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He gave the wardens no additional information.

You can check my communicator if you want to see.

[ More quietly. ]

I have a large stash of dried goods and frozen goods, properly contained and maintained, should public supplies run out. I'll let you look through them if you want.

Edited 2021-11-03 22:29 (UTC)

[ Try as he may to hide it, Hickey is a big ball of nervous and worried energy. ]

I do want to see it. [ a pause, before he grumbles, ] I thought I left this bloody nonsense behind me.

Hopefully, you did.

I'm in my cabin.

[ And then about five minutes later, there's some rapid knocking on Kiryu's door. ]

[ And Kiryu will open it, with a tumbler in hand. It's some of the awamori from the other day: enough like whiskey that he hopes Hickey won't balk, but definitely of a higher caliber than what he's given the man before. He might as well use up the rest of it. Not good to break open anything new right now. ]

Here. Come in.

[ Hickey is a bundle of barely hidden nerves. He takes the tumbler from Kiryu and instantly downs around half of it. The taste is different enough for Hickey to realize that he should probably sip the rest of this. But he makes his way inside, still very tense about the whole thing. ]

How the hell does the Admiral expect you to 'redeem' me if we're constantly in danger of slipping back to the scenario that put me here in the first place?!

[ He doesn't give a shit how he drinks it as long as it gets drunk.]

I doubt this has to do with you.

But you're strong enough to face this challenge. I know you are. And I'm here to help you.

[ He knows he sounds like a brat. He knows that he sounds more childish now than ever. But Hickey wants to just be childish for a moment as he grumpily complains, ]

But I don't want to face this challenge. It's just going to be the same damn thing as back home, when the top brass tells everyone everything just a little too late. I've dealt with that already.

[ Yeah, he’s noticed. It’s fine. ]

There’s no ‘top brass’ here: just the Admiral and wardens. And anything shared with me will be shared with you.

[ He gestures towards his house, beckoning. ]

Some things may look strange or different. But nothing is rotten.

Then show me what you've got.

[ Because Kiryu's word is good. And he trusts the man. But that feeling of complete and utter hunger means that Hickey definitely would want to see the stores before believing him entirely. ]

[ Kiryu will walk him over to the laundry room, where he's been keeping a large quantity of rice and a brand new freezer, full of meat and seafood. There's also a few boxes of canned goods and snack goods. All of it looks brand new and in good repair, none of it rusted or even stained. ]

[ And for the next half-hour or so, Hickey methodically checks the food. He doesn't say much, only bothering Kiryu when there's some label he can't read or some food product he can't identify at first glance. He is going through everything. When that's all done, he looks over at Kiryu and gives him a little nod. ]

It's a good supply. But we've got to hope that this is over with as soon as possible. Even with rationing, we'll run through this quicker than you think.

[ He glances over at the load of food and nods. ]

This is just my supplies. I'm sure others have their own. And none of the wardens have mentioned that the main supply is entirely barren.

[ A pause. ]

Are you familiar with rice?

[ Since, well, he has a lot of rice. ]

Is that the grain thing?

[ There's your answer: nope. ]

It's eaten with almost every meal. I have some cooking in the kitchen, if you'd like to try some.

[ He'd also been cooking something to go on top of it, so it'll at least be a good example. ]

I do, [ Hickey says, with a nod. ] Mind explaining how it's cooked while we try it?

[ He nods as he leads the way back to the kitchen, and there's the smell of it permeating the air, getting stronger as they make their way back. There's also the smell of what is definitely a mild Japanese-style curry, probably the last he's going to make for a while given the proposed limits, but he couldn't uncook what he'd been cooking when everything came out.

He'll point over to the cylinder-shaped family rice cooker that he has on the counter, and press the button to open it up and reveal the soft white grains and some steam. ]

It's just water and rice. You can steam or boil it. You can also fry it when it's a little older. Grind it up into a flour or a paste. It's even used to make wine and liquor.

[ And he'll reach over with a paddle to pull some out onto a plate, ladle some curry (chicken this time) onto the other side, and present him with a meal that would make Ghibli proud. ]

[ That looks good. Hickey very visibly looks like he's hungry as hell as he looks at the rice and chicken curry. Hell. That's delicious. And water and rice? Boiling it? Seems easy enough. ]

D'you have a fork? [ asks the man who also has zero clue how to use chopsticks. ]

[ He does, actually; it was one of the things he brought back to try to get Rags to use something before he just gave up on it. So a fork is provided.]

Eat up.

[ He takes a bite out of the meal. And then, after realizing that it's damn good, he continues eating. He would have finished the whole plate no matter what. But now, at least he'll enjoy it.

As he's halfway through the dish, Hickey pauses to ask, ]

So what other kind of things do people put on top of rice?

[ Because he's figured out that the curry's doing most of the work here. ]

Just about anything. [ He crosses his arms loosely, casual. ] It's easy to fill up with some rice added to the meal.

Kitchen staff should look at their supplies and try to come up with an easy sauce. Big batch of rice, fitting sauce, doesn't seem like it would take up many supplies and could definitely fill up a fair amount of people.

I've recommended as such.

[ He points to the plate. ]

The portion made for you is roughly a quarter cup of grain before cooking.

[ Hickey does a bit of mental math in his head. A quarter cup of grain per person, there's fifty-odd people on the Barge, however many pounds of rice Kiryu has... ]

Does the cooking time change that much the more you're cooking?

Not that much, as long as you have a big enough cooker. The one here would probably serve 30 people per batch with that ratio.

[ He pats it with one hand. ]

I used to have ten mouths to feed per meal. So it was easier to get it done at the start of the day and keep it warm for the rest.

immediately after the Admiral's announcement

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