Strangers in a Crowd [S/C]

“I’m good!” she promised with a thumbs up, “it’s rather crowded. I’m sad to say you’re not the first person I’ve run into since I got here.” She eyed the crowd warily before bringing her attention back to Horus with a smile. He didn’t seem too upset, which was good. She wasn’t really in the mood to argue with anyone, not that she was ever in the mood to argue with anyone.

Looking at the sword Horus was also eyeing, August let out a small chuckle, “it looks a lot better than the one I have.” Most swords looked better than the one she had. The beginning equipment wasn’t exactly the best in quality but it was certainly cheap enough to get by.

“It’s alright,” August commented as she took another bite out of her jam and bread. There was an awkward pause as she chewed the food carefully and then swallowed it before continuing her sentence, “I can’t afford it either. Stuff here isn’t cheap and it’s not the best quality. The good gear is in the other towns where players craft them.” She took another bite out of her bread and got onto her toes to look above the crowd.

“I’ve been out that way before, but only a few times. Traveling through the combat-enabled areas make me a bit wary. I’m a tad scared of dying. But, I suppose any sane person would be.” August wouldn’t consider herself cowardly by any means, but there was a difference between having to be courageous in the moment and going headfirst into a situation where all of the factors and probability were unknown. She didn’t mind leading the charge, but in these moments where she was nowhere near equipped enough to defend herself.

If the man wasn’t going to buy that sword, was he looking for a cheaper one? There was a pretty standard sword sold at most stalls that new players had; it was the easiest one to buy to replace the one first given to people in the game. August had it, but she hadn’t used it on anyone or anything yet.

“Same!” August chirped in excitement, “I don’t play video games in general. A good friend gave me the game for us to play together and that’s how I got stuck here. There was a pretty high learning curve for me.” It was nice to hear that someone else was in her situation. Most people hadn’t admitted they had no idea how things worked either. She was learning, but not quickly enough to really be able to help anyone else out.

August put the bread into her mouth and placed her own hand in Horus’s handshake. She then placed her other hand on the other side to sandwich Horus’s hand before shaking it. Letting go, August picked the bread out of her mouth so that she could speak. “I’m August. It’s nice to meet you as well.”

She took another bite out of the bread and smiled. “I apologize beforehand if I get any jam on you. People keep running into to me. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for? I’ve wandered around here enough to know the general direction of where things are.” She did a lot of window shopping before getting the courage to go outside and do quests to actually buy things.

If he was looking for weapons or shields, August wasn’t going to be much help. But there was one area where she excelled at pointing people in the right direction. “If there’s any type of food you’re interested in, I know whether or not the the NPCs sell them. They’re not as good as the player made ones, but finding those are a bit harder to do.” She also had the possibility to cook things as well, but August hadn’t tried it out very much.

Maybe she could open up a bakery here too. She would have to do it on her own, without her parent’s help. But, August was confident that she could manage it, especially if it was something low scale and she worked only on commission so she had time to go do other things instead of having to man a stall for several hours a day.

“Awesome!” she cheered, “what kinds of foods do you like? There are some places that sell specific foods like ramen or fried meats. Other places specialize in different types of foods like baked goods.” The last two words of that sentence carried a little hint of saltiness in her tone of voice. “I bet I could make better ones though,” she muttered in addition before turning to point down a street a little further up. “Most of the food stuffs is over there,” August added as she popped the remaining piece of jam bread into her mouth.

She noticed that the he NPCs made it a little easier to shop by placing a cluster of the food over in one section so people wouldn’t have to wander through swords to get to fruits. It made a bit of sense huddling everything there, but there were still a few rouge stands that just popped up wherever they pleased.

Oh, a friend request? She only had two people on her list and they were both her real life friends that got stuck here with her. Adding some new people wouldn’t hurt. August wouldn’t know when it might come in handy to need to a questing partner or if some other situation came up. “Of course!” she excitedly hit the accept button and laughed. “You’re the first person I didn’t know in real life to be added to this.”

Maybe she should follow the same thought process that he had and add the people she came into contact with. Problem was, August was never really good at figuring out whether people actually ever wanted to see her again. Some people loved being around her, others avoided her after meeting for the first time. It was really a coin toss and she could never really call it correctly.

August’s upper lip twice for a second, but she put on a smile and gladly showed Horus the way towards the NPC baked goods. She had just come from that way, finishing up the piece of jam bread she had purchased a few minutes before. It didn’t hurt to go back for seconds, even if the quality of food reminded her more of her nine year old self’s food’s quality level.

She allowed him to lead and followed closely behind. At first the task had been difficult with the density of people with August making ‘oof’ noises whenever someone bumped into her just a little bit too hard for her liking. Eventually, the crowd did begin to noticeably disband and allow more room for people to actually walk around comfortably.

Her feet came to grinding halt when Horus stopped. She had been looking at something else across the crowd and almost ran into him again. Fortunately, the pink-haired women caught herself this time and simply pivoted so that she ended up right next to him. Peering over at the stall, August couldn’t help but breathe out a huff from her nose.

She wasn’t usually boastful, but hearing someone comment on these subpar baked goods (she would know considering she had tried them all) as being appetizing enough for the kingdom upstairs was amusing. She leaned in close to Horus and cupped a hand over his ear before whispering in it, “they sadly don’t taste as good as they look.”

“It’s a pretty disappointing skill if you actually know your way around a kitchen,” August sighed as she placed a hand on her cheek. She had tried it out before and the actual cooking portion was so boring. Need to cut something? Just tap it with a knife instead of actually taking the time to slice. She supposed it did save precious time that could be used for other things, but where was the fun? “The system here simplifies everything. You somehow need an entire bag of sugar to bake a singular cake. It’s a tad ridiculous if you know how much sugar actually goes into a cake.”

She nodded with a smile in response. “Absolutely no problem! The food is still bland, but it’s less bland than the cheap stuff you find in the front of the market.” It was a tad bit more expensive too, but that was the price to pay to not eat bread that had the same texture as sawdust.

August couldn’t help but chuckle at the noises Horus’s stomach was making. “You know, if you have enough money there to buy me the ingredients, I could give it a go trying to make something here,” she proposed as she vaguely waved towards the stall full of baked goods.

She hadn’t attempted to make much yet, but it couldn’t have been too difficult to figure out what ingredients she would need to bake whatever it was Horus was interested in eating. She didn’t have a high enough skill level to make anything too complicated yet, but a simple muffin or something along those lines shouldn’t be too difficult for her to figure out.

“What?” August asked as she titled her head to the side to follow suit of Horus’s bow, “I haven’t been that nice, have I?” She was just acting like how she usually does. It wasn’t anything too special and certainly not something that she needed to be thanked for. She nodded in understanding at his reason for not spending money. August had similar goals as well. “I’m doing the same actually, but I’ve been going on tons of quests in an effort to save up.” There wasn’t any dipping of toes into the pool when it came to quests. She decided to just start doing them one day and had been on a continuous roll ever since.

The frontlines sounded dangerous, but at the same time it was the best place for August to go to protect people. That’s what she wanted to do and those who followed suit were in less of a danger than those who first walked in blind. She was still beating around the idea of whether she was going to head up there herself, so she decided against commenting on that particular aspect. “I heard it’s dangerous,” she chose to say instead, “and it’s all unknown territory, so bringing good gear would definitely be more ideal than splurging a little on food.”

Her eyes followed Horus’s has he gave her the look down. “Do I have something on me?” she asked as she lifted up one of her sleeves to better inspect it. August thought she had been exceptionally careful about getting jam on her, but maybe she failed at her goal. She didn’t see anything, so August chose to ignore it.

“Nah, I don’t think they’re crazy. It’s a commendable goal. We can go questing sometime if you need to level up,” she offered with a smile. Having too many dependable people to call upon to help clear out quests was never a bad thing in her eyes.