Bakers, start your baking!

[indigo_league]

Who: Everybody!
Where: Riegfried and Soy's mansion
When: January 15th; day time for the cooking part, evening for the mingle part.
Summary: Come one, come all to the newest contest hosted by Riegfried and Soy. Today's theme: cooking!








[Daytime - The kitchens]

Throughout the day, the kitchens will be open to all contestants, though any casual onlookers --human, pokemon, or otherwise-- will be shooed out to prevent any cheating.

Each contestant will be directed to a gleaming counter, where they will be able to find everything from your basic whisk and spatula to gleaming kitchen machinery fancy enough to make any cook feel faint with envy. Each counter comes complete with a small fridge (should you need to chill any of your ingredients), an oven, a stove, a microwave -- really, anything you can imagine and it is there. Riegfried and Soy clearly didn't want anyone to run into the issue of not having the right equipment for the job.

At the back of the room are the fridges: tall, imposing fridges made of gleaming metal stocked full of every sort of ingredient you could possibly think of. And next to the fridges, contestants can find rows and rows of shelves, each nearly bowing under the weight of the products placed on them -- from fresh fruit, to spices, to rice and noodles. If you need it, you can find it.

Riegfried and Soy will be flitting around the room like a pair of extravagant Butterfrees, happy to engage contestants in small interviews. Everything for the camera, baby! Because those are also there; they are clearly trying to stay out of everybody's way, but small, Rotom-powered cameras flit around the room for close-ups, while cameramen and women with heavy-duty equipment get the distance shots. Hopefully, you haven't got an issue with stage fright.



[Evening - The show]

And when all is said and done, and the last dishes have been cooked, it's time for the actual show. There is some time between the actual cooking and this part of the evening, during which contestants have a chance to change their clothing and freshen up, but before too long, the mansion's doors open to the guests, who are herded by the cheerful hosts to an enormous hall.

The hall itself is set up with all manner of comforts. There are some small tables and chairs for anyone who wants to sit down for a while. Long tables line the sides of the room, absolutely laden with all manner of refreshments. There is even a special table set aside where the dishes the contestants made (at least the ones that made it to this part of the evening) are displayed and ready for tasting.

The schedule for the night is rather straightforward.

After some meet-and-greet and time for every last guest to arrive, the day's events (cut and edited by a very exhausted camera crew) will be projected onto a huge screen for all to enjoy. The votes will be tallied afterward and awards and prizes will be handed out. The rest of the evening will give the winners a chance to celebrate, the losers a chance to commiserate, and everybody else to clear the buffet of everything edible.

Comments

[nastyboy]

[It really is endearing, to see the eagerness for food for food, and Dimitri smiles a little bit. Of course. A trade. He passes over the fried bread, accepting the sticky cake... Only to almost drop it in surprise when he hears Jaskier's voice leave her mouth.]

Oh! [Hastily, he makes sure he doesn't let the little cake ball fall, and blinks back up at the girl.] You are welcome.

[Politeness before all else, u kno]

So, I take it you know Jaskier?

[copykiri]

[Kiri nods with almost her whole body, it seems. And then she points to where Jaskier is probably being Very Visible, and says in his voice.]

Words are my domain!

[Then she points at herself. The first words are a woman's voice, but then she switches back to Jaskier's.]

I'm Kiri! I used to be a Kenku bird. Cursed only to mimic things.

[After the introduction, she adds, this time in Dimitri's voice.]

You are welcome!

[nastyboy]

[Dimitri listens attentively, glancing over where Jaskier is indeed being Extremely Visible.]

I see... You are very clever to work around your curse, then.

[He holds up the little sticky ball of a cake.]

Is this one of your favorite foods?

[copykiri]

[Kiri just beams at that, mimicking a woman.]

Yes, I'm very sweet!

[She does a half shrug, half nod at the question, and then raises her arm and flexes! Good food for growing up strong!]

[nastyboy]

Oh, of course. This explains everything, doesn't it?

[This is going to leave his fingers so sticky, but that's the price one pays. He bites in, humming.]

I like the nuts you included. Are they all your favorites? Because this place has more nuts than I have ever seen in my life...

[But that's, like, most of the food here, really...]

[copykiri]

[She frowns after a moment and pulls out a little notebook to scribble in it. Her handwriting has the crooked, large lettered style typical of someone still learning. She goes with whichever she remembers first, capitals or lowercase.]

soMe new! i tried theM aLL firST.

[nastyboy]

[Dimitri patiently waits, and nods when she finally spells out her thoughts.]

I see. That was clever.

While we're here... Would you like me to talk about cooking terms or different foods for you? So that you can mimic them later on, too.

[copykiri]

[Kiri looks thrilled, nodding and bouncing on the balls of her feet. She mimics Jaskier again.]

Thank you! Thank you!

[nastyboy]

You are very welcome.

[This little mimic child really is the cutest, and Dimitri smiles.]

Then, to start... There were new things. I tried everything.

[Straight from her notepad.]

[copykiri]

[Kiri mimics him perfectly.]

There were new things! I tried everything.

[nastyboy]

[H u h. Is that what he sounds like? Dimitri shakes off that bit of weirdness and smiles encouragingly.]

Excellent. Next... I made this. [He figures she might get a lot of use out of that one, even outside of the kitchen.] This tastes good. This smells good.

[What else, what else... Oh.]

Sweet girls like sweet things.

[If she wants to boast a little more, maybe. Or maybe it's just playful, with how Dimitri smiles.]

[copykiri]

[Oh she likes that.] I made this. I made this!

[Almost as an afterthought, she adds the others.] This tastes good. This smells good.

[Her grin goes very mischievous almost immediately at the last one.]

Sweet girls like sweet things.

[nastyboy]

That's right.

[Dimitri - blinks, in a way that's definitely meant to be a wink and which fails because someone forgot that generally two eyes are needed for this maneuver. Or at least, you know. No eyepatch.]

Now, why don't you point out things you want me to use in sentences? It seems we will be here for some time, so there's no need to rush or worry.

[copykiri]

[Oh she knows what that means! It means friends. So Kiri slow-blinks back and says in a man's voice with a slight accent.]

This means we are friends.

[Then she spins in a slow circle to get a good look around the room. The first thing she points to is Dimitri's fried bread.]

[nastyboy]

It does.

[Doomed to realize his winking mistake later, probably when he's trying to go to sleep, Dimitri turns his attention to his food.]

That would be fried bread. You make it like this.

[And he explains the steps as he makes another bit of it, keeping to simple sentences best he can. Simple means easier to use in other contexts beyond just fried bread, after all. Things like "Add salt" and "You put it in the pan".]

[As he's frying it in the oil, however, he considers something.]

Can you only echo voices, or can you other noises as well?

[copykiri]

[She loves repeating the different sentences but grins widely when he asks that. The first sound is wooden wind-chimes, and the second a simple melody from a wind-up clockwork music box. She's very proud of herself.]

[nastyboy]

[Pride like that deserves a small applause.]

You are really talented, you know. Do you use them when you don't know what sentence or word to use?

[copykiri]

[Kiri bows. She might have picked that up from Jaskier too, or at least someone equally flamboyant. She kind of shakes her head at the question and then chirps and croaks, sounding like a raven chick. She just makes her own sounds when she doesn't know what other sounds to make!]

[nastyboy]

Oh, I see.

Do you have to do that often? [He can't imagine she does if she's gotten to know Jaskier, but it never hurts to ask.]

[copykiri]

[She brings out her 'gear and types.]

i can write fast now if i don't know the sounds!

[nastyboy]

Oh, so your home did not have those either! Then we are the same in that aspect.

[Dimitri pulls some more flour over to himself.]

I will make something sweet. We can eat it together to celebrate getting such handy tools.

[copykiri]

[Oh Kiri likes the sound of that.]

I will make something sweet! I will make something sweet!

[She's going to get closer and see if she can help too.]

[nastyboy]

[It's still kind of odd to hear what his own voice sounds like, out of the mouth of a small girl, but, hey. Dimitri smiles as she steps closer, and he drags the bowl close again.]

We can make it together. It's very simple. Just copy me, all right?

[copykiri]

Just copy me, all right.

[Kiri is grinning, full of mischief when she says that, but is definitely getting ready to help.]

We can make it together.

[nastyboy]

[For that, Dimitri flicks a bit of flour onto her nose with a smile.]

Yes, yes, we know you're clever. [He pulls out a bowl for her as well, and sets it in front of her.] Now let's see if your hands are as good as your voice.

[Although it's really a rather simple recipe, even with the additions that help make it a sweeter kind of cracker, and so is mixing everything together. Dimitri is perfectly happy to let Kiri take care of it on her own, trusting she knows what she's doing until proven otherwise.]