Mexican food with an Officer

A lady walked into a building. The building was filled with Spanish songs and the deep smell of cracked tortillas. Sitting at one of the booths that had the texture of most pueblos, she pulled the basket of corn chips towards her and started munching on them, waiting for a waiter to take her order.

It was Osamu and she had just finished taking care of a dirty cop job. The duffel bag she was carrying was filled with cash which she had just bought her new autumn outfit. Which she would throw away after a week anyway. She wasn't frivolous or completely rich. She simply didn't like anything too permanent or to have something that people could pick her out with. She already had enough trouble with her odd set of eyes to do enough of that.

The Mexican restaurant wasn't that full. Not many people want spicy food early in the morning. Though the intoxicating smell would draw a few people in. The low lit atmosphere with the red glowing candles made Osa safe. She would stare at that single candle in the middle of the table, with the texture of most pueblos, and let her mind wander. Wandering to Kaede, to NIN, and to other people she had met. Not of how they made her feel, but to caress their image in her mind. It was something that everyone did, but was seldom spoken about.

Finally a waiter walked up to her table with the lovely smell of the kitchen. Jalapenos, ground meat, and the broad scent of melted cheese with onions surrounded this man. Along with the scent of...feline? She looked up to see what he was. It wasn't like the smell of a cat marking him, it was as if he was one himself. If he was marked with that scent...was he able to smell her dominant animal scent?

" I would like a menu please. Do you have a good bartender here?"

Kit was immediately hired at the small Esparian restaurant when they realized he could cook, speak their language fluently, and brought in quite a drove a female customers, for what reason he did not know. He was wearing a small vest over his dress shirt and tie, tied tightly in the back, weaving in and out of doors and cluttered floors with large trays of food, going in between serving and bartending. His tail and sharpened senses helped him at the fast paced food serving, making sure customers were happy and that he himself wore a smile the entire time, he'd make better tips that way.

He saw a small framed woman at a table, with not even a drink or menu. This certainly would not due, he thought. He glided up to her table, his tail and ears flicking gleefully as he smiled. She looked up to him with confused eyes, and she seemed to be sniffing the air. Kit took a quick whiff to smell himself and smelt nothing different, except for an animal scent that was not his own nor did it smelled cooked. It came from the woman, he surmised. So she was a chimera as well, it seemed, though Kit was not one to pry about it, not without someone bringing it up. Though she obviously would know of his origin; there were certain...aspects of his being that gave him away immediately.

"Of course ma'am," He casually handed her a menu filled with several of the dishes he'd been making all day. "I'm the bartender for tonight, ma'am. My name is Kit, by the way, I'll be your server today. Can I get you anything to drink?" He quizzically asked, pulling a notepad and pencil from his pocket.

"I'm the bartender for tonight, ma'am. My name is Kit, by the way, I'll be your server today. Can I get you anything to drink?" She took a good long look at the man and pushed away the tortilla chips. She might as well have a bit of fun before she went to the bank. In addition to that, she was quite hungry to begin with. " I would like a Hemingway with extra salt, an undiluted grasshopper with no chocolate shavings or cream, and a black mamba with chopped and dried jalapenos on top of it." She had given the 3 most difficult alcoholic drinks known. She wanted to test him since she was a pretty good bartender herself. Though one hit from some malted beer and she gets floored.

" Take your time with them, for food I'd like 3 chaluppas and Esparian Rice with a more hot Tabasco sauce." After giving her order she took a napkin from the dispenser and started scribbling on it with a pen.

She wanted to see whether or not this "Kit" knew his stuff and wondered how he would use his nose. He was the first Chimerea that she had seen that she wasn't related to on some level. This would be a fun evening.

Quite a list she's given him. Though, the last one could not in any way happen, since as due to gravity, jalapenos refused to stay afloat. He smiled, a bit smugly, writing down her order. His tail flicked back and forth like a metronome, staring at her with serpentine eyes of jade. This woman had a knowledge of libations that was beyond her looks, and most likely beyond her years. He only writes down the food onto the slip and shows her it.

This woman wanted to play a game? Kit could oblige, but his game had gotten alot better. Her mannerisms, the way she spoke and carried herself was very mature, very worldly, which confused Kit. Weren't teenagers more concerned with technology and social media, not fancy evening drinks?

Kit sat down across from her, not asking to do so, but smiled warmly at her, grasping his hands together, weaving his fingers together. "Well miss, I have your food down, but you're asking for quite alot of alcohol, and are you trying to insult me with a drink impossible to make? Do you do this to every bartender? Either way, I'll only write the rest down when I see some ID."

Osamu smiled as he sat down. It looks like he wanted some answers to go with that dish. At least he asked for ID. Osamu slipped the napkin to the side and pulled out her wallet. Ignoring the slip of paper that he had given her. " One is impossible to make, and one is destroyed if made first. All of them are attainable if you use your head. If you're a very good bartender you'll be able to figure it out. If not, then at least you'll learn something and become a better one because of it."

She pulled out a laminated card and 4 other paper ones. The first card was her bartender ID that she had which stated she was 20. The 3 others were cards at other bars she worked at. "Shiroshi Hideki" was the only white haired class A bartender in this city and was known to gyp people out of their money with her drinking games and riddles. Though not enough to cause any trouble. She was also known to join a bar for 2 months and leave to another one if the attendants weren't knowledgeable enough. She leaned in, her mismatched eyes glowed like colored hot coals in the candlelight. She was enjoying herself too immensely. Not in making fun of him, but in making someone think about what they did everyday.

She took the tobasco sauce and set it in front of him. " Tobasco sauce is made by taking wine barrels and pouring in jalapenos and vinegar. They then seal it up and place a mixture of flour and salt. Despite how popular it is, and how many years after it was invented...no one knows the actual chemical process of Tobasco. No one can make it in alchemy either. No one knew about many things until they took the most basic understandings like a candle..." She placed her hand over it and a puff of smoke flew from between her fingers. " And put it to the test."

She leaned back and put the tobasco on the rack again. " After I'm done with my meal, I'll give you quite a tip." " Shiroshi", the name that she now was using smiled at her server. Offering a challenge to "kit". What did he have to lose besides his pride?

Riddles. Kit liked riddles. Though this one...involved things he didn't know. A first really, but his expertise in alcohol went from wine and stopped around there. So, while looking over her cards and recommendations, he could surmise that she was testing him. And he had a nagging suspicion that he would fail no matter what he did. So, what did he do? He got up silently and went to the counter, slapping the food order down on the window sill to the kitchen as he went to work. In little time, Kit had made the drinks she had requested, adding the modification as she requested. Kit was confused, but with a few years of food service under him, he realized that no matter how ridiculous the order, the customer gets what they ordered, whether they're pleased or not.

Soon, he had the drinks in front of him as he realized that there was no activity in the kitchen. It was almost closing time. And everyone had gone home. People were finishing food and putting down tips. Kit rushed off into the kitchen and put his more culinary skill to work, working on the rice and chaluppas, which were done rather quickly. He soon had everything on trays, walking briskly over to her and setting her food and libations down, a glint of defeat in his eye, though not sure why.

"There you are, Ms. Shiroshi. Will you be needing anything else, let me know, it's almost closing time." He lulled, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible so he could rest in his alley a mere 2 miles away.

Osamu looked down at the food and she took a long whiff of the drinks. Only one was made well. " You have the potential of becoming a good drink mixer. You did 3 parts of what was asked. Only one part paid the price." She ate her food quickly as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. Which was partly true. Kaede was not home that often and she still hadn't met that Ranmaru who also knew how to cook. She hadn't eaten a good meal in 12 days. After finishing she would wait for him to clear her dishes.

She would rate the drinks as horrible for an actual bartender, but it seems that Kit didn't have a real license either. Which would give him a high score. Though that was also brought down to the fact that he was a chimerea. He had a high sense of smell. He would have known that the grasshopper was mixed, he would know that he would have to remove the Tabasco sauce from the recipe and replace it with dried and chopped jalapenos in order to balance out the PH and make sure the two different alcohols mix. Only the Hemingway was fine. She took the hemingway and simply placed it in front of him. " One out of three." She took the bag she had and poured a third of it on the table. " If you had gotten two more right, I wouldn't need to carry a bag home."

She looked over the menu and scrolled her finger down. " I would like a dessert please. Do you have any chocolate cream pie?"

Oh...well...you learn something new every day. He thought about what she had said, and realized the errors he had made, especially the grasshopper, that was so obvious he could've had binoculars and a map and still hadn't have found the point. He sighed heavily, though it wasn't his fault he didn't know, he rarely touched anything heavier than wine, or any hard liqour in its several forms. She took out cash....more cash than he had ever seen at one time in person. Cash...that he had no right to. He had screwed up, and dared not accept the money, as he pushed back the money except for taking out enough to cover her meal and drinks. "I can't accept this. I refuse to. Even if I had that money, I'd have no idea what to do with it. Perhaps had donated it, if anything."

Kit watched her as she looked at the menu, wondering what to order. Was she seriously going to order? The restaurant was almost completely empty, then she asked for the pie just as the last customer left. He shook his head at first, then got an idea. This woman had knowledge that could be useful in the future. Pehaps...

"Tell you what...The store's closing, and that pie's usually just frozen and brought in every morning. I COULD make it from scratch, if I had a kitchen to work with and supplies. Let me stay the night at your place and tell me more about your knowing of beverages, and I'll cook you anything you want. Is that a deal?" He smiled genuinely, eyes closed, ears twitching slightly as his nose crinkled as it sniffed the air, trying to place what animal or animals she was crossed with.

Guilt over a bad cocktail? If there was any time for surprise, it was now. Osamu looked up at the cat-man and held a small smile on her lips. Thinking in her mind that he might possibly be the type of person that was able to make good drinks. Though he was working without a liquor license and probably not even a license to handle food. Such as the world was in this era. Though it was completely understandable due to that there was a lot of people who wouldn't know how to chop a cabbage if they had the step by step directions to it. Sad to say: Osa was one of those unfortunate people. She couldn't cook a lick of food, but she sure can make a martini. It was very odd for someone to feel guilt. Especially since that the people she replicated this task with... had always taken at least a bit of the money she splashed on a table. Not this one. Did he not care for what it could buy? Or was he truly unable to pick up the yen?

Well, no matter. She would test the skill of him by making her a dessert. If he was good at food she wouldn't need the talent to mix drinks. Though it would be most advantageous if she could have both. Decisions, decisions... "Tell you what...The store's closing, and that pie's
usually just frozen and brought in every morning. I COULD make it from
scratch, if I had a kitchen to work with and supplies. Let me stay the
night at your place and tell me more about your knowing of beverages,
and I'll cook you anything you want. Is that a deal?"

Scratch he said? Hm...the fresher the better. She took another look at the menu and frowned. She loved this restaurant before he showed how horrible it really was. Their enchiladas were good as well as their chips that was served in front of her. Too bad. Guess she had to hack this off her list. It was getting shorter everyday.

As she got up, she gt up slowly. Assesing what the cat-man's reactive abilities were. Everyone reacts to other people. Though the responses are very minute. From what it told her, he was watching with caution. His nose was better than hers. So he could probably smell her chameleon pores, her squirrel muscle layering, but probably not the scent of her venomous gland or her starfish appendage replacement. An odd mix indeed. The white haired woman gathered her things and walked off without a word.

Before reaching the door she turned and replied with only this. " I have a place. Though when we get the ingredients, don't complain okay?" She didn't want to tell him that they had to enter the gay district on the way to the house to get the ingredients. It was the only good shops that were still open at this time of night.

"I can't really complain. There's only one place open this late, but I've got no problem in the gay district. In fact, Jin-Mei, one of the bakers, gives me a discount on supplies if I play him a song. I'm sure you know Jin-Mei." He was certain that if she knew people in the gay district, that man would be one of the most forefront in her mind. The man was huge and muscular, frosted brown hair, and hot pink shorts and an apron, and usually nothing else. Kit took no quarrels with his...flamboyancy, in fact, it always made him chuckle to see him so upbeat, so energetic. Kit still had no idea how that man did it. He held up a finger to the woman as he went to the back of the eatery, grabbing his shoddy dark green duffle bag, filled to the brim with his possessions, and stepped back into the reception area, standing by this new woman. She smelled...like an animal. Or animals rather. This effected him in no visible way, but the gears in his head were turning.

"We should get a move on. Our destination's a ways away, and I don't have money for a taxi, so we'll most likely walk." Kit opened up the door and held it open, gesturing Osamu to follow as he walked along the sidewalk. The nightime in Aerugo was simply divine, a nice moderate temperature, the air smelled of exotic scents of cherry blossoms and tiger lillies. His tail swished behind him as his shirt tails waved about in the gentle breeze. He loved nighttime. So peaceful, yet so alive. He didn't even check behind himself to see if she was still following. He was too enthralled in a world of sensation all his own, moving around dazed and happily as he made his way towards the gay district.

The white cat spoke of Jin-mei and it made Osamus' skin crawl. He wore the most odd clothing she had ever seen on a man. His food was delicious and scrumptious, even. The only reason why she didn't go more often is that she wasn't hungry after looking at the man himself. It was a sight she would rather not repeat, but if Kit ate there often, then she would be glad she wouldn't be going alone. " I'm glad you're coming then. Men in spandex churns my stomach."

As she walked outside after the man got his bag, she immediately began walking down the street. Her animal instinct told her to get there as fast as possible, but her sensibility told her to slow down so kit could keep up. Being able to reach 40mph speed puts a damper on your strolling ability. While trying to keep a good pace, she examined the white haired cat. " They say that people with white hair has the ability to see into their past lives. What life can you see?"

It was a double edged question. He could talk about philosophy or what happened. Either way he would know where she was getting at. Osamu's one purple eye stared at the man. Her red one covered by hair. Even in darkness, her already crippled red eye could go blind. She didn't want that to happen.