Fang talked the helpful stranger into accompanying her on her errands. She had pretended to be jumpy and nervous when peeking out the door, before asking for help. He had politely claimed he had similar errands to run as well before following her out the door.
The drunks were probably sober now, and perhaps the guards had thrown them out of town for a while. She also resolved to give them a beat down if she spotted them. She’d fight smarter this time, though. She would be more aware of her surroundings, and she would PK them. She wanted to, at least.
Perhaps if she chose a class and leveled fast, she would be able to wipe them out. The only problem with that idea was time. Where was she going to find the time to out-level them? She was still a college student, she still had a scholarship, and she still needed to keep the scholarship. This meant she had hours of studying to do. Fang shook off those unpleasant thoughts. She didn’t enter virtual reality to think about reality. She had shopping to do and leveling to do as well.
She glanced back over her shoulder, and saw him looking at her with a perplexed expression.
Why is he..? Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be afraid that those guys would come back.
Before she could slink back to join him and try to make herself seem apprehensive, he lengthened his strides and caught up to her. For a second she wondered how he did that, and then remembered he was taller than her by a few inches. She may have readjusted her height to make her more average for a guy, but he seemed to be half a foot taller.
She wanted to spend a moment to admire his appearance with feminine appreciation, but she was genderless, and wanted to keep the vague impression of being a guy. Moon-calfing over her rescuer would not help that impression. She took sudden intent interest in the street she was walking on. If she thought about it too much she might give herself away. She was glad she had spent all that time practicing how to walk like a guy. She had spent a great deal of time when walking around studying the ways guys walked in order to mimic them in game. She wasn’t letting a silly thing like how she walked and talked give her away.
***
Dammage purposely dragged behind the person he rescued. All he knew was the person’s name. As for the gender… there was something distinctly feminine about… him/her/it? The person he rescued looked like a guy, technically based on appearances; the person was probably a guy. The problem was, some girls were very flat chested, and so he couldn’t be sure based upon that alone. Perhaps the shoulders were a little narrower than others, but it wasn’t that obvious and some guys just had narrow shoulders. The way the person moved looked somewhat like a guy, but occasionally, there was a slight feminine sway to the hips. Then there was the issue with the hips. Normally, Dammage could tell gender and identify people by their build with or without the chest as an indicator. The person in front of him, though, while the hips were a bit wider than a normal guy’s, they were also narrower than a woman’s.
Damn it! Is this person in front of me a girl or a guy!?! I can’t tell. I can usually tell.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk asking if the person was a girl or a guy. It made it somewhat hard to address him/her/it though. The name told him nothing: “Fang,” a four letter word. There was no specific gender attached to it. If only the person in front of him had chosen a name like “Yukihime” or “Kenji” or “Kate” or “David” or something.
But no… it had to be “Fang.”
The person named Fang glanced over his/her/its shoulder and started to slow. Dammage caught up and worked up his courage to ask. As he was about to open his mouth, Fang opened a door and went into a store. Dammage watched Fang barter over goods and had to nerve up again. When they left the store, he asked the question.
“So… are you a guy or a girl?”
Fang shot a glance at him then a somewhat mischievous grin crept up over his/her/its face. Suddenly Fang sped up in front of him and walked with an exaggerated sway of his/her/its hips. Then Fang seemed to resume a normal walk. Fang glanced back over his/her/its shoulder and called back.
“What do you think?”
Damn it! Dammage knew when he was being teased. Fang laughed at his expression.
He caught up and finally decided.
“I’m going to call you ‘It’ from now on.” He muttered.
The look on Fang’s face went from mischief, to surprise, to amusement. The amusement Fang radiated was almost thick enough he could taste it.
Evil! This person is decidedly evil!
***
Fang tried not to laugh. This person was fun to tease. He glowered at her with a mix of fury, embarrassment, and amusement. He was more amused than furious, and more embarrassed than amused. If he had been truly furious, he wouldn’t be so fun to tease. It was the embarrassment that made her want to tease him more. It was a bit endearing and very, very funny.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
They traipsed through the streets of Rosenheim’s capital buying and selling loot they had and replacing it with supplies for travel. As they shopped, Dammage’s mood lightened as did Fang’s. Soon she would be able to hunt and level… and then kick ass. Suddenly, Fang started to wonder what level her companion was. Regardless, having him as an ally could be very advantageous for her.
“Say Dammage, what level are you?” Fang asked.
He glanced sidelong at her before answering.
“Level 257 Archer, you?”
Fang looked away and muttered something.
“Excuse me?”
“…”
“Sorry. I didn’t catch that.”
“Level 38. No class.”
“…”
“…”
“… I’m sorry, I think I misheard something. You couldn’t have said level 38 and no class, right?”
“… No. You heard right.”
“Um… even if you were an artisan class, I wouldn’t laugh.”
“I wouldn’t lie about that! I seriously don’t have a class yet!”
“I… What? Why?”
“There were too many choices! I couldn’t choose! I have no idea what I want to be!”
“…”
There was a loud thump as Dammage smashed his forehead into the nearest wall.
“…”
“It’s not that unreasonable…” Fang grumbled under her breath. “You didn’t need to crack the wall…”
“ Is your head alright?”
“…no… it really hurts…”
“Well… yeah… you cracked the wall… Um… is your HP alright?”
“…yeah…”
“Should we find a cleric?”
“…yeah…”
***
It didn’t take much searching to find one who was willing to help. Quite a few of the clerics here seemed to be true healers at heart. When they saw the injured, they just had to help. Fang mentally noted that down. It could be useful, after all. Dammage was quiet for a few minutes as they continued getting their supplies.
Before she could say a word, Dammage broke the silence, with an interrogation.
He began questioning her about her fighting styles, how she’d leveled so far and what she liked doing. Finally the relentless questions ended and he suggested a class.
“You should go be a hunter.”
“A wha-?”
“Hunter. You use traps and ranged attacks when you can help it. You’re more suited to it.”
“Well… but… but… what if I don’t like it?”
“Start over again?”
“But… I worked so hard…”
“You’re not getting far without a class.”
“Well… true… but…”
“If you want to remain this way without a combat class, you can always try a production class. You also seem to enjo...”
“Never!”
“Okay, then let’s go to the Hunter’s Guild.”
Somehow during this conversation, Dammage had steered Fang towards the Hunter’s Guild without her noticing.
“Wait!”
Fang dug in her heels when the Hunter’s Guild came in sight.
“I’m not ready for this! I don’t wanna! What if I regret this decision for the rest of my life!?! I don’t wanna be depressed and spend the rest of my days growing mushrooms in the corner!”
Mushrooms!?! What is this person on about… Mushrooms?
“Would you rather make this decision later in the game when you have more levels and money to lose?”
“No…”
“You should do this early, when you have less to lose.”
“Well yeah… but…”
“But what?”
“But… But… but… but…”
Dammage waited patiently between the pauses. He was starting to find this as funny as he found it exasperating.
“Damn it!” Fang cursed under her breath and stalked into the guild, with Dammage following after her, a small smile of amusement on his lips.
***
“All right, Dammage. I’m a hunter now, happy?”
“Very.”
“Well… well… bleh.”
Fang stuck out her tongue at Dammage and then grumbled to herself.
Dammage did his best not to grin. This strange person was funny. He let her mutter to herself for a bit.
“From now on, you should start setting your stats toward the hunter class. How many stat points do you have to spend?”
There was a pause as Fang checked her stats.
“One-hundred and eighty-five stat points.”
“…what…?”
“185 stat points.”
“No… I heard you… I mean… how…?”
“Oh, I didn’t know where to put my stats. I wasn’t sure what class I was going for and what builds would be good. So I just didn’t bother.”
Crunch!
“…”
“…”
“… I’ll go get a cleric…”
“Please do…”