First Home Cooked Meal

(February 13th. Open to all.)

"Grub's on, mah friends!" The speedy fox slowed down his speech as he finished up the stew he'd brewed up. It had taken him fifteen seconds to whip up the meal. He'd caught some meerkats, some vegetables thrown in and the fire burned bright. It glowed in the darkness. The darkness. This was a fine barrel of fish right there. He'd stubbed his toe far too many times. He couldn't actually imagine how animals got around in this blackness. Sure his eyes were alright in the dark. He WAS a fox after all. However he did carry a torch with him.

The soup was in a thick large cauldron. It smoked and burned. He had a few stone, wood and plastic bowls around it for animals to eat out of.

"Wit'da cold from tha' dark we need some heated up food 'round here, yah hear? i say yah hear, yah dang over grown huntin' dogs?" The hyenas blinked.

"Yer useless as a rabbit wit'no feet," he groaned, sipping the stew, "Ain't no hot sauce 'round this place but it'll do. Grab some once ah get back to Georgia. DELICIOUS!" He licked his muzzle, dragging his tongue along the fur on his chops.

"Who's ready?" He barked, "Dinner's onnnnn, y'all!" He whistled.

The smell of stewing meat brought the grey lioness to the fox. Dotty had been keeping her head down of late but the smell of meat enticed her just enough to show her face. Her grey fur was ragged and unkempt, as if she hadn't groomed herself in a long while, too distraut at being parted from her daughters for so long as she tried to recover from her stint in the pit. She hadn't seen them in so long...

"What's that you have?" she asked, approaching the pot cautiously. She'd never seen anything like it in her life and the fire keeping it boiling was enough to spook her. Fire was dangerous, after all, and so she hung back until she was certain there was no threat.

Her stomach growled audibly. She hadn't had a decent meal in a few days and she hadn't been hunting in even longer. Fear kept her firmly in the Outlands. Fear and hope of seeing her daughters before Zira got her claws too deep into the girls. A hearty meal would be greatly appreciated and the smell was making her mouth water at the thought of tearing into the cooking meat.

Br'er Fox's ear flicked upwards. He liked these big ol' felines around the camp. he was smaller than them by a good deal which made him extra cautious...at least when they were intelligent. He hadn't seen this one before so there was a need to run scared. His sharp ears picked up her stomach growling at the scent of his food. He grinned wildly, lifting his white chef's cap from his head. "Well, well, well, look's like we got ourselves a customer already!"

He bowed slightly and walked by the pot, stirring it slightly. "This's just some stew ah boiled up, my feline friend," he whistled, "Name's Brotha' Fox. Brotha', Br'er, jus' Fox, whateva' you'd like ta call me sistah Lion." Everyone was a brother or a sister to the animals of his wood. Despite the fact that he and Br'er Bear were pretty heinous and deadly, everyone was still pretty friendly and kind to one another.

"Here ya go, Missus," he whistled, shoving the bowl at Dotty's feet. The speedy fox's movements might not have even been seen by the lioness but she'd for sure smell the stew at her feet. "Go'head eat up, eat up! I have seconds if y'all need it too!"

The smell of food was hypnotic and Dotty was quick to crouch down and devour what the fox had put in front of her. The stringy meerkat meat seemed like the most delicious thing in the world to her and even the vegetables were wolfed down eagerly. She didn't raise her head again until the bowl had been licked clean and for the first time since she arrived in the Outlands, Dotty felt warm. If only she had her girls with her and they could share in this feast.

"Thank you." she said, her gratitude plain to see. She had been hungry but too afraid to leave the Outlands to try poaching in the lush savannah. In the Outlands, if you didn't hunt then you didn't eat"My name is Dotty...that's what most call me around here."

The thought of a second helping was an inticing one but she didn't want to push her luck. She knew better than to rely on kindness in Scar's Army, Nuka's brief stint as king had taught her that lesson. Still, the fire was warm and she was more than willing to stay with the seemingly-friendly fox. At least he seemed to treat her with some measure of fondness which was odd to her by now. She stretched out on the ground beside the cook pot and looked up at him.

"You're an odd one. I haven't seen you around before, are you new here?"

A low, grunting noise sounded, followed by a snuffling sound as the large demon bear thumped towards the fire, and the fox and lioness.

"Food?" His one eye narrowed at the cauldron, and the contents of the bowls.

"I'm Mor'du," the bear introduced himself as he dropped on his rump in front of the bowl. "What's this, then?" The bear had never seen anything like this type of stew in his homeland of Scotland.
-----

"Hi Dotty!" Digger came to sit along side her pride sister, giving her a smile as she sniffed the air, catching wind of the yummy smelling stew.

The large brute of a dog trotted towards the fire, eyes glowing in the darkness. He licked his lips at the smell of the stew.

"Well,well, well, what do we have here?" he smirked, slurping up a string of drool coming from his lower lip. He turned, giving a nod to the lionesses and the large bear before turning back to the fox, awaiting his answer. Out of the darkness came Claudius. He too had smelled the scent of the stew, and his hunger drove him to investigate.

"Digger, Dotty" the male greeted.

Suddenly approached by so many animals, Br’er Fox took a jump back. He hoped he had enough bowls to accommodate them all. The swift fox had a violent grin paint along his face as he removed the chef’s hat from his head as to not look foolish in front of the group of violent predators. A few more lions, a bear and a dog approached him now. He let out a low whistle.

“Shoot, looks like ah got a few more customers, indeed ah do! Howdy-ho, y’all! Name’s Brotha’ Fox and boy do ah have a treat fer you! Oh lookie there, Miss Dotty, ya downed that bowl faster’n ah’ve ever seen, yes yah did!”

He hopped towards the bowls and with such speed and precision that could only be gifted to a fox, he’d thrown out bowls at the feet of each of the creatures before him. “Yes’m, yes’m ah’m new here,” he whistled, “But sure enough I’m makin’ mahself at home here’n these here dreary outlands-move yah foot Brotha’ Bear, yuh gonna get stew all over it-yeah but ah’ll tell yah, sure is nasty out here. Hotter’n Georgia in July an’ that’s sayin’ somethin’!”

Finishing his blur of a speech, he dished out the stew in the large shallow bowls. “Eat up, eat up,” he said with a cheer, “Tell me if yah want more! This stew pot sure does run deep. Made enough for everyone!”

Reggie downed the bowl of stew in a few seconds flat. Slurping up the last bit, the mastiff mix licked his chops, a pleased smile pulling across his muzzle.

"Damn good!" he boomed, letting out a chuckle. "I'll take seconds, foxy," he stated as he raised a paw to slap the empty bowl towards the fox before laying down in front of the fire.

---

Claudius sniffed the stew, and dug in. Big as the lion was, and small as the bowl was, his stew was also gone in under a minute. He pulled back, muzzle dripping with broth before he licked it away with a swipe of his pink tongue.

"It's great, Digger. Try some!"

Curumo came trotting out of the inky black darkness of the Outlands, having smelt out the food.

"Lord Mor'du," he greeted the massive bear before turning to the pot of stew. "What's that wonderful smell? Never have I smelt anything that good back home in my forest," he said, drooling as his tongue slid out to lick his lips. He took a seat next to Reggie, looking at the bowl at his feet.
----
The Sand-shark had just finished a meal of his own, having managed to catch a lone crocodile. It was gone in two bites, having been caught by surprise on the river bank. "Hello everyone," he greeted, his head poking up from the ground some ways away.