OOM: Christmas dinner with Pyrrha and Egil

[ostro_goth]

[[Ctd. from here.]]

Teja opens the door, laden as he is.

His usually comfortable, creatively untidy room is still that -- there is even Ferdinand the cat, sprawling all over Teja's bed, fast asleep. There are simply two new doors, one of them leading to a kitchen that provides all the modern comforts and appliances as well as a space to comfortably sit and eat, the other leading to Egil's room in Loki's apartment on the 12th floor.

One better should not think about how that works.

Comments

[scarred_grin]

"Do you think they know he's the same, in his different forms? Like, do they recognize him?"

Teja would know the cats a lot better than she would.

"I don't know if cats and foxes understand each oth--oh. Apparently it's a little more different than being another dialect of the same language, but in the same sort of language family. Like French and Italian."

Loki has spoken.

[ostro_goth]

"Oh," Teja says. "I see. Yes, they know him, as far as I can tell: - something about his smell, I think, the individual component underneath the generic human or fox smell."

[scarred_grin]

"A lot of their communication is body language, and they're not hugely different there," she says. "So it's mostly learning to understand the different tones. And foxes sound kinda awful when they get going--sorry, puppy. That wasn't me."

[ostro_goth]

"The cats do not seem to mind," Teja says.

[scarred_grin]

"Apparently the worst will be when he's a teenager," she says. "That's when they get the--really? He says they sound like a cat in a woodchipper. That's horrible."

[ostro_goth]

"Leopard stuck in a foundry is worse," Teja says. "But it is horrible, in any case."

[scarred_grin]

"Yeah. So we got a while before that, at least. C'mere, puppy--time to eat."

She heads over to pick Egil up, and bring him to his chair. He squirms happily; he knows the word eat.

[ostro_goth]

Ferdinand stretches very languidly, and then casually wanders over to the table as well. When humans eat, sometimes, things drop.

[scarred_grin]

And sometimes people succumb to that poor-starving-cat routine, and just feed them.

But Pyrrha has a present for the cats in her bag, too--she'd made some treats.

"Would you like to supervise dinner?" she asks, gesturing toward the plate of cut-up pieces of meat and plantain. "You give him the plate, he can feed himself, but... you know, make sure he doesn't shove things in his ears or something."

[ostro_goth]

"I can do that," Teja says.

He takes the plate and sits next to Egil in his chair, giving him his food and then sitting back to watch.

Ferdinand is watching even more intensely. Things are definitely going to drop to the floor soon!

[scarred_grin]

Egil in some ways sees himself and the cats as like siblings, and siblings help each other out--so why shouldn't he share? He chews happily on one of the pieces of meat, while not-so-stealthily pushing another piece off the chair's tray and onto the floor.

Pyrrha doesn't mind much, as long as the food doesn't stay on the floor, and as long as Egil is actually eating most of it.

[ostro_goth]

There is no danger of a piece of meat staying on the floor with a cat around, so Teja doesn't even try to interfere while Ferdinand eats whatever Egil drops for him.

"You're doing very well already," he says to the baby.

[scarred_grin]

"Can you tell Teja what you're eating?" Pyrrha asks, as she starts unpacking the bag of presents. "What's that?"

He just laughs, though. These are words he doesn't know.

[ostro_goth]

"Meat?" Teja suggests, looking at Egil encouragingly.

[scarred_grin]

Oh, that. That he knows.

He smiles and points to some of the meat on his plate (and pushes another piece off, onto the floor).

His attempt at stealth is a bit ruined by his leaning forward to try to see Ferdinand on the floor.

[ostro_goth]

"Cats like meat," Teja says. "And foxes. But people like it, too."

The last bit is meant to enccourage Egil to eat some, also, not only feed the grateful cat.

[scarred_grin]

He had some already. It's just fun to feed the cats, and also fun simply pushing things onto the floor--cats know how much fun it is to knock things down. It's like an instinct.

"Puppy, you eat," Pyrrha says, and ruffles his hair a bit.

Well, if everybody's going to be watching him, he'll eat.

[ostro_goth]

Everybody is watching him, including a hopeful Ferdinand.

[scarred_grin]

Meat is good! Plantains are good too, and they mash better, even when fried.

At least some of it does end up in his mouth. And he does like the taste of both things.

Really, he likes food in general.

Pyrrha's not watching him anymore, though; she's moving to take the pan out of the oven.

[ostro_goth]

"Should I open some wine, and pour it?" Teja suggests.

[scarred_grin]

"I got drinks already made," she says. "If you like rum, I can put some rum in it, but it doesn't have to have it. It's good either way."

[ostro_goth]

"I do not think I really need rum," Teja says. "I do not like strong spirits much."

[scarred_grin]

"It's more of a summer thing, but the traditional Christmas thing is awfully close to the same flavors as the pudding I made, so I thought something different might be nice," she says. "If you prefer wine though, that's totally fine. Whichever you want."

[ostro_goth]

"I shall have your drink," Teja says.

Pause.

"Egil, I don't think cats like plantains."

Ferdnand eats the piece that landed on the floor and innocently looks at Teja.

[scarred_grin]

"Puppy, food goes in your face, not on the floor," she says with a chuckle.

Egil just laughs delightedly.

"I'll be right back, if you want to get plates and silverware out. Glasses too."