A Stringless Puppet (O)

[Talvia]

Cheers and the clamour of dozens of hands could be heard yards away as the audience called for the performance to continue. The cries for an encore registered as nothing more muffled voices to Talvia. One hand supporting her weight on a tower of juggling clubs that reached 7 ft into the air. Her other arm and legs splayed out to maintain her precarious balance. One false twitch and she would be spending a few months in a neck brace. Or worse...

With her eyes closed, Tal breathed in, and then exhaled slowly. A sharp intake of breath, Talvia's eye snapped open as she launched off the improvised tower. Almost unanimously, the crowd all silenced as they watched. Reaching her peak of 5ft over the tower, Talvia extended her arms and straightened her legs. She started to spin. As she spun, Tal conjured fire from her hands that encircled her while she was spinning. After a complete revolution, she threw her legs forward, which caused her to flip mid-air. Bending her knees as she neared the ground, Talvia landed with plumes of fire spouting from under her feet. They were weak, so they died almost instantly.

The audience gasped. Talvia promptly stood with her arms held out straight with her legs together and wore one of her reserved smiles. A roar of applause and whistles broke the silence. She bowed graciously, the bells in her jester hat jingling. A pouch Tal placed earlier was sitting before her. A quick glance while bowing saw an assortment of bills and change. Hidden behind her hair, a small, sly toothy smirk riddled Talvia's face. Looks like I'll have enough to actually enjoy myself tonight.

Re-applying her charming smile, Tal rose. "Thank you for all your praise and donations! I hope my little performance gave you some respite and entertainment for the day." With a elegant motion, Talvia swiped the pouch from the ground and tied it. Removing her Bag of Holding, she threw the pouch in the air, opened the bag and let it fall in.

Another wave of applause swept over Talvia as she bowed a second time. As the crowd began to disperse, Talvia began to gather the rest of her equipment and put them away. "Ooh. I can already taste that great curry that small restaurant makes." She sniggered. "And perhaps later I'll stop by the bar. I haven’t had a decent drink in a while."

A chain of coughs behind Tal caught her attention. Turning, Talvia saw a young lady with a girl and a boy who was coughing. They were all dressed in torn, well worn clothing and covered in dirt and scratches. The girl had to be no more then 3 years old. She approached Tal and held out a daisy. Talvia plucked it from the little hand. The girl smiled. As she ran back to, who Talvia assumed was, her mother. Talvia looked coldly at the flower and twirled it. "Goddammit..." She muttered under her breath. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the pouch filled with the money she earned for her performance.

"Hey!" She hollered to the young lady. She limply threw the pouch towards her, but it careened off of her intentional target and flew past the woman's head. It landed with a soft thump and the clatter of coins was heard. Talvia cursed to herself. "Take it. Buy yourselves a decent meal and get some medicine for your scratches before they get infected. Also get something for the kid's cough." She said as she turned and continued packing up. "Now get outta here."

Since she didn't hear anything, Tal assumed that the lady and kids weren't moving. "Are you deaf? Mute? Blind? How about all of the above? I said to go away." She said with her back turned. A few seconds passed, heavy with silence. "W-we..." The lady started. "We... Can't take your money..." Talvia sighed as she placed the last of her tools in her bag. "Just take the damn money. Unlike you, I can earn it back. So if you're not going to take it, leave it. I'm certain some other gutter trash would spend it on something other then drowning out their sorrows with cheap alcohol." She turned and walked past the mother with her mouth agape. "If you won't spend it for yourself, use it for your kids." Tal grumbled as she left the square.

Talvia was at least a dozen feet away from the square. Well wasn't that short lived...? Guess I have to be happy with whatever the Inn's making... Fantastic. I swear, last night, it moved. She pushed the thought away. "Thank you Miss Clown!" a voice squeaked. Glimpsing over her shoulder, Tal saw the Mother and her kids walking the opposite direction, pouch in hand. The fey shook her head as she continued walking.

[Maz Grimwold]

The city.

Big, massive, and as almost dark as it was bright. Sunlight streamed in from above, bathing the city in a radiance, leaving asphalt and glass-walled buildings a testament to the strength of the sun's rays. Yet for each building brightened, it left an alley dark and cold, shadowed and bereft of warmth or affection. It was a walking lesson in yin and yang, two sides of one great coin that thousands of people called home, called work, called life.

I loved it.

I hated it.

"Take a vacation," they said.

"You're working too hard," they said.

"You're insane and you need help," they said.

I'm not insane. I'm not even remotely insane, dammit. Can y'all blame me if I spend a few too many sleepless nights pouring through reports? I mean, isn't that there my job? Put things together. Figure out the bad guy. Take him down. I reckon everyone makes a newspaper web on their wall at some point or other. Mine's just … bigger.

I'm … dedicated.

Dedicated sounds about right.

Still, I'll confess, I was missing this here. There's a small wind up about, on the rooftops where I was. There's a swish between my legs, where khaki leggings catch each other with each long stride I take. Legs spring me across a man-made chasm. I catch the air and embrace it with arms out wide, soaring over one more dark alley in a long line of them.

I heard something then. The murmur of a crowd enticed me to the edge of the latest building I stepped on, to come and watch a street performer.

She had balance in spades - and she didn't even have a tail. My own twitched in indignation and impulse made me want to try my hand at the act. Regardless, it was enough for me to halt my exploration of the overcity and see what all she could do…


Can't do fire magic myself, nope. I've fought it myself often enough, but that there's a different story.

And then I feel my heart warm up a bit too, as I watch her prove that not everyone in the world is a cold-hearted miser.

I smile. Am I smiling? I certainly think I am.

And then she starts leaving, and for some reason, I feel compelled to follow.

I close my way over to the alleyway side of the building, glancing down for just a moment before plotting my course. There's a fire escape across the dark. I show my distaste for gravity again at a run, launching myself off the edge to the other side. Hands clang with metal rails and grip tight, shoes contacting with the side of the landing for only a moment.

I let go on purpose, catching the rail one story down, arms jerking with the force, pulling myself up a foot before dropping again, descending the side of the fire-escape floor by floor. The metal structure ended one story off the ground. A nearby ladder, raised up off the ground, would be a normal person's down.

I brace my feet on the landing again, coil myself in like a spring, and then fire backwards. I twist around in mid air, hands and feet hitting the wall on the other side and projecting myself back off of it again, rebounding into a backflip that ends in a crouch in the center of the alleyway.

It only took a few seconds to go from top to bottom, and then I was standing up, fixing my hat and the cord beneath my jaw. As soon as I felt a bit more presentable, I stepped off into a brisk jog after the departing street acrobat.

"Hey there!" I gave a cheerful, almost perky call to her as I closed the distance. "Hey there, little lady. Where you off to?"

[Talvia]

Every time. Every Goddamn time some little brat plays the innocent beggar, I tear the strings of my purse and serve them the contents on a silver platter! Tal kicked at a pebble sitting on the sidewalk, but her foot only flew past, a good few inches from the stone. I swear, if someone gets the idea to fuck with me-

"Hey there!" A abrupt voice that was laced with cheeriness shattered the Fey's train of thought. "Hey there, little lady. Where you off to?" The owner continued. Fan-friggen-tastic. Another random encounter. Cue fanfare... Talvia glanced at the source of the questions. A young man was swiftly approaching her. Well, man would be stretching it. Last she checked, most humans don't have furry tails... Regardless, Talvia pressed onwards.

"Hello to you too." Talvia replied dryly. "And please do excuse me, but I don't quite feel like divulging information about my personal life with some newly met person who doesn't know how to properly introduce themselves" Talvia kept walking at her current speed. Waiting to see if that was all it took to shake this irritable development.

[Maz Grimwold]

Wow …

Just, wow.

What a bitch.

The universe loves proving me right about the whole seedy-underbelly of the world. Find a girl with equal parts talent and compassion - probably just gave most of her day's wages to a homeless family of three who missed the child services bus - and she's a hostile ass who snaps at you for saying hi.

Typical. Just typical.

I shake my head once, raise up my hands in mock surrender, then take a step back.

"Never you mind, little lady," I say simply, holding my position as she keeps pushing forward and away. I put my hands back into my pockets, and touch upon the wallet in them just just to be sure its still there. "I was gonna offer you dinner, but I reckon I can spend my money on someone who's not an ass' backside."

With a shrug of my shoulders, I turn around then and start walking, marveling at the nature of the universe and the pink bubblegum stuck between the cobblestones.

"Toodle-oo," I wave at the person behind me, not really caring if she sees or not.

[Talvia]

Talvia slowed to a halt, her hand reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose. Nice work Tal. The first decent guy you've met who was willing to be your meal ticket, and you rip into him. Gritting her teeth, Tal sighed in frustration. Turning, she saw the man walking away.

"Wait." She called after the tailed man. "Sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you. I am an ass. Or, as you put it, an ass' backside." Talvia sniggered. "That's a new one though. Never been called an ass of an ass."

She tried to force down the generous serving of Humble Pie, fighting all instincts to spit it back up and pound it into next week. Easy girl... You can still salvage it. Hopefully that dinner invitation wasn't burned by my sharp tongue...

Clearing her throat, Talvia brushed the hair over the right side of her face. Exposing her scar momentarily. "Let's try this again. I'm Talvia, the ass."

[Maz Grimwold]

"Wait," the universe calls back.

Except it isn't really the universe, and it's that short-fused acrobat of a girl with a pussy cat's balance and the temper to boot. That there piece of gum is still more interesting, but I turn sideways to look back at her anyway.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you," she apologizes unexpectedly. I hadn't expected her to do that, but now that she has, it's one more check for the Light side of the city in my mental columns. The polls will close whenever I get around to making up my mind about things. It's been neck and neck so far.

Nevertheless, I give her a small smile and tip my hat in her direction, saying, "That there's right mature of you, miss."

"I am an ass. Or, as you put it, an ass' backside," she returns, self-admission leading into a small snigger of a laugh on her lips.

It's always nice, knowing you can still manage to make a person laugh. Don't take that for granted - it's a special thing, making another person laugh. Not everyone can do that, and I know what that's like myself, from both sides of that fence: being unable to laugh, and being unable to get a laugh.

Small miracles.

Yeah.

Try not to miss them.

"That's a new one though. Never been called an ass of an ass," she says.

"You probably haven't been with the right people then," I tease slightly, hat raising up a bit in a sort of reverse nod while I stick my hands into my pockets. While they're still pocketed, I raise my shoulders up to shrug.

"I think I can let it slide though," I offer before giving her a wink.

I almost think she's about to wink back, before she shows off a bad scar. My heart, in turn, almost feels a slight twinge of sympathy for her - and then I don't. It looked old, and with moves like that, she should have been able to afford some kind of corrective measures if she wanted to look normal. The fact that she could have just been deliberately "showing off" means she was just trying to make me feel for her - playing me. I don't like that.

Too bad for her, I've seen worse - Heck, I've been worse - so I just keep watching and listening like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Let's try this again. I'm Talvia, the ass," she affixes the word to her name like a title. I feel my chest push out a breath through my nose, and my not-faked grin gets a little bigger.

"I'm Donny, miss," I offer my right hand for her to shake, prying it out of my pocket. As an afterthought, I quickly give her another wink and add in, "But all my friends call me 'Lucky'."

Suddenly, the pink bubblegum was starting to look less interesting, even if it might have secretly been the residue of a pink poison demon left behind to spy on this location until the mayor comes by tomorrow at 5 for his haircut up the street.

I'm sure the mayor will be fine. Maybe. Someone else's problem.

[Talvia]

Well. Isn't he brimming with confidence? Hope I don't drown. Tal felt her lips twinge into a smirk. "Lucky" eh? That makes two of us then. She reached with her left hand and the other her hip, and repeated the seemingly eternal gesture of greetings.

"Nice to be able to put a name to your face, Lucky." Tal said while giving her own wink to Donny. Though it looked more like she was blinking. Retracting her hand, she rubbed her right elbow. It was feeling a little stiff from her earlier preformance.

"To answer your question from earlier, I'm heading back to the Inn I'm staying at while in town" Streatching her neck to the left, a small, but sharp pop was heard. Ahh, that's better. Her jester hat jingled as she cranned her neck in the opposite direction. "I was hoping to have something to eat, maybe have a drink after, but I had to nix those plans due to some... complications..."

And here we go. Open wide sweetie. This one is iced with bile... Swallowing, Tal scratched the back of her head. "Is that dinner offer still on the table?" Talvia said with her eyes focused on Don's. Now to see how lucky I am

[Maz Grimwold]

"I was hoping to have something to eat, maybe have a drink after, but I had to nix those plans due to some... complications..."

I replay the scene with the homeless family and the unexpected generosity on her part, and then envision the 'complications' brought on by her own actions. Gee, it's almost like giving of yourself to another person comes with a cost or something.

"'Complications.' Right," I repeat with a grin, like it's part of some slightly humorous, possibly lewd joke - but I call it 'sacrifice' in my head, because we might as well call things what they really are.

Then she swallows and scratches the back of her head, body language displaying a discomfort that may or may not be done on purpose to further play at what she wants.

"Is that dinner offer still on the table?" she finally got around to asking.

And for some reason, I hesitate.

My arms fold across my chest, my head cocks to one side, and I think about the nature of balance in the universe, the complicated equilibrium of dark and light where an ass can know self-sacrifice and good people can still suffer from vices of prejudice and hate.

And then I remember I'm supposed to be on vacation, and shrug it all off like I did that poison demon blob masquerading as sidewalk gum.

"Sure," I say with that blase attitude. "Where'd you like to go, little miss?"

[Talvia]

Talvia kept expression indifferent as she roiled inside. What's with the attitude!? I'm the one swallowing my pride here! Don't milk it! She wanted to slug him good, but she was already treading on thin ice. Ice swarmed with little icepick wielding imps. She wanted to raze them to ashes. Eat first. Incinerate later. Tal lifted her hand up and pinched her chin. "Well, I know a curry joint around the corner from my Inn, but the stuff they make is intense. You probably couldn't handle it." Tal muttered. " I don't really care where we go. Your buying, so you should decide. I've only been around for a few weeks, so I don't really know many places."

Averting her gaze slightly, Tal continued contemplating the dinner plans. "But if you choose dinner, I choose where we drink. Vice versa."Talvia folded her arms and cocked her head. "And can you lay off the formalalities? Just call me Tal. Or I can start calling you Sir Lucky if you want." She sniggered with a sly grin.

[Maz Grimwold]

Arms still across my chest, I just shrug again and grin right on back at her.

"I reckon I might like that, little miss," I tease back, letting my arms unfold after she copies my pose. There's only room for so many arm-folding grinning people in a conversation, proportional to the total number of participants in said conversation. It's a universal law written by the Raoul Elbow Sprites of Dark Corners Glen, in their continuing bid to destroy all reality with their elbow-related shenanigans.

They haven't succeeded yet, and I'll be darned if I let them do it on my watch.

"Sir Lucky," I repeat, acting rather proud and knightly for a moment, before letting myself laugh it off with half-lidded eyes. Fingers shove themselves back into my pockets again. "It's just the way I was raised, miss Tal. I don't mean to offend. But if you want curry, we can have curry."

I wink at her again, the half-joke all-truth begging me to say, "After all, a guy like me wants it intense -"

My lips struggle not to spread too far wide.

"- And, I reckon you'd be surprised how much my bod can handle."

[Talvia]

A rebellious chuckle escaped Talvia's lips as it spring boarded of her tongue. She was too amused to care about being discreet. The enticing impulse to incinerate receded to the nagging urge to cauterise. The "gentleman" wants intense, hmm? Why not give him what he wants? Let's see exactly how well his "bod" can handle heat.

"Then it's settled. Better start thinking of a good bar. I'm needing something strong tonight, Sir." Tal turned on her heels and took the lead. The walk took them through the lower class dwellings. Cutting through alleys strewn with trash and harbouring the most alluring aromas the city had to offer, the couple arrived at Tal's inn.

5 star doesn't quite spring to mind when one first looks at "Malsworth Lodge". A 2 story building with 4 single-bed bedrooms including the owners. It currently housed 11 people. Wedged between it's neighbours, there is a significant lack of leg room. Hell, you were lucky if you woke up with a guy's arm caressing your... Tal silently sniggered. I'm sure that was a accident. He said he sleep walks. That's why he got out of bed, walked down the hall, down the stairs and into my room, stepped over the girl sleeping on the ground and climbed into my bed. Guy buys you a drink and he thinks it's a free pass under your skirt. Hope he doesn't mind the broken nose and 1st degree burns.

Stepping into the lobby, a fire was burning in the hearth and a pot was hanging over it. Tal watched it for a moment, but when the lid popped open for a moment, and clamped back down, she quickly averted her gaze. Thank you, Lucky... A table stood close by the hearth, with 6 chairs pushed underneath. None of the chairs matched. Some were blue, others red. Some were wooden, while others were plastic. Some had a slab of wood to replace missing legs.

Despite the poor state, the owners were a endearing old couple. The wife booked the drifters, cleaned the inn and washed clothes. The husband maintained what little electrical appliances they had and cooked the meals. Though what he cooked, he won't say. Why did Tal chose to stay there? It's cheap. No other reason. If she wanted good company, she would pay someone.

"Could you wait a moment? I want to go put my gear away and freshen up." She asked, not waiting for a reply and briskly walked to her room. It's standard protocol that when a guy is paying for your meal out of the goodness of their heart... Or for whatever other reason, you have to keep them waiting. Why? Cause its fun.

[Maz Grimwold]

"I reckon I could wait a minute or two," I, the 'Lucky' one say, keeping my hands in my pockets and my eyes on everything else in the room.

It's instinct. I scan the available exits first, noting each window, door and staircase, counting them up and measuring how far I am from each one. I'm close enough to one, I'm not sure I can defense myself from the glass if another agent jumped through. I'll just make a small field now, and grab their leg if they lead with a kick, or backhand their firearm before cracking my elbow into their -

But before I can play that situation out fully, my mind is graphing out the rest of the building with paranoid practice, projecting past one room into another, gauging where another set of windows might be. In my mind's eye, I was already superimposing the outside world on my mental map of this place, adding in what I saw earlier around the place.

I didn't need to see into any of those rooms to know this place was crap from top to bottom.

Which of course, made me think even more as to why a person like her was in a slime pit like this. Physically talented, magically talented, she even had a bit of a heart behind that asshole front of hers.

"By choice" was the only answer that kept coming up.

[Talvia]

Having put her enchanted bag in her chest and locked it, the Fey exited her room to the opposing washroom. Holding her hand up and extending her pointer, she hastily said, "Almost ready" to the feline hybrid. The water from the taps had a brown tint, but that didn't bother her. A few quick splashes on her face, she patted herself dry. Guys a piece of work, I'll give him that. First time someone's ever got me to beg for a meal.... Or, anything. It's actually kinda impressive...

Before she exited the room, something in the mirror caught her eye. A stray hair. Talvia bent closer to the mirror, and started to fix her hair. After 5 minutes of brushing and careful arranging, something else demanded attention. Crap.... When was the last time took care of.... 5 minutes stretched to 30. As Tal was holding a pair of tweezers to her face, she stopped.

"What the hell am I doing!?" She whispered to nobody in particular. Looking at the metal pincers, then at her reflection, she went to throw the beauty tool into the basin, but stopped, and simply returned it to the shelf she got it from. Take it easy... You're allowed to care about your appearance, right? Breathing in sharply and deeply, Tal exhaled and exited the washroom.

Walking up to Donny, Talvia kept her eyes on the ground. She picked up on how pathetic she must suddenly look. Abruptly, she looked up to the tailed man with her usual smug demeanour. She looked at him for a moment, before she again realised that her lips are clamped shut in a very noticeable fashion. Relaxing herself best she could, she cursed up a storm inside. All asking why she was acting this way. She quickly composed herself.

"I'm ready. Let's go."

[Maz Grimwold]

The spot is bugging me.

It stares at me from the wall, one among many. It tried to camouflage itself among the rest, so as not to stand out, but I know better.

Oh. I knew better than to trust those tiny little monstrosities, acting all harmless and inconsequential and not like the flesh-eating scavengers. Like hyenas. Invisible hyenas. Except they don't laugh, and they just eat everything. So not really like hyenas I suppose, but they're scavengers, and maybe that's an insult to hyenas, but I don't care. I need a better metaphor for them in my head, but its that or cloud knives.

Mmm. Cloud Knives. That's a good one. I'll log that for later.

It doesn't flinch when I threaten it with a pocket knife and whisper threats to it, daring it not to move. The microscopic organism is unexpectedly good at bluffing though. It holds still. For now.

I bring the blade in closer. I can practically smell it starting to sweat - microscopically.

I drew my gun next, aiming the tip point blank. The essence of my magic charges it, ready to blow it right off of existence. That'd be more effective than a pocket knife anyway, but now it was trapped, caught between a gun and a sharp place. It was dead. It was helpless, and the world was about to be a better place just as soon as I pull the trigger.

My face was practically pressed against the wall, ready to blast, stab, and face smash the tiny black spot out of the universe, when the door starts to open.

Gun and knife hide themselves under the thick vest again, and I keep my arms folded there like I hadn't just been giving dangerous microscopic organisms on the wall death threats.

"I reckon that was a bit longer than a minute or two, miss," I reply happily, more as joke than judgement.

"But I'm plenty hungry now, miss," I add with a shrug, hands up. "So what say we mosey on already?"

[Talvia]

“Thank you for timing” was what she wanted to say. Oh how bad she wanting to direct her building frustrations and confusion on a certain tailed, fedora wearing man. But Tal just pretended to have not heard that first remark.

“Fine. Just follow me and try not to get lost” she said, glancing over her right shoulder briefly before walking out before a reply was heard. Just eat, drink and stop being so damn soft for the poor family shtick

This time the pair stuck mostly to the open streets. They weren’t a vast improvement from the alleys, but at least if you were to be grabbed by the arm you would have a better chance of seeing them coming or someone to witness the thrashing you would give the unfortunate sucker.

After a short walk, the fey stepped into a small restaurant, nodding slightly at a man who was taking orders from a few other customers. This was indeed a improvement compared to the inn. Though it could be said that they had little to no choice for health reasons. If the wrong customer got sick, you could more then bet that there would be hell to be paid. Tal and Maz helped themselves to a table, Talvia sighing as she relaxed into the chair.

She didn’t bother to open the menu, already knowing what she was going to order. She also didn’t reach for the water to pour either. Knowing more then likely she would end up just soaking the table cloth and looking like a fool. The Fey just ended up sliding her fingers around the edge of the empty glass before her.

“Well this is it. See anything?” She asked while leaning back.

[Maz Grimwold]

I give a small, polite chuckle at her comment about getting lost. Politeness is important. Usually. Sometimes. When it's relevant. Which I reckon it probably is now, but it's hard to tell here. She's not exactly one for politeness, from what I've seen so far.

I mean, it's just kind of funny - her, thinking of me getting lost. I try to remember, but I reckon the last time I was honest to goodness lost was that random drop into the Obsidian Wilds.

Blagh. Swamp muck.

I tap my feet just a bit harder on the stone sidewalks to remind myself this here is far away from from the Wilds, and far less messy.

My brain takes over again upon entering the building, analyzing the layout in a single sweeping glance. I reckon I couldn't avoid doing that if I tried now. It was ground into me - ground like that coffee machine faintly buzzing in the back over the din of customers and kitchen work. Except not, because that's a different kind of ground, but I wonder if they're related somehow.

"Well this is it," she stated, leaning back in her chair. "See anything?"

Five couples - three straight, one gay, one mix racial - good for them, finding love wherever they can. Someone has to do it, love and babies and all that jazz, but I just cannot figure what a turtle-scorpion hybrid would look like.

Large elk, broad shoulders and trimmed horns. He carries himself like bouncer, by night of course, hoping to get lucky with a girl who's clearly not into him. Minimal threat, so long as he's not bi.

Young human in the corner, dark haired and sketchy, possibly foreign spy, large black jacket capable of hiding three guns minimum, pants could hide a knife or two. Few scars just barely visible under his sleeves. Or could be emo.

Elf on a cellphone, talking about a business deal that could just as easily be code for something else. "Packages." Why's it always gotta be "Packages." "I just need to make sure the packages get to them before Christmas." A likely story, in bullshit land.

The catfolk over on the other side is clearly pretending to be a tiger to impress his date. Course I've seen big tiger guys before - sometimes, when they're not trying to kill me and everything. He doesn't have the right facial structure, even if he's got the biceps. Probably a gymnast, too.

Two windows could be seen through by a sniper. The others are blocked by surrounding structures, but three more a closer ranged gunner could shoot through. Greater light outside gives me a better advantage, with glare - an advantage I'll take, please and thank you.

The kitchen, half visible, waits to be turned into a supermarket of death. It features a large number of weaponizable knives, silverware, pans, burning oils and half cooked foods - par for the course of any kitchen, like that time in Qing Cheng.

All the tables, not sturdy enough to withstand full adult weight, could break under enough pressure. Wooden chairs are all likewise capable of being quickly crushed and turned into deadly, vampire-killing stakes.

But, all things considered, I reckon she means the menu.

"Stew in a bread bowl," I answer quickly. "Why, what are you gonna get, little lady?"