Ollie looked down at Jump-touch, sighed quietly, and then strode through the portal to the outside. "I really wanted to fight something," Jump-touch heard them mutter as they left, "man, I never get to fight."

That just left her, standing here alone in the Drop; the last living thing in this magical space. Behind her, the portcullis was starting to lower, and there was the smell of electricity in the air, the scent of a thunderstorm, letting her know that this place wouldn't hold her much longer.

She could feel the magic condensing around her with each step she took towards freedom, congealing, coalescing, into something-

Outside the dungeon, Jump-touch stared down at her hands.

It was a… She wasn't sure what it was, as she turned it over in her hands.

Some sort of hair ribbon maybe? Stylised into the shape of a flower, all complicated petals, layered tightly together.

Should I wear it?

But it might get lost, or damaged or- She blinked, looking up from the flower, finally noticing the commotion going on around her.

In front of her, on the dusty patch of stone in front of the Drop, Eim, Shrike and Yaris were fighting, had they been doing this the whole time? On the floor, Yaris was sitting atop Eim, holding him down with her one free arm, still struggling to free the other. On his legs, Shrike was punching him in the shins, cane discarded and forgotten on the floor, slowly being covered with dust.

That's good, getting hit with that cane would hurt. The object was solid wood, with a heavy metal cap on the end, and there was a good, hefty weight to it.

Greed.

This was greed. This was what she imagined, when Rat-tail explained it to her, when the whole village came together to intervene early on a case of hoarding, when kobolds spoke in hushed gestures about the past. Greed was fighting, it was kicking, it was biting. Greed was screaming rage over nothing more than stuff.

On the ground, Eim had managed to push Yaris back and into Shrike, and the two were tangled up together now, fighting each other out of sheer inertia. Ollie was trying to pull Yaris away by the back of her shirt but was having no success, only tearing the fabric.

This was what kobolds did when they went mad. They bit and scratched at each other over trinkets, or flecks of metal, or… What were they even fighting about, here? Jump-touch wasn't quite sure she got it. There had been two votes versus three on fighting in the pit, so they should have done another round in the arena. She should have been sitting in the stands with Eim right about now, but instead...

Then again, they had also discussed it the night before, and decided not to fight again, could you change your mind on that sort of thing? How many times could you change your mind, before each decision became meaningless?

She took a step back as Eim flung a handful of sand into Yaris's face, causing her to flinch away and making Ollie let go of her shirt, as they flinched backwards. On the ground, Shrike was scrabbling for his cane, but it had been thrown away already by an errant kick, and was now lying in the bushes. Didn't he have magic? Didn't Yaris have her sword? Why weren't they using them?

Jump-touch took a step backwards, flinching as she felt cold stone against her back. A quick look revealed the Drop, still there, but now sporting firmly-closed stone doors. Welp, there was no going back in there.

Eim was the healer, did that mean his vote was worth more than Shrike's, or Ollie's, or hers, because he would be the one to pick them up again at the end? Was her vote even worth anything? She wasn't a fighter, she would contribute nothing in the pit.

I want to learn to fight, but not like this.

Her head hurt, as she watched the three squabble. Ollie was wading in now with kicks of their own, looking very tall and stately amongst the three brawlers.

"We could have gotten something great!" Yaris was shouting. "You weren't there!" She had managed to scrabble back on top of him and was now slapping at him, tears streaming down her face.

Eim had no answer, curling up and covering himself with his hands as best he could. Beside him, Shrike had finally given up, lying supine on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and panting heavily. One hand was clenching at the dust, open and closed, open and closed.

"We could have been rich!" She shouted, slapping him around the head again, "we could have gone all the way!"

"We're already rich!" Eim shouted back, "pull yourself out of it!"

"It's not enough!" she countered, but this time as she came in for another slap, Eim caught her wrist, wrenching it sideways in a way which made Jump-touch wince. That had to hurt. Her other arm was still in the sling, tangled up around her neck where she'd managed to get it half-free, and the whole sight looked ridiculous.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Whatever Eim had done, back in the Drop, to try and subdue her, it was long gone now, was he going to try again?

Well, what if she tried something?

"No," said her skill, as Jump-touch gently touched a hand to Yaris's back. "You can't do that."

Well, that had been worth a try at least. She took a step back, sending the flower to her Heart instead and leaning back against the drop, away from the fighting. Shrike had given up, but Yaris, Eim and Ollie were all still shouting at each other. Something about money from Yaris, stupidity from Eim and general incoherent noises of frustration from Ollie.

How do I make them stop fighting? Isn't this my job?

"You need to stop fighting, it's over!" She tried, but it sounded weak against everything that was going on. Should she try SCREECH? She should!

"You're never gonna get them to stop like that," Ollie aimed another kick at Yaris, who glared up at them finally.

"Why are you attacking me, you should be on our side. Didn't you want to win?"

There was something desperate in her voice, as it cracked at the end.

"Well," Ollie aimed another, more half-hearted kick at her, "I did, but that was before you WENT INSANE! What the hell are you doing!"

Jump-touch swallowed the words that had been building in her throat, this was the most coherent any of the three had sounded in minutes.

Ollie stared down at Yaris, biting their lip. Somebody had scratched their face at some point, and arms, and the welts looked angry and red.

It makes them look like a Guardian.

Although Yaris was still glowering up at them, from her perch on Eim's knees, the anger clouding her face was starting to fade, rapidly being replaced by something that looked like... Confusion.

"You coming back to us?"

"What-" Yaris said slowly, blinking down at Eim who was still beneath her, there was something lost behind her gaze. "Eim?"

She stared down at her bloody fists, and then, ever so slowly, rolled off him, and onto the ground beside him, in much the same pose as Shrike. "What happened?"

"Eim attacked you," Ollie finally took a step back, also slumping to the floor. Jump-touch did the same, the big stone door cool against her back. "No, don't interupt, he attacked you because you wouldn't leave the, uh, are we calling it a Drop? The Drop. And then Shrike attacked you both, and now here we are, outside and already out of healing for the day."

Jump-touch took a moment to circle around and make sure that Eim was still alive. He looked alright, and he was still breathing, so that was good. All the humans she'd met so far had needed to breathe, and most of the kobolds too. There was a lot of blood covering his face and shirt, but he didn't look that injured. Most of it seemed to be coming from either his nose, or from a cut on the back of his head, where he'd impacted the ground.

She crouched down beside him, as Ollie offered Shrike a hand, "are you okay?"

Eim shook his head, curled up into a ball, hissing quietly to himself like he was in pain.

Jump-touch stood up. "Should we put him into my Heart? I can make a space…"

She was a bit hesitant about that, but if he was going to stay curled up, she could fit him on top of the object, or in the gap on the bottom of the bookshelf.

Eim said something muffled, and then waved a bloody hand at her, wincing and still making that odd noise.

"Crazy-" he started, before breaking down coughing. "Crazy idiot broke my fucking nose. She broke it!"

"Can you fix it?" Ollie didn't even look at him.

He shook his head. "It's probably healed like shit now. Noses never heal right, even for the best healers, and I struggle with bruises. Thanks a fucking lot, Yaris."

Yaris was still panting, staring up towards the distant ceiling. "Sorry about your nose. I don't even remember getting up this morning."

"No?" Eim finally uncurcled his arms from over his head, rolling onto his side slightly so he could see her.

She shook her head. "You fixed my arm, and I told myself we'd leave tomorrow, even thought the fighting was… It was great, it was fantastic. Even though it was great. And then I woke up here, just now, where are we?"

"Outside," Jump-touch offered, but Yaris kept staring at the ceiling.

Eim finally uncurled himself completely, rolled over, and placed his fingertips against the bare skin of her wrist, grunting as he had to be in any position other than 'lying on his back on the floor.'

"Nothing new," he said after a moment. "Nothing that matters, anyway. No head injuries, no leaking from inside your arm, nothing my level one diagnosis can detect, anyway. If I concussed you, which seems unlikely-"

"It's not just her," Shrike spoke up. "I don't remember this morning either. I have memories of us both talking last night, but then I went to bed, and now here I am."

He had the same sort of stunned expression Yaris did, eyes slightly unfocused, but he had been conscious longer than her, he had had more time to come around.

"Huh," Eim said quietly, falling back onto his back and wincing as he hit the dusty stone. "Ouch."

Laid out like that, the three of them in a row, they looked like corpses.

Ollie was strangely quiet, looking between the three of them, eyes narrowed but saying nothing so far.

"Is this a Drop thing?" Jump-touch tried.

"It might be," Shrike sounded as tired as he looked. "They're rarely what they seem, but this should have been a beginner one, it should have been straightforward. Go in, fight the stuff, get your reward, leave. The rules didn't specify anything about mind-fuckery."

"Unless we're further down than we thought, the tutorials stop at some point, right?" Ollie said, finally speaking up, and everyone winced.

"That's a possibility."

"Why can't I feel my hands?" Yaris sounded like she was on the edge of passing out. "I should be able to feel them, right?"

"I hit you with the knockout drug." Eim sighed as he also clambered to his feet. His nose was at a slight angle now, Jump noticed.

He saw her looking and shook his head. "You doing okay over there? No panicing this time?"

She nodded, although she wasn't sure she was okay. Her thoughts were circling a crackling fire, burning thoughts such as 'Why couldn't I do anything?' and 'I should have been able to stop them.'

Around and around they went in her head. 'Why couldn't I stop them. Why can't I fight. Why am I so much smaller than all the other humans, why-"

She hated it. She hated this lack of agency, hated being so out of her depth all the time, hated being unable to fight, not even knowing the right words to say to get others to stop. She should have been able to do more, she should have thrown herself into the fray and bitten and kicked until they all stopped.

I don't understand humans at all, but I WANT to. I want to be a part of this. I want a sword!

With a sword, she could have stopped them fighting, or she could have volunteered to go into the arena, or-

She looked down at her hands, where the flower had manifested. In her Heart, it was sitting in pride-of-place now, next to the Opal Stone.

She was glad the Drop hadn't given her a sword.