15977/Ancient Cooking 101

Ancient Cooking 101
Date of Scene:	28 September 2023
Location:	Mercy's Garage
Synopsis:	Sprite helps Mercy get a taste of history as they make future plans!
Cast of Characters:	Sprite, Mercy Thompson

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Sprite has posed:
    Sprite decides to come and mess with one of her favorite mortals. Or, maybe "mess with" would be a little too strong. She's actually here to do something nice, but with Sprite, there's never a complete lack of "mess with".

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    It's getting to fall and so Mercy does a lot of checking up on her regulars to be ready for the upcoming winter. This is important but dull work. So it's a lot of antifreeze, and break checks. Changing tires and all. She's got a stack of them outside as she carries an old set off and is working on a nice looking classic BMW. She's currently fighting her true nemesis. Paper work! "Hello Mr. Williams. I got your tires changed and you should be fine. The brakes I didn't touch but you'll want them looked at in the spring or sometime next year." Pause. "That's right. Come by and pick it out at any time."

Sprite has posed:
    The short redhead comes to the door, and opens it, moving to step into the office. She's carrying a wicker basket in one hand, and she smiles. "Hi, Mercy!" She says, heedless of the other woman being on the phone. She makes the "follow me" gesture, as she starts to head towards the stairs up to Mercy's home.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is just hanging up when the door opens. "Sprite! Hi there. How you been?" She is curious so she'll head out the door and flip the sign to 'Back in 15' and locks up. "What's up?" Following up to the house. Naturally her stubbed tail cat is meowing and demanding tribute be paid.

Sprite has posed:
    "I'm bored. We're cooking." Sprite says, as she looks over to the cat. The redhead suddenly smells very much like catnip. "I brought stuff." she says, going up on tiptoe as she puts the basket onto Mercy's table. "How are you?" Whether she's asking Mercy or the cat remains in debate.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Oh!" Mercy laughs and says, "Then let me wash up real quick and take off my coveralls." She starts to strip out and hang them up before hurrying to start washing her hands. "Not to bad. Winter isn't my favorite season. I tend to like it hot over cold." Of course Medae gets a lot more interested in Sprite as she starts to sniff at small woman and paw at her clothing to rub against it.

Sprite has posed:
    "Winter is everyone's least favorite season. Winter is when people die. Winter is when nature reminds you exactly how insignificant you are." Sprite says. "Most of human history has been a dance of "Take nine months to figure out how to survive three." Sprite will scoop up the cat to scritch at it. "One of the best ideas we ever had." She gets dat ear.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Oh I have had some friends who love it. The enjoyment of the snow and the like. But it isn't the worst. My other form is just better suited for a desert over the artic." Medea becomes this great purring monster who of course 'viciously' grabs at Sprit's hand to demand more petting. "Cats?" Mercy pauses in her washing to look over and not sure if this is a joke or not. "Or just purring?" She pulls on an apron and offers a second one on the back of a chair for Sprit when she wants it.

Sprite has posed:
    "Domesticated cats. Or domesticatING cats. Back in Mesopotamia, around 8,000 BC. Humans had been storing grain for a while, but rats...well, rats are always a problem. Phastos decided that if we could get cats to stay with people, it would solve the problem." Sprite explains. Whether it's true or her pulling Mercy's chain, that's never something easy to determine. "Okay, you gotta get down now." She'll let the cat down, and then put on the apron. She moves to the basket, and takes out sugar and flour, as well as a small jar of something orange, and some grapes. "You have butter and eggs, right?" she asks Mercy.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Oh. Well then good call! Thank you for that," Mercy says in sincerity to Sprite as she rather enjoys her feline friend. "Canines don't normally like me so much. I enjoy my kitty's company often." OF course Medea is protesting the loss of her proper place. She shows this by turning her back on Sprite and going to lay on the couch. "Of course I got butter and eggs." She will start to set out the usual suspects for stuff like that. Eggs, butter, flour, baking soda, and all that stuff. "What do you want to make?"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite smiles. "I'm going to show you how to make a very, very old cookie. Because I know you like cookies." She tells Mercy. "We need to leave the butter out till it gets soft. In the meantime, we can cut the grapes in half."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "I DO! This is great Sprite!" Mercy is all set to get to baking. "Oh I got an old croc here full of butter." She sets it out for Sprite to use as needed. "My sharp knives are there. Let's go." With that Mercy is all set to get to work and seeing what this recipe is going to be like. She gets out a 3x5 index card and starts to write down what Sprite is telling her.

Sprite has posed:
    "Oh, that's better, then. Mix a half-cup of the butter in a bowl with a cup of the sugar, till we get a sugar paste. Then we crack an egg in, and mix it all together." She takes a knife and starts cutting grapes in half...

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy makes sure to jot down the instructions exactly and then goes to do them. Getting a measuring cup, "Melted butter, room temp or cold?" She then starts to put the sugar in the bowl and gets the eggs in easy as she does a one handed crack. "Wanna hear a confession?"

Sprite has posed:
    "Not melted. Just leave a stick out till it gets to room temperature. They didn't have very good refrigeration back in ancient Sogdia." Sprite says, smiling, as she snips grape after grape in half, occasionally popping a grape in her mouth as well." Sprite moves to cross her legs under herself, just sitting in mid air.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy uses the mutter from her big croc that is already room temperature and gets to work on doing as she was told. "That makes sense, mind telling me where or when Sogdia is? The name isn't familiar to me." She keeps working as told and figures if Sprite doesn't wanna know a secret then she'll keep her mouth shut. She's usually good at that.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite smiles. "Sogdia was an ancient kingdom that was where Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan are now. Butted up on China on the east. Lasted almost two millennia, but eventually became part of ancient Persia." Sprite finishes the grape-slicing. "There's a jar of apricot jam in the basket. Mix the grapes with the jam, till they're all coated."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Interesting. I'll have to look into it. If you know any books that you feel are accurate I'd love to hear it." She is curious about the fruit flavor blend. "I can only imagine how good the fruit was back then." She starts to do as told mixing everything up. She gets a second bowl to help with everything blending up. "Smells good already."

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite looks back to her. "None in English. I mean, I'm sure there are some scholars studying it, but I don't keep up on the academia scene. And some fruit was different. Grapes haven't changed a lot, if you're talking about certain colors. Almost all the grapes back then were black, or very dark blue. You didn't have red or green grapes back then. It's part of where the saying "wine-dark sea" came from." The redhead explains, watching.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Huh," Mercy thinks over what she was told with a smile. "I remember reading something about how like bananas have changed a lot over the years so I guess it makes sense about other stuff. Though grapes have been in stories for a long time." She smiles and sets the mixed fruit to the side. "I'm guessing the grapes are slice to better mix the two flavors together. What's next, Sprite?"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite replies "Actually, it's so that it works better with the cookies. So now, mix a cup of sugar with the butter. Once that's all worked in, crack an egg into the mixing bowl with it, and work it in." She looks to the ingredients. "These were super-popular in Gaochang. Travelers on the Silk Road loved to snack on these. Give them some sweet, and some energy."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy pauses to update her recipe nots and she gets to working. Cracking an egg and keeps to working on mixing up things properly. "As in that origin of that spicy sauce everyone loves? Or at least the same region?" She is very curious to see how they taste and if she can copy the recipe later. "I take it you ate these a lot?"

Sprite has posed:
    "It was a city. You're thinking of gochujang. That's a pepper sauce." Sprite explains. "And I ate them whenever I went through. Which was a lot. The Silk Road was one of the most interesting places on the planet at that time." Still floating, she lowers her legs to the ground. "Okay, now mix two cups of flower in there, to make a dough." The basket has a package of labeled millet flour. She looks over to make sure the oven is done preheating by now, and nods approvingly. "Three-fifty. Good."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "I imagine it was really interesting to see it back then." She nods her head about the next step as she starts to mix the flour to make a dough out of what they got. Mercy keeps her hands working as she watches the bowl carefully. "How long will they bake and mind going over my recipe notes?"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite walks over to the notes, looking through them. "You've kept good notes." She admits, looking at them. "Anywhere from twelve to fifteen minutes depending on your oven." She looks at the dough. "Looks good. Okay. Divide your dough into 24 pieces. Roll those into balls, and then press them into cookie shape." She moves over to help with it.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "You learn to do that in both baking and in auto work. I mean if you do things wrong on an engine it can lead to more then bad tasting cookies." She flours her hand lightly and starts to get the dough rolled out. "So no rising time or proofing needed." She nods to a drawer, "If you want I got some cookie stamps if you want to use one for these. We can."

Sprite has posed:
    "No, no. Once they're round and flat, you use a blunt edge, like a butter knife. Score it eight times, like cutting a pizza, except you're just denting the dough in.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Got it. That's easy enough" Soon enough she has several flattened cookie shaped things and get out a tool that is possible Sprite is unfamiliar with. Holding up a bread lame with what looks like a razor blade at the tip.

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite nods. "Once you do that, then use your thumb tip to make a little divot in the cookie's middle. Put a half-grape..." The ones they cut earlier and coated with jam. "...in the middle of each, and then a little extra jam on top of it. When it bakes, the jam'll go liquidy and run down the grape and into the grooves. Once the grapes and jam are there, then it's just bake!"

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy is working on everything and getting ready to use her thumb. "Grapes are cut side down then? To make a rounded button on the top, or the cut side up for a flat top." Mercy makes sure to update her recipe as she keeps working. Once she has it right she does the other twenty three cookies the same way. "This is going to be really tasty I bet. Medae thinks so as well." Because the cat is already moving around their feet.

Sprite has posed:
    "Rounded button on top so the melting jam flows down it." Sprite smiles at the cat, and creates some illusory catnip down there for them. "Two dozen night sky cookies, up in fifteen minutes. And now you can make more of them when you want." Sprite offers.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Oh I think I'll only make these if I get lonely for you." Mercy works of scent and this will be a unique scent that she can tie the memory to Sprite. She gets the two trays into the oven and sets her timer. "So what do we do for the next fifteen minutes?"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite smiles. "Well, you do what you like with the recipe. I told it to you so it would be back in the world again. And now it is." She considers, and then from her, washing out, is a ripple of gold, as she puts them in the middle of an illusory landscape, as the native settlement of Cahokia appears in their surroundings. "Enjoy the view?" she asks.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Oh I'll share it with a few websites I go to from time to time." Mercy is just finishing the notes when the view changes and she looks around. The pen falls free and she pauses. Sniffing and looking around, "This is.... amazing. Where is this? When is this?" She is beyond curious!

Sprite has posed:
    "Cahokia. Biggest native settlement in North America. Around the mid 600's, near the Mississippi. It was a really interesting place." Sprite grins. "I spent some time there being various "spirits". She explains. "It was a lot of fun."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    Mercy looks like she wants to run right into the landscape and explore EVERYTHING. Her dark eyes bright and if her tail was there it be thrashing rapidly. "Do you know how hard it is to stop myself from demanding you tell me everything? I have no ties to that side of my family. Just the name of my father and the date of death." She doesn't have a picture of him even. "Thank you Sprite!"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite smiles. "Well, I tell you what. Next time we need an outing, I'll take us out where it used to be, and show you the whole thing." she explains. "This is my thing. Storytelling." People move around, doing their thing, not really seeming to notice either of the two. Sprite gives another faint movement of her hand, and then both she and Mercy are dressed in traditional historical fashion, as Sprite goes from being a ginger white girl to a native boy.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Deal!" She's all about that and Mercy says, "and if you like I can take you sometime to some of my older hunting grounds." She blinks at the sudden change of clothes and the fact that Sprite looks like a boy. She laughs a bit, "you look sort of funny like that." Leaning in to sniff and see if Sprite changed her scent as well.

Sprite has posed:
    "I've looked like this, and lots of other ways." Sprite has changed her...his?...scent and voice as well. "And I don't know why I'd look funny."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Because I'm used to Sprite looking like Sprite and not some young brown boy who could be my little brother in looks almost." Mercy can't help as she ruffles the head of Sprites now black hair. She grins wide and admits, "I can totally see THIS form getting into mischief."

Sprite has posed:
    "I'm a shapeshifter. I'm the Eternal of illusion. You should NEVER get used to be looking like anything for too long." He winks back at her. "And sure I did. I was Coyote a lot of times. Except when Coyote was there. Well, most times. Occasionally we subbed for each other just to mess with people." Sprite snickers.

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Well I only have one other form and I think as much with my nose as my eyes. So hearing and smelling someone new and trying to think of 'him' as 'Sprite' when I already have you locked in as another form." She shrugs. "I mostly treated the other faces as masks, and tricks to help you do your stories and what have you." The talk of Coyote makes her grin, "So you met an actually god named Coyote then? Or whatever he or they were?"

Sprite has posed:
    "I have, yes." Sprite says. "I've met lots of gods. I am a god, if you're being technical." The boy says, still with that grin. "But most gods can't be omnipresent. So sometimes he'd be in one village and I'd be in another. Things like that. Plus it's fun to mess with people."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "I have no idea if that Coyote even has ties to my.... kind? Am I a kind? I don't really know that even. Never met another shapeshifter like me but I find it hard to believe I am unique." There's a lot of question marks in Mercy's family try and past. "I'd love to see what you know about the native people and could help me.... I don't know. Connect?" She grins, "I can make more cookies if you want."

Sprite has posed:
    "I can definitely try that." With another wash of gold, the surroundings turn back into Mercy's kitchen, and Sprite-boy turns back into Sprite, as the oven timer starts beeping. "But right now, our cookies are done." Sprite smiles. "So it's cookie time."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "I'll get them out." She'll see about getting her oven mitt to pull out the two trays and see what they look like. She sniffs the air and will set the trays on top of the stove and turn off the menu. "Do they smell and look right, Sprite?"

Sprite has posed:
    Sprite grins. "They do, indeed. You have milk? Need milk with cookies." she says, grinning. "Then we can pig out."

Mercy Thompson has posed:
    "Didn't you give me stink eye when I offered you milk and cookies?" But of course she has Milk. She will get everything set out and see about getting some plates out. Not only that but a glass of milk as well. "Shall we dig in?"