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It was time for the cooking festival! Sure, Mitsukai wasn't the best cook, but she wasn't that bad. She certainly deserved some credit, and surely this festival was the way to get it. Maybe if she tried something new, she'd get lucky and make something super great! That'd show her sister! Now, if only there was someone to pair up with, that'd increase her chances! She had gotten there so late though, it didn't look like there were many people available to pair up with. Well, she'd just have to make the best of this situation. Maybe competing alone would be a good thing, what if her partner ended up being a worse cook than she was, that wouldn't do at all. And hey, if the judges liked it, that meant it was all her and no one else! There was always a bright side to everything!

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Elizabeth was so going to win this, she just knew it. After all, how could she not? Everyone knew she was the best, and only the best deserve to win. It was true that she didn't cook often, but she did occasionally, so it shouldn't be a problem, right? No, of course not, because as great as she was, Elizabeth didn't need practice! She'd show everyone here what proper cooking was, and amaze them all with her skill! There was no way she was going to lose this, and if she did, then it was obviously rigged! The judges were sure to be biased, but what chance was there that they'd be able to resist Elizabeth's talent and charm? Surely, that chance was slim, and so, she had little to nothing to worry about.

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Being fairly new to town, this was actually Paige's first time attending a festival. Tara had gone to one the season before, but Paige had stayed home for the most part. This one had caught her attention though. No, it wasn't dancing, but cooking could be considered a type of creative outlet, right? It certainly wasn't her expertise, but hey, it could be fun, and it wasn't like she had never cooked before. It was worth a try, and if anything maybe she'd meet some more people, maybe even others who liked dancing! She could only hope. It wasn't especially easy to practice, without a partner present. This wasn't about dancing though! This was about cooking! Hmm, maybe she should have asked Tara to tag along...

Sethrian raised his eyebrows at Vi. "Yes, I did get that impression, actually," he said flatly, before he could stop himself. Fortunately the arrival of the mayor saved him from getting slapped (for the time being). She announced their theme as pumpkin, which Sethrian actually didn't mind. The moment the ingredients were unveiled, he actually didn't wait for Vi at all (really, he just had no faith in her ability to cook. She certainly looked more like arm candy than a chef at this point and since there was only one male judge, he didn't expect that to be of any help.

For this round, he already had something fairly unique in mind, so he simply gathered up a selection of spices, cheeses, oils, garlic, cream and one slim baguette. Oh, and a nice pumpkin of course--perfectly round and not at all bruised or deformed. Sethrian carried all the things back to their cooking station and, first thing, washed his hands well.

"We're making pumpkin fondue," he stated. There really wasn't room for arguments. This wasn't a very healthy dish but it was rich and delicious and hopefully would win them a lot of points over the probably dips and spreads that were likely to come out of this round. "You can choose to shred the cheese or clean out the pumpkin." He paused. "But wash your hands first."

***

"Relax, man," Michael said, clapping Junior on the back of the shoulder (and half hoping the poor man wouldn't faint or keel over, both of which looked very possible at this point).

"Come on. I see an unclaimed cooking station over here." Michael started for it, kind of wanting to take Junior by the arm and guide him there in a brotherly way or something, but since that would be awkward for the both of them, he just left Junior to tag along behind him. And then the mayor arrived (was that a...crown? What the hell?) and announced that the theme was pumpkin, and they were off!

Sort of.

The only thing Michael really knew how to do with pumpkins was carve funny faces on them and leave them on the front porch until they attracted flies, then throw them in the dumpster and wait for next fall. He knew people made pie from them, too. But were pumpkins even good for anything else?

"So...uh...what should we make?"

**

Murren had managed to find the judge's table and was already sitting there, drumming her fingers on the table and taking small sips of McEwans, which she started to drink more openly as soon as the festival got underway because, well, it was a food festival. Ale was technically food.

Sort of. Beverages were food, right?

Anyway, it didn't matter. She watched the sparkly orange lady stroll over and sit there at the judges table. "'Allo there!" she said, smiling. "Et's a right fine day fer a contest, isn't et? ahm lookin' forward ter what e'eryone cooks fer us, yer know?" She eyed the crown on Lilia's head curiously before taking another long drink from her bottle. "Ah'd offer yer a drink but yer don' look like yer can 'old yer liquor so Ah 'ope yer don' thin' poorly o' me. Ah've no' seen someone wit' so much shine an' sparkles since Aunt Fossy decided she woz th' queen o' England an' started paradin' 'erself aroun' th' town all decked out in jewels an' a fancy gown." Murren sighed slightly, resting her chin on her hand.

"Et woz jus' ter bad tha' et turns out she'd been stealin' jewels from all th' ladies in town fer about a for'night prior, an' th' gown woz somethin' she got from th' tailor's without permission ter so she ended up spendin' a week in jail shoutin' out 'bout 'ow she woz gonna 'ave all our 'eads cut off by th' royal guards..." She'd kind of forgotten where she was going with that story so she just trailed off and had another drink, while watching everyone start to cook. Oh look! There was her farm giant! Aww...he was so cute too, with his little partner and everything! Murren hoped he did a good job. She was secretly rooting for him even if she was supposed to be impartial.

"Wait.... pumpkin.... can be eaten?" Well, colour Ferdinando surprised! He had never knew that! He thought that pumpkin were decorations and art materials and nice candle smell! No one had ever told him that it could be eaten. It didn't matter however! His sonata genes would soon kick in and he would make the most incredible dish out of it! He just had to figure out what kind of dish.... WELL. Everything could be made into a soup, right? So pumpkin soup it would be! He cut the giant squash open, threw the good, strings and seed all together in a mixer, along with some salt and various herbs he could find and then pressed the puree button. He then put that into a pot, turned the stove on at maximum and let it reach a boil.

Tada! Cooking really was easy.

.:l Beep l:.

Briar could do this. After all, if he managed to win this contest, then it’d show off all his manly potential to everyone. Plus, it was a good cooking practice since the best way to a lady’s heart was through her stomach. Not to mention, it’d be nice if he could muster up some meals to spoil himself with. While winning was certainly a goal, it was his growth that mattered the most. Not literally. He was quite content with his height. Being a mediocre cook was just plain sad for a bachelor, so he had to be wonderful of course!

Still, it was no fun to cook alone, and that was exactly why he enlisted the help of a total stranger, who quite frankly, was just unbelievably tall and gorgeous. Mostly, tall, but still, partners! He anxiously jogged over to an empty table, glancing for any sight of Eliza. Hopefully, she’d show up soon since it seemed like the festival was already starting.

.:l Beep l:.

C.C. stared at Dodge blankly as he practically keeled over from his own joke. She might have been playing nice, but pretending Dodge’s jokes were hilarious was a bit out of her range. Still, it wasn’t like she could just… ignore it. Instead, she forced a small smile upon her face before turning her attention to where Dodge was staring off to. Oh. Oh, ******** s**t. “N-N-No. I-I thought it was j-just going to be us, D-D-Dodge” There was no way that she could pull this off injuring herself with those two staring. They wouldn’t think that Dodge would do it if they were witnesses! “M-Maybe we should forfeit?... I-I mean, I’d rather cheer Babsy and Aye-Aye on than c-compete with them.”

.:l Beep l:.

No. No. ******** hell no. Cyrus didn’t even have a partner yet, and they were already starting on cooking? He quickly scanned through the contestants, hoping to just side in with some solo person, and caught a glance of a smile from some bushy-haired woman in the froofiest…. thing ever. No was his immediate thought. After all, the last person who he saw wearing something that fluffy and pink ended up with him squashing kittens with his arse, but… did he really have a choice here? She looked… professional, and he wanted to win of course. With a small grimace, Cyrus trudged his way over to the woman and reluctantly asked her. “Hey, do ya think ya can be my partner? I mean, the more hands the better yeah?”

.:l Beep l:.

Alfred raised a brow in amusement and smirked. “I’ll hold you to it then. You can be my knight in shining armor and defend me while I get the strawberries."

"Well, hopefully, the theme isn't anything meat based." He grimaced. "I'm not the biggest fan of touching that stuff, so hopefully, it's just--" The announcement came in, and Alfred sighed in relief when it was pumpkins. Okay, he could deal with that. He suggested. "Oh! How about we try a pumpkin pasties? It's not related to strawberries though. You okay with that?"

"And no problem. It's a pleasure to work with you."

.:l Beep l:.

Anneliese stared blankly at the supplies before her, unsure of what to even do. Her older brother had thought it'd be nice to drag her against her will and have her participate in this festival in an attempt to have her... make friends. Apparently, pairing up strangers with her was a good idea. Now, this Elizabeth woman was going to be stuck with her. Pity for her. Their team was definitely going to lose the first round. At least, they could have fun with it and try to sabotage other teams or something. Like... throw eggs at people. All she had to do was wait for her to come by their station.

.:l Beep l:.

By the time Juno realized it, it was too late. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Gus' hands slipping down his front, and he gulped and nervously tensed in anticipation in what was to come. Pop. He let out a groan... of disapproval before spinning around to face his brother, rubbing his abused ear with one hand while the other hovered over his pounding chest. He frowned as he continued over to a table. "Really? Did you really have to do a quickie? I thought we were supposed to be saving these for the big event. Don't blame me when you run out of steam."

“And don’t get me started on packages. You, of all people, should know how much more impressive your package is. Now, as much as I enjoy the view, hurry your a** on up and man your station, Gus. We got some pumpkins to smash.”

.:l Beep l:.

Note to self: Morgan was never going to leave his phone unattended again unless he wanted a certain sister sinking her claws into it and responding to foreign text messages with winky faces. Now, he was going to be stuck being partners at the cooking festival with a guy who saw him pantsless. Not. Cool. His ears still burned in embarrassment whenever he thought back on that particular memory, but not only that, he kept getting spammed with all these messages. Quite frankly, they…. really unnerved him to the point that he might have hysterically chucked his phone at the wall.

Because of that, he woke up a bit late due to the lack of an alarm clock on his phone, and he had to pretty much run his way over to the town square. “S-Sorry I’m late, dude.” He huffed out, panting, as he dashed over to Wilhelm. “I’m here now though. Did I miss much?”

(( OOC: I’m sososososso sorry that I’m late. NO COLORS BECAUSE RUSHING LIKE FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. >____< ))

Once the pumpkin was done tempura-ing, it was time for Haruka to put it on the plate. Really, there wasn't a whole lot she could do with what she had -- fried pumpkin wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, and plate arrangement was limited. Prodding it around the plate, she finally gave up and left it fanned out on the plate with a bit of garnish. It looked fine, not at all unappetizing, but it still wasn't as good as it could have been. This year was off to a pretty ehh start, and it drove Haruka crazy.

Oh... Oh. What was that? That smelled good. It was good. Good. Shinju used her little legs to scatter on the table, getting closer to the seeds. Oh, it smelled good. So good. She pushed one with her nose. Oh yes! That was what it was. Oh. Oh. Could she eat it? Was it eatable? It had to be. Yes. Yes. She could. She would. She took some between her little teeth and crushed it. Oh yes! So good! It was so good that she jumped right on the plate, making a good dozen of seeds fall of the plate, and she wasn't done spinning on it. kicking more with her little legs, while eating a seed here, and anther there. Some crumbs falling of her mouth. She kept on going for a few minutes until her teeth were so sticky that she had trouble opening her mouth. Well, that was her cue to stop eating and flop on her back, content. Only did she know that she had mysteriously rearranged all those seeds in a way that it looked pretty much like Lila's face. Sure, there were some differences here and there but it still looked like her. Oh, the coincidences that could happen when animal joined in the cooking contest.

Mei and Mao stood in silence for a good while, even as that flashy young mayor appeared in a strange costume and announced the theme. For some reason, she was waiting for her boss to tell her what to do. It was probably unnecessary, but it was hard to break habits sometimes. Even when other teams had gone off to get their ingredients, she continued to stand there rather dumbly. What was she waiting for? It was almost as if she were paralyzed with fear... Finally, she did something. "I will start cooking," she said softly in Mandarin before scurrying off to collect things. Pumpkin, pumpkin... What did she know how to make that involved pumpkin? Much of her cooking repertoire involved child-friendly foods, and she didn't feel like that would impress the judges -- or Mao -- very much. Aha, but she did know how to make pumpkin soup... Her mother had taught her when she was younger. Gathering her ingredients, she returned to their station and set about making the soup. Milk and pumpkin and onion and spices, she hoped she remembered it all! When she was done, she stepped back to let Mao work on the presentation. ...Ah, she hoped he wasn't disappointed in her...

She had arrived much earlier but took her time wandering about and looking at the different tables. As the announcement sounded, her eyes widened and she shuffled off to find Briar, who had approached her in search of a partner. She'd really only come because Elizabeth made her, but cooking was bound to be better than nothing, plus the guy looked potentially entertaining. Joke was on him though, because for a partner he chose a lousy cook. L o u s y.

Eliza came to her table and crinkled her nose, “Well, I’m not cookin’ so you best jump on it, buddy.” She tucked her arms to her side and looked at the others tables, eagerly working away at their recipes, “and quick, snap snap.” The words were accompanied by a sly smile and the quick clicking of her fingers to match.