Out of the corner of his eye Yuril noticed the door to the yard opening and at first he had thought that it would be May with his breakfast but to his slight surprise it was the grey haired waitress instead. She was not wearing the regular primarily green uniform that she wore a majority of the time in the Hostess, in its place was a white flower dress that ended just above her knees. Her face brightened up as soon as her eyes settled on the white haired boy and she ran over and hugged him from behind. "Yuril! You should have woken me up! I don't want to spend my day off just sleeping and lazing around." Syr said as she gave Yuril a small cute pout and rested her chin on his right shoulder.
"Sorry Syr… but you looked so peaceful and you have been pretty busy the past few days so I just wanted you to rest for a little bit… that's all… sorry…"
"Oooh. Yuril, it's okay! I appreciate it, plus it was only a few more minutes so I suppose it isn't a huge deal. Good morning Ryuu, how did you sleep?" Syr said softly with a slight tilt of her head, deciding that it was only appropriate that she should greet her coworker after already greeting her rabbit.
"I slept fine Syr, how did you sleep?" Ryuu asked softly while she slightly raised her right eyebrow, a very faint nervous twitch of hers that Syr was confident that no one else really ever picked up on. Ryuu was not very happy that Yuril had been sleeping with Syr, though Syr had made it quite clear to her that she was doing it of her own volition and was not being forced into doing it by any means. With the amount that Yuril had slipped away from her while they were sleeping together Ryuu had started to question if Yuril was actually the victim in the situation. But it was not her business to tamper with other people's personal lives, outside of some extreme circumstances. If the young boy did ever end up assaulting her, which was something that she highly doubted would ever happen then she would take the appropriate action to deal with the situation.
"I slept great! As always, whenever I am with Yuril!" Syr said with a bright smile as she squeezed Yuril tighter in the hug and Ryuu was faintly humoured for a second as Yuril struggled to maintain his smile while clearly being squeezed to near death by Syr's grip.
Luckily before Yuril would keel over and die from lack of oxygen from Syr's enthusiastic hug she stepped back with a smile on her face. "Oh, I almost forgot! How do you like my new dress!" Syr said happily as she stepped back and did a small twirl in place that listed up the hem of the dress slightly to the midpoint of her bare thighs.
Yuril could feel Ryuu's fixed gaze on him without even needing to turn his head to look but he just kept on a calm face as he blushed slightly and scratched at the back of his head. "I-it looks great on you Syr, but why are you dressed up like that? I mean, it looks great on you… but for your day off doesn't it seem a bit fancy?" Yuril asked genuinely curious why she would get dressed up if all she was going to do was relax and remain at the Hostess.
"Cause, I thought it would be good for you if we went out on a little date today!" Syr said happily as she clasped her hands together and tilted her head to the side ever so slightly as she shut her eyes and giggled softly.
"D-d-date?! H-hold on a second Syr….I-I don't know—"
"What's wrong Yuril? Do you not want to go and do some shopping with me today?" Syr asked in the cutest voice that she could manage, it seemed to work as Yuril's surprised expression faltered and her words tugged at his heart strings.
"I-I see, so it's just a shopping date?" Yuril said in a softer voice as he scratched at the back of his head with a slightly weary expression painted across his face as if he was still uncertain. "A-are you sure you want to go with me anyway? I mean I will just end up slowing you down the whole time, you would be able to get a lot more done without me there."
"Well what's the point of going without you silly? Don't worry about slowing me down either, we can take breaks throughout the day whenever you want to rest. I don't mind, honest!" Syr said as she took a few steps closer towards Yuril. While she was making her way back over Ryuu leaned over the table and whispered a few words of wisdom to Yuril while she was still walking towards his position.
"Some sage advice Mr. Artwaltz, just go along with Syr… she can be rather persistent and you will just end up getting dragged along one way or another so you may as well save yourself the struggle." Ryuu muttered softly as she spoke purely from experience, when Syr had made up her mind on something it would take the strength of the Gods and Goddesses to be able to convince her otherwise to do something.
"Please Yuril, I don't get many days off and I want to spend it with you today doing something memorable. Plus, getting out of the Hostess for a few hours would do you some good in your recovery." Syr said as she placed her hands overtop of his and fluttered her eyes in an adorable manner.
With the puppy dog eyes that Syr gave him Yuril found himself unable to resist and decided to just give into her demands and go along with her plan. "Alright, I will go along with you today for a shopping date Syr…" he said softly under his breath with a slight smile.
Syr's soft lips curved upwards into a bright smile and she did a small joyful leap in the air as she threw her arms above her head and shouted out a small victory cheer "Yay! Thanks for agreeing to go on a date with me today Yuril!" she said quickly afterwards as she leaned down and hugged him again tightly.
"Shopping date." Yuril decided to correct her softly as he was blushing a light red.
"Date!" Syr retorted as she smiled and gave him another small squeeze.
"We are going shopping right..? So let's just call it a shopping date for today..." Yuril said softly as he returned Syr's tight hug with his own, though he was at a severe disadvantage compared to the grey haired waitress with much of his upper body strength still absent.
"You can call it a shopping date if you want, but I am still gonna call it a date, there is nothing you can say to change that Yuril." Syr softly whispered into his ear and he blushed a deeper red. If he was being honest with himself he was still confused over why she was so infatuated with him to the point where she was going on a date with him. But compared to some of the other stuff that they had done together it was not much of a shock he reasoned, if she really had no interest in him she would have given up on him a long time ago. But she did not and that meant the world to Yuril, though he was not able to fully express it through monetary possessions or through his own feelings that well even. He could still try and show Syr just how much he valued her as a person.
Eating her disgusting food was the perfect example of Yuril trying his best to pay back Syr for all of the good things that she had done for him in the near past. Almost as if Syr had a telepathic mind once Yuril had thought about her terrible food she sprang upwards and clapped her hands together. "Oh, Yuril I almost forgot! Are you hungry, have you had anything to eat yet? You should have something to eat before we head out for the day!"
"No I haven't had anything to eat yet b—"
"Great! I will make you a big hearty breakfast before we go out on our date today, you just stay right where you are and I will be back as soon as it is done!" Syr said pleasantly as she spun around and took off in a light jog towards the door.
"W-wait Syr! M-May is alrea—"
"Don't worry about it, Yuril, I will be back soon!" Syr said as she wiped the door open and went back inside of the kitchen. He could hear Syr start to argue with May about cooking in the kitchen and he was waiting for the black smoke of Syr's cooking to start spewing out of the windows and chimney connected to the kitchen.
Yuril was left for a moment in dead silence, all he could hear was a few random birds singing their sweet songs in the single tree that grew from the dirt ground several feet away. Then another sound soon joined them, laughter. Not a big hearty laugh typical of a Dwarf or drunken adventurers but instead a soft amused laugh that sounded like one emitted by a person from royalty. He turned his head to the side and saw Ryuu with the tiniest smile on her face as she laughed very softly.
"What's so funny?" Yuril asked the Elf as she continued to laugh very faintly before taking a moment to steady herself and return to her usual self.
"Nothing… nothing at all Mr. Artwaltz, just glad to see that someone enjoys her food." the Elf said as she stood up from her seat and brushed herself off, it was rare to not sit on the bench and get a few splinters from the rough treated wood but she had been lucky enough to not get a single sliver from the bench this time around.
"I wouldn't exactly say enjoy… more tolerate..." Yuril said softly under his breath while he kept an eye out over her shoulder to make sure that Syr was not close enough to hear his comment.
"Don't let Syr hear you say that Mr. Artwaltz, for your own good." the Elf said softly as she nodded her head towards him and began to walk away. She retrieved her wooden sword and started to walk towards the single door outside the small courtyard. "Enjoy your day with Syr, Mr. Artwaltz, take good care of her." Ryuu commented as she opened the door to leave.
Once she opened the door the sounds of May and Syr arguing with each other grew only louder which caused Yuril to chuckle slightly earning him an honest laugh. He was not certain on what she had meant and expected him to do, with his condition he couldn't fight off an old woman let alone some robber or thug. But he would make sure to keep Syr as far away from the more dangerous sides and areas of the city that he learned about as he possibly could, sticking to more populated popular areas would be the safer bet.
"I will be sure to take goo—"
"Syr you idiot nyah! You are going to burn down the Hostess!" Yuril was interrupted before he could quite finish by the sound of an agitated May in the kitchen conversing with Syr about the breakfast.
"Don't worry about it, May it is fine!" Syr simply called back as if nothing was wrong, though judging by the burning smell coming from the kitchen everything was not 'fine'.
"What even is that supposed to be nyah?!" May screamed her question out loudly as if she had seen some form of crime against her profession.
"Pancakes!" Syr happily called back and Yuril could picture in his head her flipping over one of the proclaimed items while saying so with a smile on her face and an apron on to keep her dress clean.
"Pancakes?! Then why are they black?!" May shouted back as Yuril fears and suspicions were answered, the day that Syr could cook something and not burn it to a literal crisp was the day that pigs would fly through the skies.
"They just got a little burnt is all, they will still be delicious!" Syr said in her usual joyful tone and Yuril already knew that when he received the "things" that were supposed to be pancakes they would be like rocks that have been covered in soot.
"No they will not! These things look like coal nyah!" May screamed out and could clearly be heard to be getting more fed up with Syr's mistreatment of the poor ingredients.
"Worry about your own food May!" Syr simply yelled back and the young white haired boy could clearly picture the small pout that she would be giving May in the kitchen that was several meters away from his seat.
"I am worrying about my own food, my food that you are butchering trying to make these abominations you want to call food!" May retorted as Yuril could easily imagine in his head the small cat figure placing her hands on her hips and puffing out her flat chest to try and make herself as big as possible to stand up to the manhandling of her ingredients.
"They are almost done, don't you worry about it, May!" Syr said rather loudly to the point that Yuril was a bit surprised that no one in the near area had yelled for the two to quiet down, though he mostly blamed that on the fact that if they did Mama Mia would have their heads mounted on the pub's wall. Additionally that statement had meant that pretty soon he would have to swallow whatever Syr brought out for him to gorge down on.
"I will worry about it nyah! I worry about the poor bastard you are feeding this to nyah!" May screeched back and this time Yuril could see her folding her arms in front of her and continuing to puff out her cutting board chest and tilt her chin up in a smug manner.
"Yuril loves my food, watch there won't even be a crumb left when he is done compared to whatever you are making him, what are you even making him?" while it was true that normally after Syr had brought him food he would send the plate back near spotless and require little cleaning. But that was primarily to not offend Syr and convince her that her food was actually really good while in reality it was the exact opposite.
"An asparagus and goat cheese frittata with a small side of cinnamon oatmeal." Those few words sounded like a God's gift to Yuril and if he had not caught himself before doing so he would have likely drooled slightly at merely the description of the food before even tasting it.
"That all sounds gross!" Syr shouted back and while Yuril did not agree with her, not everything was for everyone so he would hold back his judgement. Though it was more likely that she was only saying so because she was cooking as well. Though "cooking" may have been Syr a bit too much credit, her food was what he imagined people would be surviving off of decades or even centuries ago.
"No, it's just your terrible sense of taste! He is going to die of food poisoning one of these days if he keeps being forced to eat the monstrosities that you cook up nyah!" Those words did relieve Yuril slightly, at least one other person besides himself was worried about contracting food poisoning from one of the waitress's dishes.
"Whatever, you are taking too long so just move out of the way already." Syr said her statement in a stern tone to finish the conversation and a quiet fell over the small courtyard and several seconds passed before the birds resumed their sweet chirps.
Ryuu simply shook her head from side to side ever so slightly at the two antics and arguing, she was curious as to what the state of the kitchen would be and was almost scared to walk inside the kitchen. Before she went inside Yuril was able to finish his previous statement that he had been cut off from finishing by the two employees of the Hostess. "I will be sure to take good care of her, promise Ryuu." Yuril said with a slight smile.
"Glad to hear it Mr. Artwaltz, I shall see you again when you return." the Elf said with a slight bob of her head before she stepped through the doorway and into the kitchen.