[Lesallia Surish]

A small frown marred neutral lips as she ran a sharp eye over the assembled ingredients, certainly enough to fill the stomachs of all the festival goers, she hoped at least. Blowing a strand of hair from her eyes, Lesallia pondered on what to expect for the evening. She’d allowed her fellow shopkeepers the use of her kitchen to prepare the festival foods -- not that it bothered her; she was doing her part to the best of her abilities with as little effort as possible. What bothered her was letting that Yutri woman into her household.

As much as she knew Arryn would never do anything to harm anyone, she still didn’t trust the woman. She’d been witness to Yutri mannerisms back where her parents came from, and it unsettled her to have to worry about it here.

The chime of the gate bell broke her from the negative thoughts, which in a way was a good thing. Who could know what her mind would come up with when let loose? A manicured hand waved the butler off as she made her way to the front hall to greet her guests, pausing shortly as she took in the sight of Sebastian, who by all rights should never be allowed near a stove.

“Welcome, the kitchen is through the hall there, everything is ready and waiting for you.” A flickering frown. "But Sebastian is not to touch the stove or anything sharp. I will not have you hurting yourself trying to do something you should not.”

The pouty frown that came after those words made the silver-haired woman smile. She waved them to the kitchen and trusted in Virgil's cooking skills to get them finished quickly and mostly quietly.

[Virgil Marks]

Wiping his face on a towel, Virgil huffed a breath out. Who knew it would take this much work just to make enough fried cakes for one little holiday? He didn’t scoff at the effort it took, it was the only way they could really afford to feed an entire festival of people. So what if he sweated a little? It was for a good cause it his mind.
Snatching up a spare spoon, he speared himself a bit of cake dough. It needed a tad more spice and a little more kneading, but otherwise it was ready to go. “Seb," he called, "can you grab a few of those cake pans? This lot will be ready to go shortly.”

The bushy-haired youth responded energetically and bounded off to retrieve the baking wares. It really was the only thing the kid could do. Virgil trusted him, sure, but this wasn’t his shop -- it was a kitchen. That, and he was pretty sure Les’ would have his head mounted on her wall if anything happened to Sebestian.

[Arryn]

Muscles flexed as she kneaded the dough. It was just about ready to be rolled and cut into shape, just needed a few more minutes under her talented hands to get it to the right state!

“Seb, wanna grab a couple of those pans and fluff some flour down so I can roll this baby out?”

Flour puffed over the counter top like a thin layer of snow, billowing into the air as she threw the kneaded dough down, rolling pin already primed and ready to go. The dough quickly became a thin square ready for cutting and then shaping.

Sebestian’s wiry fingers snatched up the pieces of dough almost faster than she could cut it, making perfectly-round little cakes to be fried and cooled, though a couple had taken some rather interesting shapes in the wake of the bushy-tailed boy's exuberance.

“Sebbie, you’ve gotta make ‘em all match up. We can’t have moose-shaped cakes.” She laughed and made a quick swipe for the sculpted dough, maybe too quick…

[Katrine Dmitriev]

Music was an amazing thing when one wanted to concentrate on a task; it wasn’t so great when it distracted you from your surroundings, though. The dough had lodged itself rather snuggly on her chest, looking down it kind of looked like a third boob, kind of moose-shaped, but still.

Snatching the blob she flicked it away from her, mildly panicked and definitely embarrassed. It flew in a wide arc before landing smack in the middle of Sebbie’s face, which caused the young boy to flail and knock down a tray of little custard cups. Arryn was not very impressed to have custard in her hair, or to have it sliding down the back of her shirt. Her attempt to remove the offending substance ended with her tripping and spilling the bag of flour all over Katrine.

“Oh! Are you ok? Let me help you!” Katrine gasped as she slipped and slid into Arryn in her attempt to assist, Sebbie doing no better as he knocked over a bowl of sauce as he tried to stay upright.

[Lesallia Surish]

Gasping, Lesallia whirled around as she felt the cool sauce slide down her exposed back, anger vanishing as she surveyed the three on the floor, all of which were covered in a variety of food products.

“What in the name of all that is holy are you three doing?!” Astonishment colored her face as she looked in dismay at the many ruined dishes. Those were for the festival! What were they thinking?

“Don’t lose a button Les’, it were an accident, no one meant to do anything.” Maybe it was the vapid way Arryn said it or the dismissive hand wave that accompanied the words, but before anyone could intervene, Lesallia had hurled a glob of whipped cream straight at the tattooed woman’s head.

[Virgil Marks]

A splattering of cream ran down the wall to the left of his head. He’d frozen when it had first flew past his ear, narrowly missing one of his many earrings. Virgil debated turning around to see what was happening. On the one hand it could be a complete disaster, but on the other, it could have just been Sebastian waving a spoon around.

With a dejected sigh, the dark-haired man twisted his upper body to look over his shoulder.

SPLAT

To say that was not what he was expecting would be an understatement. The yellow custard danced its way in thick blobs down the right side of his startled features, leaving a slimy residue in its wake. Pies and cakes were scattered on the floor, sauces flooded the counter tops, and worse yet, the roast now had a generous helping of whipped cream on it.

“Hey! Stop! You’re ruining the food for the Festival!” Virgil’s yell had everyone frozen. It wasn’t normal to hear him raise his voice, and it was kind of terrifying to witness. Spots of red colored the normally pale skin, hands clenched and eyes narrowing into a fierce glare, Virgil rose one hand and pointed out of the kitchen. He would not put up with this. They were behind schedule now, and he’d have to call in his attendants to help him get back on track.

“Out. The whole lot of you need to get out. Get cleaned up and then get back to work. This isn’t some dilly-dally thing you can just push off, it’s the Festival of Nox! It only happens once a year and you all went and decided to host it, so now move your butts and help me fix all this so we can get it done.”

Shamefaced and apologetic, all four of the food-spattered shopkeepers dutifully marched out of the kitchen to get cleaned up, Lesallia asking her butler to call Virgil’s team. There was still hope to finish in time if they had more help.

Snickers could be heard around the kitchen as the other four disappeared. Although it was wrong and he really shouldn’t be giggling, it was rather funny to see Arryn and Lesallia covered in whipped cream. Dusting off his hands he set to work cleaning the mess the others had made. His attendants would be here soon, and it would be easier if they just started right away and didn’t have to worry about landing butt-first into mango sauce.