Closed are the Gates of Heaven 1a (AdEva, IC)

[garter_snake]

Gilles carefully lifted the lid of the platter and peeked inside.


Gilles sat with his back to the granite outcrop. Jean sat besides him, eyes closed, and enjoying a break from the hike.

"Just look at it!" Their Dad boomed. He stood near the edge of the cliff overlooking the river, gazing down at the lake valley. His shirt was wrapped around his chest, his hands holstered at his hips as the sun shown off his muscular arms. "Most beautiful scenery in the world! I'll tell you, boys, we're really lucky to live here. This right here-" he tapped his foot on the exposed rock "-Is fully exposed rock, the result of glacial impact during the end of the Pleistocene epoch scraping away the upper layers of soil. The ice sheets are also what carved out all of these beautiful basins and..."

"Is he going on about the glaciers again?" Jean muttered, his eyes still closed.. "Seriously. We're going to be here for another half hour at this rate." Jean held out a hand. "Pass me one of those pasties, would you?"

Gilles handed one to his brother and took one for himself as well. He unwrapped it from its foil and bit into it.


It was thick, and tasted a bit indistinct. It had cut up carrots and beef strips inside a mush of mashed potatoes, and a thick flaky crust. It was a solid meal, one that would stick to your ribs, but- Gilles wiped a smear of gravy from his upper lip. -somehow it wasn't as satisfying as he remembered.

Yeah. Gilles set down the pasty and glanced around the room at the expressions on his teammates faces. Disappointment, shame, anxiety. Gilles looked sadly down at the meat pasty and sighed. The food is the least important part of a proper meal.

"I think that would be for the best, Commander." Gilles said, rejoining the conversation. "Eating normally in this situation is tasteless."