Posted by Civilian Char’les Harv (Officer’s Mess Chef) in A Day With Koro

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in A Day With Koro

(snip)

Harv gave her a look of cautious approval and the three of them began to wash dishes, Koro in the middle and Harv and Mal’athar on either side. It took some time to get things done to Harv’s standards, but the process was not unenjoyable. In fact at one point, Koro dropped a bowl and it splashed Harv with soapy water right in the face. Harv was silent a moment, slowly wiped the suds from his mouth and nose, and he looked at Koro. “You know… it’s not the adult thing to do to try and get revenge on a child.” In a flash of movement he grabbed the spray nozzle and shot Mal’athar square in the face. “So I have to get the one who is their guardian.” and he chuckled.

Harv

It wasn’t for Koro’s benefit, but the way Shedda approached life. It was how she was raised on Delotha, and that carried over into her work, her command style, what few friendships she had, and her interactions with others. Well, except Harv. The man seemed to push irritate her last nerve with an uncanny amount of magical accuracy.

Shedda was attempting to hand Harv a dry dish cloth and not even smirk at the drenched taciturn man. If it had been an hour ago she would have worried he would be mean to Koro for the accident. Now she had no such worry. She was unprepared for the sudden attack. Shedda had not expected Harv to be… playful in the kitchen. She dodged out of the spray and was quiet for a long second as she stared at him trying to reconcile this new fascit of his personality. And only slightly less contemplating how she was going to make it back to her quarters without winning a wet t-shirt contest.

Her eyes narrowed, but there was a slight smirk to the corner of her mouth. The large sopping wet, soapy sponge suddenly squelched against his features. The impact squeezed water and soap all over his face and dropped down to his jacket. “Additionally, the people making the food should be just as clean as the dishes. I had to help Harv get clean after working in dirty dish water.” Then she winked at Koro with a small grin.

Cmdr. Mal’athar, XO

Koro giggled and tried to stifle it with his wet hands. But he couldn’t contain it and soon was laughing openly. Being in the middle meant that Koro was under the path of attack and so he too got a little wet. “We’re all wet!” he said, giggling some more.

~Koro

Shedda shared a look with Harv as Koro giggled. It was a wonderful change from the worried little boy of earlier. She ruffled Koro’s hair. “That’s alright it’s just water, it dries.”

Cmdr. Mal’athar, XO

“Just water indeed, little one.” Harv said. “And everything dries… eventually.” he added. He then turned and went back to washing, showing Koro various small tricks to getting things really clean. Once they had finished and everything was put away, he said “Okay, let’s check the bread.” and he led Koro over to the covered bowl of dough. Lifting off the cloth, the dough had risen substantially. Harv looked at it and nodded. “It looks pretty good… you ready to put it in the oven?” he asked Koro.

Chef Harv

He nodded as he gazed at the mound of puffy dough, but looked up at Harv, a look of consternation sweeping across his face. “I think it’s too heavy for me.”

~Koro

Shedda stepped back out of the way and ket them continue with their magic. The smell of the dough, well at least the part that was common to most breads, reminded her of home and being a kid. She was sure Koro would remember this for a long time.

Cmdr. Mal’athar, XO

Harv smiled down at Koro. “Ah, but size isn’t necessarily a testament to how heavy something is. I mean… think about your pillow on your bed. It’s kind of big, right? But it’s not heavy. Because it’s filled with something that is pretty light. Same here. Most of what is inside this is air, and air doesn’t weigh anything.” He tossed a genrous amount of flour on the table and then gently tipped the bowl of dough over and onto the table. “Now, gently knead the dough like we did earlier. But gently, okay? And I bet you will notice a big difference from then to now.”

Harv, Chef

Koro chewed on her lower lip and reached over the large mass of dough. Grabbing it with both hands and pulling it over, he struggled a bit but only because he was three and had a short body and short arms. He pushed the spongy mess in at the other side and grinned. “Like that? and it’s so soft!”

~Koro