[ We find Our Heroes sitting around and chatting with Kenji's parents. Except for Will, who is always quiet, and Tia, who is currently asleep and, it seems, dreaming of chasing something edible. We resume where we left off, so little intro is needed. ] [ Session Start! ] * Istvan nods, and turns to Takara. "I trained as a smith with dwarven masters, and I'd only seen ebony once or twice before we found Alcinoe's sword. So it's not surprising that his Lordship hadn't seen it often." * Takara licks her lips, then says, "" She furrows her brow, then says, "Ebouni " [ Hanatarou nods. "" He frowns. "" ] [ He claps, and the door to the room slides open. In come some obsequious servants who place food in front of you on little plates with mats underneath. The food consists of pickled vegetables, rice, and smoked fish with an earthy, red hue. There are no utensils; however, each meal comes with two slender shaved pieces of wood. ] * Alcinoe thanks the servants in Rokugani when food's put in front of her. They may or may not acknowledge it, but she says it! * Istvan blinks, and pokes curiously at the two sticks. * WillS, who has been quiet since the topic of weapons doesn't interest him, perks up at the sight of food. [ The sticks do not react to the poking. ] [ Tia perks up, too. She pokes experimentally at the fish. ] * Patrick looks experimentally at the others to see how they expect to eat without fork * Patrick looks experimentally at the others to see how they expect to eat without forks. [ Chikako fidgets a bit and looks at Hanatarou, who shakes his head at her slightly. ] (I will cut the extra line.) * Seylin carefully picks up both sticks and moves them so the tips touch, repeating this motion a few times. * HKenji takes his own chopsticks and begins eating, without particularly demonstrating. * Takara picks up her chopsticks and grabs a sliver of fish with them, tasting it along with some rice. [ Chikako then remembers something else, and says, "" ] * Seylin seems satisfied enough with practicing and picks up some of the vegetables. * Takara swallows. "" She nods to the smiling man in question. * Alcinoe eats slowly and carefully, but she doesn't drop anything. She's probably been practicing. * Patrick smiles and pulls out a small rack of sauces, with various labels from 'Diabolos sauce' to '9 AM fire alarm' to 'Disco Inferno'. "Which one would she like to try?" * WillS takes up the chopstick and looks at it helplessly. He whispers towards Istvan, "Isty, how do get these sticks to work?" * HKenji deftly conceals an evil grin from his mother. * Seylin succeeds in getting vegetables to mouth without disaster! She then repeats the process with some of the rice and fish. [ Chikako turns to Patrick. "" ] * Istvan shrugs. "I dunno. Watch Kenji." *watches Takara; tries to pick up a piece of fish* * Takara blinks as Chikako says that and she does *not* laugh. Instead, she hurriedly turns to Istvan. Must not laugh. Um, profound? What do you mean profound? Different? She means the hottest. * Takara holds up her chopsticks, showing him without words just where they rest. [ Tia simply slides the content of her plate into her mouth. Our girl Tia is pragmatic, if nothing else. ] * WillS nods slowly and tries to put a piece of fish in his mouth using the sticks. * Istvan watches how Takara holds her chopsticks, adjusts his grip on them, and tries again to pick up a piece of fish. [ Will and Istvan both succeed! ] Sure. ^^ * Istvan manages to eat fish! *chewchewchewswollow* "Geez. My hands ain't cut out for these things." *grins at Takara* "Thanks, Takara. Managed to embarass myself enough with the horse lately..." * Patrick takes the hottest, labeled: 'Death by Fire.' "Careful with it." ^^ * Takara smiles and gives Istvan a little bow in return. "" She picks up her tea and has a sip. [ Chikako takes the bottle and puts a dash on some rice. She deftly plucks the rice up with her chopsticks and takes a bite. ] * WillS proceeds to chew happily on the piece of fish in his mouth. Delicious! * Takara watches with interest. * Istvan manages to get some veggies with the chopsticks, then goes for the rice... and manages to pick up a single grain of rice. "... hmm." [ Patrick was, actually, right; the food is pretty bland. The smoked fish is the only thing with much flavor. ] * Patrick looks at those who started eating and tries to emulate the chopstick-style of eating-foo. [ Chikako chews thoughtfully. "Mmm. ...Mmmmmmm." ] [ "...MMM!" And she lights up in a look of utter... bliss. ] [ She promptly applies more to all her food, including the pickled vegetables. That's prolly gonna taste nasty, but hey. ] * HKenji stares. She likes it spicy. I never woulda guessed. o/` * Takara stares, too. * Patrick is grinning. ^^ * Alcinoe looks at Patrick. "Ah think ya got a new best friend." I suppose so. * Seylin stifles a giggle. "Amazing." [ "" she says to her husband. "" replies Hanatarou. "" ] * HKenji barely holds in a sputter. * Musa's looking at the the interaction, wondering just how good that stuff is. * Istvan smirks. At least until his next attemtp at picking up rice nets TWO grains. * Patrick takes a bottle of the not-as-hot-but-stills-stupidly-hot sauce and slides it over to Musa. [ Chikako very nearly abandons her table manners as she continues eating. Those of you who are perceptive notice that she makes her rice into balls so as to make it easier to pick up. ] * Takara just keeps... staring. [ Hanatarou seems very amused. ] * Musa takes up the bottle and puts a very light amount on his food, intending to taste it before putting much more on. * Patrick almost whistles as he munches away, putting a liberal amount of hot sauce on his food as he eats, emulating the chopstic-fu-style shown to him by, well... the people sitting at the table. * Alcinoe has more rice, then says, "Patrick, can Ah have some of that medium stuff?" * Patrick takes another bottle off and passes it to Alci. "I think we may have started something, guys." * Alcinoe catches it, pops the cork, and drizzles some over her rice and fish. She recorks and hands it back. Cultural exchange. * Takara watches Musa for his reaction. Please pass me some of the mild? * HKenji shakes his head. * Patrick passes it to Seylin too. My mother is obviously insane. * Takara decides not to translate that. (We never would have guessed.) * Istvan eyes his rice, mutters something in dwarven, tries again... and gets A Clump of Rice! *munch* * Seylin sprinkles a tiny bit on and continues eating. Thank you. ^^ * HKenji just eats his fish, veggies, and rice as-is * Istvan continues eating. *chewchewswollow* "Portions are smaller than I'm used to, and the amount of non-meat both scares and confuses the dwarf in me, but it's pretty good." Better with sauce. ^^ No offense to the chefs, they do a marvelous job on presentation. I prefer to taste my food, thank you. * WillS looks funnily at all the people eating the hot stuff. They're ruining perfectly edible food! He shakes his head slightly and continues his struggle to get food from the plate into his mouth. [ Hanatarou chuckles lightly to himself. ] * Alcinoe mixes up her rice and eats silently. The pickled vegetables are nibbled separately. So do I Kenji, so do I. ^^ [ Tia has by now gone to sleep again. Chikako has finished her meal, and looks quite pleased. ] [ "" ] * Patrick snickers. * Seylin looks slightly disturbed. w00t (Okay, if that's IC, Alci's going to be disturbed. ;P) * WillS blanches at the thought. ( It's IC. ) * Musa grins; he is sweating heavily, weeping, and sniffling, but he seems to like the sauce. A lot. Even though he obviously can't handle it very easily. * Alcinoe is definitely disturbed. By Istvan. * Takara brightens at this suggestion. "" She takes it and pours a spot on her rice. * HKenji winces. * Takara tries a little bit of sauce with a liberal amount of rice. * Takara chews. Her face turns bright red, and one hand shoots up to cover her eyes, which have already started watering. But she *does* manage to swallow it. * HKenji shakse his head sadly. You okay, Takara? * Takara reaches for her tea, has considerably more than a sip, and sets it down. Her hand dabs at her eyes. "Ah." She coughs. "" Oh, oh, of course. * Takara eats more rice. Plain, white rice. * Patrick hmms as he looks through his rack, pulling out Dragon's Breath, one of the more mild ones, and slides it over. * Takara stops it gently with two fingers, has more rice, then pours a spot of that on her fish. * Takara tastes it. She rolls it around in her mouth a bit, chews, and swallows. * Takara then pours some of the sauce over the rest of her fish and a bit of her rice before sliding it back. "" * Istvan sips some tea, and raises an eyebrow. "Pretty good. Never drank tea much back home, but this is better." *pauses* "Again, the dwarf in me is aghast at the non-alcoholicness of this, but that's prolly for the best." * Alcinoe eats the last of her fish and vegetables, then sets her chopsticks down. * Istvan tilts his head at Takara, then grins. "Prolly for the best you didn't translate most of that." * Takara nods to Istvan, but she doesn't say anything. It would have been funny, though. * HKenji gives his father a Look. * Musa pours more sauce on and eats, loving every super-spicey sweltering moment. * Takara privately thinks her yojimbo's crazy. [ Hanatarou smirks very slightly. ] * HKenji smiles and finishes his dinner. * Alcinoe just sits there and resists the urge to poke rice around with her chopsticks. It's getting stronger. * Patrick doesn't resist the urge, and pokes rice with his chopsticks. * Alcinoe starts a little at this and looks at Kenji, then his (her?) parents. * Musa doesn't think he's crazy. (Their?) [ "" says Hanatarou. He claps, and servants come in to take away the dishes now that everyone is done eating. Chikako nods. ] * Istvan turns to Takara. "Is there a smith on the grounds? I'd like to get a crest put into my new shield, if possible." [ After the servants clear out, someone in different colors - gold with a crysanthemum - appears and bows at the entrance to the room. Chikako and Hanatarou are both surprised. ] * HKenji stands and bows deeply. [ The Lord and Lady of the castle do likewise. ] * Alcinoe blinks a few times, but she takes Kenji's cue and stands and bows, too. * Patrick scratches his head and shrugs, following the others' lead. * Takara is instantly on her feet and bowing. Gah! Sneaking up like that! * Istvan stands and bows as well, trying to mimic the depth of everyone else's bow. [ The gold-clad woman rises into a kneeling position. " * Musa doesn't notice until Takara does, and hastily (and clumsily) gets up and bows. [ Hanatarou keeps his face straight and bows. "" The messenger bows again, saying "", to which Hanatarou responds, "" ] * HKenji looks across the table at Alcinoe and says, [ Session End! ]