The Exchange ( Sima/ request )

[Noku Noru]

Noku sat within his study, paused at the window looking out at the kingdom below. It was early afternoon, The sun slowly descending to the tree lines off in the horizon. His work finished for the evening and Breton had already dropped by reports and left. By now Noku had retired for the evening to the only place he could find solitude. Though something was bugging him. Something Aria had mentioned to him out of excitement for her own accomplishments and gain of a new home. Be it her beauty, her innocence or the fact she reminded him of someone dear, he adored the time he had spent with Lilith the other night. Of course it was his servants fault, but he could not bare to punish the little bafoon too harshly. He did after all made him realize how silly he had been for not taking chances. His heart race within his chest at the thought. He had to go to this restaurant...Now. His heart demanded it! It thrummed against his ribs cage forcing him to move and walk over to a mirror that was off to the side of his tiny study.

He pressed on the glass; Which popped open and swung on a hing like a door. Inside a dresser full of clothes, bottles, and boxes could be found within the tiny hidden space. Noku frowned as he stared into the tiny closet and looked through the selection of clothes he had to choose from. Something simple...Something inconspicuous for him to wear in the common public. Noku finally found something to wear and picked up two different types of blue bottles and carried them over to his desk. There he undressed and changed into green tunic, with a brown leather vest. Black cargo slacks that came to his shins which he tucked in behind the lip of his black leather boots. The last thing he took off was his crown, placing it on the table next to the blue bottles.

Noku stared down at it for a moment, before looking over to the first blue bottle and picked it up. He walked over to the window, opened the latch and leaned his head outside. Then he opened the bottle and began pouring the blue liquid onto his sliver hair over and over until there was nothing left within the bottle before pouring water to rinse out the remaining dye from the blue hair coloring potion. Once rinsed he wrapped his hair in a cloth to begin drying. Refusing to look at himself as he began to pick up the second blue vial and read the instructions. God he hated magic.... But damnit he was going to have to abide by it if he wanted to get past the guards and public un-noticed. He dropped a single drop of the tiny blue liquid into his eyes, turning his beautiful honey color eyes into ocean blue sapphire hue. Which made him wench in pain from the color chain and burning sensation of something touching his eye. Nothing though that he hadn't experienced before, though still irritating.

Now he was almost ready to leave the castle. He took the cloth off his head and brushed it out before putting it up into a low pony tail. Once everything was put away, Noku looked at himself in the mirror. Nothing like himself at all! Plus with a cloak and sword he would look like a common adventurer seeking council at the palace. A perfect disguise to walk around in. With a grin on his face, he picked out a dark cloak and closed the mirror. " I can't leave through the door..." Noku paused, talking to himself as he looked over to the window that he had opened. Welp, he'll leave the express route.

Noku walked over to the window and climbed over the frame and dropped down to the balcony below. Once he landed, he took off once more to climb the rest of the way down in a haste. His skills put to the test as he leaped and scaled down the castle wall and out into the gardens. There he crept past the guards and slipped through the castle gate Un-noticed. He tread carefully within the districts, keeping to familiar streets before reaching the so called Lua Azul. His blue eyes looking up at the sign as he approached the entrance of the building. His heart pounding in his chest once again as he found himself struggling to move his hand to open the door. With a deep breath, he forced his hand to move and grab the door handle. The door opening and he stepped into the restaurant with his breath held.

" Good afternoon, Is this place open? "

[Sima Oratio]

This was actually Sima's first day back. He had a new vigor to him, he felt strong and dedicated today for some reason. Of course, that didn't stop his exhaustion from creeping in. Sima had travelled quite a long distance in a short few days, and it was natural for his body to be feeling a good amount of pain. He, however, adorned a bright smile, ready to make the people he served smile just as bright. 

He headed to the restaurant at daybreak and began preparations. 

He made his way to the front of the Restuarant, bringing out the key to the establishment. It had been a while since he had cooked for so many people. 

Lua Azul, a quaint Restaurant. 

The exterior was fashioned with a nice light red brick and mortar. The edges of the building are held up by large dark brown struts that give the building more support. The entrance is accompanied with a small outside patio in case the weather was nice for the customers to dine outside. 

The outside patio also had an overhang that could be adjusted with difficulty, depending on the sun coming in, keeping a nice shade for the customers on almost all days! 

The interior is darker, giving the place a calmer feeling. The floor was made out of dark wood planks lacquered to a shine but did not reflect light enough to make the place too bright. The entrance lead out to an open area holding 6 tables. Looking out from the entrance to the back of the Restaurant you could see directly into the large kitchen through the two french doors with larger glass panels than regular. It was designed actually to see the more 'action' oriented sections of cooking for the customers that were a little more curious and wanted to peer through the doors.  

A set of two staircases beside the left and right of the french door lead to a second floor of the restaurant that only covers about half as much square coverage as the bottom floor stopping halfway to give the upper floor customers a look down below. This section held around 3 tables. 

He sighed lightly, opening the door. He headed into the change room, and quickly changed his attire to that of the typical chef apron, and of course the hat. He felt that it would probably look better for the Restuarant's health standards. He headed out into the back kitchen, heading through the french doors. He began his day by cleaning the ovens. Using a hard-sided sponge he scrubbed the 4 ovens from top to bottom, and then using a very similar sponge, that was only smaller, he began taking apart the stoves in order to clean them. Often Sima cleaned at the end of the day, and so there was not much dirt. However, after being gone for so long he wasn't quite sure how his help was doing things.  

After cleaning Sima began testing each one. He began by doing a simple startup. He loaded coal into a furnace, which was attached to the oven sets. You could control how much heat each individual oven and stovetop got, but the furnace made the heat within the kitchen quite high. He tested each stove top, and oven, making sure everything was working the way he liked. 

After that was done Sima began looking at the Menu, being as though he had not warned anyone of his arrival for the time being he would have to do this on his own. 

He headed left in the kitchen towards the pantries. He pulled out a few boxes, some were already opened. Each one was labelled with differently. For example Poultry (Salted), Dough, Fish(Salted). Sima had wondered about buying some sort of magic device to keep his meats fresh, then he wouldn't have to salt them. He had a few ways of removing the salt flavor although there was always a little that lingered, and any hardcore food Connoisseur could certainly taste it. 

After prepping the kitchen he headed out to set all the tables and light fixtures, and when Happy, went off to change the sign outside. 

This was when Sima jolted backwards seeing as someone was trying to go through the door as he did. In fact, he was rather close to him. "Oh! Welcome to Lua Azul!" Sima smiled brightly, his blue eyes shining with excitement. 

"Yes, we actually just opened! I haven't got the time to flip the sign yet, but seeing as you're our first customer for the day, you can flip it if you like!" Sima chuckled lightly. 

"Would you prefer a chair outside, inside, above, or below?" Sima's eyes met the man's however, his appearance wasn't what he was interested in. 

His heart rate rose, although there was no notable change in his facial expressions or personality. 

Do I know this man? Sima thought, for a brief moment. However, it only took seconds to recognize the scent.