"Take It Easy"

Claire shook her head with a wistful sigh. “Such a shame. But hey, we can’t beat ‘em all. We sure as hell can try, but it doesn’t always work out.” She chuckled and gestured for him to take a seat, placing a glass of water on the bar counter for him. 

“I’ve been doing well, thanks.” Claire shrugged her shoulders. “Those healing potions helped out a lot with the recovery, so thanks again for those. Helped me get back to work a lot faster.” She took out her pad of paper and pen. “Speaking of, what do you want to eat and drink? It’s all on the house, so don’t hold back, alright?”

Doug took a seat at the bar, and grabbed a menu, though he didn’t look at it just yet.  He listened to Claire, feeling thankful that the healing potions helped some.  That was all he really hoped for, as he still felt kind of bad about the whole battle.

Rachel watched the wolf gnaw on Doug’s hand, eyes focused mostly on the razor-sharp puppy teeth the wolf was sporting. She remembered when one of her friends got a puppy and just how sharp those little teeth could be. Doug seemed uncaring until the wolf bit down harder and Doug flinched. 

“Ah! Are you okay?” Rachel immediately grabbed his hand to look at it. Sure enough, there were some tiny, red wounds from where the wolf’s teeth had scratched or punctured the skin. “I think I have some bandaids, hold on-” She reached into her purse and pulled out a few small bandaid. “Here, use these.” She placed them in his hand and smiled nervously. “Sorry, I used to babysit and now I carry bandaids everywhere I go. Kids trip a lot, you know?”

Doug couldn’t help but smile weakly seeing Rachel so concerned over a puppy bite.  Bandit was actually being pretty good today, comparably to other days.  Whether he was showing off to the guest or what was going on, Doug had no idea.  Still, it was nice to have someone concerned for him.

@pebblebrain

The tournament had practically finished and while Claire had been eliminated in the second round, Doug at least made it further than she did. They’d both, in the end, been wiped out in a brutal fashion, but at least they put their hearts into it. Claire could tell just from their battle against one another that he was someone worthy of fighting. Plus, he was nice enough to leave her some get-well potions which helped speed along her recovery process. It got her back to work quicker, which she was quite thankful for and felt that his actions deserved a “thank you.” 

So, she left him a note in the mail for him to find when he got back home for him to come by the bar one night for a free meal and drinks on the house. It was all she could offer besides her words of thanks, and she honestly wanted to get to know the guy a little better. She wanted to know where he learned to fight, how he got so good, and how he managed to remain a kind person through it all. Kindness wasn’t a quality Claire expressed outwardly or often, so there was room for her to learn.

He walked into the bar, and almost immediately the familiar woman at the counter called him over.  She mentioned how he looked and Doug couldn’t help but smile slightly.  Though the miracle of modern medicine had patched him up quite a bit, the bruising under his eyes was still visible and the welts on his arm, which were currently wrapped up, still caused him a bit of pain.  “That necromancer, man.”  He gave a weak laugh  “It’s no problem.  Thanks for inviting me.”

Rachel waited at the bottom of the stairs, bouncing on her feet excitedly as she waited for Doug to bring the dog downstairs. She absolutely adored dogs. Animals, in general, she liked but dogs the most. As soon as she laid eyes on the pup Doug brought down, Rachel melted into a puddle of kissy noises and “awww”’s. She held out her hand for the wolf to sniff. 

“He’s such a cute do- erm, wolf. I’m gonna have to correct myself a lot, heh.” Though, now that she thought about it, were wolves legal to have as pets around the islands? Apparently so. “On the mainland, at least where I’m from, wolves aren’t allowed as pets. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one outside of a zoo, let alone in someone’s general store!” She chuckled and scratched the wolf behind the ears. “He’s just like a dog, though!”

The wolf sniffed Rachel’s hand, and immediately tried to gnaw on it like teething puppies do, though stopped for a moment when Doug started to talk “Ah ah ah, stop it.”  The pup did what he was told, though immediately turning to Doug’s hand to bite instead.  Oh, well.  At least he wasn’t biting Rachel.

Doug laughed at the woman’s initial reaction.  “I feel you.  I still have to correct myself all the time.”  He had been scouting the pet shop for weeks, believing that the silver wolf pup had actually been a domesticated dog, only to find out at check out that he was actually a wolf.  But, even after that, he couldn’t bring himself to pick any other one.

Frey did not have the nerve to shoo away the puppy when it was asking for attention, so instead of feeling self-conscious, she falls for the pup’s trap and strokes the top of it’s head with a finger. Soooo cute.

“Oooh, I’m sure he’s just craving for some attention from the first person he sees.” Frey turns towards the person who just spoke and gave a small peace sign, noticing how he was trapped by the curse of cute puppies, too. “They’re really cute, aren’t they? It’s like they’re doing it on purpose till you cave in and adopt them…”

Ah, she would if she could. But she’d make a terrible owner for someone who moved a lot. “Did you come to get a pup or are you still deciding?”

“Oh, at this point, I’m sure they’re magic.” He replied, petting one of the puppies.  This one seemed to be incredibly feisty, as it tried to nibble on Doug’s fingers.  “They’ve already cast a spell on me.  This is the third time I’ve been in this week to play with them.”  He looked over at the woman beside him and smiled.

Though, to his next question he was a bit more serious.  “I’ve been thinking about it.  The more I stop in here, the more I want one.  I’ve always wanted a dog, and now that the housing situation seems stable, I’m really considering it.”  He looked back down at the pups as they played.

@therunefarmer | @doyouevensurfjoe | @pebblebrain | @quietlittle-teddybear

This island was written by Micah-mun!

An island that is a quarter of the size of Arcadia, but almost rivals the Rune Energy that Arcadia contains. The island is overrun by nature, houses on the island having flowers growing on their walls with no sign of anything unnatural in sight. For the most part, this island could be seen as a very traditional island…

Except there is one thing about this island that isn’t at all normal.

Humans and monsters are a little more than just friendly on this island. Many of the residents and their monsters being united in “holy" matrimony, it becoming a long held tradition of the island. Half-Monster children are more than common here, marrying one another or a human or monster to keep the tradition going.

This island has remained undisturbed for generations, having failed to contact other islands to avoid confrontations over their traditions.

Though, upon arriving, voyagers are welcomed warmly by the residents. They will be offered food, temporary housing, equipment and supplies for exploration, and anything else they may need during their stay.

What will you do?

> LEAVE AND REPORT TO EXPLORER’S GUILD

> LEAVE AND REPORT TO LEUDA

> LEAVE AND REPORT TO ARCADIA

> EXPLORE 

After escaping the clutches of human-monster holy matrimony, and being rescued by Terrable, the voyagers managed to leave the island of half-monsters safely! Sure, they may have a few bruises and whatnot, and more than a few questions on their mind, but they are no worse for wear! Though they have agreed not to reveal the existence of this island to the public, in an attempt to avoid future incidents.

As for the Key Piece #7 that was found at the shrine, Terrable took it using some interesting… methods. What methods? Well, maybe it’s best not to know what those are. Point is, it is now in his possession!

@therunefarmer | @pebblebrain | @terrible-terrable

For exploring this island, you all get 200 EXP!

Proof

Level 14 → 15!  (100/400 EXP towards next level):

HP - 10

MP - 16

ATK - 62 → 64!

DEF - 7

M.ATK - 2  → 6!

M.DEF - 14

In which Nessarose, despite being bored with the tournament, comes out on top, despite the hell of a fight Doug put up.