Welcome to Gaia! ::

Steps whispered through the hallways as Cameron made his way to the kitchen. It was a rough night sleeping. Every now and then it would be troublesome to sleep due to his miscellaneous night terrors. They would come and go, memories and images that would make him wish it was sleep paralysis instead. Strange as that may seem, he would rather feel helpless and paralyzed with a ghostly figure staring or at advancing at him, than reliving some of the grotesque horrors that reality gave to him.

The soft steps paused, only to be responded with a click as the lights in the kitchen turned on. The best answer to being up at midnight. The kitchen was elegant with wonderful appliances, save the Decepticon microwave-penguin that was found out. First stop, the refrigerator. Cam had to see what he was going to work with tonight, and drink.
Beverages first, orange juice would be the winner. Making his way to the cabinets, he opened them as he went, looking for glasses, as well as remembering what was where for future use. The kitchen would be under his rule in a month's time, tops, and it would only be fitting for him to remember where everything was.

Finally grabbing a glass, he made his way back to where he had set the orange juice. He dropped in five ice cubes and pulled a flask from his pajamas. Certain that nobody was around, he unscrewed it and poured in about three ounces of tequila, and the rest orange juice. The last of his stash would probably be consumed tonight. He wasn't too sure on the policy of alcohol. Most likely something fairly strict, considering a lot of the mutants here were underage by American standard. He wasn't certain which standard they were technically using, and it's probably something he should figure out soon.

With drink in hand, he placed the orange juice back and began to rummage through the fridge looking for ingredients. Taking his sip, he couldn't help but notice how geared towards a college kid diet things were. Moving over to the freezer, he noticed frozen salmon fillets. He took four out and grabbed the bacon and a couple of fresh herbs that were in the fridge.

Turning back to the already open cupboards, Cam moved to the counter, sipped his beverage, and then shuffled through the lower cabinets. He moved about grabbing what he needed, and despite being a new kitchen, he would stand up and maneuver around the open cabinets overhead. Years of forgetting to close cabinets, that it became second nature to move about as if they just weren't there. One of the many things people got fed up with him about.

After grabbing everything that was needed, there was a large bowl of room temperature water, a cutting board, a mortar and pestle like grinder, a baking rack, two pans, and a pot of water. Spices and other cooking materials that were grabbed were to include basil, thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar, butter, cream, maple syrup, and an orange.

As any proper Chef should, Cam started off by washing his hands and setting up plastic wrap to prevent cross contamination. Once he finished, he continued as any proper Chef shouldn't. He grabbed his drink which was still fairly full as he had only taken a couple of sips, and gulped it down.
He started off by taking the salmon and sitting it in the water, to help it thaw quicker. Portioning out the herbs, he pulled leaflets of thyme from the stem and two basil leaves and put them into the pestle. He ground up the herbs, incredibly fine to a pesto like paste and put it into a small bowl with olive oil.

He set that off to the side and grabbed his glass.
Making his way back to the refrigerator, he made himself another drink, this time a tad stronger as the last of his tequila was now in hand. Now it was the waiting game. The salmon needed to thaw before he could continue on with his culinary endeavors.


OOC::

"Evening." Cameron responded to Bella's greeting. He hadn't looked at her at first, mainly just to ensure everything was set and ready so he didn't forget any ingredients. He heard her move about and saw her from his peripherals. 'Right, I completely forgot about the cabinets again,' he thought to himself.

"My bad, it's a terrible habit of mine." Cam admitted, albeit without a hint of guilt. He smirked a little as she struggled to obtain her desired objective. A slight smirk and hushed chuckle escaped with her little hop. Where was the fun in helping her, it was late, he wasn't tired, and food was being made. On top of that, a slight comedic act followed by the presence of eye candy. Only thing he could think to himself was his angle. If he was at a proper, would they have jiggled? Maybe a little, a lot? It was a missed opportunity, next time.

"Eh, it's more of a hobby than a necessity at this point. I love cooking, I'll portion off some for you, I don't intend to eat it all in one go. Besides," he gestured to the multiple plates he pulled out, "I was hoping someone would be up to try it with me, eating is better with company. So you aren't in the way at all to begin with, so don't worry about it." The oxygen manipulator said to the songstress.

In response to her statement regarding sleep, he took another sip of his "orange juice" and made his way to the refrigerator again. He pulled out some milk and stepped softly towards the pantry, grabbing some honey. Moving to the stove that Bella put her kettle on, he put a small sauce pan on and put in about four ounces of milk and set to have the milk simmer.

"I'm Cameron by the way, I'm an Omega. I don't think we've met yet, it's a pleasure." He stuck his hand out with a soft smile to the petite Latina.

OOC::

"Well, we most certainly wouldn't want you hurting your pretty little self." Cameron smirked, responding to her comment about him leaving walking traps with the cabinets. He sipped some more of his orange juice and tequila, milking it as long as he could. It would be quite some time until he could get his hands on anymore alcohol. His smirk only grew when she told him that he heard her chuckle.

She agreed to have some of his food. Good, a test subject. Not that he had any doubts of his cooking skills and miscellaneous recipes, but more so that one of the few things his humility was absent was for his cooking skills. That confidence assured him that this meal would be a success too.

His smirk faded into a playful and exaggerated frown. His lower lip as far out as could be. "Well, if it's hunger, it will definitely be appeased." He said, switching his playful frown into a wide smile, a smile genuine, in hopes that it was known to Bella. He could tell she was lying. It was his job after all, use to be more so. He wouldn't pry into it, but he wanted to try and provide a smile that could bring comfort, masked behind the reality of this dish.
"Nope, haven't made it before. I toyed with the idea on my trek up here in the snow."

"Alpha, huh?" Cameron hadn't really gotten to know too many people his first day. Just his team lead and a few others. "So, I gotta ask, what's with this overzealous hatred for each other? I didn't meet too many Alphas, so I'm not sure how balanced the... competition, for lack of better word, is. But why the hate from the red team?" He asked, almost trivializing the Alpha/Omega names down to colors. It wasn't his intent, but more so that he was just focused on his task at hand. Which at the given moment was adding a teaspoon and a half of honey to the milk that slowly began to release steam. "Like, having been in the military, there was the back and forth sibling like fighting between branches, but here? The sheer disdain that the Omega's showed for Alphas is disgustingly appalling. While I have no doubt that they would have my back, the idea that the negativity bred here, I feel that while they may say they wouldn't leave an Alpha behind," Cam went on, putting an emphasis on may as he couldn't truly give that as his final impression, "if it ever came to it, I feel they would hesitate to consider helping out if it meant they would also become a casualty. To be honest, I don't think I can truly trust someone like that. These kids here are young, and have a misconstrued understanding of actual team work. Or at least, that's the entirety of the impression they give." Cameron finished up, he truly disliked the mindset of the few Omegas that he met, his team leader was no exception.

"Well, this here is going to be maple bacon wrapped salmon. First, I've got to par cook the bacon," The oxygen manipulator began to answer, changing the subject to her curiosity of the meal to be. He turned the oven on to the lowest temperature, 170 degrees. The unfortunate thing was the temperature he truly needed was "and that there, is for your tea." He said, tilting his head towards the milk in the sauce pan as he pulled out a cooking sheet and the aluminum foil. "In about a minute, I'm gonna have that stand off the burner for about a minute, you can either drink it on it's own, or put it in your tea. It'll add a smooth silky texture and a subtle sweetness."

She began to talk about her cooking skills, while not extensive outside of the bakery portion, he gave a bright smile. "Hey now, grilled cheeses are a necessity to any chef's arsenal, very flexible items." He stated, poking fun at her lack of cooking meals. "But, this means next time I cook, you'll make dessert, right?" Cameron asked. He loved to try other people's cooking. It gave him good insight as to new flavors he could try and incorporate into his meals. It was also a way for him to halfway flirt with Bella. He very much so enjoyed flirting, often times being subtle to start. No true intention of anything but pulling a smile from a pretty woman. Relate and compliment what they speak proudly to you about. Put the smile on their face and you can put up that W. "Spice is good. I absolutely LOVE spice. Now I know I don't have to hold back."

She pointed out that smoothies were another culinary skill of hers. "Ooh, so you got breakfast tomorrow with smoothies then?" Following up her statement.

He pulled the milk off the stove and set it on a hot pad, "That's ready for you, it may put you to sleep a little faster." He informed the songstress. Walking to his glass, he took another small sip, his drink now about halfway gone. He was happy with the fact that there was enough to make the drink pint sized, but oh how saddening it would be when it's gone. Spinning about he grabbed a cutting board and a knife, that's when she offered to help.

He smiled wide, dimples pressing into his cheeks, "Absolutely, you may just discover a way to add to those grilled cheese making skills of yours." He rinsed off the thyme and cilantro and placed the cilantro on the cutting board. "Strip the thyme like this," he demonstrated, pinching his fingers to the stem and sliding it against the way the leave stood. They came off with little resistance, yet strangely satisfying. Placing them in the mortar and pestle, he moved his hands to the cilantro and knife. "And, if you're uncomfortable working the knife, that's okay. But if you wanna give it a shot, hold the knife like so, index finger pointed along the top, thumb towards the top, supporting your grip." Demonstrating, he placed the knife above slightly over the ends of the cilantro. The parts that he wouldn't need. "And this hand, like so, your fingers running with the stalks, curled inwards like so. Keep the middle knuckled to the blade, that way you won't accidentally slice your fingers. You'll feel the blade's absence and you can correct yourself safely." After instructions, the now self proclaimed culinary master of Sanctuary, in his own head of course, did three slower cuts to show the proper way, then a couple more at a much faster pace to demonstrate where one day she could be.

"Your turn, and don't feel like you have to get to the speed I cut, I just wanted to show you without a slow example." Placing the knife down, blade facing away from the both of them. "Oh, and after that, grind them up in the pestle until it seems fruitless to continue. Or in this case, herbless." He instructed, chucking at his bad joke.

His light steps took him to the sheet pan and foil. A plate with a thin later of maple syrup rest next to the stove, as well as a pack of bacon. Dipping the bacon in the maple syrup, he let the excess drip off and placed it on the sheet pan. Once the there was enough bacon for two per filet, he placed it in the oven for 7 minutes. The oven wasn't at 170 yet, but it needed to be par cooked for now, so he didn't want it too overdone.

It had been a fair bit of time since he cooked with someone else, it was a nice reminder considering he didn't get much a chance to between his final out with the Army and coming to Sanctuary.


OOC:: I have made the salmon dish IRL, it's super delicious.

"Giants, huh?" He poked back at her sass. "Maybe I'll invest in a step stool for you." He added a small laugh.By all means, it would be helpful for more than just the Alpha, as there were short mutants a plenty here.

Cam focuse don his prep work as Bella went on to express the differences between the Alphas and Omegas. As well as to include the type of leadership and person that his team leader was. So far, it wasn't that appealing. Winning is one thing, and playing dirty when necessary was justified. However, the question is when do they end up playing dirty? He listened to her go on about team dynamics also. It wasn't so much that he expected them to leave anyone behind entirely, but more so when it came down to the nitty gritty good chance of death. They were at war he knew full well the terrors and darkness of humanity on that side. A shudder went down his neck as some of those horrors came to mind.

He wasn't sure what this war would be like. How often would they fight other humans? Sentinels weren't human, but just a creation by them. He decided to throw the thoughts and dissection of the two wars to the side. He was a first hand expert and witness to one, and completely ignorant to the other. He just hoped his judgement in character thus far would be wrong.

"Good," Cam said enthusiastically as Bella said she'd give it a try. "I always need extra opinions and or critiques." He continued on, following up with another sip of his orange juice-tequila combo. "Flan sounds wonderful, I'd be more than happy to try it." She finished her sentence with a sense of nostalgia, and potentially something painful. There was a lot of backstory to the little Latina.

She mulled over the thought of the milk. "You could have drank it straight, without the tea." He mentioned to her, noticing her concerned look. "It's kind of like the condensed milk, but a more fun flavor I think."

He sipped more of his beverage after he had showed Bella the steps of what he needed help with. He started to feel a slight buzz as he took a break from work while observing her first attempts. After she asked if it was good enough he nodded. "It is, but try cutting like this, it makes it easier as it's less of a saw motion and more of a chop and slice." He placed his free hand on her hand holding the knife and lifted it slightly. The tip of the blade still touching the cutting board, he pulled it back, and slowly lowered it as he sliced it forward. He moved over and took another sip before placing his drink down.

Checking the bacon, he pulled it out and placed it off to the side. It was still slightly light pink and white for it only being par cooked. Taking the salmon fillets out, he cut the packaging and placed them on a plate. Laying the bacon out, he transferred the salmon to rest on it as he waited. "As soon as you're done with grinding it up, add the oil and use this brush to brush it onto the salmon, after you mix it up a bit."

Almost forgetting one of the most important steps, he looked for some form of spicy pepper. There wasn't much of a selection. The only pepper available was some jalapeno. That wouldn't do, the flavor wouldn't mix well. He cleaned the small sauce pan he used to heat up the milk and put it back on the stove. He poured two table spoons of oil on it, set the heat to high and added dried crushed red pepper flakes to it. It only took about a minute for pan to get hot again. In doing so poured the oil into a small bowl and added some cayenne powder. "Use this instead of plain oil." The oxygen manipulator instructed. "It's going to be nice and spicy with this. We do have to correct the problem of the fresh pepper selection."

Picking up his drink, he sat back and sipped ever so slowly, he had to milk his drink as long as he could. "So, what's your ability?" Cam asked, making small talk while waiting for Bella to make the final touches.



OOC::