Chapter 2 - Barter System

[photonicfighter]

[Action - Thursday, September 1st, 458 Stone Street, Morning]

[Dakki is up early, as usual, checking the mail after fixing the household's drone children toast for breakfast. Again. Toast is easy, and they haven't started complaining yet... although that could change soon. But the package on the doorstep jostles her out of breakfast-related reverie.]

Oh? ...oh! OH!

[She had heard about this, about people getting back things that belong to them after something awful had happened. Her first week here had been awful to the extreme. It only made sense that this was sitting on the doorstep, then. But who was it for? She picked it up, turned it over once, and then spotted her name written on it in small letters.]

...nothing for Gat? That doesn't quite seem fair...

[Well, it is what it is. And it's still exciting! She takes the package inside, and sits down on the living room couch to open it up. Brown paper is crumpled up and tossed to the floor, and the lid is lifted off the wider-than-tall box. Inside is her Nano Transformer, the back-mounted folded-space storage device she had come to rely on over the years working for the GUARDIANS.]

Yes! Yes, this is great! Yes!

[She wastes little time getting it mounted on her back, although a few adjustments are needed to make it work with her Mayfield-issued dress and to have the mental uplink interface with her Mayfield-issued brain. She powers it up... and her face falls.]

There's nothing in it!

[Phone, Open]

Ah. Yes, alright. I think this is connected... hello. My name is Dakki Sigal, and I'm looking to trade training for training. It seems obvious enough to me that this town has taken the majority of us out of our element. I'm certainly out of mine.

[There's an awkward pause.]

I need someone to teach me how to cook. I've taken books from the library, but they haven't helped much. They assume a familiarity with the basics of the topic that I don't have. I need to get up to speed, and quickly, if I'm going to keep these poor kids in my household properly fed.

In exchange, I can provide combat training. I have experience with a variety of melee weapons, with unarmed combat, and with some ranged weaponry. I suspect that there are people who would be just as lost with a saber as I am with an oven. I think we could benefit each other.

Comments

[phone]

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those books assume that you got taught by your mom as you were growing up or some sorta thing like that. What are you having trouble with?

[photonicfighter]

I've got a list of things I've been wondering about, actually.

[There's a faint sound of crinkling paper.]

How do you "fold" something in to a mixture? Also, how brown is brown when they ask you to brown something? Light brown? Dark brown? There are a lot of shades of brown.

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Folding, when you get the hang of it is pretty easy. It's basically a way of gently mixing things together, like uh...[how to describe this] Kinda like folding a cloth over something that you're wrapping.

[photonicfighter]

Ooh. Gently. So you... bring it over. And then you repeat? Because it should be well-combined, right?

[One would suspect that she's taking notes.]

I'm also unclear about the best way of boiling an egg... do you leave it in the shell? Or take it out?

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Shell on. There's a ton of ways to do it, so you're gonna have to experiment on that one. But it's better to screw up on the side of undercooked then over.

[photonicfighter]

I see. I think one of the books lists the necessary length of time for various boiled eggs. I'll refer to that.

...there's still the whole thing about "browning". If you let something go too long, it goes clear on to "blackening", which isn't any good...

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Uh...lessee...browning is a bit dependent on what you're cooking. Like for ground meat, browning just refers to cooking it all the way through. For everything else, I guess it's kinda a bit of a golden brown?

[photonicfighter]

Hm. It still sounds a bit subjective. This is one of those things that I'll have to see for myself by practicing, I think.

...how do you know so much about cooking, if you don't mind me asking?

[She sounds curious, and amused.]

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

I don't know that much, just a few of the basics. Though to be honest I've gotten a bit better since coming here. The people I live with don't cook themselves.

[photonicfighter]

You know more than I do, at least. But I suppose you'd have more reason to pick the skill up. I'm not much of an eater. I'm happy to live off of PeroriMate, and to occasionally go out for smoothies.

I'm encouraged to hear that I'm not the only non-cook in Mayfield.

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Pero-what? And don't worry, there's plenty of people here who don't cook.

[photonicfighter]

It's a concentrated food product. Comes in a little block.

I'm not too worried for myself. I'm more worried about the two kids in my house. I can't keep making the daughter put together all the meals. It's not fair to her, even if she's droned and seems happy enough to do it. It must bother her.

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

It doesn't bother the drones. She's a girl one, so she's programmed to enjoy cooking. I mean, I'm glad you're learning so you can too, but I wouldn't say it bothers her.

[photonicfighter]

She used to be someone, though. She's not one of the town natives. Someone came to visit, to help out during... er... "milk week", and he recognized her.

My friend Gat was droned at that time. He said he remembered some of it. I don't want to be purposely miserable to the person locked inside.

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's different then. Sometimes they remember, sometimes they don't, so it's best to not be too horrid then. [Ken clearly approves of this.]

[photonicfighter]

Her name's Euphemia. I don't suppose you knew her? [She's asking cautiously, gently.]

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

The name's vaguely familiar, but I didn't know her well.

[photonicfighter]

Ah. Still, that's something. Being known of is sometimes as important as being known. I'll do my best to make sure she's alright, and not too put upon.

[weiss-tank.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm sure she appreciates it deep down...

phone

[histories]

I might be able to help you with that. [a smile in her voice clear to hear, as usual~]

[photonicfighter]

Ah. That's good. How much cooking experience do you have?

[histories]

Quite a bit, I would think. I do happen to do all the cooking at home, after all. [she kind of only does Japanese meals though.

But she's been adapting here.]

[photonicfighter]

Much more experience than I have. [She laughs softly. Japanese meals are fine! Dakki needs to learn to make any meals.]

Is there anything in particular you'd like to learn in exchange?

[histories]

[smiling here. But can't be seen, since there's no video...]

Not that I can think of. Perhaps we'll see in the future?

[photonicfighter]

[In customer service, they say that you can hear a smile!]

An IOU, then? I can work with that. Maybe we can make arrangements for lessons. Is there a convenient time for you? I'm very much free in the daytime.

[histories]

That's not really necessary, though. [you can probably hear that here, then~] I'm mostly only convenient on the weekends, since I'm teaching at the elementary school.

[photonicfighter]

Oh! So women can have jobs, here! [That's some genuine surprise in her voice.]

The weekend works for me, too. I'm a "housewife". I have free time. [Sigh]

[histories]

The place does have double standards between genders, though - if I'm not wrong, female teachers are paid substantially less than male teachers, despite doing exactly the same job.

Then... who should I look for, and where?

[photonicfighter]

... [There's a tiny 'clunk' on the other end of the line. Sounds like the receiver hit something, and Dakki caught it afterwards.]

Ahem. I'm at 458 Stone Street. Knock on the door and look for the blonde lady.

[histories]

Did something happen? It sounded like you dropped something.

[photonicfighter]

It's fine. I fumbled the phone.

[Muffled, as though the hand's over the mouthpiece] ...and the women make less than the men. I hate this place. Hate this place.

[histories]

Oh.

Well... It's not like it can be helped. This is 1950s America... It's to be expected, really.

[photonicfighter]

Nnh. [The woman said "1950s America" like it was something Dakki ought to recognize. Now wasn't the time to be complaining about it, not over the phone while attempting to be professional.]

I'm still... learning about the setting.

[histories]

If you'd like, I could teach you about that too, when I do come by.

[photonicfighter]

I think I'd like that. I'm open to any new information that anyone has for me.

[She sighs again, but there's a tone of gratitude to it.]

[histories]

Well then, I'm Keine Kamishirasawa, just so I may identify myself when I visit...

Until then.

[photonicfighter]

[There is scribbling! Then hesitation... then more scribbling. Quite a lot of syllables in that last name.]

Thank you. I'll remember that. Yes, until then, take care, Keine.

[histories]

[Yeeeeep. Ke-i-ne Ka-mi-shi-ra-sa-wa~]

Take care. [aaand line cuts~]