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“See how easy it is? Just pat the meat the way that you'd pat any soy block, and then brush it with butter and whiskey and toss a slice of tomato on top. If you don't have any of these, just make do with anything you can — as long as you try to follow the recipe, you'll please our Great Cultural Attaché. The flavors and textures are all new, but just think of the vitally important nutrients that you've missed out on for centuries and can't do without! Why, if you're not doing things this way, then you're just not a modern person!”
He smiled and looked nervously off-camera.
The show had gone well, the Imperial Assistant seemed satisfied.
With the queen's inspection — visit, he hastened to correct himself — scheduled for next week, he couldn't be too careful.
The black ships had arrived a few years before, absolutely bristling with defensive capabilities. They'd been rather insistent about opening trade negotiations.
Since then, the economy had declined, people became sick with no traceable causes, and there was a pervasive sense that one should always agree with these strange outsiders and follow their lead.
O ~~~ O