Habits

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina was making herself some hearty Carbonada to last her throughout the week so she could focus her energy on her summer class and on her upcoming trip. She’d cut up the cheapest cut of meat she could find and had the potatoes, carrots, onions, and other assorted vegetables chopped and ready to throw in the pot as soon as the meat was finished searing when she heard someone enter the kitchen behind her.


    Now, usually this wouldn’t be such a strange occurrence, but she’d purposefully woken up incredibly early just so she could avoid having to deal with the other students. She was curious about her new visitor and turned only to freeze when she noticed it was a teacher... Sebastian Austerlitz, was his name she thought, but she wasn't one hundred percent positive on that. Selina gripped the counter behind her for the sake of grounding herself, as she offered him a polite smile in greeting.


    Shit. This wasn’t good. The only problem was that she’d have to wait until her stew was finished, which would take over an hour from this point. She wasn’t going to just up and leave the food that she’d paid and worked hard to prepare, nor was she going to try and transport everything to cook it later. She’d just have to deal… but with the way she was finding it slightly difficult to breathe and the fact that her hands were slightly clammier than they should be, she wasn’t sure if staying was all that realistic of a choice.


    Nope. She would be fine. Selina took a few deep breaths, and used her grip on the counter to help alleviate some of her anxious energy. She would be totally fine… and the meat smelled like it might burn if she kept it there much longer. She quickly added the onions and waited for them to sweat out before adding some more veggies and beef broth.

[Sebastian Austerlitz]

He wasn't one for getting up early in the morning, but recently he was getting a feeling that eating 10 meals at lunch was annoying the people that cooked the meals. He hadn't directly been told anything about it, but he knew that if he was in their shoes then he would be getting pretty damn angry. 

Walking into the kitchen he noted that there was a student standing there, making something, he wasn't sure what it was, but it sure did smell good. grabbing the supplies that he had bought the night before he got to work, it didn't help that his stomach was making the weirdest noises. But he wanted to get some food on the go before he let himself have a bite to eat. 

Setting out all of the vegetables he grabbed a knife and chopped them as fast as he could, why he didn't work in a kitchen he didn't know, as the veg was chopped and ready to cook before you could even say vegetables, popping them into a wok to cook he grabbed a large mixing bowl, A box of cereal and a bottle of milk. Poured them both in and started to eat the whole thing, minus the bowl itself. 

"So what brings you down here this early? Couldn't sleep or something?" He said to the girl, she was obviously uncomfortable but still, any talk would be better than silence. 

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina openly stared at the man whose obvious ability was super speed. Holy shit. How was this even possible? Damn, she wanted that, if only to make cooking that much easier. She barely collected her thoughts in time to hear his questions and shook herself out of her reverie.


    “Uh, no. I just-” she glanced down at the food around her as if to remind herself of what she was doing in the kitchen, “I like cooking my meals for the week ahead of time. That way I can focus my energy on other things instead of worrying about how much energy I have to save to cook dinner,” she offered with a hesitant smile.


    The fact she’d purposefully gotten up this early to avoid people like him didn’t seem necessary to throw in there. Selina could be blunt and rude when she wanted, but she had no desire to anger a teacher or to draw undue attention to herself… particularly not this early in the morning. She did not have anything close to this man’s seemingly endless amount of energy.


    Selina knew she just had to wait now for the flavors to merge and for the vegetables to cook, so she took found the seat she’d brought in earlier and took a rest. She’d originally planned on reading a book while the stew cooked, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to focus much with him in the room.

[Sebastian Austerlitz]

"Ahh right, I get what you mean, I don't mind cooking but it can be quite a chore, the only reason that I am here right now is because I don't wana piss off the people that make lunch." He said lazily, he was still sorta half asleep, the box of cereal had started to wake him up, and he didn't have any problem swearing in front of a student this old, at least he would have placed her around 19-20 so old enough not to care.  

Tending to his veg he finished off the bowl of cereal, it was simple and bland for breakfast, but well he needed something that could wake him up and kick start his body, Sure the box was meant to last for about a week but who cares. Recommended servings are tiny anyways. Popping on the kettle he went went over and took a peek at what she was cooking.

Dayyym That smelt good, he couldn't be sure what it was that she was making, but he sure as hell was going to ask for them recipe. "So anyway, what are you cooking, like I don't mean to intrude, but it smells like, oh dam, you know that kinda nice." He said back to her, as he put his now empty mixing bowl in the sink to be washed.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina stared at him in curiosity when he mentioned pissing off the lunch people. Then she saw him devour the entire cereal box and thought she might just be starting to understand what he meant. “That’s very thoughtful of you,” she replied with a smirk. Wait. What was she doing? He was teacher. She should not be in a humorous mood right now. Right. Food.


    Selina couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm, “Well, it’s a traditional sort of beef stew. It’s what I grew up on in Santiago. Though, admittedly, we mostly fixed it in the winter, but I figured something hearty would be good since I’m often in the training rooms and it’s a really budget friendly dish,” she offered. “You can try some if you like when it’s finished, but I need to save most of it for the week ahead,” she warned with a light-hearted smile.


    She didn’t mind sharing, but if he ate as much of her stew as he did of the cereal, it would completely defeat the point of her making the dish in the first place. “And you? What do you plan to do with those amazingly chopped veggies?” she asked with a light chuckle. What the hell was she doing? Selina watched him warily, wondering if she was just tired and that that was why her guard kept temporarily failing her.

[Sebastian Austerlitz]

"I would love to try some. Oh and yeah don't worry Ill only have a little, Now you can see why I decided to cook for myself." He said with a laugh, he had never been ungrateful for his power but he had to admit that sometimes it would be a pain in the ass. If he was ever running low on money he would have to go quite hungry for a while. 

Going over to the now boiled kettle he got out a pan and put the water in, bring it back to a boil. Before adding a packet of egg noodles. "Well that's the 1 million dollar question, what am I doing. I think I want to make some Prawn oriental stir fry. Its simple, Its fast and it will keep me moving." He said motioning to the packet of prawns that he still needed to add to the whole thing. 

He was feeling slightly better now, she seemed to be more relaxed and comfortable with him in the kitchen. When he had first entered he thought that he had offended her slightly. He still could have but he wasn't so sure.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina grinned and nodded, “Have you ever thought of being a professional chef? I imagine you must be a pretty good cook with how much you make in a day,” she added with a playful smile. Yeah, she could be harsh and difficult to deal with, but she was trying to be more sociable and less hostile overall. Sometimes she failed miserably, but she was still trying.


    Selina watched him with interest, “That sounds really good actually,” she admitted. Selina loved seafood and vegetables. And who didn’t like egg noodles? Maybe she’d ask him for the recipe later. If it was as simple and fast as he said, it might be something she would be able to make throughout the week without having to worry too much about the energy required to make it.


    Selina still had her guard up a mile high, but she was far enough away from him to be relatively at ease. Besides, he had a certain… way about him that made him easy to be around. She didn’t often interact with male teachers if she could help it, but she didn’t really have much choice here, and he really wasn’t so bad. He was also a cook, and food was a bit of a weak point for her.

[Sebastian Austerlitz]

Sebastian laughed, taking a moment to wipe his eye afterwards. "Yeah I thought about becoming a chef, only problem is that I'm not that good at timing, and Its very stressful in a kitchen." He said with a little smile, he really had thought about becoming a chef, but being surrounded by food that he wasn't allowed to eat when he wanted, that was the true definition of torture. 

"Well instead I came here, picked to teach Physical education, why I will never know, but I guess its pretty easy given well, you know." He said shaking his hand fast enough that it started to blur.

Opening the prawns he had, he put them in the hot frying pan containing the vegetables, with the occasional stir and toss of the pan they started to cook. Soon the room was beginning to fill with the smell of freshly cooked seafood, which he had to admit, was one of his favorite smells.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded her agreement, “I used to work in restaurants in Santiago as a waitress, and I didn’t envy the chefs during the dinner rush. As busy as it was for me, I was glad I was out serving the tables instead of back in that hot kitchen.” Besides, she wasn’t the best cook in the world either. She wasn’t bad and could make edible food when given a recipe, but she wasn’t exactly ready to depend on her skills in the kitchen to make a living either.


    Selina laughed and nodded, “I suppose you don’t have to worry too much about cocky students trying to show you up either,” she responded easily, almost with a playful tone. What the hell was this? She’d never done this type of thing before… or at least not since middle school. Maybe she could talk with male teachers if she kept her physical distance? It was a thought to take into consideration, that was for sure.


    And wow, his food smelled really good. She eyed the timer on hers and still had quite a while to wait… which she didn’t mind, but the smell of good food was making her hungry.