“Hm, so we’ve been left with a lot more to work with than I thought.”
“Did you really think Sini would leave you with fuck all?”
“Well, somewhat…”
Elkay-En had been wandering around the Pink Paradise with a whole troop of beings. The oasis was currently closed and signs had been put up, saying that the place was under construction and under new management. While everything did work, Elkay-En’s biggest problem was that he didn’t have six slaves to do everything for him, and he wanted to automate things as much as possible. Elkay-En though was well aware that there were a lot of jobs that couldn’t be done automatically, so that was why he was now roaming the kitchen, trying to work out what do to.
Right now, Elkay-En was with Kayel, Nyssi, Tanos and Akah. Talok and Tahvra had been following around as well, even though they weren’t paying attention and kept on getting distracted, but they had wandered off on their own a while ago. Mostly because they were chasing the little glowing furry flying creatures Elkay-En kept on summoning to light up little corners. Ret and Fengar were outside, keeping an eye on the grounds and telling anyone who came close that the place was closed.
“Honestly, the food generators cover a lot of it already?” Nyssi suggested. “The only real problem is that people are going to expect something fancier. Dunno if it’s just me because I’m a carnivore and I’ve eaten a lot of different meats, but I can taste the cloned meat, and people might not be a fan of it and expect more.”
“We’re not going for five star fancy shit though, are we?” Kayel asked. “We’re basically making a place that serves drinks and food and has a place for you to sleep off the alcohol, right?”
“Well, we also have the natural spa, which I have mostly worked out how to automate…” Elkay-En grunted. “From the appearance, people may expect better. This WAS a Life Oasis after all, and I do intend to keep it somewhat Life Oasis-y, even if it’s not quite the real deal any more.”
“Are you being mean to yourself again?” Tanos tutted. “You keep on calling yourself a not-Life Goddess, but you are! You’re just not as experienced as Sini! You’re a way nicer person though.”
Elkay-En paused, then smiled a little. “I appreciate that. But I do still have the conundrum of not knowing how to deal with kitchen work. Because I know I can’t make my meat creatures do anything complicated. It’s a miracle that I managed to make ones that can strip beds and throw all the linen in the giant washing machine.”
“Still clever though!” Nyssi was also trying to boost Elkay-En’s confidence. “Honestly, your meat creatures are genuinely not awful now that they have fur. Although the animal part of my brain does wonder what they taste like.”
“That… that is messed up, Nyssi!” Tanos exclaimed.
“Not at all!” Akah countered. “If anything, Elkay-En’s meat sprites are probably some of the most ecologically friendly meat you could have. It costs basically nothing to produce, it doesn’t need feeding, it releases almost zero carbon dioxide or methane and it’s not conscious in any way! I’d guess that the meat is very lean, because it’s mostly muscle, but it is sustainable.”
“Yeah but does it taste good?” Kayel asked, then paused. “Why am I joining in? I’m not a big meat eater anyway.”
“I’ve seen you eat meat though?” Tanos went back to exclaiming.
“Yeah, occasionally. But I like my meat minced up and easy to chew and swallow. I love a good burger but don’t care much about a good steak. Elkay-En’s weird meat creatures though, I assume, since they aren’t fatty, they’d work better stewed?”
Elkay-En thought for a moment. “Actually, I marble the fat through the flesh. It’s hard making proper well-defined muscles without a real skeleton to work with, so the fat works as a backup support system and also protects the proto-nerves.”
Nyssi blinked. Akah though seemed both surprised and happy.
“Is that… a bad thing?”
“Not at all!” Akah smiled. “I think you have accidentally been producing high quality marbled meat this entire time.”
“Don’t know until we try!” Nyssi smiled as well. “Elkay-En, can I eat one of your little meat sprites, please?”
Elkay-En glanced at the nearest meat sprite, then hesitated a bit. “Uh… are you going to kill it and eat it raw?”
“I’m an apex predator, so probably.”
“Oh come on!” Tanos snapped. “At least let Akah cook it or something!”
“Yeah, because I’m curious too now!” Kayel added.
“Mate, you’re not helping.”
“Totally am. Those meat sprites might be delicious, if cooked right!”
Akah shrugged. “I am in two minds about actually eating it, but I wouldn’t mind having a crack at cooking the meat.”
Elkay-En was still hesitating, but now he had different questions on his mind. “Uh, Akah, friend, why do you want to do cooking?”
“When I was a starving soldier slave, I used to dream about having an infinite pantry and being able to cook whatever I wanted. And while I was trying to get out of Deitic territories, I took a lot of dishwashing jobs in the hopes of becoming a cook. Now I’m free, I’d love to actually give cooking a proper try.”
“I mean, there’s nothing stopping you from just hiring Akah to cook food for visitors?” Nyssi suggested. “It’s a tough job sure, but Akah does have ice powers and a bunch of crazy friends that will really help him out.”
Elkay-En thought some more, then summoned a large, flightless meat sprite that wasn’t covered in fur. “Alright, Akah. The kitchen is all yours for the next two hours. Use the food generator to get extra ingredients and make something tasty out of this. Show me what you got.”
Akah shrugged. “Sure, I guess. What do you want me to cook?”
“Steak and chips!” Nyssi beamed. “That’s like, always on fancy menus!”
“Well, alright, I guess!” Akah seemed quite excited. “Give me a bit of time to work out how everything works, then I’ll call you when dinner is ready. I’m pretty sure I can make something both tasty and edible in here…”