(no subject)

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

Time: Late afternoon, 25 July 2000
Place: The Manor Grounds
Status: Public
Summary: The Barbecue

Severus had prepared for this extensively, had done research as soon as he was told that he needed to provide food for a ‘barbecue’. Well, that was American, wasn’t it? A newly-published book titled The Great American Barbecue and Grilling Manual was his starting point. (The words ‘great’ and ‘American’ did not belong in the same sentence, although perhaps he might be mistaken, never having been to America.) After learning that this was not merely an American cuisine but a regional (Southern) American cuisine, he began to specialise. Having found a butcher to bring a pig and something to cook it over (yes, the whole pig, you dolt) he learned that it could have been done with a goat as it had been in the Caribbean, and with less effort.

Having put forth effort already, he pushed ahead. The intensive labour required to prepare food by the slow ‘barbecue’ method had been provided by Remus Lupin, although he surely did not understand when he volunteered exactly what it was he’d be doing. The butcher himself was also interested and so Snape had ‘invited’ him to come and help. Work for the day, eat. Bring your family with you and they can help and eat also. Only if they help. Severus’ labour shortage crisis solved.

The whole concept of barbecue sauce was confusing, so he’d made three kinds. Two for public consumption—a South Carolina style with mustard, vinegar and black pepper that seemed reasonable enough. Kansas City style that was thick, red-brown, and gloppy, made with a tomato base and molasses. The third was for Crowley, a Texas-style sauce amusingly named ‘Devil’s Spit’ made from a tomato base with cumin and hot chiles. These American chiles being unavailable, he procured an Oriental variety that were infinitely hotter. Let him call that bland.

Chicken would go on, although not for as long as the blasted pig, and sausages for the unadventurous. The Brunswick Stew might end up in the restaurant under ‘American Cuisine’. It was simple enough, with a tomato base, lima beans (or any beans), corn, other vegetables, and meat. Traditionally rabbit or squirrel but he could use leftover pork, chicken, beef or even cut-up sausages. Basically, a fine way to rid himself of leftover almost anything and he revised his opinion of American ingenuity. The true test would be Crowley’s opinion. If he disapproved, it was definitely going on the menu.

Okra and sweet potatoes proved impossible to procure. Field greens—of the turnip variety—were simple enough to cook in some of the extra pig fat. Black-eyed peas, which looked an awful lot like beans, with bacon. He made carrots in sauce of butter and brown sugar that seemed terribly French, but he simply shrugged. There would be green peas—not mushy, unfortunately, which would have made Crowley complain and Snape smile, a dish of fried apples that was a side dish, apparently popular with pork, and potato salad. It was a source of annoyance that the recipe he found for this called for red potatoes that did not need to be peeled. How brilliant would it have been to set Lupin to peeling potatoes for his own requested potato salad?

Cornbread was simple enough to make, although all the different names and types confused him. The concept of beaten biscuits was repulsive so he settled on cheddar biscuits instead. American biscuits, he found, were a bread roll that seemed a bizarre combination of bap, scone, and crumpet. But they were a Southern staple and very simple to make. Devilled eggs—also simple, seemingly French—were another extra dish along with pickles of varied types. He refused to make grits—porridge was bad enough at breakfast and he would certainly not serve it in any other time.

Cold tea, sweet, with or without lemon was also a disgusting concept. Lemonade, if people wished to drink it. Lupin had to deal with squeezing the lemons, too. He had procured some Bourbon and Belial would, he imagined, not object if any leftover made its way to the bar. Mint juleps required it. Mint grew in the garden and sugar was a staple.

Having no sweet potatoes with which to make sweet potato pie, which seemed unpleasant anyway, he went with pecan pie. It was too sweet, but someone would eat it. Pound cake with whipped cream (another job for Lupin) and blackberry cobbler, which was enough like local fare for people to be willing to eat it. If he could have found watermelon, that would have been amusing. But messy, so just as well he hadn’t found it.

All in all, it was a great effort on his part, slave labour or no, and people had better appreciate it else he would be extremely put out.

"Let Wensleydale handle things in the kitchen, Lupin. The butcher will take care of serving the meat. You can clear plates and make sure the dishes are all filled." He had planned this. "The butcher's wife can help with drinks. The children have been disposed of."

Out of the way, nothing more sinister. Eating now, washing dishes later. Work for food, and a good trade on his part.

"Keep an eye on the biscuits, Wensleydale, and see that they don't burn. And make sure there is plenty of ice."

He turned.

"No, mint juleps are not sweets, get away from me, you silly child." Weren't they supposed to be on the far side of the lawn, eating their supper?

Attention Edit: As of this point the Devil's Spit sauce is no longer on the serving table but in Snape's hands, doled out by him. Please do not have your character get into it.

Comments

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper had just finished spraying herself with the hose. Which had been a bad idea because not only had it made no difference with the burning, but now she was all wet. She wished she had worn a black shirt in retrospect.

She was walking back to the tables to see if she could get some food and try to restore her tastebuds that way when she heard someone screaming in her general direction. Looking ahead she saw... oh. Right. Erm... she looked really pissed off. Pepper tried to think what would have made her so angry, unless she was still upset about....

"Er... yes?" She had daggers. That couldn't be good.

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

"How did you do it?! How, Miss-fiery-hair-I'm-playing-innocent, did you do that with sticks?! How did you DARE?"

War brought her right arm back and sent a dagger flying towards the damnable girl, then followed it immediately with another from her left. With all the daggers strapped on her, she had eight in total, four in each hand, and she let six of them fly as she ran forward.

"How dare you?!"

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

"Well, with the stick it was really just for - "

Pepper couldn't finish the sentence because the daggers were in the air now and headed in her direction. If she had been more prepared she might have done one of those fancy rolling somersaults that one would normally see in action films, but being too disoriented and shocked she settled for diving to the ground like any good soldier would.

At least she had dispensed with all her weapons.

"Now hang on a second!" she shouted from the ground. "I wasn't the one trying to help end the world an' all! It wasn't my fault that you had to be dealt with!"

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

"Not your fault?!" War shrieked. "Of course it was your fault! First rule of war, girly - accept responsibility for your own actions!"

She let her last two daggers fly as she was only metres away from the girl. She was now unarmed, having left her rifle in her room as was standard when she was doing practice with some of her other large weapons. It would make it a fair hand-to-hand fight.

"Ending the world was part of my job description! But I did it all properly! You, you just walked up with a couple of sticks and discorporated me! You wouldn't even fight properly!"

She had reached her, and grabbed her hair to pull her up to face her.

"This time, we fight properly," she hissed, as she dropped her right hand from the red locks and brought her left hand round to punch the girl on the jaw.

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

When the last two daggers flew - didn't see those - Pepper rolled to the side, missing them by a few inches. Listening to her rant about war and responsibility and fighting properly, Pepper could only come to one conclusion: this bitch was mental.

She was wrenched up by her hair, which hurt like hell, and once the pain had subsided another kind took its place as she felt a fist make hard contact with her face. She staggered back a few paces before her instincts took hold and she lashed out, punching the woman in the stomach.

"How's that for proper?" she snarled. If the woman expected her to roll over and play dead at that kind of treatment she had another thing coming.

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

War gasped, and half doubled up. Blind with fury which had been left for years to acquire interest, she hadn't thought of the blasted girl fighting back. She wasn't even really thinking now.

She lashed out again, spinning out of the bent position to land a kick on her ribs, and following it up with a slash of her fingernails across the girl's left cheek.

If she wasn't going to fight fair, then neither was War.

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

The kick to the ribs landed hard, harder than she'd ever felt in any of the fights she'd been through her life. The alarming reality of the pain had her blinking for several moments, but thankfully she could still breathe. Nails raked across her skin and she grit her teeth. Rules off then, eh? All right...

Pepper grabbed a chunk of the lady's long hair and yanked as hard as she could, pulling the War toward her so she could drive her knee high into the woman's solar plexis. Pepper drove an elbow into her neck when she doubled over and then looked up, scanning the grounds for anyone really, but especially Adam. Why wasn't he here?

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

War gasped when the girl's knee found its target, but she just didn't have the strength that War had. She'd been in training for millennia, after all. She doubled over, half in pain, half tactically, and regretted it when a sharp pain in her neck twisted her head to one side.

War grit her teeth. "You're not going to win this one, bitch," she spat, as she grabbed the girl's hips whilst she was off guard, and pulled her off balance, moving one hand quick as lightning to chop at her collar bone as she started to fall.

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Something cracked. Pepper tried to throw her arms back to catch herself, which proved to be a bad move as her collarbone was most certainly broken. With a shout of anguish that she couldn't help, she rolled over onto her side, which brought her conveniently in line with War's feet. She'd be damned if she was going down that easy while that woman was still standing.

Leaning forward, she bit War's ankle viciously, then took used her one arm that wasn't as affected by the pain to grab the woman's ankle and pull her foot out from under her, sending her flying to the ground.

But Pepper couldn't find the strength to roll up and tackle the woman properly. In fact, she couldn't really focus her vision, as everything kept fading in and out. Maybe that punch to the jaw had done more damage than she thought? Or maybe she had hit her head when she'd hit the ground...

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

War cried out - half in anger, half in pain - when the girl bit her on the ankles, but it was suddenly cut off when she was taken off balance and fell to the ground.

She expected to be jumped on and tackled as she fell, but nothing happened, so her fighting reflexes kicked in and she rolled over to pin the girl to the ground.

Kneeling with her legs at right angles across the girl's, and her hands on her shoulders pushing her down so she couldn't fight back, she saw her opponent fighting unconsciousness.

"Who's the better fighter now, girlie?" she hissed, filled with the joy of the fight.

[demon-mictain.livejournal.com]

Mictain wasn't absoutely sure what had drawn his attention. However, he found himself watching as War attacked a human girl. Knowing that Adam would interfere before any serious damage could be done, he stayed some way from the redhaired pair.

The sight of red hair had made him stop for half a second, but he forced himself to ignore it. Raphael was past. He'd made it rather clear. There was no reason to dwell on it.

He smirked as he saw War's move. "Way to go, Ruby!" he said, not loudly enough to gain any more attention than the fight itself but loud enough for the woman to hear.

If he couldn't fight, at least he could watch somebody else doing it. And doing it well, too.

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

As War knelt at ground-level, the shout she'd heard as she chopped the girl registered. She knew that voice, even if the last time she heard it had been several months before, when it's owner had moved out of her room after she'd... taken care of him.

"Mic!" she called out joyfully, most of her mind and all of her strength still focussed on pinning the girl to the earth. "It's been too long!"

[demon-mictain.livejournal.com]

"It has," agreed Mictain, walking a bit closer -- not too close, though. He didn't want anybody to think that he might have anything to do with the fight. "I had some things to take care of. Visited Hell, for one thing. Got beaten by a group of angels for another. First time I've lost, too." He grimaced. "I was out of action for quite some time. Yourself?"

He saw nothing wrong with the idea of talking during a battle. After all, War should be well able to handle both a human and a conversation at the same time.

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

She could sense him walking toward them without looking, and grinned to herself. He'd probably enjoyed watching the fight.

"Sounds like you've been busy. Mind you, I have too, travelling with work. Had been enjoying my time back in the Manor - until this one turned up," she said viciously, pushing down hard onto the girl's shoulders and digging a knee into her thigh so her leg turned out at an awkward angle, preventing her jumping up even if she tried.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" yelled a furious Adam storming towards the two women, eyes blazing. "War, get off Pepper this second. I know fightin' is your nature, but you know it's not allowed here. And Pep, you didn't hafta fight back. Are you hurt real bad?"

He kneeled at her side to look over her injuries and turned back to address the crowd. "Someone get Anathema."

[demon-mictain.livejournal.com]

Mictain took a step back as he saw Adam approaching. He could probably claim that he wouldn't have been able to break off the fight anyway. It was at least partly true, even -- of all people he'd ever met, War was the only one he wasn't sure he could win in a one-to-one combat.

"I had nothing to do with it," he said, a bit defensively. He really, really didn't want to be kicked out again.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

Adam directed a cold stare in Mictain's direction, not appreciating the interruption. His look said, 'Don't you think I know that?' but he said nothing, directing his attention back to Pepper.

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

War - or anyone else, probably - couldn't help hearing that voice. Oh, Antichrist...

She jumped off the girl - Pep... Pepper, of course! - immediately, and stood a good few paces back, but not so far Adam would think she was trying to run away. She didn't want to give Adam any more ammunition - and she more more than likely wasn't going to get any support from the crowd of onlookers, either. Why had she had to lose her temper so completely?

"I think it's her collarbone," she offered quietly.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

His voice was low, but Adam's words carried though the ambient noise like a siren. "We have a doctor and nurse who will take care of whatever is wrong."

He looked directly into her eyes. "I trusted you, War, and this is how you repay that? I'm real disappointed in you..."

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

The message was clear in her mind: anything she said wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. It made sense.

Inside, she was thinking at a ferocious pace.
I completely and utterly lost it. I shouldn't have done - shouldn't have launched into an attack without thinking. Defence, sure, but not to attack someone. And it was so stupid. It was years ago, and what difference did it make? None at all: I'm here, back again. Or at least - I was here, given I'll probably have to leave now. It's stupid... I knew Adam trusted me - all of us - to behave here. But I'm not used to it - people don't trust War. People run away and scream... except here. Odds bobs, I had friends here, more or less. And now I blew it. Well, way to go, Scarlett. You've just uprooted yourself, and you're an idiot for it, even if it isn't for the first time.

All she said was, "I know," and bit the inside of her lip.

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"Consider this your warnin'," he replied, calm now that the danger had passed. Adam looked at Pepper, not sure whether she'd be able to understand right now but he could tell her again later. "Yours too, Pepper. Any more fights and I'm gonna ask you both to leave. Even if I don't want it, I hafta do what's safe for everyone."

He sighed. "I keep tellin' people this but no one's been listenin'. We hafta stick together. All of us. If even we can't keep from fightin', nobody will be able to."

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

"I don't have to leave?"

As soon as she'd let the words out of her mouth, War regretted it - she didn't want to give Adam a chance to change his mind. Despite this, War sighed inwardly with relief, and all the tension drained out of her body. It was against her nature, but she had been terrified of losing this place - and these people. What was it - "Do not talk to me of cities: for what is a city without its people?"... Plato's Republic. She'd never minded leaving anywhere before, because there'd never been people there who mattered.

If they mattered, she shouldn't fight them. "I've been too... trigger-happy, I guess you'd say, recently, I know. And I know that here we have to stick together, and protect each other. I'll watch myself and my temper - but I'll watch our backs, too."

[average-adam.livejournal.com]

"No, you don't hafta leave. Maybe you should look into findin' a way to get out your extra energy, though. Combat classes for the residents? I don't think you're the only one who'd enjoy the exercise..."

Sometimes it was hard being the grown-up.

[swords-love-me.livejournal.com]

War bit her lip, visibly this time. "Thank you."

She grinned, though maybe with less energy than usual. "Maybe you're right. I'll think about it - let people know they can join me training, maybe, or something. Though from what I've seen, a lot of us seem to have at least the basics already," she finished, wryly, and rubbed the side of her neck, wincing slightly.

Turning round, she looked to see if she could see any friendly faces in the people milling around them.

[playswithboys.livejournal.com]

Pepper could vaguely make out what Adam was saying, and it was not what she wanted to hear. He had the gaul to say that this was even partly her fault? How did that make sense? She wanted to yell at him, but even preparing to raise her voice made everything around her left shoulder flare up in sharp pain. She grit her teeth, refusing to admit to herself that she might feel a little ashamed for falling into the trap this whole fiasco had been.

And she felt weak and bested, and she felt very alone, and she felt her eyes burning though she wasn't sure why, but before she could get a handle on anything her vision fizzed out, blackened to a dark grey and everything was easy and quiet.