Flynn the Meat Dealer

Alesha found herself getting dragged by her left hand at a slightly uncomfortable pace through the halls. The culprit of this, a young woman who hadn't bothered to introduce herself before deciding to cart the unsuspecting "demoness" off to who-knows-where, was fairly tall, stronger than Alesha would have guessed, and clearly a drop-dead beauty. The student's face had been too close to tell this earlier, but her curvaceous figure came with an ample chest and beautifully proportioned legs. Add to that her shockingly white, curly hair with a carrot-colored streak framing her face and the green eyes that Alesha had noticed earlier, and this woman could have been an insanely popular model or actress. 

The woman turned to look at Alesha as they made their way down the hall, not letting go of her hand. "So lil' demoness, my name's Delilah! What's yours?"

"Alesha," she replied, grateful for the introduction.

"Alesha! A pretty name," Delilah remarked. "Ya like meat, yeah?"

Blushing at the bluntness of the question, Alesha answered, "Well, yeah." No sense in glossing over the fact… even if it did make her uncomfortable to admit it, Alesha figured denying it would be worse. Stupid System. Stupid Carnivorous Constitution.

[Technically, it's not "Carnivorous Constitution" anymore. Just "Carnivorous,"] the System interjected.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.

"Good! Any animals in partic'lar?" Delilah added.

"Mmm, red meat, like cows and pigs? Do you have those here?" Alesha replied, realizing at the last moment that a different world unconnected to the Alliance might not have the same animals. Just because the demons looked similar to Earth-native species didn't mean that she'd find Earth-native livestock here.

"Uh, nope! No clue whatta cow or pig is. But we got red meat!"

"That should work then. You have meat outside the cafeteria?" Alesha was curious as to how and why a normal student in a fantasy world would have meat just lying around. It wouldn't be rotten, would it? She didn't know what to expect.

"Yep! My bro Flynn's an Undead Commander, he has to have it for his pets!"

So she was about to get fed meat that was set aside for another student's… pets? But why had Delilah mentioned the Undead Commander part? Something about the cheerful way Delilah said it had Alesha nervous. 

After a few more corridors and ascending some stairs, Delilah pulled Alesha up to a door labeled "213" and knocked rapidly in a specific pattern. Five quick strikes, a single slow strike, and two more quick strikes. She ended the sequence with a heavy kick. Clearly the door was made of some sturdy stuff… Alesha had a feeling that hard of a kick would have broken the average door back home.

"Open up, Flynn!!" Delilah shouted, giving the door another kick. 

"Coming, I'm coming!" a male voice responded from inside. The door opened, revealing one of the most handsome men Alesha had ever laid eyes on.

He was tall, just barely taller than Delilah, with pale skin, black hair with silver roots, and red eyes. His figure was lean but strong underneath the school robes. Upon opening the door, he looked from Delilah to Alesha, whose hand was still held captive by the older student, and gasped a little. "My, my, what a pretty little thing! Lily, where did you find such an unusual demoness?!"

Alesha's momentary trance, brought about by the sight of such a pretty boy, was broken when he called her a demoness. Did everyone here seriously assume she was a demoness just because she didn't have a uniform? It wasn't like she had any "demonic" features! She frowned in displeasure.

"She w's jus' wandrin' the halls! But where are ya manners, let us in, ya jerkwad!" With that, Delilah moved to bop Flynn on the head, but with a quick and obviously practiced motion, he backpedaled (dodging her blow), then bowed, gesturing towards the open door.

"Please come in, ladies," he said in a dramatic voice.

"That's more like it!" Delilah stated triumphantly, putting her free hand on her hip, lifting her chin and dragging Alesha in behind her. Flynn followed and pulled the door shut behind him.

The interior of the room reminded Alesha of an old fantasy Victorian setting. It was clearly a receiving room, much smaller than a mansion might have but Flynn had managed to shove more in there than she might have expected. There was a green couch embroidered with pink roses, two matching armchairs, a pair of rich mahogany bookshelves and a coffee table, as well as a wall lined with large, rectangular chests of the same deep red wood as the shelves. 

"So! What can I do for you today, Lily? I assume it has something to do with this lovely creature?" Flynn asked, coming up from behind and peeking his head right over Alesha's shoulder. 

"Eep!" Alesha said involuntarily, made uncomfortable by his unexpected proximity. She finally managed to yank her hand free of Delilah's grip and retreated a pace from the both of them. "Uh, hi, I'm Alesha and Delilah said you might have something for me to eat? I kinda missed din- er, lunch."

Delilah didn't miss Alesha's verbal slip. Before Flynn had a chance to respond, she piped in with, "Oooh, was it dinner time when ya were summoned? Then ya missed lunch here? Aw ya poor thing!! Flynn, fetch her some meat!" She finished her statement with a dramatic pointing pose, as if she were some sort of general directing an army.

As if this was an entirely normal occurrence, as he turned and started walking towards the chests he shot over his shoulder, "What kind? And how would the lady like it prepared?"

"Red meat! And whaddya say, Alesha, how d'ya like yer meat? Raw? Dripping with blood? Burnt to a crisp? Rotten? Maybe growing mushrooms or seasoned with bonemeal?"

Feeling more and more disgusted with each kind of meat that Delilah listed, Alesha quickly responded with, "Raw is fine! Or maybe cooked rare if you have it." Still somewhat in denial, Alesha made sure to include a cooked meat option in her requests. If they didn't have it then she would blame the circumstances and could remain intentionally oblivious to this particular change in her preferences.

Flynn walked up to a large, rectangular chest and opened it. The inside of the lid was visibly coated with ice, though Alesha couldn't see the chest's actual contents from this angle. "Alright!" Flynn replied, squatting by the chest and turning to look at Alesha. "How much will you need? A pound? Two? Ten?"

Alesha blinked. Did they use the same measuring System as the Alliance? If that was the case… no, it was more likely that the translating magic from earlier was converting measurements for her. Why would the amounts be even, though, if that was the case instead? "Um, just one pound for now would be fine," she finally said. As curious as she was, filling her stomach was more important at the moment. 

A shiny black knife materialized in Flynn's hand and he reached into the chest. With some motions Alesha couldn't see (she was now regretting not having followed him over), he cut a portion of meat, then deposited the oddly-shaped chunk onto a plate, which had materialized into his other hand. The plate was white with green vine patterns. The knife disappeared, Flynn closed the chest, and he walked over to Alesha. With a flourish and a bow, he presented it to her. "My lady, here is your meat. Regrettably, I haven't the capability to cook it for you, and so I shall present it to you raw."