[SE] soul food

Isla

"You will with that attitude," Isla says, though she's too focused on their cooking endeavours to tease him too much. (Later, maybe). She doesn't even remember if she has a cooking bone in her body, given how long it's been, so between them their efforts could end up anywhere between passable and inedible. Only one way to find out, huh?

Wrapping up her own parcel - that, at least, is done with almost surgical precision - she glances down to see him pawing at the sand with a hoof, deciding not to make any jokes about it in lieu of setting their parcels down in the space he's made. "Pretty shallow I think," she says. "The sand gets cooler the deeper you dig, right? So if we cover them here..."

So saying, she pushes the hot surface sand to cover their parcels and dusts off her palms, hopefully getting rid of most of the oil and herbs on them too. "And if this ends up terrible, I did get some lemon rice to go with it, so we can just eat that," she adds, somewhat sheepishly.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

SuNjATA

the flood

A hum of a laugh leaves him, nodding as he focuses on getting the parchment fish ready, digging the holes as she shows him, picking the depth she’s chosen. “Shallow it is.” He murmurs, before he’s shifting his hand back and she’s covering them with the sand. He sits back, letting the sun start to cover the little cooking spot they'd made, letting his gaze lift back to her.

“Well, if all else fails I can catch more and we can do a classic beach bonfire.” He flashes another amusing smile at her before he moves to stand, brushing the sand from his knees and legs. “Just in case we want something else other than the rice, which sounds delicious, either way.” He rumbles, humming another soft laugh.

But then the sound of the gulls on the beach overhead overtake the previous quiet roar of the waves crashing and he tilts his head toward her. “How long do we wait?” He asks, scanning the spot they’d put the fish.

would you run away with me?

Isla

"I haven't sat around any sort of bonfire in ages," Isla says with a fanged grin, unaware, of course, that she'll be doing just that in a short while regardless of how their cooking endeavours go. "Maybe we can make one later when it gets dark, and cook something else. Don't fishermen cook crabs in their shells over a fire?" She's not a frequent visitor of Torchline, and until recently she wasn't even a frequent eater of food, so... go figure.

That's for later, anyway - for now, she's covered up their meal and the sun is happily baking away at it, as far as she's concerned, and so it's with a sunny smile and a languid stretch back onto her elbows that she waits. And waits some more. And when Sunjata speaks, Isla takes a very careful few moments to consider her answer, before looking up at him.

"...Until it's done?" she hazards, a smile twitching at her lips that's desperate to turn into a laugh. "The book never mentioned that part!" Glancing back at the sand and fully expecting to hear a timer go ping!, the Remedy scoffs at her own idiocy. "Surely it will smell herby... and lemony. Right?"

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

SuNjATA

the flood

“Yeah, me neither.” He admits, thinking back on when the last time he’d been to one was. Probably a LongNight a while back in Torchline, but he tries not to dwell on that thought for too long. He focuses instead on stepping over to join her in the sand, looking around at the area they’d picked, subconsciously going through a mental checklist for what Frey had quested him with.

And this was Isla’s choice. So he takes in the tide where it’s at, rocks, any potential crustaceans that might cause a problem. It all filters in and files away, listening as she tells him the book didn’t say, and he huffs a laugh. “Yeah. It should, I think?” He doesn’t know how long it will be until then, or how much they’d have to adjust any sand on top of it to bake in the heat.

He lays back again in the sand, letting the heat warm him, tilting his head toward her. “Check it in twenty minutes maybe?”

would you run away with me?

Isla

I think is good enough for Isla, and she gives Sunjata what's supposed to be a very reassuring nod about checking back in twenty minutes. "Sounds good to me," she says to him with a grin, settling back to sprawl in the sand again. "Wake me if I fall asleep?" she asks, assuming he's going to go back to frolicking in the shallows, unaware that he's filing away all of the sexy, sandy details of a beachtime romp.

Either way, she does let herself enjoy the heat and the hush of the ocean waves, the cry of hels and the peals of laughter from people enjoying themselves. And while she doesn't sleep, exactly, she's in a pleasant enough doze when, lo and behold, she does smell herbs and lemon. Nose twitching, her eyes blink open and she rolls to sit up, glancing around for Sunjata. "I think it actually worked."

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

SuNjATA

the flood

He does remain there for a few minutes, taking in everything he can and filtering it back into his mind. “I can do that.” He offers to her as she gets comfortable, and after about five minutes or so, the call of the ocean draws him back in. He doesn’t go far, though, drifting into the shallows, partially shifting again to lounge easier.

He drifts on his back, taking a few dips now and then when the sun has dried off his skin and heat him up again. But before long, he hears her call and perks up, returning to the beach to step out of it, dripping water as he runs his hand through his hair to brush it back out of his face. In fact, he can smell the spices and the lemon as well from this distance, and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t speed up his pace at all. “Oh?” He asks, as promptly dropping himself by the hole they’d dug, already digging in to retrieve the parchment of fish.

would you run away with me?

Isla

If Isla had known what Baywatch was, she might have compared Sunjata's running out of the water and up the beach to it. As it happens she's too focused on digging out their food as well, proudly managing to unearth the parcels of parchment which are surprisingly hot to the touch. (Not that she needs to worry about being burned, it's merely a pleasant shock). "You know," she says, flashing him a grin, "I think these might just be edible."

Unwrapping one of the fish and leaving the other for leftovers (stupid SE requirement), Isla reaches over for a small wrapped container of rice that she's also procured, opening it up and offering some out to Sunjata. "Want to start with what I know is well cooked, because we didn't do the cooking?" she suggests.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

SuNjATA

the flood

Sunjata flashes Isla a small half smirk, before a light chuckle leaves him. “They smell like they are.” As if that was any indicator (and honestly has resulted in the Flood getting sick on numerous occasions). But he sets the other two aside to focus on the parchment they know is cooked, lifting his gaze to the rest of the food offered. His stomach rumbles, much to his surprise, and bobs his head. “Please.” It’s something they can share, at least, and Sunjata takes a mouthful to chew on as he returns to the first fish.

He opens up the parchment, scanning the fish, before reaching for the knife he had before to press into the fish. Surprise overcomes him when it flakes away, perfectly cooked and smelling ripe with the spice and lemon. “It looks really good actually.” He’s shocked, honestly. Between the two of them he wholly expected it to be a disaster. “How much do you want?” The blade of the knife sits perfectly in the middle, unsure whether she’d want more or less.

would you run away with me?

Isla

Isla has had the sense ask for two spoons for the rice at least, so they don't have to take it in turns, and she hums her approval around a mouthful of it as Sunjata unveils the fish. They're crouched around it like two feral things that have never seen cooked food before, and honestly when she thinks back to this later, it will be with no shortage of amusement. "It does, right?" she agrees, as if she'd been worried to admit it. "I really didn't know if the sand would do anything."

Then Sunjata goes and dithers about portion equivalence, and Isla reaches out to gently thump the back of his hand (the one holding the knife), successfully cutting the fish into perfect halves. "You can have the head because I'm feeling generous," she adds with a fanged smirk, shifting to sit on the sand and skewer a bit of fish to try, seeming delighted at the steam that comes off it when she lifts it from the parchment.

"Never tell anyone how excited we got about this," she tells him dryly.

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard

SuNjATA

the flood

Sunjata might think back on this endeavor and also find amusement in it one day, but for now he’s far more proud than he cares to admit – never one to wing it when making food and actually having it turn out. After all, he’d only learned to make the basics, and usually that just meant sticking something on a stick above a fire and praying it was edible. “Guess it makes sense given how hot it is. Makes you wonder what it does to your back though if you laid on it too long.” He shrugs his shoulders as if trying to loosen the tightness there (which he’ll find out later is a sunburn), before he’s moving to cut the fish for the two of them.

She bats at his hand and the knife slices through in a perfect half and half, and his gaze lifts to her with a crookedly boyish smile of amusement as she tells him which half he can have. “Mm, alright then.” He takes a spoonful of the rice once more, stuffing it into his mouth before he follows her lead, skewering a piece of the fish and testing it out. It’s good, surprisingly, and he hums his surprise even as it breaks into a soft muffled chuckle. He swallows his food before he speaks, at least. “It’ll be our little secret.” He flashes her a wink before skewering another piece of the fish.

would you run away with me?

Isla

Shuffling to sit more comfortably in the sand now that they've divided up their spoils and ensured they have plenty of leftovers, Isla smirks across at Sunjata around another bite of rice. "Believe me when I say it's a strange problem not to have any more," she says after swallowing; having gone from needing a parasol in the sun to being able to sprawl on the superheated sand in absurd comfort... it's certainly a change.

It is good, and Isla falls into companionable silence to enjoy their meal, trying not to seem too impressed at their ability to dig a hole in the sand and throw some herbs and lemon on a fish. "And I very much appreciate it," she adds in reference to their little secret, the Remedy leaving little more than an empty rice container and some fishbones by the time they're done.

After a little longer relaxing on the beach, it isn't long before the two take to strolling the coastline again (or the shallows, in Sunjata's case), and it's not until she spots the now-infamous beach party that she speaks up again.

The rest is history.

~FIN

I'll take a bruise, I know you're worth it
When you hit me, hit me hard