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Cut. Cut.
The sound of the santoku on the cutting plate echoed in the room. It was late at night, but it was never a problem for the Ursus. He was used to sleepless nights, often focusing on preparing food, surely for tomorrow. It's not as if night was a problem to him - on the contrary, it was calm, silent, somewhat bringing a bit of peace, without having to worry about anything or anyone who might sneak in the kitchen…
Schlank!
"Who's there?"
Talk about anyone sneaking in the kitchen. His knife raised in front of him, his tired eyes in a small frown, he stared right in front of him. However, he soon lowered his knife upon seeing nothing but a small child, with blonde hair, looking back at him in great surprise, - or fear, for that matters - a piece of ham in her mouth, which she quickly removed to yell at him.
"You're completely crazy! Be thankful that I have a bit of self control, or you would have ended up roasted."
"...Ah."
Jaye's gray eyes shifted to the side, a bit shameful for having threatened a child - his bad habits back in Lungmen's slums would seriously give him a bad image now at Rhodes Island. Well, even if he feels remorse, his neutral, tired expression showed nothing. The young Sarkaz in front of him wagged her tail, before looking back in the fridge, with the intention to take more than a piece of ham.
"Well, let's just pretend we didn't see each other. Don't tell Silence that you saw me, and I won't tell her that you almost attacked me! Deal?" She peeked her head out to look at the white haired bear, who returned her his gaze.
Silence? Jaye took a moment to think of where he heard this name. Wasn’t it that one Medic? So the child in front of him was her child - what was her name?
“I’m used to people coming for a midnight snack… As long as it’s not Ceobe. So don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, Ifrit.” As he said the name, he could notice the young one raising a brow, as she was surprised by this. His good memory could surprise anyone, he was used to it; in the meantime, Ifrit probably had no idea who this stranger was. But she brushed it off with a simple “Okey”, before returning to her quest for a meal.
While Jaye could just ignore her, he still decides to keep an eye open to supervise her actions, in case she would try to steal more than what she’s supposed to take. But it quickly came to his attention that, firstly, she was taking only meat, but more than that, raw meat.
“Are you sure you want raw meat…? That might be a bit bad.”
“Nah!” she turned around, a smile on her face, with a package of sausages in one of her hands. “I’ll be fine! I can cook ‘em just fine.” as she said the last words, she summoned a flame on her free hand, with a big mischievous smile.
It’s true that he heard about the very strong powers of the child, so no wonder she’s using them for her food. Still, he remained somewhat unphased. “You just roast them like that? Well. You do you.” In these words, he turned his back to continue what he was doing, not waiting any time to start cutting through the fish filet in front of him. Not that he was not concerned for Ifrit, but surely she will be fine. She’s a young one full of life.
It soon became silent, and he was not minding. Maybe she was gone already, and that’s good. Finally, just him alone.
“So you’re like a cooking chief huh? What you’re doing?”
He felt a very slight surprise down his spine when the young one spooked him, poking her head just next to the cutting plate. She wasn’t that short for a young child, but still shorter than him.
“Mh. That’s it. Just a seafood hawker.” and that was the truth, it was really just what he is.
“You don’t look like it.” at the child’s comment, he discreetly grinded his teeth, before simply taking a long expiration. Well, he was used to it; nothing he can do, even less with a kid. “But hey, that means you can help me to teach me some stuff!”
Oh. That was unexpected. He paused his activities, putting down his knife for a moment to look back at the small Sarkaz. She seemed somewhat pretty hyped at the idea to learn how to cook, he wouldn't have expected that from a child. "Why so?" he slowly tilted his head.
"Well- obviously I don't know anything. All I can do is roast stuff! And use a barbecue, but that's the same thing…" she took a pause to look around, putting her arms behind her back, innocently. "And, well, Silence doesn't teach me any of that… I don't think she even knows, all she eats is pre-cooked food! Maybe I could be somewhat useful, y'know…" at this moment, her orange eyes, normally full of confidence, seemed to show a bit of awkwardness, as if it was hard for her to admit that she cared this much about her caretaker. Her attitude somehow surprised Jaye, who firstly stared silently at her, before looking away, a hand covered with scars on his chin.
He thought that the small one's intentions were very noble and heartwarming, but on the other hand, he was clearly the worst to ask for. He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the time he spent with his Uncle, before coming up with a reply.
"Mh alright. I guess I could teach you a thing or two…"
"Ow! That's hot!" Ifrit jumped away, shaking one of her hands as if she was burnt, catching the Ursus's attention.
"All good? Be careful with the oil." he raised his eyebrows in a small concern, looking at the blonde child frowning at the frying pan as if she made an enemy out of it.
"Yeah… Just got surprised. Why are we boiling oil anyway? Isn't that weird?"
He felt relieved to know she was fine - if anything happened to her, it would definitely be on him. And not just that doctor Silence, but he can pretty much remember that one of the Defenders was also one to care for Ifrit. He really doesn't want to deal with that. "It's to prevent the food from sticking to the pan, and to get burnt. It's essential."
Soon after his words, he rubbed his eyes with the back of one of his hands, then again, feeling some tears loosely falling. These damned onions. One was in front of him, that he was carefully cutting.
"Huh, why you crying?" the Sarkaz caught his strange behavior, but soon spotted the onions. "Heh, don't tell me it's those little onions!" she took a smug smile, poking fun at the bear, who remained unphased. “Hold on, give me space, I’ll take care of it.”
She confidentially pushed away the bear with one hand, who simply took a step aside. He would object, but after all, she's just a youngster. She will learn fast.
And about fast. She stared straight at the onions, her eyes wide open, - definitely a stupid idea - tongue out as to concentrate, while she started to carefully cut the onions. She went silent for the whole time, focusing on the process.
"Is that enough?" she stopped when she cutted about half of the onion, which seemed enough. Jaye nodded in approvement, before pointing at her to add it inside the pan, which she did. She seemed strangely silent, at Jaye's surprise, he would have imagined her bragging about how easy it was. He finally risks a look at her face, leaning slightly forward to get a better look.
And all he discovers is a face covered in tears, her eyes red, despite her hardest attempt at not crying. Of course. He sighed before turning around, getting a tissue to hand her.
"Here."
"No, I'm not…" she refused, drying her tears with one forearm instead. "Argh, those damned onions! It's their fault!! They will pay for it one day!" she raised a fist to the onions, menacing them. The movement surprised Jaye slightly, who expected her to cast a flame, but she did nothing. He stared at the tissue, still in his hands. She was definitely a strange kid… How did her caretakers manage her?
Sounds of a liquid boiling. A very long sigh.
"Is it ready yet?"
It must have been the third time she asked this question now. Her head resting on one arm at the kitchen's counter, she let a yawn out. Right, it was getting late.
"Just give it five more minutes…" he stirred at the sauce with a large spoon. The curry smelled really charming; they both decided on this meal as it was an easy one to make, and the spices added were very appealing for the young Sarkaz, without being too spicy for the Liberi in charge. The rice was already done, thankfully, the rice cooker did all the job necessary, nothing to watch.
"It's getting late… And I'm still hungry." she complained, lamenting on her own situation. "Urgh. Why can't it cook faster??" she almost slammed her head on the counter, but caught herself before.
"Cooking is about patience… Yeah, it can be annoying for some. I find it appeasing." the bear took another stir, before sitting down, placing his brows on his laps, hands joined together, closed.
"Boring… But at least it looks good." she admitted, peaking at the pan. "You're not very amusing tho! Why don't you talk that much? You kinda act like Joyce, but more annoying."
Well. He was used to these words. He simply looked away, before closing his eyes. As for who this Joyce was, for once, he had no idea. "Don't know what to say. I'm not used to chatting a lot."
He would expect Ifrit to put him down more, but instead, she took a seat in front of him, her head resting on her arms, jiggling her legs. "You should try to talk more to other people then! I don't remember having seen you once… You're not even at the cafeteria? Like, with Gummy and stuff? I'm sure you'd be a ton of help! Plus you're really good at cooking." she smiled at him, innocently. "Well, at least to my standards, eheh."
Here he was, getting advice from a child about socializing… He really did hit rock bottom. But surely, she was right. He always had been the silent kind, against his will, forcibly keeping on a mask of a dangerous person, back in the days he lived in the slums of Lungmen. As little as he enjoyed being seen as a terror, the good sides were that nobody messed with him.
He did not reply, instead getting up. "It's ready." Followed with a happy leap from the kid, as if all of her tiredness went away.
"That's SO good!!" The eyes of the young Sarkaz were shining, as she took spoonfuls of the meal, unable to stay steady. "Thank you mister… Huh, what's your name?"
"Call me Jaye." The young man did not serve himself a meal, not feeling any hunger. Instead, he was putting the leftovers away, before washing the tools they used.
"Thank you mister Jaye! I will try my best to remember the recipe you told me uh… First oil, onions, then… What was next, the veggies or the meat?? I forgot already!"
"The meat, then the tomatoes and soy sauce, and the vegetables."
"Yeah! That! The meat, tomatoes, uh…" she mumbled to herself, trying her very best to remember the recipe. "I will help myself, yeah!"
The moment after, she left the table to hand her empty plate to the cooking chief, a satisfied smile on her face. "Here, all done!"
He just nodded, taking the plate to wash it with the rest. "M'kay. I will take care of it. You can go to bed now."
"Yeaah… It's getting late. Silence is really gonna be mad if she learns any of it… But maybe not if I make her a really good curry!" Proud of herself, she soon started to step away, shouting from the distance. "Thanks again! I will come back I promise, so I can learn more until I start to master everything! I swear you'll be impressed!"
Jaye paused to look back at her, who already turned her back to walk away, as he only whispered an "Alright." that she probably did not even hear. Now completely back alone, he went back to his activities, but his mind was wandering away.
Maybe he should take an apprentice.