Usagi Zenko arrived just as the Jade Sun began to peek above the horizon of the ocean, ready and willing to share in the duties of the galley. He had with him three small bottles of spices of differing colors, rolled up in a small band of cloth to protect the glass bottles. He had a smile on his face, and on entering the galley he looks about, hoping he hasn't come too late to perform his duty.

For a moment it looked like the Usagi had, if anything, arrived too early. He didn't hear the tale-tell sound of cooking in the kitchen in the back of the galley. It wasn't until he heard some very colorful cursing coming from the kitchen followed by the clanging of a pan.

"Kami blasted contraption! Hasn't worked right since the last gunso, may his girth leave him stuck in a doorway, stuck his nose in my business and mucked with the Admiral's meal. Showed him though..." The talking fell down to mutters once more.

"Hello!" he bravely exclaims, walking towards the kitchen, bottles in hand. "Something the matter?"

The voice immediately goes quiet and several seconds later a slightly red-faced Supaisu sticks her head out of the kitchen and looks at Zenko.

"Oh, samurai-sama. I did not know you were there. My apologies." She bows deeply to him. Her voice has gone from annoyance and rage to submissive in a matter of moments. "The stove is not lighting properly. I am afraid that this one has spent much of the morning fixing the problem."

He shakes his head. "May I try to help? Meanwhile, if you'll decide what we'll be preparing today? I have no clue how to prepare proper rations for a crew, nor how much to utilize in doing so, nor what the Captain prefers." He smiles... "So if we can agree that you're in charge of the kitchen and I'll do my best to protect us from the wrath of hungry samurai by placating them with my inexperience should the stove not light this morning, we may just get through this." He says in a quick rush of words, handing her the bottles of spices and moving to the stove.

"Let's see..." he starts examining it, to try and guess how its normally lighted. "Oh, those are the spices. Pick one if you would that the kitchen could use the most. All three are equally precious to me, and so you'll not offend me, whichever one you pick," he says offhandedly, concentrating on the problem before him.

Supaisu quickly steps out of the way. "Of course, Samurai-sama. I would not dare to stop you. I already have the rations picked out. Just need to get them cooking." The cook was still keeping her head down and her tone submissive despite the Hare's smiles. Still, she takes the bottles eagerly enough and begins to look them over and give them experimental sniffs to determine their potency.

The stove itself was something Zenko had never seen before, looking more like it was meant to break down walls than cook a meal. There were also several spiky bits that the Hare wasn't entirely certain needed to be there. All in all though after a minute of examination he figured out where the wood went to burn and heat up the stove. There were a few singed pieces of wood in the fire chamber already and Zenko could tell the fire wasn't getting hot enough.

(Give me a Perception/Investigation roll. Or an Intelligence/Cooking roll. Your choice.)

"Hmm..." Zenko reached in tenatively to adjust the wood a bit. "Well how about this. If I'm in danger of doing anything that would destroy the ship, destroy the meal or hurt either of us or the rest of the crew, you have my full permission to tell me to stop. I'm new here and you have the knowledge that'll keep everyone happy." He smiles again looking up to the cook. "Or at least well fed, which is a big step, no?"

He looks over the stove type device again, working on the thought that it had to be designed to cook food.

Given permission now, Supaisu nods some. "Hai, samurai-sama. I will be sure to keep you from burning the rice." She smiled slightly.

There were only a few reasons that a stove wouldn't be generating enough heat. Mainly that it wasn't getting the air it needed. In an enclosed stove there were only a few places where the air could come in and after a brief examination Zenko could tell that something had clogged up one of the vents meant to pull air in to get the fire hot enough to cook. He couldn't quite tell what might be blocking the vent without better light, but he could reach in and grab at whatever it was easily enough.

"Hah, something clogging up the air vent." he comments. "Do we have any scoop for the ashes or anything?"

Smoothing out the front of her uniform, Nozomi steps lightly into the kitchen. Fidgeting with a lock of hair, she looks curiously at the Hare who seems rather focused staring at a part of the stove.

Not wishing to interrupt whatever it is that he is so intently doing, she remains quiet.

"Should have figured." Cook grumbled before stepping up to the stove and grabbing the fire poker that was hanging on one side. She handed it handle first to the Usagi then looked up at the Shiba. She tensed up for a moment and bowed deeply to her.

"Is there something you need, -sama?"

Zenko accepted the fire poker, then put it inside the stove, in effort to move whatever it was that was blocking the vent out of the way.

"Oh... w-well. I was w-wondering if you would l-like any help?" She offers nervously, making sure to keep her bangs low over her eyes.

"I'm t-told you d-do an excellent job on the m-meals... ano... and I've b-been meaning to learn a th-thing or two...

She's somewhat distracted by the Hare jamming a poker into the stove. Usually a fire needed stoking, yes... but not with quite so much concern written across one's face.

Whatever the obstruction was it took only a few jabs before it began to break apart. Apparently some ash had managed to clog the intake but the Usagi managed to clear it quickly enough.

Cook looks at the Shiba carefully, she gives the woman a once over and frowned a bit. "Morning isn't the best time to try learning cooking, samurai-sama. If you want to learn I can teach you well enough but best to learn the basics when we aren't so busy in the kitchen."

Relieved that it wasn't a ferret, the Usagi continued clearing the vent until it seemed there was nothing major remaining. He then examined the other vents as best he could, to insure they were clear.

The rest of the vents in the stove were smaller secondary vents, but they all looked clear. It would probably be a good idea to get the ash cleaned out of the stove soon though.

Zenko nods to himself and Cook, "After breakfast, would you remind me I'll need to get the ash out of the stove? And probably where it fell out of the vents." He offers another smile, "but now we should hopefully be able to light the fire and get breakfast started."

Looking a little disappointed, but hiding it fairly well, Nozomi nods her understanding.

"Is... Is there a p-particular time that would be bu-best for that sort of thing?" She steps deftly out of the Hare's way as he moves away from the stove.

"I don't w-want to get in the way of one's d-duties, of c-course... and I'm m-more than willing t-to help out doing th-things here and th-there in the mornings so that it's l-less of an additional b-b-burden..."

The Shiba seems worried about upsetting the cook. She is, after all ... the cook. All sailors know you don't aggravate that particular individual if you don't have to.

His nose twitches a bit. "Maybe you can be our water guard this morning?" He nods to the nearby bucket. He looks to Cook a bit for approval, as he's already fallen into the teacher/student scenario.

Supaisu glanced at the Usagi with a raised eyebrow. "Eta usually deal with the ashes, Usagi-sama. We can just call one of them up to take care of it. If you'd get the stove started up though I would be very grateful Usagi-sama."

Cook turned her full attention to the Shiba then. "Midafternoon or so would be best, samurai-sama. Though whenever you're not on duty is fine. There isn't much to most other meals so it'd be a good place to start for someone just starting out." Cook paused and looked from Mouse, to the Usagi, to the stove. "Or, you can stay here and man the bucket, just in case we get a fire. Keep an eye on us as we get to work."