Sibling Rivalries: Chili Edition

[brave_heart_verity]

Flyers have been going up around the Forum and Commercial District for the last week or so. This morning,the lights in the VSW Meadhall came on. By noon, anyone getting close enough to an open door would know: chili's on!

Inside, everything's set up and waiting for the hungry and the curious: Clint's cooking in one corner, and Verity's in the other. Between them, tables are laid out with the necessities: bowls, plates, spoons, and plenty of napkins. There's beer and iced tea, some lovely tres leches cakes provided by the Nexus' favorite Japanese detective, and various toppings for the chili: bottles of sriracha and sweet Thai chili sauce, red pepper flakes, green onions and red, lime wedges, diced bell peppers and jalapeños, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. Cornbread and tortilla chips round things out.

Long tables with a mix of benches and chairs fill the hall on either side of the fire pits. One has board and card games stacked neatly at one end (they were neat when they were put out, at least). Another has two boxes, one wrapped in purple paper and one in pink, for depositing voting slips.

Poll #17301 1st Annual Chili Cook-Off

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Who gets your vote?

View Answers

Clint--Avengers Assemble!
3 (42.9%)

Truthfully? Verity.
4 (57.1%)

The fire pits are lit, the food is waiting, and there are games in want of players. What are you waiting for?
((There will doubtless be further Cupid-based shenanigans, but this weekend, it's all about the platonic relationships. Bromances, BFFs, and family ties rule the day! Let's celebrate! Threadhopping, tangents, games, and mischief are all encouraged. Just don't start a food fight or Verity will have to yell.))

Comments

http://imgur.com/gallery/Haew1Jb

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

(He may have heard something to that effect.)

"Lovely. Might I ask, out of curiosity, how you prefer to garnish your chili?" It's hard to tell whether they're cooperating or competing, sometimes, but they're certainly having fun.

bit.ly/1PLkyap

[brave_heart_verity]

Sometimes the outcome matters more than the path to get there. So long as they're having fun...

"Green onions and sour cream. And bacon." Bacon almost goes without saying, but she wouldn't want to be accused of being less than fully honest about something this important. "Sometimes I like avocado, but I seem to be the only one so I didn't bring any."

http://i.imgur.com/CTKsJjN.gif

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Ah? I must try it with avocado, sometime, for myself," he muses. "For now, I shall sample the bacon, at your recommendation." Crumble, crumble, nom. "Mmm."

http://i.imgur.com/wnb3uk2.gif

[brave_heart_verity]

"I'll make sure we have some next time I make it." This is one of her favorite games, watching people enjoy her efforts and seeing how that enjoyment evolves as new things are added to the experience. Schön is a particularly good playmate.

http://imgur.com/gallery/ikeI1lj

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön is particularly expressive, and also an articulate, erudite critic with a refined palate. He makes a good playmate in part because it's a fun game where everybody wins. "That will be delightful. Have you ever tried cubed turnips in your recipe? You throw them in with the onions at the start, to brown, and later they practically melt in the stew."

https://media.giphy.com/media/4TWlOLy6P8Tcc/giphy.gif

[brave_heart_verity]

He is all of those things, and generally a pleasure to watch. This is a game they'll be playing for a long time.

"Turnips? No, I don't cook much with turnips. I'll have to give it a try." Even if she doesn't win this year, with all the good ideas people have been giving her, next year should be a cinch.

http://imgur.com/gallery/gYm0Af0

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

The only winning move is to play.

"I think you'll like it. They add a mellow, earthy note, soften the edge of the heat a little. And they'd go well with the, mm, chocolate? That you put in your recipe. A hint of Mesoamerica there, and welcome."

You win. I can't top that tonight.

[brave_heart_verity]

Every winning move is to play!

"Bittersweet, yeah, just a little. I was thinking, you know, mole sauce." That's two people who've pegged it. Lovely. "That does sound nice. I guess I'll have to learn about turnips now."

How far they've come from the days when someone like her wasn't able to live a turnip-free life.

Non-gif victory lap: http://imgur.com/gallery/4Xt1g

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"It evokes the better parts of the Aztec culture--I could easily imagine people making a batch of this to bring to the wall game."

Truly, we live in a turnip-optional age of wonders.

"Shut up and smile so he doesn't kill us" should be a Nexus Motto.

[brave_heart_verity]

"That's one of the better parts?" She barely likes sports to begin with. Adding blood doesn't improve her opinion of them.

Someday, gods willing, the ancestral memory of turnips may no longer plague her people.

It's not?

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"More civil than a war," he points out, "and they weren't all to the death."

Not if she makes them delicious and puts them in her chili.

It is now!

[brave_heart_verity]

"Death-optional still doesn't really sound like a good time to me," she has to admit.

So, now he knows, she won't be catering his Superbowl parties either.

Curses! The aristocracy has tricked her into returning to the ways of the turnip!

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

After a moment's thought, he proposes, "golf, then?"

For long years was the trap woven. Now you are snared. Mwa ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha.

Ha.

http://i.imgur.com/CjG8NYQ.jpg

[brave_heart_verity]

"I've never been golfing. That's the one with all the grass, right?" Is she joking? Can he guess? Good luck!

But this was supposed to be their land!

http://tinyurl.com/z39jtcr

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"A good walk, spoiled," he confirms, deadpan.

bit.ly/1Q4K5qG

[brave_heart_verity]

"Mm, sounds like a good time. Do you golf?" Don't go there, Schon, she'll push until one of them is too uncomfortable to continue.

http://tinyurl.com/nf97jhb

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Occasionally," he admits, "in which case it tends also to be a good meeting, spoiled."

bit.ly/1TPw4De

[brave_heart_verity]

"Sooo that's not an offer to teach me? I guess I'll have to find some other way to waste time on the clock." Siiiiigh.

http://i.imgur.com/FI6j9YJ.jpg

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Are you asking to learn?" he counters, before chuckling. "I have never known you to waste time on the clock, why would you want to start now?"

http://i.imgur.com/azyruE3.gif

[brave_heart_verity]

"Well, I have to keep you guessing, don't I? I wouldn't want to bore you." It would work better without that grin. She kind of loves that he doesn't consider their coffee and pastry time to be a waste.

http://rs1029.pbsrc.com/albums/y358/tiffram/gif/RobotDance.gif~c200

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Have I seemed bored yet? You are quite safe."

http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/67776j.gif

[brave_heart_verity]

"You do know the way to a girl's heart." She peeks into his bowl to see if he'll be heading over for some of Clint's chili soon. "If you're going to stick around a while, I brought some games. I'm not sure I'd dare to play Monopoly with you, but maybe some cards or something?"

http://hugelolcdn.com/i/329904.gif

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

He's reached the bottom of his bowl, but he's enjoying the conversation too much to wander away. "A hand of cards sounds delightful."

bit.ly/1QpCQKo

[brave_heart_verity]

She'll take that as a compliment. "Let me know when you're ready."

https://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7pxn3hVET1qmsocno1_500.gif

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"I certainly shall. Pardon me but a moment?"