999 Chapter 999 Mistakes… May Have Been Made
Sue
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When the meal was over and everyone started moving off again, most people headed towards Feng and Bing, but Bodeir pointedly moved away from them. Sue got up and followed him, “So… is there a reason you’re avoiding our hosts?”
Bodeir let out a long sigh and said, “I’ll get around to it before the night is over. The excuse I’ll be using is that they were clearly overwhelmed by the number of well wishers I saw congregating around them and wanted to leave them some space,”
“Yeah but that’s the excuse, what’s the reason,” asked Sue, making sure to give Bodeir a hug for the sole purpose of pressing her tits against his back. It was an excellent negotiation tactic. Especially considering it worked.
“I’m not a fan of the twins truth be told. They have… ideas… that I don’t really agree with. There isn’t any truly bad blood but if I can avoid them for a bit longer then I’ll be happy. Especially if they try to keep my attention for too long,” explained Bodeir.
“Well why is that?” asked Sue.
Bodeir didn’t answer, he just kept walking until they were back in the ballroom. It had been cleared of extra food, though there was extra drinks available now. He continued to not answer until Sue got the point. *Clearly he doesn’t want to talk about it… but now I want to know. If I’m not going to get anywhere with the girls here I might as well badger Bodeir to give me juicy information. Perhaps a safer topic?*
“Ok fine, I get that you don’t want to talk about it. How about the meal then? What did you think of it?” asked Sue, thinking this was a perfectly normal question to ask considering they’d just finished said meal.
.....
Instead, Bodeir turned around and glared at her with fire in his eyes, looking like he’d just been slapped in the face… or perhaps a bit more serious then that? Maybe threatened at sword-point? The point was, this had not been a safe topic. “It was perfectly adequate” said Bodeir in a clipped tone.
Yes yes and I’m ‘mildly interested in sex’. Fucking nonsense is what those words are. Sue didn’t say anything for a few moments, she just continued to give Bodeir a ‘really you’re going with that’ look. He didn’t seem to catch her meaning though, considering he turned around and kept walking. Sue however, wasn’t willing to let such an obvious dismissal go twice. “Bodeir. I asked a question and I expected a truthful answer, or at least a lie that I could pretend to believe. What did you think of the food?”
Bodeir sucked in a hiss of air, calming himself down for a bit. “It was a disgrace to the local dishes,” said Bodeir.
Sue waited…
And waited…
But after a minute of no follow up, and Bodeir just glaring at her, Sue caved first, “Well? Keep going? I barely understand the local architecture and I’ve seen a whole bunch of it. How would I know anything about the local food? You can’t just say it’s a disgrace and… I don’t know if you were expecting me to understand everything from that or you just don’t want to elaborate but… I am requesting you E L A B O R A T E”
Bodeir bit his lips and turned away, heading for the courtyard again. It didn’t take them long to be out in the garden amongst the stars. Sue thought it all looked quite wonderful, and could be very romantic in the right circumstances. A shame Bodeir really wasn’t her type, or at least, not the type she’d look to for a long term relationship. *But why are we standing out here in the cold? Do I need to summon up my demonic fire and hope it keeps me warm? My outfit isn’t attire, it’ll burn right through that. Though…*
Sue briefly entertained the idea of spending the rest of the night on fire and pretending she didn’t see a problem with it… but she wasn’t really feeling up to being that daring. Nor would her demonic energy reserves actually carry her that far. She also wasn’t entirely sure she had good enough control over it to avoid burning the ground or everything else. At least she had a bra and panties as part of her attire she could conjure up.
“I think… I think that what the twins showed us was a disgrace to good food,” said Bodeir slowly. It was clear that he didn’t really want to talk about this, but Sue was listening… and now she was curious. They’d already made it to the far end of the garden, Bodeir was leaning on the railing and looking out at the icy forest below. Once again, Bodeir was making this oddly romantic for some reason. Perhaps he needed the serious atmosphere to keep talking.
“They were telling the truth, each ingredient they served us was wonderful. A true classic of the region… but that’s all it was. Ingredients. We were barely served what I would call a meal and they focused only on providing the most technically challenging dishes to us. Not the best tasting, and I feel like they insult the food they provided for us by going about it this way,”
Bodeir paused again, but Sue was willing to let him have it this time. “Take the first dish. It is made using Christmas Berries, but they are actually best served either as a sauce, dipped in chocolate, or frozen and part of other dishes. Instead, they managed to preserve that frozen core and keep the leaves from withering. That might not seem like much for a normal plant… but for Christmas berries? Especially this time of year?
“The amount of qi, and probably mana that would have to go into preserving and preparing that salad is more than an average household makes in a year…” *Wait, you, Bodeir Jr, heir of the Mountain Shaker sect no what an average person, sorry ‘household’ makes in a year?* “… and it wasn’t even that good! The leaves don’t add anything to the dish taste wise, and really if they were going to use rare ingredients in the sauce they might as well have picked something that would pair a little bit better with it but no!”
*Oh dear. I seemed to have found out that Bodeir is actually a food critic. I don’t even know what to think. I’m not… that interested… but like… we already walked all the way out here and I don’t know that I could get him to stop without having his opinion of me drop like a stone.*
“Then there’s the bird. That was a genuine thin-boned frost eaglet. Those things are nearly impossible to get a hold of by themselves… and they just served it up like a fucking chicken! They didn’t Bing and Feng didn’t even eat the bones! It’s a fucking waste is what it is! Sure at least one of them was eating it properly but frost eaglet is for SOUP. You let the bones melt into this absolutely stunning broth. It isn’t even hard. Even LUKEWARM WATER is enough to melt the bones, and it will be some of the best soup you ever tasted…
“But NO. Can’t go for an easy dish. No instead they had to cook the eaglet without letting the bones melt into the flesh. It doesn’t even taste better doing that way! And most people didn’t eat the bones. I mean… really I just don’t understand what they were thinking. It’s all style and no substance. If I wanted to eat something crunchy I’d pick up a packet of mixed nuts from a street vendor! Maybe if I was feeling real daring I’d get nut-stuffed turkey from one of the local restaurant…” *I know what I’d like stuffed with nuts.* “…but no. Instead they had to waste time and resources making a subpar meal with excellent ingredients!”
“The ice cream was good though,” said Sue before she could properly considering that statement. Bodeir whipped around, hand clenched and ready to punch her. Sue readied her barrier but… Bodeir stopped just short and sighed.
“How often do you have ice cream?” asked Bodeir.
“Um… I mean… I dunno? Not all that often? It’s not something my parents have all the time but it’s available if I want it? I guess?” answered Sue confused.
Bodeir nodded and said, “Then that’s fine. The ice cream was… acceptable. I’m not a fan of the method used to make that particular ice cream but I can admit it is good ice cream. Unlike the other dishes that are all style and no substance the ice cream was… mostly style but enough substance that I didn’t feel like smashing the plate it came on,”
*Well that’s good. I dodged that bullet,* “But, let me explain to you all the problems with the method they used. See, I’m certain that…” *Oh god no I didn’t!*
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