When Davin awoke, parts of his body ached that he didn’t think could, so the fact that Jes was already up and moving around, was hard to believe. She was actually way more energetic than she had been the last few days, Davin was beginning to think that was part succubus. Pulling himself out of bed and stretching slowly did help clear the cobwebs from his mind, enabling him to walk to the small kitchen in Jes's apartment and join her in a morning snack.
"Want me to make breakfast?" Davin asked as he grabbed a small piece of fruit from the bowl that Jes kept on the counter.
"One of your breakfast sandwiches?" Jes asked as she popped the equivalent of a blueberry into her mouth.
"Only because I haven't had a chance to make a tortilla press so that we can have burritos," Davin said with a chuckle in his voice.
"Tor-whata? Bur eat oh?" Jes asked while shaking her head. "You know what, never mind, everything that you make has been delicious, so I will trust you for now."
Davin laughed, "Just wait till I introduce you to French toast." Davin started the process of making a simple set of breakfast sandwiches.
"French? What makes toast French?" Jes asked in confusion.
"The accent," Davin said with a chuckle. "No, it's just a way of preparing it so that turns day-old bread into a sweet treat."
"Day old dry bread?" Jes made a small sound of disgust.
"Trust me, it is both an amazing breakfast and a dessert." Davin thought of making a thick slice of cinnamon-swirled bread in a big scoop of ice cream.
"A dessert?" Jes perked up with that.
"Hmm, yeah," Davin responded in a daze as he pulled himself back to reality.
Davin stepped into the kitchen, bumping Jes out in the process, grabbed a pan, and started to cook. Since it was a simple meal, he bulked it up with some fried potatoes, tossed with some of the seasonings, and a little oil. They ate, Jes's moans of pleasure with each bite drowning out any chance of any conversation, her joy rolling over Davin like a warm sunny day. When Jes kissed him goodbye, he was still in the small apartment, opting to stay behind to take a shower and hopefully shake off the morning lethargy that he was struggling with.
When the hot water rinsed over his body it was revitalizing relaxing him and waking him up, knowing Jes was awake as she was really backed up the idea that she was a succubus of some kind, he didn't really mind, but that meant that he didn’t have much time to refresh before they set out. He opted to lay down, grabbing a book that he'd seen on the shelf that had an interesting cover, he spent a good hour reading before he found himself waking up an unknown amount of time later, to which he felt awake and refreshed, making his way into the dining hall that existed in the rogues guild, he found Gale.
"Well look what the cat dragged in," Gale smirked, crossing his arms as he looked judgingly at Davin.
"You know, that was one of the last idioms I was honestly expecting to hear." Davin smiled as he sat down next to Gale.
"Oh? Didn't have cats?" Gale asked with a mocking tone.
"No, we did, I just wasn't expecting the exact same phrase to manifest universes apart." Davin shrugged.
"I'm done for the day, you want to get a drink? I feel like I haven't seen you in an age." The smile on Gale's face was mischievous.
"At the hall? Or did you have something else in mind?" Davin asked.
"We both know me, I am a creature of fine tastes and habit, and see no reason to disrupt that." A light chuckle rolled out of his mouth.
Davin shrugged, "You know, that is a good point, and it is relatively close by." Davin stood up, and they walked to The Hall.
Upon entering The Hall, Davin was hit with the loud voice of Big Green.
"You beautiful bastard!" Big Green's deeper voice cut through the hubbub with ease, making the room drop to silence.
"Huh?" Davin said in confusion.
"Don’t 'huh' me, you introduced some of the best-selling foods I've ever had and all you can think to say is 'huh'?" Big Green stated in mock offense.
"Uh…." Davin still staring in confusion.
"Come here." Big Green waved Davin over to the bar where he was pulling a few drafts off of the barrels that were set to the wall.
Davin did as he was told, Gale following close behind, they quickly took seats at the bar. To which beers were quickly set in front of them. When Big Green finally stopped in front of Davin he was smiling wide.
"The cookies have been an amazing seller, the biscuit one is quite a big seller.
"Biscotti," Davin responded with a flick of his wrist fingers aimed upward intentionally over-pronouncing the accent for the word.
"Yeah! That one! People are loving it, too bad it takes so much work." Big Green shook his hand in an attempt to shake out the stiffness from whisking.
"That was one of the things I was looking into, Jes knows a clockmaker in the upper city, I think that He could make something that would make all of that easier." Davin's mind wandered to the simple mixers that he was planning out.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
"Easier? That sounds perfect, would love that." Big Green tossed his hands in the air in victory.
"I need funds to get it all started, so if you want to sponsor my hair-brained schemes…" Davin moved his fingers in the universal symbol for money.
"If it makes my life easier and keeps people coming in, I would!" at that, he pulled a bag of tokens from below the counter and dropped it in front of Davin.
Blinking, Davin stared at the bag, the seams stretched as the bag was clearly overfilled. "Oh? Is that just from today?" Davin looked at the bag, reaching out to poke it as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing.
"Well, once you told me what all went in them I had to put a pretty big tag on them, and I wanted to make sure you got a cut." He patted the bag as he slid it to Davin. "Also, I need to thank Jes, she was the largest contributor to people knowing."
"I will, assuming she gives me a chance to." Davin chuckled and let out a sigh to emphasize his exhaustion.
"Stop that right now, I had to hear it from her while you were gone, I do not need that from you, so take whatever you were going to say and keep it to yourself." Big Green tossed out his hands in a stop motion.
"I have to agree with our big green friend here, I have heard more than I want to know on that too." Gale waved his hand in the air as if he could bat away the words like a smell.
"Hahaha!" Davin laughed with his whole body as he looked back and forth between his friends. "That bad eh?"
"Shut up!" The two practically yelled in unison.
"SO! Yeah.. I will talk with the guy tomorrow, I need to draw up some plans and present them, luckily it shouldn’t be too hard, he seemed like he may even have the parts that he could make a prototype before I leave, but who knows." Davin shrugged, reaching for the heavy bag.
"Perfect! But for now, I think I know a few extra hands that I can bring in." Flexing his massive arm before slapping it on the counter.
"Cool, I'll go there after I finish." Knocking on the counter in the classic tone from earth for another.
"Finish?" Big Green looked at them in bewilderment.
"I'll take two." Gale held up two fingers, smiling cheekily.
"Two?" Big Green stared and then slapped the counter. "On me! Don’t expect me to do this every time, I still have to make a living." Turning around he pulled two ales and set them in front of Davin and Gale.
"Sweet!" Davin let out a quick yelp.
"Yes!" Gale grabbed his beer and took a long drink from it.
They sat and enjoyed their beers, Gale ordered another round that Davin paid for. Davin ordered something to eat, the beer hitting harder than Davin was prepared for.
"Why is that so yellow?" Gale stared at the strange food in the bowl.
"It’s the cheese sauce, it makes it that color." Davin scooped up and took another bite, the flavor as close as he could get with the limited ingredients.
"What's macaroni?" Gale looked at the strange curved noodles and golden sauce.
"It’s a kind of noodle, it’s usually hollow, like a tube, it makes it so more sauce can be on each bite.
Gale took the spoon that he had and took out a scoop from the bowl, quickly shoving it in his mouth. "Oh! That is good."
"Oi!" Davin scooped up his bowl and leaned away. "You can get your own!"
"I will next time." Looking at his fried fish with far less enthusiasm than he did when it had come out.
"Fine, split? I'll take half your fish." Davin offered his noodles.
Gale perked up in an instant. "Yes! I owe ya mate."
Davin grabbed Gales plate, and split the meals, making it so that they both had some. "Yup, the next rounds are on you."
"Rounds?" Gale asked with, a mild tone of disappointment.
"I'm leaving soon, so I won't be able to make use of it till I get back anyway." Davin shrugged as he started to eat.
"Oh yeah, fair point." Gale smiled as he dug into his food with relish.
When they finished eating they just sat and chatted, Davin spent a good chunk of time just talking about his adventure, and getting some input on what would be helpful from Gale, since he had been in a lot of dungeons before he took up his role as a trainer and talent seeker. Gale told a few of the stories about some of his adventures, but since a lot of the dungeons that he went into were well known there wasn't much that he didn't know going in, but when you're not familiar with them, it was still enlightening.
When Davin left The Hall, he was feeling inspired, his bag of tokens was heavy in his hands, and it took every fiber of his being to not sit at the bar and count it, and he didn’t want to just stop and try and do it in the middle of the street, he still didn’t know what type of criminal elements that existed in the city, still hoping that the city was as protected as it seemed to be. The thought of a mysterious underworld hidden in the city was a stretch at best… He would need to ask Jes, as an information gatherer it should be in her skill set to know what may be hidden in the city, but at the same time, it could be something that he needs to find on his own. He could just be projecting, that this world likely has no need for a criminal underworld, since other than alcohol, he hadn't seen anything that would really be claimed as a vice. Now that he was actually thinking about it, he can't remember seeing anyone playing any games, most of the time people would just sit and talk… was gambling a thing in this world… Just another one of the few things that he added to the list of things that he wanted to ask Jes.
Davin made his way to the higher levels of the city, to the shop that Fizz ran. When Davin entered the shop the rhythmic tink of a small hammer was the only sound in the room, there wasn’t even a ring of a doorbell.
"Be out in a minute." The high-pitched voice called out, followed by a few more strikes of the hammer.
Davin was distracted by the incredibly detailed, so when Fizz entered the room and started talking, he nearly jumped from his skin.
"Oh, the human boy, so what brings you to my humble shop, that devil of a woman of yours send you? I haven't made anything new, so I'll cut that off right now." The gnome, as Davin had come to know, crossed his arms and glared at Davin.
"She isn't a full devil, but I am thinking succubus, but no, I am here on my own accord." Davin put the rough sketches that he had worked on at The Hall on the counter. "I have a commission."
He took the drawings and looked them over, glaring intently at them. "I don't make things for that activity." Slapping the papers on the counter.
"Activity? You mean cooking?" Davin was dumbfounded by what he could have meant.
"This thing is for cooking?" he picked up the sketches and looked them over.
"Yeah, it’s a simple device from my world, it's known as a 'hand-cranked mixer'." Davin pantomimed the mixing motion as he spoke.
"A mixer?" The gnome looked at Davin incredulously.
"You know, for mixing ingredients together to make it less hard on the individual."
"This?" Tapping on the papers that Davin had put on the counter. "Is for cooking?"
"I'm sure that anyone that does any alchemy would make use of it." Davin shrugged.
"Oh?" The gnome smiled.