[PP-F1] «Earning a Living» Well this was convenient. (Adhaerere, Verus) COMPLETED

[Adhaerere 0]

 

The morning was beautiful. Adhae swung her arms slightly as she walked with Verus through the Town of Beginnings, admiring the faux sky and virtual people. She wondered how many of them were NPCs and how many were real players. She knew there were 10,000 real players, but she had no idea how the ratio to non-player characters worked. It wasn’t something to worry about at the moment; she became more preoccupied with the armour in the shops.

Oh, the armour. The rows of shiny metal plates, hidden behind glass display cases. It took her virtual breath away, seeing all the possibilities and things to buy.

She knew her choice armour was somewhere in this maze of shops. She had the image of the chestplate she wanted burned into her mind, along with the image of her wearing it and looking all knightly. That was her goal; becoming outfitted with the strongest and most clumsy armour she could find in this world.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Adhaerere

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He pushed his back forwards, resulting in a few pops and cracks. The day was young and the sun was still slightly rising. It had been ages since he had been up so early, but he may start after seeing how beautiful mornings are in this world. Verus let out a slight groan and raised up his arms, stretching everything he had. The town was relatively peaceful this early on, and only a few of the NPC’s were awake and getting ready for the day. Verus paused and looked back, seeing Adhae peering into one of the many merchant shops we had passed by already. She had been eyeing just about everything we passed, and her urge to buy something was blatantly apparent.

“Oh come on now,” muttered Verus, not really sure what else to say. He turned around and walked over only to see her smushing her face into the glass. “I wouldn’t think that that’s really clean…”

[Adhaerere 0]

Like Verus had noticed, she was staring at every chestpiece, gauntlet, or pair of breeches that she could see. When he spoke up, she had in fact been right up against the glass, as if pressing her face hard enough against it could push her through and let her touch the shiny metal. How cool it would feel against her skin.. How heavy it was on her shoulders…

The comment of Verus’ made her spin around, embarrassed. She laced her fingers together behind her back and smiled sheepishly. “Oh, it’s virtual, you worrywart. I won’t get sick,” she retorted, confidently. Then, Verus would see the change in emotion on her face as she thought about it. What if she could get sick? Was that a variable in this game?

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The shop was quaint and named similar to the dozens of other shops around. They must have been on the equipment side of the marketplace, as a couple of other adventurers had begun to walk by. The two of them, Verus and Adhae, stuck out somewhat, barren of any form of protective armor or non-starter clothing. He almost felt embarrassed that they had worked somewhat hard and hadn’t really divulged in rewarding themselves with nicer clothes or maybe a better weapon. However, it was all in good reason; he would help dress her in the clothing and armor she needed before he would worry about himself. He trusted her enough to have a good feeling that she wouldn’t run away with all his Col, and he figured that if they’ve been together all this time it would work out well. Besides, having an armored tank was always good to hide behind in bleak times.

Verus moved up next to her, hip to hip, and too planted his face against the window, peering in. “Oh I know you won’t get sick.” He used his hands to act as semi-binoculars to help him peer inside the store, inspecting the amor lining the walls and on several shelves. “Did you see any you like in there? Or anywhere? There has to be something in there that would look good on you.” The store was still closed due to it still being the beginning of the day, but he wait with her if she truly sees something worth buying. He pressed himself off against the glass and took a slight step back. “We have enough to get you something now you know.”

 

[Adhaerere 0]

She looked over at him as he came closer, and then copied his movement, looking inside the shop again. She was sure they both looked ridiculous, gawking at the relatively low quality items in the shop. But she couldn’t care less.

“Yep, there’s one chestplate I want. But I only have half the amount of Col needed to buy it.” She pouted a little bit. “I guess I could buy it with mats? But those seem pretty rare, so I wanted to save them for something else. Maybe. I’m not sure,” she finished, stepping back from the glass too. She shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know. But let’s go look at some more things. I like window shopping.” She smiled, and set off down the road, walking down the center of the paved street.

Not long after that, she saw a bakery, which had some fancy looking cakes in the front of it. Her mouth formed a little “o”, and she glanced at Verus. “Let’s go see what sort of perks food gives us, if anything.” She quickly closed the distance between her and the storefront, taking a last look at the fancy cakes before pushing open the door and stepping inside.

The first thing that greeted her was the smell. It filled her nose, her mouth, her whole body. The smell of baking. It was always a scent she enjoyed, being the motherly type. It made her think of the times in her life before things went wrong, and her mother would bake cookies for her. It made her happy.

Then, Adhae went towards the smaller display case inside the shop, and looked down on the various treats inside it. She longed to buy one, but she knew she had to save up money to buy that armour piece. For now, she would content herself with touching the glass, having a vague idea that she wouldn’t leave any fingerprints because her virtual person had no natural oils. When she drew her hands away, she found out she was correct.

The NPC at the counter took notice in her looking at the baked goods, and smiled. “Hello, and welcome to the Bashful Iron! Are you interested in buying anything?” It asked. It was a staple ‘Hi, I’m an NPC and you can buy things from me’ greeting. Adhae looked up at the nice looking fake lady and shook her head sadly. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t have the money to spare.”

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Verus followed along behind her, after departing from the armor store, chiming in occasionally here and there. “Nah, save the materials, you’ll be able to use all our Col anyway with no worries.” He smiled and continued to listen about how she always enjoyed shopping and trying out new items of apparel. He was reasonably okay with going from store to store to search for a few things as long as they would assist the two in their adventures. However, he was somewhat impatient and would come off whiny after long periods of doing nothing too exciting.

“The Bashful Iron.” He whispered the store’s name before stepping inside after Adhae, admiring the small baking shop. It was simply decorated with primary colors and was fairly small, only showing off freshly made items. The aroma that filled the little boutique was quite nice; a mix of fresh breads and a slight hint of pastries filled the air. It calmed him down for the most part and somehow put a limit on what he wanted to say. It was if he really couldn’t think of anything to say; mesmerized by the smell. His ears picked up the two talking, but he had already begun to peer into the counter shelf full of freshly made rolls. He had been living off of the beginner bread so long he forgot how nice it was to be able to even see new food. His eyes were double the size and he just sat there, crouching down and admiring the food. He was a goner.

 

[Adhaerere 0]

Adhae glanced at the awestruck boy, and laughed a little. She’d felt the same way the first time she went into a real bakery when she was younger. The smell truly was mesmerizing.

She bent down to look at the pastries again, spotting one that looked particularly yummy. It was a croissant, with a little bit of red jelly looking stuff poking out from the sides. She guessed it was filled with the stuff. She straightened, and looked at the baker. “What sort of perks do the baked goods give us?” She asked, in a very kind voice. She figured she might as well be nice to the NPCs. She had no idea how they would react to mistreatment.
“Some give you more damage, some help you with your own professions, some give you more EXP.” The NPC parroted. Her voice was a little too chipper. Adhae nodded in confirmation, and found another question in her mind. “Can only NPCs make items like this?”

The NPC responded all too quickly. “No, players can learn how to do it too!”

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The trance of fresh food was strong, and kept Verus pulled in for quite some time. It must have been minutes of him just eyeing the rising amounts of steam and warmth that were emitted from the fresh creations. His eyes had become slightly dry, and he realized that he had not blinked in a while. In doing so, he sat backwards, finally out of the spell he was shortly trapped in. He stood up and dusted the back of his pants off, placing his hands on his hips and listening to the two speak back and forth. Verus had no idea what they were talking about. The one thing that did stand out to him was the mentions of the words “perks”, “damage” and “EXP”. He dialed in onto the conversation, learning how a simple profession would further NPC’s and players in the game by being able to produce items and earn more skill points. He was interested, but not in baking.

Verus raised a hand like he was going to ask something, pointer finger extended upwards and all, only to pull it back down and remain silent. He had nothing to say and didn’t want to extend their time there, even if it was in a trance-inducing bakery. They had places to be, and armor to buy, but he remained quiet. Adhae looked like she was having a little fun.

 

[Adhaerere 0]

“Oh,” Adhae responded. She hadn’t thought about this before now; it was possible to make items. In most games she had played, you only bought items from shops or got them as drops from monsters. This was a nice change. “Where can I learn how to do this?” Adhae kept her eyes on the NPC. “Can you teach me how?”

It was as if the NPC had been waiting for her to ask the question. She had barely finished her statement before it was responding in its chipper manner. “Yes, I can! Come with me, we’re going to the Orchards.” As soon as she finished, she began walking out of the shop. Adhae barely had a second to react before it was out the door. She spun around, reaching out and grabbing Verus’ sleeve to pull him along with her. She had no idea how much attention he had been paying to the shopkeeper’s exit.

The NPC walked fast, so Adhae had to speed-walk to keep up with it. By the time they reached the Orchards, she was out of breath. Once the NPC stopped, suddenly like everything else it did, Adhae bent over and set her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. She had looked back for Verus occasionally during the walk, but didn’t know if he had kept with them.

“If you search around the orchards here, you will find Apples! Oranges! Pears! And Peaches!” As it said this, it listed out the fruits like they had been taken from a different recording; somewhat choppy and disjointed. “Once you get five,” it said ‘five’ just like it had said listed the fruits, ”return to my shop and I will tell you how to craft!” And just like that, it was gone again.

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With a tug of his shirt, Verus fell in line, taking up the rear as the now party of three left the shop. He didn’t register that Adhae had pretty much started her first quest, and assumed it to be just a materials run. Then it all started to click for him; she wanted to get a profession. Verus had never really taken her to be any sort of cook, but it was a game after all, she could be anything she wanted to be.
 

The NPC was rather quick on her feet, leading the two players through the town rather speedily. The blooming trees appeared over a few of the town’s outer houses, signifying the start of what he assumed to be a farm of some sort. What they came upon was a decent sized orchard, filled with dozens of different trees. There were a good variety of trees from as far as he could tell, with him guessing that there were around eight or so different species. “Neat.”

After the NPC had said its lines and bailed, Verus slowly strolled over the nearest tree and knocked on it. “So you’re going to be able to carry me, AND make me food?” The tree was strong and sturdy, coded well into the game. “I would be an idiot to pass that up.”

 

[Adhaerere 0]

She laughed softly, having regained her breath and stood once more. “Is food all you care about?” She copied his movement, going over to a tree and touching its bark. It felt like regular bark, alright. She wasn’t sure what she had expected.

She began walking between the trees, looking up at the branches above her. She let her fingertips brush along the trunks as she walked passed them. “I suppose we should get started. I think we just need to look for the fruits.” She shrugged. “We’ll cover more ground if you help me. And I won’t exactly give you a choice.” She smiled, and then began searching for some peaches.

ID: #61594

LD: 6

She couldn’t find any on her first search through, being inexperienced in the ‘art’ of picking fruits. It was no matter though, she would keep looking.

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“Food is definitely in the top fifty things I care about.” He joked, watching her begin to violate some trees as well. He hadn’t really interacted with nature yet in the game, and it felt strangely realistic. The texture of the peeling bark was there, and it was apparent that each tree had gone through a good amount of weathering. The sensation of its touch was somewhat relaxing; it felt real.

“I mean, if you’re going to make me a cobbler….” His pitch in voice changed to a higher tone, and he shrugged his shoulders slightly while speaking. Peach cobbler sounded damn good right now.
 

ID#61595 results:

LD:16

 

Before he went to follow after her, he stopped, holding his foot in the air before he set it down. He placed it in the position it was just in and slowly reached down. It was a bright red apple, fresh from the branch it had fallen from. He held it up in his hand, looking over to the fruitless Adhae. “I’m already better at this than you.”

+1 Material (Apple)

 

[Adhaerere 0]

At the mention of cobbler, her face lit up. “That sounds really damn good. I better be able to make that.” She nodded curtly, a smile growing over her face.

She turned back and saw the apple in his hand as he spoke last. She pouted and glared. “You just got lucky, squirt.” She turned back and crossed her arms as she tramped through the rows of trees away from him. It was her goal now to find even more fruit than Verus would find. She could one-up him.

ID: #61596

LD: 17

 

Lifting her eyes, she looked through the trees again. Now that she’d seen the bright red of the apple, she knew more of what to look for; ah-ha, there was one. It was high up in the tree, nearly higher than she could reach. But there was a conveniently placed branch here, just low enough for her to hoist herself up onto it. Then she could reach the apple. “Ha!” She shouted, holding the apple high up above her head triumphantly.

In doing this, she only had one hand on the trunk of the tree, and it wasn’t enough to support her body. She fell out of the tree.

Not being the most graceful of people, being a tank and all, it was to be expected that she wouldn’t be balanced enough. But she wasn’t prepared for it, or the resulting lack of breath when the shock of landing on her back forced it all out of her lungs. The apple rolled away from her grasp, and she lay there, gasping like a suffocating fish on the ground.

+1 Material (Apple)

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He watched as she triumphantly seized an apple, holding it up as high as he could. Verus started to slow clap, nodding his head slowly and calling out to her. “That a...girl?” His sentence paused as she instantly fell out of the tree, crashing down with the grace of a humpback whale. It was truly an enlightening experience enough so to make Verus grin. He did not laugh, he did not cry; it was a grin. But not any grin. This grin was a judgement grin, and he sat there, baring some of his teeth after a little while of his smirk. “Those cat-like reflexes of yours are really starting to shine hun.” A snicker escaped him and he walked over to her, pulling her up. The apple was miraculously saved, and that in itself was truly impressive. “An arm or leg for an apple. Good work tank, now let me show you how it’s done.”

 

ID# 61597

LD: 5

Verus spent a good couple of minutes scouring the ground for fallen fruits, hoping to be as lucky as he was last time. He had to follow up on his word, but resulted in two handfuls of air. With his shoulders lowered and a sluggish walk, he retreated back to her. “....imsorry.”

[Adhaerere 0]

Adhae had to take a while to regain her breath. Once she had, she stood up as he offered his hands, trying to not pull him down with her as she used him as leverage. She had heard the tiny snicker, and felt sort of happy. She didn’t remember him laughing at all during their time together.

Her cheeks were tinged red with embarrassment as she faced him. She let him talk, and smiled a little at his confident statement at the end. She smacked his shoulder as he went on his way, and reached down to pick up her lost apple. She used the hem of her shirt to polish the dirt off of the shiny red surface, tucking it into her pocket once it was clean. There was one, now it was time to get even more.

She spent a few minutes looking for a peach or pear in the trees, occasionally looking over at Verus to see how well he was keeping up with his promise. She had heard no triumphant exclamation from his direction, so she assumed he hadn’t found anything. She grinned, glad that he was suitably cowed. Once he treaded back over to her, she patted him gently on the shoulder, still smiling wide. “It’s okay kid. You can’t be good at everything.” Her grin turned smug, and she spun away to look for more fruit.  

ID: #61598

LD: 19

 

Coincidentally, once she had, she spotted a green, shiny, plump fruit hanging from a branch. This one was lower than the last one, so she was able to pluck it just by standing on her tiptoes. She showed it to him. “Gotcha,” she cawed proudly.

+1 Material (Pear)

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“I will be the best at everything.” He makes that promise to himself as he sped off to a couple of the trees they hadn’t searched. Verus was looking for a certain tree, but had no idea which one it would be. It was the thing he had wanted all this time, and he figured he would need the fruit if it would ever happen.

 

ID#61599

LD:19

 

Then, in an arm’s reach appeared the biggest, juiciest looking peach fruit he’d seen in the game. Then again, it was the first peach he’d found, but it was still rather giant. It made a slight noise when he plucked it from his home, but he really couldn’t describe how it sounded. It was just bigger than the palm of his gloved hand. Verus quickly rushed back to Adhae, only to pull out his fruit as she was showering hers to him. He dug into his sack and fetched the other apple he had found, slowly shoving both of them into her arms. “Take.”

-2 Materials (Apple & Peach)

 

[Adhaerere 0]

+2 Materials (Apple & Peach)

 She laughed at him as he spoke so confidently, again. “Have fun with that.” Her eyes widened as he came back with the peach. “Holy cow that’s huge.” She took them both, and stuffed them into her bag, taking care with the peach. She didn’t want to bruise the tender surface of it, or any of the fruits they’d gathered, for that matter. She decided to take one last look around the orchard before they made their way back to the bakery.

ID: #6101

 

LD: 11

 Sadly, she didn’t see anything from where she was. She sighed. They had enough fruits for her to learn how to do the basics of cooking, for sure. She could always enlist his help to search for more fruit in the future. And maybe some other, yummier materials, she thought. If she could have a vegetable garden? That would be awesome. And if players could get perks for eating these items, then it would be even better.

 She closed her bag securely, and looked to Verus. “Ready to go back? I think we have enough.” She smiled, and then began walking back towards the bakery with him once he’d agreed.

 Once they returned, Adhae opened the door for both of them again, holding it for Verus. She went to the counter, and took out the four fruits they had gathered. She set them in front of the storekeeper. Immediately, it chirped up. “Now that you have the Materials, come with me!” It turned and walked through a dark, small doorway in the back of the store. A section of the counter that had been manufactured to swing upwards on hinges and allow people through opened for them. Adhae glanced at Verus, and then followed the NPC through the small doorway.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Adhaerere

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Verus watched as his party member was taken into a back room. It made him question whether or not he would go after her and see what behind the door held. It also made him question on whether he would be able to snag a pastry from behind the counter in time. However, he settled for neither of the thoughts, and simply leaned up against the wall, placing his foot back onto it. There he would stay and wait until she had come through the door again, or had screamed for help.

 

[Adhaerere 0]

What was behind the door wasn’t as dark or scary as the door was itself. It was a brightly lit kitchen, with the required tools for cooking all in their right places. This NPC didn’t seem to have any disorder in its life; but that makes sense. There was no room for disorder in coding.

Adhae looked admiringly around the lively kitchen, and spotted the shopkeeper at the island in the middle of the room. Once Adhae had walked towards her and set her fruits down on the counter, the NPC spoke.

“Step one in cooking: Gathering raw materials. That is the food you have gathered right there,” it said, pointing to the two apples, peach, and pear on the shiny granite. “Those are the basic ingredients to any Snack; which is all a first level Cook can craft. That is what you will become once you have completed this Quest.” The shopkeeper took no time pausing to see if Adhae had gotten everything it had said, but it was speaking slowly enough for her to get the gist of it. “To make a Snack, you will need 1 material, a space to work on, and the cooking tools used to create the Snack."

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Verus stood, back against the wall as he stared at the one opposite him. It was well kept, but undecorated. Nothing special really in the store other than the treats it produced. He let out a rather audible sigh and shut his eyes, tipping his head slightly downwards. Verus was totally fine with just sitting there and waiting as long as it lead to some peach cobbler. He would make sure to hold her against it; he would for sure get his delicious pie. Then again, he would take just about any food he was given.