BXBX NOVEL Chapter 434: The Details
Chapter 434: The Details
At this point Freddy turned around and gestured with an arm for the two to follow him. "Now, before I get into the real questions, Kamiko, are ya happy to work with Kat choppin and preparin ingredients? Some people aren\'t but it seems like a fine use of your abilities and seeing as I\'m settin the shop up just fer this, we\'ll need some people. Just the three of us might not be enough"
Kamiko rolled the idea over in her mind, and realised it sounded quiet fun. Her smile was already working it\'s way across her face, the sides of her lips rising unconsciously as she pictured the fun she could have working with Kat on this. Not to say it would all be easy, but Kamiko was just happy to work with Kat properly.
Unlike Kat, who had honestly been having no trouble with the tasks up to this point Kamiko was much less enthused. The first day, Wrath, had been \'fine\'. She didn\'t love combat but she also didn\'t hate it. She enjoyed learning and improving her skills, especially working on the details and improving her skill with her blade. Wrath didn\'t really help with that. She wasn\'t a fan of direct combat, and avoided it, especially the more deadly kind whenever she could.
Wrath however, was the equivalent of smacking each other in the face with big sticks. It was just boring and overdone to her mind. She didn\'t fight another blade user to enjoy a nice dance, it was just a brawl. Working with Kat was good… if she wasn\'t terrified of screwing up the whole time, souring the experience as well.
Greed was much worse though. She got to work directly with Kat, but at the cost of her sanity. Despite her friend insisting she didn\'t mind at all, Kamiko had to repeated stab, bludgeon, shock, set fire to, attempt to freeze, and a number of other horrible damaging abilities aimed all towards Kat. It wasn\'t good for her poor heart, and even knowing Kat could take it, both mentally and physically, Kamiko only barely managed to make it through both days.
Envy was… it was ok. She knew intellectually that it was the best day, but she didn\'t get to spend any time with her friend Kat… and she learned that her mother was right and she really did need therapy. Sure the knowledge was nice to have, and acknowledging that fault would probably be good in the long term but she was honestly a little bitter of it all. She hadn\'t given over any terribly sensitive information but she did know how easy it was to let something slip, which she might have done. Fairly sure she hadn\'t, but she didn\'t want to promise otherwise.
So in Kamiko\'s mind, even if she had to do grudge work in the kitchen this was a great chance. She could see Kat\'s cooking skill at work, she could learn more about her friend, and she could spend time with her friend in a nice calm environment… even if she was ignoring the fact that Gluttony kitchens are rarely calm.
Still, she looked to be getting a better then average deal. If she was in charge of slicing, especially for a large number of customers, she could really take the chance to train her speed and accuracy. Even with a family as large as hers, it wasn\'t often she had the chance to prepare larger meals so this was an opportunity in more ways than one. "I\'d love to Freddy!" replied Kamiko
"Right, good good, I\'m glad to have ya with us. Now," said Freddy turning his body just slightly so it was angled more towards Kat, but not turning around anywhere near enough to reveal his face, it was more a signal he\'d changed who he was speaking to than anything else. "Kat, what sort of kitchen will you need for your dishes?"
*Well that\'s a heck of a question. I\'d love to say normal but I don\'t know what that means. I could still maybe say it an impress the idea of \'normal kitchen\' into the words like some demons are able to, but I\'m not sure if that will be enough, I don\'t exactly have practice. Actually wait…*
"What portion sizes do you want?" asked Kat tail flicking around behind her as she realised the scope of what she was dealing with. "Oh, and do you have ways to speed up cooking time? I\'d assume so but I\'ve not seen anything to suggest it…"
Freddy fiddled with his fingers in mid-air as if calculating something. "Yes, we do have a few ways to speed tings up. Still not instant mind you, but we\'ve got some enchantments to keep things moving don\'t you worry. As to portion sizes… what would you consider a portion?"
Kat wavered on that, as portion sizes at the orphanage were somewhat varied. Most meals were things such as lasagne or pizzas or another similar dish that could be easily divided by necessity allowing for younger kids to eat less and older kids to eat more. Not to say, that anyone ever went hungry. Gramps would always ensure there was more than enough food for everyone, putting away what was left to be eaten another day or just when hungry.
Knowing this though, it was really hard to say what portion sized would average out to for some of the meals she had in mind. *I\'m just not sure how to describe it. Why is this so hard? I mean I\'ve never done it before but I just… I didn\'t think I\'d ever NEED to. How the heck does one describe a portion size?
Like… even some snacks are \'for X number of people\' and I really am starting to wonder how they count that. Is it by calories? Weight? Something else? I really don\'t know. How can I even start to describe a serving? Maybe with objects?*
"How large are your standard plates?" asked Kat "Because I\'m honestly having a hard time figuring out how to explain things. It just… doesn\'t come up where I\'m from. Everyone eats…" Kat thought of the… rather large difference in weight some people have and realised it would be a lie, so instead she said, "ok most people, and certainly all the ones I know, just sort of eat the same amount of food unless their children"
Freddy turned around but kept walking, simply switching to walking backwards while facing Kat. He held out his hands to about the width of his chest then frowned, slowly widening the gap between his hands until it was about an inch past his shoulders on either side, before lighting his hands up.
Kat was surprised to see his fire was a mix of gold and blue, the colours mixed with each other swirling around and dying each section their own colour before moving on to conquer more land in an endless cycle making it look like his hands held a small cyclone. Despite this, Freddy\'s eyes intensified for a moment and his muscles clenched, as the flame started to spread out slowly in a circle.
When it was all said and done it was, at a guess, about eighteen to twenty inches diameter. "About this big? Or there abouts for standard size" said Freddy
*Nope. No way, that\'s a massive plate.* Kat couldn\'t help but shake her head. "Nope. Not even close to that size. Our plates are half the size of that if not less." Grimacing as the idea solidified in her head. "Honestly, if that\'s standard… a whole batch of food might only be enough for one serving, maybe two depending on what I\'m making…"
Freddy pursed his lips at that. It wasn\'t a frown, not quite, but it wasn\'t exactly pleasing news. "Are you still comfortable cooking with sizes that large?"
*Am I? I mean… I think it\'ll be fine. I\'m much faster, superhuman levels of speed, even before I start to further enhance myself with my energy. With Kamiko helping, and maybe Freddy or some other people I think I can manage it… but it\'ll take some getting used to. Oh, and we\'ll need those tricks to speed the food\'s cooking time up as well as the space to have more than one going at a time.*
"It… might take me a bit. I think I\'ll be fine, and I don\'t want to say it\'s impossible. In fact, it really shouldn\'t be that bad but I have no experience making quite that much food, as I\'m sure you understand," at Freddy\'s nod Kat continued "so if you\'re willing to forgive a mistake or two as we get started I think I\'ll still be fine. Though… you did tell Kamiko she wasn\'t on the level for ice cream…"
Freddy nodded but seemed to be recovering his smile slightly. "No no, that\'ll be fine Kat. The ice cream is nice, but others are doin it still. You\'re offerin… well honestly it\'s probably not completely unique food, but it\'s at least a chance and many will take that as good enough."