T’Slask sat behind his little stall, happily grilling up skewers. He had a couple customers, some catgirls, and I let him deal with them before I walked over.

  “Ah, Nick Howell from Terra,” he called out as I waved. “My favorite customer. Come to buy over a dozen skewers are you?”

  “Yep,” I replied, stopping in front of his stall. “The people in my city loved them.”

  “That is good, very good,” he said, his wide mouth and sharp teeth smiling. “Gorituskio is a delicacy.”

  “That it is,” I said. “I’m wondering if there’s a way to import a large amount?”

  “That would be a question for the merchants in the Glowing Fist Sect. We have a shop in the Market District.”

  “I’ll have to get my merchant in touch with them.”

  “I can help them to meet and arrange something,” T’Slask said. “That could be beneficial to both our Factions.”

  “Good. Now give me two of those things,” I said, pointing to the skewers.

  “I have something else for you to try as well my friend. Besides Gorituskio, I also have Nortinlik.”

  “Is it as good as the other?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Let me have it.”

  He handed me a skewer with a lighter colored meat. There was no marinade but I could see that it had been seasoned with some kind of spices. I took a bite and was surprised. It didn’t taste like chicken. In my experience, all white meat tasted like chicken. Even alligator tasted like chicken. This was like emu or ostrich, which was surprisingly a red meat on Earth. The spices had a bit of a kick to them, which I enjoyed.

  “I’ll take whatever you have to bring back home with me,” I said.

  “You are indeed my favorite customer.”

  I smiled, stepping to the side as I finished my Nortinlik skewer.

  “I have a question for you,” I said.

  “Oh?”

  “Is this stall yours or your Factions?”

  “It is mine but I lease it through the Faction. They had to purchase the spot.”

  “Interesting,” I said, stepping back into the street and looking down it.

  There weren’t many stalls. I looked behind T’Slask and realized the next closest shop didn’t look like it belonged to his people. He caught me looking.

  “No, that is not my Faction’s restaurant,” he said. “Are you looking to open a stall? It is a good way to have a presence in the Entertainment District without opening a restaurant.”

  “Maybe someday we’ll do a restaurant,” I said. I could just imagine an Earth-style pub here. That would be great. “But maybe a stall for now. I have something for you to try.”

  “Oh?” he asked, setting his cooking tools, which looked basically like what we used on Earth but were just a tad different. Functionality in design was a multiversal thing apparently.

  I pulled a bear burger out of my storage, plate and all, handing it to him.

  T’Slask picked it up, looking at the burger and the bun. This one had cheese, lettuce and tomato. I was normally just a meat and cheese on my burger kind of guy, with bacon of course, but figured I’d give T’Slask the standard one.

  “What is this?” he asked, sniffing at the meat.

  “We call them burgers. That one is made of bear meat.”

  “Burger?” he sounded out the unfamiliar word. With one last look at it, he took a very large bite. He chewed for a bit, face not having much expression then his eyes lit up and he smiled. “This is excellent.” He took another bite and soon it was gone. “Do you have another?”

  I pulled out a hamburger. He happily finished that one in two bites.

  “What was that second meat?”

  “Cow.”

  “How is it prepared in that shape?”

  “It’s called ground,” I replied. “Any meat can be turned into ground and then made into a burger or other forms. The buns, what the bread is called, can be different styles as well. Then you can add a variety of toppings. The green leaves are called lettuce, the red fruit is a tomato.”

  I didn’t bother to bring up the tomato question. Is it a fruit or vegetable? That would just confuse him. I’d also have to explain what a fruit and vegetable is. He probably had those on his world but I wasn’t sure how they’d translate.

  “The other slice was called cheddar cheese, which also comes in a variety of styles and flavors.”

  “With all those choices, each of these burgers could be different?”

  “Yep.”

  T’Slask looked down at the burger in his hands, at his grill, at me and then down the street.

  “No, I do not think a stall would be a good idea for you,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “I do not want to lose business,” he laughed. “These burgers would sell quickly.”

  I laughed.

  “But seriously,” he said, leaning forward, pointing up and down the street. “You don’t see many stalls like mine do you?”

  I looked up and down the street. There was one of two but that wasn’t much for the length of the street. I hadn’t been down all four streets in the Entertainment District, but didn’t think much would be different.

  “Nope. Why is that?”

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  “Most Factions don’t think it worth the time. Not many of their members like standing in the street for hours selling stuff. I do it because I enjoy it, but not many do. And due to the size, you can’t sell much variety, so the customer base is limited. Stalls don’t make that much credit.”

  “You don’t turn a profit?”

  “Barely,” T’Slask said, his wide mouth smiling. It was kind of horrific with all the teeth and forked tongue. “After I pay the Faction for the lease, I don’t walk away with much extra.”

  “Why do you do it?”

  T’Slask shrugged, using tongs or what at least looked like his species’ version of tongs, to turn some of the skewers.

  “I enjoy it. Not many folk stop to talk, but when they do,” he chuckled and shrugged again.

  I nodded, understanding. Some were born people-pleasers, or needed that constant exchange of conversation and interaction with people. I wasn’t. I enjoyed people but I also enjoyed my me-time.

  It was something I had noticed in all the vendors I’d seen over the years. Even the small business, hobbyist-ones I’d seen at craft fairs and such. I had a girlfriend once that loved going to those things and dragged me along. There were some cool items to buy and some interesting people to talk to. But what I’d noticed was there were two types and you could normally tell who was going to be more successful. Those were the ones that engaged with the customers. Talked with them, chatted, just had open and vibrant personalities. The introverted ones, they didn’t tend to sell as much product.

  Same with food truck people. The friendlier and more interactive, the better they did. T’Slask was one of those. I wasn’t, but I knew someone back home that was.

  “And I have a Profession Essence along with my combat,” T’Slask said, chuckling when he saw my confused look.

  That was very uncommon. Most people involved in combat or Adventuring saved all their slots for Essence that would help with combat. I mean, why take up a valuable slot with something non-essential when it could use it for something that would help save your life?

  “I didn’t take the usual path to becoming an Adventurer,” he said. “My world was opened to the Multiverse hundreds of years ago so we knew about the two types of portals when I came of age. But I’d already gained the Cooking Essence.”

  “I didn’t think anyone could gain an Essence of any kind until they’d gone through a Tutorial?”

  “That is typically true but there are the rare few of us from the older worlds that gain one early through unusual means. In most Factions, I have heard that it is the scions of the leadership, or those that have shown they will Advance far and quickly, that are given an Essence early.”

  “Does it give them an advantage?”

  “Yes, but at a cost,” T’Slask said, not looking like he was going to explain. It was something I could ask Stylo about later. “I did not get mine through those means but it was not well accepted that I did receive one. The Elders of my Clan were not happy. They forced me to accept the Challenge Tutorial.”

  “But wouldn’t having an Essence Slot used up put you at a disadvantage?” I asked.

  I immediately didn’t like his people. It didn’t sound like T’Slask had purposefully taken the Essence and his people had purposefully put him in danger as punishment.

  “Yes and it did,” he said, growing more serious, eyes looking past me, remembering his Tutorial. He shook his head, banishing those thoughts. “But I survived and have thrived since. But the Clan is still not happy and..,” he trailed off, shrugging. “I have proven valuable in any Tower party I am a part of so they put up with me having to Level the Cooking Essence. I tried working in one of the Clan’s restaurants and while I enjoyed the kitchen work it was boring as well. No one to talk to,” he said, smiling wide. Still horrific but I liked the guy so it softened the horribleness a bit. “I ended up moving out here where I can talk with people and still work on my Cooking.”

  “And not make any Credits.”

  “I make enough,” T’Slask said. “But I do not need to live off what I make here.”

  I nodded. That all made sense. I had a feeling that other Clans, the few that used stalls, did it as a kind of marketing, which is how they could write-off any credit loss. The stalls weren’t credit generators, but helped funnel people to their restaurants and shops.

  Which to be honest, was my plan with the burgers.

  “Don’t let me discourage you,” T’Slask said, handing me a skewer. “Free of charge,” he said, waving my hand away before I could transfer the credits. “For the burger.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’d welcome a neighbor,” he continued, pointing at the nearest other stall that was down the street. “My nearest neighbor is too far away to talk with.”

  I laughed.

  “I’ll see what I can do about that,” I told him, waving as I walked off, heading for the obelisk.

  I’d gotten both bits of information I’d come looking for. I learned about the stalls and would talk with Tammy about it when saw her again. Would also have to check with Stylo about any rules about businesses. With Marketing, Entertainment and Training Districts, I had a feeling that Crossroads was pretty strict about where the different types of businesses were set up. So the idea of using the stall in Entertainment to funnel people to a shop in Market was probably out.

  But wouldn’t hurt to ask.

  Tammy was going to be shocked that I was even thinking of doing research before launching into a plan. Especially when Kat wasn’t around to hold my hand.

  I was kind of shocked too.

  Was I growing up? Maturing? Really coming into the role as Faction head?

  I hoped not.

  The other bit of information was T’Slask’s availability as a potential team member. He didn’t say it outright, but I could read between the lines. It sounded like his Clan kept him on a tight leash.

  Maybe there was something I could do about that, but it was a future consideration.

  Wouldn’t do to offend a Clan during my first week. Let’s save that for the second week.

  I grunted as something slammed into me.

  “Watch where you are going, human,” a strange bubbly voice said from over my head.

  I had stopped, noticing a body standing right next to me, in my personal space. Biting back a response, instead of snapping out, there I was acting all mature again, I craned my head back to look up at the large face of a frog.

  That explained the bubbly voice.

  I stepped back to get a better look and yeah, it was a tall humanoid form.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You walked into me human,” the frogman said. “I expect an apology.”

  And proving that I hadn’t matured at all, I responded.

  “Not going to happen.”