farawayplace | COOKING MEME: Ultern Edition

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meme,
mingle post

COOKING MEME: Ultern Edition

No matter in the fire, water, through grass or the forest--eating is essential! Even in the sunny and peaceful island region of Ultern people are out and about getting ready for today's meal. Now, what's on the menu for today?

1. Kame Kame Attack
You want to show just how much you care through your food! Even if the person (or pokemon) is stuffed, they need to eat more! They're so thin and withering away! What better way than to tell them there's always seconds or thirds?

2. One Minute Cooking
Is it your first time in the kitchen? Do you want to improve on how to cook? Time to turn to a friend or family member for help!

3. Koffing Class Curry
WHAT EVEN IS A BAKING SHEET? Oh my Arceus what am I doing?! Who even eats goya or yago anyway?! Everything is happening so much in the kitchen! You're a hot mess (as is the kitchen!), and you can't help but panic. Who do you call in a pinch like this?!

4. My stomach's growling like crazy!
Man that smells so good... what's there to eat?! You're just so starving you're withering away. If only there was someone with a nice meal to the rescue. Or are you able to fight your stomach and go down to the closest store to grab some food?

5. Augh...my stomach…
What was in that meal just now? The person who gave it to you meant well probably, but their cooking skills are not up to snuff. Is there a polite way to tell them to stop? Or perhaps it’s beyond the point of being polite. Either way it’s time to stop before anyone else falls victim!

6. REVENGE BENTO
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Or y’know be a bento box with nothing but rice in it with nori bits spelling out “curry” while claiming you made curry for lunch. Or whatever other petty ideas that are in store to make the receiver of this meal to get your message.

7. Allez Cuisine!
Wild card! Pick and choose your prompt or come up with something new!

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"My pleasure." He winked playfully while ruffling Pikachu's fur with his free hand. Stepping out, the pokemon Professor smiled watching Gold interacting with his team. He could tell they all had a strong trust and bond with one another.

"Looks like they're really liking 'em sprinkles! We better make sure to add plenty of 'em to the cookies. Whaddya think, Gold?"

"Yeah!!" Gold agrees loudly, then throws different kinds of sprinkles for the Pokemon too. "Hey, Tipper - I mean, Pikachu! You want some too?"

It feels weird for Gold to call a Pokemon by its species name, since nicknaming Pokemon is so widespread in the world he's from, so he's started mentally calling Professor Banyan's Pokemon by nicknames. He knows it's probably pretty rude to nickname other people's Pokemon, so he tries not to say them out loud. Now that he accidentally let one slip, he's nervously glancing at Banyan to see if he's angry about it.

Banyan noticed that slip of the tongue. For a second he wondered whether Gold had another Pokemon in mind when referring to his Pikachu. From that glance Gold gave him, Banyan merely smiled as he reached under to give a light scratch Pikachu under his chin.

"Ya hear that, buddy? Gold's willing ta share some sprinkles with ya."

"Chuuu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked, clearly happy from the scratches. He does however look at Gold contemplating whether he wants to hop off from the comfort of Banyan's shoulders and down to where Gold was. Banyan laughed and lifted Pikachu.

"Down ya go, lil' Tipper. I know ya got a sweet teeth, no need to be shy."

"Pi!" Pikachu being placed down onto the ground lifted his tail up before scampering closer to Gold. He gave sniff curious about the sprinkles.

Gold's shoulders sag in relief when Banyan uses the nickname too. So it's fine, then. He didn't do anything wrong.

Gold leans lower down to offer sprinkles for Pikachu to sniff, holding his hand still for him.

His Pokemon, meanwhile, are searching the grass for any sprinkles they missed catching, as well as talking with each other, seemingly unbothered by Gold focusing on another Pokemon for a bit.

Pikachu continued to sniff a little more until he gave a small lick at the sprinkles. Once giving a few licks, Pikachu seemed satisfied before making his way back to Banyan to climb back onto the professor's shoulders.

"Did ya like it, buddy?" Banyan ruffled Pikachu's head earning a happy "chuuu!" in response. The professor's smiling still with his gaze moving out to the rest of Gold's team. "That's a good idea to give them a taste test too, Gold. Ya never know if they'll like it or not otherwise."

Gold's smiling, but he freezes suddenly when Pikachu licks at the sprinkles. But he remembers how the Pokemon all got frightened last time when he remembered bad memories, so he takes a deep breath. It's fine. It's just Tipper. Everything's fine. Everything's fine and everyone's having fun. He can hear his Pokemon laughing and talking to each other. And so, he manages to stay relaxed and not show what he's feeling on the outside.

"Ah... yeah," Gold responds to Professor Banyan, a bit delayed. He feels like his smile is getting a bit too forced, so he drops it. He's not sure what kind of a smile frightened small Pokemon last time, so he'll try to avoid it. Ahh, this sucks. No matter what he does, Gold feels like he's going to end up worrying Banyan and ruining the mood at this rate.

Banyan taking note of the delayed reaction turned his focus to Gold. He was reminded of their first meeting, from the way he had reacted to that wild Pokemon. Had something had happened with Gold before but he couldn't force the young boy to talk about anything he didn't want to.

Pikachu--Tipper now, meanwhile paid no mind to Gold in the least. He was far more content in rubbing up against Banyan happy as can be. The Professor on the other hand walked over to reach out to Gold, to ruffle the top of his head.

"Nakurunai, Gold. It'll be okay." He grinned wide. "...but if, Tips or someone does something ya don't like, ya gotta let 'em know. If ya can't, ya can tell me instead. How does that sound?"

Headpats again... That's fine. That's comforting. That means he didn't ruin anything. Gold doesn't move at all, just looking down as Banyan ruffles his hair.

"I'm not crying," Gold says slightly snappishly, maybe mishearing what Banyan said. "...Nah, Tipper didn't do anything wrong. It's my own fault. I wasn't thinking." He holds out his hand, palm up, just looking at it. He clenches his fist, then opens it. "It's just that feeding small Pokemon from my hand, or holding them in my hand, it's... It feels awful sometimes. Not always, just sometimes."

It brings back bad memories, but Gold doesn't want to say that. It's the one traumatic memory he's most hesitant to tell anybody about, so he's reluctant to even hint at it.

Gold's Pokemon are starting to notice the mood by now. Carn spots it first, making a worried noise as he looks at Gold and stomps over. The others stop what they're doing to look over, but they stay where they are, letting Carn go check up on Gold first.

"Didn't say ya were. It's just a saying in Ultern--nankurunai. It means that things will be okay, and that it'll work out."

Banyan listened to Gold, taking in his words. He wasn't quite sure what it is that Gold had gone through, but it was a sign he recognized himself. After all, there were many Pokemon and people here. All, not without their own stories and problems. Gold was no exception to that.

"I get ya," he nodded over to Carn who was showing up. What a sweetheart, checking up on his trainer. "It was years ago but I had an incident too, with a small Pokemon. I was about yer age, and my baby bro was much younger than that."

"Oh... Okay." Well, it was nicer than saying 'don't cry.' Not 'it's okay' but 'it'll be okay.' Gold hadn't managed to remember many of Ultern's sayings yet, despite Banyan using them pretty often. Maybe he should start writing them down.

Carn nudges Gold with his head with a questioning noise, and Gold smiles and pats him on the head.

"I'll be okay," Gold tells Carn. "Thanks."

He keeps petting Carn as he histens to Banyan.

"Really? What kind of an in- Ah, nevermind, you don't have to answer," Gold catches himself. He doesn't want to share any details of his own incident, so it'd be rude to ask Banyan.

"It's fine if ya wanna know." Banyan grinned, as he began to squat down. It was so he could be at a lower eye level than Gold. "Ya don't gotta force yerself to share of course."

While he would have liked to have Gold open up forcing him to wasn't the way to go about it. Instead he reached over to give a gentle scratch at Tipper's forehead. In response Tipper let out a happy "chuuu!"

"Like I said I was 'round yer age. My brother would always ask me this and that about Pokemon." He smiled over to Tipper. "So one day we both went ta explore the nearby forest, and found a different looking Pikachu. A Pikachu without the familiar brown paws, or lighter colored belly fur."

His smile faded from there. Tipper seemingly noticed peered into Banyan's face. The Professor's eyes softened as he gently gave a pet.

"That Pikachu had just drifted into Ultern, scared and confused but I didn't even consider how he felt. Instead I approached it without warning, and even picked him up. As a result I ended up getting my brother who was nearby hurt. All 'cause I wasn't careful my brother and the Pikachu got hurt."

Even though Gold is trying to avoid eye contact with Banyan, Banyan squatting to look at him feels somehow comforting, and Gold ends up making eye contact after all. He nods in response to Banyan, relieved. It's good to know he's not expected to share.

"Oh... That must've been awful," Gold says, wrapping an arm around Carn's neck and leaning against him. Getting others hurt because of your own mistakes... "Did you get hurt too?" he asks. Because Gold can't help but think, if he ended up getting his sister hurt, and he himself didn't get hurt at all, that would make him feel even worse.

...Gold also tries to squish down his initial reaction of 'oh, so he's really lived an easy life if that's his bad memory' because he knows it's not a competition of who's had it worse. He's always had that feeling that Banyan's not like Gold in a fundamental level, that Banyan would probably never understand how Gold feels, but that doesn't matter. Because Banyan tries his best, he tries to treat people and Pokemon who are hurting in ways that would be most comfortable for them, and he succeeds, too. He really, really cares. So it shouldn't matter if Gold feels an invisible barrier between them that prevents them from truly understanding each other.

But maybe, by telling each other of themselves, they can start kind of understanding each other? Because Gold understands now why Banyan became so attentive of others' feelings. Maybe if Gold told him... No, not about that incident. He can't talk about that incident with someone like Banyan. But he feels like he should tell Banyan about something in his past, anyway. But what should it be...

"Yeah, but more than anything it couldn't compare to my brother's injuries." If anything he didn't want to describe the severity of his own injury, or his brother's. That wasn't his point anyway for him. His priority at the time had been on his younger brother. "I'm sure it was worse for Pikachu too who had no way to return home and suddenly surrounded by strangers he had no way of knowing what their intentions were."

Tipper moved to nuzzle up against Banyan, with his tail wagging. Almost as if he was trying to cheer the Professor, who chuckled in response.

"Of course, there were plenty more incidents but y'know. Point being, good and bad it makes up all that I am. Same for them, and for everyone else."

"Chuuu." Tipper responded before resting himself comfortably onto Banyan's shoulders.

"...You're a really good person," Gold says with a sort of blank expression. "I dunno how you do that. Thinking about the Pikachu and your brother first. I always put myself first, when I was a kid. And, um, even though I've got other people I think about now I still kinda... end up thinking of myself before anybody else. So, um... You're amazing." He blushes a little after saying that, looking away and burying his face in Carn's flower. It's always embarrassing praising people. Carn makes a questioning, worried noise, and Gold pats him to reassure him. Carn nods and turns to Banyan with a smile, making a noise intended to convey 'he's alright' to him.

Everything that builds up a person... Of course, everyone's got something like that. And since Banyan opened up about his past, Gold wants to return the favor.

"...I dunno if it's obvious," Gold says with a sigh, peeking out from the flower, "but I didn't always have a lot of food as a kid. Mom would sometimes go off somewhere on her own and I had to survive on what's in the kitchen and make it last as long as I could. So, you know..." Gold shrugs, looking pretty casual about it, even if there's a tenseness to his shoulders. "I'd eat the eggshells and anything else that was even kinda edible."

"Aw, Gold..." Banyan's expression is soft, still. He doesn't judge hearing Gold prioritizing himself. He knew it wasn't easy for others to be able to worry about someone but from the short while he's known Gold, he knew he was a good kid trying his best. That was enough for him.

Moving his gaze to Carn, Banyan gave a nod in understanding, and back to Gold. At Gold's confession however, Banyan frowned. That was a little too familiar, but he didn't want to place anything like that onto Gold. Instead what was more important for Banyan was that he wanted to (figuratively) reach his hand out to Gold.

"Ya know, Gold." He's back to smiling to Gold. "I hope it's obvious, but yer always more than welcome to eat anything here. I'd be more than happy to make ya something too, and even show ya how to make things together."

That short response to Gold's admission has Gold kind of on the edge. What does that mean? Is it pity? Disappointment? Or does Banyan just think it's cute? Banyan's voice sounds soft, so he can't be mad, but what is it then? Gold can't even read Banyan's expression too well since he's always wearing those shades. ...What kind of a reaction does Gold even want? He doesn't even know himself.

"Yeah, I know," Gold responds with a slow smile to Banyan's second statement. It's not completely a real smile, but it's not totally forced either. "It's just kinda hard to really get that, you know? My eating habits are kinda weird I guess!" He laughs. "But hey, speaking of that, I think the cookies might be ready soon? Should we go check?"

Carn looks slightly worried at Gold's sudden change of mood, but perks up when Gold mentions cookies. It's probably fine, he figures, since Gold changes moods suddenly often. More importantly, cookies! Carn makes an excited noise.

Banyan won't say it, but he definitely found what Gold told him to be sweet. Although he had a feeling that maybe Gold wouldn't want to hear an old man like him calling him cute. Instead he's grinning wide, followed by a slap to his own knees before rising up.

"A'ight!" Reaching over to Gold, Banyan will ruffle the top of his head again. "You're a good kid, Gold. Don't ya worry about eating weird. We all got'em. Now let's check on those cookies."

He'll step forward to go open the door. As he's doing so, he'll hold the door to wait for Gold to go through.

More hairruffles... At this rate, Gold is going to get used to these soon.

"Hey, it's not like I worry about it. Everybody else just gets weird about it," Gold says, in a tone that suggests that's everybody else's problem.

Before following Banyan inside, Gold pats Carn one last time, then grabs a handful of sprinkles and tosses them to his Pokemon, watching them go nuts trying to catch them again. Then he picks up the tray of sprinkle jars and goes inside, giving Banyan a smile as he holds the door for him.

"Is that so? Ah, shoot! Then guess we'll just all gotta deal with being weird about things." He's chuckling to himself.

Noticing Gold smiling his way, he returned it with one of his own. Banyan could feel his Pikachu--Tipper peering over to give a look to Gold. He's letting out a squeak near Banyan's ear almost as if telling Gold to hurry. Without looking over, Banyan reached to give a pat to Tipper with his free hand.

A day like this sure made him think back to when it had just been himself and his brother. Things were much livelier than it has been in a long while.

(ooc: shall we wrap up around here with this thread, or continue a bit more?)

Gold giggles at the comment, feeling a lot lighter about his food-related habits now. Knowing Banyan accepted his nickname for Tipper is nice too, even if it still feels odd to nickname other people's Pokemon.

As they head inside, the air is filled with the delicious aroma of cookies, and Gold wants to hurry to the kitchen, but makes sure to carry the tray carefully and slowly.

This kind of life has never been Gold's before. Cooking together, with his Pokemon in the backyard, talking to an adult who cares about him and listens to him... But despite everything, it feels like something's missing. If only it was Gold's dad here and not Banyan... But that'd be rude to say, wouldn't it? After everything Banyan's done and all the care he's given him, it'd be awful to treat him like he's just a substitute for something Gold's missing. So Gold keeps his mouth shut and just enjoys what he has.

(ooc: yeah, seems like a good place to wrap up!)

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COOKING MEME: Ultern Edition

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