Despite the situation, Lucian hadn’t forgotten his wallet when he left his apartment, and though stock market prices were rapidly fluctuating the global market hadn’t collapsed. He hoped it would stay that way.
Once the pair made their way into the still populated part of the city Annabelle dragged Lucian off to a small family owned pizza place she liked. It was a cozy place, tucked away down a side street, and the sign in the door indicated it was still open.
A small bell above the door let out a pleasant chime when she pushed it open. There were a few tables with some chairs, and a tall young woman behind the counter. She had long dark hair, lightly tanned skin, and deep brown eyes. She looked up when they entered and her gaze immediately locked onto Annabelle, “Bella!” She rushed around the side of the counter and nearly knocked Annabelle over with a hug, “I was so worried! Why didn’t you answer my calls?!”
Annabelle let out a wheeze and hugged the woman back, “I’m sorry! I got distracted and forgot my phone…” She mumbled.
“Dumbass! I thought you were dead!” The woman scolded her as she pulled away from the hug and put her hands on her hips. Her eyes flicked to Lucian when his stomach decided that it was a great time to growl, “And who is this?”
Lucian blushed a little, “Lucian, pleasure.” He reached his hand out and she took it, giving him a firm handshake.
“Bianca.” She glanced up at his cat ears and smirked, “Cute ears.”
Lucian chuckled, “Thanks, I grew them myself.” Bianca rolled her eyes and Annabelle giggled.
“BB…” Annabelle poked Bianca in the arm.
“Yes, yes. I heard the man’s stomach. You’re both hungry.” She shooed Annabelle away with one hand, “Give me a minute.” She slipped back behind the counter, “So…” She looked back at Lucian as she moved over to a large brick oven, “Are you two going to explain how you met?” Her eyes drifted from Lucian to Annabelle as she picked up a large wooden pizza paddle, “Or what you’ve been doing the past few days?”
Annabelle looked away, “I said I forgot my phone… Sorry…” She mumbled.
Lucian took a seat, “Well, you got the weird notification thing right? About the system?”
Bianca nodded as she opened the oven and began to remove a pizza from it.
“Well it changed my race, which is where the ears came from, and gave me a neat class. So, obviously, my first reaction was to go explore the massive jungle that spontaneously appeared.”
“Obviously!” Annabelle laughed.
“Of course. Naturally.” Bianca said sarcastically and gave them both a look as if they were crazy.
“Well anyway! I spent my time exploring, killed some monsters, and eventually found a big hole in the ground that turned out to be a dungeon. We met there.” Lucian continued.
“I found him unconscious!” Annabelle tacked on with a grin.
“Then we beat the dungeon together.” Lucian nodded.
“And I got this cool necklace!” Annabelle lifted away from her chest to show Bianca.
“Oh wow, it is rather pretty. A nice shade of green to match your eyes.” Bianca nodded as she took a pizza cutter out and began to slice the freshly baked pepperoni pizza. After a moment, Bianca brought out three plates of pizza to Lucian’s table and sat down with him. Annabelle joined the pair, “Careful, it’s hot.”
Annabelle nodded and blew on her slices, steam rising from the cheese.
Lucian licked his lips, “Thank you very much.”
The trio waited for the pizza to cool a bit before beginning to eat.
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“Mmn… This is really good…” Lucian mumbled after swallowing his first bite.
“Isn’t it? She makes the best pizza.” Annabelle nodded happily.
“Only the best pizza?” Bianca laughed and raised an eyebrow.
“Oops! The best food!” Annabelle giggled before taking another large bite.
As they ate, Bianca suddenly froze up. Lucian glanced at her and titled his head curiously. Bianca laughed a little, “It’s offering me a class, all of a sudden.”
“Oh? What class?” Annabelle perked up, and Lucian glanced up at her.
“Well… Baker. It says that anything I bake will be better, and even possibly grant benefits.”
Lucian blinked, “Huh, I guess it had classes for more mundane professions. Neat.”
Bianca shivered a little, “Oh that feels weird.”
“Did you take it?” Annabelle scooted her chair closer to Bianca’s.
“Yeah, obviously.” She scoffed with a laugh.
“Woohoo! Now the food is going to be even better!” Annabelle cheered and earned an eye roll from Bianca.
“What skills did you get? What do they do?” Lucian leaned closer, always interested in information about the system.
“[Baker’s Intuition] and [Enchantment of Recovery]. Intuition does what you think it might, lets me intuit stuff while baking - when to add more of something or when it's done, I think. And the other one lets me enchant something as I bake it to make it better for recovery.” She explained, looking into the distance as she was focused on the system itself.
“Interesting. I wonder if you’ll level up by just baking, or if you also need to kill monsters.” Lucian laughed.
“Hope not. I would prefer to stay in here, with my oven.” Bianca glanced fondly at the brick pizza oven behind the counter.
The group continued to chat and finished their meals. It was some of the best pizza Lucian had ever had, and he intended to come back - both for the pizza and because he was interested in what kinds of things a classed baker could make.
“How much do I owe you?” Lucian looked up at Bianca once he finished.
“You’re a friend of Bellas, so it's free.” Bianca laughed, and stood up to take their plates back behind the counter.
“Thanks BB!” Annabelle grinned at her as she stood up and stretched.
“Agreed, thank you.” Lucian smiled, then looked at Annabelle, “I suppose we should get going then, tents won’t buy themselves.”
Annabelle nodded happily and the pair said goodbye to Bianca, promising to come back soon. Lucian and Bianca exchanged phone numbers so she could check on Annabelle, and they left - heading further into the city to find a store that sold what they needed.
As they travelled further into the city, they saw more and more people who were out and about. Lucian occasionally looked to the sky as they walked, scanning it for airborne threats.
People stopped to look at him, of course. It wasn’t every day one saw a catfolk walking around. Their expressions varied from fascination to disgust to fear. Lucian didn’t care though, he never did pay much mind to the thoughts of others.
Annabelle, on the other hand, shot scornful glances at people who stared for too long or pointed too much. She definitely seemed to care.
Lucian smiled and touched her shoulder, “Thank you.” He looked at her as they walked, “I appreciate your concern, but I don’t mind it that much.”
She puffed out her cheeks, “Yeah well I do. You’re my friend now and I won’t let people make fun of you.”
He chuckled, “Alright, alright.” He looked forward again, “I hope you continue to worry for me, then.”
“Damn right I will.” She said firmly, gently punching his arm.
They continued onward, and eventually found somewhere that might have what they wanted. Entering the store, they found it mostly empty except for a pair of employees who looked like they wanted to be anywhere other than where they were.
“Hello! Sorry to bother you but we’re looking for a few things…” Lucian walked up to them and began to explain the situation.
“Camping supplies? Yeah, we have what you need.” One of them nodded, “I can help you pick some stuff out. Better than sitting around doing jack all.” He walked out and began to lead the pair down some aisles, pointing out various supplies they might want.
In the end, they purchased a pair of tents and sleeping bags, as well as a portable stove, a water filter, some cookware, and a big bag to help carry it all.
Lucian paid for it with a debit card, since he had a fair bit of money tucked away. The apocalypse wasn’t apocalyptic enough to halt the gears of capitalism, and the banking system was still active.
They left the store, Lucian carrying their new supplies in their bag. He glanced at Annabelle, “Is there anything else you want to get done, or should we buy food and head back to the jungle?”
She hummed for a moment, “Not really! I say we keep going!”
“On we go, then.” Lucian and Annabelle continued to the next stop on their errands - buying some foodstuffs they could bring with them into the jungle.
It turns out grocery stores are much easier to find than camping supply stores, so it didn’t take them long to arrive at one.
They purchased dried oatmeal they could make, beef jerky, canned food, and similar long or long-ish lasting supplies.
They walked out of the grocery store, fully ready to head back into the jungle.