The Most Dangerous Game VI: Dinner & a Movie

Posted on Tue May 29th, 2018 @ 12:01am by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commander Fiona McCray & Lieutenant Commander Selune
Edited on on Tue May 29th, 2018 @ 12:01am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Past Tense
Location: Risa, Ohma Province, private cabin #7
Timeline: 2265
Tags: BonneChanceTrio

Downstairs they could hear cheerful rattling around. Evidently Fiona was enjoying whatever she was doing a great deal. Unlike the light-footed Caitian, the earth woman's movements could be heard clearly as she moved around the cabin. She'd claimed her room then gone right back downstairs. Evidently she had taken her boots off at some point, because she was pattering and sliding rather than clomping. She put music on at a comfortably low level and began singing along with it. Something about the weather being too darned hot.

The refreshed renegade strolled downstairs and approached the kitchen with her hands clasped behind her back, then began peering at ingredients and implements, looming over and around them and peering as if afraid to touch anything.

"What are you preparing?" she asked, her eyes moving from one ingredient to the next with rapt fascination. It was transparently clear that she was both fascinated by the process and desperate to be invited, but like a scientist in an engine room she was simply observing closely and working to not interfere in any way.

Fiona had changed out of her uniform and into a pair of shorts and a "Flogging Molly," T-shirt. She'd pulled her mop of hair back into a braid to keep it out of the food while she worked.

"Weeell we're making fish stew, salad, veggies and marinated steak," she indicated the ingredients laid out. "Wash yer hands... cause this is yer first lesson." She gave Char a lopsided grin.

The pointy-eared temptress made a genuinely gleeful sound, clapped her hands delightedly and immediately went to wash her hands. Whatever her break upstairs had accomplished it had improved her mercurial mood drastically- either that or the prospect of being taught to cook was genuinely that exciting to her. She dried them on a dish towel, then noticed that Fiona's hair was up, so she wound her own hair up into a bun then jammed a few skewers in to hold it. Then she scooted over to the living room and removed her boots, then rewashed her hands again, coming to stand next to and behind Fiona, hands clasped in front of her, bouncing on the heels of her feet excitedly.

"Ok, the first thing we need tae do is get the steak marinating." Fiona demonstrated how to crush the garlic and chop the herbs then let Char take over while she talked her through the process. She managed the simple tasks of peeling, crushing and chopping the ingredients slowly but surely. She was no sure hand with a blade, but she did manage to not cut herself.

"Guid..." Fiona praised, then took a moment to correct Char's knife technique, showing her how to hold the blade and how to tuck her fingers properly. As a pupil, she was rapt and mimicked whatever was shown to her. The next few moments was all about measuring and mixing. It was a bit like a chemistry class with tasting.

Fiona was a patient and detailed teacher. She explained the ingredients and helped Char understand the underlying principles, the hows and whys of the ingredients combined in the order that they did, as well as the direction in which they were going, to achieve the end goal.

They prepped the salad next and put it in the chiller along with its simple dressing. Fiona had wrangled some fresh herbs and field greens from the hydroponic garden. She checked to make sure there were no strong objections to things like avocados or onions "Always check fer allergies and preferences... it's easy eno tae set aside some bits for those who can't have certain things," she instructed Char as she separated out a serving for herself before she added onions.

Once that was done they moved on to the fish stew.


INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 large bell peppers, sliced
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 (16 ounce) can coconut milk
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Stir together the lime juice, cumin, paprika, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add the tilapia and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 20 minutes, up to 24 hours.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Quickly fry the onions in the oil 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add the bell peppers, tilapia, and diced tomatoes to the pot in succeeding layers. Pour the coconut milk over the mixture. Cover the pot and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cilantro and continue cooking until the tilapia is completely cooked through, another 5 to 10 minutes.

Fiona made Char do the bulk of the chopping and prep work then had her taste things, particularly after she managed to light the lime juice and spices afire. She had looked away only for a moment and the olive oil and onions were afire, but she took it as an opportunity to teach basic kitchen firefighting techniques with a pan lid.

"There ya go...no harm done. Dinna ever put water on a kitchen fire with grease involved. It's vurrah bad. Also, ABC foam extinguishers do tend ta ruin a meal, so dinna look fer that for yuir first option, aye?" She set the pan and it's charred contents aside, "We've plenty oov onions and sooch, it's aright. Joost start oover in a new pan."

This time Fi paid very close attention to her pupil, and showed her how spilling the oil led to grease fires, narrowly avoiding a second incident. For someone so graceful in moving her body, capable of complex aerial acrobatics and seldom missing a step in motion, Char's hand eye coordination was actually surprisingly poor.

Pretty soon the aromatic broth was perfuming the kitchen area, despite half a dozen other near-misses and potential catastrophes. While she had enthusiasm and an eager willingness to learn, the girl was a walking disaster trying hard to happen in the kitchen. Even when she followed directions things seemed to go awry, and whatever she touched tried its darndest to go wrong somehow. If Fiona didn't know any better she would swear that the fates had it in for the good-natured alien girl when it came to the culinary arts. But strict supervision was keeping the project moving in the right direction, and the wee scot suddenly appreciated her mother's patience that much more (though she somehow doubted that she had ever been this hopeless a student).

"Thas guid, yer doin good... ah, yer sleeve is afire, Char... s'right, jes smother it with a towel... right, keep stirring... nae, look out fer the handle... nae, s'aright, we can jes clean that oop... okay, now the towel is afire, jes throw it in the sink wi the spatula... areet, now the curtains are afire, get the extinguisher..."

"Have you finished bur... err cooking?" Selune called down the stairs trying to keep the obvious amusement from her voice as the mixed scents wafted up to her.

"No, the kitchen is still mostly intact..." Chary called back. "Fi's cooking skills apparently outweigh my ability to ruin a meal... mostly... boiling over oh jeez oh jeez..."

"Tarn it duin... NO! I will," Fiona laughed, "Go change oot oov that burned dress. I'll set tha table."

Despite Charybdis' best efforts to ruin the meal through her disastrous attempts to help, which managed to tax even Fiona's patience, eventually dinner was served and the trio sat down to enjoy it. The food was still delicious, even with the slight burnt smoky flavor added to it all. Selune opened some up the upper floor windows to vent the smoke out and all was relatively well.

"Thanks Selune," Fi said to Caitian as she filled plates and glasses, "fresh air helps."

"It has a very, uhm... outdoorsy taste. I'm lead to understand that's hard to achieve," Selune carefully worded with a suppressed giggle. Her meditation had repressed Chary's torn emotions to the point that she felt stable enough to joke and sit with the others, she wondered idly if she was getting better at it - for better or worse. On the bright side, Char's mood seemed to have improved dramatically despite her culinary catastrophes, which helped considerably. Apparently while it was frustrating for her this was not her first time nearly destroying a kitchen and a large portion of the house.

"Aye... Roostic," Fiona was obviously fighting laughter too, "All in all not to bad...no one was harmed an only one dishcloth lost it's life."

By the time the meal was finished, the sun had gone down, and the trio cleared the table and did the dishes together, dropping them in the dishwasher and soaking and scrubbing the pans, each taking a hand with the chores in easy agreement until they were done. The Fiona produced a vid for the viewscreen, transmitting it via her PDD, popped some popcorn and they settled down on the large comfortable couch to be introduced to the timeless classic 'Blazing Saddles'.

"I don't understand... why is his skin tone relevant...?" Char asked, confused by the issues of ancient Earth.

Fiona put down her mug of cocoa, "Well a long time ago before the third world war and before Star Fleet was formed...Earth went through a period of time where people were discriminated against fer everything frum skin cooler tae religion tae sexual orientation....even sex. Before the early part oov tha 20th century women weren't allowed tae vote, own property or even have tha moost basic oov rights oover their own bodies. It was a dark and shameful time in Terran history. Thank goodness we evolved past all oov that."

"This Mungo character... seems vaguely familiar," Selune mused to herself, "I'm sure I've heard that name before..."

"Mongo... I was using him tae mock tha Captain's behavior." Fiona shrugged slightly, "We humans still need a bit oov evolution. He's aboot at neanderthal level," she smiled tightly, "I'm angry with tha way he's treated Char and if I dinna get that anger oot in private it will coom oot in public and that cuid be bad fer my career, his career and Chars... SO... I mock."

"I have always found the universe's love of violence to be quite... strange," Selune quietly murmured in idle fascination, seemingly unware she was even talking out loud, "In all of Cait's history that has been one war and it was a war of misunderstanding that resulted in tragedy. Since then, and before, violence and conflict is seen as utterly abhorrent - even using one's claws as a weapon is an... alien concept almost - but the other races just seem to roll in it..."

Fiona nodded, "Aye... Humans are particularly bad aboot it. It seems like any excuse is used for fightin in our early history. Skin color, Names, religion...even a woman once. Tis a small miracle thet we survived long eno tae make it tae the stars."

It was at that moment, just as the actor onscreen intoned, "Mongo only pawn... in game of life," that the screen faded into a hash of static, and the auto-tuner kicked in, muting the sound as suddenly the viewscreen appeared to have no signal.

Fiona tapped the little device and frowned, "That's no reet..." Her eyebrows shot up, "what tha..."
then she looked over at her friends. "Jammer..."

The viewscreen went black as a smoking hole suddenly appeared in the lower right corner of it, and all three Starfleet officers suddenly realized that they were in danger... under attack, in a glass house lit from the inside in the darkness of remote mountains, they were sitting ducks.

"Kitchen!" Fiona barked out the word as she dove off the sofa and tried to make it to the lights.

 

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