In Control [Closed Social RP]

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ishi giggled as he stared at his already lifeless puppet. It has been a while since he entered the world of Elder Tales, and yet here he was, still struggling on how to manipulate a puppet via Control Bar. He didn’t mind that he was a failure in puppetry. All that matter to him that he was a part of a world far more interesting than what he was in before. Unlike in the asylum, he could do all the things he couldn’t do before. Unlike in the asylum, he was not ordered around to do silly tests. Unlike in the asylum, he was the one in control of his life.

A Cheshire-like grin was present on his face as he continued to stare at his wooden puppet. Though his mastery over puppetry was still near to null, his interest and ‘passion’ for it was next to nothing. Though this system was mostly ignored by the players, Puppetry was something that interested him the most, perhaps due to his want to be a master of his own. The idea of manipulating something for your own benefit was his cup of tea.

Tea. Right. It was time for him to have tea.

Whipping his Control Bar to ready position, Ishi’s puppet was brought to life. With movements still unrefined, the wooden mannequin started to walk towards a small table filled with everything that you need for a tea party; a kettle of tea, a few cups, and a tray of cookies. As soon as it arrived to its intended location, the wooden doll attempted to pick up the kettle of tea. It was able to pick it up, which was an achievement for the puppeteer. But soon after, his manic grin was replaced with an annoyed frown as the tea, which was supposed to be put in one of the cups, ended up on the table. A total mess.

Ishi was obviously still far off from being a puppet master.

Words: 332

[Shuwen]

Words 362

Shuwen was walking through town, his expression haunted, but not as bad as it had been. After the apocalypse had occurred, Shuwen had suffered something of a break down. He hadn’t been able to quickly process his new circumstances, but his unconscious had demanded he make the best of it. The mental tug of war between different parts of his mind had revealed some things about himself that he couldn’t be proud of.

Fortunately, he was beginning to recover, and stand on his own two feet. Realizing combat strength would most likely be important for both exploration, getting a livelihood, and surviving, he’d gone out into the field to test his new abilities. Some parts of it had been fun, but the awkwardness of using the menu controls, and his resulting near inability to use skills had left him overmatched and forced him to flee back into town not long after he’d left. The whole affair had left him grouchy and frustrated at the issues. Why isn’t there a more efficient way to use skills? The menu simply isn’t enough when you’ve actually got monsters trying to claw your face off. He’d figured that fighting the monsters would have been somewhat different then fighting them in the game, but it was far more so then he could have imagined. Staring down a monster in real life, and having to hit them with his own fists… was a completely different experience then before. He wasn’t sure if it was something he could adapt and get used to.

His thoughts were interrupted by an unusual sight. Another adventurer was doing… something with what appeared to be a large wooden mannequin, which was in turn doing something with a table full of various food and drinkstuffs. “Umm… hi?” Shuwen asked, looking a little puzzled. What exactly are you doing? He wanted to ask, but was feeling too shy to do so. A lot of players had gotten more then a bit nuts when the apocalypse happened, by some standards, Shuwen was just a mild case. He wasn’t sure what the person was doing, and the Monk had no idea how he’d react to being interrupted.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“And now I am behind of my schedule…” Ishi frowned even more as he watched the spilled tea drop on the cobblestone path they were in. Though he already learned earlier that food and drinks in this world were bland as crazy and that food was not a necessity to survive, the dwarf was still disappointed to see good snack to go to waste. Even the cookies he got from the local shop got ruined as well. Now how he could have a tea party if everything was a mess. Musing on what to do, a greeting from another player interrupted him.

“Why hello there~”

The_Mad_Hatter sported a wide grin at the wolfish person as he scurried towards him to shake his hands. Regardless if he was able to do so, the dwarven warden giddily entertained his guest. Rolling on the ground, hopping and ‘cartwheel-ing’ around the hairy avatar, he examined him thru the use of the Elder Tale’s interface.

“Wolf Hair… Monk…” The puppeteer mumbled to himself as he read thru the available information presented by the Interface. “Too small for a wolf hair…” He added. It was an interesting note that Ishi was still fairly new to the game, yet he was already knowledgeable to the basics of the game like races, classes and what not. Ofcourse, there were more to be learned in this world, so he couldn’t say he was a ‘know-it-all’ type of guy. Not that he cared though.

“Can I comb your fur?” The_Mad_Hatter asked the Wolf Hair as he eyed his beautiful, dark blue mane, a grin present on his small face.

Words: 269

[Shuwen]

Words: 299

Upon further inspection, it looked like he was trying to make his puppet serve tea or something, but wasn’t doing a good job of it. Well that makes sense. It isn’t like he’d had time to get used to manipulating it yet. However, the look he had when he spilled some of the tea was a bit… scary. As if Dwarf wasn’t creepy enough, he turned and noticed Shuwen standing there, causing the creepiness factor to intensify.
The Monk as already having thoughts about turning and running when the Dwarf caught sight of him. He took a moment to examine Shuwen. His gaze was curious, almost like he was searching for something, though for what, he had no idea. He saw the Dwarf make a hand motion he recognized; one for bringing up the interface, and the one for bringing up information on the people in your sight. Sighing, Shuwen did the same. He was a level 1 player, which stood to reason, considering the server had just gone live; no one had time to raise their level yet. He was also a Warden, something that surprised the Monk more then a little. In universe, Wardens were supposed to act as law enforcement. Not as strong as the Royal Guard obviously, but Wardens were more mobile, could fight without meeting the necessary conditions, and their mantle could also be taken up by players, hence the person on front of him. However, he certainly wasn’t acting like any law enforcement person he’d met before.

He then asked if he could comb Shuwen’s fur. Wait, what? The monk took a step back. “Uh, please don’t.” The last thing he wanted at the moment was for a guy like this to invade his personal space. As in, he really didn’t want it.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“Fair enough.”

The_Mad_Hatter replied, a chuckle and a manic grin following his short statement. Fiddling with his Control Bar, the puppeteer ordered his puppet to face the wolf hair monk and greet him with a courteous bow. Ofcourse, it didn’t go the way he wanted it. Spinning a few times before performing a bow, the wooden mannequin smashed its head on the already ruined table, splitting it in half. Though the table got destroyed, Ishi just giggled and laughed.

“Look at her!” Ishi giddily pointed at his puppet. “She’s so excited to have tea!” The puppeteer waived his Control Bar frantically, causing the wooden doll to repeatedly smash its head on the already broken table. “More! More! More!” The dwarf danced and rolled in glee. Truly uncalled for. Or was it?

The dwarf warden stopped his crazy antics as soon as he realized that he was already out of tea. Frantically opening his inventory, the petite avatar soon squeaked in horror to find out a painful and undeniable fact.

He was out of tea. And he still hasn’t got his usual dose of it today.

Flopping on the ground, Ishi soon rolled like a log before hugging his knees. Tears were soon shed as he couldn’t take the fact that he was out of tea. Unbeknownst to him, the puppet was also mimicking him. It also rolled like a log and hugged its knees closer to its wooden body. Strange.

“I can’t take this anymore. I haven’t got tea since yesterday.” The_Mad_Hatter sniffed and sobbed.

Words: 255

[Shuwen]

Words: 322

Shuwen was worried that the Dwarf was going to insist on combing him or petting him or whatever, but thankfully he didn’t press the matter. Instead, he tried to show off his skill controlling his mannequin, trying to make it spin around and do something, but instead of stopping where it was supposed to, it smashed into the table, destroying it and made everything on it fall to the ground in a loud clatter. The Monk flinched visibly, obviously disturbed by the unexpected destruction. The puppeteer, however, didn’t seem bothered about having his table destroyed and continued to ramble on about an unspecified female, presumably his manniquen. If anything, the random violence seemed to have energized him. Okay, that clinches it, this guy is nuts. Exactly what I need to deal with. He didn’t know if the guy was already crazy before the apocalypse, or snapped during the aftermath, but he definitely had a few screws loose.

As if Shuwen needed more convincing that the Dwarf was crazy, he suddenly curled up, his puppet imitating him for some reason. As Shuwen didn’t know squat about puppets, he didn’t understand the significance of it, but no matter, he had bigger problems to worry about. The Dwarf began to bemoan his lack of tea, which really stressed him for some reason. As bothersome as the puppeteer was, seeing him like that was even more bothersome. The Monk sighed.

“Um, you need tea? I have an herb ingredient on hand. If you have the other ingredients, I should be able to make some, but… well… it tastes like water.” Even though he’d been forced to retreat rather quickly, he’d been able to defeat two mobs before being forced to retreat back to town. One of them had dropped an herb-type ingredient item, one that could be used to make tea. The other ingredients, such as water could probably be easily and inexpensively obtained in town.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Ishi’s rainbow-hued eyes sparkled as he stood up, rushed to Shuwen, and hugged him like there was no tomorrow. Though the wolf hair was small for his kind, The_Mad_Hatter’s chosen race made the other look like an older brother. Well, sort of.

“Oh my Alice!” The_Mad_Hatter squeaked in glee while rubbing his small face to the other’s chest. “You must be Wonderland sent!” Ishi exclaimed, giddiness apparent on his tone. The dwarf would have wanted to hug the other for a longer time, but having tea was far more important than that. Waiving his hand in the air, he would pull up Londinium’s map from the Interface.

“It should be… right there! Let’s go, wolfie!” The_Mad_Hatter grabbed Shuwen by the hand as he skipped happily towards a certain shop where he bought his tea party needs. Since the wolf hair already had the leaves needed, they would only need a kettle of water or two. And perhaps some milk and lots of cookies.

“I’m Ishi by the way!” Ishi introduced himself as he pulled the other towards their destination. If Shuwen was keen enough, he would perhaps notice the composure on his tone. He was not childish or whatever. For a moment, The_Mad_Hatter was not unstable. “And I like tea!” Or was he?

During all of this, Ishi’s puppet, which he named Luca, was following them. Though movements were erratic, the wooden puppet was able to keep up. Obviously, the puppeteer was once again, unaware that he was manipulating the doll.

Words: 251

[Shuwen]

Words: 302

The next thing Shuwen knew, he was being attacked. As soon as he brought up tea, a strange transformation seemed to overcome The_Mad_Hatter. Shivering in delight, he charged directly at the Monk. Shuwen, thinking he was being attacked, got into a fighting stance, but instead of being damaged, he was simply bowled over as the Dwarf eveloped him in an energetic hug. WHAT THE F- “umoph!” He said as he was knocked off his feet, his words garbled by the dwarf’s body.

The_Mad_Hatter said a few things that both made sense and confused him further. Refering to him as both “Alice” and “wonderland sent” were obviously references to that old story. His username was obviously also a shout out to that story. But why was he bringing it up here, and why was he calling Shuwen “Alice”? He didn’t have time to ponder these questions, as he was quickly overwhelmed by the situation. The dwarf stood back up and started pulling him somewhere. Still puzzled about what was going on, Shuwen meekly followed along. In his remaining hand, the Dwarf continued to manipulate the puppet’s control bar, causing it to follow along behind them. However, it’s speed appeared to have been significantly reduced in the process, because it was lgging behind.

On the way, the Dwarf introduced himself as “Ishi”, considering most players went by their usernames, that was also an odd occurance, one that Shuwen couldn’t really understand. For the time being, it was probably best to just go along with it. “Umm… I’m Shuwen.” The monk replied. “I’m not really a fan of tea." He’d had a relative or two back in the real world that enjoyed it, but he wasn’t very fond of it. Hopefully the Dwarf wouldn’t react very strongly to that information. That would probably be bad.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

The_Mad_Hatter stopped on its tracks as soon as Shuwen uttered those words. Not a fan of tea? Was this hairy wolf kidding? Seriously, who wouldn’t be addicted to tea? Certainly not Ishi. The asylum patient was always, and forever would always be a tea fanatic. It was the best beverage in the world. You were not living your life right if you were not drinking tea on a daily basis.

“Tell me that’s a joke.” Ishi eyed Shuwen, his small hands still holding the other. “Because it is not funny.” The dwarf glaring rainbow-hued eyes soon turned into a pair of concerned, teary and colorful orbs. “You had a very sad childhood, I take it? No matter. You will be happy from now on. I pinky promise!” He raised his right pinky finger and beckoned the other to do the pinky promise. They have to do it, or else he would keep bothering him.

Assuming Shuwen bothered to shake pinkies with him, Ishi would giddily grin before pulling the Wolf Hair back to the path they were taking. They didn’t need any more delays. They need to have tea as soon as possible. Having one was already fifteen minutes and twenty four seconds overdue.

“We need to buy lots of milk! And cookies too! Or maybe we should try cake.” Ishi mused loudly as he pulled Shuwen while he manipulated his slow puppet. “Though I am not sure if the cake is a nice choice. I remember someone telling me that a cake is a lie.” The_Mad_Hatter pondered deeply.

Words: 259

[Shuwen]

Words: 383

Unfortunately, The_Mad_Hatter reacted almost as badly as Shuwen feared. Clearly aghast at the thought of someone not liking tea, he first asked if it was a joke. “Sorry, but….” Only for him to continue and say that the Monk must have had a very sad childhood. “Er, something like that.” He replied, torn between not wanting to lie, and wanting to put the conversation behind him. The Dwarf also insisted on making a pinky promise, promising he would be happy from now on. I’m totally going to regret this aren’t I? He thought gloomily.

Once the promise was made, Ishi continued to drag him to and fro, babbling about tea and the kinds of things they would have with or in the tea. “That was just a video game reference, Portal to be exact. Don’t worry about it.” Though it probably wasn’t a good idea to encourage him, the poor Monk could already feel himself getting caught up in Ishi’s flow. With my luck, I’m probably going to end up baby sitting every other looney on the server at some point or another, aren’t I? He thought with a sigh. Shuwen didn’t consider himself a particularly interesting person, but for some reason he usually ended up getting partnered up with crazy more interesting people and forced to keep them busy. A side effect of his ADHD perhaps? I guess there’s no point complaining about it at this point.

“Hey, uh Ishi, I have a question.” He asked allowed, hopefully breaking through whatever stupor the concept of tea seemed to bring over the Dwarf’ senses. “Is there any point in going out of your way to get a specific food? I mean, everything tastes like water and soggy rice crackers, yeah? I don’t see what the difference is.” He guessed that he was about to be on the receiving end of a passionate and completely insane lecture, but you never knew. He’d already figured tea was Ishi’s passion, and that even something with it’s semblance was probably better then nothing for him, but maybe there was something more to it? He certainly hoped so. There was a good chance he was just being crude, cruel or stupid by forcing the issue, but letting it sit no longer seemed like a good idea to him.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“Water and Soggy crackers?” The_Mad_Hatter glanced at Shuwen for a moment before looking back at the path they were taking. If there was a problem with the taste, it would really bother the dwarf as he always enjoyed tasting different kinds if tea. Well, regardless if it was true or not, he just grinned and giggled at the thought.

“It is not always about the taste, wolfie.” The_Mad_Hatter started as soon as they made a right turn. Just a few blocks away from them, a lone shop could be seen. Seeing that they would be having tea as soon as they have acquired the ingredients, the dwarf hastened his pace, dragging Shuwen along the way. The puppet on the other hand struggled to follow them, tripping and bumping to anything along its path. It would have been easier for the two if the puppet was stored in his inventory.

“Sometimes, it is all about the idea of having one.” Ishi followed his statement, after a few seconds or so of pause ofcourse. Though having a delicious tea was a good idea, the dwarf always thought of this as a mere bonus. What he always looked forward to was the thought of drinking and enjoying a cup of tea and a bite of cookie with a company or two. Having bad snacks was least of his priorities.

“Alright!” Ishi grinned at Shuwen as soon as they reached the shop. “Time to go shopping!” He smiled at the wolf hair, his pearly whites sparkling. He didn’t move or budge from his spot. It seemed like… he was urging the other to make the purchase. What?

Words: 279

[Shuwen]

Words: 530

Shuwen had figured that The_Mad_Hatter would respond with an enraged outburst. Considering the Monk was only a few steps short of insulting one of Ishi’s favorite things to do. But he showed remarkable tolerance, contrasting with his earlier behavior. He also didn’t seem to be bothered by the monotonous taste of his tea, if anything, he was a bit surprised when he brought it up. That said, there didn’t seem to be any meaning to Ishi’s tea drinking other then his fondness of it, which was about what Shuwen suspected. He didn’t care if it tasted like water; Ishi was fond of drinking tea, so he drank tea, regardless of the circumstances or compromises he had to make in order to do so. I guess that’s a good enough reason to. He thought with a disappointed sigh. At any rate, he’s definitely crazy.

They reached the store before long, bringing Ishi’s excitement up a notch. However, instead of jumping right on to the ingredients they’d need to make tea, he simply stayed in one place, looking at Shuwen expectantly. He wants me to buy it too, dosen’t he? The Monk thought, making a sour face. This guy’s expecting a bit much from me isn’t he? Well, even if it was tea that Shuwen would likely end up drinking a fair amount of, he was only doing it at Ishi’s insistence, so should he really be the one paying for the materials as well? It didn’t seem quite fair. But he’d already seen ample evidence that Ishi’s perspective was quite skewed from his own, so he probably wouldn’t be using the same logic. With another sight, he walked into the store.

Let’s see now, we’ll probably need a kettle’s worth of water, and some snacks. He was eating milk and cookies earlier, more of the same will probably be enough. He quickly bought what he felt were appropriate amounts of each item. There was a good chance that Ishi might not be quite satisfied with the amount of milk and cookies, but from what little he’d seen of the Dwarf’s inner workings, it would be a secondary concern for him at best. After he’d obtained each item, he paid the appropriate amount and stashed them in his inventory. The amount was a bit higher then he’d like; most of the money he’d managed to make fighting monsters before being forced to retreat back into town. I’m going to have to go back out there later, aren’t I? He thought ruefully. Surviving in the world of Elder Tale didn’t require a great deal of money. If you were willing to stay at a cheap inn and eat only a small amount of food (which didn’t take much willpower, since the food was tasteless anyways), you could get by on a handful of gold coins a day, but getting even that much did require going out into the field and subjecting yourself to combat, which was especially scary since he was using a new character. The fact he’d probably have to do that again before the day was out didn’t exactly please him. “Alright, what now?” He asked once he exited the store.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“Let’s move out tea soldier!” The_Mad_Hatter quickly moved to Shuwen's back and pushed him to walk back to the path they took earlier. The dwarf was all giddy and squirmy, perhaps due to the fact that they were about to have tea soon. He was fairly excited. He did have a tea or two before in one of the shops here in Londinium. Despite the fact that he was always grinning, this particular façade hid the fact that he didn’t enjoy it. Aside from the bland taste, he was drinking tea on his own.

On his own.

Luca, his wooden puppet, struggled to follow them. Accidentally tripping and rolling and bumping to things from time to time. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the The_Mad_Hatter choose to be a puppeteer. Aside from being a master of his own, he really just wanted to have a companion or two. Someone to have tea with during a nice afternoon. Glancing at the wolf hair’s nice fur, the dwarf couldn’t help but giggle wholeheartedly. If the other was keen to other people’s feelings, he would notice that this particular giggle was special and less maniacal than the ones he had shown earlier.

“So what kind of tea are you preparing?” The_Mad_Hatter started the conversation as they moved from block to block, slowly nearing the location where they first met. Regardless of the tea that he would be having today with Shuwen, the dwarf was very excited. “Can you teach me how to make one??!” The petite enthusiastically asked, his rainbow-hued eyes sparkling.

Words: 261

[Shuwen]

Words: 474

As Shuwen had feared, The_Mad_Hatter was getting more the a little into the preparations then he’d have preferred. Sure, keeping the guy happy was better then the alternative, but really. Why did he call me a tea soldier? the Monk wondered, resisting the urge to start crying. It’s not like I’m some faceless goon whose only purpose is to make tea for him. Right? RIGHT? However, he didn’t have time to stop and think about it, as the crazed dwarf was literally pushing him from behind to make him go faster, his puppet somehow trailing behind him. Ishi continued to giggle, though in a different way from before. However, Shuwen had ADHD, and the change in tone went completely over his head, unfortunately for him.

Ishi started asking him questions, wanting details about the tea he'd be making, and how he'd be doing it. Shuwen, for the most part, wasn't particularly eager to answer said questions, but he complied, albeit with a little flailing. “I have no idea what kind of tea I’m making! Whatever kind the herbs I collected result in.” He brought up his inventory through the interface and retrieved the herbs in question. “Hmm, mint leaves. Is mint tea a thing?” He asked, he didn’t know enough about tea to know whether that was done or not.

Next, Ishi asked him if he could teach him how to make tea. “Erm, well, since this is Elder Tale, you just use the menu command to make it. You see, hit the bottom on the-” Quickly, Shuwen gave him a list of instructions for bringing up the section of the interface needed to make food and drink. Upon doing so, it would reveal a long list of possible items one could make, with the ones that could be made with the ingredients he had on hand lit up so they were easier to find. Since the necessary items weren’t in Ishi’s inventory, the option for tea would be grayed out. “Since I do have the ingredients, I can bush that button, and whatever types of tea I can make appear from that, but since I only have mint leaves on me, that’s the only option I can pick." However, instead of pushing it, he exited out of the menu. “I’ll do that when we get back.” Actually, now that Shuwen thought about it, where were they going now? The table Ishi had been using was destroyed, so using that wasn’t a viable option. “Hey, where are we going? It’s not like we can use that broken table can we? I’m not a woodcrafter, so don’t expect me to fix it or anything!” If Ishi didn’t give him a proper answer to that question, he’d probably begin flailing a bit, but not so much that Ishi would be unable to continue pushing him along.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“You are so cute, wolfie!” The_Mad_Hatter followed it with a very feminine giggle. The dwarf, though already aware of how the Interface worked, he gladly listened to the instructions provided by the wolf hair in creating items from the menu. “Mint tea would be very nice to have in this fine day, especially with you.” The petite suddenly stopped from his tracks, paused for a moment as he blushed crimson, before running and flailing his short arms around Shuwen while saying “Kyaaaaaaa!” Luca, his struggling wooden puppet, mimicked his actions as well. Though coming from this contraption, its movements were obviously too dangerous.

Yep. That was really unexpected. Well, what could you expect from a person like him? He was from the asylum after all. He was bound to be crazy. Hopefully, Shuwen wouldn’t be turned off in a way or two. Ishi was really just special. Just special.

“You don’t have to worry about the table.” The_Mad_Hatter quickly stopped from his girly-like antics as he spoked in a very deep, yet still small tone. “Luca would take care of that.” The dwarf nodded sagely, the puppet following his lead. The petite was referring to Shuwen’s notion about the broken table. It was true that they didn’t have a table now as he destroyed it out of pure crazy whim. But he could always improvise. He was a warden after all. And a mechanic too. Making a makeshift table wouldn’t be much of a challenge to him.

Going back to the track, The_Mad_Hatter continued to push Shuwen to move.

Words: 259

[Shuwen]

Words: 260

The_Mad_Hatter only continued to grow more excited as they continued to converse. Apparently, the thought of having tea was really beginning to get to him, which seriously worried Shuwen. He was even blushing, for crying out loud! If it weren’t for the fact they’d just gone and bought the ingredients necessary for tea, the Monk would have probably begun to wonder of ‘drinking tea’ was actually a euphemism for a less savory activity. “Errr.” However, he was having a great deal of trouble figuring out how to express this.

Even as the Dwarf pushed him, another question popped into Shuwen’s head, one that had sprung from Ishi’s curious response to one of his previous questions. “When you say Luca will take care of it… you aren’t just planning to have your puppet go down on all fours or something stupid like that, are you? Because that’s kind of… yeah.” He hoped that wasn’t the case; It was a rather silly idea, but from how he’d said that Luca would deal with the issue, he couldn’t really think of any other way someone like him would deal with it, it certainly seemed in line with the crazy person’s way of thinking.

Once they made it to where the table used to be, he left reparing or improvising a table (whatever the Warden had planned) to Ishi, while he began to make the tea, using the set of menu commands he’d previously shown the Dwarf. If he wasn’t interrupted, they’d end up with a small pot of warm but tasteless mint tea.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“You have a better idea, Gladys?” The_Mad_Hatter asked Shuwen as he fiddled with his Control Bar. Thru simple commands, the dwarf was able to order Luca go down on all fours. Shivering in erratic movements, the doll followed with no hesitation. Fixing itself on the solid ground, his wooden puppet was now their trusty table. They were now one step towards tea-induced victory. Hooray!

Wasting no time, The_Mad_Hatter started waiving and pointing into the air, obviously utilizing the Interface to access his inventory. Aware of the circumstances of losing tea party needs and utensils for whatever reason, the petite avatar always made sure that he had a spare or two. True to his warden-like nature, he took out his remaining tea party items and started setting each one of it on the makeshift table.

As Ishi worked on preparing the table, he noticed that Shuwen was pointing in the air. Obviously, the wolf hair was fiddling with the Interface. At first, the dwarf didn’t mind what the other was doing. After all, it was normal for him to see people doing that. Most of the people in the asylum did that once or twice in their lives. So it was pretty normal for him.

Then for a moment, he paused.

“I thought you are going to make tea?” The_Mad_Hatter politely asked, a manic grin forming on his delicate, dwarven face. “You are going to teach me how to do it right?” The dwarf added, pointing towards their makeshift table. The wolf hair was tasked to make the tea, and he was well aware of that. But as of the moment, the wolf hair seemed to be just wasting time by pointing and poking to the air.

“Come on now!” The_Mad_Hatter suddenly grew impatient, grabbing Shuwen by the hand and pulling him towards the ‘puppet table’. As soon as they reached the area, the dwarf would face the wolf hair, cross his arms and repeatedly tap his right foot. It seemed that Ishi’s wick was growing short.

Regardless if Shuwen would continue making the tea via the Interface or not, The_Mad_Hatter would take out some basic utensils needed in making tea. The dwarf would then give it to the wolf hair, obviously asking the other to make the tea by hand. It didn’t matter to him if the other knew how to make tea by hand or not. All he wanted was to see it being done via hand.

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[Shuwen]

Words: 477

As silly as it was, The_Mad_Hatter had a fair point; he didn’t have any better ideas. Still, does he have to keep coming up with stupid nicknames for me? He thought as The_Mad_Hatter manipulated his puppet into what could vaguely be considered the shape of a table.

He’s about to do something that will make my life infinitely harder, isn’t he? Even if such a look had never been personally directed at him, he instinctively knew what it meant. The implications were a bit creepy, but he had other things to worry about. “I’m.. making tea, using the menu command I showed you earlier, remember?” He’d just shown the Dwarf how to do it a short while ago, surely he couldn’t have already forgotten? But when he tried to explain it, Ishi quickly began to grow impatient and pulled him towards the table, taking out several basic utensils of the type one would need for making tea. Until he did that, the Monk had no idea what he was getting at, but once he did, it began to click. Wait, does he… want me to make it by hand? That made fairly little sense. In Elder Tale, one could make food automatically by simply using the menu commands, no manual labor or knowledge required. At this point, he was pretty sure Ishi was a new player, since he wasn’t already aware of this. He’d heard that a few people had tried to make food by hand, in hopes of maintaining the taste that was retained in ingredient items, but it had been far from successful; he’d heard whatever they made simply melted into inedible purple or green goo. I guess a demonstration to show him that’s incorrect wouldn’t hurt. He’s not listening to me, so I guess he’ll have to learn from experience. Shuwen really didn’t like it when people ignored hard-won knowledge in favor of their own preconceived notions, but that was human nature for you, even he did it sometimes.

“So… you want me to make it by hand? I… don’t really know how to do that, could you walk me through it by hand?” Of couse, there was an additional reason for doing that, besides Shuwen’s lack of technical knowledge regarding tea making; if he did it by himself and failed, Ishi would probably blame him for the failure, making the lesson unsuccessful, he needed to use the knowledge from Ishi’s own mouth to prove he was doing it wrong. Taking out the necessary ingredients as Ishi instruction, he waited for the Dwarf to walk him through the process. Unfortunately, the side of the puppet’s torso wasn’t very flat; it was mostly curved in some way or another to mimic the torso of a human, so he ended up putting most of the ingredients on the ground below it, so they wouldn’t spill over.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

“Oh!” The_Mad_Hatter lightly clapped together as he realized that Shuwen didn’t know how to make tea by hand. Normally, the dwarf would go ballistic for his companion’s ‘shortcomings’ in tea making. But for some odd reason, he just grinned maniacally. Staring at the table before him with his playful rainbow-hued eyes, the petite summoned his remaining tea leaves from his inventory and started putting it inside the teapot. “You know, making tea is very easy! Now go ahead and pour hot water in it.”

The_Mad_Hatter would then giddily wait for the Shuwen to fill the teapot with hot water. Regardless if the wolf hair would do it or not, the dwarf would start babbling about how delicious teas could be, especially if it was shared among peers. In case that the other didn’t know what to do next after filling the teapot with hot water, he would advise him to wait for a few moments to let the tea leaves steep.

Once Ishi felt that the steeped tea leaves were ready, he would open the lid of the teapot. With a grin, the puppeteer would advise the priest to pour in milk in a gradual manner while stirring the liquid slowly. “Teehee~” He would giggle lightly. Obviously, the petite was having fun in making the tea.

There was no guarantee if they were able to create the tea perfectly or not. After all, this kind of drink might require a specific crafting class. But oh well. They could worry about it later.

Words: 252

[Shuwen]

Words: 295

The_Mad_Hatter was more then happy to walk him through the process of making tea by hand. Following the Dwarf’s instructions, Shuwen started by pouring hot water into the teapot. as he did so, he briefly closed his ears to shut out Ishi’s continuous babbling about how awesome tea was. As someone who wasn’t a big fan of it, it was beginning to get on his nerves. Ishi put in some tea leaves and got his attention when he believed they were ready to continue. “How can you tell when the tea leaves are done steeping?” Perhaps he was merely oblivious, but he hadn’t been able to figure out how Ishi knew through observation alone. If he didn’t know the trick to figuring out the timing, he’d have little chance of being able to replicate what Ishi did to make the tea later on. Of course, that was assuming he ever wanted to make more tea, which he didn’t really see happening unless someone paid him to do it. But then, that was always a possibility.

which was shortly followed by a measured amount of milk, after which he stirred the liquids slowly in order to mix them.

Generally speaking, it was best to make drinks using the brewer subclass, however, since it was partially merged with the chef subclass, chefs were also capable of making drinks, albeit not with every recipe that brewers could. As a result, when Shuwen attempted to make the tea by hand, it did not in fact turn into purple inedible goo as he’d heard it would. Of course, Shuwen did not yet know the significance of it.

“I think it’s done.” Shuwen said. “Here, have some.” With that, he poured tea into Ishi’s cup, filling it almost to the rim.