The spice of culinary club.

[Moiety]

Kiyomi stood by the corner of one of the many counters that had been set up among the cooking club. Her hands hung over a wooden cutting board as she raised the knife up before plunging it back down again, slicing up an onion that lay lifelessly on the board. She raised the back of her hand to wipe away at some of the gathering tears that had manifested on the corner of her eyes due to the onions intense fumes. She moved her non knife hand over to reach for one of the shakers of seasoning however was met with nothing other than air. She raised a head to look for the spice that had been missing in action, about ten other kids were hard at work in the same room either cutting or cooking in their own respective counters. she wiped her eyes again as to attempt to rid to stench of cooking meat and onion from them, her eyes scanning for the spices she needed. Her vision jolted to a nearby counter where the black grinder stood. She looked at the owner of her objective, Katsuo, the boy from the Cosplay cafe. While she had told him that they should talk to each other more at school, she had more or less been avoiding starting up a conversation with him. However it seemed that she had no other choice at this point, unless she wanted to have her dish taste sub par and that was unacceptable. She walked over to where Katsuo was working and gave him a quick tug on his shirt sleeve. "Hey, long time no see. Not into reading during club activities?" She started, although it had only been a day or so it was the best way she had to start up the conversation. Its not like she could just go straight into asking him for his ingredients, she had to at least attempt to butter him up first.

[SaxAppeal]

Katsuo was entirely focused on the chopping of some mushroom caps and onions, planning to saute^' them and get a good glaze on them as a garnish. Until, of course, he felt a tug on his shirt and Kiyomi Lum started teasing him about reading. He stopped his knife, because he had first-hand experience in what happens when you try to chop things while focusing on something else. And it was hard not to focus on Kiyomi. "Well, if it was a different club, then I definitely would be... but I like cooking, and my mom prefers to do it herself so I don't get many chances." He shrugged, and started chopping slowly, making sure his fingers were out of the way. Not again. I am not getting blood all over the cutting board again. "So... what exactly did you need? Not that I wouldn't mind a friendly chat, but seeing as you've pretty much ignored me recently, I'm pretty sure that's not why you're over here." He slid all of his veggies to the side of the cutting board, and slapped the piece of meat they'd given him to work with front and center. He wrinkled his nose as he turned it, then started trimming to make it a bit better.

[Mecuvalec]

    Nanami strolled down the hallway towards the location of the supposed "Culinary Club". She had been preparing her own food for a while now, but she felt that she needed some advice from real people to truly get the gist of it. As such, she had gone and retrieved an application for the club. Now she was looking for the club to get acquainted with the members before suddenly submitting her application.
    Coming up to the sliding door, Nanami kindly knocked first before intruding, slowly opening and closing the door behind her. Upon entry her senses became momentarily overwhelmed by the smells of spices and freshly chopped ingredients. Eventually her gaze came upon two people, a male and female student. The female looked rather kind, but it seemed as if she was pestering the rather scruffy-looking boy. Nanami approached her, tapping her on the shoulder gently to get her attention. "Uh, this... culinary club...?" she said just loud enough for the girl to hear it. "If I join... You can help me cook better?" Nanami felt slightly embarrassed by being unable to articulate herself in front of others, but she felt nervous asking a favor of someone. She held her application form for the club behind her back more tightly now, but her face remained expressionless. In an rather clumsy attempt to display emotion, she tilted her head slightly to her right, staring intensely at the girl.

[Moiety]

Kiyomi tried to her best to contain a scowl as the two were interrupted, her mouth curling into a snarl momentarily before twisting itself into a smile. "Yup, this is the culinary club alright!" she stated to the girl, waving a hand around the room as the show case all the cooking that was going on around them. "And of course I'll help you cook better if you join." She gave the girl a confident smirk. "However, from what I've seen Katsuo here is a much better cook than I am. He would probably do a much better job of teaching you." She gave the boy a pat on the back. The last thing Kiyomi wanted was for a nuisance to follow her around and ask for help with cooking. "If you want to join then you're going to have to get an application and then turn it in to that girl over there." Kiyomi shot a thumb over to the club leader, a girl of about the same age and height as Kiyomi was, however her eyes were a much lighter brown color with a slightly more rounded face and dark red hair. The girl seemed to be nonchalantly slicing something that was on her board with a happy expression. Kiyomi turned her back towards Nanami, her attention back towards Katsuo. "It's not like I've been ignoring you, we just haven't really had a chance to talk." She forced her head downward into a slightly embarrassed pose, as much as she hated to do so she knew that most guys loved it. "Bu- but I did, kind of, need the seasoning." She pointed towards the seasoning on his counter.

[SaxAppeal]

Katsuo nearly slammed his knife into the board when Kiyomi pushed the new girl onto him. Not that she wasn't pretty, and he wouldn't mind hanging out with her. But she seemed to be even more socially awkward than he was, and he was terrible at teaching people. He didn't have the patience for it, usually. He raised an eyebrow when she lowered her head as though she was embarrassed, because she certainly hadn't minded pawning the new girl off on him or stealing his spices. Not that he really cared, since he wasn't going to use that one anyway... Katsuo had a thought, and it was a bit rude, and unquestionably petty, but although he really liked Kiyomi, that didn't mean he wasn't going to be obnoxious towards her when she tried to manipulate him. A mischievous glint in his eye, he turned to the new girl. "I'm Katsuo Takehiko, and this is Kiyomi Lum. She's being far too modest, saying I'm the better cook, but I have a feeling if we both helped you, you'd get to be a better cook in no time." He grinned a bit, and picked up the grinder Kiyomi needed, holding it just out of her reach, rolling it in his hand a bit. He was gonna give it to her either way, but he wanted to see how she reacted to that before she went back to totally ignoring him again.

[Mecuvalec]

    Watching the strange interactions of the two in front of her made Nanami feel slightly uncomfortable, she felt as though she was unintentionally intruding on something more intimate than she had expected. It certainly would be helpful to have two teachers, but their interactions in front of her made her think that they wouldn't be the best duo to learn from. Instead the club president seemed rather more welcoming. Deciding that it would be more convenient and productive to ask the president for cooking lessons, she gave the two in front of her a bow, "Thanks Take-san, Lum-san. I'll... bother president instead..." Nanami turned towards the club president and proceeded to head over to her, noting the pleasant expression on her face. "Excuse me... Club preshident-san..." Oops. Nanami gave a bow to the president, holding her club application towards her. "I want to join... can you teach me... how to cook well?..." She stood up straight again and tilted her head towards the side in another attempt to put more emphasis on her question.

[Moiety]

Kiyomi watched with a blank expression as the odd girl walked away, and after Kiyomi had gone through the trouble of giving such a kind offer to the girl. She turned her attention away from the new comer and back towards Katsuo, who was quite obviously attempting to tease her with the taunt of the spices. With arm outstretched for her goal of the seasoning Kiyomi took a step forward, putting herself no more than a hair away from contact with him. She tried to stretch her arm out farther, not daring to move any closer, her fingers wiggling as they tried to close the rest of the gap. She did a surprisingly good job of keeping her cool despite the boys obnoxious behavior of holding the seasoning away from her.
----
The president calmly set down her knife to give the approaching girl her full attention. She listened to the girl with a warm hearted smile spread across her face. Upon the girl holding out the club application form the president did not hesitate to take it, quickly skimming it over before setting it into the corner of her counter. "Of course I'll help you with your cooking." She said joyfully. "When were not doing hands on things like this, learning is primarily what takes up our time. However as the president I sadly wont be able to be partial towards you. Since it seems we've run low on work stations it looks like your going to have to pair up with somebody, which shouldn't be too much of an issue since you wanted to be taught anyways, right?" The president looked around the room for a moment as if in thought before turning back towards Nanami. "I was going to pick for you, but why dont you choose who to be partners with? Go on, nobody here will turn you down."

[SaxAppeal]

Well, this was an interesting turn of events. Kiyomi was about a hair's breadth from being pressed up against him, and that was nothing to sneeze at. He gently rolled the grinder over so it hit her palm. "Sorry. I couldn't resist... you should really have thought twice before trying to pawn that girl off on me and try to steal my spices on top of it. Tsk tsk, I thought you were good at manipulating guys into getting what you wanted." He winked, then made sure she had a grip on the grinder before letting go of it and turning back to his cutting board. He tossed the onions and mushrooms into the pan he'd had heating up on the range, along with some of the cooking wine they'd been given. It was a shame that stuff wasn't good for drinking. He started seasoning his meat, making sure he didn't over-do it - the secret was to let the meat's flavor stand mostly on its own, and let the onions and mushrooms do most of the subsidiary flavoring. Too much seasoning, and the onions and 'shrooms lost their impact.

[Mecuvalec]

    Looking first at the president carefully and then gazing out towards the people in the room, Nanami eyed everyone in the room. Out of everyone, her eyes were drawn back towards Take-san and Lum-san. It would be easier to interact with them as they had already introduced themselves to her, and Take-san was doing some wonderful cooking now, the scent of the meat was causing a reaction in Nanami's mouth causing her to drool through her closed mouth. "Thanksh preshident... I'll ask... Take-shan..." Nanami then proceeded to head towards the two slowly, her drooling intensifying the closer she got. She stood in front of Take-san, and wiped the drool off her face with her sleeve. "Excuse me, Take-san... Will you pair with me and... share this station?... Would be a pleashure... to work with you... My name... Nanami Shideko..." Nanami gave another short bow, and upon her rising there was a little bit of drool that leaked out of the corner of her mouth again. Her face remained expressionless, but there was a some a kind of shine in her eyes that indicated her interest.

[Moiety]

She gladly grabbed the seasoning out of the boys hands, openly glaring at him the whole time she did so. She saw the drooling new girl making her way back over to the two. Deciding to wrap things up she gave Katsuo a swift jab to the gut with her index finger her glare turning into a cocky smile with a quick wink included. "Dont try and start a war with me. I control your coffee." She nodded towards the now arriving Nanami before taking her leave from the boys personal space and making her way back towards her own cooking stand. She set the seasoning onto her counter just in time to hear Nanami introduce herself to Kasuo. She made sure to make a mental note of the girls name for later. Kiyomi turned her attention back to her dish. She distractedly dashed some of her newly achieved seasoning across the hunk of meat they had given her before trying her best to tenderize it. She picked the knife back up and began to slice the meat into strips before laying it across the sizzling pan, the smell of meat exploding from the rising steam.

[SaxAppeal]

Outplayed... Kiyomi really is something. Katsuo held up a single finger as he gently laid the meat in the pan, grinning as it sizzled the way he wanted. He'd have to get his onions and peppers out when he lowered the heat or they'd burn, but that wasn't an issue. "Nice to meet you, Nanami. We don't have much longer before this is done, all that's left is to sear the meat on both sides, then slowly cook it so the insides get to the perfect point." He pulled out a plate, a serving spoon, and a fork from the unorganized mess in front of him. As he slid around the spices, and stacked the plates and bowls that needed washed, he gave an explanation to Nanami on how to make the dish. "It's fairly simple, really. Dice up some onions, mushrooms," here he whispered, "I usually like to add a few sicy peppers, but I wanted to impress Kiyomi and I don't know if she likes spicy food," then returned to a normal talking voice. "Then you toss them in a pan with a bit of oil and wine, let them reduce a bit, and then slap - er, gently place - the meat in there. The trick is to keep it hot, so it sears it and holds in all the juices, and only lightly season it so you don't overpower the subtle flavors of the mushrooms and onions. Once we flip it, and get both sides seared, we'll plate the veggies, and drop the heat a bit so we can slowly cook the inside of the meat." He stopped for a moment, trying to think of what he could have her do - it was a shame he'd picked just a simple, easy recipe, but he liked them that way. "I guess at this point, all you have to do is sample it with me." He could tell she was enjoying the scent of it, she could barely contain her drool. Which was kind of weird... she was pretty, and when he thought about it she'd be really something if she was a bit less shy. But I guess that shyness made her seem cute, too... But Kiyomi was absolutely stunning, and part of that was from that air of "confidence bordering on arrogance" she seemed to have. Holy hell, am I a masochist or what? Shaking his head, he check the pan, flipped the meat, and moved to start putting ingrdients away. "Well, this should be alright on its own for a bit, let's take these to the shelves and put them away. Grab those for me, would you?" He pointed to a pair of bottles, then filled his hands with the various things that also needed put away and started towards the backroom. As he walked past Kiyomi, he was struck by an impulse, and decided he'd go for it. "Hey, Kiyomi-senpaiiiii, can you check on that for me in a sec? I don't wanna burn it but I might as well put this stuff away." He started to slowly back towards the backroom, waiting for her response before he turned back towards the storage.

[Moiety]

Kiyomi watched the boy walk past her from the corner's of her eyes, not fully turning to look at him until she had called out her name. He wanted her to check up on things for him? What did he think she was, a maid or something? She almost laughed as she thought back to how their first meeting with one another was her dressed as a maid working at the Cosplay Cafe, but that was her job and this was different! Besides, now that he had a little elf helper following him around he should have things more than covered. Kiyomi turned back to her own dish, her head shaking in disapproval. She had just finished slicing the meat into strips and laying it out on the pan. She began to start flipping the strips of meat, making sure that they cooked evenly without burning. As she did so her mind began to wonder off to her recent experience of Brain Burst. Even if it had ended with a tie she couldn't help but tap her fingers in anticipation for her next match. The adrenaline and power that was felt while in that game outweighed the realistic pain of it. Outside of the occasional RPG she had never enjoyed a video game as much as she loved accelerating, and all the benefits that came with it.

[Mecuvalec]

    Throughout the duration of Take-san's explanation, Nanami tried to listen intently to what he was saying, but she was a little too focused on drooling. She caught bits like "oil and wine", "lightly season", and "sample". Upon hearing that last tid-bit, Nanami proceeded to furiously wag her imaginary tail and her drooling intensified. There was also the part where it seemed as though Take-san had a thing for Lum-san, but Nanami had already gotten that idea from their few bouts of conversation. Suddenly Take-san's hand pointed in a direction towards two bottles. She figured she was to fetch them. Nanami took her moist sleeve and had it soak up a bit more of her drool before proceeding to eagerly fetch the bottles that he asked for. She quickly returned to the work area, but Take-san was slowly moving to put things away and Lum-san was focused on her own recipe. There seemed to be a faint smell of something burning, and Nanami quickly glanced in surprise at the pan in front of her, and decided that the best coarse of action would be to flip everything in the pan and turn down the heat a bit. It seemed as though Take-san was merrily taking his time by the backroom. Nanami was slightly upset, and it almost seemed as though she was pouting a little bit. But honestly it was difficult to tell.

[SaxAppeal]

Weaving in between the other students, Katsuo came back to Namami standing over the pan, his steak flipped and the heat down. He raised an eyebrow, carefully poking the top with a fork. It'd be a little more crusted on the outside, but luckily the wine meant it was a sweet glaze instead of a burnt crust. He carefully spooned the onions and mushrooms onto a plate, bumping the heat just a smidge so the other side would glaze up too. "Well, sorry about that, but you did good flipping it when you did. Nice job!" He smiled at the girl, and was once again astonished by how much she was drooling. She must not be around good food very often... Lifting the pan over the plate, Katsyo slid the meat next to the veggies, drizzling the wine-sauce over everything. He set the pan on an open burner, and shut the heat off. He sliced into the middle, making sure it was done enough, then began slicing pieces off the sides. After he had a few bites set aside, he grabbed a pair of forks, handing one to Nanami before taking a bite. He made sure to grab a bit of onion, mushroom, and the meat, and a small sigh of content escaped past the food after he popped it into his mouth. "Mmmm... I don't care what anyone says, simple recipes are the way to go. They can fiddle around with their 20-something spices all they want, but this is where it's at." He gestured towards the plate, implying that Nanami should try it too. Almost as an after thought, he waved over the President, he'd nearly forgotten that she'd be grading them on taste today. Thank goodness it wasn't presentation, he had no artistic ability whatsoever.

[Moiety]

The president made her way over to where Katsuo had set up his taste testing station, the aroma of the meal guiding her towards them. Without hesitation the President gave the younger boy and still drooling girl a cheerful bow of respect before helping herself to the food he had prepared. she scooped up a combination of meat and veggies before sticking it into her mouth. Her lips curled upwards and a succulent "Mmm" escaped her lips as she pulled the utensils from her mouth and began to chew. She swallowed the mouthful and gave an appreciative nod to Katsuo. "It was delicious Katsuo! The only suggestion I can give you is to maybe cook it a little more evenly, and maybe a little bit less at that. But both of those are up to the taste of the eater, the fact that it was fantastic however is a fact!" She gave the boy a thumbs up before making her scooting her way over to where Kiyomi had been putting hte finishing touches on her creation. It was stripped chicken resting over a pile of seasoned yellow rice, the occasional garnish sticking out to give it a more artistic flare. "Oh! This is so cute Kiyomi!" The president said as she gave a bow to the girl. She grabbed a fork from next to where the meal sat. She cut one of the strips on chicken in half before piling some rice onto it and sticking it into her mouth. She once again let out a happy moan as she chewed the food. Upon swallowing it she gave Kiyomi a thumbs up. "It was really good, and it looked great on top of that. However I would suggest you work on some of those contrasting spices you have going on with the rice. With such a simple meal like this you may was to think about cutting down of the complexity until you have a better grasp of it." the president made two marks on her clipboard, one for Katsuo and one for Kiyomi, while she said it would be graded it was pretty obvious that the president was more into grading for effort than actual quality. With her grading completed the president made her way back to her counter and began to start cleaning up her station, getting ready for the end of club activities. Kiyomi looked down at her meal disgruntled. She hesitantly picked up the fork and took bit for herself. She had been testing it all the way through like most cooks do and just as she had expected it tasted perfect to her! She began to think that maybe the president had taste buds from mars. She let out a sigh as she starred at the meal in front of her a look of deep contemplation plastered on her face as she decided wether she wanted to throw the abomination out or bring it home for her mother to eat.