Bery woke up with her head pounding a bit. After bathing last night, she'd fallen asleep next to her dragoness. The kitten shook her dragoness slightly.

"My head is throbbing."

Valerie blinked in her kitten with a smile. "I guess you have a hangover?"

"Yeah, my head hurts."

"Sit still for one second."

Bery obeyed the dragon's command.

A vibrant red flame graced Valerie's fingertip, and she pushed it against Bery's head. The flame disappeared as it touched Bery's skin and along with it her headache went.

"What did you just do?"

"I erased your headache."

Bery's eyes widened, and she shook her head in exasperation. "You really are on a whole other level."

"Thanks, kitten. Let's get dressed and ready for the day. I know you must be starving. Don't you want to look around the city also? They might have more piz'za."

Bery remembered the taste of the delicacy from the day before, her mouth watering. She leapt from the bed in a surprising display of acrobatics compared to her usual self.

The kitten slipped on a long white dress with cute blue paw prints. At first she'd been embarrassed by these kinds of things, but now she found them cute. She loved the way her dragoness looked at her as well. She twirled, spinning into Valerie's arms.

"How do I look?"

Valerie smiled and kissed her on the lips. "You look as beautiful as morning rays of sunshine filtering through a canopy of trees. You're like a precious little flower that needs to be taken care of."

Bery flushed, taking Valerie's hand. "You look amazing yourself. You're like a vibrant red flame made for cooking marshmallows."

"Well then, will you be my marshmallow today?"

The kitten nodded and nibbled on Valerie's lip. "I will be your sweet marshmallow for today."

"Good," the dragoness said, playfully slapping Bery's rear. "Let's get you some food."

The kitten jumped, leading Valerie out of the door. They entered into the hallway of the hotel, and that's when Bery realized how fancy this place was. They were on what appeared to be the third floor, and there were long windows facing outwards.

Vibrant orange carpet covered the hallways, and there was a small table with a stone figure of a crab. The bust even had little pinchers that the kitten found adorable. Despite the fact that those pinchers had the grip strength to crush most buildings to rubble, she found them endearing.

When they got to the lobby, there were several fancy crabs sitting around and playing cards. They all had on fancy suits and ties, and the leader of the group was a much larger crab. He had a big brown cigar sticking out of the tip of his mouth, and he took puffs of smoke, blowing it outside an open window.

He barely looked up from his cards and nodded towards the two outsiders. He looked back down at his cards and narrowed his eyes towards another crab.

"Aye, Mario, you think you can cheat me or somethin'? When I looked up, I know I had more chips."

"I ain't cheatin' nobody, boss. You simply miscounted."

"I miscounted, aye? One of you kill this fuckin' crab."

Mario chuckled. "Boss is makin' these jokes again…"

Valerie covered Bery's ears and ushered the kitten outside. "You don't need to listen to those crabs. I feel like they'll be a bad influence."

Bery wanted to pout, but her eyes focused on the scenery around the city. She'd never been to such a large place before. In the street, Granchins crowded the place, walking with a crabby gait. Each of them wore strange clothes. They had ironed suits that went over their bodies, save for the workers. The workers wore white linen garbs, and their crab pinchers broke bits of stone and cut slabs for buildings.

The kitten's nose wrinkled. Many different smells mingled together. Some were pleasant foods, and others were stinky.

Valerie shook her head. "These mongrels don't treat their sewage properly. It doesn't matter how good you make your food if your city is this smelly. I will not stand for this attack on my kitten's nose."

Bery nodded, her eyes catching a nearby restaurant, and her finger pointing up at the sign. "Tony's Langoustine…"

A nearby crab made a strange clicking sound and pointed with both of his claws at the building. "You outsiders would love that place. They have the best macaroni."

"Mac'aroni?"

The crab shook his head, his gaze becoming stern. "It's macaroni, you damn Ka…"

His words were cut off by the harsh glare of a dragon. Valerie's gaze bore into him and scrutinized him.

The man gathered his nearby bag he'd fumbled and took off running in the sandy streets.

Bery giggled towards her dragon. "Do you really have to be that protective?"

"Naturally, if anyone disrespects you here, I will be making a big crab boil."

The kitten pulled Valerie towards the restaurant, ignoring her promise of killing crabs. Bery found difficulty in pushing the heavy stone door open, but she was thankful she persevered. She was rewarded with a delightful scent, including the smell of sea fish.

"Greetings travelers," A fancy crab said, behind a stone podium. "Please let me guide you to your seats. Do you prefer outside seating or inside?"

Bery's eyebrows lifted, but she definitely didn't want to go back outside to that smell. "Inside, please!"

"I figured you'd say that." The crab man led them both towards a small, rounded couples table, and sat them down. He pulled out two pieces of paper, seemingly made of the nearby trees. It had an oceany scent to it. "Below all of the items, there is a description written in the common tongue. You will not find any other place as accommodating."

"Thank you," Bery said, looking over the items. Even if they were written in common tongue, she had no idea what any of them were. Mac'aroni? Lingu'ini? All of the words seemed to melt into some kind of incoherent text, using commoner language.

"For now," the waiter said, "I can get you started with some drinks. Do either of you like wine?"

"No more wine!"

Valerie chuckled at her kitten. "The two of us will try this fruit juice."

"No problem, I will give you both a moment to decide on your dish."

The crab left towards the back of the Tony's Langoustine, disappearing behind some hanging green leaves.

Bery looked around the place, taking in all of the people who were eating or drinking. In truth, she could not tell the difference between a male Granchin or a female one. To her, they all looked like crabs. She wondered if they felt the same way about her.

Valerie pinched the kitten's arm gently. "You need to think about what you want to eat, kitten. They have piz'za from yesterday."

The kitten remembered the taste of piz'za on her tongue and wanted to taste it again, but there were so many other tantalizing options. Ultimately, she decided against her rumbling tummy.

"I think I will have the mac'aroni."

"That's a good choice," the waiter said, setting down their fruit juices. He looked towards the dragoness. "And for you?"

"I will have the same thing as my kitten."

"Good," the crab said, taking both of their menus. "Today's macaroni features a healthy serving of tuna. Our brothers were hard at work, catching fish in the reefs this morning, so they're very fresh."

Bery tried to imagine a crab dock with fishing boats for other crabs. Do crabs use a special kind of fishing boat?

"Notice. It is likely that these crabs simply catch them with their claws. I've surmise the Granchin's grip strength to be superior to most other humanoids. I estimate that their claws exceed 10,000 tons of force on average."

Tons?

"In essence, their claws are super duper strong."

Bery nodded in understanding. She looked down at the orange-yellow fruit juice in her mug and took a sip. A splendid sweetness and a hint of tart flowed into her mouth, and the kitten couldn't resist downing half of it before her food even got there.

When the crab waiter came back out, he held a large tray with two great plates of macaroni. Each one of them had a pile of the stuff, and shredded pieces of fish intermingled with the strange yellow tubes.

"Your dinner is served."

Bery gazed down at the steamy plate in front of her. The pieces of macaroni looked delightful with some kind of cheesy sauce dripping from them. The kitten rushed to grab her fork, stabbing several of the tubes and pieces of fish together. She'd completely forgotten all décor and pretense, shoving the hot food into her mouth.

The macaroni sizzled on her tongue, but the taste made her taste buds feel like they had reached a certain kind of culinary heaven. There was something about this tuna that made her kitten heart dance, and she started purring from the flavor profile.

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