Sequel of the main story.

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Art by  itsdhani
Written by  samuel_maggis

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"And you're sure that is what Leo said to do?" Bon crossed his arms, a stern look on his face as he leaned back against the kitchen countertop. Sweat ran down his brow and he paused to dab at it with a handkerchief before tucking it back into the front of his apron and his eyes return to Jason who stood in front of him. Something felt a little off with the way that he was talking almost as if there was more than what he was letting on. He hadn't known Jason to lie about anything maybe it was just his imagination.

"Yea! He said that we need to learn more about each other so that I could shoulder some of the work load if you ever need help while cooking." He scratched the back of his head a bit before shifting away from the counter to step forward. He supposed it made sense, but why him?

"That's fine and all, but why not Rai or Shynjy? Couldn't they be just as helpful in the kitchen?" Jason gave a shrug of his shoulders as he stood there looking almost like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Well... between you and me I think that Leo doesn't want Shynjy anywhere near the kitchen after last week with the cleaning chemicals and the open flame?" Bon grimaced at the memory. It'd almost been a disaster with that one. He could understand why Leo wanted to keep him away from any containers of flammable chemicals and a stove that could produce the spark.

"Well... alright then. I'll try to teach you what I can, but it'd take weeks to get you ready to make a meal by yourself."

"Isn't there a faster way? I mean I still have to patrol everyday." Bon scratch under his chin for a moment as he thought about it... though he knew it was unlikely he could progress fast enough to cut down on the time needed unless he was already a gifted chef. Taking a look at the wolf from head to toe, he seriously doubted he was any kind of master chef and even less so had a true affinity for cooking, but he did seem eager to learn.

"No... unless you're on a steep learning curve it's going to take time to get you get to do anything by yourself, hopefully it won't come to that." He could see the wolf's shoulders slump a little before they tightened right back up. He was stubborn he could give him that an admirable quality for someone who had to learn how to do something as complicated as cooking something edible for an entire household.

"Well... alright, then I think we should get started immediately. I only have two hours until I have to start my next patrol so we'll have to get cooking." Bon held his hand up as the Jason stepped forward, pushing back the sleeves of his shirt. He had a confused look pass over his face briefly before it vanished. "What's wrong?"

"First off, this isn't some quick guide to being a chef. I have to teach you everything I can which means it's very time consuming so don't expect me to shuffle around my schedule for you because I also have to cook the meals for the day too, but now I have a new job and that s teaching you how to cook something without burning down the kitchen. To start off..." He reach into the front of his apron and pulled out a small elastic band and placed it in the wolf's hands who looked at it curiously. "Tie your hair back with that. You can't be getting hair into the food it's not something you want people finding in their soup or in a pitcher of water."

A frown spread over his face as he began bunching up his hair a bit and started pushing the band up to hold it securely, making sure to tug on the band and twist, turning the slack into a second loop which he fitted his hair through. It felt weird having it tugging his hair into one spot, he usually preferred having it untouched because his scalp was sensitive, but if he was gonna learn how to cook he figured he should play by the rules. Once that was done Bon turned and moved over to a corner where a handful of stark white aprons hung on hooks embedded in the wall. He picked one up and casually tossed it to Jason who immediately put it on.

"Don't ever let me catch you working in the kitchen without either of these. Head of security or not I don't want you thinking you're above following the rules." He nodded his head to show that he understood. He wasn't one to deviate from the rules even if he did look a bit silly wearing this apron and hairband. When he was given a once over and deemed ready, Bon gestured for him to follow. The stopped at the counter first and Bon began pulling out various cooking instruments and utensils explaining everything in great detail about what it was called, it's purpose in the kitchen, and the appropriate time to use it. He had to admit that from the outside cooking seemed fairly easy, just following the steps from A to Z in a cookbook, but this was opening his eyes to a whole other world that what he imagined.

To anyone else this might seem like an overwhelming about to learn, but to him it was a challenge. He wanted to see just how far he could go and how good a chef he could be. He made sure to remain absolutely focused on what he was being told. When they stopped in front of the stove he almost felt an urge to raise his hand it was an odd feeling. "Excuse me, but when do we start actually cooking?" The question made the boar pause and turn around a glint of curiosity in his eye.

"What? getting bored of my lectures already?" He shook his head quickly trying to reassure him that he wasn't bored or unhappy.

"No it's not that, I was just curious is all." Bon gave a long stare and it might have made anyone else flinch or look away, but he wasn't unnerved that easily. After a couple minutes of this showdown of stares he turned around and gave a gesture towards the cabinets and refrigerator.

"Well... I suppose I've lectured enough for today. we can make something simple for dinner today to help get you settled in and we can work on more complex dishes in a while." Jason gave a short nod, even though Bon's back was turned to him it was almost an involuntary response to let someone know he'd heard them. He'd begun the task of opening cabinets and pulling out several sheathed kitchen knives, a food processor, a wood cutting board, and olive oil. "We're going to be making pasta today and we'll be making the tomato sauce from scratch. It's a fairly easy dish, you just have to be mindful of what you are doing."

Even while explaining Bon was opening the fridge and pulling out a sealed container full of fresh ripe tomatoes with a beautiful scarlet red color. "Normally I like to skin the tomatoes, but that can be a bit tricky with tomatoes so we'll wait to try that later on. They already have had their seeds removed so all I need you to do is start chopping up the tomatoes, but first we need to wash our hands." He gestured towards the sink and began making his way towards it. After making sure both of them had scrubbed their hands he moved back towards the tomatoes and opened the package pulling out one of the bigger ones and setting it on the wooden cutting board. "What I want you to do is simple. While I get the stove ready for the tomatoes I want you to cut them up for me. First you slice off the top, getting rid of the stem like so..."

Bon pulled out a gleaming and razor sharp knife from it's holder and sliced quickly through the top just an inch below the stem. "It's important to make sure that your knife is sharp before you start cutting, otherwise it makes the task of cutting them harder and it's dangerous to your hands if the knife slips you don't want to put too much pressure on the knife and if it's kept in good condition you won't need to." His eyes never left the cutting board as he spoke, turning the tomato to the side he sliced it almost entirely in half before turning it again and slicing again it into four large pieces before placing them in the food processor he set up. "Just like that ok? I want you to do that to twelve more tomatoes while I am working and then I will show you how to blend it."

Jason nodded his head while he watched, eyes fixated on the knife and how he was cutting. It seemed fairly easy, but that knife had to be handled carefully. When he was handed the knife he reached into the container and grasped a tomato. It wasn't as big as the one Bon had cut, but it was still fairly juicy looking and he got to work, trying to slice off the stem as he'd been shown. The knife slid into the tomato seamlessly easily parting the stem and he turned the tomato before pressing it into the side, splitting it in half. Minutes ticked by slowly as he cut each tomato into fours like he was shown, even though it was fairly easy work he found himself working up a small sweat, unused to this range of motion that he'd been repeating several times now, but each one he seemed to get the hang on it a little more.

It wasn't long until he had all twelve chopped up and sitting in the food processor awaiting the next step. When he turned around, a faint aroma wafted up from the direction of the stove, it stung in my nose and he could recognize the scent of chopped garlic even from this far. There wasn't very much, but it was strong enough to be noticeable. Bon was emptying the diced pieces of garlic into a pot on the stove before turning a small knob on the stove. When he turned around his eyes moved towards the chopped tomatoes and be strolled forward, checking them for any stems that might have been missed. Satisfied with the way they turned out he turned to face Jason who was watching almost nervously awaiting on what to do next.

"The tomatoes look good, now it's time to actually blend them up, but we don't want to puree them" His fingers hovered over the buttons of the food processor before he found the low setting and pushed it. Immediately the machine came to life as it started grinding up all the tomato pieces inside. The noise was almost overbearingly loud in the previously quiet kitchen. "You start on low first to blend dice up the big pieces, then you switch to high to finish up, but remember we don't want to blend it so that all the tomato pieces are gone."

After a few seconds Bon slide his hand to the right and pushed another button and immediately the processor picked up in intensity and noise. The pieces of tomato were rapidly becoming a fine looking paste, but when he turned off the blender there was still a couple pieces that somehow managed to survive the process, albeit smaller than before. detaching the contained from the rest of the machine, he moved back towards the stove, gesturing for Jason to follow. Once at the stove he grasped a large wooden spoon and began stirring up a green mixture of olive oil and garlic pieces. By now they've had a little time to heat up so he began emptying out the sauce into the pan while stirring slowly. "Look over to your right and pass me the diced Basil. That goes in next, then we let the sauce come to a boil."

Jason turned his head to where he was gesturing and found a neat pile of diced bits of what he assumed was basil. That was another skill he'd have to learn, being able to pick and choose herbs and other ingredients based on sight and smell rather than having someone hand hold him through it all. It has almost a sweet smelling aroma, like mint or lemon, but somehow different. Scooping the basil up neatly into his hands he handed over the herb carefully and watched as it was spread out over the top. "Alright, now this is the easy part. I need you to stay here and watch the sauce until it comes to a boil, then cut back the heat and let it simmer. I will be back over here in a few minutes to check."

Jason turned his head to look at Bon with a bit of confusion "Wait... you are leaving me alone?" He shook his head and pointed over towards the opposite side of the kitchen where a stainless steel sink and counter stood along with a few other machines.

"I'm not going anywhere, I just need to finish making the noodles and then we can get dinner ready to serve." He wasn't so sure about being left to his own, but he wasn't going to argue. Taking ahold of the stirring spoon his eyes drifted to the mixture in the pot and remained there. The minutes ticked by slowly and he did his best to remain focused on the pot which very slowly it was heating up. Tilting his head up a little his eyes found the knob that controlled the temperature and found that it was set to medium in temperature. He scratched his head thinking back to what Bon had said about bringing the sauce to a boil.

"Maybe it'll start boiling sooner if I cut it up just a bit before I let it simmer..." He mused quietly to himself as his fingers reached out and grasped the knob. Turning it slowly he changed it from medium to high. Satisfied with what he'd done his eyes returned to the mixture to watch. Sure enough a couple moments later it started boiling. At first it was just a couple bubbles here and there, but soon the entire surface of the bot was bubbling with burning hot tomato sauce. His eyes lit up excitedly as the bubbling grew as he reached up to start cutting the heat back when his hand froze.

Just along the edges of the pot the sauce began to darken in color almost to the point it turned black and in a panic he cut back the heat as low as he could and began stirring it. The more he seemed to stir though the more of the dark orange sauce began to bubble up. This didn't seem like it was supposed to happen and he cursed silent at himself for not following orders. The first thought in his head was to try and do something to hide his mistake, but it was a childish thought, one that he let go as quick as it had come. There was no way he could do something like that, it was unbecoming for an adult to do, even more so for one who is supposed to be in charge of security and keeping everyone safe.

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts he didn't hear Bon come up behind him. "How is the sauce coming along?" The voice made his fur stand on end and he took a step back to look at him. He wasn't sure what to say so he simply stepped aside and let the chef take a look for himself. When Bon stepped forward, his eyebrows raised up in surprise. He'd burnt the sauce? how did he even manage to do that in such a short amount of time? It wasn't that hard to follow his directions was it? So how in the world did he burn it? A deep sigh made his chest shudder and he cut off the stove. Behind him he heard a low voice.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to burn it. I thought I was following your instructions." Moments passed by quietly, but with a thick tension knotting up Jason's shoulder as he waited to be scolded on his actions. Each minute that passed he was almost afraid to see his reaction and hoped he wasn't anything like Kage. The level of anger that panda had could scare almost anyone.

"It's... my fault for not being specific on what to do. I should have made sure to tell you exactly how to finish preparing it, but.... it's ok we can always make more and this time I will be here to watch what you do." He was almost speechless at what he'd be told. He'd expected to be scolded, not to have the chef blame himself. It went to show that he took his cooking seriously. It was truly an admirable quality, one he hoped he could learn from and become a decent chef as well.

"I won't fail again. I will do everything you say without question." Bon's shoulders shrugged slightly before setting aside the burned sauce and retrieved a fresh pot from the cabinet and set it down.

"You weren't the one that failed. Let's get started." It took another thirty minutes to get everything finally prepared. With Bon's help he finished cooking the sauce after cutting up another dozen tomatoes and ground them up with the processor. This time he wasn't as nervous because the steps were the same as last time, but with a guiding hand to make sure he didn't mess it up again. Even though he felt guilty about burning the first batch he knew there was little point in dwelling over it. The point of this was to learn from what he'd done wrong and to correct himself for the next time.

Finally everything was prepared and ready to serve. The sauce was sitting in it's own pot on a silver platter while the noodles which had been cooked while we'd worked on the sauce now sat in a large ornate silver bowl with a top on to keep the pasta heated. Jason felt a hand rest itself on his shoulder and he turned to look at Bon who had a smile on his face. It brought on a great sense of relief for him knowing that he'd done well, but it felt even better to see him cheer up. "You did better the second time around. If you keep this up I am sure you could start making these meals all on your own."

Returning a smile he shook his head while lifting the pot up by the handles, ready to carry it into the dining room. "I don't know about that. I doubt anyone here is as good a chef as you, even if you did train them yourself." There was a glimmer of amusement in Bon's eyes as he simply shrugged and carefully picked up the still hot bowl with a pair of oven mitts and turned towards the doorway.

"Well let's get on out there. I am sure you're eager to sit down and actually eat the food." With a nod they both began heading towards the door.