WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? OUR TALES RIVAL JUST TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE!

[bloodisthicker]

[...so, uh, that was a thing that happened. Tarrlok was completely ready to do the politician thing and come up with a speech or something for most of whatever the hell that excuse for a trial was, but everything got all confusing, baffling, and horrifying and completely inexplicably, he can't find the words.

Maybe he just... needs a day. Tomorrow will probably be fine. For now, though, Misa volunteered to make brownies, and he was going to make a Northern Water Tribe comfort food specialty.

...even if they only had shortening and not actual animal fat and it'd been a while since he'd made it, but it tasted... alright? Definitely not as good as the stuff back home, but it was hard to get that good, anyway.

...there's also the matter of setting things up in a location other than the dining hall, because even though that's cleaned up, it still feels pretty tasteless to hold a wake literal feet from the place you found someone's bloody corpse.

So, a little later on in the day, a lovingly personalized note will be slid under everyone's doors:



And if the Survivors choose to head to the library, they'll find a... well, okay, it's a bunch of boxes from the storage room of comparable size stacked up on each other to kind of resemble a table. The dining hall ones don't even seem like they'd fit in the library, so Team Afterparty clearly had to improvise. One side is filled with plates, bowls, and spoons, and the other is filled with brownies, cookies, and a big bowl of berry aqutak. There are also chairs dotted throughout the room in a sort of vague circle --- close enough together that if people want to talk, they can, but far enough apart that it'd be easy to drag it off for some privacy.]

Comments

[bloodisthicker]

[One of the party's hosts is... in and out, really, because he's trying to figure out what the fuck he can do better with the damn aqutak. why couldn't they just have a fresh arctic hippo or camel yak carcass lying in the kitchen so he could make the good stuff.

...he's occasionally sitting on one of the chairs and eating a few bites of it with a really dissatisfied expression, even if he seems to... have completely different looking aqutak every so often. He keeps experimenting, but it never tastes right... should he cut trimmings off the steaks? Would that fat even be good in this? He just doesn't know.

At least fretting over the food keeps him from actually thinking about that mess of a trial, because he really doesn't want to talk about it.]

[cherryblooded]

[Someone notices, and speaks up after a while.]

Swear that you've made five different versions of that dish by now. What's it called?

[bloodisthicker]

...it's admittedly a bit difficult to get it the way I want it to taste.

[HE'S BEEN TRYING...]

Anyway, it's called akutaq, and it's a Northern Water Tribe staple. Usually, it tastes a lot better than this, but there's not enough decent animal fat around to use, so I've been having to make do with shortening.

[cherryblooded]

We all make do in hard times.

[These times are definitely hard.]

I think it tastes pretty good, personally.

[bloodisthicker]

Well, I'm glad to hear it's a hit with someone, at the very least. I figured it'd probably go over alright with people who don't know what the real thing's supposed to taste like, and it's still pretty decent comfort food.

It's just not what I grew up with, that's all.

[cherryblooded]

Makes all the difference, doesn't it. Everything tastes better with a filter of nostalgia over it.

[No wonder he can't settle for anything less.]

[bloodisthicker]

There's nothing like fond memories of the good old days, you know?

[...or at least the little things that kept you going in the, uh, "good" old days.]

I'm sure I'd never really be able to get as good as my mother's even with all the right ingredients, though.

[prismbloom]

Not having any luck, Tarrlok?

[bloodisthicker]

...it's that obvious?

[he laughs a bit bitterly.]

I don't know how everyone else is liking it, but it just won't taste right to me. And it probably never will, short of the Kingmaker deciding to provide us with a large, freshly-hunted mammal.

[prismbloom]

A fair bit, yes.

[ That's certainly something she's never heard of. ]

What did you use, then?

[bloodisthicker]

I used the vegetable shortening they have here, which I'm absolutely certain is the problem. I've heard it's been used as a substitute when people have made vegetarian versions for Airbenders and other people who care about that sort of thing, but... it definitely doesn't have the same taste or consistency.

[prismbloom]

Vegetable shortening is a far cry from what you'll obtain from animals, I'm sure.

[ She's got a bowl of it, though, and tries a bit of it. ]

It tastes very good. It's not what you're used to, but I like it.

[bloodisthicker]

That's what I've been hearing, and I'm at least glad it's going over well with everyone.

...

Does it taste comforting, though? Back home, we make it all the time... but we try to go all-out on the comforting, home-y aspect for funeral dinners.

[lackinginfaith]

This is from the northern nations, isn't it? I've never been. [pause] ...Then again, our worlds might very well have completely different countries.

[bloodisthicker]

Well, I'm originally from the Northern Water Tribe, but given that all the other things are completely different, I'd be kind of surprised if the countries weren't.

I've at least noticed some equivalents from what I've been observing, but even then, I don't think they're all that similar.

[lackinginfaith]

Equivalent how?

[bloodisthicker]

Hm... well, not everyone has a name that feels familiar to me, but a lot of the names I have seen remind me of Fire Nation names? Things like Yosuke and Megumi and the like.

That, and the fact that apparently some of the other worlds have Zodiac animals assigned to their years as well... that's the sort of thing I wouldn't expect my world to have in common with others, but it's interesting that it does.

[lackinginfaith]

It's more common in some cultures than others. I had to look it up when I left my country to see what I was. We have something different, assigning colours to the day of the week you were born. There's no prize for guessing I'm purple, by the way.

[bloodisthicker]

Really? And here I was thinking I was clever for figuring it out, as it seems like it would almost be impossible to guess.

[...he's laying it on so thick.]

But no, color coordination is certainly a thing where I'm from, too, although it has nothing to do with days of the week and everything to do with elemental affinity.

[notjustawriter]

Hey there, Tarrlok.

[Gabriel looks like he's trying to fake being in good spirits. Surely this is a good sign.]

That food you made for us, what's it called?

[bloodisthicker]

[avatar wan's mystical teapot, hopefully he doesn't look like that because of the food.]

Well, back home I'd call it good old fashioned Water Tribe comfort food, but the actual name is akutaq.

[notjustawriter]

Akutaq.

It's pretty good.

Y'know, I'm not much of a cook, but I could probably cook up some good New Orleans food for y'all. Bit of a thank-you, and a sharin' of cultures.

[bloodisthicker]

Well, I'm glad it turned out well. It's not how it's usually made, but if people who don't know it already are enjoying it, that should be fine.

...that sounds pretty interesting, actually. What kind of food is that, usually?

[notjustawriter]

There's a few different things I could cook you. Gumbo-- that's a stew served over rice.

Then there's Jambalaya-- has some of the same ingredients as gumbo; onion, celery, red bell pepper. They're both pretty good. I'm not much of a cook, but I could give it my best shot.

[bloodisthicker]

...those do sound like they're worth trying. And hey, there's not much else to do here on a day to day basis, so trying to get better at cooking seems like a worthy pursuit, so I think you should give it a shot.