singillatim | Start carvin', darlin', I want to smell the dinner cookin'

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Start carvin', darlin', I want to smell the dinner cookin'

Who: Senshi and YOU
What: Senshi has arrived with ten rolls of dragon ham. He will NOT let it go to waste. Hence a small feast for all - if you can stomach the idea of eating monster meat.
When: Late July
Where: Milton Town Center

Content Warnings: Mild concern over the threat of starvation and Senshi’s worry over it. Will update if needed.

When it became clear Senshi’s party is not here in this frozen town and land Senshi goes to work. He has ten rolls of dragon ham and it’s pointless to let it spoil on the off chance Laois and the others appear. It takes a lot of work, if only because Senshi is unfamiliar with some of the herbs used here. Being an eternal land of winter, there is little to go on with veggies, let alone fruit. It takes him a while to learn the general wildlife here. Whatever monsters are here are just too dangerous and too powerful to overcome and kill; as a result, to Senshi’s dismay, he’s down to just the most basic of meals. He’s proud of making elaborate meals with limited resources but even this strain his talents.

With the help of the locals he starts off with a shabu-shabu hot pot, an idea he once considered when he joined the group. Dragon meat is juicy and thick, not unlike steak but with a different smoky flavor unique only to red dragons. With thinly cut slices paired with burdock roots, turkey tail mushrooms, and fish Senshi caught he can say he at least made it nourishing. He thinks the dragon meat alone can account for the savory flavor. With the amount of people in Milton this dish would account for five rolls.

But a simple hot pot is just not enough for Senshi. With the remaining five rolls Senshi cut them up in smaller pieces and cooked the sausages first in cooking oil. After cooking the dragon meat thoroughly he removes the meat and pours in whatever alcohol he came across. Add in the sausage and the alder catkins and let it simmer. When done Senshi places them on a plate where he cuts them up in smaller pieces for people who aren’t interested in the hot pot.

Senshi desperately wishes for some flour so he could make some pizzas like he did last time. Alas it’s not to be. Instead he goes from table to table to check up on the people eating. It might be a lot and there’s a good chance there are some leftovers, but it’s more important people are fed. “How is it going?”

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If there is free food on offer, you can trust that Chloe will be there immediately. Now that the dark fog has been rolling in it’s easier for her to go out during the day, and this is exactly the way to enjoy that chance while it lasts.

“This is great. You had all this with you?”

“That’s right. I was preparing these dragon hams when I found myself in a cave. I was afraid they might spoil so I figured to go ahead and use them up.”

Well, it’s not the whole truth. Senshi could easily freeze or salt them for his private use, but he’s not comfortable with using food so selfishly. Not when there are so many young people here.

“Still, it’s not as fancy as some dishes I made in the past, so I made do.”

“You should come by my place at the farm sometime. We’ve got a little operation up there growing some vegetables and herbs, if you like cooking.”

Then the rest of that finally registers. “Dragon hams?”

“Really? My thanks.” Senshi bows his head slightly in gratitude. With an operation like that lessens Senshi’s worries about eating nothing but meat.

“That’s right. Before I came here me and my party fought a red dragon. We nearly died but we killed it before it became the end of us. Made a victory dish out of it. Possibly the best meals I’ve ever made, if I’m being honest.”

He knocks on the table in thoughtfulness. “When I made the hams I wasn’t sure if my party and I could eat all of it during the travel back home, but I suppose it’s better it ended up here. So many thin faces here…”

“We’re always cutting it close here - even before the disaster they were - but things got really bad last summer and I don't think any of us want to see that happen again.”

They’d all come close to starving back then.

“Dragon, though?” She can't hide a smile at that. “That’s so fucking cool. My mates back home would be so jealous.”

“Ah, well, we did it under the mission to rescue a member’s sister. We did not done for the glory of it.”

Senshi considers what Bigby said earlier and what the woman here is saying now. “How bad are we talking about? Last summer I mean,.”

“Bad. The sun didn't come out for weeks. Plants withered, game retreated… we were living off preserved food looted off a group that used to live in Lakeside.” There are a lot of long stories here. “People started talking about letting some of us starve. People were killing each other.”

Senshi is very quiet. Too quiet, even. He remembers how starvation changes a person, to see things that aren’t there. How quickly one can turn on their friends. “I see,” he starts. “That sounds…terrible. How fortunate there are still survivors here. I take it the sun came back but how you manage to recover from such a tragedy?”

“I don't know that we ever did,” Chloe says thoughtfully. “The trial these people held afterward for the people they wanted to punish nearly tore this town apart.”

“A trial?”

Senshi hates to think this way, but this is worst than what he experienced.

“You said people were killing each other. It’s not of case of…getting food in other ways, is it?”

It’s hard to believe that Senshi can’t say it out loud but it is truly is the worst case scenario for anyone, especially in a town like this one.

“Not for everyone,” Chloe says with the careful neutrality of someone who had done the thing that he's afraid of and never faced real consequences. “But some. We were cursed at the same time to be angry and violent, so some people died in fights.”

This is bad. Senshi hasn’t really comprehend the dangers of this place until now. And whatever the Darkwalker has proclaim, Senshi knows he’s here for a reason.

“Well. I’m glad I’m here in a way. This is the kind of thing I help to prevent. It won’t be easy with this many people, but I’ll make sure something like that will never happen again.”

The dwarf looks almost feverish in his determination. The part that makes food his entire existence takes over it. There’s a light in his eye that only reaffirms his determination.

“Good to hear it. That was the worst it ever got, and I don't think anyone wants it to happen again.”

Except the Darkwalker, maybe.

“There’s a talisman that protects against some of the influence we felt then. I don't know who does them now, but I'm sure someone at the community centre will know.”

“I like to see these talismans. I once warded away some ghosts by conjuring up some holy water in a jar, though I accidentally made sorbet that way. I don’t know if that’s possible with the Darkwalker, but it could be effective in other threats.”

And then Senshi realizes something. “Forgive my manners, I just realized: I don’t know your name.”

“Oh yeah, the food was so good I forgot.”

Chloe gives the guy a winning smile.

“Chloe Frazer. I'm somewhat of an adventurer myself, though I can't say I've ever killed a dragon.”

“Ah, well, most adventurers don’t want to tangle with a dragon, so no judgement there.”

He reaches out with a meaty hand. “Senshi.”

With great reluctance, Chloe puts down her cutlery to shake his hand.

“Senshi, good to meet you. I bet lots of people will be happy to have a guy like you around.”

Eddie already distrusts Methuselah’s stew. He has it in his head that the people who disappear from here go somewhere, and the old man’s presence is suspicious…but a guy still needs to eat, and Eddie is already about as thin as a rail. But he’s not picky and at the end of the day, food is food, and he’s put worse into his body.

But it doesn’t mean he’s not a little curious. When Senshi approaches, he’s squinting at the meat in the hot pot. There’s a lot of meat in this meal, and it looks and tastes quite a deal different from the usual deer and rabbit.

“Fine,” he replies vaguely, clearly distracted. Before Senshi can walk away, though, Eddie’s shaggy head pops upright as if it’s only just hit him that someone is actually there.

“Hey! Hey, uh, quick question, though. What is this? Like, it's not...people, right?"

“Oh, no, of course not.” Unless it has already happen and no one is talking about it. This puts a nasty feeling in his belly. “This here is red dragon meat. I was preparing it where I was from, until I was yanked to the cave yonder. Fortunately the dragon meat came with me.”

Senshi gestures to the hot pot. “Go on and take a bite. I know it doesn’t look like a typical hot pot, but I threw in as much as I could.”

Eddie doesn’t mean anything by his implication that they may be eating other human beings, but he feels like it’s better to expect the worst and be comforted when it’s not quite so bad. He’s just an anxious person, and Senshi does a hell of a lot better soothing his worries than Methuselah ever did.

“Seriously? You've gotta let me in--how did you take down a whole dragon?”

He snorts, but a smile pulls at the corners of his mouth. It’s not mockery or even disbelief. After all, he can believe just about anything at this point. If anything, there’s a twinkle in his eye that just wants further confirmation.

Eddie has never actually had hot pot, so he has nothing to compare it to. He really would still be living on frozen dinners and fast food if he had the choice, but he digs in all the same (despite the dragon meat), and his eyes light up.

“Dude, you’ve gotta give the old man some pointers. This is incredible.”

“Not easily,” Senshi says as he sits down next to the young tall-man. He’s young clearly, and is likely still growing. And being so thin makes Senshi’s heart ache. “We initially blew up a building and try to pin it down by the weight of the rubble, but the dragon was a lot stronger than we realized.”

Just remembering how the dragon flung most of the intact building off its back was both incredible and terrifying. He will never forget it.

“So that plan went haywire. My good friend Laois had the idea to fling himself on the dragon’s head to attack its weak spot under its chin, the inverse scale. He lost a leg in the process, but Marcille managed to reattach it. Made a meal out it soon enough.”

He points to the dragon meat. “This meat came from the dragon’s thigh. I originally tried to get the ribs but I accidentally lit up its fuel organ and blew up the dragon’s innards instead. Had to get creative after that.”

Eddie continues to eat while he listens intently, eyes wide and bright and full of wonder. It’s clear that he’s genuinely interested in what Senshi is saying, and he doesn’t doubt a word of it. He’s been here for long enough to know that there are all sorts with a variety of backgrounds, and a dragon doesn’t sound particularly outlandish in the grand scheme of things.

Also, Eddie loves dragons. He loves all things considered “fantasy” in his world. Honestly, he has a bit of Laois about him, minus the obsession with eating monsters, and his grin only widens as Senshi delves further into his tale. To him, between the dragon and the reattached leg, the entire thing sounds like a D&D campaign come to life, and that plays right into his interests.

“Metal as hell, dude.”

And he clearly means it as a compliment.

“And is that…unusual where you’re from, or is everyone walking around munching on dragon thigh all the time?”

Senshi sighs melodramatically as he takes a bite of a sausage. “Alas, no. Most people just kill monsters on sight while dungeon diving and not see the nutritional value in them. If anything they get a little squeamish at the very idea of it.”

It’s sad, really. The food he cooked up while going after the dragon was possibly the best he made. Even Marcille, who was the loudest in her protests on eating monsters at every meal, accepted the meals in grace.

“But eating monsters gives you insight to them you never thought possible. I’m always reevaluating a dungeon’s ecosystem or a monster’s behavior when I see one. It’s a great passion of mine.”

Eddie takes note, pocketing the concept of monsters as food for his next D&D campaign. He typically plays by house rules, but as far as he’s aware, there’s nothing in the rulebook that says the non-venomous ones weren’t edible, after all. It’s a good way for players to further interact with the environment and make things feel a little more lived in. Thank you, Senshi.

“I mean, I’m not gonna say it doesn’t seem a little weird at first, but uh…“

He prods at the dragon meat with his spoon, then shrugs and takes another bite. It’s not exactly what he’s used to, but he can find nothing wrong with it. It’s tasty, better than the frozen dinners he’d be putting into his body if he were back home, and god knows what’s actually in those. He’s young enough to not worry about those things, and he never stopped to think about it.

“Eventually food is food, right? May as well make use of it if it’s there.”

Can’t be too picky, to a degree.

“What else did you make meals out of? You said you were dungeon diving, so…I. can only assume there’s a lot down there.”

Senshi beams. It makes his heart soar to feed the young ‘uns but it makes it even better when they get curious over monsters.

“All kinds. I’ve been at it for over ten years now. Some of the more common monsters like Walking Mushrooms and Slimes are easy enough to dispatch once you know their anatomy. There were other monsters you can’t eat but use them for other things, like golems. Once you plant ‘em the golems can do the hard work on maintain them. Krakens are too bitter to eat, but they have giant parasites that are just as edible, though you have to cook ‘em all the way, lest you get the parasite’s parasite.”

Senshi appreciated Laois’s love for monsters but sometimes he acts a little too recklessly when it comes to food safety.

“But like I said, you learn new things every day. Never thought one can eat Living Armor until you learn they aren’t some magicked suits of armor and instead are colonies mollusks who use the armor to move around.”

Once more, Eddie listens with genuine intrigue. It’s not necessarily the eating of the monsters that gets him, though that is quite interesting. It’s the fact that at least in someone’s world, all these creatures truly do exist—and then some! He’s featured living armor in his campaigns before, but the concept is quite different, and moving via colonies of mollusks have never been a thought in his mind. He does grimaces at the thought of eating a parasite, though, his thoughts going to tapeworms and similar creatures more than anything.

“And, uh…can you eat the parasite’s parasite too?”

He means it as joke, but one never knows…

“My friend Laois - the one who jumped on the dragon’s head - got a little enthusiastic about the giant parasite and ate it raw. He got a parasite out of it and spent the night with food poisoning.”

High intelligence, low wisdom.

“Still, the things I’ve learn in the dungeon might apply to here, though I can’t say it will be successful. Aside from the Daywalker, have anyone experienced ghosts or spirits?”

“Oh, dude. All the time.”

His eyes are wide and serious.

“I was gone for awhile but, uh, I heard a lot about a ghost bear when I got back? Ghost dogs, ghost stags…There used to be literal ghosts of people on Aurora nights, but I haven’t seen them in a long time. Stick around long enough and you’ll definitely see some kind of ghost.”

They keep seeming to meet around food. She smiles to him with her serving in front of her. "Better now." It's a more general answer, compared to when they had first met.

"You made all of this?"

“That’s right. I have all this red dragon ham, and it’s just too much for me to eat alone but not enough to last for everyone. Best to have a small feast about it.”

He offers her a bowl of the red dragon hot pot. “It’s not as good as some of the dishes I made in the past, but I made do.”

"Wait. Dragon ham? You must be joking, right?" She takes the bowl and tries some with an eager smile. "Whatever it is, it's really good."

“Nope. Me and my party recently defeated a dragon to save someone, and made a victory dish of sorts to celebrate it.”

Senshi sighs dramatically. “Hot pot and sausages aren’t exactly a nutritious meal together, but I’ll try better next time when I find better ingredients. I wish there was some flour nearby so I could make a pizza out of the sausage.”

Mild Clair Spoilers

"Really?" Her eye is wide with interest. She's never fought a dragon, they're probably too cliche for Clea's standards, but she would if she could. "You're serving everyone dragon and you're worried about nutrition?"

“Nutrition is everything, especially in a place like this.” Senshi just learned the horror stories of when people starved in this place. “It doesn’t take long for people to become ill or unwell in the mind if they don’t have their nutritional needs met. I wished I had more veggies to balance out the meat but I made do with the stuff I found on my own.” Mushrooms aren’t enough. Cabbage, carrots, onions - anything like that would made this hot pot better.

“I just learned there is a farm that grows some herbs and vegetables, so I’m going to head over there and make some plans. Wish I learned of it before I made this dish, but you win some and lose some.”

"You mean Chloe's greenhouse?" She hasn't seen or heard of anything else around that might be a farm. But then again, she hasn't explored everywhere just yet. She takes another spoonful of the food. "I don't think anyone's going to complain that you're feeding them free food. Even if it's missing a carrot or onion." Even with her hoarse voice, she still makes it sound so matter of fact. They can just eat a carrot later to balance it out, it's not a big deal, surely.

“I’ll be honest - I really don’t have much to trade other than cooking. Old friends of mine would get on my case on not telling the difference between ores or know much about smithing.” It’s no wonder his ax shattered when going up against a dragon. In hindsight Senshi is lucky it didn’t shatter before the dragon. “From what I understand it a lot of people are not happy how last summer tragedy spell out. I don’t think this community can handle another blow like that.”

"Last summer's tragedy..?" It stops her from taking another bite. "What do you mean?" She hadn't heard anything about it. But then again, not everyone likes talking about tragedies.

Senshi may or may not have noticed the large, fluffy cat that's been watching him closely for the last few minutes. Sometimes people drop food when they're cooking so when she heard someone in the kitchen she went to investigate.

Rorschach is not one to turn down a free meal, not in this place where every last bit of food always counts. Besides, anything that can permeate the thick double layers of the fabric of his mask and still smell good is clearly worth taking a look at. He observes the different offerings for a moment, first the hot pot and then the sausages.

He nods politely to Senshi even if he doesn't say anything. Sorry, fella, he will talk to you once he's had something to eat. He hasn't met the man before, though Rorschach as the town eccentric is hard to miss with the mask he wears given the black dots that move around on it of their own volition.

He comes close, gets some food, and then pulls back a little again away from anyone else who might be around. It's rather like feeding a stray feral alley cat given his caution and wary nature. He pulls his mask up just enough so he can comfortably eat.

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Start carvin', darlin', I want to smell the dinner cookin'

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