Upon reaching his new (temporary) home, absolutely no time was wasted in the setup and preparation of the evening meal Jack had been planning.
First, a small fire pit was dug and started, casting a dim red glow into the dying light of the day, then the eggs, flour, and a pinch of the salt he had bought the day before made their way into the large ceramic baking dish, and before long, large sheets of egg noodle pasta were being pressed out, cut, and laid to the side.
Mama took notice of the fire, and waddled up to investigate what her living partner was up to, since Jack normally slept away from such things-- She was not a fan of fires, and kept her distance from it, despite Jack's insistence that it was needed tonight for something very important-- She eyed him suspiciously, while looking incredulously at the remaining giant mushrooms protruding from the tied up rack of logs, threatening to make said bundle fall over from the unbalanced weight.
Jack chuckled, then pulled out the small frying pan from his knapsack, then set to work frying up the sausage, along with some chunks of the mushroom, filling the night air with a glorious aroma. He kept right on working as the sun finished setting, leaving the firelight as the only remaining source of light to work by.
Once the sausage was fried up, and the coals had burned down enough, he cut a very large hunk of the mushroom off, carved it out, placing the removed parts inside the baking dish, then started mixing the sausage and still pliant strips of noodle in with the bits of excavated mushroom, creating a rich and decadent filling. He sprinkled it with the salt, then stuffed the mushroom, and placed it into the now freshly emptied baking pan, placed the lid on, and buried it under the coals.
He nuzzled on the bear, and let her lick his hands (which were covered in the sausage grease, and other fine flavors from working the filling and making noodle), and told her what all he had been up to since she had wandered away.
The topic of the second library visit came up, along with the new book on magic he had borrowed. Mama was not terribly pleased he had wandered off that direction without her again, but was likewise not terribly pleased about being drug all over town every time Jack needed to go do "Human things" either. The breakthrough with growing this much delicious food was a very pleasant surprise though, and the notion of trading mushroom for all these other foods fascinated her.
Really, the principle of the matter-- Giving up on so much food in and of itself, rather than just sitting and gorging on it raw, which she would certainly have done had she known Jack had been "this" successful, was dumbfounding to her, and a bit annoying-- On the other, the sausage was very very tasty... And the smells coming from that baking dish had her drooling like crazy. She wondered what other amazing surprises her partner might have in store for her; She could come to greatly enjoy this kind of arrangement-- "Keeping" him seemed to be a more and more fantastic idea, despite some of the annoyances he made her endure.
The information the strange giant spider female had provided was very curious to her. Jack had told her she did not need to decide tonight-- He just wanted to make good, where he had failed earlier that day, by fixing her a truly delicious meal they could both share, before putting out the fire, and going to bed for the night. She rather enjoyed that idea.
While the meal cooked, Jack ripped chunks of the large mushroom off the log, and alternated between feeding it to mama, and taking bites out himself, while idly looking through the book on druidic magic he had borrowed, but not had time to properly read. Mama was sitting on the ground beside him, on the side furthest from the fire, as he leaned against the trunk of the tree, doing his best to read in the dim firelight... The mood was light, and he was curious to see if it would be as amusing as he thought it would be.