Open - Practically Asking for It

"...How puzzling." Haru was staring at a large bag at his feet, sitting cross-legged in the grass of a rather open clearing in the woods, in which the only defining feature was a rather deep hole off to the side of him. The contents of the bag were rather troubling to him as he had no idea how to even make use of any of it. What was in the bag? It happened to be the same contents that were stored in his new companion who happened to by lying in the grass next to him- venison. To be honest, Haru had no idea why this overgrown stag next to him was okay with him simply holding a bag full of cut up deer, but he supposed it was simply too proud of a creature to think of others. It was certainly too proud to let Haru ride it, anyway...

He idly rubs his chest, where a few new bruises were forming under his beautiful white robes. That was the last time he would try riding an animal companion, and the last time also he would ever emphasize the word 'companion' in 'animal companion', as well. What a stubborn thing. He takes a moment, looking behind him at the stag, who he had named Headwind for the intimidating sound of rushing wind that it made when it charged. Haru still could only call the deer 'it'. He was not going to risk any bones in his body to check himself, thank you very much.

Still, what was he even supposed to do with all of this meat? Haru could readily, shamelessly admit that he was a horrible cook, and he really didn't have the slightest clue as to how he could even begin to prepare venison other than throwing it in a pot with boiling water. He was pretty sure that was also a bad idea. Well, there were a few towns nearby, so maybe he could sell it off to someone? He didn't exactly have any better ideas, and so he would just go and do that. Then, he would forget about even having this meat in the first place. His course of action decided, Haru immediately got ready to go to the nearest town.
...Right after he lazed around on the grass some more. It was really warm today, and he was comfy here.

 

!​

Meat.

Nom Nom smelled meat. Delicious, succulent, gains-inducing, stomach-filling, protein. There was meat to be had. But where...?

The demon rabbit could not count on her eyes to lead her to her prize. Not where she was. Nom Nom was currently digging beneath the surface using her Herculean Berserker Strength. It was what rabbits do. Most rabbits do not eat meat, however, but Nom Nom was a special rabbit. Because, in reality, Nom Nom was not actually a rabbit at all.

*PEWFF* Two fake ears like antennas burst forth from the ground and turned left and right like a radar dish. What followed was a yellow mound of hair, a pristine pale forehead, two blonde bushy eyebrows, a pair of ruby eyes, a button nose, and finally a little mouth that seemed to be permanently affixed into an upside down V. The whole surfaced ensemble slowly turned toward the world's most unfortunate wizard from her position about 5 yards away. (@Haru)

Just then she paused. This person seemed familiar somehow maybe. But in her swimming mind, she couldn't be sure. Tilting her head she blinked 3 times and silently stared.

"Fluff...fluff....?"

Had she said that before or never?

But more importantly...

"Meat."

The Killer Rabbit's eyes turned toward the bag resting by Fluff Fluff's person. She looked at Haru then at the bag then at Haru then at the bag.... then at Haru then at the bag....

"Mrm! Meat."

She nodded. The Mystery was solved. Nom Nom seemed kinda smug about it. Nom Nom's head and neck wiggled back and forth, she was squirming and any second now it seemed like she would surface. But suddenly... she stopped.

"?????"

Nom Nom's vacant eyes seemed confused. Her brows were furrowed. She wiggled again looking like a dancing tree from an old Mario Desert Map.

"?????!"

She stopped and tilted her head.

Looking down she hmphed once more as her head bobbed up and down in a few jerking motions. She stopped once more. More innocent than humanity's advent in Eden, she looked at Haru and titled her head to the left this time.

"Stuck."

She nodded.

 

Ah, he was so relaxed today. Haru loved how comfortable it was in this glade. He basked in the warmth of the sun above, experienced the cool of the occasional breeze, and relaxed to the sound of a child with a quiet disposition struggle and kick up dirt. It was wonderfully peaceful.

Wait, hold up, something was wrong here. Opening his eyes groggily, Haru sits up from his bed of grass, taking a cursory glance around the clearing to find... Nom Nom? He thinks that's her name, anyway. She appeared to rather obviously be stuck in the ground. He wasn't exactly a partitioner of manga, but he suspects that a scene like this would probably be found in one. Why was there so much dirt on her? Did she come out of the ground..?

A long, drawn out sigh announces his reluctant decision to leave his perfect improvised bed to be ruined by the wind, walking along over to her. He saw a kid with a problem, so he had to help out. It wouldn't be cool to just leave a scene like that be. Dropping to his knees, Haru smiles as warmly as he can as he reaches eye level with the girl, wishing to look as gentle as he can as he makes a request of her, "Yo. It's good to see you again, little Miss. I'll get you out of there, so just stay as still as you can, ok?"

Saying such, he finishes writing a code of brilliant green light in the air using his spell ring. He catches it with his palms and flattens it along the ground, the runes glowing brightly as a response. The grass around them grew long in seconds as a whip would unfurl, and wrapped around Nom Nom's waist. A variation of his Strangleweed, the grass supported the child in the air as his spell loosened and crumbled the dirt away. He then reached out and picked her up, placing her by his side.

"That'd do it. ...Jeez, that's a deep hole. What kind of rabbit are you supposed to be, digging like a mole, Miss?" He can't help but be impressed. Players really were something, weren't they? She might not look like it by form alone, but Haru could only assume her to be some sort of physical fighter when he looked at the results of her effort. Should he really need worry over this girl..?

 

Free from her predicament, and now with two feet on the above-ground, Nom Nom shook her whole body like a wet dog sending dust and dirt everywhere. Satisfied, she thought about what Fluff Fluff had said to her.

"Kind... Of....?"

The wheels in the bunny's mind began turning through the haze of her consciousness. Then, something clicked.

"Was...caly...Hm!"

Nom Nom hmphed with a little nod. It was a Nom Nom joke. Staring at the magus in silence for a couple seconds. Ultimately, curiosity got the better of her.

"What... are----?" (You up to here.)

However, suddenly, a breeze blew causing Nom Nom's eyes to wander as she immediately lost interest.

"Meat!"

She'd picked up the scent again. Walking off to where Fluff Fluff had been previously laying and enjoying his nap, she 'acquired' the bag. Picking it up, she opened it. And, not wasting a moment, took one of the strips of raw venison and plopped it in her mouth and began dramatically chewing it. Then another. One more.

"!"

It was good. The third one confirmed it. Nodding at that, Nom Nom sat on her knees where Haru had been laying and continued eating. Stopping for a moment, she waved at Fluff Fluff, and locking eyes with him, continued eating her afternoon snack.

 

Haru fought with his inner scientist about the scene in front of him. His sensibility told him clear and upfront that this girl really, really needed to cook that venison. Seriously, was that girl even aware of HEV...? And every part of him absolutely wanted to scold the girl. On the other hand, while realistic, this was also a game. Haru's logic told him that it was really unlikely for a game to replicate all the kinds of diseases and keep track of the tiny organisms involved. There would just be too much processing power for a computer of any kind to handle.

Either way, Haru remembered what that girl did to the dummy, and also how she was just casually tunneling through the dirt like it was wet sand or something. Nom Nom looked pretty unstoppable to him. Still, could he really risk a girl coming down with something potentially deadly just because she looked unstoppable in practice?
-Oh wait, Cure Disease was a spell in this world, anyway. Just with that simple thought Haru stopped worrying about it at all. The only danger here was what was probably an awful taste.

Walking over to and sitting in the grass in front of Nom Nom, the man in white drolly stared at her, rather bored now. Regardless of how he didn't fear for her anymore, Haru still couldn't help but insist out of base habit, "You know, you should probably cook that first. You don't want to catch anything, do you..? I bet it tastes terrible, too." Haru mentally congratulates himself for epitomizing optimism before switching to a kinder tone of speaking. "It's not as if I had a use for that though. I was planning on just selling it to some villager. If it's that good, go ahead and keep all of it." The kid already seemed intent on plowing through that meat, so it just wouldn't be cool to deny her that. Haru idly yawns as the grass calls to him again. Well, he did leave his nap waiting and all...

Haru lies down and relaxes for the moment. He hardly thought the kid would do anything bad anyway, as they were apparently both working for a witch, so he didn't feel the need to look over her too much and simply trusted her to not go poking at his deer or something.