[F7 - PP] <<Feeding Your Enemy>> "A Rocky Relationship"

[Elora 0]

Elora folded forward, placing her palms over the caps of her knees. Her huffing indicated that she was actually pretty winded by the quick and undemanding competition, "Darn...I thought that I was gonna beat you, but I guess you're a lot more used to physical action than I am..." Jesus, I sound like an old woman. After a brief stretch, her corrected posture settled back into its usual slumped state. "Hey, do you think we could get some food from that town?", she inquired a bit sheepishly, "I haven't eaten anything since this morning, and getting all the way to your place was enough of a hike"

As they spoke, Elora saw something moving out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, it was the rock golem rolling up from the edges of a small and swampy pool of water formed beside the waterfall's basin. "Looks like he did just fine" It was honestly embarrassing how something only a fraction of her size was so much more resilient. 

[Freyd 0]

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea.  We have been out here for awhile."  Freyd stretched, not because he needed to, but out of psychosomatic habit.  Stretching was the sort of thing people did when they were about to switch to a new activity.  As they made their way down into the village, he found himself giving voice to his thoughts, for a change.  He kicked their little tag-along ahead of him whenever it seemed to falter, having grown somewhat oblivious to its presence.

"I'm often amazed at how many of these little settlements are in the game.  They're everywhere.  It's good game development, and impressive at the same time."  He prattled on for a while, in his own bizarre manner and for no particular reason.  It was like a stream of consciousness, flowing out.  They had just reached the central square when he stopped, suddenly realizing what he'd been doing.  "I....er...sorry about that."  He scratched the side of his head, feeling for possible signs of trauma.  Small talk?  Me?!  What the hell is wrong with me?

[Elora 0]

 

"Seems like you know a lot about games", she noted plainly. It wasn't a particularly astute observation. Essentially everyone who was trapped inside this world knew about games. No one would have been first in line to buy a groundbreaking, and consequently widely expensive, virtual-reality headset otherwise. "Maybe they were able to pull off implementing that environmental procedural generator thing that No Man's Sky claimed it had. They could have let it run for a few dozen instances, then decided which were the most interesting results to include" She didn't know if that was how it worked. 

This particular village that they had entered was designed to look like a small and inviting agricultural settlement. Fields were stitched across the landscape by a lattice of irrigation canals which fed into square terraces containing hearty vegetables and fragrant flowers. The air around them smelled as sweet as a spring in bloom. Not far into the town's centre, the harmonious fragrances of seasoned meats, stewed vegetables, and candied fruits quickly overtook her. "So many options...", she fretted, practically salivating as she spoke.  "I think I want something with meat in it. Maybe pork? Wait, but there's also fish -- actually, chicken sounds good too" Elora began to drift in the direction of every option as she spoke. "Soup! I'll get a noodle dish with meat and vegetables in it!", she nodded to herself at that suggestion, then proceeded to purchase a meal from a vendor who advertised something similar. "I just hope this is isn't spicy. I probably should have asked first" While she worried, the rock companion made its way over to the market in search of its own sustenance. Elora hoped she wouldn't wind up having to buy whatever it stole. 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Elora

[Freyd 0]

"I used to blog and vlog  about the gaming industry before getting stuck here."  It was an honest, low-risk admission.  Freyd had actually been hired by one of Kayaba's rivals to come and check out the system and report his findings to them directly.  It wasn't exactly industrial espionage.  He didn't get any special access privileges to the system code or anything, but it had gotten him the nerve gear and one of the limited run copies of the game.  His internal jury was still deliberating whether or not the results were actually an improvement on his old life.

Watching her bounce frantically to and fro, he ordered himself a simple stir fry and had it half finished by the time Elora finally settled on a choice.  "How is it that you can be moping and feigning exhaustion one minute," he asked, "then literally bouncing between fields and vendors the next?"  His left eyebrow must have been more curious than his right, as it had climbed nearly twice as far on his forehead.  The smile spread across his face gave it away that he was just teasing her.  He added her order to his and paid the vendor for both.

"You've come a long way, Elora," he added sincerely, as she received her meal.  "You should be proud of what you've achieved."

[Elora 0]

Elora took a seat beside him at a small picnic-looking table in the main courtyard. "Because food gives me motivation. Are you saying you haven't ever rushed to get something done because you knew you could eat afterwards?", she posed the question between the sound of her struggling -- then succeeding, at breaking her chopsticks apart. The woman was aware that there were other methods for consuming meals in this world, but she was still determined to master the art of picking up food with chopsticks. Normally, she would approach dissecting the dish with one of the wooden tools in each hand. This time however, she made an attempt to execute things correctly. With an untrained hand, the prongs shook and slid in the grasps of her fingers until she finally managed to capture a singular noodle between them. It rose to her lips and fell into her mouth with a sound of satisfaction.

"You've come a long way, Elora," he added sincerely, as she received her meal.  "You should be proud of what you've achieved."

"Why do you always go down the life coach route when we're sitting together? I already know I did well and that I should be happy and all that", she said twirling her utensils in the air as if to imply him rambling on and on. "I'm more interested in the fact that you were a vlogger. Does that mean you recorded yourself talking about technology and posted it on Youtube?" Her words trailed off as she directed her attention downwards. After piercing another noodle and consuming it, she continued, "No offense, but you hardly seem the type to enjoy putting yourself out there"

 

Spoiler

ID#: 167718 LD4 Failed to Find a Familiar

*Roll was mistakenly labelled as "Taming a Familiar" instead of "Finding a Familiar

Edited September 8, 2020 by Elora

[Freyd 0]

Freyd stared at his meal as he ate, replying between shallow bites.  "Ever notice how even the most insular nerd can get verbal diarrhea when you put them in front of tech?  Under the right conditions, you can change anyone's normal behavioral.  It's also equally amazing what you can do when you can't see the audience watching you.  But yes, that was basically what I did, as amazing as it might seem."

He enjoyed the logic of tech.  That was the honest truth.  It made sense to him.  Navigating his feelings and the Byzantine rules of social discourse were as beyond him as coding would be to a neanderthal.  

He arched his eyebrows playfully as he readied his next retort.  "And since you're tired of me showering you with praise, I promise never to do it again."

The little rock golem thing, meanwhile, busied itself playing with Persi as she darted around and even through him, evading his attempts to snare or stomp on her shadowy form.

[Elora 0]

"Yeah, I guess so", she said in response to his observation of technology-lovers, "I feel like I'd prefer to have a captive audience so that I could gauge their responses" Elora seemed to be getting a hang of handling her chopsticks, though she would resort back to using them like tiny shovels or harpoons when she encountered an especially evasive morsel of food. 

"And since you're tired of me showering you with praise, I promise never to do it again."

"Well, I didn't mean you'd have to stop it entirely", she admitted reluctantly, "It's just -- maybe if you do it too much it won't feel special anymore" Freyd had taken another bite of his food, leaving an awkward pause to linger in the wake of her statement. "Diminishing returns -- and all that -- it's like a principle, or something...", she followed up with a few scratches to the side of her head. Wasn't that something they taught us in school?

[Freyd 0]

Freyd gave her that look that unimpressed look he had that said that she was being contradictory.

"Fine," he replied, the faint hint of a smirk curling the edges of his lips.  "Consider the bar raised.  You'll need to work harder from this point on."

Sitting on the grass with legs splayed out before him, Freyd's lanky lounging form soaked in the pastoral beauty of their surroundings.  "This place isn't half bad.  It's a bit lacking in the fire and brimstone that helps to get the blood moving, but... yeah.  It's nice."  Something occurred to him, causing his head to crane up awkwardly and look at her.  "Did you ever pick up a profession?  Honestly, you like food so much, I'm surprised that you chose to go with alchemist."  With anyone else, there might have been an insult buried in there somewhere.  Freyd was normally too oblivious to caring about such things, and therefore unlikely to have meant anything by it. 

"I... oh... uh... I just mean that I think you'd be really good at it."

[Elora 0]

"Did you ever pick up a profession?"

"Yeah, I...", she began to mumble.

"Honestly, you like food so much, I'm surprised that you chose to go with alchemist."

Elora refrained from taking another bite of her meal as she began to reflect on his comment. She'd never really envisioned herself in a situation that called for defending her decision to pursue the profession.  "I don't know, I've always just been kind of interested in sciencey stuff", she began, "It wasn't really something I had the chance to pick up...in the...real world, I mean." Elora set her jaw, causing the rest of her complexion to settle into a sterner expression. 

The chopstick previously held firmly between her fingers would spin and flick as she fiddled with it while she spoke, "I would read about things like the differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, what happens inside of a chloroplast during photosynthesis, or how DNA polymerase would replicate and synthesize genetic coding, but..." Unconsciously, Elora had begun to bounce her leg as she stared blankly into the dish set on the table in front of her. "It would always come time for the tests and I couldn't...", She trailed off, clearly struggling to search for some way to articulate the phenomenon, "It just -- none of it would come back to my mind. There were too many questions and never enough time to think about them all." Something about the behavior she displayed while explaining this to Freyd was indicative of a similar process she may have undergone when confronted with different cognitive obstacles. Perhaps her physical and psychological actions were instinctual responses which made her mind wander aimlessly as she struggled to focus on completing the task at hand.

"Things are easier here.", she concluded bluntly. And that's what I'm worried about...

[Freyd 0]

'So this is what it was like for people when I spewed out technobabble,' Freyd thought to himself.  He listened intently, but biology had never been one of his stronger subjects, or of much interest to him.  He'd also learned to read Elora well enough to know that this was something rather sensitive, especially the last part.  Test anxiety?  Maybe a learning disability?  It would explain the insecurity, as well as a number of other things.  'Keep listening, you moron!  She's telling you important things right now.'

"Maybe that's a good reason to try things here?"  He suggested, without any hint of sarcasm.  "Build your confidence while it seems easier.  Things may still be a challenge back in the real world, but at least you'll have faith in yourself.  That can go a really long way."

He looked around, taking in their surroundings and the little rock figure still milling around playfully with Persi.

"Take Buster, here.  He seems to be a pretty resilient and persistent fella - ingenious too, finding his way down here with us.  You know me well enough by now.  I don't waste my time on things.  If I'm still here doing this, it means that I think you're worth it."

His eyes went wide as he realized how bad that sounded, then dropped his head onto one gloved hand with a groan.

"That... might have come out wrong.  Just ignore me."

[Elora 0]

She smiled faintly at his ill-phrased remark before shifting uncomfortably in her seat and returning her gaze to the bowl before her. Prodding at it gently, she refuted, "I have been trying a lot more stuff since I've been stuck here, but there are still other things that I'm too afraid to attempt" It almost seemed like she was trying to avoid his scrutiny by evading eye contact as she spoke, "Like, with the Alchemy...I haven't even begun to try making potions or crystals." She paused to take a final, unfulfilling bite of her lunch before sliding its remnants off to the side. "I know it's only a simplified crafting system and nothing like real-world chemistry, but that just somehow makes it even more intimidating" Her hands fell to rest atop her thighs, which were still bouncing form a nervous energy. "If I can't figure it out or I screw something up horribly, then I'll lose my last chance to get it right. I'm never going to be able handle it if I can't succeed at it here" 

Meanwhile, the rock golem had made an objective out of consuming Elora's leftovers. It stacked itself into a tower that could reach the top of bench, then reoriented itself to pull its lagging pebbles up and over the wooden ledge. Repeating the process, it managed to climb onto the top of the table and slide itself into the dish with series of clatters. 

[Freyd 0]

Freyd hesitated for a moment before gently placing a hand on her nearest bouncing thigh.  He intended only to calm and steady her, and, being Freyd, was entirely oblivious to other potential interpretations.

"My grandfather was the wisest man I ever knew." His tone was subdued, as if these were memories he hadn't delved into for quite some time.  "He was nuts, like... kookey-nuts... always doing weird stuff for reasons that made no sense to anyone else.  But he had a twinkle in his eyes that told you that there was some ingenious method to his madness.  Most of the time I had no idea what it was, but I learned to appreciate the power of that look."  He batted away invisible distracting tangents that threatened his focus.  "Anyway, he had this one phrase the he always used to say when people around him started to get anxious.  He'd sit next to them and pat them on the leg or shoulder and tell them that they were borrowing tomorrow's trouble, and only focus on today's."

He patted her leg, awkwardly to be reassuring, not realizing that he had left his hand on her thigh again.

"Don't worry about what comes next, Elora.  Just deal with what's in front of you right now.  Everything else will come in due time.  You still have plenty of chances left."

Clattering pottery distracted his attention back to the table.

[Elora 0]

Instinctually, her body recoiled at the suddenness of his touch. A cold jolt of alarm shot from her spine to back of her neck, causing all of her hairs to stand on end while her muscles tensed in turn. Except, the gesture that followed the listing of her perceived inadequacies didn't seem to be delivered with hostility but instead, reassurance? Something about the warmth radiating from his hand, and from the tone of his hushed voice, drowned her in a wave of comfort. Elora listened intently as Freyd shared the story of his grandfather until her jittering motions slowly lapsed and the worries she had imposed on herself began to wash away. 

I don't understand. Why isn't he pushing me to be better than this? Griping about her struggles or suggesting that she wouldn't be able to succeed in something was only ever met with disappointment or disdain from her parents. Even Freyd himself typically took the approach of urging her to do more than she thought herself capable of, so she was staggered to see him express concern and understanding for her worries of failure. 

Once again stuck inside her own head, Elora held an unusually prolonged stare into Freyd's eyes until her concentration was broken by the sound of the rock golem fumbling about.  "I guess that means I'll be dealing with this thing", she sighed as she lifted him out of the soup and placed him on the table to dry off, "Familiar hunting sure is demanding. I hope that there's still a chance left in terms of finding my companion"

She turned her attention briefly back to Freyd who was still nonchalantly resting a hand upon her leg. A blush accompanied her stifled smile as she picked up the edges of his hand and dropped it off to the side of her. It synchronously landed with a 'thud' to the scraping sound of her pushing back the bench to stand up and adjust her skirt. "Shall we?"

 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Elora

[Freyd 0]

Freyd straightened as if emerging suddenly from a daydream.

"Hmm?  Oh... yeah."  He started up from the table, nearly stumbling and knocking over the whole thing, his hands darting forward to steady it and prevent any permanent damage.  Grinning sheepishly as his eyes narrowed back down to normal size, he made sure that their lunch was disposed of in a suitable manner.

"We're getting into Persi-Freyd territory here.  Freyd-Persi?  At least you picked a nicer and more comfortable floor."  The tiny shadow figure with the blues burning eyes at his feet seemed to agree.  

"Are you sure that you wouldn't prefer a fish or something?"  He eyed the nearby creek assessing it for potential.  "Because I'm not really sure where else to take this, at this point."  He glances around, not seeing any other items of interest.  Scratching his head, wondering how to best to tackle things, he turned to Elora, wondering if she had a preference.

[Elora 0]

"Are you alright?", Elora asked, her eyebrows furrowing in concern for Freyd's dizzy spell. He seemed to regain his footing and his wits shortly thereafter, leaving her to feel a little less worried. Persi-Freyd territory?, she didn't know what to make of that, He clearly inherited more from his grandfather than just reiterating reassuring words.

"Are you sure that you wouldn't prefer a fish or something?"

"A FISH?", something about that suggestion seemed insulting to her, "What, so I could have it stare soullessly at me as I try and command it to attack things on land? I'm certain I can find something cooler than that! Just -- notascoolasadragon...", she mumbled bitterly. "Well, let's give it another go! We've already used up half a day and it won't be much longer before night rolls around." 

After lunch, the player's enthusiasm was restored and she quickly reverted to bouncing between storefronts and bulletin boards in search of a lead. They soon stumbled upon a precarious-looking maroon tent surrounded by cages, crates, and carnies of all shapes and sizes. "What'dya think that is?", she inquired of Freyd, who was probably more knowledgeable of anomalies like this from his days of travel. Before he had a chance to respond, an androgynous-looking NPC wearing flamboyant face paint and an florescent flowing gown pipped up, "Oh, hello~! Will the two of you be attending our traveling circus this afternoon? We have all sorts of enchanting attractions from the trapeze to the trappies~!"

"The 'trappies'?", commented Elora flatly.

"Why, yes! Those are all of our trapped fantastical creatures who give beautiful performances! You really should come and watch!"

Elora grabbed Freyd by the arm and tugged him down until one of her ears was close enough for her to whisper, "Freyd, this could be our chance! What if we get one of those creatures to be my familiar! They're already trained and I'm sure they could do a bunch of awesome stuff!" 

 

@Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

Spoiler

ID#: 168025 LD 1 Seriously Failed to Find a Familiar

Edited September 12, 2020 by Elora

[Freyd 0]

Freyd had an odd look on his face. 

Truthfully, he was pondering how best to address just how terrible a plan that was, but an internal error in his human simulation processes forced him to consider that that Elora might actually desperately need this.  Her efforts had been foiled at nearly every turn, and she was likely getting desperate.  It would likely end up being disastrous.  The woman changed her mind so quickly that he wondered if he might actually be able to harness the energy to spin a turbine.  Unkind.

"Yeah!  Sure!  That's a great idea."  Friendship logic-overriding protocols engaged.  Ugh.  This was going to involve him in some unpleasant encounter with another steaming pile of animal excrement.  It seemed to be his lot, lately.  But her eyes... this was taking a toll.

"Come on," he added looking at a more remote vantage point from which they could evaluate the potential candidates.  "We'll see more from over here."  

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her suddenly into the shadows, a tiny yelp of surprise escaping her lips as he did so.

[Elora 0]

  ♪  Wind Chimes  ♪  

 

One moment Freyd was scanning Elora's expression, the next he was whisking her away to hide among the piles of barrels, crates, and costumes racks that were scattered between a caravan of covered wagons. "I-I meant just by watching the show when it started, not by setting out on stealth mission!", hissed Elora in a hushed tone. As Elora complained to him, she took notice of something rather strange. Some of the carts they'd situated themselves between appeared to be canvased with an array of animal skins and monster pelts. Paws, claws, and hooves were strung across and between them, almost like Christmas lights decorating a party. The sight was accompanied by an eerie chorus of wind chimes which seemed to serenade the players like a siren beckoning them to a stormy sea. I don't know that this is a good idea, she thought apprehensively. Her slender fingers reached back and wrapped around the cloth of her worn brown hood, pulling it forward to cover her elven ears. Elora couldn't recall any other time, outside of the occasional rainstorm, that she had needed or wanted to use the accessory. Sneaking around seemed an appropriate excuse. 

"Where do you think they're keeping all of the creatures?", she asked as her body continued to sink behind the boxes to avoid being seen. 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Elora

[Freyd 0]

Freyd pointed away to his left, but his sights were set firmly on the woman visible inside the main performance tent.  A small rent in the cloth before them was just enough to catch glimpses of the interior.  The majordomo, or whatever her role was supposed to be, was dressed in a flamboyantly outlandish costume.  Were those teddy bear heads being used as hair elastics?  Predictable curves aside, her most prominent feature was the glamorous orange icon floating over her head.

"Why are all the whack-jobs in this game female?!"  It was meant to be rhetorical, but the look on Elora's face suggested that an explanation might be required.  Rolling his eyes, he shifted over slightly, pulling her over such that her hood was against his own so that she could better see the threat first hand.  "This is why we can't have nice things!"

A PKer?  Here, of all places?  How did that make any sense?

[Elora 0]

"Huh? What are you talking about?!", snapped Elora just as he redirected her focus to the bigtop before them. "You don't like...the color palette...?", she expressed with a skeptical sigh. A few moments of further inspection revealed a far more threatening culprit, the looming mark of a player-killer. Elora's stomach knotted nervously as she regarded the symbol and dwelled on its heavy implications. We're still in the safe zone of the town's jurisdiction though...aren't we...? They hadn't ventured far from the city to arrive at the circus grounds, leaving Elora's muddied judgement to guess whether or they had truly passed into dangerous territory. 

"I-I've never seen one before. I mean, it probably won't be a problem, right? She can't be any stronger than you are, and I think that we're still inside of the town" Although Elora was audibly making excuses for them to continue, her conscience maintained that it was probably a bad idea. Still, she was running out of opportunities - and daylight - to find herself a familiar. No way am I gonna return home empty-handed. Besides, I'm not gonna let Freyd think that her being here is to scare me. I can handle this. It was important that she remained resolute in completing the quest she had dragged him out to help with. Too many times before had she failed herself and others with seeing through obligations until the end.

"I'll just make a quick pass through that tent--", she decided Swiftly rising from their hideaway, she fled past a few NPCs distractedly shuffling props and toward the place he'd indicated the captive creatures might reside. The path was surprisingly uninterrupted, save for the occasional hurdle or wandering stagehand. One such worker, the eccentric socialite from before, nearly spotted her as she made her final dash from behind strewn barrels of gunpowder and into the side of the Monster Pavilion. "Alright, everyone! It's time for the rehearsal!", they called out in a loud voice that summoned performers from all over the yard to congregate at the entrances to both tents. "Trainers, don't forget to bring the feed for those - whatever they are - for tonight's show! I think we learned from the last incident that they can't be trusted to do their tricks without at least something in their stomachs" A handful of NPCs guiding the reigns of rhinoceros-looking creatures called back to others floundering in the pavilion to bring what the ringmaster requested. 

[Freyd 0]

"I-I've never seen one before. I mean, it probably won't be a problem, right? She can't be any stronger than you are, and I think that we're still inside of the town" 

Freyd's cowl slowly turned to face her, his eyes conveying his best 'did-you-seriously-just-say that' face.  Elora dashed off in the direction of the tents before he could stop her.  "Dammit, Elora!"  he hissed through clenched teeth.  The woman's impulsive actions were going to get them both killed.  There was no way to tell what level that PKer might be, but they didn't tend to be low.  An urgent and constant need to ensure your own survival bred a quick and dangerous rise in power.  Still, this was an exceptionally odd place to find such an individual.  

Unfortunately, Elora seemed to forget that her own green icon made her stand out starkly in a crowd of NPC, as much as an orange icon in a crowd of dead players.  Self-confidence risked becoming dead noob meat in a heartbeat if she wasn't more careful.  She'd gone too far for him to follow without risking exposure.  It left few options.

Freyd's head slowly turned as if the motion of his neck was somehow feeding energy to the bulk over his head.  Barrels?  No.  He didn't know anything about this place or its ringleader just yet.  He had no evidence to support any conclusions, other than the fact that they needed to tread cautiously.  If Elora was going to dart for the cages, he might as well position himself somewhere more useful.  Breaking off into the shadows, he made for his new destination.