Gemwing2012: This was a bit hard to do. Restaurant scenes are most romantic but we also needed to work out how the Devil would pull a kidnapping attempt. While it won't be right away, it still serves as an establishing mood keeps the readers on their toes.
Blackwolfen: I agree with Gemwing here. Restaurant scenes in Movies, TV Shows and even Games are always romatic. Planning the Devil in this scene was a bit tricky. But we have a good plan and as you can see it worked. Even if the Devil hurts himself in the process of getting Alicia and Katie. If you know the Easter Egg with the Rose you can write in the review ;)
After leaving the bakery, Lucifer had teleported the packages back to the casino for safekeeping while he, his wife and their guests decided on what else they can do now that their picnic had to take an unfortunately early end no thanks to the Devil.
Alicia felt a bit bad. She blames herself a bit for the Devil showing up but Lucifer told her it wasn't her fault. He strokes her cheek while the group walked by a restaurant.
Alicia smelled the food from the restaurant and stopped immediately.
"What's up?" Katie asked.
Alicia's tail popped out and wagged as she asked, "Do you guys smell that?"
Vale and Katie sniffed and picked up the tasty smell from the restaurant.
"Something does smell delicious." Katie commented.
Lucifer agrees, "It certainly does."
Inside through the window, loving couples were happily sitting down to a peaceful meal, clinking glasses of bubbly champagne. Some even shared each other's choices of dishes as one man playfully fed his wife a piece of steak from his fork while a lady from another table daintily dabbed her husband's lips with a napkin.
"Maybe we should book a table in later for tonight if you'd like to have dinner there." Katie suggested
Alicia wanted to say something when suddenly the entrance door to the restaurant opened and two angry couples walked out of it followed by a waiter trying to stop them from leaving.
"Sirs! Madames!" The waiter said panting before he collapsed to the ground.
But the couple ignored him and walked away. Alicia felt sorry for the waiter. Sure she didn't know what had happened but from the couples' expressions and their clothes, they are nothing but rich people acting entitled how much they want to be because of money.
Worried, Katie and Vale hurried over to help the man up as Vale used himself as a support for the waiter to lean against him while Katie got out a bottle of fresh water from her backpack, handing it to him.
"Thank you sir, madame…" The waiter sighed in gratitude, accepting the bottle and drank the water.
His eyes looked up to Katie and Vale before they fell on Alicia and Lucifer.
The waiter gasped while his curly moustache curled even more than before like he was scared of something.
Or it looked like that.
"Are you alright, sir?" Katie asked in concern. "What on earth happened in there to make those couples just now leave in such a huff?"
"Oh, the food both couple ordered didn't have any gold leaves as we're out of stock." The waiter explained scratching the back of his head.
"That's all?" Alicia asked as the waiter nodded.
"Really?" Katie deadpanned. "Does it really matter? I mean as long as the food tastes good and they enjoy it, shouldn't they be at least grateful for that?"
"That's how rich people act, Katie. They always want the best." Alicia sighed, rolling her eyes.
Katie groaned in disgusted annoyance as she agreed, "Of course they do. But they didn't have to act like entitled brats about such things like that, and make a scene in such a public area, ruining it for everyone."
The waiter however had an idea and smiled. Lucifer and Vale notice it and were a bit confused.
"Why are you smiling?" asked Lucifer before the waiter stood up, walked up to him and Alicia.
"I was wondering if you four want a table in our fancy five star restaurant." The waiter proudly said.
Alicia tilts her head. She wanted to say something but before she could open her mouth, the waiter stopped her and pulled out a notepad asking her not only for her name but also for an autograph.
"Wait… what?!" Alicia exclaimed, shocked a bit.
"That got awkward super fast." Katie commented, feeling taken aback.
Lucifer agrees with her. "I'm confused too, Katie."
"Why would a waiter ask someone he just met for an autograph? Shouldn't he be asking about the name of patrons booking a table if they want to eat in the restaurant?" Vale inquired.
Just in that moment Katie, Lucifer and Vale saw a poster with Alicia's face on it. It wasn't a wanted poster but more of a gratitude kinda poster.
Vale, Katie and Lucifer did a double take and understood why.
"Oh. That would explain it." Katie said awkwardly.
Alicia was more confused than before.
"What do you mean?" She asked before she handed over her autograph to the waiter.
He held the door open and waited for the group of four to enter.
"Uhh, thank you." Vale said as the four entered the restaurant.
"You mean you didn't notice the poster of you just now?" Katie questioned. "It would seem that everyone on the Isles seems to be grateful to you for some reason. Almost like you're a hero or something."
Alicia looked around until she saw the poster. Her cheek blushed.
"Oh man, that's so embarrassing." She mumbled.
But Lucifer smiled and thought it was cute. "Honey, you look adorable on the posters."
The four were soon led to a large empty table for four. No doubt it had previously been occupied by the angry rich couples who had stormed out just earlier as some waiting staff members were finished cleaning it up. One had even laid out a fresh, clean tablecloth to replace the one that was stained with spilt wine.
The staff saw the group and gasped before rushing into the kitchen.
"Okay?" Alicia thought.
The four sat down just as the waiter laid down some menus in front of them as well as a bowl filled with breadsticks, utensils, napkins and empty wine glasses.
"What would you like to drink? We have the most expensive drinks on our menu but if you don't want that we can offer you our none expensive drinks too." The waiter said, notepad in hand as he wanted to hear what the group wanted to order.
"Umm, I'll just have sparkling water please." Katie requested. "I really don't drink alcohol."
"I'll have the same as her please." Vale spoke up.
The waiter wrote it down before looking at Alicia and Lucifer, "And what will it be for you?"
Lucifer thought about it and said, "Apple juice would do me fine, thanks."
Alicia was still looking at the menu and thought what to order until she saw one drink she liked to try. "And for me the Wolf's Bane please."
"Oh of course." said the waiter and wrote it down before he walked in the kitchen.
"This seems like a nice place." Vale commented. "If it had its own rose garden and ballroom, this place would be like The Gilded Rose back from the Inkwell Isles in our dimension."
"Yeah, I liked that place." Katie smiled. "Although, it was too bad I had spent my first date with a man who had turned out to be the literal Devil in disguise. Talk about heartbreak."
"Oh, it was on the same night you had found out the Devil dropped his wallet after you had dealt with him, and spent most of his money to buy ice cream afterwards." Vale chortled.
Katie shrugged innocently. "Eh, he pretty much deserved it for playing with my emotions and almost tried to propose to me all on the same night. And Lexie thought it served as some good karma."
"I'm so sorry to hear that, Katie." Alicia said with a worried expression.
Katie sighed before she smiled gently.
"Don't worry about it. That was such a long time ago." She said in reassurance. "And I finally found true love and I had settled down with a real man who would never hurt me."
"And I could have never asked for someone better." Vale added as he nuzzled his head into Katie's arm, who happily ran her hand across his crest.
"And I was lucky that Lex, Nat, Liam and Andy were there when we had arranged a triple date." Katie explained. "I would have never gotten out of that jam without them."
Lucifer agrees with the words Katie and Vale said. He couldn't imagine being with someone else other than Alicia. He loves her and would never ever choose another woman as his wife.
"And there was this one time I roasted the King Dice in the show so badly, I actually burnt off his suit, leaving him only in his shoes, socks, suspenders and a pair of boxers that actually have printings of dies with little heart-shaped pips on them!" Katie laughed.
Alicia laughed too. "I'd like to see that."
"I think Lexie and Natty still have a photo of that on their phones. I'll have to ask them to text you one sometime." Katie grinned.
"Thanks Katie."
Vale chuckled. "He was so shocked and embarrassed by that, he actually shrieked like a little girl while trying to hide his boxers."
Even Lucifer laughed as he heard that. "Well if he tries to ruin this moment here I will pull something like that too."
A minute later, the waiter arrived with the drinks. On his tablet was one dark bluish drink sticking out of it the most.
"Thank you." Katie said politely as she and Vale each retrieved their water.
Lucifer grabbed both drinks for himself and Alicia before the waiter asked them what they wanted to eat.
"Hmmm… I think I'll try the cheese and sausage topped lasagna with some slices of garlic bread please." Katie requested.
"I would like the tuna pasta bake please." Vale spoke.
"Some Deviled crab with potatoes, gravy and steak." said Lucifer.
"And for me macaroni and cheese." Alicia handed over her menu to the waiter.
"Excellent choices." The waiter nodded. "I shall let our cooks know. Please feel free to help yourself to these breadsticks as you wait."
Alicia nods and looks at her drink.
"The Wolf's Bane, huh?" Katie mused.
"Yeah, it looks kinda weird." Alicia commented.
The drink was blueish grey with white sprinkles in it, looking like a tornado.
"It practically looks more like a potion Blood would make rather than a drink." Vale observed.
Alicia hesitated first before she took a sip from the drink and loved it.
"Oh man, it tastes delicious." She said, putting the drink on the table.
"What does it taste like?" Katie asked.
"Blueberries with a taste of strawberries and whipped cream."
"I'll have to give it a try sometime as long as it's non alcoholic."
Another waiter heard it and walked up to the table to anwser Katie's question "We have an alcoholic version of this drink but without whipped cream."
"Oh, that would be lovely. I'll give it a try please, with whipped cream."
The waiter nodded and went to the kitchen. The four passed the time chatting away, exchanging stories of past events in their adventures such as humiliating the TCS Devil and King Dice and so on.
"And then he went with his head right into a beehive." Finished Alicia.
Katie laughed so hard, tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Goodness! That's funnier than the time the Devil fell butt first into a thorn bush and jumped out like Banzai in that scene from The Lion King!" She exclaimed. "He practically looked like a giant pincushion with all those thorns stuck to him. It must have taken Henchman hours to carefully pick them all off him in the E.R."
"Well, that's what happens if you annoy a woman." Alicia took a sip of her drink before she continued to speak.
Unknown to the group however one of the waiters that went into the kitchen got knocked out by none other than the Devil himself. He dragged the unconscious waiter by the ankles and threw him into the broom closet, slamming the door shut. The moment he took care of that, the Devil used his shapeshifting to transform into the waiter he had knocked out.
"Hey you!" Yelled a deep voice behind the disguised Devil.
"Yes?" The Devil asked, speaking in the waiter's voice, even doing an impressive impersonation of the waiter's accent.
"The food for table 15 is ready." The voice belonged to the cook.
An anthropomorphic Dalmatian wearing a typical chef uniform with a brown moustache similar to Super Mario.
"But of course." The Devil nodded, putting on the charm. "Right away."
He gathered up the plates of food onto a tray as well as the drink Katie requested before he headed out of the kitchen. The door to the kitchen opens and the disguised Devil walks out of it with the food and drink.
"Now where is table 15?" He asked himself.
"Oh! Excuse me! Over here!" A voice called.
He spotted Katie waving her arm over head, getting his attention, suspecting he was looking for her group's table. He grinned devilishly as his eyes fell on both women. Katie looked a bit confused but given she couldn't tell since the "waiter" was further away, she brushed it off as a trick of the lights.
The Devil walked over to the table to set everything down, trying not to make any suspicion and give himself away.
"Here you go and sorry for the long wait." The supposed waiter apologised as he placed the food down on the table to each of the four. "But as a sign of my apology I want to give both madames these roses here."
From behind his back he grabbed two red roses. He gave each woman one and left the table wishing them a happy meal as a smug grin appeared on his face.
Alicia waited until the waiter was gone before she said something that made her suspicious. "Is it only me or does this waiter act weird? And those roses looked suspicious."
"Well… he did seem a little bit off just now." Katie spoke up. "And I'm not sure about the roses. I mean, isn't it sort of a Valentine Day's custom on Inkwell for waiting staff in restaurants to give out a rose?"
"It might be but why are they glowing?" Asked Alicia in concern as her rose glowed like the one from Beauty and the Beast.
"I… don't know…" Katie said, unsure as she looked over her own rose which was glowing as well. "Are they some kind of rare specimen on the Isles?"
Lucifer shakes his head to answer her question. He knew that the Inkwell Isle's have a lot of flowers in different varieties and colours. But he never did see a glowing flower, yet a glowing rose like his wife described.
"I would recommend not to smell those roses." He said as he grabbed the rose from Alicia.
"Maybe it's best to leave them alone for now and focus on our food before it gets cold." Vale added, laying Katie's own rose down.
"I agree and to be honest, my stomach is growling again so let's eat." Alicia agreed. She couldn't wait any longer and started eating her macaroni and cheese.
"Mmm! This is sooo good!" Katie chimed as she ate her lasagna. "No wonder you love this. The sausage and cheese are so good together. I've got to convince Mum to make this combo someday."
Lucifer chuckled a bit before he ate his food too. Vale smiled as he savoured his tuna pasta bake.
The Devil was hiding near a corner and growled under his breath but tried to keep patient. His plan will work. Sooner or later Alicia and Katie will smell those roses and then he will strike.
"I can't wait to have you two in my arms." He said with a smug grin on his face before the kitchen door gets slammed in his face leaving behind a print of his face.
The waiter, carrying the food, walked by, innocently unaware and oblivious to what had happened. The Devil groaned, rubbing his nose before he wobbled away to wait somewhere else.
Time went by and the group was finished with their food.
"I'm full." Said Alicia, satisfied.
"I'm too." Katie sighed after draining her drink empty. "Didn't think lasagna with sausage in it was more filling than I thought."
"If restaurants weren't limited to five stars, I'd give this ten." Vale commented.
"Might as well pay for the bill and head on out." Lucifer stated. "Can't leave other people waiting for an empty table a minute longer."
"Yeah, we should pay and go somewhere else like to the pier." Suggested Alicia as she waved to a nearby waiter to ask for the bill.
"Good idea." Katie nodded as the waiter came over to hand over the bill.
Alicia was ready to grab her wallet when suddenly a big pile of money appeared on the table.
"Whoa!" Katie exclaimed.
"What the…" Alicia stated.
Only Lucifer smiled, amused. He knew he was the one responsible for the money as he doesn't have any problems with that. The waiter gasped with an open mouth before he asked two more waiters to help him grab the money from the table.
"So, are we all good to go?" Lucifer asked as the waiters began to gather up the piles of cash on the table.
Minutes later, the four had left the restaurant behind themselves and headed off to the Inkwell Pier to visit the amusement park, walk along the gangplank and watch the sunset later on.
Katie and Alicia each had picked up the strange roses and had placed them inside their bags.
It was still a mystery why that waiter had given each of them a rose and why they strangely glowed. It was even more odd that Alicia and Kate were the only ones in the restaurant to be given a rose.
"I still wonder what's wrong with those roses?" Asked Alicia in concern.
"Who knows?" Katie shrugged. "Come to think of it, the waiter who gave them to us did seem kinda… off wouldn't you say?"
"He totally was." Alicia nodded in agreement.
They both sat down at a bench while Vale and Lucifer went on ahead to pick out some boxes of chocolates and bouquets of flowers from a nearby stand. Katie took out her rose to inspect it over.
"Come to think of it, he did make a very strange look when I got his attention to bring the food over." Katie spoke. "I thought it was just my imagination at the time."
Alicia looked at her rose as well as a strange smell came into her nose from the rose itself. Slowly her vision blurred and everything became black as Alicia passed out on the floor.
Lucifer heard it and turned around to see his wife unconscious on the floor. His eyes widened in horror as he dropped the package and rushed to her, picking her body up in his hands.
She was literally lying in his hands.
"My love!" He cried.
Before Katie could react, she accidentally caught a smell of her own rose and felt a sleepy sensation overcoming her before she too succumbed to it and collapsed to the ground.
"Oh no! Katie!"
That was Vale's voice, which was the last thing Katie heard before sleep fully enveloped her.
"Please wake up my love." Lucifer's worried face was hard to miss as he gently tried to wake his wife up.
Even Vale tries to wake Katie up but nothing works.
"What's wrong with them? What happened?!" Vale asked in concern.
"Maybe we can help." A voice answered behind the two.
Confused, Lucifer and Vale turn around to see four women behind them. Lucifer knew who those women were.
"Baroness Von Bon Bon? Mrs. Stageplay? Ms. Berg? Ms. Maria?" He exclaimed.
"What happened to them?" Hilda asked.
Lucifer looked to Alicia and noticed the rose lying on the floor next to her. He knew it was the rose.
"The rose made my love and Katie unconscious." Growled Lucifer as he grabbed the rose and burned it in his hand.
"Since when do roses ever actually do such a thing?" Cala asked, not understanding why or how an innocent flower could render a person unconscious.
"I've seen plenty of roses thrown onto stage after a brilliant performance but never before had I ever seen something so… questionable." Sally observed in suspicion as she cautiously picked up Katie's rose.
Sally wanted to smell the rose too but like the one Lucifer held in his hand, it got burnt into a pile of dust as it cascaded to the ground.
"Don't smell those roses or you'll fall unconscious too!" warned Lucifer.
Sally stumbled back in alarm, horrified by what nearly happened.
"Why did you burn the rose?!" asked Hilda, annoyed. "We could've asked Cagney for help!"
"I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that." Vale said sadly. "And I'm not sure if even Cagney could do anything about these roses since they were obviously not made by the forces of nature."
The Baroness thought of something before she suggested, "Before we can discuss this further we should bring Alicia and Katie to a safe place."
"Where?" Vale asked.
"Just follow me. I know a good place." smiled the Baroness.
Vale carefully set Katie onto his back while Lucifer had his wife in his arms like a groom carrying his bride. Both followed the Baroness to the second Inkwell Isle. Lucifer knows this place and he already has a feeling where the Baroness is taking him and Vale. The cupcake looking house was hard to miss in the middle of shops selling food or games.
"Do you think this might be the Devil's doing?" Vale asked. "The waiter who had given them the roses did seem to be acting a bit strange than how he had been before."
Lucifer nodded and looked angry and worried at the same time as his face wandered down to Alicia. Although she did look peaceful as she slept and there was no harm done to her, it still worried him about how long the spell placed on her will last.
Bon Bon notices his worried face and places her hand on his. "Don't worry we will bring her back."
"Both of them." Sally added, reassuring Vale that they'll help Katie as well.
"Yeah, both of them." Bon Bon said.
Without missing a beat, they all hurried inside the house, locking the door for safety measures.