[As seems to be habit of many people on the station, Kazuma is inclined to wander into the kitchen at odd hours. It's common enough that Kazuma isn't surprised to find someone already there when he does, but he is surprised that person is Itachi.
Kazuma doesn't know what to make of the guy, frankly. They haven't spoken much, but Itachi makes Kazuma uneasy for reasons he can't quite name. Perhaps it's the general vibe, but Kazuma feels on edge as soon as he sees him. It's undercut some, however, by the realization that Itachi... seems to be making sweets?
Not what Kazuma would have expected of him. He can't help but comment.]
...What is that you're making? [It looks like dango.]
๏ผ the dough has been sorted into three bowls, the flavoring added. everything about his work space is precise and neat — he is clearly someone who cleans as he works. presently, he is boiling water — the little rolled dumplings, each perhaps a little too perfect, are set aside in preparation. itachi does not bother turning to face him, simply replies: ๏ผ
Sanshoku dango. Do you have something similar in your world?
๏ผ similar naming conventions do not always mean similar cultures, as he has discovered. if the man recognized the dango on sight, surely he would have started there? ๏ผ
๏ผ that blink-and-you-miss-it sense of humour, delivered in a fatalistic deadpan that drives one to doubt whether it's humour at all. wordless, he takes the bowl of white dough that isn't yet shaped and pushes it towards kazuma. ๏ผ
If you're going to be present a while, wash your hands and assist me.
[Guy does have a point: this is the first time Kazuma's exchanged more than a few words with Itachi. There's a lot about him Kazuma surely doesn't know.
He almost thinks to protest at being recruited for someone else's cooking project, but really, what else is Kazuma going to do? He'd come here in a fit of insomnia, not hunger. It's this or wander around aimlessly for the rest of the night.
So, surprising himself, he does wash his hands and set up next to the bowl. Why not?]
It may not be up to your standards. I've never done this before. [He's mostly joking, but Itachi's perfectly shaped balls do imply he's exacting in his standards. Kazuma has never been so patient when it comes to cooking.]
itachi begins adding the little green dumplings to the boiling water carefully, lowering them in with a slotted spoon. as they begin to cook, he busies himself with setting up an ice bath to submerge them in afterwards so they stay tender. ๏ผ
Uchiha Itachi. ๏ผ he offers finally. it's one of a handful of times he has said his surname aloud, done so now only because this man is from a like culture and he does not need to specify which is the first or second of them. ๏ผ
[His eyes flick over to Itachi as he begins to sculpt from the bowl, but doesn't react in any other way. Still, the affirmation isn't lost on him, and he finds himself switching from speaking in English to Japanese. Itachi might not even notice a difference with the translation function, but on Kazuma's end, it's comforting.]
So why dango? It isn't as though there are flowers to eat it under. [Not real ones, anyway.]
๏ผ lmao expecting this momentous overachieving perfectionist nerd not to notice? for shame. of course he notices, that slight sideways step into the familiar. itachi always speaks in japanese unless he is practicing one of the other languages he has troubled himself about learning since his arrival — his linguistic nuance a dichotomy between unfailingly polite and coldly rude. ๏ผ
I happen to enjoy it.
๏ผ look, he's got a sweet tooth. ๏ผ
If it's flowers you're concerned with, there is a simulation program that is set in an area I understand to be Japan in the springtime. Kyoto, I believe.
๏ผ 'i understand to be japan'. it's strange to have a kinship with a place he isn't from and has never seen — it's only by being here that other people have denoted his language as being japanese. but the food, the clothing, the culture he has learned of are all achingly familiar, and he has decided that the word used to describe it matters considerably less than his own feelings towards anything that resembles his home. ๏ผ
[Now that's very interesting, considering the language they share. Kazuma pauses his kneading to turn and look at Itachi, frowning.]
You "understand" to be Japan? Are you not from there yourself?
[He's aware not everybody on the station is from Earth, of course, but these are far too specific commonalities they share. Kazuma would have assumed Itachi had been born there.]
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action > kitchen shenans as discussed!
Kazuma doesn't know what to make of the guy, frankly. They haven't spoken much, but Itachi makes Kazuma uneasy for reasons he can't quite name. Perhaps it's the general vibe, but Kazuma feels on edge as soon as he sees him. It's undercut some, however, by the realization that Itachi... seems to be making sweets?
Not what Kazuma would have expected of him. He can't help but comment.]
...What is that you're making? [It looks like dango.]
no subject
Sanshoku dango. Do you have something similar in your world?
๏ผ similar naming conventions do not always mean similar cultures, as he has discovered. if the man recognized the dango on sight, surely he would have started there? ๏ผ
no subject
[It's not something he's had the occasion to make himself, but he's certainly seen Ryunosuke eat enough of them.]
I was just surprised, that's all. It isn't something I would have expected from you.
[Itachi doesn't seem like a sweets guy OR a cooking guy, is what he's saying.]
no subject
๏ผ that blink-and-you-miss-it sense of humour, delivered in a fatalistic deadpan that drives one to doubt whether it's humour at all. wordless, he takes the bowl of white dough that isn't yet shaped and pushes it towards kazuma. ๏ผ
If you're going to be present a while, wash your hands and assist me.
no subject
He almost thinks to protest at being recruited for someone else's cooking project, but really, what else is Kazuma going to do? He'd come here in a fit of insomnia, not hunger. It's this or wander around aimlessly for the rest of the night.
So, surprising himself, he does wash his hands and set up next to the bowl. Why not?]
It may not be up to your standards. I've never done this before. [He's mostly joking, but Itachi's perfectly shaped balls do imply he's exacting in his standards. Kazuma has never been so patient when it comes to cooking.]
no subject
๏ผ stone cold, man.
itachi begins adding the little green dumplings to the boiling water carefully, lowering them in with a slotted spoon. as they begin to cook, he busies himself with setting up an ice bath to submerge them in afterwards so they stay tender. ๏ผ
Uchiha Itachi. ๏ผ he offers finally. it's one of a handful of times he has said his surname aloud, done so now only because this man is from a like culture and he does not need to specify which is the first or second of them. ๏ผ
no subject
[His eyes flick over to Itachi as he begins to sculpt from the bowl, but doesn't react in any other way. Still, the affirmation isn't lost on him, and he finds himself switching from speaking in English to Japanese. Itachi might not even notice a difference with the translation function, but on Kazuma's end, it's comforting.]
So why dango? It isn't as though there are flowers to eat it under. [Not real ones, anyway.]
no subject
I happen to enjoy it.
๏ผ look, he's got a sweet tooth. ๏ผ
If it's flowers you're concerned with, there is a simulation program that is set in an area I understand to be Japan in the springtime. Kyoto, I believe.
๏ผ 'i understand to be japan'. it's strange to have a kinship with a place he isn't from and has never seen — it's only by being here that other people have denoted his language as being japanese. but the food, the clothing, the culture he has learned of are all achingly familiar, and he has decided that the word used to describe it matters considerably less than his own feelings towards anything that resembles his home. ๏ผ
no subject
You "understand" to be Japan? Are you not from there yourself?
[He's aware not everybody on the station is from Earth, of course, but these are far too specific commonalities they share. Kazuma would have assumed Itachi had been born there.]
no subject
( the way he says it is respectful — but there is a deeper, older affection there than that alone. )
It seems to share both a language and culture with the Japan of Earth, but it is not wholly similar.