New Plan, Step One: Provide For My Community [open]

[summerdude]

Magnus needs something to change, so when a Mansion calendar helpfully informs him that it's International Falafel Day back on Earth, he goes to the library for some cookbooks, and then to the kitchen.

He lays out ten different falafel recipes. He gathers the ingredients they list, as best as he can understand them. He has canned chickpeas and fresh chickpeas and dried chickpeas and chickpea flour and box mixes of falafel that say 'just add water!'

Cripes.

"I can do this," he says, peering at the assorted recipes intently for a good ten minutes, and then takes the dried chickpeas over to the sink to rinse and soak.

Comments

[summerdude]

Magnus is staring down at the recipe. "What's the difference between measuring by weight and measuring by size?"

[sporesprouter]

"It's the difference between how heavy something is and how much space it takes up. What is it you're looking at specifically?"

[summerdude]

"All of it," Magnus says, dismally. "Why does this give size and weight measurements?"

[sporesprouter]

"Some people prefer weighing by one or the other. Usually they're about equal."

[summerdude]

"Is there a, like, weight-measure-thingy in here?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, a scale? There is!" She opens a cabinet to retrieve a fairly simple digital scale and sets it on the counter.

[summerdude]

"Okay. Experiment time," Magnus says. He carefully measures a half-cup of regular flour and, in an identical container, a half-cup of the chickpea flour. Then he sets each one on the scale in turn.

The chickpea flour is 46 grams; the regular is 60. He groans.

[sporesprouter]

"Well, if the recipe is calling for the chickpea flour, it will have taken into account the density of the flour it's actually calling for, so it should be fine."

[summerdude]

"I bet Galahad has opinions about this," Magnus says, with the faintest twinge of sadness. He misses Galahad. He's gotta -- he's gotta like. Do something about that.

[sporesprouter]

Tress nods. "He probably does. I do think that it makes sense that flour made of different things would weigh differently."

[summerdude]

"Yeah. Different, like, stuff in them."

[sporesprouter]

"Exactly. I think we'll manage this just fine."

[summerdude]

"If you say so, Tress, then I definitely believe it," Magnus says, grinning. He's still riding on being impressed by the work she did for his and Galahad's many birthday cakes.

[sporesprouter]

She laughs. "Well, then I'd better not disappoint."

[summerdude]

"You could never." Magnus squints at the recipe, then starts carefully measuring out flour. "So how've you been, Tress? With, like. Everything."

[sporesprouter]

"It's been a lot lately, but you obviously know that." Since Magnus has the flour in hand, she starts to work on measuring out other ingredients to have everything in place. "How are you doing?"

[summerdude]

"I've been better," Magnus says, checking his amount of flour against the recipe and then nodding. "But I've also been worse, so. You know."

[sporesprouter]

"Well, I hope it's all better from here forward."

[summerdude]

Magnus nods emphatically, then casts a sideways sort of glance at Tress. "You know things, right? About, like. Feelings? And how they, like, work?"

[sporesprouter]

Tress blinks. "Oh. Um. I suppose? At least a little."

[summerdude]

Magnus pushes the flour to the side and turns to face Tress. "I'm trying to, like, place one. I guess."

[sporesprouter]

She leans on the counter and looks back at Magnus. "All right. Go for it."

[summerdude]

"What is it when -- say you have a, like friend. Let's call them... Bubba. And Bubba has started doing something they hate because they think they have to, so you're sad for them, but also the thing they're doing has them spending a lot of time with another of your, um, I guess friends... let's call this one Jorge. And so Bubba and Jorge are, like, always together, doing something they won't do with you, and it feels bad so you get, like, avoidy? And separately you're doing something they'd both hate and not talking to them about it, because it's, like, important that Bubba and Jorge get that Bubba-and-Jorge-and-no, uh, -Mag...tress? Magtress. Magtress time? And it's, like, fine, you're not doing something bad, but you still feel bad about that, too?" Magnus blinks. "You know, hypothetically?"

[sporesprouter]

Tress takes a moment to parse that as best she can. "All right. Before I answer, do you have any suspicions of what it might be? Hypothetically?"

[summerdude]

Yes. "It's, um, unclear?"