Three, Two, One ... COOK OFF!!, Speedbonding~

[Tracyn]

It was a warm, balmy day - the kind of day that was perfect for a barbeque!

That was the thought that had summoned these particular shinies down to the tropical keys this day, they all desired a culinary delight the likes of which they had never experienced before. Some how the shadowguard was able to convince a group of near by humans to loan them the use of some barbeques ... but none of them seemed eager to help with the lighting of the fires, nor with cooking the food that they had pulled aside for preparation. Maybe it was the fact that the food was kind of odd? or maybe the humans just where not interested in bonding today? Whatever the case the band of four had food that was no prepared, and none of them had thumbs with which to prepare the food with.

Thus it was up to the shadowguard once more, she being the only one of the four with the ability to speak. It was up to her to contact George, and within moments the beat of his drums echoed along the beach.


Cook off on the beach!
Come quick if you think you have what it takes to be a whazzit master chef!


The message had been sent, and the shadowguard soon returned to her hippogryph friends whom had already made themselves quite comfortable upon a large mound of sand. It seemed that the three had elected themselves as the judging committee - leaving her as the host for the contest. Seriously, why did she have to do all the hard work? With a low sigh the female settled herself near the bags of food that where laid out upon the sand and waited for the first arrivals to the beach.

---

Rules of the cook off

• Unlimited posting allowed between my posts
• Shinies are allowed, but will not be bonded too.
• Creativity is a must - especially as the hippogryphs are very picky about their food.

Goals for this round

• names PLZ

[Tracyn]

The Chiefs (3)
Geoffrey A-13, Grimm, T'rae


The Judges

2 Dove Hippogryph
1 Macaw Hippogryph
1 Shadow Shadowguard

Food Revolution Dove, Saint Anne -- Geoffrey A-13
Food Fusion Dove, Amelia -- Grimm
Culinary Critic Macaw, A'tek -- T'rae
It's RAW!!! Shadow, Gordi -- Grimm


The Profiles

The Food Revolution Dove Hippogyph
Bird Ref || Horse Ref

Appearance
The Food Revolution dove is a very odd looking female, for she her front half has adopted the feathered appearance of the crested helmet pigeon. The top part of her head is covered with light brown feathers that are laid flat in a way that looks like she's got very smooth fur, and is at odd contrasts to the pure white feathers that cover the rest of the front half of her body. These white feathers are slightly 'ruffed' up around the back of her neck, making it appear as if she's got a punk rock hair style going on, and she'll spend hours of her time preening these feathers to make sure that they stay perfectly clean.

The rear half of this dove resembles that of a lusitano horse. Slim and well defined the body of her rear half is covered with pale cream hair that provides a wonderful contrast to the pure white of her feathered front half. Standing at a fairly average 14 hands this beautiful female has a long dark brown tail that complements the darker socks that wrap around the lower halves of her back legs

Personality
She's a visionary, a woman that want's to change the world and will not stop until her quest has been fully implemented. Her quest is to show people that healthy eating is an easy thing to accomplish even on the lowest budget. There is no excuse for an unhealthy life style in her eyes, and she's always overly eager to show everyone just how bad their lifestyles are! That hamburger your eating? Full of fat and preservatives! She'll pull that out of your hands before it even gets past your lips, and will push you toward the salad bar while clacking her beak in disapproval of your eating habit. She'll even insist on stalking you to the local market just to make sure that you buy local products that cost less and have had the least effect on the environment.

As pushy as she is with her bond she's even worse around strangers, and is more then happy to barge into the local fast food joints. She'll quite happily stay at the counter all day snapping at people if her bond does nothing about it, if her bond knows she is there at all for that matter! She'll just as happily sneak out of the house without her bond, especially if they are not keeping to her approved diet - you see she's in the mind set that you are either with her or against her in this fight for healthy food. If you are with her then she couldn't be happier, and will devote all her time praising you choice to eat right. Being against her however is a whole other kettle of fish for she'll be constantly shadowing you around, snapping constantly whenever she spots you with unhealthy food, and pretty much being an over bearing mother figure that just wishes you would eat your greens.

The Food Fusion Dove Hippogyph
Bird Ref || Horse Ref

Appearance
This dove is very unlike her sister the Food Revolution, for her plumage has taken on the much dustier hue of the Collared Dove. Over all her feathers are a dusty grey, with darker hues noticeable nearer the flight feathers of her wings, and within the dark ring that circles around the back of her neck. As a much plainer looking dove she's not as obsessive about her looks, and tends to not preen herself as much as her sister will do.

As for her rear half, the Food Revolution has a pure white haired body of undetermined breed, one that seems almost Iranian in nature. Even her tail is mainly covered in the whiter tones of hue, with only the barest hints of darker shades toward the lower half of her tail, and makes her look as if she's just dragged the hair through a dirty puddle. Standing at 14.6 hands she's only just taller then her sister, but still not as tall as her kinfolk, which is fine with her just as long as she is able to cook.

Personality
This dove is a very creative lady with quite the passion for food, and not just any food - but fusion foods. She quite thoroughly enjoys mixing different types of foods together to see what she can make from them, sometimes it works and others it does not, but that is quite okay with her because now she has the knowledge of what works and what doesn't. For her experimentation is the spice of life, and she'll spend countless hours in the kitchen adding ingredients into your cooking dishes to see what the resulting flavors will be. Her poor bond will end up becoming little more than her guinea pig when it comes to food - after all they are the ones that possess the thumbs with which to cook with.

Every so often she'll try using her beak to stir a bowl, or poke at the oven to turn up the heat, but these attempts will nearly always end up with food on the floor and something bursting into flames while she runs around squawking for aid. It's quite possible that she's as clumsy as she is creative, so it will be for the best that her bond does the bulk of the cooking - if they even like cooking that is. If they don't then they might well find her bullying them to help her out, for she can be quite the bossy little girl if she's not able to be as creative as she wishes to be when it comes to cooking.

The Culinary Critic Macaw Hippogyph
Bird Ref || Horse Ref
Appearance
For such a mean spirited man he is certainly a very good looking individual. The front half of his body is covered in the bright blue feathers of the Hyacinth Macaw, making him a rather striking looking male when seen from a far. Up close one is more better able to see that he's not jut blue, for there are patches of bright yellow around his eyes, and following the lower half of his beak so that both features stand out against the bright blue of his feathered body.

The rear half of his body has taken on the majestic form of a Rocky Mountain horse, and he's rather tall at a rather impressive 16 hands high. The hair of his rear end is a deep ebony black, providing a striking contrast to his brightly colored front half, and it's hard to imagine that two such different colors would work harmoniously on one body. In stark contrast to his body is his tail, which is a dirty white hue that nearly reaches the lower half of his legs.

Personality
For a macaw he's a very odd guy, he's the most cold macaw that you've probably met, and not to mention the most opinionated one too. He's of the mind that his opinion is the only one that matters, and if you don't listen to that opinion then there is something horribly wrong with you! Judgmental and harsh it is not often that this guy will find something good to say about anything, and spends most of his time staring at people as if waiting for them to make a mistake - which is totally what he is doing while he's giving you the evil eye. As bad as all this is it is even worse when food is involved, for he will unashamedly spit out any food that he doesn't like the taste of, and out right not eat something that he thinks is inedible. Most people don't eat things for understandable reasons, like the chicken smelling sour, but he'll not eat something purely because the plate isn't set up right, or the food isn't quite cooked to his high level of standards.

It's lucky that can't talk, as he'd happily talk about food places that don't live up to his expectations to all his friends if he could. All he can do is force his bond to avoid the place by dragging them away, and if he's lucky as many of his bond's friends as he can manage. He'll do everything in his power to bring the low food standards to the attention of the populace, and he doesn't feel at all sorry if his behavior puts a family out of business. As far as he is concerned if you serve bad food then you deserve to go out of business, and he's not about to feel guilty about it either - as it's quite possible that he's incapable of feeling guilty for his behavior.

The It's RAW!!! Shadow Shadowguard
Canine Ref
Mindvoice:- Italic #362B2B
Appearance
There isn't much to note about the appearance of the Shadow, for typical of her rank she has black fur that covers her body from nose to tail. Even the jewels within her fur have taken in the deep black hue of Obsidian, which her bonded should be wary of when grooming her for cutting yourself on the sharp edges of the gems would not be a very pleasant indeed. Her form when in a solid state is not that big, and will barely reach up to her bond's thighs when running along beside them.

As normal as she is it is her eyes that are most impressive, for they are a bright yellow hue that are rather striking when set against the black of her fur. It is these eyes that let on that she's not as nice as she really is, for they always have a look of barely controlled anger, and it's very easy to tell when this angry side is about to be unleashed for she will reveal her teeth to anyone that even dares to make a mistake in her kitchen!

Personality
This little lady has two very different sides to her personality, and for those unfamiliar to her it may well seem that she's very slightly bi-polar. That's not at all the case, it's just that once she gets passionate about something her nastier side will come welling up to the surface. Before that point she's a very laid back female, and will be very happy to snuggle up with her bond and spend hours dozing on their lap ... but get her in the kitchen and it's a very different story indeed. You see this Shadowguard is a passionate cook, and will pick out any small thing that you have happened to have done wrong - it can be something obvious like the chicken is raw, or it can be something completely odd like using the knifes in the wrong way, I mean seriously whomever thought there was a right way to use a knife?

Any other shiny would be nice about pointing these things out, but not her - she's down right mean! She'll shout at you for what you did wrong, and this shouting will be littered with enough curse words that it would make a sailor's mouth look clean. Her particularly favorite curse of them all happens to be the F-bomb, and she'll use it with gleeful abandon as she's telling you what is wrong with your cooking. This shadow has the innate belief that she can do much better then you can, and will constantly tell her bond this as she tuts at whatever it is they have done wrong - not only that but if you do enough things wrong she'll kick you out of your own kitchen to cook things herself! Which should be a eventuality for concern for her bond because she's not much of a cook either despite her claims of cooking ability.

[Geoffrey A-13]

Blitzen snickered. Geoffrey recognized that devious look.

"No. What do I care about a cooking contest? What do you even care?"

The Animula Pyokit offered him a toothy feline grin. But contest mean prizes! Like gold!

Geoffrey had no idea where Blitzen had gotten idea there'd be some sort of monetary reward to split with the Thieves Guild, seeing as Geoffrey himself assumed that since a prize wasn't mentioned, the only thing the winner would get if anything was perhaps a small mention in the Enquirer, but with Blitzen was determined to go no matter what Geoffrey wasn't about to let him go without a chaperone.

Once on the beach, Geoffrey surveyed the Hippogryphs and Shadowguard — who were it seemed without a chaperone — before smacking Blitzen away from attempting to light the barbecue himself. He didn't care that there was plenty of water nearby just in case that happened, there was no way Blitzen was being allowed to play with fire and possibly start a game of impromptu Fireball (kerosene-soaked sphere, light on fire, play catch, don't die).

The cyborg glanced around the otherwise vacant beach dubiously. "Do we just start?" he sighed at the Shadowguard. He didn't care about cheating to win, personally, but it wasn't much of a contest if he was standing here stupid on his own.

[Grimm]

"Goddamn it, Ceizlye, I'm a doctor, not a chief."

And, as you so like to put it, bullshit. You cook all the time!

Grimm glared.

Ceizlye glared right back.

You're going. Take the dog there with you.

Not getting in middle of this. I no like cookoffs The Steel looked like a deer caught in headlights, as both Ceizlye and Grimm eyed him.

"Fine." The doctor sighed. "And you are comin' with me. Misery loves company."

So, with Ceizlye looking smug, and Grimm annoyed, and Marshall looking like he wanted to squirm out of his skin, they left and headed to the Keys. It, thankfully, didn't take long to spot the place on the beach this "cook off" was happening. And look, some hippogryphs, the lone shadowguard, and.....hell. "Oh, f-ck me." Grimm cursed. He was sure Ceizlye knew about this. She knew everything.

The Steel fidgeted a bit. Can goes now?

"No. Come on." He led them over to one of the barbeque and got to lighting it up. Even with Marshall tugging on the bottom of his shirt. "What?"

Should say hello. Say names. Because yeah, the Demonhound wasn't about to put himself in the spotlight.

"He knows...oh. Them." Right. That whole 'polite' thing. Grimm turned back to the four shinies and eyed them, before nudging Marshall. "Well. Go ahead."

Wait. But...

"You can do it. Come on now."

Marshall fidgeted a bit more and stared helplessly up at Grimm.

Grimm just crossed his arms over his chest.

Um. Shift, fidget. I's is...is....Marshall...and he is... Grimm.

"There. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

The demonhound nodded. Of course it was!

Grimm rolled his eyes, and looked back at the Shadowguard and Hippogryphs. "So, what the hell are we supposed to cook?"

[T'Rae]

While it was not exactly accurate to say that T’Rae couldn’t cook, she did not at all like to cook, nor was her knowledge of cooking particularly impressive beyond the ability to feed herself without managing to poison herself or otherwise make herself sick. So it should be no surprise when T’Rae did not react in the least to the fact that there was a cooking competition, even if it was George’s drums that beat out the message.

Down in the kitchen however the Kyae was collecting some supplies that she deemed absolutely mandatory for the occasion and otherwise hollering at the Vulcan that was doing her absolute damndest to ignore her. It will be a great opportunity to advertise, I mean sure we’re not entirely open yet but we’re almost there, construction is finished and I’ve had a chance to look at the kitchen it is so much nice than this. Not that this one is terrible, but my point is that we really need to get the word out there before we actually open if we’re going to attract the kind of crowd I’m hoping for. She poked her head out the doorway to stare up at T’Rae who had finally been coaxed out of the shuttlecraft to stare down the stairs back at her. “Why do I have to go?” She hadn’t even gotten dressed yet, she was still standing here in her robe.

Because Hatfield isn’t here and I need an assistant, go get dressed and wear something nice.

Something nice was, apparently, her normal slacks and a dark blue vest, ultimately not really that different from her usual uniform, but it was enough to please Raeri and they were on the beach in a hop, skip, and a jump. And it seemed no one had ever explained the idea of awkward to her. Hello Geoffrey always good to see your cheerful self. A wide grin to the cyborg before turning to look at Grimm and quite obviously size him up in a slightly overdramatic way, And the good Doctor, it’s good to know I’ll have something vaguely resembling competition, it’s supposed to be a competition after all, putting a professional against a bunch of amateurs wouldn’t really be fair.

Behind the Kyae T’Rae was setting down the bag of supplies she had somehow been saddled with and shrugged, “I’m just the assistant.” She insisted. Somehow she was predicting a terribly childish cooking competition.

[Tracyn]

They had hoped for a fourth participant, but they where hungry and really couldn't wait any longer. So it was with a light nod of his head that the Macaw indicated for the Shadowguard to start the cook off. Coughing lightly the dark furred canine moved to stand in front of the hippogryphs, her tail swaying slowing back and forth as he looked at each of the participants that had answered the call of the drums. None of them looked like they could cook all that well, but he knew that appearances could be deceptive, and thus he was going to hold his judgement until they had cooked their first dish of the day.

'welcome to cook off, is very nice to have you here today. Contest will require cooking of four courses ... starter, appetizer, main, and desert. Will cook these dishes using mystery ingredients, may use overs - but dish must use all of the mystery items" As he talked he started to pace in front of the judges, and then moved toward the bags that he had laid out. From the pile he would pick up one, and then move to drop it in front of Geoffrey, an action that he would repeat with both Grimm and T'rae. The bags where not at all that big, but lifting them would reveal that there was some weight to the bags.

Once his task was done he moved to sit near the judges, his piercing eyes watching the participants with obviously high hopes for what would happen next. "You may open you bags, have ten minutes to prepare starter - beginning now! he nodded his head as if that where some indication to start cooking, and as each person opened their bags they would reveal a selection of items that ranged from the normal to the abnormal.

Inside the bags where four items, A romanesco Italian cauliflower, some Goatsbeard, some button mushrooms, and a small slab of Tofu.

[Geoffrey A-13]

Geoffrey and Blitzen had not been horribly keyed up… Until they saw Grimm and Marshall. Competition. Enemies. Rivals. FUTURE LOSERS. now that they had somebody to be in a contest against, they were both determined to win. Look at that Ssimple-minded dopey Shadowguard. Look at the condescending stupid-questions-asking doctor. They were going down.

Pretty lady! Hi!

If Blitzen could focus for three seconds, that is. Geoffrey glanced over at the Kyae with her disinterestedly, returning her greeting with nothing but a slight frown, before giving an equally nonchalant looked over T'Rae herself.

The Shadowguard speaking now, Geoffrey took the opportunity to look over the "judges" skeptically. He didn't think Hippogryphs were known for having the most selective tastes, but hey, it was Whazzit. Kneeling down, Geoffrey opened the bag, a bag which Blitzen probably shoved his head in and then recited the ingredients back for the cyborg. His rivals were temporarily forgotten as he wondered first, what the heck that stuff was besides cauliflower and mushrooms, and second, what on earth he was expected to do with that.

He glanced at Blitzen, who glanced at the barbecue. Screw it. If this was supposed to be a serious cook off, there was no way on God's green earth they were going to win anyway, so screw treating it seriously. "Blitzen, find us fish." Saluting, the Pyokit ran off and splashed... Right into the ocean. Fresh, biatches.

For his part Geoffrey turned the grill all the way to the highest (because who bothers with other, sissier settings?). Tofu? He. Didn't even understand what you do with that. Whatever, throw it on the grill to blacken. Mm, crispy. Same with the mushrooms, after slicing them up. See! He knows what he's doing. Good job, Geoffrey, you've mastered basic silverware like knives. Your mother would be so proud.

As for whether the pair was actually working on a specific dish, or even thinking about four separate dishes, well. Pretty sure they don't know. Pretty sure it hasn't occurred to them even to think about planning that. Shh. Just enjoy the train wreck.

[Grimm]

Oh, wasn't THIS going to be fun?

Grimm eyed the Kyae right back, while totally ignoring Geoffrey. Because really, ignoring Geoffrey was just better for everyone's health. "You could always try and dumb it down for us poor amateurs." Grimm offered with a slight shrug. But oooh, look at that. The Shadow was starting to explain things, and Grimm did try to follow what she was saying. So. Four dishes. All on a grill? Should be easy enough for him and Marshall. Right.

With a chuckle, Grimm let the Steel open the bag of ingredients, eagerly expecting something good. "Well? What is it?" He asked impatiently, keeping one eye on the grill and trying to think ahead. It really did depend on what they had to work with.

I...don't know. Marshall offered oh-so-helpfully.

That had Grimm frowning. He snagged the bag and dumped out the ingredients, and then just sort of...blankly stared at them. This couldn't be right.

The Demonhound cocked his head curiously at Grimm. What are they?

"Not food."

What?

"This is a crime against nature." He was pretty sure that white square-y thing was tofu...and that other thing looked a bit life...broccoli? Mushrooms! He knew those. The other thing? He had no freaking idea. "Excuse me." And yes, that was Grimm's 'I'm trying to be polite and failing' tone. "But I thought this was a cookout? Where's the real food. I think I got'a few rabbits that might eat this." The doctor warily poked the tofu. "Although I don't know if I'd wanna feed 'em it."

Right. He probably wasn't getting brownie points here.

But, damnit, he had a barbaque right next to him. Where was the steak? Chicken? Lamb? Corn and potatoes and peppers and onions. You know, real food.

"Can tofu even be grilled?" Grimm asked no one in particular.

We's running outta time. Marshall offered helpfully.

Okay....

So, Grimm got to work on slicing the broccoli-looking thing and the mushrooms and the other thing, while occasionally throwing looks at the tofu, like it might move and try to bite them. But, the chopped things were done, and thrown on a plate, and mixed up, and well... "Hey, Marshall."

The Demonhound perked up and wagged his tail.

Grimm oh-so-sneakily handed him the tofu. "Go hide this someplace." Yep, see, they just never GOT any tofu! And Grimm got to watch as Marshall oh so stealthy walked past Geoffrey's bag and dropped the extra tofu in it before calmly wandering back to Grimm.

"Good boy." Operation "Get Rid Of Tofu" done, Grimm could turn his attention to trying to figure out a dressing to put on this...salad.

This was totally a salad.

Not that Grimm was going to touch it with a ten foot pole.

[T'Rae]

Raeri nodded along quietly with the Shadowguard, honestly when she was focused on her cooking was the only time that Raeri was actually quiet. The rules noted the Kyae wasted absolutely no time in setting to work, taking stock of her ingredients and going about divvying them up into four little piles so she could see what all she needed for each possible recipe. T'Rae had, frankly, not been paying the least bit of attention and had instead been scratching Blitzen absently on the head while the Shadowguard was speaking, right up until the point that Raeri finally snapped at her. T'Rae be a darling and get the water out of the bag and set it to boiling.

Water? Bag? Oh right bag of supplies that she had been coerced into carrying. "You brought water?" She questioned the Vhao absently as she untied the thing and, sure enough, pulled out a sealed pitcher of water and a pot. No wonder the thing had been a whole lot heavier than it looked. Do you see any being provided. Point taken, even if the Kyae hadn't actually known that from the start and had instead forced the Vulcan to carry a pitcher of water through the jungle for no known reason. That wasn't the only thing though, as she was poking around the bag, "Raeri did you bring the whole kitchen?"

Only the important things. Translation: Yes, yes she had. T'Rae sighed and resisted the urge to face-palm and instead did as she was told, pouring some of the water into the pot and setting it on the grill to boil while Raeri went digging around the bag to prepare whatever she had in mind for the other dishes. "What's the plan?" The Vulcan raised an eyebrow, examining the ingredients Raeri had separated out. Tea, I packed some nettle and peppermint, get to work. Well then. Apparently, the Kyae's plan was to take over the whole thing and throw T'Rae out. Which was in fact how she normally worked, but they didn't really need to get disqualified because T'Rae hadn't actually done anything. So T'Rae did as she was told and made a few mugs of tea, mostly peppermint with just enough of the goats beard to taste, one for tasting and one for herself because she had just gotten up and hadn't actually had any breakfast yet.

Since that took a grand total of five minutes and Raeri had set about organizing ingredients and shuffling through the bag for their next dish, even if they weren't supposed to start preparing it yet, that left T'Rae with little to do.

Obviously being the assistant translates as harass the other contestants in Vulcan and so, with a brief glance to Geoffrey's attempt to crumble his tofu into charred ash, which was really a waste because she would have eaten that, went to pester Grimm. "You gonna eat that?" His salad thing, obviously, which was not the most appealing plate that she had ever looked at, but she was hungry. Raeri had rushed her out the door without feeding her yet this morning. Such a terrible loss. And not at all an attempt to sabotage him by eating his dishes before he could actually present them. Not that either of the boys needed sabotaging, Geoffrey would lose just fine on his own and Grimm obviously was not the most skilled chef judging from what she was looking at, but it didn't stop her from being mildly amused by the whole thing. And hungry. It's amazing how hunger can motivate someone into thievery and sabotage.

[In My Mind - Waking Up - 600 Words]

[Tracyn]

Ten minutes wasn't that long at all, but for two of the participants it was clearly either not enough time - or too much time. Well if the cooking skills of the guys where anything to go by for Geoffrey seemed quite happy to burn everything in sight, and Grimm had prepared a salad which didn't look at all imaginative. With time running out the Shadowguard started a slow count down of time, his tail flicking slowly as he hoped that T'rae had made something edible for their starter. Running his tongue over her maw the shadow wondered if anything would be edible today, and could only hope that things would improve once they moved on to the next course.

With a loud yip their time was up, and the Shadowguard got to her feet once more. Any cooking that was still occurring had to be finished, and one by one the hippogryphs got to their feet. "Now is time for judging dishes, will start with Geoffrey" as the shadow talked she moved to look over the dish, eyes narrowing and head shaking as she looked at the burned offering that had been plated for the hippogryphs. "it's burned, what you F'ing playing at? the calm mask of the female quickly melted to anger, her brows furrowed as she looked at the plate and then to the waiting hippogryphs whom rightfully seemed like they didn't want to taste the burned food. The food revolution dove went a step further and shook her head, clearly not impressed by the quality of Geoffrey's food - it seemed that the poor man had made not the best first impression.

Once by one the shinies moved on to Grimm, with the shadowguard leading the way as she moved to look over the salad that had been prepared. Her good mood didn't return when she noted that the Tofu hadn't been included in the dish, what was wrong with these men? didn't they want to win? Clearly they didn't and she let out a snort as she addressed the man [color#362B2B]"Salad look edible, but no tofu - not good for hopes to win"[/color] she gave him a hard stare and moved back to allow the hippogryphs to taste the dish. The Food Revolution dove seemed to at least be impressed by the choice of a salad, and happily nibbled at the food that Grimm had prepared. However the Food Fusion Dove and the Critic Macaw seemed less then easy to please, sure they nibbled at the food, but their actions where slow and there was no approval for the plain dish to be found upon their faces. Of course they where also not going to forget that the man hadn't included the tofu in his dish, and they where not as easy going as their sister was when it came to such things.

Lastly the group moved on to T'rae, whom hadn't done much in the way of cooking, but they where happy enough to taste her tea anyway. It was nice enough, but they where not sure what had been done with the rest of the ingredients. "Is tea all that was made? Tastes nice but not sure what else you did" Clearly there was confusion among the group about what exactly the vulcan and her Kyae had prepared, and the hungry hippogryphs where seemingly not eager to wait for an answer. They had moved back to their judging area, beaks clicking as they mused upon the dishes that had been prepared - all of them had their flaws, but there was one that had at least sated their hunger enough for a nonsenses to be made.

Summoning the Shadowguard back to their sides the four came together in a bundle for a moment, before separating and allowing the shadowguard to move forward. "Decided that Grimm is winner of starter round, good food despite no tofu. Next round is appetizer, this round fifteen minutes" As she talked she moved to deliver a new bag of mystery ingredients to the contestants, hoping that this bag might be more agreeable to the men that where attending the cook off.

Inside the bag where once again four items, A slab of Swordfish, Some rosemary, a bag of pasta, and oddly enough some peanuts. Hey at least the items where not as weird as what had been contained in the first bag right?

[Geoffrey A-13]

Whoops, they had a time limit, didn't they.

Stepping back, Geoffrey crossed his arms over his chest with a huff. That was way too short of a time. And the ingredients sucked. And they hadn't explained very well at all how they were splitting things up. And dozens of other thoughts went through his head as well, all pinning blame on anybody but himself.

Even though the fact he burned everything compressed couldn't really be blamed on all the other factors. But since when did Geoffrey care about being fair.

Calling a luckless Blitzen in from the sea, Geoffrey simply scowled as he opened the bag to a new set of ingredients. Okay, at least he recognized that stuff this time — fish, pasta, peanuts for some odd reason, and a plant herb thing — but he and his Pyokit still didn't have any ideas for it, other than one freaky tasting soup.

So, he used up most of the ingredients chopping up fish and just dumping the pasta in and throwing the plant in because wtf else do you do with it, chucked them in a pot to boil because a grill was a heat source it'd work good enough, and then waited.

Just kidding!

You see someone conveniently saved some of the peanuts, half of them shelled and dumped in the soup water, half of them being unused. But not for long. What else would they be provided for if not for flicking them at Grimm, and one or two at T'Rae, and playing see-if-you-can-toss-a-peanut-in-the-kyae's-ear.

[Grimm]

Grimm honestly....had no idea what was going on at this point. Not that he really had any idea at any point.

But what he did know was that T'Rae was trying to come over here to steal his....well. That wasn't food. That was something to catch food with. "No, you can't eat it. It'd probably get you sick." Besides, then no one could judge it...he assumed this was being judged, and...well. Okay, so this wasn't going to win anything, but, mostly, he didn't want to see T'Rae get sick. And he didn't trust that this wouldn't get her sick. He sure as hell wasn't going to eat it.

His attention turned to the shadowguard when she spoke up. And boy, wasn't she feisty? Grinning a bit as Geoffrey got chewed out, the Doctor was quick to decide he rather liked her. And...tofu, huh? "It got....lost." So, apparently Demonhounds sneaking around was subtle enough. Okay. But Grimm just sorta hung out, frowning in concern when the Hippogryph tried his food. Well, they could probably eat it okay. Maybe. He hoped.

Grimm....wasn't entirely sure how he won that. "Um. Okay?" Shrug. He wasn't going to question the Shadow, just, turned his attention to the new bag of things. And oh thank god, real food. He showed Marshall the things, before he promptly went to work. And yeah, he also totally ignored Geoffrey and his attempts to ignore him. See, unlike some other people, he wasn't five years old.

A pot was put on the grill for water to boil, and once that was done, the pasta was added. The fish was cut up into cubes, and with Marshall's help, they were placed on skewers and seasoned with some salt and pepper, and left to grill on the grill.

It was close to the end when he had the entire dish finished. There was pasta, tossed with an olive oil, rosemary, and peanut sauce (of which Grimm wasn't entirely sure the flavors would work, because seriously, peanuts?), with skewers of swordfish on the side.

And he'd even made an extra skewer for T'Rae, although he wasn't sure if she would eat it. "You can eat this if yer still hungry." Grimm offered, waving the skewer around. Yes, no, maybe?

[T'Rae]

WHOOPSYDOODLE SLIGHT MISUNDERSTANDING. Well that was a slightly disappointing way to end the first round, and not nearly the kind of sweeping victory she had been hoping to use as advertisement when the restaurant opened up, but Raeri could still manage this. Clearly she had let the doctor win purely out of pity for those lesser people that thought they knew their way around the kitchen.

Immediately she set down to work again, rapidly shelling the peanuts out and wrapping them up in foil to roast on the grill while she decided what to do with the rest of the ingredients. The rosemary was mixed in with a bit of sage and lemon to make a rub for the swordfish that was cut into fillets, and once they were coated were placed on the grill to cook, with the pasta boiling pleasant away into the water. Into which a little bit of peanut oil was added from her own supplies. Perhaps it was cheating, she would call it being prepared. They should have brought supplies too. Overall it was simple dish, herb crusted fish over a bed of pasta, the slight taste of peanut oil, and a simple side of roasted peanuts, but most of the emphasis was on the smoky flavor of the fish and herbs. Overall Raeri was rather pleased with it by the time she was done.

That said she wasn't nearly as pleased with Geoffrey about his bebaviour, and while she had been doing her best to ignore, taking the peanuts that didn't land in the sand and eating them herself, as soon as she was satisfied with everything she was turning on him. Really young man I would think that you had more sense than to interfere with a woman and her work! I've seen the state of your refrigerator it's a wonder that you haven't starved the condition you were in the first time I saw you. Devri is going to hear about this! And really while Raeri couldn't really do that much to him, she didn't live there, she knew that Devri could probably be talked into a little bit of sabotage.

The, probably unsurprisingly, mostly absent Vulcan was a little bit more amused by hassling Grimm and staying out of the way of the Kyae and her tirade against Geoffrey. That and highly disappointed by the fact that he wasn't going to share his salad. The hippogryphs didn't eat that much of it there was plenty there that she could have eaten, show a little sympathy man. "It's cauliflower and mushrooms I don't think it's going to kill me." She pointed out, but she let it go in favor of watching him massacre the poor swordfish.

When he offered her the skewer T'Rae just snorted. Did he really just offer her that after taking away the salad. Surely he knew better than that, he lived with Saiph. Actually, in light of this information, he probably didn't. "You do know that Vulcan's are vegetarian, right?" Saiph, she was aware, didn't exactly stick to that by any means, but she hadn't realized just how little he actually stuck to that. Surprising because he made an excellent bowl of soup, it was better than Raeri's but nobody tell the Vhao that. "Meat makes me sick, the salad was safer." Didn't even remotely stop her from picking at the bits of pasta to munch on while she was explaining. Why yes she would like to eat some of that thank you very much, so long as that wasn't swordfish because she didn't fancy dealing with a bout of food poisoning today. "It's not very doctorly to poison your friends." She added absently, and with just a little bit of nostalgia that caught her a bit off guard. Something almost vaguely remembered having a very similar conversation with Stevens a very long time ago.

[Tracyn]

The hippogryphs where rather surprised when only two of the participants started to cook, didn't T'rae want to take part anymore? The confusion grew amongst them as they watched Grimm and Geoffrey started cooking their dishes, and to their relief it seemed as if Grimm knew what he was doing. It seemed they where finally going to be able to get something to eat. Though Geoffrey still seemed to be taking things as a joke, especially if him throwing peanuts around was anything to go by .. it was a waste of good food in their lofty opinions. The Food Revolution Dove seemed to be most offended, she loved food, and knew that there where hungry people in the world that would have loved to have the highly nutritious nuts.

After what seemed like the longest time T'rae also started to cook, much to the relief of the group, and they clacked their beaks in approval at the sight of what she was cooking. It seemed that no one was going to make the mistake of leaving out any of the mystery items after the first round, and the shadowguard was glad for that because she didn't really want to have to lecture people about it again. All too soon it seemed as if the shadowguard was counting down the time, and all too soon the last call was sent out and the time for cooking finished up with a loud bark from the shadowguard.

The round was over, and the judging was now to start.

As before the group started with Geoffrey, their eyes looking over what he had prepared for them. The soup was something that had just been thrown together, and it showed clearly for some of the stuff had been thrown in with very little preparation. The hippogryphs moved forward one at a time to try the soup, and at least they seemed at least a little bit more impressed with what he had cooked this time round. Then again he had burned the food previously, so really anything was an improvement, and the Shadowguard couldn't help but look over the man suspiciously

"you sure you cook? Should be dead with this" Her tone was snappish as she talked, but at least she didn't curse him out this time. Shaking her head she tasted some of the soup herself, shook her head at the taste and turned to move away to Grimm's station. It seemed that she was even more hard to please then the judges themselves, and with a more crasser way of showing her disapproval too!

Reaching Grimm's table the group examined the dish, and without a moment to pause the Food Fusion Dove dove right into the odd dish. It seemed that Grimm didn't need to worry about the odd fusion of flavors, for there was at least one hippogryph that seemed to enjoy odd combinations of flavors. In fact the other hippogryph's had to snap at her to get her away from the dish so that they could have a taste of the food too, and they seemed to enjoy the food - though not to the same scale that the Food Fusion dove seemed to appreciate it and they left her alone to finish the dish up.

Lastly the group moved to T'rae's station, and where pleasantly surprised at the dish she had managed to cook despite finishing a little later then the two men. The three hippogryph's tucked into the food, tasting and clicking their beaks every now and then as they tried out her food. Sure the vulcan hadn't really prepared the food, but at least she'd helped out and the food was palatable - heck even the food critic seemed to be happy at long last as the four set off to one side to deliberate over whom had won this round.

It was a hard choice to make, evident in the fact that it took some time for the Shadowguard to step out from the circle and take a seat near the bags of food that had yet to be used. "Hard choice to make, two very good dishes to choose from ... in end round goes to T'rae" she gave a toothy grin, and bowed her head to the female vulcan before getting to her feet and handing out the next bags. These bags where obviously much heavier for the shadowguard was dragging them along the ground, but despite that she was still able to quickly divvy out the supplies and sit with the judges once more.

"Round has thirty minutes to cook, this is main course ... impress us" and with those words the round had started. Upon opening the bags the three contestants would find a slab of Kobe beef, some Buck-Choy, some asparagus, and some peaches. It was a good bag of items, but it would be most interesting to see what the contestants would do with the peaches!

[Geoffrey A-13]

Geoffrey scowled at the whole lot of shinies as they deemed his food unfit, not that he blamed them. To be fair in return, Geoffrey considered them all deciding to be snooty fickle foodies was a waste of perfectly good looking potential specimens, especially the Doves, considering how few of them he personally saw around. It was the Shadowguard's statement, however, that crossed the line.

"Of course I don't cook, you stupid animal, I'm a zombie." They weren't exactly known for being grillmasters, the undead who survived apocalypses. It also didn't help that he spent a day or two here and there as a wolf, wolves also not being known for being master chefs.

His annoyance peaked, when the new bag was presented to him for round three Geoffrey let Blitzen handle it, barely listening as the Pyokit listed off the loot.

You know what, screw this.

"How important is your gold versus eating today at all, Blitz." The Animula glanced down at the peach already in his mouth then back up at Geoffrey. Like food more than gold. Can steal gold. Stolen food usually gone bad. Geoffrey nodded. Kicking aside the bag of asparagus and what he thought was some bizarre alien celery in case T'Rae wanted to do something with it, he didn't care, Geoffrey flopped down on the beach cross-legged and gnawing on the hunk of beef for himself while Blitzen devoured his way through peaches. Screw the rules, we have lunch.

[Grimm]

Yes, T'Rae, if you want the left over salad-stuff, Grimm wasn't going to stop you. Or the remaining pasta, once the Hippies had judged. And yeah, hearing that Shadowguard get snippy at Geoffrey again was awesome, even if Geoffrey snapped right back. Not that he was going to get involved, and, no, he wasn't at all surprised when Geoffrey all but said f-ck it and went to eat the food himself.

Couldn't blame him. There were peaches. So, okay, he'd made the mistake of offering T'Rae meat when she couldn't eat it, and he did give her an utterly sheepish look Buuuut, he could totally make it up to her. "Sorry. How about ya come over afterwards, and I'll make peach cobbler?" He invited cheerfully, even as he bite into a fresh peach. Okay, so the doctor was clearly getting distracted. Thirty minutes to cook what, again?

Right. Cooking.

Beef. At least there was real food. None of that tofu crap.

Grimm held the peach in his teeth for a moment as he seasoned the beef and threw it on the grill. The bok-choy and asparagus were also grilled, and once Grimm finished eating a peach, he sliced a few of the peaches and lightly grilled them, also. In the end, he cut the beef into cubes, made a light, soy sauce-y sauce for all the ingredients to be tossed with, and bascially presented his bastardized version of what might have been stir fry if he'd had any of the proper materials with him to cook it right.

He was pretty sure soy sauce and peaches weren't going to work out together. Eh.

That's why he kept peaches for himself to eat.

[Tracyn]

It seemed that the contestants where getting bored with the contest, and the four shinies had to agree that they where starting to feel the same way. They had, had such high hopes for this cooking contest, that they would enjoy four wonderfully cooked dinners, but those hopes had been dashed by the fact that not all the contestants seemed to be taking this contest seriously. Each one of the four reached the eventual choice that it was time to wrap this up, and pick their own personal favorite chief of the bunch. It was a choice that would be easy for some of them, in particular The Food Revolution dove, for she had seen someone that needed her help. She had always been an advocate for food that was well prepared, and knew that her guidance was needed by one person in particular. Moving forward the dove made her way toward the spot where Grimm was sitting, and lowered herself beside him with a graceful movement as the bond between them slipped into place. In the days to come she would start working to improve his eating habits and cooking potential - but for now she was quite happy to let him finish eating that rather unhealthy steak


BOND: The Food Revolution Dove Hippogyph to Geoffrey


The next to move was the Food Fusion Dove whom had seen a style of cooking in the contestants that had interested her greatly, and it was her that made the first move toward the contestants. Her path took her toward Grimm, or to be more specific the concoction of food that he had prepared. A critical eye looked over it for a moment before the dove's head lowered to taste the food. The soy sauce and peaches made for an odd taste, but the food fusion once more found that the mix of tastes to be of particular delight! Now she was even more certain of her choice, and within moments Geoffrey would feel the bond snapping into place as the Dove lowered her head to finish up the odd tasting main course that he had cooked

She was soon joined by the Shadowguard. Like the dove the shadow had seen the person that seemed to have needed her the most this particular day, and she was most eager to mold this bad chief into a better one through loud shouting and insults. Blinking slowly the dark furred female stalked the sitting grimm, her eyes seeming to bore right through him as she watched him eating his food. 'You're a damn idiot that needs help, *$#@ Do you need help, can't even cook you #$%*@(% idiot" as those words where spoken the bond slipped into place, and as nasty as she was there was a speck of love that was obviously there for Grimm alone to feel.

BOND: The Food Fusion Dove Hippogyph and The It's RAW!!! Shadow Shadowguard to Grimm

Next to bond was the The Culinary Critic, he'd been the hardest of them all to impress, but there was one person that impressed him the most with their cooking skills. That person was T'rae, and it was with surprising quickness that he bonded to the vulcan. It didn't matter that she hadn't started cooking for he knew that she could cook very well indeed and was quite sure that she would prepare him wonderful food for the rest of his days on Whazzit.

BOND: The Culinary Critic Macaw Hippogyph to T'rae

---

OOC I hope you like your bonds ... their appearances will be up later today ... I've been called in to help out somewhere and must dash. OPPS I FIX the hippogryph mix up - thanks Geoffrey, you're a doll

[Geoffrey A-13]

It wasn't the Hippogryphs or Shadowguard's fault the cookoff had not exactly gone according to plan. Nobody had been around to tell them to kick Geoffrey out before he even joined in. Although to be fair, he had at least pretended to be participating… He personally felt he did an even better job at pretense then T'Rae did. At least he touched some of the food. Although the food was ruined afterwards, but. Details, details.

The Dove stepping up to him was given a very skeptical sideways look it's Geoffrey paused mid-bite, clearly wary of further aggravating admonishment for how terrible his cooking was. He was braced for any telling off, possibly for the Hippogryph snatching the food out of his hands and his Pyokit's paws, but to his surprise the bond click in place and stead. Geoffrey felt a brief flicker of triumph. And then a dismal sinking feeling. Wait, no, he didn't want one of these "experts" nagging him all the time, take her back —

The Dove clicked her beak impatiently and twisted her head to pin him with a sharp stare. Nope. You weren't getting rid of her. EVER. It was for your own good, Geoffrey. Consider this your last meal as a useless clod, man, starting tomorrow she'll be making sure that you shape up both your diet and your culinary skills. Isn't it fortunate that she was here to save you from yourself?

Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. She didn't have the same dramatic flair as his other two Hippogryphs did, but he couldn't help associating her attitude. "By Saint Anne," Geoffrey grumbled after swallowing the bite and lifting his gaze to see who had gone to harass who of the remaining shinies.

ooc| <3 This was a hilarious bonding, thank you for putting up with Geoffrey's stubborn antics! And thank you for Saint Anne, she's going to be wonderful fun to inflict on Geoffrey xD

[Grimm]

(Thank you so much for both of them. They are going to be a lot of fun to play. :3 )


It was obvious that things were wrapping up here. Grimm watched as the Dove came over and sampled his dish. It only took a moment more before he felt the bond snap into place. "Well, at least you enjoyed it, Amelia." Grimm chuckled, even as he began to clean up his mess. The other Hippogryphs were going elsewhere, to Geoffrey and T'Rae, but soon he was joined by another shiny. An eyebrow quirked at the Shadow, and Grimm couldn't help but grin at her. He liked her spunk and her attutide, and she was going to fit in right at home.

"Just wait until you meet my partner, Gordi. You should see the mess he makes in the kitchen." With the extra peaches all set, and his two new companions ready to follow, Grimm merely threw a questioning look at T'Rae. "So, when do ya wanna come over?" Because yeah, there was totally going to be peach cobbler in the near future. Yum.

[T'Rae]

Well everything was winding down it seemed, with Geoffrey entirely giving up and the Hippogryphs getting restless. Raeri had enjoyed herself at least, but when there was food involved Raeri almost always enjoyed herself. Actually it was pretty much impossible to find a situation that the Vhao didn't enjoy herself in. T'Rae even got some stuff to munch on, so it was a win-win kind of situation. Maybe it wasn't nearly as big an event as she had hoped to use for advertising but that didn't really seem to bother her as she went about cleaning everything up and putting her own materials away. Well her own and the leftovers from the competition, no such things as being over prepared and perhaps she could find a use for them later.

Later would, as it turned out, involve a whole lot of grumbling and clacking from a very picky Macaw that got on Raeri's nerves. Or at least she acted like her got on her nerves, she did a whole lot of yelling back anyway as he got involved in preparations for the restaurants grand opening and preparation of the menu. T'Rae was pretty sure that she saw it as a challenge, but either way A'tek wouldn't find a dearth of good food by any means, since he was rarely far from the kitchen whenever something was cooking. It seemed to please him that nothing left it without his approval so the Vulcan didn't really see any reason to intervene. There were probably some kind of health codes about a Hippogryph in the kitchen, but there were probably some kind of health codes about a Vhao chef and that didn't seem to stop them at all.

Later would, unfortunately, also apply to Grimm's offer as T'Rae was watching Geoffrey wander off to flop down in the sand. Buuuuuuuut Peach cobbler and T'Rae couldn't really ignore that, alas. "I would love to, how does tomorrow night work?" She offered a little bit of a sly grin, since he didn’t seem entirely aware Vulcan's didn't generally eat meat it probably seemed fair to warn him, "Just remember I can't have sugar either." Before wandering off to sit by the cyborg and see if he had anything edible, since Raeri was obviously not going to feed her.

[Sorry this took so long, my usual method of naming shinies was unavailable and I had to find work around, Thanks for the Macaw Cyn, this was fun!]