Video / Action

[woo_oo]

 Hey guys! Been a while, I've been laying low planning some epic stuff and definitely not being overwhelmed by the fact over how long I've been missing my family. EVERYTHING'S FINE.

And in the spirit of everything is fine, I decided to throw my all into a SUPER BANQUET! Sure, the newbies get stuff provided by the town, but why not eat something made by your experienced adventurers? And so I present, the all-together-eating-table!

[ In Main Street, Webby rips off the sheet to a table, revealing... the stuff nightmares are made of. Seriously, nothing looks edible. She... tried, clearly, but she's also clearly veryveryvery new to the whole cooking thing. Some things are burnt, undercooked, too much sugar in one, salt overflowing in another... One must shudder to imagine what the kitchen she used looks like...] 

I'll be on Main Street all day, offering my goodies and my friendship! Bon appetit!

Comments

[woo_oo]

"I didn't!" She says with pride. "I remembered all my Granny's meals!"

Another huge warning.

[hardcoreparkour]

"Family recipes," he said with a smile that only cracked a little around the edges with trepidation. He was pretty sure Granny's stuff never came out looking like it was a few hours of sitting out away from sentience.

"Which one's your favorite?"

[woo_oo]

"The chocolate cake!" Webby said, now holding up a plate of... brown... something or other. Was that moving???

"Doesn't it just make your mouth water?"

/see keywords

[hardcoreparkour]

Oh, something was watering, alright, but it was still on the plate. It was getting a little more difficult to put on his tactful, supportive adult face.

"Uh, it looks like it might still just be batter, Webby. Did you ... uh ... bake it?
... Long enough?"

accurate

[woo_oo]

"Of course I did!" Webby seems confused he would even ask. "And I put out the fire afterward too."

[hardcoreparkour]

"Oh, okay, okay." Well, that explained it, he supposed. Maybe it caught on fire early, and that was why it was so undercooked? But then ... wait ... how did liquid batter catch fire? He didn't know terribly much about baking, but he was still pretty certain it didn't work that way.

One more hopeful stab in the dark toward something edible. "So it's ... a lava cake?"

[woo_oo]

Webby paused.

Yet another bad, bad sign.

"Sure! Why not? It's kinda like lava, so that counts!"

[hardcoreparkour]

He'd made worse decisions before and survived.

With that partially reassuring thought, Nate took a forkful of the cake, only to watch as it slipped through the tines.

"Hmm. Have any spoons?"

[woo_oo]

"A-huh! And they're big enough so you can take nice large scoops!"

She held up fistfuls of plastic utensils, still cheerfully oblivious.

[hardcoreparkour]

"Thanks," he said, his voice once more creeping into that high, uncertain register. But the kid had worked so hard, and she was so invested in it all. It wouldn't do to break her heart, and ... well ... it couldn't be worse than Sam's cooking.

Nate took a proper spoonful and raised it to her in a toast. "To your Grammy's recipe book."

He put it in his mouth before he could have any second thoughts...

[woo_oo]

Don't go into the light, Nathan! DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT!

"So? How is it? Do you want more?"

[hardcoreparkour]

He coughed as the "cake" made its slow descent of his windpipe. It tasted like dark cocoa powder and raw egg, and he had a feeling she'd left out baking powder, probably sugar too.

"Wow," he managed. "That ... That's really filling. ... Can I take some to go, for later?"

That, he figured, would at least make her happy and save maybe one or two people from the same fate.

[woo_oo]

Webby gasped, seemingly genuinely touched by the offer. "Of course! You can take all you want!"

Aw, he made her day.

[hardcoreparkour]

"Thanks." He scooped a few ladles into a paper bowl and raised it in a sort of food salute. "I bet if your grandmother were here, she'd be really proud that you wanted to share all this with everyone."

[woo_oo]

At this rate, her smile would take up her whole face, it was so big.

"That would be great! Because she's the absolute best... at anything!"

[hardcoreparkour]

"Sounds like my mom. She was like that, too." Nathan smiled a bit wistfully. "At least, what I remember of her. She went on a lot of adventures, and she was always trying to learn as much as she could about the world... both the way it used to be, and the way it was."

[woo_oo]

"That's kind of the opposite way Granny does now... she doesn't leave the mansion that often anymore, and didn't want me going on adventures at first."

[hardcoreparkour]

"She doesn't, huh? Did something happen to her? Sometimes, when things happen to someone, they don't just avoid doing it: they think other people shouldn't do it because they want them to be safe." He surprised himself a little with the bit of wisdom, especially when he realized he was speaking from experience: he'd warned Sam away from Avery's treasure for that exact reason.

[woo_oo]

"Oh, she just retired from her spy stuff to be Scrooge McDuck's housekeeper." At least, that's what Webby assumed. "But you're still right, she was worried about all that bad stuff happening to me... but when I tagged along with Scrooge anyway, she decided I'd be safe with him."