Link looked up from the oven and turned to face his cartoon friend.
“Huh?”
“Oh, hey! You’re the carpenter poe from before!”
“Wait he’s gonna decide on– ACK!”
Link
stumbled forward, suddenly being jolted back to the oven. Keeping a
towel on hand he pulled out the pan from the stovetop and used a rubber
spatula to carefully slip the dish out of place and place it on the
center of a clean plate. It didn’t seem like the little hero was done.
Still using the heat in the pan, he wiped the surface dry with the towel
and began reheating the vegetables from earlier. The little hero began
fidgeting with the plate, arranging things until everything was just
right. A plate was set on the table followed by clean utensils, a
napkin, and a mug of water. The plates weren’t exactly up to par,
clearly showing age, but they would do for now.
What the
repairman was left with was… honestly rather underwhelming. It looked
like a cloud on a plate, the edges showing slight browning from the
heat, The vegetables, despite being vibrant, didn’t really add much to
the party. And even as the little hero sprinkled a drizzle of olive oil,
salt, and chopped herbs on top, it didn’t really up the wow factor like
the others.
Link slumped onto a nearby chair as what he assumed
to be a curse eventually wore off. The boy let out a shaky sigh, slowly
sitting himself upright as he looked to the dish. He blinked, then
looked between the whiteboard and plate of food.
“Wait that’s it? Really? It looks so plain! I thought you could do something more, I don’t know, showy!”
Link tilted the plate around, looking for some kind of glitz and glam. But it really was just… something.
“So uh… What is this supposed to be anyways? It’s still good, right?”
There was a long pause as Link stared at the white board, waiting for some kind of response. Eventually, the words appeared.
//I’unno.//
“… What?”
//I mean someone probably has a name for it but I’m not one of those people//
“You’re telling me I worked on something like a possessed lunatic and you have no idea what the dish is even called?”
//Ye//
“Do you even know what you’re doing at all!? Don’t tell me you were just making the recipe up as you went along!”
//AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA//
“I honestly can’t believe you’re not even taking your own contest seriously… You even picked the main ingredient yourself.”
//Just shut up and eat it so we can get this over with. Break it open and maybe Repairman will like what he sees.//
Upon seeing that Link had finished, Bowyetta’s eyes started to shine oddly. She felt a spark of… Something in her chest. “We must be finishing much quickly!” She poured the cooked onions into the rice and gave it a quick stir before she started frying the eggs.
She couldn’t explain it, whether it was the music or her desire to make something good for her friends, but somehow she felt a sudden burst of energy. The eggs cooked rather quickly, and once she was certain they were perfect she poured the rice in on top of them. Now came the tricky part. She had to be very careful folding the egg over onto the plate. After giving it some thought, she added some extra sauce on top of the egg, drawing in her best attempt at a rose.
“MrSirpleasetobetryingofwhatBowyettaishavingmade”
Twilight came back inside through the door to get a couple of plates and small bowls from Art’s kitchen. Retreating once more through the door, he scooped about half of the brisket, egg, vegetables, and cheese mixture onto one plate, and the other half on the other. He similarly divided the queso equally into each of the bowls, and set them on the plate as well. Twilight set one of the plates next to the doorstep, and turned to wink at Brown. Since he was still a shade, the wink looked like one glowing eye going out and quickly relighting. “I could hear your stomach growling the whole time. I’m sure you can fit behind your wall, you know.”
Brown squeaked a little in delight, and cast a small spell to move the plate to one end of the magic wall, and to pour the queso from the bowl all over the machaca. The happy ghost wasted no time in shifting to his dragon form, and although it was a tight squeeze he did indeed fit behind his illusion wall. The large black dragon lowered his head to the plate and in one bite, devoured the delicious food. “Twilight you’re the best I love you thank you!!!” he thought at his friend in gratitude.
Twilight’s shade appeared to be grinning as he reentered the house, this time carrying his entry in their little contest. He picked up a fork and knife from the little kitchen and set the plate and utensils down on the table. Clearly, the other two had decided that Inky would be the judge, so he addressed the ink blot with a small wave. “Here ya go, Inky! Just take the queso and dump it all over the rest, you’ll think ya died and went to food heaven!”
By now, the poor inkblot was sweating something fierce. A Mun-puppeteered Link, Bowyetta’s scary face, and suddenly being thrust into a cooking contest was quite a bit to take in.
“Aha… I don’t know if I can…”
And then his stomach audibly (and visibly) rumbled. Softly, yes, but enough to notice. The Repairman looked back up sheepishly.
“…Well… all right. But whose should I start with…?”
They all smelled and looked pretty good. How was he going to choose a favorite…?
Suddenly, Cat Slime leaped out of the Repairman’s hammerspace, and was about to dive into the queso when the inkblot caught him, pulling him back.
“No,” he scolded. Then he noticed his pet’s saddened expression and sighed. “…Wait your turn. You might be able to help me here…”
Cat Slime squeaked happily at this, picking an empty spot at the table to sit at.
Siblings-a-Fixin' 