potatoes, I could make you some. They're easy."

[st_upidgravity]

"Cheesy mashed potatoes." Steph turned the idea over in her mind, matched it to her need to brood and wallow in misery. "Yeah, that sounds solid. I'm Steph, by the way. You're new."

[st_ackeddeck]

"Very new. I'm Emma." She glanced at the sign, the evidence of her own emotional state. "I think that's why all the cheesy potato variations. A way to keep busy, and wind up with the culinary equivalent of a hug. I started by thinking I could really use some aligot, and things went in all directions from there."

[st_upidgravity]

"Mashed potatoes are totally my 'things are impossible' comfort food. Usually my mashed potato cooking involves dumping water on dehydrated flakes though. So I'm kind of grateful that your coping involves a whole lot of stress cooking." Steph smiled. "Are you in the middle of anything? Want to sit down and work through a plate of cheesy mashed potatoes with me?"

[st_hotflashes]

Liz decided she should probably figure out what she was going to do for the long term in the Inn and since she wasn't sure she could be much help elsewhere, she decided to check out the restaurant to see if anyone was there. She knew people took jobs here, but she figured it might be nice if the cook actually agreed for her to work there. Plus it felt too weird for her to just declare that was what she was doing.

She walked up to the kitchen doors and gently opened it and knocked on the side of the door. "Hello?"

[st_ackeddeck]

The creepy not all there, but not a ghost chef cooking chicken hadn't seemed bothered by Emma being in the kitchen, other than asking if she wanted a chicken biscuit. And he didn't react when someone knocked and called out, so after a moment, Emma realized it would be up to her.

"Hi. Did you want something to eat?"

[st_hotflashes]

"Oh, um. No. I'm not hungry right now." She gave a bit of a smile, though it felt awkward and she glanced at the other man who didn't even seem to realize she was there and then back to the woman. "I actually came here to see if maybe I could be a server... here"

[st_ackeddeck]

Emma glanced down, and then toward the cook so much like the guy at the front desk, He still wasn't any help. "Probably? I don't know if there's somebody you should talk to, or if you can just start helping out or what. Sorry. I've only been here a few days. I just had to do something, and I wasn't sleeping last night, so I came down here and started cooking. I'm still kind of expecting somebody to kick me out any minute now."

[st_igmatized]

Sunny had barely known what to do with herself these past few days, wanting so badly to talk to Chichi or Sasha or Orlu or her mother. With so little to do, the time dragged. Much as she ated her room there was nowhere else for her to be alone when she was overwhelmed.

And then one day she couldn't take it anymore and went to the kitchen.

It seemed that she was not the only person with that mindset, upon seen the veritable mountain of potatoes waiting to be used. But that was not the real surprise. "... Em?"

[st_ackeddeck]

At first, Emma thought maybe someone had sent the woman looking for her, since she called her by name, but didn't seem completely sure about it, but when Emma looked up, that wasn't uncertainty, that was recognition in those hazel eyes.

Not again.

"I'm sorry. I... don't know who you are. This place, it does that sometimes."

[st_igmatized]

... Oh.

So this was what Coby had been talking about.

And despite the warning, it hurt a hell of a lot more than Sunny expected.

She swallowed it down and made herself smile apologetically. "Yeah. I've heard about that. I'm sorry. My name's Sunny. It's... nice to meet you." What the hell else did you say?

[st_ackeddeck]

"Nice to meet you, Sunny. I just wish it was... less awkward for you." And for Emma too, but how hard did it have to be seeing a friend who didn't know you at all?

"Did you... You came in here for something. Can I help? Or, do you have time, want to talk?"

[st_illavirgin]

More people in the hotel meant more people to cook for, which meant more opportunity to keep busy. Something Carlos, who normally was run ragged across most of the States and wasn't sure what to do with the downtime, appreciated here. But it also threw in stuff that he didn't expect, like people working the kitchens.

He was sauntering in, not really thinking about what to do today. Just ready to make up whatever came to mind with what the hotel had supplied today, but he looked at the board that had appeared, frowning slightly. "That... is a lot of potatoes..." he commented, mostly to himself, but loud enough to be heard.

[st_ackeddeck]

"Carb loading?" Em offered sheepishly, not meeting the guy's eyes. "Or I kind of zoned out peeling them. I can always make gnocchi with any that don't get cooked today." They wouldn't go to waste, if that was what he worried about.

[st_illavirgin]

It wasn't what he was worried about. He leaned against one of the counters. "You're new here, aren't you? I haven't seen you about before." Not that he minded, apart from the fact that the hotel seemed to have an insatiable appetite for new people. That was concerning. New people was always an interesting experience, at least. "Carlos Ramirez. Welcome."

[st_ackeddeck]

"Emma. Colbert. I've been here just long enough to find my way to the kitchens." So very new. She didn't add she'd mostly been hermiting in her room since she arrived. "But if I'm not supposed to be here, I can go. I just... I'm used to cooking for people."

[st_eadfast]

Ignis, being blind, missed the sign advertising potatoes-all-day, but he'd have had to be anosmic to miss the smells of cooking already going on in the kitchen. That there were other cooks at the Inn was no surprise to him - there was at least one, by the name of Carlos - so he didn't react in any out of the ordinary way.

As usual, he started by making coffee. For himself mostly, given the early hour, which meant he was free to make it as dark as he liked.

[st_ackeddeck]

When the man walked in, Emma tensed, bracing for him to ask what she was doing there or telling her she needed to leave. But the admonition didn't come.

"I hope it's okay. Me being here. I'll stay out of your way, I just... Cooking's a good way to keep busy."

[st_eadfast]

"I quite agree." The voice was new, and almost certainly didn't belong to anyone named Carlos. By inference, she was responsible for the smells. "As far as I can tell, you're neither setting things on fire nor breaking them, so I have no objections. You're a new arrival, I assume?"

[st_ackeddeck]

"Just a few days ago. I'm Emma, sorry, I didn't say that. And I only set things on fire when they're supposed to be. I promise." She couldn't help a shakiness in her voice as she talked about flambéing things. She wasn't sure she could make those recipes any time soon, not when she was used to making them with Pyro. She shook her head and let out a slow breath. She was here so she wouldn't think about that so much right now.

With her usual (bad) habit of not making eye contact, it took her watching as he made the coffee to realize he was blind. "I have a confit going in the oven on the far end, and I prepped way too many potatoes, so I thought I'd make different cheesy potato dishes all day. But if there's anything you need me to do, or somewhere you'd rather I set up, please, just tell me?"

[st_andingtall]

Lucy had poked Sam out of bed even before he'd ordinarily be awake. She hadn't let up with the 'sad girl who is nice to ghosts in the kitchen' until Sam finally threw up his hands (literally) and let her drag him into the cafe--where he promptly stared at the hand-written menu and the pretty scrolling designs until Lucy poked him forward again.

"Okay, Lucy. I'm going. Cool it," he said to the ghost who was, on the whole, the most passive-aggressive spirit he'd ever met.

He smiled at the pretty redhead behind the counter and said, "I don't know what half those things are, but I'll have one of all of them. Also, this--" He pointed to the now visible form behind his shoulder. "--is Lucy and she wanted me to say hi. I'm Sam."

[st_ackeddeck]

"Hi, Lucy. Sam." Emma had a friendly smile for the ghost, but didn't quite lift her head enough for eye contact with the man. "I'm Emma. And that," she said, referring to the sign, "is mostly a study in potatoes cooked with cream and/or cheese." Comfort food, plus the comfort of cooking. She was being ridiculous, wasn't she?

"Why did you want Sam to meet me?" she asked Lucy, another way of distracting herself, plus maybe preventing Sam for a moment from wondering why she'd picked those recipes to cook.

[st_andingtall]

"Because he's nice to us too," Lucy replied impatiently, as though that ought to be perfectly obvious since she was talking to both of them. As ghosts often did, she lost her pique and continued excitedly, "Sometimes he makes us leave rooms for awhile, but he doesn't hurt us and he took us on a field trip. I haven't left here in forever."

Since it wasn't exactly normal for someone to prefer talking to ghosts to him, he didn't interrupt, but said, "I like potatoes and cheese. Which is your favorite?" Because he actually preferred salad to heavy, fatty foods, but he wanted to try what she'd cooked.

[st_ackeddeck]

That he let Lucy and Emma talk was a good sign, and what Lucy told her was too. Although, she wondered at the field trip. It reminded her of some of the things she and Sabine did more because one of the Soul Train was interested.

"Are you a psychopomp?" He'd asked about the food, and she'd get back to that, but if there was someone like her cousin here, she was glad the ghosts were making introductions.