Work Text:
While in transit through the endless backstreets, meals for the Limbus Company Bus team are handled onboard in Mephistopheles' galley-like kitchen. All hands (Vergilius and Charon excluded, naturally) take turns preparing food to distribute the work.
Overall it isn't as dramatic of an arrangement as one might think, since the ingredients and recipes are directly provided by the company.
Pre-measured to provide the proper amounts of calories and nutrients to company assets.
Pre-portioned to not waste company funds.
Anyone can do it, just follow the steps on each package.
The process also left no room for potatoes to be substituted for oranges. Don Quixote winced at the memory while cutting open a bag of peeled potato cubes.
Step 1: Add vegetable packs (A) and (B) to boiling water.
Back then, Sancho often assisted Father in keeping the family fed.
While she didn’t have any children of her own, her station as a Second Kindred gave her a level of responsibility to see after everyone under her. Her claws and teeth are sharper, her blood arts more refined. When she and Father went into battle together, it usually ended both quickly and violently.
After eating, she would wander the halls to make sure that those much lower in the bloodline were still faring well. Lower kindred were usually busy doing daily tasks in the castle to keep it clean and running, and often didn’t have the leisure time to look after themselves. Carrying extra blood from the most recent hunt, she naturally drew their eyes as she approached.
“L-Lady Sancho! Thank you once again!”
It was a… more enjoyable duty.
Step 2: Place protein pack (C) into the oven, and set the timer for 35 minutes.
There was something soothing about the preparation of human food. It was calming and rhythmic, and often involved a lot of waiting around. (The only unpleasant part - handling the faucet to fill up the cooking pot - was recently always handled for Don Quixote by young Meursault without her even needing to ask.)
To make this meal, she didn't even have to get her hands dirty. Someone else far away had raised the chicken, killed the chicken, and butchered the chicken.
There would be no violence, no struggle tonight just to feed the Sinners. A few of them might not even recognize how significant that is.
It’s important to appreciate the little things.
Step 3: Remove pot from heat, mix in curry roux blocks, combine with baked protein pack contents (C). Stir to thicken.
At one point long long ago Father had become enamored with the idea of serving ware. The castle quickly accumulated a collection of plates, forks, knives, napkins, tongs, and all other sorts of table-setting items sourced from nearby human settlements - most of which had no conceivable use to anyone.
“Behold Sancho, Dulcinea! I have procured the finest goblets, which humans use to dine and assert their noble stature. How refined this is, to sip from such a golden cup rather than boorishly consuming blood directly - as beasts would! We may be the only family with such restraint.”
Decanting blood into goblets rather than drinking it fresh made it objectively worse by every possible metric. It tasted cold, dead, and even a little bit sad.
Yet to meet their Father’s excitement, both Sancho and Dulcinea swirled their drinks in their fine cups while sitting around the table as though they were sampling wine - and simply bore the unpleasantness.
Father would get bored of this in a week or two at any rate.
(Later, Father would routinely have a toast with the Knight of the Moon after the conclusion of their duels, and actual wine became a regularly stocked staple — just for her.)
Step 4: Rehydrate rice pack (D) following ratio on packaging. Portion 400g of rice per employee. Serve.
Of course, the meal Don Quixote had prepared now wouldn't nourish her like it does the other Sinners. Food like this did little to nothing for bloodfiends.
Truth be told, she couldn't even really taste it. The memory of taste was hundreds of years in the past, so it was hard to be certain, but from observing her comrades’ reactions she was pretty sure there was an element to this experience she was missing out on. She was soon surrounded by the clatter of utensils and mumbles of appreciation as the Sinners served themselves and sat down to eat.
She took a spoonful of curry, put it in her mouth, chewed a few times thoughtfully, and swallowed the clay-like lump. Both her and Father had practiced this countless times, to fit in with all the humans they planned to meet on their adventures.
“Ah, how tender thine local delicacies are to my palette, noble innkeeper! And a subtle hint of sweetness and spice that would leave any wishing for more!” Father would dramatically proclaim upon sampling the stew at their lodgings.
Sancho could only narrowly avoid rolling her eyes: Father would always look to grasp at the right food-adjacent adjectives that would make their hosts praise his seemingly sophisticated tastes.
“Ah, do not frown at me so - Cannot you tell that this meal was prepared with love, my dear Sancho?”
She would smile thinly back at her father before taking another appropriately sized bite. She couldn’t determine any quality of the stew at all, much less if it was made with love.
Just like the curry before her now, it would bring her neither nutrition nor satisfaction.
But, eating it at the table together would bring her a little bit closer to everyone.
And for tonight, that's more than nourishment enough.