Llama 17-21 - Perspectives.

[wewillwewill]

Who: Elidibus and you! [OTA]
Where: Kitchen (Red Team Chores, 15-21.), Kitchen (Between Meals, Llama 21), Library (Fiction Section) Llama 21
When: Llama, Days 15-21
What: Various daily moments between Llama 15 to Llama 21.
Warnings: So far none other than Elidibus being a walking Spoiler for FFXIV. If any wildcards have a more serious feel this will be updated.


I. Chores [Upstairs Kitchen Carriage]

It would probably not surprise anyone from Elidibus's world that the former owner of the body would be present and accounted for when chore time came around. But this is Elidibus and Ascians are not often thought of as menial labor.

Yet here he is. Working through his share of a of dishes which follows the lunchtime meal. By hand. Nary a bit of spellwork in sight.

But simply magicking his work finished would not provide him with a unique perspective. Nor would it provide an example to others without such a convenience. Let us not forget to mention the foreknowledge that showing he could meant others might expect it.

In all honesty? It is about the experience, regardless of how much those other factors play in his choice.

Perhaps someone who doesn't know Elidibus will take interest in how he didn't start right away. If there were instructions they were carefully read. Then he watched someone else at another station performing their share of the task. How much detergent to use in ratio to how much water, the steps involved in washing, rinsing, placing to dry. Once he was satisfied he had the process down he began.

There seems nothing odd about his speed if you consider he might not be used to the task but he is very thorough in it and likely inefficient with his time. This will improve but there's always room to offer a helping hint now isn't there?


II. Later...[Downstairs Kitchen Carriage, Llama 21]

The concept of monthly recipes was intriguing. When Elidibus ran across this information, he decided it would be acted upon. Lunch is past and chores are done and the figure of a young man- wearing the standard train uniform in red sans the hoodie- can be found pouring over an assembly of ingredients at a prep station and comparing it to the recipes on the ICA. Pots, pans, utensils and bowls are also neatly arranged.

Yes, recipes plural. There's a few other things to note here.

First, the amount of ingredients is not 'one serving' but rather what the recipe calls for. If that recipe is meant to serve 1 person that might be all well and good but if it's for 'up to four' or 'makes forty', well.

Second, it covers one of each recipe for the month. It seems to make more sense to him to try them all at once and be done with it as this is a matter of curiosity, rather than nutritional value.

Third, remember how it said all the ingredients? That means all of them. While separated into their various weighed portions or piles of what will be needing processing, this does include the raw fish. On the same station as the vegetables that will remain uncooked. Sure this will be just fine up to a point since it is proper sushi fish, but...

Yeah.

Help this man. Or indulge with him.


III. Library Carriage [Downstairs Library Carriage, Llama 21]

There's always a good chance, in these first few days on the train especially, that Elidibus is going to be discovered pouring over something related to the train, the Void and anything related to it. While non-fiction has certainly made a bulk of this quiet reading thus far, he has not been remiss in a very thorough investigation. Fictional books are not off the table.

Of late the Ascian has been doing far too much sitting to the point where it became a discomfort. The library is a refuge from this and thus he is seen eschewing a seat, comfortable or no, for standing in an out-of-the-way place and reading.

Right at this moment, working his way through the Merry Little Voidtrain series in the downstairs area.

On a ledge next to his position are two volumes of a far more serious read that he intends to check out. It is not embarassment that causes him to read the MLV at the library however; they are very quick after all and easy enough to commit to memory.


IV. [Wildcard: Anything else? Can be serious or not. The above whimsy aside, I'm down for any CR old or new. PM, Discord, etc!]

Comments

Library Carriage [Downstairs Library Carriage]

[sciencegirl]

Entrapta's recent conversation with Tidus means that she has to check out the book on Mana Drives. She finds the particular volume on a shelf and carries it over to near where the seats are. But she doesn't take one, instead her hair curls under her and she makes her own chair near a table.

Xehanort had advised her to speak with Elidibus except Entrapta has a terrible habit to not actually check the roster to see how people look. It's an absent-minded thing. Then she might have known what the man she was looking for looked like. So for right now she's none the wiser.

One leg is folded up under her, the other dangles as she flips pages, and she very much looks like she's relaxing under the steady support of her own pigtails.

[wewillwewill]

That girl just used her hair as a seat.

Since his reading material isn't exactly rocket science, Elidibus continues reading for a time while studying this phenomenon. One thing is certain, there is variety on this train, whatever else may be said for it.

The problem with engaging conversation is that this is a library. Quiet would be easy enough, but how to interrupt the young lady's reading. How deep does her focus seem to be? Well, there's only one thing to try. He steps closer after returning the last finished book to the shelf.

"I would like to speak with you, if you have a moment."

[sciencegirl]

"Yes! Sure, what is it!"

She's got a bit of a shrill voice, nasal, very much in line with a stereotype one would brand as 'nerdy', and she's on the small side despite being fully grown. Standing she'd be a solid five-feet, matching most of the girls that are just half her age on the train.

That might make sitting on the hair a touch easier, but it's also very strong. The way she ropes it together makes it even stronger, and she scoots so she's more sitting up with the mana drive book tucked against her chest.

"I'm Entrapta!" she announces as per usual. She doesn't include the 'Princess' this time, because she's started to lose hope other Princesses from her world might show.

[wewillwewill]

A little on the energetic side. But nothing Elidibus can't handle. There is a brief once-over as the young woman turns her attention to him. Nothing dangerous. Just trying to get an idea of the greater picture now that she's not buried in the reading material.

"I am Elidibus," he answers in the wake of her introduction. He is unaware of Xehanort's blithe suggestion about approaching him. "I was intrigued by the sight of your current sitting arrangement. It seems no spell... a birthright, perhaps?"

With luck this isn't too invasive. One can never tell.

[sciencegirl]

It's that sort of energy that comes with having been raised in isolation. She doesn't regret surrounding herself with robots, or that her castle was a literal labyrinth and that she didn't really invite anyone to stay with her (why? She made her own friends). And now suddenly there's a whole train full of interesting minds to interact with.

She has difficulty tempering her enthusiasm. She's lucky most people endure it, and if they can't she's learned to harmlessly excuse herself. The ability to not take that kind of rejection personally is a rare superpower she possesses. All of that is beside the point, though, as she loves talking shop.

"I'm a Princess, and in my world that means we inherit powers down our family line. Most kingdoms have a Runestone, but Dryl's was destroyed some time ago. So my powers are just in my hair. I think they were considerably stronger in the past generations but records are very sketchy."

She splits two locks to hold the book and turn pages, motioning with her real hands as her hair works even more dextrously than fingers. "All Etherian Princesses are imbued with some sort of magic. Whether or not it's powerful elemental magic depends on the presence of a Runestone. In short, yes, I was born with it and had to learn to use it, but it is also magic."

[wewillwewill]

"I see." There's a touch of interest that borders a little on surprise in the response. Or perhaps it is puzzlement. "Forgive me. When I spoke of a spell I referred to the need for invocation. Opposed to an innate trait that happens to be by its nature magic."

Elidibus watches the deft manipulation of the book's pages. Whatever else is said, it is evident that this woman manipulates this gift with all the comfort of other limbs she was born with.

"Elemental Runestones?" The man's tone implies he's familiar with the concept. That Entrapta is a Princess seems to come in a distant third in the level of interest the man holds for the subjects of hair, elemental crystals runestones, and princesses.

[sciencegirl]

"Yeeeeah an ancient visiting race turned my planet into a superweapon. The Runestones are meant to channel the energy. ...Honestly considering the way you can change entire weather patterns and the ecosphere I should have introduced the idea to the last world. But they seemed to be barely capable of taking care of themselves let alone rebuilding their planet. It might have been too much information."

Not that she would have been against helping them? But their ability to continue to help themselves after having been a space-faring race or better and then allowing their world to fall into disrepair does not fill her with confidence. As far as she's concerned, they did what they could against their enemies in the time allotted.

"There are sorcerers and mages in my world that can access the planet's magic and do use spells."

[wewillwewill]

Of course it's not exactly the same. Well probably. Hard for Elidibus to tell if he's not seeing it for himself.

But there are similar principles.

"I was not present," the man answers after a moment's consideration of what to say. "Yet it is generally unwise to leave such great works in the hands of those incapable of properly achieving it."

Such as the seat of the Architect. Emet-Selch excelled at the building of intricate civilizations. He would have to ask-- no, it was unlikely. This Princess and her Etheria were probably not just part of his own lost memories- he's certain he would have remembered some of the fine points of that type of effort- but from yet another 'universe'. Elidibus shakes his head, dismissing such musings and focusing upon Entrapta again.

"I too come from a world where its magic is harnessed by those with the capacity to do so. Though I would call this power aether and its use lies more than just spellwork."

Aetherial hair manipulation though. That's... new? Maybe. There's something niggling at the back of his mind but there really isn't enough to bring it forward so it's dismissed for now.

"...The concept of harnessing and channeling aether through foci is not unfamiliar to me." There is a momentary twitch born from an unpleasant recent memory. "Even on so grand a scale as these Runestones you speak of."

...How odd. The memory of such a grave error in realization is certainly not pleasant. But it doesn't seem to sting as much as he feels it should. Perhaps he'll have to think on that more later.

[sciencegirl]

"Oh! Aether. So you use forms of magic that function similarly to Cherry or Tidus's." She sits up a little straighter in her hair chair, interested in sort of talking shop, completely missing any telltale signs of confusion and discomfort because her tendency is to identify with what's notably inhuman. A normal face? She can never be sure what it's actually doing or if it's hiding something or if a grimace was a hurt foot or a bad emotion.

"I'm interested! Was the energy harnessed from the planet itself or from specific elements? What is your elemental setup? ...I mean, some magical practices have fire and water and earth and air. Some have nature and air and metal and water and fire. There's a variety of perceived doctrines."

Perceived, she says, because all the doctrines have worked here and people seem to be capable of learning each other's. That leads her to believe that it's just as much a way of organizing the world into manageable parts as it is well-defined elements with recognizable borders between properties.

"Xehanort mentioned you, by the way. He said you had an incredibly interesting spell that would allow people to travel through darkness." She sounds intrigued, settling her chin on her real hands as the lock of her hair holding the book tucks it into her pigtail as if the mass of hair also serves as some kind of storage space.

(It, unfortunately, does for her. She can manipulate her hair to the point she just carries around items hidden away in there.)

Llama Day 18 - Lab Carriage (Tentatively Closed to Peter Parker, ask if Threadjacking!)

[wewillwewill]

Once given consent, Elidibus appears in the lab. Literally.

His arrival is announced by a soft thrumming sound; not quite the displacement of air but close. There is also a visual accompaniment. A billowing cloud of blacks and varying shades of purples blossoms in an unoccupied corner. Wearing the train uniform in the option of red, the young-looking brown haired man- maybe in his early twenties?- steps out. The cloud curls in on itself and disappears. Elidibus looks around for the person he's come to see.

Sorry, it's a habit. One he executed before remembering it might not have been a good idea to startle someone working with volatile chemicals.

[OOC: Will adjust if you prefer brackets!]

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter pauses from where he's cleaning up his mess and stands a little straighter as his senses prick up and he turns to face the newcomer.

"Holy shi-" Peter lets out as he takes a quick step back but then things go back to normal and he calms down.

"O-oh.. hey."

[wewillwewill]

At least there seemed to be no danger or threat, though Elidibus is a dangerous individual. Neither from the cloud of shadows or from the man who appears from them.

"...My apologies." The belated afterthought of 'maybe not right inside the lab' finally occurs. "I did not intend to startle you. I am Elidibus. We spoke through the audio network just now."

He seems polite. While there is no bow, his tone and words almost imply the lack. The man named Elidibus studies Peter momentarily as if to satisfy himself that there is or is not any spider parts before nodding. Then he looks around the lab.

"Would you be willing to permit me to observe your work," he finally asks after focusing again on Peter.

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter takes a moment to shove the initial shock away in order to pretend as though he did not just lose ten years of his life. "N-no, it's cool." He assures with a shrug.

"I mean, right now I'm just cleaning, but uh sure, I can show you my webs. It's highly adhesive at first though." He warns before activating his webshooters and shoots a small web to the wall behind him. Good thing that wasn't the ricochet web.

"It disintegrates in like two hours so it's not permanent."

[wewillwewill]

The man's gaze snaps to follow the action of shooting the device at the wall in question. Calm but also very alert.

Ah so it was a device on its own.

Elidibus nods acceptance of the warning and after one final study of Peter turns his attention to the web. Walking closer to the wall, he peers studies without touching. A moment later, some unimportant object is picked up from the bench and allowed to adhere to the web before its adhesion principle fades.

"How long does it remain in its binding state?" he questions over one shoulder.

[hashtagparkerluck]

"Usually just a few seconds really, the second it hits oxygen it quickly loses it's adhesive so I might have added too much of something if it stayed sticky that long." He frowns at the webbing and then shoots a little on to the table to poke at it himself.

...

Wait. That was a bad idea.

"Uh oh."

[wewillwewill]

...

Elidibus turns around fully to regard the predicament Peter has gotten himself into. He thinks carefully on the matter. "You are younger than I first surmised?" There is a question there.

People of Elidibus's world(s) are out as adventurers around Peter's age. It's practically adulthood.

"Do you need assistance?" he inquires politely. After all it's only a poke. That does imply a finger. ...Right? Surely the rest of Mr. Parker is free to extricate himself? "Or will this binding solidify and allow you to pull away?" Elidibus is curious now. He steps closer to Peter to get a better look.

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter looks up from where he's now gotten his finger stuck in his own webbing with an odd look on his face.

"Depends on how old you thought I was? I should be Seventeen soon, I think. It's kinda weird with how time works here and all." He glances around for something he might be able to use to cut himself free with.

"No, it'll just disintegrate... in about two hours. Maybe." He admits.

Later...

[consider8]

While not strictly her chores, Eight was curious what was going on because it sounded like an absolute banquet was being prepared up above. She wasn't aware of any special like that, so it was definitely worth investigating...

Oh.

Oh wow.

Oh dear. The absolute state of the kitchen was beyond belief. This wasn't a preparation. It was a disaster. The sheer audacity of the placement of everything is enough to kick off her OCD tendencies. Though she didn't mean to, she's on top of Elidibus like a rocket, her tone and posture noticeably distressed. "What are you doing??"

Re: Later...

[wewillwewill]

If one were to look at it and consider the order grouping and order of the items in context to the recipes involved, the organization would be exemplary. If one were to look at it in that context.

There are, as Eight is quick to note, so many other things wrong with the preparations thus far that one can't even. While the man doesn't appear startled by the sudden rush to approach and general outrage, he is quick to turn to Eight.

"I am endeavoring to recreate the recipes noted in the ICP device," Elidibus answers after a moment's study of the stranger. Looking from Eight to the ICP screen and then to the ingredients, he furrows his brow momentarily. "Perhaps I misunderstood. Are these recipes and supplies not for all to make use of?"

[consider8]

"Recipes...?" Her eyebrows furrow at the retort and looks over at the ICP. A cursory note of the first two recipes is enough for her to realize what was going on here.

She comes back, arms furrowed but with much less severity than the first time. "I see what you are doing, but this is all wrong! You can't lump everything like this together and hope it will go okay!"

A finger is extended. "Food-borne illness is a serious problem! For your sake and the safety of others, you need to know these basics! The second important step is to keep things separated! Fish and meat have a lot of germs and bacteria that can make people sick, and if they are touching other things then you might get that germ and bacteria onto other things! The fourth important step is to keep things cool! Food is time-sensitive! The longer it is out at room temperature, the more contaminated they will get! With this much food by yourself, your food at the end of the row is going to get spoiled, and if you weren't finished and ready for the first dish, it will be overcooked or burnt!" As an Octarian, they were kinda forced to learn the manual... that and she paid attention because it made good sense. When you live in an underground dome, all sources of food must be used well. There was no room for food being thrown out.

[wewillwewill]

To give credit where it is due, Elidibus pays attention to Eight. At first it seems simply because it is polite to do so. But as she speaks with assurance and authority on the subject, the Ascian's attention shifts from civil to attentive.

"I see." A hand raises and a finger is thoughtfully tapped to his chin. "Forgive me. I am unfamiliar with the process and method. The instructions seemed simple enough." A glance is given toward the ICP. Of course they are straightforward... if one has the basic cooking skills.

He turns with a decisive motion toward the prep station. "These ingredients have not been out long. Yet from what I understand of your knowledge, we cannot simply return them to their proper place."

At least he understands that much.

"Instruct me on how we might best salvage this matter. I will follow your lead."

[consider8]

Eight nods, recognizing that trying to do anything with so much food was going to be a bit of a challenge. Perhaps if...

"...I think we're going to have to deviate from the recipe just a little..." She places her hands on the potatoes and puts them to the side. "Wash these and put them back. These can be put back and be okay." Next, the fish. "Find a tray and put the fish on it. If we start to cook it now, that is going to be either overcooked or cold by the time we get to it. We're going to have to use it all, but it's going to be too soon." She closes her eyes and tries to imagine the best thing to do. The best thing... "...we're going to have to combine as much of this stuff as we can. I'm thinking... seafood fried rice, shrimp stock with noodles and vegetables, a ginger glazed salad, and some sushi maki." Her hands flipped from place to place as she's mentally trying to calibrate how to do all of that.

Her eyes drifted open and she looked at what she hoped was an attentive Elidibus. "What I need you to do is put away the fish, find two big pots, and re-review the recipes for the stock and the sushi." As for herself, she's going to get started on cleaning and de-shelling the prawns and separating out the vegetables into something that at least makes a little bit of sense. Her eyes drift to the piles of food as she tries to mentally sort what could be done before snapping back to Elidibus. "Well? This is your mess. GO!!"

[wewillwewill]

"Wash...?" The absolutely dangerous way (metaphorically speaking) that question trails with a touch of confusion may be a warning about the state of the other ingredients and another step he had not understood the principle of. Doubt should very much be cast upon the status of those vegetables Eight is looking over even if they weren't touching the fish before.

"What precisely do you mean by washing?" Because surely not with soap! "Must they be dried before returned to the stores?" But one thing he can do while waiting for an answer is obtain a tray for the fish. The potatoes can wait a moment longer surely. Since he had gone through and found many of the other utensils he would be needing, a tray is easy enough to fetch. Fish is transferred to it and the tray as a whole returned to the nearest refrigerator.

To his credit, Elidibus doesn't need the prompting. Only pausing to be certain of the instructions involved, he is quick to take action. But there lies danger here too. The man just handled raw meat and is reaching for the potatoes right after.

This should be fine right? After all the contact stuff from the fish should wash off with whatever process cleans the potatoes, surely.

[consider8]

"You're a scientist, right?" That was also a dangerous assumption for Eight to make, but seeing as there were just so gosh darn many scientists lately... and how the method he used to order the food followed a methodological approach to cooking was an easy assumption to make.

"Whenever you clean something you pass it under running water to get any dirt off of it." Her attention was taken by her own task for the moment and so Elidibus is allowed a certain degree of freedom... that was until he comes back from closing the refrigerator a bit too quickly.

"You're going to go back and wash the fridge handle, right?" Riiiight?

[wewillwewill]

"No," Elidibus answers without any signs of irritation. "My role is that of an emissary." A very simple word for the scope of his office and its particulars, but definitely not a scientist. Unless you were to count all the research he did.

And so duties continue. And he almost touches the potatoes before the Octarian speaks up again about another step that he was apparently not aware of. There is a pause as he looks back at the fridge, then at his hands and finally toward Eight. He lets out a sigh.

"It seems I must ask you to consider my knowledge wholly lacking in these principles you wish to impart." Elidibus moves closer to his impromptu mentor in the culinary arts.

"I have had little reason to consume food, much less to observe how it is prepared. Nor the common steps mortals take for granted in their daily lives." There certainly is no regret about missing out. That particular detachment is not what you'd expect from a guy who just happened to be Too Busy For The Basics. And that way he talks about mortals.

...Well, that's probably pretty common around the train if you think about it.

"I wish to correct this oversight, as it seems it will be relevant to this voyage. You will find me an apt pupil, if you are willing."