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The Story Of The Incident When My Mother Turned Into A Psychrolutes Marcidus And I Attempted To Undo It Because She Couldn't Cook Food For Me Anymore


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#21
Horn

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Hiatus breaker, ho!
#18

As time went, so did the weeks. The thread started to gather dust and cobwebs. Fid and Helene started to question why they'd been put into existence if they weren't supposed to do anything more. Other side characters started to wonder if they'd been forgotten about completely. Ubba sat and waited for his tea-toothpaste, Bob wondered if he'd get to shoot anyone again in the near future, and Spaz awaited the time when he was gonna get resurrected and re-enter the story, however that's secret and won't show itself until way later, so kindly don't tell anyone who's reading this.

- "So where do you think he's gone?" Fid asked meekly, brushing some dust off his shoulder as him and Helene were sitting around in her oversized cottage. "How many weeks has it been now since he wrote a new chapter?"

- "IT'S BEEN PRETTY MUCH A MONTH," Helene said. "PEOPLE CLAIM THEY'VE SEEN HIM FLOATING AROUND OTHER TOPICS. DRAWING GROTESQUE PICTURES, WRITING TALES OF RUINING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS, AND STUFF LIKE THAT."

- "What a shocker," Fid muttered. "This thing was supposed to be weekly, though. Do you think we can expect him back any time soon? I mean, you know what happened to the Crystal Tales. Or basically any other story he's ever written."

- "I DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO WORRY, ACTUALLY," Helene said, attempting to sound reassuring. "HE SEEMS TO HAVE CHANGED SOMEWHAT, OVER THE PAST. I THINK HE CARES MORE ABOUT US THAN HE LETS ON. ACTUALLY ..."

- "Hm?"

- "ISN'T THE FACT THAT WE'RE DOING THINGS RIGHT NOW A SIGN THAT HE'S STARTED WRITING AGAIN?"

- "Oh. Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense," Fid mumbled. "So, where do you think it goes from here?"

- "STRAIGHT DOWNHILL, NATURALLY."

- "Yay, awesome."

----------------------------------------

- "SO, WE HAVEN'T FOUND YOUR STRONG POINT YET," Helene remarked after another day's training, "ALTHOUGH I MUST SAY THAT YOUR PHYSIQUE IS FINALLY STARTING TO BUILD UP AFTER A MONTH OF PURE AND RELENTLESS PRESSURE."

Fid laid flat on the ground, breathing heavily, as per usual after each finished day. He figured he should be getting used to it, but every day, Helene increased the pressure of the training so it felt even worse than the previous day did, and every single different type of training felt like it put him within inches of losing his life. He laid still for a while, trying to stabilize his breathing and cursing silently at the writer and the shit that I kept putting him through.

- "How long are we going to continue doing this?" he asked, after a while. "What if we never find my strong point, and I'm just the weak loser that I always thought I was?"

- "THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT KIND OF THINKING NOW," Helene said sternly. "WE'VE ALREADY GOTTEN TOO FAR TO GIVE UP."

- "I'm just saying ..."

- "WELL, DON'T. YOU ACCEPTED MY TRAINING, AND I WILL GET YOU THROUGH IT, SO HELP ME GOD IF I KILL YOU IN THE MEANTIME."

Fid wanted to protest, but the comment was so spot-on for her personality that he only started laughing faintly, laying an arm across his eyes to shield them from the lights in the roof. He'd spent a fair time living with her now, and they'd gotten strangely closer than he would ever have expected, compared from when he first met her and figured she'd just eat him and move on with her own life. He had likely never met someone so caring, yet so steadfast on her principles.

- "VERY WELL, YOU DID GOOD, TODAY TOO. I SUPPOSE I'LL PREPARE THE FOOD WHILE ..."

She paused suddenly, looking around her with a curious glance; Fid wasn't used to see her composed exterior suddenly swayed by something. Her nostrils quivered slightly.

- "SOMEONE'S HERE," she said after a few seconds. "SOMEONE I DON'T KNOW IS IN MY COTTAGE."

Fid felt his chest tighten.

- "Who? Where? How do you know that?" The questions started pooling out from him as he started looking around in the house.

- "THERE'S A SMELL. AND THERE'S SOMETHING WEIRD ..."

- "Weird how? Are they here to hurt us?"

- "NO ... THAT'S PART OF THE WEIRD THING. I CAN SENSE NO HOSTILITY. HOWEVER, I CAN BARELY HEAR ANY SOUNDS, EITHER; IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR A HUMAN OR AN ANIMAL TO BE STEALTHY ENOUGH FOR ME NOT TO HEAR THEM. SO, SOMEONE IS HERE, MOVING SILENTLY THROUGH THE HOUSE, BUT DOESN'T INTEND TO HURT US ..."

She moved her head in different angles, straining to try to hear something.

- "Should we go up and check?" Fid suggested. Helene looked down at him, genuinely surprised at his comment.

- "NEVER THOUGHT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD SUGGEST THAT WE ENTER POTENTIAL DANGER," she remarked.

- "Well, heck," Fid tried saying nonchalantly, yet notably distressed. "There's nothing that can beat you in a fight, is there?"

- "I WOULDN'T TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED," she said with a lecturing tone. "I GUESS THE ODDS ARE IN MY FAVOR, THOUGH. LET'S GO UP AND SEE."

Said and done, they both carefully ventured upstairs from the training hall, Helene moving so ridiculously smoothly for her size that Fid almost felt like he was the one causing all the noise when they went through the house. However, no matter how carefully they combed through the cottage, they couldn't seem to find a single living creature anywhere. They went through the rooms methodically, Helene pausing every now and then to try to pick up a scent or a sound from somewhere.

- "NOTHING," she concluded after some time. "THE SCENT SEEMS TO BE GONE, TOO. I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE I WAS HALLUCINATING ..."

- "Oh my god."

Fid clasped a hand to his open mouth. There was a spot of soil near the house where they'd buried Spazzy's body, marking it with a signpost, and Fid had peeked out through the window towards it, as he tended to do every so often to remind and motivate himself of the friend he lost, who lied there. At least, up until recently. Someone, or something, seemed to have dug up the grave, as evident by the piles of dirt scattered around it.

Spazzy's body was gone.

Edited by Horn, 20 February 2017 - 05:05 PM.

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#22
Horn

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#19

- "YOU KNOW I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO OUT THERE," Helene remarked as Fid was rustling through the wardrobe; she had a remarkable collection of human clothes of varying sizes and styles, and Fid was looking for something durable and warm, as well as packing a bag with some necessities like rope and emergency food that Helene had shown him to. "YOU'RE FAR FROM DONE WITH YOUR TRAINING."

- "I have to do this." He spoke quietly, but he was certain Helene could still hear him. "I can't take this anymore. Taking Spazzy's life was one unforgivable thing in itself, but stealing his corpse? Does this world have no limits whatsoever regarding what's appropriate or not?"

- "BOB IS STILL OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. IT'S LIKELY THAT HE'S LOOKING FOR YOU."

- "I've gotten stronger."

- "YOU'RE STILL NOT STRONG ENOUGH."

- "Helene, please," Fid said, looking up towards her intimidating stature with a look similar to a begging dog. "I know you say this for my sake. And I know that if I keep arguing with you about this, you'll eventually get me to agree with you and stay here because you're just that much smarter than I am ... But I want you to understand how I'm feeling right now. I've always been helpless. I was bullied in school, I was bullied outside of school, and my social anxiety eventually drove me back against a wall and I regressed to spending my life in a dark lifeless room with my computer as my only friend. I've never been able to stand up for anything. Everyone's taken everything from me and I've never even dared to protest, much less do anything about it. I've reached my limit, Helene. I need to finally stand up for myself and do something about the injustices against me, even if it's merely a principle. It feels like I got to this world just recently, and I already got my best friend killed, and on top of this, now his grave's been ransacked. And you still want me to just stay put and let them do what they like? What, am I just gonna let them harvest my organs and use my skin as a fireplace carpet while I'm at it?"

Helene's eyes drifted to the side, as she contemplated for a while. True, she had several rebuttals for his comment, but perhaps it was unwise to rile him up more; he seemed rather unstable at the moment as he was scuffling through the wardrobe. And, she had already gotten him going on the way by showing him where to find the travel necessities she was storing ... But she hesitated, still. Should she really let him have his way, during this crucial moment?

- "I'M SAYING THIS BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU," she simply responded after a while.

- "Well, you don't have to," he mumbled. "I stumbled into your life by accident, and I picked up your training by coincidence. You don't have to feel any responsibility for a fleeting stranger."

- "I DON'T," she said. "THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T SAY THAT. I SAID THAT I CARE ABOUT YOU."

Fid stopped momentarily in his tracks, sighing deeply to regain some senses. "You're right, you did say that," he said after a few seconds. "I'm sorry, and thank you. I really do appreciate it. But I have to do something about this. I have to."

Silence layered between the two as Fid continued to pack up what he needed.

- "I HAVE ONE REQUEST, HOWEVER," Helene said finally. Fid sighed once again.

- "Yeah? Is it some new pointless side quest that I won't be able to fulfill?"

- "NO, NO. NO, MY BOY ... I REQUEST THAT YOU BRING A WEAPON." Her eyes softened, almost as if she smiled subtly at him; it tended to be difficult to tell, what with all those teeth. "I'LL GO GET ONE FOR YOU."

Fid looked towards her back as she left the room with limber movements, as he could feel his chest loosen slightly from the feeling of relief. Really? Was she really going to let him leave?

It took only a few minutes for her to return. Crouching down as far as she could, she looked Fid sternly in the eyes and extended one of her open palms to him, presenting to him what was in it.

- "I THINK IT ACTUALLY BELONGS TO YOU," she said. "IT CLAIMED SO ITSELF, AT LEAST. IT SEEMS TO HAVE TAKEN A LIKING TO YOU."

Fid looked up at her, and then down at the weapon she held in her hand. His eyes widened as he reached out for it, picking it up, feeling the comfortable, familiar weight in his hand.

- "This ... it's Fred," Fid said quietly, waving the extremely regular, normal, non-special toilet brush back and forth, with a newly gained feeling of confidence. "I ... I lost him in the void! Where did you ...?"

- "CIRCUMSTANCES," Helene said simply. "I KEEP CHECK ON A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT THINGS IN THIS WORLD. I'M NOT QUITE OMNISCIENT, BUT I BELIEVE I MIGHT KNOW ENOUGH TO HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY."

- "I don't know what to say," Fid mumbled. "I'm ... I'm so grateful. Thank you. Thank you so much."

- "THANK HIM, BY TAKING BETTER CARE OF HIM THIS TIME," Helene said, making a magnificent "wry smile" expression with her combination of scales and teeth. "HE TRUSTS IN YOU, YOU KNOW."

- "Yes. Yes, I will. Thank you. And thank you for everything."

Fid stood up straight, dressed and equipped and ready to go. He looked outside the window again, towards Spazzy's dug-up grave; as silent as the assailant had been, they had actually been courteous enough to leave footprints. They led northwards, and Helene had told of a small town in that direction, past a patch of forest.

- "Well, I guess it's time now. I have no reason to stick around longer," he said.

- "JUST PROMISE ME THAT YOU TAKE CARE," Helene said in return, her voice suddenly seeming more emotional than normal. "AND IF IT'S POSSIBLE, LET ME KNOW HOW YOU'RE DOING. I'VE ..." She quietened for a few seconds. "WELL, LET'S JUST SAY ... I'VE TRAINED MANY, AND I'VE LOST MANY. I WISH THAT THIS WORLD WILL TREAT YOU BETTER THAN MY UNLUCKY ONES."

- "Thank you," Fid said. "I'll try to let you know how I'm doing."

He then went outside, through the "cat-flap" human door installed on the huge regular one, and started to walk.

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#23
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#20

- "I'm almost there. It can't be much longer. It can't be much longer ..."

A petite figure, clad in a warm, dark cloak, was hurrying through the forest as fast as her legs could carry her. She was panting heavily, from having already run for quite some distance, occasionally throwing glances behind as if running away from something. As she ran, her foot snagged on a branch, and she fell forwards helplessly, tumbling over in the soft undergrowth in the uneven foresty pathways; however, a few seconds later, she'd gotten back up on her feet, picking up running speed again as she brushed leaves and dirt off her cloak.

- "Just a little more ... Just a little further ... They can help me ...!"

She was practically entirely out of breath. Her face was wet, likely from the undergrowth she'd just stumbled around in, but possibly also from tears. Her pace started to slow down, ever so slightly, as her reserves wore out and the strength started to leave her body.

- "Just ... a little ..."

And then she shit her pants and died.

----------------------------------------

Wet branches and leaves was crunching underneath Fid's feet as he made his way northwards, through the forest that Helene had pointed out for him. He hadn't been traveling for long, but she hadn't specified a set length for the path he was taking, so he thought to himself, slightly more optimistically than he dared to, that he should be there in not very long. Either that, or in a few weeks' time. Well, there was no use thinking about it. No matter how long it took ... Fid felt kind of proud of himself. He'd forced himself to make this decision. He could very well be out on the completely wrong path, but he could feel how he actually started to dare to do things. Reach outside his own comfort zone, starting to feel this "confidence" that people had always been talking about and that he'd thought was a brand of shampoo or something. He would start making his own progress, and his own mistakes, and he would begin to stand for them.

And just then, he tripped over a dead body, lying stiff and face-up on the soft forest ground.

After screaming like a sissy little bitch for twenty minutes, Fid regained his composure somewhat, got up from the ground and tried to wipe his bottom off with his hands; his pants had already gotten damp from the somewhat humid mossy ground and Fid let out a quiet groan. Of course he hadn't brought a spare pair of pants. Why would he ever be smart enough to think of bringing essentials to a hike. Oh, well, he thought resignedly; he'd just have to hang them up to dry some time when he got the chance.

Now then, to the glaring issue at hand, he thought, turning his attention towards the dead body on the ground. His heart was still beating hard, but he felt unnaturally calm as the initial, instinctive shock had subsided a tad.

It looked like a girl, he determined fairly quickly. A girl wearing a large cloak, obscuring her features, but with silver strands of hair sticking out from underneath the hood, some draped across her face. Her face seemed almost peaceful, with both eyes and mouth closed, and he could see no external injuries (although the cloak covered way too much to be sure), but she wasn't breathing, and a touch across her forehead revealed the ice cold feeling of death. Oh my goodness, what the hell am I doing!? Fid thought as he was crouching down next to her. Investigating a dead body, even touching it ... The younger Fid would never have dared to do this. The younger Fid would've been miles away by now or hiding under a rock somewhere, crying for his mommy. Had Helene had that strong of an influence on him?

Something else then caught his attention.

- "That's weird ... There's some sort of rancid smell. Has she been dead for long? But she doesn't look decayed at all --"

- "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

A swiftly flying fist connected to the bottom of Fid's jaw, lifting him up from the ground and sending him sailing backwards through the air, landing with a wet thud against a birch tree conveniently blocking his flight path. Somewhat dizzy from the quick chain of events, he witnessed the body getting up from the ground, seemingly whimpering by pain as it oriented itself up into a standing position.

- "Stay away from me, you disgusting necrophiliac!" it then squeaked in Fid's direction.

Fid massaged his chin, throbbing from the pain, and stared at her while trying to assess the situation; the question marks of confusion floating around his head were practically visible to the naked eye. All right, just calm down, he thought to himself. Stranger things than this had happened. Actually, this might just have been the strangest thing so far, but almost equally strange things had happened so far. Let's not start freaking out like every other time something happened that didn't fall in your spectrum of belief.

- "I'm sorry," Fid said, slowly getting up to his feet while holding a palm stretched out in front of him, trying to signal that he was harmless. "I just wanted to check up on you ... I thought you were dead."

- "Yeah, so what? That's no reason to get frisky with someone, is it?" the girl hissed angrily at him.

- "No, no, you're right," Fid said, continuing to make excuses for himself even though he wanted to underline to her that everything he'd touched was her forehead and nothing else. "I'm sorry. I really am. Hold on ... Were you really dead?" He started to take a few steps towards her.

- "Stop! Don't! Don't come any closer!" she yelled, picking up a branch and waving it in his direction.

- "What? Why? I won't hurt you, I promise you!"

- "Because ... Because ... Because I'll kill you if you do! Just stay away! Just --"

Their conversation, or whatever you might like to call it, was cut short by a thundering from north, sounding suspiciously like heavy footsteps. Oh, this scenario again, Fid thought to himself, with equal amounts of anxiety and resignation. So what are we going to get attacked by this time? Should I hightail it out of here? But what do I do about her?

He threw a glance towards the girl, who was staring in the direction the sound came from, eyes wide from fear.

- "It's too late ... He caught up with me ... I can't continue my adventure anymore," she mumbled quietly.

Fid took a few seconds to process what she just said as he looked back towards where the footsteps were coming from again. Something about what she said sounded awfully familiar ...

- "Gotcha at last, ya little brat! Now I'm gonna ... Fid? Fid, my boy, is that you?" a familiar, grating voice murmured from up above, as a humanoid boar came into view through the thick forest, peering down towards the two with its beady eyes through its rolls of face fat.

- "Oh," Fid sighed, slightly relieved but not really. "Hey, Ubba."


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#24
Horn

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Any readers of the story, I'd be delighted to hear a comment or two! Tell me how much you love my story and want to be like me, or how you're ashamed of me for even thinking of writing this mess and how you want to tear off my head and shit down my throat. No need to be shy!

#21

- It's been a while, my boy," Ubba said. He'd taken a seat on a large rock in the forest, and Fid had sat down close to him on a fallen tree trunk. The girl had taken a careful seat on the trunk, as well; she seemed very unsure whether she wanted to sit as far away from Fid as possible, or close enough to use him as some kind of protection against the large, intimidating man that looked like a crossing between a boar and a hairless bear. She frequently cast very worried glances towards Ubba.

- "It has," Fid mumbled, avoiding eye contact, but strangely not as afraid as he felt that he should be. Compared to Helene's stature, Ubba now seemed practically harmless, and Fid felt nowhere near as scared of him as when he'd first met him. Why are you here?" he then continued. "I thought you said you were too, uh ... large to get over that cliff."

- "Ah, yeah," Ubba muttered. "There is another way here, though it takes much longer to traverse. But then again, you've been gone for quite some time, kid. I figured I'd make a detour and see what happened to y'all." He paused for a second, then sighed. "I'm real sorry, kid. I heard what happened to Spaz. Trust me, I know what a good friend he was ... I've known him from many years back."

- "Yeah," Fid mumbled, looking down into the ground. "Thanks."

- "No luck in finding what I asked of you, either, then?"

- "I'm sorry. The monastery was completely ruined ... I don't think there's anyone left to make that toothpaste for you."

Ubba clicked his tongue.

- "I suppose I'm going to have to go with storebought," he mumbled to himself. "It's just not going to be as good, though ..."

- "Er, Ubba ..."

- "Oh, by the way, kid," he said. "I know you didn't succeed in that mission, but considering everything that happened ... it would be simply heartless of me to not give you any lenience. So you know what, I'm gonna forget about the license. I know you have stuff to do, now. So, go have your adventure. I'm not gonna bother you about it anymore."

- "Oh, man," Fid sighed. It had been gnawing at him for a little while, but hearing Ubba's proclamation let a heavy weight off his chest. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

- "It's fine, kid. It's nice to see that you're doing well. You've gotten some muscle since last time I saw you, haven't you?"

Fid was unsure if Ubba was expecting an answer; however, before he was able to formulate something, Ubba turned his attention towards the girl. She jumped slightly from fright when his little eyes met hers.

- "However, as for this other little licenseless adventurer ..."

Oh, that's why he was chasing her, Fid thought. Though heck, if I met Ubba alone without knowing him, I'd probably run, too ...

- "You hobbyist adventurers seem to be increasing in numbers lately, for some reason," Ubba muttered. "Consider another one and his paperwork, will ya? I'm sorry, but I can't let you --"

- "Actually ..."

Ubba halted, looking at Fid who'd interrupted him. Fid seemed just as surprised as he was.

- "She, uh ... she's with me," Fid stammered. "Yeah. So, uh, could you let her off the hook, too?"

- "Oh?" Ubba said, raising his eyebrows. "Looked like she was coming from your opposite direction, though."

- "Oh, yeah, I ... I sent her scouting. She was coming back to report to me. About ... enemies or stuff like that."

Fid exchanged a glance with the girl, who seemed utterly surprised, but nodded slightly to show her appreciation. Ubba looked suspiciously at them both, his face scrunched up in a strange expression.

- "All right," he mumbled, with a peculiar grin. "So if she's with you ... then you know her name, right? It seems to have slipped my mind, momentarily ... what was it, again?"

Shit, Fid thought. Well, I've gone and done it now. He looked towards her again, but she was fixated by Ubba's piercing glare, biting her lip hard. All right, so she's no help right now. What if I wing it? Maybe I'll get it right, first try, out of the millions of names in existence?

- "Of ... of course!" Fid said shakily, reaching the depths of his mind to try and procure a name. Luckily, he prided himself on his incredible sense of imagination. "It's ... it's ..."

He threw a last hopeless glance at her.

- "It's ... Helene ... right?"

The girl nodded, in a panic. "Yes. Yes, he's right. Whatever you thought it was, you were wrong and he's right," she confirmed.

Ubba shrugged.

- "Hah, I don't know her name," he said. "Just thought it'd be funny to see you sweat for a little bit. You don't actually know each other, right?"

- "N-no, we do!" Fid tried again. "We really --"

- "You know what, I'll allow it," Ubba sighed. "After my journey here, I'm way too tired to care right now, so I'm just gonna pretend like I saw nothing. I would advise for you two to stick together, though ... particularly for the little miss, here," he muttered, that same grin showing on his face again. "You wouldn't want to run into one of the stricter adventure license checkers alone, trust me on that one. Had better stick to someone who's got a license, aight?"

The girl swallowed hard, nodding slowly. Ubba then exchanged a few pleasantries with Fid, after which he waved goodbye and started walking. Fid looked after his grotesquely large stature until he was out of sight, and then sighed loudly, letting the pent-up stress leave him.

He then looked at the girl, who was looking at him curiously. It was difficult to read out what exactly she was thinking of the situation; thankfulness, or annoyance. It was probably the annoyance.

- "So, who might you be in this dramatic story, then?" he asked her. "Are you my potential love interest?"

- "I will kick you so hard in the gonads that you'll shit them out," she responded flatly, glaring at him.

- "... I'm going to take that as a 'maybe.'"

- "You're going to take it as a 'NO!!'" she exclaimed angrily.

----------------------------------------

- "So they've finally started moving again, then. Haha!"

The portly little man that had just spoken twirled around on his spinning golden chair, inside a poorly illuminated room that was designed in some weird combination of a boss's office and a throne room. He had a large desk, to try and seem as intimidating as possible, even though his nose barely reached above it when he sat in the chair. In his right hand, he twirled a loaded revolver.

- "I've been waiting for so long!" he squeaked. "Don't they have any goddamn shame? Do they seriously think they can get strong enough to stand a chance against me? Run into despair and die, I say! Haha! That little boy will rue the day I laid eyes on him ... oh, not that it's his fault, of course," he said, giggling like a schoolgirl. "I'm gonna make your life hell, just wait and see ..."

- "Bob, sir."

The little man's attention snapped towards a shade standing towards the wall.

- "I'm certain that I may have misunderstood," the shade continued. "But, I'm simply lost. What is it that you gain from killing the people and destroying the things that you do?"

- "A new recruit, are you, ahaheh?" Bob chuckled. He then tapped his lip with the gun, seemingly thinking about the question. "I wouldn't say 'gain' is the proper word. No, it's all very exhausting, in fact. Obnoxiously so. It'd all be really nice if I could just let this all go."

- "Well ... so why do you do it?" the shade continued, its voice trembling a bit, but unable to quell its curiosity. "I've seen you slaughter innocents at that chapel, and kill that kid's best friend just to then run away and accomplish nothing with it. Is there a point to being such a huge asshole?"

The shade's tone had turned sharp and demanding. Bob seemed unfazed, however. He threw another glance towards the shade.

- "Eh."

That was the only thing he said. He started picking his ear idly, seemingly lost in thought, twirling the revolver in between his fingers. The shade looked at him, growing somewhat impatient, and finally opened its mouth to speak.

BANG.

A tongue of fire and smoke pooled from the revolver as it blasted the shade's head clean off, sending bits and pieces of carnage and blood flying in a red, misty explosion. The headless body fell backwards and sat itself propped against the wall, while blood continued to gush from the open neck for a few seconds.

Bob continued to pick his ear for a little while, staring vacantly at nothing. He then jolted into motion, as if he'd just been falling asleep.

- "I'm sorry ... it seems that my mind was somewhere else," he said apologetically. "What was the question again?"

The office was silent, save for the sound of dripping blood by the wall where the shade had been standing. Bob puffed his cheeks up, seemingly very offended.

- "No longer interested in talking, huh? How rude! I'll deduct points from your staff scorelist for that, be sure of it!"

He hopped off the chair, quite suddenly, landing softly on the floor and picking his top hat off a coat hanger nearby.

- "Hold my calls, Martha," he said to no one in particular. "I have a few errands to run."

Edited by Horn, 15 December 2016 - 08:02 PM.

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#25
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#22

- "So, uh..."

- "..."

- "What's your adventure about? Out to save someone? Out to find something?"

- "..."

Jeez, Fid thought, as he trudged along through the forest with the girl walking silently next to him. Up until now, he'd been the silent one. He still remembered Spazzy's endless chattering during the short time they'd traveled together, and how it'd been generally annoying, yet somehow comforting, as Fid hadn't had to say much himself. This time around, it seemed like two tight-lipped people were sharing the journey, and Fid had rarely ever felt more awkward in his life.

They'd been walking northwards for a little while; she had insisted on him waiting for a bit while she changed attire, which had seemed weird since she was still wearing that same large cloak over her clothes, making it pretty difficult to see anything she wore underneath. Maybe it'd just be better if he didn't ask about it, he thought. She'd probably just clam up about it anyway, like she was doing now.

- "Okay ... so can I at least get to know your name?" he tried again. "Just for convenience. Just so I don't have to refer to you as 'hey you'. Is that okay? My real name's Feidlimid, by the way. People call me Fid, but you knew that."

Still no answer. Fid rubbed his nose, pondering on what to do. Maybe he should just give it up. Maybe he should just appreciate that he had some company whatsoever.

But then, she responded.

- "Call me Helene," she said.

- "Oh," Fid said, somewhat dumbstruck, before he realized what she'd said. "Wait, what? Is your name actually--?"

- "I didn't say that," she interrupted. "I said that you can call me that. What my name is isn't important."

- "... Okay, fair enough," he said. "But look ..."

- "No, you look," she interrupted once again. "We're not going to get to know each other. I'm going to travel together with you for as long as I have to, and then we'll part ways. There's really nothing more to it. I appreciate that you helped me back there, I really do, but I'm getting the feeling that you were simply trying to play the hero to 'get the girl', and that you actually have no clue what you're doing whatsoever." Fid reeled slightly backwards from the truth arrow that lodged into his chest. "I can't trust you," she continued. "My adventure's too important for that. So, you're going to have to be fine with having a mute NPC for a companion. I'm more used to questing on my own."

- "Yeah, okay." Fid rubbed the back of his head. "Though I used to think that way too, and it didn't really end up well ..."

- "That's because you don't know what you're doing, where you're going, or what your special ability is." she bit back. Holy heck, Fid thought, had this girl been keeping tabs on him or something? "Also, your weapon of choice is a toilet brush. I'll bet my shoes on that your ability is something equally foul."

- "So you have a special talent, then?" he asked.

- "You've already seen it. You should be able to figure."

- "Really?"

- "No more questions."

The conversation ended with that. Oh, well, Fid thought, at least she could speak when she wanted to. It was true, though, he thought to himself, somewhat embarrassed. He'd really gotten into the hero role, there. Well heck - he was the main character of this story ... would you expect anything but a bloated sense of egocentricity, despite his feeble mind and uninteresting backstory?

- "Can you please stop those underhanded insults."

Ha ha, sorry. You're just so pitiful sometimes.

- "Well, we should be there soon, right?" Fid said in an attempt to keep the conversation going. "You came from this direction, so you know how far it is, right?"

"Helene" nodded, without speaking.

- "What are you going to do there?" he continued without thinking.

- "I said, no more questions," she muttered.

- "Yeah ... yeah, I know," Fid mumbled sheepishly. "But if I knew, I could help ..."

- "You can't."

- "You don't know that."

- "I do."

- "Okay, fine," Fid muttered, starting to feel somewhat irritated. "Do whatever you want. I figured maybe we could keep the atmosphere between us pleasant at least, since you're stuck with me for the time being."

- "I already said that I can't trust you. It's nothing personal, but I can't divulge anything unnecessary. My adventure is way too important."

- "I'm a fuckin' bicycle!" a colorful bird cawed out as it swooped down over the forest and across a field further away. Neither of them seemed to pay attention to it.

- "There, we're close now," she said upon hearing the bird. "It's just past the--"

She moved a branch away, revealing a large, menacing stature of something having planted itself straight in our heroes' path.

- "... trees here ..."

Her voice died out as both her and Fid looked up towards the strange, gangly contraption in front of them. It looked like a machine, or more like a vehicle of sorts, but it was moving tires and appendages here and there as if it was a living being, and it looked several times too large to be used in a proper kind of manner. It was partially covered in moss and dirt, and tiny pieces dropped off it as it moved; it stood on two large, thin tires, squeaking with metallic noises as pedals and handlebars seemed to scan the area around it, and a large, blinding headlight flashed around until it shone down on the two, seemingly acting as an eye or something of the sort.

Fid and Helene stood still for a few seconds, staring up at the contraption, blinded by the spotlight it was bathing them in.

- "What the hell is that?" Fid finally said.

The contraption responded with another array of metallic squeaking, as it shifted itself around as if crouching down to study them closer.

- "I'm a ... FUC ... KIN ... BICYCLE!!"

And then it attacked.

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#26
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CHALLENGE TIME! Seeing as I leave this story hanging for way too often, this week is a challenge, issued from me to me. And it's simple. ONE CHAPTER EVERY DAY. They'll be somewhat shorter than the original, but better that than nothing at all. Here we go!
 
#23

Far away, in a distant kingdom, there was a near-abandoned castle, shrouded in darkness. Deep inside its dungeons, there was a dusty throne room, with a large, imposing throne, seemingly fashioned out of knives, swords, and other such cool and dangerous looking tools and weapons that you could poke someone's eye out with just by keeping it in their vicinity. And upon the throne was seated a black apparition, clad entirely in black and pointy armor, looking kinda generic but totally awesome, holding a flat device which it stared at with red glowing eyes. The impenetrable darkness seemed to swallow all light and sound; the only thing any possible audience might hear was the shuffling of unrest from the figure on the throne, as it caressed the device in its hands. It then uttered a word of observation.

- "Soon."

----------------------------------------

Back with our heroes ...

A thin, yet large tire slammed down into the forest ground as Fid and Helene split from each other and jumped to each side; the tire tore up dirt and roots as it roared through the ground, and the second tire raised high above them to slam down at them as well.

- "What the hell is this thing!?" Helene exclaimed by understandable surprise. She tumbled over backwards, missing the second swinging tire by mere inches.

- "Well, it keeps saying that it's --"

- "I'm a FUCKING BICYCLE!!" the fucking bicycle interrupted, with the odd, metallic sound that supposedly resembled a voice. It then flashed its headlight against Fid, who threw up his arm to shield his eyes from the strong light, before it took a huge leap straight up in the air.

- "Fid, look out!" Helene screamed, as Fid scrambled helplessly in place; he managed to roll to the side as the bicycle landed almost straight above him, both tires slamming straight down into the ground just by him. It's fast, he thought, his mind somewhat in disarray; its different parts are moving everywhere, so it's practically impossible to read any pattern out of its movements ...

- "I'm a ... I'm a ... FUCKING ..."

- "Why is it attacking us!?" Fid shouted. "Do you have any idea? Did we intrude on its territory?"

- "No! No, I came this way before, and there was nothing like this here before ...!" Helene gasped, trying to gain some distance between herself and the bicycle, assessing the situation. "I don't think we'll be able to beat it; I can't see a weak point or anything ... I think it's better if we just try to hightail it outta here bef--"

Something hit her square in the solar plexus, and she gagged on her words as she bounced backwards across the soft soil. Fid had taken temporary refuge behind a tree, trying his best to avoid the bicycle, and could only watch what was going on through squinted eyes as another burning light enveloped Helene, from another metallic contraption that moved her way.

- "No way ... there's ... two of them ...?" He could feel his stomach churning from the panic, welling up from deep inside him.

- "Fid ..."

There was no possible way to act in time on her pleading. Whatever the second thing was, it had already closed its distance to Helene, and it rashly flung her up from the ground by the neck and crammed her into a tree trunk standing just nearby, with a force that practically broke it in half. Fid could see how her limbs twisted in weird angles and her blood sprayed all over, before the machine threw her limp body away from the scene.

- "Holy shit ...!"

The all too familiar feeling of dread and helplessness weighed over Fid like a yoke, sending burning acid up through his throat.

- "I can't ... I can't ..."

He could feel the two contraptions scanning for him, their headlights flicking back and forth through the trees in the forest. It was only a matter of time. And this time, no one was there to save him.

- "I'll die ... I can't do this ... I can't ..."

... IS IT JUST SOMETHING YOU'RE CONVENIENTLY TELLING YOURSELF? ...

Helene's words suddenly flashed through his mind. He blinked a few times, and then shook his head violently. The situation was hopeless. It was pretty much certain he'd die.

- "Well, to hell with that, then," he growled, feeling a strange surge within him that was entirely unfamiliar, but strangely reassuring. His grip around Fred tightened. "We're going out? Well then, let's go out with a bang."

Edited by Horn, 20 February 2017 - 05:06 PM.

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#27
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#24

- "Man, I can't ... I can't do this ..."

Fid was still pressed up with his back against the tree trunk, as the two bicycles continued scouring the area for him; it didn't seem like they'd give up the hunt before they'd found him. His mind was working feverishly to try and come up with a fighting strategy.

Stop it with the "I can't" garbage. Whether you can or can't is not relevant anymore. You have to do something, anything, or you'll die. That's the only fact right now.

A new voice had started to speak to him in his mind. The logical explanation would be it being his own thoughts, but Fid didn't buy into the idea. It sounded so unfamiliar from how he usually thought. Since when had he become so rational in his thinking? Why did the voice make him feel so calm and focused?

- "All right. Well, it's a fact that I can't think of a sensible plan right now ... so I guess there's only one option. Sneak close enough, and charge --"

One of the headlights flashed straight by him, and retraced back quickly, bathing him in light as one of the bicycles had spotted him. Fid clicked his tongue, annoyed that the thoughts had made him momentarily lose sight of his surroundings, but as the bicycle charged towards him, he ducked towards it as well, tumbling straight under it as one of its tires slammed into the tree he'd just been standing at, tearing off some bark from its surface. Fid used the momentary confusion, spun around on the spot and lifted Fred high above his head.

- "Eat THIS!" he yelled, swinging it at a sufficiently punchable spot on what seemed to be the bicycle's back.

The toilet brush struck the bicycle with a soft thud. A few seconds passed while the bicycle turned around, seemingly pondering what the heck was going on. It then lunged towards Fid.

Shit, shit, shit! Fid thought, stumbling backwards as the bicycle swung a handlebar towards him. Though almost out of range, it struck him across the face; he felt his jaw crack at several places as it dislocated from the impact. Given practically no time to recover, the bicycle lifted him up in the air by the neck, similarly to how it had killed Helene.

Fid's head swirled with thoughts as time seemed to crawl to a halt. He could feel the cold metal squeezing around his neck and chest, as the bicycle prepared to finish him off. He could sense the other bicycle waiting in suspense, seemingly confident that this one would be able to finish him off alone. He felt the pain from his jaw pulsate through his entire body, and the blood gushing out from his mouth.

I tried to kill a mutated metal beast with a toilet brush, he thought meekly. What the crap was I thinking? Did I actually think I'd even make a dent in that colossal thing?

Stop!

The voice came again, so sudden that it startled him.

Don't give up! Not until you're dead! If you go down, then you'll go down fighting!

- "But there's no way I can ..."

Fid blinked. He saw it. It was right there. Like it had been, all along.

And time sped up again.

- "I'M ... A FUCKIN' ... !!"

- "YEAH, I HEARD YOU!!" Fid screamed in response to the creaking mass of metal, blood spraying from his mouth. "And I'm the guy who's gonna send the fucking bicycle to the garbage disposal!!"

He then gathered all the strength he could find, and thrust the toilet brush forwards, straight into the bicycle's system of chains and spinning sprockets, jamming it stuck tightly. The bicycle's movements screeched to an immediate halt, as the machinery of chains turned immovable, and it almost dropped Fid in sheer surprise. It tried adding on more power to tear the chains loose from the obstacle, but only stuck it into the gear tighter, until one of the sprockets finally broke off the machinery with a loud noise similar to a gunshot. As the chain rustled loose from the sprocket as well, the tires lost all traction binding them, and the machine collapsed into a scrambling pile on the ground; as it did so, the handlebar arm finally lost its grip on Fid and sent him tumbling backwards through the undergrowth.

It wasn't quite over yet, but all traces of doubt in Fid's mind were gone as he was surging with an inexplicable rush of adrenaline power. The other bicycle had gotten up and running towards him, but it was still too surprised by the sudden turn of events to react properly; within seconds, Fid had grabbed hold of the discarded chain on the ground and swung it against the machine, nailing the chain stuck in its various complicated pieces of machinery. The bicycle struggled with a roaring sound as the chain jammed more and more stuck into it the more it moved, and then it toppled over onto the ground, bound like an animal in a hunter's trap.

Fid stood in place for a good while, his breath loud and heaving, as he stared at the two disarmed machines; one struggling helplessly to get up on its unusable tires, and the other practically immobile by the binding chains. After a while, he started to become acutely aware of his aching body and the burning pain in his dislocated, broken jaw, and his sight started flashing before him. The transpired events started to catch up with him slowly.

- "Holy sh--"

THUD

He flopped over, remaining still for a while. After some time, a familiar, robed character came walking up to him.

- "Sheesh, all knocked out, huh," it said. "And it's still some distance to go ... You're gonna owe me for this, you know."

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#28
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#25

Fid's eyes blinked open. He was lying on his back, staring straight upwards at the roof. He was inside. It was warm. Everything was white, prickling his eyes, and his body ached all over.

- "Am I dead ...?"

- "Stop assuming you're dead every time you don't know where you are," an annoyed voice quipped back.

Fid shuffled towards the side, and noticed Helene sitting next to him; regaining his senses somewhat, he noticed that he was lying in a bed, in a brightly illuminated room, dressed in a white pajamas. The room practically stank of disinfectant. He reached up towards his face, and felt his jaw having been bandaged thoroughly, making it somewhat difficult to speak.

- "We're at the hospital," Helene confirmed. "You blacked out after defeating the bikes, and I carried you here."

- "Oh. Thanks." Fid tried to gather his thoughts through the pain. "You carried me alone?"

- "Yeah. Because I still need you. Make no mistake, though - had anything else come to attack us, I would've dropped you off and run for it. Let's just say you owe me one for this."

- "Owe you ... hey, I defeated those --"

- "I could've taken care of it myself," she interrupted bluntly. "That said, I didn't see your fight, but judging from the damage to both you and them, Looks like you got some spunk in you after all. I guess I'm glad that I'm not travelling with a walking pile of baggage."

Fid grumbled, trying his best to feel thankful to her for taking him here, but finding it increasingly difficult each time she opened her mouth. Still, she was sitting right here, next to him, as he'd woken up. He refused to believe that she didn't care about him whatsoever.

- "You died," he mumbled, suddenly remembering. "There's no way you survived that. But you're here now, and you're unharmed."

- "Yeah, it's my skill," she said. "I guess I could let you know that much, though most readers figured it out a few chapters ago. It's only to a certain extent, but as long as most of me is intact, I'll live. Don't dare start using me as a meat shield, though," she added with a sharper tone. "I'm immune to the damage, not to the pain. You intentionally make me go through something, I'll do the exact same thing back to you, and you're not going to recover from it as well as I do."

- "Yeah, yeah. I wasn't going to." Fid pouted, disappointed. He had totally been thinking it.

- "Where's Fred?" he mumbled after some time.

- "Who?"

- "Oh, my ... my weapon."

- "Oh, ew. Yeah, it's here somewhere." She wrinkled her nose in visible distaste. "You were holding onto it in a cramped grip, like you were possessed or something; if you hadn't, I would've left it there. Honestly, if you're gonna insist on carrying that disgusting thing around, I wish you'd at least get a sheath for it, or something. You'd get both hands free, and I wouldn't have to look at it."

- "Right ... I guess that's not a terrible idea."

- "Anyway," she said, suddenly in some sort of rush, "I gotta scoot for a while. I got a few errands to run. Apart from your jaw, the doctors said that your injuries are minor, so I think they'll let you out pretty soon."

- "Wait, you're just gonna leave me here?" Fid started to protest.

- "Yup," came her blunt response. "It's a nice little town. I'm sure you'll find something to do if you don't find me straight away."

- "Town? Hold on ... where are we?"

- "Oh, yeah, I didn't tell you," she said, halfway out the doorway, giving an exaggerated expression as she pretended to care. "Welcome to Equestramahood. Look around when you get the time, but don't get too comfortable, 'cause I think both you and me want to leave soon on our respective adventures. Also, remember to get a sheath for that thing. Please."

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#29
sjoe

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Any readers of the story, I'd be delighted to hear a comment or two! Tell me how much you love my story and want to be like me, or how you're ashamed of me for even thinking of writing this mess and how you want to tear off my head and shit down my throat. No need to be shy!

I read the entire thread yesterday and I love the story so far, including some of the meta elements. If I'm not wrong, you're trying to reference your own feelings/emotions/realisations through some of the characters. I'm not a big reader of fanfiction in general, so I don't think I can give any feedback from that point of view. Anyway, keep up the work. (:



#30
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OMIGOD SOMEONE IS ACTUALLY READING MY STORY SQUEEEEE
 

If I'm not wrong, you're trying to reference your own feelings/emotions/realisations through some of the characters.

It's not intentional, but it's entirely possible! I write from my own field of knowledge, after all. It's interesting, actually - when I wrote the part about Helene lecturing Fid for making up excuses for himself, I soon noticed that I was actually making valid arguments against the "I can't do it" excuses I myself tend to make occasionally. How the heck did I manage to make Helene smarter than I am? I'm the one who made her, damn it...
 
#26

TOILET BRUSH EMPORIUM

Fid stared up at the sign above the intimidating doors of the large store. He had been discharged from the hospital a little earlier in the day, and was now traversing the streets of Equestramahood. It wasn't all that different from Floridayorkville; the houses weren't packed so tightly together, but it had a similar kind of rural feeling, like a starter RPG town with houses littered every little here and there and only main roads that led to the most important places, as well as the streets bustling with life from salesmen and their carts, peddling wares and what not.

And then there was this, Fid thought, still staring at the sign of the absolutely humongous building, sticking out like a sore thumb from the rest of the architecture. I mean, of course, it was an untold rule for RPGs that consequent towns would sell increasingly more effective weapons for the specific characters that were traveling through the story, but this really felt like overkill. Man, the writer must really be forcing himself to appear funny to the readers ...

He pushed the door open, Fred in tow. The familiar jingle of an "open store" door resounded in the building. A salesclerk immediately materialized in front of him out of nowhere.

- "Hello there!" he exclaimed with a pearly white smile covering more than half of his face. "Looking for weapons, are we? We've got the next best thing to what you're wielding in stock, which is still a long shot from the highest level equipment, but this is still a low-level town, so please forgive us!"

Fid nodded, carefully avoiding to mention why the clerk would assume that he'd use the toilet brush as a weapon, or that he was the only customer in the entire huge warehouse.

- "I'd really just like to keep the one I have right now," he admitted quietly. "We've kinda uh, grown fond of each other. Fred managed to block a chain-and-gears contraption without even getting a dent, so I think we're good on that front ... I'd like to look at a sheath, though, if that's possible?"

- "Of course!" the salesman said, still all smiles. Fid wondered curiously if it was part of his job or if his face had just stuck that way. "I should really recommend that you upgrade your equipment, however. Starter equipment is nostalgic, but you can still keep it with you in your inventory even if you get a new one!"

- "Yeah, I get you, but I'm really not --"

- "The next level toilet brush has a gold line rim around its handle, and it comes with a sheath and a bag of Cheetos free of charge!"

- "Sold!" Fid exclaimed, stars glimmering in his eyes, as he tossed Fred into the nearest waste basket. The clerk rung up the new weapon and the transaction completed. Fid looked at the new brush from all its angles, shining majestically in the store lights when he angled it just right.

- "I'm gonna call you Chad," he said gleefully.

----------------------------------------

Walking outside in the bustling town, whistling a cheerful tune as he twirled Chad between his fingers, Fid allowed himself to take a closer look at his surroundings, now as his most urgent mission had been taken care of. Both his mother and Spazzy weighed on his mind, but for once he could allow himself to push them away and simply focus on the "now". He'd find Spazzy, and he'd save his mother. He had sworn upon both these tasks. Right now, however, he would take some time off before Helene came back from whatever it was she was doing ...

- "Oh, hello there!"

Fid stopped dead in his tracks. He could feel his good mood seeping from his body immediately, being replaced by a cold, icy feeling, as a familiar character had rounded a corner and almost bumped into him. By accident? He wasn't sure, but wouldn't quite take it as a fact yet. There was no way he would forget. The small, yet corpulent build, and the top hat that was almost as tall as the character himself was. And the gun, that had exchanged a bullet for the life of his best friend. He could feel a cold hand squeeze around his heart.

- "You're ..."

- "Fancy meeting you here," Bob said with a broad smile, deflecting Fid's entire sense of judgment. "You got past my bicycles okay, I see? I see! Very good! Shall we talk for a bit?"

Edited by Horn, 23 February 2017 - 07:50 PM.

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#31
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#27

- "Oh, this place makes me all so nostalgic!" Bob said in a bubbling tone as him and Fid were seated outside some sort of French style café, by an adorable little table adorned with a parasol. The little fat man was taking sips from a huge, colorful juice drink, decorated in an exaggerated manner with straws, flowers and fruit, while Fid was sitting completely immovable directly opposite him, staring at the precise same kind of drink in front of him that Bob had ordered for him, his hands grasping the table so hard that he was certain they'd leave nail marks in them.

- "Come on, boy, I'm not here to hurt you," the man continued, chuckling to himself like he'd just said a dirty word. "Why so tense?"

You know damn friggin' well why I'm so tense! Fid thought angrily, his entire body heated up with frustration as shreds of memories came back from months ago. His entire being had screamed at him to get away from the man as soon as he'd seen him, but something was tugging him along like a puppet on strings. There was something very weirdly imposing about Bob. It was similar to how it had been with Ubba, where your mind went blank and you simply obeyed to avoid any worst possible outcome. However, it was different this time. Fid knew that this guy was dangerous. Fid knew that this guy could kill, for real. Even now as he was enjoying the drink, he clumsily twirled that odd gun in between his fingers. Fid felt an array of emotions, mainly anger and fear, but also disgust at having to sit by the same table as this guy.

- "You really surprised me!" Bob prattled on. "I worked for months on those bikes! Hey, they're machines, I thought. Machines don't bleed, so you can't kill them! Brilliant! But you did! Ahaha! I can't even be angry about that!"

- "What do you want?" Fid said shakily, focused on the gun.

- "Ahhhh, it speaks!" Bob exclaimed with a broad smile, tapping the tip of his own nose with the gun nozzle. "I don't want much. I just like being entertained. I like watching people struggle. You've got a little bit of potential there. Quite the struggler, if I should label you somehow. An unexpected little wildcard."

- "Entertained," Fid repeated coldly, still fearing Bob's imposing aura, but barely able to hold it in anymore. "Is that why you shot Spazzy, too? For entertainment?"

- "Oh." Bob's expression changed, and he rolled his eyes a bit, seemingly reminiscing. "Yes. Yes, I did do that, didn't I. Well, I know it's kinda late for me to say this, for it to be any comfort to you, but er ..."

He leaned a little closer.

- "I'm not sorry. Ahah, forgive me, but apologies isn't really my thing. Sorta against my creed, if you catch my drift. So anyway." He leaned back in his chair again. "There's a little something something that's bothering me ..."

- "Were you the one who stole his body, too?" Fid continued, ignoring Bob's quips. Bob reeled back, looking absolutely shocked.

- "The nerve!" he exclaimed, waving the gun around; Fid felt his blood freeze as the nozzle swung past his face a few times. "Stealing a body? Someone actually did that? Oh, but I have to say, it sounds a little interesting ... Anyway, no! No, dearest me. The accusations come raining again, I see. Thinking I'm some sort of a grave robber? Or a necrophiliac even, perhaps?"

- "Well, is it so strange for me to think you'd do that, after what you've already done?" Fid pressed on. Especially since you seem completely messed up in the head? he added, in his mind.

- "See, that's it. That, right there. You seem to think that I'm some sort of ... what's the word? Antagonist. Here, in your little story. You seem to be under the impression that I'm the big bad. This baffles me. Honestly, it does. Hurts my feelings, even."

- "Why, you little --"

Fid noticed how he finally lost control of himself.

Only moments later, a gunshot echoed through the houses on the street.




(Okay, so this chapter ended a little abruptly, but there's a little too much material on my mind so I split this particular encounter in two parts.)

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#32
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Yay, suspense.



#33
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#28

The bullet had passed right above Fid's temple by a mere few inches, continuing upwards into the sky; his ears were still ringing from the blast sound, and his chest was beating at an alarming pace of pure panic. Bob had, for some reason, leapt off his chair, and was now cowering underneath the little table with his hands above his head. Most people around them had stopped dead in their tracks, some of them crouching and covering their head in surprise from the sudden noise, staring wide-eyed at the spectacle that was taking place at the table.

- "Holy crap, someone's shooting at us!" Bob wailed, tears spraying from his eyes. Fid stared in absolute bewilderment.

- "YOU'RE the one who did that, you absolute madman!!" he shouted, pointing at the gun in Bob's hand which was still smoking from the nozzle.

- "I did WHAT!?" Bob exclaimed, getting up in his chair again, flailing the smoking gun around. "Your shameless, insolent accusations just won't stop coming, will they?"

What the hell is wrong with this guy? Fid thought as Bob continued choosing some well versed expletives, once again looking deeply offended. Was he under some sort of spell? Did his gun have its own sentience? Did he have split personalities? Or was he just completely off his rocker?

- "Anyway!" Bob shouted again, calming down almost faster than he'd flared up, and crossed both arms on the table, playing with the straw on his drink, looking completely placid as if he'd abruptly forgotten the whole line of events. Some people were still staring, while others went about their businesses, trying to look unconcerned. "Yes, as I was saying. I understand you, boy. I understand you mistaking me for an antagonist, I really do, despite the way I can behave. It's just not the case here. People say I can be a little, er, irrational, which I can't at all agree with." He picked out a booger while saying so, and flicked it away across the street, trying to hit an alley cat with it. "But I'm really not the worst monster you're going to come across on this little journey of yours. Honest to god, I don't want to hurt someone. I just want some ... extraordinary entertainment. The occasional person dying is just, well ... an accidental non-part of the plan. Collateral damage. Eh?"

He doesn't want to hurt someone, Fid repeated to himself in his mind, his impression of the man plummeting deeper and deeper by the second. He just thrashed a peaceful monastery and everyone in it, and blasted a hole in my best friend's head, but he doesn't want to hurt anyone. Why am I here again, trying to have a conversation with him?

- "So what about the bikes?" he asked quietly.

- "Umm." Bob scratched his chin, his eyes flicking left and right. "They escaped. Yeah." He shrugged. "Complete coincidence. I swear it."

Fid shook his head slowly, looking down towards his drink, which was still untouched. There seemed to be no point in asking this guy anything. He acted in such an exaggerated manner that anything he said could be either dead truth or shameless lies.

- "It's just a warning," Bob continued regarding his previous topic. "I've taken an unhealthy liking to you ... I'll admit that much. But there's someone worse. Someone way, way worse. And had I been him and had you in my sights, you would've most likely been dead right now. Along with most of this town's population."

- "Why are you telling me this?"

- "Didn't I tell you? Several times now?" Bob huffed in annoyance. "I love entertainment! It's precisely why I've taken a liking to you. You seem to have an ... uncanny ability to defy luck and logic. That's why I went with 'most likely' just now, instead of 'definitely'. You might just not be aware of it, but there's something strange about you, boy. Something curiously strange."

- "I don't know if ..."

- "There's one more thing," Bob interrupted. "Another, erm ... warning, if you care to take it as such." Bob's face took on a very unpleasant look as he said so, with his brow furrowing and his lips thinning to a mischievous smile. "Tell me. Do you ... trust anyone in this world?"

- "What do you mean?" Fid asked. "Shouldn't I?"

- "You're risking life and limb for this Spazzy guy, aren't you? Because someone, uh ... stole his corpse, that's right, right?" Bob clasped his hands. "How long had you known him for? A day? Less?"

- "Stop it," Fid mumbled.

- "What if I told you that he's not who you thought he was?"

- "I said, stop it." Fid could feel his cheeks heating up again.

- "Glamorous, sparkly, heroic, yes! But did you trust him? Can you really even say that you knew him at all?"

- "Stop it!!" Fid exclaimed. "He took a bullet for me! A bullet that you put in him, no less! Yes, I trusted him! What more could be required?"

Bob slammed both his hands on the table, making Fid yelp in surprise, and hoisted himself up until his nose was only mere moments away from Fid's, staring daggers into his eyes. The mischievous smile had turned into an uncomfortable, broad grin, showcasing rows of yellow teeth.

- "What if. What if I proposed to you the possibility," he said, dragging the words out to put a dreadful emphasis on them, "that nobody stole your friend's body? That maybe, just maybe, he ... simply up and walked away? On his own?"

Fid sat dumbstruck for a few seconds.

- "I don't ... I don't understand ..." he stammered. "What would that possibly change about --"

- "Fid? I'm all ready to leave."

Fid jolted in his seat, giving a little yelp of surprise. Helene stood behind him, peering down at the two. Even out in the sunlight, she was still wearing her robes. Bob stared at her dramatically.

- "Oh, you've got company?" he exclaimed. "LADY company? Why, you certainly moved on quick, didn't you, boy?"

- "It's nothing like that ...!" Fid grumbled angrily.

- "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something," Helene said, glancing from Fid to Bob. "Wasn't aware that you knew people around here ..."

- "Oh, we were just finished; please, don't worry!" Bob exclaimed, bouncing up from his seat and taking his hat off in a low bow towards Helene. "My name's Bob. Spirit guide, and ... well, guy-for-hire, you could say."

- "Right," she responded, barely listening. "Well, we should --"

- "I'm the guy who killed Fid's previous partner."

They both turned towards Bob, Fid frowning by surprise. Why the hell would he suddenly admit that? But there was something very unpleasant about the malicious grin he was wearing ...

- "... He did?" Helene mumbled, seeking affirmation from Fid.

- "... Well, yeah. He--"

- "I did," Bob confirmed. "On Fid's own orders."

- "Wha --!!" Fid stuttered as Helene turned towards him in disbelief. "No, no, NO! He was my friend! I did not-- I would NEVER--"

- "Oh, no ...? So I guess you were just having a leisurely talk with your friend's murderer? Out on a frilly café?"

- "I ... ah ..."

Shit, Fid thought, absolutely lost for words. Shit. Shit!

- "Yes," Bob said with a hint of a chuckle. "I would keep my wits about me if I were you, girl. Bye now!"

Fid turned towards Bob, who had already vanished into thin air. He stared at Helene, pleading for mercy, struggling to find a way to explain himself, and was met with dead eyes. The seed of doubt had already been planted. Shit! Fid thought again, through sheer frustration. Mother FUCKER!!

- "Don't worry about it," Helene sighed. "I already told you, didn't I? I don't trust you in either case." She turned around, pacing back the way she came. "C'mon, let's get moving."

Fid trudged after her, with the heaviest heart in mankind.

Edited by Horn, 26 February 2017 - 08:52 PM.

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#34
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#45

- "It was me all the time," Fid wheezed, barely believing the strained voice that was his own. "I'm the bad guy. I was the one responsible the whole time."

Oh, crap. Crap, crap, crap, wrong part. All right, pretend you didn't see that! Let's try this again.

#29

Helene strode forwards on the cobbled pathway, with Fid trudging some distance behind her; Fid was thankful that they no longer had to walk through forest grounds, at least for the time being ... but he could barely enjoy the feeling. Way too many thoughts whirled through his mind for him to be able to focus on pretty much anything of importance. That fat little bastard, he grumbled to himself. He certainly put a few bugs in my head ... And they were too personal to just write off as nonsense. Spazzy being alive ... Spazzy being some sort of antagonist, or whatever Bob might've implied ... Those were the most prominent thoughts on his mind right now. His thought process scarcely made place for Bob's insistence that there's a bigger evil out there, or that Bob himself seemed slightly less intentionally evil than he thought before, and maybe just ... Mentally unstable somehow?

And ...

He threw a glance up towards the huge walking robe in front of him, concealing Helene's small stature. If only I'd been able to be clear about it, instead of stuttering like a retard as usual, he thought, grumbling to himself again. If only I could make her understand ... Yes, I was talking to my best friend's murderer, because I was fearing for my freaking life, not because I was plotting anything ...!

It took another bit of distance with him completely lost in his own mind before he realized that she'd been speaking to him. He looked up towards her, almost as if he'd been sleeping. Huh, this is a first, he thought to himself.

- "Hey," she said, without even bothering to turn around. "Did you get a sheath for that thing like I said?"

- "I did," he responded quietly, annoyed at her tone. Everything suddenly seemed very annoying to him. "I'm not carrying it loose anymore, am I?"

- "That's good." She adjusted her robes a bit. "That's good," she repeated to herself. "So. We're going to my uncle. His name's Fishke Karl; he lives in a house some distance out of town. Familiar with him?"

Fid threw a glance to the side, thinking silently to himself. Why was she suddenly talking, much less divulging information to him that didn't seem absolutely necessary?

- "I don't know anyone from this world," Fid mumbled. "So, probably not."

- "You really don't know anyone? Why's that?"

- "Why are you suddenly asking me questions?" Fid said, genuinely surprised. "Weren't you the one saying to keep our relationship to an absolute minimum?"

- "... Yes, I did. I'm sorry." She went quiet. Fid felt a pang of guilt. Damn it, why am I the one who has to feel guilty?

- "Anyway ... he's fairly well known," she continued after a little while. "That's why I thought you knew him. I haven't seen him for some time, but hopefully he'll lend me some help for what I'm supposed to do."

What was she even talking about? Her mood seemed to have shifted drastically since she'd taken care of whatever she was supposed to take care of back in Equestramahood. Was it just because of Bob, or was it something else?

- "So ... what is it that you're supposed to do?" he asked, hardly even knowing why. It's not like she'd ever ...

She stopped dead in her tracks. Apart from the softly blowing wind and the bird singing from far above them, everything was silent, like frozen in time. She then turned slightly towards him.

- "Do you really want to know?"

I've wanted to know since the very first time I asked, Fid thought sourly to himself. But as the situation looked now, he suddenly felt scared. She seemed very anxious about something. Was it really a good idea ...? She didn't give him enough time to respond, though.

- "I'm going to kill my parents," she said bluntly. "No matter what."

Edited by Horn, 06 March 2017 - 07:38 PM.

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#35
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#30

- "So ... you were serious about that thing ...?"

A bit of time had passed since Helene had made her declaration. Fid had taken some time to process it, as well as allowing her to continue on her track of thought, but she hadn't said anything more. Perhaps it was too much to bear, even for her.

- "Oh, no," she responded acidly. "I always joke about murdering my parents. Pretty good icebreaker, don't you think?"

- "... I'm sorry." Fid silently condemned himself for his constant clumsiness. "It's just ... I guess I found it kinda hard to believe. My own adventure is ... well, I'm practically out to do the precise opposite. My mother was turned into a creature ... and I'm trying to find a way to get her back to normal."

- "Oh." Her tone had softened a bit, though it seemed to still retain a little bit of sharpness. "So you have a mother who loves you ... Lucky guy. It must be nice."

- "I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers," Fid said morosely. "But ... there must be a special reason for you to do what you're doing, right?"

- "Of course there is."

- "So, uh ..."

Helene sighed at Fid's pathetic attempt at being subtle.

- "Well, I guess I already said too much," she mumbled. "Yes, I need to neutralize my parents ... because of a curse." She looked up at Fid, into his eyes. He glanced away by instinct, but forced himself to look at her; she had never been this insisting on something before. "Basically speaking ... they're no longer my parents."

Fid wanted to argue against her claim, but she interrupted him before he had a chance to.

- "My father has become enamored by a siren of sorts," she continued. "He happened upon her when he was out on one of his journeys ... And she has been battering away on his mind and turned him into a masochistic servant. She empowers him, and in return, he lives to serve her demands, and refuses to listen to anyone else. And my mother ..." She pauses for a bit, to regain control over her emotions. "She's under my father's control. With the powers that the siren gave him, he has stripped her of all her humanity and practically made her a puppet. She has no humanity left in her whatsoever. She's a tamed beast. No, not even that ... she's a tool, under his mercy."

- "How could this ..."

- "I don't know how or why it happened," she snapped back. "Why don't you wait for an exposition chapter or something. All I need right now is help. Help to take them down. They've hurt so many people, thanks to that blasted siren, and they'll keep hurting so many more unless someone takes them out."

- "Straight to killing? You don't think there's any way to save them other than kill them?" Fid noticed how nosy he started to sound, but at the moment, he didn't care. "I mean, they're your parents ... surely there must be some other way for you ..."

- "... Aaaand you're acting like I decided this on a whim," Helene sighed. "Don't worry, I knew from the beginning that you couldn't help me. You lack the determination to be able to kill anyone, and I figured that you'd start preaching some garbage if I ever brought it up, and it looks like I was right on the money."

- "Well, of course I object ...!" Fid mumbled. "Anyone would. They're your parents. And from how sensitive it seems to you, I get the feeling that you still care about them. Surely killing them must be the absolute last resort after you've checked all other possible options to maybe get them back to normal again?"

- "I'm not taking this conversation with you," she sighed. "I shouldn't even have said anything about it in the first place."

- "But you did." Fid started thinking. "There was a reason that you told me now, after holding out for so long. What is that?"

Helene took a few moments before she answered. Perhaps she's worrying how I'll react once again, Fid thought silently. Well, so far I guess she had every right to ...

- "That man," she finally said. "That man with the top hat. How likely do you think it would be that he'd help me?"

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#36
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Maybe I need to do another all-weeker some day. I tend to lag behind brutally on this thing.
 
#31
(Warning for some crude innuendo-language. It's just for fun though. Promise.)

- "I'm not doing it," Fid muttered. "I'm not ever even going to consider willingly speaking to that man again."

- "Fid, this is the best chance I've gotten in so long," Helene insisted. "You don't know how much is at stake if nobody takes my parents down. If you could look past your pride --"

- "Stop," Fid ejaculated. "I'm not in a good enough mood, and I most likely never will be, to contact my best friend's killer about - hold on, did that say 'ejaculated'?"

It's a legitimate way to express an exclamation. It's true, I read it on the internet.

- "Okay, sure," Fid sighed. "My point being," he creamed, "I will not ask favors from my friend's killer!"

- "And MY point being that you HAVE to, because this entire plane of existence is threatened by leaving my father to his viles!" Helene spurted back. "That guy has to help us. And you've got some sort of connection with him. I don't know why you were so chatty with each other at that café back when, but you seem to be able to reach through to him. Maybe he's crazy, maybe he won't listen, but I need to gamble on this. I NEED to get my parents under control."

- "Do you even understand what you're asking of me?" Fid erupted in powerful waves. "Do you know how much he made me suffer? And I'm supposed to ... you want me to just ... can you put yourself in my position? I get it, you need to do a thing, but can you try to express some empathy and understand why I'm vehemently against doing this?"

- "Yes, I DO get it, and I need you to man up and think on a larger scale than just your own fragile little feelings!" Helene moaned, her voice heating into a climax.

- "I CAN'T, ALL RIGHT?" Fid discharged heavily.

Damn it, Fid thought. Damn it. I thought I'd gotten further. I thought I'd grown, this past time, under Helene's training and under the battle with the bicycles. But the old, scared Fid started to bubble within him again, poking at him, sending its distress signals through him. Notifying him that it was still alive, and still in control. It fizzled up through him like a shaken Coca Cola, hissing out through his teeth, with him unable to stop it. He suddenly started screaming.

- "I'm weak! I'm half-assed! I'm a wimp! I'm a momma's boy who barely ever set foot outside his own house! You're the one who keeps slapping this shit in my face, damn it ...! And all of a sudden, you expect me to counteract all my in-grown feelings, grow He-Man strength and save the world! And then, when I won't do it, you start putting more and more pressure on me and try to guilt-trip me into it! I'm about to puke! I'm about to collapse under the weight of my own crippling anxiety! You have no idea how scared I am right now! I fear for my life when I see him, and I hate him and his smug grin for taking away what I depended on when I came into this world, and I never want to see him, or speak to him, ever again!" Fid orgasmed with heavy splooges, emptying his verbal nutsack all over Helene's face and cloak. "And please," he finished with a squirt, "can you stop writing like that. I don't think I've ever felt this uncomfortable in my life."

Ha ha, I'm sorry. It all just got so serious all of a sudden, and I don't really know how to handle that.

- "Mm hmm, yeah," Fid sighed again. Helene had said something quietly, but Fid had turned off, embarrassed by his own outburst and still sizzling with irritation; his jaw had started to ache again after the sudden tremendous workout.

He then walked into a door.

Stumbling backwards a step, then collapsing to the ground, he groaned, rubbed his face in pain from the impact. Helene looked down at him.

- "I said, we're here," she mumbled quietly.

- "Oh." Fid got up to his feet again, brushing his butt clean from the debris on the ground. "That was fast. Well, relatively I guess, since it's been a month or so since the last chapter, but ..."

- "Yeah, I get the feeling that the author is getting sick of portraying us walking everywhere," she pointed out. "Notice how way too much chapter time is spent on saying 'they walked there' and 'they went that way' and so on."

- "Right. So, this is your uncle's house?" he said, looking at the little cottage in the middle of practically nowhere, fields reaching out far and wide around them.

- "It is," she confirmed. "Let's go inside."


Edited by Horn, 11 May 2017 - 07:16 PM.

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#37
nevernown

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You know, you can just write the house towards them instead "and while fid and helene waited, the house made it's way over to them post haste"


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#38
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#32

- "Hello?" Helene called out as she'd pushed the door open, before she stealthily sneaked inside. Fid lingered by the door, noting that the cottage looked way bigger on the inside.

- "Should we, uh. Should we really just walk inside?" he asked nervously. "You couldn't at least knock or something?"

- "He says it startles his house," she mumbled in reply. "He's a little bit eccentric."

Well, with a family like the one she described, I'm really not surprised, Fid thought. But yeah, it doesn't seem like a normal house either, so ... oh, screw it. There's very little that can surprise me here anymore, he concluded. Oh, god, I hope I didn't just jinx that ...

- "Hello?" Helene called out again. "Are you home, uncle? It's Helene. I need your help, and I brought a ..." She threw an awkward glance towards Fid. "A friend."

- "Mind explaining that pause?" Fid quipped.

- "Oh, hello!"

The voice wasn't loud, or out of the ordinary, or anything like that; it had just come from very close, and Fid jumped with a yelp when he saw the middle aged man right in front of him, as if he'd been standing there all along without them seeing him.

- "Yes, I see!" the man chirped with a broad, yellow smile as he eyed them both, twirling his small gray mustache between two fingers.

He looked to be in his forties, with all the attributes of a hobby scientist; he was ever so slightly hunched over, his other hand was folded behind his back, his hair was frizzy and unkempt and a large pair of glasses rested upon a not quite as large nose. He was dressed in sweatpants and a sweater as gray as his hair was, as wear as a pair of slippers. He had a strangely relaxed, yet wise air around him. Fid would imagine that he smoked a pipe whenever the urge fell upon him. But the one thing that struck him ... was how normal this guy was. Out of pretty much everyone he'd met here, this guy was the one person who just seemed like ... a person.

- "Helene's friend?" he continued, eyeing them both closely and curiously, Fid especially. "Really now?"

- "Well I, uh. Friend might not be the perfectly correct term ..." Fid struggled to think. Why was he feeling so awkward about this, all of a sudden?"

- "Of course!" Helene interrupted. "We're friends. I have lots of friends. Do you doubt me, uncle? Uncle, this is Fid. Fid, this is my uncle ... you can call him Karl."

- "Hmm." Karl stroked his chin idly. He really is behaving like the stereotypical oddball genius, Fid thought.

And then, Karl pulled an odd looking gun out from behind his back and blasted a hole straight through Helene. It seemed like a laser of sorts; it was quick, it was completely silent, and it blinded Fid momentarily. Through blinded spots in his field of view, Helene crashed to the ground with a hole the size of a fist straight through her ribcage.

- "What the ..."

- "And now we wait," he said, fixating his glance on Helene's dead body. Fid stared at the man, and then at Helene, and then back towards the man again. Holy crap, he thought, are there seriously no sane people in this realm of existence whatsoever!!?

After a few minutes of awkward waiting, with Helene's uncle completely rigid as he stared at her, she started moving.

- "Urgh ..."

- "Ah, it IS you," he chuckled, and put the gun away somewhere. "Can't be too cautious who I let into my home, right? I've got a tad too many secrets for that, you know that, right?"

- "You're absolutely mental," Helene groaned as she worked her way up to her feet. "You know what the hell I look like, don't you?"

- "Yeah, but you know. Shape shifters maybe. The very fact of a ... friend ... made me a little more cautious than usual. But it's true, then?" Karl looked up at Fid, who reflexively took a step backwards. "You're her friend? Or her bodyguard? Nah, you're a little too scrawny looking ... but she's using you for something, yeah?" He leaned a little closer to Fid's face. "If you've accompanied her for a while now, I'm sure you've noticed, but Helene doesn't really 'friend' people, if you catch my drift, right?"

- "I completely understand," Fid confirmed. "She's a piece of art, no doubt."

- "I know you're talking about me," Helene grumbled from a little bit away.

- "Okay! So then, did you come for some coffee? I've got coffee!" Karl chirped again. "I was only just recently down to the supermarket and --"

- "You know why I'm here, Karl," Helene mumbled. "Can we not drag this out any longer."

- "Mmm, yes." Karl stopped in his tracks. "It pains me, but yes. You finally made your decision, then? Did you tell the boy, too?"

- "Yeah."

- "Very good." Karl had seemingly completely changed demeanor. There was a very serious air about him. "Because from now on, there won't be any turning back."

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#39
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#33

- "So, is her name actually Helene?" Fid mumbled quietly to Karl as they were making their way down some stairs inside the impossibly spacious cabin, Helene confidently leading the way for some reason. "I heard you confirm it when she called it out in the cabin."

- "Hm? Oh, yeah..." Karl scratched his gray hair, thinking about it for a bit. "No, no, it's not. Probably."

- "Probably?" Fid frowned in confusion. "Don't you know her name?"

- "I'm not even sure anymore," Karl admitted, seemingly embarrassed. "That girl lives in a strange little world of her own, you see. Every so often, she's gotten herself a new nickname. Maybe it's for her amusement, or maybe it's important to her somehow. Along the way, I guess I just sorta went with it and forgot her real one." He shrugs. "Maybe I'll remember if I think about it a bit, but it doesn't feel like there's any point to it."

- "Huh." No point, really? Fid thought to himself, but decided to not drag it up unnecessarily. It didn't seem worth it to start another argument over. He'd find her name out, sooner or later. Probably.

- "It's this door here, isn't it?" Helene said, laying her hand against a thick wooden spectacle while grinning like a child. Fid noted her sudden spunk, wondering where it might be coming from.

- "Aye!" Karl confirmed. "Of course you'd remember the one door you were never allowed past, huh?"

- "It's been mocking me for so long," Helene muttered, more to herself than to her uncle. "You'd never let me play in here. It must contain unspeakable wonders and miracles." She shrugged. "Well, that's what I thought when I was younger, at least. At the time, I was thinking more towards a 'cookies and ice cream' direction."

Karl chuckled at the thought. "Well then, in we go," he said. "No reason to drag this out. I think I'll probably disappoint you if I big it up; I hope you're not expecting machinery equipment or something of the like. That'd just be embarrassing."

He pushed at the door, which didn't have a handle, and it squeaked open, quite easily for looking so heavy. Reaching in by the edge of the wall, Karl flicked a switch, and a little lamp in the roof blinked on.

- "Here we have it," he said.

Fid and Helene both peeked inside. The room was quite small, and dimly lit with the one little lamp plopped right in the middle of the roof. It was clad in tiles that had been originally white, but were now yellow and somewhat dirty. The room was also empty, save for a seat with thick tubes connected to it leading from the walls and floor, as well as a basin bolted to one of the walls. Fid stared at the room for a while, feeling rather slow-witted as he wondered if he was missing something.

- "It's a bathroom," Helene said after a while with a tone of unconcealed disappointment, putting Fid's thoughts into words. "Why is it a bathroom?"

- "No, no, it's not just any bathroom," Karl interjected. "It's ... a transformation bathroom!!"

Helene looked at him with a questioning frown, not acknowledging his attempt to sound dramatic.

- "Yeah, okay, but it's ... it's a bathroom. A bathroom that's going to help me on my journey?" She looked around, her glance sticking to Fid for a few moments. "Why is it ... why does it feel like ..." She glanced towards Fid again, this time looking at the sheath he was carrying on his back. "Why does it feel like there's a theme about to unfold here that I'm not particularly happy about?"

- "Oh, you need to shave off those little preconceptions of yours," Karl said, trying to sound cheery. "Yes, this is what's going to help you."





Interjection ahoy. I'll continue this scenario tomorrow while the idea is still fresh in my mind. Scout's honor.

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#40
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Did I ever mention that I wasn't part of the scouts? No? Well I guess you figured eventually.
 
But yeah, "tomorrow" wasn't quite supposed to mean "three months". But during this time, I've done some soul searching, I've quit my old depressing job, I've taken up my career as an electrician again, and I feel better than I've done in a long time. And today, I felt creative inspiration strike me. From now on, expect more frequent updates. I promise this time. I really, really promise.
 
#34

- "You sit right down on that porcelain throne," Karl explained to the two bystanders as if they didn't look thoroughly confused and disgusted, "and the process will take form on its own. I've spent more time on this than I feel comfortable to admit, and yet, it will only work one time. For plot reasons. I'm sure you understand."

No one said a word. Karl scratched the back of his head in a somewhat dumbfounded manner.

- "Ya know? Like Captain America, or Spiderman, or whatever. Ever wondered why those guys are the only ones who got their particular superpowers?"

- "Yeah, no, that's not the issue here," Helene responded dryly.

- "Still with the bathroom disappointment?" Karl sighed. "Did I shatter one of your childhood dreams so brutally?"

- "I do feel somewhat deluded, yeah," she sighed. "That's not important right now though. I still can't fathom how exactly this is going to prove to be helpful for us."

- "Like I said," Karl said, picking up his spunk again, "you just sit down on the--"

- "No," Helene interrupted. "Not doing that."

The room fell silent. Fid looked back and forth between Helene and her uncle, unsure if he was supposed to interject with something. He noticed Karl looking visibly disappointed.

- "After you finally decided to go through with this?" Karl said after a while. "You're gonna quit now, at this desperately important part?"

- "I can't do it," Helene mumbled, her cheeks turning a brighter shade of red. "I can't. This is ... too much."

- "What do you mean, 'can't'?" Fid muttered, out of the blue. Helene and Karl both turned to face him, causing his eyes to shift away for a second before looking back at them again.

- "Well, how was I supposed to know that the road to power was going to something so ..." Helene choked on her words, racking her brain to try and justify her emotions. "Something so vulgar!? Why does it have to be like this? Of all things?"

- "Do you remember what you told me?" Fid continued. "About forfeiting feelings and thinking in a larger scale?"

- "I ..." Helene quietened for a few seconds. "I can't."

- "You told me to. You told me to persevere. You told me to do the precise thing that you right now refuse to." Fid felt his cheeks burn warm; he felt an obnoxious blend of fear and annoyance at Helene's hesitation. Damn it, why did he have to feel like the bad guy all of a sudden?"

- "I can't. I just can't." Helene kept repeating herself, well aware of the hypocrisy in her words, but seemingly trying to convince herself differently. Her face flushed more and more red; she seemed like she was about to burst into tears any second.

- "Okay."

Fid sighed, and turned towards Karl.

- "But I can," he said, with a new feeling of determination. "Let me do it."

- "You, huh?" Karl stroked his chin in a very scientisty fashion. "But will you be able to handle it?"

- "I actually don't think it's about that." Fid looked at the toilet chair, the determination still steadily holding him, like a comfortable support. "I think this is exactly why I'm here. This is what I'm supposed to do."

Helene and Karl both looked at him again; Helene looked disappointed about something, most likely her own indecisiveness, but nodded in resignation.

- "I'm sorry for what I said to you before," she sighed. "I guess we're going to have to keep traveling together for yet some time."

- "It's okay. I just hope I can finally become of some use, both to you and to myself," Fid said with a toothy smile.

He then sat down on the toilet chair.

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