[Open] for business~

[bustybentobabe]

Characters: Angel Starr and any of you starving masses
Content: Angel is working at one of the food stands at the races. Feel free to drop by for a bite to eat.
Setting: In the middle of the makeshift market
Time: Lunchtime, of course
Warnings: Don't worry, these lunches are delicious, nutritious, and not laced with any special ingredients. And

Comments

[drinkitlovelife]

Milk was hungry. Milk was very hungry. She also, after the eating contest and food fight with Haruhi, never wanted to see another hamburger or hot dog again. This left her without many options, but the stand over here looked pretty good. In her human guise, naturally, she ran over and stared at the lunchboxes. Her stomach might have growled.

[bustybentobabe]

Angel heard the faint sound of a growling stomach, and very casually lifted her head to see who was drooling over the lunchboxes. She smiled sweetly at Milk, and took a moment to add the final touch to the box she was working on: a slice of carrot which had been cut into the distinctive shape of a cherry blossom, completing a bento box of beautiful floral shapes. She then set it on display with the others, and stood up to turn towards the pretty young girl.

"Good afternoon," she greeted in a kind voice, like the kind mothers would use when speaking with their own children. "Would you like something to eat?"

[drinkitlovelife]

"YES." Kurumi might have gone a little starry-eyed. "This looks really good! You made it, right?"

[bustybentobabe]

Angel chuckled softly to herself. There was something sweet about the girl's heartfelt admiration of the food, enough that Angel was almost touched. With that kind of passion and those dewey eyes, this girl could probably one day have men eating out of her palm, provided she learned to use it right

[abeator]

The really annoying thing about Gearship races was that there was a long time between the period when ships landed in the race venue and the race themselves. It was fine when he was in a team, when he could guard the planes with people he knew, but now...

Bah, enough of that. His only real problem was that the food around the common hangar was crap, and the path to the Fierta was inconvenient at best so he minimized his trips back. He had managed to make do for the first ten days of the pre-race preparations, but now, he felt that he was going to become malnourished if he didn't get anything better in his stomach for lunch.

So there Abe was, venturing a little further than he usually would, sniffing out for what he hoped was something good to eat. The young pilot ended up wandering to a food stand selling...

"Are those planes on your lunchbox?"

[bustybentobabe]

"They are!" Angel replied as she turned to face the younger man. "Do you like them? We're only selling these during the races: The Aviator's Sky-high Lunchtime Special. We use the freshest imported ingredients, prepared with top-class artistic and culinary skills... and make all our food with love, of course." She smiled sweetly. "Would you like to try one?"

Hmm. He seemed old enough that he could possibly be a pilot himself,but young enough that he might just be an enthusiastic fan.

[abeator]

Most of what she said went over Abe's head, one-track mind as he was. All he knew was that it was a plane lunchbox, which made it ten times better than normal lunches already. He normally didn't care about what he ate as long as it didn't make him sick and it filled him up properly, but come on. Plane lunch boxes.

Question was, did he have enough for it?

"How much is it?" he asked, looking at the lady selling the things, giving her far less attention than he did the food.

[bustybentobabe]

"That depends. Are you paying in doubloons..." She flipped her bangs to the other side of her face, to give the next two words an unusual chill. "... or francs?"

They were only a few coins either way, but she charged more to those who used Ivona's currency. It was her grudge at work. Besides, if an Ivonian could afford to fly here, they could afford to pay a little more for lunch.

[frakkdis]

...Huh. THAT looked like a new place.

Kara had been moseying along through the town, on the way for drinking (her regular habit, of course, especially now with all the new places) when she spotted the stall with the funky lunch box things.

Cute designs. The blond was no average girl, but she did like nifty things.

[bustybentobabe]

Angel, at the moment, was talking to another customer. The man was a tough sale. He did seem interested in having one of their deluxe-sized lunchboxes, but every time she brought up the tea, he scowled. The man apparently had no interest in such a flowery drink.

"Well, then," Angel said as she casually flipped her bangs, revealing a more devious eye, "I suppose I will just have to let you in on a little secret. It's not on the menus, but if you promise not to tell..."

And so, she produced a small cup and a ceramic flask, the kind that was used for pouring sake. Lunchtime seemed like an early time for alcohol, but some people could drink at any time of the day. With this, the man was sold.

[frakkdis]

And naturally, at the sight of the sake bottle and cup, Kara came right on over.

"When you're done with him," she said in a low voice as she passed the server, "lay some of that on me, will you?"

The blond then sat at one of the vacant tables nearby, kicked back, and grinned.

[bustybentobabe]

Angel laughed softly. "Gladly, but not a word out of you, either."

The fact of the matter was that there were a lot of boozehounds at these races who were too rowdy and unsavory for Lunchland's tastes. If word started spreading that they had brought along bottles of high-grade sake, they would start drawing the wrong sort of crowd and scare away their normal patrons. (And, more importantly, they might run out of it, and then what would they drink?)

So, Angel told the other chefs that she was going on break, and then casually walked over to Kara with another bottle and two cups. "Hope you don't mind my joining you for a bit." After all, so long as they were serving it, Angel figured she may as well have a little herself. Just a sip... she didn't want to get plastered and lose the motor skills to make her lunchboxes. Besides, it was nice to get to know the people here.

[smilin_through]

Tohru, passing by, caught sight of the display of finished boxes spread out across the front of the Lunchland stand, and immediately came over to take a closer look - less because she was hungry, than out of admiration for the workmanship. Her own cooking might be perfectly good as far as taste was concerned, but she didn't think it could ever match up to these for looks.

She hovered by the stand, admiring the different designs, and wondering if she should buy one and see if it tasted as good as it looked and smelled - though, it would almost be a shame to eat some of these, especially the cute animal ones...

[bustybentobabe]

Angel was still working when Tohru came, putting the last touches on another kyaraben: onigiri shaped and with black seaweed on them to make them look like little smiling baby skywhales. These were placed at the center of a lunchbox, looking like they were swimming through clouds of rice and cauliflower. The yolk of half a hard-boiled egg made the sun.

She set it up with the others, and paused to smile sweetly down at the girl who was admiring them. "Do you like them?"

[smilin_through]

"They're lovely," Tohru said, enthusiastically. "Do they take you long to make? They look terribly fiddly to make this many of."
It really did seem a pity that people were just buying these in the same way as they bought the sandwiches and burgers on the other food stands - just because they were hungry and wanted something to eat. Obviously it was what food was for, but she didn't feel like the creators were getting enough credit, at the end of the day.

[bustybentobabe]

Angel just laughed. "Not as long as you might think. Once you've had enough practice, they can be prepared very quickly, in fact." And she had years of practice.

Unfortunately, Angel was painfully aware of how some people gobbled these up without even realizing what they were shoving in their mouths, or noting how much more quality and love went into the food here than anywhere else. It was not even surprising to her at this point, since it was just human nature to be so disgustingly oblivious. But for the people who did notice the extra care, and who appreciated it... for them, it was worth going the extra mile.

"Would you like one?"

[mayovice]

Out once again into the makeshift town, Hijikata once again found himself wandering around the place with nothing much to do. He had done his duties for the morning and completed most of the paperwork - not to mention lunchtime was coming and like hell he wanted to eat what the cooks on the ship were providing. As good as that annoying cook's (that male, most of the time nude one) food was, he would rather head out to eat than put himself through the torture of eating the food there and most possibly suffer under the eternal gloating of the male cook

[bustybentobabe]

That voice. She knew who that was. Angel stopped in the middle of cooking, flipped her bangs so that her 'evil' eye was exposed, and turned to the other cooks. "... someone get me a plain lunchbox and a bottle of mayonnaise."

She then turned back towards the customer, giving him that same condescending smirk she had given him for the past... what was it now, 17 years? Really? God, this is why she hated running into old friends. It reminded her how old she was.

"We're only here for the races," she replied. "We thought the people here would appreciate some food that doesn't take the lining off your stomach."

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Toshirou?"

[mayovice]

Hardly fazed in the slightest by the evil look he was getting from the woman (he could cast glares even more demonic than hers; he was the Demon Boatswain after all), the man only kept his neutral look of lineface that somehow only turned more solid at the rappig that grunted beside him. Goddamnit, just why was the blasted thing following him anyway. The damned animals did nothing but irritate him and destroy his already tarnished reputation.

After that the officer tried hard not to twitch too visibly at the use of his first name - of course she was going to use it given the history they had all the way back to a past he'd rather not remember but had to anyway for the sake of what he learned from it. That and the fact that she just pretty much ordered food for him even before he opened his mouth. Okay, so it was pretty much what he would order but still. Hijikata hated it when people put words into his mouth.

Crossing his arms over his chest, the boatswain had the usual annoyed look on his face as he responded. "First of all, its

[bustybentobabe]

She gave a musical laugh, putting on an innocent face even though she knew he was the last person on earth who would believe it.

"It's not like you ever get anything different, Toshirou." As always, she completely ignored his request to call him Hijikata. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she still saw him as that little seven-year-old kid, and so there was no way she would ever address him as she would an adult. Besides, he was fun to tease, and he never seemed to react at all to that kind of teasing