Cooked Food

Flambé would call herself a bit of a connoisseur, if you asked her what her favorite hobby was. Cooking was an art that had been long lost to their world- but proof of its existence and the tools used to do it were still everywhere if one looked hard enough. When she was young, Flambé had enjoyed playing with the strange instruments. She had even mixed dirt and water together to make ‘soop’, which he fed to her mother (who acted like it was delicious, but ended up sick the next morning. Flambé had a feeling the two were connected.) However, Flambe eventually outgrew her childhood passion- physically, that is, as she became far too large to hold the strange human tools. Nowadays, the therizinosaurus preferred to travel around the islands, searching for exotic meals and others who shared his hobby.

And it seemed like she was in luck- the scent of cooked meat caught her attention as she was traveling through a forest, a plume of smoke betraying the location to his less complex nose. Seems like there was another like-minded fellow around, then! Flambé began to make her way over, a happy smile on her face. While a herbivore herself, she was capable of eating small bits of meat should the mood suit her- maybe this would end up as one of those.

However, as she got closer and closer to the fire, the scent became more acidic and harsh- even to her, as Therizinosaurus had far from the best sense of smell of all the creatures on the islands. Flambé coughed as she stumbled upon the source, only to pause in surprise. There, crouched next to an alarmingly large fire, was a tapejara. His feathers were unusually black even under all the ash clinging to them, bright red and orange markings running underneath that were similar to Flambé’s own feathers. As the herbivore thudded into the clearing, yellow eyes snapped to her, something cold and furiously fiery within them. Flambé stopped in her tracks- despite the smaller creature being the size of her arm, it was still intimidating. Speared on a stick, close to a fire, was a chunk of meat physically being held into the flames- the other end within the tapejaras mouth. The foul smell was emitting from it.

The tapejara mumbled something, the stick in its mouth blocking the words. “What?” Flambé blinked. The tapejara scowled, taking the stick from its mouth and holding the still blazing end towards the therizinosaurus. 

“What do you want?” The tapejara croaked in a cracked, crackly voice, eyes narrowed and beak clacking in threat. A few embers fell off of the burning chunk of meat as the fire gradually faded, leaving just a charred chunk of meat. 

Flambé cleared her throat, gently flexing her claws. “I am Flambé.” She bowed her head, clearing her throat. “I travel across the islands, searching far and wide for the best tasting meals. But it seems I was mistaken- why are you burning what could be amazing food and ruining it?”

“Ruining?” The tapejara hissed, clapping his beak angrily. “My meat is not ruined!” He ripped off the bit of meat angrily, shoving it into his mouth. Flambé watched in slight horror as the tapejara chomped it down. “I am Ignis, and this is the best way to eat meat!” His wings flared out as he spoke. “Perfectly crispy! Try it yourself before judging!” The tapejara gestured to the pile of meat off to the side- still uncooked.

Flambé tilted her head. Cooked meat was a rarity, especially cooked meat near a fire. It did seem interesting… “Fine, then.” The herbivore moved forward, ignoring the sticks and simply sticking them onto her claws and holding them close to the fire. Ignis seemed to take some offense to that but simply huffed, fluttering his wings and shoving another bit of meat closer to the flames. Flambé didn’t go so far as to stick her claws into the flames themselves- it would hardly feel good- but she did stick them a bit closer than most would. Fire licked at her claws, scrapping against the scraps of meat on her claws and leaving charcoal colored bits where it touched. 

After a while, Flambé feared there would be no more food left should she keep it near the fire any longer- only for Ignis to shriek. “No! It needs to be cooking for longer!”

The therinozsaurus jolted, forgetting she had company. “But it would be burnt if it stayed in any longer!” She hissed. The tapejara scoffed, but didn’t argue as she held a bit up to her beak to taste- and instantly spat it out. The taste was bitter and scorching, coating her whole mouth in the awful flavor. Flambé let out a low screech, booking it to find a nearby river to wash the taste away. She was almost certain she heard tapejara laughter from behind- well, some people clearly had terrible tastes, she supposed.