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

[brave_heart_verity]

"That's fair. I would say, try it as-is, and then I think you'd like some green onions and cheese. And some tortilla chips for crunch." She knows, she knows, Americans and their endless dairy. But this time, it's an accent, not the main feature--that's better, right? "How'd you like Clint's?"

[sumarusfinest]

"Mm." He will move to do just that. How does he look prim and proper crunching chips into his bowl. The world may never know.

As he mixes the ingredient he gives her a nod.

"It was smoky, but very much southwestern American cuisine. I hadn't had anything like it since I was in Raccoon City in another world's Colorado." Though maybe it's best not to talk about the experience he had in that restaurant while people are eating. Including himself.

Hers gets a bite and a bright reaction from Katsuya.

"Mm! I had been wary of the chips, but this is splendid!"

[brave_heart_verity]

He's practiced. She's sure he's practiced how to be prim and proper in any situation. Sometimes she envied it, and sometimes, she regretted it.

"I'm glad to hear people are enjoying it." Some people. But there's no one chili to rule them all, she knows that; heck, she's got three recipes of her own.

She'll wait while he tries the chili, nibbling on her cake while he works his way through the flavors and making happy-yummy sounds. She's not shy about it. "Thank you! Glad we both made something to properly highlight this cake. Because this cake is the real winner today."

[sumarusfinest]

"Oh come now. You and I both know we could compliment each other's cooking until we were blue in the face, and never decide on who's was best." Katsuya knows your games, but he's still smiling.

"The cake was just to soothe singed tongues, not to run away with the attention. But, I did say I wouldn't let you down. I endeavored to do as good of a job as you would have done, given enough time to do both."

This is easier. He still doesn't know why it should be the case. But he does know he had missed the banter. The food discussions. The...levity of the conversation.

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity takes food very seriously, and he knows that. But yeah, they could keep it up forever and never agree. Agreeing isn't the point, that smile of his is the point.

"Mm, still. I knew it'd be good. And you know there aren't many people I would have asked."

She'll have another bite of cake instead of saying something she shouldn't. That she misses who she was with him, for that little while before everything went to hell. That she misses who they could have been together.

"Maybe next time we should have a baking contest."

[sumarusfinest]

"Oho. Now that would be interesting. I daresay that you're the only person I've met that I would call my rival."

He smiles around a bite of chili.

"It would be worth the cleanup just to have a chance to break out my favorite recipes."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Likewise, I'm sure," she retorts with a smirk.

"Shall we pencil in something for a nondenominational spring celebration, perhaps?"

[sumarusfinest]

"What is the American saying? You're there? No. Pardon." He tries so hard to be hip with the kids. No he doesn't but he's trying now.

"You're on." Nailed it.

[brave_heart_verity]

There's a little smile from the slip, but only because he's so cute. She won't fault his not getting all the idioms. It's not like she speaks much Japanese. There's a much bigger smile from the agreement.

"Excellent. Late April, let's say, for now? We can work out the details about when closer to the date."