“You’re always making me coffee, so, here.” Law takes a tray to Bepo, with a large plate of minced fish meat arranged into a heart taking up most of the plate. It looks messy, but he had tried to decorate it with sliced carrots, diced tomatoes, julienned zucchini, and cubed potatoes. “I was practising my knife skills,” he explains, sitting down beside Bepo. “I’d practise on fresh corpses, but we’re out of those,” he says, deadpan. [1/2]
“And, I…I don’t say it enough, but, thank you, Bepo. After this, can we nap? I’m tired. That took a lot of work.” [2/2]
ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ @pilawforhire (moved)
What was this now? The captain serving the navigator? For shame! Seeing Law walk in with a tray in his hands of which the contents were admittedly not for him but for Bepo made the bear himself colour his cheeks pink. It goes without saying he felt sorry for making the captain serve him breakfast, and he had not made Law do it at all! It felt like it, that’s all.
“Captain! You shouldn’t hav– ” Bepo’s arms, an instant ago moving in a panicked frenzy, stopped as the sentence was cut short. Wouldn’t Law be offended if his lovely surprise was met with a protest? Talk about adding insult to injury!
“I mean, sorry, I mean… Thank you, it looks fantastic.”
Admittedly, there was nothing fantastic about a plate of veggies and you had to reckon this even if you were a big fan of produce. If anything, should it resemble anything, Law’s culinary efforts resembled a mound of mush fairly taking the shape of a heart. At least it could be recognised as such and not as a crooked, crippled circle. It was abstract art in edible form.
Alas, Bepo’s taste was more willing than refined, so though he could see how each element of this dish had been cut into its own shape, no repeats, the bear could not fully appreciate the beauty or the expertise a cook would need with a knife to make so artistic a composition. Captain sure had taken his time in the kitchen, that’s for sure, if he had done more than peeling potatoes and that was saying something, considering Bepo hardly saw Law cheerfully warming his belly against the stove.
If Law said he wanted to practice his technique with a knife, Bepo believed him. If Law said the reason for his doing so had to do with the lack of deceased bodies with which to practice, Bepo believed him… though he had personally not seen any of those around to begin with. He gulped at the thought, hoping he never would, either.
“A nap would be nice, thank you.” By the way he spoke, you would have thought Law was doing Bepo a favour instead of the reverse being true. Not even for a second did Bepo see the meal as payment for his personal pillow services.
Bepo made his large behind as comfortable as possible on the floorboards, grabbed the tray with both paws and lifted it to his mouth. A bear ought not be asked to make use of human-y things such as a fork or spoon.
At the first taste of fish, Bepo discovered he was hungry indeed, and this hunger served as a great boost to wolf down Law’s messy cuisine. The vegetables tasted delicious against his tongue, too, for his mink mother had always insisted on the ingestion of healthy greens along with fresh fish.
When he was done eating, the navigator cleaned the tray with a couple of flicks of his tongue, wiped his dark mouth on his bright sleeve and hung his head as if to show Law how ready for nap time he was. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was his undying eagerness to please the captain but Bepo did feel sleepy.
“Yes…” His paw moved in circles over his belly, rubbing it to satisfaction, much to Bepo’s ignorance. “Very nice indeed.”
