Chapter 448: To End Gluttony
When Kat and Kamiko came out of the teleportation they were surprised to find themselves back in the kitchen with everything as they'd left it for the most part. Even had a few meals leftover from yesterday in the cupboard. The only difference is that the end of the table in the middle had been converted into a chair somehow and Freddy was leaning back against the food summoning machine.
He looked the same as he did yesterday except for his chefs' hat which had been replaced with a new one that was now black and red. *That causes so many questions. His had didn't behave like a normal hat… so is it a hat and this is a different if very similar hat in different colours, or is it a part of his head that he can change the colour of. Hell, people dye there hair all the time.*
"Greetins Greetin ya two" said Freddy rolling his shoulder as he did so. He gestured towards the seat in a motion that indicated he wanted them to sit down. "Welcome back for another day of cookin"
"Thanks Freddy, and good morning to you to" said Kat
"Yeah! Happy to see you to Freddy" said Kamiko at the same time as Kat
"Now, I'm glad to see you've both been lookin forward to today so I hafta ask. Are you both alright workin on the same dish as yesterday? It went over really well, and while we could perhaps chose another dish from Kat's world, the time spent organisin that could be used to make more food, and sadly, that's what's in demand. Marketin a separate new dish probably wouldn't be as worthwhile, so it's easier for us to keep it the same. However, if ya want we can do somethin new." Said Freddy rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
Kat looked over to Kamiko, and decided to voice the main thought that was coming into her head. "Not that I want to sound rude but… why were we given the choice at all? Isn't this a punishment? Couldn't you just tell me what we're doing today?"
Freddy nodded. "Well, I sure could do that, but it just wouldn't be the same. Many people think that you can cook somethin great by just following the recipe, but after much intensive research and study we demons have discovered that emotion does in fact effect the taste of the dish. Most of the time, ya want happy people or at least, neutral people to be working on the dish.
"Because of that, not only is it the polite thing to do, ask, but it is also to our benefit as well. If you can't stand the idea of makin that same dish for us we can do somethin else, or if you have a real passion and love for somethin in particular ya might be able to persuade me to go with that instead" explained Freddy, gesturing wildly the whole time. He looked more like someone trying to dance or throw water over everything in front of him, perhaps some combination of both, when speaking, mostly with his hands wide and sweeping, but with some leg movement as well.
Kat looked over at Kamiko who shrugged. *Well, I'm not taking that as an answer.* "Can I speak to Kamiko a bit?" asked Kat
"Sure sure. Just don't take too long ya hear. I'll be just outside the door. It's soundproof, so you'll need to open it to get me back in. If ya call out I won't be able to hear ya and we'd be wastin time" said Freddy, strangely happy about the delay as he walked outside a big grin on his face.
Once the door clicked shut, Kat turned to Kamiko and said. "So, how do you want to do this? I mean, are you even ok with doing this at all?"
Kamiko shrugged and gave Kat a slight nudge on the shoulder with her own. It was so light Kat barely felt it, but understood the sentiment and Kamiko didn't have a tonne of practice to know the correct level of power for a move like that. She began speaking once she settled back into speaking. "Honestly I'm fine with anyt-," Kamiko coughed slightly choking on the words because of the demonic curse. "Fine apparently I need to be a bit more specific,
"I am mostly fine with whatever we do here in the kitchen. I don't mind spending another day chopping things. It was tiring, and we should definitely take a break this time, but it's not a great hardship. I don't really care about making a new dish, it'll probably be more chopping for me but that's fine. I can't cook too well anyway, especially not so much food." Said Kamiko
Kat nodded and said, "Well, that's fine if that's what you want. I certainly don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm fine with sticking with the Lamb tagine with dates & sweet potatoesas well. It's not like I was eating the dish so I haven't gotten sick of the taste or anything. Though, do you want to help with more of the cooking?"
Kamiko shook her head violently. "No way Kat, working with the ovens would be really unpleasant for me. Even from the other side of the table I could feel it a bit. My energy wasn't just speeding me up, it was also keeping me cool. For as good as the insulation in the ovens is, it's really hard to keep that insulation up when they're opened to the air. Oh, they try but it's just so expensive to get enchanting done that actually fixes that problem so they just do it 'well enough' for people like me."
"Oh, I didn't realise" said Kat *Which means she might be even faster and more precise then I thought. If she was using energy to keep herself somewhat cool as well and not going of her regen rate her base speed with the knife must be even better then I thought.* "Don't worry then, you're more than welcome to just keep working at the chopping then. Um… would water help maybe?"
Kamiko shrugged. "I mean, I guess cold water would help a bit, but it'd just bounce off for the most part so it wouldn't help as much as you might think. I could maybe keep a bucket of cold water around next to me, but honestly that'd just be more annoying then being slightly too hot the whole time. Having part of me be hot and part of me be the right temperature would be more noticeable and irritating."
"Yeah that makes sense. Guess I'll just call Freddy back in then?" asked Kat
Kamiko nodded, and the pair got up. Kamiko got to her station and started pulling out the knife she was using and Kat opened the door to late Freddy in. He zipped in as soon as she opened the door, somehow managing to squeeze past her and into the room, leaving afterimages behind in his wake that seemed to linger.
*Hmm, that has to be an ability and not just pure speed because they stuck around… but why can I see them still? Would my truesight not solve that?*
Kat shrugged it off and closed the door before turning to Freddy, "We're ready and willing to continue with making the Lamb tagine today. Neither of us have any problems and we'll be doing the same rolls as yesterday if that's ok?"
Freddy nodded hat bobbing along with the motion "That's perfectly fine with me. Knowing the recipe, I can manage some dishes on my own. I'll ensure they are placed in the ovens furthest away from Kamiko so as to not cause issues because of her ice attunement. I'll still assist you Kat, but I know the process well enough to manage my duties from yesterday in addition to this"
And like that the three set off, falling into a familiar pattern without much fuss. Kamiko would chop as fast as she could, going through batches and batches of ingredients faster then Kat could blink, while Kat would take them and follow the recipe, mostly wasting time frying onions. Freddy, well he was a whole 'nother beast. It rapidly became clear to Kat why his afterimages were visible to her.
Three Freddys could be seen at any one time. One watching over Kat, one chopping and another performing Kat's duties. The copies, and you could faintly tell the two on the other side of the bench were the copies, seemed much slower and needed to be replaced every now and again with a swift dash around by Freddy, was a strange addition, if a welcome one.
Freddy himself was probably doing about twice the work of Kamiko and Kat, however, this was still less then expected once Kat saw the clones come into play. It seemed to slow the original down a bit and his gaze was less focused. On the other hand, he could be doing multiple things at once and had a greater view of the whole process from start to finish. With a nice break for a special lunch of course.
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