New Environments [VIOLET]

It had only been a few weeks since Aidan had arrived in the City of Lights and the entire ordeal was utterly overwhelming. His classes were going nowhere, so he had quit weeks ago. And upon hearing this, the boss of his ramen shop was looking to open up a second location somewhere highly populated. Aidan know how the ramen was made, had all the recipes for the various broths memorized, knew how many ingredients to use, and he had even held down the fort on his own on dozens of occasions. That's why the boy was number one candidate to open up this new location in the City of Lights.

But Aidan had never been, and on top of that he was only given three weeks to set up and prepare everything. All the machines, utensils, he had to organize everything. It was a lot. The stuff was already paid for and sitting at the location, but it also took him time to set up the broths, the minimum amount of veggies he'd need for a day, all the ramen cooked and packaged for all the meals, all the...

He had opened just a few minutes ago and just now heard the bell on the door ring. He was so busy chopping things up for later that he could only look passingly over his shoulder and give a cheery, "Welcome! Menus are in the basket right there. Feel free to order whatever, but we do have deals on tonkotsu today just so you know."

It would only take a minute or so before Aidan came out from the back with veggies in hand. It was a ramen bar so most of the work was done from the other side of the counter. Pots were set on stoves, bowls of veggies were sitting out ready to be used at a moment's notice, ramen was set in packets just off to the side, and eggs visible through the glass door of a fridge just waiting to be used.

"Can't tell what to order?" He asked politely, a big dumb grin on his face at having his first proper customer. "I don't blame ya. It's a lot." Dumping the contents of the bowls in one big pot and setting them aside to be washed later, he turned to his customer and pulled a towel out from behind the counter to start wiping his hands clean. Everything was one big serious of motions dedicated to one surprisingly difficult task. "Tonkotsu is pork ramen. Pork broth with pork meat, some eggs, couple veggies, little bit of katsuobu- uh, dried fish shavings. Mostly to sit in the broth and give it more flavor. Promise you won't taste much of 'em."

And with a wry chuckle, he turned back to the giant pot and began gently pressing down the veggies with a massive ladle to make sure they got properly soaked and cooked. "Of course we have other stuff too. Chicken flavor, beef flavor, some soy stuff if that's what you're into. Feel free to pick whatever."

Aidan took the girl's order with an equally big smile and immediately set to work. Everything was already laid out, all he had to do was grab a bowl, fill it with concentrated broth, equal it out with some hot water, fill it with noodles, egg, pork, some seasonings and veggies, and then he was done. Violet's steaming bowl of fresh ramen was being set in front of her, a pair of chopsticks laid neatly across the top, by the time she asked him if he liked his job, to which Aidan just laughed.

"Most people don't like this kind of hard work. Getting everything all together and just right is actually a lot harder than you'd think. Can't let anything run out or I won't be able to serve the right food, so it's a constant game of keep-up for what's effectively just a bowl of fancy soup." He explained, giving the girl a respective bow as was tradition in the service, before turning right back around and doing exactly what he said. Straining more noodles and beginning to wash them to help them cool down so he could package them later.

"But yeah, I'd say I do. Not many people appreciate it, but I'm a simple guy. Hard work for a good meal is a good payout in my book."

Just hearing that the girl wanted to bring a friend next time only widened the boy's genuinely kind smile. "That makes me very happy to hear. I only started this whole thing a year ago back in Karakura, and, well, that wasn't my shop. Was just an apprentice." He admitted, which also lead him into answering her question as he kept on working the various chores he needed to keep the shop running constantly.

"The boss wanted to open up a location here, has been for quite some time actually. And I wasn't... wasn't really into my classes at university. Didn't feel like they were going anywhere. And then I got attacked by a Hollow... and then met this chick who investigated spiritual stuff, and another who could, like, summon a Hollow mask from thin air, among uh, several other weird things. A bunch of people that could do cool things that made me feel kinda lame, so I, uh... yeah. Moved here when I heard there were more people like that around here."

But his true intentions were just too silly to say out loud. He wanted to see if he could live that sort of grandiose lifestyle of fighting monsters despite how dangerous it might be. And even if it wasn't his job, maybe he could do some cool stuff too? It was comically childish and he didn't know how else to put it together in his head, so he did his best to see if he could leave it off like he was just interested in people like that, storytelling, or that it made him feel safe or something. Anything to make himself not look like a kid in grown up clothing.

"A what?"

Aidan was painfully oblivious to the spiritual world. Was this common knowledge he should have known? First the one chick coming to him talking about flash stepping or whatever, now another girl who could immediately tell that woman was a viz-something. Was that the term for that? He tried to act normal about it but there was a hitch in his words and his movements as he worked, but he recovered pretty quickly.

"I- She sort of just summoned it in her hand. Are they supposed to go crazy? She kind of was just bragging about how she could like, cross countries or something in a single step. And also about how she could shoot lasers, or something." He mumbled, though at recollecting it all he couldn't help but chuckle. It was pretty absurd, he had to give the woman that.

"She didn't do any infecting. Maybe if she touched me, but she just had ramen and moved on with her day after I told her she sounded like she was making stuff up. Maybe I'm in the wrong. Over the past month or so I've met a bunch of people like that. Hard to gauge it all when you haven't seen it, y'know?"