Piss and Vinegar (Darya)

[Rowana]

Hoayamae had had enough. How on Pern was she expected to feed so many mouths like this?! She knew they were doing their best. They had to keep secret and acquiring large amounts of food or supplies was risky. Seriously though, did they have any idea how difficult this was? Nothing irked the old cook more than having to serve inferior fair, but that was all she could do with what she had. How she longed for the days at Selenitas with a fully stocked kitchen and half a dozen staff at her call. Life hadn't been perfect their either, but at least they had tithe trains that came more often than not.

Mae sighed, shaking her head as she began to go over the supplies to see what could be made for dinner. She shouldn't be so hard on them, she knew. Maybe it was the long months in exile and the recent tragedies that were getting to her. It pained her every time death took someone so much younger than she. Faranth knew it wasn't fair.

A sharp cry made Mae look up, just in time to see Nhim and Tae blast over her head and into the store room. "Shards and shells, you hoolagins!" she shouted, even as the pair began a contest to see who could dodge the most jars without knocking one over. "What have I told yah about playing in here! You'll break something!" Too late. Nhim's larger wings proved his undoing as a half full bottle of vineger crashed to the floor. Mae shook her fist in fury. "Of all the..." she fumed. That was all they needed on top of it all. Supplies destroyed by insane pets.

[Kisha-Ra]

As if in response to the curses erupting from the kitchens there was a counterpoint of humming, slightly off key and not really recognisable as anything but noise, accompanied by the sound of wings. The sound of wings was easily explained as first a positively tiny green firelizard zipped around the room, paused momentarily above the shattered bottle and puddle of vinegar, then flew on to complete the circit her eyes darkening with displeaure at the spillage.

Following the firelizard more sedately came a razorclaw, one who’s wide wingspan and unique patterning marked him as Darya’s Vrae, and where Vrae was the bluerider wasn’t normally far away. So it proved this time as the off key humming grew louder and the pale woman strode into the room, rebounding off the doorframe as she staggered under the weight of her burdens, and, to judge by the scent of cheap wine, not a little alcohol.

Oblivious to the winged creatures in the room, the broken bottle, and Mae’s probable mood Darya dropped her burdens, a small sack and a smallish yet apparently quite solid deerlike creature that had been slung over her shoulders. The creature at least had been bled out and neatly gutted but that didn’t seem to make the meaty thunk the headless cadaver made as it hit the floor any better.

‘Supplies have arrived!’ The bluerider annouced cheerfully. ‘Let’s see what we’ve got in the magic bag.’ The woman stooped neatly and managed to pick up the sack again without landing on her face, though she did wobble quite alarmingly. ‘There’s some... tubers.’ Said tubers were fished out of the sack with a florish more appropriate to a great foodstuff. ‘Some carrots... wild onions... and a few other things I picked up from a cotholder or two, mostly in the way of herbs and whatnot.’ Apparently Darya had grown bored of waving her prizes around because she let the sack slither back down to rest on the ground at her feet. ‘Take some advice, don’t try the wine in there, it tastes remarkably like cat piss. But it was free, apparently he made it himself, and it certainly tastes like it.’

[Rowana]

Mae was a more than a bit startled by the sudden noises behind her and the appearance of yet another winged trouble maker. She had a brief moment of wondering if those horrible cave creatures had managed to tunnel in here to eat her, when Bit sailed into the room. "Look here now," she began with a frown. "Don't you start too!" Nhim, who had stopped his game to stare forlornly at the mess, gave Bit a sorrowful chirp. It was Tae's fault, he relayed. He'd been flying to fast. Tae for his part, didn't really care about the drama going on, since to him it was Nhim's fault instead. He was much more interested in trying to entice Vrae into a flying contest of their own. Fire lizards were no challenge, but another razorclaw! Here was a chance to show off his skills in the air!

Distracted, Mae whirled when Darya spoke and nearly jumped. Regaining her composure, the old cook crossed her arms and began examining the other woman's acquisitions, as if nothing at all was wrong. "About time," she grumbled. She didn't seem to notice Darya's wobbly state being much more interested in the state of the food. Herbs would help flavor their meals away from the blandness she'd had to serve lately and the meat looked fresh. It would make a good stew or roast if she got to work right away. "Wine?" Mae looked up from her thoughts with a frown.

[Kisha-Ra]

Bit’s eyes took on an orange light as she gave the scolding woman a glare. She wasn’t doing anything yet. She could if the fussy human wanted to yell though, the green made the generous offer of mayhem in clear images of things smashing from a position hovering above a shelf. It seemed rather silly but she could if the woman wanted something to yell about. Vrae loftily ignored the smaller razorclaw’s baiting as beneath him and clacked his black tipped beak as he looked for a place to perch, his mother was just too wobbly to perch on today for some reason.

Darya ignored her pets on the basis that they weren’t causing trouble yet, and on the basis that she probably couldn’t do anything about them anyway, instead concentrating on Mae, purely because the woman actually seemed half interested in the contents of the ‘magic bag’. ‘Yes, wine. Or alleged wine anyway.’ The bluerider repiled, sniffing to express her opinion. ‘It’s in the bottom of the sack. Tastes bad, probably not worth cooking with.’ Darya fell silent, looked around the room, and then turned her attention back to Mae. ‘Can I help with anything? Or anything? I can’t be trusted with actual cooking but I can chop things pretty well. Unless I miss.’ Apparently even a brief exposure to alcohol was making Darya randomly chatty.

[Rowana]

Hoayamae glanced up briefly at Bit's images. That little pest better not think of trying that! She considered yelling at the creature again, but decided if she hadn't acted yet that she probably wouldn't understand. Turning back to the more immediate conversation with Darya, Mae tried to put images of crashing pots out of her head. Eying the bluerider's unusual mood suspiciously, Mae reached down to pull out the wine and sniffed it. She wrinkled her nose at the stench. Did this even qualify as wine?

"I take it you tested this?" Mae asked reasonably. If Darya was drunk, than helping in the kitchen, much less with knives, was probably a bad idea. Shrugging, she started collected what she needed to make dinner. "Well, if you want to help, you can start by carrying the carcass to the kitchen for me. I think we'll have roast for dinner, or maybe stew." Mae pondered that as she waited for a response.