With her day’s chores done, Keahi moves to the kitchen to finish prepping a very special meal. Since arriving in the Armada, there had been a clear distaste from certain wolves toward a member of Fatalis family and some of the wolves are Ophelia’s own siblings. The red woman had silently observed, taking note of the limited interactions the obese wolf had with other members of the pack and she felt a great sadness for her. The tropical wolf saw the way others had crinkled their noses and made faces at Ophelia and that was when Keahi had decided that the round Fatalis child needed someone to be a support to her… and the tropical woman is going to try to help.

The smell of smoked, seasoned food wafts through the surrounding dens as Keahi continues to work on the special dish that she had enjoyed in her homeland. The meat is from a wild boar that she brought down and she had been sure to carefully season it before putting it in an underground imu that she had dug. The oven had been lined with hot rocks, coals carefully cultivated and then spread in the middle with hot embers mixed in. Keahi had then laid the seasoned pig that had been wrapped with long bananas leaves (those had been expensive but worth it to get) and covered and tied in a burlap sack, on top of a wire mesh that had been laid on the coals. With that, she had covered the pit up and waited.

Now, in the kitchen, she carefully shreds the tender, smoked pork watching as steam rolls off the meat in fragrant waves. Keahi hums to herself as she separates the meat from the bones and a huge platter of delicious meat begins to pile up next to her. Hopefully the wolf she wants to share the food with has already smelled the meal and come to investigate but just in case… as Keahi places the last of the smoked pig on the huge platter, the tropical wolf releases a low call, asking for Ophelia to join her in the kitchen. The red woman hopes that the obese wolf likes kālua pig as much as she does.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

(Hau’oli wau aia oe ma Ko’u ola: I am glad to have you in my life)

In all honesty, Ophie didn't know what she'd done wrong. Why so many of her siblings seemed to loathe her very existence, it wasn't like she really got in the way. Hanging off them like a burr. For the most part she kept a wide berth, only interacting when duty called or family all gathered to mingle and do...family stuff. No one had really told her to her face that they hated her, or wanted her gone but they didn't really need to. She wasn't stupid, she could tell. It was in the way they looked at her, like she took up too much space. That it could be better filled by someone else.

Food was a great distraction though.

She noticed the myriad of scents coming from the kitchen long before she heard the call, was practically zombie walking her way over with her nose held high, sniffing as though her life depended on it.

Shuffling into the kitchen, she peered around the door frame and oop- a stranger! Scary. And yet she'd called for her...maybe she needed help?

"Oh um, hello? You uh...called for me?" It was hard to speak when her tongue threatened to lol out of her mouth, drool pooling behind her lips.

As Keahi puts the bones of the cooked pig into a huge a bowl a gray head pokes around the doorframe. The woman’s words seem uncertain but the red wolf offers her a huge smile. An eyebrow lifts as she asks, “Ophelia… right?” Once she gets the confirmation that the wolf who is standing at the door with hunger in her eyes is indeed the wolf she seeks, the tropical woman bids the Fatalis wolf to join her. Once Ophelia is in the kitchen, Keahi explains, “I have been craving a meal from my homeland and decided to finally cook it. The only problem is…” a red paw gestures at the platter of shredded meat, piled high until it is almost overflowing and the bowl filled with the smoked bones before she continues, “I cannot finish this all by myself. However, I heard you just the wolf to help! So… will you join me?”

A bright smile is on red lips as Keahi grabs two plates for them to use, passing off one to Ophelia as she says, “Back home we call this kālua pork. It is process but the end results are… delicious.” She speaks while grabbing a huge clump of the steaming meat and moving it to her plate, the scent is intoxicating as the smoked pork is moved and drool pools in the tropical woman’s mouth. Moving a couple of the bones to her plate, Keahi then motions for Ophelia to take as much of everything that she wants, fully prepared for the hungry wolf to eat the rest of everything. Once her guest’s plate is full, the red wolf seats herself and begins to enjoy the meal.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

Ophie couldn't help but wag her tail. She'd been a little apprehensive to be honest, thought she was being called in here just to be told none of this was for her to eat. That she ought to steer clear if she knew what was good for her. Evidently Ophie didn't, but that was neither here nor there as she stepped forward, nose still twitching. I mean....if her pack mate couldn't finish this on her own then yeah, she was more than happy to offer a helping paw. Eating was what she was good at, so good in fact it ought to be a skill on her resume. Something with stats and a speciality, that level of mastery.

"I-yeah. It smells delicious, better than anything I've ever smelled!" She really had to hold back the urge to bury her face into the plate, to slorp up the shredded meat till she was more pork than Ophie. "But..is this okay? Don't you wanna...I don't know, share it with someone else?"Someone she knew and liked, someone who clearly wouldn't die if she skipped a meal.

"Thank you and all but-" but what? Ugh, she wasn't even sure where she was trying to go with this. Maybe one little bite wouldn't hurt...