LongTech Industries - The Bake-Off - RPLOG
Participants
Date
3/9/477
Log
All around the square, LongTech staff are making the final preparations. Beings place decorations, apply the final touches to the tables and ensure that there's enough in the way of ingredients to go around. It takes a while, but eventually the commotion ceases and the staff move aside, allowing both the competitors and the beings who wish to watch head to their tables and seats respectively. At the judge's table Samira stands, ready to welcome the attendees.
Elijah is ready. He was BORN ready for this. The gigantic Grizzly carefully ties a bib around his thick neck emblazoned with the word JUDGE in big, bold letters. The burly bear roams among the tables, seeing what wonderful foods the cooks of Firmament would be making for him to sample. He had been overjoyed when his name had been pulled to serve as the "Volunteer Taste Tester!"
Lucasiel slinks along towards the competitor's area, already wearing an apron over her yellow dress. She smiles at the sight and ushers her daughter off towards the observation area as the larger panther takes up a position at one of the cooking tables, stretching out her fingers. This was exciting! She may not be the best baker in the land, but she had experience. And a plan.
Yawning, Calisiel makes her way, quite inadvertantly, to the square. Quickly picking up on what is happening. Or, going to happen, the crow smiles, draws back her hood and glances around. She adjusts her dress slightly, then catches sight of Elijah. Noting his 'judge' bib, and her less than adequate cooking skills, thinks this may not go well for her. She looks for where to sign up, hoping they aren't full yet.
Samira hmmphs quietly and taps her foot on the floor a few times as she glances around the gathering. All the competitors seem to be there, but where are her judges? Slinking off to the side, she weaves her way between tables before spotting Elijah's rather quickly, mostly due to his choice of clothing. "Oh, you must be one of the judges! We need you up by the table!" she churrs with much excitement, casting a glance back before she goes.
As soon as she's back at the judge table, her announcement begins. "Ladies and gentlebeings. As you're no doubt aware, you're all gathered here for the LongTech bake-off! Before everyone gets started though, I should remind everyone that the use of magic isn't allowed in this competition. If you need any ingredients, feel free to ask our staff!" she says, pointing to one particular staff-member in a LongTech uniform before she continues. "You'll have an hour until the judging will begin. Good luck!" she shouts with much enthusiasm, signaling the start of the competition.
The beings occupying the other four benches start their work after only a short delay, moving to prepare the ingredients they'll need while the staff and judges move down to examine their craft.
Should any care to examine it, the slip of paper supplied with the thermometer details how the long metal rod of the device can be pushed into the baked good to check it's temperature, along with Flora's estimates of what temperatures the device's scale matches up to.
Elijah stops to snuffle happily at a pot of some sort of savory stew that a small folk vole is tending too. "That smells wonderful!" he rumbles with a smile, "I can't wait to taste it!" The burly bear looks up with a little surprise as the skunk woman ushers him up to the judges' table. He looks more than a little out of place in his overalls and with his goggles perched atop his head, but he does his best to look official. At least until he is turned loose to snuffle at the cookery once more.
Lucasiel folds her arms for a brief moment, taking a stock of everything she had at her disposal before promptly setting to work! She was going to eschew a lot of the fancy things that other beings were probably going to make. Instead, she sets to work baking up a treat she grew up with, and that she often made for Marianne. Peanut butter cookies. Simple enough, but maybe it'd work out in her favour for just that reason. Who doesn't like cookies?
Calisiel scratches her neck at the talk of 'no magic'. So, baking. While the crow can cook, baking is a different story. Might as well make the attempt; she is already here. Calisiel sets about gathering ingredients. Not sure if she has time, but, decides to make bread. Typically four hours or more. Suppressing her urge to make a joke, and failing... "Does baknig a potato count?" She laughs, assumes it is a 'no' and looks for yeast, flower, and that other stuff needed for bread...
With a hasty tap tap tap, a dapper Skunk who certainly seems well-suited to assaying the quality of fine foods makes his wide, rolling approach.
"Ah! My apologies, dear Samira--I was simply working up my appetite!" he calls out with a chuckle...and given his windedness, the sheen on his fur and the cloying scent of his perfume, it certainly seems like it. Balancing himself on a strange-looking cane, he lowers himself onto a bench at the judges' table with a mighty creak. He attempts to pull a serious face as he gives an aloof nod to the gathered contestants as if trying not to reveal anything...but a giddy smile can't help but creep in. He gets fed for free and calls it work--it's like he was born for this!
Samira wanders down in amongst the crowd, doing her best to keep her tail out of the way of the food. One reason she had to be there was to make sure nothing happened to the thermometers, although that's not to say that she wasn't also enjoying her time as she asked questions, peeked over benches and answered questions from the competitors. "A potato? Well... in truth I've never really concidered that!" she churrs, scratching at her ear. Naturally, that's when Brutus arrives! His appearance earns a quizical gaze and his new cane an even more questioning one but the matter is left as the skunkette wanders up to the judge's table with him. "It's fine! I've already told them what to do, so if you want to wander around and see what they're up to, go ahead." With that, she's back off into the croud.
Said crowd has fallen rather silent now, as there's little to cheer about while the competition is ongoing. Their quiet conversations still punctuate the otherwise soothing background noise of cooking and the soft roar of the wood fires.
The other beings seem intent on making a fair variety of dishes, as some have already fetched a few pieces of meat and one seems to have started work on what's surely a vegetable-stuffed pie! As one last note to those hard at work, Samira calls out, "And remember, you'll have to make enough for the three judges! Or more, if you wish!".
Elijah lumbers from table to table, savoring the smells of sweet, delicious cooking. And he was going to get to try all of it! He had died. He had died and this is where good bears went. The burly mechanist wipes the threatening drool from his lips and heads back to the judges table, before he can't contain himself any longer.
Three judges? Well that was all fine and good. That was one of the perks of making cookies! You could make plenty without issue. And that's just what Lucasiel was doing. She was going to make enough for the judges, herself, and her daughter. It doesn't take too terribly long, either, before she's shuffling off the tray of prepared cookie dough into an oven to begin heating.
