Bring on the soup dish, bring on the cup [CLOSED]

[returntosomeday]

Characters: Zidane Tribal and Giselle Philip
Content: Zidane, as ordered, goes mooching for food. Giselle, staunch defender of the galley, will brook no nonsense from this sneaky little--oh, who are we kidding?
Setting: The galley of the Winding Way
Time: BACKDATED, just after Giselle's return to the Way
Warnings: Deliciousness?

Comments

[happylittlesong]

If the kitchen hadn't been bad enough, Giselle was lost trying to keep track of all the new crew members. It'd been crazy enough, with people constantly joining and leaving all the time, but such a sudden shift -- she'd had to memorize whole lists of favorites and allergies and which crew members needed a teensy bit of extra prodding to eat their vegetables and goodness, it was enough to make anyone all dizzy! But she was sure she would've remembered this charming young man if she'd ever met him before; surely his manners (something that, sadly, the Way had a tendency to be lacking in) would've stuck in her mind.

"Oh, it's all right -- my goodness, you're sweet," she gushed. Her heart was still fluttering a little from the surprise, and she covered it by hastily putting the fork back in the drawer. It would not do to make introductions whilst swinging eating utensils about like a -- like a slightly insane person! "I'm Giselle! I'm one of the cooks -- well, I was -- I am -- there was a very unfortunate incident a few months ago involving some puppies and a fire, and while I'm sure they didn't mean to leave me behind -- I could tell you all about it with a rousing song and dance, if you'd like!" She beamed at him as though she had just offered him some kind of special treat. Strong, world-hardened men had fled in the presence of that smile. "Oh, but of course you're here for a reason, after all -- what are you in the mood for? Something hot, or sweet, or just some lovely warm milk to help you drift off into beautiful dreams?"

[returntosomeday]

"You know, I think you've got the beautiful dream thing covered already," Zidane said, spinning a chair to sit with a leg to each side and folding his arms on the back, all the more comfortably to watch her flustering back and forth over the cutlery. He'd met a lot of gushy girls in the theater district, but most of them were pretty full of themselves. This one's abject niceness was...well, refreshing.

And she could sing and dance? He raised both eyebrows. "So, you're a performer? I've done a lot of that, too. Ever been to Kropmork?"

[happylittlesong]

Giselle was practically blushing. Good heavens, he was a kind-hearted young man! The rest of the Way -- well, she loved them all from the bottom of her galaxy-sized heart, but their conversation tended to go more along the lines of 'where's my dessert' and 'no, Giselle, we're sure that the sky whale does not just need a hug'. The new crew was usually warned about her in advance.

"Oh -- well, I do sing a bit," she said, which might have been the biggest understatement in history. "I did miss performing while I was away -- I did sing for the chipmunks and squirrels and all the other adorable little woodland creatures, but nothing really compares to being on a stage in front of an audience!

"Oh, Kropmork?" she continued, without even a breath between sentences. Giselle in the middle of an oration was a sight to behold. "Oh yes, a few times -- and once there was this rather unfortunate misunderstanding with the Seamstress' Guild, dear me, but it was all straightened out in the end and there were only a few explosions -- but it is a lovely city," she added, as it occurred to her that what she had said might possibly be construed as unpleasant. "Are you from there?"

[returntosomeday]

Zidane chuckled. "I grew up in a players' troupe in the theater district," he admitted, a twinkle in his eyes at the memories her comments brought up. "Never did learn to sing, though. It's definitely a town that keeps you on your toes...the Seamstress' Guild is just part of the local color, I guess." He bit his lip and pondered for a second, then added, "The explosions, too."

Sitting up a little, he propped his chin in his hands, the very picture of attentiveness. "But, hey, where are you from?"

[happylittlesong]

"Never learned to -- you poor thing," Giselle sighed. It never ceased to be amazing, just how many people had been closed off to the joy and beauty of unleashing your heart in pure, beauteous melody. How did people live? "But oh, I wish I had grown up like that -- it sounds marvelous! Every day in the theater...I can hardly remember what life was like before I joined the Way!" (This was true, but also partly because Giselle did not like to dwell on uncomfortable memories, and had put it mostly out of her mind.)

She paused very briefly to pull out a plate; while she'd been talking she'd been digging out some of the leftovers from that night's dinner. It was primarily dessert; she'd gotten sort of carried away when she'd gotten back and had baked so much that even the combined forces of the Way couldn't finish it. If Zidane didn't love cake, he was out of luck.

"I'm from Erealia, you see," she said finally, slicing some of it up. "From the prettiest little forest near the eastern edge, with some of the sweetest woodland creatures -- I've always thought that Erealian rabbits do the loveliest ariettas!" (Here she glanced around to make sure the mice were all safely tucked up in bed -- it wouldn't do if she accidentally hurt their little fuzzy feelings!) "My goodness, it was very difficult adjusting to ship life after that. I suppose you've had it a bit easier, coming from the city?"

[returntosomeday]

Zidane was most definitely a fan of cake. And trifle, and biscuits, and three kinds of pastry, all of which he was pretty sure his astonished eyes were seeing as Giselle loaded them generously onto a plate. The boy sat forward eagerly to watch, his blond tail lashing as hard as a cat's after a mouse...

"Whoa, Erealia?" he said, clueing right back into the conversation at the word. "Half the best plays are about Erealia! Kings, monsters, knights...fair maidens..." He grinned, somewhat forgetting himself. "That had to be more interesting than street ratting in Kropmork!"

--whoops.

[happylittlesong]

"Street ratting?" Giselle's eyes widened and she clasped her hands again, only remembering at the very last second to set down the plate before Zidane ended up with pastries all over his head. "Oh my goodness -- how exciting!"

The thing about Giselle was that, having grown up with all the worldly experience of a small pebble, her view on the world had been incredibly skewed by plays and fairytales and certain types of novels written by overexcited young people who had never been out of the house in their lives. As far as she was concerned, street ratting was possibly the most romantic profession ever, save for perhaps piracy or being an Adventurous Prince.

"It must have been terribly interesting," she said, filling up a lovely mug of milk. You couldn't eat dessert, after all, without a nice cool glass of milk to go along with it! "Did you have many swordfights with pirates? Or discover any lost treasures, or rescue any maidens who turned out to be spunky noblewomen run away from arranged marriages? Oh, you must tell me all about it!"

[returntosomeday]

Damn. All that and a glass of milk? Taking a moment to sternly remind himself that girls didn't appreciate butting into kitchen work or talking with your mouth full (and although this one seemed unlikely to rap him over the knuckles with a wooden spoon, he still hoped to keep her basic respect), Zidane--barely--managed to keep from leaping up and "helping" her get things set out.

"Well," he boasted, trying to hide his amusement, "I did have a lot of swordfights...and I helped my foster brothers rescue plenty of beautiful maidens! A couple of them were even running from arranged marriages, yeah."

Swinging his legs back over to one side of the chair, he propped his elbows on his knees and gave her an apologetic smile. "It was all onstage, though. Stage fighting, and actresses. Street rats in Kropmork are less worried about lost treasures than about getting enough to eat. I was one of the lucky ones, after Baku found me." He chuckled, then added, "I think I like your version better. It'd make a pretty good play!"