fandomhigh | Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday

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Black Magic Cookery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | Tuesday | Period 3

Was Nina super disappointed to have to give up her fancy gear from Summer's class to bounce to her class? Yes, of course.

The world was, like, determined to not let her keep any fancy dress and it was tragic.

But, like, at least she had cooking to soothe her soul?

"Goooooooooooood mooooooooooorning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said cheerfully, beaming at her class as she took the bowls of meat out of the fridge to set out at each station. Unlike eggs, Nina couldn't just leave that sitting out.

That would be gross.

"We're working today with mutton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like, you can also use hogget for this but lamb is right out, so keep that in mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Why? Because Nina's world didn't cook with lamb. "If you, like, don't know, I'm talking about sheep meat today----lamb is when they're young, hogget is meat from a sheep that's in its second year of life, and mutton is meat from a sheep at any age past three years!!!!!!!!"

She beamed at them.

"Let's get started!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today is all about buns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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"When I say buns, though, like I'm not talking about the kind that are going to go well with butter as a side to your supper," she said, smiling. "Like, these are meant to be meals in and of themselves or, like, desserts and snacks, depending on what you make??????????? They are definitely not meant to be sides!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The basic bun, that is made just mutton, is a barbeque meat bun-----this is a bun that's filled with delicious barbequed goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

You know, despite no barbeque being involved. For that matter, like, where was the dough coming from for all of these anyway?

"Making these with salt will, like, get you a ginger beef bun," from sheep meat, mind, "while using soy sauce will get you a Ma Bo bun which is, like, a kind of meat and tofu curry bun??????????? It's good!!!!!!!!!!!! Adding red pepper, on the other hand, is going to get you a pizza bun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She figured that people would like that one. Tasty and basic.

"For more desserty buns, like, you can add sugar for a sweet bean bun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or, like, if you want more of a booze-y sort of dessert, you'll want to add mayo to get a Pirate bun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They're, like, these delicious ginger-citrus booze buns!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That were very alcoholic because, like, as a teen she was totally supposed to be teaching about alcoholic desserts, right?

Also: booze from mayo. Yes.

"Any questions????????????????? If not, let's get started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh, Wayne had questions. Wayne had so many fuckin' questions.

Right now, though, he was mostly just glaring at Nina for a moment, because she'd almost got him excited when she mentioned something boozy, and then went ahead and pulled the rug out from under him again by it being another one with mayo.

Mind, he, unlike some, had no issue with mayonnaisse. In fact, he rather enjoyed it.

BUT NOT DIRECTLY WITH HIS BOOZE.

This class was an abonination, Nina Argentum, and you were an abonination right along with it!

Pfft, it wasn't like the mayo actually survived the cooking process to interact with the booze!

Ignis, she was pretty sure, would be agreeing with Wayne's narrative about her class being an abomination though once she uploaded the recording for his enjoyment.

'Enjoyment'.

"If looks could kill.............," she teased.

"....someone better call the mortician," Wayne concluded, and he shook his head in dismay and disappointment.

"Mayo?" he asked, roughly, as if demanding a proper explanation to this tom fuckery, although by now, he knew there was no such thing. "In booze buns, Nina? Ain't nothin' sacred in your world??"

"What's wrong with using mayo in booze buns???????????" she asked, honestly confused.

It just made sense to her, Wayne!

"Where," Wayne countered fussily, "do I even start?"

"From the beginning?????????????" she suggested.

This was fine.

Liam was just going to repeat that little mantra to himself as Nina explained the different types of buns they could make.

This was fine.

Maybe everyone would stick to making the pizza buns? Or the dessert type ones? Hell, despite not being all that fond of alcohol usually, if everyone else wanted to make those Pirate buns, he'd be all for it right about now.

This. Was. Fine.

He set his jaw, frowning slightly (not all that different from his usual expression, honestly), and got to work on making that pizza bun.

This was fine.

Like, she was totally going to make Pirate buns in a bit, for Duke, since it was his birthday and Nina had decided that Bus Dean and Liam probably weren't going to get mad at her for making a booze-filled birthday present for a legal adult.

Out of mayo and mutton, mind.

But for now, she was humming a little to herself as she worked on making a few BBQ meat buns for herself. They sounded like a great lunch and smelled delicious!

Sure, unless you had, you know, PTSD triggered by the smell of cooking meat. Then it wasn’t so much ‘delicious’ as ‘traumatic’.

Liam’s skin paled slightly and he swallowed, hard.

Get a grip, he told himself firmly. This is Fandom and everything is fine.

Nina didn't notice anything right away. Usually, she would, but she was focused on cooking.

Chop, chop, chop with the knife and then flowing into tossing the pan with practiced ease as meat cooked and sizzled.

Liam’s own chopping was rhythmic and practiced, but his mind was... elsewhere. He wasn’t consciously paying attention to the task anymore, instead letting muscle memory just take over as his mind drifted.

The knife disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, signaling that the ‘chopping’ portion of this recipe was over and done with, and it took a second for Liam to catch up.

Tossing. Right.

See, the thing about her cooking was that... no two recipes were quite the same. You were supposed to move with the ingredients so when Liam copied her, she noticed that.

It could, though, be coincidence.

Though she didn't like how pale he looked.

Nina tossed her pan until the recipe told her to move it along and then she switched to the very important toe tapping with arms crossed, keeping an eye on Liam all the while.

How this turned out was really going to be a testament to how much of Nina’s method of cooking relied on intent versus the movements and ingredients, because he had the red pepper, which should make it a pizza bun, but also wasn’t really thinking pizza bun. Or much of anything, really. And the movements... well. Yeah. At this point, he was basically just copying Nina, although not intentionally.

Yeaaaah, it wasn't going to turn out right. Intent was, like, more than half the battle here with the movements just vehicles for the intent...

Shaking those shakers that appeared out of nowhere came next and then, one more quick around of chopping before she was done this particular BBQ meat bun.

Nina, though, barely paid attention to her finished product, her eyes focused on Liam.

Dimly, Liam was aware of the fact that the shakers that had suddenly appeared in his hands weren’t right, because he’d already done that step, hadn’t he?

But thinking about that too much meant paying attention to what was going on around him and he really wasn’t keen on doing that right now. So shaking those shakers it was, then.

Nina cast her eyes over the rest of her class--nobody seemed to be having any problems, though Summer wasn't looking too thrilled with this particular topic--and then slipped from her station to wander over to Liam's.

Interrupting his cooking would only ruin the dish but, like, from what she could tell, it was already ruined.

She reached out to touch his shoulder.

"Liam???????"

The shaker fell from his hand, clattering on to the counter as he flinched back from her touch. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, and whatever he was seeing right now? It wasn’t Nina.

"Sorry, sorry," she said, unnerved but going nowhere at his reaction. "Liam..........."

Nina hesitated a moment, wondering if it was best to just call Miss Verity and explain that her husband was a bit under the weather, but... like... he was her friend, her teacher, her mentor, and she was, in this particular case, also his teacher.

Carefully, Nina took a step back, not trying to touch him this time.

"Liam," she said, pitching her voice low. "Come on, like, I think some air might help? Let's step out of class for a moment."

Her voice sounded distorted, like it was far away and underwater all at once, but he was pretty sure he could pick out ‘air’ and ‘out’ which sounded like an excellent plan, honestly.

He nodded once, short and sharp.

"Okay," she said simply. "Just follow me."

Nina was smiling as she left the classroom--not because she felt it, but because it was a way to not alarm anyone else.

She led the way through the school, taking the shortest route, until they were outside, on the lawn.

Then she waited, still holding calling Miss Verity in reserve.

Having an order to follow made it easier, at least, because it meant he didn’t really have to think about what to do next.

And then- then they were outside, and the tension he’d been clinging to seeped out of him as he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of grass and saltwater. Not actually saying anything just yet, just breathing and trying to get his heart rate under control.

Nina waited patiently.

Most of the time, around people, she was loud and busy and getting into things and, well, the very picture of someone who couldn't possibly be expected to wait around for things.

But Nina was very patient when she wanted to be. Very quiet and non-intrusive.

She waited for Liam to settle himself. Whatever this was... like, she'd wait for him to be ready.

A minute passed, and then two, and then there was a quiet, muttered:

"Sorry."

"I mean, like, there's really nothing to be sorry about," Nina said honestly. "Unless, like, you're apologizing because now you're embarrassed...... which, really, don't?

The Art of Cooking: Buns!

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Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!

Re: The Art of Cooking: Buns!