Hey baby I hear the blues a-callin, tossed salads and scrambled eggs (ota)

[otomechapilot]

(A peppy - dare I say Jaunty - tune is sent into the heads of the newcomers and old guard alike...)

Heeeey what’s up guys, welcome to Liminal Space. The voice in your head courtesy of our psychic network is Sara Smith, and I figured what better way to welcome new and veteran Travellers alike this month of Easter and Passover with a bit of holiday cooking?

You can, of course, tune this out or listen in at any time - I’m making this private but unsecured, so it won’t bother you if you don’t want to see out of the eyes of a girl offering to teach you how to cook and explaining a bit of how we do things here. “But Sara,” you may ask, “how do you secure a psychic message?” That’s a great question, and if you ask, I’ll teach you! Until then welcome to Snackin’ with Sara.

(Yeah, about that. Making an opt-out is what she thinks she’s doing. What she’s actually doing is, uh, publically livestreaming. Whoops.)

(She starts the livestream, and as promised, you see out of her eyes - in an industrial kitchen made mostly of stainless steel.)

Today’s dish is from my homeworld, classic scrambled eggs on toast. Say what else you will about a world where a 15 year old is a lieutenant in a giant robot squad fighting aliens, we always had really fresh chicken eggs, laid every morning by our girls Tagine, General Tso, Lemon Pepper and Veloute. Now we don’t have a henhouse in Liminal Space. What we do have...

(She snaps her fingers, and suddenly, eggs. One in her hand, two more on a plate, and for that matter there’s also now a log of chevre and a stick of butter.)

...is Liminal Manipulation. Yes, in return for this itty bitty living space and the mark of one of our hosts - (she waggles her hand, the one with a stick figure merrily dancing off a number zero) - We get phenomenal cosmic powers, which I’d be happy to teach. Your first tries are probably going to look, taste, and feel like paper pulp, but with practice you should get beautiful delicious eggs just like Tagine used to lay, and that’s for starters.

So what you’re gonna do is melt this much butter - like two tablespoons, be generous - in a small saucepan over medium heat. Let it get nice and frothy before cracking in three eggs - wash them if they aren’t American prewashed ones that you keep on ice - and stir, gently, and constantly. You’re going for maximum floof here, make it nice and creamy, and remove it from the heat if it’s cooking too fast. They shouldn’t brown.

Add two generous tablespoons of creamy goat cheese - or shredded swiss or cheddar, I’m not your boss, but it’s what we had at base - and salt and pepper to taste. Herbs de Provence also work great here. Keep stirring until where the egg ends and the cheese begins is a mystery. When it’s done, it’s done, and take it off the heat!

Spoon it over toast - I like a thick slice of sourdough fried in butter but I’m from Postapoc Anime San Francisco - and sprinkle with chives. And now you have a delicious almost custardy hearty breakfast. Add some bacon and fried mushrooms, tomatoes and squash on the side and you have a meal substantial enough for combat cond-

(A claxon sounds, and a red light flashes, with a gravelly-voiced warning of “Nightmare detected. All Pilots and Anchors to the ANIMa creche immediately!” Sara, unable to maintain kayfabe, giggles.)

Aaand gotta eat and run, duty calls. If you have any questions, especially dumb newbie ones, please ask! I’ll be serving food in my room, look for the amazing technicolor dream-cat. Thanks for Snackin’ with Sara, toodles!

Comments

[Private, psychic protection ii]

[neverfeltthatway]

...I should probably tell you that that wasn't actually a private channel. Everyone could see it, if they didn't have psychic mute active.

And if it had been a private channel, only those you were directly streaming to or those with filter intrusion would have been able to see it. I'm afraid we don't currently have an option to opt in to a network post, barring the audience having the skills I mentioned.

Perma Psi Protec II

[otomechapilot]

Oh my god? Uh.

I'm so sorry. I really hope I didn't stream over some, uh, important stuff to be seeing instead of my dumb cooking.

...wait. Don't currently?

[neverfeltthatway]

Well, the network isn't something you stream over. If someone else had something important going on, you don't get one or the other, you get both at the same time. Though it's true it can be hard to keep track of, if you're not used to it.

It's not something we currently have, no. But I don't know if anyone's ever looked into working it out. I don't generally make group posts, and when I do it's usually important enough I want everyone to hear them. So it's not something that had occurred to me before to work on.

[otomechapilot]

It’s useful enough that I kinda assumed we could do it, so yeah. Count me in for trying to figure it out, Armin.

[neverfeltthatway]

Would you like to get together to work on figuring it out?

[Because sometimes it's easier to talk about things in person, and Armin often finds that brainstorming ideas fits into that category.]

[otomechapilot]

Yeah, sure! Plus you know I’ll have bacon and eggs waiting for you.

Your room or mine?

[fruitknife]

You named one of your chickens Tagine. [Someone sounds like he's not sure what to make of that.]

[otomechapilot]

We had no illusions to their fate.

Three years of the good life, two hours in the oven. That's the deal.

[fruitknife]

...Yeah, okay, fair.

[otomechapilot]

I’m probably gonna keep doing this - run through Jaunts and homeworlds and cook stuff.

I’m taking requests!

[fruitknife]

More likely to just make shit myself, you know. [Which isn't telling her to stop by any means. Competent cooking instructions are a thing Shinji Approves Of.]

[otomechapilot]

For recipies to stream, doofus, not for stuff to cook for you. Trust me, after the Triple Birthday I KNOW how well you can cook.

[blinktomissit]

Hey, yeah, so, hi. Big fan. Love the program, great exit. But quick question - how do we get from pulp to delicious fresh eggs? Asking for a friend.

[otomechapilot]

Practice. And by getting to know what Liminal Space actually is better - it’s inbetween everything it could be, so you just need to make it decide on one thing over another. I call it shaping or pulling stuff out of the aether too, though everyone will understand you better if you call it liminal manipulation: it’s going “I want that stuff to be more like this other stuff” and having a really clear image of 'this other stuff' in your head.

It’s easier with, like, your favorite foods or your favorite knife cause you know exactly what that’s like, right? It’s harder for me with stuff I haven’t come across as much.

I’m pretty sure you need to be able to make portals, or store stuff Elsewhere, or tell Liminal Space not to be anything before you can make even shadowy fake stuff out of it - I started with making a bubble of “be plain ground instead of whatever the hell else you want to be, Liminal Space!” but I’m working on opening portals back here.

[blinktomissit]

Right, right. Well let's say - for example - that you're someone who can do some sweet portal tricks and store stuff 'Elsewhere' and make the ground be something it didn't used to be. Say you're someone like that, and - you know, for the sake of the metaphor, let's say you're also a fantastically talented transmutation wizard who leaves a wake of blubbering wannabes in his wake. So if you're someone like that, and you can't make the stuff turn into stuff, what's a -- where's a good starting place for them?

[helborn]

... I need to make you poutine at some point.

[otomechapilot]

I have no idea what that is so you totally do, yeah.

[helborn]

... Yeah I'm gonna make it for you soon. You'd like it, I think? It's one of those 'it looks weird but tastes great' things.

[tonant]

[ It takes Ochre a bit to figure out how to talk, psychic shit not being his kind of shit, but eventually he gets a hold of the concept. ]

Food the only kinda shit you can make?

[otomechapilot]

You can make just about anything you understand well enough. I can’t like... make complex medicine, but I’ve made sketchpads and pens. And the better you get, the more stuff you can make and the more useful it can be.

[tonant]

So- how the hell does it work?

'Cause I get the bubbles, but how the hell do you get from tellin' shit ta get bent, to having things just show up?

[ This may be an issue he's been struggling with ]

Voice only

[utsusemimaru]

I thank you most humbly for the informative cooking lesson. In return I would be honored to teach you how to make tamago-yaki, which is an egg dish from my own culture. The secret is to make them very sweet! I am most intrigued by your use of "lim i nalma ni pulat ion" and would be honored if you would instruct me further in such an ability.

Yours cordially,
Utsusemimaru

Re: Voice only

[otomechapilot]

Sure thing. On tamagoyaki and on how to mess with liminal. You are going to need to figure out portals, stashing stuff Elsewhere or bubbles of anchored space first, though, and I only know the last, but it will protect you from paint splashes... among other things.

Voice only

[utsusemimaru]

I see!

[He does not see at all]

Anything you may be able to teach me would be most helpful. I am afraid I am a beginner at all of this. Though what do you mean by "stashing stuff Elsewhere"?

[whatspringislike]

That looks pretty good.

Um... do you know how to make tamagoyaki?