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The ruins of the Great Ascalonian Wall tower over the Plains of Ashford, an ever-present reminder of the Human kingdom that once stood here. Still, there’s much that has been lost and forgotten. At this particular segment, Priory resarchers can be seen traveling back and forth between the wall and their secluded camp, performing archaeological studies of the ancient Ascalonian kingdom.
Up on the wall, just a tall staircase climb away and past a trail of dead harpies, is a young charr. If it weren’t for the salamander drake standing guard nearby, her brown and black fur combined with green armor could almost hide her completely. She regards a pile or rubble in an alcove, looking it over for anything promising. Then she reaches in and picks up a rock, excited. Could it be? But only a moment later, she absent-mindedly casts it aside.
The rock travels towards the drake, whose swinging tail hits it at just the right moment. The drake startles, and the rock is sent flying back into the charr’s arm. Hearing her animal alert and feeling the impact, she draws her sword immediately.
And is met with nothing.
“The fuck...” She looks around, ears on alert, waiting for a hidden attacker. Nothing. Then she sees the drake staring at the rock next to her.
“Did you do that, Gerir? How did--” She shakes her head. “Probably shouldn’t be throwing this stuff anyway...” She puts her weapon away and goes back to her searching.
The young Sylvari wanders down the path towards the ruins. Their service dog Arrow trots faithfully next to them, looking up at his handler every so often to check on them. He pulls a small cart full of hot food packaged individually. The path has researchers every few yards, some actively working, some resting on rocks or in patches of grass.
Slumbers moves to the first researcher, gesturing to the food and explaining they'd made lunch for the Priory researchers. Before they finished their explanation, a swarm of researchers were upon them, reaching into the cart for their tasty rations.
Everyone disperses as quickly as they arrived. Slumbers glances at Arrow, who was being the best boy, and into the cart, where enough food was left for those working directly in the ruins.
"Let's keep going, Arrow. There's a few folks to catch up to yet."
As the duo reach the bottom of the path, just before they curved around the wall, a commotion starts. Slumbers finds their hand flying to their dagger and their other reaching for Arrow's harness should he be needed.
"The fuck..." they hear, followed by a confused, "How did-"
They take a small breath and peek around the corner, seeing a young charr and a salamander drake looking at each other confusedly at the top of the stairs.
Slumbers recognizes the Priory uniform and tucks away their dagger, signaling to Arrow to come with them. They step extra loudly on the crunchy gravel so they don't spook the pair.
"Food delivery! Want some extra yam fritters? Or maybe some pepper steak? I also have more back at the camp if these aren't what you want..." they trail off and examine the pile of rubble behind the charr. "Whatcha doin anyway?"
Larishme looks up as soon as she hears the footsteps on the gravel. She's ready for anything, but when Slumbers appears, she relaxes and smiles.
"Oh, not being very smart right now," she replies to their question. She eyes the rock on the ground for a moment. "There's got to be something good in here. Unless this was already the discarded debris from other explorers... Still, the Priory wants us out here to search for archaeology, so clearly they haven't found everything they want to!"
She then looks to her salamander drake, Gerir, who has been paying very close attention to the food cart this whole time.
"I think someone wants a treat. And I could use one, too." She walks up to the food cart. "Pepper steak sounds good right now. Got anything with fish in it? Gerir loves fish."
"Oooh, yes, I have lots of fish options, ooo does Gerir like oysters? I can do all kinds of sauces, or ooh, how about some sushi? I've got all kinds of filets back at the camp. Fishy rice bowl is also an option," Slumbers continued on, oblivious to the reaction of the duo before them.
"What about a nice fried oyster sandwich? Wait, is that. can drakes have sandwiches?"
They stopped to consider, finally catching Arrow's eye as he nudged them. "Hm? Oh," Slumbers at last remembered they were in fact, serving an animal companion, who definitely cannot safely eat a sandwich. Or oysters with sauces. Maybe sushi? Hm... can drakes digest rice?
"Erm, ok, I've got those filets. I'll go grab some for the lil guy!" Slumbers said, turning the cart around after the charr took her fill of pepper steak.
Arrow and Slumbers begin their trek back to camp. A few minutes later, the pair returned with a basket containing fresh filets.
Slumbers placed the basket down before the drake before returning their attention back to the charr.
"Are you looking for anything in particular? Or just, I guess, cool stuff?" they asked, pulling some yam fritters wrapped in paper from the pouch at their hip. They smiled at the charr before tossing a fritter to Arrow. He deserved a snack after all.
Strangely, or perhaps not strangely for a charr, Larishme doesn't take a fork with her two servings of pepper steak. She leaves Slumbers to go and get fillets, happily eating out of the containers with only her fangs.
When Slumbers places the basket in front of the drake, he eyes it longingly, but doesn't take it. Larishme goes over to the basket while Slumbers speaks, then touches it and tells Gerir, "Eat it." He then proceeds to begin devouring the fish. His dreams have been fulfilled.
"I've been told to keep an eye out for anything resembling graffiti," Larishme says in reply. "First, we were looking for journals, but the human I'm helping out says we've all been overlooking the potential of graffiti from the time. Says it can tell a story too. Makes sense to me. More likely to be preserved than paper, more likely to be overlooked." She looks back to the pile of rubble. "And for a reason, too. But I've got a forager's eye. I'll find something. I know it."
She looks at Slumbers with a knowing smile. "Speaking of. Nice to meet a fellow chef. You planning to work professionally, or just a hobby?"
Arrow took a hesitant step towards Gerir once he was finished eating, sniffing the air. His tail was wagging gently, swooshing against Slumbers's leg.
"Arrow," Slumbers politely scolded. "Focus please."
He took a step back and sat on his haunches next to the sylvari, waiting for his next command.
Slumbers then nodded to Larishme and smiled back, "I'm self taught, not sure if any other place would take me. I can get a bit, erm, experimental with my dishes at times." They rubbed behind Arrows ears absentmindedly before adding, "It's not to everyone's liking, and sometimes my food tastes objectively bad. But I do love hunting and gathering my own ingredients! And hey, the Priory needed a chef, so here I am. I'm hoping to get into field work someday though. What about you, hobbyist or professional?"
Gerir responds with mild curiosity as Arrow approaches, but doesn't seem particularly driven to socialize with him. Either that, or he's a very well-trained guard drake.
"I'm good at foraging too. Give me a place, and I'll find a way to keep you fed there. It might even taste good too." Larishme laughs. "I do it for fun, but my skills are the Legion's. There may come a day when I need to put them to use professionally. Until then, my job's ghosts and Flame Legion." She looks around at the corpses nearby. "And harpies. Damn things."
She returns her focus to Slumbers after a second. "Experimental, hm? Now I'm curious to see what a sylvari calls experimental."
Slumbers smiles and perks up at the question.
"Wellllll you're in the priory, doing research. Imagine you're up late and you're hungry. You still have a ton of work ahead of you. And you've got a looming deadline. So you wander down to the kitchen and you've got the option for a potion that increases your focus, and a snack that tastes okay, but overall kinda bland. What if there was a way to enhance the flavor of the food while getting the benefit of the potion? Wouldn't that be ideal? For example, a salad dressing that increases your focus, flavored with Ascalonian herbs picked fresh from the garden. See what I mean?"
Larishme gives that a good thought. Then she thinks some more. Gerir checks the basket for any remaining traces of fish, but he's out of luck. He's eaten them all.
"You know? You might be on to something. Wonder why it's not more widespread... Well, I guess getting through the flavor of the potion itself is a challenge. And then making sure none of your food ingredients produce an alchemical reaction. And then, maybe it'd be expensive to make..." The tip of her tail flicks for just a second. "If you succeed, you'd be in for a lot of gold."
Slumbers's eyes widened at the prospect of all the gold that could be harvested through this idea. Then they shook their head and shrugged, casting a smile at Larishme.
"I suppose you're right! For me though I think it's more about exploring food cultures and seeing how we can enhance it. I kinda think it would be beneficial to say, children or those with chronic illness, or even just for general wellness. Plus if food can become even tastier.... well. We should definitely be looking into that!"
The sylvari's stomach rumbled as they drifted off into thought about all the delicious food they could make even better.
"I like the way you think. Definitely joined the right Order." Larishme smiles back at Slumbers. "Well, if you ever need someone to taste test, don't be afraid to drop me a note. Be happy to show you some Ascalonian cooking as well, if it'd help you. Or if you'd just like a nice charr to make you dinner." She winks, then waits for a second to gauge Slumbers' response.
A pink flush bloomed on Slumbers' face as they fidgeted with their necklace. They shyly grinned and nodded at the charr. They hadn't noticed how charming she was.
"I would like that, I think."
Arrow's tail thumped against their boots and they glanced down at the hound, who barked once. It was time to get back to work. More flirting could happen over dinner.
"I'll send a note later this week, if you'd like to have dinner this weekend at my homestead. I've got a cooking station. We can see what we can whip up! I've got lots of fresh herbs and vegetables." They adjusted their cotton candy pink pigtails as they waited for Larishme to confirm the dinner worked for her.
They figure, if nothing comes of this, at least they've gained a friend at last at the Priory.