citylogs | [open] welcome to the city

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[open] welcome to the city

WHO: Altria Caster (

excaliburden) & perhaps you!
WHAT: Help out a gal who just got here and is still getting used to magical city things like powdered sugar
WHERE: Across the city! Namely: a convenience store, park, subway, etc.......
WHEN: Early November
WARNINGS: N/A! Will update if necessary

a. local victorian orphan discovers convenience stores

[You're probably popping into the local convenience store for sensible reasons, like to buy a soda or to grab a few things you're missing for your dinner. Maybe for one of those hot dogs. No judgment.

Either way, you're getting interrupted by a gremlin in young woman form, who comes right up to you as soon as she makes eye contact, holding up... one of those small little packs of powdered sugar donuts.]

Have you ever tried one of these?

[She sounds awed.

There is powdered sugar around her mouth and on her fingers. She seems to have already eaten three of the five in the pack. It's a little bit like a religious experience, honestly.]

b. park break

[There's only so much walking around the city she can do before she gets tired. Even a few days in, it's still a pretty overwhelming place, and despite making many plans with many helpful people upon first arriving, she... has not acted on any of them.

So it is that even though it's either very early in the morning or very late at night, Altria can be found seated on one of the benches in the park, shoulders hunched and hands in her lap. She doesn't seem to be asleep, just... thinking very, very intently.

Of course, if she notices that someone's near, she'll immediately straighten, lifting a hand to wave--but with how deep in thought she is, it isn't hard to sneak up on her, either.]

c. subway

[Using the subway today to get across the city? That's a perfectly normal thing to do.

There's a young woman there as well, nose pressed to the window as she stares out as the train moves, even though it's, you know, underground and there's nothing to see. It's fine--she still seems amazed.

Also, if you hop back on the train a few hours later to go elsewhere, she's... still there. She might be leaning back in the seat, staring at the ceiling, or moving from seat to seat idly, or, in particularly empty times of day, sprawled along two seats at once.

Don't worry about it. Everything's fine here!]

d. wildcard

(Wanna tag in but these prompts don't work? Totally fine, hit me with whatever--or poke me over here to plot something out!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She... feels so sheepish. But honestly, she just dips her head further, cheeks burning, and mutters:]

... first day we got here...

[The little baggies of food were so new and interesting and enticing!]

[ That gets him to raise his eyebrows. Of course the answer makes sense—she's a living organism that needs food for sustenance, but somehow, it still catches him off guard. ]

That's almost two weeks ago.

[ A very obvious statement there, buddy. He steps forward to examine her closely. ]

Are you certain you're fine? No physical or mental changes? No weird thoughts or feelings?

[It's going to be even more embarrassing when she lets him know she didn't need to eat at all, and was just interested in the taste... oops.

Anyway, he steps forward and she flushes a little, if only because his sudden, immediate concerned examination is a little overwhelming.]

Never been better! Really! There's nothing to worry about, I've been perfectly fine, and completely normal.

Th-thank you, though...

[ He can scold her for that later, but for now... he smirks at the flush, but doesn't comment on it and graciously steps back to give her space. ]

Alright. If you haven't been affected yet, then the food here is probably fine.

[ The more paranoid side of him continues to insist that the kidnappers are playing the long game (because that's what he'd do, if he were the schemer behind this), but he knows Alhaitham and Cyno are here. If they haven't raised any alarm bells yet, then there's no point in continuing to be vigilant about it. ]

So. How is it compared to what you know?

[She switches gears pretty quickly, at least, beaming at the question.]

It's amazing! Sweets and things like this are usually reserved for high class faeries back home, so getting to try it now is like a dream come true!

[Not as good as the chocolate she had, but still pretty amazing.

Yes, she has only tried the sweets this whole time.]

[ It's like he's talking to Paimon, the food-obsessed fairy that's always buzzing around the Traveler. Except Altria was far less annoying than her. Really, how did the Traveler put up with that nuisance?

But it's almost fond, the exasperation he feels as he rolls his eyes. ]

Just don't come crying later when you get a stomach ache.

[ Nothing in the convenience store looks appealing, and in any case he can hardly tell what's in the packaging, as they're all clean of writing. Still, he picks up something he thinks won't be sweet—what looks like a bag of thin crisps. He opens it after a moment of trepidation—peers inside. Yep, exactly what's on the bag.

And then he tilts the opening towards Altria. Want one?

If she does take a chip and eat it, she'll find it's the sour cream and onion flavour. ]

[Of course she's going to take it and eat it. It's food, and also it's him offering it, which feels like it matters in its own sort of way. The honest feelings of someone who struggles with kindness and thoughtfulness, and yet is thoughtful in his own way...

So she plucks one from the bag, and pops it into her mouth.

Crunchy...!!]

... Mmm! It's good. It tastes like... [Hmmm!!] Creamy onion.

[ He offers it only because she clearly has no qualms eating the food here, and she would be a good comparison to what he finds of the taste. His decisions are practical—with purpose, and have absolutely nothing to do with kindness or thoughtfulness.

He takes a chip himself, and after giving it a once over, pops it into his mouth.

... ]

It's just flavour, nothing else. What's so satisfying about this?

[Satisfying, huh...? She considers that for a moment, and then shrugs.]

I guess it's just meant to be a snack? So... if you like the flavor, then it's fine that it's mostly just flavor.

But I guess you're right that it probably isn't very nutritious.

[ He's not used to snacking. As a puppet that didn't need to eat, when he did choose to, it was often for pleasure. So, it never made sense for him to eat anything less than the best that was out there.

That he eventually turned to cooking food himself was because no one out there could impress his delicate palate.

He scrunches his nose at the rest of the snacks in the convenience store. ]

They're not worth the space they occupy.

[ And then, he stills as a thought comes to mind. By this point, he's investigated around the city enough to know where the markets were, and a few specialty stores. If this was the state of the food in this city, then...

He looks sharply at Altria. ]

Hey. You want something better than this trash?

[He's so harsh, but it's an honest sort of harsh; Altria doesn't see any issue with these, but admittedly, she also doesn't need nourishment to survive. So. She just blinks and shrugs a little at his disdain.

More importantly... "better" food? There is never a time she's going to say no to an invitation like that. Not that she thinks there's anything wrong with any of this, but no need to tell him that when he'll never agree.]

Hm? Oh, sure! Did you find something better when you were looking around?

[ He's going to hold out the bag of chips to Altria for her to take—he certainly doesn't plan on eating any more.

Then, once she takes the bag, he gestures for her to follow him. ]

No.

[ ... ]

I can cook something better.

[...!!!

She takes the bag, of course, almost automatically, her eyes fixed on him.]

You're going to cook?

Then--I definitely want to try it! [Yay yay yay homecooked meal!]

[ She's so excited that he can't help the curl of his lips. He's careful to keep it hidden from Altria, though, as he leads the way towards one of the city's supermarkets. They enter, and then he stops at the entrance. ]

What do you want to eat?

[He is met with a blank smile at that.

...?

He's asking... her? What she wants? That sounds... fake. Nothing in her life has prepared her for someone asking her what she wants to eat.]

... Huh? You mean me?

No, I'm talking to the invisible person next to you.

[ A pause, but clearly before she has time to actually check if there's an invisible person next to her. ]

Yes, I mean you.

[He has come to understand her so quickly.

She blinks at him, though, processing that slowly. He's... asking her what she wants to eat. Wow...!]

I want...

[... She has no idea how to answer, she realizes.

... No, wait, she does know.]

I want to try your favorite thing to make.

[ It says something about her life, that it takes so long to process a simple question like this. His life has been tough in its own way, but he thinks, hers must have been tough as well.

His favourite, was it? ]

You sure? My tastes are far different than yours. I detest sweets.

[Wow!! She wants to fuss at him, but in truth, she's still too touched that he wants to make something she wants to eat for that.]

I'm sure! I'm definitely sure. I like to eat more things than just sweets, you know!

[He would have no reason to know this, given she basically has been existing on sweets for the past two weeks.]

Alright. Suit yourself.

[ He walks forward, now intent on scouring the market for the ingredients he needs. It's going to be a guessing game, since nothing was labeled, but since it was all free for the taking, no one would care if he opened a bunch of packages looking for what he needed, would they?

The rice is easy enough to locate. So is the eel, thankfully. But the smaller ingredients—the spices are harder to figure out. ]

We have kombu and shiitake... nori should be easy to find... sesame seeds... still need sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, salt...

[ He's muttering to himself he examines the myriad of bottles on the shelves, trying to puzzle out what is what. ]

[Altria seems content to just follow along behind him, arms tucked behind her back as she peers at the items on the shelves. Huh... huh!! Huuuuh....

The stuff he's bringing up are, for the most part, completely foreign to her, but she that's fine. She's going to learn so much today!]

Are those common spices back where you're from?

[ He eventually manages to pick out the spices, though some bottles, he takes just in case he's guessed wrong and it's the other choice instead. What he picks out, he brings to the front of the market, and gathers all the ingredients in one place.

He should just catalogue the entire market with pictures on his phone. It would be way easier to deal with, then. ]

You could say that.

[ Looking over everything... yep, he's got everything for the dish he wants to make. But... he glances over at Altria for a moment, a look of consideration on his face, before he turns back to the shelves to search for more things. ]

You could help by putting all the stuff I've already gathered into bags for us to carry.

You got it!

[Now that's something she can do. The bags are left out as if someone should be there bagging the products (not that Altria's familiar with such a practice), so it's easy for her to bag everything up and then pick up the bags with a proud beam.]

I'm a lot stronger than I look, so I can carry everything!

[ He brings back a few more items—flour, eggs, butter, and some other things and bags it all up as well. Then, he gives her a look that clearly says he's not letting her carry everything. ]

You take half.

[ He takes the bag with eggs and two more bags, leaving the rest to Altria. ]

There's a restaurant next door. We can use that kitchen.

[............ wow!!

She picks up the bags he leaves to her, of course, but huffs.]

I really could carry all of it...!

[REALLY! TRUST HER!

She is following, huffy or not, because of course she is.]

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