Dinner Time Surprise

[yongsoo]

Yong Soo made each cut with the knife slowly, carefully. He finally had enough control in his synthetic muscles now to use the blade without fear of accidently spasming and slicing off his fingers. The Korean was still cautious though. Once slip could mean another trip under the scalpel and more months of recovery.

Finishing with the pork, Yong Soo tossed it in the pan with the oil and sliced peppers and onions. A scoop of soybean paste, crushed garlic, some hot pepper paste finished everything up. Turning the heat up high, he fried the food, mouth already watering. Ivan had spoiled him while he was recovering; getting him little treats and meals he liked. But this was comfort food for him. Something that no one else but him and his estranged mother could make quite right.

Fresh rice was in their bowls, lettuce washed and set out on the table. He mixed the chopped scallions with more hot pepper paste and set it next to the still steaming bowl of hot goggi. Perfect. Only one thing was missing now.

Traveling through the long hallways, Yong Soo knocked on Ivan’s door. “Ivan~ Dinner’s ready.”

[Ivan Braginsky]

It had been a weird experience... suddenly becoming a father... well, a father figure anyway, to a mostly fully grown college student. He'd never expected it. Ivan had anticipated being alone and never having family considering the family he'd grown up in, being reminded often by his father that he was a failure. It was ironic that all of his work on bots to create a family for himself actually brought him that very luxury for which he longed, despite it being unconventional and in a way he'd never expected.

He was still getting used to it, having Yong Soo around in the house with him. It was different being able to call out and have someone actually answer. It was comforting to fall asleep at night and know there was someone else in the penthouse with him, that he wasn't alone. While it had taken him a while to stop being excessively protective of his belongings, he found the living situation quite enjoyable once he got used to it. Besides, Yong Soo was his responsibility now and... that was... what he'd always wanted.

Ivan had been in his workroom, going over some of his old notes with red-pen and putting the date to the changes. These were from last week where he'd tried out an experiment with a new potential configuration for the synthetic muscles so that he could use less of them in future constructions. It failed miserably and he needed to see what he'd done wrong. One stroke here, dot that "i" and- a knock came followed by a familiar voice.

"Oh!" Ivan put down his pen in the middle of the notebook, leaving it open on his desk. "Comink~" he called, hurrying over to the door as quickly as his stiff knees would allow him. With a quick turn of the doorknob, he joined his new-found son in the hallway.

He could feel his stomach bubble with excitement for what Yong Soo could have cooked up for them for dinner. Ivan had the bad habit of forgetting to eat... which often meant hours of getting wrapped in his work and neglecting to care for himself, something not so... good at his age.

Ivan gave Yong Soo a smile as he waited to follow the young man down the hall.

[yongsoo]

“You forgot to eat again, didn’t you?” Yong Soo asked as he heard Ivan’s belly gurgling. He had so many different things to worry about and work on. It wasn’t the first time he had missed a meal or two. “Don’t worry though. I made a big dinner you’ll love~” Yong Soo was beaming as they sat down at the table. Sure it didn’t look perfect. The pork was chopped into uneven slices. The garlic slivers were a bit on the thick side. And Ivan might be taken aback by the fact the pork looked to be neon orange in color, but it all tasted great.

Yong Soo sat in his chair, picking up his chopstick. “Ssam bap with daeji bulgogi.” he gestured to the food. “You pick up a piece of lettuce, and put rice in it.” He scooped a bite sized amount into the middle of the lettuce leaf. “Put the bulgogi on top, put on some kochujang or daenjang on it top if you want. You can put garlic on it too if you want. Then wrap it up and eat it in one bite.” Wrapping the leaf to make a little ball, he popped the ssam bap in his mouth and chewed. Oh how Yong Soo missed the hot burn that he was used to during his meals. Russian cuisine didn’t seem to be very fond of peppers for some reason.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan hated the fact that he kept forgetting to eat, but at least Yong Soo was there to remind him to eat... or he'd probably waste away in his work room. That wouldn't be a pleasant thing at all, especially considering he'd still have a pulse even if nothing else was functioning. It was kind of creepy whenever he let himself think too much but that didn't matter. Food was coming. "D-da... I dit it again..." he said, feeling sheepish as he followed Yong Soo to the table. He had a much harder time forcing himself to lie about how he was feeling to Yong Soo and it was more difficult to keep his usual straight face.

At least once he sat down there was fo- Was that food? It looked... very unusual but then again, he'd never had Korean food before so, this was a new experience entirely. Actually, the food looked mildly on the disturbing side with that flamboyant color but it did smell good, so he couldn't exactly argue with that. Besides, he couldn't turn down something that his son made for him with love.

Ivan carefully watched Yong Soo's demonstration, narrowing his eyes a bit in concentration. He'd figure this out, even if... he wasn't exactly sure what those names really were. He took the chopsticks in his hands and held them... weirdly, fingers too close to the front end as he micromanaged the food. A little bit of rice here, some of that shockingly orange pork here and... what those toppings were. He left the garlic off for the moment, already too confused by new flavors to want to mix too many. The ball rolling trick... That was probably a sight to see. If he had a dime for every time it almost rolled off his plate before he actually got to eat it, he'd have another fortune.

Eventually though, it was eate- Hot! Hot! That was hot! Ivan dropped the chopsticks and stuck his tongue out, fanning it with his hand. "Hot!" Spicy? Why was he given no warning? He was an aging man! It wasn't bad tasting at all, just... what was he supposed to do with spice?! Was he supposed to put water on it? Ow, ow, ow, it burned but it was so good... BUT IT BURNED!

[yongsoo]

Yong Soo looked up, mouth full of lettuce and rice. “Whua? Hah-t?” He mumbled, chewing quickly to clear his mouth. Reaching out, he cupped the glass in one hand. “It doesn’t feel too hot. Are my termosensor thingies malfunctioning?” Yes, it was a bit hot. The bowl was steaming a bit. But it shouldn’t be hot enough to scald his mouth.

But Ivan’s face was steadily turning reder and reder and there was a hint of tears in the corners of his eyes. “Oh you mean hot like spicy!” Yong Soo suddenly realized. Come to think of it, most of the food Ivan fed him, while tasty, never had much kick in it spicewise. “Hold on, I’ll get you something.”

Rushing to the kitchen, he poured a large glass of milk. Skidding back into the dinning room he just barely managed not to slip on his socks and spill everything. “Here. This will take the burn away better.” Yong Soo pressed the cup into his hand.

“I’m sorry Ivan. I didn’t realize that you weren’t used to such spicy food. I can make you milder things from now on.” The Korean looked at his hands upset. His first time cooking a meal and it hadn’t gone the way he wanted at all.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan floundered stupidly for a moment as he fanned his mouth. How do you deal with spice?! It was... ON FIRE! He didn't really pay much attention to what was going on, mind currently running through every aisle of his mental library to find some knowledge of spicy food and how to make sure it didn't become the end of you. Soon, though, milk was placed down in front of him and that... that seemed like a perfect idea! He quickly gulped it down. The glass was set back down with a contented sigh. That... was much better.

"Ah... thank you, Yonk Soo~ That is much be-" He paused... when he saw his son's face. Oh... no... Ivan gave a weak smile, hoping to be reassuring but that wasn't something he was all that good at. "N-not be worryink, Yonk Soo, is okey! I just... er..." He paused for a moment, trying to come up with a better excuse. "I was just not preparet~ Is really goot!" In truth, the food was rather tasty, he had to admit. Besides, there was no way he could have been prepared for that... Yong Soo didn't know, it wasn't his fault.

The veteran cautiously rolled up another little bite-sized ball, pausing again to mentally steel himself for the taste-bud onslaught that he was about to face. Ivan popped it in his mouth and hoped for the best.

[yongsoo]

“Oh don’t force yourself!” Yong Soo cringed and got him another cup of milk as Ivan’s face turned crimson once more. “It’s okay. I know it’s really spicy. I couldn’t even eat it myself until I was like, fourteen. I just kinda forgot that you’ve never had it before. And that none of the foods you ate had any heat to them. Hold on a moment.”

He grabbed the bowl of daeji bulgogi and went back to the kitchen. Separating a serving’s worth, he quickly rinsed it under hot water. Blotting the damp pork with a paper towel, Yong Soo heated up a clean frying pan with some sesame seed oil. In less then five minutes he was back.

He offered a smile as he set down the modified dish. “Here, it’s still spicy, but it should be bearable for you now. Though, I’d eat it with just the rice and lettuce so the onions and chili powder in the dips don’t make it any hotter.” There was another large glass of milk though, just in case.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan felt the spice assault his mouth again before he downed another small quantity of milk offered to him by his adopted son. It had been a dumb idea for him to try and continue eating something he clearly could not handle, but... he wanted to make Yong Soo happy by eating the food he'd made especially for him to eat. He felt... a little bad for being unable to stand the spice. "But I-" he began to protest, but Yong Soo had already left the room with the offending dish. Oh no...

Luckily, Yong Soo returned with the food once more, only... it was a bit different this time. Aw, that was... so sweet of him to change it so his poor parental unit could actually eat it without it being torture on his tongue. Ivan smiled slightly. "Th-thank you, Yong Soo, you... dit not haff to do that for me~" He felt his face go a little bit bright as he tried the latest version of dinner (which was still a bit painstaking to wrap up into a ball, but he struggled through it.) This... this time it was much less of a shock to his taste-buds. The bit of spice that remained was more than tolerable for an aging man like himself that hardly ever had spicy food in his entire life.

"Is really goot~" he added, now rolling up another one of the little bites without a second though. The sesame seed oil really added something to it. Still, he felt like reminding Yong Soo how much he liked it wasn't enough gratitude for having been such a bother. However, Ivan made himself keep smiling because the food was indeed delicious.

[yongsoo]

“Thank you Ivan.” Yong Soo smiled, going back to his own heavily spicy meal. “I’m glad you like it.” It was sweet really, how the Russian forced himself to eat even when it literally painful to him. And a bit amusing to see him fumble with the chopsticks. Yong Soo wondered if Ivan had even noticed that he had placed a spoon down next to his plate originally. It would have been much easier for him then the chopsticks.

“I can cook more mild foods for you from now on. Like mandu, pajeon, kim bap, bulgogi, and stuff.” Mm, bulgogi. Now that he said it, Yong Soo was craving it. That dish was gonna be next on his menu. “They’re not spicy at all. Or at least, I can make them not spicy.” He would just need to remember not to serve Ivan any kimchi for a while and they were set.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan continued to smile and nod as Yong Soo listed off the names of foods that Ivan had absolutely no concept of. He had no idea what they were, but they did sound like they could be pretty tasty. Sadly though, he had absolutely no idea and would just have to trust Yong Soo's taste-buds. At current though, he was still trying to eat what he'd been given, which was very delicious. It was still a bit of a clumsy fumble to try and eat with the chopsticks, but he was slowly figuring it out. Ivan would get it down one of these days, he told himself.

After a couple of moments, having been reassured by his son that the next foods wouldn't be nearly so spicy, he killed the silence. "So... haff you hat any new upgrate ideas?" he asked, now that the topic of the dinner itself had kind of tapered off, or at least, he hoped it had. If he'd just interrupted Yong Soo's train of thought, he'd feel like such a poorly-socialized jerk. Normally though, he was always interested in hearing what kind of new things his son had come up with for bots. They were always so inventive.

[yongsoo]

Yong Soo looked up from his thoughts of marinated and fried meat, sucking on his chop sticks for a moment as he pondered.

“I’m mostly focusing on the animal themed add ons for the moment. You know, functioning cat ears and tails and stuff. I’ve been thinking up a lot of stuff lately, but now that I can function normally, I’ve sketching out logistical ideas and stuff. I think it’d be insanely popular given how well people respond to nekomimi. I already have the programming written out for predetermined cycles of movement. That’s what will be the default and for older models who only have the most basic personality settings. I’m working on getting the programming to respond to emotional settings of more advanced bots. You know, perking when set for happy. Drooping when they’re supposed to be sad. The tail should respond accordingly depending on the type, via a single transmitted from the ears. The ears will need to have plugs put into ports on the head. It’ll be a minor procedure, but something that will require the owners taking their bot to a designated shop to have the ports put in and to test that everything is working correctly.”

Yong Soo beamed as he took another bite of his dinner. Granted it was something that he had talked about before to Ivan, but it was also something he was finally hitting the good part of any of his projects. Yong Soo was finally at the point where everything was coming together, he was figuring everything out. It was the phase just before prototypes and test subjects.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan tilted his head to the side, making sure Yong Soo knew his father was listening as he explained the newest project he'd been working on. He'd heard mention of this one before, but he hadn't any idea his son was this far along with the concept. However, the veteran was still unsure how exactly to feel about the word "nekomimi". If he could guess, it sounded Japanese, something completely foreign to him. Oh well, it was probably best to just assume Yong Soo knew what he was talking about, considering he was a bright boy.

Besides, while he personally didn't care one way or the other about ears and tails on his bots, it sounded really marketable and those could be patented and sold to a third party company that would sell and distribute the product. One of these days though, Ivan was half-tempted to actually "start" an upgrade business specifically for those purpose so they didn't have to sell the patents. He'd thought about subtly selling them under the official D.E.R.P. label but... he wasn't exactly willing to tell Yong Soo that his beloved adopted father was running a horrible criminal organization that essentially murdered people by stealing their freewill and in the process of the conversion technically killing them. Yong Soo only knew that Ivan could create bots, not that he was the only human that could, let alone the one that invented them. The secrets he hated to keep. Ivan decided to just bring up the topic of actually starting their own "third-party" company later. He could probably even convince Yong Soo that he could get their products "officially endorsed" by D.E.R.P. to make them more popular.

"Goot, goot, you are always so quick with these thinks. Do you know what the final data-packet size will be already so we can classify it or is that still in the works?"

[yongsoo]

“Right now the basic data pack is coming up to about ninety seven megabytes. While the finished package is gonna be oddles bigger, I’m sure I’ll be able to compress it down into something manageable that won’t be too scary for possible buyers.” Not that Yong Soo really cared about how well something was received by the public. Well, that went about half way. He liked seeing his ideas being well liked. Yong Soo could never deny that the ego stroking of someone declaring his work genius filled him with some of the warm fuzzies.

What really gave Yong Soo a rush was figuring things out. Being buried to his elbows in electronics and programming, figuring out an entirely new way of thinking, solving the problem was where he wanted to spend his time. As long as he could spend all his time inventing and creating, he didn’t really care if he saw a cent come of it.

[Ivan Braginsky]

Ivan nodded once at the data pack size. That was an easily manageable size, especially for how much work Yong Soo already put into the programming, even if it was just the start and soon it would probably be a lovely project that would make all but those used to dealing with huge amounts of data cringe. Ivan was one such person who had no problems with that size. His personality models were easily a few terabytes, which for the average home computer a few decades previously, that would have been several times the holding capacity of the computer itself. It was a good thing bots, especially these days, had hard-drives that could hold a couple hundred terabytes, which was a necessity for their memory capacity. While size wasn't really an issue due to the hard-drive space, for some reason most bot owners balked at the idea of any data packs larger than two or three gigabytes. Ivan had no idea why. At least Yong Soo took that into consideration.

"Goot, is better to be more efficient with the space," he said, continuing to eat the much less-spicy-than-before meal his son had made. That was probably what bothered the customers, now that he thought about it. If something was too large, they'd question whether or not the space in their bot's hard-drives was being used efficiently or if it was just junk data taking up space. Ivan looked up from his food and gave Yong Soo a smile of approval.

[yongsoo]

Yong Soo smiled back. Popping another roll of cabbage and pork in his mouth, Yong Soo went on. “I’m gonna start off with cat ears. I’ve been spending way too much time watching cute cat videos on the web so I can have the prototype react realistically. I think that would be the most popular, followed by bunny and puppy versions. I can’t decide between breeds though. Right now I’ve narrowed it down between an American shorthair and a Siberian.” He hummed and sipped his energy drink. “Mainly it comes down to the tails really, if I wanna try with a fluffy one or a slim one. I’ll probably go with the shorthair version because it’ll look better on Jin.” The Chinese bot was still his first choice for any prototype experiments.