the_dragon_lady (the_dragon_lady) wrote in top_shelf, @ 2014-08-18 23:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | book: his majesty's dragon, player: debbie, player: jen |
Who: Lung Shao Liang (now with bonus Susan!)
What: Acquisition of goods
When: April, 1810
Where: Cádiz, Spain
Warnings: Theft of pies
Notes: I have no dragon icon set yet. Don't put it past me, though.
There was a row of pies cooling on the windowsill of the brightly-painted little house facing the square. The pies were lovely, all round and golden, but they were not what had caught Liang’s attention. No, what had drawn her eye were the tins the pies had been baked in, which were bright and glinting in the sunlight. Liang had never seen tins shine in that way, like the polished armor of a breastplate. Because harnesses were of necessity exposed to a great deal of smoke, ash, powder, mud, and other unpleasantness (although not rust, which Electra would never allow), Liang’s own harness was not nearly so shiny as those tins.
Liang had tasted pie before, although hers had been made of meat, given as an indulgence by her captain one day, when Electra had one to hand and Liang had expressed her curiosity. That had been tasty – although very small, so she really only thought it must have been tasty, as she couldn’t be sure she had really tasted it before she’d swallowed – but it was nothing like these, which were made with fruit inside, and sweet-smelling when Liang gave the air an inquisitive sniff.
She could not share food with anyone, even Electra, as she had been warned by her surgeon that they couldn’t be certain no trace of Liang’s venom would stain the food after she’d taken a bite. That made removing the pies from the tins a challenge as well, even if she was very careful. She would have to eat them, she thought, and then the pie tins would be rightfully hers, as they accompanied the pies themselves.
Pleased with this logic, she was just beginning to snake her head toward the open window when another thought gave her pause. She couldn’t steal the pies. She could ask Electra for them, but by the time Electra returned, the pies might be gone, and the tins as well. Electra did not approve of stealing, however, so Liang could not in good conscience commit the crime, no matter how tempting the reward.
To Liang’s eye, the pies were not a full meal, but they were delicacies - like the chocolates Electra seemed to value more than stew, even when Electra assured Liang it was very good stew - which gave the pies greater value. Liang evaluated the quantity of pies – and tins, which in her mind had a much greater worth – and then flew to the livestock paddock, where she took her time sizing up the nervous sheep until she grew anxious that someone would have taken the pies, and hastily made her selection.
She had to carry the sheep in her claws, so as not to poison the meat, and she took care to keep it alive, so that the pie-maker could butcher and prepare it when they chose. The sheep rolled its eyes in terror and bleated rather noisily, and when Liang tried to put it through the open window into the kitchen, it kicked and made such a fuss that she feared it would upset the pies.
She eventually managed to get it inside the doorway, which she blocked with a cart that had been on the street nearby to keep the sheep from running away. It soiled the floor, kicked over tables and chairs, and caused quite a commotion, but Liang’s sternest low-voiced admonishments would not quiet it, so she eventually gave up, turning her attention to the hasty acquisition of the desired pie tins.
The pies were quite good, and Liang was proud to manage them without her teeth accidentally denting the tins (although one did have a little scrape, but she would polish it later to remove that). She swallowed the last pie, licked the tin clean, and gathered her prize carefully in her claws. Speeding away to the soft dirt square she had claimed as her own, she admired each tin in turn, angling them this way and that in the light to see how they gleamed in the sun, before she buried her treasure to keep it safe. Electra had told her they didn’t need to hoard, in the Corps; but Liang would take care anyway, and then if some thief visited them in the night – and if Liang did not eat him for his presumption – she would have something set aside for herself and Electra, and all of their treasure would not be lost. It was a wise precaution, and she was quite pleased with herself for taking it.
She would be a little hungry tonight at dinner, as pies were not at all as filling as a sheep, but perhaps there would be a sheep left over in the flock which she could have, or a fresh catch of fish, and that would be all right. It didn’t trouble her overly much, considering her consolation. She nosed the dirt fondly over her small heap of treasure, and curled around the mound to have a nap.