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Handling Your Powers, Tuesday

Students entering the Danger Shop today were going to find a very large kitchen instead of the usual gym set-up. And there was Kaidan, holding on to a pan and grinning at them. "Look, not everything I learned at brain camp was terrible," he said. "Some things turned out to be pretty useful."

He held up the pan. "Like cooking."

He put it down on one of the stoves.

"So today, we're going to make some actual food. With a challenge. I want each of you to try and come up with a way in which your powers could make the process easier - without destroying anything in the process." Beat. "Though it won't hurt if you do wreck something here. It's the Danger Shop and all the safeties are on. Though that's not a license to start throwing fireballs."

He pointed at the various stations. "We've got frying steak, boiling vegetables, baking a pie and making soup," he said. "There's also materials to make meatballs if that's more your speed. I want you to pick one that calls to you and go for it. Poke around. Experiment a little. See what you can manage with your powers."

He leaned back, smiling. "And as a reward, at the end of it, you get to eat the food. So, uh... don't blow it. Ask me if you've got any questions."

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Cooking!

Celia Bowen

Will West

Kathy Li

Jackson Whittemore

Evan Sabahnur

We swear, he wasn't bitten by a gremlin today.

Pick a station. Then go for it.

Heat up some oil. Wait until it's bubbling, then toss in the steak. Turn it over periodically. Don't let it get black.

Good luck.

Or there's the station that's got tomatoes, some stock, and various noodles and vegetables for people to choose from. Make soup!

This was simple enough -- Celia already used her powers for most mundane things. The vegetables seemed the easiest for an amateur cook, though -- she stood back from the prep station, trained her eyes on a knife, and methodically chopped vegetables with her hands trained in front of her, controlling the knife with her mind.

Now, if only she had the patience to actually learn to cook, that'd be something.

Hot water. Beans. Salt. This isn't rocket science, people.

Will wasn't a cook. At all. His idea of cooking was ordering pizza so he went for the easiest looking station. He just didn't want to set anyone on fire or burn the school down.

He could boil some beans. No problem.

For the intermediate students, there's a recipe for apple pie, a bunch of ingredients, and an oven. Try not to set it on fire.

...or stand quietly to the side and mix ingredients for meatballs for the soup while staying away from the fire.

Set out what you've made and sample everyone's work. If it's not too charred.

He's around to offer instructions throughout.

Kathy waited until most of the other students had started cooking to slip up to Professor Alenko. "Uhh, sir?" she asked. "Do you have a minute?"

Kaidan dropped his arms by his side - crossed arms wasn't appropriate body language, probably, thing his therapist had told him-- anyway. "Sure, Kathy," he said. "Go ahead."

Kathy ducked her head anyway, tucking her hair behind her ear. She wasn't entirely certain how to go about explaining this. She hadn't really thought it through entirely.

"I, uh, I guess I just wanted to tell you that I...sorta have powers now? In case that was a, umm, thing. That you would want to know."

"I noticed you'd, uh... gotten an extra skip in your step," Kaidan agreed. He'd just not wanted to push the girl on it unless she got herself hurt again. "You okay with that?"

"I'm...not sure," Kathy admitted, hunching over a little. It felt weird to be complaining about something as little as being fast and bouncy in front of someone who had gone through so much worse for powers less easily controlled. "I feel almost like...an impostor, I guess. Like someone somewhere made a huge mistake and they were meant for somebody else."

Somebody cooler.

"I've always known who I was. Plain, boring, nothing-special Kathy. Having powers doesn't make me feel less that way, more just that it's all a big mistake that will be rectified just as soon as someone notices the oops."

Oh god, that sounded stupid. Professor Alenko was going to think she was stupid.

It'd take a lot more than that to get that kind of reaction. Something in an entirely different vein, even.

"I don't know where your powers come from or what's at their root," Kaidan said, "But... look, Kathy, the last thing you should ever think about yourself is 'mistake', okay? If this is part of you now - that's just the way it is, and that's just who you are."

"I guess so," Kathy said, though she didn't look entirely convinced. "I waited an extra week to come talk to you, just to see if it would vanish like all the other stuff the island did. But it didn't, so I guess it's here to stay."

She took a deep breath and glanced up at him. "I know you've kind of touched on stuff like this during your lectures but, do you think that, well, having powers means you have an obligation, almost, to use them? I don't mean just not ignoring them and pretending they don't exist or whatever, but I mean, like, using them on a grander scale. 'Great power, great responsibility' kind of thing?"

Kathy had been using her downtime to read a lot of her Arachnid Guy comics in an attempt to come to terms with things.

Well. Talk about a loaded topic. "I think it's always important to let your own principles guide who you are and what you do," Kaidan said. "Whether you have powers or you don't-- if you feel called to action, to do something, you should. To do something that matters, something that leaves a legacy of positive change."

He rubbed the back of his neck, then he took a deep breath. "And-- it's been my experience that people with powers who sit around and try to ignore it-- it doesn't always end well," he said. "In my universe, anyway, biotics are disproportionately featured in stats about suicide and drug abuse. For me, going into service with my powers - it kept me from locking myself in my apartment and just... stewing in it, you know?"

As well as stewing in other things, but: impressionable teenager.

~~Kaidan and Jono should be friends.~~

Kathy nodded slowly. "I don't think I'm in any danger of that," she said softly. "But then, my experience is nothing like yours. And I'm grateful that you're willing to share yours with us."

She realized she was hugging her elbows and let her arms drop to her sides. "Umm, I guess...any advice for the newly-powered? I mean, now that I have them, I don't know what to do with them. It's like lining up for a race and waiting for a signal, you know?"

Kaidan's mouth quirked a tiny bit. "Try to figure 'em out before you rush into anything," he said. "Accept that you've got them and that they belong with your body the same way breathing and walking does. Once you get there, then you can look around and see who needs you."

Kaidan'd had the luck of the Alliance waiting for him with open arms. He wasn't as sure about Kathy's situation.

Ah, when I first found out Kaidan could canonically cook I was so stymied. JOSSING. TERRIBLE JOSSING.

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Handling Your Powers, Tuesday

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Listen to the Lecture

Cook!

Stove'n'Steak

Stove'n'Soup

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Boil Some Beans

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Bake a... Well, Bake A Pie

Make Meatballs

Eat!

Talk to Kaidan

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OOC