Kitchen of the Midnight Manor Boarding House, Wednesday morning

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden had been given homework and that homework was to bring in barbeque and by, god, she may be up here in the hinterlands of the north, but she still intended to deliver.

Which had meant going to T&C's yesterday to get a slow cooker as well as ingredients, because she didn't have access to a proper barbeque and she didn't care about her grade enough to actually stand outside with a grill, hickory chips to smoke or not. Last night, she'd given the pork shoulder a nice dry rub of kosher salt, pepper, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and some red chili flakes to give it a kick, and left it in the slow cooker overnight. It had smelled like heaven when she'd pulled it out this morning to debone and shred, and then she'd put it back into the slow cooker along with the cider vinegar sauce she'd made (no ketchup! She was an East Carolina girl, thank you!) and continued to let it cook. A container of chicken thighs given the same rub was waiting for the pork to come out and rest; they'd cook in about an hour and if she really found herself pressed for time, she could finish prepping them in class.

Now she was making some coleslaw (because how were you supposed to eat a pulled pork sandwich without coleslaw? Ha! Trick question, you couldn't), and dubiously following a recipe on her phone to try to cook up some jackfruit, which the internet agreed made an excellent plant-based substitute for meat - the texture allowed for pulling, the same way the pork and chicken did. She didn't know enough about dairy replacement to make a proper vegan coleslaw, but she figured that there were enough options offered that whether people were vegan, vegetarian, didn't eat pork, or were even gluten-free, they should still be able to enjoy her barbeque.

Well, okay. The cast iron pan of sweet cornbread baking in the oven right now had both wheat flour and buttermilk in it. But Arden couldn't make barbeque and not make cornbread. That was, quite probably, illegal. For good reason!

[Open for phone calls, residents, potential guests...feel free to assume Arden texted you a picture if you want]

Comments

[professionalweirdo]

"Oh wow, something in here smells great!" Gonzo enthused as he wandered in. "Reminds me of roadtripping with my ex in my youth."

Had he actually had a youth? He seemed to have been born 40 -- save for the times he was randomly a toddler. Ah well. Right now it made sense for him to have had a youth, so he'd had a youth!

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh hey, thanks!" Arden said, glancing over her shoulder. Did she maybe blink a few times at the use of the word 'ex' and all that implied? Yes. But she was hoping that maybe Gonzo'd missed that. "Did you go through North Carolina?"

[professionalweirdo]

IF he did, he didn't make any sort of deal about it at all. Most people had to blink at least a few times when hanging out with Gonzo.

Just wait until she found out his ex was a muppet chicken.

"Oh sure, we went everywhere! Especially during the musical montages."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

That might involve more than blinking, truth be told.

"But...how much can you experience via music montage?" Arden asked, because she hadn't yet learned not to.

[professionalweirdo]

"Depends on the editor," Gonzo said with a shrug.

After a beat for laughter her to process that, he nodded towards her work. "Is that corn bread?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden had absolutely no idea how to process that so she was just going to nod a little. And then nod more when she realized Gonzo's question did make sense.

"Yup!" she said proudly. "I'm prepping for class."

[professionalweirdo]

"Lucky class! Which one is that?"

Don't worry, he'd be bizarre again in a moment. It was all about timing.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Don't worry, Gonzo, Arden was fielding this moment of unexpected for you. What class was she making a full meal of Southern barbeque for?

"Japanese!"

[professionalweirdo]

Gonzo nodded without any apparent surprise. "They can compare it to Korean barbecue."

Look. He was utterly irony proof when he needed to be, okay?

Especially when no actual irony was there, whomp whomp

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Very different kind of barbeques," Arden said immediately. "This is pure Eastern North Carolina, baby."

[professionalweirdo]

"Not to be confused with Sourthern West Carolina style," Gonzo guessed.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"We don't associate with those types 'round here," Arden said, her nose in the air. "Or the North by Northwestern Mid Carolina style folks."

[professionalweirdo]

"Their barbecue is way too dramatic," Gonzo said. "And that's coming from me! King of Drama!"

Absolutely no one called him that.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I thought that was Shakespeare," Arden said.

Absolutely nobody called Shakespeare that, either.

[professionalweirdo]

"Common misconception," Gonzo said easily. "But North by Northwestern Mid Carolina barbecue could give him a run for his money, too!"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"That's what you get using ketchup, mustard, vinegar, and molasses in your sauces," Arden sniffed. "Seems to me like they're afraid to let their meat shine."

[hasaknightjob]

Steven had to run some errands later for his and Watts's date night. But mornings were rarely Steven's time of day, which meant it was a Marc who was awake and checking on the state of things in the boarding house.

Hearing noises in the kitchen, he went to see who was there. "Hey."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Hey Marc," Arden said, mixing up the coleslaw in an overlarge bowl. She was a little amazed how easy it was to tell the difference between Marc and Steven, just by tone of voice and posture alone. "What's up?"

[hasaknightjob]

Marc's clothes also didn't look like he'd picked them up off the floor. Though granted that one depended on him being the one to have gotten dressed first. Which currently he had.

"Not much. You?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I maaaaybe got carried away putting together barbeque for class," Arden said with a sheepish laugh. "Um. Japanese class."

Obviously. What other class would she be cooking barbeque for?

[hasaknightjob]

Yeah, Marc did catch that lack of obviously matching topics. "Barbecue for Japanese class?"

Was Watts supposed to bring a thing? Marc had no idea if Watts was supposed to bring a thing. In fairness it was a fairly big deal that Marc remembered Watts had class today at all.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"We're talking about food or something today, I think?" Arden said. "And I mentioned liking barbeque last class, which the teacher got really excited about, and asked me to bring some in, and then turned it into a class assignment. And well..." She laughed again. "It's barbeque. So obviously I needed to put my whole damn foot in it, you know?"

[hasaknightjob]

"You got the kitchen," Marc said, leaning up against one of the counters. "May as well use it."

Especially since it was big. All the current residents could be cooking in there at once and not bump into each other, probably.

"It's working out okay?" Marc asked.

The kitchen, life in general, dealer's choice there really.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Yeah, Arden's attention was too firmly wrapped up in what she was doing to answer in abstract. "Well, I'm a little worried about timing what with having Professor Amicitia's class in a bit," she said, eyeing the slow cooker, "and I've never worked with jackfruit before, but I wanted an option that Detective Watts could enjoy, too. But mostly I think it'll all work out."

[hasaknightjob]

"Can't you leave that thing on when you're in class?" Marc asked, indicating the slow cooker. "Steven and Watts have one. They walk away when it's cooking."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"That's the plan," Arden said. "But I have to empty out the pork, give it a good wash, and then put the chicken in after I get back from class and I should have enough time for everything, but this is definitely one of those things where it's tight enough that the failures will cascade as soon as one thing goes wrong."

[hasaknightjob]

"Wash it?" Marc asked.

Look, he knew a little cooking but nobody was going to be shocked Southern barbecue wasn't on the list even before you got to the part where it was pork.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"The slow cooker!" Arden said with a laugh. "Gotta scrub out the slow cooker before I add the chicken to it. This way if there are folks who don't eat pork in class, they can have chicken."

[hasaknightjob]

"That makes more sense," Marc said.

Look, Arden didn't seem like the kind of person who would actually wash meat in the sink with soap and water, but sometimes people surprised you in the worst way. No harm in checking.

"Watts'll probably go for the vegan one," Marc said, to give the heads up. "He sometimes doesn't when Steven's not around but in general he leans that way."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I don't know if I would have thought to make a vegan option if he hadn't been in class," Arden admitted. "So I hope so. And if he likes it, I may send it over to y'all to share."

[hasaknightjob]

"Steven'll love that," Marc said. "They've got dinner plans for tonight but it'll keep? Your thing?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"For a few days at least," Arden said with a nod, brightening a little bit at her sharing being accepted. "Pulled pork sandwiches are usually best with coleslaw anyway. I'm not sure what to use to make vegan coleslaw, but if y'all have dinner plans for tonight, maybe y'all will have the chance to make up some vegan slaw to go with it."

[hasaknightjob]

"I'll leave that for Watts and Steven," Marc said. He didn't eat the vegan stuff. Well, not that he'd admit. Look, sometimes his side of the fridge wasn't as stocked as it should be. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

"How are you even carrying all that?" Marc asked.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"You want some of the chicken and coleslaw proper?" Arden offered. "I don't mind sharing that, too, so long as it's gonna get eaten. But you don't eat pork, right?"

And then Marc asked her about logistics and he could see her entire brain shatter. Oh noes, she hadn't considered logistics.

"Uhhh...."

[hasaknightjob]

"No pork, yeah I can eat the rest," Marc said. And then, almost prompting as a suggestion, "Rickshaw?"

Or she could try finding Illyana and bribing her with the food...

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Y-yeah," Arden said, thinking about the sheer distance between Midnight and the school, not to mention everything she'd be bringing: pork, chicken, jackfruit, coleslaw, buns, cornbread, cutlery, bowls, napkins, serving utensils... "I did not think this part through."

[hasaknightjob]

"Rickshaw sounds like the smart bet," Marc said, taking in all the... stuff around her. Yeah, it wasn't the final products but he could guesstimate based on what she said she was making. "Even if you got people to help carry it."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh, uh. I don't," Arden said, her sinking feeling finding new depths to plummet to. "Do you know off-hand if you can, like, I dunno. Uber a rickshaw? Call someone and have them meet you somewhere? Set up a ride in advance?"

Not have to wander out in the cold with a mountain of containers and hope to find a rickshaw sooner rather than later...

[hasaknightjob]

"You can call one," Marc said. "They'll help haul stuff around. That's how we got the furniture here before Illyana helped with the portals."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"If you have their number handy, that would be really great," Arden said. "That'll save me so much time."

Not enough time to have her not be late for class, but enough to make it be less egregious than it might have been!

[hasaknightjob]

"You want me to call now?" Marc asked, not sure since it seemed way too soon. "Or text it to you so you can do it later? They're pretty quick."

Not like they had far to go from any point on the island.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Yeah, I don't have the number, so I was thinking that you could send it to me so I have it in my phone," Arden said. "Just so I know it's there."

She was a little busy mid-prep to be fussing with her phone as it was.

[hasaknightjob]

"No problem," Marc said. He got his phone out and sent the number over to her. She didn't seem to be making a fuss about the cost so he wasn't going to ask. "When do you need to leave?"

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"It's fourth period, so I have to be there by one," she said.

Instead of the 1:07 she'd end up walking in at, whoops.

[hasaknightjob]

She was clearly going to be expelled for such an infraction.

"So plenty of time," Marc said, checking the clock. Granted he didn't know how long the rest of what she was cooking was going to take. Yeah, she'd given an indication but don't expect Marc to pay attention to those details. "Here's hoping you get an A at least."

Did the school even do grades?

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

It would have been if she hadn't forgotten about her third period class when she'd originally planned out all the timing.

Honestly, Arden had no idea. "Thanks," she said, giving him a smile and a messy thumbs up considering the state of her hands. "And I'll see what I can send along with the detective later!"