12666/Impossible Soup

Impossible Soup
Date of Scene:	03 September 2022
Location:	Jubilee and Noriko's Apt - College House
Synopsis:	Jubilee insists cooking a favorite childhood food for Noriko. Against all odds, it turns out to be delicious! And, even more surprising, Noriko didn't get food poisoning.
Cast of Characters:	Jubilation Lee, Noriko Ashida

---

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    One of the great cruelties of being moved into the apartment housing has been the kitchen. Always there. Looming. Watching. Mocking. There's finally a place to make food and Jubilee can't eat it. The memory of food gets more distant and alien with each passing night. But, a little thing like death isn't enough to keep Jubilation from cooking for Noriko. Well. Trying to, at least.

    The cutting board in their kitchen has been taken over by what could only be described as a 'hillock of glop.' It's a yellow-grey gelatinous rectangle that can't possibly be an ingredient for anything... And yet, Jubilation stands above it with a very sharp knife. "Oh, you're going to love these, Nori... I'm sure of it!" Jubilee announces happily before driving the knife into the wiggly, vaguely pork-smelling formation. She's cutting it into tiny cubes.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Prepared food is a luxury for the speedster.  Often times she's just stuffing down food in the neverending quest to not let her body eat itself.  It's not uncommon for Noriko to pre-game meals or dates with extra courses that happen before she ever arrives.  Secret eater.

After the slaying of Butcher, Noriko hasn't been sleeping normally.  She stayed up till she crashed and has been in an extraordinarily long slumber (for her anyways).  It has given Jubilation ample time to execute her plan.

"Yeah?  Will it taste good after toothpaste?" Noriko asks, her head popping into the door frame of their bedroom as she leans back, toothbrush in mouth idly causing a cluster of electricity to reach out snappily in her mouth which she promptly closes as if she could release an electrical storm with her gargling.  She's not yet got her gauntlets on and the gauntlet tan is in full effect.

"What-?"  The speedster pops up in front of the suspicious jello.  "What...what is it?"  When one spends one's life largely eating whole foods that can be stuffed down one's gullet, well, things like casseroles and...whatever that blob is, tend to give pause.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I mean, you might just want to wash your mouth out with Yoohoo first, maybe," Jubilation suggests. "To get that toothpaste taste out of your mouth." She shrugs one shoulder, though, and turns her attention back to the blob on the cutting board.

    What is it? It's a question that Jubilee herself asked her own mother when she was a girl watching this get made. And so, Jubilee's own response is the one she was given any time she'd ask about this particular ingredient. "Qu xishou," she answers with a vaguely annoyed tone, almost on autopilot, continuing to chop the blob into tiny cubes. She can't be that annoyed, though, because the speedster gets a big, fangy smile. Jubilee's mood is at an all time high compared to her recent demeanor. With the blob now effectively cubed, Jubilee puts the very large, very sharp knife down and reaches out to boop Noriko's nose with her finger.

    "Do we have an ice cream scoop?" she asks. Something has gone very wrong at some point in this recipe.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has ample reason, nay EVIDENCE, to believe Jubes is off her rocker.  The vampire is /cooking/.  Does she even have time to cook?  Noriko reaches up to rub between her eyebrows with the tips of her fingers, spidery waves of jagged lightning sprout from the contact across her forehead.

"What?" the speedster looks up.  She's not fluent in Chinese.  She's as useless as any average American.  Blink blink.  "What did I do?"  Looking confused, she stands still when Jubilation reaches out...and waits, and waits for it to touch her nose, and realizes she slipped out of sync.

"Yeah.  It's right...here,"  Noriko is suddenly leaning across the vampire (now that the very large, very sharp knife is on the counter) to flick a drawer open with her pinky.

But there are lots of various contraptions in this drawer.  Does Jubes even remember what an ice cream scoop looks like?

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Being able to bring Noriko back to the here-and-now always felt like a superpower. A simple touch or a smile might sometimes be enough and Jubilee has gotten good with the intuition required to do it with any reasonable certainty. But, it can be dangerous, especially when chopping goop in the kitchen. "Oh, right..." Jubilee answers with a vague smile. How silly of me, it seems to say. Of /course/ we have an ice cream scoop and of /course/ it's in that drawer.

    She gives Noriko a bright smile, maintaining eye contact throughout. As flirty as it is, it also makes it quite unclear if she does, in fact, know what an ice cream scoop is, since the smile seems to be a silent request to hand it to her.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko can't help but mirror back at least a small smile to Jubilation.  Jubes is the only known person who seems to do that to the speedster.  "What?" A blush races across her cheeks as she teeters in the moment of uncertainty and flirtation, still close.

"Oh I see," Noriko assumes, for Jubilation's benefit, that the request of whether they had a scooper was really a request to be assisted.  "You can't dirty your hands with this kind of work.  I will assist you!"  Nori declares, the strange mood seems to be contagious.  Then Noriko stretches out again to roam her finger above the utensils, letting the lightning lick out to each choice as it grazes by.  So slow, even by a human's standards.

Not seeing the ice cream scoop, Noriko settles for an oversized serving spoon instead.  "Scoop your heart out...er, have fun?"  A part of Noriko wants to know what is going on, hopes Jubilation hasn't lost it.  A part of her just wants to enjoy this, if she can.  She wants to linger, and does, drawing closer to Jubes to see if she can slip in behind her at the counter given the opportunity.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Yes, I would like to keep my hands clean," is Jubilee's reply, keeping the smile bubbling, keeping herself light, keeping the effervescence of the situation. She watches the electricity dance across the kitchen gadgets with interest, but only briefly. Once the oversized spoon is pulled, Jubilee's eyes lift so she can look upon Nori again. "...Thanks," she whispers, not breaking that eye contact, not daring to, as her hands approach to gently take the spoon from Noriko. Jubilation's lower lip curls underneath the top row of her teeth, her smile unyielding.

    When Noriko slips in behind her, Jubilation faces forward and smiles. At first, she just stands there, not moving, not saying a word, but that can only go on for so long. With the spoon in one hand, her free hand rises to gently graze against the speedster's cheek. "I just... need to get something," she explains before reluctantly moving to open the refrigerator door. "The rest of the filling." Jubilee turns away from the refrigerator holding a metal bowl filled with a brown...mush. The door is closed with a youthful nudge of her hip. After setting the bowl down on the counter, Jubilee side-steps back into the space between Nori and the counter.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Clean?  Noriko wonders what Jubes sees in the drawer that she doesn't.  Her eyes slide/shoot off to some indiscriminate corner of the kitchen, drawn back in by the whisper and that piercing gaze.

Nori thinks she's slipped into her own rhythm again when Jubilation just, doesn't move.  So Noriko intently watches the flow of a charged strand of Jubilation's hair for hints.  "Noo," Noriko says, aloud.  She sighs and takes that moment to snatch up her gauntlets from the other room.  She's finishing the last latches as she leans back against the counter just in time to catch Jubilation's hip nudge.  This garners a small smile from the speedster as she draws Jubilation back and tucks her chin over the vampire's shoulder.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"  Is there any way to make this more palatable without Jubes knowing?  Noriko internally cringes at her own instinctive thought and shifts her weight from one foot to the other.  She settles her gauntlets on the edge of the counter, letting her arms encircle Jubes, an accommodation for the big clunky things.

"Filling?  Wait.  You know you don't have to do this for me."  It's true.  Noriko would love doing even nothing with Jubilation.  The words come out a little too quickly.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "I think... I have just the job for you," Jubilation answers. "But..." With those arms and gauntlets pinning her against the counter, Jubilee slowly turns around, now face-to-face with Nori. "...You have to go...Slow." Whatever this mood is, whatever's going on, Jubilation is making it last. Is she toying with Noriko? Is she toying with herself? "As best as you can," Jubilation adds, her smile still never vanishing.

    "There's a ball of dough in the fridge... We need it to be two...little...tubes," Jubilee explains, dragging her hands up and down the speedster's upper arms. Tubes of dough. Brown mush. Yellowy cubes of glop.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko takes in a breath when Jubilation turns around.  It isn't feigned.  It's one of her natural, alive reactions.  It's what Jubilation does to Nori still, even without a shred of glamour.  "How slow?"  Noriko asks, but obviously doesn't really care.  The question is just an excuse to hang around in such close quarters.

If Jubilation is toying with Noriko, it's working, and the speedster definitely isn't objecting.  It's in this moment that the weirdness of the situation, of Jubilation's behavior, of the cubes of what the hell, of the very large, very sharp knife, none of it matters.  Noriko has forgotten it.  And for a brief moment, she's forgotten that she's not in some kindergarten class playing with playdough and she will have to /eat/ this.  For now it's just her, Jubilation's fingers at her arms.  Hopefully she can remember such inspiration when she's faced with the challenge of swallowing.

"I guess I should take my gauntlets off again."  The lights gutter.  "We need candles," her racing mind interjects, providing her with a moment to slip away and get the dough to cover up the awkward timing of the revelation.  But that's her tell, pulling away from Jubilation's touch isn't natural, and she hesitates in her retreat before doubling down like someone who speeds off after accidentally cutting another person off on the highway;  Noriko suddenly has the dough out already and is mushing it rapidly, but hasn't taken her gauntlets off.  She comes to an immediate stop and then tries to right everything as fast as she possibly can, hopefully before Jubilation sees the nervous outcome.  Bing!  In a snap, the gauntlets are sparkling and shiny as if they've gotten a good polish, not a hunk of dough stuck anywhere, nope.  Though the smooth ball of dough now looks like a mangled hunk of child artwork.

Noriko holds out her gauntlets to let Jubilation do the honors, as per usual.  They are each spoiled in their own way.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Candles?" Jubilation repeats, eyebrows rising a little. "Well, eat first, Nori. Then we can---" The gauntlets. The lights. "Oh," Jubilation fizzles a little, realizing why Noriko suggests candles. "Right." Jubes grins and shakes her head at herself before slipping her fingers against the speedster's gauntlets. It's not long before the clasps are undone and Noriko's hands can be free.

    "So, two equally sized tubes... And then each of those cut into ten equal pieces," Jubilation instructs. "But!" She holds up an index finger like a parent scolding her child. A few colorful sparks crackle in the air just above her fingernail. "...Go slow. This is..." Her gaze slips to the side as she tries to access the memory. What did her mother say about it all those years ago...?

    "...Well, I don't, I can't remember what, but... take your time," Jubes adds. "It's supposed to be, like, relaxing..."

    With that settled, Jubilee reaches again for the very large, very sharp knife. And, with a twinkle in her eye, she drags the blunt edge of the knife across the cutting board to add the little gelatinous cubes into the metal bowl already filled with brown mush.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko may have fudged with the candles, but she stretches out the briefest touches from Jubilation as her gauntlets are removed.  "I mean, we need candles, but, we should also light some," just stop Noriko.  "Two tubes.  Okay."  She takes a deep breath and then suddenly freezes with her fingers in the dough.  There's a faint smell of lightning-tickled dough in the air but Noriko pretends like it isn't there.

"Oh."  Noriko doesn't find slowing down to be relaxing.  She never has, but the more she kneads the dough, the more the light guttering calms down, the static in Jubilation's hair recedes.  She's in some sort of meditative flow, her own hair starting to wave along on unseen currents as if trying to leave her head for some lazy river.

Normally, Noriko would check in with Jubes for approval of her speed, but she's too occupied for that.  Still, she finds time to slip a glance or two Jubilation's way, and perhaps she also gets a glimpse of the vampire's cooking, still worried about the configuration of ingredients.  Okay focus.  Two-

"Everything in this will only get me a little sick right?"  Noriko doesn't expect it to be edible.  She tries to make it sound hopeful, cheery.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "You're not going to be sick," Jubilation insists through a slight smile, suggesting that she's taking the jab in stride. For someone who has never cooked and now no longer has a relationship with food, Jubilee is carrying herself with a lot of unearned confidence. Unlike so many others who second guess their own moves, Jubes never does. Still, all the data available to Nori would make her right to worry.

    Another metal pot is pulled from a cabinet and tucked underneath the sink's faucet. Just a little bit of water is added before Jubes turns it off. "Those are looking pretty good, Nori," Jubilation asserts with a single, enthusiastic nod of her head. "Ten from each... So, like, two tubes... ten each. That's..." she begins. Jubes hesitates, squinting a little as her brain suddenly feels more dead than usual. Numbers. "...Well, however many... Just, ten from each, okay?" The speedster gets a little peck on the cheek on Jubilee's way to put the pot on the stove.

    "Could you get that?" Jubes asks, pointing at the stove. In preparation, she even turns away from her mortal enemy: fire.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"It's ten each," Noriko completes for Jubilation as if it were the most natural thing in the world to keep everything in groups of ten, because it is.  She grins at the peck, still looking down at her perfect tubes she meticulously put together.  Now comes the fun part.

CHOP-CHOP-CHOP-CHOP

CHOP-CHOP-CHOP-CHOP-CHOP!

Nori looks over her shoulder.  "Oh, yeah."  Noriko reaches for Jubilation, putting herself between her and the flame like someone shielding an albino from the harshness of the sun, the pressure from her gauntlets is gentle before she turns flick on the stove.  The gas comes out but Noriko just shoots out a little spark to light it and turns to take the pot from Jubes.  "How about you finish the second ten?  I can handle the flame."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Okay," Jubilee agrees with a casual shrug. She slips past Noriko and over to the very large, very sharp knife. Momma's back. She picks it up and stares down at the tube of dough. The two of them are engaged in a will-they-won't-they relationship dynamic. Will Jubilee cut the dough? Will the dough be cut? Rachel and Ross, these two.

    Maybe it's the destructive nature of cutting, but the knife slides through the dough with ease, expertly guided by the vampire's fingers. Molding the dough, making something from nothing, was strangely difficult, but cutting through it...destroying it... comes easy. The very large, very sharp knife is jabbed point-down into the wooden cutting board.

    Another kiss is placed on Noriko's cheek as Jubes slips past, again, to another one of their cabinets so she can retrieve the bamboo steamer. "We gotta roll those into circles," Jubes explains, finger pointed at the little blobs of dough. They're making dumplings. Maybe.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Being retasked again, Noriko feels as though she's being led on some sort of horrific ingredient scavenger hunt.  What will Jubilation pull out next?  It seemed only prudent to keep Jubilation on something known, or at least that was a side benefit of taking over flame duty.

These kisses are leading Noriko somewhere dangerous, to something her bottomless pit of a stomach might find issue with.  Hopefully there are no poisonous fish baked into whatever this is.  As Jubilation plants another kiss, Noriko shifts to steal a proper kiss, letting the vampire literally run right into it, and her following smirk before she gets to work on the blobs.

This task is not easy for Nori because she doesn't know how to do it, yes, literally rolling dough into balls is not in Noriko's wheelhouse.  She just sort of keeps pushing the odd sides in and they are lumpy.  "Done."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Oop. Jubilee stops, interrupted by Noriko's lips. She sucks in a bunch of air through her nose. Unnecessary, completely pointless, but meant to communicate how appreciated the kiss is. The air will go unused. "Winter green," Jubilee whispers with a grin. Noriko's toothpaste. "Okay, okay, so... now comes the hardest part," Jubilee warns before scooping a little blob of the filling mixture and plopping it dead-center on one of the flattened circles of dough.

    The spoon is leaned back inside the bowl, giving Jubilee the opportunity to take both of Noriko's hands with her own. After finding her rightful place inside the speedster's personal bubble, Jubilee begins to slowly guide Nori's fingers, showing her the technique to close the dumpling with a series of pleated folds. "We just have to be...gentle with it," Jubilation whispers into Nori's ear as she continues. "...And careful. But, also...My mom said the secret was that she would put a tiny piece of her heart inside each one..."

    As though she's on a mission to make the moment as perfect as possible, Jubilation rests her chin on Noriko's shoulder. "Just like that," she confirms as they fold the final pleat and close up the dumpling. It...doesn't look great.

    "The next one will look better," she adds.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko sighs softly when the kiss breaks and briefly wonders if her toothpaste even tastes good to Jubilation.  Stupid thoughts, ruining things, carrying her away from the last moment and into the next without even so much as an apology for the interruption.  Noriko blinks at the filling when it lands.

Going to have to eat that.  Hopefully it gets cooked all the way.

Jubilation's efforts help pull Noriko back into the moment as if she never slipped away.  She leans back ever so slightly and perhaps is slightly distracted by all of the contact at some point because her finger twitches and goes straight through the second dumpling.

"This one was supposed to be better," and maybe it was.  Noriko was eager to impress, but she isn't using extra velocity to make up for her lack of skill this time and the whole experience leaves her a little vulnerable.  She chuckles nervously at the result.  "Sorry.  I am trying," she insists earnestly.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    When Noriko's finger pokes a hole in the dough, Jubilation's only reaction is to smile wider and plant a big smacker-of-a-kiss right on her cheek. "You'll get it," she insists. "There's..." (eighteen) "...a bunch more to do. Lots of chances."

    Jubilation plops another ball of filling onto the center of the next circle. Instead of taking Noriko along for this one, Jubilee closes the dumpling herself, humming softly as she does. "This is nice," she decides. Apparently eager for Noriko to try them, Jubilee doesn't bother waiting for any more than the three they've made. She places them into the bamboo steamer: the first one awkwardly closed by four hands, the second one with a Nori finger hole, and the the third one, which actually came out the way it should have and possibly contains a piece of Jubilee's love for Nori.

    "I can't wait for you try them... I..." While waiting for the dumplings to steam over the pot of water, Jubilation offers a small bit of explanation. "...They were my favorite. My mom made them for me whenever, well... Whenever," she adds, grinning a little. "Xailongbao," Jubilee adds, finally telling Noriko what they're making.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko watches Jubes easily close up the third dumpling and immediately tries to copy her after ladling some filling onto the next one.  She keeps at it as Jubes tends to the first small batch.  "Yeah.  I like doing things together," she says simply.  She means it, but she can't help the nagging thought of food poisoning itching the back of her brain.  She stuffs it down.

It isn't till Noriko hears the origin of the dish that she looks up from her most recent handiwork, her eyes warm.  She suddenly finds herself glad that she was so precise in...almost everything she's done.

"Jubes...Thank you."  Noriko knows what Jubilation's parents mean to her.  To share this special food with her, even if it may or may not resemble the loving dish Jubes' mother provided, it clearly means something to Noriko.  For the moment, she forgets all about stomach pumping and she starts putting a lot of care back into her efforts.

"I wish I could cook for you," or do something that doesn't require money, Noriko sighs softly, but she won't let the thought ruin the moment.  "I'd make you eat all kinds of things," she teases.

"Did you ever make them with her?"

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Well, duh!" Jubilee replies, grinning from ear to ear. After all, Jubilee and Noriko were friends first. Of course they would enjoy doing things together, though maybe Noriko's point was more about how Jubilee has been spending her time lately. Time spent away.

    While the topic is liable to draw out some uncomfortable emotions, Jubilee doesn't seem brought down by it. Her parents have been gone for a long time. "What do you mean, Nori?" she accuses, a slight smile forming. "...You're making these with me now. I mean, it's win-win, right? You can make stuff for me /and/ eat it." Another kiss is placed on the the speedster's cheek.

    "Oh, uh..." The final question stalls Jubilee's enthusiasm a little bit, even drawing out some notes of discomfort. The memories being a bratty tween too focused on literally-anything-else than cooking with mom...

    Instead of directly answering it, Jubes uses this moment to lift the lid on the bamboo steamer, allowing a thin cloud of delicious pork-flavored steam to escape into the apartment. It...doesn't smell... poisonous. "Nori, Nori, come here. I want you to try this one," she decides. Jubilee plucks the dumpling she made herself from the steamer and holds it out for Noriko. "So..."

    "Take a tiny bite, like... Like a little hole," Jubilee suggests with a grin.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Yeah, I guess so," Noriko concedes, trying to redo her last mistake on one of the dumplings with middling results.  Distractions.  CHEEK KISSES.  She grins, but it fades a little as her eyes graze Jubilation's micro-expressions.  The vampire's diversion is a tell tale sign Noriko has struck..something.

The speedster spurts over, her buzzy arm slipping around Jubilation's waist with a freedom she's not normally accustomed to.  Typically Nori doesn't like to leave her gauntlets off for this long.  She bends over the steamer instinctively and then whips backwards to avoid the released vapor, sniffing its wake.

Noriko takes the dumpling and holds it in the palm of her hand.  "It's so cute."  She takes a tiny single bite and the innards start leaking a little like a melting ice cream cone.  "Do I keep taking tiny bites?"  It's just sitting in her palm getting some surface burn marks from the occasional jump of electricity.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "No, no, no, look, Nori, look!" Jubilee replies with a grin. She points at the little hole and the liquid trickling out. "It has mofa tang..." She looks down for a moment, lingering in the memory that the phrase brings forth. "...Magic soup," Jubilee translates. "There's soup inside. Impossible soup."

    Very suspicious. There was no soup when they put them in the steamer... just a weird goop...

    "C'mon, Nori. Try it, try it," she urges, watching expectantly. And so, despite all odds, the Lee family tradition of making xaiolongbao for a loved one continues.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Uh," Noriko looks back at the dumpling again and grins when Jubilation translates for her.  "Impossible soup."  If the impossible soup kills her, that'd be okay.

"So do I just-"  The fastest way in is, well, Noriko tips it back like a shot glass and waits for the soup to drain into her waiting mouth.  Gravity takes forever, and Noriko can see her demise coming.

The liquid drops into her mouth and she looks...well, downright confused.  She smacks her lips, waiting for the aftertaste of some strange liquid cleaner added for festive coloring or something.  But it never comes.

"Wow."  Noriko chomps down the rest of it.  "That was good!"  She's not sure she wants to know what's in it, but it doesn't matter.  Jubilation shared this with her...AND IT'S AMAZING!  "Can I have another one?"  She realizes the idiocy of her question and slightly cringes.  Who else is going to eat them?

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "It's like... inside-out soup!" Jubilee explains what she imagines might be going through Noriko's head. There comes a day in everyone's life when they first encounter the impossible soup. The smile on Jubilee's face can't be contained. Noriko likes them.

    "Well, duh! Of course they're good," she agrees, confidence soaring. "I'm going to ignore how surprised you sound, though..."

    Noriko is presented with the second of the edible dumplings -- the first one that they closed up together. Jubilee holds it out for her to take. "Eat up, Nori," she says before flashing the speedster a big smile. Without watching for her reaction to the next dumpling, Jubilee walks out of the kitchen and into their bedroom. After some nonspecific sounds, the unmistakable noise of Jubilee opening the lid of the coffin -- and leaving it open -- can be heard.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
And now Noriko has found her new food obsession.  A new holy grail.  She doesn't chomp it down, but savors her newfound treasure, even if this next one is not as perfect as the first.  "Good because I was a moron to ever doubt you."  This one is the one they made together and instead of thrown back like a shot, she sips the soup of her nibbled hole as if it were tea.

Maybe Nori should let Jubes cook more often, she thinks, but she already knows Jubes barely has time these days and casts aside the idea.  When Jubes leaves, Noriko watches her go.

"I'll just be here, cooking up the rest," Nori says with a smile.  And she does.  She waits the whole time, delicately cooking each batch of dumplings into a little pyramid.  Putting back on her gauntlets, she goes to get a little wind up point and click disposable camera and snaps a photo of the pyramid.

Curiously, Noriko actually wraps some of the little soup dumplings up and puts them in the freezer and then spends the next half hour taking her time with the remainder.

They're just that good.