[PP-F10] A Frog in the Dark <<Feeding the Enemy>>

[Froppy 0]

Tsu had just recently joined a guild and now seemed to be about a good time to go out and try to find a familiar. Naturally, she was going to try and find a little frog buddy, which just so happened to be found on her favorite floor, floor 10. Tsu sat inside of her shop, going through the list of players in the guild. She stopped at Eatos and sent her a quick message. "Hey Eatos. Would you mind helping me out get a familiar? Meet me at McFroppy's." Tsu sent the message, and then headed back into her kitchen while she waited for Eatos to come.

Tsu figured that it would take a while, probably a few hours, so Tsu decided to pack some snacks for the quest. She fried some french fries, and cooked up 20 chicken nuggets. She put them all in a box, and then put them in her inventory. Tsu walked out the door of McFroppy's and then locked the door to her shop to make sure no one got in. Even though Tsu had worn a mask when she met Eatos, she should still recognize Tsu. Just to be safe, she left her tongue sticking out a little bit.

@Eatos

[Eatos 0]

Froppy. The girl had recently joined the guild and was wanting to spend time finding, a familiar? Eatos couldn't not find it amusing. Why, whenever someone wanted to find a familiar, did they come to her? Stryder had, Atzo had, Fae had and now Froppy was also. But, in a way, it was good. It would get her out of the store and out of her memories. Standing up, she sent a quick reply back to Froppy.

'Sure thing! I'll see you up there'

With her message sent, she put on her suit and placed her combat gear in her inventory. A quick whistle and it was off to the 10th floor. Well, it would have been quick, it she didn't have to deal with a moody familiar who wanted to be lazy!

It look a lot longer than planned, but Eatos finally made it to the 10th floor and to Froopys store. She had to give the girl some credit, it was smart, making her store like she did. After all, it would sell. She spotted the other girl rather quickly, but walked up to her as Angel ran forwards up to Froppy. The large Husky stopped a small distance and started sniffing Froppy's test and legs.

"S-sorry...Angel is just, very protective. Just let her sniff you and you'll be fine. She's, yeah...She's been like this for as long as i've known. Overally protective familiar.."

[Froppy 0]

Tsu read the short message that Eatos sent her and closed it. At least she wasn't that busy at this time. Tsu looked around town at the hollowed out NPCs. They were weird, but Tsu found them adorable. Something about their emptiness and lack of emotion, Tsu just found that cute. Yomi was a strange place, it felt safer to most to be out of town rather than in it.

Tsu waved over to Eatos as she saw her arrive, but Angel had gotten to Tsu first and started to sniff her over. Tsu shuddered a little bit, backing away from Angel slightly. Eatos explained that she was overprotective and Tsu nodded. "Ah, okay, ribbit. Just, I'm not really a dog person. But Angel still looks friendly, rrrribbit." Tsu said, calming herself down, and petting Angel on the head, bending down a little bit. Tsu looked back at Eatos and then turned to the west exit of the town. "So I was hoping to find a frog familiar today, ribbit. The frogs tend to be in the caves, and the closest cave is to the west of town, ribbit. I packed some fries and chicken nuggets for us to eat if it takes a while, so we should be set. Thanks for coming out here, rrrrrrribbit." Tsu explained, starting to walk to the west gate.

[Eatos 0]

Angel sniffed around Froppy, going around her two to three times before barking loudly back at Eatos. Angel had established this person as not a threat, and the Husky, now happy her owner was safe, sniffed around the area and went exploring a little, keeping a close proximity to her owner in case the other person was a threat.

Eatos smiled as the familiar declared Tsu 'friendly'. She'd never seen her familiar actually attack someone outright, but she always had to 'check' someone. The blacksmith walked up to Tsu, smiling warmly "She's been like that since forever. She'll warm up quickly, and, well...She's something" The girl followed Tsu, after all, she had no idea where frogs were. She wasnt' too surprised it was a frog, after all, the girl made a LOT of frog noises. It did confuse the girl, but she didn't question it. After all, Fae talked about herself in the third person. Maybe this was, yet another, coping style?

"I'll follow you lead on this one Tsu. As for the food, well...i can't really say no to nuggets.." 

[Froppy 0]

Tsu figured that by the way that Angel had stopped sniffing her and hadn't attacked her or anything like that, Angel was fine with her, or at least Tsu wasn't being considered a threat. "Well, I hope she warms up to me then, ribbit. She's not attacking me, so that's all that really matters, ribbit." Tsu said, walking out of the gate of town, leading Eatos out, assuming she was following close behind.

Tsu looked back at Eatos, and she seemed confused about something, but it didn't look too serious. "Umm, hey Eatos, what's on your mind, ribbit? Is something bothering you, rrrrrrrribbit." Tsu asked, tilting her head as she looked back. Walking out of town, the path narrowed down to a few feet wide. On the sides about 20 feet down, there was water about 10 feet deep. "Watch your step, ribbit. You won't die, but it's a long fall down. Then you won't be able to have McNuggets, ribbit." Tsu warned, looking down off the sides of the path.

[Eatos 0]

Was something bothering her? Yes, and it had been for weeks now. Was she going to tell Froppy/Tsu? No chance in hell. It wasn't her desire to be rude, but rather, there were something things that are always left unsaid, and in this case, it would be best if the truth never met the light of day. Even if the doctors had said she'd been drugged beyond belief, it had still been her hands that held the knife...

"I've just been having some poor dreams is all" She said calmly to the girl as she followed her "Some rough sleeps, nothing too bad" After all, the best lies were those with the truth buried within. Eatos didn't know how to confront her demons, just how to run from them.

Hearing the other girl say the path was narrowing, Eatos whistled once loudly. Angel was by her side within second, and kept a step behind her master. Eatos knew her familiar had a tendency to roam around, and Angel loved the snow, but HATED getting wet. A moody Husky was one thing, a mood wet husky, was something even worse. "You seem to know this area quite well, you make this trip a lot i presume?"

 

[Froppy 0]

Tsu walked along the narrow path, making sure to keep her balance. Eatos was holding up fine too, so that was relieving. She hadn't exactly taken anyone else with her down this path, worrying that someone would fall off. Eatos answered that she was just having bad dreams in response to Tsu's question. "That's fine, I get those a lot too, rrribbit I haven't had one recently, but I still get bad dreams occasionally, ribbit." Tsu responded back. She was keeping her distance from Angel a bit, still not entirely comfortable around the husky.

The narrow path was about to lead to a cave and Tsu turned to Eatos. "Just past this cave is the frog pond, which is where I'm gonna find my little buddy, ribbit. I'm not sure what I'm gonna him or her yet, but I'll figure out what to name it when I get my froggy buddy, ribbit." Tsu explained, giggling a little bit at the end. It was only about minute walk now until they would reach the cave. Eatos asked if Tsu made this trip a lot, and Tsu nodded her head. "Yeah, I live on this floor. It's just my kind of floor, ribbit. The NPCs are adorable, and there is of course the frogs, ribbit. What floor is your favorite so far, rrrrrrribbit?" Tsu asked Eatos, starting to walk backwards now.

[Eatos 0]

The narrow path had Eatos glancing back at Angel, she didn't want the familiar to do anything silly so the girl kept a low-pitched whistle. Angel had learnt a few things, and this whistle meant to stay close and no playing around. Watching around with her blue eyes, the Husky familiar's tail had slowed down as there was less fun. The cave apeparing put the familiar on alert, and a soft growl emerged from its throat.

Eatos smiled at Tsu, but said nothing. The bad dreams she'd been having wouldn't normally plague her. Except that they were far from just your average dreams...far worse. She took a deep breath, she could worry about her sin later. For now, she had other things to focus on. 

"I think, that figuring it out as you go, is for the best. When i went to find my familiar, i had no idea what i wanted. Then Angel, well, she found me" It had been rather amusing, she'd be telling Atzo about her past then Angel had come up from behind her and climbed into her lap. Angel had chosen her, she didn't chose her familiar. It seemed too perfect sometimes.

"My favorite floor? W-well...It's either the 4th, or the 17th. 4th, which i'm sure you know, is the ice floor. It just reminds me of home so much that, well, i can't not love it. As for the 17th, it's a floor based on ancient Greece. As...well, as a history teacher in training, it's everything i was hoping for..."  

[Froppy 0]

Tsu noticed that Angel had gone into a bit of a protective mode, growling when they neared the cave. "Does Angel not like the dark, ribbit?" Tsu asked, looking down at Angel as they walked into the cave. It was a short cave, so it was only a bit dim inside, rather than being pitch black. Eatos said that figuring out the name as you go is the best way to do it, as well as saying that Angel had just found her. "Maybe when we get there, one of the frogs will hop right over to me, ribbit." Tsu said, trying to picture what the perfect frog would look like. Eatos answered Tsu's question about her favorite floor, saying that she liked the 4th and 17th floor. "I haven't been to the 17th floor yet, but maybe I'll check it out sometime, ribbit. Other than this floor, I would say that the 16th floor is my favorite, just for it being a beach, rrrrribbit." Tsu said as they walked through the cave, the ambient noise creating a slightly tense atmosphere.

[Eatos 0]

As they went into the cave, Angels growling became louder. Indeed, the familiar disliked caves. Ironically, Angel hated the dark, a fact Eatos found out when she turned her furnace off only for the familiar to freak out. Eatos glanced backwards and petted the familiar. She used to pick up Angel when she freaked out, but the husky was far too large to do that now. "She gets nervous when she can't see, so caves and the such without my light get to her..." The girl followed Tsu in, and Angel had no choice if she wanted to keep her human safe, following in aswell. 

Tsu, and herself, couldn't be more different in that aspect of floors. Floor 16 had a beach? That sounded, well, not enjoyable. She wasn't a fan of beached, hot weather and her never had gotten along so... "Given your enjoyment on nature, i'm sure the beach is great. I'll admit, me and the beach are just...well, i'm not a fan of hot weather so i avoid it where i can, you know?" The girl looked around the cave, and wouldn't lie, a small sense of claustrophobia kicked her in the chest. but despite that, her heart, and face, remained peacefully calm. 

[Froppy 0]

Tsu listened to Eatos explain that Angel didn't like being in the cave because of the darkness and the fact that Angel didn't like not being able to see. "That makes sense, ribbit. I had a friend whose cat was always afraid of the dark. It can be a little funny sometimes, ribbit." Tsu said, walking through the cave and noticing Angel reluctantly follow. It was still kinda cute to see the husky like that.

The walk through the cave didn't take that long, as it was rather short. At the other side of the cave, they walked out to see the pond that Tsu had mentioned earlier. A ton of frogs, about 30 of them, hopped over to Tsu as soon as she arrived, seemingly excited to see her again. "I visit these little guys a lot, so they sorta like me, ribbit. If you don't like the hot weather, that's fine. But this little frog pond is always nice to visit, ribbit. I would keep your distance, a lot of them are a bit protective of the pond, ribbit."

[Eatos 0]

Animals, as well as humans, had a fear of the dark. Eatos knew why, after all, her studies before this game caught her, taught her plenty about people and how they worked. Seeing Angel, even as a big Husky, being fearful. It was somewhat painful to watch, given how much she adored the familiar. But, she would look after it.

The army of frogs that met them caught Eatos very much by surprise, and the girl paused. Frogs were far from her favorite animal, she knew she much preferred the company of canine animals. They just seemed to, well, get along with her better. It wasn’t that she disliked frogs, she just wasn’t a huge fan of them.

“I’ll admit, I know…well, next to nothing about frogs. They, well, back home, I don’t think I ever actually saw a frog…” It was for, in part, she spent a lot of her time indoors with books and her pet. Why would she go outside when she had all she wanted indoors?

[Froppy 0]

Tsu felt a little bad for Angel being afraid of the dark, but it just couldn't be helped for the poor husky. Tsu was never really afraid of the dark, if not actually liking it more. Tsu was glad to see the army of frogs that met them, making sure not to step on any of them she walked over to the pond. Eatos admitted that she didn't know all that much about frogs, never actually having seen one in the real, due to spending most of her time indoors rather than outside. "I spend most of my time indoors too, ribbit. Just on rainy days when I would walk home from school, I would see the little frogs in the park pond hopping around, ribbit. Seeing that they had long tongue like I did, I just felt a bit of a kinship with them, ribbit. I had a frog as a pet for a while, and it kept me company most of the time. Frogs have just always been my favorite, rrrrrrrrribbit." Tsu explained bending down and picking up one of the frogs. It did a little croak before hopping out of her hand and into the water. Tsu sat down on a rock, and patted the rock beside it, motioning for Eatos to sit down as well.

[Eatos 0]

It did make sense given Tsu unique appearance that the girl would make a kin-ship with frogs. They both had a certain property. Namely, the tongue. That and the occasionally ribbiting. Part of the girl wanted to ask about it, since she had never seen, or heard, anything about it before in her life and, well, curiosity killed the cat. Despite that fact that satisfaction brought it back.

The bluenetter sat beside Tsu, with Angel lying down next to her owner and resting her head on her lap. Eatos reached out and slowly, lazily, pet her familiar. “I know what you mean, sorta. For me, growing up, I always had a dog. My first one was a German Shepard, a former attack dog. My parents got him to look after me, and he was the biggest sweetheart. He refused to sleep outside of my room…” The girl started laughing and smiling brightly at the memories of her pets “Tsu, I’ve been meaning to ask. Your tongue is, well, I’ve never seen anything like it before” 

[Froppy 0]

Tsu listened to Eatos's story about her German Shepherd. A former attack dog sounded like something dangerous to have in Tsu's eyes, but Eatos's dog apparently was more protective and loving of Eatos than aggressive. "My little brother was allergic to dogs, so we never could have one, ribbit. I've never really seen that many dogs honestly, rrrribbit." Tsu said, looking down at the water and watching the frogs swim around. None of them really stood out to her as the ideal familiar that she would spend the rest of her time in this game with, so she just decided to be patient and keep waiting. Eatos then asked Tsu about her tongue, saying that she had never seen anything like it before. "My tongue is a thing I was just born with, ribbit. My grandparents were human test subjects with frog DNA, and well, my whole family is froggy now, ribbit. I just got unlucky and ended with the longest tongue in the family, ribbit. Anything else you want to let out that you've been wondering about my tongue, rrrrrrrrrrrribbit?" Tsu asked, letting her tongue hang out now.

ID: 96688 LD: 4 (Failure)

@Eatos

Edited February 22, 2018 by Froppy

[Eatos 0]

If Eatos was honest, she couldn’t imagine being allergic to dogs. She adored them too much, had spent her entire life with them. To never be able to spend time with them, it would have been impossible. Eatos stroked her familiars head, the husky making a howling-like noise which made the girl laugh slightly.

She listened to Tsu explain why her tongue was the way it was, and Eatos was very very taken aback. People that were willingly used to test hybrid dna?! She’d heard rumours, but who hadn’t? Onlike, people were always saying that a government had tested this or approved. She didn’t expect any of those stories to actually be true, yet here, sitting next to her, was a living breathing example.

“I was just curious was all Tsu. Naturally, I saw it and couldn’t help but wonder, but I didn’t want to ask at first. Partly because I feel like everyone asks, and partly because, well, it shouldn’t matter. You’re still you, tongue or not” The girl was mostly speaking to Tsu, although she felt part of what she’d said could easily be aimed at herself. “Other than that, not really I suppose. It’s not really my place to pry…”

[Froppy 0]

Tsu didn't really mind that much that she couldn't spend time with dogs. After all, she never really got to know how they were. Being around Angel was probably the longest time Tsu had ever been around a dog. Tsu waved her hand with dismissal when Eatos told her that it wasn't her place to pry, and that she was just curious. "It's fine if you ask, ribbit. I like explaining things about my tongue. The little kids at the elementary school see me every day when I pick up my little sister and brother, ribbit. One of them asked, and I explained it all, and they thought I was some kind of superhero, ribbit. I played along with them, and I still did. They gave me the superhero name Froppy, which is why I made it my username, ribbit. Sorry if I'm rambling on, but I just like to talk, ribbit. So yeah, feel free to ask away, I know pretty much everything there is to know about my tongue, ribbit." Tsu explained, before taking a deep breath and calming herself down. She had gotten into that sort of talking mood again.

[Eatos 0]

Being, born like that. Eatos couldn’t imagine it. The bullying alone would push many to the brink, maybe it was just her inside of her own head. But, who knows. She had a slow childhood and couldn’t imagine anything else but it. But from the sounds of it, it wasn’t too bad. Super heros, for young children, are always important. At least for their mental health.

“Honestly Tsu, I’m more than happy to listen. I just find it interesting is all. Naturally, well, I’ve never seen, or even heard, anything about or like it. Honestly, it’s pretty interesting” Eatos was saying it partly to build a friendship with the other girl, and because she was genuinely interested. Tsu had lived with something she thought was, well, didn’t exist.

“I gotta ask, the test that went on with your family, that put the dna in there. Like, why did they go for it? Surely they’d of known it would affect you down the path, right?” It was her biggest curiousity, why would you willing have dna inplanted in you, and continue to have children? It was signing them up for a life of, well, this.

[Froppy 0]

Tsu nodded her head when Eatos said that she was happy to listen, finding all of this interesting, and never having seen anything like it before. "Well, as of now, there are 11 other people in the world with long tongues, ribbit. It's just in my family that this a thing. In this game however, just about anyone can have long tongue with vanity items and food, ribbit." Tsu explained, looking down at the pond and watching the frogs go by.

Tsu shook her head when Eatos asked why her grandparents had went through with the testing of frog dna, knowing it would have affected Tsu. "I actually asked them myself why they did that, ribbit. Neither of them had willingly done the testing. Both of their families were in serious debt before the testing, and they both owed the government a lot of money, ribbit. They were kidnapped from their families when they were around my age. Then the experiments happened, ribbit. The results were successful in implanting the frog dna, but it left both of my grandparents seemingly okay, rrrrrrrribbit." Tsu explained, looking back up at Eatos. A fly had been buzzing around her head for a little bit, so Tsu grabbed it with her tongue and spat it out on ground. "Continuing, my grandparents seemed unaffected by the testing, but then the frog traits started to surface about a year later, ribbit. They were already married, just from their time at the labs, and they were hoping to have kids, but now they couldn't, ribbit. Turns out, the government didn't care, they wanted to see what the hybrid babies would look like. My grandparents were forced to have kids, which one of them was my mom, ribbit. My mom met my dad during high school, and they fell in love, despite my mother's frog traits. Only problem was, apparently the frog dna is very easy to end up affecting you, and my dad also ended up with frog dna, ribbit. Then they had me as their first child. But yeah, the testing was against their will, sorry for rambling on, rrrrrrrrribbit." Tsu explained, going into a bit of a long story. Tsu leaned over and patted Angel on the head for a little bit, and then went back to watching the frogs in the pond.

@Eatos

 

Edited March 2, 2018 by Froppy

[Eatos 0]

Eatos listened to Tsu explain her family, and she couldn’t not feel slightly bad for the other girl. It was something far beyond her control, yet she was forced to live it. A life forced upon her family line. She did find it a little odd a government would look at it, pondering the purpose behind such research. Was it to test the possibility, look for adaptive genes? It wasn’t that Eatos couldn’t see the possible benefits of running such an experiment, but rather, the nature upon which it was conducted. Forcing it upon the family was the first mistake, and the second was the nature of how exposed it was. And why frog. But, it didn’t matter the why. There was nothing she could do about it, other than simply acknowledge it had happened and, well. Tsu wasn’t looking for Sympathy, rather, understanding?

“It’s ok” she said to Tsu’s comment about rambling “I asked you to speak. As I said, I take a joy out of observing and listening. I find it, well, just the knowledge that a government did that. It’s sickening, in a way, what people can get away with when others aren’t paying attention” SAO was, yet another, example of this. How much did power really get you?

“So, do you hate them? The government I mean, for..well, doing this to you? To your family?” Eatos found it impossible not to ask, for she knew her answer. She’d hate them for it, she wasn’t sure how you couldn’t not hate them.