saltwaterlungs: (Coral Sea)
saltwaterlungs ([personal profile] saltwaterlungs) wrote in [community profile] ph_logs2024-11-17 05:49 pm

An ounce of sauce...

CHARACTERS: Darcy and YOU?
DATE: November
LOCATION: Darcy’s restaurant and others
SITUATION: Setting up the new place
WARNINGS: None

Buffet Froid [meta]

The fights in the Casino were the most alive Darcy has felt in a while. Which is probably concerning. But more concerning was the feeling of sinking when check-out finally rolled around and he and his little family left, back to the relative safety and mundanity of the island. Yes, that’s a deeply terrible word for this place, all things considered. But the fact remains that Darcy is bored. Is this all there is? The occasional whetting of his appetite and the return to drudgery, the same menu, the same actions, the same ceaseless endless fucking march of nothing? Most shifts don’t even have Max now that he’s managing his bakery and sorting out the café.

Unfortunately, the casino also had a fancy haute restaurant. And Darcy went. More than once. Even with the goodberries, even with his suspicions of the place. Lyon is a city as known for its food as New York is for belligerence, even with his household budget being tight, you could feel it practically in the water. The brasseries, the intimidating shadow of Le Maison du Paul with its clock-face and the rooster looming, the food carts, the butchers- even school meals were good. Yeah, he’s homesick. But it’s more than that, too.

He misses the excellence of competition, he misses his perfectionism, he misses who he was when he had a goal in mind. It feels more and more like Darcy is a shadow of his former self.

So it’s an impulse when he sees the ‘for sale’ sign being hammered in what looks to be an old run-down pub on his way home from another dull shift. Fight him about it. There has to be something more here, and he intends to find it.
Coquilles

The front door of La Veritable Dragon Rouge has a note hammered to it.

“Deliveries; out the back. Loved ones; I am fine and I am remembering to eat, please only drag me out if past 10pm.”

The first few weeks of the kitchens is a lot of learning how to run the place. Renovations yes, obviously, there’s enough grease on the floor of the kitchen to fry half a city if needed. But mostly it’s things like sourcing supply lines of ingredients, learning how to run the brigade, and- of course- trialling dishes.

A) If you run a farm, early in the morning- about the time of first farm chores- you’ll get a knock on the door. Standing there is Darcy with a notebook in one hand and a basket on the other, with their usual sour expression of intensity.
“Hey. I need to know what produce you have in season right now.”

B) The main dining hall of La Dragon is dark and moody, mostly wood with elaborate carvings on the walls and draped red curtains, and it seems like Darcy wants to keep it that way. Up a set of stairs there are a few alcoves for relative privacy, and towards the back near the pass there’s a chef’s table made of an old butcher’s workbench, scratched up with use. There you can find Darcy hunched over a notebook writing ideas down. Maybe you’re visiting during work hours to say hi, or maybe you’re here to drag her to bed after a too-long day. Either way, there's a tattooed old pirate elf on the back steps smoking, a bitter-looking butch dwarf with a crate of wine checking the labels, and a dapper young half-orc who seems stiffly happy and terrified to show you to the back where Darcy is.

C) Passers-by in downtown will find themselves accosted by a dour young person holding a plate of dainty looking appetisers.
“Hey- try one,” he orders, not really asking. There’s a round of bread with some kind of savoury buttery spread on it and some light herbs, or a folded pastry with a golden crust and wilted wild greens inside.
“Don’t eat that one if you don’t eat animals,” he says pointing to the bread, “it’s bone-marrow.”

Trou Normand

Wildcard at will or message me here/on discord.
decrypter: (upwards.)

[personal profile] decrypter 2024-12-08 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
"And how many people in the world have you met?"

But she's giggling a little, she's smiling, and when she stands up, she doesn't let go of Darcy's hand. Rather, she uses it as an anchor point to come to where Darcy is, so that she can offer a quick embrace, laying her cheek on Darcy's hair. Still long, so there's softness to press her face against.

"Perhaps I should be saying worlds instead."
hate_gettin_older: (eager)

[personal profile] hate_gettin_older 2024-12-08 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, yeah, you said. But I'll know where it is for later."

A pause, then -- "You need any help clearing it out? Or hauling away the junk?"

(It still astonishes him, what people will throw away.)
maximumcake: (Snarky bastard)

[personal profile] maximumcake 2024-12-08 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay, I won't say it." He'll be thinking it, that's implied by the troll smile he's wearing. Max is preeeeetty sure she's joking. He's getting better at telling, he hopes.

"Owning your own business is never going to involve less people." He hates to have to break it to her, but that's the truth. "The good news is, you get to pick the people so you can make sure they are ones you trust and work well with. That makes a difference. Calling shots for people you trust isn't the same; it's much better."
lestercraft: so you can only imagine the stress I'm under (I'm very small and I have no money)

[personal profile] lestercraft 2024-12-09 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
"A pleasure, Darcy."

Well, not really. But it's a token politeness, and if he knows Arthur then he'll know that this is him trying to move on without making a fucking fuss about it.

And he'll bite the pastry, perhaps a little intensely - but then he pauses, and actually looks at it with a sort of pleased surprise. "Did you actually make this?" he asks, mouth half full when he looks back at Darcy. Amazing how a good snack soothes the savage beast. "Christ, it's delicious."
mistertwister: (chill)

Coquielles

[personal profile] mistertwister 2024-12-09 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
It is 10:45pm when Okie passes by La Dragon and sees the light still on inside. He hasn't been in yet, figuring (correctly or not) that he would be an unnecessary and unwanted distraction to his friend doing something important. But he's read the sign, and knows what it's like to lose yourself to seriousness, so he pokes his head inside.

"Last call, Ratatouille, yer gonna miss the bus."
lestercraft: (I'm not laughing)

[personal profile] lestercraft 2024-12-09 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Unfortunately I can't give you more than 'it tastes marvellous', but-" He puts the rest in his mouth before he finished his sentence, "I wouldn't suggest it be any more dry, even with the filling."

He rubs his fingers together to brush the crumbs off, but wouldn't you know it, having a snack makes him a lot more personable. "Is your restaurant nearby, or- I mean, presumably it's within the downtown area, but still."
decrypter: (light.)

[personal profile] decrypter 2024-12-09 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
"You'll have to forgive me if sometimes I can hardly believe that you chose me, out of everyone in the worlds."

Because to her, Darcy could have chosen anyone, and they would have known how wonderful it is to be loved by her, to have her devotion and care and her willingness to work at this, to make something for the two of them. Their love is not an ephemeral thing that simply is, but something they put their hands on and build, day in and day out, and it is everything Helena might have wanted. Save a house of their own, but she'll delay that as needed. It can wait, as long as it will eventually come.

"I want to say something clever about you catching me, but I'm afraid I lack any good followthrough, so you'll just have to imagine it."

That Darcy is strong enough to carry her is its own perk, okay.
decrypter: (keep.)

[personal profile] decrypter 2024-12-09 11:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh? You don't think you were supremely graceful in how you handled it?"

The tease in her tone is thankfully kept to a lower volume, so none of the staff can even try to overhear, but Darcy will know the grin on her face.

"Utterly elegant, sure to sway someone's heart if they were in doubt, as if the gods of love touched your soul and moved you?"
Edited 2024-12-09 11:42 (UTC)
decrypter: (shine.)

[personal profile] decrypter 2024-12-09 11:58 am (UTC)(link)
"I do not merely think you are. I know you are."

There's a whole list Helena can pull out, if she wants to make Darcy embarrassed and shy and full of a lovely sort of self esteem, but it's unnecessary at the moment.

"Besides, you can never say you weren't honest about your feelings."
littlefairytale: (v9; awkward oh whoops)

[personal profile] littlefairytale 2024-12-09 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)

Ruby actually taps her fist against the wooden brooch version of her emblem Peter made her once, just to be sure.

And then there's a look on Ruby's face like that risk is only just occurring to her. "Ohhhhhhh that would be— yeahhh, I-I don't even trust other Huntsmen to try and use a scythe without mishap and they have Aura... no, uh, yeah, we should probably go by and get her sometime soon, then. Hazard containment first, dealing with whatever emotions happen second."

lordoftheozarks: by gronckle @ij (sass)

[personal profile] lordoftheozarks 2024-12-10 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Funny that...

"The only thing wrong with garlic is that it is overpoweringly pungent to our sensitive noses." Thankfully, Max broke him of that concern by cooking with it so much.

"I lived in France for a short while but only after I was dead. It was tantamount to torture. I smelled everything and could taste none of it. You may be able to fulfill a thousand year long dream of mine, now that I can finally tasted things."
littlefairytale: (v9; hug self)

[personal profile] littlefairytale 2024-12-12 02:53 am (UTC)(link)

"Okay but I'm still paying! Whatever the cost I'll give it to you before." Beat. "After. I guess I don't know the price until after."

Especially not when there's actually Summer's Thorn there too. Luckily, she does have enough money for both, not that she knows it yet.

She adjusts her hood. Looks out ahead of them. "...thanks."

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