Nuu

Scene Incubator 3, Forest of Whispering Fronds, Savriâ

When the humans had emerged from the thick cloud of dust which drifted through the air as a reminder of the great guardian’s passing, Nuu had anticipated violence. The likelihood that these were part of, or perhaps the leaders of, the miscreants who had stolen one of his soul trees was nigh absolute. With a flex of will and determination, Nuu had belayed the reactive twitch toward his pen and mana. The reasoning which held his hand at bay was quite simple: should these be involved then there was little chance they would allow him the moments necessary to write himself an escape. In contrast, should they be unaffiliated then a confident air and restrained hand may provide opportunity which aggressive action would preempt.

It was to his great jubilation that Nuu found his reflex suppression duly rewarded. The relaxed baring of teeth might have been a threat from another race. However, humans customarily bared their teeth in a sign of pleasure and welcome. It was truly the second human who might be of greater concern, as she provided not a glimmer, nor the barest suggestion, indicating whether her heart might be set upon a course of hostility.

The rarity of seeing a human with such control over their features as the drabber of the two approaching was almost worth the internal turmoil which is caused. Vexing as it was, he determined that he must make due with the assumption that she would not be stirred to hostility unduly.

Attention returned to the leading of the two, Nuu took note of worn and uninspired garb in which she had clad herself. Though, in truth, the torn and dirty garments stirred a deep memory. Perhaps, should he pursue the evanescent thoughts toward their source he would discover something of interest. Alas, his time for such meandering and unfocused consideration was past. The two resolved into cohesive forms, near enough that he could properly discern their facial features.

Strangely enchanted, Nuu felt himself enter something akin to a trance as the women approached. His narrative mana spun and danced through the forest of his soul with singular gaiety. The leading woman was graced with skin which, despite the blood, dirt, and detritus attempting to conceal it, was clearly without peer. Less than a thought was necessary to strip the grime from the woman within his mind.

Left untarnished, he admired skin which glistened softly in the sunlight. It brought to mind fine polished amber set under the sun’s warming rays. Yet unlike any precious resin, her skin shifted in an enigmatic manner as compact but powerful muscles bunched and released gracefully just beneath its surface. Her gleaming white teeth, displayed in a sign of sociability, contrasted sharply with her dark skin. Yet more stunning still, were her brilliant eyes. Eyes which captivated indiscriminately, seemingly comprised of a distant blue stars framed under soft lashes and delicate brows.

The tangle of her hair was washed and groomed in Nuu’s figment of reality, fueled by imagination as his narrative mana danced within. The great narrative faded and time lost meaning as his fanciful scene grew in strength. It framed her face in a gentle wave of feather-soft mocha, highlighted in subtle shades of chocolate and toffee which together captured any light which struck, gentling the vibrant beams. Unruly strands, resisting every attempt to tame them, brushed across her soft jaw and narrow cheeks. She would purse soft lips shaded in peach and pink and blow an errant strand, the dimple just above her delicate chin showing for the barest moment.

With the greatest of effort, Nuu forced his eyes from the shocking image before he could be drawn further within his own fantasy. This has happened before on occasion, each time before or during a momentous occasion which altered the trajectory of the purpose of his existence. He’s dubbed these odd instances as fulcrum moments.

His eyes landed on the second woman and the vision continued in force. For his eyes pierced not only the dilution of aesthetic by diluted and scattered colors of garish violence and effort, but the uninspired jumpsuit and even environment. While the first woman was stunning with little imagined alterations, the vision of cold perfection which he envisioned upon observing the second was peerless.

Her stiff steps transformed under his gaze, becoming a smooth glide as her torn clothing was replaced by a flowing gown of the darkest black, gilded in starlight. All light which dared touch the woman’s elegant gown was consumed greedily to add new pinpricks of distant starlight. Her figure was lithe and unencumbered in its grace, with no concession to the common curves human women tended to cultivate. Rather, she was thin blade cutting to the quick.

Her dark eyes reflected no light, yet golden specks sparkled, disregarding the need for light, they supplied their own inner illumination. Her empty expression transformed to a visage of calm serenity. Framing those shocking eyes, was a face comprised of sharp curves and hard lines. Narrow and straight eyebrows ended earlier than might have been expected and yet detracted not at all from her cold beauty. The woman’s hair was pulled into a tight bun atop her head with two thin knives holding it in place. The earthy shades of the bun were as varied and irregular as the minerals gathered throughout every planet.

Nuu felt his mana’s dance begin to peak, nearing a crescendo. The feeling was unimaginable, rapturous, beyond anything he had known before. His perception of time felt to have been set in glass, glass which shattered as the women were suddenly within range to easily converse with him.

“Well ain’t it just a treat to meet someone else round about these parts!” The voice came, almost sickly sweet, while its tone tripped with honey while the words and pacing brought to mind refreshing herbs and citrus. Struggling to maintain his fulcrum moment, Nuu briefly closed his eyes to center himself. Instinctively, he understood that he would need to participate in this scene if he wished to progress upon his path. Should he fail here, he knew his narrative would end. His spinning and chirping mana told him as much with merry disregard for his fear of such a horrible thought.

Feeling that his dancing mana and state of mind had reached the pinnacle of stability which his aptitude would allow, he answered with all of the gravity such momentous occasion demanded, “It is indeed an unexpected and serendipitous encounter in which we have found ourselves. I greet you.”

He bowed in the courtly manner appropriate for one greeting a respected ally.

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Willow

Inside Pop-Hopper Camp Ruins, Feather-branch Forest, Savriâ

Having found a topic which appeared to be a genuine area of interest, Nuu relaxed markedly. An odd feeling had also passed over her, it seemed as if something about the man had changed a bit. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but he at the very least appeared much more comfortable.

She prompted, “Why not come back to our camp with us and we can talk?” She gestured back in the direction they’d come, “Another one of my friends is up there. We didn’t wanna all come over to avoid looking like some kind of cliche gang coming to rob you or something.”

One of his eyebrows rose slightly as he answered, “Perhaps a gang is less cliche when they’re found on an otherwise abandoned planet. Nonetheless, I do believe I would like to speak to you further. I find myself interested in your own tales, perhaps they may even inspire my own story.”

Not quite sure what he meant by that, Willow nodded along, “Yeah! Swapping stories is always great, right? Seeing other’s perspectives broadens our horizons and all that mess, after all!”

Turning, she saw Naomi staring at Nuu with something approaching interest. Noticing Willow’s attention, she just nodded and waited. Apparently, she intended to keep an eye on him. I guess it’s fair not to want someone we just met at our backs.

That realization brought another one, he probably wouldn’t be super thrilled by having one of us at his back, either. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, gesturing to her left side with a smile, “Can’t really talk with ya if you’re behind us, right?”

Proffering her right arm to Naomi, she waited for the apparently suspicious girl to hook her own arm. Nuu fell in step with them, giving them an inscrutable look as they began walking. He asked, “Might I inquire as to the nature of your visit to this planet? As I indicated prior, this planet is primarily devoid of visitors.”

Naomi glanced past Willow at their new traveling companion, and interjected before Willow could answer, “We decided to come enjoy the oceanic view.”

Both Willow and Nuu turned to look at her, Nuu with confusion, Willow with amusement. Deciding to encourage this odd turn of humor from Naomi, Willow agreed, “Yeah, the festivals and feasts have been great too!” Naomi’s lips twitched while Willow grinned.

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

After a few silent moments Nuu asked in a somewhat tentative tone, “Perhaps I’m mistaken, however I do not believe this world is host to any such celebratory events… The lack of civilization and monster both was the primary reason I chose this planet as one of my seed worlds.”

“Seed worlds?” Willow asked curiously as Naomi extracted untangled from her arm to walk on her own. Fair enough, we’re both more than a little gross.

“A descriptor for the worlds I’ve used to experiment and expand my capabilities. Advancement has been less than simple. A primary method I’ve used to improve myself is through trial and error. However, such testing requires isolation lest my inexperienced narration cause wide-scale problems.”

The group was silent for a few moments as they finished cresting the small hill and found Jonah standing with an impatient expression on his face. He had clearly been waiting for them, kept apprised of the situation by Naomi via the party chat. Willow had heard them talking in the background but hadn’t paid much attention.

“Hey Jonah! Meet Nuu! Nuu, this is Jonah.” Willow introduced brightly while gesturing with her hands between the two as needed to ensure they didn’t confuse who she was introducing. It would be so embarrassing if Jonah thought Naomi was Nuu!

Inclining his head, Nuu gave a similar bow to the one he had greeted Willow and Naomi with only slight variations. He didn’t lower his head quite so much and his back was slightly more relaxed, less stiff and formal. Huh, wonder if that’s intentional or if he’s just more relaxed now.

Looking a bit uncomfortable, Jonah nodded, “Eh, ah-right Nuu. Pleasure. Ah, I don’t really know how to bow or anything like that.”

Rising, Nuu gave that a similar small forced smile to the one he’d worn while greeting her and Naomi. “It’s of no concern, we are of vastly different origins with non intersecting prequels. There is little to be gained through holding the expectation of similar cultural deference. Please presume my actions to be intended with the greatest of respect and I shall endeavor to suppose the same regarding your own behavior.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before Jonah nodded slowly, “Right, I’ll assume you’re doing your best to be a reasonable bloke and you’ll assume the same about me. Fair ’nuff.”

“We were gonna take him back to camp and chat about his super cool powers!” Willow stepped in before they could let the silence become drawn out and awkward.

Jonah shot her a grateful look as he nodded, “Sounds good, shall we then?”

They began making their way toward their former campsite, the decently long walk fairly familiar to the trio by now. The geography was somewhat altered due to the titan’s passing, but other than that everything was essentially the same as it always was.

“Now, Nuu, what was that about needing isolation to not cause wide-scale problems? Why’s that? Didn’t you say your power was writing stuff into being?”

“While not an inaccurate simplification, it is somewhat lacking. My insight is Even the grandest and most articulate of tales are derived and constructed through the compilation of scenes. This extraordinary insight of mine granted me a mana aspect which had hitherto been unknown to the standard UICI databases, even including the CHM.” He spoke with pride and confidence, clearly greatly pleased with himself.

“That’s a pretty long insight.” Jonah noted, though he sounded less uncomfortable now that the conversation wasn’t directly between himself and Nuu.

The later sounded surprised, “Surely, your faction, guild, or order, whatever you belong to, directed you to be as specific as possible with your insight to ensure sufficiently quick advancement?”

“Uhhh…” Jonah looked between Naomi and Willow, who both just shrugged. He answered with the truth when neither of them indicated any intention to step in, “Well no, Naomi and I are part of the Frazzlen, I guess. They haven’t really given us much help though. Ki’ai’en told us he was doing what he could and even that he was stretching the rules by giving us the small bits of information and the rank 0 EB that he did… Since then we’ve just been here for like… A few weeks now?”

They all stopped, prompted by Nuu halting in his tracks. His eyes were wide as he looked at them, “Apologies if my assumption is baseless, but am I correct in my understanding that you’re indicating that your faction dropped you into an abandoned planet directly after signing you upon first spawning into the world?”

“Well, not exactly.” Jonah said, shaking his head, “Like I said, Naomi and I got signed to a faction but Willow didn’t. Her ‘mentor’ opened a portal under her feet, dropping her directly into a dead area of this planet where a bunch of the pop-hoppers were hanging out with a big nasty pot of some kind. Naomi and I just followed after her.” He shrugged.

“That… Your faction has not come to retrieve and reprimand you for leaving your post? It is vanishingly uncommon for a faction to neglect the reclamation of a wayward asset. Of particular note in this instance is that you are, ostensibly, new arrivals! This suggests you all but certainly held within an egregious contract term, which the faction would have intended to enforce with zeal. Should a new arrival manage to sequester themselves beyond their approved areas of traversal, the faction would, without fail, desire to make plain the folly of such action to others through rigorous public reprisal, lest anyone else determine a similar path is worth treading!”

“Huh, I didn’t think about that…” Willow put in, frowning, “It would make sense for those factions to not be super happy about losing access to the people they scam.”

Nuu nodded quickly, “Just so. It is a boon that my people’s arrival days are held sacred by the courts. When fae die within their various tutorial worlds, they are given their choice of court to join. The structures of power and governance are similar to that of our prior existence, making the transition simple. Very few races within the multiverse have such an auspicious beginning. Most are brought under the tender care of one organization or another. To my knowledge, all are as eager to extract the fullest possible benefit from their acquisitions.”

Noticing Jonah fidgeting nervously, Willow frowned at him, “What’s wrong?”

“Well ah… It’s…” He looked toward Naomi, who just shrugged and answered on his behalf, “He’s worried you’ll be angry we didn’t tell you that Ki’ai’en changed the terms of our contract to include accompanying you.”

Face going bright red, Jonah quickly spun on his heel and began walking toward their campsite again, “Shouldn’t we be walking? Why are we stopped in the middle of the forest? We’ve still got hours yet to go!”

Following without really thinking about it, Willow stayed quiet for a few minutes while processing. She noticed Nuu appeared to want to ask more questions but was restraining himself, she appreciated that. Maybe he wasn’t quite as insufferable as his initial greeting had made him seem. Though he never fails to use a hundred words when five will do.

Seeing Jonah’s tense shoulders, she rolled her eyes and took a couple quick steps to catch up to him. She walked beside him for a couple steps before speaking, “Does the contract thing matter that much to you?”

“Huh? To me? You’re not mad? Or… Or wondering if Naomi and I are actually your friends or just with you because we were told to be here?”

She blinked at that, Nope, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind… Though now that you mention it… Nah, still doesn’t seem likely. Easy enough to check, though. “Are you my friend?”

He nodded vigorously, “Yeah! Of course! I wanted to be friends from the first time we talked, even if you did decide to give me a new name.” he tried a weak smile.

She returned the gesture with a bright grin, “It’s too bad you didn’t take my advice. You’d make a great Kent!” He groaned softly, but she could see the tension leaving him slowly.

“I don’t think the context for making a friend matters all that much.” Willow said thoughtfully, “What matters is just the connection and commitment. You know?”

Sounding confused, Jonah asked, “I get what you mean by connection, but commitment?”

“Sure! There’s lots of people I like and even people I have a connection with, like that Kai guy that apparently changed your contract! He was cool, I certainly felt we could be friends, but that doesn’t mean we are. The thing that separates a potential friend from an actual friend is that commitment. I think it’s kind of an unspoken thing most of the time, but for me the difference between a friend and an acquaintance is whether or not I’ve decided that I’ll be there for them and forgive them their mistakes. There’s always a limit, of course, but… Yeah. Of course I don’t have like an insight about friendship, so I’m clearly no expert.”

She flashed him another grin and patted his shoulder, “Don’t worry so much. I’m not gonna storm off and tell your I hate you like a little kid just cuz you do something that upsets me. And in this case, I think you felt like it was a lot bigger of a deal than I did.”

She shrugged, “Most friendships I’ve had have come through being essentially forced to spend time with people, after all. School, sports, training, work, whatever. This isn’t really any different.”

Slowing her pace to let the others catch up, and noting Jonah matched her, she fell back in line with Naomi and Nuu. She glanced at Naomi, “You weren’t worried about it?”

Shrugging, Naomi shook her head, “No. If you are able to be my friend when I’m like this…” She gestured vaguely to her face and around her head, “Then I didn’t think you’d have any problem with me getting a more favorable contract thanks to following you.”

“Oh? It was better? How much? Is it shorter?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s a hundred years instead of seven thousand. The description of our role also no longer includes any mention of reporting to a supervisor, or being subject to reassignment by any superior without our agreement.” Naomi explained.

“It’s also vague enough that we can wiggle around some things if we need to, I think.” Jonah mentioned timidly. “The previous contract was seventy two pages long, I think. The new one is only five. I’ve read through all of the pages a few times, and the only iron clad requirement is to accompany and support you. If we stop doing that, and you or Madrick, report us to the faction, then we can be reassigned. Besides that, though, we’re pretty free to do whatever we want. We still have to pay faction taxes on anything we sell, but that’s it.”

“Nice!” Willow pumped her fist in the air triumphantly, “So I can now order you two around like little peons, knowing you’re terrified I might complain to your manager!” She threw her head back in a mad cackle.

Naomi’s lips twitched up in a slight smile as Jonah rolled his eyes, trying hard not to break out into his own laugh.

Confused, Nuu waited until Willow finished her best villainess impression to carefully ask, “Perhaps I am mistaken, however it seems to me that proclaiming your intention to mistreat those that are bound to your service is…” He struggled for a moment to find an appropriate, probably trying to find one long and gregarious, way to finish the question.

Sounding to be in much better spirits, Jonah offered, “Rude as hell?”

Naomi chipped in as well, “Evil?”

A deep frown still on his face, Nuu inclined his head, “Indeed, those are succinct explanations to what I thought may be the perception of such an action.”

“Yeah, that’s why she was laughing like that.” Jonah explained, “It’s a trope in movies from our tutorial. The bad guy would cackle or laugh menacingly to indicate their intention to do evil.”

Nodding along, Naomi finished the explanation, “Willow’s not the kind of person who would do any of that. She was speaking ironically.”

“This is an interestingly roundabout method of communication. Perhaps this is simply a cultural difference, however I feel it may be dangerously easy to produce a misunderstanding of intention or emotion with such a backward form of emoting. It would seem that speaking in a direct and un-embellished manner would avoid possible confusion or annoyance, would it not?”

Willow’s choked snort as she tried to avoid laughing at the ridiculousness of Nuu saying to speak plainly broke all three of them. The trio burst into a round of good natured laughter, stumbling slightly as they continued on their way back to the campsite.