» Dog's Dinner, Luke

[Veta Vaughn]

Early April, 201

Veta trudged along the street, her hands tucked in her pockets against the early April cold. It had been a long, hard, day, and she was beat. She had spent the entire afternoon in a conference with the Lord Provost. It was a normally scheduled meeting, she had been at the job two months and he wanted to check in with her, see how things were going. Veta was a bit put out by that when she learned of the meeting, it almost felt as if he didn’t trust her to do a good job. Doing her job was her life. She felt personally affronted by the fact that he appeared to doubt her.

Then she got to the meeting and things were quite different. Lord Jaspry of Goldenlake was different then she expected. He was a competent Lord Provost, and they conversed well. He asked insightful questions about the Lower City, and Veta answered them just as insightfully. In all, the meeting was a lot better than she expected… that is until they finished business and moved into the personal realm, namely the fact that Veta hired his daughter Bellona to be a Kennel Mage in the Lower City. That didn’t go over well.

Veta was never one to let people push her around. She grew up tough, she grew up to be a Dog, and a damned good one at that. So when the Lord Provost made his displeasure known about the fact that Bellona now worked for Veta, she didn’t flinch. Flinching got people killed in the field. Veta merely confirmed that she had recently hired a mage by the name of Bellona and said nothing more on the matter. She was content to let it go there, but Jaspry was not. He attempted to make Veta ‘see reason’ and terminate Bellona’s employment, of course, in very delicate terms. He had just gotten Veta’s position filled, and she was good at her job. He really didn’t want to make waves with his newest district commander.

Veta snorted a bit as she walked through the streets, thinking back on what she had the gall to say. They were sitting in his office, and when Jaspry started pushing, Veta just looked at him and said “I’m sorry you feel that way. Without Bellona I can’t do my job to the fullest, and if I can’t do that, I might as well retire. I’m sure you won’t have any problems finding both a new district commander and a new mage.”

Veta shook her head at the memory, she couldn’t believe that she actually said that. She was mostly sure he wouldn’t fire her over it, but there was still a chance. But it was one Veta was willing to take, she needed a mage, and one of Bellona’s quality only came once in a blue moon. Veta leaped at the opportunity.

Veta continued to walk back toward the Kennel, now cutting through Upmarket district. Part of her wanted to hurry home, but another didn’t. Lars would be out tonight, he went about once a week to visit with some other Scanran gentleman, and they sat and talked, remembered the old country, played the old games and generally reminisced about their homeland. Veta was not eager to hurry home to an empty house.

As she walked, her stomach started to grumble. She paused, thinking if she could make it home before she got too hungry, then decided she would just eat out and started walking again, looking for a place. After a few blocks, she stumbled upon a tavern, slightly warn down, but respectable enough. Huh, The Sleeping Minstrel she thought as she read the sign. She’d never heard of it, but decided to give it a chance.

The District Commander pushed open the door and walked in, surveying the place. There were patrons scattered around tables, drinking, talking and having a good time. There also appeared to be table service, a fact she noted by the man weaving in and out of tables. This was a plus in her book.

The woman shrugged off her black coat, revealing her Dog uniform underneath, the golden thirty year insignia shone out brightly against the black. She folded the coat over her arm and walked to an empty table, she unhooked her baton from her belt and sat down, placing the baton and her coat on the empty seat next to her. She then picked up the menu from the table, and squinted to read it, it was quite warn out, something that she couldn’t help but think as a good thing.

This post has been edited by Veta Vaughn on Nov 6 2009, 08:26 PM

[Luke Rourke]

"Fletch! Ow, fonging muckle futz--"

Disentangling himself from a mop, bucket, cat and stack of dirty pots, Luke stumbled toward the kitchen door and flung himself through it, reaching out to just barely snag Trenton by his tunic. "Fletch, stop writin' in chickenscratch! What the lickin' maladies does this even say?" Luke shoved the order slip he had just been given under the boy's nose. Trenton took the paper quite calmly and read it with ease: "Two bowls of tomato soup."

Guffawing in disbelief, Luke snatched it back and stared at it. "It does not say that!" he protested, his nose turning red with consternation.

"Yes it does!" responded Trenton irritably, jabbing a finger and running it along below his hand-writing as he read it back to Luke. When it apparently failed to click, Trenton rolled his eyes and muttered, "You just can't read it because everything's spelled right."

"Watchit Fletch, I'm the one payin' you," Luke warned grumpily, waving a finger in the boy's face. The threat was hardly serious, considering Trenton was the only other person working the Minnie and therefore indispensable. Turning to head back into the kitchen, he told Trenton: "I don't care if you fonging spell it right. You spell it how it sounds, that's the way yuh supposed to do it." Trenton rolled his eyes and spun around to attend to some new customers who had just set up camp at the bar.

It was after returning to his mess in the kitchen that Luke had a chance to reflect on what had just been ordered. "Tomato soup?" He blinked, scratched his head, then went over to the fire to nudge aside the lids on the different soup pots. Beef soup. Vegetable soup. Everything and anything soup.

"Damn it, Fletch!" He finished a string of curses under his breath and marched out of the kitchen once again. "Which table ordered the soup?"

Trenton raised up his arms defensively once he finished passing two ales down the counter. His eyes widened and his fingers shuffled through his hair in a display of stress. "Luke! You've got six orders to take care of! Get back in there!"

"Well we ain't got no tomato soup. Why are you tellin' folks we got tomato soup?"

"You have it chalked on the slate!" Trenton pointed in the direction of the menu board and fixed Luke a glare. Luke, seeing that the board did in fact say "tomato soup" along with quite a few other items from two days ago, swore quite beautifully and went to go swipe said options off the slate.

"Luke!" Trenton smelled something burning in the kitchen, or at least was fairly sure he did.

"Gods damn it, here!" Luke undid his apron and flung it at Trenton who scrambled into the kitchen to save whatever it was that was being charred. Or boiling over. Or just plain not getting cooked. Once Luke had the board taken care of, he promptly saw to it that all of his bar patrons had a drink to keep them happy, and went around the tavern floor to cater to everyone else. Charcoal and paper in hand, he approached the table that had recently acquired a customer.

"Find somethin'?" he asked in a jovial way, as if the kitchen wasn't a mess and backed up until tomorrow. His green eyes scanned over the older woman and her gear. His thin face split with a grin and he remarked in a very friendly way, "A doggy, eh? Well Ah'll let you know tha' we kindly offer the likes of you half off on anythin' your heartie desires."

"Most of the chit that comes outta that kitchen ain't even worth that much," hiccuped a burly patron from the table nearest, who Luke pointedly ignored without the slightest change in his delighted expression. He could always punch the man and throw him out later if he got too surly. Even if his voice did sound three times Luke's size.

[Veta Vaughn]

Veta looked down at the piece of parchment that she picked up, thinking it was the menu, and frowned at what she saw. It turned out to be one of those pamphlets that people always handed out, one of those ‘worship the Gods or else they’ll smite you in your sleep’ types, instead of a list of kitchen offerings. She sighed and dropped it back down on the table and looked around for a menu board.

It was about this time that she got distracted by some sort of commotion from the kitchen. She looked up to see a man and boy arguing near the door. Veta watched with interest as the dark haired man rushed about, wiping things off the board, and then running back into the kitchen. She observed this all with a raised eyebrow, wondering if this was the place she wanted to eat after all. Maybe walking home would have been the wiser choice, granted she would be alone, but at least her dinner wouldn’t be burned to a crisp.

She thought about getting up and going home, but before she could the dark haired man approached her and starting to ask if she’d found anything. The District Commander looked up at him and shook her head, taking in his appearance in one quick glance. She quickly deduced that he was either insanely happy, based on the stupid grin he wore on his face, or about an inch away from committing murder. If pressed, Veta would put her money on the second option. “No, I’m afraid not. I just sat down and haven’t had a chance to look at the menu.” she stated as she glanced to the side to read the slate again.

She had just turned her attention back to Luke when the man near by began addressing her. She looked over towards him and looked him up and down, then she looked away, clearly dismissing him without a second thought. Her bearing and attitude definitely signaled that she was in a position of authority, based on her body language she was used to ignoring annoying people.

Instead she just looked up to Luke, ready to get something to eat. She didn’t want to deal with annoying drunk people right now, she was tired and wanted to go home. She just sighed and asked “What’s tonight’s special?” as she rested her hands on the worn table top. Hopefully what he suggested was good. Half price or not, she wanted something edible.