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Post by Noa on Sept 30, 2022 15:33:49 GMT -6
To say that the job request struck Noa as odd would have been putting it lightly. Helping the proprietor of the Herbologist's Delight with her baking, and getting paid for the trouble? Was she having such a hard time with her mobility in her old age that she had to hire random assistants? That was Noa's first conclusion when he read the posting, though he took it with him anyway, since the chance to work with Alura had some appeal for reasons unrelated to baking. Most of her concoctions -- the ones with any magical or curative work, anyway -- were meant for creatures, but she had greater familiarity with plants and their uses than he did. After all, Noa wasn't exactly privy to the recipes for any of those more potent brews, or else he would have tried making them himself, if not attempting to make improvements on the known formula. 1
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Post by Noa on Sept 30, 2022 15:36:57 GMT -6
He didn't think she would give up her secrets for a small job like this, but he was curious enough about seeing what he could glean from this brief interaction that he took the job, despite having neither an interest nor a particular aptitude for cooking.
Perhaps he should have thought through that angle a little more, or maybe practiced.
The job itself began mundanely enough, with Alura welcoming them into her kitchen, and listing where everything was, what they were responsible for -- in between the usual pleasantries, the offerings of refreshments, and all those little niceties that Noa personally considered a waste of time. This was a part of why he preferred to send Rabbit to do the shopping, when he didn't need the kind of discount that could only be earned with a personal visit by someone who knew how to haggle. Noa sighed, and smiled, and got through it.
2
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Post by Noa on Sept 30, 2022 15:39:42 GMT -6
Rhys, who had rather been looking forward to the occasion, had a much better time. He got on famously with Alura, and stretched the small talk much longer than it would have gone had Noa been here alone. He also stretched the limit of Noa's patience with this, though the need to remain in Alura's good graces kept Noa from saying anything very rude to either of them. Barely.
He thought to occupy himself with baking just to have something to do. It hadn't been his original plan to apply himself more than he had to at the baking itself, but if he didn't find a suitable distraction soon, Noa might do something he would regret. So he took up a mixing bowl, eyeballed the recipe, and started measuring and mixing away.
It was funny, this whole baking business. On paper it shouldn't have been more difficult than mixing a potion.
3
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Post by Noa on Sept 30, 2022 15:42:28 GMT -6
And yet, somehow, despite the recipe seeming quite simple on the page and the ingredients being so mundane as to not be worth mentioning, by the time Alura finally pried her attention away from Rhys to check what Noa was doing, the results were...
... Well, it was kind of funny to watch her struggle to find something nice to say about it. If Noa had cared more about cookies, he might have been devastated, or at least more embarrassed than he was. As it was, the humor only took the edge off the sting of it; he was annoyed that it should have gone so badly when it had no right to. Food was simply sustenance, a simple thing that could be summoned with a simple spell. Why should it be so labor intensive? Why should there be any difficulty to its construction at all?
"It was, um, a good try, dear," said Alura.
4
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Post by Noa on Sept 30, 2022 15:46:05 GMT -6
From that point she took over, and Noa was assigned to a different task -- and then another, and then another. He turned out not to be good at any of them. It was baffling, but it only confirmed what he had believed for a long time to be true: that cooking was a waste of time. Cookies weren't even an efficient form of sustenance, having little nutritional value aside from the calories they provided. The taste factor had some merit, but not very much. On the whole, Noa found his nutrient blocks to be a vastly preferable way to nourish oneself.
Fortunately, it was the thought that counted... And more to the point, Rhys was at least able to help with juggling the dishes and the baking trays with his telekinesis. If it weren't for those two things, they probably wouldn't have gotten paid, not for the kind of work Noa managed.
5
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Post by NPC on Dec 5, 2022 14:19:33 GMT -6
Congratulations, you have successfully completed the quest! Your QP will be added to the bank, and your prize will be sent out shortly.
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