Going in Circles (Lazarus/Research)

[Lucia]

"Ugh...what the hell is up with this place? How can such good-looking food have no taste at all? "

These words were muttered under the breath of a young blonde girl, who was furiously reading through what appeared to be a pile consisting of about four books related to cooking. Earlier that day, she had tried cooking for the first time. It had been established from the start that food in this strange world had almost no flavor, despite looking ridiculously delicious. It wasn't so terrible that it was inedible, but the insane contrast between taste and appearance was enough to leave just about anyone feeling depressed. Either way, Lucia had hoped that having chef as one of her sub-classes would make a difference. After all, if you couldn't make good food, then what would the point be in being a chef if it came out the same as the food prepared by the NPCs? All she could do was hope she was on the right track with this.

She chose one of the most basic recipes she could find...a simple egg sandwich. Some bread, a fried egg and a slice of cheese, all of which she had managed to obtain from an NPC free of charge. And the recipe itself seemed simple enough. Thus, she went through the menu commands and executed the cooking flawlessly. There sat in front of her a perfectly made sandwich, looking far better than anything like this logically should. After steeling her nerves, she took a bite...and it was no different from the NPC's cooking. To say that Lucia was hugely disappointed would be a huge understatement. It was there that she got thinking. Maybe the food would taste better if she raised her cooking level? Of course, with the food being so tasteless, it was hard to motivate herself to try and raise her cooking level, which, obviously, could probably only be raised by actually cooking. More and more, this was beginning to feel hopeless.

From there, she tried experimenting with other things. Through sheer coincidence, she noticed that the basic ingredients actually did taste like what they were supposed to be. But, it wasn't the breakthrough she initially thought it was. Most of the ingredients were either some sort of seasoning, or basic meats, fruits and vegetables. A lot of them, due to being raw, were inedible on their own, and attempting to do anything to alter the ones that weren't resulted in them losing any flavor they had. And the ones that could be eaten on their own, like the fruits and vegetables weren't anywhere near close enough to being substantial, so all she accomplished from trying to eat just those was making herself even hungrier...and wasting good ingredients. More and more, this was pissing her off. As an aspiring chef in the real world, it was starting to become personal. She was going to find a way to make the food in this messed up world taste better, even if it killed her.

In any case, she was here now, reading through various cooking-related books to see if she could find anything that might help her in her endeavors. Sadly, all she could find were some basic recipes. Admittedly, they sounded pretty good, but it all  meant nothing if there was no way to make it taste like what it was supposed to. Naturally, she couldn't find anything on how to make the food actually taste like something. She did discover (albeit by accident) that adding a condiment ingredient, like salt, pepper or sugar, to a cooked food item made it a little more bearable. But, in the end, it could only do so much. All she was really tasting was the ingredient she added, which kinda defeated the purpose of the adding condiments in the first place. Things like salt and sugar are supposed to enhance food's flavor, here, it was the only flavor there was. Letting out an aggravated sigh, Lucia put the book down that she was reading, deciding now would be as good a time as any for a break. The last thing she needed to do was burn herself out on this. Then she really wouldn't get anywhere.

Taking out another of the egg sandwiches she had been experimenting with, she let out a sigh and began talking to herself, though it'd be loud enough for anyone close by to hear her...not that she particularly cared. "This is really beginning to bug me. How is possible for such delicious-looking food to taste like ass? Adding salt and sugar doesn't help either...it just tastes like salty ass or sugary ass. Whoever's responsible for this shit is seriously messed up in the head." Of course, by "this shit", she was undoubtedly referring to everyone being trapped inside the game...or, at the very least, a ridiculously detailed recreation of it. If Elder Tales were a virtual reality MMO like that one anime she saw a while back (she couldn't remember the name...something to do with swords), that'd be one thing. But this was just a normal MMO where people sat on their asses in front of a computer screen. As such, she could only begin to wonder just how whoever was responsible for this managed to pull it off...assuming it all wasn't some freak accident. One thing was certain...if this were a dream, she would have definitely woken up by now.

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Total word count for this thread: 912

[Lazarus]

835 lucia hungry girl ❀

Lazarus was sure that she had fully assimilated to the customs of her new reality now. The blonde haired child wandered through the streets of London chewing on a sandwich purchased from one of the People of the Land. While many other people around her were cowering and shedding tears or letting out animal like cries of sorrow, she was stuffing her face. The food tasted like mush and it was a shame to see such aesthetically pleasing cuisine had a bland taste, however there wasn't much that she could do about it. She had learned quite a while ago that the only ones who could make food properly were Chefs. Since she didn't have the Chef subclass, her only choices were to starve or eat the bland foot presented to her. Somehow after experimenting with herbs and battling monsters for the fun of it, she found herself not minding the bland taste. At times, she did yearn for the food that she would be given by some of the street vendors on her way to school as courtesy for a good day but this would have to do for now. I wonder why everyone makes such a big deal out of it, food is food isn't it? Nonetheless, she was more concerned about her Pharmacist levels than her stomach. She had spent most of the week practicing her Assassin skills while coupling the progress with her Tracker. She analyzed the weaknesses and strengths of her prey and assumed a battle strategy worthy of a tactician. It was rather exciting when her plans were executed just the way she wanted, and the utter joy of hearing a dying animal cry was tantalizing. Oh dear, I'm becoming far more sadistic. However, she was having fun and that is what counted the most. As long as she kept a clear head and an open mind, this world wouldn't be able to change who she was on the outside. Stretching her arms after she finished the sandwich, she raised her hand only to bring it down quickly to summon her HUD. There were several groups of herbs in her inventory that she collected while in the Marshlands and different areas. They all had specific properties but she had to run over them to make sure that they worked perfectly. Even in London there were some areas where she could pick up herbs and use them for her research. The possibilities were endless and she wasn't one to just beat about the bush. Closing her HUD, she looked about for a place to sit and work. There weren't any woodcrafters that she knew so she wasn't able to make a building to call her home, and use it for research purposes. The only thing that she could do was sit down in an area and focus on memorizing along with analyzing her findings while ignoring the half-dead people. They're so troublesome, why can't adutls just adjust like kids. Shrugging it off, she clasped her hands behind her back and looked about wondering. Looking upwards, she noticed that she had wandered so far that she stood at Big Ben. The magnificent clock was covered in nature, but it still held a regal appearance despite its state. A smile formed on her lips and she decided to sit down at the base of the gigantic monument where some rocks were also placed. Taking a seat, she stretched her limbs before opening her inventory. Withdrawing the herbs, she began to pick them apart and analyze them by color and texture along with their smell. Some smell liked different fruits, and she sorted them by their smells along with their sizes.  With a hum, she leaned back to analyze her work along with the ten piles around her. Counting them one by one, she then began to run the information over in her mind. "This is really beginning to bug me. How is possible for such delicious-looking food to taste like ass? Adding salt and sugar doesn't help either...it just tastes like salty ass or sugary ass. Whoever's responsible for this shit is seriously messed up in the head." It wasn't as if Laz hadn't heard the quite noisy female earlier. Rather she was engrossed in her work and didn't have the time to acknowledge her presence. Though upon being distracted for the second time, Laz's interest was peaked and she raised her head to watch the woman attempt yet fail to create an actual dish with taste. A small smirk formed on Laz's lips though she was feeling rather peckish upon seeing the food, and although it had no taste she wanted to eat. Standing to her feet after gathering her items, she wandered over towards the latter noticing more herbs that were near her. Changing her attention from the herbs to the woman, Laz stood next to her with her arms behind her back. "Hello. Could you make me one of those sandwiches that you had if you don't mind?"

LAIKA OF GS!

[Lucia]

Taking a bite of her sandwich, she immediately grimaced at the lack of flavor. She had managed to get to the point where she can, with surprisingly little effort, make herself eat the food here despite how bad it was, but it didn't make her any less miserable over the whole thing. As mentioned before, it wasn't terrible...just completely void of any flavor whatsoever. Considering that that only other alternative was to go hungry, then having to eat food with no taste was definitely better than being forced to choke down something that tasted awful. Lucia knew and understood this, which is the only reason she wasn't driving herself to insanity with this personal quest of hers. But, even knowing this truth, it didn't make the fact that anything cooked will have no flavor whatsoever any easier to swallow. No pun intended.

She figured it wouldn't take long before everyone would get used to the so-called food. Granted, there was a difference between being used to something and actually liking it, but, all in all, it wasn't really as bad as she figured she was probably making. Either way, deciding to get it over with quickly, she hastily devoured the sandwich in just a few bites, though she was careful about thoroughly chewing it. She didn't know if it was possible to choke on food in this semi-virtual strange world, and, frankly, she'd rather not find out the hard way. Either way, it was just a moment after that she heard the voice of another, causing her to look in the direction it came from, and laid eyes on a small girl with long golden hair. "HOLY CRAP SHE'S ADORABLE" was the only thought that echoed in her mind as she looked to the girl before.

Now then. Let's get one thing straight before we continue. Lucia (or rather, the woman playing her) is definitely a pervert, and she was rather shameless about it to boot. Nine times out of ten, the first thing she'd do when meeting a cute/pretty girl is hit on her, unless there were noticeable signs that doing so would be a bad idea. However, despite what some might say, she is most definitely not a lolicon. Sure, she found some little girls, like the one before her at this very moment, to be irresistibly adorable. But that was all it was. Of course, given her reputation, few would be blamed for making such a mistake. Still, most of the people who know her well enough are fully aware of what's really going on when she gets like this, so, at the very least, they're usually able to help prevent potential damage to her reputation...well, at least, more damage than normal.

Either way, it wasn't until a few seconds after she finished speaking that the girl's words finally registered in her mind, snapping Lucia out of her moe-induced daze. Lucia blinked a bit "Eh? Well...I would, but I'm out of the ingredients to make it..." She paused for a moment, looking at the girl. She did have one more in her bag, but...aw dammit, there was no way she could say "no". Thus, she produced it in front of her and smiled. "It's my last one, and I was saving it for later...but you can have it. I was planning to buy more ingredients later so, I can always make more then." Thus, she held the sandwich out to the girl, happily offering it to her. Honestly speaking, even if the girl hadn't been ridiculously adorable, she probably would've given it to her anyway. The fact that she was ridiculously adorable just helped her make the decision that much faster. 

In any case, waiting to see if the girl would eat the sandwich right then and there, she then spoke up. "Anyways...if you don't mind my asking, what's your name?" She paused for a moment. "Oh, right...I guess it's only fair that I introduce myself first. I'm Lucia, and, I'm a Cleric. As you might have already guessed, I chose Chef as my crafting class." While waiting for a response, she simply looked the girl over repeatedly, reveling in the adorableness. She couldn't tell if the avatar was a really young-looking human or (as it turned out to be the case) an unusually slender dwarf. All she knew was she'd be more than happy to form a party with her. Regrettably, she had been so focused on cooking that she hadn't taken the chance to level up her main class. And, as with most healer classes, her combat options were rather limited on her own. At the very least, she knew she'd be able to take a few hits, thanks to her being able to equip plate armor, but the lack of physical power was, to say the least, a little annoying. Truth be told, she usually went for more combat-focused classes, like Swashbuckler or Monk. Why did she felt the need to mix things up and play as a healer? Hell, even she didn't know. Either way, it was too late to do anything about it now.

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Total word count for this thread: 1772