Maribel Quest Latterly - A Z-Machine Adventure

[Hello Purvis]

>Was there meat of some kind in the sandwich, from what we saw?
>"Do you even know how cooking works, by the way?"

>There was! You are pretty sure it was something Marisa had left over.
>"I know there's pots involved. And big metal things. I've seen faeries do that. Oh! And one time I saw them put ground up leaves on something. I tried that with a groundhog and I got sick..."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, not all leaves are good for eating. People have learned a lot over the years about what plants can enhance cooking, though, and which don't. When stuff is cooked by someone who really knows what they're doing, it can be very delicious."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, not all leaves are good for eating. People have learned a lot over the years about what plants can enhance cooking, though, and which don't. When stuff is cooked by someone who really knows what they're doing, it can be very delicious."

>"Oh. I thought that was it," she says. "But I didn't want to try any more to figure out what the good ones were. And, I wouldn't be surprised if it is. It seems like a lot of work. so it'd have to be worth it."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, people don't usually figure out what plants are good or bad for cooking on their own. They learn this from other people who already know, or from books. There are many, many books about how to cook, too. A lot of people take cooking pretty seriously."

[Kilgamayan]

> "Do you remember the grill lady we talked about before? She's very good with her cooking. I bet she can do it in a way that's less work than you might think, and her results are very delicious."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, people don't usually figure out what plants are good or bad for cooking on their own. They learn this from other people who already know, or from books. There are many, many books about how to cook, too. A lot of people take cooking pretty seriously."

>"...Many books?" she says, frowning a little. "More than ten?"

> "Do you remember the grill lady we talked about before? She's very good with her cooking. I bet she can do it in a way that's less work than you might think, and her results are very delicious."

>"Oh."
>She doesn't seem too pleased by this revelation, either.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, you don't need to read them all to know how to cook, or anything. Even part of a single one helps a lot. A lot of books contain similar information to other books. And are you scared of the grill lady? She's actually pretty nice, from what I've seen. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding between you two. I promise if you come there with me, she won't shoot at you."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, you don't need to read them all to know how to cook, or anything. Even part of a single one helps a lot. A lot of books contain similar information to other books. And are you scared of the grill lady? She's actually pretty nice, from what I've seen. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding between you two. I promise if you come there with me, she won't shoot at you."

>"...More than two tens?" she says.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Some people might use up to forty. That's as many as four tens. But it's not that terrible, really, because they have spaces to put the books when they're not using them, and they only need one or two at a time."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Some people might use up to forty. That's as many as four tens. But it's not that terrible, really, because they have spaces to put the books when they're not using them, and they only need one or two at a time."

>"...That's way more books than I thought there were," says slowly.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I don't know how many there are in Gensokyo, but where I come from, there are hundreds of thousands of different books. A single building designed to store collections of books might have many thousands in it, alone."

[Kilgamayan]

> "Oh yeah, there's plenty of books for cooking."
> Do we still have both books in our backpack?
> "The grill lady might have some, I don't really know. When you cook for long enough, eventually you know what to do, and just keep the books on shelves for decoration."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I don't know how many there are in Gensokyo, but where I come from, there are hundreds of thousands of different books. A single building designed to store collections of books might have many thousands in it, alone."

>"I don't know what a hundred or a thousand is, but they sound large enough to be sad."

> "Oh yeah, there's plenty of books for cooking."
> Do we still have both books in our backpack?
> "The grill lady might have some, I don't really know. When you cook for long enough, eventually you know what to do, and just keep the books on shelves for decoration."

>You do still have they two books!
>"I see...I thought they were more special than that."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "Of course they're special! You never want to forget your roots, and your cookbooks will always be your roots. You wouldn't want to forgot you were ever a bird, would you?"

[DracoOmega]

>"But they are special! It doesn't matter if there are others like them out there, too. Books are full of knowledge, and knowledge is very important. Not everyone even bothers to read, and that's sad. Books are precious because of what they can teach people, if they pay attention to them."

[Hello Purvis]

> "Of course they're special! You never want to forget your roots, and your cookbooks will always be your roots. You wouldn't want to forgot you were ever a bird, would you?"

>"But they are special! It doesn't matter if there are others like them out there, too. Books are full of knowledge, and knowledge is very important. Not everyone even bothers to read, and that's sad. Books are precious because of what they can teach people, if they pay attention to them."

>"I guess," she says. "But if there's that many, I guess these two don't mean that much, after all. I thought they were really like treasures..."

[DracoOmega]

>"They do, though. I get the impression there aren't nearly as many books around here as where I came from. And they're still a really important thing, no matter what."
>"I, uh, managed to find another couple books for you while I was away. Once you're, uh, done eating and cleaned up and such."

[Hello Purvis]

>"They do, though. I get the impression there aren't nearly as many books around here as where I came from. And they're still a really important thing, no matter what."
>"I, uh, managed to find another couple books for you while I was away. Once you're, uh, done eating and cleaned up and such."

>"I guess. But if there's so many, I guess pretty much anyone who wants them can have one. I thought they were treasures..."
>"Really?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Yup! They're about very different stuff than the two you already have, but I thought you might enjoy them."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yup! They're about very different stuff than the two you already have, but I thought you might enjoy them."

>"Well, that sounds interesting, even if they aren't real treasures, I suppose."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>The treasure is in the reading of them, and learning what knowledge is inside them. And remember, the fact that there's more books out there means that there's even MORE different things to read and learn. So it's way better than there only being a couple books."

[Hello Purvis]

>The treasure is in the reading of them, and learning what knowledge is inside them. And remember, the fact that there's more books out there means that there's even MORE different things to read and learn. So it's way better than there only being a couple books."

>"I suppose that's true. Oh, I'm done now."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Oh, we're still looking away, aren't we?
>Turn around.
>Does she look somewhat less bloody, now...?

[Hello Purvis]

>Oh, we're still looking away, aren't we?
>Turn around.
>Does she look somewhat less bloody, now...?

>You were!
>You turn around, and find her wiping her face with some leaves. She seems to be getting the most of it.

>_

[DracoOmega]

>Cringe at the thought of handing books over to someone with literal blood on their hands...
>"You sure you don't want to wash your hands off in some water or something first? You know, proper care and treatment of books, and all."

[Kilgamayan]

> "All right, I have an idea. I think this will really benefit you in the long run - it should get you more food than you've had before, for one thing."
> "Now, you really hate fairies, right?"

[Hello Purvis]

>Cringe at the thought of handing books over to someone with literal blood on their hands...
>"You sure you don't want to wash your hands off in some water or something first? You know, proper care and treatment of books, and all."

>There's just something unwholesome about that.
>"Yeah, I'll get to that in a minute," she says.

> "All right, I have an idea. I think this will really benefit you in the long run - it should get you more food than you've had before, for one thing."
> "Now, you really hate fairies, right?"

>"You do?" she says, as she puts the leaves aside and starts toward the lake. "That sounds great!"
>"...Uh. I don't know. I just try to stay away from them, since they're weird and scary."

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> "But they've bothered you before, right? Without you bothering them?"

[Hello Purvis]

> "But they've bothered you before, right? Without you bothering them?"

>"Yeah," she says, as she pauses at the edge of the treeline, and looks around before heading toward the lake.

>_

[Kilgamayan]

> Follow her.
> "Well, I - wait, where are you going?"