[center][img]https://i.gyazo.com/f4489a83c66878c4ea30106fe466b964.png[/img]
[h3][color=ed1c24]Jonas Highwind[/color][/h3]
[@Krayzikk][@Plank Sinatra][@Write][/center]

[color=ed1c24]"Well, you're smelling the bacon more than the eggs, probably."[/color] he corrected mildly, a light smirk gracing his strong features. [color=ed1c24]"I'd be worried if it was the other way around, to be honest with you. If you wanna help, these are nearly done— grab me a plate and paper towel like I had for those."[/color]

He indicated the strips, now resting atop their muffins on a single large plate, with the slotted spoon he wielded. As his faithful disciple did so, dutifully and quickly, he too the time to skim off the excess ribbons of egg white that hadn't coaleasced around their requisite yolks, tossing them into the sink. Any second now, the poached eggs would float to the top— there it was. That meant done.

He killed the heat, and as he transferred each shining orb of milky white onto the plate, he considered what she said.

[color=ed1c24]"It's..."[/color] he frowned, choosing his next words deliberately. [color=ed1c24]"It's like that a lot. I don't know how many fights you've gotten into in school, but this isn't any different from those."[/color]

A pinch of salt fell like snow upon each egg, seasoning them just enough to wake up the flavor innate to the egg white— he didn't need much when there was a bevy of sodium from the bacon it would rest upon in the first place. The interplay between each ingredient was what made dishes like these a skill to truly master as opposed to simple sets of directions to follow. Ideally, each element would service the others in some way to create a complete flavor profile, and part of that was minding not to overdo a certain aspect. In cooking, erring on the side of caution was smart, especially with something like salt— simply put, you could underseason and add salt as necessary, but if you had too much salt once everything was put together, you weren't getting it out easily.

[color=ed1c24]"There's no nuance in these things— The people running the show don't want to do the legwork of determining the right and wrong of it. 'It doesn't matter who started, since you were both in the fight you both get suspended'. It's stuff like that."[/color]

Gingerly, he lifted the first poached egg off of the plate and onto the bread-and-pork base with a spoon. Golden-brown toasting on the baked base, followed by a cross of each halved strip of crimson bacon, savory and salty and smoky as you liked, and then centered upon that the pristine and perfectly round, white eggs, topped all with that pale yellow Hollandaise, rich and luxuriously smooth with the perfect hint of brightness to avoid being overbearing...

[color=ed1c24][i]Oh, hell yeah. Dusting of Paprika on that and I'm golden.[/i][/color]

He was much more satisfied with how his plating was shaping up than his school year— if you ate with your eyes, only one of those would prove a feast.

[color=ed1c24]"As cynical as it is to say, I'm used to it after a fashion... But it doesn't mean either of us— doesn't mean [i]any[/i] of us have to like it. I don't think I ever will. Not when I know I wasn't wrong."[/color]

He turned to the diminutive daughter of the seas, favoring her with a smile that, while warm as usual, didn't manage to kick every other emotion he held out of his eyes. Discontent, disquiet, disgust, disdain, disillusion— a swirl of it managed to leak through his normal stony exterior. For such serious matters, he liked to stay cold, calculated, to not give anything away. It was the most he'd let slip since they'd returned from their homes. Maybe since they'd met.

[color=ed1c24]"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Rhea. It wasn't your shouting match to get into in the first place."[/color]

He continued his sequence with the other eggs, placing them upon their awaiting bases exactly as he had the first.

[color=ed1c24]"I'd be a dogshit teacher if I expected you to fight my battles for me, y'know?"

[i]Just like I would be if I made you follow me out.[/i][/color]

From the hall, he heard the door across his opening and a pair of footsteps making the extremely short jaunt into the kitchen, and with a single, exorcising breath, shook off his many misgivings for now. Time to play host, the gracious and masterful chef [i]par excellence[/i] whose only mood was to serve up something to take the edge off of them all.

[color=ed1c24]"Yo,"[/color] he said in greeting, meeting Rebekah's earnest smile with a grin that edged on cocksure. [color=ed1c24]"No coffee, didn't bring a machine and if Dal did, he didn't unpack it. Sorry. But forget that, what I've got [i]here[/i],"[/color]

He took the bowl of Hollandaise and dunked his spoon within the velvety yellow suspension, shaking free any sauce that hung too precariously to safely make the transition, and laid it atop his first poached egg in a single, smooth deposition, blanketing the stack of breakfast staples beneath.

[color=ed1c24]"is [i]Eggs Benedict[/i]. We kicked all kinds of ass last night— I say we treat ourselves. To hell with keeping quiet, it's worth celebrating. So, I'm gonna throw my weight around as a chef a little and go all-out."[/color]

The same motion, smooth and precise and positively mouthwatering, draped similar coats of Hollandaise onto the remaining towers of savory excess. Producing a shaker full of crimson powder from wherever he had placed it off camera, he tapped it in steady rhythm as flecks of smoky Paprika graced the yellowed surfaces below.

[color=ed1c24][i]"Kansei."[/i][/color]

[url=https://live.staticflickr.com/7105/7237535962_0ae3b02942_b.jpg]Finished.[/url] 

His sister was here, he may as well put on a show in her language as well as his own. Lifting the platter, he set it down at the center of the table that was previously spartan and untouched, and stepped back to face the trio of demigoddesses with a full courtly bow.

He couldn't deny that theatrics were fun, every now and again.

Ham [i]was[/i] good for a meal, after all.

[color=ed1c24]"Enjoy. You've earned it." [/color]