Private - As Brave as it Gets... | Page 2

Things were getting straight up hectic at this point. The slime that had grown to a large size, was now raining down haphazardly through the forest. Two deers were now present, one... being suggestive in a human/cartoon like manner. It was so cluttered and inane that Leopold almost didn't notice he was whisked away by a dog eared boy. Yep. This was definitely a game. At least, it was finally starting to feel like it. This situation was just so absurd that it would never actually happen in real life. Granted, that was pretty obvious. There were slime monsters and magic present, not to mention none of the people here seemed human. When he was settled behind the tree, having been graciously delivered out of harm's way by the young man, Leopold got to thinking between bouts of pain.

His gaze was cast upward at the carnage the exploding slime had caused. The leaves were discolored, with tinges of yellow followed by brown at the edges. Even worse, it was spreading inwards as the slime ate away at everything it came in contact with. It was honestly upsetting to see. Following the rain of vitriolic fluid, there was a second wave as leaves and propeller seeds drifted downward. The worst of it was on the trees themselves. There were long strips of bare wood where the bark had been stripped off, and some smaller branches had been detached from the tree and were falling down through the canopy. This small section of wood had been thoroughly disfigured by the event, and Leopold couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible. He wasn't technically the source of the disruption, but these others had been trying to help him, so their actions were as a result of his incompetence. He truly felt he needed to learn a thing or two about the game at this point, if he wanted to avoid destroying the beauty of this place. Heck, his entire intent when he made a character and chose masteries was to enjoy nature, and here he was wrecking it.

"Well that's a damn shame." Leopold was wearing a grim expression as he watched on. If only there was something he could do to sort of remedy the situation. Thinking such, he remembered one of the character options he had chosen when he made the character. He had the hint magic! If he used that, surely it would give him a solution on how to fix these plants and whatnot. Now what did he need to do for this... He raised his palm and readjusted his digits until he got the right hand motion to open the menu. He then poked at it a few times and pulled up information on his abilities.

"Ohhh, close my eyes, focus, channel... uhhh.... So I guess the harder I concentrate the better this is going to work." Leopold wasn't his usual methodical self at the moment. The chaos and the pain were greatly distracting him from his natural state of mind, but he did end up getting the information he needed. He didn't quite know what channeling was supposed to be but he did intuitively feel some kind of energy inside of him that he had some control of. His assumption was that this is what it was referring to. Closing his eyes, Leopold began to 'channel' as they put it; he was mostly just focussing all his attention on his forehead and pushing the 'energy' up to that location. He couldn't tell if it was working or not, but to onlookers, there was a visible condensation of purple light slightly above his brow. It was small at first, but the harder he concentrated the more defined and the larger it became. Soon, it was very clearly in the shape of an eye, with undulating pulses of light emerging from it. After one particularly bright pulse, Leopold entered a momentary trance.

His perspective had changed. He was much lower to the ground, and he felt different. He felt sensations but it didn't feel like his own body. There was still pain, but it was all focused on his right arm... or rather paw. His vision had drifted to the right, and he noticed he had a small fuzzy appendage. It was bloodied, and clearly had deep bite wounds on it. In this strange and dreamlike state, he hopped slowly forward, following a primal intuition that there was something he needed ahead of him. When he finally found it, Leopold was puzzled. There was a small pool of liquid in front of him. Looking closely, it was in the shape of a footprint. Not particularly large when compared to the trees and stones around the area, but compared to his new furry 'self' it was a decent sized pool. There was a green tinge to it that radiated a bit around the area, wispy and smokelike. Around the edges of the print, the plants were absolutely blooming and full of life, far more so than those mere inches further from the small trough. This water called to him, so Leopold allowed himself to move forward and take a sip. Suddenly, his right paw began to mend itself, and though it still hurt and had scarring, it was no longer an immediate concern.

Leopold was so astounded that he almost didn't realize he was back in his normal body. He wasn't quite sure how he knew this, but he had received a vision of the future. Somewhere, not too far away from him, a rabbit was going to sip from this mysterious pool and heal its wounds. Leopold hadn't even thought to apply it to himself, he was mostly amazed by the plants that grew around it. Surely if this liquid was applied to these damaged trees, it would help to revitalize them. Leopold quickly scanned the area to see if he could recall any similarities with the vision. He knew deep down in his gut that it was nearby. He had some strange fate with the area now, so it was only a matter of time until he stumbled upon it.

 

From his perch upon the branch, Varudan watched with what could only be called bemusement at the show being put on below. Again, he wasn't entirely sure what would occur when the stag slammed the slime into the canopy. He had thought that the slime would retain some of its form after being hit, but it had totally lost all semblance of its form. The following acidic rain ate away at the trees, grass, and anything else caught beneath the downpour. Irritated by the slime left on its antlers, the stag dragged its antlers across the ground in an unsuccessful attempt to remove it. Though, the acidic properties of the slime seemed to be weakened somewhat. Upon closer examination he spotted the name of the stag, simply 'Dire Stag' labeled in a startling yellow color. Clearly, the difficulty colors ranged on a reverse-rainbow scale.

What truly bewildered Varudan was what the woman conjured up afterward. The auspicious smoke gave way to an identical buck, but with a pink bow. Under Varudan's trained eye it performed a routine that truly did justice to... absolutely nothing. He wasn't sure what was going through the woman's mind, save that she had no idea what a female deer looked like. Still, the would-be seductive 'female deer' would serve a purpose in distracting the buck, just not in the way the woman had perhaps intended... Unless the stag was a massive narcissist.

As if to prove his previous logical point, the stag pawed at the ground fiercely as it locked eyes on this new insult to female deer everywhere. Immediately afterwards, it charged the would-be seductress with force even greater than the charge it directed at the slime. Unfortunately for the stag it passed directly through the illusion, instead smashing into the rather large tree with the force of a mid-sized sedan at a moderate cruising speed. The tree shuddered horribly, sending hundreds of its leaves tumbling to the forest floor. Terrible cracking and snapping noises came from beneath the earth as roots snapped. It appeared it was all the tree could do to stay upright, though the same couldn't be said for the other Caenis fellow who had roosted in the branches above.

The stunned stag remained with its barbed antlers embedded into the bark, its spindly legs barely supporting it. Suddenly, Varudan rushed across the clearing, having jumped down from his perch after seeing the stag lodge itself into the tree. His speed was even somewhat of a surprise to himself as he raced toward the deer. Every so often, he stepped onto what could only be slime, proving his prior removal of his shoes to be not the best idea. Nevertheless, a full speed Varudan quickly reached the rousing stag, acrobatically leaping towards it in a high momentum drop-kick to its front legs. Not particularly well trained in any sort of martial art, Varudan could only rely on the logic that his full force kick would knock its shaky, spindly legs out from under it. His idea was that the torsion from its stationary, embedded head and twisting body would perhaps break its neck. Though, Varudan forgot that this was, in fact, a game.

The sheer durability of this dire stag meant that, though there was surely some damage done, neither its neck nor its legs broke. All he had really managed to do was, first of all, hurt his bare feet quite badly, and also place himself underneath the torso of the stunned, furious, and moderately injured dire stag. If that wasn't enough, his kick had also dislodged the stag's head from the tree, pulling away a huge sheaf of bark still clinging to the beast's antlers. It occurred to Varudan that if he were to survive much longer, he had to forget at least some of the 'logic' he had brought in with him. Though to be fair to the game's realism, his idea of drop-kicking its legs to snap its neck, while feasible if such a scenario were to play out in real life, was certainly a not a good one.

The stag, now thoroughly enraged and becoming less stunned by the moment, let loose a terrifying bugle as it trampled over the wolf-man and ran around the clearing in a frenzy. It was all Varudan could do to protect his vitals whilst being trampled, jump to his aching feet as fast as possible, and force himself to run to and climb the nearest tree.

 

If only there was a mastery for dealing with animals. Not that beginners would be able to deal with that animal. Zori just wondered if there was some kind of anatomical strike synergy to work with. Was Terrasphere that kind of game? As far as Mr. Crotox had experienced there was nothing to show that this game gave a damn about throwing its players a branch. No. Terrasphere was the kind of game that threw you into the wilderness with nothing to your name but a death wish.

He kind of liked that. The concept of making yourself anew in this crucible was attractive. Thinking about the kind of person he could forge himself into after letting the crap mixed in burn away... He was already having a fantasy within the fantasy.

The cloud-headed caenis boy was brought back to reality as slimy branches slopped off of his head. He had brushed away the remaining residue to save himself the displeasure of becoming another Leopold Chang. His quick reflexes didn't save his furry ears. A small bald patch was revealed on his left ear as the scalded hairs flew into the ether. More light started to shine into the clearing. It could have been bright enough to dispel the illusion of a stag, "Wait, where'd that come from?" that had coalesced in the magical smoke. One of the npcs cast a spell.

"Aha!"

Zori said aloud. Finally, he knew he was right. Princesses always had magic in fantasy settings. There was nothing else the illusionist could have been but a princess. Nothing. Princesses weren't always great strategists. It seemed. Not every princess was a master of every form of combat and thought and hailed from a destroyed planet. Sometimes a princess would make a stag with a bow and think it was a doe. Then, of course, that would make the real deer charge at the tree Zori was on.

This series of event was tried and tested. It always seemed to come true. Totally.
Zori was roughly shaken from his perch of a tree branch. The acid rain that had torn through already responsible for weakening his spot. He fell like two sacks of potatoes. You know. Faster than one sack of potatoes. Before stopping on the back of the stag as it was stuck on the tree. The harsh, sudden stop, left Zori acting like some kind of pretend-hurt power ranger. Except he was actually for real in pain. The kind of pain you have when you fall fifteen feet onto a stinking giant angry herbivore.

"Mmm... Good one! Totes." Zori said to the hidden enchanter. He briefly considered looking for a question mark ping in the palm menu. This wasn't the time.

From his crumpled and defeated posture on the stag, the famigna saw the rushed footfalls of a barefoot dogboy coming his way. Scratch that. Wolfman. The wolf guy who thought he was clever and slick when he was taking off his clothes to mess around with slimes. That real piece of genius. The deer's cargo of a lap dog groaned, not as a result of the bad decision he knew was coming. It was a response to the fleeting pain.

That bad idea came. It went. It went faster than that guy who owes me a fiver when I see him walking my way. Like that guy, it made Zori's world worse. Instead of being decked out on a stag stuck in a tree Zori was now decked out on an ambulatory wild animal. On the day that he'd never ridden horses as well. Sure that was every day, but today was the day it mattered.

Having to think fast on his feet, or his spine (as it were), the dog boy tried to twist himself over the deer's back. He tugged on the rough, shaggy, animal fur for leverage while pulling his ass under him. He needed to have a riding posture for any chance to try and ride this thing. Not that he was going to succeed. His only saving grace would have to be his slightly thicker than average thighs.

Zori pulled himself up behind the stag's antlers to use them as some kind of handle or purchase. Clamping his legs tighter than a good unmarried Christian on a Sunday. Dealing with the bucks, twists, turns, and cavorts as they came. For some reason, whilst the deer circled about, there was always some lumpy part of the terrain that was adamant in kicking the Z-man off.

It was adamant until the one and only Crotox had found the strength to tug the stag out of its death spin. With all the force he could amass he aimed the stag away from the scarred plant life. Probably in the same direction some Faerin would have been going. Especially if everyone around was unlucky.

Before being taken away Zori rolled himself off the stag and on to the ground. Where he rolled a bit more as the monstrous animal left. After a few moments for safety he stood up and walked back to the npcs he'd saved.

He gave Ms. Magpie one look and said, "You alright? Should really clean your nose. Don't want to attract any wolves. Right?"

 

Suddenly, her connection to her glamour snapped like twine. She jerked back, arms splayed, as if she had been physically gripping a rope that would, in turn, become severed. It was done. The intense pressure that had pressed down on her mind had subsided. Ms. Magpie released her breath in a long, meditative sigh. Draped in a cold sweat, she fought hard against her body’s desire to collapse. She felt she had gotten more than enough rest during her paralysis, she didn’t deserve more, not yet. No longer under the enormous strain of casting a rudimentary spell, the witch was finally left able to divert her attention back to the life-threatening trial that made up the better part of her day.

In an almost literal sense, she had put her blood, sweat, and tears into what she thought was the perfect honey-trap. Although her expression was dour, clammy and twisted by the bleeding of her nose, she was quite pleased with the results. Ms. Magpie didn’t doubt that she had succeeded, in fact, it was quite clear that the stag had diverted all of its attention towards her illusory trick. Clearly, completely distraught by lust, the stag was thrown into a frenzy. This kind of ravenous desire was not unheard of, but still, Magpie was left thinking that it was perhaps acting far too aggressively. That would have been off putting to most women, beastly or not.

Watching helplessly, the witch grimaced as the stag charged towards her apparition. Brought back by the sound of a crash, and a fluttering of falling leaves, and then a louder man-sized crash: She flinched. Ultimately, the spell was a success. If the buck was trapped, then they had their out. Straightening herself out once more, she offered an aimless, although approving nod. All according to plan, clearly. Witches worked in mysterious ways, and sometimes their plans might have looked like failures at the surface level.

She hadn’t been given time to truly appreciate the wreckage before, as was tradition, things inevitably fell apart. In her struggles internal versus the nausea that unprepared spellcasting was not generally known to induce, she lost sight of the more naked of the two Caenis. He certainly made a show of himself in his return to form. Clearly he saw himself as a man of action, sensible or not. Showing less empathy for another humanoid, Ms. Magpie remained stoic as wolf threw himself into danger in a manner that ensured the buck would be freed, while he laid injured. Clearly, rescuing others was a cursed action. Perhaps there was a more malevolent force behind the mounting pile of mishaps.

Before she could curtly ask if Varudan was alright--from afar--she was shocked by yet another ill-advised attack against the large animal. This time, however, the beast was at least convinced to go elsewhere. This all could have been choked up to teamwork. A wide set of skills were applied to deal with something one adventurer would be able to deal with nowhere near this much trouble. Quickly, realizing the risk of there being a fatality, she dotted her eyes around. Catching Leopold in his trace, she was relieved, and then concerned… Was he also a prac--

Concern for others was promptly snatched out of her grip. She had been approached, and in quite the negative light. She had anticipated some more half-assed attempts at chivalrous posturing, and that was exactly what she got. However, she didn’t expect for Zori to say something that would so negatively reflect her.

She had been fully absorbed by the act of casting, that she had forgotten about the world around her. This had included herself, as part of the world. Resting her hand gently under her nose, she felt the sticky warmth. The signs had all been there; the taste of copper had been fresh on her lips has she observed and judged, but she somehow dismissed it. Being out and about like this was poor form, hardly acceptable. There was hardly any excuse for not taking the opportunity to deal with this sooner. Revealing a partially dissolved handkerchief, she gingerly cleaned her nose and chin. Sighing shamefully, she broke eye contact with the mutt, “Yes... Forgive me. I lost my head for a moment there.“ She responded in an oddly despondent tone.

Her gaze had been cast upon the ground, where she caught the previously scattered slime slowly creep. Gazing around, she noticed much more of it, seemingly convening on a central location. This was a rude reminder of what was of the utmost importance before the arrival of the angry herbivore. Raising her hand up, she made a very singular gesture, “If you will excuse me a moment.” Snatching a vile from her alchemy satchel, she sauntered towards a particularly vibrant bit of mint green slime. Placing her vile in front of its path, she was easily able to scoop it up. It fought hard against the giant, but found itself beaten into submission by pressing down of a bit of cork. Stillness overcame the grass, with the globes coming to a collective halt.

Ms. Magpie still needed to collect her extract of slime. Regardless of how out of hand today’s proceedings got, she could not slack on her responsibilities.

 

Turns out fate was an ass. Instead of finding any traces of the healing water, Leopold was greeted with a eye full of rampaging stag. The others had managed to save themselves, and in the process, aim the stag in his direction, which it was now angrily charging. Leopold didn't have much time to think. He darted as best he could, which was wobbly and slow. He stumbled a fews steps, scampered under an inclined log, and stepped through some gnarled roots. Meanwhile, the dear charged several steps, broke the log in half, and had no trouble with the roots. Its hooves were powerful enough to just stomp right through the forested terrain. This left Leopold feeling hot breath down his neck as he made one more desperate attempt to escape. He leapt to his side, through a bush, and coincidentally down an incline that sent him tumbling down a leafy hill.

He rolled down the slope much faster than he could have possibly run, and banged off a tree on the way down. Had he had the time to check, he would have found that his HP value was now down to a 1. When he came to a stop at the base, he was very much dizzy and unstable. Leopold took one step that seemed to swing out from under him, and he stuttered along until he fell face first into something wet. His gut wrenched when he did so as he imagined all the things it could be. Animal urine, animal... waste, or worse yet, another slime. His heart rate quickened, he braced himself for whatever was to come, and he lifted his head. As he looked down, his mouth hung open in a pleasant 'O' expression. Right under his chin was a footprint filled with swirly green tinted water. It was the pool from his vision.

As he stared at it, he felt an itchiness on his face, but he didn't have time to worry about that. Flipping himself over, he cast his gaze up the hill and looked for his pursuant foe, only to see a relatively still image. The stag must not have made the turn that he did, or it wasn't stupid enough to throw itself down the hill. Either way, Leopold was safe for the moment, and he had found his goal. Now to just transport it back up the hill, and to the damaged trees. This part would probably be pretty tough. The wasn't much water present, and he didn't have anything to carry it with. If he cupped it in his hands, it would just spill everywhere, and he couldn't afford to waste it. If he used too much, that furry creature that had shown him the way wouldn't be able to heal his paw. That was too sad an outcome so Leopold was determined to do this right.

Taking a page from the taller dog-folk, Leopold stripped off his raggedy shirt. Now, unlike said dog-folk, Leopold wasn't going to do something stupid with it. Instead, he dipped it into the pool and soaked up some of the water, before rolling up the shirt, and keeping the wet section in the middle. Cradling it like a delicate object, Leopold traced his steps back, straining to climb the incline. When he got to the top and stepped through the bush, he made sure to check further down the trail for the stag. It had definitely kept charging further as there was a trail of damage and hoof prints in its wake. Leopold couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Walking further, he stepped over minced roots, between a split log, and a few steps further back into the initial clearing.

When he got there, dog man was wounded and in a tree, dog boy was standing near the tall lady, and the tall lady was collecting something off the ground. This was the first time that Leopold really got a chance to look at everyone. The dog man was practically naked, fairly tall, and well sculpted. No wonder he wasn't the brightest, he was just some muscle bound bloke. The dog boy was, well, rather fair. He had much softer features than the bigger dog man. Didn't seem much like the combative type. Finally was the lady who Leopold now realized towered over him. She was pretty dang tall with curvy features and pointy ears. This seemed weird to Leopold. These were the first people he had run into in the game and they were all so dang big, at least, from his perspective. Was giant an option for characters? Leopold was a full grown man, how could they dwarf him like this? It didn't matter too much, but he was a touch confused.

Overcoming his momentary stupor, Leopold applied the wet shirt to the damaged sections he could reach, but it seemed to be a futile effort. He couldn't possibly carry enough of the water to fix all of this. Instead of struggling to no avail, he pulled his shirt back on, wincing at the cooling sensation of the water on his ravaged skin.

"Boy, this game sure is dangerous. Does this kinda stuff happen often?" Leopold was scratching the back of his head as he approached Zori and Ms. Magpie.

 

Varudan was a bit bewildered at how easily he escaped from the rampaging buck. It was only after his wild rush to the tree that he learned that the Zori fellow had landed on top of the buck. Like a life and death rodeo star, the dog boy managed to hang on long enough to direct the furious deer off into the distance, unfortunately toward the escaping Leopold.

In no immediate danger, Varudan slid back down to the base of the tree, taking a seat with his back to the trunk. Curious, he opened the menu again to look at his statistics. His HP was about half, a little surprising given his brief trampling and minimal slime exposure. Stamina was recovering fine, so that wasn't an issue. His food, water, and rest weren't low at all, unsurprising given how little time he had actually spent in-game. He closed the menu, and turned off investigation mode while he was at it. Turning his eyes back towards the others, he spotted the slime reforming, only to stop suddenly. A glance toward the woman showed her to be corking up a phial, though he couldn't be sure that was the reason the slime stopped.

Watching them briefly speak, Varudan stood up shakily. He hadn't quite noticed how realistic it all felt, only feeling his body respond to the post effects of adrenaline. All the aches and pains of where the hooves stomped and the slime ate away at were all badgering him now. A small smile crept its way onto his face, clearly pleased that this game could satisfy his desire for realism. If he weren't such a cold-hearted, dour person he might have skipped his way past Zori and Miss Magpie with a smile and a few words of encouragement or perhaps thanks. Instead, he walked past them quickly, his previous smile gone. He passed by Leopold as he limped his way back into the clearing, responding to him curtly, "I hope so, shorty."

Some time later, Varudan finally found a road. Given a lack of landmarks, or knowledge as to the geography of this place, it was all he could do to pick a direction and follow it. Hopefully, he'd either meet someone that pointed him the right way, or find some sort of civilization.

 

"I sure don't." Zori curtly added. He watched Varudan as the wolf slowly limped away.

"Man, do you think he's going to be okay? I think so. He tried to drop kick a stag the size of a moose. Angrier than a moose." He scratched the back of his scalp. He had probably come out of the entire affair the best off, in the end. There was a kind of sensation... responsibility? He felt somewhat responsible as the most able around. He didn't want anyone to get hurt. Especially since he had somehow managed to involve himself in solving the situation.

"Sure hope it's not like this too often. Then he for sure won't make it." His right hand went behind his head for some more itching. "Well... Can't always be my job to fix it."

Zori flashed a smile at the pair he'd been left with. The original princesses he'd been trying to save in the first place. The very young one that didn't sound like a princess at all and the tall one that didn't act princessly in the slightest. It was a curious situation. He'd previously figured it to be some kind of an npc-driven event but the sheer unpredictability of the actors as the situation progress made him think otherwise. Thinking wasn't enough for certainty.

"...So... I'm going by Zori, what are you guys calling yourselves?" There it was. A clever word trap. Their answer would surely reveal their true nature as artificial or organic. "It's not really important, just some networking." Zori ended up saying out loud instead of inside his brain, to himself, where he wouldn't be embarrassed by sounding like some kind of a jack ass.

 

There had been enough of a lull in the chaos for the supposed princess to at least enter a sense of security. Her haphazard fellowship, fresh in the midst of still living, decided to use this opportunity for a bit of speaking. It went without saying that she wasn’t looking forward to more of these shenanigans. For now, she had suffered enough of slimes, beasts, and shirtless wolf-men. All that needed to be said had been said, “Hm.” She offered, contemptuously.

Within these breathers, Ms. Magpie was able to put her attention where it was needed most. She had gathered that the physically low voice had come from the previously grievously wounded slime-escapée, she was able to put the mysteries of his post-trance whereabouts to rest. Having looked all the way down, she was able to assess that he was looking a bit better off than he had been before. At this rate, Leopold might have actually be able to survive the rest of the day. Her witchly examination, however, had been cut short by the continued commentary of the dog-man. As was proper, she gave him the attention a speaker usually got, “Right…” She added, having let Zori speak his mind with no interruption.

She was less worried about the overall fate of Varudan. If danger were to catch up with him, she was sure he would be able to find another tree; there was not a shortage around these parts.

When greeted with a smile, Ms. Magpie did not return the favor. Her expression remained consistently grim, as if she still lived under the threat of slime. However warm Zori's greeting may have been, Ms. Magpie remained cold, and in fact, seemed to be further chilled by his presence. A silence with Ms. Magpie was almost inherently awkward. Her natural gaze was far too severe, seeming only fit to unnerve. Confident that the mutt was finished for now, she finally responded, “Hello. Mr. Zori.” She greeted, offering a polite bow in return.

Folding her arms, she gave Zori her full, undivided notice, which have been more than he asked for. Still, despite not knowing one another, the two--or rather three--had been through a lot together. The sooner this could be forgotten, the better. Before this could all be abandoned, however, she realized that they had pleasantries and introductions that needed to be exchanged.

“You may call me, Ms. Magpie.” Saying it, she was struck by how silly it was. The Ms, was ultimately important here; without it, her name would simply be Magpie. Dwelling on her own name, she realized just how easily it could be corrupted. She had no choice but to interject, “Allow me to thank you, once again.” She tried to steer the topic away from the possibility of her being ‘Maggie’. It was, at least, a sincere “thanks”. Princess Maggie wasn’t so arrogant that she could overlook the heroics that the potcake displayed.

Those two weren’t alone, however. Having said her piece to Zori, she knelt down so that she could better hear and speak to Leopold. She couldn’t simply allow the child to wander off on his own; where he could easily be the target of brigands or worse yet, another buck. Offering her hand, she attempted to help Leopold once last time, “You were hurt quite badly in all of this.” However,Ms. Magpie lacked the ability to come off as comforting, rather, there seemed to be a scolding, disappointed edge to her tone.

“Come with me. I shall help you get to town, little one.” She continued, her tone still not gaining any glimmer of warmth. There had been a long history of witches, having taken children for more nefarious purposes. It didn’t occur to her that this had the potential to look, unsettling, even to an adult.

 

Surprisingly, the most distant of his companions was the one to comment first, and in fact, only addressed Leopold. It was brief, but it happened. Leopold wasn't sure how to feel about the response, and it caused him to think a bit while Zori and Ms. Magpie chit chatted. Why would the man want this kind of situation to happen again? Was it enjoyable for him? Was it fun? Leopold didn't initially think so. In fact, he still wasn't sure that he would call it fun. It was painful, scary, confusing and all sorts of negative emotions rolled together. But, it was real. Not real in the sense that it actually happened, but real in that he genuinely felt something. He wasn't just going through the motions to please those around him, he was throwing himself entirely into something, and showing raw emotion. It was probably the most real thing that Leopold had done since he retired, and that actually did feel good. So he sort of agreed with the dog eared fellow. He did hope more real things happened in this game. Maybe not dangerous and violent things, but he certainly had big hopes for the future.

By the time he even thought of something in response, the man was gone. Leopold had thought to himself for too long, and the dog man had been in a hurry to leave. Unsure of why the guy was so antisocial, Leopold shrugged his shoulders and turned to the other pair once more. They seemed to more or less share Leopold's sentiments about the dangerous situation. Leopold had to sigh in relief, he was relieved that he wasn't the odd one out. If this was normal in the game, and this is what everyone expected all the time, then perhaps it wouldn't have been the game for him.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintances. I am uhh... Leopold Chang." Leopold was a tad embarrassed of his chosen name at this point. Couldn't he have chosen something a little more... normal? He had been in such a rush to make his character that he chose the first outlandish thing to come to his mind. Unfortunately, despite being a fantasy setting, this 'outlandish' name did not fit in. All he could do to mask his shame was smile politely and nod to each of them while mumbling their names under his breath to help himself remember them.

Leopold was pleasantly surprised by Ms. Magpie's concern for his well being. It was nice to see that kind people existed in this game. Zori seemed nice as well, but a little touched in the head. The dog man was unsociable, but he definitely came to help total strangers, so he couldn't be a bad guy.

"Ah, I'm totally fine. It's barely even excruciating at this point. As long as I don't think about it, I don't notice it too much. Except the patch on my face, that part stings all the time, oh, and the little ones on my body. Those are stinging as well, now that I think about it... Yeah it all still hurts pretty much!" Leopold was starting to sweat. Now that everything was settled down, and now that he had actually paused to think about the wounds, they were starting to hurt really bad. It must be the effect of adrenaline wearing off or something because he was starting to feel fatigued as well.

"You know what, I will graciously accept your offer. I don't think I'm in any state to be navigating by myself." Leopold's smile was entirely fabricated by now, and he was shivering as he stood there. He was anxious to get going so he could rest up in town. Eventually, the trio made their way to the same road the dog man had found earlier, and made there way towards a town of some sort in the distance.