So, I kind of promised you guys that I was going to put this out there, right? Share some of my amazing cooking for your sakes. I mean, I know most of my time is young, and when I was their respective ages I wasn't as good at cooking. I've had more time/reason to practice since College and moving away from home, so here's a few captchas for things I've made and have around the house. Remember, capitalization MATTERS.
Captchas for Food:
Massaman Curry (slightly spicy) - 41W00G20
Pork Noodle Soup (savory, from the chinese resturaunt that used to be down the street from me; comes in a set of two thermos. Don't throw them away. Alchemize them with something to change the logo, but they are SO good. They've kept hot lemon tea SCALDING HOT when in a Fridge for 8 hours! They are great thermos) - a422G714
Homemade Pasta Sauce - 44000504
Red Curry Lamb (sweet and slightly spicy at the same time) - CC0mG5X0
Irish Shortbread Cookies (sorta crumbly, it was my first attempt) - OC1mH5XG
Pizza Chili (don't knock it until you try it) - G44WG9bA
Turmeric Fried Rice - X4KXG5X0
The Land of Tombs and Rhythm - Part 6 - Audio Log (3)
Mercale is steadily going made from loneliness. Shout-outs to Maria and Charles. Also interesting suggestion of how to share delicious home-cooked meals and a request for fruit.
The first night is always the hardest. It's the night when you realize all the comforts of home are gone. There is no indoor plumbing. There is no electricity so you can stay up late and read or play online. It's almost impossible to get comfortable sleeping on the ground where there were roots or stones to contend with.
What makes it harder is that she hasn't pitched a tent alone in a long time, and finding some free space among the tombs and speaker stands is frustratingly hard. In the end she works it out by getting Kalixsprite to lift her to the top of one of the less decorated tombs, which is large enough if a little too hard. It takes some time to get the poles to behave and go into the holes properly, to get them crossed and the tent raises under her will, her work guarded by a hovering and protective sprite. The sleeping bag is fetched out of her sylladex, laid out with its silk liner, and a pillow she grabbed before leaving, and then lays down.
“Kalixsprite, I need some sleep. Protect me?”
It is my duty, ephemeral one.
“Who you calling ephemeral, burn beak?”
Laughter, and it flickers between low and throaty, and high and musical. It's pretty, it's soothing, its comfortable, but that doesn't make it easier. As she trails off into sleep—after putting her pesterchum on Abscond—she thinks of the things this game has given her, and what it stole.
What had happened to her boyfriend back on earth? Was there even an earth anymore? What about her best friend? Had he made it in? No way to know. Only intentions to see this through to its end to reunite with them, but not seeing it through to the ending that others want of it.
She closes her eyes, only for a second, and when she opens them the world around her is warmer, though not much brighter. From what she'd seen the day before LOTAR didn't really get past dusk.
Getting the things packed back up is a hundred times easier seeing as all she had to do was throw the erected tent into her sylladex. Then, weapons back in hand and Kalixsprite at her side, she leaps from the edge of the tomb and right into the middle of a gathering of cyan colored mice almost the size of dogs.
“Who are you, smeek?”
“Yes, who who who, smeek?”
“Someone new among the tombs, smeek?”
And then she couldn't really tell any of the words apart. She could hear the punctuating 'smeeks' which all of the little creatures made.
What is that noise? a voice asks from her VR Computer Glasses. Apparently she needed to turn the sensitivity down when around these things.
“Who are you?” she asked, frowning at the mice.
“Smice,” they chimed as one, and it was hard not to just rub at her temples in annoyance.
“I don't know about Smice, but people like me can't hear that many voices at once easily. Okay? So just one at a time.”
“Smeek!”
They obviously weren't getting this, so what was the point of trying.
“Tell me about this place.”
Ah, consorts then, another voice says in her ear, laughing. They sound annoying.
And cute, a third agrees.
The Smice smiled and pushed and pulled her forward. There was no point to struggle. They would know things she wouldn't, they'd have supplies she'd want, and they were kind of cute...
Your name is Mercale and all of this is oddly familiar.
You're 25 Sol-Standard years old, give or take a few months, and sometimes you feel old compared to the people you meet online.
Still, you're pretty happy with your lot in life. You're working on a MASTERS DEGREE, you're widely in love, you've got a kick-ass Homestuck-style MOIRAIL, and your WRITING is going pretty seriously. Since your goal is to become a published and renowned FANTASY NOVELIST a lot of your time is dedicated to honing your craft.
Or at least it was until you you got the message from someone you only faintly remembered, as if from a DREAM or maybe a GAME. Still, when someone you knew as Gil contacted you about a game you had to play and gave you a link, you had to look into it.
After a few hours looking over the information you obeyed the words of the entity you could not know and went to sleep, only to wake up in a place called PROSPIT. Apparently an ancient war between the moon and a place called DERSE was at a stand still, which was unacceptable. You joined a whispering campaign to see the war to rights. And then, when the game codes came to you...
You woke up in an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PLACE. A dead place, filled with a music that you couldn't understand. A deep beat that filled the world like a softer version of a Shrillex dubstep. Soothing, peaceful... Terrifyingly familiar.
It comes back in a flash. Who you were and what you had done before this. The realization fits in too well with what you've learned of this new game.
You are welcomed to the LAND OF TOMBS AND RHYTHM, so unlike the Land of Ambiance and Dragons and yet so similar. Again your session is CURSED. Again you are called upon to act. Again you must suffer the PAIN OF NOT KNOWING WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO and likely death for the sake of restoring it all to rights so you can go back to your peaceful life and forget the bonds that you forged.
Except maybe you DON'T WANT TO FORGET THIS TIME. Maybe you want to keep remembering. Maybe you want to find a way to make it turn out how you want.
You call your sprite, Kalix, to your side and bask in the warmth given off by her fiery wings. She's new and yet familiar in ways you can't describe, and don't dare to discuss with her. Who knows if she remembers what you do. Who knows if any of them do.
No. No, you decide. Something in Gil remembers. That much is certain. Because why else would Gil seek you out after all this time? Why else would your pesterchum be filling up with familiar names, hinting at connections you'd forgotten?
History is repeating in a new way, and you're almost afraid of what you'll find.
But you're not going to give up so easily this time. You're going to fight and win. You will follow the team leader, but you intend to see TEAM DREAM ETERNALITY to something better than ever before, even if you have to drag some of them there kicking and screaming about PUTTING THEIR GODTIER PAJAMAS BACK ON. Your pesterchum is mercurialCreator and When you speak it is proper and clear but not without hesitance...
