And there he was.

Sam sat alone along the bars of a pristinely decorated restaurant as light gentle jazz music was played in the background. He glanced around, there was light chatter from the back of the main room, though close by to where he was sitting, there was nobody else in sight. However, his attention needed to be paid forward.

To maximize an authentic experience for him, the tables in close proximity to him had already been cleared out. How considerate of the manager. With all distractions out of the way, there was only him, the chef, and the dish.

The first of the dishes, seared goose liver with a drizzle of seasoned blood, was presented in front of him with some bright gold flakes as a garnish. He looked at the chef as he nodded in acknowledgment before piercing his fork into the flesh, pressing some of the fatty juices out and lifting it up after allowing the meat to soak in the juices again like a sponge.

It melted in his mouth open contact, and the flavor bomb blew up in his mouth and his mind. His body flew back in the chair and his feet caught along the bottom of the table before he was pulled back to the desk.

"In...credible." Sam said, vacuuming the rest of the plate in the blink of an eye.

“Do you confirm the end of the dish?” The well-dressed human chef with a clean tall hat and a bushy mustache asked, swinging his knife around and planting down tip first into the wood with a clean and crisp sound of a snap, “Are you ready to review the dish?”

“I do.” Sam said with great satisfaction in his voice, and he rested the fork by his side as he smiled and prepared what to say. Though before he could begin, a handful of workers approached him from behind each holding onto a pitchfork, with one of them pinning down Sam’s head and the other thrusting the fork through the back of his skull as he screamed in agony, blood jetting out all over the floor as the entire world turned to black.

And there he was.

Sam sat alone along a tranquil forest table with birds chirping out in the distance, and the sun shining down warmly in front of him. There were alien farmers herding hordes of sheep out about in circles with dozens of grey-looking warehouses positioned far out in the distance. Though where he was sitting, it was completely quiet.

The whole set up reminded Sam of an empty picnic table at the back of the park by his home, and though the woods surrounding him had been cleared out way more completely with not a single stray leaf in sight and not a rogue rock lurking in the grass ready to ruin his day.

Sam felt slightly dazed and tired, but there was no reason for him to be. After all, his attention needed to be paid forward. With all distractions out of the way, there was only him, the chef, and the dish.

The first of the dish, roasted lamb steaks with crumbly forest acorns that were made out of syrup set on top, and a light blue sauce made of a blend of freshly harvested berries with pickled mushrooms on the side, were placed gently in front of him.

With a fork/knife hybrid all at the ends of the same handle, Sam sliced open the lamb steak with the press of one button as the tool rotated and picked it up with the forky end. He delivered the piece into his mouth, and a light buzzing sensation expanded from his tongue.

It was like a big bang happening all inside of his mouth, what started as a simple bite and a chew led to a cascade of emotions as he felt tears escaping from his eyes. A helpful handkerchief was offered to him, and those tears of emotion were quickly wiped away as he continued eating the dish, this time sampling the syrup acorn.

It had an earthy sweetness to it that was only perfected further by the blueberry sauce, and when it all mixed together, the juicy saltiness of the seasoned stake, the sweetness of the acorn, and the light sourness of the sauce all sang in a perfect harmony of otherworldly delicacy, and Sam felt his mind open up before he rolled back.

Fortunately, his feet caught along a piece of rock and prevented him from falling back on his head, and he was returned to the picnic table with the dish completely devoured.

“Do you confirm the end of the dish?” The alien chef with three fingers and a tall slender body dressed in a farmer’s outfit asked, one of its three hands swinging a sharp knife and planting it firmly into the tree trunk next to him where all the food was prepared, “Are you ready to review the dish?”

“I am,” Sam said with great exhilaration in his voice, and he put down the fork/knife hybrid and smiled.

There was rustling in the bushes, a handful of waiters appeared from behind the shadows with a fork/knife hybrid in each of their hands, and the chef leaned forward, stuffing Sam’s shoulder down with two of the hands and holding his head in place with the third.

"Wait! No!" Sam struggled, but found himself locked in place, unable to do anything.

Then, the waiter slammed the knife side into the back of his head, opening it up before the fork then went straight in after. Sam’s eyes shot open as he screamed in desparation with his blood splashing onto the clean grass fields, and the entire world turned black.

And there he was.

Sam found himself above a floating ocean of light. He wore a buoy jacket over a dressing gown while sitting on a soft blown-up chair that belong by the pool on a cruise. As he glanced around, that’s exactly where he was.

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He was on the top deck of a pyramid-shaped cruise ship with smooth corners that was now sailing in the midst of an ocean of glowing jellyfish, and only the natural light from the three moons above and the bioluminescence coming from below accompanied him.

He looked down at his hands, dazed and wondering if he’s been seasick. A light headache came from deep in the back of his head, though as he rubbed it to release some of the tension, he only felt the rough patches of bed hair. Sam cursed underneath his breathe about how careless he must have been to not have sorted his looks that out before coming out here to do his job.

The job that he’s been trained to do all his life, and his attention needed to be paid forward.

The deck had been completely cleared out with the pods used for napping all stacked way out to the side and the sun-bathing chairs folded up and organized in neat rows. There were alien slime creatures with feminine features sitting by the pool and turning what appeared to be their eyes to him, and Sam quickly averted his attention back in front. With all distractions out of the way, there was only him, the chef, and the dish.

Standing not too far away and in a pool to about halfway up the chef’s body, a fully naked alien chef with elastic and semi-transparent light blue skin was busy at work. The slime girl had her arms out in front, choking out a jellyfish on the table before a knife was drawn, and the jellyfish was fully gutted and each of the glands were removed, quickly seasoned, and arranged in a plate right in front of Sam.

She turned around with and put the plate right in front of Sam as all of the jellyfish’s severed body parts were still arranged in an anatomically familiar-looking format, this time with the blood replaced with juices and garnishes.

A celebration of the slime humanoid's culture before and after discovering the arts of cooking, Sam realized.

Sam reached for an elastic stick with three divisions at the end the shape of a fork, but the chef reached out one of her tentacles and gave him a disapproving wave. Sam halted in his motion, and the chef leaned over, a hole opening up in the breast area of her gel-like body before some red fluid was squirted out from within.

Once a good dollop was dripped over the head of the jellyfish, she then gave it a wipe with her tentacle to apply the extra flavorings evenly and before looking straight at Sam and taking a step back.

A great tribute to the guest of honor, and a very thoughtful process of pre-digestion for him.

Sam looked down at the disassembled body of a jellyfish, and a wave of dizziness hit him as he had to steady himself and took a sip with a drink. The shrimp in the cocktail slipped passed the gaps in his teeth into his mouth and started tickling the back of his throat, and he coughed a few times before stuffing the legs of the jellyfish in hopes of washing everything down.

Fortunately, it did.

He expected something slimy and chewy, but instead, there was only the lightest of resistances before the light jellyfish popped in his mouth, releasing a sweet and sour-tasting seawater into his mouth. An extremely entertaining dining experience, if anything.

He glanced down at one of the glands of the jellyfish with the red special sauce on top, and he glanced at the chef that’s wrapped herself in her own tentacles before he stuck the stick in and sent it down the shoot. Upon the initial chew, the gland itself tasted slightly bitter, though the red sauce gave it a long-lasting sourness that provided an excellent contrast, and when mixed in with the aftertaste of the jellyfish’s leg, it created a fine blend.

“Do you confirm…the end of the…dish~” The chef asked in a slow tone as she wrapped herself even tighter with the tentacles, “Are you ready to…to…review my dish?”

“Yes, I am.” Sam said when a pulse of headache hit him, and he felt some fluids rushing from under his nose as he quickly wiped it away, “Sorry.”

A mirror was presented in front of him, and he spotted the dribbling of blood coming out of his nose. He leaned in, noticing his teeth glowing yellow like the beautiful bioluminescence of the jellyfish from down in the ocean. With his eyes stretched open, he tried to see himself more clearly when the slime girls waiting in the pool rose up from the water and strolled towards him.

“Wait…” Sam said, his heart suddenly racing as a feeling of de javu started to hit him, “Wait wait wait!”

“What’s the matter?” The chef asked, suddenly appearing right in front of him as she wrapped her tentacles around his head. It felt pleasantly cool to touch, and that sensation made him relax slightly before poisons were sent through his skin as his entire face started to tingle.

That was when one of the slime girls opened up a hole in the middle of her stomach, and the chef grabbed onto Sam’s head before shoving it inside of the second one, a single wave of contractions sucking out all of the air in one moment before crushing his head in the next. Sam’s screams were silent, and the whole world turned black like the night sky above.

And there he was.

Sam sat alone along the bars of a pristinely decorated restaurant as light gentle jazz music was played in the background. Though with every note of that music, he was surrounded by a cracking headache, and the light chatters in the background sounded like the world-ending arguments of his parents when he was young.

He felt as if his head was about to explode, and the bursts of a headache coming from the deepest parts of his head accompanied episodes of blurry vision as the well-dressed human chef with the clean tall hat and fat mustache waited for him. However, he felt like absolute shit.

He shouldn’t be here. He needed to rest, and the tasting can wait until later.

“No. Your attention needed to be paid forward.” The voice spoke inside of his head, “With all distractions out of the way, there will be only you, the chef, and the dish. If that's the last dish your weak body can taste and review, then do it with everything you have.”

A blurry-looking dish with a strong iron smell was presented in front of him, and Sam blinked with all of his efforts as he tried to examine it visually, yet it it a mess of similar-colored pixels.

Sam glanced down to the side and found his arms and legs had already vanished from his sleeves and trousers, and a waiter had helpfully prepared and cut up a slice for him. He opened his mouth instinctively and bit down hard.

It tasted horrible. There was an acidity to it, a bitterness, and whatever that was given to him was impossible to chew through.

“Do you confirm the end of the d-dish?” The chef asked, his voice cracking at the back, “Are-are you-u ready to re-review the d-dish?”

Sam looked up at him, and a glowing blade pierced the chef’s back before cracks of light grew from within his chest and expanded to his entire world.