The outing showed no signs of winding down, even as the day stretched into mid-afternoon and beyond. The grills were quiet, now; they might be fired up again
if people stuck around long enough, or might not. The sheer quantity and variety of food brought forth and prepared today boggled the mind.
That said, Katy Kaboom remarked to herself, there was a dire lack of a certain type of dish, one that was, in her mind, absolutely essential to a picnic or
barbeque of any sort. And since her *grilling* skills left something -- well, a lot -- to be desired, she'd seen fit to bring something else to the party.
Something *fun*.
She got to her feet, suppressing a most unladylike belch -- Gen's mushrooms were heavenly, and she'd eaten more of them than she should have, she
realized -- and made her way to the prep tables near the grill area. People were scattered all over, talking quietly, dancing to the drumbeats of Pooky (and
the boombox on the ground next to him), tossing a frisbee, or just soaking up the sun and digesting. It was the perfect time.
She reached into one of her compression pouches, ignoring the weird crawling sensation as her hand vanished into the depths to a distance much farther than the
pouch was deep, and groped around until she found the object she was looking for. With a grunt of effort, she drew forth...
... a large, boxy, metallic object, about a foot on each side and twice as tall, rectangular and covered in stickers and service panels. The front had an
opening just about the right size to admit a large cup, with a flexible hose ending in a wide-angle cone (with oddly-positioned blinking lights) attached in
what could best be described as unholy matrimony. Katy set the thing on the table with a thump and set about disconnecting the trunk-like projection, humming
softly to herself as she worked, her free hand flipping the Leatherman it held between and around her fingers like a sideshow performer rolling a coin.
"Say, that's a neat trick," Yukiyo put in from behind. Katy jumped in surprise, then flashed a grin over her shoulder.
"If you're talking about the pouches, I can't take credit for them," she replied, pulling a wire free with a sharp tug and splicing it back
in somewhere else, so fast her fingers were nothing more than a blur. "But if you're talking about Betsy, here... you ain't seen nothing
yet!"
"I meant what you're doing with the Leatherman," Yukiyo said, then blinked. "Betsy?"
"Mm-hmm." Katy gave Yukiyo a mischevious grin. "And you're just in time to help me!"
"Ooh! Okay! What do you need me to do?"
Katy handed Yukiyo a large cup from the stack balanced precariously nearby. "Hold this." She reached into another pouch, frowned, tried a third,
and finally found what she was groping for in the fourth, drawing it forth easily. It rattled and clanked, and Yukiyo frowned in puzzlement.
"Katy, were those --"
"Yep!"
"So that machine is a --"
"Yep!" So saying, Katy set her burden down, grabbed the hose from her contraption, and held it out towards Yukiyo. "Ready?"
Yukiyo looked at Katy, at the cup in her hands, at the machine, back to Katy, and nodded eagerly. "Sure!"
"Power on!" Katy cried, and pressed the trigger.
FWOOOSH.
When the fog cleared, it revealed an embarrased-looking Katy Kaboom standing with a frost-covered hose in one hand, the other covering her mouth. Of Yukiyo,
nothing could be seen, save her eyes blinking in startled shock behind her glasses. The rest of her was covered in a rapidly-melting coating of... shaved ice?
"I'm SO sorry, Yukiyo!" Katy cried. "I forgot to swap out the combat pump for the regular one." She grinned weakly and displayed a
small, complicated-looking device in one hand.
Mag Flashlight ambled over -- the sudden wash of cold air having caught his attention, the sight of a Yukiyo-sicle guaranteeing his interest -- and tapped
thoughtfully at the snowy mass. He rolled it between his fingers, sniffed at it thoughtfully, then nodded. "Food-grade shaved ice... uniform
consistency... no shards, just pellets... nice work, Katy." He nodded, the approval of one craftsman to another. "Couldn't do better
myself."
Katy blushed. Yukiyo made a strangled squeaking noise from within the snow mound, then shook herself, the snow sliding off and plopping to the ground.
"KATY!" she yelled. "That was SUPPOSED to go in my CUP!"
"I fixed it, I fixed it!" Katy replied. She triggered it again, and this time it worked perfectly, filling Yukiyo's outstretched cup with a soft
mound of glistening white. "Okay! I have cherry, grape, lime, banana, and watermelon. What flavor?"
Yukiyo looked down at her cup, then turned her huge, glistening, puppy-dog eyes on Katy. "All of them?"
Katy grinned and waved her towards the syrup rack. "Snow cones are a GO, people! Get 'em while they're frozen!"
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
if people stuck around long enough, or might not. The sheer quantity and variety of food brought forth and prepared today boggled the mind.
That said, Katy Kaboom remarked to herself, there was a dire lack of a certain type of dish, one that was, in her mind, absolutely essential to a picnic or
barbeque of any sort. And since her *grilling* skills left something -- well, a lot -- to be desired, she'd seen fit to bring something else to the party.
Something *fun*.
She got to her feet, suppressing a most unladylike belch -- Gen's mushrooms were heavenly, and she'd eaten more of them than she should have, she
realized -- and made her way to the prep tables near the grill area. People were scattered all over, talking quietly, dancing to the drumbeats of Pooky (and
the boombox on the ground next to him), tossing a frisbee, or just soaking up the sun and digesting. It was the perfect time.
She reached into one of her compression pouches, ignoring the weird crawling sensation as her hand vanished into the depths to a distance much farther than the
pouch was deep, and groped around until she found the object she was looking for. With a grunt of effort, she drew forth...
... a large, boxy, metallic object, about a foot on each side and twice as tall, rectangular and covered in stickers and service panels. The front had an
opening just about the right size to admit a large cup, with a flexible hose ending in a wide-angle cone (with oddly-positioned blinking lights) attached in
what could best be described as unholy matrimony. Katy set the thing on the table with a thump and set about disconnecting the trunk-like projection, humming
softly to herself as she worked, her free hand flipping the Leatherman it held between and around her fingers like a sideshow performer rolling a coin.
"Say, that's a neat trick," Yukiyo put in from behind. Katy jumped in surprise, then flashed a grin over her shoulder.
"If you're talking about the pouches, I can't take credit for them," she replied, pulling a wire free with a sharp tug and splicing it back
in somewhere else, so fast her fingers were nothing more than a blur. "But if you're talking about Betsy, here... you ain't seen nothing
yet!"
"I meant what you're doing with the Leatherman," Yukiyo said, then blinked. "Betsy?"
"Mm-hmm." Katy gave Yukiyo a mischevious grin. "And you're just in time to help me!"
"Ooh! Okay! What do you need me to do?"
Katy handed Yukiyo a large cup from the stack balanced precariously nearby. "Hold this." She reached into another pouch, frowned, tried a third,
and finally found what she was groping for in the fourth, drawing it forth easily. It rattled and clanked, and Yukiyo frowned in puzzlement.
"Katy, were those --"
"Yep!"
"So that machine is a --"
"Yep!" So saying, Katy set her burden down, grabbed the hose from her contraption, and held it out towards Yukiyo. "Ready?"
Yukiyo looked at Katy, at the cup in her hands, at the machine, back to Katy, and nodded eagerly. "Sure!"
"Power on!" Katy cried, and pressed the trigger.
FWOOOSH.
When the fog cleared, it revealed an embarrased-looking Katy Kaboom standing with a frost-covered hose in one hand, the other covering her mouth. Of Yukiyo,
nothing could be seen, save her eyes blinking in startled shock behind her glasses. The rest of her was covered in a rapidly-melting coating of... shaved ice?
"I'm SO sorry, Yukiyo!" Katy cried. "I forgot to swap out the combat pump for the regular one." She grinned weakly and displayed a
small, complicated-looking device in one hand.
Mag Flashlight ambled over -- the sudden wash of cold air having caught his attention, the sight of a Yukiyo-sicle guaranteeing his interest -- and tapped
thoughtfully at the snowy mass. He rolled it between his fingers, sniffed at it thoughtfully, then nodded. "Food-grade shaved ice... uniform
consistency... no shards, just pellets... nice work, Katy." He nodded, the approval of one craftsman to another. "Couldn't do better
myself."
Katy blushed. Yukiyo made a strangled squeaking noise from within the snow mound, then shook herself, the snow sliding off and plopping to the ground.
"KATY!" she yelled. "That was SUPPOSED to go in my CUP!"
"I fixed it, I fixed it!" Katy replied. She triggered it again, and this time it worked perfectly, filling Yukiyo's outstretched cup with a soft
mound of glistening white. "Okay! I have cherry, grape, lime, banana, and watermelon. What flavor?"
Yukiyo looked down at her cup, then turned her huge, glistening, puppy-dog eyes on Katy. "All of them?"
Katy grinned and waved her towards the syrup rack. "Snow cones are a GO, people! Get 'em while they're frozen!"
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs