page fourteen

[fantasies]

[Today, Henry is on a mission. Specifically, a kitchen mission.

Never one to turn down a perfectly good pie, he's painstakingly collected pies from where they've been deposited around the castle, both traditional and kind of weird, and created a sampler for himself at the counter downstairs.

He opens the journal as he eats, and only sometimes talks with his mouth full.]

Hey, everybody. I'm trying an experiment, and I need your help.

The castle keeps turning wishes into pies, and I want to make the weirdest and most delicious pie I can think of. But I can only make one wish, so I wanna make sure it counts.

Suggestions? Ready, go.

Comments

Dictated

[cyan_maid]

[Oh hey, it's Henry!]

You should try Shoofly pie!

[wolfchild]

[ She doesn't much care for the pies, but she does have a surprise. Henry's announcement saves her needing to track him down.

Arya walks into the kitchen, holding something behind her back. ]

Henry! Guess what I have.

[fantasies]

[A wild Jane!!]

What's a Shoofly?

[fantasies]

[He brightens when he sees her, and he swallows another bite of pie fast before he wriggles out of his chair.]

What? What is it?

[wolfchild]

You have to guess!

[cyan_maid]

It's an expression! The pie is supposed to be so sweet that flies just flock to it, and cooks constantly have to shoo them away, hence the name. It's got molasses as a main ingredient.

[fantasies]

It's not pie, is it? 'Cause I've already got a lot of that.

[fantasies]

Ohhh, I get it! Do you think the castle would know what I meant if I asked for it? Or would it give me a fly pie?

[wolfchild]

[ She makes a face. ]

No. It's something you like!

[cyan_maid]

Oh...I don't know. I suppose you would have to be very specific to be sure.

[fantasies]

Okay, umm.... [Stuff he likes...] Is it a book?

[fantasies]

I could try. Do you know all the other stuff in it?

[wolfchild]

Two!

[ She pulls them around to show them to him. ]

They're not fairy tales. I think you've read all of those already. They're science fiction. [ She is so proud of herself for remembering the term. ] I was told they're good. We can read them and see!

[fantasies]

[This smile is like turning spotlights on behind his teeth. He reaches out so he can get a better look at the covers, pie totally forgotten.]

Really? That's awesome! Can we start them tonight?

Action

[littlesoul]

[She's seen the pies but not tried any, not yet. She's uncertain of them and although she's poked a few of them, she has yet to try any.

Her wanderings bring her to the kitchen, bare feet dragging the rest of her though the castle as she examines all the nooks and crannies she ca hide in when need be.

Seeing the boy with the pies, she blinks, not saying anything for a time but, instead, moving silently until she finds herself standing behind him.

She hasn't read the journals but she knows what he's trying to do.]

Strawberry and caramel.

[wolfchild]

[ The first is The Chessmen of Mars, the other Men Like Gods. ]

If you want.

[fantasies]

[He jumps. Literally, so much that he almost wobbles out of his seat. He was so absorbed in his pies and the journal that he hadn't even heard her come in.]

Uh, what? You-- [and as the words sink in:] Is that the kind you like?

[fantasies]

[He twists them in her hands so he can try and speed read the backs of them.]

Which one should we start with? Do you know what they're about?

[wolfchild]

[ She shakes her head. ]

Not a lot. You can pick whichever you want.

[fantasies]

Here, wait, let me see.

[He moves to take them from her fully. He needs to be informed on this, okay.]

I gotta make sure we do it in the right order.

Dictated.

[dorkwonder]

What kind of wishes have you made and what kind of pies have you gotten in return? If you don't mind sharing.

[bronwe]

Is mushroom pie weird enough?

[wolfchild]

It's not that important.

[whichwayyoulean]

Green eggs and ham.

...Actually that would probably taste terrible in a pie, don't do that.

[fantasies]

I haven't been wishing for any of them, I just found them. I don't want to make too many wishes, you have to be careful with them.