[PP-F3] <<Feeding the Enemy>>

[Killia 0]

I stretched out my arms with a groan. The last few quests, despite knowing this was all numbers and data, really took a toll on my body. Everything ached. I mean, I know I took a few blows I should have dodged and that one make out session with a boulder was also traumatizing, but it felt like my real body was just thrown off a cliff. Heck, maybe it was. How was I to know? Just the other day, I was walking around Urboros and this kid just hit the floor. Passed out cold. Two seconds later, he became nothing but shattered glass. Terrifying really. If no one is looking out for you up there, it's just a matter of time before dehydration and hunger just...

Anyway, I pushed that horrid memory to the back of my cluttered mind and dropped my arms to the side. The fountain at my back sputtered softly and with just the right breeze from the south, hit me with a refreshing wave of mist.

"Give me your hand." The voice of an old woman shook me from my peaceful relaxation.

"Excuse me?" I looked down to the hunched and visually haunting figure of an old hag. My initial reaction was to jerk away from the rag-covered cretin, but where were my manners?

"Give me your hand."

I didn't want to, but this was a safe zone after all, right? I held out an open palm to her and she grasped it with her bony talons. In my grip, I felt her place a handful of something.

"Feed them," she said. This bat was crazy as she looked. "Feed them and they will help you."

"Uh..." Her grip tightened and my lips sealed.

"Feed them and they will help you," she repeated. Then, she broke into a laugh. Or a cackle. Witches cackle, right? God she's creepy.

Her grip loosened and all while maintaining her sharp and unpleasant laugh, she carried herself away into the crowd of players. None of them seemed to mind nor care about the level of weirdness that just transpired. I opened my hand to see what she placed in it and to me, it looked like crusty pellets? Could have been dried animal crap for all I know. My expression of concern and disgust did its best to convey what words would struggle to describe.

"Okay, then... Feed them and they will help you...? Uh... Anyone want some creepy, old lady... croutons?" I asked to an uninterested crowd. Maybe I had to get someone to eat these things? The heck if I knew.

@Kooh

Edited July 21, 2017 by Killia

[Kooh 0]

Kooh couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to laze around in the middle of the city, doing nothing. While she lay on the short stone wall encircling a fountain in one of the plazas of the first floor's capital, the girl was reminded of the day some month back when she was approached by the white-haired man that would go on to torment her with obligations and expectations. A puff of air left her nose as Kooh folded her arms behind her head, trying to keep from pouting at the turn of events. She still wasn't sure if she would refuse the man's proposal if she was given a second chance.

Through the normal bustle of the city around her, a peculiar sound reached the blonde's ears. A creepy, unappealing laughter sounded from the opposite side of the structure beside her, causing the girl to prop herself up on her elbows. With one leg outstretched along the the stone wall and the other bent at the knee with the sole of her boot pressed lightly against the cobblestone ground, she craned her neck, curious as she spotted an elderly woman with a tattered cowl as the source of the noise. She simply frowned, about to dismiss the NPC from her thoughts when she spotted the blue-haired player directly in front of her. She continued watching for a moment, only the slightest curiosity keeping her interested as the old woman left the scene. From her position, Kooh was barely able to catch the man's confused words.

"Pfft!" When she made out what he had said, offering the uninterested players around him some 'croutons', Kooh couldn't help but let out a chuckle. The blonde closed her eyes as she lowered herself back to her resting position, folding her arms behind her head once more. She raised her voice as she spoke up, so that the blue-haired player might hear her in the distance. "Man, you really oughta work on your sales pitch." Her lips were still curled into a smile.

[Killia 0]

The voice of a female reached out from somewhere nearby. The lacquer of sarcasm dripped from her words, but the origin remained but a mystery. There I sat, random old lady kibble in one hand and the confused expression on my face searching through a sea of moving people as if I were a blind man. Was it that lady with the short battle skirt and the "trying too hard" steel breast plate? No, the voice was higher and less... sultry. What about -- nope, nope. That's a dude. Definitely a dude. Why was he wearing a-- oh never-mind...

"Pitch?" I called out, hoping to coax the source of the original comment out of hiding. "Do you see these things? They're like..." I held them to my face for a bit to catch the detail, instead, catching a whiff of what I could only describe as old sock mixed with stale jerky. "dog kibble...? Or something?" I finished.

I looked back up to the crowd. People began looking at me like I was crazy, talking to myself with a handful of brown bits cupped in my palm. Then again, I'd probably look at myself the same way. I sighed like the idiot I felt I was.

"Whatever," I muttered. "I'll just chuck em."

 

[Kooh 0]

The smile continued to rest on Kooh's features as the man's confusion grew and grew. Her right eye opened half-way to cast a sidelong glance at the back of the stranger's head. She could see it swivel side to side a couple of times before he called back out to answer the blonde's commentary. She let out a low chuckle before she caught on to what sounded like a defeated mumble. While she couldn't make out the words he might have said, it didn't stop an idea from entering her mischievous mind.

"Well if you don't want 'em, give 'em to me then!" Her eyes closed again while she called from the other side of the fountain. The girl had to resist another chuckle to keep her tone serious as she continued, "Go on, just toss 'em into the water!" She instructed, trying to be careful not to draw suspicion to herself while she expected the blue-haired man to turn around to face the water behind him. 'Oh man, I wonder if he'll actually do it.' She thought. 'I don't think I could stop myself from laughing if he actually buys it.'