Terrance, as it turned out, didn't have time to find any new quests for me to do, he noted that since we were avoiding fighting it was harder to find more quests I could complete. In the end it seemed like he was busy and had to leave quickly.

Tidal came later and thought he was eyeing me skeptically and complained briefly that I hadn’t been around. I sold his items for him and then he left.

Kervick stopped by giving me a smile as he arrived and he came up to me, “Where have you been?” He asked.

“I had to run an errand to the town earlier and I got a bit side tracked on the way back.” I admitted to him.

“Oh… Well I’m glad you’ve been back, it's just weird when you aren't around.” He nodded, blushing slightly.

“Did you need something? Or did you want to talk?” I asked interjecting my own interests as an option.

Kervick nodded, “Actually did I have any quests? I finished one earlier, sometimes that opens up a new one.” He said, looking away slightly.

I started a conversation with him and accessed quests to find the list was empty. I was about to explain how I didn’t have any quests to offer him, when a different idea bubbled to the surface. “I have a small quest of sorts if you would be interested, it doesn't pay much, only some copper...” I was unsure if he was interested in something so small, having spent most of my copper on the brothel I wondered if I’d be going back there at any point, maybe if we did, Mira could pay instead. It didn’t seem like there was any reason for me to spend my copper vs hers.

While I was considering a future interaction with Mira, Kervick tilted his head, “You? As in personally?”

I nodded, “Yeah, in truth I’d like to take a walk, and having someone to escort me would be nice?” I offered using some of the verbiage I’d seen in casual dialog.

“Are you going somewhere dangerous?” he asked, looking more serious.

“Well… not particularly, but you never know, the roads might be treacherous.” I offered back with uncertainty. In truth I just wanted to spend time with people and talk, besides I’d come to realize that being around people seemed to make days pass slower, when the people left the guild hall it would skip forward by hours if not days sometimes. I was growing to feel like I was simply missing out on opportunities if I stayed behind the counter all the time.

He shrugged, “Well if it's just a simple escort quest I guess I could do that.. If it's a lower reward it probably won’t be too hard either so it probably won’t be bad. Sure, Accept.”

I walked around the counter, “Then shall we?”

He blinked, uhh…” He seemed confused for a moment before muttering something about a “sync glitch.” Then seeing me waiting he smiled, “Well whatever I’m sure it's fine…”

So I led the way out of the guild hall and started down the road, and Kervick walked to my side as I walked.

“Do you like walking?” I asked as I enjoyed the sensation of wind though my hair.

Kervick glanced at me, “Walking? I don’t know that I particularly like it, but it gets the job done.”

“I’ve really started to appreciate it recently.” I explained, “The way you feel the slight chill of the gentle breeze, especially in the evenings. I’m so glad I’ve started to spend time outside the guild hall recently.”

Kervick watched me with a slightly slack expression, “Yeah? But if you’ve been spending so much time outside the guild hall doesn't that mean that the other guy has to pick up the slack?”

“Other guy?” I asked.

Kervick nodded, “Yeah, they put him behind the counter next to you since you’ve been missing.”

“I had no idea…” I replied somewhat surprised by this. Then again I hadn’t seen him, “Was he there earlier when we spoke?” I asked.

Kervick nodded, “Yeah, I don’t recall his name but he was there.”

I was increasingly certain that I wasn't simply “missing” people anymore. The empty town, the way that people seemed to appear when Mira introduced me to them or spoke with them.  There was some underlying reason or order to it, though I personally didn’t understand it. Still everyone else could see them and interact with them, and each time I brought it up it only prompted confusion. So like I usually did, I moved past it wondering if perhaps Terrance might be someone with some insight into that.

“Still I’m surprised no one told you about the change.” Kervick said.

“Who would have?” I asked.

“Hmm… good question, I don’t know… guild staff? Bason? Maybe someone else?” He asked in response after a moment.

I shrugged at that, I didn’t know any guild staff, or anyone named Bason.

“I guess expecting you to know about it actually makes less sense now that I’ve considered it… it's not like someone changed your schedule at work.. You were always there, and now there's just a second one...” Kervick said mostly musing aloud to himself.

I watched him as he made several thoughtful faces, as if he was trying to make sense of it inside his head.

He noticed me and blushing slightly chuckled, “Well I guess that's not really too important huh? So where are we going anyway?” He asked.

“Just a loop around the guild hall. We’ll head north into the farms, and then head east, before heading down into the town, and then finally back around.” I explained the rather simple path I had expected to take.

“Oh, so it really is just a walk huh?” Kervick asked.

“Did you think I lied to you?” I asked, pouting slightly at the idea that he didn’t trust my words.

“Well… No, but I guess I was expecting you to want to go somewhere further out where the monsters spa- appear.” Kervick replied.

“Would you prefer that?” I asked.

“Eh?” He asked.

“I’m just saying, we can go somewhere else if you’d rather. But I only have so many coppers.” I explained.

Kervick seemed a bit confused but laughed anyway, “No, That’s fine… I guess I’m just a bit thrown off by it.”

“Thrown off? Did I say something strange?” I asked.

“Well.. I… This isn’t like any other quest I’ve ever done… if anything it seems like a date…” He said suddenly, blushing more intensely.

“Would you like it to be?” I asked mostly out of curiosity, leaning forward so I could see his face a bit more clearly.

Kervick stammered, “I.. I… Would you mind?”

“Well if it's a date… then should I really be paying you coppers for it?” I asked.

“We can cancel the quest…” He said after a moment. 

I smiled at him, “So instead we’ll just talk and walk?” I couldn’t help but show my excitement in my voice in that somehow my quest had been rejected, only for me to get what I wanted for free instead.

Kervick scratched at his cheek, “Well I guess we were kinda doing that anyway huh?” he squared himself up slightly, “Well how about this then,” He held out his arm in the shape of a triangle. Noticing my slightly confused expression he explained, “Arm in arm… we could walk…  I mean.”

“Oh..” I said looping my arm through his, doing so required us to stand right next to one another. Once we started talking it was a bit awkward as we got used to, and we had to slow down a bit, but I could feel the warmth of his skin on my arm, and even slightly though my clothing as I gently squeezed his arm to my breast.

“Is this what you wanted?” I asked.

Kervick felt increasingly warmer, and the way that his breath was picking up made me think he was getting a little too excited. He finally spoke, “I wouldn’t say I wanted anything in particular...” He started, “But I’ve been curious… Why did you kiss me that one day?”

I replied honestly, “Mira told me that I should.”

Kervick frowned slightly at that, “Mira did? Was that a joke then?” his energy dropped even as I tried to squeeze him gently to try and reverse the change.

“I don’t really think of it as a joke.” I explained, “I was just trying to be helpful at the time.”

“At the time?” Kervick asked, looking at me intently.

“I’ve been learning a lot recently so I’ve started to think about things differently.” I explained.

“Is that your way of saying that Mira didn’t put you up to this somehow?” Kervick asked, a note of rising anger in his tone.

“I’ve done this completely on my own.” I said a bit of my own anger shining back in that he was somehow attributing my choices to Mira.

“Is that so?” he asked with a bitter tone.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“I guess… I just thought that perhaps that had meant something… but it turns out it doesn't… and now here we are doing this… but in reality this probably doesn't mean anything either.” Kervick said, pulling his arm away from me.

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked, stumbling slightly as he took a few steps away.

“You? No… I suppose not. I’m just an idiot who got caught up in the moment.” He said, shaking his head, “Of course that's how it would be… Mira just tricked you into playing games with me and It got my hopes up… I know you're just some computer somewhere going through dialog options…” He huffed out a breath, “I bet we triggered some stupid relationship quest or something…” He held up his hand at me as I tried to take a step forward.

“Just… Just forget this happened… and I will too. Cancel quest… just… I’ll see you at the guild hall…” He said stepping away and leaving me there on the side of the path.

I wasn’t sure what I had done. I slowly picked back over what I had said, mentioning Mira seemed to have set something off in our conversation that I hadn’t expected. I was Mira’s friend so it seemed natural to speak about here, at least as long as I wasn’t telling people about the brothel of course.

Yet all the same it didn’t look like Kervick felt the same way. Instead he seemed to think that Mira was in some way… influencing me to do things with him specifically. I didn’t quite understand why that would be an issue either. Even if Mira did ask me to do something, if I did it was that fine? I considered that, and found myself recalling how I had been upset that he had mistaken my choices for Mira’s. There was a difference after all, I didn’t like someone thinking my choices were someone else's. So of course He wouldn’t be happy if my choices were instead Mira’s. That would be a form of misunderstanding, which depending on how you considered any particular interaction or engagement, it was possible that he might think that actions performed by me on behalf of someone else was a form of lie, or manipulation.

I had spoken only the truth, yet somehow it was possible that I’d convinced Kervick that I was in a sense, lying to him, or perhaps he thought Mira was the one lying through me. In truth all of this was an extrapolation based on available information. But it left me feeling quite alone and upset that what had been a fun walk had abruptly ended that way.

I wish that he’d have given me more of a chance to try and explain myself. Yet as I stood there on the side of the path I couldn’t help but conclude that even if I had had that chance it would have been difficult to move past where we ended up. After all it wasn’t like I could assert my position to the point where he would have to accept it. If he was convinced of Mira’s involvement, then perhaps if Mira had been available I could have had her help.

Then again based on his expression when I mentioned Mira, perhaps he had some innate issue with Mira that escalated this situation. It seemed no matter how much processing time I committed to the task I only raised more possible scenarios and more questions without answers.

I wasn’t sure how long I stood there trying to process our interaction, but I was finally jolted from my own thoughts as someone spoke to me.

“Guild girl?” Tidal said standing from the side.

I glanced over at him, “Tidal?”

“What are you doing out there? Is this why you’ve been missing from the guild hall?” He asked, some bit of annoyance in his tone.

“I’ve been back to the guild hall, I was just…” I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond, was he angry too? Why was everyone suddenly angry with me?

“Whatever...” He said turning away.

“I don’t want to go back to the guild hall right now...” I replied, Kervick might be there when I arrived, and I still hadn’t come to any understanding of what had really happened. “Would you talk to me?” I asked Tidal.

Tidal glanced back at me, and eyed me skeptically, “Talk? I’d rather not honestly.”

“Is there something else you’d rather do?” I asked, maybe he wanted a quest? Or to sell me something?

His eyes seemed to be measuring me, “What? You just want to follow me around or something?”

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but if I followed him around we could at least talk some, even if he didn't want to.

Tidal's eyes showed with a sudden thought, and he said “I’ve got somewhere you can stand around that's safe and a bit useful.” Tidal noted.

“You do?” I asked my mood brightening slightly at the idea of being helpful.

Tidal nodded, “Follow me, it's a bit of a walk.” He grinned to himself suddenly his mood seemed considerably better, he might have even been smug.

 

DM: Tidal and Yuri

Tidal: Hey you around?

Yuri: Sorta, my family is such a fucking pain in the ass.

Yuri: Forced into carrying shit for my brother all day, heading home right now.

Tidal: Lame.

Yuri: What's up?

Tidal: You gonna log into NGA later?

Yuri: Yeah, as soon as I can find the time. I got a few more people more people on my waiting list.

Tidal: I got something from my guild to improve our cabin.

Yuri: Hmm? From your guild? You steal something? Haha

Tidal: LOL

Tidal: You could say rather than stealing it, it just followed me home.

Yuri: LOL What?

Yuri: Some kinda pet?

Tidal: The guild NPC that hands out quests and buys items.

Yuri: Are you kidding me?

Tidal: Nope, meet me online later I’ll show you.

Yuri: I’ll sign on when I get home.

Tidal: Sweet see you then.