Evelyn came below deck after setting the smoker up on the top deck and setting the pork butt to the side, got out yellow and brown mustard seeds, coconut vinegar, and water from the sink that Kanaka designed so the ship filters the water so it can be usable and drinkable. She grinded up the mustard seeds and then mixed it with the coconut vinegar and water and then a touch of salt until it was mixed evenly. She then put on a glove and rubbed the entire pork butt in the mustard sauce. After that she created a rub to put on the pork butt with grounded up garlic, onion, dried peppers, oregano, parsley, and other spices.
When she came up on the top deck to throw the pork butt on the smoker, Kanaka yelled from behind the ships wheel, "Oi! Is that what I think it is!"
"It's a pork butt from the freezer!" Evelyn yelled to him as it hummed with a nice sear tone as the pork butt laid on the smoker's grate and she closed the lid.
"That's actually not exactly pork!" Kanaka said.
Evelyn looked at Kanaka, looked at the smoker, then back at Kanaka, then back at the smoke and Kanaka again. "Then what the hell is it? Because no matter what it is, it's cooking now."
Kanaka, laughing, replied, "It's from a beast we killed about a month ago. None of us are chefs so we didn't know what the hell to do with it and the beast was too small and easy of a kill so selling it to anyone would fetch a price that wouldn't be worth going into port for. Are you sure it acts like pork?"
"I mean it looks like it," Evelyn said looking back at the smoker. "I think we'll just have to trust the ship's chef!" She smiled. Kanaka laughing, Evelyn said, "How do you guys like the sound of lunch and a few drinks since this butt isn't going to be ready for several hours?"
Goob stepped out his cabin on the top deck and said, "That's a fabulous idea! I'll take a long island!"
"Bobo drank the rest of the Tequila last night," Evelyn said.
Goob shot a death glare at Bobo, "Look Captain," Bobo said. "You know I'm not that big of a rum drinker. And it was either me or Taco. And you know Taco drinks that stuff like water-"
"That's because it is water," Taco spoke up repelling down from one of the ships masts."
Evelyn laughed and said, "I'll let you guys to continue bickering as I whip something up." And took the elevator back down.
"I'm quite impressed," Freya finally spoke up.
"You've been quiet for a hot minute," Evelyn said as she went into the pantry looking for bread. "Aha! Just what I was looking for!" And then she headed for the freezer. "So, what are you impressed about?"
"You, in general," Freya said. "Your beaming smile as you work. You don't hesitate for a moment and know exactly what you're doing."
Evelyn was fumbling through different slabs of meat in the freezer studying them before throwing them in her arms to bring out. "That's because I know what I'm doing. I love cooking food and I want to provide for the ones who care the most about me to live my dream. I'm a chef on this pirate ship, I'm one of the pirates on this ship, I'm a pirate." She put five different slabs of meat on the counter and went back into the freezer looking at the array of cheeses. "Surely I'd want to take care of them." She put two blocks of cheese on the counter as she readied a cutting board. She put the bread evenly down the middle and then moved to the meat. She took out a slicing machine, placed the meat on the machine's platform and moved the machine's blade back and forth as slices of the meat began to fall out the other side until she was satisfied with the number of slices she needed. Among the meat she laid them out on one of the loaves of bread and then went to take care of the cheeses. From each block she would cut about very thin slices and placed them on the meats. She threw some black pepper on the cheese and then in a machine used to only heat from the top and not the bottom, she threw the bread loaves with meat and cheese in there. She then got out an egg, lemons, white wine vinegar, and avocado oil. She then got out a jar and a stick used for blending.
"I see you're making sandwiches but what are you making now?" Freya asked.
Putting the ingredients in, along with a pinch of salt and some of the mustard she had made earlier, Evelyn stuck the stick into the jar and replied, "Sandwiches needs sauce and mustard shouldn't be the only sauce. So, I'm making mayonnaise." She turned the blending stick on and after a little moment of mixing the ingredients that sunk to the bottom of the jar she was able to move it up and down combining completely. She poured the sauce into a jar and said, "There we go."
"That took way faster than the other sauce," Freya said.
Taking the sandwich loaves from the toasting oven with a smile on her face she said, "This shit is hard. I'm just a badass."
She rushed over to the pantry again and comes back with a few peppers, lettuce and tomatoes. "Ah, so going to be a little healthy thing on the sandwiches?"
"Oh, Neptune no," Evelyn blurted. I'm putting in on the side unless someone on the crew is that weird," Evelyn said. She got out plates, put mustard and mayonnaise on the top bun, closed the sandwich and began cutting it into evenly portioned sizes. Next to the sandwiches she places lettuce, tomato slices, and a few sliced peppers for the crew to add it to the sandwiches if they liked.
As she looked at her finished creation, Goob walked into the kitchen, "Good Neptune. This place has never smelled this good!"
"Yeah?" Evelyn smiled at the praise. "How did it usually smell?"
Eyeing the beautiful sandwiches on the counter said, "Like something was burning or nothing but fish. Fish is the only things most pirates know how to make but even we fuck it up." Goob laughed. "I can assume lunch is done?"
"Yeah, you want to tell the crew?" Evelyn said.
"Sure," Goob walked over to the wall and opened a panel in the wall and pressed a button in it and closed it and she could hear a siren wailing on the top deck and running and rustling to the dining room. He then opened the panel again, pressed the button, and the alarm silenced. With a smile, Good said, "For future reference you can summon us down here with this."
"Well, since you're here, mind helping me bring the food out to the crew?" Evelyn asked.
"Gladly," he replied, and they made their way into the dining room with the food and passed a plate in front of each person.
"Oh hell yeah!" Laylee cheered. "Something other than fish for once! Oh, Evelyn. Are these those things that are just for show at those fancy restaurants?" She pointed at the Lettuce, Tomato slice and peppers.
Sitting down the join the crew she answered, "I don't know your guy's preferences yet so they're there to add to the sandwich if you so wish. "Evelyn opened her own sandwich and put the peppers on and closed the sandwich. "I for one love spicy food and hate vegetables. But will cook it if I need to." And bit into her sandwich.
She watched as the rest of the crew only added the peppers to their sandwiches too and Goob leaned over to her and said, "We all hate the vegetables too."
The whole crew laughed as she watched them all bite into their sandwiches and get quiet immediately. "Son of an Orc." Wasabi finally broke the silence.
"I think this may be the best thing we've ever had on this ship," Kanaka said with a smile taking another bite of his sandwich.
Jackson interjected, "Yeah Evelyn. This is better than what you made back on the island."
Fawn laughed, "You think this is good, just wait until she makes some pasta. She made a dish for me one time and I almost fell out of my chair for how good it was."
"I can't believe you're also serving us dinner too," Taco said as he took the last bite of his sandwich.
"You're all too kind," Evelyn said with a tear in her eye.
Laylee popped her head into the kitchen once everyone was done eating and asked, "Can I help you clean up Evelyn?"
"Giving her a glance from the sink, Evelyn said, "I would love that. Thank you so much!"
Laylee disappeared and came back with the rest of the empty plates from the dining room. "So how are you liking your first day on the job?" She asked helping Evelyn wash the plates.
"I love it," she smiled. "I know we haven't done anything like hunt beasts like you guys normally do but what I've done so far as far as my job on the ship. Here, I love it."
"That's nice to hear," Laylee smiled. "I kind of felt the same way before Captain found me and asked to join his crew."
"Yeah? How'd you become a Crystalline Pirate?" Evelyn asked.
"I was a Navy Cadet for the Sage Empire out in the Sage Sea," She said. "The Commander I was under, took us through a storm despite my warning to him that he was bringing us into one. He thought I was speaking out of line and locked me up in the brig below deck and I would be 'dealt with' later."
"That sounds harsh," Evelyn said.
"Yeah well, I will never know how he would have 'dealt' with me because the ship went down in that storm," Laylee laughed. "I survived, clearly standing here, as did a few of my crewmates. We found ourselves stranded on an island." Laylee stopped and said, "For Neptune's sake that bloody island." Laylee cursed. "We were the first ones to discover the island and the place today is known as 'Dindin Island."
Evelyn placed her last plate down, turned to her and said, "I read about that island in the paper when I was like 14 years old. That place is ridden with monsters."
"No shit!" She spoke. "There was me and 15 other crewmates, which isn't a lot since we had a huge vessel of 75 people, and once we were finally rescued, there were only three of us left."
"How did you manage?" Evelyn asked now engaged in her story.
"We didn't," she laughed. "We were rescued as we were running from a monster tribe that was on the island. They were teal skinned, 8 feet tall and all used spears. We only noticed them because they were hunting us. There were six of us before we saw them and then three spears flew at us skewering three from our group as me and the other two of my crewmates made it to the beach where a ship had just pulled ashore. Captain Goob's ship. He saw us run for his ship and waved. And then jumped down to the beach once he saw us being chased. Kanaka was already part of the crew, being he built the ship, he'll die with it too. She threw a ladder off the side for us to climb aboard. He just sat on the edge of the ship as Captain Goob went in alone. Cast out his crystal Trident and charge into the beasts, reaping them with and trident of his with ease." Laylee was now smiling.
"So you joined the crew after that?" Evelyn asked.
"I begged after he dropped me and my other two crewmates back at the Sage Empire. I was so pissed," She said.
"What made him cave?" Evelyn asked.
"The Sage Empire Navy commander wanted to put us to death for being the only survivors," she admitted.
"That doesn't seem fair."
"It wasn't. Their excuse said that since we were the only ones back alive that all 57 deaths and a valued Navy Commanders death were our fault and we had planned to kill everyone from the moment we boarded the ship. Like I was 17, the other two members were 23 and 24. We literally were in positions incapable of doing anything remotely close to sabotage. I even tried to protect us!"
"So Captain Goob saved you twice?" Evelyn said.
"Oh yeah," she said. "I've never seen a slaughter like that in my whole life. He and Kanaka stormed the Navy base at our execution and saved me and my crewmates."
"What about Taco and Wasabi?"
"They were in charge of helping Captain and Kanaka infiltrate the base. A man with an accurate wanted poster and a bloke as big as Kanaka's isn't quite the stealthiest approach into a Naval base. As you already know, Taco and Wasabi's builds are like average joe's. Once they helped infiltrate the base, Wasabi got the ship ready to depart as Taco made sure the entrance and exit were clear once Kanaka and Goob could get started."
"What did Bobo do?" Evelyn asked.
"Be a bard," She replied. "He wasn't part of the crew yet."
"I see," she said. "Well, what happened to the two crewmates that were being prosecuted with you? Surely, you're the only one who joined the crew," Evelyn asked curiously.
"Pirates raided a navy base and took one of the people who was supposed to be executed. It usually drops all charges from those who were left behind under suspicion that the one who left with the pirates was probably the one who was truly guilty." Laylee laughed. "So, what I do know is one of my crewmates told our story and that's how that island ended up on the map."
"That's a fascinating," Evelyn smiled. "I'm happy you ended up in a place that makes you happy. By the way, what was Goob doing at 'Dindin Island' anyway?"
"Well Evelyn," she started. "Beast Hunter pirates aren't only subject to sea beasts. We also hunt them on land too. Beast from the sea just produces a bigger haul and a pretty penny. Or many pretty pennies." Laylee laughed. "So, they came ashore to see if there was anything of value. Three stranded navy soldiers are what they got instead."
"Evelyn, ask her if there was a king on the island," Freya said.
Confused, Evelyn replied to Freya, "It was an island full of monsters. Only monsters. I'm sure there was no King there."
"A King of monsters," Freya said. "Ask her if there was a monster there who seemed like it was the strongest on the island."
"Fine," Evelyn thought.
"If you don't mind me prying," Evelyn said to Laylee, "Was there any monsters that seemed to be the King? Like the strongest monster there?"
Laylee's eyes widened, "Interesting you mention that but yeah," she said. "We made sure not to cross it because it was a massive creature. You're not suggesting we go back and try to hunt that? Without the weaponry we have on the ship, on land, we wouldn't stand a chance. Your siren powers or not."
"Don't blame me for wanting to try an exotic ingredient," Evelyn lied. "What kind of monster was it?"
"Well, it was so terrifying I can remember it clearly," she said. "I admit it looked like what we have at Zoo's called Gorilla's. But it was Green. So Green, it blended in with the terrain. But it was a lethal beast. Huge and it caused Earthquakes on the island whenever it would travel by leaping long distances. But it was also silent too. We were camping one night and there was a moment that no sound could be heard, the rustling of leaves, bugs, animals, even our voices. As still as we could be, we eventually finally saw it as it was just walking past us high above the trees. When it was far enough away, the sounds came back."
Evelyn was looking at her shocked and then Freya said, "Fuck."
"Is that the answer you were looking for?" Evelyn thought to her.
"It's the answer I didn't want," Freya said.
"Did you know this Gorilla or something? Does it owe you money?" Evelyn teased.
"I'll keep it to myself for now," Freya said.
Evelyn noticed Laylee fumbling with a locket in her hand. "Is that special to you?" she asked.
"Very," Laylee said with a smile opening it to display a mini compass. "It was Captain Goob's gift to me for my 18th birthday that was about a month after joining the crew. Realizing my navigation skills were on point, he really valued me on the crew. So, Kanaka added my lookout, and bedroom, to the highest point on the ship to keep us safe and I can work freely."
Evelyn started to dry off some cutting boards as she was about ready to get some side dishes for dinner ready, "Well, now you guys will have good food on the ship too."
"Oh yes we will," she smiled. "Say Evelyn," Laylee got her attention, "When is your birthday? And how old are you exactly?"
"Me? Oh, I'm 19 and my birthday is," Evleyn stopped and asked Freya, "Dammit Freya. What month is it?"
"Really?" She spoke. "Well, it's Maranoo right now and your birthday is in Takaber."
"Oh, so three months?" Evelyn asked.
"Almost two since it's almost the end of Maranoo."
"My birthday is in about two months. Takaber 19th," Evelyn finally answered Laylee.
"Knowing Captain, he'll get you something nice for your birthday too." Laylee said as she and Evelyn exchanged smiles and then said, "I guess I'll take my leave and get back to work and let you do so as well. It was nice chatting with you Evelyn."
"You too," and watched as Laylee left the kitchen.
"I'm going to note to never go to that island." Freya finally said.
"Oh I wouldn't say that's completely off the table," Evelyn responded getting beans and peppers from the pantry and a bacon chuck and a creamy cheese from the freezer. "The world needs to be explored."
"I think staying alive is more important," Freya said.
"Oh," Evelyn got ready to tease Freya, "Do you mean to tell me that Siren's are not spear proof."
"Hardy-har-har. Don't be smart you loser," Freya said that made Evelyn burst out laughing. "Anyway, what kind of contraption are you making now?"
"Twinkies," Evelyn replied as she was cutting off the tops of the peppers and along it lengths wise and dumping out the seeds into the trash. "Once the pork butt is done, I can put some aside, mix it with the creamy cheese here, and then fill the pepper with it." She walked over to the slicer she used for lunch and put the bacon chuck done and made many slices of it. "And then I'll take these and wrap it around the peppers, and they'll go in the smoker too for about an hour and be nice, soft, spicy, and delicious from the first bite."
"You're really making me jealous about not having a body anymore," Freya said.
"Are you saying that being the system of a chef is torture?" Evelyn teased again.
"Little bit," Freya said shortly.
Evelyn then sliced some of the bacon and set it aside and then filled a pot with water, dumped the beans in and covered it on the stove at high heat. Once it started boiling, she turned it down the medium heat to cook the beans thoroughly for an hour and a half. "So here I'm going to make baked beans and bacon." Evelyn said. "Once they're cooked through, I'll sear chopped bacon in a pan and drain the beans and cook it in the bacon fat with the bacon. Add some spices like allspice, cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion powder, salt, and pepper, it'll be a good side dish for dinner.
Evelyn returned to the top deck to check on the meat in the smoker to realize the sun was beginning to set along the horizon. She saw Fawn leaning over the side of the ship staring at the sunset and after seeing the meat needs few more minutes, went over to join her. "Hey there, mum." Evelyn said.
Fawn looked back at Evelyn and with a delicate smile said, "Hey there, daughter."
They exchanged laughs as Evelyn swung her legs over the side of the ship to side on the railing where Fawn was only leaning on it. "Nice sunset," she said.
"I know," Fawn said. "It was always cloudy in Gabuslma so seeing a sunset was sheer luck of no clouds in the sky. But when I was a child, I would watch it every day."
"That's right," Evelyn said. "I forgot, you came from royalty, right?"
"Yes and no," Fawn responded. "My cousin Godric and I are from the Cilantro Sea in the northern seas. We're from a country called The Golden Empire. We were nobles. Not royalty. Gold was above all, Silver was step below."
"Wait, your actual last names were a rank?" Evelyn laughed.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I eventually thought it to be silly as well. I clearly left eventually and with that knowledge is why I was allowed into the council at 19. Goob came by the island so often to check up on me. Meeting you at the pub was never part of the plan," Fawn hugged Evelyn tightly, "But we're so happy we did."
"Thank you," Evelyn hugged back. "And now," she said jumping back onto the deck of the ship. "I need to get this below and set off the alarm because dinner is about to be ready."
Once Evelyn had brought the meat to the kitchen, filled the twinkies and put them on the smoker, she pulled the bone out of the assumed pork butt and divided it onto plates and accompanied the side of the bacon beans on the side, she set the table and sound the alarm for dinner. The crew entered the dining room with excitement and hungry bellies.
"This is what you've been cooking all day?" Bobo exclaimed. "The smell had been teasing us all day up top!"
"I had to remember my training of self-control to not peek at it from the strong aroma was giving off," Wasabi said.
Evelyn, laughing, responded, "Yeah, sorry. A smoker gives off so much smoke, using it inside is highly not suggested."
"So Evelyn," Goob said, "What amazing thing are you going to make for us tomorrow?"
Before Evelyn could answer, Lalee said, "Nothing." Everyone looked in her direction. "I'll let you all know, by morning we will be in short view of Waterworld."
"Ah," Goob said. "He looks over at Jackson and said, "Then I guess we'll get to see your amazing skills in action."
Jackson smiled and said, "Well not really see them since you'll still be on the ship but yeah, I guess I just have a short thing to prove. I'm done here so I'll go and prepare the life ship for first light. He said as he got up and left the dining room."
Watching Jackson leave, Evelyn said, "I have one more treat for you all," And rushed to the elevator and took it up and ran to Jackson as fast as she could when she saw him on the top deck and fell into his arms.
"Well what is this?" Jackson said holding her.
In his embrace she mumbled, "What are you going to do?"
He pulled away to look in her eyes, "Everywhere we go, there is a bulletin board posted with wanted posters of Pirates. Everyone on the crew has a wanted poster. Aside from me and Fawn. You have one too, and a special case bounty as well. So we don't have to duck and hide from every official that might be in the places we go, someone needs to remove them." He hands Evelyn a piece of paper. She looks at it and reads it out loud, "Captain Goob of the Crystalline Pirates," She looks at the picture and says, "Who the hell is that?"
"No clue," Jackson takes it back laughing. "All I know is they won't be keeping a lookout for his face while we're there."
"Wait a minute," Evelyn said. "Let me see mine."
"Not happening," he teased.
"Why not? My replacement picture is ugly, isn't it?" She says trying to grab the rest of the papers from him.
"Oh she's hideous!" Jackson laughed.
He caught Evelyn in his arms and near inches away from her face and they exchanged a longing look into each other's eyes until Evelyn leaned in and kissed him. When she backed away, she put her hand to her lips with a smiling thinking, "So soft. Delicate."
"Don't worry, love," Jackson said. "This mission is far from dangerous."
"You're not leaving until morning, right?" She asked.
"Yeah," he said crawling into the lifeboat over the side of the ship. "But I'll be working on the boat into the late hours of the night."
"Okay," she said. "I'll be right back!" She ran to the smoker to get the twinkies and went down the elevator. She quickly poked them all with a fork. They were perfect. She portioned them into plates so everyone would have three. The ones she had for Jackson she put into a container and went back to the upper deck and gave them to Jackson. You left before dinner was really finished.
He opened the container to see the pepper wrapped in bacon. "You're really going to give us all heart attacks with all this grease," he joked.
"Oh shut up," she laughed.
Jackson smiled as he took a bite of the pepper and looked at to reveal the rest of the creamy cheese and pork butt meat left inside of the pepper he bit into. "Neptune's Beard. Wow, okay Evelyn. THAT- That is really good."
Evelyn bows and says, "Thank you kind sir." They exchanged laughs between each other, and she rushed to the elevator and before she went down said, "See you tomorrow!" And went down and served the rest of the twinkies to the rest of the crew.
"Small, yet a perfect way to end the meal," Kanaka commented on the twinkies.
"I expected a dessert or something, not this." Taco said. "I'm happy though. I won't have to watch Wasabi's blood sugar level."
"Oh shut up," Wasabi laughed digging into his last Twinkie.
"Well Evelyn," Good said. "Thank you for a wonderful meal." He gets up from his seat and says, "And now I need to sleep it off." He and the crew laugh as they all get up and leave the dining room thanking Evelyn for the food.
"I'd say that was a success," Freya said.
"You think?" Evelyn replied.
[Mission: Cook a meal and get familiar with your new crewmates]
[Status: Completed]
[Reward: +exp needed for auto level up]
[Exp: +95 exp]
[Congratulations: You are now Level 5]
[Assignable Stat Points: 1]
[Reward: +exp needed for class level up]
[Reward: +25 Class exp]
[Congratulations: You are now Brawler Level 3]
[Reward: Obtained the 'Master Chef' title]
[Title Perks:]
[+2 Agility]
[+2 Vitality]
[Here are your stats currently]
[Level: 5]
[Current exp: 0/200]
[Species: Siren]
[Class: Brawler – Level 3]
[Current exp: 0/75]
[Title: Master Chef] [Agl: +2] [Vit: +2]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 12]
[Vitality: 12] [+2] – [HP – 140]
[Defense: 11]
[Agility: 11] [+2]
[Magic: 14] – [MP – 280]
"Wow," Freya said. "I didn't realize your stats were so big."
"Didn't you make this thing?" Evelyn said.
"Nope," she said. "The architect did. You want to meet him?"
Puzzled, Evelyn replied, "Really?"
"Yeah," Freya replied.
Feeling a little tired, Eveyln said, "Umm, later." She looked back at her stats and assigned her available stat point.
[Agility: 12] [+2]
"Oh Evelyn, just one more thing!" Freya said.
[Congratulations: You have unlocked the shop.]
"Oh my Orc! I just want to sleep!"