Logging back into Winter’s Tale was once again a huge relief for Kyle that evening. His day in school was once again just as boring and drab as the day before. Being in I.S.S. there was literally nothing to do besides sit and twiddle his thumbs almost all day long. No friends to chat with, no distractions as he walked between classes. Just sit, do your work in the first hour or so, and then wait for the day to crawl to an end.
Walking home, he was excited to think that Sera would be moving in for a while, but then he remembered that she had detention and had to stay after for at least an hour. And, once she was finished with that, she was probably going to have to deal with sorting out how to hire some people to work at Franklin’s. She wouldn’t be home for a while, and his mom was still at work, so Kyle was – like usual – stuck at home all alone; so he logged directly into Winter’s Tale and Kylie practiced her identify skill until Heather logged in not too long after.
“We ready to kick some squirrel ass this evening?” Heather asked enthusiastically.
“Sure. Just follow me,” Kylie replied. “Let’s go get them! And hopefully something a little easier to craft with as well!” She tried to match Heather’s enthusiasm, but her forced cheer ended up sounding fake and made Heather laugh instead.
Wandering their way back up the stream, Kylie continued to practice identifying everything in sight while Heather ran ahead or to the sides to blast any vines that were close enough to target. The walk back upstream took longer than Kylie would’ve imagined it should; perhaps it was Heather’s fighting things on the side that slowed down their progress somewhat; but it was an easy enough trek through the forest this time, and Kylie took the opportunity to appreciate the detail of her surroundings more.
The sky was gray and cloudy, the air warm and humid, while the forest itself was rich and vibrant with various shades of greenery and color from the plants and flowers growing all around. There was even a smell of a hint of rain in the air – it truly was like walking and exploring another world, and Kyle couldn’t help but be amazed at the level of detail in Winter’s Tale.
A light, warm rain had started to fall when Kylie first identified a lone “Harvester Squirrel” in a tree a slight way off. “Heather! We got one!” Kylie yelled excitedly.
“Where?” Heather asked, looking all around.
“Up in the tr…” As Kylie was trying to point it out, the squirrel tossed a nut and cracked Heather upside the head with it.
“Bastard!” Interrupting Kylie with a cry, Heather spun to face the direction from which she was attacked; just in time to get slammed upside the nose with another nut. A critical hit message popped up as she staggered and sat on her butt looking dazed.
“Heal!” Kylie tried not to laugh as she worked her healing magic. One spell was enough to restore Heather back to full health, but she still simply sat there and didn’t move as one nut after another was tossed in her direction. “Heather? You still in game? Lagging? What’s up?” Kylie asked after a few moments.
“I’m ‘dazed’,” came back Heather’s reply. “For another 30 seconds! Apparently a heal simply restores health and doesn’t remove abnormal statuses. I thought you said you’d fought these things before! Why didn’t you warn me they stun?”
“Because I’ve never been stunned by them,” Kylie answered. “I think it was just a case of bad luck. They seem to like to toss at the back of a person’s head, and you turned around just in time to get almost get blinded with an eye shot.”
“Well that’s interesting,” Heather replied thoughtfully. “If that’s right, targeting specific areas might produce exceptional effects. With the vines, I’ve just been blasting the body itself and letting them burn, but if what you said is right, I’m going to need to learn a little finer control of my magic and try to target specific areas like the head or eyes. You might want to try the same thing with the staff from now on; target specific areas and not just swing at random.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Kylie admitted, as Heather finally stood up and proceeded to try to set the forest on fire with several fireballs in a row blasting out and destroying the squirrel.
“Take that, your jerkwad rodent!” Heather cried out in triumph as the beast shimmered and disappeared.
“I thought you were going to try and be more precision-oriented,” Kylie said with a smirk. “That simply seemed like the usual overwhelming destruction and mayhem to me.”
“Starting with the next one,” Heather clarified. “That one had irked me, so it needed to learn from the error of its ways.”
“Fine, fine.” Kylie laughed lightly. “Is it even possible to control something explosive like a fireball? That spell seems kind of like a bazooka and not a sniper’s rifle to me.”
“Then I’ll just have to swap over to using a different spell,” Heather replied. “I’ve been using the fireball since it’s the most damaging thing I know so far, but I’ve got a few other spells I can use. Since those vines didn’t move or dodge, they were perfect targets to simply blast and destroy and it was nice to work up my skill on them. I’ll swap over to a ‘Flame Dart’ for these things though. It’s less damage, doesn’t hit an area, and uses quite about half the mana of a fireball. Since you said these things were weaker, it should be enough to take them out, I’d think.”
“Then let’s start squirrel hunting!” Kylie said with a smile.
“I’ll kill them, so I’ll leave collecting the loot up to you,” Heather suggested.
“Sounds good,” Kylie agreed.
“Then go get it!” Heather laughed and pointed up into the tree where the squirrel had died. There, laying on the branch where the squirrel had sat, was the shimmering edge of something, though it was impossible to make out exactly what it was since the majority of the item was concealed by the foliage around it.
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“Well tickle me toes and call me Elmo,” Kylie said with a sigh. “This looks fun,” she sighed sarcastically. “I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to have to climb a tree while naked in the forest.”
“Well now you’ll get to find out!” Heather said with a laugh as she walked up and smacked Kylie lightly across her butt. “And, even better, I’ll get to watch the whole thing from down here and see how it goes. Should I record this moment for prosperity?”
“Don’t you dare!” Kylie snorted as she finally started up the tree. “If I see a video of myself climbing some tree later, I’m going to write your name and number in the boy’s bathroom stall at school!”
“You don’t even know my number!” Heather yelled at her back as Kylie slowly climbed one branch at a time.
“Don’t be so certain of that,” Kylie shouted back. “You’ve gave it to Sera, remember? Don’t think I’m against snooping in her stuff until I find it!”
“Well fine then!” Heather snorted. “No uploading video on the net. But, you should be careful; some pervert might come along and look up your skirt, you climbing a tree like that.”
“I wish they would. Then it’d mean I had a skirt at least for them to look up! Now hush. I’m almost there.” Climbing wasn’t as difficult for her lithe elven frame as Kylie imagined that it would be. Her slight weight and thin frame didn’t put much strain on the tree’s limbs, and they easily supported her as she worked her way up to the branch where the squirrel had been.
Finally reaching the limb that was her goal, Kylie was satisfied to find a small roll of gray leather awaiting her. “These squirrels drop craftable items as well,” she called out happily to Heather. “Hopefully this will be much easier to work with than those leaves.” Stretching, she reached out and pulled the soft roll of leather to her. It was soft, supple, and thin – all qualities which made Kylie think that it’d be much easier and better to work with than the leaves were currently.
“Here, catch!” Gently, she tossed the bundle down for Heather to catch and then starting climbing back down herself. As she reached the bottom, a ding went off and a message popped up informing her that she’d acquired a skill of 1 in climbing.
“Sorry, Heather,” Kylie laughed in excitement, “but you’re going to have to take turns with me climbing up the trees and retrieving the loot, whether you want to, or not.”
“Oh really?” Heather’s left eyebrow rose and twitched a few times as she glared. “What makes you think I’m going to do that? I’m not just some pretty face to fetch and do for you anytime you might want me too.”
Laughing, Kyle quickly reached over and flipped her on the nose. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?” Heather blinked a few times and rubbed the tip of her nose.
“Being a bitch. I’m not one of those asshole camp guys. Remember? We’re friends, working together. I don’t expect you to fetch and do things for me, and I never have. Now, have I?”
“Well…” Heather still glared slightly, but now she looked a little embarrassed as well.
“You’re going to want to take turns climbing up those trees and getting the loot with me, for the skill practice. Just climbing one tree here, and I gained a climbing skill. Who knows when such a talent might be useful later in game if we ever decide to seek treasure on top of a mountain peak, or siege a city wall or something. If you’re fine on passing up on the opportunity to get a new skill and increase it, then that’s fine with me,” Kylie said. “It’ll just be a chance for me to improve another aspect of myself even more, while you just sit there and watch.”
“Fine! I understand.” Stomping her foot in a huff, Heather turned her back and started scanning the trees for her next target. “I’ll kill them AND take turns grabbing the loot from the top of the trees, if it doesn’t fall out.”
“And?” Kylie put her hands on her hips and tapped her fingers slightly against her torso.
“And what?” Heather snorted.
“And you’re sorry you were being bitchy and thought I was just trying to boss you around or take advantage of you,” Kylie promoted.
“Yeah. That too. Whatever!” Snorting like a mad bull, Heather stomped off following the water in the creek upstream. “Let’s get back to the hunt! We don’t have forever you know.”
Smirking silently to herself, Kylie was quite happy. It might not be a proper apology like you’d expect from anyone else, but even that much was a world of improvement when it came from Heather. Maybe there really was hope for her and the two of them could end up better friends.
And thus the evening passed in a merry hunt for both of them as Heather blasted squirrels out of the trees, Kylie healed when necessary, and they both took turns gathering up the loot which consisted of red leather, gray leather, and many claws which identified as different things – sharp claws, fine claws, broken claws, weak claws, chipped claws, and worn-down claws.
Kylie didn’t bother trying to craft anything yet with the materials they’d gathered; like with the leaves, she wanted to get a nice collection of items in stock before trying anything, and she was carrying nearly everything she could in her arms when she finally said her goodbyes to Heather and logged out for the evening.
All in all, Kylie thought it was a nice productive evening in game, and she was even starting to enjoy spending time together with Heather a little more. Occasionally she had to be reminded not to be so bitchy, but it wasn’t so terrible. Lots of loot, good skill ups in Identify, Climb, and Dodge, and increased faction with Heather; not a bad day’s work at all!