2602/Kitchen Nightmare

Kitchen Nightmare
Date of Scene:	09 June 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Koji is innocently working on compiling dishes for the wedding feast when the groom and the groom's daughter come in and ask for a tasting and for some for Usagi and New Moon. We'll note that Hanzo is not with him. >:D
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Chibiusa Tsukino, Koji Silvia
Tinyplot:	BMC: Wicked Ride
Tinyplot2:	Black Moon Clan

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Probably," Wicked Dad says to Wicked Daughter In Charge, "we shouldn't teleport in, because hot oil would hurt."

That was three minutes ago. They have been wandering chilly hallways following signs and numbers for three minutes. Mamoru is getting grumpy and let's be real a little nervous--

HE KNOCKS lightly ON THE DOOR oh thank god.

Mamoru's in his black yukata with mauve roses, his tips are dyed bubblegum pink, his glasses are smudged, but his mildly crooked eyeliner black moon isn't.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "Of course, of course! Very good of you to think ahead, Mamochan~!" Wicked Lady is not terribly concerned about getting hurt by anything like hot oil, but does she really want to potentially burn the people who are making food for her parents' wedding? It's foolish to harm those who are essentially doing you a service. Save that for the disobedient.

    She walks on foot the whole way, despite knowing full well that she can float, because sometimes understating one's presence can be a gloat in of itself.

    She is here in henshin, following after Mamoru. She plants the point of her parasol into the ground and watches with an expectant, confident smile.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Coincidence being what it is, Koji was working with the fryer, on some vegan tempura batter that is refusing to behave and is being dumped from basket to bin as he goes back to tablet to scroll through recipies, only to be interrupted as his fondant-heart potatoes are ready to come out, and be set to the side to cool, with a beetroot powder to one side so he can test how to make them pink hearts for the wedding.

The knock is an interruption, but one he can afford at the moment, and lacking Hanzo either let him know who's here or who's been coming and going, his tired brain doesn't do any calculations on why there's knocking on this door on a Sunday night.

    "Hold up a sec..."

The door is opened and Koji is dressed in a sleeveless shirt, thin but muscular arms on display, his hair bound up and back under a bandana and some steam on his glasses.

He gulps, looks you both up and down, and perhaps the smell of fried batter, butter and potatoes, and some vinegar sauces are enough to hide the smell of fear...

"Can I... h-help you?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She plants her parasol and Mamoru squeezes her around the shoulders.

Then Koji opens the door, poor poor Koji, and Mamoru says cheerfully, "Hi Koji-kun! We'd like to sample wedding food! And bring some samples back for Usako too, is that okay? Don't be worried, Wicked Lady's not going to hurt the man who's making the feast for her most special day."

Mamoru doesn't look afraid, and his black moon is crooked, but it's also less crooked than it could be. It looks almost fine on first glance. "Really sorry for dropping in without notice, but things tend to happen very quickly, you know?"

He looks almost fine on first glance. Just tired.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Wicked Lady is the very picture of polite patience, though there's a hint of threat in her eyes. She expects to have her way today, and she expects there to be no issues. Mamoru is right. She's not going to hurt Koji. Today.

    When her shoulders are squeezed, she leans against Mamoru for a moment, because no one is too evil for brief cuddles.

    "A few samples," she clarifies. "Just so we can give meaningful feedback, and of course... we will want the bride's opinion as well."

    She walks through the door past Koji in a way that would almost be rude if she wasn't In Charge. (And it's probably best not to tell her that she isn't). Then she looks around the kitchen and says, "Ah, is it this way?"

Koji Silvia has posed:
It's a look that Mamoru will recognize immediately, one of those 'line in the sand' expressions behind the half-reflections of Koji's glasses...

However, instead, he goes over and drags the small break table that was shoved into a corner into the most open space there is... just by the door where there's a shelf of dry ingredients sitting... and next to that a prep table that has recipie after recipie taped to the wall, some connected with strings, some Xed how hard, some with circles and notes and other things on them. Some pages even turned around and whole new things written on them. It's chaos, but it's an ordered sort.

    "This is a kitchen, not a dining room. I am not here to be dramatic or pander. I'm here to make food. For the wedding of two of my best friends. If you respect that, then I'll respect your presence."

The chair EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKs as it's pulled out for the girl villain, and he goes back to his work.

    "Nine dishes will be prepared, but right now we only have four and a half down. I was just working on five when you showed up. The theme will be small foods. One or two bites, so you can pick things up and walk around... not feeling like you need to sit and eat."

Going to the fridge, he comes back with a half-dozen rabbit-shaped onigiri, each with different styles of decoration done in seaweed to BE rabbits, but they all have pickled ginger flower petals on them, "These are Usagigiri... the filling is a traditional wedding sea bream lightly spiced and then flaked and mixed with mayo. We haven't decided which pattern is best yet."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Koji-kun," Mamoru says, a tone in his voice that whispers that there might be a warning somewhere in the neighborhood, "of course our Lady knows this isn't a dining room! I ha--"

(EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK)

The prince flinches, full body, at the sound, then exhales. "Of course I respect that, just like you respect Wicked Lady, her power and grandeur, how clever and brilliant she is."

He hurries on, "Nine dishes! You have four and a half? Do you need mo-- oh my god I forgot to ask Usako, should I text her right now and ask what her four faves are? Oh-- oh my god those are adorable!" And Mamoru steps out of Wicked Lady's way so she gets first choice of bunny onigiri.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    As the chair makes that godawful, Wicked Lady shows no sign that it bothers her. Not even the slightest twitch. Just maybe a small amount of tenseness at the corner of her lips that you'd have to be Literally Her Dad in order to notice.

    "Very good!" she says, cheerfully, as the parasol poofs into Luna-P, which floats behind her. Of all the things attached to Chibiusa, that catball is the one thing that has never changed.

    ... or has it? Does its expression look a little scared now? No, surely that's your imagination.

    She walks over to the Usagigiri, taps her lips for a moment with her long nail as she considers, and then takes her favorite looking one and consumes it. Quietly, she chews, her expression unreadable. "Excellent," she says. "Delicious. What do you think of it, Mamochan?"

    Finally she sits down in the offered chair, because she sits when she decides to, of course.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Still working with the cold stuff that's already prepared and stashed in the kitchen's HUGE Fridge... It's got it's own legs and two doors, and inside like four people could hide if you took the shelves out, at LEAST... Koji brings out and quickly assembles the next dish.

    "Salad in a cup. A quick little grab and go you can just pick up, squeeze together with your fingers and take a bite from."

It is a layered presentation of daikon strings, pickled pink ginger, spring onion, and sweet corn, with some toasted sesame seeds and a sesame-vinegar dressing on top. Again, each one looks like it could be consumed with one or two bites, so someone who wants to eat light could easily just take 2-3 of them.

Going back, he takes out some cheap ingredient storage boxes, and puts two Usagigiri and two Salad Cups in them for the other person to taste test.

    "We... myself and my partner in this... have three standing rules in the dishes." Explaining to Wicked Lady, "No Mushrooms. No Carrots. And try and make things cute if we can."

He's not saying WHY that third rule exists, but he looks over at Mamoru in his Wicked Dad attire and waves him off, "We have this in hand. If she has notes, she can give them to you and you can leave them with me."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru moves the chair without skreeking it, just the whole sort of move the chair in for the grown up lady, thing. And then he stands at her side like an attendant, almost-- just more affectionate than an actual one. When invited to, he takes one of the bunnygiri and takes a bite, and oh just for a moment-- Koji can see it-- he's so pleased. It's the 'oh there is a good taste in my mouth' relaxation.

"That's wonderful," he agrees with Wicked Lady, expression brighter than before. "Eeeee, Kojikun this is gonna be incredible. You're such a miracle worker, and boy do we need that right now."

He is NOT suggesting tiny quiche, that's like the only tiny real food he can think of off the top of his head and there's too much egg and not enough cheese in basically all quiche. "Oh they are so cute! Those are three extremely excellent rules. And I'll do that."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Wicked Lady smirks at Mamoru acting the part of attendant. It's so sweet of him. And wise.

    "I find your rules acceptable," she says in that way, because dark energy prevents her from giving out too much praise at once.

    She does, however, take a bite of the salad-in-a-cup, and munches it for a moment while considering the mix of flavors.

    Luna-P hovers over her shoulder, curiously. Is it... larger somehow? Maybe. Hard to tell.

    After swallowing, Wicked Lady says, "Acceptable."

    She's not participating much in the small talk, though she's certainly enjoying the respect and deference she's being shown. Her smile is only a little bit unnerving.

Koji Silvia has posed:
    "These are not decorated yet, but they'll be on the menu too. We figure some people will want to take pictures of the food, and so we wanted things that we could present. I'm sure you would love to show off eating all of these for-."

Koji pauses, and then just goes back to bring over some of the heart-shaped fondant potatoes, having done them with just salt pepper, and butter, "...the world, I believe? The final ones may be slightly different flavor-wise... and they'll be as pink as we can get them..."

Mamo gets two and so does the Lady, and they look almost like seared scallops, but cut like hearts.

Leaving those to be tried, he turns on the grill-top and puts on a steak, seasons it, and then gets out some ground chicken that is turned into meatballs and put on as well, "I'll have to be a few minutes to prepare the last two we've got ready."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Lady's smile is only a little bit unnerving, like the catball is only a little bit evil, and Mamoru is only a little bit tall.

Mamoru leans against the side of Wicked Lady's chair lightly, tasting a salad cup, nomfing it after tasting it... he likes his lack of mind control and his lack of dark energy; of course he's trying to be wise about the extremely unwise thing he is doing. Depending on your definition of 'wise', anyway.

"Oh wow," he says and his eyes sparkle. "Do you like the way they look too, Wicked Lady? I bet Usako will love them. And pink! It'll be amazing. Wait, show off eating all of these for the world? We'll be on the moon though...?"

"Oh sorry, don't let me distract you from beef, my gods."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "Oh, perhaps we'll show them to the world. Depends on when the takeover begins," says Wicked Lady, with a smile that says she's joking... right? She's joking when she says that, right?

    

    She takes a moment to admire the heart-shaped potatoes with a smile. One hand is placed on her cheek, and her smile gets all too wide, and there's a dark sparkle in her eyes.

    "Oh I do love how they look, yes. Very lovely. I look forward to eating my share of hearts on the wedding."

    Luna-P turns to look at its Lady. It knows she's doing that on purpose.

    As she starts to hear and smell the cooking of beef, she turns her red eyes towards Koji, taking her sweet time eating what is honestly a bite-sized treat. Tiny bites. Tiny tiny bites.

Koji Silvia has posed:
It's like every movement the tiny-tanic evil makes in the room is amplified, but Koji works to distract himself from the fact that the only thing really keeping himself is the mood she's in.

So while the meat cooks, he goes into the fridge and comes back out with some drinks. Those are poured into paper condiment cups like sample shots, and go on a plate for the duo, "These are some of the drinks we're trying out for the wedding. Non-alcoholic since there m-might be other children there... but I am working on a bottle of the real thing if the couple demands it."

One is a japanese plum-flavored sparkling juice, one is a sparkling apple, and the other is a pink-blush sparkling grape.

True to his word, the last two dishes are up quickly, including packaged versions to go.

    "Last things we have right now. Two-bite Sliders. A steak medallion, toasted mini-brioche buns, grilled onion strings, and a little ketchup and mayo fry-sauce. These..."

The last ones come on little foam stands, "Are Fake Pops. A chicken meatball on a skewer covered in a butter-chicken style sauce that's been dyed using beetroot powder so it looks like pink icing."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She's getting dark-energy-y, she's scaring the shit out of Koji, she looks a little crazier than she did a minute ago and Mamoru's wildly desperately wondering if it's something she ate--

The prince leans down to hug!! Hug dottir, with the side of his face against her head, and it's a cuddly vibe check. Vibe check! Skin to skin, he wants to know where she is right now; if she wants to leave he can teleport them fancily--

And he looks up and smiles apologetically and gratefully, so gratefully, at Koji. And he silently eats delicious potato and very clearly loves them-- and he drinks the sparkling plum first, and god damn poor Koji, and then he very nearly leaps at the sliders before stopping himself to bring the choice of plate over to Wicked Lady first. "Only the best for my baby girl," he tells her, smiling.

And then Koji brings out the Fake Pops, and Mamoru claps a hand over his mouth and the somewhat wild giggle escapes with a pffft of air. "Brilliant. BRILLIANT."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    When Mamoru initiates skin to skin contact, he gets several messages at once.

-Cuddles! good move. Never don't cuddle your loving, adoring daughter.

-Oh I'm just teasing him a bit. What good is power if I can't trip on it?

-SOON THE DARKNESS WILL RISE AND DEVOUR ALL... of this delicious food. The food is actually great but if I praise him too much he might get lax or something.

-I mean, we should teleport eventually. My dear mother is waiting for these, you know.

    And that's about all the emotional honesty he's going to get out of his darkness infused daughter. She pops a slider into her mouth when offered, and chases it with apple juice. Then she takes a Fake Pop, examines it for a moment, comments in a deadpan tone, "Amusing," before consuming.

    After taking the time to savor and ponder the flavors, acting for a moment the way that a connoisseur would consider a bit of wine she has just tasted, she says, "Well, we'll need the bride's opinion of course, but I think you're on the right track. Don't you agree, Mamochan?" That last line is said all too sweetly.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Getting the bottles of the juices that were tried so that they can be taken with, the young man even brings up a cooler that he graciously packs everything into for the currently hugging pair.

"I... th-thank you. I... well... I wasn't expecting any compliments. It's all still being polished..."

Yes, she said nice things to the guy who can jujitsu his way out of most compliments, and it is so evil that he's forced to be accepting... OR ELSE.

    "Also thank you for knocking before coming in. When the next set is ready, I will... let him know for you. And you don't need to trouble yourself with stopping by. I can pack the samples so you can enjoy them in comfort."

*Gulp*

    "Now if you'll both forgive me I need to do all the cleaning and close up for the night. I have school in the morning."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's not a concern, Mamoru will never not cuddle his loving, adoring daughter. It is probably a concern that Mamoru relaxes after the skin contact, but it could also be... relieving? Maybe he's reacting like this because of mind control or something, but also maybe it's honestly just that she's out of her mind but not currently violently so.

The bubblegum-tipped-hair prince takes a chicken Fake Pop after Wicked Lady picks hers again, and he clearly relishes it. He gives Koji a thumbs-up with his hand over his heart and his mouth still full...

...and then he swallows quickly when Wicked Lady asks him if he agrees.

He doesn't seem bothered by her calling him Mamochan. He doesn't seem worried about that too-sweet tone in her voice.

"Of course I agree, Wicked Lady, your taste is impeccable," he says mildly, affectionately. "I'll definitely forward Usagi's notes on the tasting," he adds, turning to Koji again and oh, when Wicked Lady can't see him, his smile's a little fixed, isn't it?

Mamoru takes the cooler from Koji with a little bow and a quiet arigato gozaimasu, then backs up again and hands Wicked Lady up from the chair. "I'll come pick up the packed up samples so we can nomf in Wicked Lady's den of evil coolness," he agrees, "unless you want to avoid me entirely, in which case you can drop them off with Kazuo and I'll pick them up from him."

He gives Koji a helpless little smile. "Yes, we'll get out of your kitchen. Thank you again, Koji-kun."

With that, he turns with Wicked Lady and henshins into his prince form as he walks, and the two of them walk into the air with her twintails and his cape disappearing last.