Oooh, stuck the landing. Nice.
I found myself in one of many oh-so familiar dark alleys. Ahh, Starsford, it's been too long, truly. It's good to be back. Though, I admit, the circumstances of my arrival are not happy ones.
I looked around to see if anyone had seen my killer landing. Or my appearance out of literal thin air. Either one, really.
Oh, someone did! Wait, that's a bad thing.
The dark figure in front of me stepped out from the wall they were leaning on and pulled out a small sword. Ah.
Crap, are they gonna try to mug me, or are they just scared and trying to defend themselves?
Either way, too big a risk. I've got a streak to maintain.
I stepped forward, quickly placing my hands together.
Hood,
sickles,
vines,
And I lunged, and I swung.
By the time the lingering darkness began to dissipate, I could see that whoever that was had turned tail and ran. As you would if you saw something appear out of thin air and use farming equipment to spew out the embodiment of darkness.
Haah, that was fun. Y'know, it's been ages since I've actually had the opportunity to use these on something. I didn't even get to fight anything when the town got raided. Maybe after this-
Wait, no, that's a good thing. Ah crap, I think this world's starting to grow on me. Violence is bad! It's not a fun way to hang out, and it's absolutely not an utterly exhilarating dance on the razors edge of- NO! BAD!
Anyways, uh... Time to think, I guess.
First things first: Do I feel like I'm going to drop dead or explode within the next 30 seconds?
No. Not yet, anyway.
That being said...
. . .
Yep, we're good.
I quickly rolled up my sleeves and my pants and stuff to give myself a quick checkup on that end, too. Everything looked normal. I think. That's good.
Alright, not yet on death's doorstep. What's next?
Great question. Alright, start with everything that happened leading up to this.
S, Sis and I went to the show, Sis and I got lunch, met up with Catface, spent far too much money on woefully sub-par cheese, ate a better lunch, went back to the arena, S left, ????????, terrible magical darkness started leaking out of my hands, everyone saw, I ran away, aaaaaand now I'm here.
Additionally, there is a considerable number of unknown variables. Namely, how/why did this happen, what happened afterward, and what's going to happen next?
Did the stadium collectively shrug it off, thinking it was nothing, and I just completely overreacted and made a fool of myself? Possibly.
Are the stands currently in mass panic, two steps away from lit torches, raised pitchforks, and a funny looking wanted poster? Possibly.
Is it somewhere in between those two things? Almost certainly. And, hopefully, towards the chill end. Actually, getting witch hunted would be pretty cool... Anyways, most people probably don't know what they saw and hopefully don't care that much. Maybe they can have a nightmare or two about it, I dunno. Problem is, that was a crowded place. If even one person there knew what they were looking at, that's trouble. And trouble tends to talk to other trouble, which is just a huge mess.
So I've gotta be careful. Fortunately, this world doesn't have the internet or anything like that (I say with 84% confidence), so I'm probably going to be safe around here for a while. But I can't guarantee that'll last forever. I'll need to be vigilant. Sleep with one eye open, and stuff.
Both exhilarating and terrifying. I only hope I can maintain this balanced, partially optimistic attitude when the adrenaline wears off.
Speaking of adrenaline, that guy with the small sword from earlier. I definitely didn't need to do what I did. It's entirely possible I just traumatized some scared homeless dude, or something. That was definitely uncalled for.
My sincerest apologies, random shadow guy. Please don't, like, go crazy and start a death cult, or something.
Alright, the plan going forward should be simple. Be careful, and try to figure out what's going on. I've been putting off that visit with Maurice for far too long now. That should be a priority.
Though, I'd like S to be there. They know each other better, after all.
Oh shoot, I totally just abandoned him back at the arena, didn't I?
Ah shoot, I abandoned everyone, didn't I? Shoot. Crap. Dangit. Okay, uh, how do I fix this, how do I-
Suddenly, the air around me seemed to change course, as if acted upon by an incredible force of nature.
"IIIIIIIIII'MMM BAAAAAAAACK!" Said the previously mentioned force with a smile on their face.
"Y-yo, Catface." I said, uneasily. Of course, they'd seen what happened. I had no idea how they'd react.
S wasn't with them. Crap. Though, I guess that was obvious.
Catface landed in front of me, and Sis hopped off their back. It appeared that Catface was giving her a piggyback ride, which was adorable.
She walked up to me sort of slowly, with her eyes glued on my hands. She looked sort of uneasy, but I was too busy just being glad she was safe to be concerned.
"You're good, right?" She asked, looking up at me after a moment.
"Yeah. Think so." I said.
"Figured."
And that was that. She still clearly intentionally stood defensively between Catface and I, but I was glad that she wasn't as freaked out as I'd feared.
"Gotta say, your smile's pretty freakin' creepy." Catface said to me.
"Rude." I said.
"Sure. Anyways, you're f*cked."
I kind of expected Sis to say 'what's that supposed to mean?' Or something. But she didn't, she just clenched her fist, so I talked instead. "Yeah, I know."
"Sheesh, would it kill you to have a little whimsy?"
I shrugged. "Uh, sh-shouldn't you? I mean, you saw my... Other... Stuff."
"Yeah, yeah, dark magic. Say, didn't I tell you not to mess with that stuff?"
"W-well, technically, I'm pretty sure your exact words were that it was 'not something to concern yourselves with', but, y-yeah."
"I'm... Surprised you remember that."
"As am I, honestly." My memory normally isn't that good. Guess it's just one of those things. "Anyways, I'd already concerned myself with it at that point, so it was kind of, uh... Moot, I guess."
"Yeah, I probably should have figured that. I'll be honest, I was pretty surprised when I found out. Though, it was a good bit exciting."
"Really? You sure don't seem all that surprised."
"Well, that'll just have to be somethin' for you to sleep on after the show, yeah?" They said, stepping closer to me.
Sis must've been glaring at them, 'cus they sleepily raised both of their hands in the air. "Easy, pumpkin, I've just got a couple things to say to him."
"Can't you say them from over there?"
"'Course I could. But I wont."
Surprisingly, Sis allowed this without a word. Which was quite reassuring. Good job, Sis.
It seemed that Catface was going to walk past me, into the light, but instead they stopped next to me and put their hand on my shoulder. It was at a kind of odd angle, and their thumb was touching my neck a bit.
"Another tracker?" I asked, recognizing this pattern.
"Child safety features, more like." Catface said. "Sort of. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."
"Oh, uh, alright." I said, debating whether I should be comforted or horrified.
"Yeah. Now, I want you to look at my shoulder." They whispered.
Huh? That's weird, but alright.
"It's... All wet, and stuff." Looks fresh, too. Kinda snotty. Wha-
"It wasn't me that did that. Just figured you should know."
What the heck are you on abou-
oh
"Before I go, one more thing."
After one last brief whisper in the boy's ear, the cat faced one stepped forward, turned, bowed, and disappeared. They didn't like to stick around for long, it seemed.
And the boy simply stood, staring blankly at the ground, doing little more than blinking and breathing.
"What'd he say?" Asked the immortal, with her eyes scanning the area, and one hand on her fishing rod, just in case.
The boy looked up with usually blank eyes.
Opened his mouth as if to speak.
And then he closed it.
He tried once more, this time taking a moment to moisten his lips.
Nothing.
He shook his head.
This wasn't the time for many words.
"Can I hug you?" He asked, simply.
"That's a dumb question." Said the immortal.
"Do you want me to?"
"I don't not want you to. I don't really care, I guess?"
"Okay."
The boy knelt down in front of her, as she kept her eyes moving and her hand on the pole. She didn't think this would be strictly beneficial, but she thought it was good to lie low for a bit.
And then he wrapped his arms around her.
And the girl's eyes stopped moving.
And her pole fell from her hand.
And, after a moment, the boy's shoulder got a little wet.
For the first time since he got shot in the head,
the boy felt truly dead.
