"These are so good!" April said, pouring syrup on the tower of pancakes sitting on her plate.
"They're a mix," Cora admitted, sipping a cup of mocha latte. "It wasn't much work at all."
"But still! Fresh blueberries!" April enthused, suiting words to action as she spooned blueberry compote from a little glass bowl onto the pancakes.
"You're going to make yourself sick," Cora said, frowning. She set her cup down and rescued the blueberry bowl from April who'd proceeded to liberally sprinkle fresh berries on her pancakes as well.
Cora sprinkled a few on top of her pancakes before topping them with the compote. She finished it off with a healthy dollop of whipped cream. April pouted at her for a second before cutting up her pancakes.
"So, any idea where Lorenz is in the game?" Cora asked, setting the whipped cream aside and out of April's reach. "No, I'm not cleaning up blueberry retching in my bathroom… again."
"It was only once," April complained. She forked a bite of syrup, pancake and fruit into her mouth. "This is so good!"
"You've already said that," Cora returned with a smile. "Lorenz?" She prodded.
April rolled her eyes as she quickly ate another two bites. Then she wiped her mouth with the linen napkins Cora had set out.
"Lorenz decided to be a mage. Why? No clue, because you would think he'd want to do something that had something to do with moving around since he needs exercise." April poured more syrup on her pancakes, making Cora frown. "What? There wasn't enough."
"Only you," Cora said, delicately portioning out her bites of pancake. "Lorenz probably wants to play around or something. What's so special about mages?"
"You don't know?" April looked up, her fork dripping with blueberries and maple syrup. "You honestly have no clue?"
"Is it a big secret or something?" Cora separated her bites into neat little compartments, each decorated with a single blueberry.
"You know that that's a bit anal, right?" April asked. "I wonder why you're not a mage with that behavior."
"I'm not a mage. I don't think I chose anything before I got my class." Cora admitted as she daintily ate one of her portions.
"Mages usually hole up in their little university towns unless they go adventuring for artifacts or research or whatever," April said.
"Sounds just up Lorenz's alley," Cora commented. She looked up at April. "What? A whole town devoted to research of some weird subject? Lorenz 101 right there."
"True, true, but Lorenz should look at the big picture. He should be out there exploring and stuff," April said, waving her fork around. Cora bit her lip to prevent herself from commenting on the blueberry syrup drops sprinkling her tablecloth.
"You mean being your porter and go-to guy?" Cora shook her head. "He's all grown up, and you should both be pursuing your own interests in the game. You're newbies, after all."
"He went and locked himself up in one of the research libraries in the City of Magic. I have no clue how he even got there, but that's what the one message he sent me said. 'Oh, got a ticket to the City of Magic and a library card. Talk to you later, Lorenz.'" April said in a deadpan imitation of Lorenz.
Cora giggled. It was a good imitation, capturing his absent tone of voice when he was distracted. Then she frowned.
"Where did he get a ticket and a ticket for what?" She asked April who shrugged.
"I asked around, and it turns out that there are these teleportation circles in some towns that can send you anywhere as long as you have a ticket. If you impress someone enough in the beginner village, they'll give you one to wherever they're sending you." April sopped up the last of her pancakes. "In Lorenz's case, it seems that he impressed the mage teacher in his beginner village."
"Wow," Cora managed. She barely remembered her beginner village area, but she was pretty sure that there wasn't a mage teacher there. "Only Lorenz," she sighed.
"Of course," April agreed. "So, what are you up to in the game? I'm doing archery related quests right now, trying to get a skill to make arrows. Then I won't have to buy them."
"Oh, I'm mining and farming at the moment," Cora said, thinking of the massive amount of bricks and stone slabs she needed. Then she brightened. "I can probably trade for some things I need."
"Well, there are people learning to be chefs, and they're always looking for ingredients," April said, losing interest. "You should do something else. Those plots in the beginning village are so small. How are you making a profit?"
"It's not about the profit," Cora said. She stood up and picked up the empty plates. "It's about having fun," she called as she entered her kitchen.
"If you want to have fun, then let's go clubbing," April offered.
"Busy," was Cora's immediate response.
April sighed. She glanced around the immaculate dining room, wincing a little at the little spots on the tablecloth.
"Staying locked up in here is letting him win, you know," April said, following her into the kitchen. She watched Cora efficiently cleaning up her little kitchen. "You can't just bar yourself in."
"I go out. Didn't I just go out to lunch with you and Nate?" Cora asked, drying plates.
"That was your quarterly lunch with Mr. Weatherbee, so he won't get worried and shove you into some psychiatric facility." April stood to the side as Cora put everything away, returning the kitchen to its usual fashion mag appearance.
"I'm fine, April. I just don't want to go out until this is all over," Cora said, brushing past her friend. "You should be careful, too. He has family."
"Who've mostly disowned him. You weren't the only one he stole from. Well, tried to steal from," April amended at Cora's displeased look.
"I still can't believe that man," Cora hissed, heading to the laundry room with the used dish towel.
"I"m going to go finish my quests. My family bought the whole research angle, so now I have to go provide results of some sort." April heaved a sigh. "Surprisingly enough, it's not that difficult once you establish yourself. Did you know that there are banks giving out real life loans for in-game transactions?"
Cora paused on her return to the kitchen, her eyes lighting up.
"What sort of in-game transactions? Tell me more," she said, snagging April's arm.
April laughed as she let her friend tug her to the livingroom and its overstuffed couches.
*****
Cora stuffed twenty ears of blood corn into her small sack. The other small sack she was leaving behind. She'd found that she couldn't store the gems she'd mined in the stone warehouse. She could only leave them in the other small sack, tucked into her farming shed.j
Cora was planning on seeing if she could trade the blood corn ears for some plain sweet corn or maybe even white. She had an inkling that the blood corn was expensive but limited in trade value. Regular corn varieties might give her much less experience, but should be easier to trade for things she needed like granite or wood.
She was only taking the small sack and the large sack with her. Hopefully, she'd be able to mine some granite in a mine outside wherever she landed.
Cora really wasn't sure where she could go with the teleportation circle. Blue hadn't been forthcoming, and the little book next to it was severely outdated. Most of the names listed in its worn pages didn't exist, at least according to the game forums. She'd decided to just pick one of the ones that she had seen listed in the forums and take her chances.
Morningwood was supposed to be a farming enclave. She wasn't sure what the levels of the monsters around it were but was willing to take the chance. From perusing the map on the Mayor tab in City Hall, it wasn't that far outside the Wildlands. With care, she might be able to make her own way back without mishaps.
"Are you sure about this? You're only level 3 after all," Blue said, watching her from her favorite perch.
"We need more seeds and other things, and just staying here isn't going to bring them to us," Cora explained with a quick glance at the leopard.
Cora stood up. She was feeling a bit more unsure about her decision with every passing minute. Then she gave herself a quick shake. Her words to Blue were correct. Besides the warcorn herd, who knew that she had things to trade or that she needed things? Or even that Wilderven had a new Mayor and a desperate need for people?
Holding those thoughts firmly in place, she started walking towards the teleportation circle building.