Diner Days [Open]

[Drak]

Several weeks before war broke out...

“Damn it damn it damn it!” Jirou muttered to himself as he set about clearing the table. “How could one person leave such a mess?”

His shift at "Scallop and Nabe" had only just begun, and already it was off to a crappy start. The particularly large Kisama uncle who had been sitting there up until a few minutes ago had ordered the chankonabe special of the day. By Jirou’s estimation, more of the food had ended up on the table than in the man’s mouth. Jirou sighed and went to get a bucket to wipe all the discarded food into.

Between "Scallop and Nabe" and his mother’s factory, this had been his life for the past year. When he had graduated from the academy, he had wanted to continue on to the military. His parents had convinced him not to. Well, ‘convinced’ may be giving it too much credit. His mother’s exact words were “The hall you are! You’ve got two great businesses to learn from and whatever you start up one day will be three! No son of mine is going to die for pennies like that.” The ‘compromise’ that they came up with was one in which he would work for “a year or two”. It had been almost a year now, and Jirou’s mind was unchanged.

Why did I even let her convince me? It’s not like I need her permission. I could be swinging a sword right now instead of cleaning up slop.

Jirou swung his cleaning rag down onto the table, sending up a spray of cooled broth. He sighed again and started wiping the remnants of the meal off the table.

It wasn’t all bad. Even if he was never the chef his father wanted him to be, Jirou had spent a lot of time here growing up. It was a great place to come with his friends after school. They could hang out before the dinner rush among the thick wooden tables and order snacks and set meals from the huge, hand-painted wooden menus set prominently around the restaurant. Sometimes, Jirou’s father Denki would come out and ask him and his friends for ideas for the chankonabe special that night. Still, this wasn’t what Jirou wanted to be doing. He wanted to be a proper samurai, not slaving away at a boring restaurant, or working for his mom and brother at the factory.

Done cleaning, Jirou headed through the swinging door into the kitchen. His father was in there, a pair of long, metal chopsticks in his hand, preparing to pluck a tonkatsu from a pot of hot oil. Jirou dumped the table scraps he had cleaned up into the trash, and headed back out into the dining room.

“That’s it, next chance I get I’m heading down and-” his mumbling was interrupted by a bell ringing, heralding a new customer coming in.

“Irasshaimase!” Jirou called out. If he didn’t he would catch an earful from his father later. “Take a seat.”

[HotelBravo]

“Irasshaimase!” A ball of pink walked into the Restraunt. Her name was Akiko. She was a petite woman, with long pink hair that reached to the middle of her back. Each strand of hair was in its proper place and was well cared for despite being what is considered an unnatural color. She wore a white and Pink Kimono and smelled of cherry blossoms, and had white stockings and a pair of geta with pink straps. She also wore a rather thick coat as it was very cold outside of the little store. As she entered and received the greeting. She gave a courteous bow to the staff of the store. It was a restaurant, in the style of the Tea country. A number of tables and chairs as well as booths were organized around the store. Akiko looked over in curiosity especially at the enchanting art pieces on display. A place called Scallop and Nabe certainly had interesting pieces that made one think of the sea. Fishing Tackle and Net was used to describe some of the walls along with art work of a light house at twilight between dawn and night. The Imagine was spilling with beautiful hues from purples to oranges and regs and even pink.

“Take a seat.” It was a young man. He was much taller than Akiko, but she could tell that he was still young. There was a certainly tell tale sign for men. Though men retained their beauty with so little effort and typically only became finer with age, his hair and skin seemed clean. He wore a mustache with an almost comical style to it, and Akiko thought it was charming although it did make him seem more like a child who was desperate to be a man in her eyes. There was nothing wrong with being young, or even a child. It was something that one should enjoy. Akiko removed her coat, it was white and lined with fur and hung it on the generous coat rack near the entrance. From there she approached the indicated table and sat down. ”I hope you please excuse my rudeness. I heard that you were talking about going somewhere? If you don’t mind my intrusion, where exactly where you hoping to go?” She looked at the young man, running the small store.

Akiko was already an Akibushi, one of the samurai enlisted to be soldiers for the Heart Empire. She wore the symbol of her rank about her neck on a wooden tag which revealed her name nad rank - that being Akiko and she was an akibushi respectively. ”I would like to see the menu for this place whenever you have a moment?”

[Drak]

“Take a seat.” Jirou said to the woman who had just walked in with a tone that suggested his mind was elsewhere. And his mind was, in fact, elsewhere. Maybe on whichever celestial body his consciousness was currently inhabiting, Jirou was subtly checking out the new customer, but on this Earth, he was staring obviously at Akiko as she went to her seat. She was delicate and refined -- not like any of the Kisama girls he had met -- and more alluring than any girls his age. She also smelled like... cherry blossoms.

”I hope you please excuse my rudeness. I heard that you were talking about going somewhere? If you don’t mind my intrusion, where exactly where you hoping to go?”

Jirou froze. If she had heard what he was muttering to himself as she was walking in, maybe she had noticed him staring too. She was asking another question now. Not wanting his chances to be ruined before he could get started, Jirou decided to address the second question first. He had to keep it cool. Keep it casual.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh, the menu is on the board up there," Jirou gestured to an old style wooden menu with handwritten dishes and prices. It was a classic set restaurant, the menu an encapsulation of Tea Country cuisine, with some extra emphasis on seafood. "The nabe special tonight is, well, uh, that only comes out at dinner so there isn't a nabe special right now."

He looked over the woman's dainty frame.

"And a word to the wise you may want to get a small sized plate. Most of the people who eat here are Kisama, so the portions are..." Jirou held his arms out to his sides, miming something large. "If you know what you want I can go ahead and get that started for you."

[HotelBravo]

"Uhhhhhhhhhh, the menu is on the board up there," The young man gestured to the wooden menu with the hand written meals and prices. Akiko laughed at her lack of observation. Of course it was up there. She really should have just been paying more attention. She gave a grateful bow to the young men, a slight incline at the waist to describe her gratitude without the use of words. She looked up at the menu and regarding the fare. It was a place the had a specialty in sea food and that was to be expected in a country like Heart, which bordered the sea. It was pretty standard food even at the temple, and in some ways its was considered a much more peaceful food because fishing was a much more peaceful profession than hunting was. It was for that reason that her own family hadn’t been very fond of red meats that were found when hunting game in the woods. Akiko had done so to survive on occasion so she had overcome her squeamishness about the killing and butchering of animals. It was just unfortunate that it seemed that ever since she had lived in a different world than the one her parents lived in.

"The nabe special tonight is, well, uh, that only comes out at dinner so there isn't a nabe special right now." He was looking over her and Akiko waited for him to continue expectantly. She met his eyes for a moment, he seemed nervous. Akiko did the polite thing and ignored any failures at presentation and nodded to the young man’s explanation. "And a word to the wise you may want to get a small sized plate. Most of the people who eat here are Kisama, so the portions are..." He gestured with his arms extending them out as far as his wing span might allow. "If you know what you want I can go ahead and get that started for you." Akiko couldn’t help but stifle a smile at the antics. It wasn’t like that she was a good judge of character, but she did like it when men tried to be gentlemen. She kept her facial expression pleasant. As she considered the options on the wooden menu. She wasn’t particularly familiar with anything on the menu here.

”Thank you for the warning! Its too bad about the Nabe special. Perhaps you will have a recommendation for me… Mr…?” She waited for Jirou to offer up his name. She inclined her head to encourage him to speak up further. ”My name is Akiko. I admit that I’m not quite used to the fare here. Normally my meals are home made by my mother and they are really strict with money. Its not really often that I get some spare change and can buy something for myself. It just smelled good here so I thought I would invite myself, pardon my rudeness. What does one usually order here, if not the Nabe? Scallops then? I suppose I’ll have the scallops then. You seem like a good soul, so I’ll trust your judgment.” She gave a repentant bow of her head to apologize for the inconvenience that she was given by the lad. She placed her hands together on her lap and looked up at him expectantly, once again, and tried again to keep her eyes from being draw to that obnoxious mustache on his face. She wouldn’t say anything though, it wouldn’t be polite. She decided that she’ll just do her best to ignore it.

600/600 + 1 Chakra control

[Drak]

“Oh, Jirou. Nice to meet you Miss Akiko!” Jirou replied. He blushed noticeably when Akiko said that he had a good soul. He also noticed her glancing at his mustache.

Yeah! Chicks dig the mustache!

“The scallops are good. That’s why it’s called Scallop and Nabe. It’s hard to go wrong though. I’ve had basically everything here. My dad makes most of my meals, and he owns the restaurant, so-”

Jirou was cut off by an immense man with a shiny bald head and a long, messy crimson beard – bearing more than a slight resemblance to Jirou – pushing his head and shoulders through the pass-through and bellowing orders.

“Jirou! We got dishes piling up,” he barked, before taking a moment to assess the situation and breaking out into a hearty laugh.

Jirou wheeled around to face his father.

“Dad, I’m with a customer! She wanted some recommendations! What do you want me to do? Let her wait and deal with dishes instead?” he screamed.

Jirou’s father laughed for another minute. “Gotcha! Does the pretty lady know what she wants?”

“She wants the small scallop set,” Jirou bellowed back, turning redder.

“Hey Genki, while you’re out can you hook me up with another bowl of miso soup?” another patron shouted across the restaurant at the man in the kitchen.

Jirou’s father gave the man a thumbs up and turned back to Jirou. “One small scallop set coming up! Jirou, clear those dishes and get them in here when you’re done with your thing.”


Jirou turned back to Akiko, still red, now from yelling across the restaurant.

“That’s my dad,” Jirou told her. “He’s a great cook! I've got to deal with some stuff, but your food will be out soon.”

Jirou hurried off to clear the dishes off of a nearby table. To assist in the task of carrying them, he turned his left hand into a large brass platter to pile the plates up on. With his other hand, he wiped down the table.

When he walked into the kitchen, Jirou’s father was frying a half dozen scallops for Akiko’s meal.

“She’s a pretty one,” Genki said nonchalantly.

Jirou shushed his father, knowing full-well how well his voice carried.

Genki laughed again.

“What? It’s more subtle that you gawking at her as she was ordering!”

“Shhhhhhhh! She’ll hear you!”

“Relax lad! I’ll hook you up with a dessert for her: gratis. Now, grab another bowl of miso for your cousin.”

Jirou prepared a quick bowl of soup and took it out for the man in the corner. When he returned, Genki was plating up the scallop set.

“For the madame,” he said, handing a faux-lacquered bento-style plate with sauteed scallops, rice, a small salad, pickled radish, and pickled cucumbers, all lovingly arranged. “Don’t forget the soup.”

Jirou took the food from his father and brought it out to Akiko.

“One scallop special for you, miss!” laying the bowl of miso soup and the plate in front of Akiko. "Hope you like it!"