Catching a cook. (markus)

If one was to ever walk into a restaurant, they would immediately know that the kitchen was the best place to be in the food industry... so long as it wasn’t the lunch rush at least, but even that was fun. The kitchen was Markus’ world; the pots were cradles, the utensils mere extensions of his arms, and the stove, of course, was just how his heart’s fire was able to touch the food. Best part was today was a slow day, and with the less-horrific customer intake, he was the only one needed in the kitchen.

“Hey, guy, we got a new order!”

Not currently making anything, and spending the current moments tapping his fingers on a clean dishcloth, the black-haired young man looked up through the window, grabbing the paper. “...Steak.” Markus sighed; he knew that their new employee was inexperienced in the field, but he figured that he would have asked for how well the steak was to be cooked; that was practically cooking 101.

Markus relented slightly, remembering how long it took him to learn that steaks could be cooked different ways, but he could have at least asked for what steak dish she wanted. After taking a moment to take in the minor lapse of judgment on both the waiter’s and customer’s side, he shook his head and smiled warmly, muttering to himself, “Guess I’ll just play it safe.”

First thing he did was grab a potato off a bowl on the counter. They were pre-cooked, so it was just a matter of putting them in the oven to be reheated. The steak was a bit more difficult; it was the only part of the dish that was to be made fresh, but still he gently put it into the pan and let it begin cooking, looking down into the oven to check on the potato before grabbing some steamed broccoli with a large spoon, heating them up quickly and putting them on the plate, drizzling a hot cheese sauce over them, checking on the steak again and flipping it, watching it and the potato until they were both good; the potato was the first to be put on the plate of the two, cut open slightly to release some of the heat, and then the medium-well steak joined the two sides.

For a moment, a somewhat silly thought crossed his mind as he looked at the plate; he was a little regretful that the steak wasn’t going to compare to a steakhouse’s plate in a hundred years, but he was hoping that that little bit of extra juiciness he managed to pull out of the steak would be enough to make up for it. He set the plate on the counter and rang the bell twice, waiting for the new employee to come before giving him a supportive look, asking calmly, “Next time, try to ask what steak dish they want; we don’t have a lot, but it would help if I knew, and also, make sure you always ask how they want their steak cooked; a cook can go wrong very easily without that.”

With that, Markus turned back to the kitchen.

“Hey, kiddo!”

A strong, masculine, yet lighthearted voice peeked out from a door, a nice grin on the face of an older, very fit gentleman, getting the attention of Markus.

“I’m thinking about closing early,” he said, “I have to work on the house anyway and get that leaky roof fixed. What do you think?” Markus smiled, nodding in agreement as he replied, “Sure, why not, Dad? It’s slow anyway, and I just finished the last order so far.” A confirming thumbs up from his father, and Markus quickly shed the apron that consisted of his work uniform, snagging a book he had been reading off the counter and bursting out of the kitchen.

A warm smile on his face, Markus waved to the woman behind the register, “I’m heading out, Mom! See ya!”

“Heading to the docks again, sweetie?”

Markus chuckled in replied, “Yeah, gonna try to finish this book!” With that, Markus turned around and ran out the front door, smiling at the fresh air before disappearing. The waiter, meanwhile, blinked, watching Markus leave, confused. “Ah, well... that’s the cook there. You just missed him.”

Markus made good time to the docks; he knew this place the back of his hand, and he visited the docks nearly every day. He took in a deep breath of the sea as soon as it hit his nostrils, letting out a yearning sigh. Ahhh... the salty air, filled with the faint scent of fresh fish and the cries of seagulls and even the occasional bell... it really was a great place to be.

The golden-eyed boy found his favorite place to sit quickly, sitting over the edge of one of the docks with his feet teasing the water, and with the rush of the waves caressing his ears, he opened his book, eyes getting a little brighter as his mind continued where the book left off...



"Hey, You're the cook from that restaurant down the street right?”

A record might as well have skipped as Markus was thrown back into reality. His smile, which had been becoming a bigger and bigger grin as he read on, disappeared to a look of disappointment. That look, however, disappeared as he looked behind him.

The vision he had in his mind before was of fury and heroism, but the vision before his eyes now was one of gentleness of beauty. His cheeks turned a light shade of red as he stared at her, unable to stop his eyes from rolling over her perfect curves. All the up from her feet to her head, she looked like the perfect description of beauty. Worse yet, she seemed to dress so that she showed it off... he could see some of her bra.

“I thought I'd just say thanks for the meal!~ Never tasted anything that good in my life!~"

Somehow, over his own pounding heart, Markus managed to hear her compliment, shyly rubbing the back of his head, closing his eyes as he tried to smile warmly in return, though it was much more nervous than warm. “N-No problem, ma’am,” he stuttered, “Glad you liked it.”

It was sort of odd that she followed him just to thank him, but he wasn’t really complaining. The compliment itself was really, really nice; he deeply and truly appreciated it; after all, knowing that someone enjoyed his meal is exactly why he got into cooking in the first place.

It was just a bonus that this very, very, very pretty girl went out of her way to approach him.

This woman was interesting, to say the least; kind of reminded Markus of his friend. He smiled warmly, supportively as she seemed to start daydreaming, about a meal no less. A thought of her possibly being related to Felicia crossed his mind, but he threw that away. There wasn’t much of a resemblance aside from the energy and maybe the dreaminess. While she went on, he folded down the edge of his page and closed his book like so many times before, waiting until she was done, all while trying not to look directly at her. He didn’t want to stare.

"Heck no chance you're looking to be a sea cook are ya? My crew would die for a guy like you making us food like THAT!~"

Markus blinked, suddenly looking at the girl, not even noticing her jovial tune. “Huh? Sea cook? Like, a cook for a crew?” Markus didn’t know how to replace to that easily. One the one hand, he was really flattered; he got the occasional compliment from customers, and of course, Felicia never was one to hold back her thoughts on his food. To be actually chased down just to be told his food was good AND get a job offer to go out to sea? To him, it was shocking.

“U-Uh, well... umm,” Markus stuttered, trying to at least control his nervousness to talk as he rubbed the back of his head, “I’ve never really left town before, but...”

The young man turned to the water, giving his back to the redhead as he stared out to the glittering waves. “I’ve always kind of wanted to go out to sea... so yeah, I guess you could say I’d be interested.”

Yumi had a small smile creep onto her lips as she spotted that the guy was considering to be a very little jokey jab at the good cook. Wow, if she could seriously convince him to come aboard her crew would hail her as a hero for getting him to come along. It would be fantastic! All that good, lovely, juicy, delicious steak night in and night out, maybe even something different and new somedays!

It was when the other girl came along that things got a little awkward for her. Not only had her joke been taken seriously, much to her benefit mind, but a friend of the cooks had come along just as he seemed to have decided to come aboard. Yumi backed away, admittadly a tad awkwardly as she felt she was now the person intruding on the conversation rather than the pink haired girl herself.

"Er...Yumi." She offered her hand out to shake Felicia's. "Yumi Tasukai. Captain of the broken chopstick pir-er...crew. The broken chopsticks crew." Luckily her slip up was so brief it would hardly be noticed. People of a quiet village like this may not react well to pirates. She glanced back to Markus. "I was just er...talking, with your best bud here about his cooking skills...he's quite the chef.~"

"Pleasure to meetcha, Captain Yumi - I agree, his food is amazing, isn't it? Especially the steak, but I also love the potatoes and the pasta and the bananas~." Replied Felicia, shaking the captain's offered hand as a dreamy smile and remembering look covered her face when she mentioned the divine banana pudding and banana cream pie and bananas that the Hartwins served.

But wowewowow! A captain of a crew! That meant that she was an adventurer, a sailor, a master of ship and sea! Felicia knew that many crews stopped by the small island to restock and prepare to go off into more difficult seas, but she'd never met a captain before (that is, outside the hospital). The medic wondered, for a second, how much experience this girl had - if she was a swashbuckling swordswoman, or a gunslinger of unrivaled skill. Maybe she could navigate through the toughest sea storms, or duke it out with other ships and smash her enemies with cannons! ...Maybe she was a pirate! She certainly didn't seem like one of the bad pirates Felicia's father always talked about, though - she couldn't be much older than Felicia.

There was an air about this Captain Yumi, though - something that interested Felicia. She seemed... well, fun, to be honest. She embodied everything the "pirates" that she so envied were: free, adventuring, carefree, with nothing but their own compasses to guide them. Sparring when they felt like, sleeping when they felt like, doing as they wished. Felicia didn't assume she was a pirate, but the concept of a captain of a sailor crew piqued her interest. If only Markus wasn't staying behind, she would totally ask to be taken on adventure, even if it was a simple there and return trip, or a complete joining of the crew. Her father always said "to take chances when they show." But even Felicia knew responsibility - the hospital would be fine without her, and her father would love for her daughter to become an adventurer (as long as she came back), but Markus? It's not so much that the cook needed Felicia, but that Felicia couldn't leave him behind. Especially since she knew so well that, meek as he might be, the kid wanted adventure almost as much as she did.

But then Markus said that which changed everything. “Miss Tasukai was offering me to be a cook on her crew. And... well... I’d have to tell Mom and Dad about it... but I think I was accepting.”

Had Felicia been drinking something, she would have had a spit take. "Wooooooooah! WHAT? Really? Like, really real really?" She exclaimed, completely taken aback. She looked at Markus for a sign of a joke, but there was only honesty in his voice. For once in a long time, Felicia was left speechless for a second, the surprise running over her. This lady... She had offered to give Markus adventure? And he was going to say yes?! Without Felicia pushing him on? Maybe Markus had gotten a little braver over the years.

But Felicia knew better. She couldn't leave him alone. This was her chance - she could kill two birds with one stone!

A wide smile painted her face again, one hand at her hip and the other one mock saluting Yumi. "Captain Yumi, request to join this cook in your crew! While he's a strong fighter even though I'm better, a great cook, and a sweet kid, he's my best friend, and anywhere he goes, I go!" Dropping her hand, she giggled slightly before smiling with excitement in her eyes, turning to face Markus.

"Can you imagine, Markus? A crew! The sea! Sea breeze and sun on our backs, adventure and work! This is what we were waiting for! Oooh, I wonder if Daddy will give me that gift he'd been promising me for a while now... And I'll help you convince Auntie and Uncle!" She babbled slightly, almost bouncing off the dock in excitement. Her sword and spear, each holstered in their respective places, tinkled in her excitement.