From Russia With Love

[lilbrownspyder]

Recluse -- Stephanie, now -- frowned at the tablet as she glanced at the two pots she had on the stove. No one here made even the drinks she remembered from Russia. Sbiten seemed fairly easy. The recipe for kvass she found seemed long rather than difficult. She filled two post with water and turned the stove on. It all seemed to go well until she went to toast the bread for the kvass a second time. Smoke filled the kitchen, setting off the smoke alarm. She cursed in Russian, shoving a towel under the spigot.

Comments

[seismic_shockwave]

"I don't really care about that. I care about people coming into this kitchen without permission or supervision after hours. You want to sneak around, that's not my business, really. I'm not a teacher or administrator. But this is my workplace." It was a bit more than that to Kayla. Her entire life revolved around the Institute, the X-Men, being part of the staff here. She had a very personal attachment to the kitchen. A lot of her happiest and worst memories were here.

Suddenly a horrible crawling feeling came over her, a rising awful panic. It didn't happen often, but something about the space being intruded on like this triggered something deep inside her. She could hear the knives shattering. She went visibly pale.


Kayla suddenly had to look away, close her eyes. And brace herself against something, because suddenly her legs didn't feel a hundred percent steady.

"You know what ... just let me do it. I know where stuff goes."

[lilbrownspyder]

Stephanie frowned. Kayla suddenly stopped making sense. She hated that. She hated not understanding things. "I thought you wanted me to fix it."

She looked around, trying to figure out what made the older girl so unsteady all of a sudden. Nothing looked like it should do that.

"You can have some of the sbiten if you want."

[seismic_shockwave]

Kayla took a deep breath, trying to get it together as best she could. The sound of shattering and filed-down blades screamed in her head. I want to feel something. It was right where Stephanie was. They broke like glass when she tried to jam them into her hand. Why can't I feel anything?. Kayla didn't know precisely why she was remembering all this now, of all times.

"Yeah, you should." She took a deep breath. Nope, there weren't tears pricking at her eyes. "Make sure you do a good job of cleaning up. You should to that." She took another deep breath and exhaled. Kayla could feel herself start to come down a bit. She'd probably have to have a longer cry later. But for now, she was functional, more or less.

[lilbrownspyder]

Stephanie nodded, still uncertain what caused the sudden changes in Kayla's reactions. As far as she could tell, nothing happened that wasn't at least somewhat normal for the school. She wasn't sure if or how she should ask about it, either.

"Yeah. Sure. But if it's not burnt, I'm not throwing it away."

[seismic_shockwave]

Kayla wasn't terribly inclined to explain it to someone she didn't know well. Stephanie wasn't really a friend of hers, not like Brianna, Rose, Chief or Snow Devil.

"Might as well not waste it, I guess." Kayla took a deep breath. The moment was passing. She walked over to the jar where she kept the cookies that hadn't quite turned out visually and bit into one, a sugar cookie that turned out a little flat, a little chewier than normal- but still, buttery and delicious.

"So while you're here, what were you making?" Kayla could talk food. Food worked.