A Prayer and a Dinner

[swordofzero]

Who: Suzaku and Edge (Then Saber if he wants to join them for dinner!)
What: Suzaku and Edge go to check up on their (hopefully) former gambler and then Suzaku makes dinner, a late Christmas gift to Edge.
Where: Tokyo and then Saber's temple.
When: January 21st
Warnings: Gambling maybe? Other things I will add as appropriate.



A Prayer for Sustaining Suzaku and Edge

It had been quite a while since Edge and Suzaku had intervened to stop a gambler from betting away all his money. A month and a half and an awful lot had happened in that time. Suzaku had been without a god then and since he had been named and lost a second god before being named by Saber. Christmas and the New Year had passed, the Far shore had been hit with an earth quake and a volcano. But he had wondered a couple of times how the gambler was doing. If their 'miracle' had left a lasting impression. Suzaku knew that such habits were not easy ones to break.

Living in the same temple meant that things were quite easy to plan and so Suzaku and Edge had decided to go and check up on the man. To check everything was alright, that he had not fallen back into gambling over the holiday period. There was a shrine of Micheal not far from where the man lived.

"Are you ready?" Technically they didn't have to be in the same place to teleport down to the shrine, they would end up together anyways, but they might as well time it so neither of them had to wait too long.

A meal for friends. Edge and Saber

Suzaku also hadn't forgotten that he had promised to make Edge dinner as a Christmas present. He had slept, lost a god, gained a new one and slept again. Now they both served the same god and it was less inviting Edge over for a meal and more announcing that he was going to cook.

He had been practising, it seemed that cooking was not something he had had any skill in in life. Because he really didn't have the first clue how to do anything. He had thrown himself into learning though with, it seemed you really could find instructions for anything on the internet.

He had opted for a mix of Japanese and Britannian food. Miso soup, steamed rice, roast beef and vegetables.
The roast beef wasn't too complicated, he just had to make sure not to overcook it. Rice shouldn't be too difficult, neither should vegetables. Miso soup was more complicated but he had a recipe and was following it.

What he hadn't banked on was trying to do it all together. At the same time. Suzaku outwardly seems calm but he's currently hurrying between adding the final ingredients to the soup, turning down the bubbling over vegetables and checking the rice. His eyes flick back to the recipe, reading the next line. Once you add miso NEVER BOIL Miso soup.

"Oh." He hurries to turn down the hob. Why had he thought he could do all of this? He should have chosen something simpler.

Comments

[swordofzero]

"Lord Saber." Suzaku span round at Saber's voice and managed a smile even as he felt the need to apologise. Saber might allow them free reign of the temple but that didn't mean Suzaku was fully comfortable doing... anything really. It felt a little like trespassing and it was probably a little strange for Saber to go from having the temple to himself to having two shinki. He hoped the noise of his cooking hadn't disturbed his god.

"It's almost ready I think." He hopes. The meat is definitely done but the rice isn't, the vegetables are still a bit crunchy and he's probably ruined this miso soup by boiling the miso and he's not sure how to fix it, if it can even be fixed. Should he turn the oven off and risk the meat getting cold or just hope it doesn't burn in the meantime?

There was a hiss as the vegetables began to bubble over again.

[fauxcalibur]

Saber slipped into the room and began to look over what Suzaku was working on in interest. There was meat, which was the important part. As long as that was there, he wasn't terribly concerned with the rest of it. However, "not terribly concerned" still meant "prone to opening lids and picking up bowls to see what was in them."

"What are you making?"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku turned down the heat on the vegetables again though they were the main thing he was waiting on, it was a balance to make them cook and yet not bubble over. A balance that Suzaku had not mastered yet. He tried to not be in the way as Saber investigated the cooking, peering into the oven and lifting lids off pans.

"Roast beef and vegetables with steamed rice and miso soup, sir." Miso soup which was boiling again, maybe he had been supposed to take it off the heat completely before adding the miso? He hurried to turn that down as well, stirring it as he did in the hope it would stop boiling.

Why had he thought he could do this?

[fauxcalibur]

"That sounds delicious!" Saber stood back to give him a little more room, still watching Suzaku's every move. He could learn a lot from watching people, but he was fairly certain this wasn't something he was going to be able to figure out quite that easily. After all, it looked like Suzaku wasn't having that easy a time of it.

"And even if it isn't, you can't poison me with it, so you have nothing to worry about!"

[swordofzero]

Delicious was perhaps a very high bar. Suzaku was hoping for edible and anything else was a bonus. He took a knife and poked the vegetables again, still a little crunchy but if he didn't start taking everything out things were going to burn and so perhaps they would have to deal with slightly crunchy vegetables.

"That is a relief, sir." Giving his god food poisoning hadn't even been a worry until Saber had mentioned it but he was glad that it wasn't something he had to worry about.

He wasn't sure if shinki could get food poisoning, he hoped he didn't make Edge sick. He opened the oven to take out the beef and put it on the side before turning off the rice, soup and vegetables.

[fauxcalibur]

"It means it's probably safe for me to try cooking for myself, but I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to start."

The food that the temple was stocked with initially was more than enough of a testament to that. All Saber ever bought for himself was junk that didn't need to be cooked, microwaveable junk, and things that he clearly had no idea how to prepare or eat that he just left sitting around. It was quite clear that he'd never been expected to take care of himself.

[swordofzero]

"I didn't really know either." Many things as a shinki had to be instinctive, having no memories meant sometimes you just had to try things to see if you had any skill at them at all. He had picked up a sword and knew how to use it, but stepping into a kitchen... it was all new to him.

"It turns out there are tutorials on the internet for everything."

[fauxcalibur]

"Is that how you learned?" Suddenly the situation is much more interesting. "I hadn't even thought of trying."

Honestly, he was so used to other people cooking for him that it took a little mental adjustment to realize that it was something he would be expected to do for himself if he really wanted to eat something.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, "My first god told me that if we wanted the temple to stay... not on fire she shouldn't cook. So I decided to learn." He didn't mind really easy to prepare meals or those that required no preparation at all. But he saw it as a way he could be helpful. Luckily his early attempts had not resulted in kitchen fires of his own.

He picked up the noodles and moved over to drain them.

[fauxcalibur]

"It may well be the same here! Though it's more accurate to say that if you want meals at all, you're better off cooking them yourself because I likely won't remember."

Though now that the idea was in his head, he was coming up with things he'd like to learn and try out. The problem was that he couldn't guarantee anything he made would be edible at all. Or if it was, he couldn't guarantee that anyone would actually want to eat it.

[swordofzero]

"That's fine, sir. I am happy to cook for everyone." He set out three plates and began dishing out noodles. He had made plenty of food. With two shinki in the temple it was a necessity.

"That is if you want me to after tasting this." There was a chance it would be awful after all.

[fauxcalibur]

"That's more of Edge's concern than mine! If it's not to my liking, I simply won't eat at all."

Saber didn't seem to worried about it, no matter how much of a bad idea it might be. He really didn't need to eat to sustain himself, but it was still part of a regular routine. Which was something he tended to lack without outside intervention.

[swordofzero]

Though he knew that gods didn't have to eat he really hoped that his cooking wasn't so bad that Saber abstained from eating altogether. He slipped on oven gloves and lifted the beef from the oven, scrutinising it. It was perhaps a little overcooked but hopefully not burned completely.

He found a knife and studied the beef some more unsure how to cut it correctly or if there was even a wrong way to do so. "I guess I just cut it into slices..."

[fauxcalibur]

"That should do! How were you planning on serving it?"

He was really just happy that it was there. There was a severe lack of meat in all the dishes they served at gatherings in the heavens and no one ever seemed to understand why he was so disappointed by it.

[swordofzero]

With the noodles and vegetables. I'm not sure if I should mix it all up or serve it separately.

[Separate was perhaps better. That way people could combine it if they wished.]

[fauxcalibur]

Hmmmmm....

[To be honest, he wasn't sure what would be better, either. Time to start watching cooking shows.]

If you mixed them together, would that enhance the flavor of the dish?

[swordofzero]

Perhaps, noodles can be a little plain on their own and I haven't made any kind of sauce...

[Mixing it is. He begins slicing the meat thinly, it would be easier to mix into the noddles and vegetables that way.]

[fauxcalibur]

Oh! A sauce would be good!

[This isn't exactly helping. Even though he does seem to be trying to help.

Saber opens the refrigerator (something that really doesn't seem to fit in, considering what the exterior of the temple looks like), and starts poking around.]

[swordofzero]

[A sauce would be good if Suzaku had thought of a sauce before everything had finished cooking. He continues slicing but he does glance backwards to see what his god is doing.

The fridge is a bit out of place but it is definitely useful. He watches out of the corner of his eye to see if Saber finds whatever it is he is looking for.

He figures slicing half this meat will be enough... Perhaps. But he can always slice more if it's actually edible and Saber and Edge want more.]

[fauxcalibur]

[Saber starts taking things out of the refrigerator and setting them on the counter. Basically, if it's a liquid, it gets added to the collection. This includes several different bottles and cans of beer, some sodas, milk, vinegar, orange juice, sugary drinks clearly meant for children, and a half-empty energy drink.]

Hmmmmm...

[Nothing good can come of this.]

[swordofzero]

Do you have a plan, my lord? [Suzaku's voice is cautiously curious. Hopefully he has a plan? Or perhaps not. Because it does not seem like anything good will come from this plan? Suzaku may know very little about cooking but he knows enough to be certain that any mixture of what Saber has pulled out the fridge will not be good on meat.

Or at all.]

[fauxcalibur]

Absolutely not! I've never made a sauce in my life!

[Well, there you go.]

But all of these are liquids, so certainly some sort of combination sufficiently boiled should make a sauce, right?

[No, Saber.]

[swordofzero]

I see. [Neither has Suzaku. But learning a new skill is what this is about.

However that kind of experimentation...]

That is one idea, my lord. Perhaps we could use the internet to see if there are any sauce recipes that use the ingredients we have here.

[fauxcalibur]

Oh! The internet! It's never the first thing I think of, obviously.

[He's becoming more and more proficient at using it, but so much of it is still a mystery to him.]

There's nothing I can't learn from watching a few videos, after all, but the problem is finding them...

[Getting YouTube to give you what you're actually searching for can be difficult even for people who weren't born in the 12th century.]

[swordofzero]

Videos can be hard to find, but there are written recipes as well.

[Truthfully Suzaku found the internet strange to use as well. He had figured it out quickly but it hadn't come naturally to him like many things here had.] Perhaps if we search for sauces that can be served with beef.