Dinnertime Rush

She had come for the beach and sunshine, looking for a change of pace after mostly forest and grasslands. The view definitely lived up to its reputation, and Ashiore had thoroughly enjoyed herself at the sandy coast. The market near town was lively as well, and the urge to pick up a souvenir or two was nearly overwhelming. It wasn't like vacationing in real life, where she had a room of her own to put any little trinket she bought. And besides, traveling here wasn't too much of a hassle so she could always come back.

And she'd even come across someone she could stick to for a little while! The day was always better with company. She had run into @Beatle the Bard--literally, in fact!--but thankfully he didn't seem too upset. They had gone around some of the settlement's bigger attractions together, and it was an enjoyable enough day.

Though she was probably pushing her luck with trying to lure this little creature into following her. She had a few berries that she had picked a while ago, and they were still pretty fresh. Offering it to the seagull-like creature with glossy blue feathers hadn't done anything, however.

"I thought he'd like me," Ash muttered, sadly pouring a small handful of berries into a little pouch that she carried on her. The bird twittered once again and tilted its head. It made no move towards or away from Ash, just stared straight at her.

Perhaps if she was looking closer, Ash would've realized that it was staring straight at her headband, more interested in the leaves and berries there. But she was despondently making her way to the local seaside eatery that another player had recommended. The sun was nearly setting and dinner would probably be packed in a little while, so it was probably best to get dinner earlier so they'd have a bit more peace.

"Looks like a nice place," she commented as she and Beatle entered. Open to the seaside breeze, a great view of the vibrant red-purple sky, and supposedly very delicious family recipes. She looked towards Beatle and continued, "The other guy said that the shrimp is really good here, so- ow!"

Something yanked sharply at her hair, and Ash felt her headband come loose. Wincing in pain, her hands went up to her scalp, but her eyes caught the blur of blue motion in front of her. The creature from before sat there, looking very pleased with itself as it held her headband in both its talons. Some of the staff at the restaurant were trying to shoo it away, looking annoyed and irritated.

"Give that back! Hey!" Ash scowled and began making her way to the bird, but before she took a single step, it let out a very satisfied chirp.

The waiters around the bird dropped to the floor like sacks of potatoes.

 

You never know just what life might throw your way. Some people seem to be born lucky, winning the lottery or being born into a rich family. Some people have seemingly negative luck, where the world might as well be out to get them. Most people tend to receive their fair share of luck in spurts; A scratch ticket win here, almost (but not) dying there... you know, right place at the right time kinda things.

It has yet to be decided whether it was good or bad, but luck had brought Beatle and Ashiore together... literally. Beatle had been lost in thought, staring at the ocean as he walked along its coast, when he collided head on with an equally distracted girl, knocking both of them prone. Beatle cringed slightly, rubbing his head as a game notification popped up in front of him.

~This is a no PVP zone~

“Yeah yeah I know,” Beatle attempted to say as he closed the notification, no sound escaping his lips. He looked up at the girl he’d collided with and scrambled to his feet, offering her a hand to help her stand. After bowing profusely and trying to express his condolences, he motioned for her to wait for a second as he opened his menu and began typing quickly.

Beatle[/URL] the Bard

Sorry!~ I was distracted by the view. Really didn’t mean to run into you. My name’s Beatle! Sorry this is a message, my VR machine’s a bit wonky and won’t transmit my voice. Say... wanna party up?

Thus, Beatle and Ashiore visited many attractions in the area. While Beatle couldn’t talk, this in no way meant he couldn’t communicate. Beatle enjoyed her company, and she didn’t seem too bothered by his handicap. She seemed kind; perhaps a little too much so for her own good. A particular bird she attempted to befriend ended up dragging them into quite a bit of trouble.

As the waiters dropped, Beatle could only stare in shock. The tables around them began showing concern for the waiters on the floor, and just as Beatle began feeling guilty, the head chef hit a bell on the counter and looked out, expecting a waiter. Beatle could have probably explained the situation to a player, but NPC’s couldn’t receive messages. Perhaps the Logical thing to do would be to have Ash explain the situation, but before he had time to think rationally, Beatle found himself saluting the chef and taking the tray of food.

The Chef gave him an odd look, doubtful. “A faerin, eh? Did my waiters skip out on me? Well, whatever. Take this to table number 4. Even your kind should be able to read the numbers on their tables.” With that, the chef went back into the kitchen to continue cooking. Beatle ignored the racial remarks completely, doing as he was instructed and bringing the food to the table, distributing it among the consumers.

Once he finished, there was another ding from the counter, and another tray of food, with a number on it. Beatle looked at it, then at Ash, and shrugged, succumbing to his new job. “How do I explain this one...” he muttered to himself.

 

Ash's jaw dropped open when the limp bodies of the waiters fell to the floor like dominoes being knocked over. It was almost a chain reaction: the nearest waiter fell, and then the one next to her, then the one just behind him, and it just kept going until all five bodies were lying right there on the hardwood floor.

The bird fluttered off back towards the beach with her headband, leaving behind only a single blue feather resting innocently on the floor.

"Oh no," Ash said, when she snapped out of her speechlessness. "Oh no..."

She hurried over the the waiters, and was mildly relieved to hear breathing. Well, not quite breathing; it was more of snoring, actually. And slight relief really did nothing against the well of dumbstruck panic that was quickly rising in her.

A few other players looked on in concern and a few even with light amusement as Ash bodily dragged the waiters over to an empty table. Propping them up on the chairs was an entirely different experience, however. Lucky that most of the waiters weren't a foot taller than she was, or else the sight would likely have gone from comical to pretty pathetic.

As she was doing this, Beatle looked like he had resigned himself to the role of a waiter to replace the sleeping staff. It looked like he had the job mostly under control but slowly more and more plates were being set out at a rate faster than he could handle by himself. Looks like Ash would be joining him in the restaurant work.

...Hopefully those waiters would wake up soon.

But as Ash approached the counter, the Chef looked up at her. "Another one? What do I even pay my waiters for if they have to get other people to pick up their slack?" He squinted at her, looked at Beatle who was on his way back, and then said, "Get your faerin friend over here. I have a job for you two." At this point, the Chef's voice subtly shifted. It was just a little bit, but he began to sound as if he was reading from a pre-written script.

"It's my daughter's birthday today. She's turning seven, and she wants a party with all her friends. Has to have a cake, a decoration theme, and a proper present. Only problem is, she isn't talking to me and I don't know what she wants for any of it."

...Was this a quest? Did Ash just trigger a quest here? Did this game actually have a pre-programmed quest that would trigger on exactly one day each year, and she and Beatle just so happened to be right here in this exact restaurant at the exact right time for the Chef to offer them this quest?

'Oh my god,' she thought, as the Chef went on to explain more of the quest.

"To make it worse, all her friends want different things too. Find out which flavor of cake my daughter wants. Some of her friends' parents are here, you can ask them for hints about what their kids want to eliminate possibilities. Talk to me again when you know the answer. You get this right, I'll give you two dinner on the house."

This was one of those logic puzzles, wasn't it? Like the kind that you'd find in the newspaper or in one of those hackneyed 'only 1% of Mensa members can solve this puzzle, can you?' chain emails.

Ash resisted the urge to groan deeply as she took a look over her shoulder. Yep, looked like a couple of NPCs had entered the restaurant as the Chef had been explaining things, and tiny yellow question marks denoted which NPCs would probably have useful information for this quest.

"And don't forget to give the customers their orders!" the Chef said, ringing the bell and placing one more seafood platter down on the counter.

Ash exchanged a look with Beatle. This was going to be a long evening.

(OOC: I don't actually have a solution to this puzzle, I just came up with this idea on the fly. You can do what you want with it.)

 

Beatle noticed Ash beckoning him over to the Chef. As they listened to his request, a look of dread appeared on his face. He wasn't going to be of much use extracting the information from the NPC's without his voice... would he? In all fairness, he hadn't truly interacted with any NPC's, usually allowing a vocal member of the group to do it. But they were NPC's, so perhaps you simply had to mimic talking for them to respond? Plus, it was possible that the game accounts for faulty hardware?

Beatle and Ash exchanged a look. It was going to be a long evening indeed.

Beatle took a tray of food meant for one of the Highlighted NPC's over to their table, distributing it with expert-level dexterity. Who'd have guessed that those three years working as a waiter would come back to be useful? As he distributed them, he attempted to make small talk with the NPC.

"And here's your Monster Lobster Supreme, no tomatoes and Redvine pepper, with the Relish on the side!" His mouth moved, yet again he made no sounds. He cursed at himself, thinking himself foolish for hoping it would work, until the NPC responded.

"Excellent! Thanks, ahh... say, are you new here?"

Beatle was caught off guard by the life-like response. This game seemed to surprise him at every turn. "Oh... yeah, there was a little mishap with some of the waiters, so I filled in for tonight."

"Oh, how noble of you! Nice to see that not ALL faerin are deviants."

Beatle cringed slightly. He wasn't used to such blatant racism, especially as a race that he didn't know much about, but it was becoming relatively apparent that Faerin don't have a great name for themselves around here.

"Thanks Ma'am. Now I've gotta go help the Chef make a cake for a party that's happening soon."

"A party? Oh! My little girl is coming to that party later on today!" The patron looked around, pretending to see if anyone was watching them, before whispering; "if you guys are making a cake, I suggest staying away from Strawberry. Last time the Chef's daughter had that, she threw the biggest temper tantrum ever! I doubt the Chef would remember that though, he wasn't even at the party!"

The NPC began eating her food, no longer replying to anything Beatle said or did. Beatle was bewildered. It had been so long since he was able to speak to anyone in game without using the in-game messages. It felt... great. Better than great, it felt right. He made the decision right then and there to purchase a new headset as soon as he could.

(I like it, seems like a fun little twist xD)

 

Ash sighed and began carrying a big pot of stew over to another table. She'd started playing this game for escapism from the real world; not to go back to waiting tables like at her part time job! But, well, at least she was kind of by the seaside. There were worse places to be a waiter; better the ocean air than staring at the same diner tiled floor all the time.

Thankfully it seemed like most of the actual players decided avoid the restaurant since the NPC swarm arrived. So at least it would cut down on their workload and let them focus more on completing this quest.

"Good evening! Here's your Seafood Surprise Mix." Ash set down the pot in the middle of the table where two of the NPCs had settled down. "Hope you enjoy your meal!"

"Ah, thank you young lady." One of the NPCs, an older human man, took off his glasses and set them by his bowl. "I haven't seen you around here before, did you just start?"

"Oh, I'm just helping out. Do you come by here often?"

"Of course!" His companion, a teenage girl, nods brightly. "This is the best place to eat in town! We're here all the time. It would usually be the whole family but my little brother's going to a birthday party tonight and he hasn't picked out a gift, so Mom and Dad are going to the market to get something."

Ash's eyes lit up at the mention of the party. "It wouldn't happen to be the Chef's daughter's birthday, wouldn't it? He's actually asked me and my friend there-" Ash paused briefly to gesture at Beatle, who looked really happy. "-Well, yeah, he's asked us to help with some of the preparations. Say, do you know what kind of cake his daughter would like?"

"Hmm, cake?" The man frowned in contemplation. "There's a bakery nearby whose specialty is coconut-flavored pastries. I imagine she's had it often, so coconut flavoring wouldn't be so special, I would think."

"And no chocolate," the girl added. "She's allergic. My brother complains all the time since he can't have chocolate when he's at her place."

"Thanks for your help. Enjoy your evening!" Ash nodded and gave a little bow and headed back to the counter. That wasn't so bad. At least it looked like the NPCs wouldn't be too rude.

Throughout the evening, she met up with Beatle to exchange information and check in on each other. Thus far, it looked like they had ruled out a lot of fruit-based flavors, along with chocolate. There was even an NPC that had suggested to stay away from fish cakes, of all things! Ash would have thought it would've been obvious.

(OoC: Really sorry for the absence, my laptop had some issues. But it's fixed now so I'll be able to post regularly again!)

 

It took a bit of time to remember that there was a little notepad function in the game menu, and so she and Beatle wouldn't have to scramble about scribbling clues on napkins. "What flavor could there possibly be left!?" Ash asked in pure confusion, staring at the list of eliminated flavors.

The night appeared to be winding down, since the Chef was closing early for the birthday party that was soon to come. Ash helped collect the plates from one of the last patrons of the restaurant as she left Beatle to try and figure out what flavor of birthday cake the girl would want.

"Thank you for eating with us," she said with a slightly strained smile. "I hope you have a good evening."

And, okay, she was getting frustrated. So maybe it wasn't subtle, and maybe it was kind of against the spirit of the quest, or whatever, but she just couldn't help but ask, "Do you know what kind of cake the chef's daughter likes?"

The middle-aged woman raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that's an appropriate question to ask a stranger as they're trying to pay for their meal?"

And as Ash sputtered, the woman gave a laugh. "I kid, I kid. Though it was pretty funny watching you and your friend running about like headless chickens for the past hour. She likes peanut butter." Dropping a few coins on the table, the lady laughed again and stood up, making her way to the exit. "Hope she has a good birthday. Remind her to finish her homework for next week!"

Though it did feel a lot like a pity answer, it was the answer they were looking for. Giving a huge sigh of relief, Ash returned towards Beatle and gave him a big smile. "Got it! It's peanut butter."

Telling the chef that, Ashiore and Beatle just waited in relief for the party to start. It was about now that the waitstaff were waking up, recovered from their unfortunate run-in with that weird bird. So, at the very least, she and Beatle didn't have to deal with setting up all the decorations and such for the party.

Ash was barely aware of what was going on when the children finally did arrive. Screaming excitable children were her least favorite part of real life, she didn't want to deal with them in a game as well. She sat in a secluded corner and zoned out until something caught her attention: the Chef walking up with a smile on his face and a plated slice of peanut butter cake in each hand.

"She loved it," he said excitedly, gesturing to the beaming girl stuffing her face with cake. "I'll remember this for next year, and the next, and the next. Thanks. You and your friend did good work. Have some cake, on the house."

He shoved the plates into their hands, gestured to where the forks were, and wandered back to join the festivities. It smelled good. Looked good too. Well, no reason to waste free cake. She fetched a fork for both her and Beatle and contentedly ate, satisfied to leave things in the background.

At least, until she heard another noise: A quiet, tiny, chirp.

Ash almost choked on her cake as everyone dropped to the floor. The kids, the waiters again, the Chef, everyone.

Nope. Not dealing with this a second time. Bringing up her menu to logout, she gave Beatle a flat stare, and said, "I'm out. Enjoy your cake, bye."

Screw this. Screw birds. She was done.