I ducked out to play Hollow Knight again and, though its my fifth or so playthrough, I still have a blast with it. Now back to making something new for everyone to enjoy. Chapter 7: Acquiring Ingredients OR When In Doubt, Outsource Your Problems
It is said, that drifting along the tides, rests a curious little species overflowing with flavor. Bobbing between the ocean floor for debris and the surface to avoid predators with great bursts of speed, this species final defense is where there potential is truly reached! A small existence that once tasted begs the eater to eat more and more, these, are Self-Frying Shrimp! A true treasure of the sea!
Given that I had a finite amount of time to search for what amount to an actively moving needle in a haystack, I decided that rather than rely on dumb luck, I would go to the convenient organization that brought me here in the first place, AND had practice finding and capturing creatures big and small. Yes, I was going to spend the next week reading up on capture methods used to catch Sugar Minks while I waited for a partner to be freed up from whatever they were doing at the moment. If it was a priority mission or I was related to someone more important they'd probably send someone my way faster, but needs must and, frankly, I was kind of a nobody outside of our individual distributors, so this was a bit out of my normal wheelhouse.
Most of what I found in the archives of the IGO facility I already knew from my prior preparations and general sense, they were smaller creatures that preferred living in burrows beneath the snow, could run around 25 miles per hour in short bursts to escape predators, their fur naturally created sugar crystals as part of their cold protection and mark territory, and, as a by product of their frozen environment lacking much in the way of vegetation, had diets leaning heavily towards meat and fat, even if they were omnivorous by design.
My original idea when I first read all this was use a portion of my...'food budget', I had acquired during my arctic trek to bait some traps as nature intended, but that had to be scrapped soon after starting my reading on the more 'detailed' notes kept within IGO property.
Unfortunately, while my plan would have worked not even 20 years ago, ages of similarly-minded Hunters having the same idea had taught the Minks to...innovate, when they saw a stray carcass in an observable. These innovations included, but were not limited too, luring other, larger creatures to move the carcass to a 'safer' location, weakening the ice or snow supporting the carcass from beneath to spirit it away, or, in one especially extreme case where the Hunter in question was the unique combination of both stupid and rich enough to use an actual chunk of JEWEL MEAT, have the bait stampeded by thousands of Sugar Minks over a course of an hour, leaving behind nothing but a sugar-coated shell of a man swearing he could taste nothing but marshmallow for years afterward.
Funny, but useful.
I shook my head as I put the book down, stretching my back and trying to decide if I should try 'To Catch Rodents Of Minor Sizes' next, or 'The Little Fuckers And You: A Guide Of Their Ass To Your Wall'. I had a great feeling about the second one.
Sadly, I only got the chance to check it out for later perusal before a hand smacked down on my table, drawing my attention to the mid-sized man leering down to me.
"So, you the man looking for a Mink or five? Think you got what it takes to handle a wild beast like them?" The man tried to growl, but the effect was somewhat ruined by his voice cracking mid-way through.
Actually, upon closer inspection, it was obvious that there were a couple holes in the whole 'tough guy' thing he was trying to lay on me. Despite the fact that he had a fair amount of height and muscles, alongside a somewhat grown up-looking face, there were still plenty of signs of him being a teenager. Acne scars around the edges of his ears, some razorburn under the chin, and you could see in his shoulders that he still hadn't finished growing into his own, probably still having another foot or so to top him off at 6'8 or 9, marking him as one tall boy. He also had a bandolier of different spices wrapped around his biceps with a matching set around his belt.
Any attempt at intimidation was honestly ruined before it began as I stood up, taller than the guy in question, looking him straight in the eye as I took the hand he slammed on the table and shook it.
"I sure am, and I'm glad I've got a man who can obviously handle the little Minks right into my grubby mitts." I snickered at my little not-joke for a moment as I let go, enjoying more so seeing the guy take his hand back and not-so subtly rubbing it out. It wasn't that I had gripped it too hard or anything crazy, I just simply had a problem with running hotter or colder depending on how I was feeling at the time. Excitement and some general mischief? That got the blood boiling.
"W-well! I guess I'll just have to prove you right! I...am Zachery*, the great Spicer!**" Zachery boasted as he thumbed his nose, even as I let loose a small whistle as I stepped back, looking over the guy with a new perspective.
Spicing, like Knocking, was a battle method a select few ever truly mastered, but those who did were true monsters of their art. The basis of it was the enhancement of tools and limbs with specially treated oils and spices to create fabulous effects or reactions with their chosen target. Flaming fists and flames coated in flammable chilly oils, freezing cold cream bases to create traps and whips, any and every possibility was to be expected when fighting or working with a true master of the craft.
Conversely, it was also a rare profession to see many go down, mostly because of its harsh requirements. To use any of the aforementioned effects, one generally had to be able to handle them to the point the user could ignore them entirely. And while this doesn't sound like such a hurdle, one also has to remember that most spices weak enough for a regular human to ignore would do less than nothing for most species of Gourmet Creature, marking it as a career that most don't get far in unless they have a truly prodigious talent to advance themselves, or enough money to simply stick it out until they can make it viable.
The real question was which one Zachery was. Well, I'd be finding out soon enough in the field.
END OF CHAPTER
*A wonderful fan by the name of Boggie445 gave me a basis for a Hunter and I decided to give him some screen time. He only had a bare basic idea for him, so I've quite literally fleshed him out here in terms of personality and looks. Hope you enjoy him my man!
**While we were talking about the the potential Hunter, Boggie gave me an idea that I extrapolated into an entire fighting style because of how much sense it makes.
END OF STARS
Alright, and we done. Next time, we and a new friend(?) go out hunting, with...results! Of some kind or another. So you can all look forward to that pretty soon. Until then, I'll be leaving you with this next little bit. Rather than a recipe at the end of each chapter, I'll be alternating most of them with general food advice to help you all in general life. Some of you will say its common sense, some of you might find it changing your lives. I can only hope that you all can enjoy every meal you eat and that it leads to greater general fortune. Now, here's my The price of fruit is absolutely outrageous, to say nothing of trying to buy organic or 'fresh' at farmers market. The average person can't tend to afford much beyond banana's, apples, maybe the occasional oranges or a watermelon, but that leaves out so damn many amazing flavors and experiences. The secret to getting around this can be summed up as three things; Canned, Frozen, and No-Name. Allow me to elaborate. First up, Canned fruit, by average, costs around half as much as regular fresh fruit would while also tending to come in larger quantities and lasting for long periods of time. You can do a lot with these as well, either just as something to keep in the fridge and enjoy on their own, or perfect for baking due to the wonderful juices their preserved in. You haven't lived until you've made a fresh peach and sour cream pie. Don't worry, I'll tell you the recipe later. Next, we have Frozen fruit, which you can find in most any grocery store in your freezer isle. This is a perfect place for things like berries, pineapple, mangoes, grapes, all the small stuff. Some people are put off by it however, saying it can have a 'mushy' taste after it defrosts, but that's just because people don't understand how to defrost frozen fruit CORRECTLY. The trick with any frozen fruit you buy is to, after opening the bag, sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar into the bag before you put it in the fridge for the next day to thaw. This little touch of sugar will thicken the juices the fruit thaw out into an amazing syrup while leaving the fruit a perfect hardness to enjoy. This syrup can then either be drunk as you like, made into a fantastic ice cream topper, or anything else your mind can imagine. Last, but not least, we have No-Name fruit. Ignoring the sheer stupidity of 'name brand' fruit being somehow different from any other fruit, this distinction for regular fruit, or any of the above, can often be the difference between buying one bag, and several for the same price. It's a factor that some people put way too much stock into, when they really shouldn't.
END OF TT OF THE DAY
And there we go! I hope someone out there is able to get some use out of anything I write. Leave the usual love, what you see in the world, so on and so forth, and I'll see ya'll again later.