MCA #9, Friday Evening

[okteiviakom]

Octavia didn't really know much about cooking. On the Ark, it had been all rations all the time, and then on the ground she hadn't really been involved in the preparing of meals. And the kind of things they'd made on the ground probably would've barely counted as 'cooking' by present day standards, anyway.

But today, Octavia grown tired of takeout and prepackaged meals. And they had a kitchen, so, probably no harm in at least trying, right? And it had seemed like a good idea to start with something she at least knew she (and Bellamy, too) actually liked. So, she'd looked up a supposedly 'quick and easy' recipe for pizza crust, then gone into town to get everything she needed for the dough, and also various toppings.

And, of course, she'd enlisted Bellamy to help her. Or at least stand in the kitchen with a beer in hand. His choice, really.

So far, things had been going okay. The first step had been just to dissolve sugar and yeast into some water and then let it sit for a while. Easy. Ditto for mixing in flour, salt, and oil. Octavia was getting the hang of measuring ingredients, at least, which somehow felt like a win. She also wasn't half bad at mixing them!

However.

"Now we're supposed to 'beat until smooth'," she said, frowning at the recipe that was open on Bellamy's phone. (She probably really needed to buy a phone of her own. But it just seemed so unnecessary.) "... What does that even mean?"

[ooc: For the broooo. And SP. So much SP.]

Comments

[notgetkilled]

"Do you realize who you're asking?" Bellamy said, making a face. "Beat till smooth. So, maybe without lumps? I don't know. Just...do it for awhile and we'll go from there."

[okteiviakom]

"Yeah, but what does beating it mean?"

Yes, she did know who she was asking. It wasn't going to stop her from frowning at him like he should somehow have had the answer.

"Am I supposed to punch it, or...?"

[notgetkilled]

"I...guess?" He shrugged because he had no idea. "Try it. See if that smooths it out."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia frowned at the mixture in the bowl. Then she got a firm rip on the edge of the bowl with one hand, and then sort of just... punched downwards into it with her other hand.

The thump of a sound that the counter underneath the bowl made was not reassuring.

[notgetkilled]

Bellamy eyed the mixture, head tilted to one side. "Does it feel smooth to you yet?"

[okteiviakom]

"It feels like I just punched something that's too soft to be punched," Octavia replied, dryly. But she was still kneading the dough, at least. And without further punching. "I don't think I did that right."

[notgetkilled]

"What do you usually knead dough with if not your hands?" he asked, frowning. "Is there a kitchen thing for it?"

[okteiviakom]

"If there is, we don't have it," Octavia drawled. Because they didn't know their way around a kitchen to begin with. Buying new stuff hadn't exactly been a priority.

But, her less-violent kneading seemed to at least be doing something. The flour was getting absorbed into the mixture, making the whole thing a lot less liquidy. "I thought pizza was supposed to be easy. It's just stuff on bread."

[notgetkilled]

"It's easy when we can pick up a phone and just order it," Bellamy told her. "And we don't have to...do all this."

[okteiviakom]

"But it feels dumb not to know how." And she had her whole thing about wanting to learn as much as she could while she was here. It led to things like standing in the kitchen with her hand covered in yeasty goop and flour. "Although I can't exactly blame us for not knowing."

Not a whole lot of grocery stores where they were from.

[notgetkilled]

"All the things we don't know about and pizza's the one bothering you?" He shot her a look and huffedo ut a laugh.

[okteiviakom]

"Not just the pizza," Octavia replied, mostly joking even though it was pretty hard to tell from her tone these days. It was a lighter sort of raspy? Anyway. "I think this is working better than the punching."

[notgetkilled]

"Too bad," Bellamy said, crossing his arms. "Punching might help you work out some of your aggression."

[okteiviakom]

"You think I have aggression to work out?"

That was definitely a sarcastic sort of a joke.

[notgetkilled]

"Maybe a tiny bit," Bellamy said. "But, so do I."

She just had a lot more than he did.

[okteiviakom]

"Runs in the family," Octavia replied, still kneading the dough. It was actually starting to look like something: more of a firm ball than a bunch of soggy ingredients in a bowl together. "I don't know. Sometimes I think about getting a drum set."

She'd played for a while, last year, mostly with Dante. But Dante had moved away, and somehow she hadn't gotten around to going to Groovy Tunes much after that.

[notgetkilled]

"Can you play?" Bellamy asked, frowning. "I didn't know you'd taken lessons."

[okteiviakom]

"I didn't take lessons."

She sounded subdued, for reasons of her own.

The dough was coming off the bowl, and she was pretty sure that was a good thing, and so she leaned over to tap at his phone with her clean hand, to check the recipe.

"It's just hitting things," she added. "I'm good at hitting things."

[notgetkilled]

"I know you are," Bellamy replied, frowning. "Isn't there more to the drums than just hitting them? Everyone would play if it was just that."

[okteiviakom]

"I guess."

She was looking the recipe over, talking like an afterthought. It said to let the doough rest, so she set the bowl aside, and went to wash her hands.

"You also have to have rhythm." Also an ability to do different things with your limbs at the same time. Both of which she was apparently good at.

[notgetkilled]

"I don't have that," Bellamy said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "So, who taught you?"

[okteiviakom]

"Dante, I guess." It was 'I guess' because it had been only the bare minimum of teaching. In part because she liked finding her own way.

Sometimes, anyway. "And Jonothon. That guy that runs the music place I used to work at."

[notgetkilled]

"Hm." He peered down at the mixture and tapped a hand against his arm. "Do you want to get a drum set?"

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wiped her wet hands on her shirt. There was probably a towel somewhere, maybe, but. Oh well.

"Sometimes, maybe. I don't know."

[notgetkilled]

"We could," he told her, shrugging. "There's room for one."