Noriko and Lorna

[x-kaminari.livejournal.com]

Having been set loose on the mansion at large, Noriko spends a little time wandering and discovers Lorna in the kitchen. The meeting goes much better for both of them than some have done.



It was rare that Lorna was in the mansion's main kitchen these days for anything other than work. Prepping meals, taking inventory, cleaning up...that was all common. Cooking for the sheer pleasure of it and to serve no master more than herself, that was usually done at home where the dogs and her occasional dates were the ones to reap the rewards. But in the middle of the day, she'd gotten the urge to whip up some cream puffs so she'd posted a note moving her office hours to the kitchen and was busy making a terrible mess. And humming. Badly.

Noriko had made it through her morning classes, mostly. Apparently, teachers here took it more amiss than teachers back home if you weren't paying attention. Not that Nori had tried to sleep in class - sleep was still more elusive than not. But staring out the window and drawing cartoon characters seemed to be on the no-no list. Which was unfortunate, because there was only so much listening to English Nori could do before she wanted to scream. Which was why it was a good thing there were several spaces in her schedule for private tutoring and study.

Not that wandering around the school poking her nose into places was either of those things, but she'd been sitting still too long.

Poking her head into what turned out to be the kitchen, Noriko was surprised to find someone there. Actually, she was possibly more surprised by the green hair. Surprised enough to actually speak up. "Anou... Hello?"

Lorna turned, hands covered in flour practically to the elbow. There was a smear of it on her cheek as well next to a lock of hair that had escaped from her tightly woven braid. She paused for a second, assessing the girl then gave her a distracted smile. "Hello. You are Noriko?" Like when she spoke to Leyu, Lorna kept her voice even and slow but not so much that it became insulting. "I'm Miss Dane, one of the teachers."

Even if she'd known that it was the way Lorna spoke to Leyu, Nori probably wouldn't have objected to being treated like a twelve year old. She was just happy to be able to understand something completely. "Hai. Yes. I's Noriko. Yoroshiku, Dane-sensei." Stepping into the kitchen she let the door swing shut behind her and half bowed at the green haired woman.

"Nice to meet you too," Lorna responded and thought for a moment. "Are you hungry? I also am the chef... cook." She clarified, trying to stick to simple English.

Hungry... hungry... oh! Right, she knew that one. Shaking her head she said, "No, not is hungry." Nori paused, tilting her head at Lorna. "What cook?" Because it certainly smelled nice in here.

Lorna assumed that meant 'what are you making' not 'what's a cook' and wrinkled her nose, concentrating a moment to retrieve one of the recipe books on the open shelving. They were all metal spiral bound for just that reason and it took little effort to bring it over to the counter. Her hands were still a mess so she nodded at it for Noriko to page through herself. "I am making cream puffs. Look on page 125."

Noriko started as the book came floating over, still not at all used to such things, and so it took her a few moments to concentrate enough to puzzle out what page the woman had said. Eventually, though, she found the right one and her face lit up. "Uwaaa! Shuu-kuriimu! Oishii-sou... Looks... oishii... delicious."

"Shoe...oh, choux. Yes, that's right." Lorna dropped several rounded mounds of the pastry dough onto a tray, the second such that she'd filled and stuck both into the oven before washing off her hands and coming back over to the Japanese girl. "It will be an hour before they are ready though. I have homemade Pocky if you want?"

It was, Nori decided, completely strange that everyone here seemed to know Pocky. Not that she was complaining, and asking for food was easier than actual conversation. "Pocky, yes, please."

With Leyu's assistance, Lorna had come up with a Pocky replacement that was indistinguishable from the original. Or hopefully so. Lorna checked out the pantry, hoping that the supply hadn't been raided without being replaced again. That was often the case and Lorna tended to be cranky afterward. Luckily, there was plenty of the four varieties that she'd last made (chocolate, mango mousse, almond and strawberry chocolate). Turning back, Lorna beckoned Noriko over, "You can pick."

Noriko's eyes got wider as she eyed the collection, then pulled out a pair of the mango mousse. "Uwaaa! Great! Is make?" she gestured at Lorna with the sticks.

With Noriko this close the way her powers drew on the electricity in the area was obvious. Lorna firmed up her shields out of habit, sectioning off a bit of the EM spectrum for herself. She had no idea if Noriko was sensitive enough to her own power to notice it and didn't particularly care. "I made them, yes. Leyu helped."

The air suddenly... tickled, although Nori didn't know why, couldn't even have explained it better than that. So instead she shrugged. "Leyu? Dare? Who Leyu?

Lorna pulled out a couple of the strawberry pocky and resealed the container. "Leyu is Shiro's sister. I think you met Shiro, right?" For the sake of the new student, Lorna managed to keep her distaste for her ex-fiance's boyfriend out of her tone. It probably couldn't be termed a noble accomplishment but it was an accomplishment nonetheless.

"Un. Shiro shiteru. Is know Shiro. Leyu is Shiro sister. Sou ka..." For her part, Noriko didn't give away much when it came to her opinion of Shiro, either. And, while she was curious about Leyu, her limited English and limited attention span prevented her from saying it. Instead she came out with, "Dane-sensei is hair very cool."

"My...oh, thanks. Thank you. It's...because of my mutation." Lorna really hated having to work with a limited vocabulary. She was not exactly a person of few words at the best of times and not being able to use slang was even worse. "If you want more Pocky, you can come get some."

Noriko nodded. "Sankyuu," she said with a grin. "Now is ok."

"You're welcome. I need to finish cooking now, okay?" She made a small shooing motion with her hands, reluctant to actually get any closer to Noriko. The way that the girl affected her sense of the world was sometime that would take some getting used to.

Noriko cocked her head at Lorna, trying to figure out why she was being summoned closer. "Ok..." she said hesitantly, stepping further into the room. "Nori is help?"

Lorna blinked and reminded herself to re-examine which gestures she thought were universal. "If you want to?" she said, trying to decide how she could put the girl to work. There was one hard and fast rule in Lorna's kitchen, unless they were guaranteed to create something toxic, no help was ever refused.

"Un!" Nori said, nodding firmly, smiling as the idea sunk in. It would be nice to something solid, definite, instead of sitting in a classroom, banging her head against the stupid English language.

Lorna grinned, "Great. Wash your hands and we will get started!" A quick gesture toward the sink reinforced that idea and another mental note about getting Noriko into her Cooking class was made.