[Video — Both Accidental and Not]

[heritrix]

[Backdated to March 2, early afternoon.]

—n't be right. [A mumbled voice, scarcely heard. A flash of... Something red, it's hard to tell.] Wasn't it thi—?

[The video blinks out as soon as it started, nothing but a static feed. It stays like that, too, for a good 12 minutes: a video entry to the network of absolutely no substance.]

---

[—until unexpectedly it turns on again! Rin's face is visible in the frame this time, too close and blurry. Her head bobs away slowly, seemingly looking at something on her phone but not directly into the camera.]

Steady. Steadyyyy... Just like that— [The angle slides and loses her, topples towards a stone surface.] Ah!

[Thunk, crack! The feed cuts again, whoops.]

---

Hi, hi. Rin Tohsaka here.

[Third time's the charm? Framed perfectly in the shot and wearing a yellow apron, Rin stands behind a countertop in the kitchen. Hands on her hips, she beams at the camera.]

It's been a boring, uneventful couple of days, hasn't it? Normally, this time of month we'd be welcoming a fresh batch of soldiers into our ranks, but as of today, no new faces have shown up yet. It's strange for sure.

[But not too strange. New arrivals were late by a few days in January, after all, so this isn't the first time the routine has been broken. Head turned and tapping her cheek innocently, Rin considers saying as much, or asking if there have been other weird incidents like that, but...

No, that isn't what she meant to do today. Pressing that finger a little more deeply into her cheek, it creates an artificial dimple when she smiles brightly again.]

Strange, and more importantly than that: dull! Which is why I'll be in the kitchen all day today. [She snaps her fingers, pointing at the camera.] That's where you come in!

I'm challenging myself. Name a food or ingredient, or even several, and I'll try to make something yummy that incorporates all of them. Anything in stock in the kitchen goes!

[With this she grabs her phone, so she can turn it and record all the various different foods and ingredients they have here, both what she's laid out on the counters (eggs, frosting, butter, strawberries, among other things), as well as what's in the fridge and pantries. FEEL FREE TO MAKE UP WHATEVER YOU WANT YOUR CHARACTERS TO SEE HERE.]

Bonus! [She turns the camera back on herself.] Anything I make you can stop by and help yourself to eating, too. Sounds fun, right? So fire away or come visit. You know where to find me.

[A little wave, and video end.]

Comments

[generalflirt]

[ and then there's this asshole ]

Mountain Dew.

[heritrix]

[There always has to be one asshole.]

Mountain Dew?

[She sounds incredulous, BUT SHE DID SAY ANYTHING GOES, SO.]

Do we have any in the first place?

[She remembers him whining about it some time back, but she didn't care enough at the time to find out if he got any or not/if he did, if he still has any left.]

[generalflirt]

I've still got a great old stash of it, Rin-chan! You up for the challenge?

[heritrix]

I did say anything goes.

[generalflirt]

Well, then I'll bring it by!

... Buuuut, on a more serious level, some grilled mackerel might be good.

[blesseswithsuck]

[And just like that, Rin has gained a respect level with Dezel. He is a simple soul with two main interests, and cooking is one of them.]

...Can I help?

[Teach him your bold ways, senpai.]

[heritrix]

[Oh, she wasn't expecting an offer like that. From this particular person even less.]

That's something you want? [She sounds surprised.] I can't pay you anything, you know.

[blesseswithsuck]

Huh? Pay me?

[After a moment of total confusion, he remembers that humans use money to buy things from each other.]

I don't need gald. I just like cooking.

[heritrix]

[She hums playfully.] I wouldn't have thought. Come to think of it, that makes another thing you have in common with him, huh?

[First the wind element, now the love of food and cooking.]

Oh, or maybe Zaveid was the one to show you cooking in the first place? That's kind of cute.

[blesseswithsuck]

[He bristles a little and blushes.]

Hardly. He just makes a convenient test subject 'cause he likes eatin' so much.

[justribbing]

Huh. There still that crate of snails at the bottom of the pantry?

[ They're, uh, monster food types, so. They shouldn't have spoiled, unless they got baked into a pie or some unsuspecting human made escargot out of them. ]

[heritrix]

[WELL. It's not like she would know that.]

There's snails?!

[UGH. But she's moving to go check right now.]

If they're canned, I guess they should be fine. Canned escargot usually has a shelf life of a year if it's not opened. That's going to be seriously gross if isn't, though.

[justribbing]

Gross? Nah.

[ He leans into the hand bracing his cheekbone a little more, grinning. ]

Grade A snails straight from the Underground. Our food doesn't go bad, pal. Don'tcha know?

Anyway, I wanted to see how you like... slow cooking.

[heritrix]

Oh, so they're monster food.

[That makes more sense. There's a crack of the panty door opening, followed the wooden creak of a crate lid.]

Mm, they're here, yes. Would you like a side of turtle soup, too? Leonardo might take offense to that.

[justribbing]

[ Nice. He's pretty sure Leonardo won't take kindly to the implication he's slow, but... those cold-blooded types got it rough around here. ]

Hey, I'm a skeleton with standards.

[ His eye lights cut off to the side, remembering. ]

And I might'a known a guy like him. It'd be weird.

[Audio]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob hasn't looked in a mirror yet, but he's afraid that Rin might not want to have anything to do with food for a while if he films himself.]

Bacon. Lots of bacon. And plums.

[A faint hiss of pain.]

Probably not together.

[Audio]

[heritrix]

[She heard that hiss.]

Are you doing alright? I heard you got hurt on Zuko's mission.

[Audio]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

...I guess word would get around about something like that, eh?

[It's kind of difficult to call for healers without anyone noticing.]

I'm alive and staying that way for the time being, despite the queen's best efforts.

[Audio]

[heritrix]

[She'd say sorry for that, if that wasn't a risk everyone volunteering for castle pushes should keep in mind. It's a possible outcome, always.

Still, she feels bad for Rob. It seems like he's had awful luck ever since he returned here. Her roommate was, uh, the one with him when he died not long ago.]

That's good. And no trouble keeping food down, I take it?

[She doesn't know the exact nature of his injuries, but she figures his stomach can't be damaged too badly if he's requesting food. But you know. Gotta check. Because sometimes people are dumb.]

[Audio]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Sometimes people are dumb.]

Not for a few days now. Healing magic is awesome.

[imaginex]

[Goodness... Rin is fired up. And very rarely does Sakura use the video option, but she decides to make an exception this one time, tilting her head in quiet thought while she sits on her bed. She opens her mouth to make a suggestion--

Until Happy promptly sticks her entire face against the phone. Make her a pokecake, Rin! 8D She'll share some with Mama!

Now hidden behind the curve of Happy's bangs, only Sakura's covered giggle can be heard.]

I think Happy-chan votes anything with Pokebeans, Tohsaka-senpai.

[heritrix]

[Rin laughs too, a hand to her mouth.]

I bet I could stack them in a pyramid forgoing the cooking altogether, and every Pokemon here would still be happy.

[imaginex]

[She's not wrong; Happy hears something about a pyramid and about leaps at the phone. With a sigh, Sakura drags her back and settles the hyper thing on her lap]

Yes, though I'm not sure I could coax her out of the kitchen after that. [Said in such a way that Happy knows that plan has been silently vetoed, and wilts slightly. Sakura just smiles and pats her ponytail, then focuses on thinking]

Mmm, do you have any wasabi?

[She doesn't care that much for it herself, but Rin did ask for a challenge]

[heritrix]

Um... [Did she see any before?] I don't know offhand. I'll check, so sit tight.

[Rin disappears off the view of the screen, and the sound of a refrigerator can be heard opening, bottle sliding as she moves things around. While she's doing that, Koo (who is holding the phone), peeks his head down in view of the camera and gives a happy, upside down wave.]

[imaginex]

[Aww, there's her little nephew. Sakura gives an enthusiastic wave back, as does Happy (who again attempts to escape Sakura's embrace and comes up short.

But someone else is waving too, though the camera will only just catch him hovering on the edge of the screen - a Yamask who adjusts the grip on his mask with one hand, and waves with the other.]

Oh, Koo-kun, have you met Casper yet?