On the Rocks [open/+1]

[Faded]

Tagged: +1 ▪ Notes: Open for one other.e ▪ Muse: N/A ▪ Health: 100% “Dear, I’m going out on request today, I’ll return in about a week or so!” No one answered the white-haired wolf, but he didn’t expect an answer considering the house was empty. Heading outside, he had packed a bag full of various ingredients collected the day before along with a warm blanket for the nights he would be staying outside. Only the day before, he happened upon a group of adventurers discussing scouting into the new lands in search of treasure and various riches. At the time, he hadn’t thought anything of it, just wanting to sit down at a table with a few strangers to satisfy his weekly thirst for companionship at the Tavern he frequented. How was he supposed to know they would contact him the next day with a request to come help them in the field? It was against his personality to turn down anyone that asked for his help, so Faded immediately agreed to come down the next- today. He would miss his regular routine at home, but maybe he needed a little change in his life? It sounded nice and all, but actually going through with it was the hard part. More than once he stepped out of his door, stopped, turned around, went back in and repeated, for almost an hour. He just couldn’t make up his mind about truly going out and breaking his ritual habits. Heaving a heavy sigh, eventually Faded went out one last time without looking back. He had to do this; it would be fun- an adventure. At least, that was what he kept telling himself. It could be the worst experience of his life as far as he knew. “Worst case scenario is that you die and respond here…” Yeap, dying would solve everything, if it happened. Ah well, this was a live and learn world, maybe he should try that instead. So turning toward the outside world, Faded started his trek to go start his temporary new life. It would probably all end as soon as he returned to London, but for now, everything would be a new experience for him. A new adventure. “Yoh, Faith, over here man!” As soon as he arrived to the new area, faded was summoned over to the three players who were fighting out in the field. He bowed their head to them politely, but refused to shake hands since he tended to avoid any and all physical contact. “Glad you could make it, we could really use your help with these things!” Coming over when he was beckoned, Faded was greeted with a pile of rocks, in fact, one of them was still moving. “That moving one is one of the monsters Roy tamed up here, the others rocks are just leftover materials. Could you like, try breaking them down into something useful for us?” Well, it was a strange enough request, but he supposed that, it made sense. Artisans were specialized in working with stone, either they had wanted him to help fight, or do a job like this where they were left with more materials that they would be able to carry back. Being helpful was what he did though. Nodding, Faded went to the pile of stones set out in all different sizes. “We’re going back out to fight, but leaving Roy’s golem here to protect you, see you later!” And that was that, he was alone with a moving rock and lots of other unmoving ones, being used. Well, it would be boring work, but exciting new adventures didn’t always turn out to be so exciting. Hopefully someone would come along to talk to the lone man. Word Count: 612 made by kei at GS

[metroexibit]

Metro was walking around the camp. He looked up and saw the sun high in the sky. He left early this morning so he could start his day of training but when he was out in the field he noticed a camp with cloth tents. He wondered just what was going on and investigated. To his surprise he saw a sighn saying there looking for adventurers to go out into the field and do some work. He figured he would do some combat and help push back the front lines in order to get his daily amount of exp for the day. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to do some actually contribution to the world, besides, if he is going to rule the world he should probably help expand there territory. He was rather curious about these new monsters they found. They would be a nice change from his daily hunting rabbits and slimes. Fighting them takes about as much skill as hitting a wall with a stick. Sometimes he would luck out and find a small group of pigs on an off day or he would go over to his favorite hunting spot and wait. If he went to his hunting spot it was very rare to find boars anymore but the scenery was beautiful. He loved sitting in the white flowers and watching as the wind surfed over the sea of white and green. How the sun’s rays glossed over every blade of grass there. He looked around the camp and wondered where he was going to start. He had a general idea where to go but he needed some sort of map or something to go off of. He figured since this area is newly discovered but still. He looked over and saw a group of people fighting over something. He walked over and listened closer. They were talking about how many monsters they had slain. They were trying to one up each others numbers. He chuckled at the thought of people thinking there worth is a direct link to how many things you can slaughter before your arms get so tired they fall off. He always thought a person’s worth is based on what they aim to do and whether or not they can achieve it. Meaning, if your goal is small and you accomplish it you’re not worth much but if your goal is aimed high and you achieve it like conquering the world for example those are people who are worth more then gold.

He figured he would head toward all the fighting. He asked around the camp to find out where he needed to go in order to get to the front line. One of the people he asked pointed him in a general direction and after thanking the man he went on his merry way. This was going to be an interesting change. He was finally going to do something other then grind exp out of remedial creatures. He is in the big leagues now playing with the big boys so he sure as hell better be prepared. He quickly went over what he had and made a check list. He had brought his short bow and sword. A quiver full of arrows and his leather armor were here too. He was so exited to start killing new things that he started to jog in that direction. Eventually he came across a kid playing in the dirt. As he got closer he recognized faded and what he was actually doing. He was chizling away at one of what looked like many rocks. As metro approached he said “Hey faded, why are you sitting here carving rocks into horses when you can be with me going on an adventure.” He walked over next to faded and sat down. He figured he would say yes seeing as how he promised to follow metro if he needed him. Then a thought hit him “are you already helping someone else? If you are and rather play with rocks ill leave you be. I am still on your friendslist right? If so then ill go and you can contact me later if your in the adventuring mood.”

[Faded]

Tagged: +1 ▪ Notes: Open for one other.e ▪ Muse: N/A ▪ Health: 100% At first, Faded just hammered away at the rocks, breaking them up and making them smaller. Then, as their size shrank he slowed down in his work, becoming more detailed as he started to carve out an actual form. Working alone gave him a bit of time to think to himself, and he started to reflect on why exactly he was out here. He wasn't stupid, he'd like to think that he was able to tell when he was simply being used like this as a free worker, but it didn't bother him as much as it probably should have. Maybe he just liked to be told what to do and pushed around? That was like his first relationship went after all, and he would have continued doing what the girl wanted if she hadn't left him out to dry. The second though... like actually being loved back so much better. So perhaps he was just a glutton for punishment? Nodding to himself, he agreed that he could see that as true enough. In the middle of his craft, his ear flicked to the side as it picked up the sound of approaching footsteps. He figured it was just one of the guys returning with some sort of unique material they wanted him to take a look at so he ignored it until they would come up, but then the living rock creature got up from its position and rolled over to Faded, not exactly seeming friendly with the action. This caused Faded to look up questioningly and find that it was actually a more familiar looking face that was approaching. "He's a friend, it's okay." The monster didn't look too bright, but it seemed to understand that he wanted it to stand down and went back to blend in with the other stones. He nodded as was his custom to Metro when the boy approached him and sat down. "I am... but they shouldn't be back until the end of the day if you need me." Having given Metro his word, serving him as needed was Faded's priority. These guys that he was helping out right now, didn't exactly need him anyway, they just wanted someone to convenience them. Now, if they had actually asked him to come and fight with them, he would have stayed with the group that he was apart of and instead invited Metro to fight with them. If he had declined then he wouldn't really have needed the Wolf Hair. Dusting off what he was actually making into small dog, he was aware that it didn't really look like it was suppose to yet, but he wasn't finished with it. If he had the time to work further, it definitely would have turned out to have the appearance of a canine. Taking the time to pound at it with his chisel a little more, he set the partly finished piece on the ground, taking up a few more rocks that he would work on as they went along. It would be difficult to work on the move, but he would figure something out. "I'm ready to go if you had an 'adventure' in mind." Word Count: 530 made by kei at GS

[metroexibit]

“well you see the thing is-“ metro said as he pulled his bow off his back “I am here to find materials for a new ranged weapon.” He proceeded to lift the bow up and pull the string back. It didn’t have an arrow in it but his action seemed to aggravate one of the rocks. He let go of the string and heard the ever familiar smack as it hit the wooden frame then bounced back into place. “I am quite tired of this old thing, don’t get me wrong I love my short bow. This thing has saved my life more times then I can count but…” he gave it another gaze he leaned closer to faded and whispered “don’t tell anyone but I intend to build the first working rifle.” He knew that it was a crazy idea but he had been fixated on the idea for about a week now. He was basicly drawing diagram after diagram in his little home inside of his little inn which he lived along with nala. He never asked her what her thoughts on this whole thing were and she never seemed to care. It has been a reoccurring thing with him lately. He has been fixated on creating things since his crafting skill was mechanic. He fiddled around with the idea of creating the first crank-electricity generator but after drawing it all out he figured it would take a lot of different classes to come together and build it which he didn’t want to do. It seemed like to much work for something that may or may not work but his rifle he was going to make a reality. He wanted it almost as bad as he needed to breath. “I was hoping to find some new materials or something in order to make that dream a reality. You don’t mind coming along do you? I mean it sure as hell cant beat carving pebbles into animals right?” he ended that last sentence with noticeable sarcasm. He stood up, stretched out his back and offered his hand out to faded. He wondered if he had gotten over his whole obsession with touching people. He never really preferred it but sometimes its called for. He laughed at the thought of him dangling from a high place and refusing to grab metro’s hand, choosing death over interacting with human flesh. He started to walk over along the path once more after faded got to his feet.

[Faded]

Faded looked down to his sculpture, it wasn’t just some pebble to him, it was a piece of art in the making, and frankly he was offended by the comment. He wasn’t one to get mad or hold something against people though, so he let the comment go with a shrug and blank expression. “Alright, I’ll come. Hopefully we find something sturdy enough for you to work with. And if you like, I can put on some finishing touches?” It was unusual for him to offer someone his services, but Metro was a special case.

For awhile he looked at the offered hand, and Faded actually considered taking it as part of his mission for a string of new experiences to break his daily routine. In the end, however, he laid both hands on his knees and pushed himself up to stand on his lonesome. He simply wasn’t able to face human contact again. “I’ll bring along some stone, it could prove useful in the end.” Now that he thought about it, perhaps he could get ask if Metro would mind helping him make a few things he had been wanting to try to bring into the world as well.

Running a hand through his long white hair, Faded tilted his head up to the sky. This was the sort of new start he wanted to have in this world. Going out with someone he was at least familiar with, seeing parts of the world instead of just one small piece, making discoveries, he was almost excited enough that he could grin. Almost. Still holding a blank expression, the Wolf Hair looked back down to the younger player. “Should we look for materials in caves? Drops? … Or maybe the monsters themselves?” He had heard that certain things were best coming off of captured monsters that were still alive.

---

Word Count: 309

[metroexibit]

To be completely honest he had no idea where to even begin. He was just going to see where the wind took him and if it was meant to be he would find the materials eventually. His main concern wasn’t the gun he was trying to make. It was the fact that this was a whole new area that he had never seen before. He wanted to explore it all from bottom to top. He looked at faded and said “I was thinking he look in the mountains. I heard there was some sort of rare metal up there that might come in handy. I heard tale of a cavern inside of the mountain but no one has yet to enter it. I figure if im going to find the materials I need ill have to look in places no one else has yet.” He started walking toward the distant mountains. It should take about half a days walk, which means there camping out tonight. He wondered if faded would be up for a night out staring up at the stars. He didn’t really know the guy and if he was going to be his right hand man he should probably learn more about him. “Hey so it should be about half a days walk to the mountains so I figured we should get to know each other better, seeing as how you are my right hand man in a plot to take over the world and all. I feel like I don’t know much about you. We have been on a few adventures you and I so I figure you probably have some questions for me as well.” He was hoping to at least get some answers. He didn’t care for small talk but this was small talk. He had to try to get as much information out of him as possible without letting out to much of his own secrets be let out of the closet. This was going to be more of a mind game. He smiled at the thought of playing a game with a friend. He hadn’t ever had the chance to do such a thing. Even when he discovered the joy of video gaming he was always a solo player. “this should be fun.” He thought as they continued on there way toward the mountain.

[Faded]

"Alright." He wasn't against hiking, even if the mountain was a fair distance away, it would likely be worth the trouble. Having only taken one step ahead to follow after Metro, Faded was immediately brought to a stop again as an urgent message appeared over his screen. Clicking on the persistent exclamation point, he read over the message briefly then simply closed it once again to walk on the boy's right hand side where he was needed. The content of it was pretty important, but there wasn't anything he could do about it, it was just telling him that his crafting skill had been switched out from artisan to blacksmith. That might actually be a good thing though, as a blacksmith, he'd probably be of more use in assisting with Metro's goals.

Folding his hands up over his head, Faded stretched his arms upward to the sky. A little about him huh? It made sense -Metro wanting to know more about him so that he could come to better trust the guardian. His assessment on how much he already knew was probably very true as well since he wasn't a chatty person, but he wasn't exactly sure what all Metro wanted to know. It didn't really matter though, Faded had no secrets to keep hidden since they were in this new world. If they ever did return to earth... or their dimension, or wherever else they were really going back to, it wasn't like Metro would hunt him down like some crazy person to murder in his sleep with the information he was about to give.

"Let's see. The name I was born with is Issac Viros, nineteen years of age with no sexual preference. I'm an older brother of two little sisters, widowed, and enjoy art as a hobby. To me, being put here isn't a good or bad thing, just something that happened. As for having questions for you, I don't. As long as you have a true need for me I'll stay loyally at your side without question." When it came to his assistance, Faded was faithful to the very end as long as he was needed. He was fairly sure that he had mentioned he would be around when needed to Metro before, but saying it again just to clarify never hurt. That was actually the most he had said to any existing person in this place in one go. "Was there anything I left out that you still wish to know?"

Word Count: 422

[metroexibit]

He wanted to trust faded, he truly did. He seemed like a nice stand up guy. He was loyal and rather straight forward. He reminded metro of a husky dog. It wasn’t an insult but rather a complement. He had always admired dogs for what they truly were and that being that they were wild animals. Although over the past couple decades they have been domesticated the principle still stands. There animals that can kill at any moments notice, without warning and yet they stay with there owners. They form a type of bond that stretches across the boundaries of species and holds them together. He never understood why however. Dogs are superior in almost all aspects. They have jaws and claws meant for killing and a keen sense of smell meant for tracking. They also have great hearing and there stamina is outstanding. The only thing we have on them is the fact that we are sentient. We can think about more things then just day by day. We don’t plan to just survive but thrive. If dogs had that mentality and the creativity to boot we would probably go extinct. He looked over at faded as he caught back up with him after a brief stop to do something. It looked like he was messing with his HUD. He told metro almost everything he wanted to know. Figuring out someone’s real life self is a advantage in battle. Just by knowing someone’s past you can almost predict there future.



Metro lifted his arms up and placed his hands on the back of his head and locked his fingers to create a makeshift head rest. He then looked up into the sky and said “yes actually there is something else I would like to know, would you mind if I asked for the cool downs on your abilities? I know it sounds weird but in a battle I would like to almost predict when your next attack will be. It would greatly improve our teamwork. You don’t have to however.” He figured many people including himself would be reluctant to give out there cool down information. He had an idea of what he needed it for. If in battle they were fighting off a few baddies and he ran over to try and help faded out then he would like to know whether the next ability he used wasn’t an AOE attack. If it was he would get hurt in the process of helping. Or if he wanted to chain up there abilities to do a massive amount of damage the first step would be to know what the cool downs were so he could follow up with the correctly time attack. In a battle every second could be your last so he needed to be prepared for anything.

They entered a forest and continued there long treck. He noticed the sun was going down in the distance, about to dip under behind the mountains they were heading for. He gestured to faded (without touching him) to get his attention. He then pointed at the mountains to show him the setting sun. It was nice actually, once the sun fell behind the mountains it looked like the icy tip of the mountain was sparkling and shimmering. He was always blown away by how amazing some of these places were. It was simply mind blowing. He then said “we should probably find a place to sleep.” He then looked around and noticed a tree that was bigger then all the rest. He then started to head toward it. It seemed like as good a place as any to sleep. The branches reached high enough that no monster or player could get them and it looked sturdy enough to carry there weight. When they approached the tree he turned around and walked back wards while pointing up at the massive tree. The trees around them were big on there own but this one reached almost into the heavens. “Man do you see this thing!” he said as he turned back around and walked over to it. he touched the tree and felt that it was actually quite smooth. He then said to faded “alright you ready to start climbing up this thing?” he then leaped up to one of the lower braches and grabbed it. He then pulled him self up. He then ran up the tree trunk and grabbed onto another branch but this time swung underneath it until he flipped over top of the branch. Then brought his leg onto the branch and let go, thus landing on the branch. He continued this all the way up the tree. There was only about four branches until he reached the top. He found one of the many under the canopy of lushus green leaves that was wide enough and smoothly emerged from the trunk of the tree. Sat down on the branch and laid his head back. He watched the sky dim until it turned into darkness. The stars started to emerge as he watched them twinkle and felt the breeze as it caused the leaves to sway.  

---

word count: 858

[Faded]

"My cool downs?" He repeated, finding the question a bit unusual. Faded wasn't exactly use to having a plan or forming one for that matter in the middle of battle. The last team fight he could remember being in was with those three crazy girls who flung spells around willy nilly... One had almost hit him in the process of attacking a boar. That probably should have told him that planning was a good thing, but he paid it no mind. The survival of those around him was top priority and they had all made it out from the battle in tact. Opening up his spell book from the menu, even if he didn't exactly understand why Metro was wanting to know about his skills, he would tell him regardless. "Also, you needn't worry about asking anything of me, there are few things I won't do or tell you. Among them being you telling me to stand back while you go into danger, I will not follow this."

When he finished listing off each one, Faded looked back up to find that they had already entered the next leg of their hike- the forest. Feeling the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, the wolf-hair felt his white tail bristle out while his ears laid back flat against his head. It wasn't that he was afraid of the dark, but rather of the monsters that lurked in the shadows that stretched out as night began its silent take over. He walked with a ridged gait, anticipating some sort of attack on their little party at a moments notice; one could never be too careful in these sort of situations. When Metro waved a hand hand to get his attention, he found his gaze turned toward a gorgeous sunset.

He had to admit, getting back to his home everyday at the same time, before the sun could get close to setting, he always missed such a scene. Relying on Metro being in his perennial vision to keep from running into trees, Faded relaxed slowly by watching the sun sink over the horizon. It was soothing to his nerves, having a moment to just sit back a bit. As it disappeared over the mountain, he was as relaxed as he could be in the middle of a now dark forest. "Yes we should." Actually, he was fine with continuing through until they reached the mountain cave, but if stopping was what Metro wished to do, he wouldn't say no to a good nights rest. This tree though.

Looking up, he could hardly see the top through all the leaves and branches of the giant tree. Staying near the base of the tree, Faded looked up to watch the elf flip and swing through the overgrown tree. His agility was something to be coveted indeed. There was no way that Faded would be able to move like that even if he wanted to. He didn't really have the energy to do such things, that, and he didn't exactly know how to climb a tree. Thinking back to before he met that blue haired girl named Cocktail, he was reminded of their first meeting. He had tried to climb a tree and just ended up jumping on the trunk then clinging to it like that- locus style. Standing at the base, Faded looked upward to Metro, calling to him through cupped hands, "I can't climb, but I will be fine down here. I shall see you tomorrow morning!" With that, he sat down at the trunk, bringing his knees up to wrap his arms around, resting his head on them as a pillow. His tail wrapped around his ankles, making for a nice little warm ball of half furriness. It wasn't a soft bed or anything, but it was good enough for him.

Word count: 649

[metroexibit]

Looking into the sky he watched as the stars rolled around into sight and started to move ever so slowly. He loved watching the stars like this. It made him feel like he could almost feel the earth moving and with it he was moving. They were all slowly tilting in one direction, forever falling toward the darkness of space while only being held here by a tiny strand of gravity. He tilted his head a little as to try and hear the fox tail better. From this height it seemed like he was miles away, but yet it sounded like he was right next to him. Like they were both holding plastic cups attached with strings across the room talking to each other through the cups. He noted the fact that he was sleeping on the ground. Wasn't the hole reason he wanted them to sleep in this tree was to keep them both safe from the unknown variables? 

The monsters and players (sometimes both in the same) that would mean to cause them harm would certainly do so if given the opportunity. Then he thought about it again. He waved down faded and yelled “Okay! Goodnight!” he heard about the old saying that said leaders were the loneliest of all. When he first heard it he thought that was kind of silly in a way. How could you be the loneliest of all and yet still be able to gain the respect and friendship of those you command? Until now he had thought this was just a silly notion but now he understood. Looking up into the stars he figured it out. The leader was the loneliest because he had to make the tough calls. If he was friends or even close with those he commanded he might be hesitant to make calls that would put them in danger. He knew what a leader needed but that lesson was probably one of the most important. He recited the qualities of a leader quietly but out loud as so he could here his own words whispered in the darkness. “Confident but not cocky, clever but not naïve, daring but not careless, and finally mysterious but not secretive.” These were some of what he would like to think of as code of conduct. He needed to have all of these traits in order to rule this world. It was just going to take some practice.  

He leaned further into the groove in the tree trunk. He felt another cool breeze blow by and could smell the dew start to form on the leaves and grass. He was only asleep for a little while. Probably an hour or two until he felt something, he awoke and started to rub his eyes. He was groggy but he knew something had woke him. He looked around and saw nothing; he sniffed the air and smelt nothing and even listened and heard nothing. What could it be? He thought to himself. Then he felt it, it was a tiny vibration of the tree. He grabbed a tighter holed on the tree and there it was again! He looked out into the woods, wide away now and searching for something. He was trying to find anything that could make this vibration of the earth. It wasn’t much that he knew. It was probably pretty far away with the vibration was so minuscule be he had to be curtain. He carefully stood up on the branch. He understood his state of mind was a little bit less then wide awake after only sleeping for what he could tell was a few hours. He then starting to walk along the branches of the tree and looked out into the distance. After going to the other side of the tree from which he was sleeping he saw it. It was a ruffle in the distant trees. He thought it might be the wind but he brought out his hand and felt nothing. He looked harder and could almost tell what it was. He then saw another ruffle and another. The trees seemed to be swaying ever so slightly but it was a pretty decent distance away. More and more ruffles were occurring and still no wind, no sound, only the slight vibrations he felt in the trunk of the tree. He strained his eyes to see what it was. It was a horde of rock golems. He heard about them, these new creatures that were found in the exploration efforts but never had he heard of there being so many in one place. He looked to see the ruffles moving slowly. It took a few minutes to realize where they were headed. They were coming in there direction! 

He then saw how the ruffles started to be a slight more noticeable. The vibrations a little harder until he realized they were moving faster. He knew that him and faded couldn’t possible take on so many golems. He panicked for a second. What do I do? what do I do? think, think think! He thought. he heard red and blue eyes talking about it in his mind, trying to come up with a plan. He knew they would probably miss him if he was way up here but what about faded? Oh no! he thought. He saw them coming closer and closer. They were almost to them now. He ran around the tree as fast as he could and reached down and grabbed his sword and un shealthed it, but only long enough o cut off a patch of his sleeve. It was as big as his palm. He then re-shealthed the sword and swing and jumped his way down the tree. He then reached the bottom and realized he couldn’t feel the vibrations like he could in the tree. He thought it might be because the tree was hollow, and because it was so big that its branches spanned far enough that far off vibrations were trapped in it branches and amplified in the trunk. He then looked around for where faded was sleeping. He saw him and asoon as he did he felt the first footstep of the golems. It was a lot harder and loader now. He ran to faded and jumped on him. He knew he would hate him for this but he used the cloth to cover faded’s mouth and activated his <hide walk> ability. His body then turned translucent but only slightly. He was bending the light around him as to give the illusion of invisibility. Once the ability was activated he could move. He had to save all his energy, he needed to be prepared to be active for a long time and each second sapped away at his energy. The footsteps were almost right on top of them. Then a few seconds later he saw the first one out of the corner of his eye. It was humanoid in nature but its body was made up of large rocks. He felt the powerful vibrations of all the golems rushing past them. They seemed to be jogging, he wanted them to sprint. The seconds turned into minutes and those seemed like hours. He could feel the strain on his body. The hide walk was causing his whole body to ache and hurt. His brain felt like it was about to explode. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. After what felt like hours the last one ran by the tree but stopped. He looked around and walked almost right next to them. It looked around again. It stayed there for a few minutes. Minutes that were eating away at metro, he was about to give in to the temptation of letting go and falling to the floor. The golem them turned and ran away like the others. Metros whole body finally gave out and he fell to the side of faded. His whole body was spasming slightly for a couple seconds as his body recoiled from the stress. The ability was supposed to only be able to last for ten minutes. He looked at the time on the top of his HUD and have a slight smirk. He had held out for eleven. 

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word count: 1372

[Faded]

Falling into the sweet allure of sleep, Faded found himself sitting in a clearing, surrounded by dandelions of all things. It wasn't that he minded the little yellow weeds, but there was one persistent one that kept swaying in the breeze and smacking him in the face. Groaning, he rolled over onto his side, pushing up from the ground to look out at the rest of his surroundings. It was... bright. The sky was a cloudless blue, almost seeming to be lit up from the inside rather than by the- what? Scanning the mass of blue a couple times, he found that there actually wasn't any sort of sun in sight to tell him what time of day it was. Sighing, he rolled back onto his back before springing up with his palms to land on his feet with a practiced grace he had before joining the livelihood of Elder tale. Besides the immediate dandelions where he had been laying, various species of flowers took residence with the grass.

Speaking of Elder tale... was he still in it right now? Reaching up to try and feel any wolf-like ears through his thick hair, he came up with nothing. 'No, you're just dreaming.' He could hear the voice of reason inside his head, but it didn't register to him through the daze of the dream itself. The place was so empty here, it didn't look like another person had so much as set food here for eons, and Faded didn't want to be the first. As pure and innocent as the field of flowers looked, he could feel something aching at the pit of his stomach when he thought of taking a step forward to walk through it. "It'll be alright." Blinking slowly, Faded did a quick 180 to find a beautiful young woman in a white dress, her long brown hair being gently tugged on by a breeze. It wasn't just any gorgeous dame either, it was his wife. Starting to feel his eyes sting, he clutched at his heart with one hand, holding the other out to her. As much as he tried to call, to yell out her name for her to come over to him, no sound would come out. She stood there, looking at him a little confused, but with a patient smile gracing her features. Feeling his throat go dry even though nothing would come out, Faded started to panic. The foreboding feeling he got when tempted with taking a single step from his position was the only thing keeping him from running to his lover. Fighting the urge to cry out of pure frustration, he was about to simply shut his eyes when he saw her slowly hold her arms out for him instead now. 'Don't do it.' He knew it would break everything, that it was a bad idea, that he should listen to himself, but he didn't. It was like his body just moved all its own, leaving him to watch as he surged forward to run into the embrace. That first step did indeed break everything however. As soon as hit foot hit the ground ahead of him, it opened up to send him tumbling into the abyss, looking up desperately to see Kira waving sadly to him.

"MMRPH!!" Jerked back into reality by Metro's tackle, Faded's eyes flashed a vicious bright yellow in the dark as normal when his race is stressed or ready for battle. Snarling at the what he thought at first was some sort of monster from the abyss that had taken him from his mate, Faded thrashed at the elf, trying to bite his hand through the cloth and throw him off. His heavy armor worked against him in this situation though, making it difficult for him to move while on his back, somewhat like a turtle. It took him a few minutes just to realize it was actually his new companion holding him down instead of a monster, the rest of the time spent trying to get away from his touch, even when he did realize there was a large migration of golems going past them. He really would rather face down all of them rather than be touched.

Everything ended up working out though. Being unable to actually get up until Metro rolled to Faded's side, he ended up not facing down the rocky horde. He still rolled onto his own side as well to pull himself up to his feet as soon as possible though, golden eyes still gleaming against the light of the moon as he shot Metro a glare without really meaning to. "Thanks. Are you alright?" Probably a stupid question, but leaving the clipped sentences at that, he inched away to keep a good distance of at least ten feet from Metro, unwilling to help the boy unless asked. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the fact that he had kept Faded from dying to the monsters, it was just the way he had to do it. He was more traumatized by the contact than the actual threat.

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