Mel went pale, unsure of neither how much of their conversation Domison heard nor how he would feel about it. His messy hair caused long and deep shadows to carve out sections of his face from view and she could only clearly make out his deep violet eyes. He didn't seem particularly upset, so she just stayed where she was and averted her eyes to the floor, blushing slightly. Coraigen on the other hand, immediately shot to his feet wringing his hands together for a moment before he dropped to one knee.
"Miss Melody taught me the honorifics of your world and also informed me of your surname. Thus I thought it would be best to refer to you as such, Mister Wolfe." The words tumbled from beneath Coraigen's tusk-like fangs in a rush and his delivery reminded Domison of the way he would address Sam while in training, "In the short time that I have traveled with you, one thing has become clear. You are the frontrunner of this planet and I believe you have the potential to be its progenitor. I wish to offer my services and allegiance to Mister Wolfe, I am a support class but not of the healing variety. While my kin already had little respect for a support class, they had even less for one that could not stitch their wounds back together. Due to this disrespect, I had to become strong, strong enough to defend myself.”
Coregains hands clenched tight and a flare of anger sparked in his eyes before quickly fading, “That coupled with my unique skills would make a good addition to your current party, in my humble opinion. My powers are mainly focused on increasing movement speed and what is called a ‘Condemnatory Strike’ chance, this grants an increase to the chance that your strikes will cause massively more damage. My people are much more…” He glanced over the two for a moment before continuing, “Robust than yours, we value strength and punishing blows. Ending fights quickly and messily. My skill set being narrowly focused on speed and a small chance to do increased damage did not mesh well with my kin, whose fighting style did not benefit from such things.”
Coraigen spread his hands as though that was all he needed to say. His prepared speech had rumbled out uninterrupted for several minutes as the Urketh pontificated and the smirk playing across Domison’s lips only spread as his proclamation progressed. The man’s mood was in the clouds. Due to a combination of finding Pabu safe and the wonderful trilling vibrating throughout his cells ever since he woke from the trance-like state with his companion, a warmth filled him to the brim. He had already made his decision on how he would deal with the three. It may have just been due to his time alone in the void of space and their presence being the only non-hostile he had encountered, or just because he was in such a good mood. Coraigen waited still on one knee and hands spread wide while he stared, with a now strained expression, at Domison.
The man wreathed in shadows stepped forward and the soft light seeping into the room from the city lights still functioning in the distance illuminated his humored expression. He nodded towards both of the conscious presences in the room before speaking, “We’ll have to talk more about things before we set long-term plans but…. I think this might be the start of something beautiful.” His smirk spread into a wide grin as he finished speaking and he held his wiry arm out to the orc-like creature. Coraigen only stared at his outstretched palm for a moment before clasping his meaty hand around Domison's forearm.
While his arm was being jerked up and down by the large Urketh Domison continued speaking with a humorous tone, "I'm glad to have a dedicated team in this new messed up world, but now that we have that out of the way, I can understand why Mel would want to stick together but why you?"
Coraigen did not hesitate in his answer to Domison’s question, “You are strong, unbelievably so given your, and excuse me for this Mister Domison, your very small stature. While you may be tall, you have even less meat on your bones than she does.” He pointed over at Mel with his last words, “This world has not even been in the tutorial for what? A month may-”
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“It’s been seven days,” Domison interrupted, “ we met you on the fifth day after the advent of the system.”
Coraigen gaped at the man incredulously, “That can’t be right? It’s incredible… All the more reason to join you, Mister Wolfe!” He slammed his hand into his chest as he stood tall, “My kind value strength, but I have never met someone with as kind a heart as you.” Coraigen’s eyes became visibly misty and Domison looked at Mel with confusion for a moment, subtly pointing a finger at his own chest. She mouthed back ‘victim of bullying’ and shrugged, lips quirked up in one corner. A moment later her stomach very audibly growled, and Coregain looked her way too only seconds before his own stomach began to rumble like an avalanche.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any food, would you Dom?” Mel asked the man with a pleading look, “I don’t know about big Craig over here,” The Urketh grumbled to the side as she continued, “but I for one haven’t eaten well in days. It hasn’t helped that regenerating the mana it costs to heal seems to take it out of me. I always feel tired and kinda hungry right after.” She looked up at Domison with what he could only assume was her own unique rendition of puppy dog eyes, “so could you pleeeeeease get us some food?” Her eyes twinkled as her lower lip bulged out and began to tremble.
Domison only rolled his eyes and walked over to the small kitchenette. He opened the small pantry and grabbed an armful of protein bars, a few bags of Yum Yum’s Salt & Vinegar chips, and a few bottles of water. Waddling over with his arms stuffed made him feel particularly happy. He didn’t know why but he felt quite content with their current situation. He had told Mel that he didn’t want them as baggage. The truth was that he was mainly just worried about Pabu and was frustrated that they would slow him down, even though he did want to help them. Sometimes it felt to Domison like his personality could be a bit of an oxymoron in his anger.
The two in front of him took a few minutes to eat, and Domison just watched them. He didn’t feel any hunger per se, he knew that he could eat just fine, it was just that it didn’t feel like he really needed to. The core pulsing in time with his heavy heartbeats sent energy coursing through him and he could feel more being pulled in with every cycle.
Ever since he had made the bond with Pabu, things had felt different to Domison. His eyesight seemed much sharper, the low light holding more shades of black and dark violet than ever before. He could feel the air caressing his exposed skin and the air was filled with an almost overwhelming amount of scents. The rotting wood within some of the walls filled his nostrils and he could hear the creaking of the foundations at the butcher shop across the road. Even the mana being pulled into his body had a different feel, he almost felt as though he had to refer to it differently and he decided to call it natural mana. It seemed to feel different depending on where he was, ‘or maybe its environment and the things it interacts with passively change its properties?’ Domison thought to himself before shaking his head as though trying to get rid of a daze and looking back at the two stuffing their faces.
“We have three priorities,” Domison spoke softly but the command and coldness in his voice immediately drew the attention of his companions, “First we need to scout through the surrounding area and establish a perimeter of some sort if we plan on staying here for a bit. Second, we will need to gather what resources we can and find weapons for you two. Third… We need to train.” Domison’s violet eyes glimmered as he said this, ready to put his new body through hell testing its limits.
“Umm,” Mel’s hand shot up in the air, interrupting Domison’s moment of revelry, “actually, first do you think you could wash up and get some clothes on? You still look like a murder hobo Dom.”
“You may be right…” Domison said, lifting an arm and sniffing underneath. “It’s getting late anyways. We can take turns washing up and then get a bit of sleep.” He started walking towards the back room as he spoke, “I’ll see if the water is still working, it looks like the city still has power so the grid may still be partially up.”
“First our lives and now our hygiene? If that water really is on, you’re not a savior, you're a saint, Dom.”