crescentview | 🍁🎑🦋 Bug Eater Farm: Autumn Catch-all 🦋🎑🍁

[ Kaspar is in a good mood, noticeable only in the subtle levity in his posture as he looks up at his roommate's entrance. His own love life has not been a topic of discussion, though today is more than just a distraction from it.

He clicks his tongue, Delle's ears swiveling to him. Casually, he tosses a piece of meat her way. Gifted from where he has the remaining meat pies, leftover ingredients, and varied empty crusts set out already. Delle snaps up her reward for accompanying Trahearne.

With his sleeves rolled up, his hair pinned back, and his apron is partly decorated in flour, Kaspar has been busy while Trahearne was out. Their counter is neat chaos, with measured cups of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon set out and waiting Kaspar's whims. Yet the kitchen smells of game pies already baking in the oven and filling the lightly sweet air with more savory spices.

Kaspar peers into the basket before he nods and takes it to wash them off in the sink. ]

We should, cut them.

[ Without another word, Trahearne begins to gather things needed to cut the apples, pulling out the cutting board, the correct knives, a bowl for the cut apples. There is synergy between them, having baked pancakes together for so long. Why can't that extend to pies?

He understands where he's meant to go, and neatly lays out all his things, before turning to Kaspar with a smile and a deep inhale. ]

Are they almost done already? They smell incredible.

[ It certainly extends to pies. Though much of Kaspar's skill comes from tweaking recipes and techniques on his own. Not that Tra hasn't noticed that by now, probably. There is little Kaspar intentionally hides from him anymore. Unintentionally, it comes naturally.

Pies, for Steinbeck, Bar, and his own whims. He nods from the sink and adds-- ]

First batch is.

[ By the time Kaspar has the apples ready, he wordlessly brings them over. With a glance towards his farm mate, he shows him how he'd like them peeled if he hasn't seen before and leaves them to him while he squats to peek in the oven. ]

I can't wait to try one.

[ Trahearne takes the apples, dutifully takes Kaspar's instruction, and begins peeling and cutting them as told. It's a meditative and calming task; Trahearne doesn't speak for a little while as he concentrates on it.

After a few have been taken care of, he pauses and glances over his shoulder. ]

Have I ever told you how impressed I am with how readily you've taken to baking? You did not do much baking at home, did you?

[ As a fellow military man, Trahearne knows how little time war leaves for much else. ]

No.

[ Kaspar answers easily, flitting around with the next meat pies slated for the oven. A quiet hum follows, before pulling out the first batch and substituting the second. The first are left to cool for a moment.

It is rare, for him to speak of the military, a past that helped form him. But this is Tra. He has seen him in the depths, in action and how he was as a young man. Because even at sixteen he held himself to the standards of a man. Just as he was taught. Just as he was promised would bring his life purpose and happiness. Enjoying baking this much would violate much of that, but months here have felt like years and he doubts he can ever return to the way he once was.

It does not feel so strange to add more words here, in their warm kitchen. ]

Though. Cadets, rotate kitchen duty.

[ Kaspar had been such a different person in the memory that it served as a shock. It leaves him to wonder what sort of trials his housemate had to go to, to get where he was when they first met--the gentle, soft-spoken man who'd gently held his hand and showed him edible worms. At the same time, Trahearne wonders if he himself has changed any since coming here. And if Kaspar would live through the same shock he did if he saw him in an earlier memory, too.

The first batch of pies come out, Trahearne inhales the scent, pleased by the combination of buttery pastry and spices and meat. He pauses in his cutting again to glance over his shoulder at them, and at Kaspar, if he should be looking, with a smile. ]

I take it homemade pies were not on your menu, however.

[ At least at Fort Trinity, even in their downtime, involved baked goods like pies were a rare treat, often brought from elsewhere. Trahearne could probably count on one hand the amount of times he'd had a pie in his life. ]

[ Kaspar breathes a laugh and glances over to return the smile out of habit. Since he is looking anyway, Kaspar simply shakes his head no at first. The food back home had a variety of its own, but nothing here was exactly like anything he knew how to cook in Groscia. Some of his habits still set him apart from most other humans on the island. It was obvious in the little ways long before he added worms to the pot.

His diet before had been full of worms and grubs, snakes and lizards, all paired with mosses and fungi, and seasoned with healthy doses of minerals, like salt, from the mines. And on special occasions, fish and other aquatic catches from underground lakes. ]

Nothing like this.

[ He says as he returns to the first batch, taking the time and focus to carefully fill all but one with the gelatin rich stock he'd prepared before Tra showed up. They are left to cool to room temperature. The recipe calls for them to chill overnight, and so most will. That does not mean Kaspar can resist one now.

The previously neglected pie is set on a small plate that Kaspar brings with him when he returns to Tra's side. Looking pleased, he cuts into the only slightly cooled pie. The crispier crust gives way, a satisfying contrast to the inside full of grouse meat, pork fat, and herbs. Gently stabbing a small bite of it on the fork, he blows on it softly before offering it to his farm mate. The plate dutifully follows beneath it, just in case. ]

[ Trahearne only smiles again at the response before returning to his peeling, cutting; making sure everything is as precise and exact as it needs to be. But he isn't slow. It's been weeks, and he's gotten better with a kitchen knife. He isn't sure if he would have gotten this far without Kaspar's constant experimenting in the kitchen, and Trahearne's constant willingness to help.

The sudden intensity of the scent of the meat grabs his attention, and he turns to see a forkful of pie right in his face. ]

Oh!

[ His face lights up, and he leans forward to bite it off the fork. It's hot, but nothing he can't handle. It's so...juicy. And good.

Except he's too busy chewing to say anything, and he's a sylvari with manners. Though he can't exactly smile in his state, his eyes light up, and he looks at Kaspar in approval. ]

[ They've spent far too much time together for Kaspar not to glean the meaning from that expression just as well as if he'd used his words. The next bite has already found its way to his own mouth when their lit up eyes meet. A success. It had taken some experimenting, but the result brings tears to Kaspar's eyes. He too, has come a long way, since they don't leave his wet eyes.

This is break time apparently, since he casually offers Tra another bite instead of getting the apple pie filling ready. Kaspar glances back to the cooling meat pies. Only to Tra would he wonder aloud so openly-- ]

... I wonder, why they eat them cold?

[ Trahearne notices that, too. He has always been impressed--panged by slight nostalgia--by the way Kaspar expresses his joy so freely. Too many of the other races are much too scarred by their upbringings to embrace how they feel, and it was refreshing to see his housemate embrace his emotions. In a way, though, it impresses him to see that he has better control over them, that he is no longer overwhelmed so easily. He smiles, when the piece of pie is finished.

And when the last of the apples are done, he scoops them into the bowl as he takes the next offered piece of pie. And as he chews, he stares in consideration at the cooling pies, then back to Kaspar.

It's not like he has much experience with how pies are meant to be eaten, so he eyes Kaspar curiously. ]

Who is they?

🍁🎑🦋 Bug Eater Farm: Autumn Catch-all 🦋🎑🍁

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