-Break-
Location: Cursed Sea District of Căderea-dracului
Φ Together with Iancu, Suzuka, Ivana, Gheorghe, and Wadim, Orb walks forward through the city, and as they do, Orb looks at Suzuka and asks, "You doing ok? You're constantly shifting your dress around like something is stuck on it."
Suzuka, with a worried look, says, "It's hard to move in. It lacks the freedom that pants and short skirts carry. It feels like I can barely do anything. I don't know why Avram demanded I wear it."
Iancu says, "It's because my father didn't want a rampaging animal like you beating up the people of our country."
Suzuka's anger flares, and she moves up to Iancu, but stepping on her long skirt, she falls, but Orb manages to catch her back before she plants her face into the ground.
Turning to Orb, Suzuka says, "Thank you."
Then, moving upwards, she looks at her dress and says, "Stupid skirt. I want to change."
"We can get you some other clothes later, but don't change yet. If you do, Iancu won't get to stare at your beauty."
"The day I find her beautiful is the day I need my eyes removed."
Orb instantly pokes Iancu in the eyes, causing him to say, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!"
"You say you didn't need your eyes anymore."
Suzuka laughs right into Iancu's face, but then from her stomach a loud rumble emerges that causes everyone in the area to come to a halt.
Her face turns bright red, and Iancu says, "The Suzuka, a bipedal wonderbeast which is characterised by its violence, and unending wrath. One can hear the sound of its belly, which makes even the loudest beasts roar sound like nothing more than a baby's cry."
Suzuka dash forward and tries to beat Iancu, but he fights back. They lock hands with each other, keeping them in the middle as they struggle, whilst bashing their heads against each other, and as they do, Orb says, "My little twinflames are extra fiery today."
"Twinflames?" they both say.
"Yeah, it's a little duo name I gave you both due to how fiery your interactions tend to get. Two flames that light up when next to each other, twin flame."
Both of them cease their battle and return to a normal standing position while staring at Orb, then taking one lunge forward, Suzuka wraps her tails tightly around her fist, and Iancu activates his legacy, increasing the gravity around his fist, and they both try to strike Orb.
But he manages to move behind them and smacks both of their buts, saying, "TOO SLOW!"
"DIE!" They scream in unison.
But Orb continues to dash around, mocking them both.
Ivan, seeing this, says, "I never thought two humans could be so in sync, it's almost creepy."
Wadim says, "Isn't Orb moving really fast to be dodging Suzuka so easily?"
Gheorghe says, "I heard he has been practising Red branch battle arts, so maybe that's the result of his speed."
Ivana says, "Orb is pretty good at it after only having a month to train. But still, we should end this."
Wadim manifests darkness from his hand and uses it to bind both Suzuka and Iancu, but the anger they feel allows them to push through, dragging Wadim around, and making Ivana laugh.
Gheroghe then says, "Do you guys want to get something to eat?"
Suzuka stops and then quickly moves over to Gheroghe and says, "Let's go."
Alleviated by the loss of the heavy hitter, Orb gets behind Iancu and gives him a giant bear hug.
"Let go of me!"
"Hahahaha, too bad, mister Twinflame, but without your other half, you can't break out."
Iancu opens his mouth, prepares to bite into Orb, but looking at Orb's shining face, he stops.
"What did you stop, come one suck my blood."
"WHY ARE YOU SO WEIRD!"
-Break-
Entering a bar radiating a covered in the same blue and purple lights as everything in the Cursed sea district Orb, and everyone else looks around.
Throughout the bar are a series of nightmares, but throughout the bar are a series of dead sea creatures hung everywhere. Some with their flesh still on, some that are just bones, and others that have been decorated with physical objects.
Gheorghe, staring at everyone, says, "This is one of the Cursed Sea region's chain restaurants, Ookeani veri. They specialise in making drinks out of things found in the western sea of Blestemate, they have also learned how to cook a lot of the sea life out there as well."
As they all sit down right next to the bar counter, Gheorghe points to the menu and says, "Due to the curses on many of the sea life around Blestemate, you won't ever get another meal similar to them, so eat up."
A Nightmare behind the bar counter with green skin, a grey block-like head with a demonic eye looking at us says, "You must be nightmares from abroad if you need this place to be explained to you. You're far too old not to know these things."
Iancu, with an annoyed look, stares at a wall, then mutters, "As if it was my fault I didn't know that blockhead."
"Iancu, don't go being a brat," Wadim says.
Laughing, the man says, "Very rude, but what else could I expect. Three of you are anathemized, so it would make sense that you'd not know much about here, or how to mind your manners."
"Anathemized?" Orb says with grey hair.
Iancu, then getting angry, tries to speak, but his mouth is quickly covered by Ivana's hair, then she says, "Their only first generation, but don't worry, their good kids. They came back bringing a series of cursed items with them."
The man moves his face in what can be conceived of as a smile, and says, "You don't have to lie to me."
He then flicks Iancu in his head, and says, "I don't care if you're a half breed, don't be so combative. Bantering is something we do a lot in this country, so learn. Since this is your first time at an Ookeani veri, it will be on the house. Pick whatever you want?"
As they all stare at the menu, Gheorghe points at a certain dish and says, "This is a classic, I am sure you would all love having one."
Looking at the menu, the man says, "Fish aspic coming up."
He clicks his finger and his eye glows, then moments later, a giant amount of items start flying around the store, and he says, "Let me use my curse to give you all a show."
"First, you cut up a series of aquatic creatures' bodies, and combine them with vegetables sourced from the Cursed land region into a pot to create stock.
Then, activating our pot made from a Cursed beast's flesh can instantly start cooking the insides. Normally, you would have to leave it to cook for a couple of minutes, but that's burning."
Soon, fire erupts in the pot, and Suzuka says, "Won't it burn?"
"By using my curse, I can accurately disrupt the heat across the entry of the pot, and control the rate at which each ingredient heats up, which allows the proper reactions to happen, while decreasing the stress and keeping the moisture of the food."
Soon, the smell of the brought starts to hit everyone's nose, and they let out a large, "Ahhh!"
"Next, you'd use something like eggs to coagulate within the brought, and remove the impurities, but my curse can do that just as easily. Then I add the special gelatine I was preparing on the side, and start preparing my different meats and vegetables on the side.
After the gelatine fully finishes, I now arrange all of the different meats and vegetables however I want, and then pour the gelatine over each, creating unique little shapes.
You'd then refrigerate this, but using another cursed item that instantly inverts the state of the temperature of an item with no negative effect. We have a series of solid sculptures."
In front of everyone, the man drops a stature made out of gelatine and filled with meats and vegetables in front of everyone. A wolf for Orb, a bat for Iancu, a fox for Suzuka, an octopus for Gheorghe, an Eagle for Wadim, and a Tree for Ivana.
Then he says, "Your fish aspic, everyone, now eat up."
They all start clapping and stare at the sculptures in front of them.
As a trickling sound moves through people's ears, Iancu turns to Suzuka, who is drooling, and says, "Keep your drool in your mouth."
"Shut up, it just looks good."
Turning to Iancu, Orb says, "No need to be fighting, you have swallowed your own spit around 12 times while he was cooking it."
"Shut up, you dumb wolf."
Slamming the table, the bartender says, "If you're going to eat here, you better use manners."
Suzuka and Iancu say, "Right!"
Gheorghe, holding his aspic up, says, "Let's dig in."
Everyone holding up their own unique aspic takes a bite, and then after one large collective moan, they say, "Delicious."
Orb, looking at the man, says, "Your curse seems really cool, this place must be popular."
Iancu kicks Orb in the shin, and he turns his head, saying, "What?"
"Don't bring that stuff up."
"Why, he is obviously good at using it."
The man drops two large fish heads on Orb and Iancu, then he says, "No fighting."
Sighing, he says, "It's best if you don't compliment people's curses, light that child. Not everyone takes it well."
"I know a lot of people find curses bad, but in all honesty, I don't really think of curses as all that bad. Outside of not sensing spirit energy, all the nightmares I know are pretty happy."
"You talk like you're not a nightmare."
Orb's hair turns black, and Iancu grabs Orb, saying, "His hair changes colour based on his emotions, can a normal human do that!?"
"I guess you're right, it is probably just biased. Listen up, for most people, their curses don't often function well. When I was young, my brain could barely differentiate between normal brain functions and how to use my curse, a case of mismapping.
So, when my brain was reflectively trying to breathe, it actually started using my curse instead, rendering me unable to breathe. If it wasn't for the queen, I would have died.
Main people have cases like that which still persist until today, I was a lucky one. Be careful whose curse you compliment because not everyone takes it as one."
"I know it might not be worth much, but the display you put on with your curse was utterly beautiful. I hope I will get to see it many times in the future."
With an expression that can be interpreted as a smile, the man says, "Thank you, and eat up."
As everyone gets back to eating the door behind them flings open, and as it does everyone outside of those enraptured by the aspic look towards the door, and their they see a group of nightmares in suits with waistcoats on, all of which carry the insignia of a white wolf with crimson flower growing out of it.
But what grabs all of their attention the most is a the nightmare in front, a 24-foot humanoid monster that is covered in black fur and red dragon like scales, with a face that while resembling a wolf also looks like a dragon, though his wolf like ears at at the side of his head rather than the top like Orb.
It walks forward and points its finger at the door, and as soon as it does, everyone within the story, except the six enraptured by the aspic, runs out with panic on their face.
Soon, the man and his people occupy all the seats within the place, and then, sitting beside Orb on an extremely tiny stool, he says, "I would like the usual."
But beside him, the six enraptured by their aspic can only say, "HOW DELICIOUS!"