Contract with the Leap of Faith

[Dante Asunder]

Time Stamp: 2nd brightening of the First Cycle of Pontius. Winter, Era XV Post Fractum

Dante was returning to his lodging at the Leap of Faith. It was a great inn, everything you'd expect and then some. Due to the fact that he had started his crab fishing business, he decided that the time was right to get some formal contracts with the major customers in Demios. Considering the fact that the Leap of Faith was the primary food and lodging establishment Dante decided it was a good place to start.

Dante pushed the door open and headed inside. "Perhaps I would do better in another seeming?", Dante thought to himself. With that in mind Dante headed over to the bar to speak with Bluloo. He motioned for Bluloo to come a little closer then in a very quite voice, so that only he and Bluloo could hear, Dante said "Hey Bluloo, what kind of person is Helgga into?" Dante kept his question purposefully ambiguious. For all he knew Helgga could very well be interested in the same gender, but he needed more info on the owner before he decided his plan of action.

He already had the contract arrangement in mind. Essentially his idea was this, the Leap of Faith would guarantee a certain amount of crab purchase every month at the market price and Dante would assure them first selection of the catch. He decided that he would need a clerk eventually and resolved to search for one, but that would be later. Right now he needed intel on his client.

[Whisper]

Bluloo leaned in, holding a mug in his hand and a towel in the other. At Dante's question he leaned back and howled with laughter. "Person? Hey, if you want Helgga to pay attention to you, bring her a plate of food! Don't matter if you're a man, woman, or a walkin' tree." He chuckled to himself.

"She was gettin' tired of the same old Leap food every day until this new chef came along. Fainne, I think her name is. She made some new stuff that Helgga's really been into. If you want to talk to her, she's in the kitchen. Be my guest." He nodded towards the swinging wooden door with a porthole-style window. Through the window, a pretty young woman with reddish-brown hair could be seen, busy at the stovetop.

[Dante Asunder]

Dante took a step back at Bluloo's reaction, but never the less took his advice. He accepted the barkeep's offer and headed to the kitchen. Once at the doorway, Dante pushed the door open and knocked lightly trying to get the young woman's attention. "Umm, excuse me?" Dante asked carefully hoping he wasn't interrupting something important. "Bluloo said that you knew what food dishes Helgga likes? I wanted to treat her to one."

Dante hoped some of those dishes had crab in them, because if they did this would be a great deal easier. Dante politely waited by the door to be acknowledged by the attractive chef.

[Whisper]

"Kima, could you please start plating that salad? And I need those muffins out of the oven, now." Thanks to Helgga's influence, Fainne had become the head chef at the Leap in no time at all. She was creative, fun, and young, and all of the chefs greatly preferred her command over the stodgy ex-head chef, Pierre. The team bustled according to Fainne's commands as she stirred a gigantic pot of clam chowder on the stove.

When Dante entered, Fainne turned to him and said, "Eila, where have you been? These pancakes have been waiting--" But when she looked up and saw that he was clearly not the female waitress she thought she'd been addressing, she laughed in surprise. "Oh, serale! I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."

After Dante told her about his mission, Fainne grinned. "Trying to win her heart, huh? Well, Helgga really likes any kind of food, but desserts are her weakness. She'll go wild over our cinnamon-sugar bananas, apple pie, or melting chocolate cake."

Curiously, she tilted her head slightly sideways, smiling. "What're you trying to get out of her, anyway?"

[Dante Asunder]

Dante smiled as the obviously occupied young woman ordered her nonpresent staff about. She seemed to know how to control a crew. She would make a good ship captain, but that wasn't the point of his current inquiry. "Serale, I'm Dante, Dante Asunder." He bowed to the young chef.

"Umm, not her heart per se. In point of fact I was actually thinking that we would be able to help each other out. You see I am the captain of a crabbing boat. I was hoping in entering into a contract with her and was hoping to get on her good side with the food." Dante smiled at the young chef.

"So how long have you been the head chef at the Leap of Faith? If you'll pardon my saying so you seem awfully young to be in a position of such responability," Dante gave her another smile. If Helgga felt so strongly about the food here, perhaps this young chef was the key to the deal and not Helgga herself; besides Helgga was scary.

[Whisper]

"Fainne Kinsella," she said in return, smiling at the introduction.

She clapped her hands excitedly. "Ooh, crab! We haven't had any since the previous crab fishing captain retired.""I can make great crab cakes, crab chowder, crab with butter sauce... And as a matter of fact, I'm the one who works out the deals with the traders, as head chef. Helgga just has to approve the contract.

"I've been head chef since the last head retired," she explained. "His name was Pierre, and he was talented, but older and grouchier than anyone would have liked. He taught me everything he knew, then he went to go retire in Jaedaxia, his hometown. Helgga liked my food so much that she decided to promote me!" She laughed. She was certainly rather young, but from the smell and look of the food on her stovetop, she was extremely talented.

"Anyway, as I was saying... Why don't you bring in a sample of your catch? I'll inspect it for culinary quality, then I'll cook up a dish for Helgga to snack on while she contemplates our deal.

"How much crab do you catch a day? About 100, or 150 if you're lucky, during peak season, right? That's what I seem to recall Captain Sargam bringing in. You could sell 50 alone fresh from the docks to passerby at the fish market. And we could take 20 per brightening. That's 13% of your big catch, 20% of your normal catch, per brightening.

"Is it a deal?"

[Dante Asunder]

Dante smiled at the young lady. His idea had paid off, but not in the way he thought it would. He let the young lady explain the situation without interruption. When he noticed the smell of the food however Dante did comment on that, "Well age aside you definitely know how to make a dish smell delicious. Do you cook the Dragon boats too? I had one earlier and it was sublime?"

When the young lady explained her idea regarding the contract and the proposal to Helgga, Dante realized that more than just culinary skill this young lady had a head for business as well. "Twenty percent per brightening you say? That sounds like we could make a deal. Are you going to stick with the 20 lbs per brightening year round, or do you want it to be a percentage figure? The price of course would be consistent with the current market price."

After she answered, Dante informed her "Weather permitting we are heading out early next brightening for some more crabs. We should be back by about midbrightening. If you want meet me at the Asunder Inc. Warehouse and you can check out the crabs. Assuming both parties are satisfied and Helgga approves the arrangement I think we'll have an accord." Dante bowed to the young lady before heading out to the dining hall licking his chops, ready to partake of whatever delicacy Fainne had been preparing.

[Whisper]

Fainne gave a little curtsy with her white chef's apron. "Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. I made the dipping sauce for the Dragon Boats this brightening.

"We can take however much the percentage dictates. I can't always demand the same amount from you when you aren't catching as much, so the Leap customers will realize that crab is a seasonal treat!"

She nodded, taking note of his proposal."Sure, I'll meet you there. I can get the other chefs to cover while I'm gone. Why don't you settle down for a meal? You can tell your server it's on me!"

OOC: You can eat, then fast-foward to the next brightening.

[Dante Asunder]

A big grin crossed Dante's face as he bowed, "That my lady is a treat I will not pass up! Next brightening then?"

Dante politely excused himself then took a seat in the dining area of the Inn. He called the familiar serving girl over, "One Dragonboat please; Courtesy of Head Chef Kinsella. Oh and a milk." Dante gave the serving girl a big smile. Then rubbed his hands together expectantly waiting for the delicious delicacy....

The next morning the Hatorania came sailing in from it's latest crabbing voyage. "Mr Old Beard?" Dante called to his first mate.

"Aye Captain?" replied the burly young dwarf, who liked people to think he was older than he was.

"We have a special negotiation going on with the Leap of Faith Head Chef this brightening. No selling any crab until she has a chance to peruse the wares, understood? She should be here soon." Dante ordered.

"Aye Captain. Where do you want the haul then, in the tanks?" replied the dwarf.

"Aye, that sounds good. And make sure the men are on their best behavior! She's a pretty young woman and I don't want any of them accidentally insulting her," warned Dante.

"As you say Captain." Old Beard sounded a little incredulous. "The head chef of the Leap of Faith was a crotchety old man, wasn't he?" Old Beard thought to himself. He hoped the Captain hadn't been bamboozled by some pretty young face although since the Captain was a dracon the dwarf figured there was some racial confusion there, but certainly the Captain could tell the difference between an old man and a young woman.... couldn't he?

With that Dante helped the crew start hauling the full crab cages into the warehouse and depositing their inhabitants into the large tanks of water that were there. After the first load, Dante headed up to his office to clean himself up in expectation of this very important guest.