***[POV: Angry Fox]***
I
ran
away from the pawn shop, my legs still feeling like
numb noodles
from that whole encounter.
What that woman had
done
to me. With her scent. With getting
up close
.
With the way the air around her almost vibrated with
exciting
danger.
"Stupid werewolf hormones."
I muttered accusingly while stuffing the bank card in the pocket of these
filthy
pants. My fists clenched tightly as I see
proof
again of just how ruffled and ill-fitting I look to have been speaking to someone like her.
"Stupid Alpha with her stupid perfect suit."
I should never have checked out the reason why the system was
pestering
me with those pulses. It made me
upset
. Made me say things I shouldn't have.
The other glyphs were still
irritatingly
at the corner of my vision since I'd left her presence. In anger, I finally give in and focus on the
offensive
words.
|
TASK: Establish Connection with Potential Mate
|
"You have got to be kidding me."
I snarled and voiced what I could not
earlier
. Loud enough that a passing pedestrian glanced at me with alarm. They hurried away as I kicked at an
improperly discarded
paper cup.
"Is that why you made me feel all... all *weird* around her? Now you're some magical matchmaking service too?"
The trash
skittered
across the sidewalk before being struck by an errant gust of wind. It moved into traffic and a passing bus
crushed
it under its wheels.
A perfect
metaphor
for how I feel.
Pressed into a razor thin shape by outside forces. Slotted onto whatever
puzzle of fate
this con of a system claims to design around life here.
My eyes tick to the
completed
task above. The 'reward' result listed alongside it. Like a
taste
of its potential offerings.
"I'm certainly not going to be bribed into it with these magical perks that further make you insert things into my head."
The blue text just glowed as
normal
. Unresponsive and
infuriating
. As if waiting for me to calm down and
be reasonable
.
Just like my wolf waits.
> This is all your fault too, isn't it? You've been acting like it's so normal to just raise my tail happily. To roll over and expose my belly. You'd have me turn around and go running back to her? Hug her leg like some pathetic pet? I make bad choices when I am upset. Which is why I'm going to ignore you now. Even though I'd rather have you helping me look out for danger. Remember that you're to blame, if I get attacked. <
Taking my
frustration
out on an animal, on my companion spirit, and even the woman on the other end of a phone. Except that
last part
was more about upsetting the Alpha.
Dragging her and her person's name through the mud. So she would
leave me
alone... and I wouldn't have to think about this stupid
Task
.
I paused at an intersection and looked up at the
giant white building
. A skyscraper that, if I hadn't met her, it might have taken me longer to guess what was for.
This massive signal of wealth and power seems to exist as yet another thing that pushes at me. Over how 'wise' it would be to just fall
to my knees
and
kiss the heels
of the leader of the Rimecoat pack.
My stomach chose that moment of great frustration to
growl so loudly
that I was certain people across the street could hear it.
At least... I received
shifty glances
from those streaming past me at the time. Not a single one offering a word.
All too busy with their lives to
acknowledge
the dirty, hungry woman for more than a second.
"Whatever."
I sigh loudly and stroll toward the side of the nearest building to rest for just a minute.
My
irritability
to all this was not entirely due to
everything
pushing me at, and pulling me toward, this Kyrie Voss.
After all, I am well used to holding my
temper
if necessary. To weaponize. In my old form.
It could well be that, perhaps, I was simply... '
hangry'
? - what a ridiculous word!
Mashing together two words so heavily to make a new one. Like they
copulated
and birthed a concept, but with
no vision
for its name.
"Like if Helene called her child Helace. Or Jalene. Goddesses, I hope no child ever gets named by combining the *ends* of her parent's given names..."
I
shudder
at the spoken thought. Ignoring my wolf for only a couple minutes and I've already started this?
The cube glyph at the edge of my vision pulsed,
insistently
. I focused on it to distract myself... and because I
truly am curious
what resource or change it might be tracking now.
The grid expanded before my eyes. In the center of the squares that had previously been empty, a new icon appeared.
What looked like a
plain
white glowing, solid rectangle. In the corner where a number would normally appear was simply |
?
|.
The bank card. It had to be, looking like that. It was showing up as a resource like the
deer meat
had... but the system couldn't - or wouldn't - assign it a 'unit value' or name.
I rubbed over where it sat in my pocket, suddenly thoughtful. It seemed suspicious that the system couldn't quantify it.
How
much
money was on this? How much
access
had she given me? Did it not need a 'PIN'?
Helene knew just a little about their function, because as
divorced from civilization
as they tried to be... there was still a connection to it through the
Duskpaw Omegas
. Their 'human' compatriots who were less hardy than full werewolves and needed things the land didn't provide.
It was also how the pack obtained so many of the things that let them
pretend
to be self-sufficient woodsmen. Despite none of them being
blacksmiths
or any of the important professions of a frontier settlement.
After thinking of this body's former pack, I decide to check the inverted tree glyph next. The pack roster. The change since I'd last looked at it was even more glaring.
In addition to Helene and the mysterious lower white entry connected to the child forming inside of me, there was a new name. Set off to the side, near mine.
|
Kyrie Voss
|
A curving dotted line
connected
the woman's name to mine, with a small symbol in the middle to it that pulsed between blue and white. A symbol that looked an
awful
lot like this world's representation of the 'love heart'.
|
Status: Unmarked - Potential Bond
|
Altogether, it makes out that the system wants to
promote
this supernatural mating bond with that woman. If not that... then I'd have to accept that it is capable of
acknowledging things
that I may-
"Absolutely not. No. Not by anyone."
If I was just going to find myself here,
subjected
to all these things, then my life would be no different than Helene's. Except I would get
to be with
a woman. With money.
Who is strong... and smelt nice. And did not
punch
me in the stomach, even though Jace probably might have for...
running my mouth
.
Frustrated, at the
lingering feelings
of interest in those flickering orange eyes and so much more... I wanted to march over and throw the card into the nearest 'dumpster'.
But I really was hungry.
And the
scent of food
cooking nearby was in the air.