Vacationing with evacuees

[Tech Rathgen]

I turn toward Ji and Anu. "I'm Tech Rathgen."

I turn toward Gail. "If you would prefer to talk about this later then that's a can do, but I wanna say something before that happens. We'll discuss more of this after dinner, so here it is. I thought that if I told you that I was a cop that you would've left right then and there."

I turn toward the royal subjects and listen to their names.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji bowed slightly. "Pleased to meet you. I am Her Highness Jijeka-Te III, and this is my royal advisor Anu."

"The Queen and I aren't exactly from around here," Anu added. "In fact, I'm not at all sure where 'here' is relative to where we come from."

[Gail Strafer]

"I thought that if I told you that I was a cop that you would've left right then and there."

That statement earned a little, annoyed glare from Gail. He felt mildly pissed off she'd made such an assumption about him. Even if he was part of the Thieves' Guild, he hadn't done anything for them yet so he would have had little to worry about by staying here. Besides, how many other people in town would just willingly open up their doors like that?

In any case, he wanted to say something in reply to that, but thought better of it. If he started up the argument again, who knew when the dust would settle? Gail stuck to his word, and decided he would remain silent on that matter till after supper.

With that decided, he decided to listen to Ji and Anu.

"The Queen and I aren't exactly from around here. In fact, I'm not at all sure where 'here' is relative to where we come from."

"In a sense, I think we're all strangers here. Did you see a bright flash of light too? That was a dimensional merge...or so I heard. It's why we're all here. I may not be as far removed from this world as you, but this place is definitely not my home either."

[Tech Rathgen]

I nod. "There's nothing we can do now. We just have to accept it as a new home now."

I sit down on a chair and wait for dinner. "I'm ready to eat when you three are."

[Jijeka-Te]

Anu rubbed his chin as they both proceeded to the table and sat down next to one another.

"Bright flash of light? That does sound familiar. Ji was right in the middle of having lunch at the time, and I was standing beside her, watching her to make sure she didn't violate the terms of her diet. Then everything went white and we were both dumped in the middle of nowhere, along with part of the table."

[Gail Strafer]

"Something like that happened to me too. I was riding my motorcycle one night...bright flash of light...and then I'm here in these grasslands."

When Tech brought up dinner, Gail gave a small sigh of regret. "Tech...the downside of my family's recipe is that it takes a long time to cook. I'm only working on the first batch of strips right now. That's five strips. I'll need to do two more batches to get them all. Maybe you should cook something else in the meantime, like broccoli or mashed potatoes or something?"

The wolf slid away from the table and walked back into the kitchen. He covered a large plate with some paper towels, and then daintily used a fork to lift the strips onto the paper towel plate. While one side of the strips overcooked and was dark brown, at least the other side was the correct golden brown color he was going for. The taste wouldn't be as good, but it would certainly be edible.

After that was done, he pushed a few more strips through the breading and milk/egg mixture and put them in the frying pan's oil. He followed this up by washing the extra breading off of his hands, and bringing the plate out to the dining table.

"If you want, you can try one of these strips while the rest are cooking. Now be careful because they're very hot right now. I only just took them off the skillet."

Gail walked back into the kitchen to watch the next batch. If the others took a bite of the chicken, they'd feel a nice crunch in their mouths from the breading, and then the hot flavor of the chicken inside. The season salt flavor would particularly stand out.

[Magnus]

Just then, Magnus rides by on his Dnepr heavy motorcycle. It's been a long ride and Magnus has only two things on his mind, a bite to eat and a replacement for the worn out shock absorbers on his motorcycle. First thing's first though, he needs that part!

He had just recently rode into town and had been scanning the streets one by one for another motorcycle in hopes of finding a fellow mechanic who could help him with acquiring the part and was delighted to finally come upon a hoverbike.

Surely the owner of this bike can help.

Magnus, turns his eyes on the house nearby where he could hear talking and decides to walk walk right in and ask.

Not waiting to be noticed or even to introduce himself, Magnus just casually walks in and says, I'm looking for the owner of that bike out there, I'm in need of a part for my own and I'm not sure where to go.

[Tech Rathgen]

I look at Magnus then decide to do what Gail did tell me to do. I grab a bag of potatoes and take out about seven or eight potatoes.

I suggest. "Gail, you might wanna cook a little bit more chicken. You go ahead and talk to him, I'll flip the chicken when its ready."

I start to peel the potatoes and I shut out the rest of the world and I stay close enough to the deep fryer chicken. I wash the potatoes off first and start my business.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji and Anu studied the strips of alien foodlike substance on the plate in front of them. They didn't really have a clue what Gail had prepared.

"We should let it cool for a moment before we try it," Anu suggested. Ji nodded, although it may have just been an excuse to delay touching the stuff.

[Gail Strafer]

When the front door opened, Gail turned around from his work in the kitchen to see who it was. Looked like...some kind of echidna. From the way he talked, Gail guessed he wasn't a friend of Tech's. In fact, he seemed to be a perfect stranger. Gail narrowed his eyes, as he wiped his hands off in the sink. Then, he marched right over to the newcomer.

"Excuse me, I own that bike, but we have something else to talk about first. You sound like you don't know Tech, so you just barged into a stranger's house without waiting to be let in." The wolf waved at the front door. "Were you raised in a barn? Where I'm from, that's awful rude, and it could even get you shot. You're lucky that Tech here is so understanding. But me...I don't feel good about looking at your bike until you apologize."