[Network Video]

[doubled_speed]

Hey all!

[Are you shocked to see Tommy? Probably not. Someone said something about cooking, of course he's going to weigh in. At least the video is a rather stationary thing, his comm clearly propped up on a counter in the diner's kitchen.]

I don't know about you, but I'm in for the idea of us getting some good food in us. Maybe we can talk too when we're there? If we're going.

Anyway, gonna say that the diner is pretty stocked up and I'm happy to be prep assistant on any cooking in the Diner. Just remember Diner Rules. Don't be a dick and all of that.

And anyone cooking has to promise to help carry their own shit to the thing.

[Says the guy currently, on screen, cutting a tuber with enough speed that his hands are a literal blur.]

So, uh, food time? We could use it?

Comments

[doubled_speed]

Tommy moves in a blur and returns with the flour, before going to gather up the other discarded ingredients to restore to their places in storage.

"No clue what arrowroot is, but I've got eggs. It takes some work to get them, but there are things that ley eggs and they do taste like eggs."

[quark_assassin]

Dustin blinks and - oh, Tommy's back. Looking a little disgruntled, Dustin plops the ingredients he had in hand onto the counter again and ruffles his shaggy hair, which Tommy has apparently gotten out of place by running past him. Not that anyone but Dustin could tell, naturally.

"You do?" he says, skepticism clear in his voice. "What's around here that..."

There's a beat as Dustin thinks through the readily-available list of local fauna. His eyes narrow incredulously.

"...The mothcats?"

[doubled_speed]

"Oh god no," Tommy laughs. Definitely not those. "I think they're called Gals or something."

Gallies, but he wouldn't let correctness stop him.

[quark_assassin]

There's another quick pause while Dustin attempts to make that association, before (relieved) recognition lights up his face.

"--Gallies," he corrects for him. Thank fuck. Little alien dinosaurs are close enough to birds that he can tolerate ranching them for eggs without too much mental whiplash. "If we don't have a lot, I'd rather try to find a plant substitution. I don't want to waste more resources on this than I already am."

[doubled_speed]

"Been trying to capture some, cage them up, domesticate them for eggs. Turns out I'm sorta shit at it. Don't know if Cayde's hen even lays."

So eggs have been a real barrier for him.

"What would you use as a substitute back home?"

[quark_assassin]

Colonel? Now there's a thought. Dustin hadn't seen any chicken eggs sitting in storage, so he naturally assumed that Colonel wasn't contributing at all. Perhaps she is and Cayde is just hoarding the output, or not collecting in general. She's his chicken, so Dustin doesn't have any hard feelings against him deciding not to share.

"Vegetable noodles," he answers after a moment's pause, dismissing his thoughts about hens entirely. "Something like zucchini or yellow squash. Rice would also work."

[doubled_speed]

"Can noodles be savory?" he asks, thoughtfully.

Because if so, he has ideas.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin frowns over the condensing pile of ingredients for the stroganoff, though he seems more thoughtful than unnerved.

"I don't see why not," he says with a shrug. Dustin likes savory things. Giving the noodles themselves a bit of an umami kick surely couldn't hurt. "Why?"

[doubled_speed]

“Because tigertubers are savory like that. It’s really satisfying.”

He considers the pile of things. And smiles.

“Stroganoff is mushrooms, right? So baconrooms might work.”

[quark_assassin]

Dustin nods a few times, waving Tommy away. "Okay, I've got it," he says impatiently. "That's all of the key ingredients accounted for. I'll be sparing with the peripherals. I'm sure everyone else is gonna raid the pantry for whatever dumb shit they're making for this thing."

Never mind that Dustin is also participating in aforementioned 'dumb shit' - clearly he is exempt from this assessment.

[doubled_speed]

“I mean, I don’t know that everyone will make something, but they’re welcome to. Which just means I’ll need to start on preserves and salting and drying stuff after this. Long winter I guess.”

Still, he’s happy to help. He considers things.

“Need anything chopped? I’m great at that.”

[quark_assassin]

Dustin grunts noncommittally. "Whatever," he mumbles, pushing over a pile of tigertubers. "These need to be peeled into thin strips. Baconroom needs to be chopped. I'll get the sauce going."

[doubled_speed]

“How thin, and how fine of a chop?” Tommy asked as he moved to select one of his cooking knives.

[quark_assassin]

"6.35 millimeters."

Dustin allows that to hang in the air for a little bit, pretending to focus on measuring liquid ingredients while trying to hide the small, impish smile curling the corners of his lips.

[doubled_speed]

Dude that is way too exact. Tommy rolls his eyes and disappears in a burst of wind. When he comes back, it’s with a ruler Fuck you, dude, he will provide.

“You’re going to be trouble in my kitchen, aren’t you?”

[quark_assassin]

Dustin glances at Tommy's return out of the corner of his eye, then does a full double-take when he realizes what he's fetched. In spite of himself, Dustin barks a laugh.

"Wasn't my original plan, but I can be," he says with a snide click of his tongue. He also hadn't come here expecting to end up in a good mood, and yet, here we are. "Don't care about the baconroom, they just need to be roughly diced. I expect they'll cook down significantly anyway."

[doubled_speed]

"Careful what rules you offer," he says, putting the ruler aside and starting to chop. Only at human speeds through.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin's only response to that is an amused hum before he lapses momentarily into silence, focusing his attention on the sauce. Soon enough he's got a pan of oil and sparse vegetables simmering, ready for the baconroom, while he whisks together a cup of thickening broth to add later.

Curiosity wins out over companionable quiet. "This isn't distracting you from making your own thing?" Dustin asks without looking up. "Unless you're not making anything, I guess."

[doubled_speed]

"I'm making my own thing," Tommy answered with a laugh. Even as he dropped a bowl with the chopped veggies next to Dustin, he put down another three with other things.


He'd cut at speed while the guy's back was turned.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin's eyes flicker between the other bowls for a second before he puts the pieces together. "Show-off," he scoffs, rolling his eyes. "What's the goal?"

[doubled_speed]

Tommy grins and winks. Of course it’s a show-off, he’s doing it just for that end. Enjoy that.

“There’s this sorta stew my mom Wanda made me this one time. I think I finally pinned down the spices.”

[quark_assassin]

An odd series of emotions flicker across Dustin's face at once - fondness, confusion, and resentment all have their turn doing fun things to his eyebrows, but by the end of it he just looks tired and a bit deflated.

"Did she have a name for it?" he asks through a sigh.

[doubled_speed]

"Not that I know," he admits with a shrug. "She would have it ready when I got there. I've been putting it together from memory alone."

[quark_assassin]

Dustin nods slowly. Sounds like something he would do, although he knows his palate isn't refined enough to pick out specific ingredients by taste alone. He'd have to do something along the lines of what it sounds like Tommy is trying - make an educated guess, taste, and modify until he gets a match.

"Something she made back home?" he continues, idly prodding at the now simmering sauce. "Must be difficult to replicate the seasoning with alien ingredients."

[doubled_speed]

"Oh it's hard as fuck," he answered with a shrug. "Especially when I don't always know what the right choices are, or the names of stuff."