Chapter 57: Workplace introduction

Alex Sandclaw’s POV: (a little earlier)

“Well, that was my last question. I’ll need to do some paperwork, but you can assume you’re hired,” Viggi’s dad, Johnathan, said. “While I know you can only start after you get back from your excursion, why don’t you go ahead and ask Viggi to introduce you to the staff and show you around?”

I nodded. “I’ll do that.”

He smiled. “Alright. Then we’re done here, I think—unless you have any last questions?”

I shook my head. “I don’t.”

“In that case I wish you a good evening. I’ll have the paperwork done before you leave, so do come pick it up when you go.” He stood up and held out his hand for me to shake.

I stood up as well and shook his hand. “It’s been nice meeting you, sir.”

“Likewise, Alex. Now, why don’t you go bother my son?” he said with a playful smile. “He’s probably getting quite bored with waiting.”

I nodded again and made my way out of the small office. The interview had gone well. At least, I got hired by the end of it. That had to mean it went well, right?

Viggi’s dad was really kind. He was a jeweled gecko, just like Viggi was, but that wasn’t too surprising. Lizardkin were often the same type as their parents. Some people, like me, were an exception to that, though.

Once I had entered his office, he’d been all smiles and before he started with the actual interview, he had asked me about how Viggi and I met. I didn’t know how much Viggi had told his dad, so I just told him that his son had spotted me sitting outside and had come over to say hello and introduce himself. It was true, after all. Just not the whole story.

“So, how’d it go?” Viggi asked. He had been waiting for me outside the office. Apparently his shift only started later, when the restaurant opened.

I smiled at him. “It went well enough. I start when I return from the excursion, like you expected.”

He nodded. “There’s little point in starting your training now if you’re going to be gone for so long immediately afterwards. We’d have to start over again once you got back, anyway.”

I didn’t really agree with that. I could remember some simple training just fine, even if there was like two weeks in between. But I could understand them not wanting to risk that. I also appreciated not having to work the day before I left on a long trip. We would be teleporting most of the way, but we would still need to walk for way too many kilometers to get to the caves.

“Your dad said you would show me around, by the way. Introduce me to everyone and all that.”

He sighed. “Of course he did. Well, alright then. Not everyone is here yet, but I can introduce you to our chef, at least. I can show you the kitchens while we’re at it, too.”

He motioned me to follow him, so I did. He guided us away from the small office, and past a pair of storage rooms. Viggi told me about them as we went past. Apparently, one had been enchanted to keep cold all the time, like a giant fridge. Which was exactly what it was, actually. He showed me the inside, and it was filled with all kinds of vegetables, meats, and other things that spoiled easily. He also told me they had a similar room in the basement, but one that was a freezer instead.

The second storage room was filled with things that didn’t spoil that easily, like cheese and eggs.

It was all rather interesting to me, and I wanted to ask a bunch of questions. Like, what did they use that egg the size of my head for? But Viggi continued on, saying we had more to see. I figured I would learn about it later.

I followed after him and he showed me everything in the hallways, though he focused on what I’d be using. The storage closets where the brooms, mops, and other cleaning supplies were kept. The location of the main tap was so I could get water when any of the cooks needed some. The large trash container for when I had to throw out a bin. Stuff like that.

It was all a little dull and didn’t really make me feel all that excited to start working, but I’d known what I’d be doing before I applied. I was going to be the kitchen help, which mostly meant doing the menial chores so that the cooks and chefs could focus on actually making the food.

I would occasionally be asked to help with food preparation in some way, like cutting the bread for the little bread baskets, or slicing a ton of tomatoes so the chef could focus on not burning the fish. But those moments would be fleeting. I hoped I could learn enough to maybe be allowed to help more with the food at some point.

Viggi saved showing the kitchen for last. We’d walked through it several times while going from one thing to another, but I had not been able to get a good look before.

It was rather large. There were grills, ovens, and stovetops everywhere. Pans and pots hung on the walls, and racks with spices could be seen all over. One of the walls had a counter with stacks and stacks of plates of differing sizes, and containers filled with various things, like cutlery and napkins. Above the counter was a large shelf filled with various bottles of alcohol. Wines and whiskies were the only ones I recognized. They were each tied to the wall with a leather strap so they couldn’t accidentally be knocked over.

Another thing I noticed was that the kitchen was clean. Like, really clean. All the pans were shiny, all the shelves spotless, and the grills without a speck of soot. And it wasn’t just clean, it was also organized. The pans were sorted by size and type, all the plates were neatly stacked, and the napkins were in a perfectly straight pile.

There were definitely Skills involved here.

I turned to Viggi. “You and your father do realize I don’t have any cleaning Skills, right? I won’t be able to get stuff nearly this clean.”

“We know. It doesn’t matter. One of dad’s Paths has to do with owning a restaurant or something like that. He hasn’t told me the details, but one of that Path’s Skills boosts cleanliness and his workers’ ability to clean and keep things organized.”

“Huh,” I said, “that’s pretty useful.”

“It is. Though it does need something to boost,” he said. “The better you already are at cleaning and keeping your stuff neat, the more you’ll get out of the Skill. We don’t expect you to take a Skill to help you—though you’d be compensated if you did—but we do expect you to keep learning and keep improving.”

I nodded. “I think that’s only reasonable.”

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He grimaced. “Mostly. Dad does have some pretty unreasonable expectations at times.”

“Well, that’s ominous,” I said.

He scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry, didn’t mean it that way. Anyway, let me introduce you to our chef,” he said, just as a woman walked in. She was pretty, with shiny red scales. I thought she was a salamander of some kind, but wasn’t entirely sure. “She’ll be your direct supervisor when you’re working here. She’s also my dad’s wife.”

She stopped in front of us and held out her hand. I shook it. “You must be the boy little Fig has told us so much about. I’m Sarah Mudtalons but you can call me Sarah.”

“Little fig?” I asked. “Like the fruit?”

Beside me, Viggi groaned. “Yeah. If you shorten my name—to Vig—it sounds pretty much exactly the same,” he said, then turned to Sarah. “Could you please stop calling me that in front of my friends? It’s bad enough when you do it at home.”

She glanced at him. “You know I won’t, right?”

He slumped his shoulders. “I know.”

She turned back to me. “Anyway, I look forward to working with you. Though I hope you’re more motivated than the last guy. I swear he could make even the easiest task look like it was the end of the worlds,” she said, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. Before I got the chance, though, she looked at the clock and continued talking. “Right, Viggi, I think you should take Alex home soon or you’ll be late for your shift.”

“I can walk home by myself, you know,” I said, getting a little annoyed at how she treated Viggi. “I’ve been here enough times now to know the way.”

She just rolled her eyes and continued onwards to the kitchen.

Viggi turned to me. “Sorry about that. You can walk home by yourself if you want to.”

I shook my head. “It’s fine. You can come if you want to. I certainly wouldn’t mind someone to talk to.”

Especially since I had something I needed to talk with him about.

“Alright, let me just say bye to dad and get your paperwork and we’ll go.”

-------

The afternoon sun felt nice on my scales, but its warmth clashed horribly with the cold anxiety I felt. I had to tell Viggi I wouldn’t go on a date with him, and I had only fifteen minutes or so remaining to do so. Yes, I could tell him another time but I didn’t want to, nor was it fair. I knew my answer now, so keeping it from him would just be leading him on.

I knew he’d probably be fine, and that we’d probably remain friends, but I was still afraid of how he would react. Would he still want to be friends at all? If the answer to that was no, how would that work with my new job? We’d have to work together then. Maybe I should’ve waited until after I had given him an answer before asking for a job.

I still had to tell him now, though.

As we walked past yet another tree, getting ever closer to our destination, I steeled my nerves and my resolve.

“Viggi?” I said. He turned his head my way. “I, uh—I can’t go on a date with you. I’m sorry.”

“I figured, yeah,” he said, surprising me. “Thanks for telling me, though.”

I stopped walking and stared at him for a moment, flabbergasted “You knew?” I asked.

“Yeah, it was pretty obvious you didn’t like me.”

I ignored his emphasis for now. I’d deal with one thing at a time. “Then why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged. “Hope?”

I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

He waved his hand at me in dismissal. “Don’t be. I won’t insult your intelligence and say I don’t care. Because you are cute, and I do like you. But I’ve had plenty of time to accept that you weren’t going to pick me. It sucks, but it is what it is.”

“Still, sorry.”

“Why? You didn’t do this on purpose. It’s like blaming a widow for being sad. You can’t help how you feel.”

“I guess. I just feel shitty that I’m making you feel shitty.”

He smiled. “That’s sweet, but I’m fine, I promise.”

We walked in silence for a moment before he spoke up again. “So, you like Felix then?”

I frowned. I suppose that was what the emphasis earlier had been about. “How did you know?”

He rolled his eyes. “How could I not? I think everyone knows. That’s beside the point, though. So, I’m right?”

I sighed. “Yeah.”

“I thought so. I kind of figured it out when you two came to the restaurant that one time. They way you smiled at each other… I hope someone will smile that way at me too someday.”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone,” I said.

He just hummed a non-committal agreement and motioned for us to keep moving.

We walked in silence for some time. I grabbed a plant stalk from the side of the path and began breaking it into smaller pieces while I thought it all over. I had expected many things, but him saying ‘oh, I already know’ wasn’t one of them. It was a good response if there ever was one, though. It certainly beat him getting mad. Or never wanting to talk to me again.

And if he already knew, then he probably wouldn’t mind staying friends. I hoped he wouldn’t. I might not like him like I liked Felix, but he was still my friend. Maybe I should ask later to be certain. For now, there was something about what he said that I wanted to ask about.

“So, you think Felix likes me back?” I asked after a while. “You said ‘each other’, not that it was just me.”

He grinned. “Oh, he definitely does.”

“You sound a lot more confident than I feel. I think he likes me back,” I said. “I’m pretty sure he does actually, but there’s this nagging voice that keeps telling me he might not. How can you be so sure?”

“Oh, that’s simple,” he said. “He told me.”

I looked at him confused, so he elaborated. “We both like you, it’s only natural we talk about you. He said it pretty clearly that he liked you. Romantically. In the ‘I want to date that person’ sort of way. The ‘I want to kiss—’”

“I get it,” I said, interrupting him. He chuckled. “I got it the first time.”

Felix liked me back. He actually liked me back. It wasn’t just observation or hope, but I now knew for a fact that he liked me back. That warmth that only Felix could make me feel rushed through me and I felt like I could float away like a cloud. It was one thing to suspect, but a whole other thing to know.

He shrugged. “I thought I should make it extra crystal clear. You two seem a little dense when it comes to stuff like this.”

“So he likes me, huh? It feels weird knowing that. Like there’s a thousand butterflies trying to escape my belly.”

Viggi chuckled. “So, are you going to ask him out?”

I nodded. “Yeah, definitely. On my own terms, though. There probably won’t be a perfect moment to ask, but it feels important to me. I want it to be memorable. I’m busy most of this week, but I’m sure I can arrange a nice moment during the weekend. A nice picnic or something.”

He nodded. “That sounds good. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

I smiled back at him, and we continued walking the last few minutes back to the dorms. Before I went inside though, a thought shot through my mind and I turned back to Viggi.

“Viggi, before you go. Do you think you could not tell Felix about me liking him like you did with me? I’d like to tell him myself.”

He nodded again. “Sure, I can do that.”

With that, he jumped into the sky and flew off back to the restaurant. After watching him go for a few seconds, I went inside and up to our room.

Felix was already there waiting with food and I recognized the smile Viggi had seen on our faces on his snout. That dopey, sappy smile. Now that Viggi had pointed it out, it was so obvious. No wonder he figured it out so fast. And I was sure that smile was on my snout too.

He gestured for me to sit down, and my smile only widened as I realized I could finally tell Felix about [Draconic lightning magic].