Finally, something to eat...

[Mareth]

Mareth followed the badger Rue down a torch-lit corridor, apparently headed for the kitchens. His stomach was empty; he hadn't eaten for a day or so. It growled loudly, and Mareth smiled, embarrased, and explained.

"I believe that the last time I ate something save travelling rations was almost a year ago," he said. "I could use a square meal."

The otter Ananka followed behind him, and Rue turned a corner, emerging into a large, low-ceilinged (sp) room. It was lined with ovens and counterspace, and inresparced with barrels and crates and sacks of food supplies.

Mareth looked around the room, and his stomach growled again. He grinned slightly, looking to Rue.

"Well, Rue, lead the way."

[Chicory Rue]

Rue turned around to look at Mareth, neither stopping nor slowing her pace. "A year ago?" she said, visibly perturbed. "Well then! It's high time you had some decent grub. This way, please."

The badger picked her way along the horrendous clutter of the barracks, slowing often to detour round somebeast's forgotten shield or spear, lying carelessly thrown on the ground. Several times she walked right over the debris without even noticing, treading right over (and squashing) a stuffed pigeon, a very worn leather-bound journal, and several mismatched candlesticks. Frowning a bit at the mess, she finally managed to extricate herself from the jumble, looking behind her to make sure that Mareth had done the same.

Finally, she recognized the corridor that lead to the kitchens. Rounding a corner (nearly killing herself by stumbling over somebody's abandoned fork), the badger stopped breathlessly before the door of the kitchens. Relieved that they had arrived at last, Rue stopped to let Mareth enter first. "Well, after you, mate."

[Mareth]

Mareth stepped in before Rue, and immediately began to look around the kitchens. It simply made him hungrier to see all of the cooking supplies stocked around the room. He turned to Rue.

"So, where do we start?" he asked with a small smile.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue stepped over the threshold after the otter, grinning at the expression on the otter's face. She hadn't been particularly hungry before she had entered, but it was amazing what a few well-placed aromas could do to a beast's appetite.

She smiled. "Wherever you want. Tell you what. Let's set up a table and have a proper feast, shall we?"

[Ananka Spela]

Ananka trailed behind the other two a bit. She was having a difficult time trying to avoid tripping on forgotten shields, candlesticks, and other debris and trying to look around at the walls and numerous corridors leading off in several directions. It was a pretty easy route to remember; go through the barracks, turn left at the second corner, and proceed down the short corridor to the kitchen door.

She followed Mareth and Rue into the room and took a deep breath of the delightful aromas. She was so wrapped up in the delectable smell that she didn't notice that Rue was saying something.

"Wherever you want. Tell you what. Let's set up a table and have a proper feast, shall we?"

"That sounds like a pretty good idea, that does. What can I do to help?" she said, slapping her hands together in a gun-ho fashion.

[Chicory Rue]

Rue looked up at the arrival of Ananka. "Greetings, Ananka!" the badger said brightly. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to get here. Come in, come in, the more the merrier."

Rue wracked her paws, looking lost for a brief moment, then straightened up, grinning. "Actually, Mareth and I were just in the middle of moving this table out onto the floor. Perhaps you could help us? Now, if you lift that corner over there, and I take this side..."

[Ananka Spela]

Ananka stood in wonder at the badger named Rue wracked her paws, her face looking a bit... lost. Just when she was going to ask what was the matter however, Rue spoke up.

"Actually, Mareth and I were just in the middle of moving this table out onto the floor. Perhaps you could help us? Now, if you lift that corner over there, and I take this side..."

Ananka grabbed the left hand corner closest to her as Rue went over to the long side opposite her. She figured Mareth was supposed to get the other corner so she waited for the other otter before she applied any force.

OOC: Sorry for the short post, there's not much to work with.

[Chicory Rue]

OOC: Don't worry, I know what you mean. In fact, I'm not even going to make a new post until Mareth does. Unless you want a one-sentence post.

[Mareth]

OOC: Argh! I'm so sorry; I totally forgot about this. I'm reading this book for my AP European History class, and I have to answer about a hundred questions on it, and write an essay, and I'm trying to do the Tournament, and Adael, and still find time to write for fun..... Heh, I'm a little swamped.

Mareth moved over to the corner of the table that he was supposed to be shifting. The otter Ananka gripped another corner, and Rue took a whole side of the table to herself. They all lifted on Rue's count, and swung the table out towards the center of the room. They set the table down, and it landed with a dull *thud* on the stone floor.

"So, what do you propose we make?"

OOC: Wow. This is too short... Argh.

[Ananka Spela]

OOC: Well, you can't exactly go into too much detail moving a table

BIC: Ananka helped Mareth and Rue hoist the table onto the floor. It was a lot lighter than she thought it would be, considering it was a very large slab of wood with legs. Once the table was in place the other otter, Mareth spoke up.

"So, what do you propose we make?"

Ananka rolled her eyes up as she thought about the question at hand. Normally she would just shug and let someone else decide, but this was the first non-dehydrated meal she'd be having in quite some time. "Meat is good. Cheese is good too. Maybe an apple." Giving up, she turned to Rue. "You got any ideas mate?"

[Chicory Rue]

Rue set the table down as gently as she could so that it came to rest with only a slight thump. She wiped the "sweat" off her brow (even though there wasn't any), winking at Mareth and Ananda as she did so. She exclaimed loudly in a tone of mock defeat, "Whaw! My, goodness, my old bones really are getting old- I nearly collapsed just lifting that old table off the floor."

Just then, Mareth interjected, "So what do you propose we make?"

The badger's air of tired bewilderment dropped instantly and was replaced by a rather thoughtful expression. She listened to Ananka before speaking. "Hm, I dunno...yes, meat is good, and cheese is good...I know! What do you say about making a nice batch of double-cheese meat loaf? I've got the recipe in my head, and it's not that hard or long to make."

[Mareth]

"Wow," said Mareth. "I do not believe I have ever had that before..."

He hadn't. Most of the food he had eaten back in Regalia had consisted of fish and bread. Green vegetables didn't grow in the dark expanses of the caves, and the grain used for the bread had to be grown using specially designed lamps. The fish had been plentiful, however, due to the multitude of rivers that flowed through the caverns.

He looked back at the other two, waiting to see what Ananka thought.

[Ananka Spela]

Ananka thought for a second about Rue's suggestion. It definetly sounded good. Almost like the pinwheels that her father made when she was a kid, only minus the bread. They spent hours in the kitchen making a weeks rolling up big slabs of dough covered in meat and cheese and making them into loaves. She could almost smell the (she almost laughed at herself for thinking this) homecooked memories (she laughed out loud anyway).

"That's a good idea Rue. It's almost like something my dad and I made back home." she quickly explained what pinwheels were exactly then set to work helping find igredients necessary to make the cheese meatloaf. "Cheeseloaf." she chuckled, "And I thought I heard everything!"

[Chicory Rue]

Rue listened as Ananka rattled on about something she called "pinwheels." The badger smiled and nodded as the ottermaid spoke, taking it all in with interest. When Anaka finally stopped talking, Rue stood up.

"Why, what a lovely idea! Perhaps we could somehow combine the two dishes- which would take more imagination than I possess." She looked at the other two thoughtfully. "Any ideas?"

OOC: Aaack! I've been doing nothing but short posts since I first posted on this thread. My apologies, but it's been pointed out before- there simply isn't that much to go off of.

[Ananka Spela]

Ananka was already thinking of ways to combine the two ideas. It wouldn't work with a lot of bread, but Ananka had plenty of talent in the kitchen and knew exactly how to pull it off.

"Ok, my mother used to make meatballs and, well, the secret ingredient that helped the meat to be, er, flexable, was, um, well....breadcrumbs. Don't tell, it's a family secret. So anyway, we could make the meatloaf flat instead, like a rectangle and cook it. Then we smother it in cheese, wrap it up and put in the oven a bit longer just to melt the cheese. That's about it, and you still have you meat, cheese, and bread. It'll be like a Yule Log!" Ananka clapped her hands. Then she realized how much she knew about cooking. Weird.

"Alrighty. Mareth, you grab the breadcrumbs please. Rue, could you please find the meat, and I'll find the cheese and a cookie sheet and get started."