Jonah
Back at Camp, Feather-branch Forest, Savriâ
For the first time since they had arrived in the extremely same-ey forest, the weather had finally changed. The previously just-too-warm humidity had given way to a biting chill which instantly seeped into the bones and drew out all body heat. The change had occurred as if a switch had been flipped just as night fell.
Just as the small flame had transferred from tender to kindling, the last vestiges of light filtering through the omni-present layer of mist obscuring the sky had died. The sudden cessation of light wasn’t new, every night had begun similarly. What was new, was the temperature dropping from 27°C to 0°C. The sensation was similar to how the temperature had suddenly dropped from nearly scorching, to a little warmer than comfortable, when they left the pop-hopper corrupted ground and entered the feather-branch forest. While that had been a bit odd, they’d all collectively chalked it up to shade and entering a more natural biome. Now, Jonah wasn’t entirely sure. He huddled closer to the fire as he shivered. They weren’t equipped for sub-zero weather in any way.
He glanced in the direction of Naomi and Willow, but quickly averted his gaze. Apparently their clothes hadn’t dried from cleaning before the cold hit. He had been studiously not looking toward the women since they got back to camp.
Carrying Willow between them had made it a long hike. As they traveled Naomi and Jonah had discussed what they needed to do to help their friend recover. They knew they needed to clean the wounds, but Jonah was concerned about the smoke from a fire drawing attention to them. They’d mostly argued, between gasping breaths, about that on their way back.
When they arrived at their camp, Naomi had him help her take Willow over to one side of the fire pit. They’d laid her down on the reed-like bedroll from Willow’s tent and Naomi had unceremoniously begun to strip the other woman’s bland jumper off. Although he probably should have expected that would be necessary to actually clean all of the wounds, given how many small cuts and scrapes she had, Jonah had been shocked. He’d quickly run off to find firewood, forgetting about his “arguments” against making said fire entirely.
When he got back, he made the fire while not glancing toward the girls. Naomi had asked him to get some things from their packs: some of the makeshift ropes they’d made, some of the washcloth-like squares the kobolds gave them that appeared to be made of the “feather” parts of the feather-branch fronds, and other sundry items.
After Naomi had stripped Willow and made sure she had no immediately life-threatening wounds, she’d taken her jumper to the river to wash it off. When she was coming back Naomi told Jonah he should clean his own, too, since it had been several days. They hadn’t had time amidst all their running between ambush sites and all. They had only returned to base to sleep, really. When he looked up to acknowledge, he’d yelped in shock at Naomi shamelessly walking past holding two jumpers while wearing nothing. He took her advice and washed his own, but put it back on before returning. He had kept himself busy by getting the fire started.
Having just managed to get the fire started, night fell and the biting cold struck. He and Naomi had both immediately begun looking around, sure they were under attack by some unknown magic. There was nothing, though. It was just an unexpectedly ice-cold night, following a fairly hot day. Rather, following several weeks of fairly hot days.
Regardless of the oddity, ignoring any useless questions like why and the bloody hell? Getting the fire roaring had suddenly become his only goal in life. It had only taken a couple minutes of concerted effort. He was suddenly very glad Naomi had gotten them in the habit of making fires every night, as he knew exactly what to do to get it burning fast and hot. Once he’d accomplished that, he’d felt much less panicked. He fetched the wooden bowl from his pack and went to soak it in the river. Once soaked, he brought the bowl back full and placed it over the fire on top of a couple similarly soaked branches. His tasks completed, Jonah huddled close to let the fire dry his still fairly wet jumper and self from their wash. Which also left him without a distraction.
He assumed Naomi was using the not-so-sterile water she had him run her from the river to clean off the worst of the gunk around the wounds before using the hotter boiled water to actually clean the cuts themselves. Given he was trying very hard not to take advantage of the situation to sneak a peak at his extremely attractive friend… And Naomi… He snapped his head back down as he realized his wondering thoughts had caused him to look up and oh-so-innocently begin looking around.
What would she think of you, jeez pal. You’ve never had this problem before. He berated himself. Then immediately reminded himself he never really had the opportunity to have such a problem before. Besides being a shut-in, his entire lower body had been non-functional since birth. While he’d always appreciated attractive women, he’d hardly had any particular desires before. Urgh, imagine a mid twenty-something being this awkward just because a girl is naked nearby. He felt his face flush just from the thought and buried it in his hands.
He should just be thinking about how worried he was about her. About whether she would wake soon. About whether the freezing cold air was going to cause more complications with her health. He was worried about all that, of course, but apparently that wasn’t enough to fully occupy his mind.
In an attempt to force some semblance of decency back into his churning thoughts, Jonah pulled up his character sheet.
JONAH LOCKE
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Level: 4 Experience: 820/221.19512704
RESOURCES
GSM (Gaming Systems Mana) 33/40 MP (Mana Points) 10/10 Stamina 20/20 [60-40]
ATTRIBUTES
Body Strength 8 Dexterity (Macro/Micro) 6/6 Agility 7 Resilience 10 Endurance 8 Perception 11 Mind Memory 13 Processing 16 Ideation 11 Spirit Ego 8 Will 9 Resolve 7 Focus 18 Presence 4 Connection 3 Soul
Note: Insight and related mana aspects lack conceptual linkage with the soul. This section cannot be managed by your ‘Gaming (life is) System’ ability.
SPELLS
* Predator Vision [Buff] - 2 MP
* Trick [Debuff] - 3 MP
ABILITIES
* Gaming (life is) System
* Overwatch (User Tag: RTS View)
* Party Up
* Character Interface
* … ?
Most of his sheet, he felt, was self explanatory. Which was good, because the interface didn’t go any deeper than the bare-bones character screen. There were, of course, a few other screens for more details on Spells and Abilities. These screens provided brief descriptions of each spell and ability, but there was no help menu. Most notably, there was no explanation regarding his Attributes.
While Jonah felt the majority of the stats were understandable without additional context, some just weren’t. For example, under Body: why was dexterity split between macro and micro? It seemed to be the only attribute like that, so what made it different? Why were both dexterity and agility listed? He generally considered them pretty interchangeable, at least in the games he’d played he had only ever seen one of the two and they had the same general function.
His current working theory was dexterity was related to fine motor control while agility governed explosive movement. He’d tested the theory during his first level up by putting all three of his points into agility. It had definitely allowed him to move more quickly. Not only could he sprint faster, he felt like he could move his limbs much faster from a standstill too. So while it wasn’t an entirely confirmed hypothesis, he thought he was at least very close.
Besides the questions about the body stats, the mind and spirit sections each brought their own set. Under Mind, memory and processing seemed intuitive enough. He was gratified to see those were at least all above ten. He might have felt the need to find a hole to bury himself in if his mental stats were as appalling as his physical ones. Although Ideation had a relatively good number, he wasn’t entirely sure what it governed. Was it his ability to spontaneously have ideas? His general creativity? Something else entirely? It was another thing he’d have to devise some tests for.
Finally, there was the largest section Spirit, and the apparently locked section Soul. He would probably have categorized spirit and soul as synonymous, so he wasn’t sure why he had Spirit unlocked. He couldn’t think of any ‘conceptual linkage’ between his ‘spirit’ and his gaming system. Unless it was just a terminology disconnect? But how could he have a disconnect within his own system? Or maybe it wasn’t exactly his. It included too much he didn’t understand, so was he tapping into something external?
The thought had merit, given his understanding of what a Game was included external components. Even if the game was run locally, it was designed and created by someone else and he, as a player, just engaged with it. He didn’t need to understand everything about how it worked for it to work, same with life itself. His insight was The world is just a game, it wasn’t The world is just a game and I’m the designer or something ridiculous.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Beside the questions regarding soul versus spirit and any personal disagreements with the naming sense of the GameLIT system’s designer, what did the stats mean? Ego, Will, Resolve, Focus, Presence, Connection.
If he ordered them by least confusing to most, he’d start with Presence. It was a simple enough stat, at least in theory. He’d say most games he’d played had a similar stat, though it was generally labeled ‘Charisma’. Essentially a stat dictating just how much impact he had on people. It’d probably include things like empathy, persuasion, intimidation, public speaking, and so on. Jonah having a rock bottom score made perfect sense in that case.
Connection would have to be in a similar vein, maybe this gaming system split out Charisma into “impacting others” as Presence, and “impact of others” as Connection? That seemed likely enough that he didn’t feel the need to worry over it too much.
Following Presence would be Will. Willpower wasn’t a new concept in any sense. Almost every game had some form of Will/Willpower. Grit, determination, mental fortitude, it could be called by a thousand names. In the end, Will was almost certainly how mentally firm a person was. It would help resist compulsion type effects, represent how good at combating stress and other mental strain he was, and how stubborn he was.
That’s where the easy answers ended as far as Jonah was concerned. Resolve felt like a duplicate of Will to him. However, the scores were markedly different. So what’s the difference? What about just thinking about the words themselves… Will is like… I guess desire? Yeah. If someone leaves a Will, they’re making their desires and expectations known. Alright, so maybe Will is how… Opinionated? I am? It felt a bit far fetched, but Jonah continued his line of thought anyway. So then resolve. Being resolved means determined, steadfast, immovable, right? Well, it could also mean something is finished… If something is resolved, then it’s ended or no longer changing. I’m not sure. Maybe Resolve is the part of Willpower that’d like determination and grit, and Will is the part that’s personal desire or decision making? Urgh. I need examples of other people’s stats. That would help.
He decided to put those two aside as ‘partially understood’, at least as a pair which he thought would add up to a concept her mostly got. Last are Focus and Ego. Ego is like pride. Hm… I remember reading something a long time ago about ego being a sense of self? So is Ego like… A measure of how much of me I am? That… Would be weird. We’ll come back to that one way later.
Jonah took a deep breath, letting it out, focusing his eyes on the character screen. The flickering fire behind it partially visible, the pulsing and receding heat from it reminding him it was still unusually cold. Well, Willow calls her ability her ‘Focus’. Not sure that gives me any hints, I’m pretty sure my stat has nothing to do with breaking the laws of physics. Or… Well not yet at least. Focus seems pretty simple on the surface… It’s just how well I can maintain my attention on one subject. Except that would be an odd thing to have an entire stat around, considering all of the others are broader. Maybe it’s more about not losing sight of the big picture? Maintaining focus on what matters?
Deep in thought, Jonah was startled when he heard a croaking, “Did we win?” His character sheet disappeared with a thought and he looked up from the fire, toward the questioning voice.
His face turned beet red as he saw Willow slowly pushing herself into a sitting position, toned caramel muscles and small, but firm and shapely, breasts on full display in the cold night air. Before he could look away and pretend he’d seen nothing, his eyes were caught in Willow’s icy blue gaze and he froze.
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Willow
Back at Camp, Feather-branch Forest, Savriâ
Waking up after being beaten down wasn’t exactly an Easter Sunday sermon to Willow, but it also was by no means a new experience. She repressed the groan that tried to slip out of her throat as her consciousness floated back into a very sore body. Although she gave at least a hundred, maybe thousand, times more than she got, she’d taken hits. The first amalgam had seemed to be entirely concerned about preserving itself, but the ones she’d fought today, yesterday? were almost the opposite. They just kept coming, no matter how many she killed.
The first one stopped attacking when it realized it couldn’t hit me, not when I hit it. Now get your sorry butt up, your team mates might still need help. She slowly opened her eyes, silently, in case there were enemies around and she needed to spring into action. At least she tried to. When her eyes refused to open, she tried moving her fingers and toes. They moved, slightly. So not paralyzed. That’s… Good. She forced down the panic that had sprung up at not being able to move her eyelids. She tried again. She failed again.
Deciding it was time to lean on good-ol-faithful, she channeled a tiny thread of discipline mana into her ability. She felt her surroundings come into focus, even without her eyes open. She still couldn’t open her eyes, though, and felt no difference from the attempt. Releasing her ability, she instead focused on pushing her discipline mana into her eyes, still only a bare trickle. As soon as the mana touched her eyes, she felt her control over them immediately firm. Take two.
She slowly opened her eyes, remaining silent. She found herself staring up at a dark sky. Sliding her eyes slowly to her left, she saw Naomi. Her dark hair fell in wet strips that clung to the skin of her back. Willow blinked to clear her vision, Wait is she… Yep. Naked. That’s weird and… The realization that it was cold hit Willow at that moment. She’d essentially been in what she considered “normal” weather, having grown up in south-east Texas, since Madrick had dropped them onto this planet. The scorched area around the pop-hopper pot was definitely hotter than pleasant, but still within range of ‘yeap, it’s one of those days’. Now, her body was shivering.
Last time I woke up in a bed and assumed the wrong thing… Waking up next to a naked Naomi is weird but ah… Am I feeling things right cuz it seems like… She carefully moved her eyes down toward herself and winced at the confirmation. She was indeed also naked. On the bright side, we almost certainly didn’t get captured by pop-hoppers. Those things would probably have just eaten us or something.
Looking back over at Naomi, she just watched her for a bit. Long enough that she was certain they weren’t in immediate danger. After all, she wouldn’t be casually scrunched up if they were. She took a deep breath, or tried to, her throat was a bit raw and it ended up more as a pained gasp, and sat up.
“Did we win?” She asked as she did, seeing Naomi’s head snap around toward her in her peripheral vision and directly in front of her she saw Jonah’s blank eyes staring into the fire suddenly focus and look across at her. She saw his face go redder than pa-paw’s legs after a day fishing with his buddies as he admired her body. She waited for his straying eyes to come up and locked his gaze. She was pretty sure he wet himself a bit. His expression was so horrified.
She cracked a smile and looked over at Naomi, “So, why we naked? He’s not. Doesn’t seem fair.” Her casual words came out a bit more ominous than intended due to her scratchy throat. How to take advantage of sounding like a swamp witch…
“He put his jumper back on after washing it instead of letting it dry on the line by the fire.” Naomi said with a shrug, pointing toward a makeshift line holding their jumpers near the fire off to the side.
“Oh. Huh… We should have washed them sooner.”
Naomi nodded in agreement and Willow looked back to Jonah who was staring pointedly into the fire. She grinned, Innocent little guy. She decided to just let him off the hook, not his fault. She would bet her gold medals he’d had absolutely nothing to do with stripping her down and cleaning her and her clothes. Oh! That explains it.
She confirmed anyway, “Did you strip me out of the jumper because I was all cut up?”
“Yep, you looked like you’d gotten in a fight with a pack of rabid dogs.”
“Eh, you should see the other guy.”
“I did.”
“Right, and they were way worse off!”
“Yeah, they were essentially a pile of skin, bones and pulped heads.”
Willow stared hard at Naomi, trying to decide if she was intentionally being deadpan or… She caught the slightest twinkle of amusement in her eyes and grinned, then threw her head back and cackled. It came out cracked, hoarse, broken, and absolutely wicked.
“AAAAH-Haw-hah-hah-haw-haaaaa”
Outch outch, that hurts, but worth it to scare the dickens out of Jonah!
She dropped her head just in time to see Jonah’s wide-wide-WIDE eyes close. He’d looked at her again, because duh she’d just done a super-scary witch laugh, and now he was doing his best to pretend he didn’t exist. He seemed to be trying to curl up into a ball as he sat there.
“Hey, Jonah?” she asked in a more casual, but still croaky, voice. She accepted the little wood canteen of water Naomi passed her. She wasn’t sure if it was her own, or Naomi’s, but she didn’t really care as she drank. Those kobolds thought of everything when they provisioned us, gotta give them big hugs when we get back.
“Y….Yea, Willow?”
“Thanks for helping keep me alive, and for getting me back here. I appreciate it a lot.”
Voice now moderately less witchy, Jonah carefully opened one eye. He intentionally opened it looking well above where he knew she’d be, then brought it down to make eye contact. She saw him swallow slightly as he smiled, “Yeah, anytime. Now ah… Could you and Naomi put your clothes on?”
Ooooh he’s too easy! She thought with dark glee.
She put on her thickest southern belle accent, “Why, Jonah boy, do you not like me being naked? Do you think that God almighty made a mistake with the form and figure he did bestow unto me?”
Panic. Pure, absolute, panic was the only thing she saw in his eyes. He hadn’t looked so panicked and out of sorts during any of the fights they’d gone into. Even the first ones.
She laughed again, this time her normal laugh. Much warmer and friendlier than her witchy laugh, at least she hoped so. “Sorry, Jonah. You’re just way too easy. I’ll put my jumper back on when Naomi says it’s dry. Until then…” She shivered and followed her fellow woman’s example, curling in on herself to preserve some body heat and doing her best to scoot closer to the fire.
“B…But it’s ah… well it’s kind of hard to…. Focus?”
Willow waved a dismissive hand, “It’s fine, just don’t be weird or stare like a creep. People have parts, y’know? It’s not so big a deal.”
She watched him across the fire and saw he certainly didn’t agree with that. It wasn’t that Willow wasn’t modest, she certainly didn’t go around wearing lingerie to the grocery store or anything, but she’d also been an athlete her entire life. More than that, she’d spent a lot of time in other countries where the definition of modesty was… different. Some were much more concerned with being covered, some much less. She’d shared lockers with boys once or twice, which had been awkward and weird. It’d also given her much more confidence in situations like this, though. So she figured the trade-off was a good one.
This… Might be a good time to let him down a bit, too. She realized. At least part of the reason he felt awkward was surely due to tension on his part, a tension born of thinking that maybe something could happen with her being naked nearby. Is it too mean? Ehhhhhh… Nah, he’s said before that he need people to tell em’ what they’re feeling. Not good at understanding non-verbal queues and stuff. This is probably as good a time as any. His embarrassment might soften the sting.
She took a deep breath and gave him an apologetic smile, “If you see something I’m not gonna get mad. I know why you’re nervous, or think I do, so… Just so I’m not giving you the wrong idea, I don’t think you and I would work together. You know?” She saw his shoulders slump slightly in disappointment, but also saw a familiar spark. One she’d seen in the mirror after her first crush had rejected her.
Not wanting to leave loose ends or play with his poor heart, Willow decided to rip off the band-aid, go for the kill, end the round with a knockout. “I see you more as a brother.”
She didn’t, not really, more like a good friend, but she knew those words were like a silver bullet straight into a ware-hormonal-guy’s heart. She saw that little spark of determination in his eye die. He gave one quick nod, then went back to staring into the fire.
The atmosphere was much less awkward now, though she felt a bit guilty. She really hoped she hadn’t hurt him too much. She caught him glancing at her from time to time, but didn’t say anything about it. She’d need to explain what “being weird” meant in a context like this, but for now he could have his fun.
Once the silence had stretched long enough to pass uncomfortable, if anyone was feeling that way - though Willow thought it was fine - she brought everyone out of their musings. “Sooooooo…. I have a TON of xp in my dojo. Wanna tell me what happened after I stopped thinking straight?”