"It's more of a ludic thing, really. I wanted to be able to use 'magic' with the right gestures. I bet there's a system for that in CORA, but it'll probably take skill points to unlock."

"Ah, gotcha. Yeah, probably buried in an ability tree somewhere. Could go digging when we stop for the night."

"Yeah, maybe. But I have a general sense of where I'm going now, so I feel less pressed. There's hundreds of levels to gain."

"One fight at a time and all that shit," Hailey replies with a calm smile. "Wonder what Cordova's like."

"Yeah, me too. We'll see when we get there!" She smiles and rolls her shoulders. 

And so they continue to walk into the evening, enjoying the trees and the fresh air and each other's company.

It's really nice to share time with her girlfriend. Girlfriends. Hmm. Neither word quite works. Girlfriend slash ess.

Whatever they want to label it, it is very nice. After a bit of looking around to find a good spot, Hailey flicks her fingers through the menu, and then the house appears. "Time for supper, I think."

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to this." Hyacinth smiles, and ducks inside. "Do you want to make supper, or should I? I should warn you that I don't have a ton of cooking experience."

"I'd love to. Kinda feel like a stir fry, honestly, maybe some of the venison and a few vegetables. How's that sound?"

"Which veggies were you thinking?"

"Bell peppers, onion, garlic, carrots, broccoli?"

Hyacinth frowns. "I'm not that great at... vegetable dishes, to be blunt. It's a texture thing. Broccoli and bell peppers I've both had trouble with in the past. I can eat them, I just... don't tend to enjoy it." 

She ducks her head. "I feel like a little kid who hasn't learned to eat right whenever I say this to someone, honestly."

A sort of offended puzzlement crosses Hailey's face. "What the inkstained fuck is the point of forcing yourself to eat things that give you bad texture feelings? That seems like a recipe for unnecessary misery. I firmly believe in restricting suffering to only sexy suffering."

"My family always said I was 'being dramatic' whenever I had nausea or an otherwise unpleasant time with a vegetable dish. They said I had to learn to eat vegetables or else I'd ruin my health."

She sighs. "I don't think they're wrong, exactly..."

Hailey huffs and groans. "Of course they did. What you actually need to avoid ruining your health is a specific nutrient profile, and there are lots of ways to get that without forcing yourself to eat vegetables that make you nauseous." She facepalms and shakes her head.

"What can you tell me about how your vegetable issues work? I do enjoy cooking with and eating vegetables, and I want to figure out the best way to balance that without inducing vegetable-related suffering."

"Let me think a bit, I've never really had the chance to explain it to anyone before so it could take me some time to get together everything I remember."

Hyacinth folds her hands together and thinks hard.

"Okay, so. The biggest offenders are anything with a leafy texture. Spinach, lettuce, cabbage. I basically cannot eat these straight, even if I'm trying. I get nausea symptoms. If their texture is totally overwhelmed by the rest of the dish I can sometimes manage. For example, lettuce on a burger is fine; lettuce in a salad or on a sandwich is decidedly not fine."

"Corn, peas and carrots are all fine; their textures are nowhere near the bad zone. 'Crisp' vegetables like peppers, tomatoes and broccoli are iffy. I can eat diced tomatoes, diced onions, pea pods, those mini corns you sometimes get in chinese food... Slices or strips are considerably more iffy. Once again, it depends on how much of the texture is vegetable. I can eat a hamburger with a slice of tomato on it, though I do notice the issue. I can eat chunks of tomato and onion that are fairly large in general, actually, but not repeatedly — if I try eating a greek salad or a tomato and cheese sandwich I start off happy and enjoying myself because it tastes good, but by the end of the dish my texture capacity is exhausted and I am no longer enjoying myself at all. Olives are fine..." 

She taps her fingers against her upper arm.

"In general, diced vegetables as toppings or mix ins to dishes that are not primarily vegetables are almost always okay, though I've been ambushed by dumplings with unexpectedly crisp cabbage in them which caused serious nausea. I can eat spring rolls, I think because the vegetables in them are finely shredded and thus the texture issue doesn't come up. Broccoli I can eat, I just frankly dislike the taste. I can consume cauliflower with the right spices — the dish I like it in is alu gobi — just fine. Beans as a category are pretty much just fine. I can eat bean sprouts too, though I'm not a big fan. Strange weird vegetables I am naturally really anxious about because I never know whether they'll trigger my issues, and also I'm just generally reluctant to try new foods in general, though that has been improving over the last few years."

She tilts her head. "Anything else... Cucumber not great, avocado fine, nori fine in outside rolls but bad in inside rolls, I'd never eat nori straight but that's a weird thing to do anyway."

She looks over at Hailey. "In general, the best ways I've found to get vegetables into my diet are dishes like chili where there is a mixture of textures from beans, diced vegetables, and some meat. Burritos with diced tomato, stews with onion and carrot, etcetera. And I will happily just eat straight peas if they're on offer."

"Oh that's totally workable. Lots of options. Swap the broccoli and peppers for peas and probably potatoes, tonight. Got a good chili recipe from Sable's dad we can make once we have a few more ingredients from a bigger city."

She smiles.

"Thanks for explaining all that, by the way."

"It's been getting better over the years as I've worked at it. I wasn't able to eat a burger with standard toppings as a little kid, but now I can. And I've just been exploring the space cautiously over time. It's awkward, obviously, especially because to my family it's always seemed childish, but..." 

She abruptly pulls Hailey into a sharp hug. "Thank you for listening."

Hailey squeezes Hyacinth tightly, smiling softly. "The fuck else are we supposed to do when the woman we love tells us about her food sensitivities?", she murmurs, amused.

Hyacinth laughs, then lets it die away. "Yeah, I guess. Just... I'm so used to not having it taken seriously that it feels magical when you do."

"Clearly you deserved to know better people sooner, but we're glad to raise the bar for everyone else." She laughs and leads the way into the house, heading for the kitchen.

Hyacinth trails along behind her with a soft smile on her face. 

She almost can't believe she's been so lucky. Then again, with several million players in CORA to match against... maybe she shouldn't be so surprised.