Video: Lopez

[anormie]

[Ella is standing in some kind of food market, and she's got an entire basket of stuff both familiar and not when she posts. She's a tiny woman with big brown eyes and an even bigger smile.]

Okay so. Don't take offense over this but you guys seem to be really bad either about or at cooking. Like really bad. But it's cool! I happen to be an amazing cook and I'm here grabbing some stuff to kick the stuff Navi gives us up a notch. If you guys have stuff you'd especially want or whatever, gimme recipes and like specialty ingredients lists and I'll try and figure it.

I figure sometimes we all could use a little comfort food from home and stuff so it'll just be one way to make things better for everyone.

But this means that if I'm cooking for you, you guys have to show up for it. No telling me you want something without actually eating it!

[A beat.]

If you don't know me, hi! I'm Ella. And Mexican is my specialty.

[Which she says in Spanish, obviously.]

Comments

[dealwiththe]

My dear, you have to know the way to this Devil's heart is through a plate of tamales.

[ He. Loves. Mexican food! ]

[anormie]

Um obviously. Extra spicy, yes?

[dealwiththe]

Of course! Though, given how strong the alcohol has been so far, that might lead to some regrets down the line. Ah, well. I can think of worse fates.

[anormie]

Oh man I totally hadn't thought of that! Like I'm not worried about it for me but some of the others...

[Gringos. She means gringos.]

[dealwiththe]

I suppose you could always make a separate batch, for the wusses.

And if you need an assistant, I'm available. I've picked up a few skills over the millennia.

[anormie]

Wait, you can cook? How did I not know you can cook?!

Maybe I'll make a super hot salsa. Like that people can add how much they like or whatever. Make a couple a keep em for a while. Like canning or whatever. My grandma used to do it.

[dealwiththe]

Probably because I don’t do it often. Why cook for myself when Los Angeles has some of the best restaurants in the world?

But I haven’t always lived in LA, and good restaurants haven’t always been available, and boredom is a Hell of a motivation.

Your grandmother sounds like a remarkable woman, I must say.

[anormie]

She would probably love like the real you, but my abuela wouldn't be able to get passed the name. And that's not including like the stuff that my brothers may have told her.

But she is the one who taught me to pick locks and stuff so.

[dealwiththe]

It's all the real me, Miss Lopez.

[ Blech, not a discussion he wants to have. WHAT WAS HE JUST SAYING TO CHLOE. ]

But lock picking and cooking. A winning combination! [ Let's talk about food some more!!!! ]

[anormie]

The perception of you isn't the real you, dork. You're the real you. Yeah, I know the Devil, hell all of it but what did I say to you when we first met? The devil gets a bad rap. It's all that stuff she has a problem with. Not you yourself.

And yeah, I used to steal cars with my brothers, you know.

[dealwiththe]

[ He still doesn't know what to do with that. Part of him still thinks she must be in denial. No one has ever reacted so well to the truth.

So of course he's going to brush it off, as you do. ]

All of that, and counting cards. You constantly amaze me.

[anormie]

Someday I'll take you street racing. Then you'll be really impressed. Might even let me drive your baby.

[dealwiththe]

Not on your life, Lopez. No one drives the Corvette but me.

[ He's terribly amused by that suggestion, though. ]

[anormie]

Still gonna keep trying though. Hope springs eternal and all of that.

[Video], un: polydectes

[10billionpercent]

I'm new, and I could give you a hand if you like. I'm rather competent in the kitchen.

[ And good news, when he was on the train he had lots of practice. Why many people don't know how to cook is a mystery to him as much as anything else is. ]

Comfort food is not a bad idea. [ Maybe he should grab a couple of things, who wouldn't enjoy ramen night? ]

[anormie]

Cool! Hi! I'm Ella.

[She'll hug you later.]

What kind of comfort food are you thinking, buddy?

[10billionpercent]

I'm Senku.

[ He'll try and avoid that as much as possible. ]

Ah, well, my go to is always ramen. There's other things though, I need to see if I can get some lime, honey and cilantro. Making cola is an excellent way to bribe my husband.

[anormie]

Ramen is always good! I wonder if they have like cookbooks that we can add to the kitchen so that like... we can always have a recipe for what someone is craving. Stuff that comes from different cultures. So we can make things like sushi or pho or Indian, you know? Just vary the diet rather than what seems like people making a looooottttt of sandwiches, you know?

[10billionpercent]

I have in my supplies the Joy of Cooking cookbook, but it's more European based foods. A bit novel to me, but possibly not to other people.

[ He chuckles slightly. ]

Ah, yeah, sandwiches can be improved upon. At home we get fish and bread and that's almost it.

[anormie]

Cool, one I won't sing to pick up then! I'm definitely going to be looking for as many different ones that I can find and read.

And oh man, just fish and bread. Yikes. You definitely need tamales and mole.

[10billionpercent]

I'm fond of food science over cooking, but it comes in handy. The place I was before this place, and in my world, I've had to do a lot more cooking than expected. I suppose it's good practice.

Tamales huh?

My world has a food issue, that's all. We're working on it, albeit the fish is fairly abundant being that Japan is an island.

[anormie]

Baking is science though. Like you screw up one thing and then it's like boom [Ella is just going to mime things blowing up with her hands right here.] and it doesn't work. So that would be a cool way of doing both.

Oh, I'm sorry about that! And yeah, we have Japan where I am too. Like but it doesn't have a food shortage thing. I didn't mean to bring up some bad stuff or whatever.

[10billionpercent]

All cooking is science, it's a series of chemical reactions and that's why some things go better together than others, and salt of course, makes just about anything palatable to humans. [ He can talk about this all day. He can always talk about science all day. ] Baking just requires more precision.

[ He shakes his head. ] It's bad, but not how you mean where it's an emotionally driven topic for me. It isn't. It's a fascinating problem for me to solve, actually. [ Some of it sucks, yes, but he's a person who's easily motivated when it comes to things like this. ]

[anormie]

Okay, this is cool and I like you. You get an extra hug when I met you all like in person in stuff. Also, if you want I can teach ya how to do some cool stuff with fish that may be different. A lot of people in Mexico totally just had fish and they added stuff to it in order to make it a bit different and stuff.

Not that Japan doesn't, of course! This is just to add more recipes to the pile.

[10billionpercent]

Ah really, you don't have to hug me. How about a fistbump? [ There, he'll bargain with something he's more comfortable with. ]

While I understand the principles, I can't say I've studied Mexican cuisine with any intensity, so I won't turn down the opportunity to learn something new.

[anormie]

Hugging is kinda my thing though. But I guess a fist bump is good enough.

[Is there definitely an implied 'for now' at the end of the statement, you bet there is but Ella's not pushing for it at this moment.]

Cool. Do you wanna like meet up tomorrow and we can start talking recipes?

[10billionpercent]

Don't take offense. I don't like to be touched.

[ He has to be direct about these things, he's learned. Course at home most people didn't try to grab him but after his time on the train he's learned some people just do not care whether he wants them to grab him or not and he's learned to at least preface. ]

That aside, yes, I would like that very much. I enjoy learning new things.

[anormie]

Wow. Navi totally picked a bunch of non-huggers huh? I mean jeez, it's kind of my thing. But totally respect it.

[Even if she lowkey thinks that people are going to come around on that. Just ask Lucifer.]

Cool. We'll teach one another and then have like. So. Many. Food. Options.

[10billionpercent]

I suspect that's more ordinary than my position, but I have learned that some people just do it anyway.

[ Much to his annoyance. ] If you get to know Gen, he might hug you.

That sounds like an excellent plan.

[anormie]

Yeah? Who's Gen?

[10billionpercent]

Can't miss him, he's got black and white hair, one side longer than the other.

[ A beat, unless she means who he is to Senku. ] He's also my General, and husband.

[anormie]

Wow, that's very anime, and very cool. Also it's so great that you've got your partner here!

[10billionpercent]

It's natural too. We don't have hair dye in my world.

He likely has poliosis, and was likely born with it. [ That's his scientific guess. ]

[anormie]

[Ella's nerd guess is still anime, but she's not gonna say that.]

That makes sense, honestly. Do you think it's more genetics based, or is it something autoimmune.

[Ella is gonna science right back.]

[10billionpercent]

[ Not as far as he knows. ]

Interesting question. If I were going to consider the potential factors, to eliminate an autoimmune disorder since I don't know his parents, which leaves the genetics as a big question mark...

Considering he doesn't have issue with his eyes, thyroid or any of the other potential related autoimmune systems that tend to relate in individuals with poliosis, I'd have to lean towards genetics. He is, of course, young enough that if he was going to develop those things in the future it just may not have happened yet.

[anormie]

[Ella loves getting science-y!]

How old is he?

[10billionpercent]

Physically, he's about twenty-two, chronologically he's 3740.

[ He says this as though it's unremarkable. ]

Another indicator is that if it was an illness he'd somehow developed and wasn't genetic, the petrification process would've fixed his hair.

[anormie]

Woah!

[Is Ella both surprised and impressed? Yep.]

How long of a lifespan do you guys have or are we talking like some sort of cryosleep thing?

[10billionpercent]

We have a normal human lifespan, in theory. It was kind of like a cryosleep thing for those who were unaware of time passing. I was keeping track so... [ He hums a little bit. ]

It was an attack of some kind, from above. Our adversary's on the moon, best we can tell. Or at least his broadcasts are coming from there. All the humans, except those on the ISS were petrified in 2019 and it was 5738 when I broke out.

Course, the properties of the petrification could do a lot to extend our lifespan, if not continue to make us immortal if this thing should keep petrifying us, to some degree. It's an irritating situation.

[anormie]

Wait if you were keeping track how does that work? Like were you mentally aware while you were petrified?

[10billionpercent]

I forced myself to. I counted the entire time. Then I had to do the math to figure out how long it had been.

Someone has to know what the date is, don't they?

[anormie]

But dude, how was like your brain still working?

[10billionpercent]

Best I can figure is because there's no physical degeneration, and through sheer will I was able to power through each ten day block, I counted to keep track of time and also thought about what I'd do when I broke out.

I count all the time. It's like a computer partition. I did it for fun when I was a kid.

[anormie]

Oh man. I can like count cards and stuff, taught myself when I was a kid too but also I probably would have lost my freaking mind.

[10billionpercent]

Counting cards is more a mathematical game of probability, this is just straight counting. When I counted for a month my dad really did look at me rather funny but figured it was harmless.

[ He was a very strange child. ]