Scene Archives

has largely developed a very specific set of muscles for a very specific purpose, that being the transport and gentle handling of large and heavy tomes, one of which he carries with him and delicately places on an unoccupied, central portion of the counter space. He flicks through it to find an illustrated page of cooking instruments and gadgets and starts comparing the drawings to the items around him, beckoning Luĉja to join. “Do you… know what all of these are?”

: “Some of these I recognize, Friend-Archie. Many I do not. My cooking experiences have largely been while I was on a hunt, with little equipment. This seems like a great many machines to make one soup. Will we need all of them?”

checks his notes. “I seriously doubt it. It seems like most of these recipes were designed to be made with a pot and a heat source, plain and simple. I think there are a few things here I recognize - that’s an oven, those are burners, I think that’s an… I think I heard the food scientists in Samudra call it an ‘air fryer’, which sounds ominous and intriguing. How do you fry air, I wonder?”

is cautiously opening the drawers and taking inventory. They are unfamiliar with the fancier appliances. They’re making sure not to be in the way, but curiosity wins today.

considers the question. “With how little time we have left to prepare, it makes sense to keep it relatively simple at least in terms of the equipment used. I thought we might stand the best chance of winning between the glass-land-shark fins and off-world ingredients, but if there’s some techniques we can bring over here too, that might not be a bad idea. I think the trick will be balancing the familiar and the novel.”

nods in agreement. “I agree with your assessment. Also, I believe I have found the instructions for…everything, should we wish to avail ourselves of it.”

peers over. “Good find! Hm. Rich blue ink… I wonder if that means anything. I don’t know, just thinking about how we all have our own colors in things like the commentary or the Library’s guestbook. I was raised to not look a gift seahorse in the mouth, but I’d be a poor scholar if I didn’t wonder at least a little bit about who our benefactor is.” He glances over the list, matching each description to an item in the room.

: “I am quite curious what Samudran ingredients you will pair with the shark-fin soup. My experiences with flavor are…non-standard, but I can broadly account for Endjinn tastes. I wonder if we might have any way to gain ingredients from Almachadta as well. I do not know if this is true for you - but the food there had a taste to it that all other food I had ever had did not. It was akin to truly understanding what the humans say ‘delicious’ means.”

nods. “My understanding is that the Awoken Prince can help us retrieve small items from other worlds we’ve visited so far by employing his special aptitude for the liminal. I don’t pretend to know how it works, but given our burger party on Samudra, it’s clear that it does. As for what ingredients… truth be told, I was hoping to ask for your help with that. My passion for food is real but relatively newfound, at least on the ‘doing the cooking’ side rather than the ‘eating a nice meal’ side. You’ve done a great job of cooking for us while we’ve been on the road so far and I’d be silly to not avail myself of your counsel.”

Pauses for a moment and considers the many things they’ve eaten on their journey. “I think that if we could avail ourselves of one ingredient, it would have to be a basket of mushrooms. If we can grab a little more - I think every plant used in cooking was far more intense and…full? on Almachadta. Root-based aromatics would be lovely. Perhaps several knobs of ginger-root. I am largely unfamiliar with the full recipe for shark fin soup. It is not my favored chef’s specialty. What ingredients do you plan on incorporating from Samudra?”

nods in agreement. “I think the mushrooms are a great idea. The way I see it, I think Almachadta has some of the best of what nature has to offer particularly in its fruits and vegetables, while the food scientists of Samudra have some of the best of what nature doesn’t offer. Soup greens designed to stay satisfyingly crunchy after being boiled for long periods, peppers hotter than what you might find in nature, methods of putting the very essence of sweetness or savoriness directly into food… There’s also the question of preparation methods. My impression of Beast so far is that there’s a lot of innovation around different ways to cook meat, so I think it makes sense to keep that fairly true to local tradition, which means we might be able to innovate when it comes to how the broth or vegetable components are prepared, since those are areas of Kushtaka specialty.”

flips open the cookbook he won from Lauritz. “Let’s see… we only need to provide one soup, and the rest will be accoutrements and side dishes. It looks like the fins, mushrooms, a meat-derived broth, noodles, soy sauce, sesame oil, and water are most of what goes into the shark-fin soup, which is the one we know we’ll need to prepare. Soy sauce and sesame oil are considered staple ingredients on Samudra, I wonder if how they taste and are prepared there are the same as here. We might be able to get a unique flavor there, at least for the main dish. I think the side dishes, where we have more room to be creative, is where we can really shine.”

nods. “Crunchy greens is a fascinating concept in a soup. Your plan seems most sound. Do we have the supplies for a test broth now? Or was your sampling at Lauritz’ sufficient?” They pause, find a bottle of soy sauce, and take a small swig. Same with the sesame oil. “Granted - I did not specifically isolate these components on Samudra, but they seem similar. I would be shocked if we were not able to find some form of Samudran sauce that would drop jaws.”

: “Dumplings, perhaps, would not go amiss with a soup? Perhaps also something crunchy.”

bangs their fist onto one of the counters. “A dumpling flight. One Almachadtan-style, one Samudran style, and a momo.”

: “Probably want to serve it on one of those completely useless plates…” They open a cupboard and pull out a long, thin, ceramic plate. “Completely ridiculous. It’s only good for lining up small food. People love these things.”

looks around the kitchen. “It looks like the kitchen came pre-stocked with at least the basic ingredients we’ll need. We might not be able to try with the imported ingredients we’re thinking of, but there’s a recipe right here. We can set up the broth to start cooking now while we work on the dumplings? It looks simple enough - some meat, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, parsley, thyme, and bay leaves.” He grabs a large pot with measurements etched into the wall, fills it to the line, finds the allium skinner, runs the onion and garlic through it, and begins adding things to the pot.

begins chopping vegetables with…well, clockwork precision, handing over several small containers so that Chef Archie’s mise is placed.

keeps whirling around the kitchen, setting up the broth. “Samudran-style dumplings… I think I have an idea that would fit the bill. They’re seasoned with garlic and ginger, which we often have with dishes seasoned with soy sauce, which the shark-fin soup is. The flavors should go well together.”

: “I will have to converse with Friends-Wolf and Salme about their cuisine. I will attempt an approximation of one alongside a momo. Luĉja kicks it up a gear and sets up shop by what they now know to be a ‘mixer’ and starts measuring out flour and water to make doughs. Thankfully, there’s a recipe for momo dough in the Documentation. They add some eggs to their flour and water for their attempt at guessing what might work for Alma, and work it into a tiny ball. From there, it’s time to chop some more veg, and mince some meat.*

does his part and sets to work making a Samudran-style dumpling, stuffing a whole chicken with scallions and ginger and placing it in a large pot in the oven, setting the temperature and adjusting a dial labeled “TIME” to one hour. Immediately after closing the oven door, the smell of well-cooked meat fills the air and the oven dings. Confused, Archie peers inside to see that the chicken is, indeed, fully cooked - almost precisely as he would imagine it would have been after one hour in the oven. “Well, that seems useful.”

The knife clatters out of Luĉja’s hand. “Wait. How. That. No. Did you? Fascinating. This will make things MUCH easier.”

nods. “I doubt anyone else will have this. The ability to get the flavors it would typically take hours to make in mere moments should give us a big advantage.” He pulls the pot out, removes the chicken and sets it and the pot of liquid in the fridge. Noticing a drawer in the fridge also with a time dial on it, he sets it for four hours, and sure enough, the liquid has set into some kind of jelly. “Typically this takes a lot longer to make, but with the ability to shortcut things a bit, we’ll be able to not only take advantage of this during the contest but while we’re iterating on recipes, too.”

gets to work on the wrapper, now, taking flour and hot water and working it into a dough, testing its stretch and thinness.

: “What…is…this place?”

starts looking to see what else has time dials. Surely there must be more.

: “A gift from someone who loves us and wants us to be happy, I think. I wish I knew more than that.”

: “Fascinating.” Satisfied that they haven’t missed any more time-disrespecting appliances, they finish browning off their minced pork, finished with some of the soy sauce they previously sampled. For the science project, they use an attachment on the “mixer” to repeatedly thin out their dough. When the sheet is too long to reasonably handle (even for a seven foot robot) they place it allllllllll the way down one of the counters, and begin filling it with a mixture of diced spinach and a very soft cheese, before folding it over and sealing it. “I have erred. I did not expect the dough to make this many, Friend-Archie.”

looks over at him and startles a little at the sheer quantity of little dumplings being produced. “I’m sure our friends won’t mind if we bring them something we can share after our experiments here. Let’s cook them all!” He takes some of his own minced pork and some of the jelly-like substance from the fridge, mixes them together, and puts them back in the time-dial drawer, this time for 30 minutes. “Mine are just about ready for assembly and cooking, though I still need to make their sauce. How are things looking for you?”

: “Progressing smoothly! I will need to steam the momo…and…perhaps boil these ones. Ten minutes at most, though I confess, I know not what type of sauce to serve for the mystery dumpling. I don’t even know how accurate it is.” Luĉja puts on a pot of water over high heat, and drops a generous helping of their favorite rocks in.

Dumplings in water, momo in steamer basket, Luĉja begins clearing down the kitchen, while ticking their gears at exactly one second per second. After just shy of two hundred ticks, they fish out the boiled dumplings. By the time they retrieve the momo, 500 ticks later, they’ve cleared their workstation down, and washed what they’ve used.

pulls out a steamer basket, one of the few things in the kitchen that look familiar from home, and places the wrapped buns inside. He spots a time dial on the burner but decides to leave it be this time, choosing instead to take the relatively short cook time to create a simple dipping sauce of black rice vinegar and ginger. Pulling the steamer off the heat, he plates up the dish. “I just made two for each of us for now, but there’s more filling left in the fridge. The dipping sauce is traditional on Samudra but it’s a little plain, I think we could find a way to rev it up more. Shall we taste each of them together? I’d be curious to get your opinion!”

: “You have taken the smarter path.” Luĉja is holding an entire mixing bowl of raviolo. “Let us try them, for science! And for determining what sauce might go well with this one, here.” They drizzle some chili infused oil over two momo, and plate them.

does his best to not drool over the momo. “Let’s start here, since this is what we’ve had most recently.” He gently picks up the momo, testing its temperature, and when he’s satisfied he won’t burn himself, he bites into it. “Mmm,” he says, mouth still full. “This one’s delicious. I’m curious, do you think we should keep this one traditional?”

: “I didn’t see a lot of variety in how momo are served here, it seems like there are maybe six types that every restaurant sells. It’s hard to say whether there’s untapped potential to innovate or if those six are what get served because they’re just the best ones.”

: “Gotta hedge your bets, cater to popular demand, if you’re making them for money. But you can fill momo with just about anything, and people do!”

nods, an idea starting to form. “What would you say the dominant flavors that people expect from a momo are? To me, this seems savory and spicy, but I’m curious what you think. Actually, on that topic, what do you or other Endjinn look for in food you enjoy?”

: “I know you’ve mentioned flavor isn’t quite the same for you.”

: “No, but I am able to extrapolate. And I possess a theoretical knowledge of flavor from a non-Endjinn standpoint. The primary difference is that we love the taste of fire. Spice, heat, temperature. All of it. As for the momo question…there are many momo, for many purposes. These ones, are made for dipping. There are heartier and sturdier momo for cooking within soups. Also crispier momo, for texture. I have no consensus on ‘the best filling’ but ground meat, cheese, and diced vegetables are all popular choices. I think that the meat makes a nice contrast with the Almachadtan vegetable - or at least the plan for it.”

nods. “I have a thought - the actual shark fin soup itself is… how to say… subtle in its flavor. Which is to say, by seasoning it delicately enough that the flavor of the fin comes through, the whole dish ends up being a little subdued. What if each dumpling contributed a big hit of a specific flavor that people could then add to the soup so its flavor would continue to evolve with each thing they added? For the momo, we could use Samudran peppers to make them even spicier. I remember you saying you thought they’d be a hit with Endjinn.”

: “I think Samudran peppers would be phenomenal with the momo.” They nod in agreement. “That does seem like a novel way to present a dish and an experience. Three different savory additions. Either way, we should share our findings with the group, and perhaps also our new friends soon. Perhaps another small side dish or two? Or would that be overboard?”

smiles. “I don’t think there can be such a thing as overboard, here. If there’s one thing that people from every world can agree on, it’s that generous portion sizes are always welcome. Though we should make sure we don’t plan more than we’ll be able to pull off. Shall we try the Almachadtan dumpling next? I’m curious what you came up with! We’ll have to show them to Salme and Wolf and see what they think, too, like you suggested.”

: “I was thinking we could do some thinly sliced root vegetables and brined in vinegar and mild spices as a small side dish. Here is…an approximation of what might be an Almachadtan dumpling? I will consult further with Salme and Wolf. This seems to fit the ingredient profile and general feel to me.” They hand over a few raviolo.

puts down their Linkpearl. “I have sent one of my two missives. It feels strange to use this to speak to our friends instead of…walking outside, but, it is convenient!”

smells them and bites in, squeaking slightly in astonishment and taking rapid inhales through the mouth after discovering the hot cheese inside. “I wasn’t ready for how hot those are, but otherwise, delicious! The cheese and spinach are great together, it feels very comforting. Maybe this one can be how we introduce more savoriness to the soup, when added. I’m just riffing here, but -,” Archie says, scurrying away for a moment - a baking sheet here, a few strange mushrooms and tubers there, into the nearby device labeled ‘dehydrator’, a random guess of the time dial for five hours, and a quick blitz in a blender later, Archie returns with a powder that smells impossibly savory, which he then mixes a white powder into before delicately sprinkling it over the ravioli and taking another bite. “Mmm! That feels like a promising direction to me, what do you think?”

pours a pinch of powder onto their raviolo, and then, tries a bit solo just for the experience. “Your mastery of the kitchen gadgets is unparalleled, Friend-Archie. A quite welcome addition!”

smiles wide at the compliment. “I’m glad you agree! And it’ll only get better when we have Almachadtan mushrooms to work with, assuming the recipe meets with their approval.”

: “And now, for yours! Is this meant to be dipped?” Luĉja holds one of the dumplings carefully between two of their fingers.

nods. “Yes, and there’s a trick to it. You take your large spoon and put the dumpling on it like this,” Archie says, demonstrating, “and then you bite the side so the dumpling opens. There’s a soup inside that will fill the spoon - drink it first, then eat the wrapper and solid filling together afterwards.”

very carefully places the dumpling on their spoon. “This….will be an interesting thing to try. Endjinn do not naturally have ‘teeth.’ When we ingest food, it is not usually “chewed.“ It just kinda…burns? converts? after it passes through our mouth.” They very carefully put a corner of the dumpling into their mouth and quickly pull it out. Thankfully, they have managed to put a small hole in it. “This is very exciting. Soup within a dumpling instead of a dumpling within a soup! Delicious, Friend-Archie!”

lets out an excited squeak, proud of his hometown dish. “What flavor do you think this one should add? I’ve made it traditionally for this test, which leans savory, but the Almachadtan one is already adding savoriness. I had a few thoughts while I was making it, but I realized that this might be a dish I’m too close to for me to see the possibilities of. What’s your perspective?”

: “Hmmm. This one seems mild, but savory? If we lean towards an earthy-mushroomy-savory with Almachadta, perhaps here, we use Samudran ingredients to make something savory, but almost as a…soup intensifier?”

: “We complement the soup, use a similar flavor profile? It seems that they have many ingredients in common already.”

thinks for a moment. “Samudran savory usually comes from either soy or fish, both of which feature in the original recipe, and the dumpling’s sauce is largely acidic. What if we made it so the soup inside the dumpling was savory and you could add both the dumpling-soup and the excess dipping sauce to the soup? That way, we’d have two kinds of savoriness, some heat, and some acidity. Actually, that savory-spicy-sour flavor profile is pretty similar to one of the other Three Great Soups, tom yum kung. It’d be a neat trick to transform one of the Great Soups into another over the course of the eating experience.”

: “Bold and irreversible. It would certainly be an unforgettable and unique experience. No one has ever attempted to transform a soup mid-meal before.”

nods in agreement, excitement growing. “Definitely worth a try! Let’s make sure it works.” He walks over to the burner, finds its time dial, and adjusts it until the soup broth seems complete. “Hm, no shark fins pre-stocked in the kitchen. I suppose that would have made it too easy. Thankfully, I think we have enough extra that we can spare one or two for testing.” He adds them and the rest of the ingredients to the pot, adding one thing here, another there, adjusting the time dial in between, following the recipe. “Okay, here’s the main soup. We should have some Samudran peppers left over from the ones we brought as potential gift offerings, can you help me find them? I’ll make a new batch of Samudran dumplings and adjust the seasoning on the recipe.”

takes an entire bag of Samudran peppers out of their pack. “I…may have visited the kitchens before we departed.”

: “I have been snacking on them occasionally, but we should have more than enough still.”

grins at him. “Glad you’re enjoying them! Here, if you make chili oil with them, I’ll finish the Samudran dumplings. Let’s see, we can infuse fish sauce, soy sauce, seasoning powder, ginger, and garlic into the aspic, then beef up the dipping sauce with more kinds and sources of sourness…” He keeps muttering to himself, quickly getting the hang of using the time dials. “I have no idea how this is working. I’ll have to see if we can recreate any devices like this on Samudra later, it would be revolutionary.”

gets to work heating up some oil to infuse.

gets the steamer back out, sets up the new dumplings, and waits. “If I can get personal for a moment, but also maybe a little philosophical, what is it about food that you’re drawn to? I don’t mean in terms of taste or experience, you already mentioned liking fire, but - when you started cooking on hunts, was that out of necessity or desire? Did you learn to love cooking after a while or was it right away?”

: “I did not love cooking until we were waiting, on the Obsidian Road.” Food here was…sufficient. Endjinn require much less of it to operate, and much less cooking and refinement required to operate. I could eat bags of grain and survive. I would not enjoy that though. I do enjoy the eating rocks as a way to see how new people react. It’s always funny. Feeding myself was something I did because I had to.“ They pause a moment. “After I took leave from my clan…after all the ones I started with had passed on, it was even more so. Somehow, food had even less flavor. Even the hottest food no longer intrigued me. My cooking was infamous, because I cared so little. I would eat burnt and blackened things that had sat on the fire for so long they would force most men to go hungry. I believe part of it to be inherent to the world of Almachadta - the food there was practically bursting with flavor. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. Like the difference between a light rain and swimming in the ocean. I did not understand it. Nor did I yet care for it. I ate mostly so that you all would not worry - not knowing that I did not have to. But when we were camped out at the road…I realized that I had clan again, despite firmly believing that such an event was impossible. It is always a joy to bring help to friends. And so I reached as far back in my memory as I could. At least 100 years ago. When I first learned how to make stew, out on a hunt. And unlike that time - when I made this one, it brought me great joy.“*

: “I have much knowledge of cooking - there are many Endjinn who gather to support Chef Juliano regularly. And I was a part of a Clan, and we all took turns helping cook meals. But the joy of it, it is brand new to me.”

’s tomestone vibrates. “Fascinating. Potato based dumplings…with caramelized onions and sour cream…I do not know how that would pair with our current plan. We will test it another time.”

nods. “I can imagine the pain of loss would dull food’s savor. The mind is powerful in that way. I’m glad that our travels together could help bring you a new appreciation for it. For me, food is about connection, though there are some on Samudra who see it as purely utilitarian in the same way you used to. And now that we’re crossing the thresholds between worlds, connection feels more important than ever. I can’t say I ever did a lot of cooking - you saw what food was like at Ripple and in the Academy refectory - but now it feels like one of the best and most important things I can be doing.”

nods. “Indeed. A pot over the fire brings everyone closer. This is one of the most important things we have.”

double checks to make sure neither of them are holding anything hot or close enough to an out-turned pot handle to risk a spill, then comes towards Luĉja for a hug, squeezing the Endjinn tightly. “Each other. Clan.”

hugs Archie very gently. They know hugs are sometimes accidentally dangerous. “Clan. Thank you, Friend-Archie.”

pulls back, blinking away the mistiness from his eyes. “And shall we taste how delicious clan can be? I daresay the food is ready.”

: “Let us test the boldness of both soup and scheme.”

presents bowls of soup to each of them. “Let’s taste it on its own first so we can see how it evolves.” He takes a sip, then another. “Hm. As I thought - delicious and well-balanced in its own right, but none of the flavors are very bold. Momo first?”

: “It is a pleasant soup. Even-tasting, very good. The shark fin is extraordinary. Momo first.”

using their spoon (and their manners) Luĉja adds a chili-oil covered momo to the soup, stirs, and retrieves it. “This is how chili oil was meant to be.” They go in for another spoonful of soup. “Still delicious. Do you think the momo adds enough savory? I enjoy the evolution of the soup thus far.”

tries it for himself. “I think it’s good. The momo itself will need to be very well-seasoned to stand up to the intense heat of the chili oil, so we might want to tweak that slightly, but I think we’re at least 95% of the way there. The addition of the spice to the soup changes it a lot right away, which is good to know, but I agree that it still tastes good. Shall we do the Almachadtan dumpling next?”

: “It seems natural to leave the most drastic change for last. In we go!” A pause, filled with steam. “I am unsure if cheese is a correct addition here. Again, my palette here is fairly muted, but it seems…slightly at odds with the broth?”

: “The mushroom powder though - is extremely the correct choice.”

closes his eyes during the tasting, considering it. “Hmm, I see what you mean. The cheese is delicious in its own right but feels misplaced, the spinach is good in context but we might be able to find something better, and the mushroom powder is great. We can consult with Salme and Wolf to refine this one, I think. But since we’re swirling it in the soup and then retrieving it, and I like the soup’s development, we can make sure whatever we develop goes well with the mushroom powder.”

: “And now…the Samudran-Soup-Switch”

looks over at the Samudran dumpling and its black rice vinegar, ginger, lemongrass, and lime juice dipping sauce with nervous excitement. “Okay, time for the big one. Here goes nothing!” He dips the dumpling in the sauce, nips open the dumpling, adds the sauce to the soup, eats the dumpling, then adds his extra dipping sauce to the bowl and stirs.

follows suit. “Well? Competition winning, you think?”

takes a sip of soup, his eyes closed, focusing on the flavors. As soon as he swallows, his eyes fling back open. “I think we’re really on to something here. The intensely savory soup inside the dumpling leaves some of its flavor behind when you eat the full thing, and it matches the intensity of the sourness of the dipping sauce perfectly. Both flavors do a lot for the soup, too. I defer to your judgment, but I’d call this resulting soup a pretty good impression of the flavors of tom yum kung, even though the cooking process used to get there is very different.”

: “I agree - it has all the texture of sharkfin, but completely changes profiles.”

puts their bowl down. “I think your plan has encapsulated the Beast perfectly. The Beast is a place of change. What could be more appropriate than a soup that changes with it?”

gives Luĉja a wide, appreciative grin. “I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished here today. A lot of things have been changing lately, both on Beast and for us. I can’t wait to see what comes next for all of us.” His eyes drift over to the mess of pots, pans, cutting boards, knives, plates, and bowls cluttering the once-bare countertops. “Though right now, I’m really hoping that this kitchen is somehow also self-cleaning.”