Woooooohooooo! I've finished my summer exam so I'm free to write! Truth be told, I've managed to get this chapter written in only a few days! Yay! That's a record! The chapter after this one is halfway done, so expect a very, very, quick update after!
Ahem, to business (pun not intended), The Legendary Falcon Fall, Anime Review's, and the Same honoured Guest, please enjoy a glass of fresh crushed ice and Nomel.
Anime Review's, you might as well have a stale macaron...
And TheOtherStormTalent! Am I supposed to give you a glass of crushed ice and Nomel for you AND dawnleaf1234?! How about two glasses?! Or just one?
Er... enjoy the quickly produced chapter!
Chapter thirteen: Confined to Whistle-blowing
Afternoon had faded quickly into twilight, but that wasn't stopping Vue sur la Lune or La Lune de Chocolat from slowing business. The latter had become more popular than anticipated, and was Cynthia glad it was. The restaurant's side café had proven as popular as it always was. On the whole, the business was surviving.
Moreover, Cynthia saw to her supplier who was bribed by Steven. After the calamity at the Stone Bakery, the supplier was given a severe dressing down from both herself and the supplier's administrator, and Cynthia's fresh supply of foods resumed its course.
What did annoy Cynthia most, though, was that whenever she dropped by to see her café's progress, there was always the presence of the honey-conditioned Slateport cake from the bakery across the street. It felt wrong for Cynthia to be allowing customers to bring food from across the street, but it mattered not. For when she did ask them to go away, the customers would take their Slateport cakes to the square plaza outside, with their purchased coffees, and continue about their business.
The café would remain open for much of the night as usual, but Cynthia would not be there to oversee its duties, nor would she be able to help out with the chocolatier. No, the twilight signalled it was time to begin dinner hours. Food had to be prepared for the customer, and especially desserts. For Cynthia, she was already getting ingredients to prepare, but she also had untested ideas she wanted to implement tonight.
Among those ideas was the concept of a chocolate fondue. With the supplier bringing nothing but the best chocolate available (Cynthia hoped, if not wanting the supplier to be bribed again), and perhaps some specific wines, the chocolate fondue was expected to be a masterpiece.
Henri Matin already saw to the first of the guests with reservations take their seats. Looking outside from where he was, the glamourous sunshine was starting to set below the horizon. The skies were darkening, only fragilely held by the glimmer of sunset. The light was reflecting radiantly below the waters, and it was perfectly complemented with the night setting of Cyllage City. Streetlights began to glow and nighttime lightings were flickering alive everywhere.
That including the Stone Restaurant and Bistro across the street.
The first of guests took their seats, most of them near the windows, so they could observe the setting sun and the nighttime views of the city. For a restaurant that stood four stories high, it was the perfect place to have views of the great city. The Pokémon Centre, the streetlights, soothing view of ocean water and waves against the sand, and the radiant hotels made things breathtaking.
From Henri's current and past experience with Cyllage City, the area had seen good development of its economy. L'Hôtel Cyllage, initially a single-floored structure, had been developed and modernised to accommodate the rising demand of visitors to the city along with rising competition. This led to the café beside the hotel to expand its supplies and resources to keep up with L'Hôtel Cyllage's customers, and within weeks the city was prospering.
Museums were built as tourist attractions, most part due to the rich minerals and ores around the city, and they became popular with locals and foreigners alike. In only a matter of time, the Stone Restaurant and Bistro was constructed near the seaside, and that was the beginning of Cyllage's prestige of having first-class dining that could rival Lumiose City's.
Subsequently, Vue sur la Lune was constructed across from the Stone Bistro. This was how Henri had landed his job here, as a waiter. At first, he seemed to enjoy the atmosphere at the restaurant very nicely. His co-workers were friendly, the customers appreciated his service, and Cynthia was practically the best manager he had since his days working in Lumiose City. But at this point, he was sure something felt considerably different about his manager. However, Henri remained silent about the issue as business was picking up. He would have to discuss the issue later. For the time being, it was better off to focus on serving the customer.
Many more customers arrived. Henri saw to leading a group of four to their table and asking what they would like to drink. Meanwhile, his co-workers went about serving fresh salads and creamy soups as hors d'oevres (appetizers). What many looked forward to, Henri was sure, were the desserts Cynthia had in store for them.
To be honest, Henri hadn't seen Cynthia outside of the kitchens for at least six hours. Never stopping to rest, never stopping to eat (well, maybe not, given she worked constantly in the kitchen). There was a good reason, however, and it only came to when he had a word with one of the cooks.
"It's not like Ms. Cynthia to not be out here greeting the guests," Henri said. "I mean, I know it's busy, but it's not that busy."
"Well, whatever she's up to," the cook replied, "she's experimenting with a new recipe and she's hoping it will be ready before the first dessert order comes in."
To the relief of James d'Arc, the typical business flow the Stone Bistro normally experienced had slowed down for the night. It was a good thing, too, for James could tell the cooking staff – while heavily experienced in culinary arts – could not match the pace of Steven. Although Steven expected his subordinates to be autonomous, they still needed to model their efforts after Steven since it was he who knew the recipes inside out.
Nevertheless, despite the slow flow, James and the others were committed to providing excellent service to the customer. Most often, the customers ordered a Stone Accolade, which was an outcry to James since the Accolade was often prepared by Steven alone. But given the countless hours of experience the cooks had with making it, perhaps they could do without Steven for the night. Especially when Steven was locked away in the cellar.
As the flat stones were placed into the ovens to be baked, James started working on the dish that made the restaurant so famous, beginning with mushrooms, spices, onions, and peppers cooked with garlic and olive oil. The iconic aged blue cheese core had arrived fresh from the freezer and the rice flour envelope was ready to be used. All James needed to do was cook the vegetables as perfectly as he could, while other cooks handled cutting slices of the roast beef and readying onion au jus. Food orders came in steadily, so the food that came out of the kitchens collected by the servers.
As the relatively quiet Stone Bistro was enjoying a quiet atmosphere such that customers could be seen watching the glamourous sunset in first-class comfort, the same couldn't be said for the bar below. It was a hot day in Cyllage City, and the locals and tourists knew there were only three places that suited best for something cold. The first was the local Cyllage café, the second was at Vue sur la Lune's café, and the third was at the Stone Bistro's bar.
Because the Stone Bistro's bar had a light dinner option, that would be the best option for the night. As a result, many who went there ordered ice cold cocktails, beers, non-alcohols, crushed ice with a choice of berry or juice, or simply water.
And at the bar, Wallace was enjoying a quiet dinner of salad with a side of bread and water. He hadn't left the bar for some time (the barman and Metagross noticed this), but he was in no hurry to leave. If Steven wasn't going to talk, Wallace would do the talking for him. However, being the flamboyant he always was, he gave up on waiting and signalled for the barman over.
"Anything else you need, Mr. Wallace?" he asked.
"Nothing, nothing!" Wallace answered. "Although…"
"Yes?" Now the barman seemed annoyed. Wallace had just signalled him to come over, and now he says there was nothing he needed? What sort of madness was this? The barman was polite, as the company culture trained him to be.
"I could tell you what Steven had in mind," Wallace offered. "But on the very one condition that I get a free drink and I get a word with Martine about this as well."
The barman knew that just about every employee working at the Stone Bistro, let alone James who was administrator, were trying their best to get at whatever Steven was keeping from them. If this was a breakthrough, then the news was sure to spread to everyone very quickly. Every employee would know what was going on with their boss.
"There's no need to tell Martine this," he said. "Whatever you're going to tell us, everyone will know. That is, Martine, James, and the others."
The sly smile Wallace wore on only few occasions crept onto his face.
"Let's start with the day Steven opened the Stone Bakery…"
It was exactly nightfall when Sophie had accepted a group of four customers into the Stone Restaurant and Bistro for dinner. Laurent was in the middle of a phone call assisting more reservations for people who wanted to arrive in about two hours, as well as taking more reservations from people who walked to the lobby desk from the word go. Those who were finished making reservations sat aside at one of the lobby's lounges while others still lined up.
"Welcome to the Stone Restaurant and Bistro…" Sophie greeted.
"Hold that thought," Laurent said into the phone before putting it down. "Please follow this waitress over here. She'll show you to your seat. Hello? Hello? (Laurent picked up the phone again) Yeah, I have your reservation complete… You're booked for 8:00 PM… You're very welcome. See you tonight."
As soon as Laurent hung up the phone, the same phone rang again. As usual, he picked up the phone to greet, "Bonsoir, mademoiselle, c'est le Restaurant Stone et Bistro…"
Sophie's phone also rang at the same time, but unlike Laurent the phone indicated that the caller was from within the restaurant walls. It was obvious that a fellow employee was calling the front desk, so Sophie answered without delay.
"Hello?"
Whatever context she heard from the other side quickly replaced her work attitude to one of enlightenment. She ended up almost forgetting she had to see to the customer until Laurent pointed out to Sophie that the customers were waiting. Quickly, Martine hung up the phone and saw to taking in more reservations. Although the pace was steady, there were still a lot of people wanting to eat here, and two experienced receptionists were what stood between them and their seats.
In Sophie's eyes, the flow of customers was good, but she hoped there wouldn't be too many more to come. Despite how well she was performing her duties, she had to break down the news to Laurent and the servers about Steven.
As fortune would have it, all the customers present were waiting at the lounges for their tables. With no phone calls incoming, nor any customers coming through the doors, Sophie took the opportunity to talk.
"Well, the barman's just called us," she reported to Laurent. "He says Steven has finally started to talk at last."
"Well, isn't that good news?" Laurent raised his eyebrows. "It's about time. His answer was way overdue. Apart from that group for the 8 PM booking, I don't see any more customers making reservations. Perhaps we should drop by the bar to see what's going on?"
"That's what the barman said…" Sophie muttered.
Laurent noticed Sophie's slightly annoyed reaction, so he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing the latter to flinch. "Hey, we're all interested to see what the boss is keeping from us. We might even need to have the whole staff to drop by the bar. Everyone will be interested. Even James."
She smiled and did not let Laurent's hand remain on her shoulder much longer, although she showed some restraint afterward. The two receptionists carried on working, but when things slowed down a lot they would have to check out the bar sooner or later…
The first customers to experience Cynthia's new chocolate fondue were met with pleasant surprise when the head chef herself personally when to present the fondue to them. Using a fondue pot, a delicate burner to match, chocolate, and fuel, she lit the burner underneath the pot to put on a show for every guest who was there.
In essence, every guest was interested to see what Cynthia was doing. She melted the chocolate into the pot, stirred it until it was just right, and then proceeded to adding a bit of wine into to mixture. In the customers' eyes, it was a wine they had never seen or tasted before in their experience at Vue sur la Lune. Had Cynthia been keeping secrets?
"Ms. Cynthia! I've never seen such a wine!" the customer remarked. "It's so… old!"
"Not in the slightest," Cynthia replied, although she didn't take time to examine the bottle she had in her hand until she pulled off the rubber-sealed cap and poured a decent amount of wine into the fondue. The bottle was then passed to Henri Matin, standing beside her, who pumped the air out of the bottle via a pump and the rubber cap before he took the bottle away. Cynthia was left creating the fondue until the chocolate had melted just right.
When she was done, she speared two apple slices on the arranged plate for the customer, dipped them into the hot molten chocolate and passed them to the customer. The chocolate was on the verge of dripping onto the table.
"Bon appetit," she said to the customers before her, with a sigh of relief.
The customers suddenly became self-conscious of the number of people who were watching them. At their discretion, trying hard to not notice them, they tasted the delicious chocolate fondue. Created, produced, and improvised by Cynthia.
Their reactions, to Cynthia's relief, were ones of tasting pleasure. This caused the many other customers to turn to their servers and ask for the same fondue for dessert. Out of the corners of Cynthia's eyes, she noticed almost everyone point in her direction and she knew the fondue was a candidate for success.
And it's all thanks to his wine, she absentmindedly thought. Argh, Cynthia, pull it together! His wine made me successful, so why stop there?
The problem was that her supply of this wine was limited, but it didn't matter to her. As far as she was concerned, she could – if she had time – claim that this fondue was a weekly special. What mattered at this point was keeping the fondue as a promotion for now.
Other servers took Cynthia as a reference for helping their tables with respective fondues. As the wine was limited, they had to share the bottles between them, but that still made the customers very happy. Cynthia alone cautioned how hot the chocolate would be, and then she left for the kitchens once more.
She walked past tables where customers were extremely happy to have been served their dessert, but Cynthia wasn't looking at them, and instead focused her gaze on the restaurant across the street. The Stone Restaurant and Bistro seemed to be operating lively enough, but certainly not as lively Vue sur la Lune was experiencing tonight. In her bones, Cynthia knew the chef she was before, at the opening of her restaurant, was different than the chef she was now. She had thrown herself into a price war with the chef across. What mattered was surviving.
"Hey, Cynthia, do you mind if we could chat a bit?" she heard.
Cynthia's eyes darted to the familiar voice to see Winona and Lisia looking right at her. Their faces were demonstrating curiosity.
And so, Steven is still locked away unable to talk. How will this turn out?
Review and place your order for a chocolate fondue, served with berries, cooked with one of his wines...
If you're feeling guilty, though, just order a chocolate fondue without one of his wines.