Boxed Lunch of Doom

The brisk autumn air of Shubiya sends the leaves, fiery in hew, floating across the city like dancers at a ballet. The sky is sunny and bright, reminding the world that, though there is war and suffering in this world, there are still reasons to find joy. And Nyanta, the Coolest Cat in ETO, is enjoying a cup of tea with a slice of Pela's cheesecake while relaxing at the Pelapuff Maid Cafe, not a care in the world.

He sits at one of the nice, redwood tables leisurely as he sips his tea, truly savouring the blend as he closes his eyes to contemplate the flavor. Several chairs are open around said table, and anyone would feel welcome to join Nyanta just by observing his aura.

There was often a creeping, draining feeling to tiredness, and today, Lunaris looked like the embodiment of that sensation. Her eyes were darkened with tiredness of work, and she was looking worse for wear as the door pushed open to present her. The usual stubbornness gone for now as she sought out what was needed - Tea and Food. For all that as soon as the Cait Sith's eyes land on the dapper cat, her whole personality and posture seem to brighten up, she offers a wave and a smile as she heads on over to him.

"How has the tournament been going? I kind of lost track a little with all the work over in Kallamore. It's so nice to not have to wear headware over here," she comments with a soft sigh, flopping down into one of the chairs, her ear quirking up slightly. "Hope you don't mind me stealing a chair, the travel has been exhaustiiiing. Can't wait for the chaos gates to be usable."

Nyanta's smile brightens ever so slightly as Luna enters the cafe, and he raises his tea cup with a slight head bow as she approaches. "Pleasantly Met, Lunya. The tournament has finally finished, and all that remains is closing ceremonies this weekend, nya. While there is still a little left to do, I can, for the moment, relax for a time, nya." He then nods with a slightly more somber expression, "Nya... If the war goes well, none will need to suffer the weight of 'headware' in the Palace Lands. Until then, we fight for them." When Lunaris grabs for a chair, he gestures with an open hand, "It would be my purrleasure to share the company of a lady so refined as yourself, Lunya."

The needs of leadership havent pulled Shiruba away from Shibuya yet so she is making the rounds of checking on the other establishments in the town. Particularly for things that are in need after all the supporting of the tourney.

Also because she's still a massive foodie so there is no way she's not making a stop by the cafe while she can.

Luna lets out a huff of air as she realises that she entirely got formalities, gives an apologetic smile and tacks on, "Ah, and.. Nice to see you again, Nyanta. Sorry. My mind's everywhere at once." So she took a moment to collect herself rather than being the ball of energy right off the bat. It took some effort for the fox indeed. Once she had recovered the Cait Sith gave a pleasant smile, "Yes, I hope to be there for the closing ceremony, now that the work on the ranch is finally done. Other than finding some beasts to populate it with."

An ear twitches as the door is opened, her eyes glancing back, frowning and then blinking in surprise as she spots Shiruba, offering a wave even as she continues, "Yeah. I hope the war is over soon, but I think it's going to be a little while longer yet, unfortunately."

Nyanta notes the additional presence of Shiruba and waves, "Ah! Hello, Shiruba, nya! It has been too long since we last conversed. Please, join us for some tea, and..." The Dandy Cat procures a Lunch Box, black with sakura designs, from his Inventory, "Purrhaps a light snack, nya?"

The Nyancat smiles at the mention of beasts, "I truly hope your monster farm goes well. I look forward to the produce that comes from it." Nyanta looks as though he just remembered something, "Oh, right: how did your date with Tian go, nya?"

"Hello Lunaris, Nyanta." Shiruba is about to say she doesn't want to intrude but then snacks are presented and she's immeadiatly at their little gathering. "Don't mind if I do, thank you."

Nyanta shows a winning smile, complete with glint of his fang. "Ah. I see that I have your interest, nya. Well, let me show you something that I am purrticularly purroud of, nya." He sets the lunch box down, removing the top to reveal a several tiered container filled with a various arrangement of sushi, all using what appears to be the same type of fish. For every piece of sushi, oddly enough, there is also a small bottle stored in the lunch box. "These are a new creation of mine, nya. I have been working for weeks on their purreparation, and I feel that I have outdone myself, nya."

"A light snack?" Luna asks rather delicately as Shiruba joins them, an air of slight suspicion on their voice, they had heard chatter on the comms after all. "Just tell me I'll be fine after eating some?" Gambling on what it was before politely dipping her head towards Shiruba, "Afternoon, or whatever time it is today. It's been a while!"

The mention of the monster ranch gets an almost overly eager look from the fox and she nods properly, waving a hand off in some random direction, "Yes! It'll do great, Merek is even setting up next door, that can't go wrong!" The mention of Tian though sends their cheeks warming a light pink, "And I haven't forgotten. Spent my months planning.. B-but it was quite nice."

Nyanta claps his hands together on the positive result from the dare, "Splendid, nya! I had worried that my less than harmless teasing might have effected the outcome, but I am glad your date went well, nya." In response to the fear about the sushi, Nyanta makes the famous beckoning cat motion with his hands. "I can assure you they taste divine, and I have an antidote for each piece should the worst happen and the entire batch was purrepared incorrectly. Please, have as many as you like and tell me if you feel any unpleasantness at all, nya." As if to show the sushi's safety, Nyanta places one on his own raspy tongue and begins to slowly chew, savouring every second.

Shiruba tilts her head a bit. "Oh is your ranch complete as well? I know they were finishing up the coffea farm so we can work our way into Kallamore's economy."

The presentation of snack sushi immeadiatly grabs her attention back though. "Oooh, what kind is it?" Not that Shiruba waits for the entire answer before grabbing a piece and popping it in her mouth.

Lunaris glowers at the mention of the teasing, her eyes swirling in the pent up urge to get her own back. But she is grown up and calm, yes, that. She snorts and shakes her head, "No, things went well. I did promise them a proper dance if they managed to win the tournament. Guess I'll have to give them half of one." A playful grin on her face, before peering at the sushi and wincing at the mention of needing an antidote to be prepared, that was never a good thing.

Her attention is pulled away by Shiruba and she gives a wider grin, "Yeah! Literally just before I came back here, going to stay to congratulate the winners of the competition, and then probably be heading back. Need to hire some people to catch monsters for me too." Then having put it off long enough she winces, and reaches to try one of the sushi rolls mumbling, "This better not make me ill," under her breath.

Nyanta looks quite proud of himself, "I do believe I have (mostly) mastered the art of purreparing Fugu, or blowfish, so that it is not poisonous, nya. Trial and error was... shaky, as I used up quite a few antidotes sampling them myself, but I do believe the purroof is in the pudding... er... sushi, nya."

As soon as she gets a taste Shiruba's expression brightens. "Oh my goodness that's delicious ~! Well done Nyanta." The explaination of what kind only gets a farther nod of approval. "That is difficult to master... and explains all the fishing requests as of late."

"What kind of creatures are you going to raise Lunaris?" she asks to satisfy her other curiousity.

Lunaris is the least adventurous of the trio, almost nibbling on the sushi suspiciously, and only actually trying it once she had a sense of the taste. Blink, confusion, processing. Slow nod. "Ah.. These are nice. What an odd taste," her words distracted and far away before her eyes focus once again. "Well done Nyanta, making this can't have been easy!" Then her ear twitches towards Shiruba and she pauses for a good moment, "I honestly.. Don't know yet. I'm looking for any Monsters that can create produce like livestock. I mean, I could catch the usual, like manticores and such.." The Cait Sith's head tilts, apparently not having yet figured that part out, "A-anyway! What about you, how have things been, Shiruba?"

Nyanta nods. "I hear Syx has been looking into Grunty Beef similar to Wagyu... Purrhaps you could lean into poultry, nya. As a gentleman cat, I myself am certainly a fan of Avian-based food, nya..."

"There's also mutton." No surprise the suggestion of sheep would come from the wolf. "No one expects you to have everything planned immeadiatly." Shiruba gives Lunaris a pat on the shoulder. Then takes a sip of tea. "I'm thinking of improving my craftsmanship skills. My woodworking is very basic skills, and my mapmaking is more practical than anything distinctly interesting."

"Well if you know any good monsters that suit the description, let me know. I can catch some myself, but better for our cover if I do hire a person or two to also bring monsters to the ranch," Lunaris replies with a soft giggle on her voice, sneakily taking a second piece of sushi for herself. She was really tired after all. And seemed to much appreciate the pat. "Everything will be sorted eventually. I'm more interested in food monsters, but there's going to be some that can provide strong silk and such," then to Shiruba she gives a soft smile, "Ah, those are both really good things to know. Wish I could make a map for the amount of time I end up drawing them."

Nyanta takes another sushi and begins to chew, "Map making is certainly a noble endeavor, As is woodworking, nya. It can be difficult to choose which of your passions to follow, nya. For example, I am a recognized concert violinist in the Real World, yet that skill of mine did not find its way into my character, unfurrtunately, but there were more impurrtant aspects to include in game, nya.

Shiruba nods her head. "I've had several Rebellion members interested in learning my alternate hunting techniques I am sure you can find some uncrowned handlers willing to work with you."

"I honestly have no idea why some skills don't translate over. Another thing on the pile of 'Not gonna solve'," Luna comments with a sigh, tipping her chair back as she leans dangerously far out. "I'd be glad to have them come along, if they don't mind being near a city in the palace lands. Send them my way and I'll happily employ them," she adds, peering up at the roof, "That's not much of a problem, at least."

Nyanta gives a shrug as he takes another sushi, "I would say the reason is game balance, nya. Some are just lucky enough in their lives to be more talented or having received more training, nya. Letting those people have more skills at character creation would be unfair, nya."

"It's also a reason for people to try and learn new things," Shiruba agrees with a nod.

Nyanta nods as a bit of foam starts to appear in the corner of his mouth, "Yes, of course, nya! Expand your horizons, nya! Do things you PLASTIC before, nerrr!" A tear drop of blood rolls down Nyanta's cheek as that side of his face slackens. "Oh, deerrrf. Das a purberm..." He takes up one of the antidote bottles and tosses it back like a shot of whiskey in the classiest manner one who is dying of a nerotoxin can.

"Ohno" Almost like a reflex Shiruba reaches over to put a Light infused hand against Nyanta's numb cheek. "I guess you don't have it entirely perfect yet."

Lunaris squeaks as she sees the effect that the sushi has on Nyanta, her tail and ears fluffing up in a sudden surge of adrenaline fused panic that had her next to him in moments. She wasn't about to try and treat something that she had never even seen before, so couldn't do much but try and keep him propped up. "H-hey, no need to go choking on your own Sushi, it's not really poisonous, right..?" Apparently having thought that part was just teasing.

Nyanta recovers quickly as both healing effects take control of the situation almost instantly. He takes out his handkerchief and wipes away the blood from his eye and cheek, then delicately spits some blood into the cloth before putting it away. "Ah, I did say (mostly) purrfected, right, nya? I had purreparations in case I did make a mistake, nya... that was... position 6 row 1... Nyaaa... I remember what I did differently on that one, nya..." Nyanta takes a different handkerchief and removes several other sushi from the lunchbox, then the ones around that piece, wraps them in said handkercheif, and carefully sets them aside on his tea saucer before taking another piece of sushi into his mouth. "It tastes a bit spicier a few minutes after the poison, nya."

"Good thing you kept notes." Shiruba lets out a sigh of relief as everything appears to be okay... and Nyanta goes right back to the sushi. Uh. How to not be rude but ...

"I think I had enough sushi, thank you. I'll take some more tea though."

Lunaris was without a doubt a panicked fluster even when Nyanta managed to recover his bearings between his and Shiruba's quick action, though the whole ordeal had slightly poisoned her enthusiasm to try any more sushi. Get it? The fox for once looked absolutely aghast as Nyanta mentioned it tasting spicier after being poisoned ever so casually. "Y-you're fine right, and please don't joke about that!" The already frazzled Cait Sith was a worrier that day, making sure her friend was okay for as long as she could manage, staying about to check up on him where she could, before no doubt going to find Tian to congratulate them after being reassured that the dandy feline was indeed safe.

One could assume this has happened to Nyanta before with similar results, otherwise he would not be as nonchallant about the occurance. "I understand your appurrehension, nya. I shall, nobly, fall upon the sword of finishing these myself, nya." And so he does, finishing the ten or so remaining rolls with no issues. "I do believe that settles it, nya. Give that vein a wider berth than I wish, nya..." He flashes a smile to the two of them, "Thank you, my ladies, nya. This event has been meowst informative, nya." They do, of course, continue with tea and cake for a bit to ensure that no issues come about for any of the partakers. Nyanta does end the event with a closing comment, "Still, I truly believe Fugu is simply to DIE for, nya."