Nice Way to Spend an Afternoon

Having lived in Vastime for a number of years, Victoria was no stranger to the hustle and bustle of big city life. And yet...this was something else entirely. Every time she walked the streets of this glittering City of Lights, her eyes lit up in wonder; how could something like this exist? In the middle of the ocean? She still struggled to believe it was all real, and not just a figment of the imagination.

After barely surviving the collapse of Vastime and being dragged to a Vandenreich camp, Victoria had quickly recuperated and enlisted. Later when she finally made it to the City of Light and went through the Vandenreich's on-boarding process, she wandered through the city in her free time. Its endless streets could be explored for centuries and she was confident she'd never find their ends. And so she made it her objective to do just that, to explore, whenever she had some spare time.

Today, Victoria's exploration brought her to an interesting little ramen shop in downtown. When she saw the place's lit up sign she put her hand to her tummy and felt her stomach gurgling. Seems as good a place as any to get some lunch. thought Victoria as she entered the little restaurant and sat at the front counter, patiently waiting to give her order.

Another day, another dollar. Or at least, another lunch rush. But that was ending now, if he was gauging the slower influx of customers correctly. Or maybe it was just a dead day? He couldn't tell when he was so focused on keeping the restaurant up and running. Stewing broth, chopping vegetables, cleaning bowls and leaving them out to dry, those were just a few of the things he did to keep this joint up and running. Oh, and greeting new customers as was tradition.

The bells behind the noren rang out as a new customer walked in, to which Aidan turned around to see a quite beautiful lady. "Welcome!" He greeted with his usual happy, dumb smile. "Menus are in the baskets right there. We've got a deal on tonkotsu today, but feel free to order whatever. Nothing's particularly expensive." Aidan giving the usual greeting that he always did, but now after having so many spiritually unique customers, he could tell something was up with this woman just by the air of her. It was just something he was beginning to pick up on after... what, almost 8 customers like that in the past few months now? He'd turn back to his work after greeting her, getting back to chopping veggies as he'd need them for later, but of course he was wondering if he was right about his assumptions.

With it being late in the afternoon, Victoria wasn't surprised to see this restaurant was less than packed. For that, she was grateful. While she had gone to plenty of stuffed-to-the-brim restaurants and events in Vastime, she was never a fan of being crowded. Maybe it was her experience living in a veritable prison cell by herself where she grew to both prefer and resent the loneliness. Or maybe she was like any person and didn't want to feel suffocated by a crowd.

Victoria's silvery-blue gaze turned to the young man working behind the counter as she listened to his greeting. "Thanks." she said simply, proceeding to take a menu and begin glancing through it. The tonkotsu ramen did look good...but as a stranger here, Victoria opted to go a different route in deciding her meal choice. "So," she said, tilting her head back up to look at the young man who would be preparing her food, "what does the chef suggest?"

Aidan was a busy boy, but never busy enough to not chat with his customers every now and again. The woman seemed simple enough, probably didn't have that wild of tastes, and he didn't imagine her having the biggest of appetites, so one bowl was probably all he would be able to give her. Aidan was set on not messing it up, and so without any words, he picked the most generic bowl he could think of, but made sure to use everything he had just chopped. Victoria would get literally the freshest ingredients that Aidan had, combined with freshly made chicken broth, an egg straight from the fridge, chicken meat he had sliced less than an hour ago, and fresh boiling spring water to even out the incredibly potent broth.



Placing the bowl on Victoria's side of the ramen bar's counter, followed by a pair of neatly placed chopsticks, Aidan gave her his usual confident, toothy grin and a courteous bow, as was tradition. "Shoyu ramen uses chicken broth and is one my specialties. Just so happens I've got more fresh ingredients for that than tonkotsu, so I thought it'd probably be better since it's your first time here. And uh..." Boy's grin turning a little more sheepish as he realized his mistake a little too late now. "I realize I said tonkotsu was the deal today, but gave you the other thing instead, so you can just have this one on the house. Promise I'm not trying to scam you or nothin'." Giving a nervous chuckle, Aidan quickly turned back to his work which now involved setting out more chicken on the meat specific cutting board he had out to start seasoning it before he grilled that next.

As she sat in silence watching the young employee work, Victoria wondered what was going through his mind. She knew he mentioned a dish called tonkotsu as a special, but when she asked for a suggestion she wasn't sure if he would make that or something else, maybe something more appetizing. Though clearly much closer to twenty than thirty years old, the man obviously possessed a level of mastery over his craft as he carefully, though quickly, assembled ingredients and prepared an as-of-yet unknown dish for the Vandenreich officer.

When Aidan set the steaming bowl of ramen in front of her, Victoria nearly drooled looking at it. A combination of being hungry and an intense appreciation for well-made food made her eyes practically turn into bowls of ramen as she eyed the food. Her hand shot forward, quickly grabbing the chopsticks and bringing them to the swiftly-made meal but she was interrupted by the man's meek apology. Victoria's silvery blue eyes shot up to Aidan and she quickly voiced her disagreement with his offer "Oh, no, you don't have to do that. A deal's nice, but I really don't mind paying full price. If you're insistent, I'd gladly pay for whatever the tonkotsu would have cost."

As she waited for a reply, Victoria's hunger pangs got the best of her so she grabbed a small piece of meat, wrapped it in some noodles, and brought it to her awaiting lips where it disappeared behind them. Oh my god. she thought silently, her taste buds overwhelmed by the fresh ingredients and delicious broth. After she finished chewing she offered compliments to Aidan on a job well done "Mmm, this is really good! You clearly know what you're doing behind that counter. I'm Victoria, pleasure to meet you Mr. Master Chef."