[PRP] Counting Your Chickens (FINISHED)

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

It was the late morning in Breeheart, sun now above the treeline as it continued to rise. Sindri had just finished his morning activities - the chickens were fed, fat, and happy, the eggs were collected, and he'd distributed the ones to go to the market and to Dulce's bakery. It'd soon be time to prepare lunch. A typical day, really.

But today, he was expecting a guest, his great niece(? He lost track of these things so easily...) Monroe. She'd recently reached out regarding trading for some of his hatchlings to bring back to Sunrise Terrace, to which he'd generally agreed. He'd insisted she visit first though so she'd have an idea of their temperament and the sort of coop shed need for them. It was a lot easier to experience than to try and understand with words.

Today she'd be arriving to do just that.

Wolfs Heart

Monroe was excited to go get some chickens for her village, it made her feel like she was actually having an impact. This was important to her, since her dad was essentially running the village now, pae looked at her a little differently. Monroe: the deliverer of eggs. Mmm, they would taste so good over the rice too.

Wow, Breeheart sure was different than the fishing village. Monroe looked around in wonder as she made her way towards where Sindri was supposed to be, following the directions of a crudely drawn map. "Hey, Uncle Sindri!" Monroe called out, it was easier to call him Uncle, even though it was so much more complicated than that. Monroe leaned against a nearby fence and waved.

Daisicle

Oho? What nice timing. Monroe appeared just as Sindri was sweeping some dust out of the house. He offered a wave and a "Hey Monroe! How's it going? ... Give me a sec!" Then popped back in to set the broom down, then returned outside and closed the door behind him. He waited to walk closer before continuing. "How was the trip? I know Sunrise isn't too far, but still... Want anything to drink or eat?"

Wolfs Heart

"Oh, it's going great, I'm super excited to get some chickens in the village!" Monroe wondered if they would have a small celebration in her honor. Alright, that was unlikely to happen, but she was sure the other villagers would be excited. She waited patiently for Sindri to reappear. "It takes a bit longer when you're dragging a heavy cart, have you eaten yet?" Monroe actually was hungry, but she wasn't going to ask for food if he had already eaten.

 

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

"I figure it would." He laughed a bit at that. It was nice their relationship had seemed to mellow out from the first time they'd met - that trip to the northern trading post has been quite the awkward affair for the most part. He nodded. "I did earlier, but it's almost lunch time. Usually I just make myself something simple... But I could treat you to something in the village if you'd like." That'd probably taste better than any of his homemade stuff.

Wolfs Heart

Monroe gave a quick shrug of her shoulders, she had no opposition to simple food, but it wasn't very often that she visited one of the larger villages and got to see what food they had to offer. "Hmm," she said thoughtfully, "I really don't mind eating here, and then we can get to work on these chickens. But if there's something good in the village, that would be pretty exciting for me too."

Daisicle

Sindri nodded. "Let's go simple for now then so we can get right to that - we'll head to the village for dinner. Were you planning on staying here or an inn tonight?" He motioned for her to come on in and held the door open for her as he spoke, then moved over to the kitchen. "Hope some eggs, bacon, and toast is good."

He then tossed some wood into the stove and started a fire, then got to pulling out his cast-iron pan and adding a small dab of goats butter to it and set it on the stovetop. While he waited for that to heat, he pulled out a board and began thickly slicing from a smoked hunk of boar back to prepare the bacon and set it aside. Next was the bread - Dulce has brought him a loaf this morning when she picked up her eggs - that he cut two hunkin' slices each from, then brushed a thin layer of butter onto one side. He'd cook that later.

The eggs would come last.

Wolfs Heart

Eggs, bacon, and toast was his idea of simple, but they weren't things that were as common for Monroe "Uhm, yes! That sounds so good." she responded. Maybe eventually she would get used to having eggs and it would seem more simple to her. "I will stay at the inn tonight, and then come by again in the morning to grab the eggs or chicks to take home. If that works for you." Monroe didn't think that bringing chickens to the inn would go over very well.

Monroe watched curiously and quietly as he worked on breakfast. "Did you make the bread?" She wondered out loud.

 

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

Sindri was glad that such fare wouldn't seem too simple for a visitor, but he really wasnt much of a cook. These simple dishes were enough for him. He reached down and made sure the butter fully coated the bottom of the pan before adding the bacon with a satisfying sizzle. "Sounds good to me - it's in the center of town, so it should be pretty easy for you to try out a cafe or two before you leave again." As the bacon cooked, he moved to pick out he eggs - "Two good for you?" - and then got enough for three for himself and however many she wanted.

He then flipped the bacon over with another sizzle, revealing a nicely caramelized-brown coating on the cooked side. "The bread? I did not - I can't cook something so complicated. Dulce ... Oh, she's one of the bakery vendors in town; I sell her eggs directly ... Yeah, she dropped off this loaf this morning when she came to pick them up."

He grabbed a polished wood plate and some tongs before moving the now-cooked bacon off the pan, then discarded the grease in a drippings glass. He then dipped a darkened piece of cloth in some water and gave the hot surface a quick wipe, let the steam disappate, and then added two slices of the bread butter side down.

Wolfs Heart

Monroe nodded her head in response to his question about the eggs. Visiting a cafe in the morning sounded like a good plan too. As she watches him pull out the eggs and talk about selling them, Monroe couldn't help but feel excited about the whole thing all over again. "Wow, that's great, those chickens seem to be treating you well."

She couldn't help but start to picture this own sort of life for herself, hopefully she would be as successful with her chickens as Sindri seemed to be doing. "Your chickens must make a lot of eggs."

Daisicle

Sindri nodded. "You treat them well, and they'll treat you well in return." Except Hilda, the annoying little fu-- "Most lay once a day, though some of them will be fertile andager become chicks. Keep breeding chicks and you'll keeping getting more eggs."

He moved the toast a little bit on the pan before pulling out two fresh plates and placing the two finished slices on one, then added the two others to the pan. Sometime later they were added to the second plate, a little lard was added back to the pan, and then two eggs cracked into the sizzling oil. "So, why'd you decide you want some chickens?"

Wolfs Heart

Monroe nodded her head enthusiastically, committing his chicken facts to memory. The food smelled delicious as it sizzled in the pan.

"I thought it would be good to expand what the village has. Right now we have to trade for a lot of stuff, and other than that it's.... Fish..." Monroe's voice flattened when she said fish and she made a face. She had grown up around fish so it was boring to her. Sure the village had other things to offer, but her annoyance with fish surpassed it all.

 

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

Eggs sizzling, he placed some bacon (now slightly cooked) beside the toast and placed the oily plate in a washbasin for later.

"Mmm... Fish... I miss that. The land pae's meat is fine, but..." He shrugged. "Fish is better, especially the fresh stuff." He lifted the pans handle to move some of the oil in it before setting it back down. "But eggs are pretty good too, and the Spring doesn't have many of these foods, so it's not too bad here, I'd say." Once the eggs reached a sunny-side up consistency, he moved them onto the plate and prepared another round, this time with three for himself.

Sindri then offered the finished plate to Monroe. "Here you go, eat up while it's fresh. Oh, there's some honey on the table if you'd like to add it to your toast."

Wolfs Heart

Monroe smiled, of course he liked fish, "I'm sure you can help yourself to the fish at Sunrise anytime you would like." Monroe suggested, at the very least she would gladly give up her portion.

"Wow, thanks!" She lit as she accepted the plate. She wasn't even sure any of this needed honey, but it was honey. Monroe moved to the table and put some on a corner of her toast. Not too much because she wanted to taste this fresh bread still. Wanting to taste everything right away, she took a bite of the bread first, then a bite of the bacon, and last a bite of the eggs. Everything was delicious. "Mmm, I might have to find Dulce and she if she has some extra loaves that I can bring home. "

Daisicle

Sindri simply nodded as she thanked him for the food before going and cracking three eggs back into the pan (his portion). He glanced over with a wry smile at her comment. "I can point you to her shop tomorrow if you want - it should last the return trip, but no guarantees. I'd bet she'd love to hear your thought on them." Once finished, he added the eggs to his plate and then set aside the pan to cool and then moved to the table.

"Back to the chickens, how many were you looking to get? I can spare Hilda and two of the chicks - it's up to chance whether those end up male of females - on account of us being family. Anything more than that and I'll have to ask you to come back with an actual business negotiation."

Wolfs Heart

Monroe finished her bite and then looked up at Sindri, "Well I'm for sure grateful for anything you can spare," she started in response. She really needed to learn more about how these chickens worked. "Hilda will make eggs without a rooster?" Monroe asked curiously. She was trying to think how best to get this thing started. She knew it would take time. "I could start with them and if none of the chicks end up a rooster..." Although maybe it was better to try and make a negotiation for a rooster now.

 

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

Sindri nodded as he cut into his eggs, causing the yolk to break and spread onto the bacon underneath. "They'll lay regardless, a rooster is just needed if you want them to be able to hatch into chicks." He ate some food. "So if you end up with three hens, that's quite a few eggs but no opportunity to breed them if you want more. Two roosters and one female and you'll want to cull one of the males for the female's safety."

Wolfs Heart

"Hmm," Monroe was thinking about the chickens while she chewed on their eggs. With the new information maybe it was better to trade for a rooster now, that way she could start producing more chicks before she got the eggs going. She was glad he warned her about having too many roosters though because she had no idea. "Do you have a rooster you would be willing to trade? I brought a flat of smoked fish and a few other things just in case." She hadn't ever been clear if the chickens would be a gift or a trade so she had brought some other things just in case.

Daisicle

Sindri slightly grimaced at the mention of smoked fish before following with, "We have -plenty- of smoked meat in the village....." and using his toast to clean up some of the grease and yolk mixing on the tableware. "I don't personally think a rooster will do you much good at this point, but that's up to you." He quickly got to finishing up his breakfast and just about polished off all the liquid by soaking it with the bread before standing up, pushing his chair in, and placing the dirtied dishes in the washbasin.

Wolfs Heart

Monroe wondered why a rooster wouldn't do her much good. She trusted that Sindri was really speaking in her best interest, after all he was family. He knew way more about chickens than she did too. The young demon did feel a little flustered that the smoked meats didn't mean as much as she had hoped. "Alright, I'll take your word for it," she said, her voice sounding chipper. Once her plate was finished she copied Sindri and put her plate in his washbasin. "Should we meet these chickens?" Monroe asked.

 

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

Sindri was glad that Monroe took his advice - last thing he wanted was for her to do what he did and really dive in headfirst without a plan. When he'd gotten back... yeah... it'd been -quite- the learning curve. He'd feel better about her looking to breed them once she had the hang of caring for a few. Maybe a gift for a different occasion, if one of those ever arose...

"Sounds good to me." He led the way back outside, where a couple of chickens were pecking at the ground or scratching the dirt, but most were being little floofballs in the coop. The rooster was standing proudly and acknowledged their approach. Sindri craned his neck to look around before he found a hen that he'd never gotten on well with - Hilda - floofed on some dirt. He'd be content to see her go. He motioned to her, "So that's the chicken I'll be giving to you..." and then placed his hands on his hips as he continued moving, "...and you can just pick two chicks running around - they're all the same to me at this point."

Wolfs Heart

Monroe followed after Sindri to the chickens. "Hilda," Monroe repeated the name of the chicken as her uncle introduced them, sort of. "Oh my goodness, they're so adorable!" Monroe squealed as she caught sight of the fluffy little chicks. "Is it okay to pet them? Not right now, I mean, but when I'm taking care of them?" Monroe asked a few other questions about feeding and care while they were out there, she wanted to be as prepared as she could be for her new job.

Daisicle

Sindri crossed his arms and nodded at Monroe's question. "Once they get to know you a bit, shouldn't be a problem. Some of these guys can be pretty darn cuddly once they get friendly." Not that he'd imagine Hilda would. "For the most part, they'll eat bugs on the ground and whatnot, but if you think they're not as fat as you'd like, just give them some grain." He then brought her closer to the coop. "It's important that their nests can be off the ground - they get pretty mad about nesting on dirt. That's more of a duck thing I've heard." Not that he could confirm - he didn't have any ducks after all. "Just check it daily to make sure it's not too dirty, and clean as necessary."

Pretty simple, really.

Wolfs Heart

Monroe followed Sindri around and took a closer look at the coop. She was going to have to see if there was someone in the village who was handy enough to put something like this together for her, because it certainly wasn't her. She at least would be able to communicate what exactly she needed after getting a good look at Sindri's set up. "This is great, and so cute!" Yes, everything was cute.

 

[Daisicle]

Daisicle

Sindri re-crossed his arms and nodded with a satisfied grin. "Yup, that they are. And I bet if you get a woodworker with some aesthetic sense, you could make a better coop than this - it works well, but its pretty basic."

"Anything else?"

Wolfs Heart

Monroe nodded her head, "Well one of the guys, Aulii, makes surfboards and they are pretty, but I have no idea if he can make other things." Monroe shook her head to Sindri's next question. "I think that's the basics. I imagine I'll have tons of questions when I'm actually doing it, but I don't know what they are yet." Monroe gave a shrug of her shoulders, "Thanks for lunch, I'll come back to pick up my new friends in the morning."

Daisicle

Sindri nodded once more. "Sounds good. Just send a letter if you think of anything later - you know where to find me." A slight pause before he uncrossed his arms and gestured for her to follow. "Come on, I'll go show you where the inn and that bakery are."

And so they went.