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[Jenna is smiling but it is fairly clear that she feels a touch awkward using this thing's video function. It was nice that someone had explained it to her, but she still didn't get how it worked. As long as it got the job done, though...]

Hi, everyone! My name is Jenna. A lot of you probably don't know me, since I only arrived here earlier this month.

This is probably really bad timing with everything that's going on, but I wanted to ask for some help. I don't know how the months from my world carry over here, but based on the seasons, I think my friend's birthday is in a month or two, and I wanted to do something nice for her. I'm a terrible cook, though, [A twinge of annoyance is fairly clear to see on her face,] so I was wondering if it might be possible for someone to give me some quick cooking lessons so I can actually make something for her on her birthday.

I'm not asking you to do this for free! We can work something out if you want payment of some kind. I'm a warrior, so I can provide protection if you're a good cook but you're not one of the people with powers here. I'm also pretty good at hunting, so I can get you some actual food instead of that nutrition bar crap. And we used to make our own clothes where I came from, so I can sew too! That kind of thing. There's more I can do too, if none of that sounds good to you.

[She smiles brightly into the camera.] Thanks a lot in advance!

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[An opportunity to cook and eat something other than nutrition bars? Rick answers the call like his life depends on it.]

I'll be more than happy to help, if you'll let me...You don't have to pay me or anything. What kinds of dishes are you thinking of?

--Patrick Dawn

[Oh boy. Typing. This reply is noticeably delayed and terribly formatted, because Jenna hasn't really used a keyboard before.]

she likes fresh fruits and honey i think so something with those we used to make cakes for people back home but i don't know how to make one last time i tried it got burnt

jenna

[Oh my. No matter how bad he's feeling, France will never deny himself the chance to help a pretty girl in need. He keeps video off so that he won't have to make himself look presentable just yet, but he manages to keep his message sounding friendly as ever.]

Pleased to make your acquaintance, Jenna. My name is Francis.

I would be happy to help you out if you still require assistance. ♥ Does your friend like French food?

[As with the response to Rick, there is a delay in the response to France's message. Her typing is atrocious and she can't figure out how to make the bigger letters. She also hasn't figured out that the comma button, while it looks like an apostrophe, is not an apostrophe.]

it,s nice to meet you francis and it,s nice of you to offer i don,t think either of us have ever had french food before what does it taste like

[That's certainly some... interesting grammar she's using there. Not that France can blame her, as his own typing skills were horrendous up until just a few short decades ago. He refrains from commenting on it.]

Why, French food is made up of so many interesting and unique flavors that I cannot possibly list them all at once! If you've truly never indulged in such a pleasure, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

I'll let you taste some, and then I'll show you how to make it yourself. How does that sound?

that sounds like a great idea i can,t wait to try it is it hard to learn to make though because i have a tendency to burn things

[#fire mage problems]

[Oh boy. He desperately hopes he's not dealing with someone who has the cooking skills of England.]

We will start with some simple dishes, don't worry. Or perhaps ones that don't need to be heated up.

[It's a bit tough to read, but Rick's seen worse from people that were surrounded by computers their entire lives. The emails he's read...he shudders to think of them.]

I think I can make that work, if you know where to get the ingredients. I'm not much of a gatherer myself, so I'm not sure I could help you there. Do you need a list?

[It's not so much that she has English cooking skills as it is that she is very passionate about barbecue.]

that sounds like a really good idea when do you want to do this and where should i meet you

We should wait until we have proper ingredients next month. I'm a Culinary Assistant here, so I'm always in the kitchen during meal times.

Feel free to ask for Francis the next time you're in the cafeteria. I'll come see you right away. ♥

a list would be good i can figure out where to find things if i know what to look for

ok i,ll do that i,m looking forward to meeting you francis

thank you for your help

Of course, dear! It's no trouble at all.

I'll see you then.

Now now, Jenna. We can't always hope for miracles.

[She looks absolutely unamused. As far as she's concerned, there are only three people in the tower who might do this: Saturos, Alex, or Asch; everyone else she's met so far she's got on rather well with. She's guessing it's either Saturos or Alex because they've actually suffered the displeasure of her cooking while they traveled.]

Yeah, I guess it would be a little much to hope that you'd be less of a coward and say whatever you had to say to my face.

Okay, I'll come up with one when we think of something specific. In general we'll need...

[What follows is a list of basic cooking ingredients--flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs--which Rick hopes can be found in the cafeteria on a regular basis, disregarding the current stale menu options. Otherwise, they could always wait to get them until next month, since they have--]

[--time. Mid-writing, Rick has an idea.]

...You said your friend's birthday is in a month or two?

[Hey, there's a face Amelia recognizes! And it's somebody talking about something decidedly less depressing than the usual Tower fare, which means unlike most things she sees on the network Amelia's actually inclined to respond to this. Helping with a birthday would be a nice diversion. So when the feed clicks on, there Amelia is, smiling into the camera as well. Hers is a little more muted than it used to be, but getting an honest smile out of her these days tends to be something of an achievement in itself.]

Hey there! I used to be halfway decent at baking back home, although I'll admit I'm a little rusty... still, I could probably help you not set anything on fire! Oh! Something else that might help, every Admin tends to do something different with the cafeteria. The one we've got now doesn't really do anything with it at all, as you've noticed. But I think the one next tends to be quite a bit... fancier. We should be changing in just a few days, I think.

[She copies down the as much of the list as is made available herself, and her handwriting is much better than her typing, thankfully. She's sort of puzzled when Rick asks about the birthday again.]

yes why do you ask

[Oh, thank goodness! A response that she doesn't have to fight with the keyboard to reply to. Jenna smiles right back at Amelia.]

Really? Is there any way for us to save some of whatever he puts in there without it going bad?

[It would be ideal if they could get all the ingredients they needed now and have them on hand for later.]

If you're able to work on this for a few weeks, we could make a friendship cake. It takes slightly more than a month to prepare, but the ingredients themselves are...simple enough, and very delicious.

i,m willing but what is a friendship cake i,ve never heard of one before

what goes into it

It's a...kind of fruit cake. Back home, one person would make the base:

[What follows is a list of the ingredients - various fruits, sugar, and brandy.]

They'd mix all of that together and let it ferment for three weeks. Then they'd send it to their friend, who would use it to make the cake:

[Another list of ingredients - more fruit, lots of sugar, nuts, eggs--he remembers there being pre-made cake and pudding mixes involved, but they should (hopefully) be able to make their own out of what can be found in the cafeteria. Or they could find someone that knew how to make them more competently?]

The other person takes ten days per fruit to prepare their ingredients, using sugar and the starter. On the last day, they mix it all together and cook it. Then they'll have some juice left over...which can be saved and given to someone else for their own friendship cake! That's how it got the name.

Edited 2013-08-31 18:54 (UTC)

[Jenna likes the idea so much that she switches over to video feed again to reply. She doesn't want her struggles with technology to keep her from expressing her excitement over the idea.]

That sounds perfect! [She's beaming.] I don't know where we would get some of the things we need just yet, but we have some time! I'm sure we can figure it out, or figure out something we can use instead.

I'll get started looking for fruits right away. There's got to be some on some of the floors, right? I mean, we've got forests and meadows. Surely there's a fruit tree somewhere.

[Rick would like to do the same--he's happy that he's made someone else happy--but trying to communicate over video would probably have the opposite effect than it does with Jenna. He's cripplingly camera-shy.]

I...think so? If not, hopefully next month's menu will have something with fruits in it. You can usually get whatever ingredients are used to make the cafeteria food without any trouble...I've done it before, I mean.

[She has to stop and think about that for a second, folding her arms and leaning back ever so slightly.]

I've heard there's a few places you can put things where they won't get taken, but I'm not sure if food keeps there or not. Hopefully someone else will know for sure. Still, whatever the menu ends up being will stay that way for the whole month. And the guy in charge I think is one of the... [A beat. She's not sure how to phrase this.] ... less crazy ones? I think? I can't really say I know that much about him.

Great! I'll start hoarding food as soon as the menu changes.

Even if it doesn't have fruits, I bet there will be something she likes. I just have to keep my eyes open and be flexible, right?

Thanks a lot for all your help!

Huh. I'll have to try it out and see what works.

[Less crazy doesn't sound promising. But so long as he isn't murderous, Jenna will be happy.]

How bad could he be? [There is a light pause before she makes a face.] Actually, don't answer that.

That sounds like a good plan! Just let me know if you need me to show you how to prepare the different parts or something.

I'm always happy to help! We'll keep in touch...?

[Well, Jenna can at least check this one off the possibilities list. Really, if he knew she'd even considered him being the anon above, he'd probably be insulted.

The message itself shows up a day or two after the post is made.]

Sheba's?

If you're still looking for someone, I'll help. Assuming you decide I'm trustworthy with her meals.

[He doesn't bother signing it - the annoyed dig is signature enough. And clearly he's going to have to try and figure out something for her that isn't food...]

I will! And of course we will. It's always great to meet people like you in a place like this, so I'd like to see more of you even when we're not cooking.

[Jenna's reply is not immediate. It comes almost eight hours after his, and even then, she only saw it because she was checking the network for other things and happened to scroll down a little further than she meant to. She heaves a heavy sigh and switches the video feed back on. They're enough at odds with each other as it is and she doesn't want to give him her typing as further ammo.]

Yes, hers.

[She is trying very hard to keep her cool. This is a public setting and she doesn't want him to look like he has the upper hand. But she looks down at the text again and her lip curls at the dig.]

If you really want to help I won't say no. It'll probably mean more to her if she knows that we both worked on it anyway.

[And this way she can keep a close eye and make sure he doesn't poison it or something.]

[Late that night - ]

I'm in the kitchen for at least a little while most afternoons. It's your decision.

[And really, the idea that he'd even consider poisoning her (mercykill poppies aside)... It's a good thing he's not a mind reader, Jenna, because he'd be convinced that you're a nutter. It's ludicrous.]

[Early the next morning-]

I'm busy gathering things today and the next couple of days, but... [She looks down at the date displayed on the terminal.] A few days from now should be fine. I'll be there on the 4th a little after lunch. If you're not there, that's your problem, not mine.

I'll be there.

If I were a coward, I wouldn't have said anything at all. You can't be aware of my current circumstances.

[Which is just wanting to be a creeper... Shhh...]

Yeah, I wouldn't count on food keeping that well though, so while we could start practicing pretty soon it'd probably be best not to try and make anything until near her birthday.

[There's a brief pause, her smile dimming for an instant.] I won't answer that then. Er, do you have any idea if your friends birthday is in one month or two...?

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Still video - Also sorry for agonizingly slow!