File: theadventuresofmonalisa.jpg (3 KB, 125x119)

3 KB JPG

Character and setting info: http://pastebin.com/u/MagicalPrincess
Archives: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Start+Over+Quest
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagicalMarquise
Ask.fm: http://ask.fm/MagicalMarquise
Collection of character descriptions (WIP, courtesy of anon): http://pastebin.com/pzYffs0R

>>44520725
>”I was looking for cold oil”.

>>44520725
>”I was looking for cold oil”.
Hello MP! Glad to see you back.

>>44520725
>”I was looking for cold oil”.
Happy new year!

>>44520725
>”I was looking for cold oil”.

It's been 48 threads huh. Almost 50 now!

"I was looking for cold oil", you go straight to the point, eyeing the two brothers. They're lean to the point of looking skinny, or maybe they're just taller than they are large, though they aren't really much taller than you are.

"Ah well if it's cold oil you want we have it!".
"But it's not cold so it takes a lot to cool".
"It certainly doesn't just happen when it's convenient".
"What we're trying to say is: there's a queue".

It takes you a moment to process what they just told you.

"So you don't have any available?", you translate.

"Well, no", one brother looks at the other, "We don't".
"We do", the other stops, then looks at his sibling, "We do but it's reserved".
"Thing is: everyone's been asking for cold oil because after the first few people found out that things rust and rot faster here, they all got worried about their tools, heirlooms and so on".
"And then we found this solution and now word spread and everyone and their dog wants some".
"We've barely had time to do anything other than cold oil! Just look at our home!".

Not only they started to speak a little more normally, even though they still keep interrupting each other at very convenient times, but they're also openly admitting that their house is, in fact, of quite shoddy craftsmanship.

“Is it difficult to make?”, you wonder.

“Not difficult, but takes time and effort”.
“And there's just two of us, and we have to get the ingredients too”.
“It just doesn't do itself, if you get what we mean”.
“We're glad for the help and for what we get back, but it's too much for just the two of us”.

“How long would it take if I were to order a batch?”.

The Wensley brothers look at each other and then start to get that look that people get when they don't want to say the truth. “Eeeeeh... I don't know, I think we can fit you in next week”.

>”It's really urgent”.
>”It's not for me, it's for Astreya”.
>”Could I help you?”.
>”Is your list really that long?”.
>Other?

>>44521002
>”It's not for me, it's for Astreya”.
Just in case it's reserved for her
>”Could I help you?”.

>>44521002
>>”It's not for me, it's for Astreya”.
>>”Could I help you?”.
Someone is making good business, it seems.

>>44521002
>”It's really urgent”.
>”Could I help you?”.

>>44521002
>>”It's not for me, it's for Astreya”.
>>”Could I help you?”.

>>44521002
>”It's not for me, it's for Astreya”.

>>44521037
Promises well for the further development of this place, really. Of course, without knowing their profits on cold oil compared to time and effort taken, and exactly how much cold oil they're able to make, it's tough to say if it's actually particularly good business or just busy.

"Could I help?", you wonder, eager to see if there's anything you can do to have Astreya served faster; you haven't been tremendously helpful as a familiar today, even though you hope she isn't expecting too much out of you since it's your first day and everything. You can't help but wonder what Yomi would do in your stead, for a moment, but then you realize he'd probably just insult them a lot.

"Well you could but we'd have to teach you first".
"Which we'd love to because if we had more people to help we could also do what we came here for".
"But we'd need you to help us with more than just your share, you know".
"It's just not fair if you only do that, after all".

"It's not for me", you specify, "It's for Astreya".

"Who?", they ask in unison.

"Astreya? The magic user who-".

"OH!", and they almost jump back, suddenly realizing who you're talking about; you guess not everyone knows her first name, or maybe it's common enough to warrant being mistaken for someone else by name alone. It's not common in your specific area if you think about it, but it's also not a very rare name, it doesn't sound completely new and alien, unlike Meztli.

"She needs cold oil? Well...".
"In that case we should move her to the front I guess...".
"Wouldn't want to give the wrong impression would we?".
"Certainly not, we should make some in good haste!".

It's quite clear that there's an element of fear encouraging them to work faster, and giving her the privilege of being served first. You're not sure how well the locals know her, but you'd be surprised if they didn't know she had a demon, and how sharp his tongue was.

“We just hope the oil won't interfere with her magic”.
“We absolutely can't guarantee about that!”.

>”It's okay, I'm sure she'll appreciate”.
>”I'd still like to help you out”.
>”Why don't you get someone else to help?”.
>”Are you afraid of her?”.
>”I don't know if that oil actually interferes with magic”.
>Other?

>>44521234
>>”It's okay, I'm sure she'll appreciate”.

>>44521234
>>”It's okay, I'm sure she'll appreciate”.
>”Why don't you get someone else to help?”.
We could set one of our friends to help them. A first job of sorts.

>>44521234
>”Are you afraid of her?”.
>”Why don't you get someone else to help?”.

>>44521234
>”It's okay, I'm sure she'll appreciate”.

>>44521265
Decent idea, if possible. Give them something to do. Depends on how much training it needs though.

>>44521234
Is there a reason to think the oil would interfere with magic?

File: ZSp381p.png (193 KB, 576x467)

193 KB PNG

>>44521377
None than you can think of, but then again you know nothing of magic.

... Well, you know a little bit by proxy, and what little you do tells you there's no reason. Then again, magic is everything but predictable.

>>44521412
Eh, no reason not to leave it to Astreya then. Just tell her what it is!

Would be annoying if she couldn't use it after all this effort though.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure she'll appreciate", you reassure them. It's not that you can blame them being nervous when dealing with magic users, the ones you've got to know have been a weird bunch. Both of them. Well, all three if you also count Susanna, but she'd be a strange fellow even if she wasn't a magic user. Still, you speak from experience, that's what you were getting at.

"That's good to know!".
"It'd be bad if we were to make her mad!".
"It'd be even worse than making that architect mad!".
"You mean she's ever not mad?".

They laugh it off, but from what little you've seen of Luna you have no problems believing that she can be somewhat pushy with people, especially when it comes to telling them what to do. You're certain she had the Wensley brothers' best interests in mind when she ordered them to scrap and rebuild their house properly, but you're also certain she hasn't been very diplomatic about it.

"If you're so busy with cold oil, why don't you get someone else to help you? You could use a hand, and I'm sure there has to be someone willing to", you suggest.

"Well, almost everyone is busy with something".
"Building, harvesting, foraging, farming".
"Making tools, cooking, cutting, weaving".
"That sort of things, and then some".
"We've been counting on supplies from mainland and when they started dropping we found out that wow!".
"Things take work and effort to do!".
"And there's not quite enough people to do everything we need".
"That and some have to be ready to fight at all time".
"It's been safe until today, but you never know...".

Sounds like everyone in New Royo is a busybody. You have, as a matter of fact, seen people working nearly all day on a variety of things, and of course people need to eat every day, so you need to gather food and cook it.

>”Actually I have a few people that could help you...”.
>”Thank you, she'll be waiting for that oil then”.
>”Just how difficult is cold oil to make?”.
>”What else do you do?”.
>Other?

>>44521539
>”Actually I have a few people that could help you...”.
>”Just how difficult is cold oil to make?”.
Well, probably. Let's make sure they're willing to do the work first.

>>44521539
>”Actually I have a few people that could help you...”.
>”What else do you do?”.

>>44521539
>”What else do you do?”.
>”Actually I have a few people that could help you...”.

>>44521620
>>44521621
>synchronized voting
When will this be an olympic sport?

>>44521539
>>”Actually I have a few people that could help you...”.

>>44521539
>”Actually I have a few people that could help you...”.

"Actually, I know a few people that could help you...", you begin, immediately getting their undisputed attention, "They just arrived from Reboldeux and just happen to be looking for some way to keep their hands busy".

"Really?".
"Straight from Reboldeux? That's rare".

"Well they were tired of the situation back in town", you decide to not go into much detail about Reboldeux's tribulations, as they are not important right now, "And I thought they could be a lot more useful out there, with the colonization proper".

"Are they willing to work? Could they help?".
"Do they have any training in herbalism? We only know what our sister taught us".
"Not that it isn't much, but still".
"A professional would be better".

"They learn fast, and are very hard workers", you don't flat out say none of you have any knowledge of herbalism, it can be kindly implied without undermining your friends' real qualities, "I'm certain they're the sort of people you need, they've been eager to help since they arrived".

"That's great to hear".
"Assuming they haven't been made busy by someone else already".
"I'm thinking of a golden canine in particular".
"We think alike brother".
"Get them to us before they are spirited away".
"There'll be so much work they'll forget they've ever been without".

“I gladly will”, you concede, happy to have found something for your friends to do. You have no doubts that they'll fully dedicate themselves to this task, all that you have ever wanted was to be given an opportunity, and now you're in a place where being willing is all that matters, since work is more than readily available.

Of course you had to go and find the kind of work that no normal person would think of getting, such as being someone else's familiar for a day, but by now you ought to accept that you're a special case.

>Head back to Astreya.
>Find your friends and give them these news.
>Do something else in town (what?).
>Other?

>>44521839
>Head back to Astreya.
We can give news later.

>>44521839
>Find your friends and give them these news.

>>44521839
>Head back to Astreya.

>>44521839
>Head back to Astreya.

You decide that your first priority is to head back to Astreya and report on what you have managed to find out. This will hopefully make up for the fact you couldn't find her book, which is odd because her house isn't that large but then again you do have experience in not being able to find something in a small place if said place is messy enough.

You make your way back home without problem nor particular hurry; there's not much to walk but despite that you still get the distinct feeling of separation between her nice, cozy and oddly-shaped house and the rest of the town. You also get the suspect that the Wensley brothers' shack was just the beginning of the expansion of New Royo... In a direction opposite to that of Astreya's home, as if they were trying to flee from her presence.

Not that you can blame them: you, as well as everyone in the known world, knows very well how there is but one academy of magic that has not exploded. Permanently, that is: Geffen's school of magic did have its notorious incidents and massive explosions, but it was the only one that was never destroyed completely as a result of any of these misadventures.

You have no idea what might explode in Astreya's house, you didn't see any wizardly apparatus or magical concoction lying around, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. For all you know, even Tahenohan might just spontaneously combust.

You return to Astreya's abode and find both her and Tahenohan standing up while performing some kind of impromptu show and for some reason they're posing like ducks walking up a foothill.

It's difficult to explain.

They immediately stop and drop almost violently on the couch as you enter. Astreya smiles as if you were supposed to not have seen anything.

>”I have found cold oil, but it'll take a few days”.
>”I have found cold oil”.
>”I have found cold oil and I haven't seen anything”.
>”... What were you doing?”.
>”... I'll come back in a minute”.
>Other?

>>44522201
>Tahenohan might just spontaneously combust.
I wonder how her reactions will be like if this happen.

>”I have found cold oil”.
>”... What were you doing?”.

>>44522201
>”I have found cold oil and I haven't seen anything”.

>>44522201
>”I have found cold oil”.
Let's hope this is good news.

Clearly they're practicing a performance just for Lillith!

>>44522201
>”... I'll come back in a minute”.

"I have found cold oil", you announce while trying to be as expression-neutral as you can possibly be despite the circumstances. You're not certain whether you should point out that yes, you have witnessed everything or to pretend you haven't seen anything at all. After all, you do know that Tahenohan is prone to bring other people along with her own, personal escapades into the half-elven zone.

And then Tahenohan throws her arms up and goes "Aww, we were coming to the part where the goblins walk up the mountain and find the smoky dragon!".

"Does this tale finish with all of them being eaten?", your father asks with a tired tone, as if he has witnessed far worse things in the brief period when you were out. You can't help but notice how Meztli has a quite intrigued look and almost seems disappointed now that you have interrupted everything.

"No, half of them die horribly at the hands of giants and the other half but one are eaten by a chimera, but the interesting part is the journey!", she insists, "That's what the tale is all about!".

"It still feels strange that goblins have a traditional tale about the beauty of travel where twelve out of thirteen characters die tragically before arriving, and the one that makes it back gets sick and dies just before reaching home", Astreya comments, still trying to hide her own embarrassment.

"It's an allegory of goblin life", Tahenohan shakes her head, "I knew you wouldn't understand it. The kids used to love this".

"Lillith, dear", Astreya motions for you to come closer while Tahenohan and your father argue about the merits of nomadic travel and why you never share water in open bowls, "I was thinking of holding these guests for lunch, would you mind going in my pantry and fetching something? You can make whatever you like".

>”Sure”.
>”Are you sure?”.
>”Do you have any preferences?”.
>”I'd rather not”.
>”Was the cold oil urgent?”.
>”What were you doing before?”.
>Other?

>>44522522
>”Sure”.
>”Do you have any preferences?”.
Dutiful servant!

>>44522522
>”Sure”.

>>44522522
>”Sure”.
>”Was the cold oil urgent?”.
I hope Lillith is good at cooking, also it's good to know Meztli has good taste

>>44522522
>”Do you have any preferences?”.
>”What were you doing before?”.
>>"Will I need to serve the food on my naked body?".
Tahe, pls.

>>44522587
Anon pls, not with polite company around. And also dad.

>>44522621
It's just a precaution.

I want that to happen...someday. In more favorable conditions.

>>44522651
We all have dreams anon.
I'm a little sad we're being such a good servant she won't even have a reason to punish us tonight.

>>44522522
>”Are you sure?”.
>”Do you have any preferences?”.

"Sure", you obey without qualm, "Do you have any preferences?".

"I just said you could make whatever you like", Astreya smiles back at you, "The pantry is just outside, don't use what I have in the kitchen it's... Not much for lunch. Just walk outside, climb down, circle around and you'll see a tiny door. Don't worry, it's always unlocked, I lost those keys during some adventure and I don't even remember which one".

You figure it's very easy to have something small drop from your pocket or bag when you're flying at that crazy speed, at night and clutching your thighs against a staff for your dear life. Those keys are probably somewhere in the world and there's no way you can be any more specific about it.

Following the indications, you exit the front door and circle around the house until you reach the fortunately unlocked door to the pantry. It's just a well-insulated basement, as is often the case. As you open, your nose is assaulted by a multitude of scents, fortunately none of which is that of rotten anything.

It's quite dark inside for obvious reasons but it's also small enough to ensure that you can't get lost anywhere, nor lose track of where things are supposed to be. There's not much in terms of fruit and vegetables as those expire quite quickly, but there's nuts of various kinds, dried berries, some cured fish and a few slabs of salted meat that have a strange, almost purple hue and some quite thick veins. You have no idea what animal they come from, nor what sort of cut it is.

There's also legumes, plenty of them, mostly the Morroc bean variety: white with a black dot, but she also has a certain collection of salted garbanzo beans.

You remember there being lettuce and several fruits in the actual kitchen, along with some form of bread. You also notice there's table with a tablecloth on top on which plenty of thin linguine are resting. All that pasta looks quite fresh, as if made very recently.

>What are we cooking, boss?

>>44522876
You think I know cooking, MP!?
Let's try a pasta salad.

>>44522876
how about some cup noodles?

>>44522876
>Salad with bread crumbs/pieces
>Lasagna or spaghetti with meat or fish
>Cheesecake for dessert

I have no idea of what this all means.

File: 1364376237797.jpg (67 KB, 600x535)

67 KB JPG

>>44522911
It's fantasy cooking, you can make things up as you please (more or less).

>>44522876
Put...

Put it all in a pot with water and stew it

You should be able to put together some semblance of appetizer with just bread and salad, Gaia knows that served you more than well for a very long time. It's poor, but serviceable, and besides she doesn't seem to lack salt or other spice, you could add pepper too, although she unfortunately does not have vinegar. That would have helped.

You can use the pasta for some spaghetti... Or rather, linguine. You know the difference because pasta has been relatively well-spread all over the place, even outside Verdenia and Aldebaran, though those places are where you encounter it the most. And Payon too, though in different forms. Where you lived, pasta was some kind of side dish, almost like a garnish to other servings at times, but you still know pasta well enough to tell that the one you have available is way too small and thin to fit well for a lasagna: you'd need a wider, larger variety, this one is way too thinly cut.

It's also probably best served with fish, or that's how you always encountered it at least. You've once tasted it with some kind of sauce that had garlic and rosemary in it but you wouldn't know how to do it yourself, and most importantly you can't see rosemary. You do find garlic, however.

The question still stands, however: fish or meat? You see the cooked fish and you do recognize that she has some rainbowfin, smoked salmon and what looks like a trout. The latter in particular looks like it needs to be eaten soon, the smoked salmon can stay there for a while more, the rainbowfin... You're not sure, it's so tasty you've never ever seen one go to waste.

The meat is...

You have no idea what meat this is. The slab that is hung from the ceiling is quite huge, you'd have to cut it and all but you have no idea how to work with this kind of meat.

Still, who knows, it may be very tasty.

>Cut the MYSTERIOUS MEAT.
>Don't cut it.
>Other?

>>44522986
Sounds fine to me.

>>44523186
>>Cut the MYSTERIOUS MEAT.

>>44523186
>Cut the MYSTERIOUS MEAT.
Without COURAGE and PASSION where will we be? Second-rate servant is where. Cut the meat.

>>44523186
>>Don't cut it.
Use the fish

>>44523186
>Don't cut it.
Use fish. Trout is tasty with pasta.

>>44523186
>See if there is bacon somewhere
Red or white sauce?

File: 1399974001665.jpg (25 KB, 403x396)

25 KB JPG

Are we going coffee vs tea again?

>>44523302
There's only one kind of meat there and it's the MYSTERIOUS sort

>>44523312
No, we're doing water!

>>44523186
>take a bite off the meat
>throw some nuts at the meat
See if it reacts or is tasty.
Also put some nuts and berries in the salad, seriously.

>>44523339
What if the meat is allergic to nuts, anon?

This meal is going to be so poor, Lillith will have to serve the food on tahenohan's body.

File: 1396894871110.jpg (76 KB, 500x750)

76 KB JPG

>>44523339
Taking a bite off raw meat is a really, really, REALLY bad idea, especially this sort of meat.

The rest is fine, though.

>>44523360
Actually we should probably ditch nuts entirely unless we know nobody's allergic to them. Or we could ask I guess.

>>44523186
Wait, does the meat have any drop of blood on it that we could use to identify it?

File: 1397602065751.png (326 KB, 547x800)

326 KB PNG

>>44523381
No visible drops, no, but that's a really smart idea anon!

Just give me a moment to write...

We should serve fish because the ladies can have meat later.

It occurs to you: this meat has been salted, but it's still raw, it doesn't have blood in it since it's usually drained from the animal before it's been slaughtered, but... Well, you don't know where this one comes from, and even then there's always a tiny bit left over that usually goes away with cooking, or at least some traces of it.

You wonder if your own powers can tell you anything about this meat.

You touch it and focus your own powers, trying to recall the very feeling you had when you used this power before: in your dreams and with your father. You close your eyes and focus and try to read something from what little blood is left over.

It's an odd feeling. You get very little, as if something is disturbing your own thoughts and feels, but you eventually come to pry something, like old fading memories. It feels like you're trying to grasp at the lingering nothing of a dream when you have already awoken. You feel like this meat belonged to something big and proud once, something big and proud and yet peaceful.

You also feel like there's not too many of these specimen... No, it's just this one in particular. It likely had few siblings. It had few descendants and very far between. You do know that the larger a beast is the slower it is to reproduce, and with smaller litters. At least usually.

This doesn't help you much identify the kind of cut and the origin of this meat, but you can be one hundred percent sure that it belonged to something big, rare and that has been here for a while. Something that certainly can't be hunted easily.

You still have no idea how to cut it, but you're more than certain that this meat is special, no matter how you put it. Of course, you'll have to cut a small piece of it, it's way too large to cook all of it, even accounting for all five of you: you could hold a feast for the whole village. Well, maybe not that much, but still...

>Cut it.
>Don't cut it.
>Other?

>>44523550
>Don't cut it.
Fish!

>>44523550
>Don't cut it.
>Make a note to ask Astreya about it
>Throw a nut at it
Must be something special that Astreya has plans for. Wonder what it was...a mammoth?

>>44523550
>Cut it.
Sounds expensive. Hopefully she won't mind us using it.

>>44523613
What's with the nuts anon? Are you nutty?

>>44523550
Elephant meat?
>Don't cut

>>44523550
I wonder if we can't get a good read of it because there is little or stale blood, or if it's because the thing is dead.

>>44523749
Either seems plausible. Maybe both.

In the end, you decide to not cut the meat. You can't quite tackle something of that size and specificity with your cooking skills, which are definitely about average. You decide to stick to what you know and use fish.

You collect everything you need and bring it upstairs where you close yourself in the kitchen while Tahenohan and your father are still discussing about barbaric customs, especially those related to travel. There, you have enough space and time to cook without anybody disturbing you.

It's not your first time fixing lunch for other people, and neither it is your first time working with most of the ingredients you have on hand, but you have to admit you're used to handling more meager servings and you also haven't quite used these exact ingredients in this exact combination before. You still believe you're handling yourself quite well: you wish you had other, more familiar spices to work with but garlic and basil are easy to deal with; the fish actually needed some tasty, fresh lemons but you don't have them here. You could have maybe used some local fruit but you haven't yet had the chance to experiment with it.

Cooking takes you longer than you first anticipated, and you hope you haven't been taking too long, especially because the scent of what you're making can be smelled for sure in the room behind you, and you're hopefully keeping your friends waiting for whatever you're going to serve them.

You have enough bread for everyone, enough lettuce and some salad you're unfamiliar with in a bowl along with nuts, berries and fruit although there was unfortunately no cheese available. Fish and pasta should be cooked and boiled relatively well, or at least you're getting very hungry just by staring at it. You had no time nor the right ingredients to bake a cake but hopefully they'll understand.

You wonder if Yomi ever baked a cake. Hopefully not, you'll look bad since you haven't.

File: 1403287999254.jpg (139 KB, 570x468)

139 KB JPG

Will they like it? Will they NOT like it?

We'll find out in Episode 49, it seems!

Thank you for staying with me, sorry for not having been able to run before New Year's. We should be able to continue with relative ease in the following months.

>>44523877
Thanks for running!

>>44523877
>Will they like it? Will they NOT like it?
Biggest cliffhanger in the history of questing.

Thanks for running, MP. We missed you a lot.

>>44523877
Mean cliffhanger! Mean!
It's a pity we don't get to explore the mystery meat though.