victory_road | Bakers, start your baking!

Entry tags:

Bakers, start your baking!

Who: Everybody!
Where: Riegfried and Soy's mansion
When: January 15th; day time for the cooking part, evening for the mingle part.
Summary: Come one, come all to the newest contest hosted by Riegfried and Soy. Today's theme: cooking!

[Daytime - The kitchens]

Throughout the day, the kitchens will be open to all contestants, though any casual onlookers --human, pokemon, or otherwise-- will be shooed out to prevent any cheating.

Each contestant will be directed to a gleaming counter, where they will be able to find everything from your basic whisk and spatula to gleaming kitchen machinery fancy enough to make any cook feel faint with envy. Each counter comes complete with a small fridge (should you need to chill any of your ingredients), an oven, a stove, a microwave -- really, anything you can imagine and it is there. Riegfried and Soy clearly didn't want anyone to run into the issue of not having the right equipment for the job.

At the back of the room are the fridges: tall, imposing fridges made of gleaming metal stocked full of every sort of ingredient you could possibly think of. And next to the fridges, contestants can find rows and rows of shelves, each nearly bowing under the weight of the products placed on them -- from fresh fruit, to spices, to rice and noodles. If you need it, you can find it.

Riegfried and Soy will be flitting around the room like a pair of extravagant Butterfrees, happy to engage contestants in small interviews. Everything for the camera, baby! Because those are also there; they are clearly trying to stay out of everybody's way, but small, Rotom-powered cameras flit around the room for close-ups, while cameramen and women with heavy-duty equipment get the distance shots. Hopefully, you haven't got an issue with stage fright.

[Evening - The show]

And when all is said and done, and the last dishes have been cooked, it's time for the actual show. There is some time between the actual cooking and this part of the evening, during which contestants have a chance to change their clothing and freshen up, but before too long, the mansion's doors open to the guests, who are herded by the cheerful hosts to an enormous hall.

The hall itself is set up with all manner of comforts. There are some small tables and chairs for anyone who wants to sit down for a while. Long tables line the sides of the room, absolutely laden with all manner of refreshments. There is even a special table set aside where the dishes the contestants made (at least the ones that made it to this part of the evening) are displayed and ready for tasting.

The schedule for the night is rather straightforward.

After some meet-and-greet and time for every last guest to arrive, the day's events (cut and edited by a very exhausted camera crew) will be projected onto a huge screen for all to enjoy. The votes will be tallied afterward and awards and prizes will be handed out. The rest of the evening will give the winners a chance to celebrate, the losers a chance to commiserate, and everybody else to clear the buffet of everything edible.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Low tolerance and fruit juice, mmh? [Jaskier considers his collection of cocktails for a moment before handing Steven a tall glass with frost on top.] How about a Cranberry Ginger Shandy? It has beer and cranberry juice.

[Steven smiles and takes it with his other hand.] That should do very well. Thank you, Jaskier.

How's Geralt doing, by the way?

You're more than welcome! Anything for a fan.

[He winks at Steven to show he means he can keep drinking as long as he keeps praising his talent, because there's nothing actually humble about this bard.]

Geralt? Oh, he's around here somewhere, trying out different dishes. The promise of free food and ale is the only reason why he came in the first place. [Kind of. He would've probably done it anyway if Jaskier asked enough, because they're idiots for each other like that.] So if his belly is full and nobody has bothered him too much, I'd say he's doing well.

[Steven chuckles.] Well, that's more than fair. It's hard to turn down free food.

As for the bothering, he is somewhat intimidating. I think if anyone is bothering him, one dismissive look would send them off.

[Okay, he's gotta laugh at that.] Would it? It definitely did not work on me. Never underestimate the power of a social butterfly looking for company, my friend.

[Steven chuckles.] You're his friend, though. What works on strangers and what works on friends are different.

I'm talking about the day we met. [He replies with a wave of his hand.] He punched me in the guts shortly after we left that tavern.

[Steven blinks.] And you kept hanging out with him?

Weeeeell, I did accidentally insult him, even if I didn't know it at the time. [Shurug!] But you must understand, Steven, the stories about witchers were hundreds of times worse. As far as I was concerned, I had found myself a puzzle. How could I not follow him until I got my answer?

I mean, I can understand the appeal of a man who's a puzzle, especially one that looks like him--but at the same time, he punched you in the gut. That hurts.

[He chuckles at the mention of Geralt's good looks - no need to tell Jaskier about it. Hard agreed.] Of course it hurts! And yet I was alive, only bruised - as if I had been punched by yet another tavern drunkard, not a witcher. I wonder if thoroughly explaining to you the social/cultural status of witchers and the implications of his actions would make any difference, but to be honest? People in my own world consider my decision insane as well.

Oh. He pulled his blow. That's different.

That said, I'd be interested in learning more about witchers, if you'd be willing to tell me.

Of course he pulled his blow! I thought that went unsaid! Do you actually think this humble bard would've been able to follow him after receiving a full-strength punch from a man his size?

[He doesn't like it when people think he's weak, but extremes are bad, and he isn't as conceited as to believe he could've held out after that.]

Willing? [He laughs.] My good man, telling people about witchers is what I've been doing for a little over two decades. Ask away.

Well, I suppose the first thing to ask is if they're all that, well... [It's clear Steven is searching for a word that isn't 'smoking hot.'] ... singular in appearance.

And also, what do they do? It seems they might be a kind of monster hunter, but I don't want to make assumptions.

[He throws his head back and laughs, having no trouble understanding what Steven means.]

If by singular you mean devastatedly handsome, then-- I'm afraid I can't say. Geralt is the only witcher I know. But from the stories he's told me about their training, I'm confident enough to say they're all equally fit [Aka "built like a shit brickhouse".] at the very least.

[A nod.] Monster hunter is correct! They're enhanced humans trained for that exact job. Geralt's yellow eyes? They all have them. Better sight, better hearing, better speed and strength, faster healing, unable to get sick or poisoned... add to that training on combat, alchemy, survival, basic magic signs, and you get the idea. This place has made Geralt human, however, so he's caught his first cold in almost a century.

I mean something like that, yes. [He grins.] But if they're all built like that, it must be glorious to watch them work in groups.

[Steven is a bara fan. He just is.]

That said, I can sympathize. When you've grown used to not being human, even if you started out that way, it's... disconcerting to be made human again.

[God, does he know it. It's worse now than it was before he had one of those 'update naps' and that's with a decade and change of being non-human in him. What would it be like to have been brought back to human after eight or nine times that long?]

Ah, alas. [A sigh.] There aren't many of them left anymore.

[And he could do some commentary on that, too, even if he doesn't know all the details... but then Steven adds something of his own and Jaskier turns to him rather suddenly, eyes wide and filled with curiosity.]

You're saying you weren't human in your realm? Why am I finding out about this just now?! [The betrayal!] Now you've got to tell me the full tale, you sneaky bastard!

[Steven winces.] I don't know if this is the right time or place to tell. It's-- complicated. And not very pleasant. And I was human, for the first thirty-two years of my life.

I just hadn't been for most of the last twelve.

Not very pleasant, you say? Good man, I've been following a witcher on the Path for twenty-two years, there's little that can shock me anymore. [That doesn't mean he won't make faces at disgusting parts and complain about the bad people of the world, but hey, he won't be surprised about it.] If this truly isn't the right place then at least promise me you'll tell me the whole story someday. Can I get at least what you are?

Mm, I don't know if our word for it, Changeling, will mean anything in your world. In mine, it's someone who was taken by the fair folk and altered while in their realm.

Oh, you are a doppler! [That would be a yes to that question.] I've never heard of one that wasn't born that way, however. How peculiar. Is this your real face then?

[Sorry Steven, but here comes Jaskier to poke your cheek.]

[Steven is very good and doesn't grab at Jaskier's wrist to stop him.]

Ah, it was once. When I was younger. Not for roughly the last decade.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bakers, start your baking!

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