InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "That's problematic."

kira nerys (onlyknoviolence) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-09-01 16:42:00

Entry tags:

claire winchester

WHO: Kira Nerys and Open
WHAT: Kira's attempting to settle in in a new, Earthly place.
WHEN: This evening
WHERE: Apartment 301A
RATING: TBD
STATUS: Incomplete

Kira hated new places, new things. Familiar faces were only a slight comfort, and having Dax across the hall was definitely an advantage in most respects. She'd met Kirk, Captain James Kirk of the Enterprise. There were no doubt other people from her time here, but most people that she'd seen.... What made being here worse was how impersonal it was; nothing that she owned, nothing that she knew and it made trying to settle in, to make this place a temporary home even harder. Kira presumed that she might have to talk to Dax about that, but she wasn't sure how she could help when she'd just gotten here herself. Maybe someone else could instead.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-01 05:22 pm UTC (link)

Claire had offered to help the woman settle in and wasted no time leaving her apartment and making the trek up a flight of stairs to the third floor. She knocked softly against the door and waited to be allowed entrance, her gaze flickering around at the other apartment doors. She realized she didn't know most of who lived up here since the place had become a revolving door of people.

She decided to fix that, but not right now. No, right now she was going to give someone the run-down on modern twenty-first century appliances. If said outloud, out of context, it sounded utterly ridiculous. Yet in this place, she could very nearly make a living out of it. There were just that many people who were not from this era who were suddenly stuck in it.

Brushing some of her hair from her shoulder, Claire shifted her stance slightly and peered up at the plaques above the door. This was the right one. Kira Nerys was one of the names etched into the gold.

Another light knock and Claire turned her thoughts to the upcoming lesson she was about to give. She needed to figure out what the woman did and didn't know. That definitely seemed like a smart first move... provided she could find some way to explain things to get beyond that point, of course.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-01 05:34 pm UTC (link)

Kira had shut the PDA once Claire had announced that she'd be on her wait, waiting as patiently as she could possibly fester in this sort of situation. She'd been a resistance fighter for most of her life, in war for all of it barring a few years; she didn't do patience well, not in situations that she didn't like.

At the tap on the door Kira turned her head, getting to the door by the second, softer tapping. So much for a computer and commands for doors to open; at least opening the door wasn't above her capabilities. Looking out, Claire was probably not whom she expected to see. She was human, and young. Probably the running theme around here.

"Claire?"

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-01 10:46 pm UTC (link)

It wasn't until the door opened that Claire realized she wasn't sure what to even call the other woman. She smiled in greeting, giving a nod of her head, and finally decided that proper was the way to go until she was told otherwise. "That's me. It's nice to meet you in person, Colonel," she responded.

She'd known how to open the door. That was a good thing. Not that opening doors was tough but, when you were used to simple vocal commands doing even those sorts of mundane tasks, Claire imagined it might get a bit frustrating.

Peering past her, into what part of the foyer area she could see, she joked lightly, "I don't see any smoke yet. That's a good sign." Then she re-met the Bajoran's gaze with another smile to show she was merely teasing.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-02 08:55 am UTC (link)

"Call me Kira, I doubt I'll be much of a Colonel here." Kira had barely settled into coming out of a war. If she could she'd blame this on someone forcing her on a shore leave, since right now she wouldn't go willingly.

When Kira realised that Claire was looking behind her she stepped aside to let her in, closing the door behind her and returning her smile; it was a good thing. She left it unlocked for now, locking it was the harder part of doors but she'd managed it. Just about. Taking lessons on working the technology and... oh Prophets, she'd be cooking for herself wouldn't she? That had never been one of Kira's good skills. Or skill at all.

"Where would you like to start?"

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-02 09:09 am UTC (link)

She stepped inside and waited for Kira to close the door, trying to tell herself that she could teach someone how to use modern day things without any issue. Nevermind that she had no real teaching experience. She could do this. She could.

Claire blinked at the question, then rubbed her palms absently against her legs as she glanced around before finally shrugging ever so slightly. "Um... the kitchen, I guess? Since it's closest and you pretty much have the door thing down," she suggested before adding, "unless you had questions about something specific? I mean, I'm not really sure what you do and don't already know..."

Granted Claire could fall back on her knowledge of Star Trek, if necessary. But she wasn't half as big of a fan as other people she knew so she had no real clue just what would and wouldn't be easy for someone from the future - especially someone who wasn't even from Earth.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-03 02:34 pm UTC (link)

Kira hoped that this would be easy and relatively painless. It was frustrating, and slightly embarrassing enough to take lessons on "modern day" technology from someone from the past. Who was younger than her. Kira didn't have any specific questions, she just wanted to get this done.

"I think not burning anything might be a good start." Kira knew that anything in the kitchen would be the biggest challenge, especially actually making something edible. Eating out would be an option, if the places that she'd seen actually had something palatable as well. She was screwed.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-05 03:30 am UTC (link)

Claire nodded, the smile still present on her face as she made her way to the kitchen. The layout, fortunately, was the same as her own apartment - as all of the apartments she'd seen thus far, in fact - which was going to make the process much easier. Flipping on the light with a practiced hand, she eyed the area before glancing to the other woman.

"Okay so, the stove is actually pretty simple. You six settings for each burner." She pointed at the designs printed on the surface. "The pictures show which burner each set of buttons are for. So if you want to turn on this front left one, you just push one of these." She motioned to the right ones. "High is, obviously, the highest setting. Two medium high. Medium is medium. Four is for medium low, and low is low. Then there's off." She looked to Kira once more. "The main thing to remember is to always turn them off when you're done, and most foods don't get cooked on high. That's usually just for boiling water."

Eying Kira, hoping the Bajoran was still following what she was saying, she pointed to the buttons in the center console area. "Those are for the oven. Anything you bake, pretty much, will say what temperature to bake it at. Just preheat the oven to the right temperature, put the food on a tray, and stick it in once the oven beeps to let you know it's heated. Set the timer and, when it beeps, take the food out." She crinkled her nose a bit. "Obviously use a potholder so you don't burn yourself."

Not that Claire used a potholder, but that was beside the point.

"With me so far?" she questioned after another quick glance over the stove to make sure she'd covered the basics. "Feel free to jump in with any questions. Really. Like I said, I don't know what you do and don't know so..." She shrugged slightly.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-05 07:01 am UTC (link)

Kira was trying to take it in, staring a little and not quite understanding. She could probably replicate it but not really understand it. Which bothered her a little. And she should probably have written this down just in case, but that hadn't occurred to her. "Cooking's never been my strong point. If I can make something edible..." Fill in the gap. Any choice of words will work there.

For being simple Kira didn't understand why there were so many settings. Temperature for the over made sense, six settings for each burner and more than one? She couldn't quite see how that was neccessary; though the potholder made sense. Watch her forget to use it the first time though.

"Six settings, temperature settings. Burners, oven. Only water gets high." In short. It would get there, it'd just need a lot more time than Kira was prepared to give it; patience and waiting for things to fit were also not her strong points.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-05 07:22 am UTC (link)

Yeah. Repeating was great and all, but Claire had the feeling that Kira really still didn't quite get it. Which was fine. If Claire had ended up where Kira was from, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to figure out how to make half of the things there work even with someone showing her, and handwritten notes, and possibly a manual too.

"Okay," she suggested after a second, "why don't we try to cook something? Just as an example." Moving to the cabinets where she knew the handful of pots and pans that each apartment started out with were kept, she grabbed a pot and moved to the sink. Filling it with water, she placed it on the stove. "Like I said. You can boil water on high." She set the burner appropriately, then moved to the cabinet where a handful of dried goods that were already provided were stored and pulled out a box of spaghetti noodles.

Setting them on the counter, she glanced at Kira. "While we wait, why don't I show you the coffee pot? It's easy enough to grasp." And while it did involve a few steps, Claire hoped Kira might catch on to it a little faster. And with that thought in mind she set out to show the other woman how to make a pot of coffee... and considering them both pretty lucky that the pot came with a washable filter so as to avoid an extra step of having to use a paper one.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-05 07:31 am UTC (link)

"Okay." Kira nodded and turned, watching where she was getting the pots from and what she did after that. Filling a pot with water, she had the one. Turn the tap, remember to turn it off and don't spill it on the way. Simple enough. Putting the burner on high, didn't look too difficult either. Put the pan on and turn it up. Right? It looked that way. And steam would be a good indicator of when the water was ready. Doing that, didn't seem too difficult. Though watching and doing were two completely different things.

"That is actually a very good suggestion." Though how the coffee here tasted? A small price to pay for not having a replicator, or anything around to make a good Raktajino. Watching, it didn't seem too difficult. More water, add... something. Wait. There was a lot of waiting. "I'm going to hope that you can make good coffee."

With that in mind Kira added a note to herself to remember to do something for Claire afterwards to thank her. It probably wasn't anything to Claire but she'd taken her time, and probably patience with her to teach her how to actually survive. It was nice, which meant a good thank you afterwards. What she didn't know.

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-05 07:38 am UTC (link)

"Coffee is one of those acquired tastes," Claire said with a shrug. "I'm not sure what you're used to, but people who don't drink it black can usually find some kind of creamer or sweetener or something to put in it to make it drinkable." Glancing back at the pot of water, she noticed it was starting to boil and looked to Kira.

"Once it bubbles, it's boiling. Now, you do this part. Just add a handful or so of the noodles into the pot, then turn the setting to medium high," she stated. It was as good of time as any for the other woman to learn, she figured, and this way she was standing right here in case something went wrong. Even if Claire couldn't for the life of her figure out how someone could screw up adding noodles to a pot of water.

Still, if there was one thing being in this place had taught her, it was that anything was possible.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-05 07:43 am UTC (link)

"I usually- never mind." Kira wasn't quite sure that telling her about Klingon coffee was probably the right thing to do. It would probably come with explaining about Klingons too, though unless something was altering how Claire saw her then she'd been pretty restrained not to ask about the fact that she wasn't human. Or she knew more than she was letting on, either option was... fine for now.

"Okay." Kira took Claire's place when she moved back, taking some of the noodles from the pack and dropping them in, pulling her hand back at the heat rising from the water. Turning the setting down was also easy, turn the dial a little and it was done. Huh, not that bad. Though this was just some noodles and water.

"And then we wait?"

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-05 07:54 am UTC (link)

"Yep. Though you also want to stir the noodles, to keep them from sticking to the pot," Claire replied. As she spoke, she stepped up to the pot and stuck her hand in the water, swishing the noodles around a bit. It wasn't until she felt the bubbles from the boiling liquid against her hand that she remembered that most anyone else would find such an act to be excruciating... and that Kira didn't know about her power.

Going still, her voice was oddly flat as she added, "Um... you'd actually want to use a spoon for that, though. Because the water is, obviously, hot." Avoiding the other woman's gaze, she pulled her hand from the water and reached for a spoon.

By the time she'd turned to hand it to Kira, her hand was completely healed. Any signs of the burns - blisters, red skin, all of it - was completely gone. Holding out the spoon, she waited for the inevitable questions. Because while Claire had a feeling that Kira was willing to accept most things at face value in this place, something told her that this wasn't going to be one of those times.

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-05 08:06 am UTC (link)

Kira had been ready to reply, to look for something to do such a thing with when Claire put her hand straight in the water. That... she'd found the water too hot to even hold her hand above and Claire had her hand in it? Either she was stupid, or couldn't feel it; she hoped it was the latter. Options were forming; none human - specifically Changeling for now, she didn't doubt that hot water wouldn't affect them but that was an option she'd rather not venture down.

"Hot, right." She looked down at Claire's hand, taking the spoon and placing it on the counter beside her, taking her hand instead. Not a lot baffled her anymore, barring this place, but this? "Human?"

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x_clairebear_x
2009-09-05 08:14 am UTC (link)

Honestly, out of everything that the other woman could have said or done, asking if Claire was human was quite a relief. With a small smile, the blond met Kira's gaze and gave a nod. "Yeah," she answered, "I'm human. Just... evolved, a bit, is all."

Glancing at the noodles briefly to make sure they weren't going to boil over, she took a moment to compose herself and her thoughts before looking back to the Bajoran. "I have this ability. Rapid cell regeneration. My body... heals itself, whenever I get hurt."

As though to prove her point, and perhaps to show that she was human (or at the very least she had the same red blood that most humanoids had), she opened up a drawer and pulled out one of the sharp steak knives. Holding out her palm so Kira could see it, she sliced the blade across her flesh. The wound appeared, blood rushing to the surface with a few drops trickling from it. Before the drops had even reached her wrist, the wound was healed.

Wiping the droplets off on her jeans, she shrugged and moved to the sink to rinse off the knife. "I don't feel pain, either," she added by way of explanation. "So it's tricky, sometimes, remembering that things that I can do aren't things that others can do." Especially here, in Colligo, where so many people were not only aware, but also accepting, of what she could do.

As she looked back to Kira, Claire nodded at the noodles. "You should stir them again," she stated absently. "Otherwise they still might stick."

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onlyknoviolence
2009-09-05 08:21 am UTC (link)

That explanation actually worked, and was a relief. Had Claire been something else... she'd just gotten away from that problem and didn't want to revisit it either. Not anytime soon. "Sounds handy." And probably explained why Claire seemed perfectly comfortable around her. Though when Claire cut herself, Kira hadn't needed that much proof and hadn't been quick enough to stop the girl either. But red blood was always good, actually blood in general was.

"Sounds like you could easily get confused." During the Occupation, even the Dominion War anyone with Claire's ability would have been an asset. Good at surviving was one thing, healing yourself? That would have saved a lot of time and death, and maybe their attacks would have been more successful. Either way they'd won, and what if scenarios didn't help.

When Claire took her back to the noodles she was stunned for a moment, and then remembered what she was talking about. "Right. Don't want my first attempt to go wrong." She picked the spoon back up from where she'd put it down, moving it through the water in a slow circular motion and gave a quick glance to Claire; either for confirmation or... anything. She'd take whatever she could get.

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