Completed Getting Started

[Artur]

Getting Started
Spring 1st, 513 AV; 16th Bell

He was later then he intended to be, Artur had planned to be here earlier today but his misadventure in the garden had decided to eat away his time. He was glad that the time was the only thing the garden managed to eat. He had found the Withering Rose now of course and when he did its entrance looked eerie. Although his mind gave him hesitation to enter, his gut on the other hand dared him to enter. Seeing as how he went through a garden full of strange, usual, and in some cases cannibal plants, it was likely he wouldn't regret entering the Rose. So with a bit of mustered courage he pulled the door open and went on in, he found the dim room inside to be interesting, all sorts of smells filled his nose as his bear sense picked up the delicious aroma of the food. The decorations of the Rose gave the restuarant a sort of relaxed appeal as he felt the anxiety from before just vanish away. The tables were decorated with a rose each of a different color; white, red, and black. He smiled as he heard the door shut behind him, as a beautiful waitress with brown hair greeted him.

"Hello and welcome to the Rose, my name is Raenah and I'm your host tonight." She gave a smile that infected Artur, making him unable to control a smile in return. Such a pleasantly warm mood radiated from her, it felt contagious just by seeing her.

"Hello! My name is Artur," he twindled his fingers nervously but he found that wearing off as well, a calm sense of confidence built within him, "I'm here for a possible job as a cook."

"Artur? Weren't you suppose to be here last season?" Raenah looked inquisitively at him, Artur wasn't sure if she was curious or what.

"I was actually, had to hibernate of course. That's why I didn't show up 'til today." He explained with a slight chuckle, a shrug of his shoulders followed.

"Well better now then never. How good can you cook?"

"I'm... not the best. I could learn though! In fact I want to learn!" He enthused with a nod. Raenah looked at him for a few minutes, possibly considering whether he would do well as a cook.

"All right then," she finally spoke. "You'll start today with clean up, Lounel will help you get started. Tomorrow when you come back make sure you wear black velvet." She instructed as she guided him to the kitchen.

"Thank you!" When they went into the back area of The Rose, Artur's mouth dropped as they entered the kitchen area. It was slightly dimmer compared to the dining area, but the candles that adorned the room gave the kitchen an easy comfortable vibe that just filled the place. Counter tops of fine wood were polished and kept clean, while the stove and other cookware available showed fine quality. This being his first kitchen he would work in, Artur was estatic to see it before his eyes. Several cooks were busy with their dishes they were preparing, as the fascinating smell of a kitchen at work filled his nose.

"Lounel, come here for a tick." A lanky man with dark hair came before Raenah with raised eyebrows, curious as to who she was with.

"This a new guy Rae?" He mused with a suave accent, Raenah nodded in her reply.

"You'll show him the ropes of the kitchen, so make sure he doesn't start a fire." She sounded more authoritative than before, it made Artur a little nervous as to what her badside would be like.

"Understood. Right this way." He waved for Artur to follow him, and the bear did so almost instinctively.

[Artur]

"You'll be cutting today, so you need to learn how to use a knife." Lounel instructed as they went further down the kitchen, on the counter top where there were a couple of cutting boards and knifes Artur noticed a bundle of vegetables that waited to be sliced and diced. He was already excited to begin his first day, thus when Lounel grabbed one of the larger knifes Artur did the same with his cutting board space. "Now, watch how it's done. The you try."

Artur nodded to his instruction as his eyes became glued to the knife, the way Lounel took a tomato and sliced it in half made filled Artur with curiosity. Before he knew it Lounel sliced at each half with swift flicks of the wrist, and both halves of the tomato were now in strips, Artur was impressed at how quick the cuts where. "Now you try."

Artur took a tomato from his pile of clustered veggies, and sliced it in half the same as Lounel did. He felt a bit self concious about how it looked as the knife had curved a bit when he made the cut. One side was a bit bigger than the other, but Lounel didn't seem to make any complaint about that. Artur didn't understand why really, but he didn't bother to make a fuss out of it. The tougher part was suppose to come next, and that was slicing the tomato halves into strips the way Lounel did. He watched again as his instructor did the act one more, which turned the strips into bits and pieces of tomato now. Artur gulped as he went in for his turn, the knife eased through the halves to make sloppy strips. "Try using the edge of the knife and not the whole thing, and don't worry about making such a precise cut. You'll get better at that eventually."

Artur nodded as he held the knife at a higher angle, where the edge and tip would cut into the slices. When he made the movements he did, in a slightly quicker pace then the sluggish one he was in, the slices were soon in a messy pile of tomato. A decent but messy pile nonetheless. "Next is lettuce, then the onions, and then we'll finish with cucumbers." He instructed as he took the round leafy veggie from the pile, with one cut at the talk and another down the middle of the lettuce he began to tear the leafy greens apart. Artur mirrored his movements as he cut off the stalk on his bulb of lettuce, then the same cut down his. He made a mental note at how Lounel took several layers of lettuce and shredded them with his hands, instead of the individual layers Artur would've done. It took about a few chimes but the entire bulb of lettuce was shredded, and it was onto the next vegetable.

Lounel grabbed the two darker green colored veggies that were called cucumbers, and simply cut them into thin slices. Artur tried to mimic the same thing, although his cuts were slower and the slices were a little jagged here and there. This step took another chime for Artur to complete, and when it came to the next step Artur's nose began to burn a bit. Not as strongly as earlier in the Garden of No Return, but enough to make his eyes water a bit. This is an onion, they will make your eyes water when you cut them but you'll get used to it." He looked at the round purple thing like it was a pest, the scent an irritation to his kelvic nose. He did his best to observe Lounel as he demonstrated the next step. A few layers were peeled off and layed on the counter as they weren't necessary. Underneath the purple layers the onion was a nose burning white bulb that soon met with Lounel's kitchen blade. The process that was used to cut the onion was the same as the tomato as far as Artur could tell, the way Lounel flicked his wrist toward him with precise cuts still interested the bear greatly. 'I wonder if I'll get to where I do that.' The aroma of onion filled the air around them and Artur wanted to cover his nose so bad, his eyes watered terribly as he wiped them with his arm. Lounel's barely had any water build up, likely because he was used to it.

"Cut the onion like that and when you're done, toss the vegetables together in the bowl here." Lounel demonstrated once more before Artur went to cutting his onion. He thought it funny when he used the term toss, because when the vegetables where put in the bowl no such thing occured at all. Instead he took what he called tongs and scrambled the salad around to where the cut up vegetables where evenly distributed to the other contents of the bowl. There were the veggies they cut of course, but mushrooms and carrots in there as well. Artur wondered if he would slice more as well, but focused on the task at hand; the onion. He peeled off several of the purple layers that coveres the onion, soon after the ripe smell burnes his nostrils as he went into cutting them. His eyes watered as if he were a crying cub again even though he had nothing to be sad about, because the strong aroma the onions had caused them to overflow. Because of this the cutting process took him a bit longer then Lounel, around four or five chimes maybe. Finally it was his turn to "toss" the salad he put together, which he almost made a mess in doing so. Admittedly he had learned how to prepare a simple salad, which was a pretty good start considering how little he knew about food.

Lounel had him continue to cut vegetables as it would give him practice, and there were more orders that required vegetables to be sliced. For a couple of bells Artur had been slicing tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, lettuce, and yes even the onions. When his shift was over and closing hour came, Lounel decided to check with him. "You get the hang of cutting vegetables?"

"Starting to, don't have that flick thing you do though." He admitted with a grin, Lounel chuckled after Artur said that.

"Well since you're starting out here tomorrow we'll do some practice at my place. I can teach you some other things to get you started?" Lounel looked to him as he finished wiping down the counter.

"R-really?! Oh wow, thanks!" Artur cheered out of excitement.

"Sure thing Arger." His instructor shrugged. Artur laughed at his mistake.

"Artur." He corrected with a pleased smile. Things are definitely going to look up this season, as Artur had a lot to learn when it came to food.

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name:Artur XP Award: Cooking- 2 Observation- 2 Lore: Preparing a Salad Cutting Vegetables Notes: Please remember to deduct your living expenses and contact me about your wages. Im giving you your grades because I trust you will do it. I will check in 7 days. If its not done by then I will post an intervention on your CS. Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM