Don't offend him...

Don't offend him...

Marcie's hand rested on the door handle to the meeting room. The president's son was inside waiting for her to give feedback on the manuscript he had submitted. Morton had stressed that she wasn't to offend the guy, otherwise their lives (the free snacks the company provided) might be at stake. The snacks were pretty damn good, she had to admit. She knew this day was coming all week and deliberately dressed in calming colours - a lemon yellow oversized plaid blazer, high waisted denim shorts, white tank and heels.

Okay. She took a deep breath, shaking her head of long wavy hair and calming herself down. As much as his manuscript was complete and utter garbage, it wouldn't be kind to rip it to shreds in front of him.

Okay.

She raised a fist, gently knocking on the door and pushing the door open once a deep voice on the other side told her to enter.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Mister Minnow, I-" Marcie froze for a second as there was only a kid who couldn't have been older than twenty sitting at the table, bright eyed and practically radiating optimism. He looked like an idol singer. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Have I-"

She doubled checked the meeting room.

No, this was the one.

"Are you Marcie?" he asked in a register that didn't quite match his face.

"Y-Yes." she nodded, moving to the table and shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you Mister Minnow."

"You can call me Daniel!" he smiled. "We're probably about the same age, so let's speak more comfortably."

"As you wish." she nodded, taking a seat. "May I ask how old you are?"

"I'm twenty-two!"

Good God he was practically a child.

"Okay well-"

"Is that my manuscript?" he asked, his doe eyes widening at the sight of all the red pen and post-it notes sticking out between the pages.

"I- Yes, it is-"

"Is it that bad?" he cried, sliding it over towards himself before Marcie could stop him.

"Wait, wait!" her hand flew out, managing to grab his attention. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay? They're just notes."

"But there's so many of them!"

She was going to fucking kill Morton.

"I think your idea is really good." she lied. "We just need to tidy-up and refine some parts and... make other parts more concise, but the story itself has potential!"

"Really?!"

No.

"Of course! Would I be here if it didn't?"

His face fell into a pout. "You have to say that because my mum is the CEO."

"Well let me ask you something, Daniel." she shifted in her seat. "Is writing the career path you want to go down? Or are you doing this as a hobby?"

Daniel hummed, adjusting his fancy watch and running a finger around his shirt collar. He glanced back at Marcie, his eyes falling lower down and immediately diverting his attention elsewhere before any heat could reach his face. She buttoned her blazer, waiting for him to respond.

"I mean, I kinda have to take over the company one day." he said. "I guess, I want to try publishing a book so that I can know the industry better. My mum published a lot before opening this company, so I think I should do the same."

"Then, wouldn't you rather try an agent at a different company?"

"You said it was good!" he huffed.

"I-I did say that, it is good, Daniel!" Marcie clarified. "But for the sake of total neutrality-"

"So you're not being objective?" he interjected and before Marcie could get another word out, he snatched the manuscript and stood up, gearing up to leave.

"I am!" she protested. "I'm just saying that regardless of what you write and how great it is, people are going to know you published under your mother's company and they might think negatively about that and focus on that instead of how good your book actually is."

Daniel stopped by the end of the long table, manuscript in his hands. He set his jaw for a moment, long eyelashes shadowing the smooth skin on his cheekbones as he thought it over. Marcie stood up slowly, wondering if it might be better to go and get some coffee so he could cool off, but he spoke before she could suggest it:

"If I query with an outside agent and get a deal with a publisher, will you help me edit this?"

"Of course!" she nodded with her dazzling smile. "I would be happy to help."

"In that case, I'll go with your suggestion."

"Okay!" she nodded, holding her hand out for the manuscript. "May I have this back?"

"What for?"

"I need to revise some parts."

"No need, I'll review your notes first and then we can meet tomorrow evening to go over it."

Tomorrow evening?

"Tomorrow afternoon, perhaps?" she suggested.

"Afternoon doesn't really work for me, I have classes until three and campus is across town."

"Mornings?"

"Nah, I don't do mornings."

Marcie grit her teeth and smiled. "Then I suppose evenings will have to do."

"Great! What time shall I pick you up?"

"Excuse me?" she frowned and a mild panic ran through Daniel's spine.

"Sorry, force of habit." he smiled sheepishly, scratching his neck. "I can try to make it for quarter-to five tomorrow, how about that?"

"Wonderful."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then." he raised a hand in goodbye and disappeared from the meeting room, not seeing how Marcie dropped to the floor, hugging her knees as the relief of it finally being over sank in.

"Morton!" she yelled as she spotted him beside Wendy's desk, chatting up a storm.

The middle aged man retreated to his office at the speed of light, his butt touching the chair the second Marcie came thundering through the door, long nail pointed right at him.

"You-!"

"I'm sorry!" he interjected. "There - are you happy?"

"He's a CHILD!" she cried. "You let me write all those harsh annotations and didn't think to tell me he's barely out of diapers?!"

"It slipped my mind." he shrugged. "And he's already in university, he'll be graduating soon, Martian. So don't talk about him like he's a literal kid."

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"No, but he's nailed the 'Bambi just saw his mother got shot' look!" she retorted. "How was I supposed to break the news that his manuscript is terrible when he looked so hopeful?"

"Well, that's not my problem." Morton shrugged. "I warned you, I said it would be your funeral."

"I sAiD iT wOuLd Be YoUr FuNeRaL." Marcie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, the kid is making me work after hours because he has to go to school so I'm gonna need that overtime rate applied from tomorrow."

"Now that, I can do."

[Welcome to Otherworld, Liban!]

[Load Save File?]

[Load / Cancel]

[Shippy Port]

"My brother will meet us at the edge of town and it won't take long before we reach the Dusty Highroad." Levi greeted her as she logged in.

"The Dusty Highroad?"

"It leads to Lake Lough, and then we take the boat across to Town Number Three."

"How long is this going to take us?"

"A week?"

"Oh, okay." Marcie nodded, leading the elf into the tailor shop she'd locked on to the moment she spied it. "Let's get some new clothes!"

"Oh that's okay, Liban. I don't need new clothes." he assured her as they stood on the shop floor, an assistant standing by the register with her hands clasped in front of her.

A simple tap of her hand told her she had ten-thousand gold to spend, the result of grinding in Leafy Forest, their win against Mayor Man and the weird monsters they'd fought down below the deck of the Steamboat as they traveled across the Ocean of Waves.

How much could a new outfit cost?

Her attention was drawn by a deep blue and rich orange ensemble made of shiny material. All of the garments looked the same in shape and style, but the colours were wildly different. The sets came complete with a headband, shoes and bangle accessory. With a smile on her face, Marcie picked the set off the wall, the price appearing above it:

[Clothing Set: Who Reads The Stars: 15,000G]

Great.

She looked down at her own clothes. The colours were fine, but she was hoping for something a bit more jazzy, something to show she was progressing. Was it normal to have that much gold at this level? Placing the outfit back, Marcie sauntered around the shop, picking up the individual items from the set available that were priced much lower. A headband cost 1000G, the bangle cost 2500G, the pair of shoes 5000G and the robes 8000G.

Maybe the bangle? It looked a lot nicer than the one she had equipped.

"Excuse me!"

[You have quipped: Starry Sky Bangle]

[Starry Sky bangle: +2% HP +5%MP]

"Sweet!" Marcie examined the shiny silver bangle on her wrist. There was nothing very special about it other than having little stars embossed all around it, and it was nice that they gave a little boost to her stats, too. "Okay, let's go find your brother."

"Let's go!"

Unlike Hamletville, Shippy Port was a bit larger with an early industrial feel. She wasn't sure if they were going for a steampunk or Victorian style, the costumes of the characters seemed to be a mix of both, but whatever it was meant to be, it fit the feel of the town. But like Hamletville, most of the buildings were inaccessible, those that could be had doors wide open. There were vendors on the street selling food and items, all of which had varying degrees of healing properties.

"Antidote?" Marcie cocked her head in question as she picked up a fancy looking dark green bottle.

"That heals you if you're poisoned!" Levi chimed in.

"Why would I be poisoned? How can I get poisoned in this damn- How?!"

"Snakes, venom sprites and a number of other plant-based enemies are over on the edge of town. You'd better keep a bottle or two because if you don't have it, you could pass out!"

[You have obtained Antidote x 10]

[Antidote nullifies the effects of poison attacks, but it does not restore lost HP]

"Hold on, I need to check the manual again." she muttered, tapping on her left hand and finding the section called 'Status Effects'

[If poisoned by an enemy, your HP will continue to deplete with every turn and will continue to do so after battle. Use an Antidote to nullify this status effect. Some items can be bought or modified to defend against poison type attacks. Conversely, Miasma weapons will inflict poison damage against enemies, but the poison effect will be ineffective against enemies who inflict poison attacks.]

"Makes sense." she shrugged, closing the notice. "Let's explore this town first, find all the things and then go find your brother."

"Sounds like a plan!"

It took quite a bit longer to run around Shippy Port than it did Hamletville. They backtracked to the docks and began a methodical sweep of every street, every nook and cranny, every barrel and crate, every door and manhole was checked. They ran into some minor tasks; resolving an argument between a kid called Justin and his mom who owned a seafood restaurant, reuniting a couple who got the location for their date wrong and were waiting for each other at different spots, and returning a lost book to an old man who rewarded them with a Potion.

"That seems like everything, let's go find your brother!"

"Are you sure you got everything you need? We might not be able to return here." Levi warned her in the friendliest way.

"Twenty Potions and ten Antidotes, some bread, candies... yeah, all should be good!"

"Alright, then let's go! Oh, you're gonna love my big brother, Liban! He's the best."

"What's he like?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, he's bigger than me and he loves to go fishing and he's super strong!"

"What does he do?"

"Well out in the big city he does manual labour jobs where he can use his strength. He got married recently and his wife is expecting a baby!"

"How wonderful." Marcie smiled, idly swinging her arms as they chatted some more, finally reaching the edge of town where they were met not with Levi's brother, but a massive barricade.

"Road's closed." a strange, faceless guard barked.

"How do we get out?" Levi asked, worry all over his face.

"How should I know?"

"Well, when's the barricade coming down?"

"When Deacon Pollo says so."

"Deacon Pollo?" Levi jumped back in surprise. "He's here?"

"No."

"Oh. Why did he order this barricade?"

"Look just keep walkin', okay?"

With that, the pair exchanged a look and approached the next identical faceless guard who hushed his voice when he spoke to them:

"There's another route through Foliage Forest, you need to head west past the seafood restaurant." he whispered, his stomach grumbling on cue: "I'm gonna head there on my break! Only two more hours..."

Poor guy.

"Gad is waiting for us over there. If we hurry, I'm sure we can make it before nightfall!" Levi assured her as they made their way through the town again. He sure was cheerful, no matter what the situation was.

"Levi, is Foliage Forest dangerous?"

"Don't worry, those plants will be no match for us!"

Somehow Marcie doubted that.

[Foliage Forest]

Marcie and Levi looked around as the atmosphere instantly darkened upon stepping foot inside the murky forest. Purple and deep green vines wound around the thick trees, hanging off the branches and above their heads. Marcie kept a look out for any side roads they could take, and sure enough the moment she found one, an enemy jumped out at them.

It didn't take much to defeat the Venom Sprite, the main difference seeming to be that they had a slightly higher HP than the regular ones back in Leafy Forest. Being poisoned didn't hurt, but a green tinge appeared on Marcie's skin and every few steps after battle, her whole body felt like it was twitching.

Before she knew it, Marcie had already downed half of her Antidote supply and a quarter of her Potions. The liquid was purple and had a strong heady scent like pollen, though like the other items, had no actual taste. For a few battles she asked Levi to use his Guard ability to take damage on her behalf while they pummeled the beefier enemies, and he was more than happy to do so - though she wasn't sure he had a choice.

"Let's rest for a moment." she panted, nearly collapsing onto a tree trunk. "Just how big is this place?"

"We're almost through!" Levi beamed. "It won't be long now."

Levi was a fucking liar.

It was with one Potion and no Antidotes left that they emerged from Foliage Forest, drained but with their stats having improved considerably at least. By the the time they got to the last stretch of path leading out of the forest, they had taken the initiative to engage enemies first, guaranteeing that both of them could attack first and since their Crystal Grids had developed since they began, their strength was high enough to finish the vicious little assholes off before they could get a single hit in.

Marcie blinked as a tall, buff figure emerged near the water where the sun was setting. Was that Gad?

"Hey, bro!" Levi called, whistling and waving at the giant man.

"Levi?" Gad spun on his heel and jogged over to where they stood, finally on the other side of the barricade. Aside from his height and tanned skin, Gad didn't look much like Levi. His hair was short, blazing orange and spiked up and he wore yellow leather work overalls with a worn white t-shirt. He looked like he ate anvils for breakfast. "You look rough, I thought my little brother was tougher than that."

"Hey, I made it out, didn't I?"

Gad threw his head back and roared in laughter for a few seconds before slapping his brother on the shoulder and introducing himself to Marcie.

"Gad, this is Liban! She's from Hamletsville, too. She's a Scholar who's going to The City."

"Is that so? Well, lemme get you two healed up. There's an inn just up ahead we can rest at. You've had a hard time, Liban!"

Wasn't that the truth.