Soup Kitchen.. sort of|Malagard | Khelek

[Kender Bard]

Lady Trumble was all smiles as she stood in the street, tables having been drug out of her home and placed out of the way of most traffic, and her personal cook helping her to brew up big pots of stew. Bowls lay all over the tables filled with soup and stew, as the Lady prepared to do her favorite charity work. Naturally, her sister was nowhere to be found.

[Deleted]

Dahlia sighed and hitched her cloak up higher. She has been here in this fridgid place for what seemed like years, but was only a few months. She had spent these months very carefully, sampling many sorts of food...including the blood of many humans.

She had to do that with extreme care, and even so, she didn't dare to feed on more then one human every two weeks. Not to mention that she humans she chose to feed on couldn't be missed, so she had to pick from what would be considered lower class citizens.

Her mouth turned as she thought about this, but she forced her face blank once more. She was indeed hungry, but, as she turned her nose upward, she smelled a descent scent. Not blood, to be sure, but something good, at anyrate.

Following the scent, she came across a lady and a gentleman. One noble and one not. Serving soup. "How odd..." she said to herself as she approached.

[Kender Bard]

Lady Trumble smiled at Dahlia's approach, nudging forward a bowl of soup. "Come to sample a meal?" she inquired of the woman.

[Deleted]

Dahlia reached for the bowl and then pulled her hand back uncertainly. "Is this...free?"

[Kender Bard]

"Oh, aye!" Lady Tumble giggled, and gave it another nudge. "I feel it's my duty to the less fortunate to give them a good meal when I can. I'd do it all the time if it were financially feasible. Sadly my sister does not agree and so I'm limited to a few times a year."

[Deleted]

"Well," she said, picking the bowl up. "That's a pity." Sniffing at it carefully, she then tasted it and found it to be well and good. "Do you happen to have any bread, m'lady?"

She paused after saying this and blinked. Tacking on the 'm'lady' bit hadn't been what she would normally do, but it suited.

[Kender Bard]

"Oh I should think so," Tumble murmured as she rummaged around the raw materials area. Eventually she produced the heel to a loaf and held it out. "I do hope you enjoy it."

[Deleted]

Dahlia took it and thanked her, smiling and sitting down near-by to watch the area as covertly as she could.

[hisdivineshadow]

"Come on, slowpoke," Anko called teasingly over her shoulder as she sauntered down the street.

Her brother, breath puffing with exertion, trailed behind. "I'm sorry, it's just . . . haven't we been at this long enough?"

Anko's face grew unusually serious. "Not much longer, sib," she assured him, "I know we're getting close."

Adarr's stomach suddenly growled, quite audibly, and he put a hand to his middle, sighing. "Can we break for a meal, at least?"

She laughed out loud, and grinned at her brother. "I suppose . . ." Pausing, she lifted her head and sniffed the air. "Mmm . . . I smell something . . . thataway!" With a gleeful smirk, she dashed down the road toward the smell, leaving her brother to trail wearily behind.

It wasn't long before the tables of soup and stew came into view, and Anko slowed. Her smile faded, however, as she caught another scent in the air. What were the odds . . . ?

[Deleted]

Dahlia continued to eat the soup, dipping her bread in occasionaly and letting her eyes flick every where that they could feasably do so. Then her eyes landed on something that she had been desperatly hoping wouldn't happen.

She jerked upright, eyes wide, dropping the bowl with a startled grunt.

[Kender Bard]

"Oh my, are you okay?" Lady Tumble asked in concern, leaning over to check on the woman. The cook gave her a dirty look for the broken bowl.

[Deleted]

"I...I...am truly...sorry..." she said, her words feeling as broken as the bowl at her feet.

[Kender Bard]

"Are you okay, dear?" Trumble repeated, coming around the table to offer the woman support. She looked like she'd seen a ghost or something. "Do you need me to help you to the Healing House?"

[Deleted]

"Oh...no," she said, still staring at what she knew was coming down that road. "I think..." she started, but knew by the time she actually left, it would be too late.

[hisdivineshadow]

Anko's eyes, usually half-lidded in lazy fashion, widened slightly at the sight of the vampire, making her look more alert but no less cheerful. With a simple hand gesture and flick of her chin, she communicated a plan to her brother.

His hunger forgotten, Adarr tensed and wordlessly obeyed, slipping off to the right while Anko circled to the left, intending to trap Dahlia against the serving tables. And if she tried to vault the tables, Adarr would be there to prevent her escape.

Anko felt the familiar thrill of the hunt rising within her, but her natural excitement was tempered by the knowledge of what she would be facing, and the memory of what the creature had done. Drawing a long two-edged knife from her pocket, she locked eyes with Dahlia and gave a thin-lipped smile. "Looks like I finally caught up."