"I'll come with, Raga! I'm getting pretty hungry... What do you think we can find? It might be a bit of a long shot, but I'd love a muffin right now. Ooh, or a donut! Or a crepe!"

Waving to her departing friends, she cheerfully shouted, "Good night, Anthielle! Good night, Sarah! Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bats bite!"

With them leaving, she followed after Raga, jutting her head out of the front door beside her to get a look as well, careful not to block her friend's view of the road.

This is an entirely residential section.

In the morning there'll be a food cart or two or three around, for people on their way to work, but right now, there's nothing like that.

Raga looks at Jaffa.

"I'll try to swipe something."

Raga heads out . . .



09:11, Today: Raga rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,5.  Steal Food.

Raga manages to steal a bit of food and get away with it.

It's small, though-- barely going to be enough for her to get through the night without her stomach hurting. (But it will.) (But barely.) Certainly not enough to share with anyone, though.

(Feel free to elaborate on what you managed to steal and how you got away with it.)

Raga managed to snag an apple.  It was a good apple; enough to dull her hunger but not much more.

And, she had kinda promised to get something for Jaffa.

Raga wanders a bit, munching on her apple, while looking for another opportunity . . .



09:37, Today: Raga rolled 11 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,5.  Try to Steal More Food.

Nodding at Raga, Jaffa waited a moment to look both ways before heading out for food herself. She was pretty sure Dinkar was still in the house, but she wanted to be extra careful.

Jaffa Redspot rolled 5 using 1d6 with rolls of 5.  Scrounge for food (mostly from trash!) Insightful or General -1.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:39, Thu 04 Nov 2021.

When she arrived back home, Anthielle slipped in through a side door... and sneaked upstairs to get a change of clothes.  Already she was formulating an alibi.

I'll just say I was at the library studying... and lost track of the time.  And if Emmeria tries to dispute it... I'll ask about the War!  That's a guaranteed conversation killer.

Anthielle ran a comb through her dark locks and then came downstairs again, this time loud enough to be noticed.

"Emmeria!  Otto!  Hello?  Did I miss dinner?  All this studying has me quite famished..."

She suspected Otto might intercept her first, mostly because nobody could ever see him.  Anthielle headed to the dining room first... with the kitchen her next destination, assuming dinner hadn't begun.

Dinkar lurked a block or so behind the girls, having left the house later than they did (mostly because they didn't wait for him). He was good at stealing, and stealing food was no harder than stealing anything else.

Be Sneaky: Steal Food
Dinkar rolled 1,4,4 using d6,d6,d6 ((1,4,4)).

The second try was a big success!

(Tell how you got it and what you got-- enough to fill your stomach until a late breakfast, and enough for Jaffa, too!)




(Choose: Either you got a little bit but people (or a big dog?) chased you before you got away, or else you got nothing, but at least no one yelled at you nor were mean to you.)




"You have indeed missed dinner, miss," says Otto from right behind her, shortly after she left her room. "Madam Emmeria was quite put out. We knocked on your door, but you did not answer..."





(Choice: Either you got food, but then there was something wrong with it (rotten? a taste Dinkar hates? Too spicy? Way too salty?), or else you got good food and got away clean but the person you stole from got a good look at you and will definitely remember you the next time they see you.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:54, Sun 07 Nov 2021.

Sniffling, Jaffa made her way back to the not-so-tiny house. She'd been digging in the trash when she'd found something incredible. A bagged-up, still-warm cinnamon roll! She'd been so stunned at such a marvel, such an impossibility, that when she'd heard that big dog barking, she'd accidentally flung it into the air. Oh she'd tried to catch it, but it just landed right in front of that large dog, splattering onto the ground. And before she could even start salvaging any of it, the canine had already gobbled half of it up! She didn't want to get in between the pup and his feast, nor did she want to stick around in case anyone had heard the excited dog's barking. She would have to try again in the morning...

Wiping away a couple of tears, she stepped back into her new home. At least she had a secure place to sleep for the night!

The quaint practice of putting food on a window sill to cool was largely something of eras gone by.

Largely, but not completely.

Foraging through an alley, Raga was fortunate to spy a back-window with a plate of beat pies, sitting to cool.  She crept up to and under the window, listening to determine if someone was in the kitchen.  When she judged it to be safe, she grabbed some; they were small enough to be held in one hand, and Raga was able to grab three.

It would have been rude to take more than she needed, but she needed at least one each for herself and Jaffa -- plus one extra to split in case Jaffa, like Raga, had had nothing to eat all day.

Raga munched one pie down as she scurried to the magical house.  Upon arriving she put one of the pies in the kitchen and presented the other to Jaffa.

"I got lucky," she explained.  "I ate one on the way, but here's yours, and there's another we can split."

Tears welling back up again, Jaffa gingerly took the offered pie and took a large bite out of it. "'ank 'oo, 'aga!" she exclaimed between bites. Swallowing the combination of beets and crust, she grinned. Wiping crumbs back into her mouth, she held off before getting back into her pie. "This is really good! Where did you get these? I'm sorry you had to share with me though. I was looking an' I found something! But I got scared by a dog and dropped it... At least the puppy got to eat it."

And then it was back to eating, each bite getting progressively smaller in an attempt to savor the pie.

Dinkar strode proudly down the street with the still-warm pie clutched in both hands. Nobody had seen him take it from the windowsill, and he hadn't even needed to run with it to get away. He'd take it back to the house to eat it, but couldn't resist taking a bite now...

...and spit it out in disgust. The pie was liver and kidney. He'd seen such things rejected by cats let alone people.

Well, if he got hungry enough, he'd probably eat it anyway. It had smelled good enough to steal, after all. (And as a halfling, he could eat nearly anything.) But it would be somewhere between disappointing and outright depressing.

If everyone thought she was holed up in her room, that also worked as an alibi.  Anthielle made no move to correct Otto.

“Well, is there anything left to eat in the kitchen?  Your a manservant, Otto… minus the man part, hehe.  How about fixing me some cookies and milk?  Or a sandwich?  Pleeeease….”

Anthielle put on her best hopeful  expression.  It wasn’t like Otto had anything else to do.  Besides, the alternative would probably result in a messy kitchen that HE would have to clean later…

“Did we have any visitors today?  What about correspondence from Father?  If this war keeps dragging on, maybe we should visit him… what do you think, Otto?”

In regards to the visiting idea, she was only half serious.

"...Do you deserve a late-night snack, after your bedtime...?" asks a new voice behind her... Emmeria's suddenly come up behind her. "Why didn't you answer when I was pounding on your door, earlier? We presumed you weren't in there, and have been looking all over the house for you..."

"Someone put 'em on a window sill to cool.  I grabbed enough for us an' skedaddled.

An' no need to be sorry.  Street kids gotta stick together, right?"

"Right!" Jaffa felt somewhat bad for whoever Raga'd taken the pies from, but it was hard to feel too guilty when this was the first thing she'd eaten all day. "Though I guess we're not technically 'street' kids anymore, right? It's nice to have a house for once."

"Yeah.  Truth be told, I've never been in an actual bed.  A scattering of blankets; a tarp; but no bed."

The little girl sighs.

"I hope it lasts," she says.  But her tone is filled with much doubt.

"Well if it doesn't, we should savor the experience that much more! As for beds, I can't wait to try one. I've heard they're softer than carpets!"

"That depends on what they're stuffed with," Dinkar said, coming into the alley with his uneaten pie, and catching the tail end of what was being said. "Most are just sacks of straw. Some are filled with feathers, though. Those are supposed to be really soft. Straw is... meh. Better than a hard floor.

"Either of you like liver...?"

"Of course I deserve food... after 'hours' of study.  Its not my fault that the weather summoning book necessitated me being outside for a while."

'necessitated' was a word she'd come across recently.  It sounded fancy and important, perfectly suited for Anthielle.

"So when I next write to father, should I mention that we've cut back on dinners?"

Antheille just couldn't resist the jibe.  Besides, there was a very real possibility that she might tattle on Emmeria.

Emmeria frowns darkly. "...Otto, make Anthielle a little something to eat, please." She pauses. "...A little something."

"Certainly, madam," Otto intones.

Pleased with the outcome, Anthielle followed Otto to the kitchen and waited to see what sort of late supper she would receive.

"I can always count on you, Otto.  Do you think I could have a few old cookies tomorrow?  If the weather is nice, I'd like to go and feed some ducks in the city."

The 'ducks' that Anthielle intended to feed were in fact her friends.  She was confident that Otto would buy such a story...

OOC  Fails.
01:58, Today: Anthielle rolled 4 using 3d6 with rolls of 1,1,2.  charming Otto to gain a favor.

"I'd say that you are badly pushing your luck, miss. Let's keep the cookies on-premises, shall we...?"

Well, I tried...  Anthielle mused to herself.

She settled down to enjoy whatever Otto cooked up for her.  It could have been buttered bread and water... and she still would have found it delicious.  Hunger tended to lower one's standards.