Chapter 898: Chapter 898 Little bit of a Date
Kat and Lily were about ready to scream aloud in joy when they finally found a place selling food meant to be eaten right away. It wasn’t what they were looking for, but after an hour of finding nothing but various stalls selling fish, crabs, other crab looking things and plants that grew in the area, just the fact they were selling food they could eat right away was enough to ignore the rest of the problems the stall had, and there were many.
The first and most obvious thing they noticed, and weren’t all that happy with, was that the man selling things was using a few rickety bits of wood that looked like it was held more together with hope then wooden planks or nails. The other was that they were clearly just selling this stuff out of there house, though the house really wasn’t in any better condition then the stall.
What drove them accept this though, was that the man was using two tables on top of the stall to keep things organised, and there was new food coming out of the house pretty regularly carried by a child that was likely no older than six. Flouting labour laws? On Earth certainly. Here... well there probably wasn’t any. The man clearly doubled as a butcher with the second table. It was dripping with blood and had a bucket nearby filled with fish guts and off-cuts. It wasn’t appealing at all to see the butcher working on that bucket when he lacked other things to do. He was turning it into mashed fish... that was then going onto the sandwiches.
Still, what he also did was cut the choice bits into small meaty cubes and laid them out onto a large clay plate. Kat and Lily were starting to realise that perhaps the reason nobody was selling street food was that they had no way to keep it sanitary in the slightest. The clay plates were stained with old blood splotches that failed to wash off. The sandwiches barely got by, mostly by being stacked on top of other sandwiches and writing off the bottom lot as a loss.
They nearly overlooked the store if it wasn’t for those sandwiches though. A group of three fisherman walked up, slapped down some coin and walked off with nine of them. Fishing was hungry work after all, and being in the hot sun didn’t help matters for normal mortals. After the two followed the crowd to the sandwiches, they saw the fish cubes and decided this was close enough.
“Could I get that entire platter of fish?” asked Kat.
The guy behind the counter didn’t look too pleased about the question and said, “Fifty Dollars and it’s yours,”
.....
Wait... why did he say fifty dollars? Why did it translate that way? Kat didn’t let the surprise and confusion show on her face though, she just waited for Lily to transform before pulling out the money. The man jumped back when he watched Lily transform, and had a moment of realisation. Apparently Kat’s appearance wasn’t enough to flag her as a cultivator in his mind before.
He handed over the platter “Enjoy yourselves,” before grabbing the money and rushing into the house. Kat and Lily didn’t really plan to stick around so they headed off. Lily transformed back into a Memphis so their money was secure and Kat danced around all the pedestrians, trying to speed up as she went. It didn’t take long to find an out of the way dock, they’d already been pretty far from the middle of the district, so they managed to find a pier with no boats, no garbage and clear water. They set up along the edge and Kat let her feet dip into the water, mentally thanking the fact this had to be a newer dock.
Lily transformed and placed the coin pouch in the middle so they could both watch it and then swiped a cube for herself. It was a bit salty, but her feline side loved it. The right amount of that fishy taste, very fresh and completely raw. She was grabbing a second before she’d even realised her hands were moving and chewing on them happily. They weren’t really a good meal by themselves but Lily didn’t feel like they’d wasted time anymore.
Kat grabbed a cube for herself and confirmed that yes, they were quite salty. She didn’t have the instant appreciation either... but as she chewed on it more the flavour started to transform. Lily was tearing into them, but Kat slowly chewed and savoured the single piece she had.
It had an interesting squish to it, and had a lot more water in it then it should. It helped offset the extra salt surprisingly well once you got going and the fish tasted very fresh, tickling her tongue a bit. Now, it was still too salty even then, and there just wasn’t any layers to the meal other than fish and salt with a weird bit of fresh water that kept things interesting... but that was it.
Now, that was no real criticism. Even though they probably overpaid, this was likely the best the family could make considering the price of spices in a place like this. Other ingredients would have been nice as well... but apparently this was a bread area, or at least it was for the poorer folks. The bread was probably where the man made most of his money despite them looking rather questionable. He used all the less appealing cuts for them and it was a good, hearty meal for the fisherman that didn’t make his own, or just needed something quick.
Now, this really wasn’t a meal for Kat. However, it was very enjoyable to soak herself in the joy radiating from Lily as she put a second cube in her mouth. Lily was already on her fifth and Kat found she could almost taste it the way Lily was. It wasn’t the same, just an echo of a thought... but Lily’s own joy came along with it as well, making Kat a lot more pleased with the meal then perhaps it really deserved. So Kat spent a lot more time chewing, watching the lake, and basking in Lily’s presence then she did enjoying the food.
Once the plate was cleaned up, mostly by Lily, she tucked herself into Kat’s side. “Sorry for eating everything,” whispered Lily softly as she too stared out at the lake.
Kat rubbed her thumb slowly across the back of Lily’s hand, “It’s no problem. I didn’t get anywhere close to the same enjoyment you did from it and I need significantly less food. I don’t really see it as an issue,”
“I know but I still feel a bit bad. It was a meal for US and I ate at least three quarters of it. Even if I did enjoy it more, I don’t like that I ate some of your half as well, especially without even asking,” grumbled Lily good naturedly. Feeling just how unconcerned Kat was about the food, and how pleased she was otherwise made it hard to be properly concerned about it.
“Yes I suppose, but if you’d asked me to divvy out shares I’d probably have given you two thirds without even thinking about it, then offering you more when you finished first. I really don’t need food like I used to so it’s no bother,” said Kat.
“Yes but... that’s another thing I sometimes worry about. I feel like a bit of a pig sometimes with how much I eat,” said Lily, once again without the feelings backing it up. It was more to just grumble with Kat.
“Ah, well. Should’ve gone vampire. Then you would have been able to just drink blood. Hmm... could you have drunk my blood if you did that?” asked Kat.
Lily shook her head. “Not frequently no. Your blood has a good deal of demonic energy in it. Perhaps once a month at the most? Everything has a bit of resistance to pure demonic energy, and it’s not all that pure when it’s contained within your blood... but if I was using it as fuel for my body? Well then that starts to be a problem if it’s my main source of fuel. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t bother.
“I’m not the biggest vampire fan in the world, but it is quite intimate to take blood from someone’s neck. If I had to drink from someone else... well... yeah that wouldn’t feel all that good. I’d also probably be panicking over our relationship if I didn’t tell you the truth and then tried to drink like that. Yeah... really awkward.”
Kat cringed at the image. “Yeah... depending on how sexual that is for vampires it could get really awkward really fast. I’d never be able to figure out what was causing you so much panic. Not sure if I’d try to confront you or awkwardly wonder why my best friend was avoiding me...”
“Good thing I didn’t go for that option,” said Lily with a smile and a purr as she pressed in closer to Kat.
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