04 - Mulled Cider and Wine; Eel and Root Vegetable Hand Pies; Creamy Cod Chowder

[tisfinished]

1: The Milk Run, docked at Flotsam

Senshi seems unusually focused and far less chatty than usual as he serves up hearty winter fare; in addition to the headline items from this post's title, he has hot tea, coffee and cocoa available as well as pork pies and (as a vegetarian option) mushroom pies and an array of pickled vegetables.

He tries to be friendly as ever, but it's clear something weighs heavily on his mind.

2: The Vault's Practice Halls

Senshi is in need of a sparring partner. He's practicing with axe and shield - curiously, practicing with a cage strapped to his chest - and the poor wooden practice dummies he's been whaling on have been taking a serious beating.

"Think maybe I need an actual opponent," he says, his voice unusually clipped.

3: Solstice Gift-Giving

Beware: if you've done any kindnesses to the weird dwarf that loves to cook with monster meat (even more so than most Flotsam pirates, at any rate) then you're liable to find a box outside your home or apartment door wrapped in a ribbon.

While there is no name identifying who could have left them, the fact that they are exquisite, frosted gingerbread monsters narrows down the possible culprits significantly.

Comments

[tisfinished]

He nods.

“That’s a good start. Need to get used to moving in this rig again.”

He braces himself.

“When you’re ready, Rezo.”

[tisfinished]

“Vault has great greenhouses with ether-powered sunlamps for most of our staples,” Senshi says, “with almost everyone who can tend to ‘em having little gardens and a chicken or pig or two.”

He indicates the sugar lumps, and his coffee. “For delicacies like these we buy em, openly or on the black market - which is what the Milk Run is for - or else the Flotsam fleet does a bit of privateer work against Imp freighters bound for a count’s feasthall. We grow and buy much more than we steal, but some things we can only get through piracy - almost always stuff no commoner of the Empire will ever see, much less taste.”

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[spacetogrow]

Ilhpyl nodded. "I hate that fact. I know they aren't my people, but I think about the sort of people I grew up with. Most of them just were looking after themselves and their families, and that makes it easier to just go along with the people in charge. And they don't really control who those people in charge are, or what they want."

[theriflespiral]

"... Hm. About what I expected. I sailed on the Mad Archer for a few months after I landed on her. Long story. I just wasn't certain how much was piracy, and how much was more normal logistical means." Well, that certainly explains her ability to buy delicacies like refined sugar.

"But as for normal purchasing channels-- I know that some of us pose as delivery servants." Natalia paused. "I think we could potentially get a lot of information about the Empire's movements if we went from posing as couriers to being couriers. I... Might need a proper airship, under proper Imperial flags, but... The ability to literally fly with Imperial blessing and send things where they are needed-- that could be invaluable.

"And otherwise, run packages and shipments, and keep track of what the Houses are doing. It's... Ambitious, I will admit, but..."

[tisfinished]

“But it’s a good plan if it works,” Senshi says, stroking his beard. “Once you make a name for yourself, I’ll talk to the folks that got me the Milk Run, see what I can do.”

[theriflespiral]

Natalia nodded, setting the cleaned cups in the drying rack. "Thank you. ... Though."

She pauses. ... She has time. "Brooding over Solstice?"

She can relate.

[harlequinchimera]

She nodded at this, emphatically.

"Honor is something I understand very well, to my very bones." She looked sidelong for a moment, a small frown on her face and she gave a slight tilt of her head.

"If I found myself in such a mission, I would do as you plan to do, to make the operation as clean as possible and see just how many of the team and support could be liberated. But I admit, it would still bite at me."

She pauses and shrugs, giving a characteristic movement of shoulders and wings.

"It still does."

She nods to the second and chuckles. "It is worthy work - I've seen fish prepared enough times for storage and for table, that I can offer advice, even if I can actually eat them on their own." She gave a very bright and toothy smile. "Until then. I wish you success."

sorry for the late reply, holidays ate my brain

[thunderwarden]

"Aye, good enough reasons, I suppose." He leans back from his meal. Cid's still not certain he'll ever feel properly fed again, after the Empire had its way with him. "You've been with the Corsairs long enough to recognize a new face, then, or are you just that good with voices?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link's expressions are never easy to read. His face tends to be largely blank, his thoughts and feelings only noticeably to those who are very good at reading micro-expressions - or who know him well.

But perhaps Senshi will still be able to pick up those faint hints of sympathy and understanding on Link's face, as he nods his understanding.

"Bad memories," he says softly.

He understands those. All too well.

[tisfinished]

"Hrm," he says.

Then, "One of my missions is, basically, trying to save folks from what happened to me. Mines are a dangerous place, even more so when your employers don't care about you."

[tisfinished]

"Getting people out will be the hard part," he agrees. "Much happier being the fleet's victualler than their demolitions expert. But duty calls for both."

He does manage smile at the fish talk. "One kid was astounded that smoking a fish was an option. Figured out it's because of his impatience - it's a day's worth of smoking, and he has places to go and people to duel."

[tisfinished]

"The only reason I didn't starve was because the others insisted on feeding me first," he says. "I was the youngest."

He cuts a wedge of nut bread for Link, and one for himself.

"To eating," he toasts. "The privilege and duty of the living."

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[tisfinished]

"Sounds like you've thought about this. Reaching the people who depend on the enemy to survive, I mean."

It's possibly the greatest problem facing the Corsairs, in his mind.

they tend to do that, no worries

[tisfinished]

"Been working with the Corsairs for a long, long time," he says, with a laugh. "Longer than the Empire has been pulling in outworlders for their dirty work. I wasn't half as handsome or good at cooking back then, of course, and the Milk Run is new - salvaged after our first decisive victory against the Imp fleet."

[theriflespiral]

"... I see." What would someone like her even look like in this world? She paused to consider what might have been done to them to forge such a weapon.

... She did not like the idea of what stared back. "I-- am too cold, I think, for such work. I speak in... Tactical considerations. Careful assessments. Not talk to stir a heart.

"But I can tell you that you can. You have." The other steel cup rises to join its sister on the drying rack. "And you're right. Someone has to."

[tisfinished]

"...Any time you're in the area and need a hot drink, or a cool one, stop by," Senshi says. "Didn't set out to be a talker, but in this case, they'll know I know what it's like below in the dark when the canary you keep with you keels over."

[theriflespiral]

Natalia scoffed. "Only hot, I think, for a good while. Thank you, for the talk. May my gift bring joy. To many, but you especially."

She bowed, politely, and was careful to keep the hatch as shut as possible against the freezing rain that had started up outside.

Now... Where to next...? ... The Bloody Bun? ... Fine. She would go.

[upupatomway]

"Dragons burps are flammable?" Atom laughs. "It makes sense, but it's kind of funny to think of dragons breath that way!" He grins, imagining a burping noise playing over the scene of a movie about dragons.

"It sounds like you know a lot about monsters. Does that have to do with the time you were learning to cook from scratch in the wild and "dungeons" as you once told me?" The only reason Atom hadn't thought these were prison dungeons was because of the conversation context, Senshi's character as he knew him so far, and some conversations at home with friends who played fantasy games.

[harlequinchimera]

Oki nodded, looking a shade more somber at the first. "I could not say which of my duties brings me greater or lesser happiness. Truly. I do my best to keep my emotions from affecting my work, but that's not always cut and dried, in what I do."

She gave a shrug. "Lifetime professional, after all."

At the change of subject, her manner softened. "Smoking, frying, even treating the meat like cutlets. There's even a condiment made from a long fermentation of it. Smoking brings out its own kind of flavor, and it can be a true delight."

[redprayer]

Rezo steps lively over to the training dummies and taps one, then another, with his staff. He mentally recites most of the spell but speaks the power words aloud:

"{Cio Anima!}"

With the creaking and groaning of shifting wood, the two dummies begin to twist and reshape themselves until they are balanced on a pair of crude wooden legs. Although the sight may be alarming, Rezo's word holds true and they do not attack anyone when they begin moving properly.

Instead, they begin doing a wobbly series of twirls and box steps around the room, as if dancing with a set of invisible partners.

[thunderwarden]

That gets a chuckle from the old soldier. "I don't believe that for a second, stunning mug like yours? Bet you can't keep the ladies away."

He gives a look around the modest floating establishment. "And a fine addition to the fleet she is." And then he smirks. "Grub's good enough, at least. I'll have to keep you around." He offers the dwarf a gloved hand. "Name's Cid, by the way. Cheers."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link's no stranger to hunger. In those early days on the Great Plateau, he hadn't yet remembered how to hunt. How to forage. What foods were good to eat, and what weren't. He'd had to relearn that, so there were definitely a few times where he'd ended up hungry.

But there was something truly terrible about that hunger being inflicted on someone else. Not just the result of poor circumstances by change, but of deliberate neglect.

He makes a soft noise of agreement, as he raises his own cup in response to Senshi's toast. Then falls silent for a moment.

Zelda would know what to say. How to use her words to emphasise with Senshi, to speak about the wrongs that were done to him. Link's not Zelda. He never knows what to say; he only knows what he wants to do.

"...I always have food," he says. An offering; Senshi could always come to Link, if he was hungry. Link would be happy to share.

Re: 1

[spacetogrow]

Ilphyl shrugged, than shifted uncomfortably. "The place where I grew up had slavery, too. It wasn't everywhere back home, so it stood out more that my people did it. So I'm trying to use that to help here, and take what I learn back home."

3

[relentless_sentinel]

Nephenee's absolutely been around Senshi enough that once she recognizes that they're big mean critters, she can make a decent guess at who made them.

And oh, they're really, really good!

Well, he can't be the only one to give tasty gifts! Not too long after, there's tall, leggy lancer poking her head into his ship-store's doorway, a gingerbread horse-looking thing conspicuously poking out of her mouth, and she calls out. "Fmfhe, m-..." Wait, cookie in mouth... "Senshi, ya in here?"

[tisfinished]

"There were plenty of critters like that in the ether mines, but yes, most of these are in dungeons warped by magic. You know, they got called that because the early ones we found were wizards doing it on purpose with the actual dungeons of their towers, but the name stuck."

He bites off a gingerbread mimic claw. "Learned respect for them, out in the wilderness. Which isn't to say they weren't good eating, or useful for a whole bunch of other things."