Fat with a PH

*Halo* · 05-15-2022, 12:31 AM

Honestly, it made Halo happy that the girl was asking questions. If she was asking questions, that meant she was listening, and that meant she had a real interest in learning more. If she wanted to learn, then Halo was always happy to teach. Really, it was among the things that brought her incredible joy. They worked together closely, Halo holding the remains of the carcass still so Hazel could cut away at the partially frozen fat with her teeth. A handy tool as they were, and they didn't seem to bother her any now that they were grown in. She thinks, too, of Sedna's advice-- having a multi purpose weapon her. Sedna had her tail blade, of course. Maybe something similar wouldn't be a bad idea for Halo too, not that she'd be fighting anyone, but having a knife for tasks like this could be helpful. Maybe she could touch base with Ruga, and they could go over the specifics. "It's less about having enough and more about making sure we get the very most from the resources we have," Halo explained softly, answering the girl's question. "The tallow will keep all winter if we put it in the snow banks, so we can just keep making it, and making lye. We can go over the ratio when the time comes to make the soap itself, but when the days start getting longer instead of shorter, is when we'll start making soap." Maybe it was superstition from the wanderers that had taught her the practice in the first place, but it seemed... right. Halo would honor them with the practice, too.

"It's fine, we're not eating it anyway," she reassured the girl with a smile. The carcasses would probably be fine to eat, but it wasn't like there was really any meat left on them anyway. A bit here or there, but no more than a mouthful or two on the whole thing. Mr. Raccoon had found one such mouthful, and was snacking away, unbothered. The voice that responded to Halo's request for firewood was one that surprised her, and she turned to find the Warlord himself feeding the fire. "Sirius, thank you, good morning," Halo offered a small smile, still mostly focused on keeping the carcass from shifting as Hazel worked at peeling away the fat. In truth, she didn't know if he'd spoken to Mortis yet, especially with the move and the excitement and... well, everything. Would the Warlord want to speak with her on it, too? Still, the Warlord's presence had her feel more at ease than uncomfortable.

"This is the weather I was raised in," she admitted softly, her thick winter coat having grown in comfortably. Really, she was looking forward to a much less uncomfortable summer on the horizon. "How are your joints, especially in the colder weather, and the elevation?" While the healer's gaze was trained on the carcass and her student once more, she was still concerned about the Warlord. When they'd last spoken of his aging joints, Halo wanted to get him exposed to the hot springs and the warm water. Moving farther away from them now... it was a worry, as always.

As the last bit of slippery white fat was removed from the final goat carcass, Halo offered Hazel a warm smile. "Well done, will you help me carry it to the fire, please?" The pair worked together to move the heavy pot and situate it within the fire, and the pale healer took a moment to make sure it was just so. "See here, we want the pot to sit right on the hottest part of the fire. These are the coals, and they're white, but can you see the glow that comes from their heart? It's very, very hot, and very consistent. While we need the fire, we need to also respect the fire." Halo lifted her long, thick stick from the safety bucket beside the fire and used it to gesture as she spoke. "We want consistent heat like this when we're making tallow, so we need to make sure the fire is fed consistently, but not fed too much or too fast. If it's too much too fast, then it will heat unevenly, and it will start to brown and it'll smell bad and look... worse." Halo offered a small smile, sticking her fire poking stick back into the safety bucket.

"Hazel and Basilisk helped me set up a barrel to make lye with the ashes of the fires, and now we're making tallow. They've both been a huge help, Hazel especially," Halo offered a playful wink in the girl's direction. She was coming out of her shell more and more, growing more comfortable. It was nice to be able to brag on the girl to her adoptive father, too.

"Speech"

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Fat with a PH

Hazel & ... a Sea creature :P

Halo