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+---- Thread: [SE] it’s a fever dream (/showthread.php?tid=10580)
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it’s a fever dream - Alys - 01-18-2025
Hello, miss, you look like a baker!
[say]”Er, what -?”[/say] Alys began, looking around to find a chubby, eager man with flour on his apron linking his arm through hers and tugging her out of the crowd. Her protests were ignored, and she was promptly deposited in front of an oven before the man disappeared once more, no doubt off to nab other unsuspecting passersby.
If nothing else, the oven was warm, and Alys looked around in a daze as she soaked in the heat. There were more people here than she’d anticipated, and before she could slink off to rejoin the crowds and escape whatever fresh hell awaited her here, the baker reappeared with a stranger. Here you are! he said. Now, we’ll be getting started shortly. You can put your things under the table - and he indeed pointed to a long table set up near the oven, - and get to know each other while we finish filling in the workshop spaces! Then he was off again.
Alys turned to the stranger who had been placed unceremoniously in her charge. [say]”Hi,”[/say] she said, completed bemused. [say]”Do you have any idea what’s going on?”[/say]
Nikandr
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 01-18-2025
Niki can assure the jolly man trying - and succeeding, might he add - in strong-arming him towards the workstation that he does not look like a baker, and if he insists, he'll prove it to him as well. What actually happens, of course, is a mild and unproductive murmur of protest before he's promptly set up to stand beside a stranger, blinking in confusion at the gathered crowd in the little market on the outskirts of the Sidhe Village and the (equally as befuddled) other 'workshop participants'.
[say]"Hello,"[/say] he says to Alys, glancing across at her and offering a polite smile. In his thick coat and with a scarf looped around his neck, he proceeds to carefully lean his cane against the side of the table, trusting himself to stay stable if they aren't expected to be going far. [say]"I am afraid not, no,"[/say] he continues with a slight wince. [say]"I have seen these demonstrations a few times, though. I believe he is going to have us make something so we can show off the quality of his tools or ingredients..."[/say]
Which - admirable, surely, but he still doesn't much appreciate being used as said demonstration. [say]"It is nice to meet you,"[/say] he adds. [say]"My name is Niki."[/say]
RE: it’s a fever dream - Alys - 01-23-2025
A demonstration? Well, that was… a thing.
Alys looked around and noted several other stations with others in various states of bemusement. If it wasn’t for the fact she’d been paired up with someone, she might just slip off into the crowd, but she didn’t want to leave her baking partner hanging - particularly when it looked like he might be less likely to escape than she, if his cane was any indication. So instead, she accepted the introduction and gave a friendly smile. [say]”I’m Alys. It’s nice to meet you, Niki.”[/say]
With that out of the way, and the demonstration seemingly filled, the baker in charge clapped loudly, pitching his voice to be heard over the crowd. Alright, let’s get started! Today, you’re going to be baking cookies! You may choose what kind from the lists at your stations. You’ll notice that there are two of you at each station, and two different kinds of flour. You will each select a bag of flour and produce cookies following the recipes at your stations. The crowd will then taste-test your cookies to decide which is the better flour! The baker beamed. Clearly this was a test of his flour against a competitor’s. You may begin!
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 01-26-2025
Only managing a small smile to Alys as she introduces herself in turn, anything Niki is about to say is swallowed up in the sudden clap of the baker's hands, the boy effectively silenced as he turns to hear what they'll apparently be doing instead of having their afternoon to themselves. [say]"Cookies...?"[/say] he repeats, glancing down at the list he's just noticed is before them. [say]"I... suppose that is not too difficult a task?"[/say]
Peeling off his gloves and tucking them into a pocket, Niki pushes up the sleeves of his coat and reaches out to wash his hands at the work station as well, gesturing to the list. [say]"Would you like to pick a flavour? I do not believe they will taste bad regardless of which flour we choose,"[/say] he adds, out of earshot of their baker as he moves between stations to check that everything is going well.
Regardless of what Alys chooses, Niki is content to start dividing up their ingredients, assigning them each a bag of flour at random for them to begin. [say]"I suppose this is not what you pictured for your visit to the Greatwood?"[/say] he asks.
RE: it’s a fever dream - Alys - 01-30-2025
Alys waited for their host to complete his lecture, then set to washing her own hands. [say]”There are worse things to bake,”[/say] she mused, offering a crooked smile to Niki. Perhaps not what she’d thought she’d be doing with her day, but if she got to keep the sweets, then at least she’d have something to bring back to the Peregrine and Tal.
The seer studied the options for flavors, noting several to which she was partial. [say]”How about chocolate chip?”[/say] she asked Niki. It might be a fairly basic flavor, but it also appealed to a wide variety of people, and she hoped that the selection would be acceptable to her baking partner.
As for her visit to the Greatwood… [say]”I can’t say this is what I’d expect anywhere I went, but certainly not here,”[/say] she admitted. After all, the Greatwood had largely been reclaimed by the Wilds, and though she still stopped in from time to time, it was to a largely Fae population. [say]”Do you visit the Greatwood often?”[/say]
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 01-31-2025
Given that Niki is not particularly partial to sweet things, Alys is quite welcome to take his share of the cookies home with her as well; something he'll certainly let her know once they are finished baking. [say]"It is as good a cookie as any, or so I have heard,"[/say] he says of her choice, nodding and reaching for a bag of chocolate chips from their little tray of flavour options. With all of that sorted, he sets the recipe between them to work off and methodically begins to mix his ingredients.
[say]"Mm, it has been quite some time since anything quite like this happened so far from the village,"[/say] Niki admits. [say]"I suppose more visitors must be returning to the Greatwood, so merchants see it as an opportunity."[/say] As for how often he visits the place, he offers Alys a small smile. [say]"I live here, truthfully,"[/say] he tells her. [say]"It has been an experience, to see the place open up again. Not a bad one."[/say]
RE: it’s a fever dream - Alys - 02-04-2025
What a strange response. Alys shot an indecipherable look towards Niki, wondering what he meant. She wasn’t sure she had met anyone who hadn’t tried a chocolate chip cookie. She’d have been less surprised if he simply didn’t like them, but that wasn’t what he made it sound like. Still, it wasn’t really any concern of hers whether he’d tried them or simply hated them, so she turned to her station and began to mix her own ingredients, consulting the recipe every once in a while to make sure she was on the right track.
Alys wasn’t much of a baker, so she stuck to the instructions as she worked, listening with half an ear as Niki talked. She glanced over at the admission that he lived here. [say]”Have you always lived here?”[/say] she inquired. [say]”I’m from the Hollowed Grounds originally, but I spent a great deal of time in Halo before settling with my partner in King’s End. I can’t say I’ve spent a lot of time in the Greatwood, though.”[/say]
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 02-06-2025
Between them, they work their cookie dough more or less as quickly as the other groups who have been looped in to demonstrate, and soon enough Niki is dividing his portion up into small balls to set onto a tray for baking. [say]"I have,"[/say] he says with a nod. [say]"I was born here and brought up here. The Hollowed Grounds was still behind the barrier for most of my life."[/say] Smiling to hear that not only has Alys been something of a neighbour for a bit (the Grounds and the Greatwood are close, after all) but that she's managed to travel so much, Niki carefully leans down to put his cookies in the oven before them.
[say]"The Greatwood is beautiful, especially during Longheat and Leafchange,"[/say] he says. [say]"Even more so now I imagine, since the void has finally been cleared. It was... an experience, remaining here when things were taken over."[/say] The Fae had managed to keep things as safe as possible, but certainly it had left the denizens of the forest more solitary and suspicious of outsiders than ever.
RE: it’s a fever dream - Alys - 02-07-2025
Her dough formed easily beneath her hands, and before long, Alys was rolling little bits into balls for the oven. It seemed that she and Niki had been neighbors for at least a while, albeit unknowingly; the Grounds had never felt like home in the way that Halo and King’s End had, though, and it had been inevitable that she would one day leave. Perhaps getting as far away from the Grounds as possible had been what had kept her from the Greatwood, but she supposed now that it had its merits - even if was largely uncivilized.
[say]”I bet it was,”[/say] she murmured as she placed her cookies in the oven. Now all there was to do was wait for them to bake. [say]”I can’t imagine being here during all of that. The Void is terrifying enough in small doses, but to be surrounded by it…”[/say] She trailed off with a shudder. [say]”I hope you made it through unscathed.”[/say] In other words, she hoped he hadn’t lost anyone to the Void and its effects.
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 02-08-2025
With their cookies safely in the oven, Niki straightens back up and spends a little time in wiping down their workstation, ensuring everything is as neat and clean as when they had first been led next to one another. [say]"I got a lot of reading done, put it that way,"[/say] Niki says with a small smile. Not that he's the type to go off adventuring through the woods on an average day, but with the threat of the void, his outings had certainly been restricted to all but necessary journeys.
[say]"But yes - I got out of it as unscathed as I might hope to be,"[/say] he agrees; without any family or hard and fast friends in the Greatwood, he'd not been at risk, at least, of losing any loved ones. There had been a few acquaintances or business partners who had left the forest as the void took over, but given his proximity to the Sidhe Village, all was as safe as reasonably possible.
[say]"What is it like to live in King's End?"[/say] he asks. He might have asked about Halo too, he supposes, but the answer feels like an easy one. Cold.
RE: it’s a fever dream - Alys - 02-08-2025
Alys joined in the cleaning, and they carried on a comfortable conversation as the cookies baked in the oven. [say]"I'm glad,"[/say] she said, her voice sincere. She'd seen the devastation that the Void had left in its wake, and she wouldn't wish it upon her worst enemy, much less a stranger who seemed like a perfectly nice young man.
Talk of King's End brought a smile to Alys's face. In truth, it was less the location and more the people that she loved - she missed Halo, if she was being honest - but King's End was still beautiful. [say]"It's gorgeous in the spring and summer,"[/say] she said. [say]"Everything grows there. It's not like Halo, where things only bloom for a brief time in the spring. It's fertile, and everywhere you look there's green."[/say] There was danger, too, to be sure, but when she thought of home, it was of the flora and fauna that made the region beautiful.
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 02-09-2025
[say]"As am I. Even more so now that the void is gone. It is nice to see so many new faces in the woods,"[/say] Niki admits with a gentle smile directed mainly down at the clean counter between them. He can't remember the last time he'd made so many new acquaintances - and he certainly can't remember ever doing something like this.
Glancing back towards Alys as she describes King's End, the boy's smile grows and he nods with a familiar sort of nostalgia. [say]"It sounds quite similar to the Greatwood in that respect. Perhaps one day I will visit."[/say] And that's a relatively novel idea too - leaving the forest to go and see other regions has never interested him before. But Niki supposes wanderlust is a side effect of meeting different people and hearing their stories.
Slowly, one by one, their ovens begin to chime and ring as the timers run out, and the baker gleefully instructs them to remove their cookies and place them on cooling racks while he arranges two trays for each duo. Tray 'A' is his own brand of flour, and tray 'B' is the other (i.e. the competitor's). [say]"It looks like I was using the 'B' flour,"[/say] Niki says conversationally as he takes out his creations.
RE: it’s a fever dream - Alys - 02-10-2025
For someone who seemed to have been a hermit in the Greatwood for their entire lives, Niki was a better conversationalist than Alys might have been inclined to assume, which probably said more about her than about him. In any case, she was an inclined to extend an invitation: [say]”If you do visit King’s End, my home is outside Wrenzoak’s Refuge. My partner or I would gladly offer you a place to stay.”[/say] She paused, then grimaced. [say]”Although we do travel quite a lot. Perhaps it would be helpful to send word ahead.”[/say]
The timers rang out at just that moment, and Alys stooped to retrieve her cookies from the oven. Arranging them carefully on the cooling trays, she smiled. [say]”I suppose we will soon find out which is better. Do you think we’ll be able to taste a difference?”[/say]
RE: it’s a fever dream - Nikandr - 02-13-2025
[say]"Ah, the refuge built by the Flood? I have heard of it,"[/say] Niki says with a gentle nod. More accurately, he has heard of the demigod himself - and even managed to meet him at the end of Leafchange, though he leaves that part out - but the refuge is definitely one of Sunjata's more notable achievements. [say]"I would never dream of coming out to stay in a new place without sending word first,"[/say] he assures her. [say]"That is a very kind offer, though. Thank you."[/say]
As they arrange their cookies and wait for them to cool - a process thankfully accelerated by the frigid temperatures - Niki waits until the baker is well out of earshot before he leans in with a crooked smile. [say]"Honestly? No, I do not. But I would be tempted to pretend that my tray is better, just to see the look on his face,"[/say] he says, promptly straightening up again as the baker comes to inspect their goods.