<Nocturnal Harmonia>

[Bloodedge]

In the moments of parting, Donnie received an additional request from his mother. She wanted him to bring Nikki by again for carne guisada. "No doubt! See y'all!" he said whilst passing through the front door. The last thing Donnie and Nikki could see was Jordan, scrambling through the house on the run, though not at all looking as if he was having a bad time. Whether he survived the encounter with his wife or not was anyone's guess. Donnie was simply glad he'd managed to escape when he did.

By the time they reached Donnie's estate, Nikki decided to comment her thoughts on his family. Apparently, she enjoyed them quite a bit ─ and definitely wanted to try his mother's cooking. "Yeah man, coolest parents I know! Real supportive too. But Ma's cookin'? If it's somethin' Spanish, you need that! Carne guisada is a meat stew type thing. But first you and everybody else gotta holla at this chopped cheese! Boy boutta COOK!" Donnie exclaimed. Once inside, he'd be heading straight for the kitchen. There was a flat top grill of restaurant quality, including a smaller segment to its left just for bread. Donnie would start by firing all burners before moving on to the fridge for meat, peppers and the like. "Yo yo! Any of y'all got allergies or anything?"

[Apollymi]

Donnie responded to his mother's request for another visit from Nikki, next time when she was cooking. Nikki was on loud nine when that happened… having made a good impression on Donnie's parents further cemented her happiness in life. 'I bloody killed it!~' she thought about that kind of moment. Of course, she was also making some gentle plans for both of his parents, if only because they were obviously quite important to Donnie himself. And if other people's love language could be called food or cooking, Nikki's own form of love was design and composition. Ah but she'd deal with that later. For now she allowed herself to happily listen to a man gush about his parents, it was good to see. A lot of younger people took their parents for granted and that wasn't a luxury Nikki herself wasn't allowed. "Great to hear mate, I love that… and I'll definitely be there. I wouldn't turn down a good home-cooked meal. Like I'm not much of a cook meself but I am always interested in comfort food," Nikki claimed. Well, it was more accurate to say she was always interested in comfort, but… that mattered very little.

Eventually they'd make their way back to the house, and everyone was gathering around in the kitchen to watch what was essentially about to be a cooking show. Nikki had pulled up a seat front and center and was watching with sparkling eyes. Iris, was sitting with her laptop at a nearby breakfast nook with Melty and Ronnie was even wandering in to sit on an unused countertop like the cat she was. "No allergies from us, mate," Nikki said speaking for herself, and Ronnie. "I've no particulars like that," Melty echoed. A head shake came from Iris without words and nothing else needed to be said. Whatever the males decided the women weren't going to be picky while someone else was cooking. Kim didn't bother answering as she'd been cooked for numerous times already.

[Bloodedge]

Nikki claimed she wasn't much of a cook after stating her appreciation of a homecooked meal. The first thought in Donnie's mind was that she didn't have to tell him that. "I know you ain't a cook. I seen the way y'all eat over there. No flavor anywhere out there," he said with reasonable certainty. With that, Donnie was moving on to food prep. He took out a few pounds of meat, some onions, green and red peppers. Once a knife was acquired, he only needed to know about any allergens to be aware of. The ladies in this group didn't have any issues, as reported by Nikki and Melty.

The men, however, came with the strangest hang-up. Hop shook his head. "I've never experienced any issues," Auric claimed. "If I do, it probably won't kill me. Go ahead with the plan, boss," said Crow. And then... there was Leon. There wasn't a single allergy known to him, but he was quite the problematic individual in one regard. "I don't think I'm allergic, but are you puttin' that veg in? Can I get mine without?" he asked. Donnie was in the middle of chopping the first onion by the time Leon spoke. He followed the grain halfway down with careful-yet-experienced slices, stopping just to look up at the other man. "Nigga you can get the fuck out my kitchen if you gon' eat like you ain't got no home-trainin'," he said flatly before a single ounce of extra thought was applied. Once he caught up to himself, Donnie went back to cutting. "Damn, my bad. I ain't mean it like that... but still, hell nah. You gon' eat this the way God and Harlem intended. You want it different, make your own," Donnie stated, completing the first onion and moving through to the next.

[Apollymi]

Nikki knew she wasn't a cook, but Donnie had quite a lot to say about British food in general. Kim scoffed and put her hands up. "Let 'em live," the brown skinned woman uttered. Nikki chuckled and so did Iris. "Fish and chips is always pretty good," Iris mentioned without looking up. The lack of seasoning in those cases weren't the same but she'd let the man cook his food. All the while no one seemed to have any cares or worries about the nature of the food and their allergies. That was of course until, Leon decided to ask for a sandwich with no veggies in it. The response of Donnie initially was about what Ronnie and Kim would have expected.

"Come on Big Dawg, gotta eat the seasoning veg, food bland without it…" Kim pointed out. Ronnie on the other hand had something very different to say, while chuckling about the outburst initially, "I don't know, maybe keep the force… eating the veg, might finish off his brain development… soften the rocks~" Ronnie claimed with a casual shrug. Riley who'd been mostly quiet remembered making a similar kind of suggestion initially only to learn after the fact that it wasn't as bad as she thought, "Gotta try the new things… Dak makes the best food, let him work~" Riley claimed without even thinking about it too bad. Nikki for her part in this had been chuckling a bit only to shake her head. "This is why he isn't allowed in the kitchen. Never told him what was going in the gravy either," she asserted without much thought. She watched as vegetables began being chopped.

[Bloodedge]

According to Iris, the 'fish and chips' Nikki prepared were pretty good. Whether he believed that or not couldn't be determined just yet. "Hell nah, you gon' have to prove that. I'm not takin' anybody's word on food out y'all's kitchens. Put it on the plate~" he suggested. Moving on to Leon's annoying request, Donnie had no intention of sparing the vegetables for any human in the building, unless they had some medical issues. Even others were encouraging him to eat the sandwich as it came ─ including Riley, who'd once been in a similar position. "Well... alright. Just not a fan, is all," Leon said first. Only after speaking did he realize what was said by Ronnie. "Oy, watch it!" he barked. Shortly afterwards, he was left wondering about some gravy. "Wait what's in the gravy?"

Just then, Donnie chimed in. He was done with the onions and onto slicing edges off peppers. "Yo, you talkin' about that onion gravy? I had that with some sausage and potatoes the other day. One of the only things I thought was pretty good over there," he chattered. Leon was quite shocked by that reveal. He'd never seen onions on that dish. "Bangers & Mash? There's onions in?" Leon wondered, even scratching his head and wondering where the onions were. "Bruh, how you not see..." Donnie stopped mid-thought, staring right at Nikki. "Ooohhh, you foul forreal!" he said, laughing.

[Apollymi]

The cooking ability to the British was under fire. Donnie wasn't even taking the opinions of the kids for a pass at reasonable food. "Alright, mate. On the plate then… confident about that one~" Nikki said about the fish and chips. It was pretty easy to make something simple as that particular dish mostly boiled down to the basic cooking technique and the availability of a nice beer for the batter. "That's some pretty high praise from Iris, but if it gets me homemade chips, yeah, put it on the plate~" Ronnie chimed in. She'd never say no to a meal cooked at home even if Nikki had a very limited list, she was doing much better than her older sister ever would. "If you cooking something like that, I'm tryin' to have some. Never understood the big deal about fish and chips, mostly 'cause, well my family live in the south, fish frys happen all the time," Kim said seemingly interested as she always was, even after hearing Donnie down talk British food. What was more, Leon was practically bullied into eating his food as created, claiming he didn't like peppers and onions, but surely he couldn't know how often such things were used. For instance his ask of gravy would get a very casual answer from Nikki, "Flour, beef broth, butter…" all said with the British accent she spoke with so casually. She avoided listening the main ingredient. AS for Ronnie and her sideways comment to Leon and his response she held up her hands as if to excuse herself but it was obviously a placating gesture.

Donnie however wouldn't be skipping over it. In naming the dish he'd tasted and enjoyed he pointed out the main ingredient of the gravy. While he chopped vegetables, he spoke on the classic bangers and mash, and Leon remained confused. While Donnie came to understand the kind of quiet decisions, Nikki made when cooking. He called her devious and she looked at him with wide eyes. "Ah, Big Mama okiedoke…" Kim said chuckling about it. Nikki held her hands up. "Come on mate, not that serious. And in my defense, I barely managed to get around to cooking very often, so when I do, we gotta make sure it gets eaten~ I do miss the texture change though. And if you like the bangers and mash, then you'd probably be fine with a couple of the others, can't go wrong with a Shepherd's Pie either," Nikki mentioned almost amused by the idea of Leon not understanding that the base of his gravy was onions. Riley listened and understood what happened, but hiding vegetables in food was a pretty classic move so she wasn't even upset about it, most adults grow out of that sort of texture issue when they find out its all in their heads.

[Bloodedge]

Just as everyone was onboard with chopped cheese, it seemed all were in for the fish and chips Nikki claimed a high capacity for making. Even Prince Auric had an interest. "Could I try it? I've always wanted to try some normal food. Only the staff ever has something like fish and chips," he said with all necessary complaints about royal life out of the way. Beyond that, it seemed Donnie was done with vegetable prep. He moved toward the sink for a quick hand-washing, but didn't bother drying right after the rinse. Instead, he splashed residual water right onto the grill, and watched as it beaded and rolled along the surface. In the meantime, he heard Kim mention the 'big mama okiedoke' maneuver he knew of well. "Ain't it? Grown man by the way!" he joked at Leon's expense.

Leon had only just learned the ingredients of a normal gravy. What Nikki listed didn't involve onions at all, but other implications did. Either way, Leon was stuck on the given list. "There's no meat in? I thought it were like... blended beef or sommat," he said sheepishly. At the same time, Donnie was raising a finger to the suggestion Nikki made. "You know what? I did try shepherd's pie one time. I didn't think I was gonna like it 'cause I didn't like cottage pie as a kid, but it was aight. Shit coulda used some seasonin' though," he jabbed once more for good measure. With that said, Donnie was counting heads for the number of rolls he'd need to spread across the prep table. "Nine, ten... Damn, I'ma need to pull out more meat. Yo Riles, you mind grabbin' my boy's bowl?"

[Apollymi]

Apparently fish and chips weren't just on the table for the regular population the young British royals, were also invested in the idea of trying 'Fish & Chips' as made by Nikki. She paused giving a glance over to the lad. "Right, suppose it's like the supermodel diet thing… comfort food and all. Yeah, mate, I don't mind," Nikki said knowing that the amount of food she was about to make was increasing by the second. "Me as well!" Melty chimed in not wanting to be left out. "Staff wrong for not slipping the kids some comfort food. Even on a big diet you could trust a girl to slide you a biscuit or something…" Ronnie said shaking her head, she figured the kids were on strict diets only while the adults were watching. Even people in the fashion industry slipped each other some cakes once in a while. As for the joke Donnie made, Kim laughed, "You ain't lyin', got an uncle like that. Eat everything, claim it's delicious… unless he see it being made, then he got a problem. Bruh be out here with psychosomatic symptoms like this not the same food he been eating for years~" Kim couldn't help but add in given she knew exactly how decisions like the ones Nikki made came to pass.

Meanwhile, Nikki was dancing around questions posed by Leon like she'd been planning for them all her life. "It does kinda taste like that or something. Strange, innit?~" Nikki said going right along with the pontification, not one to have to argue that the reason things tasted like other thing was sensory association. No need to make cooking more difficult than it needed to be. He explained that he'd not liked cottage pie as a kid but didn't mind the shepherd's pie, though thought it needed more seasoning, "Considerin' what you're making for us, I can understand why cottage pie might not have hit as a kid. Shepherd's underseasoned could be a lot of things… including your typical picky eaters or someone cutting a few corners… " Nikki decided. When she didn't want to cook it, she was lightly particular about where she'd get the shepherd's pie from. No matter, there was the count taking place the water rippling across the cooktop and… Riley being asked about the bowl for Mithos. "Yep, I got it…" she said getting up to go and get the bowl. She brought it back and stood over the sink washing, rinsing and drying the food bowl out like the dog in question wasn't already spoiled enough.

[Bloodedge]

"Very good," Auric said to express gratitude. He was quite curious about commoner experiences as a whole; that extended to the foods they ate. At the same time, Donnie and Kim were reminiscing on their own upbringing. "Yo, I was just talkin' to Ma about Uncle Rulo! Mans will still go to get Chinese takeout and get shrimp lo mein with no veg. I ain't done that since I was, like... eleven!" Donnie claimed while pulling extra meat from the fridge, after which he'd pick up and chop another onion and pepper. "Damn, I'ma need to do like thirteen of these. These some big rolls, but I ain't even gonna ask y'all to split it," he rambled during the last chopping process.

Once all of that was done, Donnie placed a rather massive lump of meat atop the grill, pressing it down into a wide sheet. The sizzle was immediate, but he'd leave that there for quite some time. Donnie returned to the sink by the time Riley was finishing the wash of Mithos's food bowl. "Good look," he said. Whenever she was out of the way, he'd wash his hands once more and dump the onions and peppers onto the other half of the flat top. Those could rest and sizzle for a minute as well, while Donnie sliced through thirteen large hoagie rolls. The next thing he did may have been a little strange. Mithos was already approaching, while Donnie had a spoon scooping out the middle of all thirteen rolls. "... Nigga you only get a little bit," Donnie decided. Two lumps of bread were all he'd throw to the dog before those partially-hollowed rolls were placed on the other grill. "Fat ass."

[Apollymi]

Auric gave to Nikki what she would begin calling in her mind his usual reaction to inclusion, which didn't seem like much, but she was also British enough to know the difference. In those same moments, Iris cast a strange glance towards that man, as if logging his questions and responses away for her own understanding of him as an individual. "I'm fairly excited about this development. If we introduce it to Mother and she likes it, she'll have no choice but to include it," Melty began plotting without any idea of what or how these things would taste, but after that slice of cake earlier she was willing to trust the taste buds of the others. Meanwhile, a conversation was taking place between Kim and Donnie this time about his uncle while he cooked. The words she shared about a man of almost fifty not eating veg in lo mein was near criminal. "Word? Rulo doing himself dirty. Veg is most of the flavoring. If he just wanted noodles, sauce and meat, he'd have been better off eating a spaghetti or something," she commented. "Well, not that it'd be a reasonable way to escape the veggies, my fam put all kinds of onions, peppers and garlic in that," Kim admitted finding the whole thing funny.

Regardless, Donnie was about to make 13 sandwiches not even thinking of asking anyone to split them and that was fine with everyone present. "Oh, right, you making them for your folks too? I meant to leave them some cake, but I forgot about it~" Nikki said finding it a good time to say it aloud so it wouldn't happen a second time. No matter… a clean bowl for Mithos was granted by Riley who placed it on the countertop so it could be filled when he was ready. "No problem… anything for the bestest boy~" she said looking at Mithos with a huge grin. She also rewashed her own hands, and given the sheer number of sandwiches that were being made, she'd be reaching into the cabinet for a roll of aluminum foil to begin the process of lining up multiple sheets. To help the process along, while Kim was standing up to take on a slightly different bit of help. "You going for like one of your usual sauces or just like a mayo ketchup?" she wondered as she began wanting to gather up some things.

[Bloodedge]

"You know what's crazy? The nigga still swear by garlic!" Donnie added once Kim mentioned the 'seasoning vegetables' often used by her family and many others. "Like he don't even know it's a vegetable or somethin'. I swear he think seasonings are just made in a lab or somethin'. Grown ass man!" he said beyond that. Two grill spatulas were brought out once Donnie had all of the rolls in place, allowing him to flip and stir the vegetables. The meat continued cooking where it was, but he wanted the onions and peppers to cook a very specific way.

In the meantime, Nikki mentioned her desire to share cake with Donnie's parents as well. There was even more of that birthday cake than Donnie imagined. "Yeah, I was gonna send it with Riles since she gotta take Mithos back or whatever," he mentioned. The vegetables wouldn't be taking very long. Once Donnie ensured they wouldn't overcook in one place, he moved left to flip the meat in chunks. At that time, Kim was asking about the sauce. "Uhhh, shit. One parts ketchup, two parts of the good mustard, four parts mayo. Throw in some of that W sauce and, like... a little bit of horseradish if it's in there. Oh, and the garlic!"

[Apollymi]

Donnie's story was full of interesting insight into the man known as 'Rulo'. Though most people present didn't know him, the way he behaved made many of the purple haired young women in the room, shift casual glances towards Leon. What was more the knowledge that said man also didn't know about garlic being a vegetable was crazy. "No way. Say it ain't so… Rulo too cool for that~" Kim complained. She'd always enjoyed the various members of Donnie's family but that was utterly ridiculous. Aloud for no one in particular, apparently as if someone had asked, Iris continued tapping along on her keyboard. "Yes, garlic is a vegetable. They crush it up and dry it out to make garlic powder. And that is how a lot of seasonings are made…" just a random little factoid escaping her lips for any who might want it, without them having to open their mouths and ask a question that might be embarrassing for an adult human to posit.

Soon enough the plans for distributing food came into play. In this particular case, Riley was apparently designated as the person to drop off sandwiches with the King family. Nikki looked towards the pink haired woman and sent a question her way. "You mind luv? I got like half a giant cake in here I still need to get rid of in a week. Slide ya' an extra slice?~" she said with a smile and Riley waved it off. "Of course, I don't mind I'm headed over there. And a girl need a post work snack and all, preesh~" Riley offered easily enough. Meanwhile, Riley was pushing an open bowl of salt towards Donnie's right hand side, having noted he'd started chopping the meat already. At the same time, a list of ingredients for a sauce came together and Kim stood with an open sauce bottle to begin pouring and squeezing amounts in. Pausing only to check dates and make sure she had everything. The horseradish was something she opened, sniffed, and recoiled from. "Lord hammercy that's strong!" she said about that particular part. But once she was satisfied she put a bit of garlic powder in and screwed the top on to the bottle. "Soft shake…" she whispered to herself as she essentially did the work of an emulsion blender on a single bottle with a shake of her hands.

[Bloodedge]

Rulo may or may not have been ignorant on the topic of garlic. Whether he was or wasn't, part of Donnie believed it to be true. "Ay, I'm not sayin' it's true... but I am sayin' that's the vibe I get!" he claimed about his uncle. For seemingly no reason at all, Iris decided to explain how garlic powder and other such seasonings were created. No one had to speak on that topic, though most people present knew exactly why she was saying it. Just then... "I knew that," Leon insisted indignantly. "Nobody said you didn't, Lee. You're informin'," Hop chimed in.

While Nikki and Riley were discussing the cake meant for Donnie's family, Donnie noted a salt bowl being slid his way in the midst of beef flipping. "Oh shit, good look!" he said, realizing he'd forgotten the most important layer of seasoning already. For the amount of food he had, Donnie grabbed an entire handful of salt and began sprinkling it all over the browned side of the beef. Whatever remained was tossed over the vegetables. Upon grabbing pepper, Donnie heard Kim's reaction to the smell of horseradish. That said all he needed to know about its goodness. "Guess it's still good," he acknowledged while pouring pepper over the meat and veg until it could be clearly seen. "Yuh! There we go!" Following that exclamation, Donnie performed a similar maneuver with the container of adobo seasoning. Once that was done, both spatulas were turned sideways to begin properly 'chopping' the meat ─ after which, mixing could begin.

[Apollymi]

Rulo may not have been as directly crazed as Donnie implied, but exaggerations were normal among family and friends. "I mean he do eat kinda bad for a grown grown person. I ain't hatin' though, everyone has a weird relationship with food~" Kim commented. Her own relationship with food could be considered bad, but… she still ate her veggies. Speaking of veggies and knowledge of them, Leon became a person who reported on himself, mostly by commenting on what Iris had to say about garlic and other such things. He claimed to know that information but as he'd not been directly addressed he could have simply let the statement hang in the air. It would have made Iris 'wrong' or her commentary 'haughty' but that was fine with Iris. "Coulda said nothing, and lived in the assumption that people thought I was being snarky," Iris pointed out. For a man who often blamed her for things he never took the easy ones. 'Ah, that's why Big Mama says, hit dogs holla,' Kim thought shaking her head. No matter, this was a big friendly group a little teasing among family and friends was perfectly normal. Though there was something oddly wholesome about Iris allowing herself to be painted as a villain for her big brother's sake.

At the same time, Riley and Kim were moving around Donnie in the kitchen. Giving subtle help and making sure the cooking process went smoothly. From foils being laid out, to salt being pushed his way… little things were being held together and fixed by the women in his life. Nikki watched that with a smile on her face. It was good to see people supporting each other, especially when they were able to cover a few obvious weaknesses. As for his thanks Riley was used to it, "Yup, you want me to take out cheese or leave it up for a bit?" she wondered not wanting to get in the way of his groove. Meanwhile, Kim was learning of the strength of horseradish and scowling, "I mean ya' coulda warned me… damn my nose tingling," she said, obviously not enjoying the sensation at all. No matter a sauce was soon mixed up and the squirt bottle she'd made it in, was soon sat on the counter as well, as she returned the other items to the fridge. "Oh, right, daydreaming, what the bloody hell is w-sauce?" Nikki asked, as that was obviously something weird.