White-Feathers were all cock-eyed motherfuckers. That was the general impression given unto them by Jean. Whether the Francian knew or not a reason why Michael would not know, the fact of the matter is that this wasn't a topic which Isaac was particularly knowledgeable of either. Farming lad, he was. Wolves and livestock, and go easy on the politics. Another good word for it was insidious, or disgusting, or appalling. His dad liked words like that to throw at the unacceptable. And then, if the one flung at with those words kept going, a fist would surely follow. Some people had no right to draw breath, because everything coming out of their mouth was just a waste of air. And for Thomas, apparently his people in Oceania, they were hailed a whole buncha' promises that held about as much water as a bucket with no bottom. [color=f7941d]"I was never promised anything, of course, and I wasn't shamed into things either. I just got my marching orders. As in, 'Here's some convincing rifles pointed at ya. Now, march!'. Some of you already know that, and that's okay. [i]Today[/i], I don't feel so bad about it, because today...my sister informs me that the bastard responsible was found in abuse of his position and sent to the front lines. Turnabout is fairplay, and I hope he has [i]loads[/i] of fun up here."[/color] So yeah, Isaac's mood wasn't bad right now. It may have been wrong to wish bad tidings on a fellow human being, but fuck it. He's an arse. Now, before anything could continue, a young man trying to look very official and army and not-at-all like a complete greeny who didn't know that war is hell...came to deliver a message to Jean. He announced that it was for him, and then belted it out before he could even confirm that Corporal Robin-Charpentier was even [i]here[/i]. I mean, he [i]was[/i]...but imagine what would happen if he'd gotten the wrong table? After he left, Jean got up to go see what Baker wanted and explained to Isaac that Britta needed to know that she had cooking duty. Apparently, Thomas had voted her in. [color=f7941d]"I didn't even know there [i]was[/i] a voting process. Alright, I'll tell her."[/color] He got up to go find her, buuut...Britta wasn't anywhere around. She went off on that errand of hers, and was presumably looking for stuff, as per requests. Perhaps she was already on the case. He'd have to wait around and find out, though. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Meanwhile, Britta was indeed hunting up food for tonight. She didn't know about the vote that Thomas put forth or anything like that. No, what she decided was that, in order to help her put her mind at ease, she was going to [i]cook[/i]. Frankly, if anybody else had been up for the task, she would have insisted otherwise, because she had struck scrounger GOLD. Oh yes, indeed... It had started...with her spotting garlic. She found some in decent condition, and from there she looked for the other necessities: Butter, bread, salt... Yes, she had no trouble, or not [i]exactly[/i] trouble. What she found with enough poking around - sometimes literally, with her serrated blade - were a number of things that were at least passable and in enough quantity that it could be done. She could make garlic bread, but from what she found here...she could also make something [i]ambitious[/i]. Her eyes lit up as she started grabbing things. Some preserved beef that was neither soft nor hard, over a dozen potatoes, tins of spam and some leftover pork, corn, carrots, spinach, a bit of cooking wine, two bottles of not-the-best rum, and some ration biscuits. This was everything Britta could get, and she had a smile on and a sparkle in her eye with ideas. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> So, of course, a little later on, the silver-haired Gunner came in with a load of things over her back. It was a little heavy, but her enthusiasm carried her...plus training and experience in hauling a heavy machine gun. Isaac caught a look at her and blinked with a smirk. What was [i]she[/i] so geared up for? [b][color=ed1c24]"Alright, I brought supplies. Hand these over to Michael, would you?"[/color][/b] She handed him some clean cloth and a better quality entrenching tool. [b][color=ed1c24]"Couldn't find him explosives, sorry. I looked hard before getting all [i]this[/i] stuff."[/color][/b] [color=f7941d]"What is it?"[/color] [b][color=ed1c24]"Ingredients."[/color][/b] [color=f7941d]"Oh, so you knew already."[/color] Britta stopped and looked over at the Corporal. [b][color=ed1c24]"That I was cooking tonight? Not until I decided it for myself a little while ago."[/color][/b] [color=f7941d]"Oh, I see. What was the urgent business, then?"[/color] [b][color=ed1c24]"...let's handle what we need to, first, okay?"[/color][/b] [color=f7941d]"Alright."[/color] So, while Britta was getting a decent pot and water to fill it with, Isaac went over to present Michael with his sharper tool and the clean cloth he wanted, saying [color=f7941d]"Sorry, no explosives yet. She tried."[/color] before returning to Britta, who had a pot over a fire and was cutting things on a makeshhift cutting board - a random flat piece of wood - with her serrated blade because it was handy. She kept cutting things apart - meat and veg - and throwing them into the pot, which was getting thick now. She didn't even look up as she started giving him orders! [b][color=ed1c24]"Find another board, and start cutting those buns in half."[/color][/b] Isaac stopped, but then shrugged and went [color=f7941d]"Yes, ma'am."[/color] before pulling out his prybar for that. The prybar was a small hatchet with a fiddly bit for the prying, so it would certainly cut bread. Britta was stirring the pot with a large spoon and making sure everything was mixed up. Isaac had noticed the beef go in and [i]some[/i] of the spam and all of the pork remnants, all cut into small pieces. He hazarded a guess. [color=f7941d]"Making some sort of a beef stew?"[/color] [color=ed1c24][b]"Well, I mean it's not gonna be a [i]perfect[/i] one, but if I've got the math right...I'm making a [i]dumpling[/i] stew, AND garlic bread, the dumplings being any of little loaves left after the garlic butter's spent."[/b][/color] Oh ho ho... The good stuff. A dumpling stew - meat and vegetable stew with bread dumplings on top, absorbing some of the stew - and garlic buttered bread. Britta figured she could get a fair few - these are small handheld bread loaves - turned into toasty garlic bread with the fire here, and that six cut loaves would make up the dumplings, with the ration biscuits ground up on top as bread crumbs 'cause...there was only twelve of those and they're not great, really. [color=f7941d]"So, do you need anymore help?"[/color] [b][color=ed1c24]"I've got this. Thanks, Isaac."[/color][/b] Okay... Isaac took the hint that Britta didn't really want to talk right now and went off to find some glasses for the rum. Still, though... That was going to be a [i]helluva[/i] meal.