[akemi / Emily] - figure with meat 1954

Emmy | Akemi

Things had been bad from the start, of course. Taken against their will, forced into a small, limited space, forced to reveal their innermost thoughts, but even as the pessimist Akemi was, she really hadn't determined just how vastly different everything would be following the verdicts. There were several people she hadn't expected to be forgiven, who were, and several who had not been remotely on her radar who were condemned.

Her headache hadn't gone away since waking. She always knew it as the first sign that she needed food-- and she was loathe to admit that Hikaru had probably been correct when he suggested she ask for iron supplements from the wardens. But she was even more loathe to ask for help from any of her captors.

That included the hellish rabbit. She wasn't about to ask that horrid creature for a meal, laced with fur. She'd do it herself. Stubborn as ever.

Akemi would be found in the kitchen, looking more pale than usual, as she sluggishly digs through the pantry for something that will make her feel better.

Emily Lewenhock

Emily, perhaps, had vitamin C covered, but she did still need a lot of other compounds to digest. And now cooking was more of a pain than usual, even with all the free time, but it did tend to come with less fur in the end product, so she waited for her chance to enter the kitchen.

This time it seemed open, so she headed in—ah. Not the only one, huh.

"Hey.” She nodded. “Looking for anything in particular?"

She peered at the cabinet contents from a fair distance back. While she was visibly less content (even with her hairclips gone and a few locks more prone to falling in her face), she wasn't quite moody enough to push people out of the way. Especially when she didn't even know what she wanted yet.

Emmy | Akemi

Akemi glanced over her shoulder toward Emily, giving a brief nod as she noticed the missing accessories. Emily certainly hadn't been someone Akemi had on her radar in terms of 'unforgivable.' Frankly, she had very little sense of the sort of person Emily was, short of perhaps being a tad impulsive and strange. She seemed far less theatrical than the others she had met. She wondered just what could have transpired to earn her such a judgment, but this hardly seemed a pleasant topic for conversation just yet.

"Hello, Ms. Lewenhock. I remain ever out of my element in here…I merely need something heartier than a salad. And I prefer my meals without fur, so I am forced to figure this out for myself."

Emily Lewenhock

“We can agree on that, at least.” She focused back on the shelves before wriggling enough to open the next cupboard over. “Trying to figure out what wouldn’t suck to cook in this state. Whatever happened to a good microwave dinner?”

Maybe she should have requested some from the wardens, actually. Dang. Too late now, for however long they were going to be gone.

“Maybe just boil a chicken or something, I don’t know.” Tired of fussing with the jacket, she just toed her clog off and pried the refrigerator open from beneath. “What's your go-to for… not-salad?”

Emmy | Akemi

She watches Emily struggle with a frown. If she weren't dealing with her own issues, she would maybe even step in to help.

"This punishment is simply inhumane. Ensuring you cannot care for yourself, navigate, or even defend yourself…" she sighs roughly.

"I tend to avoid red meats, but as a result I am often lower in iron than is considered healthy. I am rather used to having someone else prepare my meals, so I rarely have to think too hard about the nutrition aspect."

Emily Lewenhock

"Not like your situation's humane, either, considering you're still in the building." It was a building, right? Even an underground shelter or suspiciously Earthlike space colony counted as one, surely. "But definitely not wrong, either." She huffed enough to drive her bangs out of her face for now. "I was told my projection was 'concerning,' but come on. On a scale of Andrew's to Kaoru's… It can't have been that much closer to Kaoru's."

"Ah, yeah. That and drinking too much tea had my mom borderline anemic for a while. For meat-adjacent things, I think tofu and liver were supposed to be good…"

"…for iron. Not sure about actual human consumption."

Emmy | Akemi

"I had been under the impression that the wardens were making their judgments with a fair amount of bias against particular people. I hadn't heard much of what ocurred in anyone's projections, so I have very little context for how suspicious they may have come across."

Not that she wasn't curious, of course. She simply hadn't found a good chance to ask for such gossip.

"Mr. Naito and Mr. McCay were less surprising, given the provocation and violence they were a part of. That someone as seemingly unobtrusive as you or the Yoshidas were also condemned means their decision could not have been purely about violent tendencies. I saw very few projections, but the guilt expressed also does not seem to matter to them…given there has been no consistency in forgiving those who feel remorse. They may as well have flipped a coin for some of these results to make any amount of sense."

Akemi frowns a little at the thought of eating liver. Tofu…that was maybe doable. She grimaced a little at the question forming in her head, but she had few options.

"…and do you have any idea how to prepare tofu? Assuming there is any in here, that is. I believe if I have to endure another disappointing salad this week I may simply keel over."

Emily Lewenhock

"Not a lot of judgments made without bias. Think they don't like blondes? Or maybe they're the anti-science type. 'Ooooh, go solve world hunger, ooooh, noooo don't use genes for it that's just wrong'." Her mocking voice was high pitched and a little too quiet to hear easily, but she didn't need to get too into it today. Nobody wanted to just hear you complain, right?

She… didn't know all the surnames there, but the context was still clear enough.

"Well, if they're 'allowed' to use whatever method they want, a coin flip would cut it. …If we even have coins here?"

She ducked her head into the fridge, raising her voice to compensate. "Well, I know the flavor is supposed to completely depend on what you cook it with, and the texture… can't really be fixed. Except by deep-frying, maybe, but I'm not about to try working that out here. Still, we can't have you keeling over, now."

Locating a promising-looking (disappointing-looking) white chunk, she began to maneuver to actually reach in and get it out. "It's not like you're at risk of meatborne pathogens if it's too raw. Maybe cooking it in a soup would be easy enough? Some veggies… Hmm." Really needed that app that gave you recipes based on the available ingredients. Ah well.

Emmy | Akemi

"Fair enough."

Given that her entire career was built on judgment, she was keenly aware of that fact, as much as she liked to think she could be impartial.

"It feels as though they're more interested in seeing what we do in response to this torture, while being left unguarded, than they care about the actual integrity of their judgments. Even the forgiven are not without drawbacks. I'm certain you have a better sense for what a proper psychological or sociological study would look like, but this is far from fair."

She glances toward Emily as she struggles with navigating the kitchen, and sighs.

"Given your current predicament, perhaps we can arrange a deal. I am…inexperienced in the kitchen, but I at least have free use of my arms. With some assistance, it is possible we can both leave this kitchen with something adequate to eat, without lighting a fire or otherwise breaking something."

Emily Lewenhock

"Yeah, can't argue with that. Surely they'd at least call them 'judges' if the intent was to have them judge fairly."

Successfully retrieving the tofu block, she set it on the counter with a thunk. "I don't read much on the softer sciences, but this would be a hobbyist study at best. Unless there's some dark web peer-reviewed journal for experiments approved by exactly zero ethics boards and/or just one jackalope, there's really nothing you could do with any of the results."

She turned more properly as Akemi spoke again, saying something that Emily had definitely not been fishing for with this.

"Have to say I'm in favor of not setting fires. Can you grab a pot, or would you rather split something other than soup?"

"I've… heard of tofu steak, but I have no reason to believe slapping this thing on a frypan will end with anything promising. Especially given everything this place lacks in the seasoning department."

Emmy | Akemi

"I hadn't considered that. A warden is often more focused on enforcement and obedience, by definition, than they are anything as refined as what they've seemingly been tasked with. It leaves me to wonder who they're truly working for, beyond that…animal."

The idea of this all being some dark web plot was…sure something.

"That is about what I imagined. I see very few ways anything in here can be useful to anyone."

She looks around the kitchen briefly. A pot. How big would be appropriate? Where would it be? She hoped she wouldn't make herself appear too foolish, here. Eventually digging out a large stock pot and setting it on the stove, she simply nods.

"Likewise. I have no issues sharing a soup, if it makes both of our lives easier."

After all, you can't burn a soup nearly as easily as something in a frying pan-- she had come to learn that much. Surely this would be harder to mess up and make a fool of herself.

Emily Lewenhock

"You and them both, by the sounds of it. Wonder what part the amnesia is supposed to play in all of this." She retrieved a few vegetables that would hopefully at least contribute better textures. "Or, alternatively, what the point of agreeing to feign amnesia would be. Get us to yell at them less?" She snorted. "Disappearing hasn't even fixed that."

Stock pot, sure. Emily had pulled out a pretty decent chunk of protein, after all. Probably needed that much space for enough ingredients to counter the tofu.

"It's supposed to be easier to injure yourself with a dull knife than a sharp one, so… Chopping vegetables might be a nightmare if we can't find whatever hidden stash of equipment Jackalope must use. Unless we've got wires or something? Prison mandoline?" Even she wasn't sure how serious she was being.

Anyway, surely she could at least find some stock cubes, right? Resume browsing.

Emmy | Akemi

"They hardly seem willing to question the obviously inhumane tasks they've been given. I hadn't imagined getting amnesia would strip one of their humanity, yet here we are. If anything, them disappearing has only made most attitudes toward them more hostile."

She began to search the kitchen for something that might adequately cut things. Thin plastic lid? The edge of a bowl? Serving spoon? She settled on a spatula, looking it over with a frown. It at least had a handle and a flat and thin enough edge to avoid simply crushing everything. It would also most certainly not be a dignified process.

"I suppose this will have to do, though I am doubtful it will be the most effective tool. Unless you find something you believe to be more suitable."

She stares at the stock pot. Somehow this already feels daunting.

"Should I be adding water to this?"

She really doesn't know the first thing about cooking.

Emily Lewenhock

"More an issue of not being subjected to them than having amnesia, I'd think. At least they enter the projections as much as anyone else, but…" Or, well, entered all of them, but they still hadn't had one. "They're not being judged. Probably. Unless that's why they went missing." Who's wardening the wardens…

She nodded at the spatula.

"Definitely got the tofu covered, at least. The rest… If it's not soft enough to cut, it might be hard enough to just score and break by hand? We'll see what ingredients we can actually end up using here." She found a few stock cubes and potatoes. Only experimentation could prove for sure what would actually work out here.

Oblivious to Akemi's internal struggle with the stock pot, Emily set more ingredients in the workspace and set about looking for a cutting board. Now, why were several of these available without any actual knives? Good grief. "That would save some time, but maybe we should make sure we have as many vegetables going in as we think we do, first."

The cutting board delivered, she hung back to at least peel the wrapper off a vegetable stock cube. "Best to start cutting the tofu first, I think. Get used to the tool before getting to anything more ambitious."

"I'd say you're free to borrow my glasses as eye protection, but it's probably a little more important to see what you're doing." Though eye protection never hurt. Gosh. She should've requested some goggles, too.

Emmy | Akemi

"Perhaps, but even in the projections they mostly stand around being un-helpful. They watched Bow-wow-san fall off of a building and hardly seemed moved. They ought to be strapped to that chair and see what it feels like." She frowns, "I have little room in my mind to offer any charitable reason why they are not here."

Why did they have cutting boards and no knives? Did the rabbit use them? This place made no sense.

"Right. I…have little doubt the tofu will cut-…"

She raises an eyebrow.

"Eye protection? I…believe this venture is somewhat different to working in a science lab, in terms of hazards. And limiting your ability to see what I'm doing defeats the purpose of us working together."

This whole 'cutting' thing was sounding like quite the chore, too. She washes her hands thoroughly and attempts to cut the tofu into what she hopes are reasonably-sized pieces. At least this cuts easily, she doubts the other ingredients will be so forgiving.

Maybe, if she ever gets back home, her personal chef deserves a bonus. And a raise.

Emily Lewenhock

"Were they just not paying attention? Or shocked, maybe? That doesn't seem like something you could ignore… I take it Bow-Wow's okay, at least…?" If Andrew had recovered from her own projection, it was probably the same across the board, right? Physically speaking.

"I was more concerned about the possibility of flying objects than hazardous substance exposure, but yeah, you're right."

She watched over the tofu cutting, but, well, it really wasn't anything she didn't expect. Certainly a good thing here.

"Okay, that should be fine to dump in the pot, and then… next softest is maybe celery? Best to destring it first."

Emmy | Akemi

"Who can say? All I know is they were behaving as though it was business-as-usual about the whole thing. He seems to have calmed down, somewhat, no thanks to any of them."

Best to de-what the celery? She stares at the stalks after setting the tofu into the pot as instructed. It wasn't tied up, so this clearly didn't mean literal string. Had the veggie trays she'd eaten in the past done more than just chop it up? To simply admit she didn't know what the hell Emily was saying was not an option. She cannot possibly feel more foolish right now, and she did not want to look or sound more foolish than she needed to. She had to be tactical with this to avoid seeming like a complete idiot.

"And…how would you propose I do that with the spatula? I suppose the first step is making sure I can even cut into this with this…"

She braces some of the celery against the cutting board and, using what force she could, pressed the edge of the spatula against it to see if it would even cut. She had to try several methods of holding this thing, mentally noting that she probably looked almost like Judith Beheading Holofernes with the ridiculous way she had to put her weight into this cut. She'd figure out what de-stringing was once she figured out cutting it at all.

Emily Lewenhock

"Mm." Not much more to say on that. The wardens were as much an enigma as the rest of the place, and Bow-Wow… was Bow-Wow. Kind of the same thing.

"Fair point. If it's thick enough, you might be able to do it by hand, anyway? I wouldn't say it's the tastiest-looking celery I've ever seen to start with, but… no telling until we try."

And oh gosh do they try. This was going to be an excellent exercise in unevenly bruising celery, but it would proooobably be okay with enough work.

Mostly, Emily needed to not start laughing at Akemi when this was a sort of obligate symbiotic relationship right now. She busied herself making another pass through cabinets for all the spices she'd yet to find.

"Are you more of an eat-out type?" She'd normally jump to "takeout," but Akemi really didn't have that vibe.

Emmy | Akemi

Akemi had resorted to sort of sawing at the celery with the spatula, managing to cut apart a couple of stalks into rough and semi-regular chunks. It was something at least. But man was she going to be sore after putting this much effort in.

"I am. When I travel I frequent restaurants, and when I am home, we employ a private chef. So as you can imagine, this is all foreign to me."