Time to Stop Loafin' Around

There are two problems a girl like Asuna has. First, she has spent so much time wandering and keeping her distance that it's now hard to actually find a party. Outside of Klein, Kirito, and Uta, there just aren't many eager takers. Second, if she's going to be around more, she needs to keep busy. Even Klein isn't hungy enough to eat everything she wants to make. She needs another outlet.

    "The Dragon's Larder. We got this. We have the skills!"

It's really critical to psych herself up for this. Making a good impression is everything! Her weapon is of no use here, after all.

'Busy' is certainly an apt description for the Dragon's Larder these days, with the way the population of Tolbana has increased from various refugee groups and other people seeking a more secure location from the Palace Land machinations. Even right now which was technically a slow period had a few people, eating and talking together off in various corners of the tavern. The Salamander tavernkeeper wasn't hard to find though, Vertina was at her usual place behind the bar itself. Though her back was to the entry at the moment, as she was cutting up various meat drops on the back counter. Looks like someone had a prosperious trip to keeping her resources stocked. Having Hunting as a racial trait was real handy like that.

Asuna looks around for a few moments to get her bearings. She's not in here much. Last time was quite a while ago. When one loves to cook they don't usually go out to eat, after all. Plus she was more interested in avoiding people than meeting them. Even when things aren't bustling, there's a strange sense that comes to her.

    "Enough, Asuna. There's not even a crowd at this hour."

She makes her way to the bar. She knows a little about the tavern. Enough to know who the boss is. Plus Vertina's reputation gets around the Alliance, too. There aren't a lot of gifted chefs to get confused with.

Thus, Asuna sits at the bar right behind Vertina. She opens her mouth as if to speak, but then closes it. Good impression.. good impression.. what is a way to make a good impression? Think, Asuna!

    "Um.. great weather we're having, huh?"

Oh yeah... nailed it!

To Asuna's awkward credit that is a pretty common conversation starter. "Considering how weird the weather patterns can be inside the Tower, yeah, it's pretty nice right now." Vertina glances over her shoulder. "Give me one moment?" Turns back to her work. "Best to get this portioned out while it's still fresh."

Look at that knife go! Clearly this is someone who had good hand-eye coordination even before turning towards the culinary arts. Vertina may be a martial artist brawler mostly, but she knows her way around with a blade or two when it suits the task.

After a few minutes she slots the knife back into it's holder, and pushes the tray of meet through to the kitchen on the other side of the counter. "Meat's prepped! Get that ready to cook before the late night rush comes in!" Then she turns around to the bar, grinning. "Sorry about the wait. What can I do for you?"

    "Well, I have something unusual I'm after. I.."

She looks around, as if afraid someone might be spying on her. One can never be too careful.

    "... like to cook. But my friends aren't always around to cook for, and there's only so much a couple guys can eat. Granted, Klein does go beyond mortal limits a touch. But anyway.."

She sighs. That was clumsy. She backs up.

    "I'm Asuna. Sorry, living the wandering samurai life has definitely cost me a bit of my social skills, which were never that good in-game anyway."

Vertina tilts her head as Asuna starts, stops, starts again, and then backs up to doing a proper introduction. That is at least a name she's heard floating around. And she mentions Klein, who she's already met. Yeah, that's a fair assessment of that appetite. "No, that's understandable. Soloing use to be a very capable thing. You know. Before it all turned real."

Vertina turns her head a bit to glance back at the kitchen, then back to the bar. Leans forward a bit to rest her elbows on top of it, lacing hands together to rest her chin atop. "By the preceeding comment I'm going to take a stab in the dark that you're looking for someplace else to put those skills to use?"

    "I generally was out there to keep newbies safe. Things have changed, though. The gnolls I was fighting were different. Smarter, more numerous. I almost got myself killed on my last patrol. If that crazy Sleeping Knight hadn't showed up I'm not sure where I'd be. Churching in Mac Anu suddenly seems like a really bad idea."

She visibly relaxes. Conversation starting over with and on to actual talking means the hard part is over. Especially since Vertina is reading her intentions so well.

    "You're right, too. I like to bake, especially. I bet fresh bread would really work well here. Not to mention pizza. Of course I do know my way around a grill. Field cooking demands it. Plus uhhh.."

Long pause. What should she call him? I mean.. friend doesn't seem quite right, considering. The whole relationship thing has to be defined. Boyfriend?

Ugh, she's blushing. Stupid blushing.

    "My very good friend loves it when I fry him some teriyaki burgers. With some extra spice kick, if he's been particularly good to me."

It occurs to her that could be interpreted strangely.

Stop blushing, Asuna!

Vertina ohs softly. "You ran into -those- gnolls. Guarding a cave with some gemstone locked door. Been down there. Freaky as heck. Busted up some weird dark magic medical lab."

Which is followed by a laugh, getting the mood back to a more positive one. "That's a pretty spicy relationship by the sound of it!" Because you know spices. She's trying to make a pun out of it.

Then Vertina settles back into her casual lean on the bar. "Well, I'm more of a griller and frier than a baker. You might have to readjust the temperatures for baking, but the kitchen is fully capable." She gives a nod towards the doors at the other side of the tavern, which lead back to the brewery. "And no shortage of yeast. It comes up in fermenting at times, too."

    "So, do you want to see what I can do?"

There's an almost hopeful tone in that question. She's got the itch, clearly. She casts glance back into the kitchen.

    "I'm not sure what hours you'd want me to work. Or even if it works like that in the game. Most adventurers probably need rather flexible schedules, especially when we get close to the next clear."

Asuna is already kicking around ideas for what she'd like to bake right now. That meat comes to mind, though. That's definitely a compelling pizza topping and her inventory is never low on stock for sauce, spice, and dough.

Vertina chuckles a bit at that as she pushes herself up from the bartop to stand. "I pretty much just come and go as I'm needed by the guild, or to train, or to hunt for supplies. There's not really a 'set' schedule. Especially not for us Adventurers." She gestures towards the swing doors into the kitchen. "By all means, I'm not going to object to a demonstration!... You know how to do dumpling dough? I can stuff em and cook em but the actual dough is kind of tricky."

    "Oh, sure!"

She looks around, needing a moment to figure out how to get behind the bar. It's one of those funny things she hadn't actually thought of before. Assuming it's not rocket science, it won't take her long to get back there.

    "So dough is about feeling, really. A recipe can get you close, but ultimately like so many things, the conditions really matter. In this case, humidity is the biggest problem."

She gets into a mode as soon as she's in the kitchen. She'll need a bowl, flour, and water. She doesn't ask for anything else.

    "It's always a bit of a guess at first."

She actually heats the water, first.

    "I like to get it around the temp of a nice, hot bath."

Asuna dips a fingertip in, then gets working. Water, flour, mixing. Not with a spoon or anything, but with her hands (after a good wash, of course!)

    "I'm not sure if you want me to keep talking or if I should just shut up and work. I tend to get talkative when I'm working, though. Feel free to tune me out."

Vertina helps Asuna find the ingredients and utensils she needs in the kitchen. "By all means, go on. Maybe it'll help me figure out where I've had issues with getting it completely right. Not that it hasn't been edible." She makes a pinching gesture with two fingers. "But it's not as good as it good be. You get what I mean?"

For the most part she stands back, listens and watches the woman work. And some point she fetchs a flask of drink for herself. "You want anything to drink while working?"

    "Oh, okay. In that case, I'll just babble away. And thank you, once I get the dough ready to rest I'd love something. Do you have anything.. melony? Non-alcoholic. It's not my thing."

She pauses here and there, adding flour bit by bit. Asuna is working away at it and it's clear she's waiting to feel something, more than see it.

    "So, when it gets there, it will be tacky, like.. hmm.. like paint that's almost done drying? It won't be damp. And it won't stick to your fingers."

She looks at her work surface, and with a playful, showy motion dusts it with some of the remaining flour. It's time to knead.

    "This doesn't take long. Maybe a couple minutes. Get it nice and smooth and then.."

She takes a towel, dampens it with water, and covers the dough.

    ".. we let it rest for a while. I like to wait about a half hour at this point. So.. we have plenty of time to kill. Once it's rested, I'll break it in two, roll it into a rope, and divide it. For now, though, we wait."

She turns to look over what else is going on in the kitchen. She's always looking for new ways to do things, and she knows there's a lot she can learn here.

    "I hope to learn to be more efficient, so I can cook for larger groups. It's not hard to prepare a meal for half a dozen people, but I'm really curious if I can move beyond that."

Vertina nods, wanders back into storage, and comes back in a few moments with some juice. "Not everyone wants to drink alcohol, so I keep plenty of other options on hand. Making juice isn't -that- much different, just less fermenting to keep it from becoming a wine or such," she explains as she hands the small bottle to Asuna.

"That's good, because there's no shortage of mouths to keep fed. Between the Guild, the refugees from Ezzo and Eas, and whoever else passes through."

Yeah, making bread and dough things takes a lot more patience. That's probably what Vertina had trouble with. "I tried to speed up things with alchemy once. It.. didn't go so good. The dough kept expanding until it exploded."

    "I think I can learn a lot about organizing and planning with a tavern full of mouths to feed, and everyone likely to want slightly different food. I look forward to seeing how that is done and being challenged to get better."

She accepts the drink gratefully. Even more grateful is her expression when she takes her first drink of it.

    "Oh wow. That's.. that's so much better. I can't do anything beyond putting a tea bag in water, really. I've been living off barley tea most of the summer. I love it! But this.. this is something to experience."

She laughs at the mention of alchemy and bread. She tries to imagine just how bad that might have become.

    "Dough can be so hard to clean up, too. I suppose you got flour everywhere? A pity it didn't work, though."

Vertina ahehehes and rubs the back of her head with one hand. "Yeah..." She gladly goes back to talking about the juice. "Yeah! Turns out 'Brew' covers a lot of drinks, depending on how they're made. And a bit of juice can be used to make potions not taste all... mediciney." Being a Moonlight Brewer she likes to talk about the applications she's found for it's capabilities. "Makes mana potions and boosters a bit more palable in middle of a boss fight when the mages and healers are constly burning through their reserves."

    "If they taste like this, I'd have a hard time saving them for battle. This is really good. With me, food always takes center stage, but this is a drink I could build a meal around."

She is trying to pace herself. Asuna doesn't want to chug it down. She does take a lot of smaller drinks, though, and it's clear it's not going to last twenty minutes at this rate.

    "So is brewing your favorite thing, then?"

"You bet it is!" Vertina replies cheerfully. Then pauses to chug a portion of her own drink. "Even went through one of those strange crafter moods to improve the distilling process available in this world so I could make better signature drinks of my own." Then chuckles a bit. "Bring your spice loving friend with sometime, he'd probably get a kick out of Dragon's Draught."

    "I've heard about those! I haven't done that myself, yet. Is it true what they say? You forget to even eat or.. you know.. clean yourself?"

Asuna grins, obviously very curious. It doesn't occur to her immediately that the comment is a bit more than some might want to share.

    "Ah, sorry, that's probably really personal. I tend not to filter when I'm excited. I want to try to do that craft mood and get better at cooking, but I'm nervous about the bathing. You know, having a guy I like.."

Vertina makes a bit of a face when Asuna brings that aspect up. "Yeah... it's less forget and more it just loses importance compared to what you're focusing on." But then shifts back to a more pleasant aspect of the topic, lifting a hand to gesture at the kitchen around them. "But the fact that people need help remembering to eat and what not is another reason I took up Cooking as soon as I could... Your guy will have to come to terms with it. It's not you, it happens to everyone."

    "So if that happens, I suppose I could arrange for others to intervene."

She is thinking only about the bathing part, really. She is that concerned!

    "No matter what the reason, I have to make sure I don't.. you know.. smell bad. Though I suppose the cooking would smell good enough to cover it?"

A long drink of the juice. Narrow eyes as she tries to focus. It's obviously, truly on her mind that much.

    "Still, when it's done. I'll be a better cook. I can help people beyond the whole clearing thing."

"Yup. Good for morale. Makes having to deal with being stuck here less of a hassle for people that aren't so apt on going out putting themselves at risk. Lots of a reasons to put up with a little... personal awkwardness for a while." Vertina rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "Besides, if you're persistant with whatever catches your focus, you'll be done that much sooner. Plus have the rest of the Alliance to look after you. By this point most of us have dealt with it in some way, no one is gonna judge."

She's still a bit uncertain, but ultimately having people look out for her seems to be winning her over to the idea. Even if it sounds really unpleasant.

    "It's so odd how this game works now, isn't it? I wonder who came up with the idea of self-neglect and this weird mood stuff."

She directs her attention back to her dough, splitting in two and getting to the work of rolling one of those hunks of dough. Divide, then roll into a little ball, then she flattens it between her palms. A rolling pin is pulled out of her inventory. It's one roll out, one back, turn 90 degrees, repeat, then 45 degrees. She makes circular shapes, ready to used as wrappers.

    "Oh, what are we putting in the dumplings today?"

Vertina takes a thoughful sip of her drinks. "For all we know it wasn't planned and it's an effect of whatever has us staying here." She's just watching and letting Asuna do her thing without getting in the way. Until the woman asks for the filling. "Right." She gets up from where she was resting and collects a few things to bring over. "Got some grunty meat and fresh herbs. That's pretty close to the typical pork and cabbage filling, takes advantage of what we've already got at hand."

    "You want extra kick?"

Asuna smiles in a way that hints at danger. Her idea of spicy tends elevates things. But this is a tavern, and adventurers of all genders may be enticed into buying something just to pit their endurance against it.

    "Probably wouldn't be loved by most landers, but maybe we should set aside a few to see if your patrons might have a thing for eating fire instead of just throwing it around."

She laughs softly and pulls a little shaker out of her inventory. A bright red skull and crossbones are on the label. For pure intimidation value.

Vertina lets out a rowdy laugh at the suggestion. "I like your style Asuna!... Though yeah, that's probably something to save for other Adventurers. I bet we can get Syx to try it. Hell, he'd probably drink it straight from the bottle."

    "Well, if he's the tough guy, we'll have to find something to leave him in tears! And of course find that 'just right' balance, where the heat is a beautiful compliment to the meal. I'm sure you know what I mean. Heat can be so wonderful."

She gathers the ingredients and starts preparing the dumplings. The nightmare spice is put away and instead she's using something else. Sure, it's red and promises to be hot, but she uses it sparingly and it has a wonderful, smoky scent.

    "You probably know everyone in the Alliance, huh? Do they all come here to eat? I could do with a bit of a reputation redo. I've cold-shouldered a lot of invites over the past year or two. If I've offended anyone, maybe food will help me get back on their good sides."

Vertina chuckles. "He's a pro wrestler, you're gonna have to work hard at getting him to cry. Maybe that'll be a weird mood of it's own!", she teases. Followed by a nod. "Good food certainly can't hurt. And things aren't the same now, I'm sure most people wont' take it personally."

    "I hope not. I.. was in my own little weird headspace. For a time, I kind of lost hope. The top of the tower seems about as hard to reach as the moon."

Asuna sighs softly, but forces a smile back to her lips. She'll work at getting water boiling for the dumplings. Here, she does cheat a bit. She's Scale Emblem, of course she uses fire to expedite matters.

    "What's the first thing you'd like to do? When we get out, I mean."

"Probably give my family the biggest hug possible... and then figure out how to recreate any drinks I come up with here," Vertina replies after a moment. "I'm.." A pause as she considers. "I'm more worried about helping the other people that have big reasons to get back than myself. Besides! The Tower boss fights are some of the biggest challenges there are, even compared to this dumb war the other server has dragged us into. That's the part I enjoy."

Asuna nods thoughtfully, laughing at the mention of hugging family. She thinks of her mother, then sighs. Asuna can only imagine the lecture she'll get for doing something as irresponsible as playing a game like this. It takes the smile away.

    "They are going to be ever greater in difficulty, I imagine. And yeah, the Palace Landers are a bunch of trouble. As if we don't have enough problems without making more for no reason."

"Yeah well not much we can do about it right now." Vertina moves back over to watch Asuna, which isn't hard to do since her height lets her see over all but a few people's shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, your dough is browning up much better than my attempts." Gives the other gal a pat on the shoulder. "I don't think you'll have any trouble getting people to want to eat your handiwork."