I'm...Right Here.

What should’ve been a normal trip to the farmer’s market turned into another incident. My Melody had gotten better about her own clumsiness, but she couldn’t speak for anyone else’s.

Haseo wasn’t the only one to find himself inconvenienced. My Melody lost her balanced and fell forward as well; letting out a tiny yell as she did so. She skidded across the ground a ways before finally bumping hard into a nearby tree. “Ya-a-aaan…My Melo’s eyes are going wound and wound..”

Oh NO, he did not mean to do that. Sure he kicked Chim Chims, but they were computer programs designed for item farming but this was a real flesh and blood rabbit...person(?) that he accidentally assaulted. 

Quickly going over to her, he carefully picked her up.

no electricity? they didn’t do anything? but he was right — they did make him look really cool!  “pipikachu”. he nodded so that the man knew he agreed. he was actually really curious and wanted to learn about them, about if there was some meaning behind them or it was just, just really just for looks. 'player characters’ was an odd name, just like the ‘NPCs’ that some humans called others, there was still so much he had to learn, and even if this human couldn’t understand him, maybe there could be a way to get around that too so he could ask him directly some time.

Well he was pretty glad that he agreed with him. Even if they resembled Tri-Ed- Azure Kite’s tribal tattoos by the time he hit Xth form he was still proud of how they looked. They probably didn’t know what Player Characters are of course, not every world has MMORPGs after all. 

Ryou was never an outdoorsy person whether it be because he was a loner who preferred to read poetry or because of the coma from when he was younger, but that quickly changed when he was fused with his Player Character and had to fight to survive when in the AIDA servers. Since then he’s taken to actively trying to explore whether in his human body or as Haseo, which was exactly why he was climbing this tree right now. 

Grunting slightly, he swung himself up to a thick branch and stood up- really looking at the nature around him and breathing in the air. He never cared about this sort of thing before, but now...it was different.

Haseo had a scowl on his face as he sat behind a tree whittling wooden swords out of a pocket knife he brought for cheap in a store in Golden Ward. Thanks to a lot of bad luck and that damn infection he’s out of practice in training, a fact that’s never good since getting his ass kicked would be the straw the broke the camel’s back.

Why didn’t he just buy a new set of weapons? Because he was broke. So sitting there pissed off and slicing sections of wood for makeshift short swords was how he was spending his newfound freedom. He could already hear the taunting laughter.

[Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t been as active on Haseo as my other muses. My internet got turned off and I put in for a Semi-Hiatus status that might have to be renewed in a few weeks because I have to pay for two months worth of bills. 

“Wait a minute...how many days has it been?” Ryou has disappeared for nearly a month with no message or even a text to anyone, not that he had many friends in this place. But being stuck in the hospital for the worst viral infection that he has even gotten in years. It was so bad they had to keep him in for an entire month and was just now leaving. 

Haseo sure did run into a lot of anthropomorphic animals in this city. It wasn’t unusual to him due to the Beast races in [THE WORLD] other than their size. They were so small and it always make him look down just in case he didn’t accidentally step on one of them. 

Though while running in the other direction he didn’t pay attention to where he was going and found himself tripping over something warm, falling face first onto the ground. A bit irritated from the whole thing, he got up to angrily yell when seeing that what he tripped over was a very tiny (at least for his size) rabbit with a hood who seemed to be the cause of the accident.

“Oh, uh… Yeah, actually!” Battler answered, taking the time to check on his clothing for any disheveled spot. “I saw the ad for this the other day and have been inside before, actually. It was with my wife and we had lots of fun. I’ve heard that each time you go in can lead you to a different route, though, so I came to check it myself!”

He takes a decent looks at Haseo. Guy is obviously not ‘normal’ looking by the standard of your average human world, but by Spirale standards he is pretty tame design wise. That can easily fool you regarding one’s ability, though.

“Do you have a partner or were you going solo?”

With his wife? That had to be either lucky or unlucky depending on how you found the situation. Since this was his first time he didn’t have any real point of reference for how this entire thing was going to go down, so at least there was someone here who had general experience. 

“A different route? I didn’t think there was more than one way.” That meant multiple playthroughs...that actually sounded kind of fun. 

he nodded. this human seemed to be one of the ones who couldn’t understand him. which made finding out the truth behind those marks so much harder. paws lifted up with a flurry of excitement in his face and their speed, his cheeks beginning to crackle with electricity. it wasn’t much, and he wasn’t going to shock the human, but maybe it might lead to learning something. he did wonder if those marks could do something similar — there were so many.

When the electric mouse started rubbing his cheeks and sparks started coming out, Haseo blinked and realized with an ah-ha of what he was looking for. Crouching down to the electric mouse’s level, he pointed at his own tribal tattoos again.

Despite enjoying the company of others either privately or publicly, there was still plenty of moments she desired a little solitude. Normally she’d be able to go to the most secluded place she could ever think of; a private realm she alone presided over. But no, her very prerogative had been taken from her, so now she had to work a little to enjoy her thoughts. 

And she wasn’t the only one it seemed. Lying down with her arms behind her head, Ammutseba spoke without even opening her eyes. 

“It’s not been taken anywhere, darling.” She exhaled and her eyes finally opened, scanning over this youth for a moment.

“Of course, it’s not my property so you’re free to do whatever you like. But I’m not going anywhere either.”

Its not like he was trying to push her away or anything, though he fixed his expression so at least it didn’t look like he wasn’t considering her a minor inconvenience. Plopping down quite a few feet away from her, Ryou started fixing his fishing line and putting bait on the hook. There would only be a few more weeks before it would be impossible to actually fish due to hibernation so he had to take it as he could. 

“I never said anything about leaving.” 

“Why would I want anyone to be stuck in this hellhole? They’re much safer back home and not stuck here forced to switch between their PCs and original bodies. They’ve already dealt with the loss of their Avatars, to bring that back after they finally adjusted would be cruel.”

But a small part of him…did feel lonely without his friends despite his earlier words.

“Please do not steal bones.”

“’Adept’, hm? That’s a bold claim, but I’ll take your word for it.”

       You didn’t quite catch the actual meaning of the young man’s words, but you greeted him kindly nonetheless. It wasn’t your intent to put him on-guard, but you were the type who preferred to err on the side of caution. Especially so when the person in-question seemed to share a title with those who stood watch over the dark underbelly of Limsa Lominsa.

       His introduction was a bit peculiar. Sharing the weapons he was skilled with? You could’ve almost assumed he was trying to intimidate you.

“Izanagi, samurai. I’ve been told I have potential for various weapons, but I prefer to use swords before anything else.”

       As though to illustrate your statement, you shifted your arm slightly to reveal the wooden blade at your hip. Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest decision, but you sensed no ill intent from the boy. Besides, you could protect yourself if the need arose. But again, you doubted that would come up.

It’s the name of his class, don’t get it twisted. He couldn’t help but to feel a bit annoyed by that; it was bad enough that his Class got attacked a lot because they could use the most weapons but had the worst stat mastery due to the job changes. It was why he, they had to prove themselves against everyone and not just PKers. 

“You can take it for whatever you want, it doesn’t stop or show how strong I can be.” Just facts, not Haseo being a smartass or malicious. Underestimation was the enemy after all. 

 “My, what a interesting outfit.” He says in full regalia, a cup of tea in his hands as he enjoys the party and what not. Well there were many halloween parties, or harvest festivals happening at the same time and it was a good time to get smashed. But with all these people and his reputation at stake [and the memories of the last time he got smashed…]

 “Are you some sort of ….what are you.”

....Shit. And there was the last person he wanted to see him in this outfit. Well, at least it wasn’t Soyan or the explanation would have been even more embarrassing end probably end in someone getting Sparrow Countered. But look at Tokifusa all in full uniform, this was Halloween- not a dinner party. 

With a scoff he flourished his cape and crossed his arm.