--- Kat ---


    The conversation in the room ground to a halt. It was almost as if the words had mmed into a brick wall. Everything was deathly silent as Kat checked on the pork again. This was about an hour after she''d finished with everything else and dinner time had technically past. The silence was interrupted when Mry threw open the door and it smacked into the wall with a loud bang.


    In between one blink and the next Mry had practically teleported up to Kat and was looking at the pork with undisguised hunger. She was literally drooling, though she also had enough decency to ensure she was a few steps back from the pork itself so any drool she failed to wipe off just ended up on the floor.


    Kat nced over at the pork again. It''s… probably not quite ready. I mean it smells heavenly and clearly everyone is thinking that it''s dinner time but if I had to guess it needs another twenty or thirty minutes to reach perfection… Kat nced at the rest of the room.


    Mry was of course just there, staring and drooling. It was clear that if Kat denied her this there would be a fight. Kamiko and Lily were awake, looking over in her direction wile Stphn and Hunter weren''t any better. Stphn kept trying to restart the conversation but failed to find his words, constantly looking between Hunter and Kat.


    Hunter was staring as well, though she was able to disguise her expression much better, Kat still felt like she was about to be hunted.


    *Shit. Do I tell them it needs more time? It''s definitely cooked enough not to cause any issues… and nobody I care about it likely to have issues even if that wasn''t the case. Um… shit. This really wasn''t something I was prepared for. Maybe I can tell them that it needs to rest a bit?


    Technically not untrue… and if I set up the broilermp over the top I can crisp up the skin more. Yes, I think I''ll do that. If they start taking bites out of it despite my advice then that''s just their issue.*n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "It needs to rest a bit, but if you''re willing to wait I''ve got some sd to start of the meal if you''re hungry," said Kat as she removed the pork. The main reason she knew it wasn''t done, is that there was still some water at the bottom of the coffin. ording to the instructions it should''ve beenpletely used up in the process. Even still, Kat decided it was good enough.


    Kat vanished the pork for just a moment and the res she received in response made her think there was going to be a mutiny. "Just be patient," said Kat as she summoned up themp setup. It was a bit awkward, and she needed to add a few blocked to the bottom so that it all fit, but that was fine.


    Katid the pig out on the steel tray and hit the lights while Making a mental note to flip it in five minutes.


    While everyone was busy staring at the pork, Kat ced the sd and sushi on the table, that wasn''t reallyrge enough for everyone but it was also built into the floor so there wasn''t much to be done about that. Kat threw down an extra table that awkwardly added onto things. The main table was of course circr so Kat''s rectangr edition didn''t really fit.


    Still, it meant that after adding two more chairs there was enough for everyone, even Lily if she wanted to transform.


    Everyone swiftly moved to the table and Kat used that chance to open the coffin up again and transfer the vegetables from inside it over to the tray with the pig. That didn''t take long, Kat just made a note to clean the coffin thingy out at ater date.


    Of course, she also dipped her finger into the ''water'' at the bottom and found it was much thicker, more like a gravy then water despite her initial thoughts.


    *Huh… so it renders the sauces and water down into a gravy like consistency. It''s applied but how?* Kat looked at the cooking coffin for a bit as everyone else moved to the table and noticed little nozzles in the sides of the coffin. *Oh I think I get it. The sauce at the bottom is sucked up and then sprayed over the pork, perhaps at regr intervals.


    That''s ingenious… and going to be a massive pain to clean. I''ll have to double check those cleaning instructions.*


    Kat noticed that at some point Lily had transformed into her humanoid form,pletely forgetting she was intending to hide. Kat shrugged it off and snuck that small te of raw fish over in front of Lily as she pulled out some sses for everyone once Kat realised she''d forgotten them in the initial ting.


    "Feel free to dig in, I''m not that hungry myself but I thought the rest of the group might want to celebrate,"


    "You are too kind Kat," stated Hunter.


    "Um… yeah. This isn''t what I normally go for but it smells really nice…" mumbled Kamiko.


    Mry signed out "We were meant to wee you to the town and give thanks for you help with whatever the cause of this madness is, and yet you have gifted us with a great feast. I thank you muchly,"


    [You know I''d eat anything you made me Kat, but this is something else. You even put aside some fish for me! Don''t I feel special.]


    *You should always feel special Lily, because you definitely are to me.*


    While Lily was blushing up a storm, Stphn seemed to finally recover as he let out a chuckle. "Ah yes, a grand feast that I do not feel I truly deserve! My wife put it well, this is a great feast that we are likely undeserving off… but yet I think it would be even more disgraceful to turn down such a wonderous disy! So I say we eat!


    Though actually let me grab the good wine first… if we''re going to celebrate I might as well,"


    Mry gave her husband a thumbs up as he slipped out of the room and into one of the doors nobody had been through yet. While he was missing Kat moved over the pig and flipped it once again, the skin cracking and break what was now the underside as she did so. The sound might as well have been the dinner bell because both Hunter and Mry shot up with tes in hand.


    Hunter wasted no time and carved off two legs, dropping one on her te and offering Mry the other who gratefully epted. Kat just gave them both odd looks because the pig wasn''t that small. The meat was hanging off the te. Neither of those two seemed to mind because momentster they were back at the table and digging in.


    Hunter was actually taking her time for once, pulling on bits and pieces of the pig to eat in bites instead of just swallowing it whole.


    Mry showed that whatever her race counted as, their teeth were sharp for a reason. She bit down hard on the end of the pork, letting the bones snap as she did so. Kat gave her a slightly weary look as she took her own ce at the table and piled up a mixture of the standard sd and the sushi, the ones with less fish in them of course.


    After Stphn got back and made the offer of wine, something only Hunter and Mry epted, nobody spoke. Kat mostly just because nobody else was. The room was filled with sounds of cutlery tapping against tes and the regr crunching from Mry. Apparently eating everything including the bone wasn''t something Stphn was interested in. Who was more indicative of their race as a whole, Kat had no idea.


    Stphn did have some pork crackling, but for the most part he stuck to the softer meat as well as epting a good deal of the sds, easily consuming the bulk of them, even more than Kamiko who had moved on from her own portion of sd to grab some meat and vegetables. Lily had already gone through all of the fish and was enjoying the pork she''d since acquired with a big smile on her face.


    Kat just sat back and smiled at all of this. It was mostly a spur of the moment decision to make dinner for everyone, a way to follow up on the regr meals she''d made before this. It was… nice. *I might have to bug Callisto for more chances in the kitchen. I don''t think I properly noticed that I was missing out on this.


    Sure I couldn''t help Gramps regrly but I did try to help out whenever I was allowed. To have just… not bothered feels wrong now. Still, Callisto does enjoy the cooking as well… hmm… I''ll have to think up apromise of some kind.*