Ah, the city. I've always liked the idea of 'the big city'. Buildings that pierce the sky, bright lights, shops for everything under the sun, and restaurants of all sorts, all generally within somewhat reasonable walking distance of each other. It all just sounds really cool and fun, almost like a never ending festival. At least, until you think about things like crime rates, prices, the ceaseless stream of vehicles constantly whizzing by, the noise, and the distinct lack of direction caused by everything mostly looking the same. Then the term 'urban jungle' starts to feel appropriate. Still, there are problems with any place, and, if nothing else, it's fun to visit the city from time to time. Probably. I don't think I've ever been to a proper 'big city' before. Well, I'm sure I got the gist of it from movies and TV. 

I'm excited to see what cities are like in this world, though. I wonder how magic and how this worlds technology has affected the growth and construction of something like this. 

And, since today has been pretty chaotic, it'll be good to just wander around the city and wind down a bit.

It didn't take us too long to get there. Just a short walk through the woods until we were off the duke's property, and then it's a simple manner of following the roads. For most people, that is. For us, we just had to walk until the city came into view, and then we warped there in an instant. Fortunately, there weren't many people on the roads. How wonderfully convenient. 

The city was a lot like the town we were in before, with a stone wall protecting the perimeter and lots of guards, but here everything was just... bigger. The wall was positively ginormous, and seemed to stretch for miles. The buildings, too, were larger and far more plentiful, and the streets were filled with people, citizens and tourists alike. The buildings didn't quite reach the sky, though, and were, at most, 3 stories tall, which was a little disappointing. Other than that, though, it's a bright, colorful place chock full or people and stuff to do. 

Though, I'm now realizing that most of the stuff I really don't care about. I mean, just wandering and window shopping doesn't really interest me, and I don't really have any hobbies right now. (lack of electricity + being illiterate will do that to ya.)

Guess we should just get food, I suppose.

"So, uh, where do you think we should eat?" I asked S as we wandered around the city, somewhat aimlessly.

"Right, uhm... Honestly, I don't really know. I don't come around here much, 'cus there aren't many interesting jobs. Though, I guess I do have one place in mind." He responded. 

"Oh? What's it like?"

"Well, it's a bit like any other inn, but with a few key differences. It's much... brighter, I guess. It's a little hard to explain, but you'll know it when you see it."

Sure enough, he was right. After a short walk, we had arrived. The building was an incredibly bright shade of silver, with red stripes here and there to catch your eye, and there was this disgustingly bright, huge sign advertising it that could probably be seen for miles. The entire building seemed especially designed to make sure it was impossible to pay attention to anything else. Actually, the bright colors and advertisements almost reminded me of a fast food place. 

"Is that the place?" I asked S, pointing to it. 

"Right. Can't go wrong with The Adjective Noun." S replied.

Huh? Did I hear that name right? "Pardon?"

S chuckled, amused. "That's the name, The Adjective Noun. I think it's supposed to a joke, making fun of typical tavern/inn names."

"Huh. What do they serve?"

"Generally stuff that can be quickly and easily prepared, y'know, sandwiches and the like. Service is supposed to be wicked fast. Oh, and you don't order at a table, like in most places, instead, you go right up to the counter and tell the workers what you want, and there's this big - huge menu behind them." 

Oh. I see. It really is... "Let me guess, they have locations in other cities, as well, right?"

"Right on. Most towns, too. Some larger cities have multiple of 'em."

Wow. This is literally just a fast food place. In this fantastical fantasy world with seemingly limitless possibilities, I am eating fast food for lunch. Huh. Well, that's neat, I guess. "I see."

Inside it was even more uncomfortably bright. How're they lighting this place up, anyways? Is it magically lit? Yeah, that's probably it. It took my eyes a moment to adjust. Sure enough, inside it looked just like any standard fast food place that I was used to. Strangely, I felt right at home, but alien at the same time. It's a difficult feeling to describe. We headed up to the counter, where there was a short line before we ordered. The place wasn't packed, but there was a decent amount of people in it. Before entering the line, S and I stood back and stared at the menu for a bit, deciding what to order. I was mostly going off pictures. I ended up going with what looked to be a standard hamburger or something. 

Once we got in line, it didn't take long before we were up to the counter.

"Hi, welcome to The Adjective Noun! What would you like?" The dude at the counter said, a little too enthusiastically. Y'know, fast food workers are always either uncomfortably enthusiastic, or depressingly apathetic. In my experience, at least.  

"Right, I'll have the, uhh... 6 with fries and a shake." S said. Didn't he already eat a ton at the duke's place?

Wow, they even use the same terms and such. Wait, fries exist in this world? "I'll get, the, uh," That's the third one down, right? "3." I said.

"Anything else with that, sir?" The dude asked, still needlessly enthusiastic.

"Uh, a water, I guess." 

"Alright, we'll have that out right away! That'll be 6 silver total!" 

"Ahck, always such an inconvenient number..." S began, grabbing a gold coin from his pocket and handing it to the guy, who quickly grabbed 4 silvers from beneath the counter and handed it to him.

We stood at the end of the counter for a minute or so before we got our orders, and we sat down at one of smaller tables. 

I reached for my coins. S paid for the meal, so I should give him back half, right?

"Ey, don't worry about it. Yours was like, 2 silver anyways."

"Really? Alrighty, then. Thanks, by the way."

"It's only a few silvers, it's no big deal." 

I began eating my burger thing. Yep, it's a burger. Like, a totally normal burger. It's almost a little comforting to eat food that's exactly the same as it was in my previous world. Yet, also a bit uncanny and off-putting. I'm not sure how to feel about this.  

"So, anything you'd like to do while we're in town?" S asked as we ate.

"Other than getting supplies, not really." I responded.

"Right, yeah, no reason to stick around too long. I'd like to check out the potion shop before we leave, see if there's anything useful there."

"Potions?" Ooh, that sounds cool. 

"Y'know, magical drink-y thingies. They can get a little expensive, but some of 'em do some pretty cool stuff. Could be useful in a pinch."

"Sounds fun, I'm down."

We quickly finished up our meals after we discussed our plans. I ended up having most of S's fries, 'cus he was still pretty full from the duke's place. It was honestly impressive that he ate as much as he did, despite that. 

Alright, just gotta do some final preparations, then we can start our journey to Basenholm.

And then we'll do... something. Probably.