Soup of the day [Seasonal Event] [OPEN!]

REMI Walking back towards his shop, Remi was mildly amused by the sheer amount of carnage in the streets. There seemed to be orange-excrements everywhere, and for as potentially horrifying as the scene was, it actually smelled wonderful. Which gave the alchemist an idea... With a grin, Remi strolled towards his shop. As luck (or whatever bizarre twist of events this was) would have it, three gourds were currently bobbing right in front of his door. It looked as though they were trying to get in, but without arms or legs all they could really do was bob uselessly. "All you had to do was knock." The alchemist chuckled and, with a magical flourish that still felt entirely awkward and strange, Remi levitated the three gourds as they turned about with angry mouths to try and attack him. Suspending them in mid-air, Remi gave them a disappointed look and tsked under his tongue. "Ah, ah ah. And when I was just about to invite you in for dinner." He tittered with a smile, moving around the hovering spheres to open the door to his shop.

"Dinner? Now you're talking." Ronin's voice would echo through the door of Remi's shop only a moment later, the hunter actually having to shove one of the levitating gourds out of his face so he could grin in at the alchemist. He was getting used to this whole 'Remi had magic' thing, slowly, and he leant casually against the doorframe to regard the other man. "I guess I'm not the only one who thought these things actually smell pretty good, when you get past the gnashing and the chattering, huh?" Cracking his knuckles, Ronin stepped into the shop properly and turned only to kick another one of the bitey little pumpkins away where it tried to follow him. Nope. He clicked the door shut and smiled cheerfully back at Remi. "So," he said, "what are we going to make?" TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST

REMI Whirling around, accompanied by floating gourds, Remi grinned brightly at the backlit hunter as he leaned devilishly handsomely against the doorframe. Smirking, Remi nodded in agreement. "You know the old saying: don't judge a book by its cover, and don't judge a gourd by all the teeth and attempts to kill you. I think the first one only caught on because it was shorter." He chuckled waving a hand at Ronin to indicate that he should come to the back. There may or may not have been claw marks on the inside of the door frame and potentially on the floor. He'd covered up those ones with a rug, but unfortunately there wasn't much to do about the door. Ahh well, perhaps Ronin wouldn't notice. Hands on hips, Remi stared at the still-snapping gourds as they levitated before him. "Well. A soup seems like the best and most efficient way to cook them I'd say." Glancing towards the hunter, Remi waited to see if he had any other culinary insights before they got started

"Well, I can hardly disagree with you. It is shorter. And they do have a lot of teeth..." So saying, Ronin smirked and acted as if to tickle one of the vile pumpkins, pulling his finger back just in time to stop it from being bitten the fuck off. Following Remi's instructions, he headed to the back room as well. Ronin's time as a captain had made him observant, and while his hands did graze the gouges in the doorframe (drawing his gaze to them), he said nothing. He'd punched Remi out as a lion, after all. The less said about his other shift, the better. Grinning at the alchemist surrounded by his floating orange balls, Ronin ducked around them so he could circle around to stand by his friend. "I've got no objection to soup. Tell me where you need me." So saying, Ronin grinned wickedly at the gourds and cracked his knuckles. Hopefully he got to play the part of 'masher'. TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST

REMI "This would be a good time for echo to land a...claw." Remi murmured, wondering if the red space-bug was lingering in the hunter's jacket somewhere. The fact that he let it simply crawl around against his skin ruined any other pleasure Remi might have gained from envisioning what else was under the captain's jacket. Remi shot the hunter a mischievous grin as all sorts of responses to where he wanted him floated to the surface. Witty and one for banter was Remi, but salacious comments? Not usually. Still, given what Remi had recently revealed to Ronin it was almost difficult to pass on the opportunity. "Well. Our friends in their present form like a bit too spherical for soup I think." Remi said with a chuckle, dropping the magical strings holding them in place so they fell onto one of the tables. Quickly conjuring a two bowls, Remi handed them to Ronin. "You're the brawn still." He said with a grin as he moved to light a fire in the wood stove.

"Hmm? You sure? She's not a kitchen knife," Ronin said with a grin. Still, he obliged and lifted his arm, where a vibrant red claw emerged from his sleeve to snap a hello at the alchemist. The odd little lobster didn't bother him at all, and it was pretty common to find her poking out of his collar or his sleeve. Stranger still was that she didn't really seem to care that he wasn't anywhere near water - perks of being magicked into existence, he supposed. But Remi had said brawn was involved, so with a flick of his wrist he directed Echo away again and grinned an unpleasant grin at the soup-- er, squash before him. "You better watch where you direct that smirk," he said playfully, laughing to his friend as he moved over to the wood stove. Ronin needed no further permission. His fist slammed down - how else did Remi expect him to solve their primary problem of the pumpkins being alive and bitey? - perhaps a littl too hard. But it was fine, right? Remi liked having flecks of pulp all over his back and walls and counter (and ceiling). Right? "Oh. Whoops." Ronin smiled apologetically. TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST

REMI "No?" Remi quipped back with a raised brow, making obvious lobster-claw movements with his hands. "She certainly seemed more than capable of doing some slicing and dicing." However as Echo appeared, Remi couldn't help the way his eyes went suddenly wary and he had to repress a shiver. Perhaps it was because she was so different from the types of creatures he could become. Perhaps it was because of the magical malfeasance that had caused her existence. Or perhaps Remi was simply weirded out by the space bug crawling all over Ronin. Feeling little bits of something hitting his back and nestling into his hair, Remi with decided slowness and deliberateness, set down the piece of wood he was holding and turned round to face Ronin. The gourd was not gone, not really. It was just more or less disassembled. And the pieces of it were everywhere. Blinking, Remi wiped some of the orange goo off of one of his shoulders and gave the former captain a pointed but amused look. "I'm not sure if you know this Ronin, but normally when you are cooking you try to keep the ingredients together. Or at least in the bowl." Grinning Remi turned back to to the fire and slowly coaxed it into life. Creating a pot, Remi went out to the well outside of the shop to fill it with water. Could he conjure water? Hmm. Perhaps he should have tried that. Looking at the pot, he focused, trying to add more water to it. Absolutely nothing happened. Well. That answered that. Moving back inside to set the pot on the burning fire, Remi glanced over Ronin's shoulder to see how he was getting along, and to see how much squash had actually made it into the bowl, as opposed to coating his back room.

Whatever Remi thought of Echo, at least she was spared the onslaught of pumpkin guts. Remi wasn't - and neither was Ronin. He was chuckling to himself at the pure ridiculousness of it all, picking bits of pulp and pumpkin skin off his clothes before setting to work once more. And the majority of the squash did end up in the bowls, it was just the matter of... getting them to cooperate was messy at first. "I know, I know - I am a fantastic cook." Ronin flashed a grin over his shoulder at the alchemist. By the time Remi came to take a peek at what he'd been up to, he would be pleased to find that all of the gourds had been broken apart and deseeded, their fleshy delicious contents arranged into the bowl. "Do you approve, chef?" he asked. TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST

REMI With a raised brow, Remi glanced at Ronin. Cheekily, he reached out and wiped the last pulpy remnant of a squash just above Ronin's eyebrow. "You might be forced to wear a hairnet if anyone were to see this." The alchemist chuckled and then peered into the bowl. Actually..it did look quite good. "Were the teeth...real? Or pulp as well?" Remi asked curiously, wondering if Ronin had swept (hidden?) them away somewhere or if they were actually just part of the out layer of the gourds. Pivoting around, Remi grabbed a few spices and without any measuring (true chefs had no need for such of course), he deposited them into Ronin's bowl with a flourish. "Alright then. Into the fire." Remi commanded as he was apparently the head chef here.

"Forced, you say? Who said I wouldn't put one on willingly?" And who said they would manage to get the hairnet on him if he was unwilling? Either way, Ronin flashed Remi a sunny smile as he was cleaned up by the other man, glancing back to the chunks of pumpkin he'd managed to get into the bowl and smiling. It didn't look too bad if he said so himself, he agreed. "The teeth? Ugh, they were part of the outside, but they were tough and sharp..." He wrinkled his nose, nodding to some of the debris if Remi wanted to get a closer look. Alright then. Into the fire. Ronin gave Remi a peculiar look at that. An are you sure kind of look. But... well, he was the chef. Seizing the bowl, the hunter turned with a flourish and unceremoniously dumped all of the ingredients into the open flames. "What, is that meant to add flavour, throwing it into the fire?" TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST

REMI "Then you'd have to hair to ruffle through when you're trying to be charming. " The alchemist said with a pointed smirk. Just because he was with or in some way engaged with Loren, didn't mean that Remi hadn't noticed many of Ronin's mannerisms. Especially as of late, Ronin was probably the person he'd spent the most amount of time with. Glancing to where Ronin nodded, the alchemist filed the information away for later. Perhaps he could make something out of them? A small sort of weapon? Or tool? He'd investigate later. Watching as Ronin began the movement of tossing the contents into the fire, he began to say something that sounded like "Ro-nooo-" and ended with a chuckle. Leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms, Remi raised a skeptical brow as he looked down at the former-captain. Slow blinking for a moment, he had only one question. "....Why.?'

"Trying? I'm offended." Ronin grinned at Remi. "I thought my patented hair ruffle was a sure thing." His laughter came easily, and he was only flattered that his friend seemed to have picked up on his quirks. Their day was about to take a turn though, apparently, and the ex-captain glanced over his shoulder as Remi protested his doing exactly what he said. "Uh, you told me to? I mean I thought it was a terrible idea myself, but I'm a soldier and I follow orders. And you are supposed to be the chef." He shrugged his shoulders, unable not to smile at the alchemist. "Soup's ruined, isn't it?" TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST

REMI Remi grinned, realizing that, despite the fact that Ronin was not immune to the charms of men, that he might still not like Remi commenting on some of his quirks. Ronin's laughter caused him to ease considerably, and in a pantomime of hte captain, he ran a hand through his hair trying (and failing) to ruffle it as Ronin did. Curls were far too floppy to give the disheveled but rugged ruffle that Ronin always seemed to manage. Continuing to look (bemusedly) unimpressed at Ronin's explanation, Remi shook his head with deliberate slowness. "Ahh I can see the confusion. If only there'd been some sort of container that you were clearly meant to put the squash into. Oh wait-" Turning, Remi jumped as if startled by the continued presence of the pot he'd conjured earlier. "Look! There it is!" Grinning down at his friend, Remi chuckled. "I didn't think I was speaking with Loren or I might have been a bit more literal." He chided with a lopsided smirk.

Charmed by the other man's sarcasm, Ronin happily played along. "Why you're right!" he exclaimed in return, grasping Remi's shoulder as if equally surprised by the presence of the container. "You know, I believe they call that very thing a pot, Remi. Now if you had said, 'alright, into the pot' - maybe that's where our soup would have ended up!" He raised his eyebrows at him, as if to say but you didn't, did you? You said into the fire. And here we are. Straightening up and folding his arms across his chest, he snorted as the alchemist mentioned Loren and sat back to watch their pumpkin slowly roast to nothingness. "Oh, Loren would have decided all of this was far too untidy a while back," he said. TALIESIN SO LOOK, AND CONNECT WE'RE REFUSING TO RUST HEALING HAS TO BEGIN IN THE PAST