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Something smelled really good. No-- amazingly, wonderfully, splendidly good. Her stomach gave a loud rumble, and Shee moaned and patted it. She couldn't cook at all, and as a result, she was hungry far too often. There was only one cook at LOTUS, an ancient Tibetan woman that seemed permanently bent at the hip. Wraith had insisted, for the sake of security, that they let as few non-recruits in as possible. Lhamu, however, was not here, so Shee wondered who exactly could be in the kitchens at this hour. Obviously, it was someone who knew what they were doing.

Tiptoeing around the heavy, marble-laden door that was open a crack, the sweet smell wafted past her as she peeked around the door to see who was inside, her mind almost entirely on food.

Her eyes a sliver of blue behind the door, she could see a man leaning against the counter, surveying what was apparently his handiwork-- busily active pots humming on the stovetop. The kitchens looked in disarray, but Shee's mind was firmly fixed on the lovely image of something edible materializing in front of her.

She squinted as she tried to remember the man's name. He was the other new recruit, along with Einar. What was it... giving up after a few minutes and sighing, she pushed open the door and stepped into the kitchen, making a mental note to really try to remember everyone's names for next time.

"That smells really good. What are you making?"

"Oh!" He was making a lot of food. Shee looked at the man, eyes wide with adoration. As he began to stir the contents of a pot, she tried to decide what to ask about. Failing, she replied, "I don't know! All of them! You have so much stuff going on... are you planning something special?"

"Oh, and I'm Shee. It's nice to meet you!" Her words tapered off in intensity as she noticed the gauze underneath the man's eye. Hoping he was nothing like Einar for a moment before the question came tumbling out of her mouth, she asked, "What happened to you?", pointing at the injury.

Shee frowned, putting a finger to her bottom lip and trying to think. She didn't know what pelmeni was. Or vareniki. She did like peppers and onions though. "I'm afraid I don't know what... uh... those first two things you mentioned are. I'm sorry! It's just that I don't eat a lot of Russian food," Shee paused, fervently wishing that she had at least remembered the man's country right, "so you'll have to enlighten me!"

Pursing her lips at Lai's answer to her question, she tried to keep from looking too confused. "Well that's good! But, you know, as far as I was aware, I was the one who took care of injuries and that sort of thing here. I wonder who took care of you then?" Shee shrugged. "Oh well. If you ever need anything, I suppose I'm sort of the unofficial medic here, so just come see me!"

As Lai talked about his plans to stick all his wonderful food in the fridge, Shee's mouth formed a tiny circle, and her eyes widened again. "You mean... for anyone who wants any?" Her voice was faint with happiness. "Do you... do you think I could have something to eat?"

As if on cue, her stomach gave another loud rumble.

Shee nodded enthusiastically as Lai explained. "Well, pelmeni is definitely out of the question then. I'm vegetarian. The vareniki doesn't have any meat, right?" She hoped not. The magical appearance of food and the subsequent taking away of said food would be a cruel trick for the world to play on her.

"Yeah! It doesn't seem like anyone knows, really. I'll have to send out some sort of message or something. Can't have recruits being out of commission! That would be very counter-productive." Shee nodded solemnly. Her serious mood was broken by Lai's sudden blush, and his next comment.

"Really?!" Shee began to laugh. "That's so... odd. I would think he'd be more likely to cause some sort of injury than fix it. But," Shee continued, in a rare moment of keen observation, "it seems like he acts differently with me than with you. Are you OK, Lai?" His face was alarmingly flushed.

The inching closer of her goal cleaned out any other thoughts from her mind as Lai spoke. She clapped and jumped up and down on the spot for a few seconds before composing herself and trying to look slightly less silly. "Oh! Umm... well, I could try your vareniki. If, of course, it is meat-free. But, you know, I really like spicy things. Or sweet things! Or salty things... or..." Shee faltered, trying to think of how best she could come up with a non-offensive answer, "just things that aren't bland!" Hopefully he'd sort of understand what she meant.

"No, no, that's perfectly fine! Vegetarian, not vegan." She'd been horrified when she'd learned of vegans and their general aversion to dairy. She shuddered at the thought of people who shunned dairy on purpose.

Shee laughed again at Lai's feeble attempts to prevent himself from getting redder. "Are you sure? You are awfully red," she said teasingly.

"I'm sure they'll be wonderful! From the smell, it seems you definitely know what you're doing. And I love onions and sour cream! I'm not sure about them together, but you're the cook!"

"Well, all you need to know about vegans is that they're a little weird. Don't even drink milk!" Shee looked at Lai, sighing, not completely satisfied with his answer. "Well, alright. If you say so."

There was definitely something going on with Lai. Even she, with her mind on food, could tell that. Well, if he wouldn't tell her, she'd just have to find out herself, Shee mused. Something about that cut to the face...

As Lai place a plate laden with food on the counter, Shee bounded up to the stool and jumped onto it, before twisting slightly and observing Lai in his search for sour cream. After a few moments, in which he had no luck, she lightly jumped back off the stool and approached the fridge. Nudging him slightly, she reached across him and into the fridge, picking up a small, clay pot that lay nestled behind a larger one.

"While it would be funny to watch you try to find the sour cream, I'm kind of hungry. Lhamu used up most of the sour cream before she left, but there's a little tiny bit left. Wraith likes it, so she hides it for him."

Lhamu did have an inordinate amount of fondness for her brother. Shee was glad she wasn't here to yell at her for taking something away from her precious Wraith.

"Have you met Wraith yet? Probably not, as you're still relatively happy when you say his name."

Her eyes lit up; Shee was delighted that Lai agreed with her. "I know! Milk is wonderful. And butterscotch ice cream... with those little crunchy bits! And..." A hazy memory of sweet, sticky kulfi dripping down a dark chin was punctuated with laughter. That smile mouthed unintellible words to her, and she was overcome by how much detail she was able to remember.

Staggering slightly, she felt the pot drop from her hand and hit the floor with a sharp noise, flinging shards of clay all around her. She reached out blindly, hoping to find something that would prevent her from falling.