Going Down? [Metro]

[Nala]

Nala nodded as Metro declared that he needed a nap. It had been pretty eventful since they had woken up, she could probably use one as well, but feared that she would just be up all night if she let that happen. In general she could be a night owl anyway, though could only stay up for one full night before passing out on the nearest bed. Some could stay up for days, something she could never understand how they pulled off.

“Oh, of course I’ll wait!” Normally, Nala would have offered to go alone. Actually, she was going to ask about going out while he was asleep so that everything would be ready by the time he woke up to save time. She wouldn’t insist on going alone though since he wanted to take her somewhere else while they were out. She did sort of question why she needed to visit the blacksmith in response to training with Metro though. Her weapons were hardly used in actual combat, first because she was a caster, letting her spells do the damage, and second, because she was a support character, the enemy didn’t usually get within mele range of her.

Stretching, she wiggled her way back to the edge of the bed to stand, wanting to let the elf rest. “I’m going to go get dressed then, my clothes should be dry and sticky-free. Have a good nap Metro” Turning around, she made her way back to the bedroom to pull off both shirts and put on her own clothing. That was another thing on her list, she needed to find a tailor to make her a few new clothes to stash… somewhere. Likely under the bed where they wouldn’t be seen or in the way –of course she would fold them, not just leave a big mess under the bed.

---

Word Count: 310

[metroexibit]

He awoke nearly four hours later. The usual burning in his eyes wasn’t present then since the sun was setting in the horizon instead of rising. He was laying on his side hugging a pillow. He slowly arose from his slumber, sleepily he looked around. At first he didn’t see nala and figured she had left without him. A spike of panic hit but quickly faded as he saw her come out of the bathroom. She was holding a piece of paper in her hand and a pen. He figured she was making a list of some sort, ether that or writing a note. He slid his legs off the side of the bed and stretched out his arms, arching his back he yawned. The bed was usually more of a cloud then metal. It felt hard when he slept and he felt the pain in his back. He figured it was because he usually came home exhausted and it was usually after the sun went down when he slept. His sleeping schedule was going to be pretty much ruined for the next couple days. He looked at himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t realized how much he had grown in the short time they had been here. Since he had been training every day he had quite the build now. Before the game he was rather small but now he was wide and a little muscular. It made him realize just how long they had been in here. 3 months now? Maybe even 4, he had lost count a while ago after realizing he never wanted to go back. This was his home now and he never wanted to return to a life no worst then a slow painful death. He looked up at her and said “hey you mind tossing me a shirt from over there?” he pointed toward a small dresser at the end of his bed. There was a small stack of regular tee shirts. He started to take off his shirt when he started to make conversation. “so I was thinking that we could head over to the center of town and we can go shopping around there. If you need someone more specific that they don’t have there then I can take you to some of the places around here. Seeing as how its so late we could ether have dinner out or in here. I don’t really care as long as food is involved.” He laughed and continued. “so what are you writing on that list?”

[Nala]

Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised to see Metro already asleep by the time she returned to the room, he seemed to have a habit of falling asleep pretty quickly half the time. Grinning at the adorable sleeper, she made sure he was warm enough, pulling up the covers slightly and patting the two-colored head of hair. She still found it interesting that it stayed like that naturally over the years. With the elf taken care of, Nala walked over to pick up a piece of pencil and paper then headed for the fridge. There were many recipes she had memorized and she really wanted to make them all for her new roommate. It would have to be a different dish everyday, and she was prepared for not all of them to be to his liking, but her hope was that he would like most of them and have a good time being exposed to her different cuisines.

But first, she needed to know what all to get- hence the trip to the fridge. Putting graphite to tree she wrote down a few things that she would need to get when they went out shopping together. Once that was made up, Nala stuck the writing utensil behind her ear and the paper in her bag. Tiptoeing quietly so she would wake Metro, the Fox Tail headed on out of the room and downstairs. She didn't feel like staying still or being without conscious company for the moment so off she went downstairs to talk to the man at the counter for a bit, telling him about her unusual but fun meeting with Metro and how she got to come here. Yes, she babbled a bit, but hopefully he didn't mind.

After a fairly one-sided conversation, Nala returned to the room and looked around for a little while. Pulling the paper and pencil back out, she started to write down a few more things that she would need to get. Various clothes, more non-perishable ingredients, a bedroll (for her). Of course she would pay for it with what little she had managed to save up so she'd need to stop by the bank in order to get out the necessary gold, but she didn't think Metro would mind a side trip. Speaking of the boy, he soon woke up just as she finished her list.

"Oh! Sure thing!" Turning her back to him, Nala went over to open the dresser and pull out a shirt for him, on her return trip she yelped at the sight of the half-nakedness. Slapping a hand over her eyes, she threw the shirt at him and quickly turned back around, fleeing to the kitchen to pretend to be busy doing something rather than hiding while he changes. "I just wrote down some things I'll have to get while we're out! Also, would it be okay if we stopped by the bank before we went shopping??"

---

Word Count: 491

[metroexibit]

Metro expected her to have to run by the bank anyway. With all the things they needed, a sane person would carry that much money at one time. “yeah sure, I have to make a stop near the bank anyway so ill do that while your there.” hey said the words as he put on his shirt and got up. He walked over to the kitchen and looked over nalas shoulder. He read what was on her list. “your going to buy a sleeping bag? Well alright, just don’t come crying to me about your back hearting in the morning.” He honestly didn’t mind her sharing his bed with him. It was innocent enough and it wasn’t like he had plans to get into any form of relationship anytime soon. He figured he might after he became ruler of this world or if he lost all sense in his mind. He dared not argue against the new sleeping arrangements because he knew it would not only come off as weird but because she probably wouldnt want to anyway. He grabbed his gear and got ready to leave. He looked outside and noticed that it was dark out. It seemed he had slept the day away. He saw the distant street lights brightening up the town center. He headed for the door and when he got there he grabbed the doorknob, turned to nala and said “are you ready to go?”

[Nala]

Nala jumped when she heard Metro right behind her, not expecting him to come so close to look over her list. "D-Don't worry I won't!" She stuttered, hurrying to stuff the list into the pack that served as her inventory. Sure, she hadn't really slept on the floor in quite a while, but when she was a kid she had done it all the time just because they had a dog she loved to snuggle with. It wasn't allowed on the furniture which was why she had to go down on the floor to sleep with it. As far as she could recall, she hadn't had any problems with sleeping on the floor, but then again her childhood was a bit fuzzy in general.

Giving the fridge one last once over, Nala hurried over to where Metro stood by the door. Nodding quickly, she adjusted her clothes to make sure they weren't ruffled too much for the outside world, "Ready when you are!" Blinking, she paused for a second before shaking her head, “Oh! No, wait, one minute please!” Looking down she dug around in her bag, searching for something. She even took a couple things out in her search for the item. Not seeming to find what she was looking for, Nala fled back to the kitchen to look around there for a few minutes to try and find it but again, no luck.

Huffing, she went around the house, double-checking everywhere she had been since last night, but still returned, she ended up returning to Metro with nothing but a pout on her face. “Mmmyeah… I’m ready…” It was probably back at her brothers’ place, after what happened last night though, she really didn’t want to go back there again.

---

Word Count: 292

[metroexibit]

Metro looked at her before opening the door. She seemed to be upset about something, he was about to ask why she was upset but thought better of it. If he was going to live with her he wanted her to treat him like he treated her. He himself had a lot of skeletons in his closet and would rather she not ask him why his mood would change when ever the memories of them returned every now and again. “Okay then let us go … erm shopping.” He said the word like it was bitter at the taste. He never really enjoyed shopping due to the amount of people everywhere, all the noise and especially all the walking around. He did too much training on a daily basis to spend his days off walking around the entire city looking for a chest plate with a decent fit. As he opened the door and walked out into the rather narrow hallway he stepped to the side away from the stairs and waiting for her to take the lead. After she walked out he closed the door and locked it behind her and motioned for her to go ahead with a quick nod of his head. He tried to think back to the first time he went shopping. “Was it five- no six months ago? Longer then that?” he thought to himself as they walked but for the life of him he couldn't seem to remember how long ago it was. He knew it wasn't long after they arrived here but how long ago was that? He thought about asking Nala if she remembered but again thought better of it. There aren't many people who like to think of that day and smile for it. He walked close but not to close to Nala as to make sure he didn't get separated from her. It wasn't completely for her sake, they were about to reach the market where all things are sold and there are bound to be tons of people there mucking around. With his uneasiness around large crowds without Nala there he would eventually end up just hitting someone. Even if it meant the guardians came into it. He was prepared to follow her around for the rest of the evening until someone sent him a message. While walking and paying half of his attention on where he was going and on the message he read it. He stopped in his tracks as his eyes flickered along the lines of words and letters. He tried to hide his sudden shock or even fear. The message read “shes cute, I had no idea you were the type to take in strays.” Although the letter had no sending owner he knew who sent it. It must be that dark guild leader bitch; he knew there was someone at his door that night. He should have chased after him, he should have done something. “You need to calm down, you don’t know that its her that even sent it. As far as we know it could be someone sending a message to the wrong person or-“ blue got interrupted by metro under his breath “as far as we know normal players cant mask there sending id.” His head dropped a little and let his blue hair flop down over his eyes. She was always one step ahead of him and now she knows about the only real friend he has. He failed her one time, a mistake that will not happen again.



He looked up and around the crowds of people as if to find her smug face standing out in the crowd looking back at him. He wanted to both fight and run at the same time. “I say we just kill them all…” Red’s voice sounded soft but firm. He was getting serious and for a moment metro enjoyed the thought, maybe one day he would do it but hopefully today is not that day.

---

Word count: 664 

[Nala]

"Kaaaay.." It was a little funny how it didn't seem like the boy was too keen on going out shopping, she would have laughed if it hadn't been for her moping. Dragging her limp fox-tail behind her, Nala wandered into the hall. She looked back as Metro closed and locked the door behind them to keep out any unwanted intruders. It made her wonder for a second, did people really steal from each other when they were in these harder times? It certainly was a possibility... Shaking her head, she stopped moping for her lost brush and put on a brave little smile for the day that was still ahead. Most people were good and kind, and wouldn't even think of doing such a thing, the world- at least this one- was a good one. At the nod from Metro, Nala skipped ahead, her tail now swishing excitedly from side to side as she waited at the end of the hall for him.

At first, she thought he was going to lead their two-person group down the stairs, but instead he seemed to wait for her to go ahead and show the way. Giving him a warm smile, she bound down the stairs two at a time, her small feet barely touching one step before she was hopping to the next. It felt like she was either flying or falling, almost doing the latter a couple times, but she managed to stay up and enjoy the feeling. Waving to the man behind the desk before they stepped out into the bright light, Nala couldn't wait to get their ingredients then come back for lunch! "Let's try to make pizza! Or ice cream! Or ice cream pizza!" She'd never tried the two together, nor know if it could even be done in this world, but she was more than willing to try it.

Getting to the market, it turned out that a large crowd had already gathered. Though she wasn't a big fan of crowds, there wasn't any getting around it; at least Metro stayed close so they wouldn't lose one another in the bustle. Nala tried to take them through the thinnest portions of the crowd, but everything shifted constantly, making it a bit difficult for her. Still, she had her list and was slowly checking things off while stashing them in her bag to take back.

Suddenly her eye caught something and she led them away from the ingredients and towards a different stall filled with masks made by woodcrafters and painted by artisans. Not paying attention, she didn't even notice that Metro had come to a sudden stop since he had been following at her heel loyally this whole time. Giggling at the various faces, she picked up the ugliest one she could find of a grey and brown demon face and put it on. Turning to where she thought the boy was she giggled, "What do you think Me-~" Blinking, she took the mask off as if that was what was causing her not to see him all of a sudden. "Metro?" Confused on where he had run off to, she tried to peer through the crowd with little success thanks to her short nature, even when standing on her tiptoes. "Metrooo??" She tried to get back through the crowd to find her lost companion, feeling uneasy in such a crowded area without him.

Word Count: 567

[metroexibit]

Metro stood there silent, alone thinking to himself. He looked around and couldn’t find any sign of Nala. He felt time slow around him, isolated from those around him as if he was in another world entirely. He spun around scanning the heads of people but there was just too many to tell. He then chose a direction and started to walk. His walk then turned into a jog then a run into a full on sprint. Every second that went by seemed like minutes and the minutes seemed like hours. “She sure picked one hell of a time to go wondering off!” he thought. Blue was trying his best to calm him down. Blue understood the situation but needed metro to start thinking clearly instead of going off on a emotion. Red on the other hand was just sitting in the far reaches of his subconscious with a smirk on his face. As Metro searched the area for Nala Red decided to have a chat with Blue in a tone that metro couldn't hear. “The boys finally starting to come around.” He said with a slight chuckle at the end. “You better hope for your sake your wrong! If anything happens to metro ill-“Blue eyes was rudely interrupted by Red “you’ll what? You know as well as I do that that boys compassion is going to get me and you killed. We could have settled this whole business weeks ago if you would stop babying him! If you don’t want him slaughtering half of the people in this god forsaken game. You better hope that girl is safe and neeping sound. Because let me tell you something blue you know just as much as I do that he gets way to attached to connections with people. This girl is no different and as he is right now I wouldn't be surprised if he leveled the whole city to get back at the wench of a guild master! If you ask me the boy needs some toughening up, I hope he never finds her…” Red’s voice trailed off and left silence until Blue finally spoke once more “you really are one cold hearted jerk you know that don’t you?” Red eyes simply let out a sigh and replied with a hushed tone “if you remember I never asked to be this way that boy you keep praising created me or have you forgotten. I never asked to be this way…” Red slipped back into the farthest corners of metro’s mind and left Blue in a depressing silence.



Metro stopped and looked around once he was in the middle of the market place. He needed to find her, after listening to blue eyes for the past ten minutes he realized he might be over reacting but he didn't care. He would rather over react and find her eating ice cream somewhere and look up at him with that dumb cute smile then have him find her tied up and gagged behind a line of twenty armed men with that psycho-bitch standing there laughing it up. He turned around and spotted a fountain in the square and ran to it. He jumped onto it and proceeded to continue his frantic searching.

---

word count: 539

[Nala]

Feeling too crowded in by the... well, crowd, Nala wandered off to the edges where less popular stands were situated. Whoever thought that selling zucchinis alone, or freaky looking pillows would be a good idea clearly belonged here. Having room to breathe, she kept in the market's vicinity, quietly wondering if Metro would have made his way back home when he realized they had been separated for awhile. Shaking her head, she realized that was more of something her brothers would do. Actually, they just ditched her for shopping days.

It brought on a happy little smile to be thinking of them. Looking around the place, Nala found a small space that was close to where most people were leaving the market to lay down under a shady tree. Hopefully Metro would still be searching if he decided to leave and notice the little fox-tail, but if all else she could just head back to his room and probably find him there by the end of the day. Yet for now, she pulled open her menu to find a few leftover messages from her brothers, an apology from each of them for the day before. Grinning more, she read each one before hitting a reply to the oldest.

'It's alright, but just so you know I'm doing just fine with Metro! The boy with the two colors of hair. We lost each other in the market, but I'm sure he'll find me soon. Be good and safe today!'

Almost directly after she hit send, she got a reply asking if she was sure she was okay and if they should come keep her company. Giggling at the message, she tried her best to assure them that she was perfectly happy basking in the sun; and she was, it was soothing. They all ended up reply again in the same message telling her to have fun and be safe before they said their goodbyes. After closing her menu, Nala outright facepalmed. Of course! She could just send Metro a massage telling him where she was, why hadn't she thought of that sooner? Reopening the menu she went on to type for him.

'Sorry I didn't think of this sooner but I'm at the edge of the market waiting under a tree! Are you still here?' Pressing send, she leaned back down to watch the clouds go bye through the leaves to wait for the reply.

Word Count: 404

[metroexibit]

Metro looked around the heads once more, desperately searching for a short dog like girl somewhere in the sea of people. It was still fairly early in the morning. The sky still had its dim dark blue tint and a faint smell of moisture in the air but he was surprised as to how many people were here this early. It was a chore to look through this many people one at a time seeing as how they moved around so much he would end up looking over the same person a couple times over. He knew this technique was getting him no where so he jumped down and sat on the edge of the fountain. He put his face in his hands and bent forward as to rest his elbows on his legs. He couldn’t just give up but where should he start? The initial panic he had was started to ware down which was causing him to think more clearly. She might have gone back home he thought or she might have gone into one of the stores as an escape from the crowd. He thought about how badly he wanted to just escape the crowd of strangers but he had to keep searching for her even if it meant turning over every rock in this god forsaken city. He stood up and then was about to start walking in another attempt to find Nala when he noticed a notification. He flicked his hand in the air and opened the message and read that it was from Nala and where she was at. If he was near a wall he would be bashing his head against it for not thinking of such a thing. He could here Blue’s laughter in his head and knew he was right to laugh. All this worrying and all he had to do was send her a message. Well better go to her he thought. He started to walk to the place the message said she would be.



As he approached he saw Nala sitting under a rather large tree. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon and the light caused a reflection off all of the leaves on the tree. It caused little rays of light to pear through the veil of green and spread across the ground. The rays were faint but he saw how the light lit up her face and shined of her hair in such a way that it looked liked like something from a magazine. A brisk wind blew through the city, sliding its way through the tall guildings and crowds of players, across the grass and through the leaves on the tree. It was quite the morning he realized. He walked over to Nala and sat right next to her. It was more coincidence then a planned thing them being so close but he didn’t mind. If anything her wolf like hair and tail kept him rather warm in such a cool morning. “This is quite the spot you found here.” he said as he slid lower in the tree as so he could kind of lay against the tree. He lifted up his right leg and rested his right arm on it and leaned his head back. “Its funny how this place could look so realistic you would think were back home.” His words started to fade as he finished them and soon he nodded of with the breeze continually to blow. It wasn’t a strong wind but it was enough to cause his hair to sway. He started to hear the morning bands start playing calming music in a near by café and he quickly felt his head get heavy and let it tilt to the side and lay his head on her shoulder. After another minute he fell asleep.

---

word count: 639

[Nala]

Laying comfortably under the shade, Nala let her eyes fall closed against a gentle breeze. Today was so perfect, it was almost too good to be true. Reaching one hand up to the sky, she spread her fingers, before letting her arm fall back to rest against her stomach; it was even the perfect temperature to her at least, pleasantly cool.

At the sound of a soft thump and the feel of another presence pressing against her side gently, the fox-tail opened her eyes to see the one she had been expecting- Metro. Clueless of his earlier frantic running, she thought he looked pretty relaxed, just as soothing as the day was. Curling up on her side, Nala rolled over to use the leg he still had stretched out as a pillow, fidgeting until she was comfortable once more. "It is~ quite a nice spot if I do say so myself." Letting out a content sigh, she looked around his foot to watch the people passing by on the other side, pausing before commenting on his comment. "Mmm.. I guess it is. I kinda like it, what about you?"

She waited a few minutes for a reply, watching what was likely an animal trainer play with a boar-like creature. After an unusual amount of time, she turned her head to look back and find that the boy had actually fallen asleep! Giving the dreamer a small smile, she turned back to continue her people watching, having a comfortable spot as any under a tree on a make-shift leg-pillow. After waking up in the middle of last night to find Metro awake walking about, she figured he could use what extra sleep he could get. Unable to sleep herself, however, she started to hum softly to pass the time, patiently waiting on Metro to wake up so they could bring the various ingredients back to put up. Hopefully nothing would be able to go bad.

Word Count: 324

[metroexibit]

White, metro looked around and that’s all he could see. The ground he was on, the sky, even the far off distance was white. It felt so clean that he himself felt filthy and needed a bath yet knew that no matter how hard he scrubbed the feeling would always be there. He tried walked around but the color blended so seamlessly that it appeared as if he wasn’t even moving but he continued moving forward anyway. This place he found himself in was so bare, not a single object in sight. The familiar feeling of the wind brushing past him as he moved was too non-existent. The feeling of moving and yet still not moving was making him feel sick. He stopped and fell to his knees and gagged in convulsion. Then suddenly an elevator appeared out of the ground in front of him. Metro stumbled to his feet and barely had time to find his balance when he felt something push him into the elevator. He looked around and it looked just like an ordinary elevator except when he looked up above the door, to his surprise he didn’t see a series of numbers indicating what floor he was on but yet a word. “Down” was written in flashing red letters. Then suddenly the elevator felt as though it had just dropped out of the sky and plunged downward. Metros feet left the ground and he floated above the floor of the elevator for a few seconds then his back slammed against the roof of the elevator. He winced in pain and felt as the G-forces tugging at his every being like it was trying to rip his body through the roof of the elevator and take him. Then suddenly the elevator just…stopped. Instead of what he figured would happen, inertia should have caused him to slam against the ground and cause his body to explode and rip apart from the force instead he simply floated down onto his feet. Then the door opened and a ladies voice spoke out of the speakers on the elevator. In a crackling voice from the lady spoke “w-w-welcome t-too your d-destin-nation.” Metro stepped out of the elevator just as the elevator disappeared from behind him. He looked out into his new surroundings and saw what looked like a ball room but instead of people it was filled with black humanoid silhouettes. He walked out into the crowd and as he walked it seemed like everyone was dancing, talking, laughing but they didn’t seem to notice he was there. People would dance into him, bump against him without a second thought. It was almost as though they didn’t even know he existed. He was in the middle of the room now surrounded by people. He sat down and huddled into a ball, wrapping his arms around his legs and lowering his head into his now makeshift human ball. “im completely alone aren’t I?” he said the words clearly and out loud almost as if to ask the world this question. No surprise that his question went un-answered as had the last thirty or so times he had asked this question in his life. He looked up and noticed that all the silhouettes were now standing over him, lingering there. He felt un-easy and weary of there presence. He could feel there gaze on him, burning like a candle being held to him. It felt like it was penetrating the wall he had built and he now just felt exposed. He felt naked in the eyes of strangers without faces to speak of. He couldn’t stand it anymore, the feeling of helplessness. The feeling as if others had the power and he was the weak one. He swung out his hand and noticed that all the silhouettes were like clouds or mist. He got up and started to swing out his arms and with each time he did so the creatures bodies would break away into mist around his hand and would then slowly disperse into air. After all the creatures were delt with he looked at his hands, they were covered in fur and his nails were like claws now. “so not only am I alone, but im a monster too?” he looked up into a mirror and saw his reflection. He had a wolf like face with a snout and big razor sharp teeth. His eyes looked like black wholes that seemed to suck into the light around him. He was both horrified and exited at the same time.



He turned around and saw more silhouettes and quickly began to disperse them. Groups at a time would disperse as he swung is long mighty monster paws. He smiled and began to like this, the idea of a monster. This is what the masses wanted was it now? This is the hand I was dealt from birth and all iv been doing is bluffing when I know I hold the cards to winning this game. This is my true form, the form I should have had from the start. As he slashed through another group of black creatures a girl appeared. Not just any girl however, it was Nala. She looked at him horrified. He suddenly felt a surge of guilt running through his heart as he reached out for her. He wanted to explain, tell her they were bad and that they deserved it but she only through her hands up in fright to cover her face and cowered. So even Nala is afraid of me, one of the only friends I ever had. This form scares her and I wouldn’t blame her. Then he saw another two silhouettes but this time they were different, one had blue eyes while the other had red. They looked at him and the one with blue eyes said “This isn’t you” while the red one said “kill them all” he felt tears run down his face when suddenly he awoke. He jerked forward, his open eyes after being closed for so long having just been exposed to a large amount of light burned and caused him to winced back and cover his eyes. He looked down at Nala and sighed of relief. It was a dream he thought just a stupid dream. He leaned back and placed his arm over his eyes. “sorry I must have fallen asleep, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting. I just need a minute to let my eyes adjust until I can actually see again.” He laughed at the end of the sentence as to lighten the mood. After a short while he removed his arm from his eyes and arose to his feet, ready to follow her to the other shops they needed to visit today.

---

word count : 1129

insert quote here

[Nala]

Turning her head around when she felt Metro start to move a little, Nala sat up to smile brightly at him. "That's alright, I didn't mind! Besides, a little break is just what we both probably needed from this crowd." Tail thudding happily against the ground, Nala hopped up once Metro got to his feet, dancing away to exit the market's area. Most of the things on her list were checked off, as for everything else, they would just have to hunt them in the wilds.

Looking down into her bag that had grown full for the most part, she casually turned their direction back toward the building Metro stayed at, humming a merry tune on their way. This time, however, she looked back often to make sure that he was still following her and not stopping or running off to some random place like in the market. As far as she knew, he had stopped following her instead of her not waiting on him after he got his message.

Stopping in front of the building, she turned around to face Metro before they go in, "I was just gonna drop these things off then go out to gather the rest of the list outside of London, but would you like me to fix up a bit of lunch before heading out, or are you not hungry?" She wasn't exactly sure if he had other things to do than follow and help her out for the rest of the day, so she tried not to sound like she WANTED to drag him around all over the place. Even if she secretly liked having the company.

Word Count: 278

[metroexibit]

He thought about lunch, he couldn't remember if he had eaten today. He figured it couldn’t hurt to eat and he was starting to rather look forward to her cooking. He wanted to see what she would come up with. He looked into her eyes and said “I would love to eat, Im starving.” He walked over to the front door and pushed on it and guided the door open. He then gestured for her to go ahead of him, trying to be polite but mostly because he wanted to see if anyone was following them or looking in on them without Nala noticing. After both of them entered the building he looked over at the man at the desk. He nodded as to say hello and smiled. The man smiled back and Metro continued on his way up the stairs to the second floor and down the narrow hallway to his, no wait “there” room. After all she was living with him now so should it be treated as such. He had to admit that living with someone was rather exiting. Growing up he had never really gotten the chance to understand what it was like to have a room mate or even live in the same house as someone else. Other then the nanny he had until he was old enough to take care of himself he always remembered being alone. Waking up to the silence of the long hall ways and listened as his footsteps echoed off the walls like they were desperate for any sound that could reach them. He remembered how he would eat alone, play alone and study alone. He couldn’t help the smirk on his face as he put his key into the door and turned it. He opened the door and was greeted by the familiar setting. The room he had bought as to shy away from his life in a mansion. His home no there home, it was going to need some getting used to as to called it that.  

He walked in and over to the table in the far corner of the room. It had two chairs facing it because the table was pressed against the corner thus preventing more chairs from being added. He sat at one of them, with his legs hanging over the side of the chair rather then under the table and slouched back against the wall. He put his arm on the table and started to flip through the many Overlays and GUIs that were in his vision. Going through his character sheet, over looking stats and resistances as well as his skills and read the description of each one. He seemed to be doing this a lot as a form of meditation. The words and numbers never changed so even as he read them he knew what word or number would come next. He almost did this subconsciously now, it was one of the only things that allowed his mind to drift and think. “So vixen of the kitchen, what is on the menu for lunch on this fine day?” He subconsciously chuckled at his one play on words, using vixen because she had fox like ears and tail. it felt alien to him, being able to read and speak while his mind was somewhere else. It felt like his body was numb but his brain was alive. If she replied he showed no sign of hearing her response. He thought back to the message he had received what could it mean? What should I do? What can I do? All these question were buzzing around in his mind. Swirling around like a tornado of paranoia just waiting to collide with ether a small village or large city of understanding. He contemplated the idea of him just leaving and the idea of staying as well as the idea of simply doing nothing. None of them seemed to end well for ether of them but at this point no plan would. They would have to deal with what comes along and he hated the idea. He liked to plan things out before hand even if they ended up having to improvise anyway. He couldn't even make up a somewhat plausible plan to make himself feel better. Every time he would come up with a plan he would turn around and figure out a way it would be beaten and the process would repeat. After a minute or two of this his head started to hurt. He stood up and looked at Nala and said he was going to take a shower and to call him when she was done if she would be so kind. He grabbed up some cloths, hardly looking at what he grabbed and went into the bathroom.  

He sat there in the shower trying not to think. Trying to just focus on the sound of the water hitting the drain and his own breathing. He prayed to whatever god heard him that this would all be sorted out… and soon because if not he was sure he would loose what little of his sanity he had left. 

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Word count : 838

[Nala]

Squeeing, Nala hurried inside after Metro opened the door for her like a gentleman, "Alright! And thank you!" You'd think she would be use to people opening the door for her because she had so many brothers, but nope! Funnily enough they had shut the door right in her face more than a few times every month.

Skipping past the elven boy, she stopped in the middle of the lobby to look around. It was still a bit empty here, not many people sticking around to chat to one another or anything, but it was slowly starting to grow on her every time she came through. Letting Metro get ahead a little, Nala stopped for a moment to do more than just nod to the man behind the counter. Feeling excitable and hyper, she bound over to lean over the counter to at least try to appear a little taller than she really was, "Hi there!" Giving him a big smile, she just stood there while being stared at as if she was just a little bit off her rocker. Admittedly she might have been acting just a little crazier than usual, but her happy level was too much to keep to herself. Suddenly holding out a hand to him, she got a little bit more of a stare from the guy before he hesitantly reached out to shake it, "I'm Nala, thank you for running this place and letting us stay!" He didn't seem like the type of warm hearted fuzzy feely person that she was, so the Fox-tail just casually leaned back from the counter after shaking the man's hand to hurry up the stairs without waiting for any sort of response.

Running up the stairs- probably not the best decision she had made... especially considering she had tripped on them time and again from it; and this was no exception. She did just fine up most of the stairs, it was that very top one that got her though- catching the tip of her toes to cause her to fall face first on the ground, "Nngh!" Flailing out her arms, she failed to catch anything in front of her since she was running up the middle of the staircase in her excitement. "Oww... You have to be more careful...!" Rubbing her nose as she scolded herself, Nala pushed off the ground to stand back up on her feet. Jogging down the hall, she just managed to slip in behind Metro right after her strolled in to sit down in a chair at the table. She loved that he could just kick back and relax so easily with her around, it made her feel accepted and trusted.

Jumping slightly at the title, Nala put herself back into reality after watching Metro simply kick back, blushing happily as she giggled at the play on words. She made her way on into the kitchen so that she could start storing things in the fridge. "Well, I was thinking about making a pasta, I don't want to ruin to much of the surprise for you though so you'll have to wait to find out what exactly it's going to be~" Leaving out the necessities for her dish, she started taking out pots and pans, along with a wooden spoon to use. Looking over, however, Metro didn't seem to be paying her much attention, "I'll also be adding in snake eyes, frog's warts, and a dash of ground newt!" When he still didn't give her any sort of look again, she couldn't help but smile to herself, wondering what could possibly be distracting him. She'd just have to ask him over dinner though as he soon excused himself to go and have a shower. "Alright, it might be a bit so take your time!"

Humming to herself as she started cooking, Nala half-walked and half danced as she went along. Setting the water to boil over, she prepared long strands of Alfredo along with a thick sauce to slather them in once they would finish boiling. It wasn't too complicated, it was just the ratio of sauce to pasta she always seemed to get wrong; there was always more sauce left over when eaten. She supposed it wasn't a bad thing, but she didn't like to waste, even when it came to that. Getting it as close as she could, she strained the pasta then dumped it into a pot to stir in with the sauce. Needing to let it sit to soak in, she started to set the table for two. Adding in a bowl of grapes and a couple carrots, she wondered what sort of drink Metro liked best. She made sure that she bought milk and other beverages from someone who was a brewer so it would have a taste. Hmm, it wouldn't take long just to pour a cup of anything, so she'd just ask him when he got out of the shower. Speaking of which- finishing up setting the table, Nala went on down to knock on the bathroom door. "Metrooo! Lunch is ready whenever you are, don't let it get too cold!" Having given him the promised call when food was ready, Nala turned around to sit in wait at the table, unwilling to start eating until he came out to join her.

Word Count: 905

[metroexibit]

He stood in the shower feeling the water run through his hair and down his body. He turned up the heat as far as it would go and closed his eyes. The water felt like fire but he didn’t care. The mist from the water was starting to fill the air and he felt it start to cloud his mind. He was trying to clear his mind as best he could. He knew that blue and red eyes were still there of course but he didn’t feel such an intense presence in his mind anymore. He thought this is what sane people must feel like. It both interested and terrified him. His own mind felt even more alien to him then before. When was the last time he had felt like this? Not since grade school. It was after all the bullying and teasing got to its peak and when his parents were virtually none existent. The therapist his family sent him to all had different hypothesis’s as to why this was. One of them suggested that it was just his imagination. Another thought maybe it was a trauma induced state, created for the soul purpose of protecting his emotional state from complete collapse. He was astonished that he hadn’t killed anyone yet. The last one was the most odd of the three however. He believed that an angle and a demon saw his struggle and were drawn to him. They entered his mind as a way to study him and learn from him. He figured that the angel wanted to help him reach his destiny while the demon only wanted to corrupt his soul. While metro wasn’t the most religious person in the world he preferred this explanation. He thought it made him sound more special then he actually was. He chuckled at the thought of him being “special” no, he learned from a young age that this isn’t some sort of game or movie in which he was the main character and which would eventually cause him to have a so called “happy ending.” If anything he was a side character, whos only role was to progress everyone elses story and eventually die. Only thing is, he had no idea who the main character he was supposed to be helping was. Maybe one day he would find him. Maybe one day he will kill the son of a bitch who thought he would be the main character of anything or maybe he would die before he ever met him or her.

After a little while of the scorching hot water simmering down his body the feeling started to subside and became more pleasant. It caused his muscles to relax but just as he started to actually enjoy his shower he heard a knock on the door. “Of all- “ he huffed in disappointment and joy. He was now really hungry and would love some food. He switched off the shower and got dressed. He through on a cotton tee shirt and what seamed like jeans. He got them from the local tailor, something about trying to bring back there modern clothing to this world. He had to admit the likeness was there but it didn’t seem quite right. He looked into the mirror and watched as his wet hair flopped over his face and noticed his hair was still such an outrageous color. He wondered if this stuff would ever wash out. He would probably re-dye it if it did. He was started to rather like his hair color. He grabbed his towel and started to dry his hair as he walked out of the bathroom, mist following in his wake as he walked over to the table “smells great Nala, cant wait to taste it.” he said as he pulled out the other chair and sat down. He asked Nala if she would mind grabbing him a drink for such a fine meal. He asked for some milk if she wouldn’t mind. He always loved eating milk with noodles. It really seemed to bring out the flavor. He looked at his pasta and was rather please with how she did it. he liked more sauce with his pasta then noodles just for the sake of the taste. He hadn’t had noodles in a while, or at least noodles that didn’t taste like wet mush in his mouth. So he picked up his fork and started to chow down. After the first bite and realizing how good it was he started to really feel his hunger. It latched at him and caused him to eat rather fast. He looked up and swallowed “im so sorry, after not eating since last night I guess I got quite the apatite.” He felt himself blush a little bit. He quietly realized and forced himself to stop as it would be even more embarrassing for her to see. He continued to eat with pleasure, wondering what else they would do today. 

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word count: 828

[Nala]

Nala was nearly wiggling herself out of her chair. As she had come to realize, smelling great and tasting great were two totally different things. Sure, making something smell as good as a freshly cooked hot dog seemed perfectly normal, safe, and even delicious- but when an unhappy Nala makes it, as her brothers' had found out, you loose the ability to taste again for the week from the spiciness. Being more than happy with Metro though, she was anxious to know how good he found her cooking to be this time compared to yesterday. Perhaps he was sort of like a food critic in a way to her, but more important? It wasn't easy for her to put her finger on why his opinion carried so much weight, but she'd chop it up the fact that she nearly paid her rent to him with the meals she served.

"Sure thing!" hopping up to pour the drink for him from its container, Nala paused for a minute before deciding to pour a simple glass of water for herself. Returning to Metro, she set down the filled glass before taking her own seat again, picking up her fork even though she still waited for his reaction.

Sitting up at attention, she stared as he brought up his hand to try the first bite. She knew it was crazy to say that time had slowed itself down just to prolong the moment and torture her with his delay-able reaction, but that would be silly. True, to her, but still silly. After he finally took that first bite though, then dug into the dish with gusto, all her worries were eased, causing her to smile brightly as she started to eat at a slower pace herself. She was still rather hungry herself, but she also tended to nibble a little while she taste-tested her food prior to serving.

Taking a sip of water, she shook her head as he apologized. "It's fine! I'm glad that you like it! There's enough for second as well if you'd like me get you some more?" It was a little strange being able to say that there actually were leftovers available for someone to have a second helping. When cooking for four, it was hard enough making something for everyone to have one serving with three of the four who she swore made it a contest to see who could stack their plate up highest without anything falling off.

Word count: 416

[metroexibit]

He got the glass of milk and thanked her. He took a couple of swigs of it before continuing to eat slower then before and more polite. He took a couple more for fulls before asking Nala a question “So Nala you said something about going outside of London for what cooking supplies? If you wanna do that I hear that the best way to get meat is through actually capturing an animal. You probably already knew that but what you probably didn’t know is that I have a friend of mine who would love to give us a cage for free if only you make enough so he can have some too. Hes a rather big guy but he has a kind heart. If you want we can see him after we eat.” He hadn’t looked at her when talking. It wasn’t because of her it was because he had said the words without thinking. The last time he saw that man was when he took his armour to him a month or two ago and they got into a rather big argument over his well being. He knew he was just being stupid but he wasn’t much for apologies. Everytime he tried to apologise to someone it seemed out of place and akward for everyone involved. He finished eating and drank the rest of the milk before standing up out of his chair and walking over to the tiny dresser he had next to his bed. He knelt down and unlatched the door and opened it. He then reached inside and grabbed a box. He pulled it out and set it on the floor in front of the cabinet. He took out a key from his pocket and used it to open a lock that was keeping the lid closed. He opened it and looked inside. There was a beginners dagger inside as well as about three hand written invitations to guilds. Two of which he never even opened and the third was shred to pieces and scatter through the box. He reached in and grabbed a ball. It wasn’t just any ball though it was a container. It was like two half circles that screwed together to keep something inside contained. The ball was made of a thin sheet of iron. He closed up the box and locked it, then he closed the cabinet and re did the latch. He stood up and tossed the ball in the air and caught it again with the same hand.  

“Im ready to go if you are” he said with a slight sad look on his face. 

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word count : 437

[Nala]

Nibbling at the remaining Alfredo on her plate, Nala tilted her head to the side slightly when he mentioned his friend and the fact that it was better to get meat by capturing an animal to cook first. Laughing nervously, she nodded in response, "I know... And sure, we can go see him if you like." While she was aware it was better to capture and kill an animal to eat that way, she was hesitant to do so. The short little fox-tail just didn't have it in her to kill an animal in a cage. Ragas had tried bringing a boar back to the house to test out the theory of the captured animals, but the longer she spent with the beast in a cage, the more she talked to it while preparing the pot, the fonder she became of it. Then, eventually, when it came to killing it to cook, she couldn't do it. She ended up sneaking it out the door to release it back into the forest where it could go with its life! Of course, it wasn't really sneaking since all three of her brothers had been in the living room, pretending not to see her, and after she had turned around to go home, another adventurer came along to kill the thing for a quest anyway. The fact was though, she couldn't caged animals to cook with.

Craning her neck a little, Nala tried to get a look at what Metro was up to when he got up from the table. All she could glimpse at though was something shiny, a couple envelopes, and some paper. Why in the world he would be getting a letter instead of a message was a mystery to her. Oh! unless of course it was something like an anonymous message from some sort of secret organization or maybe an invitation to some sort of party event given to him by a Person of the Land. She had always wanted to go to one of their balls in a beautiful dress and dance to her hearts content like a noble lady.

She was going to grab both of his hands to make sure she had his immediate attention; being a touchy sort of person, but with one of them filled with some sort of metal ball, she was left to glomp him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Tail swishing excitedly with her assumptions about him getting an invitation to some sort of ball, Nala gave Metro a pleading look. "Actually, I was wondering what you had in that box? Is it an invitation? Are you going dancing?" It wasn't easy to contain her energy, but she really was trying.

Word count: 455

[metroexibit]

He held the metal ball like casing in his hand. He waited for her to lead the way out of the door like she always does but instead she did something metro had never accounted for. She grabbed both of his hands and spun him around to face her, he blushed slightly at the touch of there hands. He had never held a girls hand before. They were soft and he had to admit that he kinda liked it. The feeling of someone else's hand in his. It felt strangely needed like flipping your pillow over when you cant sleep. Then what she did next really threw him for a loop. She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him. He blushed furiously now. He felt his face burn and his mind go numb. He felt the butter flies in his stomach and couldn’t really understand why he was feeling like this. Was he sick? No they were in a video game, you cant get sick or at least as far as he knew you couldn’t. No, it had to be something else something more complex maybe? Something he couldn’t comprehend with his knowledge of human biology? “Actually, I was wondering what you had in that box? Is it an invitation? Are you going dancing?” her words felt like poison. They stung his heart and caused his whole body to freeze. Before now he was simply stumbling over his words and holding his arms out so that they wouldn’t touch her. He didn’t understand the proper positioning of his hands at a moment like this so he opted to simply not touch her to be safe but now, now he was silent. He heard blue and red eyes going frantic “don’t tell her metro, if she knew who knows how she would react. Trust me don’t tell her metro, don’t. do it.” he heard blue eyes’s voice. It was usually so calm but now it was frantic. “don’t tell her it might up the chances of her getting killed. No wait actually tell her, let her die metro shes a burden to you anyway. We don’t need her” red eyes said the words with laughter on his tongue. Didn’t he understand the fact that he didn’t want to hurt her. That he cared for her and wanted to keep her safe? No he would have to take blue eyes advice but what would he do. Then almost as if he lost all control of his body his arms wrapped around her waist as to hug her back. He held her tight but only just long enough for him to say “ill tell you one day but only if you promise not to ask about it again until then ok” he said the words almost in a whisper but loud enough for her to hear. His voice had the twinge of cracking when he spoke. He was on the verge of tears over the fear of her finding out the secrets behind the veil of shadows. He would have to tell her one day but not today. He just wasn’t ready to tell her the truth. He couldn’t tell her about the contents of the letter until he knew she knew him better. Until she knew he was a different person now and that he would never- his train of thought broke off as he let go of the fox tailed girl and started to walk out of there front door. He opened it and walked out. He waved his arm back at Nala as for her to follow as he walked down the narrow hall way, down the stairs and out of the building.  

He lead her to a long ally way between two rather large buildings. At the end of the ally there was a door that had metal pipes bordering it. It had a metal sign that read “Melcrofts craft shop, you break it we repair it.” Metro walked up to the door and went to grab the handle but hesitated. “Hey Nala? just promise me that whatever you hear its not true okay? Well not completely true alright?” he reached for the door handle and opened the door. the inside of the shop was fairly basic but had a kind of personal flare. The walls for laced with weapons of all types and sizes and the roof had all kinds of armor bolted to the roof in a sort of artistic way. He walked over to the counter and ringed the tiny bell. The counter ran the length of the room and behind it was a long wooden cabinet with glass on the front. Through the glass you could see very high priced gear and weopens and at the end of the cabinet was a door way but instead of a door there were glass beads streaming down from the top of it. “coming!” it was a rather husky deep voice coming from behind the door way. He then heard the footsteps and eventually clancking of the beads as they connected into each other. “you! You get out of my store right now!” he stamped over behind the counter in front of them. The man pointed a finger at metro and started to rant on saying “you son of a bitch! You get out of my shop right now you hear me!” he then looked at Nala and pointed at metro again and said “Are you with him?! Because let me warn you about going anywhere with this man! If you were leave the city with this man be warned that he will leave you the moment things get hairy that I can promise you!” Metro finally spoke up after a few minutes of the mans constant verbal bashing of metros character. “Hey listen old man that’s now how things went down and you know it!” metro knocked the mans finger out of his face and slammed his palms on the counter. “Oh really then please explain how you go out with my son three months ago and yet I have seen hide nore tail of him since then!” the mans eyes started to tear up a little but the fury was still there. Metro stumbled over his words trying to find the right ones to use but couldn’t seem to find them. “Yeah that’s what I thought. Now get the hell out of my shop!” he pointed out of the door and started to walked away when metro closed his eyes, clenched his fist and slammed it on the counter. It caused the counter to shake as he said “damnit old man they got him and I couldn’t do anything about it alright?! I wasn’t strong enough to protect him! There was too many and they came out of no where. And if I remember correctly he followed me out there. I didn’t even know he was following me until it was too late!” he started to walk across the counter as he watched the old man turn to him with anger in his eyes. Metro got right in his face and shoved the metal casing in the mans chest. The man was stunned as metro started off towards the door. “She needs a cage! Get her one and I wont be back again I promise.”  

He looked at the ball and opened it. He reached in an pulled out a little locket necklace. The old man then looked from the door to the necklace and back several time before he said to nala “yeah sure, I got a cage you can have. Just follow me into the back and you can pick out which one you want.” He said the words quietly and half detracted. He walked off toward the doorway and gestured nala towards it. they got to the back and he showed her a rather extensive selection of cages. One had a metal net at the top so when the cage closed the met dropped and prevented all movement from the creature. Another had spring loaded door that slammed shut when the pressure gauge on the bottom of it was triggered. Many other different kinds of cages were there, the old man left Nala to choose which cage she wanted as he walked off with the necklace in hand. Metro was sitting on the floor in the ally with his legs pulled up to his chest and his face in his lap as he waited for Nala to come out. 

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word count: 1482