Chow Time!

(October 30th. Open to all but it'd be great to see Nani and Annette here for bonding purposes.)

"Shoo! Go on, now! Get out'a here!"

Tiana rolled her chocolate eyes as she shook away some stray mice who were jumping about in the supplies. She rolled her eyes and turned back towards her project; a big pot of fresh gumbo. Rice and sausage added, Tiana was now stirring the pot with a wooden spoon, dipping her finger into it to taste it every so often. A god chef always tasted their product before serving it to people. Tiana hadn't had a good cooking session in a long while so she was enjoying the scents coming from the pot and the flavor of the gumbo.

The ingredients had come shipped from New Orleans itself. Tiana had ordered crates of rice and beans, thickening agent and andouille sausage. She smiled at her creation before tilting her head towards the dinner bell. She shrugged her shoulders. Might as well ring it and call the hall to chow time. She smiled and placed out a bowl of bread on each table. Then she rang the bell.

"Gumbo's on y'all! Come and get it!"

It had been Annette's nose that had led her to the mess hall.

The scent of something delicious cooking would have been unmistakable, even for a human's limited sense of smell, and for a dog, it was practically heaven. And the best part was that here - unlike when Darling had been cooking back home - the dogs and other animals were allowed to eat exactly the same as the humans. And while Annette wouldn't claim to be ruled by her stomach like some dogs, there was a lot to be said for being able to eat human food instead of the sort of thing humans often fed them.

The young cocker padded into the mess hall, doing her best not to drip everywhere. She had been down at the water hole, trying her best to have a bath, with only partial success. True, she was wetter than she had been, and a lot of the mud Mooch had splashed her with the day before had washed out, but she didn't feel fully clean; the absence of soap made her feel as though a lot of the grime she had picked up from around the camp was still with her... what she wouldn't give, Annette thought for far from the first time, for a decent bath with hot water, soap, conditioner... the works. Still, in the absence of any willing humans, Annette supposed she just had to make the best of it.

It was only as she got nearer to the source of the wonderful smell that Annette realised there was a problem with the hall's current set-up. She frowned at the dark-skinned lady who seemed to be serving. "Are we all expected to eat from the table?" she asked a little forlornly, staring up at where the bowls sat stubbornly beyond the reach of a short dog like her.

"Are we all expected to eat from the table?"

Tiana turned, an eyebrow raised as she spotted the source of the question before her. A dog. More specifically a wet dog. She tilted her head to the side slightly, pausing, trying to figure out what she meant. The bench was right there in front of the table, wasn't it?

It hit her then. Annette was a dog, she thought stupidly, she probably wants a bowl on the floor. She placed a smile on her face. "I'm so sorry, hon," she whistled, "Here. Lemmie help ya with that." She picked up one of the shallower bowls from the table. Tiana had learned from Stella quite quickly that dogs with shallow bowls made less of a mess. Oh that reminded her. She fished another clean shallow bowl from the stack and filled it with water and soap.

"Wash your paws," she insisted, "Y'don't wanna start eatin' dirt now, do ya?" As she spoke she filled the bowl with gumbo, aiming to hand that and a slice of white bread to Annette once she finished.

"I did just have a bath... well... sort of." If her dip in the water hole could even be called a bath in anything but the looses sense of the term. Still, the cocker obliged - the addition of soap was quite the luxary as far as anything else in this camp went, and it felt great to lather her paws in it, getting rid of the horrible grimy feel that had refused to leave them alone for weeks now. She could do with washing her whole body with this stuff while it was here - and had a meaningful growl from her stomach suggested that eating ought to take the higher priority right now, she probably would have as well.

"Save some of the soap for me after dinner; my coat could do with a lot of it," the cocker requested. Actually what she could do with was a human actually giving her a fuller bath than she could manage on her own, but Annette didn't want to push her luck on the matter. Being able to use actual soap to clean her fur would suffice for now, she decided; turning her head to sniff at the gumbo instead of pursuing the matter. Smelled even more delicious up close, and without delaying for another moment, she began to delicately lap at the bowl's contents.

Oh, this tasted good.

Verna walked into the tent having heard the dinner gong. She saw only Tiana and Annette at the moment.

"Well I guess I beat the rush. I better get some before there's a line." thought Verna.

She saw they were busy talking. She didn't want to interrupt as it seemed rude. But she'd just introduce herself and move to a table. She walked up to them and smiled.

"Good evening. That smells delicious." said Verna.

She grabbed a bowl from the table and a cup of tea as well. She then headed to a nearby table and started eating. It tasted delicious too. She smiled and kept eating taking it slow as it was pretty hot.

Tiana rolled her eyes. "You took a bath, huh? With what? A ham sandwich?" She smirked before moving the bowl of water away. "Tell ya what. I'll just pour you up a bucket a' soap an' water an' we can get'cha clearn' ever, okay?"

Tiana added another slice to the pile beside Annette. "It's good if ya dip that too," she said, "Carb'sll help you with energy." She gave a nod to the fairy who entered before shuffling towards the pot again. She stirred a bit more, awaiting more soldiers with more bowls of warmth and home.

Speaking of chicken... Unlike the dogs, Spot's sense of hearing was what brought her here. She'd heard the dinner bell before she ever smelled anything...and had it been a normal day, she might have looked at the pair of dogs standing in the tent and lamented her less than sharp sense of smell. But the young hen hadn't had a proper meal in ages and her stomach demanded utmost attention. Gawky youth walked slowly up to Tiana with a hopeful smile on her beak and...well she wanted to say a wag of her tail feathers. She wasn't at all sure they actually moved though.

"Umm...good day, Miss Tiana...um..." Spot looked uneasily at the ground a moment before continuing. "It's...not that you're not a good cook and all, and, the soup smells good, but um .... you wouldn't happen to have any, um..." Her brain wanted to say dog food. What came out was "Chicken feed?" She groaned and smacked herself in the face with a wing. Chicken feed. Good grief. "I-I-I mean uh..." Again she paused, torn. On the one hand part of her wanted kibble but on the other hand... "Kibble? No wait, uh...um..." Oh for corn's sake. "C-can you mix dog food with chicken feed? Please?" She eyed Tiana with a hopeful smile and her wings folded in front of her like paws, literally resembling a dog begging for treats. Again she imagined and tried to get her tail feathers to wag, to no avail. "Not that I NEED the chicken food, not really but..." Her stomach protested. "But I WANT some!! Please?"

Annette's eyes narrowed as she looked up from her bowl, not entirely sure if Tiana was making fun of her or not. "It's hard to have a proper bath when no-one out here seems to have heard of soap or fur conditioner," she returned defensively. It wasn't as if she hadn't been trying to stay clean-

The thought trailed off mid-sentence as she picked up the dark-skinned woman's next words, and Annette's stubby little tail began to wag very fast. The prospect of having a proper bath - not only with soap and all, but one where she was actually bathed thoroughly by a human - was one it was evident to all that the cocker was more than a little excited about. "Oh, I can hardly wait!" she replied, not only completely sincere but sounding happier than she had in a long time. It had been far, far too long since the last time she'd had a decent bath, and Annette was very much looking forward to it.

First things first, though; taking Tiana's advice, Annette picked up a slice of bread in her mouth and dunked it on her bowl, then carefully set it down with the dipped side facing upwards so she could eat it more easily.

"Well now, what is that delightful smell?" Jack walked into the mess hall with his usual air of grace, sniffing appreciatively. Exactly how he retained the ability to smell as a skeleton was a mystery. He made his way over to the pot of bubbling Gumbo, leaned over it, and took a deep breath in, closing his eye-sockets as he did so. (Again, his ability to blink was another mystery.) "Wonderful," he complimented, looking over to Tiana. "You made this?" A friendly smile was plastered on his skull - he seemed to really appreciate Tiana's cooking. There was nothing of the like in Halloween Town. Everything had a much more...disgusting manner there, food wise. Not that he didn't like it - he did, but Gumbo was an interesting and delightful change.

Cadpig was relaxing in the tent that she shared with. When a magnificent aroma filled her snout. She followed the smell to the mess hall. And licked her lips as she realized this was where the smell was coming from. "So, you're the chef behind this magnificent smell? I should have guessed that you made this this amazing smelling Culinary delight. Gumbo I presume, yes? I watched a documentary on TV one night when I couldn't sleep. It was 3 AM and it was on. I figured might as well watch it. The culture and atmosphere of Louisiana from what I hear, is absolutely amazing."Cadpig said in absolute wonder.

Cadpig turns to Spot. "Hi, Spot. It's been a while since we last spoke, how have you been"? Cadpig asked her friend. She then had to roll her eyes just a little bit as Spot asked for Kibble. "You can have Kibble anytime, Spot. It's once in a life time that you're able to have a authentic culinary delight, which is this one. While you're here, it might be best to branch out from the stuff you usually get. When an opportunity like this, comes knocking you need to leap up and seize the opportunity while you can. " Cadpig said

"Oh dear, chil' I'm sorry. I didn't think!"

The female face palmed. She hadn't considered that some animals didn't eat meat. Giving Spot a nod, she fished around in the cabinets. Dog food she had; she’d given it to Dipstick before (though why on earth a chicken would want dog food was beyond her.) She searched to see if she had chicken feed. She frowned. “Sorry, hon,” she whistled, “Ain’t got none. I can grab some corn for ya if ya want?”

She turned back to Annette and smiled. “Always happy ta help,” she said, filling a bowl for Cadpig and placing it on the ground. She placed a slice of bread next to her before filling another bowl with the dog kibble and handing it to Spot. "How's about ah put some rice on it, huh? That'd be good?"

She jumped at bit at Jack. The shadow man like skeleton unnerved her but his friendly smile made her relax. She turned to dish out a bowl for him, handing it forward. It had been such a while since Tiana had felt any kind of warmth in this war. And cooking was just making her glow.

Inhaling deeply, the mutt stepped into the mess hall. Tongue lolling out of her mouth, a smile crept onto her face. Peg had developed a love for good food from her time on the streets, surviving off of scraps she could dig out of trash cans and dumpsters, occasionally even a few small rats and birds she'd somehow managed to catch. Hell, what some would dub 'ordinary' food was like a delicacy to the pekingese mix. Now this - this was really something. Quickly padding over to where he table stood, she stared up longingly at the pot. She could almost see the magnificent smelling scent wafting from it.

"Er, excuse me Miss. You don't think you could pass some down here, could you?" she asked politely, looking up at the african-american woman.

"Smells awful good" she added, licking her lips. She took a glance at the others arriving to eat the meal, after realising she hadn't bothered to pay any attention to them because of her fixation on getting dinner. A familiar cocker spaniel mix was present, already eating, Peg noticed.

"Hey" she said gently. She knew they still weren't close, but after that little mission of theirs she felt the need to say some form of greeting to the pup.

(I was gonna wait but inactivity bugs me...)

Tiana nodded down to the dog. She was going to have to figure out a way to pass out a few waiting bowlfuls of food without letting the mice and rats get to it. That was the issue with importing food. You also imported pests. She tossed her hair to the side on her face, getting it out of her way before she dished out another bowlful of the gumbo. Peg was an adult, there was less of a chance she was going to drown herself in the stew. Not that Tiana thought Annette or Cadpig was stupid, she'd just seen Stella do it briefly when she was a puppy.

"Here ya are," she said, patting Peg on the back of the head gently before adding a slice of bread to her side, "Y'all eat up now. I made enough to go 'round Africa twice."

Tojo yawned as he awoke to the wonderful aroma." Hmm now that smells amazing." He complimented as he got up from where he was laying and headed over towards the group." Miss Tiana you amaze me with your skills." He complimented once again as he took a seat beside the dogs" Morning ladies." He stated as he looked around before looking to the guys." And gents of course." He said as he relaxed.

Like all the others, Silver's nose had led him to the dining hall tent. "Glory be, Miss Tiana, ye sure do know how to make gumbo. Smelled it clear from me tent" Silver said as he moved to the counter and leaned against it, grinning at her. "Yer looking lovely today, might I say as well." Ol' John still flirted with the best of them, or at least attempted to.