>>44506976

You squint as you step back outside into the daylight, Moldrun’s stolen house behind you and Aashenpreet by your side. Her countenance is solemn and while you don’t fully know what happened between her and wretched Tatterdemalion you know that she’s taking it badly.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” she answers, biting her lip. “Maybe I need to sleep it off.”

You look up and check the position of the sun. There’s long hours ahead before any of you will be sleeping.


>You need to meet up with your allies in this city.

>Offer to take Aashenpreet on that tour she wanted earlier.

>Go back to the inn, you need to wake up Zigzag.

>Brew

>Ask her about what really happened down there. Press the issue.

>You need to decipher Moldrun’s notes.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44506979
>>Offer to take Aashenpreet on that tour she wanted earlier.
Get her mind of things.

>>44506979
>Offer to take Aashenpreet on that tour she wanted earlier.

>>44506979
>Offer to take Aashenpreet on that tour she wanted earlier.
We've probably got a good bit of time before Zig wakes up right?

>Offer to take Aashenpreet on that tour she wanted earlier.

You know that you should probably check in with your 'colleagues', the members of the vanguard who arranged the entire reason for you being here in the first place. But there's still plenty of daylight left right? You're not in any hurry.
"Tell you what Aash, how do you feel about that tour now?"

She blinks.
"I'd like that."

"I have to warn you, I've only been here a few more times than you. It's not my city."

"You say that but you got me to show you around in places like Pataliputna even though I'd never set foot in them before!"
She shoves you away from her playfully.

"That's different! You were the only friendly native we could trust."

"And now our roles are reversed. You should just be happy that I'm not here to plunder your most sacred shrines. Unlike some people."

"Haven't I apologized for that already? And besides, the proper term is a pilgrimage. Isn't that what you're on?"

"Too bad there's nothing for a pilgrim here. This country has no holy places."

"No, I mean metaphorically. Or something. A pilgrim to adventure. And escape."

Aashenpreet just looks at you.
"Cennen, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah that was pretty tenuous wasn't it?"
But she looks distracted now, her thoughts less occupied on the thing beneath the house. And that's all you really wanted to see.

And with that problem out of the way you can face your next one. Which is that you have no fucking clue where most things are in this city or where Aashenpreet would like to go.

>Take her to that church you passed earlier.

>Take her down to the river.

>Visit the Potions College.

>Take her somewhere to eat.

>Just walk aimlessly and talk.

>Other

>>44507408
>Take her somewhere to eat.
I feel like we don't ever eat real food. Let's try the church after.

>>44507469
Cennen mostly subsists on Restoration brews, potions that taste terrible to anyone but him.

>>44507408
>Take her somewhere to eat.
My plan is eat, then church, then potions college.

>>44507408
>Visit the Potions College.

>>44507469
We should probably drink a soul guise before we go to the church. Just in case a spirit is hanging around. Get some food to give to Ziggy when she wakes up too.

>Take her somewhere to eat.

You lead her away from the street and after a few wrong turns, find a teahouse sitting along a secluded boulevard. It's uptown so both the establishment and their scattered clientele are clean and free from the unrest occupying the poorer districts. It's fancy looking enough that you're almost afraid that you'll be turned away at the door by the private guard but then you remember that while your clothes might be rumpled by your recent struggle, they're still a high-quality uniform denoting a wealthy alchemist. And while Aashenpreet's clothes are plain, she herself is beautiful and that can take you a very long way.

Inside the room is thick with sweet-smelling incense and quiet chatter, the lights dimmed so you can easily ignore the other patrons. You let one of the waiters usher the two of you into a little walled-off booth by the corner, one with a little curtain that you could drag across if you wanted.
It all feels very private and you'll admit that that's relaxing.

Aashenpreet sits across from you reading the wooden menu, her face fixed into an expression of polite confusion.
"I didn't know you people drank tea."

"It's pretty posh yeah but its not that uncommon."

Aashenpreet's still looking at the menu.
"Cennen, I could have sworn I have your language mostly understood but this stumps me."

She passes it to you and you raise your eyebrows. You must admit you were never really a tea person, it basically didn't exist back in your hometown as far as you can remember. But there a LOT of fancy words on this menu referring to different drinks and they might as well be Quedeshi for all you can decipher them.
"Beats me. So how about this? When the man arrives to take our order we just act natural and pick something at random."

She laughs quietly.
"But what if I order something awful? That's not a very good plan."

"We can always swap if you don't like it. Unless you want to ask the waiter what all the different terms mean?"

1/2

>>44507922
She shakes her head. She's still smiling, a little quirk to her lips.
"No thank you. Aren't you an alchemist? You should know about these sorts of things."

"I don't see what we have in common."

"Tea's just a brew. Maybe not one you're used to making but you should know all this stuff."

"Trust me, you don't want to drink my tea."

She smiles again and you pass the menu back to her. The two of you make your incomprehensible tea-orders to the man when he comes back and you can see her trying not to laugh.

You also get a small plate of scones, hot cakes with dates and pumpkin in them and strawberry preserve with cream. You're not a huge fan but Aashenpreet seems to love them and you save one to give to Zigzag later. You have to be quick about saving it too because your companion wastes little time in eating.

Your tea arrives in little bowls not long after and by the look the waiter gives you you don't think you were supposed to have eaten all of the scones already. Aashenpreet guiltily wipes jam off her chin.
Your tea is a nice pale brown and it doesn't smell half bad! You're not a huge fan of tea but there's a nice mint aftertaste to this that you like. The incense still hanging in the air to bring this place benediction with the spirits actually seems to work with and combine with the flavor.
But it's not all perfect. Aashenpreet makes a face and pushes her bowl away from her, one filled with a more transparent and smokey eucalyptus tea.
"Do you mind?"
She motions to yours.

"No worries."
You exchange bowls, Aashenpreet raising yours to her lips and drinking. She seems to like it a lot.
You try hers and you have to stop yourself from spitting it out. She's right, it's absolutely terrible.

"Is something wrong, Cennen? If you don't like that one either we can swap back."
She takes another sip, clearly not relishing the idea of giving it back but feeling obliged to offer anyway.
2/3

>>44508149
>Thank her and do so.

>"No, it's fine. I like it." Drink it all.

>"I'm just not in the mood for tea."

>"It's alright, I don't need to drink anything."

>Brew something up in the tea bowl

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44508190
>>Brew something up in the tea bowl
A better tea

>>44508190
>"No, it's fine. I like it."
Just sip it every so often, no need to chug the whole thing

>>44508190
>>Brew something up in the tea bowl
better tea

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>tfw I end up burning nearly an hour and 3 posts on one tea update

Destroy me now

>>44508302
I'm enjoying the unintentional date a lot actually.

>>44508190
Just order another of our original tea

>>44508302
What, tea isn't that important to you?

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>>44508302

>>44508260
>>44508298
Cennen knows nothing about tea guys.

>>44508333
It's not really romantic, they've been getting along really well though. It's nice to see Cennen having a good time with a friend since he hardly ever does that

>Brew something up in the tea bowl

Aashenpreet is too nice for her own good sometimes so you don't want to give her the idea that you want the first one back because then she'll force it back on you and then nobody would be happy.
"No, it's fine. Just needs a little extra, don't mind me."
You reach out over her and pull the curtain shut, enclosing the two of you completely. No need for anyone else to see this. Once shielded from prying eyes you open your pack and search for some ingredients, making sure not to disturb Zigzag too much. You find some crumpled dry grass and a little twig in the bottom of your pack and you throw them into your bowl and after a moment you prick your finger just a little and let a droplet of blood fall.

Aashenpreet watches you over her own tea as you start to stir and mumble over your concoction.
"Think you can do a better job?"

"Think? I know. For my tastes anyway."
At this point what's in the bowl before you is less 'tea' and more of a strange restoration brew. And that's fine, you love restoration brews even though nobody else seems to appreciate them. You raise the bowl and drink deep and Aash mimics your actions.

She sets the half-empty bowl down not long after, breathing out a sigh of relaxation. You can feel the tea's warmth radiating out from your gut and through your entire body and it occurs to you from her expression that this might have a stronger effect on snakes. A little note to think about later; introduce hot food and drink to Snakehome.
Aashenpreet leans back in her chair and you have to move a little to the side as her legs start to encroach onto your side of the floor beneath the table as a result.
"Thanks Cennen. This is just what I needed."

She stares across the table with hooded eyes, her hands clinging to each other.

>Order another set.

>Ask her about Tatterdemalion.

>Talk (Specify)

>Alright, that's enough of this. Time to move on.

>Nobble.

>Take Zigzag out of your pack and wake her up.

>Other

>>44508669
>Ask her about Tatterdemalion.
>Feeling ok Aash? Not getting too warm are ya?
If no
>Order another set.
If yes just sit for a minute

>>44508669
>>44508731
I'll second that

>>44508669
>Order another set.
Of the good kind.
>Talk (Specify)
Her thoughts about Melire so far, how nice it is to just relax and enjoy spending time with someone for once

>>44508731
I think it's better to avoid bringing it up so soon. Give it some more time.

>>44508669
>Alright, that's enough of this. Time to move on.
Church time

>Ask her about Tatterdemlion
>Feeling okay Aash? Not getting too warm are ya?
>Order another set.

She's right, this feels nice. It's great to just spend some time relaxing and enjoying spending time with someone for once. Someone who won't get angry and possibly kill you if you say something wrong.
You're not sure when your criteria for having a good time became 'spending time with someone who I know won't hit me' but that's sort of sad.

"Feeling okay Aash? Not getting too warm?"

She waves you off.
"I'm not so easily addled. But thanks for the concern, it means a lot."

You pull the curtain open just a little and order another two bowls of the good tea.
"You don't find it patronizing?"

"What, by a human? No. It's just nice to know that least one person cares about how I feel. There hasn't been a lot of that lately."
When your second set of bowls arrive she drinks often and deeply, draining hers before you've even reached halfway. Seeing her eyes settle on yours, you pass her your unfinished bowl. She looks at you.
"Can I?"

"Yeah, I'm not huge on tea."

"Thanks."
She slides further and further back with each sip, practically lying down. You can't see every detail in the intentionally dim light but you're getting the absurd idea that she's trying to curl or ball herself up.

You sit there with here for five more minutes, just relaxing and resting in that smokey warm room. It's difficult to remember that only a thin curtain divide you from a room full of people. But nothing lasts forever and you have something you need to talk about.
"So...Aash."

"Yes?"

"What did you do with Tatterdemalion? What did you see?"

When she doesn't reply you keep on talking, trying to quantify the question.
"I mean, it looked like you had something weighing on you. Did something happen?"

She closes her eyes.
"Nope," she replies. "I'm not talking about this now."

"That's fi-"
1/2

>>44509244
You stop as her human form dissolves into ephemera, leaving a twenty-foot python coiling over the table and chairs. It creaks ominously beneath her immense weight.

You jam the curtain shut all the way as quickly as you can, a difficult task considering just how much of the space in the booth is now being taken up by Aashenpreet. You have to reach through your coils to do so, a length of tail nearly slapping your arm aside.
"Come on Aashenpreet, you can unwind somewhere else."

The snake pretends not to understand you. She certainly can't answer your questions now. Was that it? She's just safeguarding her precious relaxation by making sure that she can't tell you anything?
You'd sympathize but the truth of the matter is that there is literally no way to smuggle a twenty-foot snake out through a crowded teahouse without raising attention. And if anyone takes a peek inside this closed booth...you'll have a lot of explaining to do.

>Just sit back and wait.

>Maybe you can arrange a way for everyone else to clear out.

>"You're being very immature right now."

>Pet snake.

>Use a Snake Dispel.

>Nobble.

>Threaten to call the waiter if she doesn't change.

>Use Potion (Specify)

>Other

>>44509403
>>Nobble.
Sorry Ash, bad place.

>>44509403
>Pet snake.

>>44509403
>Pet snake.
Tell her we'll leave it alone if she just changes back. Tempt her by telling her we'll go to the church next.

>>44509403
>>"You're being very immature right now."
>Pet snake.
You realize this can get both of us in trouble right? Please change back.

Sorry about the delay, phone call.

>Pet snake.

You reach out and stroke a coil as it slithers past you and then sit back as the constrictor deposits her head in your lap. You remember doing this back in the ship all that time ago so you just scratch her head, pressing and squishing at the bulbous parts of her head.
"Come on Aash, you know this can get both of us into a lot of trouble. Please change back."

You sort of want to get up but you don't think you could lift her off even if you tried. She's on your lap, on the table, on all the seats...she's taking up all the room. You nearly jump when the tip of her tail, apparently having been underneath the table all this time, brushes against your feet. You scratch her head somewhat nervously. Your pack is now separated from you by several lengths of snake. She's not doing that on purpose, is she?

You lean back in vain but the very end of her tail collides once more with your feet underneath the table and this time doesn't draw back, wrapping around your legs with inexorable strength.
It's fine, you tell herself. She's not trying to eat you, she just curls around things when she's relaxed. You've seen this before.

"I'll leave it alone if you change back, I swear. Don't you want to go to the church?"

The snake looks up at you before falling still, beginning to burst at the seams. And soon the booth is wrapped in an endless sheath of empty snakeskin and Aashenpreet's human form is sitting in your lap where her head used to be.
She throws herself off just a moment later, twitching back and spinning the entire table around with just a momentary brush.
"Ah sorry, I don't know what came over me. That was silly and selfish of me. Sorry."

"It's fine. I understand. Now help me get rid of all this skin."

The two of you spend the next few minutes awkwardly picking up all of the crumbling snakeskin and dumping it into your pack as best you can.
"Sorry," Aashenpreet says again.

1/2

>>44509919
You both file out of your booth and pay the bill, idly noting that the amount of signets you're handing over could have fed you for at least a day.

The sun outside is almost too bright but Aashenpreet seems fine with staring directly at it if it involves not looking at you.
"Thanks Cennen, this was nice. I'm ready to go home now."

"Home? You mean the inn?"

"Or with your friends, wherever. I've already made a lot of mistakes today."

>Go back to the inn.

>Seek out your 'colleagues'.

>No, you're not done with the tour yet. Show her the church.

>Wake Zigzag.

>Other

>>44509975
>Seek out your 'colleagues'.
If she really doesn't wanna see the church I guess. I was kinda curious about it.

>>44509975
>No, you're not done with the tour yet. Show her the church.
I want the comfy thread to continue

>>44509975
>>No, you're not done with the tour yet. Show her the church.
We did promise

>>44509975
>No, you're not done with the tour yet. Show her the church.
I'm enjoying the date with the cute python.

>>44509975
Potions College

>No, you're not done with the tour yet. Show her the church.

"No, didn't I just promise? And your mistakes don't bother me."
You grab her by the wrist and pull her forward down the street and she follows, telling you all you needed to know. If she truly didn't want to go then she'd just lean in the opposite direction and bring you to a halt.

"I guess it can't hurt," she mutters as you lead her back down half-remembered streets, trying to trace back along the path you took earlier this very day.
Aashenpreet doesn't realize where you're taking her until she sees the gray steeple with the iron ring.
"Really?"

"Absolutely. I know you wanted to check this place out before but we didn't have the time. We have plenty of time now."

Her eyes are darting back and forth between the church and you.
"But I know you're not interested in this sort of business, it's not about you."

"Maybe so but I know you are. Don't you want to see how it all works? Just uh, promise you won't make a scene.'

She grins just a little.
"I won't. I know that it might be stunted and inferior, beholden to human folly and bad practices...but we all worship Aashimid in the end. Even if they don't do it right. I'll respect their attempts for what they are."

The doors are open and so the two of you wander in and join the scattered crowd standing and sitting among the pews. You can see some Gray Sisters scattered about and even some Brothers, an altogether rarer sight.
"Oh," you say, trying to lead Aashenpreet away from the white pews with inlaid cushions. "Don't sit on those, we have to sit on the wooden ones."

"Why?"

"The comfortable pews are rentals, people pay money to book them out ahead of time. Folks like us just sit on the regular ones."

"I suppose that makes sense," she grumbles. "Some folk deserve better than others."
1/2

>>44510398
It does line up with some of her own ideals, doesn't it? But by the vaguely dissatisfied look on her face you can tell that she doesn't enjoy being on the disadvantaged side of the system for once. You're tempted to ask her how it feels. You don't.

It looks like they're setting up for another Reading, people still filing in and taking up pews. Aashenpreet soon forgets her own discomfort and swivels her head from side to side, watching everyone. Her gaze eventually alights on one of the Brothers.
"I thought the name 'Gray Sisters' meant only priestesses."

You rack your brains for the answer, half-remembered lessons surging to the fore.
"They are, sort of. It's mostly Sisters and they do all the uh, holy stuff. The Brothers handle security, finance and the administration. The Sisters govern the affairs of the faith while the Brother's handle the church's more worldly activities."

"Oh," Aashenpreet peers about. "So despite the name it's the Brothers who actually run things then?"

You'd never thought of it that way.
"I guess? I don't know that much."

The Reading begins shortly, a choir of Sisters standing in the pulpit. The term 'Reading' is metaphorical, the Living Scripture is only written down once and only by the hands of the Gray Mother. You think it's a sin to copy it or something. So when the verses are 'read' to you, it's spoken in long dreary tones by Sisters who must have spent years memorizing sections. You wonder if any of the ones present have even laid eyes on the actual physical copy.

You sort of tune out as the Reading continues, the pew hard and uncomfortable against your buttocks. And shit, it goes on for what feels like at least an hour. You're not even listening.
2/3

>>44510641
But Aashenpreet is and like many members of the audience, she is mouthing or whispering words along with the choir. But they aren't the words of the Reading. She's intoning something in Quedeshi over and over, her face set in a peaceful expression and her eyes fixed not on the Sisters but on the iron ring above their heads.

And when it finally comes to an end, when most of the rich church-goers stand up and begin milling about and talking with their peers for what will probably be another hour, Aashenpreet stands up and walks outside.

And once you're both out on the street and out of the gaze of the Creator's symbol she picks you up into another hug. It's soft this time as she remembers your frailty.
"Thanks again Cennen. I guess I needed that too."

"No problem?"
You don't really understand and it must show because she just sighs happily.

"It's not my shrine and it's not my people and the actual lessons were foolish but...to be among a crowd of the faithful, to offer up my prayer with all of them together, it made me feel like I was back home."

"Didn't you hate your home?"

She pokes you.
"That's not important. And also not true. It's complicated."

>Keep extending the tour.

>Go see your colleagues.

>Wake Zigzag up.

>Talk (Specify)

>Other

>>44510737
>Go see your colleagues.
Probably about time for this. I still wanna go to the potions college after.

>>44510737
>Go see your colleagues.
>Wake Zigzag up.

>>44510737
>Go see your colleagues.

>>44510737
>Go see your colleagues.
I was half expecting a spirit attack honestly

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I think I'm becoming too comfy with this and update pace is slowing as a result. Help me.
Calling for colleagues, Writan.

>>44510918
No worries, I'm enjoying to comfy too much to care. And these are some pretty hefty updates after all.

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>>44510918

Sorry guys, something's come up. Not work but family related this time. My little brother's just rung up, turns out he's in town and needs a place to stay and a lift. I'm fine with that but he'll probably be sleeping in the room with the desktop in it and my laptop's still not back.

Sorry. if someone else could archive this, that would be great.

>>44511346
Thanks for running Ouro.

>>44511346
Thanks for running! Archived. Stay comfy my friend.