Wishful Thinking: Voyage to the Sun

[ATTN: OPEN]
{{EDIT: Now You MUST Go With K's Party. No If Ands Or Buts))

Kantor City; a large city in which collaboration between magic and science has contributed to a truly prosperous living experience. In fact, Kantor is often called the most well off city in all the region of Grandor. The people are friendly, the monsters stay out of town thanks to a magic barrier cast to prevent them. Then there is the observatory. There in the star gazing dome sits a woman in white lab coat with long, brown hair, writing her notes as she occasionally peaks back into the telescope. This young lady is known the world over as Professor Sabrina Bizra; prodigal child with extensive knowledge in Science, Magic, and Alchemy.

Sabrina: (Bites the eraser end of her pencil) Hm...Cyan, would you hand me that chart of the star alignment around this area this time of year.

Cyan: (Bows politely) Of course, ma'am. (Turns and picks up the pile of charts, cycling through them all until she finds the one with the proper markings across the blank space) Will that be all?

Sabrina: (Takes the charts and looks over them then peaks back through the telescope for a quick moment) That's what I thought. These aren't our stars. This alignment isn't even close.

Suddenly, the alarm at the control hub goes off, a small red light flashing repeatedly at a high pace as a blaring siren sounds in the observatory. Something was amiss in the world of Vangeleon and it may very well be something incredibly crucial. Thus Sabrina gets up and packs her things.

Sabrina: Cyan, we're going back to the lab to gather a few things. We have a bit of a trip to take. (Turns and leaves with her hands in her coat pockets)

Cyan: (Bows) Yes, ma'am. (Grabs the Professor's bag and leaves with her)


Hasteriver Village; Town of Merchants, Farmers, Traders-

K: (Suddenly leaps over a fruit cart in the street being pushed along by vendors as two large men chase after her, plowing through the cart like bulls) Hey, that's property damage, boys! You gotta PAY for that!

And thieves...

K turns on a dime into an alley and uses the wall of the building to turn herself completely around, running along it over head before flipping behind the two goons and running off into a crowd, leaving the two idiots to fumble over themselves until they spot her running off in the opposite direction and get after her. K looks over her shoulder with a devious little smirk, weaving through the crowd with the small case she'd been holding still hugged tightly beneath her arm. Inside? Geno, the Currency of this world. Small gold tokens.

So yeah, that's me and the name's K. As you can guess, I'm the adorable little thing running from the big oafs here. Don't concern yourself with 'em. They're total morons the mayor hires out behind everyone's backs. He doesn't like me much. Even though all I did was take a few little Genos from the round little man. The man whose vault is as big as a house. Yeah, the twenty I took, he'd never miss. That is if he wasn't a money grubbing little greed ball. Oh, emphasis on that ball part. Seriously, he's- oh, whoops, interrupting. I'll just unfreeze the show now.

K ducks and weaves through the crowd before it starts getting thicker and she resorts to using people's heads as stepping stones.

K: (turns around as she runs off) Sorry, ev'ryone! (Disappears around a corner)

The two thugs push their way through the crowd to find that K had already gone. She had a knack for disappearing. That was for certain. The two of them then turn and walk off to go see the mayor.

[ATTN: Hasteriver Village]

Sweat poured down my face. I grabbed another vial of the chicken stock prepared with the extract of mountaintop taragon, and poured it into the cauldron, already filled with aromatics and vegetables, enhancing both flavour and potency. If anything, there would be a nice, hot soup for the entire village of Hasteriver, though my main goal was to finally materialize something out of it. I looked away for a moment to reach for one of his rarer herbs, Fairy's Wing. Growing in only the oases of Tommeraal, I really only used two or three full sized leaves of my stash cautiously.

"Come on... come on, ni!" With my tome in hand and my long golden locks in a bun, my focus was now attuned to the ethereal soup in front of me. The pot's contents began to broth and bubble. Faster and faster it went, the aromas now getting more concentrated and powerful. I could feel it. This was the...

BOOM!

The stock settled down and there was nothing to be seen. Drat. I took a little taste of the soup and sighed. Again, delicious, but nothing too special about it. Fairy's Wing, mountaintop taragon, and chicken stock did not produce anything of note. Jotting it down, I rang a bell and gave a loud bellow to the townspeople.

"SOOOOOOUP'S ON, NI!" Running a small restaurant in this quarter was hard, but I managed, hauling the cauldron of stock out to the front and grabbing a chair. Poor and privileged alike rushed to 'pay what they thought the soup du jour was worth'. It gives me an edge, so to speak. Not only do I help the poor stay alive, but the rich feel like the soup is worth... well, quite a few genos. Not enough to buy anything of note, but enough to fund my research and continue to cook.

A line quickly formed around the hut, stretching towards the end of the street. The rich began to bargain with the poor in the front of the line, bribing them for first taste and soon, tables filled with people who served themselves and returned the dishes afterwards. The clatter of coins filled the tip jar sitting on the large ledge of the windowsill.

A nudge to my shoulder woke me up with a startle. Normally, everyone's civil and nice to each other, after all, a shot of Capsaicin right in their faces turned any upstarts back, but a little boy appeared to me, simply pointing to a pair of cat ears... and people leaving behind them! Good God... What was going on! Furious, I grabbed some of my more potent spices and stomped out, making sure to grab my lexicon and marching out to the place where the line is breaking up. "HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON OUT HERE, NI?"

A man with the top hat bumped into me, and huffed. "How DARE you lower your standards with such important clientele as myself! This will not be forgiven, young man!" My face blanched and froze in place with a surprised look. As he blathered on with drivel about how he was going to make sure no one ever came here again, I just stood there, thinking. No, not how dare me, how dare YOU for even implying that my chef skills had lowered! My gaze turned to... Oh, good God, why? Making money in this town was hard enough without... ugh. This girl had come often enough, the ears were always a dead giveaway that she was here. Turning back to the aristocrat in front of me, a calming measure had to be taken for the pride of my food!

"Sir, let me assure you, ni, there is absolutely NO WAY that ANY standards have lowered here, ni. Do you see anyone else going to that frou frou upscale sham of a restaurant, ni?" A vein bulged out of his temple, as if he were being insulted personally.

"Now you're just being ridiculous. PLENTY of restaurants are still getting business!" I gave him an intense glare.

"Really? Name one, ni." A long silence stretched out over a couple of minutes, as the aristocrat was being stared at very intensely. The commoners really liked this place and didn't take too kindly to it being insulted. A faint smirk appeared on my face, too.

"Well, let me assure you, that sham of a restaurant will be gett-" There was no choice but to unleash a placating scent of broth on the entire lineup. A concentrated scent of chicken and broth, manipulated by yours truly, found its way into every customer's nose, including K's and Ryder's. "Oh... oh, what is that beautiful scent! I must..." The aristocrat at this point was at the complete mercy of my magical broth. A heavy sigh came from my lungs, before I released him from my magical clutch.

"Just don't EVER tell me that my standards are lowering, ni... Now, please, return to your spot, ni..." I pointed behind K and Ryder, sighing again. "Gosh, these two are gonna bring me a whole world of trouble..." I mutter under my breath, returning to the soup cauldron and sitting beside the 'tips are awesome!' jar, just waiting for them to come up so I can give them a piece of my mind.

My ire had been drawn far enough, and now it was time to show it, at least, to this cat-woman. "Welcome back... uh..." What's her name again? "K, ni?" She was certainly worth remembering, after all, she's ruining my ENTIRE BUSINESS sometimes. A little displeasure in my voice showed, but never too much. The customer is still always right. "And Ryder, ni! Always great to see you." After all, he wasn't screwing my business every day. "Salmon for you, miss?" I put that in my memory banks, and proceeded to ask questions about how she would like it. With what sides? Any glaze? Boned or deboned? All these questions are asked every time for quality, and in her case, sometimes just to waste her time. There was no such thing as salmon beef, but if it sounded real enough... Turning to Ryder, I took his order with quite a bit more interest. After all, food was a window into everyone and he seemed like a tough cookie to crack.

After the orders were taken, I retreated to the kitchen. Mere minutes later, K's salmon was ready, alongside whatever Ryder wanted, assuming it wasn't soup.

[ATTN: Ryder, K]

"Alright, then..." I gave Ryder a double take. There's no way he could have remembered all those questions, heck, I don't think I remember half the things I asked about! I'm not even sure if Super Curry Salmon Roe exists...

The food arrived minutes later, with two distinct plates. On one was a decadent, flaky, perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned salmon. Each salmon had been hand-picked, after all. Grill marks lined the salmon to make two centimeter squares side by side. When K picked it up, the glaze made itself apparent. The smell invaded her nose. First, the dominant part of the glaze, honey, plucked her nose, filling it with a sweet scent. It had notes of spice from the cayenne and the peppercorns crushed onto it lovingly, and finished off with the undeniable, delicious scent of the fish itself. Her first cut would be effortless and flawless.

Ryder's cake literally had a little glitter on it, an edible gold dust. Free soup was free, but when I get paid to make a dish, I make sure they get their bang. The cake was filled with a vanilla-bean icing that screamed "EAT ME", and the fluffy layers of cake could have been compressed down to a sheet of lemony deliciousness. Each little detail on the cake made it more and more a work of art instead of just a piece of good cake.

"Enjoy yourselves, don't hesitate to take a bowl of soup." The soup almost called to them, as if it were begging to be eaten.

Hoi, Lyon here... If you don't have that smell sensor on whatever it is you're viewing this program with, you're a sucker...

A soft smile appeared on my face... It was nice to see people enjoy my food, even though almost every one did. Each tear for joy from K's face inflated my ego just a little bit, as the lunch rush wore out and people started to go home, though that was because the limited free soup was now done for. No more soup. One poor kid came up to the cauldron only to find it empty... His face was so sullen and down. I couldn't take it, I just had to do something.

The kid left a couple minutes later, gigantic cupcake in hand.

My attention turned to the only table with people still there... and I found myself eavesdropping before I knew it. The folly of that girl, thinking she can become a Treasure Hunter... I mean, it's one thing to think that she could even hold down a job, but a TREASURE HUNTER?

K: "I may even find one of those Norn Cook Book pages or whatever they were called. Norn Recipes, was it?"

Wait. Did she say she wanted to find Norn Recipes? NORN RECIPES? They were hard to find, and even harder to replicate, even with the actual recipe in hand! My excitement had to be masked, after all, I didn't want to be extorted by that demon cat woman... I slyly made my way to their table, slyly smiling at the "treasure hunter". If they were serious about hunting Norn Recipes, I wanted in! "I can't help but overhear that you're hunting for Norn Recipes..." I look at K in the eyes, preparing a minty smell to assault her nose and hopefully put her under my clutches. "After all, I'd be the only one who could be trusted to PREPARE those recipes to their full potential..."

Ugh. Apparently, she's cat in more ways than one, that was way too powerful. Ryder suddenly spoke and it gave me CHILLS. After all, this is one danged cool kid, and he had this aura around him. It would NOT to be wise to screw around with him anymore, so I just cut to the chase. Allowing my hair to fall from the bun it was originally in, I looked deep into K's eyes. After all, she seemed to be the more... easy to manipulate.

"So, you're hunting treasure, correct? I'm looking to collect herbs and spices from around Vangeleon and, well, I would like to come along." I took a deep breath after this. Opening my book, I thumbed the pages and opened it to a page with all the herbs and spices. "You may be asking, 'why not just BUY all of them?' and my answer is: "those herbs are EXPENSIVE." This list was EXPANSIVE. There were at least two herbs and a spice for each region. The only region checked off was the region that the three were currently in.

"Now, I have a proposition for both of you." He looked straight into K's eyes. "When you're about to set off into the sun and become a treasure hunter, I want to come with you. Seeing as you need food for the road, I can cook all of the food that you eat, and not only that, I'm a pretty good magician too. How do you think I developed all of these?" He flipped through his spell book quickly, he had quite a few. "And here's the kicker, all I'M asking for are these rare herbs, spices, and the Norn Recipes. I will take absolutely NONE of the treasure, save for what you give me for ingredients for what you're eating." I looked at Ryder, ever stoic, and back at K. "Are you interested?"

I gave K a look of approval, happy with her decision to join the expedition! "Alright, then! If you'd be so glad as to tell me when you're going to depart, I can plan accordingly." Dusting off my chef's jacket, I stood up and gave each of them a very strong handshake, before returning to the kitchen. Despite plans to find new herbs, a man still has to continue his experiments. "OH!" I had to count my cash for the day, and went to the counter to grab my cash.

Over the next few hours, I dedicated myself to experimenting. Perfecting old spells, like the Thyme Torpedo or the Capsaicin Cannon, or working on new ones, like a few dishes that would hopefully raise a person's strength and dexterity just by eating it, I enjoyed every single minute of it... My master experiment, however, would come to fruition. Beside me was a patch of dirt... Hopefully I'd be able to plant all of these new discoveries in this patch of land soon.

In one idle spot was the local spices and herbs of rare quality in this land. He was growing an especially promising batch of Stovine in one plot and the mountaintop taragon he had used earlier in another. A plant growing a hot red spice stood between the two. "Nimeric Lava..."

Looking up to the stars, I sighed. My deal with K probably wasn't going to amount to anything, but one could dream. My bed called to me and I retired to it, tome in hand. Tomorrow comes another attempt at contact. I will be successful at making contact.

It's all in the ingredients for me.

Before the lunch rush happened, there was a need to make some sort of attempted summoning. Today's soup was actually a stew, which was a rarity that only occurred when the hut actually made enough money to throw in chunks of meat and vegetables into the soup as well! The hearty stew, as usual, just bubbled around and did nothing particularly special... Well, that was, until I tried it. Holy gravy, did this thing make me feel a whole lot better about myself! The trip to put the soup out felt a lot easier today than on other days.

My book was updated with a success story today. Apparently Fairy's Wing and Nimeric Lava in a stew make something special... I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it probably had something to do with the body. My experiments tonight had to be about this stew, I knew I had an actual hit on my hands!

I was beckoned to the front by a... Holy Mother of Tumeric. This woman looked like a Goddess. Her beautiful face shone like a ripe apple in the sunlight, almost as if she was supposed to be bitten into. The red orbs known as her eyes were as deep as an aromatic broth, with hints of delicious crimson and scarlet. Oh, if only she wasn't wearing such a heavy robe... but oddly enough, those eyes were the most beautiful thing about her. I QUICKLY obliged to her will, not even noticing the money bag in her hand.

There was only one dish that I had in my arsenal good enough for a woman like that. It was time to use my secret weapon... I happened to be a dessert king, winning various awards, but my most expert dish was a delicious shell of chocolate filled with a vanilla mousse, flavoured with the minty power of Stovine. It was a little salty and sweet at the same time, as the chocolate was merged with the most exquisite of salts and even had a kick from the Nimeric Lava powder. Most importantly, this was one of my secret recipes that had... special properties, shall we say. It boosted mental faculties and such, and when there was time, I prepared one before experimenting to help me think.

"Here you go, that will be..." Um, I couldn't remember, honestly. I was too busy looking at her face.

[ATTN: K]

Oh, my, god, she is one beautiful woman. From the way she carried herself, she seemed to be smart and funny and... oh, she just melted in her seat because of my food. I'm such a bo...

*DIING*

The bell brought me out of my delusional fantasies about this woman and back to reality with K. She wasn't much of a looker, that K, but she was definitely feisty. "Oh, hello, K... What will you have today? Maybe you should enjoy our soup du jour," I point to the magically potent stew, "unless you want another salmon filet, or even some halibut. I make a meeeaaaaan deep-fried halibut filet, crusted in this beautiful batter..." He went on about her choices, stopping at a fresh grouper, head on and everything, waiting for K's choice.

[ATTN: K, Mel]

Listening intently, I nodded in excitement, a little more elated than before. Realistically, I didn't expect K to be this prepared, but she was, and I had to give her credit. "ALRIGHT! That's excellent news, it'll give me time to pack up and give one last BLAST for this town." Immediately, I grabbed a pen and paper, while working on an entirely new menu just for the final night the hut'll be in operation. It's going to be a HUGE party...

And she's back. Holy cow, she's one beautiful woman, though everyone around already knew that. Other men were staring at that dazzling specimen of a woman, and who wouldn't? She was a blonde bombshell, just like the bombshell chocolate I created for her, with a bunch of little nuances that make her such a beautiful... well, person. Her compliment melted my heart a little bit. "WELL, of course, madam, I AM the best chef in the region, probably in all of Vangeleon." A haughty laugh emanated from my diaphragms, filling the air with a manly chortle. "I'm Lyon Dufresne, nice to make the acquaintance of such a beautiful woman."

Looking back at K, it was now time to get back down to business. "Thanks for informing me about our expedition. I'm going to start preparing as soon as lunch rush is over." I looked at her, now back to Mel, and back to K, now back to Mel. It was hard NOT to compare the two...