Sebakhin took his time strolling around and observing the tables. There were lots of ingredients he hadn’t ever seen before, and he found the red color of the soup both intriguing and mildly off putting. Perhaps it was one of those things that would taste better than it looked. With a prize on the line Seb couldn’t really refuse a try. “This is an, every man for himself, scenario?” He tilted his head at Zoe, if allowed he would much rather have a partner to help make or break the attempt. Seb hadn’t ever been talented in the kitchen, probably due to his general lack of domestic qualities.

(( Figure I would use the same HA as the camping one... cuz technically it is the same evening right? ))

"Ye can work in teams if ye want," Zoe said with a smile.

The smells wafting from the ingredients made Toru's nose crinkle adorably as they approached the tables. Several of the items were recognizable, but some of them were foreign. Regardless Toru did enjoy cooking, and as long as a recipe was provided they could accomplish the task. Potions was their favorite class and soups were basically delicious potions, if you really thought about it. Regardless they pulled a cute apron over their sweatshirt. "Z-Zoe i-is there a r-recipe t-to f-follow?" The Hufflepuff asked softly.

Toru did glance at Seb and hoped he didn't ask to be partners. Hopefully Lily or Flora intercepted him as they seemed to have a crush on the foreigner, leaving Toru to politely ignore him instead. Or maybe his friend would want to team up?

((OOC: I couldn't find a starry sweater that worked with layering with an apron...So use your imaginations. ;) ))

Lily sauntered in with her dog Marko. She looked around wondering if she should have any culinary prowess or not. She wasn't great at cooking, but it seemed fun. She grabbed a pot and hoped she wouldn't set fire to people...or tents...

"Oh, sorry," Zoe said blushing as she realised that she hadn't given out the cookbooks. "Here ye go!" She put a pile of them on the table.

Seb reached for a cookbook, flipped a few pages, then snapped the cover shut with a sheepish grin. Speaking the language was one thing, reading the written language was another. He wondered where Nefri had gone off to, she was always better at following instructions anyway and usually kept Seb in line when his mind had a tendency to wander. The only other participants hanging around so far were Trou and Lily. "Er, either of you want a sous chef?" Maybe following directions wasn't his forte but he was pretty decent with a knife.

"A soup chef?" Lily asked Seb. "Aren't we making a soup?"

Toru took the book from Zoe with a smile and moved back to their station. They were honestly still cross with Seb and it would take quite a bit of work to get them back to friendly with him. So the smaller student was glad when Lily spoke up.

They carefully flipped through the instructions for the soup and meticulously began prepping their ingredients.

"Er, yeah. An assistant soup chef." Seb grinned at Lily with a shrug. If she didn't want or need his help it was fine. Maybe Zoe would let him help judge the food in the end. Although he probably wouldn't be able to vouch for its authenticity having never tried Borscht before.

Lily hadn't heard the term but she grinned at Seb. "Sure I'll help. I'll likely burn the place down if left on my own." She chuckled but it was fairly accurate.

Ivy had spent much of her day in Hogsmeade hanging out with the younger Quidditch players on their day off. She divided her time by shopping with a girl from Team India, having lunch with some of Team Japan, and drinking Butterbeer with the charming young men of Team Greece and Team Russia. After a long bath and an even longer nap, she was energized and famished. She headed down to the Great Lake knowing that there was food to be had and students to mingle with at the school's camping social.

Four people and a dog were gathered near a cluster of tables and campfires. Ivy sauntered toward them and smiled as she got closer. She approached the adult first in hopes of getting a feel for what was going on. "Hello! I'm Ivy, from Ilvermorny."

((OOC: Hi guys! I really wanted to pop in on a mini-term RP but I'm afraid I won't be able to reply much, if at all, because I'm going on vacation tonight. Get well soon!))

Seb grinned at Lily "OK, OK. Hey, let me handle the fire then, alright?" He held his wand at the ready. "Just tell me when to light it." Glancing around the workstation he started to familiarize himself with possible ingredients. There were so many vegetables to choose from. Beets of course, along with tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and onions. Along with a slew of spices who's names he couldn't begin to guess. Surely the lemon and apple basket was decorative and not meant to be used in the recipe...

Looking up Seb found a new face among the small crowd and grinned back at her when she smiled. "Hey there. I'm Sebakhin Omari. This is Lily and er, sorry I don't know you're dogs name." He grinned at Lily now, apologetically.

((Have fun on vacation!!))

"Hello," Zoe said to Ivy. "Nice to meet ye. We are making Borscht if ye want to give it a go."

"Ooh I didn't know you cook with a wand," Lily said shyly. Now she was sure she'd destroy the place. "How do I know when you light it?" She bit the side of her lip. "I can cut veggies and stuff up too."

Lily blushed at the introduction. "Yes I'm Lily," she said to the older girl. "This is my dog Marko. It's okay."

Toru glanced up from their pages when they heard a new voice approach. It was a very pretty older student. "H-Hello," they mumbled shyly. After the incident with Seb earlier and getting scolded by Blade they had decided to give up the ghost of being more adventurous with strangers and shrink back into their comfy shell.of shyness. Of course it was rude to just say hello so they followed up with a small, barely audible squeak. "I'm T-Toru."

They moved to begin chopping the vegetables listed on the recipe. The Hufflepuff was used to helping their mother cook, when she let them, so their knife work was fairly uniform and they didnt manage to cut themself. Manami Mizushima would be proud of their child.

Seb grinned at the dog as if the animal cared or knew he had made a social faux pas. "Right, Marko." Seb lifted a brow inquisitively at Lily. "The book doesn't tell you when?" He tilted his head much like a puppy who was trying its best to understand. "Well, if it's a soup. Maybe we put some liquid in and then light it, how does that sound?" He wasn't an expert in the kitchen but he had enough sense to know burned vegetables probably wouldn't taste the best.

"Huh?" Lily asked. "No... it says cook on medium heat." She nodded. "That sounds like a plan." She smiled. He seemed to like her dog too so that was a bonus. "I think we'll have a good soup when does."

After shyly retreating from some lukewarm conversation in the freezing lake Phlox had elected to take a muggle tent so she could be by herself and give up for now on that friendship thing. Instead she had spent the day at the crafts table, thankfully ignored by the upperclassman who had also stationed himself there, and painting watercolours of the campground landscapes. The views were beautiful, and with such a nice reference she had done several that she was fairly proud of.

When there was food to be had she had had some, though she had preferred to avoid the socialising taking place around the campfire. However, Zoe had called everyone who wished to over to join a cookoff, and she had felt it would be churlish not to mention boring to disappear into her tent for the rest of the evening. She was good at cooking; she wasn't likely to make a fool of herself. So after putting her plate in the proper location to be retrieved and cleaned, she headed for the cookoff.

She approached quietly, recognising Lily, who she had talked to earlier, and feeling quite awkward having retreated from their previous conversation. Hopefully she could just work on the opposite end of the table. She picked up an apron -- a nice minty blue floral one that matched her dress -- and walked over to a free station, catching Zoe talking about borscht. She had never had nor made borscht, but she had made vegetable stocks and stews before, so it couldn't be difficult.

She also noticed as she took her place that Lily had a dog. That was another good reason to keep away. Even a service animal was likely to take an interest in her, and that was sure to call attention. She would just have to make sure all interactions with the dog nearby were brief, so any curious sniffage couldn't be called out as too curious. She figured out where to clean her hands -- she didn't actually have a wand yet, the orphanage didn't buy them them until they were about to go off to Hogwarts and learn how to use them properly, and the thing she was perhaps most looking forwards to was cleaning spells -- and then set to work finding the recipe, reading it through fully before starting, and then beginning to prep her vegetables once she had a thorough understanding of the task at hand.

Lily spotted the girl she met earlier in the day and waved to her. It was a strange name that Lily was struggling to remember. Marko gave the girl a glance that sort of looked like a stare but Lily shrugged it off.

Oh dear. Lily waved at her. Phlox raised her hand to shyly wave back, noticing that under the table the dog was staring at her. Great. What would happen if she was found out before the school year even started? A trickle of fear ran down her back. She couldn't think about that, she would just fall apart and it wasn't guaranteed to happen anyway. She would just have to hope people continually waved off the dogs' attention. She took a measured breath.