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A new Mission has been generated!
Mission: Fight!
Description: You live in a dangerous world that is not kind to the weak. Seek out training on how to handle yourself in combat.
Rewards: 10 XP, ???
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If there was one thing this night had made clear, it’s that Caleb needed to be able to defend himself. And right now, he just couldn't. So I need to change that.
I’ll stick with the level and XP set up I have now, but I’ll help Caleb get to the first level faster than I previously planned. Once he is Level 1, I will give him access to his ‘status’ page, which is still under construction but should be done well before he gets to that point.
For the immediate future, learning how to handle himself in a fight besides just curling into a ball will go a long way. Not to mention the addition of the ‘???’ reward, which was an idea I had been toying with on the side but hadn’t made much progress in. But now it looks like I’ll have to dedicate some more time to figuring it out.
Caleb’s eyes flicked between the notification and the girl who was dragging the unconscious boy away, down the street. A wavering uncertainty was crushed by a surge of determination, and he ran to catch up to her.
“Hey, wait up!” He cried. She stopped, waiting for him to reach her.
“What?” She asked.
“Could you, maybe, um, teach me. . . how to. . . fight?” His voice quickly withered as he made his request to the much larger girl. Where he had started looking her in the eye, the ground now had his full attention, not daring to look up and see her reaction.
The girl looked over Caleb and tilted her head in thought, mulling it over. Her expression eased into a relaxed “why not?” kind of look and she shrugged.
“I mean, technically I could, but I think my dad would prefer I didn’t. I’m still an amateur in training and I doubt my dad would like me trying to take on a trainee of my own when I have a lot left to learn.” She explained. “So, how about this? I’ll talk to my dad and, if he agrees, you can learn from him.”
Caleb’s head snapped up to look at the girl - I really need to learn people’s names - looking like she’d just promised him a million dollars. I still didn’t know who this girl was or who her dad was that he was teaching her how to fight. And I hate not knowing things, but it’s unfortunately a feeling I’ve been getting used to over the last few days. I’d have to fix that.
As ideas for how to collect more information formed in my mind, Caleb and the girl had finished their conversation. She told him that she’d find him tomorrow and give him his answer and then they went their separate ways.
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Caleb got home fine after that, though he stayed alert and did his best to keep quiet in case the other bullies were still around, looking for him. Luckily, they were nowhere to be seen, either giving up their chase, or maybe even having encountered the girl who knocked out their accomplice. I hope it was the latter.
When he got home, he opened the door to see his parents cleaning up from dinner, a plate still out on the table for him. They looked up and saw him standing in the doorway, sweaty and covered in dirt from the chase and being tackled to the ground.
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“By the gods, Caleb! What happened to you?!” Lucille cried as she ran across the room and pulled him into her arms. Harry crossed the room and looked over his wife’s shoulder as Lucille vigorously rubbed dirt off of Caleb’s face.
“It’s no-nothing mom.” Caleb managed as she squished and pushed his face around. “I just, um. . . tripped! Y’know? Cause it was getting late, right? And -”
Caleb began to ramble out an excuse for his sorry state, one which his parents clearly weren’t buying. They stared hard at him even as he avoided eye contact, his eyes instead swimming around the room as he spun his foolproof lie.
In this time, Alice had meandered over to the familial interrogation and was looking over her brother. She looked up at him and saw that his clothes were disheveled, the hem of his tunic shifted just so in a way that she could see the slowly forming bruise on Caleb’s stomach. She rushed him, grabbing the fabric and lifting her arm high, exposing the reddened bruise over his stomach.
Caleb quickly forced his sister’s hand away and pushed his clothes back down, but it was too late now. His father, who had been quiet up until this point, pried Lucille away with a hand on her shoulder and stepped up to Caleb. He kneeled in front of Caleb and grabbed his arms firmly, locking him in place.
“Look at me, Caleb.” He spoke in a hushed but commanding tone. Caleb had dropped his eyes to the floor when his father had approached, now a feeling of trepidation kept them there.
“Look. At. Me.” He said again, emphasizing his words.
Caleb slowly raised his head to meet his father’s gaze. Harry’s eyes were hard and serious, but without anger or malice, only filled with concern for the wellbeing of his loved one.
“Tell me what happened.” It wasn’t a question. Caleb’s eyes flicked to the floor again before a squeeze on his arm brought them back up to Harry.
“. . .It doesn’t matter.” Caleb said.
“The hell it doesn’t, tell me”
“I said it doesn’t matter! Just drop it, okay?!
A bubble of frustration and shame burst inside Caleb as he shouted, starling the gathered family. Though I had felt the tumultuous emotions building, even I was caught off guard by his sudden outburst, but I guess everyone has a breaking point.
Tears began to well up in Caleb’s eyes.
“You always told me I need to rely on myself! So just leave me alone!”
Caleb tried to pull his arms away but his father’s grip never loosened. He struggled and yanked until it looked like his arms were about to pop out of their sockets, hot tears streaming down his face.
Harry held firmly onto Caleb’s arms as Lucille comforted Alice, who was cowering in the face of what must be a very frightening scene for such a young child. Eventually, Caleb’s breathing grew labored and his struggling slowed until he just stood there, eyes red and puffy, looking at the floor again.
“I’m trying my best. Shouldn’t that be enough?” He whispered.
His quiet words didn’t seem directed at any one person, but they still cut through the silence in the room. Harry seemed especially impacted as he let go of Caleb’s arms, instead lowering his arms and cupping his son’s hands.
“You will have to rely on yourself one day, Caleb, but that day is not today.” He said. “And, even when that day comes, you don’t have to rely only on yourself. Not every weight can be carried alone, there are those around you, your mother and I foremost among them, that will be there for you when you need it. But you need to talk to us, son, so you don’t carry this burden alone.”
He lifted Caleb’s head to look at him and continued.
“Your best isn’t always going to be enough, no one person can do everything. You’re going to be good at some things, bad at others, and just okay at the rest of it. And that’s okay. But there’ll always be someone out there who can help you when you can’t do something yourself. You should always try your best, but remember that if your best doesn’t measure up, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, it just means you’re human.”
Caleb looked at his father, tear stains running down his cheeks, sniffling as he tried to hold back more tears. Harry leaned forward and pulled Caleb into a tight embrace, wrapping his arms around him and patting his back.
Alice ran over to hug Caleb too, and Lucille stood over the hug pile with a hand on Caleb’s shoulder.
Caleb spent a minute simply burying his face in his dad’s shoulder, trying to calm himself back down. His sniffling slowed and stopped and he raised his face, his father pulled back but kept a hand on his arm.
“. . . Jack and the twins cornered me when I was coming back from my lessons. . . Just like they got me in the woods."
Hearing Caleb's confession, Harry closed his eyes and furrowed his brow, obviously trying to hold down a much stronger reaction. Lucille's look of shock quickly turned to one of outrage as her grip on Alice tightened. Caleb continued.
"I tried to run but Bob caught me and. . . I don't know what he was going to do. . . B-but I'm fine! Cynthia found me before he could do anything and knocked him out! She said she would talk to her dad, so everything should be okay now!"
His father took a calming breath, as he was nearly shaking with rage, before looking back at Caleb.
“No, it’s not okay. Caleb, we are your family, if you’re in trouble or need help, you come to us. Do you understand?”
Caleb nodded.
The family once again embraced, tears were dried, and the conversation slowly shifted towards lighter topics. A soft look of relief never left Caleb’s face for the rest of the night, even as Lucille dragged him into his parents’ bed along with Alice.
Scars don’t heal, physical or emotional, but they don’t have to define you.