Sandwiches for Friends [Crafting/SOLO]

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It was a sunny afternoon in the land of Elder Tale when Ame decided that she wanted to try out her crafting skill and gain some levels in doing so. She had already bought the ingredients she knew she would need and she was ready to begin prepping the station she would be using for the day. She had accepted a party invite with a group of friends, and wanted to treat them to a nice lunch when they needed to gain some of their health back from the fighting that they would be doing. She knelt down in front of a low table owned by an NPC with a stone oven just off to the side. She opened her interface and went to her inventory, clicking on three different items within it. As she closed her interface, she smiled and clapped her hands together, ready to begin making the things she had set out to make. In the real world, she was a pretty good cook, and she had found out that her skills in real life was what she would use to cook here as well. It made her even more happy that she choose the Chef crafting class, as she loved to cook, and never really got to do so for others in the real world.

She looked down at the station in front of her. There was a slab of meat, a slab of cheese and a large round ball of dough. Setting the meat and cheese aside, she grabbed the dough and began kneading it across the table. After she felt she had kneaded it thoroughly, she folded it and began to knead again. She knew that she would have to do that process at least three more times in order to remove any air pockets that may have survived. Soon, she balled it up again and began taking clumps of it, once again kneading and folding as she did each piece. Soon, she had five rounded balls of dough ready to be placed into the stone oven beside her. She had already preheated the oven in order to make sure the dough would cook at the proper
temperature as she placed the five rounds in the oven carefully, making sure none of them would touch the others as they cooked. Once that step was finished, she would grab the second thing she needed, the meat.

She hadn't really expected the meat to come in a slab, though she wasn't sure why she hadn't expected it. She had purchased a large quantity in order to make sure she could make a sandwich for each of her friends and herself and still have one left over, though it almost seemed as though there was too much meat. She shook her head, getting the thought out of her head and grabbed a large knife that had thick teeth on the edges. "A perfect knife to cut perfect slices." She smiled and brought the teeth of the knife down on the slab and began cutting thin to medium slices. The meat that she had chosen to make her sandwiches with was roasted beef, one of her favorites in the real world. She looked down at it and wondered if it actually tasted like roast beef. Well, the sooner she made the sandwiches, the sooner she would know she supposed, so she continued.

She was about halfway done cutting the meet when a small timer that she had placed and set when she put the bread in began clicking lightly and she put her knife down and wiped off her hands on the apron she had worn. She looked down at her hands and shook her head, as she knew she would experience pain if she chose to grab the bread with her bare hands. She pulled on two oven mittens that had been hanging beside the stove, obviously belonging to the NPC, and began to pull out the perfectly cooked bread she had made. She smiled widely and placed them on a cooling rack so that they could set as she finished the rest of the meat. She picked up the meat once again and continued on cutting up the slab. She hummed softly, as she normally did while cooking, and began thinking of other things she could make when her levels got a bit higher. Cooking, she felt, calmed her soul and she loved the fact that she could cook anything she wanted here, something she really couldn't do in the real world, not with the expensive items anyways. Soon, she wiped the knife off and put it to the side. The slab was completely gone and she had a nice pile of sliced roast beef that she placed on the wrapping it had come in, placing it to the side to start her next step.

*Words: 809*

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Ame's next step in her sandwich process would be slicing the cheese. She had chosen Swiss cheese, as she believed that it went best with roast beef. It had been one of her favorite pairings for sandwiches in the real world, and she doubted her mind would change just because it was in a game. She took the slab of cheese that she had, and instead of using a knife with teeth, she choose a sharp flat blade, finding it easier to make perfect slices. She brought the knife down on the cheese and let it slide through. Swiss, because of how soft it was, was an easy cheese to slice, and she loved the way it felt when the knife just simply went through it. She hated having to fight with it, and sometimes, when she had just been learning, would take chunks off of the cheese as she tried to cut it, which is why she decided that the sharper the knife, the better. She breathed deep, and once again began humming a tune as she brought the knife through the cheese, making semi- thick slices. As she cut, she thought about her life here, and wondered if she would be able to last. She had recently formed a party with some pretty amazing people, and her first thought was that she wanted to cook for them. None of them had the chef crafting class, so if they were to cook, the meal would have no flavor, so she supposed that she wanted to make something for them that they could actually taste, if that was even possible here. She stopped cutting at that moment and stared down at the cheese.

'If food really is edible here, then, wouldn't it make this place real life?' She had had that thought once or twice before, fighting some young pitted boars in the Windsor Greatwoods. She had been hit a few times, and the hits had actually brought her pain. She looked down at the ankle that had been hit, and had found some bruising afterwards too. Putting the knife down, she pulled off her sock, and still surprised by it, she found herself staring at the bruise. It had healed a small amount, as it had been done recently, but it made her feel uneasy. She sighed as she put her sock back on and washed her hands. "Real or not, I'm here, so I might as well learn to live with it." She gave her head a shake and sighed as she picked up the knife again and went about slicing the cheese. She wouldn't continue to hum though, as her mind was now racing with thoughts of ever getting out of the world she had found herself trapped in. She was worried about her parents, and wondered what they would think of their adopted daughters disappearance, or would they even care? Had her body been transferred here, or just her soul? She had no clue what was happening in the real world, or if that world had just been a dream, no, not a dream, a nightmare. She blew a breath out, stopped cutting the cheese, and closed her eyes.

Since she had been transferred into Elder Tale, her life had been much, much better than it had in that other world. She had felt as though she had been through hell and back since she was a child. It had all started when a few of her care-takers had told her of her father's death, and that her mother could no longer stand to look at her, saying that she had her fathers eyes. They had told Ame that her mother had abandoned her and would never return for her. At first, she fought them, yelling and always asking how could they say that, but as the years went on, she truly began to believe it. When she was adopted, she felt happy, but she was also afraid. She was afraid that they would leave her as well. She would hide from them for the better part of five years before she actually found herself opening up to her new family. It took along time for her to make friends with her brother and sister as well, and truthfully, they had been her only friends when she entered into Elder Tale. She had experienced some very bad relationships, one ending in a broken arm and the other ending in, well, she didn't want to even think about that. As she opened her eyes, she felt tears streaming down her face, and she wiped them away instantly. She was sad that she didn't know when she would see her family again, she was afraid that she might never see them again, or that they would be gone when she came back, but none of that was the reason for the tears. What was worse, was that she was happiest here, in a world that may or may not exist. At first she had felt afraid, but now, she felt as though she belonged here, she wanted to be the one to run away forever, and never return.

"My mind is full of contradictions. I don't understand myself anymore." She sighed and then tried to shake her head again. "There is absolutely no use in getting upset, no matter what kind of a monster you are. You just have to deal with the fact that you aren't going home anytime soon and that this place, this world is your new home until further notice. Now, focus on your sandwiches, and make them with love and tender care!" She nodded and breathed deeply, clearing her mind of her somewhat ridiculous, but very true thoughts. She took up the knife and forced herself to begin humming again as she continued to slice the cheese. Soon, her humming became natural, and she was back in her happy mood. Then soon after that, the cheese was finished, and she put it on the wrapping it had come in and pushed it off to the side. Last step; making the sandwiches!

*Words: 1018*

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Ame began by taking one of the loafs down that she had cooked. It seemed to be cooled down enough for her to begin and she smiled, grabbing the toothed knife that she had cut the meat with. She sliced it in half, stopping before she cut through it completely, and opened it, laying it on the table. She wished she had some sort of sauce, like mayonnaise or a Dijon mustard to complete it, but she had been nervous about trying something like that, figuring she would have to make it from scratch or something, but she would have to figure it out eventually, as she planned on making lots of things, and not just for her new friends, but ones she would meet along the way as well. First, she laid down a nice amount of roasted beef, counting out the pieces she found that she could use six slices per six inch bun, so began laying down the first set. After that, she counted out fifteen slices of cheese, allowing her to put three pieces of cheese on each. Carefully, she pulled three slices from the pile and put them along the top of the meat. She closed it up and stared at it. It looked just like the ones she used to buy from the deli down the street from her house. She smiled widely at it, cutting the sandwich in half and wrapping it in paper. She then sat it to the side. 'I hope everyone likes them.' She breathed in deeply and then nodded her head, ready to begin the next one.

she grabbed the next loaf, slicing it with the knife. Then she grabbed the roasted beef and laid it down, then finished it by putting the cheese on top as she had before. She cut it in half and wrapped it, also setting it aside and grabbed the next one. After she had completed all five, she smiled, looking down at the wrappings. She knew it was going to be a great time getting to know the party she had just met, and learning things about their skills, and telling them about hers. She couldn't wait to experience fighting in a party and she was eager to get it started, but as the healer of the group, she knew that it was her job to keep an eye on everyone's health, and keep their strength up, which was why she wanted to make the sandwiches in the first place. They would give them health if they needed, but fighting on an empty stomach could lead to problems in the long run she was sure. She had already experienced so many strange things in this new world that she almost began to doubt her own sanity at one point. The monsters seemingly had feelings, she herself could feel pain. What was this place, and why had all the players been sent here? She wanted answers, but she doubted she could get any, but either way, she didn't want to just sit around and worry about what was happening. The best way for her was to live as if this was her life, and perhaps one day she would find someone with the answers. She nodded and placed the items in her inventory. She closed her interface, washed her hands at the washing station, and took off the PoL's apron, hanging it on the rack she had found it. As she left, she bowed to the woman who had given her acceptance to use her kitchen, thanking her for allowing her use and the nice lady told her she could come by and use it anytime. She smiled widely, nodding her head and then off she went, to the battlefield  with her new friends.

*Words: 630*