Private Cooking Up a Storm

Lee · Jan 27, 2020

With a warm mug of tea in one hand, Jiang Zheng Qing slumped heavily onto a sofa in the Staffroom. He had his own office, but his office was spartan, like the rest of his dwellings, and lacked material comforts, like tea. Teachers came and teachers went as their lessons started and ended; his break had just begun, and he was in desperate need of a solid tea. He'd been up late talking to one of his dorm kids, and it was evident from the deepening lines under his eyes.

His buttercup-yellow scarf was wrapped loosely around his neck. His neat black hair looked strangely flat, and his glasses drooped.

Yes, Qing needed a break.

@Zora

Zora · Jan 28, 2020

It had been somewhat of a busy and stressful morning for Celeste. Making easy mock cheese souffles had been a huge mistake. It was normally a recipe that the class should have found easy to do and fun.

However that had not been the case, and if the stray egg pieces in her hair didn't give hint at the disaster that had just happened, the resigned and tired look on her normally cheery demeanour was a dead given away that something was amiss.

"Lord, I need some tea. Black, and with sugar," she said as she entered the staffroom in a flurry and made a beeline for the kettle, for the moment unaware of Qing. However, as she grabbed a cup from a shelf she noticed a yellow object out of the corner of her eye and realized she was not alone.

"Mr. Qing!" Celeste exclaimed sheepishly. "I didn't realise you were there. Did you want a cuppa?" she asked politely, feeling bad that she had stormed in and hadn't seen her coworker.

Lee · Jan 28, 2020

Zheng Qing raised his mug towards Celeste — he'd heard the steps enter the staffroom, but hadn't been willing to look up just yet. As Celeste spoke, he clicked his fingers, and the water in the kettle began to boil. It was already warm from his turn — he was just manipulating the water molecules such that they'd move faster, and by doing so, raise its temperature. Just a little something to brighten the other teacher's day; she sounded as bedraggled as Qing himself felt.

"A toast, Ms Forestier," he said, mug still raised in salute. He didn't bother correcting the woman; he didn't want to sound pedantic, not when they were both in need of a pick-me-up. "A toast to you, to me, and the pantry."

Qing took a long sip of his tea.

"'S up with you?"

Zora · Jan 28, 2020

Celeste was very thankful for the water warming spell and quickly added the hot water to some tea leaves and proceeded to make herself a very strong mug of black tea with two, no three, sugar cubes.

"Cheers to you too," she replied good-naturedly and with a relieved look about her as she brought her mug and sat down on the sofa.

"What's up? More like what isn't," she sighed as she looked at her colleague ruefully.

"A student of mine thought it would be a good idea to enchant the souffles we were making.. unfortunately, they did not take into account that souffles normally rise a lot, and most of them ended up exploding in the ovens...." she explained with a shake of her head.

Lee · Jan 28, 2020

Qing placed his mug on a nearby coffee table, stretching his arms out from his chest. "Ouch," he winced, trying to show sympathy on his face. He couldn't relate; learning languages was rarely catastrophic, and he was glad that someone else was taking the mantle of Home Ec. teacher. Nevertheless, Qing found himself shaking his head along with Celeste as well. He couldn't imagine the sights she'd seen — and it was only so early in the morning; barely even reaching eleven.

But, he couldn't fault the student, either. If Qing hadn't known better, he'd probably have done it too.

"They're just kids," he mused to Celeste, meeting her eyes with his. Of course, most of them were comparatively kids to him, but their students were, well, actual kids. Still though, he could understand her frustration. He supposed the recipe was an easy one — if not, why would the woman be so... So... Done? "Some kid, huh. How'd they end up enchanting every single souffle?"

Zora · Jan 28, 2020

"They enchanted all of the eggs," Celeste explained with an exasperated sigh when Qing asked how they did it.

"You see, I always place the ingredients in baskets at the front of the room at the beginning of every lesson and each student comes forward and grabs what they need."

Taking a small sip of her tea, Celeste glanced over at Qing, noting then that he also seemed a little off.

"So, how is everything with you?" she inquired as she cradled her mug between her hands.

Lee · Jan 28, 2020

"What a civic minded soul," Qing snorted, shaking his head again. Some students were joys to teach; some tried to be joys; some were joys only to themselves. He didn't get to choose the type of kids he wanted in his class; he just taught whoever was assigned to him. Here, it looked like Celeste had pulled the short end of the stick. Well — some days, you got jewels, and other days, you had to polish them yourself.

His tea was growing cold. Qing clutched his mug tighter, and the tea warmed.

"Ye gods," Qing groaned, with a long-suffering sigh. Here was a side of him that his students never got to see — the Zheng Qing who was frazzled, tired, and not at all like a teacher. In fact, if Celeste hadn't known of his position as faculty, Qing probably just looked like another exhausted college student. "One of my kid's a vampire. Dorm kids, not student. I stayed awake last night to catch up with her, then some admin details."

The teacher rubbed at his bleary eyes, then took another sip of tea. He wondered how many sips he'd get out of one mug.

"And the kidlets, the middle-schoolers. They're at that age where learning another language is just another game. Don't care much for it; parents probably pressured them into signing up. 'course I get them, but it ain't nice to be speaking to a room full of toddlers, yenno?"

Zora · Jan 28, 2020

Celeste had to smile a little at that, though it was more of an understanding grimace than a real smile.

"Oh, I get it, believe me, I do. There are a lot of my students that see Home Ec as an easy pass and rarely show any great interest in it," she lamented as she lightly tapped the side of her mug with her fingers.

"I didn't know you signed up to be a Dorm parent. Do you have many kids?" she said, returning to the vampire comment.

Lee · Jan 28, 2020

"Is it not?" He mused, looking at Celeste with a quizzical gleam in his eyes. "Just how hard is it to — I dunno — bake a cake? Fry some rice? In my youth, the mortals could run a household before they hit 15." Qing said it with ease, glossing over the word 'mortals'. Even if they weren't bona fide gods like he was, a good number of the island's magical inhabitants were functionally immortal. For all their powers and longevity, they might as well be.

And these students were what — that age? There wasn't any magic then, not for the ordinary folks. Shouldn't supernatural ones be finding it easier, not harder?

"I mean," Qing clarified, meaning no offense, "Cooking well is one thing. Making something edible is another."

He grunted at her question, but it was halfhearted. For all their flaws, Qing loved his kids. Or he liked them as much as he could; firstly, because he was supposed to; secondly, because they were his. "Just two at the moment. Shiro and Kueria."

Zheng Qing waved a hand. "Y'know any of them?"

Zora · Jan 29, 2020

"You'd be surprised. Baking is like chemistry or Math, and helps enormously with Potion making. There is a science behind cooking, and it's not at all as simple as one might think.

Too much flour and your cake will not rise. Too much leavening can actually make a cake dry. Setting the temperature too high, even a little bit, can make a cake crack on top," Celeste explained.

"Cookies the same thing...Not to mention making fresh pasta or even something as simple as an omelette."

"In fact, a lot of students have actually failed Home Ec because they are lazy and use magic, figuring I can't tell a magically made cake when I taste one, " she pointed out, politely disavowing Qing of the notion that Home Ec was "an easy pass".

At the mention of his dorm students, she just nodded. "I know one of them, she's a student of mine. The other must be new, her name kinda rings a bell," Celeste mused as she took a drink of her tea.

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Private Cooking Up a Storm

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

Zora

Event Witch

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

Zora

Event Witch

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

Zora

Event Witch

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

Zora

Event Witch

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

Zora

Event Witch