[Mentor/Invite] And the Wolf Said to the Fox...

[Deleted]

545 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
Elder Tale was a vast world, half of the planet Earth to be exact. It would be weird if two people looked the same, right? WRONG! Even though people could design their own appearances, there were bound to be at least one pair of players that had striking similarities in their appear. Caerbannog, for one, could easily compare herself to Apocrypha's Midori. With the dark hair and schoolgirl uniform, she would not be surprised if someone thought they were the same person. But similarities usually end in appearances; she was more, admittedly, childish than her Apocrypha counterpart. But that's not the point. The point was that Caer mistook someone for someone else. The wolf-hair was just minding her own business as usual. Perched on top of the Westminster Abbey, right on its rooftop, the samurai looked down at the crowded streets and alleys around the sanctuary. She was in her usual schoolgirl outfit, not in her pajamas this time; and because she was in the city, her weapons were kept away. Caer's black wolf ears, which were usually hidden in her thick hair, suddenly perked straight up when she noticed a familiar face. Or rather, what seemed to be a familiar face. She quickly hopped down some ledges and about halfway to the ground, Caerbannog jumped onto the street below. It left a small dent but nothing too worrisome. "Loki!" the wolf-hair yelled at a silver-haired figure. She had not noticed if that figure was in a street or in an alley; if he was in the crowd or far from it. All Caerbannog homed in was "that" silver hair. There was once a silver-haired foxtail named Loki whom she had gone adventuring with in the Northern Marshlands of Thames. The quest did not go well and so they had to turn back, but she could remember the air of confidence about that person. Finally, the wolf-hair reached her target and she dashed in the way of the silver-haired person to stop him from moving away from her. "LOKI-KUUUN!" Caer exclaimed, much to the surprise of those around her. But this person did not have such an obvious air of confidence about him, and when the samurai looked closely, it was not Loki at all! Caerbannog hurriedly pulled up her interface and "clicked" the person in front of her: @eleri, a sorcerer. WHOOPS! "Ah... sorry!" she apologized and bowed almost immediately as soon as she realized her mistake. What to say? It turned out to be quite an awkward situation! Caerbannog had hoped to greet an old acquaintance but this person turned out to be someone else. It was terribly rude of her to assume that he was Loki; the samurai kept her eyes down and she stared at her toes for a while until she thought of how to deal with the situation. Of course! It could only mean one thing! "PANCAKES!" Caer looked up so suddenly and she screamed at Jacoben's face, "Let's go eat pancakes!" Without taking no for an answer, the samurai took the foxtail by the hand and dragged him off to a nearby cafe. Nothing too fancy, it was just one of those lander establishments. If the food was not good, Caerbannog could always bring out her own pancakes.

[Deleted]

Jacoben had decided to explore Londinium further in order to make sure he was familiar with the city that he now called home, it also gave him the opportunity to people-watch. Without a firsthand experience with the real world version of London the Kitsune had had no preconceived notions of what should be where in the city. While this meant that he was a little more lost than those who were familiar with London, it also meant he wouldn't become confused or disconcerted by the differences between reality and the Half-Gaia version. Still there were some places that were very similar such as Westminster Abbey, which is where he had decided to start his exploration for the day.

Considering the Abbey and the tower of Big Ben were so well known it was a good base location for his exploration, as just about anyone he asked would be able to point him back to his start point. Tail twitching from side to side as he turned to leave, his ears swivelled around at the sound of someone calling out a name. Seeing as it wasn't his, or anyone that he knew, Jacoben continued on his trip to explore the city further. Or at least, that was his plan until a short woman in a schoolgirl uniform appeared in front of him shouting out the name once more. The young sorcerer flinched back, his ears pressing against his head and his eyes widening as the woman startled him.

Staring at the other player as she bowed in apology for startling him, Jacoben brought up the interface to find out just who it was that had assaulted. @dindeen .... oh dear, hopefully this particular woman was simply a Monty Python fan and not someone looking to live up to the creature's legacy in terms of sheer carnage and horror. Lost in his own little world musing on the nature of old forms of entertainment the young Kitsune forgot about the person in front of him until she yelled out once more, startling him to the point of shouting and leaping backwards in shock.

"P..pancakes?" the white haired boy responded, mismatched eyes wide as he tried to work out how to respond to the strange woman and to control the beating of his heart, his hands wringing together in nervousness. With ears plastered against his head he was grabbed and dragged away from the Abbey until they reached a cafe apparently in search of these pancakes that the Samurai had decided that they were to have. He could have tried to pull free, but because his day had intended to be simply about him he had no compelling reason to argue or fight against the sudden kidnapping.

Guided to a seat by the small Wolf Hair he stared at her for a few moments, curled in on himself as he pondered what it was that she wanted with him, and how quickly he'd be able to escape the uncomfortable social interaction with a stranger. "Umm....why did you bring me here?" he murmured quietly, staring down at the table unwilling to work up the courage to look her in the eyes.

W:528

[Deleted]

1005 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
The adventurer looked like Loki but it was definitely NOT Loki. Caerbannog messed up! She had to make it right somehow and was there a better bribe than good food? At least she hoped that this was good... once Loki, er, @eleri was seated, the wolf-hair looked around her for familiar faces. There was none. NONE! Now, it was fortunate that the foxtail could not look at the samurai's face for she was not in her prettiest state at the moment. Beads of sweat formed on her brow as she sat there in a table for two, the man before her a total stranger. It was not an ideal situation to be, but Caerbannog knew that she had to make up for her fault somehow. As she looked around the cafe, she noted the white walls and the polished stone flooring. The chairs, tables and fixtures were made of wood and metal; off-white tablecloths and curtains were used. It was not extravagant, not one of those cafes where a cup of coffee would cost an arm and a leg, but it was pretty and full of smiles and laughter all around. If the customers were happy then that must mean that the food was good, right? The wolf-hair had to be sure, so when a waiter passed by with his eyes looking ahead, Caerbannog snatched a piece of toast from one of the plates in the lander's tray. She bit off a small piece and expected a nice slightly sweet or salty taste... but what she bit into was the taste of soggy rice crackers! "Bleh!" Caer almost spat out the piece of horrible food but she managed to swallow the icky thing. Some people in nearby tables looked over to the little samurai so she just put the bad toast down on her plate instead of shoving it up the waiter's nose. She had hoped that this was one of those good cafes but apparently, it was just pretty to look at and its patrons might have already been used to the shitty meals that landers could make. Well two can play at that game! Actually, it made Caerbannog question why landers were so bad at cooking, or anyone who was not a chef. I mean, can someone actually be that dumb that they'd even screw up a piece of toast? "Give me ten minutes!" the samurai then spend off to the kitchen at the back of the establishment. She handed a few pieces of Elder Tale moneys to the 'chef' of that cafe, who was doing a very bad job at being a chef by the way. The wolf-hair took some ingredients from the counter: flour, water and eggs. She then picked up a mixing bowl from the mountain of dishes and utensils, and made sure to grab a wooden spoon as well. In the small bowl, Caerbannog mixed the three food ingredients that she nabbed from the surprised chef who continued with his work; there were many customers waiting for his shitty cooking after all. Left to her own devices, Caerbannog fired up a pan on the stove and put a small amount of cooking oil in it. She then scooped some of the batter that she made onto the pan and waited for its sides to be cooked to a golden brown. Once done on one face, the pancake was flipped over using a spatula. It was simple enough to make and with the minimal amount of tools and ingredients. But most of all, Caerbannog could compare these pancakes that she made while her subclass was set to blacksmith against pancakes in her inventory which she cooked when she was a chef. Four small pancakes later, Caer put two pieces on one plate and two pieces on another. She then put them on a tray and walked out of the kitchen to the sound of a deep, bothered sigh from the chef of the house. The wolf-hair did not mind; she had already paid him so it should be fine. She walked out of that kitchen and headed back to the awkward foxtail with the tray of pancakes in her hands. The freshly-made food smelled nice but when Caerbannog set it down on the table, she did not let the foxtail eat it just yet. "Let's compare with this," the wolf-hair sat down in her chair as she pulled out chef-made pancakes from her inventory. Maple syrup was drizzled all over them as she had crafted them that way a long time ago before she became a blacksmith. The magic of the inventory system was quite wonderful and the maple-syruped pancakes were as fresh as they were the day that they were made. Caerbannog put the plate of maple pancakes between her and Jacoben, while the plates of recently-made pancakes were set down in front of each adventurer; one plate for her and one plate for the foxtail. The samurai tasted a bit of the pancakes which she made as a blacksmith... and she winced almost immediately. Soggy rice crackers. Did the chef system really make that much of a difference? She then took a bit of the maple pancakes; delicious as always. "Isn't it weird?" Caer wagged her fork at the foxtail, "Without the chef subclass, people make shitty food even if they know what they're doing." It then dawned upon her that she never properly introduced herself to Jacoben. "I'm Caerbannog!" and she pronounced that properly, "Samurai, blacksmith, digimon tamer!" The wolf-hair held out her left hand to the foxtail at a rather inappropriate attempt at a handshake. Her sleeve almost touched the maple pancakes what with her height that put her just barely above the table. Was she speaking too fast? Was she talking too much? As some people thought, Caerbannog had changed quite a bit from the awkward, silent swordsman that started out in Elder Tale. She was still awkward though and tended to trip over her own two feet as much as she did when she was Level 1.

[Deleted]

It seemed for a while that his question was going to be ignored as the much higher levelled player proceeded to steal some toast and try it, spitting the chewed substance out almost as soon as she had tasted it. He wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting, his experience with food had been that it wasn't all that good and you just had to get it over and done with as soon as possible. He hadn't enjoyed eating every since he got stuck in this game, but overall the positives far outweighed the negatives as far as he was concerned. Tasteless food but being able to live in a proper fantasy world with magic and everything? Worth it by far.

"Umm..." was all he could manage to get out as the Samurai spat out a request for ten minutes before vanishing into the kitchen of the cafe, leaving the young Sorcerer sitting there in confusion and wondering if he really should wait for this crazy woman to come back. There was nothing keeping him here after all, he could just get up and leave, vanishing amidst the crowds and hopefully never being found by the strange Wolf Hair. Then again, she was a much higher level than him and probably had connections, which meant that she'd probably be able to find him one way or another.

Sighing in defeat the Fox Tail slumped in his chair and stared out the nearest window, his tail fading to allow a more comfortable seat and his ears drooping in resignation. Bringing up his interface he began to tap through it aimlessly, examining the various features of the system in a fashion which would allow him a quicker reaction time when he needed to get to a certain section of the system. If it became second nature to him then he would be able to use it much better in combat situations when speed was everything.

When the small woman returned it was with a tray of small pancakes, a plate set before him that smelled rather delicious but failed to garner much of a reaction from the Sorcerer. He watched as she ate from a different set of pancakes first before tucking into the newly made ones, one eyebrow slightly raised in confusion as he tried to figure out what she was talking about. Wait? What was that about the Chef subclass? It seemed sort of like she was implying that a Chef could make food that was more than just vaguely tolerable.

Cautiously cutting into one of the pancakes before him he was about to take a bite of the delicious smelling food only to have the short woman shove her hand over the table for a handshake, denying him the chance to taste what could be the first proper food he'd had since entering the game. "Ah, pleased to meet you Miss Caerbannog," he said softly, his Scottish lilt pronouncing her name in a Gaelic fashion, "I'm Jacoben, Jacoben Imble". He was somewhat pleased with his little play on words with his character name, and a ghost of a grin graced his youthful face for a moment before vanishing once more.

Returning back to the most pressing question he had, the Sorcerer shot her a quizzical look, front teeth nibbling on his bottom lip. "I must admit, I'm still rather confused as to why you brought me here..." he began, looking at her for a moment as he awaited a more thorough explanation for the reasoning behind his kidnapping. Admittedly it could have been a much more sinister kind of kidnapping, however he still had been grabbed and dragged in here without so much as a by-your-leave and he wanted to at least know why.

With that said he returned to the pancakes before him while he listened to whatever the Samurai had to say. Picking up his fork he cautiously brought the food item up to his mouth, sliding the small morsel off the tines of the utensil. He froze, ears perked up in an expression of surprise and interest that he managed to keep from his face. It was....real food, not the bland and mushy food that most consumables had. This was an actual pancake, with the right flavours and textures, sticky maple syrup pooling on his tongue in a way that practically overwhelmed his senses. Swallowing quickly he frowned slightly at the strong flavours. Having become accustomed to the style of food that came from the crafting system and people of the land, Jacoben's tastebuds were finding it somewhat difficult to adjust to the sudden burst of flavour that came from properly cooked food.

Taking another bite of the food just to make sure that he didn't offend the Samurai, Jacoben waited expectantly for a response to his query, slowly chewing on the small portions of food so that he could acclimatise himself to the new flavours that he was experiencing.

W: 825

[Jane]

A loud clanging sound could be heard from outside the cafe as a small yellow thing jumped in and out of sight as though it was trying to see over something much larger than itself. The movement continued for a few moments before disappearing down the street for a while, only to come back shortly after and start popping up over the people again. It was way too difficult for Jane to see over the top of things, much to Cedric's chagrin, and the little Guardian was doing her best to try and find a friend she'd misplaced not too long ago. The only real friend she had in this whole world truth be told. And lost was such a kind way to say abandoned. Cedric had been having trouble sleeping as Jane, and who could blame him considering the vast change in body type, but why had Aidan decided that leaving just as he was finally able to get to sleep?

The uncertain sleep had fled as soon as he had stepped away, though Jane had faked sleep as best she could in hopes he was only going for a few moments. But those moments grew longer and longer as she waited quietly until sleep was well and truly gone again the tiny girl got up and tried to follow the Fox Tail wherever it was he was going. Cedric really had no idea where Jacoben was so Jane just roamed the streets for a while, figuring that if his friend returned and found him gone he'd at least try and message him telepathically before panicking, much unlike Cedric was doing right now.

Eventually he did stumble upon the tail end of a scene that seemed to involve Jacoben and some other girl. For some reason this caused to figure that sneaking after the pair was a good idea and immediately activated Silent Move to sneak after the pair. Of course this made Jane so slow that the pair simply outwalked her, leaving the Guardian to try and figure out where exactly they had gone, and thus the jumping. Cedric had lost sight of them as they rounded a corner, and he hadn't been able to see them on the street since, so using his slightly sleep addled mind he deduced that they had gone into one of the establishments somewhere around here.

Important questions flooded his mind as he searched. Did Aidan have other friends in the game? Who was that girl who had dragged him off? Why did the ground look so soft and fluffy? And how long had he been laying face down on the ground? Jane picked herself up and brushed her armour off, doing her best not to notice the concerned stares from the people around her before giving another jump and glance inside the cafe and finally catching sight of a familiar head. Not thinking much of it the Guardian started to barge her way through the tables and customers and working people that happened to be in the general path to the table, only to emerge behind the Fox Tail and tug on his sleeve almost bashfully.

Once she had the young man's attention Jane would frown awkwardly as though she'd forgotten something. "Why'd you leave?" she eventually asked, the voice Cedric had been working on almost cracking a little because of how tired he was right now. "I hadn't been asleep for more than ten minutes and you just up and left without even leaving a note or anything. Couldn't this have waited until later?"

Whatever 'this' was would have to wait until later as Cedric didn't really wait for an answer. Jane turned around and walked from the table for two and grabbed a chair that wasn't currently occupied. There were a few muffled protests from the people sitting at the table it was from, something about waiting for someone or something like that, but a sleepy glare from Jane seemed to quiet them down enough that she could take it over and place it next to her friend before proceeding to attempt the awkward climb into the tall seat. It would take a few awkwardly loud moments as Jane, armour and all settled into position at the table, eventually getting comfortable and resting her head gently beside the plates of food.

"Whose your new friend?" she eventually asked, not bothering to look over at Caerbannog to be able to pull up the information herself. A part of Cedric's mind realised how rude he was being right now but the sleepy part that was currently in control didn't mind that much so it continued to do what it felt was the right course of action, which would probably wind down to butting in and asking questions whenever it suited him.

W: 800

[Deleted]

770 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
Caerbannog thought that the terrible pancakes which she made, ones which were crafted while she was a blacksmith, would be something ‘good’ for that special day in April. She pulled it over to her side of the table so that the foxtail would not mistakenly dig into it. The surprise on @eleri’s face as he dug into the maple pancakes, which Caer made back when she was a chef, was an obvious yet expected reaction. As the samurai ate a piece of those good pancakes, she thought back to the time when she had just started to explore Londinium. She had been confused in the crowd and pretended to be a lander, uncaring of adventurers and quite generic, but a fellow wolf-hair had picked her out in the middle of all those people. It led to her first terrible meal, but because of that event she was able to meet up with an old friend whom she had not seen in the real world for years. The samurai stared at the sorcerer as he waited for a decent answer from her, but Caer only grinned at the foxtail. That was, until a bright yellow reminiscent of the druid Mab appeared at their table. The blonde seemed to know the foxtail and also seemed to ignore the samurai, which was just fine by her. Caerbannog did notice that the blondie peppered the foxtail with questions... if the wolf-hair had been in his position, her head would have asploded already! So many questions before the first ones were even answered! But at least the topic of ‘questions’ brought the wolf-hair back to the ones that she left unanswered. Caer had already introduced herself to the foxtail, and he in turn told her his whole name... or at least, his in-game name. Jack be nimble? The wolf-hair wasn’t one to talk about strange names though, since she DID use a reference from Monty Python AND took the animal trainer subclass so that her pets could be called the ‘Beasts of Caerbannog’. Speaking of names, because the blondie had all but ignored her, Caer checked the tiny yellow one’s information through her interface: Jane, guardian. Even though she had been ignored, the samurai could not help but smile at little Jane. Finally, an adventurer who was shorter than the samurai! And it wasn’t a werekitten or a dwarf! She nabbed a fork from a passing waiter and offered it to the guardian. “Pancakes?” the wolf-hair asked as she waited for Jane to accept or reject the offer. NOW was it time to answer Jacoben’s questions? It sure was! “Mr. Fluffytail-kun looked like an old acquaintance of mine,” Caerbannog explained as she brought out hamburger rolls from her inventory. One of the food items that she cooked up for her cafe, a place which by the way was still a work in progress, the ‘hamburolls’ came from the bright idea of her sunshiney druid friend. That girl liked burgers so Caerbannog made a version that would be easy to grab and eat without the messy falling vegetables. The hamburger roll was actually a dinner roll which was stuffed with seasoned hamburger meat, sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked to a golden color. It also provided a slight amount of HP regeneration, but that might not be obvious since they were not out in the battlefields. “Do you like spicy food?” Caer Bear asked both the foxtail and the little blonde girl as she retrieved a small bottle of Inferno Sauce from her inventory and put it on the table for them to try, “Chefs can make decent food you know! But even without that subclass, anyone can make sauce and it usually makes anything taste bearable.” The sauce was made with help of a guardian friend who picked out the hottest peppers in the market that day. While it did not provide anything beneficial to a fighter, such as HP or MP regeneration, the inferno sauce did add some flavor even to crappy common food. A waiter had been nice enough to put three glasses of cool water on the table for each adventurer so anyone brave enough to try the burger rolls with the hot sauce may be able to wash the inferno down. Or they could throw the sauce onto the plate of an unsuspecting lander. While the samurai waited for the other two to eat, drink and be merry, she took out some princess purin, a custard pudding with fruits, syrup and fresh cream, and dug into it. “Sho-! Yew tew are friendsh?” the wolf-hair asked while her cheeks were stuffed with the creamy pudding.

[Deleted]

Jolting slightly as his sleeve was tugged, Jacoben turned to see a grumpy Jane standing behind him and giving him the sort of glare reserved for those who had done a great wrong. "E-Eh? It's past 10am, which meant it was time to get up. I figured you'd wake up when you were ready and then contact me with telepathy or something... you didn't expect me to just sit around all day did you?" he inquired in confusion. If Jane wanted to sleep the day away that was fine but he couldn't stay still when there was so much to do and see still, he wasn't about to let a day slip him by when he could be doing things.

Watching in resigned amusement as Jane hauled a chair over and flopped into it at their table, shaking his head as the Guardian slouched so far down that she was resting her head on the table as though the weight of the world was pressing down on her. This staring was interrupted as Caerbannog revealed her reasons for forcibly taking him out for pancakes, reasons which turned out to be so simplistic that he practically face faulted upon hearing them.

"So...you grabbed me and brought me here because you thought I was someone else?" the Sorcerer asked, eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion. That wasn't exactly the best reason to drag someone along without their permission, it wasn't like she couldn't have realised he wasn't the same person fairly easily with the interface menu, or even just through basic observation of mannerisms and actions. Still, he supposed that told him something about the nature of the small Samurai's personality.

"Ah, this is Miss Caerbannog," he introduced, gesturing to the dark haired woman who had kidnapped before turning to look at the Wolf-hair player. "Miss Caerbannog, this is Jane, we know each other in real life," the youth explained, not quite sure how to handle both the grumpy Guardian and the strange Samurai at the same time. He had intended on exploring alone this morning after all, not being pulled into a Cafe for one of the most bizarre breakfasts he'd ever had.

Declining both the hotsauce and the burger bun things Jacoben decided that he would continue to slowly make his way through his pancakes, still trying to acclimatise to the sudden presence of actual tasty food after so long eating the bland and uncomfortably textured food that came from the Landers and those who used the crafting menu. "Spicy food isn't very common where I come from, I think I will pass thank you," he murmured into his forkful of cooling pancake as he stared at the odd bottle that was apparently some sort of spicy sauce. He could feel the potential for conflict between the two 'females' at the table, and he hoped it would be resolved without any issues. Instead of getting involved he'd watch the interaction between Jane and Caerbannog while the latter stuffed her face with pudding that seemed to come out of nowhere. Really, how much food had she been carrying with her?

W: 518

[Jane]

"As unreasonable as it sounds, that's exactly what I expected!" Jane said irritably, flailing her arms around a bit for emphasis. "You could have carried me out or something, given me a sleepy piggyback around town so I could half pay attention to what was going on. I'm tiny, it would have been fun!" Turning her face away from her friend Jane would rub it into the table in tired irritation and try not to fall asleep for a few moments while her mind tried to figure out why getting up had been a good idea in the first place.

Jane mumbled something into the table when the stranger offered her the fork, though to clear it up she reached out and snagged the fork, seeming to accept the offer of pancakes despite the fact she first used the eating utensil to scratch at her head. Then, moving only her arm and using the half vision of the plate she could see out of one eye, Jane tried to manoeuvre the fork over to the pancakes in an awkward attempt to eat them. It was one long awkward flail as she tried to cut off a bit, followed by several failed attempts to get it into her mouth which resulted in a squeak of protest and a syrupy nose before she shoved the fork in her mouth. For a few moments she was quiet, chewing more on the fork than the pancakes, until she realised the strange sensation in her mouth was taste.

Eyes going wide Jane's hands slammed down on the table and pushed herself upright, only to overbalance on the chair and send herself sprawling backwards, bumping into a waiter that was passing behind and sending a tray of food and drinks rocketing across the cafe. She lay dazed down there, staring at the roof and not entirely sure the last few moments were anything more than the side effect of a concussion that she would have got if this whole thing weren't a game. Cedric reasoned that it would make sense but he had to know for sure. As soon as he could remember which way was up Jane's body would rise, right the chair and sit down to listen to Jacoben's introduction, all the while suspiciously eyeing the extra food that had appeared on the table.

After a sort of impromptu and awkward seated bow at being introduced Cedric figured he needed pass some sort of comment, "I'd ask if you're a bit young to know Monty Python but I have firsthand experience on how appearances can be deceiving in this world." Jane said, finally addressing Caerbannog and poking at one of the hamburolls before picking it up and chewing on it like a kid with a treat they probably shouldn't have been having. That pretty much confirmed it wasn't an imaginary concussion that had caused him to taste flavour, unless it was a long term ill that had taken him, but that didn't seem likely.

"Not much in the mood for spices today, I used to have really spicy stuff when I got sniffily to clear out my nose but we don't seem to get sick anymore so..." Not hiding her desire to eat Jane would scoop up another two of the rolls, savouring every bite as she went and trying her best not to let any fall out whenever she felt the need to yawn. "You should get kidnapped by strangers more often." she said to Jacoben when she was nearly done with the rolls, a little bit of tasty food dropping from her mouth as she talked. "Just take me with you next time, okay?"

W: 612

[Deleted]

520 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
She dragged the foxtail into the cafe because she thought he was Loki? Caer is a kidnapper?! No no no! That was all wrong! "I'm not shtewpid!" the samurai suddenly stood up from her chair and sent bits of pudding flying across the table over to @eleri's side. Caerbannog then wagged her dessert spoon at Jane, "And I am not a kidnapper. Not too young to know about Monty Python either." After the brief outburst, the wolf-hair sat back down (though really, it was difficult to tell whether she was standing or sitting). She looked over the two adventurers before her; apparently they were friends in the real world. "Must be nice to be stuck here with someone you know," the samurai thoughtlessly said while she lamented the emptiness of her pudding's container, but then she realized that she must have sounded rude, "AH! It's not nice to be stuck here! But you know... at least, familiar people... right?!" Her expressions changed so many times that in the end, her face was slightly pained. See, this is what happens when the reclusive Caerbannog tries to talk to people on her own. It was only a matter of time before she made an absolute fool of herself. To change the subject slightly, the samurai thought of other questions for the pair in front of her but before anything could come to her mind, one of the waiters tapped her shoulder lightly and leaned in to speak to their small gathering. "Are you going to order anything?" the man asked, "...aside from water?" The wolf-hair looked up at the waiter with a blank expression until she remembered that they were in a cafe and they had not actually spent any more on their- "...crappy food," Caerbannog bluntly said, "I'm not paying for crappy food." The waiter, a tall man with brown hair, rubbed his temple with the palm of his right hand while the left hand clung onto his serving tray. He then glanced over to Jacoben. "Sir, would you please take these-" the lander sighed, "-LITTLE SISTERS of yours somewhere else? A park... or a playground perh-" "I'M TWENTY YEARS OLD!" Caerbannog suddenly stood up and bashed her hands against the table, "I'M AN ADULT!" Without another word, the samurai stormed out of the cafe but then she remembered that the foxtail and the yellow lady was still in there. She peeked in with a frown on her face and waved to the two adventurers. "Let's go somewhere else with less crappy food," Caer called out to the sorcerer and the guardian; she took a quick glance at the waiter who just wanted them to leave already, "...and less crappy people!" Her assertion that she was an 'adult' was further weakened when Caerbannog stuck her tongue out at the lander. Some of the other customers laughed while others sighed and went about their business. The wolf-hair stayed by the door until the other two adventurers followed her at which point she'd lead them to Saint Pancras Station which had twice as many shops and cafes and a lot of crafting stalls with really good food.

[Deleted]

"I'm not piggybacking you anywhere," Jacoben stated drily as he continued to slowly eat his food, watching as the two small females made a bit of a scene. Had they been in the real world he might have been concerned for Jane when the blonde fell out of her chair but their bodies in this world were so much more durable that such a small fall wouldn't have phased a caster like himself, let alone a Guardian.

"Ah, I didn't think you were stupid Miss Caerbannog," the Fox-tail denied worriedly, afraid to have offended the other player, "I just thought maybe you had gotten caught up in something and weren't paying much attention..." He winced as the pudding splattered near him, just barely avoiding getting some of the half devoured food on his sleeves. It seemed that the Samurai only really focused on one or two things at once to the exclusion of other things, she also seemed the sort to speak her mind regardless of the consequences.

The Sorcerer paused for a little bit at Caerbannog's comment about being stuck in the game. Truth be told, he rather thought it was nice to be stuck in the game, friend or not. In his mind this world was so much better than the real world. Sure he missed some of his friends who weren't logged in, and he was grateful to have Cedric here with him. But if push came to shove he would have preferred to have been here alone than go back to his life in Scotland. Not that he'd ever tell anyone that of course.

Watching with the detached horror of the socially anxious as Caerbannog began to argue with the waiter about their purchase or lack thereof, Jacoben could only wince as the Lander turned his attention his way and then proceeded to complain about the Sorcerer's 'little sisters'. He knew that that was not going to end well, considering the fact that Jane was in fact both male and older than he was, and the silver haired male was certain that Caerbannog was also older than himself, a fact she soon confirmed as she shouted at the poor Lander with the sort of fury only a woman scorned could have.

"I'm sorry for the trouble," Jacoben apologised sheepishly as he stood up and tucked in both his and Caerbannog's chair, face flushed with embarrassment at the situation. Tapping Jane on the shoulder as an incentive for her to haul herself to her feet and come with him the Fox-tail headed for the door with his ears flat at the feeling of shame in the pit of his stomach, his tail reappearing as he walked out of the door to wave in agitation at the situation he had found himself in.

Still, he had discovered actual edible food so that was an upside to today thus far.

He would wait for Jane to catch up before turning to Caerbannog and following after her, caught up in his usual attitude of simply doing as he was told unless he was vehemently against it. He had no real goal in mind today, so unless Jane was the more aggressive of the two others then he would follow Caerbannog into the Saint Pancras Station like a lost puppy. Questions rose in his mind, but his own shy nature prevented him from even contemplating voicing them aloud.

W: 567

[Jane]

"One day..." Jane whispered mysteriously, just loud enough for @eleri to hear her over her the background noise. Cedric didn't know why he felt the need to whisper something like that as it would put his friend on edge, resulting in an even harder time to get said piggyback, but it was totally worth it just to see how his Scottish friend would react. He was small enough to do it now too, in real life he was way too big for such a silly idea but in here was another thing entirely!

Jane didn't really react to the kidnapper comment or anything @dindeen said for that matter. Or at least that's what it seemed. Being sleepy and enjoying your first good meal in ages would do that to you, though Cedric did listen to what was going on and take mental note of the Samurai's reactions. He didn't quite understand what exactly was going on between his friend and the slightly taller Samurai but it was slightly entertaining if a bit worrying. It really seemed they'd found another socially awkward person behind the character which suited him just fine. Of course there was a fair difference between Caerbannog and any other person in this sort of situation and that pretty much came down to level.

Level didn't really matter much to Cedric all things considered, he just like to play games until he got bored of them, but now that life was a game he suspected that some people would try and use levels to throw around 'real world' weight, so to speak. @dindeen didn't seem like the type to do that all things considered, she was too uncertain and nervous, or so this minimal interaction lead Cedric to believe. The way she sprouted exactly what was on her mind enforced this train of thought and the outburst. Well that was something he himself would have done had their positions been reversed. Or at least he thought he would. Considering more than just age had changed when he had found himself in this world he felt a little calmer about the whole situation, though he did enjoy a good laugh if given half a chance...

When Jacoben had left the table, Jane rocked to her feet, staggering a bit as though drunk but rubbing at her eyes to reinforce just how tired she really was. "You landers really need to learn how age can be different for adventures. Despite appearances I was probably the oldest person at that table. And now you've annoyed a really nice person that probably could have taught you a thing or two about food. Patience is a virtual and you should all develop some." And with those words of wisdom ringing in the ears of the masses, a fair few landers standing to look a little guilty about the waiter's earlier actions, Jane proceeded to do the only thing that made sense right then and there. She flipped the table and ran for the door.

"Comeonwegottago." Jane announce breathlessly, grabbing Jacoben's hand and going for Caerbannog's too if she'd let her. Cedric knew how stupid he'd just been so tried to take the lead, dragging one or both of his fellow adventurers behind him, but hoping that @dindeen would be able to take the lead before long. He really didn't know this place too well and he figured that before long he'd be bound to run them all into a wall or something.

W: 561

[Deleted]

500 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
As if Caerbannog’s outburtst was not enough, Jane flipped a table on her way out. She then grabbed the foxtail and the wolf-hair by their hands and proceeded to run! Caerbannog was surprised that a little girl could be so bold, but if only she had been observing herself from a third person perspective, she probably would have thought the same about what she’d been doing earlier. Who goes into a café just to drink water and cook their own food anyway? Only Caer. Maybe Jane too, but that might be decided at a later time. Now it was time to just run. The samurai pushed her way through the crowd as @eleri and Jane went off to some direction, but as soon as they calmed down, Caerbannog steered them towards another section of Londinium. Away from the main road and close to the entrance of the Underground, Saint Pancras Station was also busy but for a difference reason. It was frequented not because some people died recently, but because crafters and their customers gathered in that area. The wolf-hair herself stayed for hours on end when she was learning metal crafts. As she led the other two adventurers along the slightly busy Station, they came across an interesting display of tailored goods. Pillows and cushions and stuffed toys of different shapes and sizes, it seemed that a lander had adopted the adventurer’s ‘plushie’ invention. There were pillows that resembled slimes, cushions that looked like stumps commonly found in the Greatwoods, and stuffed toys made of cloth and cotton which resembled different creatures like frenmic rabbits and briar weasels. “Ah!” Caer stopped pushing her way through the crowd; she walked over to the display of cute, fluffy things that picked up a crag cow stuffed toy which she then held up for the foxtail and the guardian to see, “Tailors can make these. Aren’t they cute?” Now she was curious about the subclasses of the other two. For practicality’s sake, most adventurers that she met started with crafting subclasses which complemented their main classes. One example was the assassin Kumori who took the tailor subclass so that he could create and repair his own armor. Of course, there were strange ones like Caer who picked a crafting class that only added flavor to the gameplay but then she switched to blacksmithing sometime ago. Were the foxtail and the guardian practical ones? Or nutcases like her? “I started as chef! Then became blacksmith,” the samurai said to the two adventurers as she put down the crag cow toy, “What about you?” While she waited for the answer, the wolf-hair walked on ahead to the next tailor stall. It had basic equipment such as cloth and leather shirts, cloaks and robes. There were also some leather boots and shoes, gloves, stockings and socks. Tailoring was a rather useful subclass, she had to admit, but her interest was far from it. At the moment, Caerbannog only wanted to improve her cooking skills while in Elder Tale.

[Deleted]

Feeling a shudder spread up his back at the ominous whisper, Jacoben tried to push the threat-like promise from his mind as he followed the two female characters to wherever it was that they were going. It seemed they were going to a crafting area as soon enough a myriad of stalls were in place bursting with a large variety of items that might have been made by Adventurers or might have been crafted by the People of the Land, it was hard for him to tell. The plush toys were certainly cute, but his eyes lingered over the artisan tools for a few moments, seeing items that were far above his own in quality. Still, he hadn't really levelled that class much yet so such tools would be wasted on him.

The Fox-tail flushed in embarrassment as Caerbannog enquired into their Subclass. Artisan was hardly a useful crafting class all things considered, but he had chosen it because he liked the idea of being able to pursue his other hobby within the game. Perhaps it was somewhat less embarrassing now that they were stuck here and people were starting to build their own homes, but he had years of being told such pursuits were useless working against him in this situation.

"I'm an animal trainer?" he offered unsurely, deciding to mention his other subclass and try and wave it off as a misunderstanding should the Samurai press him further. "I thought it would be interesting to be able to tame creatures and talk with them," he explained somewhat sheepishly even as he picked up one of the plushies and examined it. It looked like an extremely cutesy Goblin with an even larger head than the real things. The stitching was rather haphazard, so he guessed that whoever had made this particular plush toy hadn't yet mastered the tailoring class.

"I don't think I actually had a really good look at all the subclasses, I was too excited to be making a character," the Sorcerer stated as he turned his attention to the various clothing that was laid out on a nearby stall. His starting outfit was all very well and good he supposed, but it would be nice to have different outfits to use, particularly when he was just wandering through the city and didn't have to worry about getting into combat with anyone or anything. He wasn't sure what he might wear, after all it wasn't like his body and colouration were the same anymore, nor were the sort of clothes available anything like the clothing back in the real world.

Shaking himself from his musings he turned back to Caerbannog, "do you think you could explain all the other subclasses? I haven't had a chance to explore them that much and don't know anyone who has discussed it." Admittedly, he had never asked anyone about them either, but for some reason he was managing to open up to the petite wolf-hair rather than shying away from all potential socialisation like he usually would. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth though, if he was able to come out of his shell for even a little while that was definitely a good thing. Perhaps he'd finally be able to push past some of his anxieties.

W: 551

[Jane]

Once they were all far enough away from the café they had tormented Jane let out a little whoop of excitement. Probably not the best way to hide from people who were clearly not chasing you, but Cedric had never done anything like that in real life and he was enjoying the slight amount of freedom. If he'd really stopped to think about how it might cause trouble for people he wouldn't have flipped the table. As dangerous as it was, he still thought of this whole thing as a game. He was one of those people that couldn't see the People of the Land as much more than highly evolved NPCs that didn't matter all that much.

When @dindeen took lead of the walking Jane let go of her and @eleri's hands and fell into step beside her friend, looking to all the world like some sort of little sister. When that thought crossed Cedric's mind he couldn't figure out whether scooting closer and latching onto his friend for the entertaining reaction it would cause or taking several steps away at how awkward it made him feel were the more appropriate reaction. Instead he showed great restraint and did neither, following the much higher level as quietly as possible to Saint Pancras Station.

"Seems sort of pointless." Jane stated blankly as the Samurai was showing off the random items that some people had made. "I guess if I had a place other than my inventory to put it there might be some degree of attraction to such a thing but right now."

The little Guardian shrugged her armoured shoulders and sighed, not really sure what to think about it all. Cedric was still holding hope that this would all eventually sort itself out and that after a good play of this interesting game-world he'd be back in his own body, ready to go back to his boring job and maybe go annoy Aidan in person again. If they were going to spend ages in this game together like this surly his introverted, younger friend would be willing to put up with him in person for a short time.

Jane tilted her head at Jacoben's answer to the Samurai's question about their subclasses. Cedric wasn't really sure why he was hiding his choice of Crafting subclass and just telling her his Role Play one. "He's also an Artisan." She blurted out, not really thinking through that he might not have wanted to keep that hidden. "Jacoben was always going on about house systems in games so when he found out about this one I think his creative side got the best of him, as soon as we can afford a place of our own you can bet it's going to be fancy looking before too long!"

Cedric had always liked Aidan's art. Even considering his comment towards the pointlessness of the plushies, he had always held his friend's art with higher regard than he would normally consider these sorts of things. While he had always had his campaigns, memorable characters and table top creations, Cedric had always felt some degree of envy towards the socially awkward artist's abilities. It was probably that 'the grass is always greener' logic at play, but if he'd been able to make half the things Aidan was able to, Cedric felt he would have really been able to bring the imaginative worlds he made really come to life.

"I'm an Alchemist." Jane said proudly, a mildly smug look on her face. "It just seemed so polar opposite to my character that I just had to take it! I really didn't look into what it does though, I wasn't taking character creation seriously because I just wanted to mess around a bit. I also took Tracker because I figured sneaking around in platemail was too silly an opportunity to pass up!"

W: 645

[Deleted]

505 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
A fellow animal trainer! Caerbannog hopped over to @eleri and gave him a quick hug. He picked Animal Trainer so he was a good person, right? Then again, so far the foxtail had put up with the wolf-hair's antics, so he was probably a good person regardless of his subclass. He didn't answer her question though. Caer wanted to know what his crafting class was, but he answered with his other subclass. No matter, Jane soon revealed eeeeverything Caerbannog wanted to know. The samurai was, however, curious about the guardian's behavior. It was... not cute and girly. "Hey," Caerbannog picked up a frenmic rabbit plushie, the fluffiest that she could find, "Isn't this cute?" The samurai stared at Jane as she asked that question. Not liking cute things, flipping tables, messing around with character creation, sneaking around in plate armor... it all sounded like... guy-stuff. For a few good minutes, Caerbannog stared at Jane and waited for an answer. But then her attention went back to Jacoben who asked about other subclasses. Since when did Caer become talkative? Since never. She'd probably stumble along the way if she tried too hard. "Brewers don't get drunk!" and stumble she did, "And I guess they make... brews? The Dwarf makes drinks that make me drunk." Caer scratched her chin as she wondered about all the people that she met and their crafting subclasses. "Capsule was a pharmacist, we made medicinal pastilles together!" the wolf-hair said as she pulled out some pastilles from her inventory, "Try some!" Apple-Cranberry Pastilles: Level 30 Medicinal Pastilles. Chewy, candy-like medicine with the tangy sweetness of apples and cranberries. Regenerates HP. Lemon-Cherry Pastilles: Level 30 Medicinal Pastilles. Chewy, candy-like medicine with the sourness of lemons and sweetness of cherries. Regenerates MP. Some of the chewy pastilles were dyed a deep red color by the cranberry ingredient, accented by the sweetness of apples. The other pastilles were a light pink color and fragrant like fresh lemons and cherries, the main ingredients. The taste of the fruits hid away the bitterness of the herb which made up their medicinal component. "And then there's woodcrafting. They make roofs and walls and bows, I guess... and fishing poles?" Caerbannog's hand remained open with the pastilles in them, just in case Jane wanted some of the stuff too. The wolf-hair looked over the nearby stalls and noticed some lander who scribbled on parchment. She then remembered Nisha and Oxford, and the always-glaring druid Scoria. "Scribes make grimoires and anything with paper. I made a hybrid weapon with one of them," the wolf-hair explained, "A weapon that could fire bolts like a grimoire." It might have sounded far fetched, but it was absolutely possible from what she'd seen. The question then was whether a user would be skillful enough to take advantage of such a weapon instead of randomly brandishing it. It would have been pointless if a blade was just used to fire bolts alternately with attacking... while that was the simplest application, there was so much more that could be done with a hybrid weapon of that sort. Caerbannog then remembered to talk about the not-crafting classes. "I'm an animal trainer too. I have a pet centipede and a lizard," the wolf-hair smiled widely as she oversimplified the facts.

[Deleted]

Fox ears pressed tight against his silvery hair as Jacoben turned a glare upon Jane, the unimpressed look practically speaking for itself as he tried to make his displeasure known to the Guardian in the most obvious way he could. "Traitor..." he hissed quietly, drawing away from the blond and stiffening up. He didn't know why it upset him that much to have his crafting Subclass revealed, but for some reason it did, bringing him to fold his arms over his chest and pull his robes closer around his body, a frown sketched across his face. Perhaps it was just the fact that he'd been ridiculed most of his life for being artistically inclined and having it rubbed in his face here would leave him as unhappy as usual.

Of course his grumpiness would swiftly turn to shock as he was suddenly hugged, thankfully it lasted only a split second so he had time to control his initial reaction of panicking and flailing to a much less intense session of internally screaming. This too was broken as the higher levelled player began to explain a little bit about the other subclasses, though it seemed that she didn't really know much more than he did considering the amount of detail in her explanation. He did however take one of the Lemon-Cherry Pastille's offered, looking at it curiously but not consuming it, after all it could be useful later on.

"A weapon which fired bolts of energy? Like a gun? Or a Gunblade?" he inquired quietly, the inner nerd coming out at the thought of the fictional weapons from another fantasy-esque setting that had caught his attention when he was younger. It was odd how people could meld things together to create entirely new items in the game now, but that wasn't a bad thing at all. To be able to grow and change meant it wouldn't become stagnant, that there would always be something new and exciting to see and do in this new world. The thought cheered him up more than he would ever admit.

Jacoben was a little surprised to find that Caerbannog was an Animal Trainer as well, but then a thought occurred to him and he didn't know why it hadn't been obvious. He covered his hand with his mouth, trying to contain his amusement, but soon enough the chuckles began to spill forth into light laughter, his tail twitching at the levity that came with his revelation. "Not a bunny?" he inquired between chuckles, "the Beasts of Caerbannog and neither of them are a rabbit? That's a little disappointing." Sobering up a little after that, the Fox-tail contemplated for a moment before voicing his next question.

"Since we're both animal trainers, could you tell me a little more about how that works? I haven't tried it yet and I want to make sure I understand it." He was still miffed at Jane for voicing his crafting subclass, so he tried to ignore that whole situation entirely for the present. That way he wouldn't get angry about it all over again and do or say something stupid like he usually did. The last thing he wanted was to start a scene over something so unimportant. He also continued to contemplate the various clothes on offer, trying to decide if he wanted to spend any money on this stuff or not.

W: 563

[Jane]

@eleri's reaction to Jane's revealing of his subclass was priceless, the little Guardian couldn't help but grin at her friend despite the fact she hadn't meant to reveal it for his reaction. Cederic genuinely admired his friend's talents and had always encouraged them despite the younger man's resistance, there was just something about wasting it all that seemed so wrong to him. The grin spread even wider when Jane lost sight of Jacoben behind @dindeen as the slightly taller female avatar hugged him. Cedric was even more impressed when the anxiety didn't take over the Sorcerer at the sudden and unexpected human contact.

"Well sure it's cute, not something I'm all that interested in right now though. Do I look like a k- Oh." Jane had been about to say kid but Cedric realised the stupidity of the question. "Of course I look like a kid. We just went through this whole thing in the cafe." With a sigh Jane continued. "I'm 22, just because I look like a cute and adorable teenager doesn't mean I'm into all those cute girly things. I realise why you think that but try and remember your own pains of having to deal with landers that only look at physical appearance and not the person behind that, please."

Cedric didn't even consider the fact that she'd figured out his gender, just assumed his age. While being mistaken for young didn't exactly irritate him as it seemed to the Samurai he did dislike it when people assumed he was all girly just from his appearance. The awkward situation passed a few moments later when her attention was suddenly shifted to the questions Jacoben had asked but that didn't make it any easier to deal with.

Hearing about brewers didn't really piqué Cedric's interest, he'd never been much of a drinker in the real world due to a lack of encouraging factors to get him started in the first place, neither did he find most alcohol to be tasty, though there was the odd exception to the rule as there often were for things such as this. Neither did he really understand about the whole pharmacist thing, though medical candies were an interesting and scary concept. There were important reasons why such things were rarely made in the real world and he wondered how dangerous an overdose may be in this world. Such a concept was highly unlikely to have been translated over but it was something to consider.

That didn't mean Jane didn't take one of the red pastilles out of curiosity, chewing on tangy candy for as long as it lasted and wondering at the rush of health it seemed to give her body. The wood crafting was interested, at least for its house-building abilities, though Cedric couldn't see either Jacoben or himself trading out their current subclass for such a thing.

The topic of weapons and crossing subclass built items was interesting in a more vague way. Weapons were probably an important part of the MMO experience but Cedric figured you could probably make it through most of the game simply off the drops it would offer as you travelled, though it was entirely possible this game was different on that front. What was far more interesting was how crossing class skills could branch out into new and interesting things. The only issue was he probably needed to work on mastering his own subclass first before trying to work on something as involved as that.

His silent musing was brought to a halt when Jacoben made one of the most expected but corniest jokes he had heard in a long time, making Jane instantly facepalm and let off a hefty sigh. "I'm sure THAT joke hasn't been made before." Jane chipped in, trying to keep her face straight but failing miserably. In the end she had to turn her head to cover her smile, trying to hide her laugh in a fake cough even as his friend tried to save the comment by continuing the conversation.

"You should totally try and train a bear or something as soon as you know what you're doing." Jane said to the Sorcerer, "I'm not always going to be about to tank for you so it's important to have a backup, if you're able that is." That was of course assuming that's how the class worked. Having pets sounded pretty cool but it wasn't like Cedric really knew the details of it all.

"If you also had some general tips for training your crafting level or something that'd be awesome too, I've been wanting to try and figure out what an Alchemist can make but I haven't been able to focus on looking through all the menus. I've been really tired lately and I keep getting distracted by daydreaming about D&D style Alchemy when I try..."

W: 809

[Deleted]

525 words HP 100%		Pet: none MP 100%
Jane seemed to be touchy with her age. This was what went through Caerbannog's mind when the guardian pointed out that she was twenty-two. The yellow lady was rather cranky about it all... maybe it was her time of the month, or could it be that she was a he and was having a man period? Yikes! That was even scarier! The wolf-hair mentally noted to never ask Jane about her or his preferences in accessories and items again; and especially, not one question about her age. Well, at least @eleri and the guardian were rather interested with the whole subclass discussion. "It would be somewhat like a gunblade, I guess," the samurai replied to the foxtail, "But I've never tried crafting such a complicated thing. Just one-handed blades with runes, that's the most that I've done." When she brought up her animal trainer subclass, it seemed that the certain topic turned the mood around. Jacoben inquired about rabbits and Jane laughed at the terrible joke, which was actually what the wolf-hair meant to do when she used that player name and that subclass. "You're one of a few people who got the reference," Caerbannog said, "I had a pet rabbit but she's retired. She lives with her hubby at our private cottage." Caer picked up a briar weasel plushie and waved it at Jane. "I don't know about bears, but there are lots of boars around. Fluffy-kun could start with those... just don't startle or hurt them, and offer them food or something," the wolf-hair explained, "It's really a lot like Safari-zone pokemon... if you've ever tried that game." She would have expected them to have played Pokemon, if not for the presence of Jane who seemed to defy all expectations. Since Jacoben was the guardian's friend, they probably had the same hobbies which may or may not include playing pet-catching video games. Curious; Caerbannog was just reminded that Jane was an alchemist. She knew few alchemists and knew even little about what they could do, but from what she remembered... ah, the samurai pulled out her candle lantern and used her skill Magic Light on it. A small orb that had a mischievous cartoon face appeared and drifted into the lantern which Caer promptly closed. "Alchemists make something like this. Contraptions or tinker stuff but... since I'm a blacksmith, I could only make the container. The orb of light was made by an adventurer skill," the samurai said, "But alchemists, they can use mana and mana shards to create light and power!" That was all she knew, unfortunately. Speaking of rabbits and homes... "AH!" the wolf-hair straightened up so suddenly that the candle lantern in her hand shook, "My bunnies! I have to give them a bath!" Caerbannog turned to leave but then she remembered that it would have been rude of her to leave so abruptly. The samurai looked back at Jacoben and Jane, tipped her head towards each one, and waved her free hand at them. "I'll see you around! If you die, I might see you at the Abbey!" the wolf-hair said as she ran away, "That's our guild house!"

[Deleted]

Jacoben  HP: 100% MP: 100%

"Any treasure you obtain without ever having to work for it is no treasure at all."

Jacoben stuck his tongue out at Jane over the quip about his Monty Python reference, and felt rather justified in making it when the Samurai told him that he was one of the few to have made the connection between her character name and subclass. He wasn't just repeating a oft made joke, which was a good thing because he probably would have become embarrassed and shied away from the others for a while to deal with the shame if he'd been knocked down a few pegs because of the joke (even if it had been unintentional).

Jane's suggestion of getting himself a tank of his own was rather interesting, an animal companion that he could use to protect himself when needed would be pretty useful, even if he didn't really like the sound of either a bear or a boar. Maybe he could find some cool creature that would be able to serve as a loyal companion, but he'd need to level up his Animal Training first. At this level he couldn't really tame anything, just befriend it for a little while which wasn't that helpful, at least not compared to being able to summon a more permanent companion.

Though it wasn't much detail, being told to treat early Animal Training like the safari zone was fairly helpful. Not to mention the information that the creatures would respond to the attitudes you gave them. If he had decided to go about it mechanically like you would when playing a normal game he probably wouldn't have gotten very far, but if he treated it like a mix of Pokémon and dealing with actual animals hopefully he wouldn't mess up too badly. Perhaps it was better to practice on docile animals though, he wouldn't want to mess up against something really aggressive and then have to fight it. Of course he wouldn't want something overly docile as he pet either, otherwise it wouldn't be of any use to him in a combat situation....gah, that was probably something he should think about later when he wasn't standing around with people that might require his attention.

Except it seemed that Caerbannog had other pressing issues to attend to, and the Samurai practically vanished in an instant. Blinking his mismatched eyes a few times Jacoben couldn't help but wonder if he'd made a mistake considering her a Samurai, when that sort of a disappearance seemed more in line with an assassin. Shaking his head at his own bad attempt at humour the Fox-tail turned his attention to Jane and gave her a wry grin, "It seems we're much less important than her rabbits....oh well, we got some interesting information, particularly about edible food."

Turning his attention back to the stalls he mused for a while, the woman hadn't really been able to tell them anything about Alchemy which was bothersome. "I think we may need to get a house for more than just my home making fantasies," he began hesitantly as he began picking through various clothes that were on display. Some of the stuff was far too tight or revealing for him to even consider, and others were more colourful than he was willing to walk around in. "If it's like some of the other games I've played you might need a crafting station to be able to properly use your crafting subclass, so having our own house would give us access to such stations.... I could be wrong of course," he finished sheepishly even as he picked up a sundress that seemed well suited to his friend's new form.

"This would look good on you, maybe with a straw hat and some white leather shoes with buckles," he joked cheerfully even as he pulled out of punching reach of the currently little girl that was his only proper friend in this world for now. Taking whatever vengeance Jane decided to dish out, Jacoben decided that since his exploration ideas was shot they might as well do some shopping today to get some new stuff to help them go further in the game.

-Exit-

OOC NOTES:
Word Count: 680

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Jane]

Jane nodded along to show her understanding about some of the concepts that @dindeen was talking about. While it was true Cedric didn't fully understand what some of it meant he did fully understand that @eleri would be following along and able to explain most of what the Samurai was telling them in a way that made sense to his mmo-lacking mindset. At least that was how he was thinking up until she mentioned Pokémon.

"Seems simple enough." she commented to her friend as she considered how she could try and help out with such an endeavour. "I could probably sneak up right next to you if you want to go try later. I'm not really sure how Tracker works, but I think I reduce my agro field so it won't notice me, then I can be there to say mean things about the animal's mother if things turn sour."

Cedric was of course referencing his Taunting Shout ability, if Jacoben were to suddenly draw agro he could just as easily transfer it, letting the Sorcerer back up while he tanked the hits, letting the failed training attempt turn into something more akin to a proper battle encounter.

The not-so-understanding nodding would return shortly after Caerbannog did her best, and vaguest, to explain Alchemy. The nodding soon turned to shaking as it really started to sink in that he really had no idea what she was talking about at all. "I'm going to be rather depressed if all I can make is glorified flashlights." Jane muttered to herself as she watched the higher levelled Adventurer suddenly change the subject to something about her rabbits and heading off somewhere. A rather confused look spread across her face as the short Samurai tipped her head at them both and she half raised her hand to wave, only for her to turn around and walk off before she even had a chance to see.

It was all so unexpected that Jane turned to Jacoben and stared for a moment. "I guess we're not the worst at communicating around here?" she asked his friend in reply to the food comment, shaking her head with a confused smile lining her face. She couldn't help but stare in the direction their strange encounter had left in such a hurry and for a moment she wasn't even aware of what Jacoben was doing as they talked. "I'd rather find someone who could explain how it works in the first place." she admit, "Without really knowing what I'm doing, having a crafting station to do it seems rather wasteful."

Even though she heard her friend rummaging around through the shop behind her , Jane's attention remained on that distant point where she had last seen Caerbannog. Cedric couldn't help but wonder how much of that personality was the result of being in this world and how much was actually the woman behind the character. Were they similar to him in more than just apparent age and appearance, or was there something deeper to it? All things considered it was an MMO and in the end, people like him ended up here a lot. The vast majority were probably socially awkward and withdrawn in some way.

Finally her attention returned to the Foxtail as Cedric's curiosity at his friend's last comment got the better of him. The little girl raised one eyebrow for a moment before just shrugging and smiling at the idea. "Sure, if you want to dress me up you can. But as you're the one who wants to see me all dressed up you're the one buying, okay?" The smile only grew on Jane's face as Cedric could see the effect his words were having on his friend. The only thing he couldn't quite tell would be of Aidan's eventual reply to his counter.

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