day by day [open]

[sweetdeath]

Who: Tsuzuki Asato and you!
When: August 27 - 29
What: Bartending, adventures with baking, and meeting ghost puppies
Where: KINYOBI bar, Konohanasakuya-hime's temple and the Far Shore park!
Warnings: Really bad cooking? Otherwise this should be tame.

The Bartender's Nightmare - August 27, Kinyobi

[So it's a Saturday night, Tsuzuki's managed to help Gojyo get most of the place cleaned and organized, and it's just that time in late summer when the stores are full of fresh fruit and it's even mostly affordable.

Tsuzuki has plans. He's also got a book of gourmet fresh fruit cocktail recipes, and he's taken up camp behind the bar with a cheap blender, a shaker, a cutting board, eggs, rimming sugar (and salt) and an extremely hopeful expression.

There's a small chalkboard swinging where he's hung it next to the shelves behind the bar, reading:

Persimmon Fizz (persimmon, gin, lemon, egg white) Y800

The Hot & Sweet (Asian pear, ginger beer, bourbon) Y1000

Watermelon Martini (watermelon, vodka, lime juice) Y1200

Total Eclipse (blackberries, whiskey, lemon juice) Y1000

TASTING MENU -- Y500/glass -- Bartender will custom mix!!

Order at your own risk... or take the easy way out and get something more classic.]


Free Cookies, No Strings Attached - Aug 28 - Outside Konohanasakuya-hime's temple

[All the sign says, actually, is FREE COOKIES. It's neatly hand-calligraphed, with an arrow, and a really clumsy drawing of what might be either a cookie plate or a lopsided lotus seedhead (probably cookies; the little circles inside the big circle have spots inked on them.)

Follow the arrow, and the pleasant odor of baking chocolate-chip cookies wafting from an open door towards the back of Sakura's temple will guide you the rest of the way. Inside, Tsuzuki's waiting eagerly next to an oven, double-checking the timer on his phone, and waiting for a pretty plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies next to him to cool.

(Eater beware. He misread the amount of salt they called for, and added cinnamon, because he thought it would be good. A lot of cinnamon.)]


Petting Puppies in the Park - Aug 29 - Far Shore Park

[They don't have any pets around the temple, but it's okay; Tsuzuki's found it's not too long of a walk to get to the park in the Northwest district. Not nearly as long as the walk to get to the meeting hall, anyway, or the library.

He's started a habit of dropping by in the early afternoons with dog biscuits, because, he's found, the best thing about the park is that it's positively full of animals. Most of them are wild (although tanuki apparently like dog biscuits too) but there are some domestic spirits hanging around, and Tsuzuki's trying to coax a half-grown mutt closer bit by bit with cooing and treats.]

Here, puppy, puppy! C'mere....

Comments

[sweetdeath]

Yeah.

[He blinks suspiciously at the kid (that's definitely a different knit hat than the one he'd had before; how many does he own, anyway?) before going back to trying to scrub a stubborn smear of blackberry juice off the counter. It's getting more pink than blood-red, but it's not quite gone yet.]

... Are you even old enough to be in a bar? Seriously?

[kokuyoyo]

Sure.

[Truly a reassuring answer. Chikusa suffers a little closer to get a better look at the new things gathered on the bar.]

So you're bartending this time.... The redhead didn't do those kinds of things.

[Those kinds of cocktails, he means. Then again, Chikusa hadn't inquired.]

[sweetdeath]

Okay, what's your age?

[Twenty year old minimum, whippersnapper. But it sure sounds like he's been in here before. Maybe Gojyo just wasn't worrying about checking? After all, it's not like the cops are going to notice a shinki who looks something-teen in a bar, and they're all dead anyway.]

Yeah, I'm trying out a couple new cocktails for the menu. All the upscale places have them!

[And this is totally an upscale place, now that they've scrubbed it and Gojyo fixed the hole in the ceiling. Yeah. Okay -- look, they have aspirations, even if no one's buying fancy fruit cocktails that cost a thousand yen yet.]

... Want one? I can make it virgin. [He winks.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Reaching up, Chikusa adjusts his glasses.]

I'm a shinki. How would I know...?

[Well. Arriving in a middle school uniform has certainly given him a rough idea. Still, this guy doesn't need to know that. While he lets him ponder that question, he lingers near and slowly starts going over the list of cocktails and their prices. 1000 yen...]

[Tsuzuki's cheek slowly has his gaze drift over again, and he doesn't look impressed.]

...No one comes to a bar on their own for virgin.

[sweetdeath]

Yeah, well, teenagers don't usually come to bars on their own period.

... but fine.

[It's true shinki might not know. Tsuzuki doesn't know himself, except that he looks twentysomething.

Plus, Chikusa wants a drink, and if a cop happens to wander in, he really won't notice, so it's fine, Tsuzuki reassures himself, and waves at the menu.]

What do you want?

[kokuyoyo]

..I got whatever was cheapest last time... but...

[He leans forward a little, squinting at the menu.]

...These are pretty expensive for a drink.

[sweetdeath]

I'm letting you buy a drink even though you're probably 15. Don't complain.

-- Anyway, fresh fruit's expensive.

[And it goes bad if no one orders any! Which... not enough people have been doing.

Maybe this isn't going to be as successful an idea as Tsuzuki had hoped.]

[kokuyoyo]

You should get them from a temple or something...

[There have to be plenty of temples that have fruit and things like that. Probably. Still, after a long moment of thought, Chikusa sighs a little.]

What's the tasting menu...?

[sweetdeath]

[Tsuzuki glances down at the bar, wrinkling his nose as he considers the variety of fruit he's gotten.]

Um... Beach Party?

[Yeah, that sounds like a good drink name! So, what goes into a beach party?]

... blue curacao, watermelon, simple syrup, light rum and lime juice.

[That sounds pretty good, if he says so himself. He grins at Chikusa.]

[kokuyoyo]

[...This sounds like a questionable life choice, but still. Chikusa lets himself slump into a seat as he glances down at the various fruits.]

[...Rum is good. Apparently.]

...Sure. I guess I'll try it.

[sweetdeath]

You won't regret it!

[Says a guy who's tossing a slice of watermelon directly into a blender even as he speaks.

The rind is still on it and he hasn't taken out the seeds, but that's what blenders are for, right? It'll be fine. He's getting out a shaker and lining up an amazingly cheap rum, triple sec, blue food coloring and a bottle of shelf-stable lime juice next to it as he waits for the straining blender to finish pureeing the watermelon base.]

[kokuyoyo]

[...Nope, he's regretting it.]

Bit by bit, Chikusa narrows his eyes.]

Do you know anything about blending drinks...?

[sweetdeath]

Sure! I've got a cookbook.

[Which he's not checking, because this particular drink he's making up as he goes. His grin is probably meant to be reassuring as he punches the off button on the blender, which now contains an oddly brownish mush flecked with bits of green rind and pulverized black seed.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Judging by the way Chikusa's mouth is all the more steadily becoming a line, the smile isn't doing its job. As someone who has spent some time in the kitchen, he has a fairly decent idea of what and what isn't going well.]

There's rind still in there...

[sweetdeath]

What's wrong with that?

[He blinks.]

It adds vitamins!

[The odd mush is going into the shaker, and he's measuring liquors in on top of it with an extremely casual air towards quantity.

Plenty of blue food coloring, too. That'll fix that weird brownish color.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Somehow, every new decision only seems to make this more regrettable. Amazing that Chikusa hasn't moved yet.]

Should you be caring about vitamins when this is a bar....

[There is some interest towards how much booze is going in there, however.]

[sweetdeath]

[The booze pours are far too generous for a 500-yen cocktail, too. It's probably a good thing that, wherever most of the stock here comes from, they don't seem to... pay market price.

Or, sometimes, anything. Tsuzuki's not much for accounting, but he's noticed the numbers are a little weird.

But maybe they're just good deals! He's sure it's not stolen or anything!]

Why not? Everybody needs vitamins! Even dead guys.

[Thirty seconds of energetic shaking, and he strains the drink out into the glass. Luckily, it looks like most of the chunkier bits are staying in the shaker with the ice; the resulting beverage is still a little weirdly slushy with watermelon puree, but the lumps are either gone or disguised by its vividly blue color.

He slides it across the bar.]

[kokuyoyo]

But we're dead.

[Still, well. He now has a drink in front of him. Chikusa isn't sure he actually wants to pay for this but.... The chunks aren't actually in the drink. Sure, the things that once were chunks are now some parts blended, but still.]

[....Fuck it. After a moment of inspection, he sighs and takes a careful sip. He'll swallow even if it's garbage, but...]

[sweetdeath]

Yeah, but we've still got bodies.

[Bodies that turn into weapons and household implements, admittedly, but Tsuzuki sure feels like he has a body; he's not going to ask too many questions about that, because it could get creepy fast.

The main flavor profile of the drink turns out to be "cheap rum." It's gritty, too, with watermelon goop and bits of seed pureed well enough to slip through into the glass, and overly sweet. It's also going to dye his tongue blue, but on the plus side, it's very alcoholic.

If he can choke it down.]

[kokuyoyo]

[For a second, Chikusa just.... sits there. He sits there, and stares at his drink, and has a certain amount of regret.]

[Finally, the words come.]

That... was gross.

[sweetdeath]

Come on, it can't be that bad.

[Don't mind him reaching out with a total lack of proper service job etiquette, and also a clear total lack of food safety training, to snag the glass he's just handed to Chikusa and try a sip of it from the other side.

Okay, the texture's a little weird. It's sweet, though -- and the alcohol flavor's kind of strong...]

It's not that bad! It just needs a little something.

[He makes a thoughtful face.]

... Salt on the rim?

[kokuyoyo]

[Fortunately, Chikusa is also oblivious to food safety training, and just lets him take the glass.]

You should probably get rid of all the seeds... and the rind... The texture is all wrong. It barely counts as a drink that way...

[...Salt on the rim is also an idea, he guesses.]

[sweetdeath]

Hey, I strained out the chunks!

[This totally makes it all better! Also he can't so much strain out the pureed gloopy parts, so. Unless he runs it through a coffee filter or something....

Maybe that wouldn't be a bad idea. Except it would take forever.

He produces a clean glass and taps some salt into the palm of his hand, quickly edging the glass with it before he transfers the drink. It's still, well, gloopy.]

Here.

[kokuyoyo]

Just because you took out the worst doesn't mean there's not more that's bad...

[Tsuzuki. Please.]

[Well, it looks like he's decided on it anyway, and Chikusa isn't going to other arguing with him for right now. He just patiently waits for the rim to be salted before accepting the glass with a world weary sigh.]

Have you even taken classes on this sort of thing...?

[sweetdeath]

What, since I got here? [Who's got the time for bartending classes in a busy schedule of ayakashi slaying and, well, mopping up around a bar?

He laughs, easily, watching to see what Chikusa thinks about the new, slightly flavor adjusted drink.

(It's basically the same, only now a little salty as well.)]

No, I'm sort of learning on the job.

[After all, Chikusa did pick the cheap menu option that Tsuzuki was bullshi-- uh, improvising.]