Alcohol was another part of the One Night Diner set-up. Sho noticed it helped a bit when it came to the socialization part of his new experiment without hampering his cooking ability too much, plus it helped with his mixology skills a bit. Tonight's drink was pretty simple: a hearty ale in a big glass mug with some cranberry juice. Just as Yoshokua took his first sip, however, he caught the eye of his first customer.

The woman who sat down was definitely different from how he expected Saiyan women to be. She was covered in red and black clothing, and had long dark hair. She could easily be confused for another human, but she definitely carried herself with a somewhat edgy aura that reminded Yoshokua of his father. Maybe that way of carrying oneself was something distinctly of their race, or maybe Sho was just imaging things. All in all, he expected people here to be a little more... monkey-esque.

Still, a customer was a customer, so Yoshokua placed the mug of ale on his counter, wiped the beer mustache off his face, and greeted the patron.

"Evening! I'm Yoshokua, call me Sho, and welcome to my One Night Diner! Lemme get you our complementary appetizer for New Sadla..."

In a few swift movements, Yoshokua got the meal together. In one hand, he grabbed an ornate red bowl and in another a ladle of tonkotsu broth. After filling the bowl with the soup, he then produced a brown yam from the fridge, and small bag of rice from the pantry. After placing the bowl in front of his customer, he then put a handful of rice into the bowl, which then expanded near-instantly. In a moment, the rice transformed into a large amount of impossibly thin, strand-like noodles. Then, Sho produced a cheese grater and grated the yam into a bowl, but instead of flakes of grated root vegetable, a stream of ectoplasmic goop topped the dish.

"...Tonkotsu Broth with Potengi Noodles and Earthling Mountain Yam."

Along with the bowl were a pair of chopsticks and a spoon. After Sho took quick breath of air, in half the time it took for him to make the dish he put away all of the component parts. Then, he met the gaze of his customer once more.

"So, we do things a little differently here at the One Night Diner. I'll prepare ya a three course meal, not including the appetizer, but we don't have a menu. Instead, I have a lot of different things in this kitchen, despite how it looks. I can make you almost anything, from ingredients from around the universe, so let me know if you have any food allergies and what kind of food you'd like to have- whether cuisine or flavor or whatever specifications you have, and I'll make it for you. But first--"

Sho motioned over to his collection of liquors, beers, and wines.

"Would you like a drink?"

WC: 495 | Cassava

Yoshokua stifled a chuckle at his customer, but still donned a grin.

"Maybe I'll make something hearty for our meal, then."

It was good to see someone enjoy his food, and after noticing Cassava eye his drink with thirst, he figured he should make something similar. From the fridge came a jar of fresh squeezed orange juice from the morning before, as well as a bowl of shrimp and scallops. Inside the large fridge were a variety of pre-marinating or prepared meats and seafoods, ready for cooking. Along with the shrimp and scallops came bacon and cuts of beef seemingly for stewing, set aside for the main course. A pretty clear meal plan was already formulating in Sho's head, as he took a moment to fully process what he'd be preparing.

Into a pint glass went the same ale he had just consumed, as well as the fresh squeezed orange juice to make a kind of shandy. With a dull but fancy piece of steel, the half-Saiyan cook scraped the excess foam from the rim of the glass and mixed the liquids together, before moving the drink forward for his guest.

"A shandy for ya. I hear that Saiyans, or Saiyanesses in your case, have a naturally high alcohol tolerance, or at least my old man did, so let me know if you need something stronger. Anyway, your question..."

Yoshokua cut up a few large russet potatoes into shoestring fries, some cabbage into shreds, some carrots into cubes, and a surprisingly large onion into slits. In a pan, he began cooking the shrimp and scallops.

"I usually tend to host in rural areas. Part of it is because you tend to get interesting folks you won't see anywhere else passing through, but another part of it is just trouble I've had when cooking in more popular areas. I tried doin' the Diner in a big city on Earth once, and they were really annoying about paperwork and permits or whatever, so I decided I'd just do it in places like this. Money isn't really the goal here, at least not at the moment. I mostly set this up so I can meet interesting people and become a better cook..."

Sho left the other vegetables be for the moment, seasoned the fries, and threw them into a old-school fast food fryer. Rather quickly, he got some dry ingredients, a couple liquids, an egg, and the grated ectoplasm from the mountain yam together in a bowl and mixed them into a pancake-like batter, then mixed the batter with the cabbage and the now-cooked seafood.

"Why're you out here tonight? You live out here or are ya travelling?"

Still focused, the cook produced perfect fries from the fryer, then put them onto a hot griddle. On top of the fries went the thick savory cabbage pancake, until they combined into a perfect mass. With careful hands, Sho shingled thin slicks of porkbelly and flipped the massive savory hotcake a couple times until perfectly cooked. Then, Yoshokua covered the pancake in a savory brown sauce, and then thin white ribbons of sweet mayonnaise.

With an hand-held monjayaki spatula, Sho cut up the pancake and then served it to Cassava with an identical spatula for her to eat it with.

"Your first course, Okonomiyaki fries."

With a toothpick, Yoshokua cut softly across the lines of mayonnaise to create a spider web-like pattern, then covered it with a light green powder, then a healthy handful of dried bonito flakes, which squirmed oddly when in contact with the heat from the food.

Cassava | WC: 595 Words. / 1522 Words.

By the time Cassava had dug into the first course, Yoshokua was already started on the main, cooking chopped bacon and the vegetables together in a pan, then used the bacon grease left over to get some nice color on the stew meat. Still, he paid attention to his customer as she ate the dish. Sho gave an un-stifled laugh as she saw her face covered in food, and tossed a napkin next to her plate. 

"I could definitely teach you how to cook if you'd like. Really, what helped me learn was wanting to cook for other people, so my reason for cooking ultimately made me a chef to begin with."

Upon seeing the now empty mug and the slightly flushed cheeks of his patron, Yoshokua left his beef cooking in the frying pan and reached for a sealed bottle in the fridge. The bottle was filled with a light orange liquid and tropical fruit, mostly pineapples. Sho broke the seal, causing the bottle to spurt out some orange fizz for a moment, and then poured the drink into the Saiyaness' pint glass, and then filled his now half-empty beer glass with it.

"This is Tepache, it's a fermented pineapple drink I learned to make on Earth. It tastes a little like booze but it's non-alcoholic. I can fetch some beer if you'd like to mix that with it, it's pretty good that way."

Sho retreated back into the kitchen to retrieve his bacon, stew meat, onions, and carrots and put them all in an old-fashioned dutch oven pot. The food was then covered in burgandy wine and the entire thing was put into a real-ass oven. Sho set his old-fashioned egg timer for just about five minutes, and grabbed his own plate of Okonomiyaki fries and stood at the table roughly opposite Cassava.

"The way I learned was actually a pretty good way to start. Really, if you sit down and master a recipe, learn the steps to create what you'd want with what you have and even learn to customize it, you can basically make a lot of other food. All dishes, no matter what country or planet or universe they're from are all created from a handful of techniques for cooking. My dad really liked stews, so the first thing I learned to perfect was a really good stew for him. Once I learned how to make a stew, I could use the same techniques I learned to throw together curry and chili. Honestly, that was how I showed fondness for my dad: he was a very... traditional Saiyan warrior, he didn't show a lot of affection, but when he appreciated my cooking I could see it on his face a little. The ironic part is, the more I learned to cook the more I wanted to be a chef, and the more he saw me as a failure--"

Yoshokua stopped in the middle of his sentence and sighed. His own awkward silence was broken by the kitchen timer.

"Sorry, I'm probably oversharing."

Yoshokua pulled the pot of food out and flavored it with some beef stock, mixing it in with the cooked meat and vegetables. In a bowl, he presented the stewed meal of carrots, bacon, onions and potatoes: they were perfectly soft and covered in a dark, almost molasses-like, liquid, and was served with a fork, spoon, and knife.

"The main course, Beef Bourguignon."

Cassava | WC: 577 Words. / 2099 Words.

Sho was struck with a feeling he hadn't felt before. It was almost familial in nature, but even though she didn't prattle on about it the way he did, he could tell that Cassava and he had a lot in common pretty quickly. It wasn't necessarily even the words she spoke that made him feel that way: her tone and the way she carried herself and the expression on her face honestly reminded him of his own when he thought of his own father. Maybe there was a reason why she'd been his only customer tonight- or may that kind of "destiny" talk was rather dumb, Sho was of two minds when it came to that stuff.

No matter what, seeing the Saiyaness enjoy his food so much had made Sho happy, but the thought of being likely to never see her again felt strangely painful. It was weird to find a kindred spirit like this and feel so threatened to lose what they had, even though their friendship had literally only begun that night. All Sho knew was that he needed to properly process the sudden wave of emotions that shot through him, and he figured making dessert was a good excuse a bit of focused silence.

"I um-- I relate to what you say a little too much, actually. The reason I'm on New Sadla isn't even to do this, it's actually because my dad died a couple weeks ago."

Creme Brulee was pretty good choice for dessert for the restaurant because it's pretty simple to make, but has a sense of prestige and spectacle to it. Yoshokua was a lot more stoic than pretty much any course in order to properly focus on the food without getting lost in the emotion of the moment. The half-Saiyan cook scraped a couple pods of vanilla into a heated pan full of heavy cream and sugar, and then separated several egg yolks. After the cream mixture cooled, he put it into the egg yolks and whisked vigorously.

"I actually don't know that many Saiyans, I don't even know that much about Saiyan culture other'n what my Dad taught me and everything he said about it would force me to be-- well, the opposite of who I am. But... I need to see how my dad grew up, first-hand."

Sho turned on an electric kettle as he fetched a set of ramekins to pour the custard into, as well as a casserole. Finally after a few minutes of carefully pouring the custard into the ramekins and then the boiling water into the casserole dish the ramekins were in, he put the food into the oven again. Yoshokua paused in thought before grabbing his own small bowl of stew and sitting down again. The chef took a sigh of relief, he was pretty sure he had his thoughts together.

"The thing is, I'm like you. I might not be doing aid work and I might jus' be a drifting cook, but driftin' is all I've ever known how to do. I've only ever known how to drift from place to place, but cooking always made wherever I went feel like home-- and yes, that is tremendously corny, I know. Listen I-- oh crap."

Sho had never set a timer. Immediately, he jumped from his seat and pulled the casserole tray out, lightly burning his hand. What matter most was that the creme brulees came out perfectly, and so they seemingly did. Yoshokua made a test with a gloved finger to make sure they were well cooked, and all was well.

"THAT-- was stupid close-- anyway, might wanna stand back a little for this part."

After waiting a few moments to cool, Sho plated the traditional creme brulee with a few raspberries and a berry sauce around the ramekin, and covered the custard in a fine sugar. After taking a sharp inhale, a small jet of fire came from Sho's mouth and cooked the sugar, creating the crunchy traditional creme brulee shell.

"Your Creme Brulee is served."

After giving a few moments for his guest to enjoy her dessert, Sho grabbed his own custard and doused it in flame, creating a similar perfect shell. With a CRNK! he cracked the topping and enjoyed alongside his customer.

"What I wanna say is I kinda feel a connection to you, we have a lot in common. Don't get me wrong--"

Sho gave an awkward, shy chuckle.

"I'm not tryin' to pick you or anything. I'm not that guy. But... I wanna be friends cause you seem like someone different from anyone I've met in my life."

Sho put his own mobile device onto the table and smiled.

"So, let's keep in contact. At the very least if we come across each other somewhere out in the universe, I'll make you some food. Hell, maybe I'll teach you some things."

Cassava | WC: 832 Words. / 2931 Words.

Yoshokua made a mental sigh of relief as Cassava humored his slightly awkard request. A part of Sho worried that she might say no or the situation might have been uncomfortable, and he honestly wasn’t one to take rejection well. That little part of him that was anxious about her response was thankfully squashed and something wonderful was achieved: FRIENDSHIP!

Sho chuckled at Cassava’s own drunken self-description as he typed his own description into her phone with his contact details: Sho (That one nerd who cooked for you). After she finished the dessert, he put down the phone and went back into kitchen with a handful of his own and his patron’s plates.

“Do you really think I know eighty-three other weird girls, or that they’re on my phone in that order?” asked Sho, still chuckling.

He threw the dishware, cups, pots, pans, and other cookware into the dishwasher to make sure that they’d be ready for the next opening of the Diner. He also put the remaining food items still away, and anything cooked was put in the fridge for leftovers. Finally, he cleaned every surface of the kitchen until it was sparkling, and then checked the time.

“Next time I see you you’re definitely getting into this kitchen, I’ll have some interesting food for you to check out, too. I’ve been hunting for this weird squid: I hear it’s delicious and that it actually moves after you cook it, or chop it, even though it’s dead. There’s some interesting ways to prepare it I really want to try.”

When Sho looked into his reflective pots, he saw the exhaustion on his face, as well as a bit of the alcohol. He was tired, it was at around two A.M. it was probably about time to close up and find a place to sleep in the city or camp out in the wilderness.

“I think I’m about ready to pack it up,” he said as he pressed a button on the fridge. Everything in the little box started vibrating and whirring, until it all disappeared in a gigantic white puff of smoke, and shrunk into two little poi poi capsules. On the ground was nothing but Sho’s backpack, which hie picked up and got ready to move out. Before then, a thought crossed his mind.

“Hey, so you’re probably more tied into Saiyan culture than I am, so I have a request. If you hear the name Rudavega, give me a ring, yeah? That’s my pop's name, and I’m sure you’ll never hear of him since he’s a low class Saiyan deserter, but if for whatever reason you hear it please let me know. I need as many leads as I can get on that guy if I’m ever gonna know who my dad really was.”

Sho gave a final smile before waving off and walking toward the edge of the plateau the diner was on.

“See ya.”

Cassava | 509 WC / 3440 WC