I stand up and feel my tail twitch a little, and I quickly head to the bathroom. I finish up then head out into the main room as Leo looks through some of his inventory. I find Anduda eating some sausage while sitting on the edge of the bed, Melina still asleep next to her. Anduda looks over to me with a smirk.
"Have fun with your boyfri-?"
"I don't want to hear it."
She laughs, taking another bite of sausage. I walk over and sit next to her with a sigh.
"I'm glad I didn't drink any of that last night." She says.
"I'm glad you didn't as well, just think about how that would have been for Leo as he tried to get us back here." I chuckle.
"True, but I was thinking more about how it would have been harder to laugh at you." She smirks again.
I sigh again, "I didn't realize it was going to do that to me."
"I don't think anyone did, they all seemed pretty surprised by how you were acting."
"I'm surprised by how I acted..." I never thought I would be like that...
"Do you remember it all or did Leo tell you?"
"I remember it." Though, I kind of wish I didn't...
"So you remember not letting go of Leo for anything?"
"Mhm..." I nod.
She gives me a smirk but doesn't continue, though I have no idea what the smirk is for. Leo walks into the room and glances at me before walking over to the large plate of breakfast items on the table. Things like the sausage that Anduda is eating, some oddly colored scrambled eggs, slightly more brown than what I am used to, and some toasted peppers. He grabs a small plate and some eggs before walking over to his desk and shuffling through some papers.
I get up and grab a sausage, taking a bite out of it while I walk back over to Anduda. As I sit down, Melina starts to wake up, slowly stirring awake with a small groan. She sits up then looks over to me, giving me a smile.
"You feeling better?" She asks.
I finish eating the bite of sausage, "Yeah."
"Good, do you remember anything?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it was cute to watch." Not really...
I let out a sigh and continue eating the sausage, feeling my tail resting next to me. I should really take another bath... I... Don't really want to go alone though... But I guess I'll have to get used to it as it seems we wont be getting back to our old lives anytime soon. I let out another sigh as I finish the sausage.
"What's wrong?" Melina asks, startling me.
"Oh... I... Kind of need to go take a bath, I'm feeling a little grimy right now."
"Ah I see, do you want me to come with so you aren't alone?"
"Didn't you all wash up yesterday?"
"I actually wasn't that dirty, so I went and took a look at the markets instead."
"Oh... Well um... If you don't mind..."
"Of course, we can take Anduda too." Melina says.
"Huh!?" Anduda turns to us surprised.
"Oh... yeah, you probably need to wash up too." I say.
"N-n-no!"
"Awww come on~." Melina says as she puts her hand on Anduda's shoulder.
"No! I'm a man!"
"Not right now you're not~."
I smirk at the two going at it, glancing over to see Leo chuckling at his desk.
Anduda growls, "That means nothing!"
"Oh yes it does~." Melina grabs Anduda under the arms and picks her up, making her flail around trying to escape. "You know won't be able to break free, right?"
"Mmmmph!" She wiggles some more as Melina stands up, holding Anduda close to her.
"Stop fighting and lets go, I pretty much dragged Camaella in there the first time too." She shrugs.
"Yes... You did..." I didn't really care to go there, and I am still uncomfortable about it now...
She wiggles some more. "I will rub your horns until we are there if you keep doing this."
"Don't treat me like a child!"
Melina sighs, setting her down. "Really, lets just go so you can get cleaned up, have you even cleaned yourself since this all started?"
"No..."
"Then you need to at least wash up, otherwise it's going to become unhealthy."
She growls, "I... guess you are right... Isn't there like... private bathhouses or something?"
"Not in this town." Melina shrugs, and, honestly, I don't know if she is telling the truth or not.
"Damnit..." I swear she would kick a rock if she could.
We start to walk out, Melina turning back to Leo as he picks up another paper. "We'll be back in a little."
"Yep." He waves, not even looking up to us as we leave.
Anduda walks out of the bathhouse in between Melina and I, her eyes vacant and unfocused.
"See? That wasn't so bad." Melina says to Anduda, who blinks a few times and looks up at me.
"Melina's scary..." She says to me, making me chuckle.
"Don't make me rub your horns again." Melina says.
Anduda tenses up and covers her horns quickly.
"I didn't think you would fight back that hard." I say.
"She was holding me like a child!"
"You were acting like a child." Melina says with a sigh.
She growls, pouting in front of me. I smile as I turn around and we start to head back, walking through the streets back towards the guild hall. We enter back into Leo's office, who gives us a quick glance.
"Welcome back." He says while looking back down at a piece of paper.
"Are you really going to be working all day?" I ask him.
"Stuff needs to get done, what else would I do anyway?"
"Relax? You haven't really done that since it started."
"I don't think I will get the chance sometime soon..." He sighs.
I look over to Melina and she gives me a shrug before walking over to the leftover food and picking some of it up. What do we do now? Maybe I should go check a low level area to see if anything has changed like Korus...
"Hey um... I'm thinking about going to see if anything has changed in the lower level areas. Just for a day or two." I say.
"Okay, if you want some help just let me know." Melina says.
Leo looks up from his papers for a second, looking at me before looking back down. "Okay, keep us updated if you do go." Hmm...
"Alright, I'll probably head there in an hour, I have to link a return stone to here before I head out."
"Okay." He picks up another piece of paper. Did... Did I do something else? Why is he acting so strange?
I walk over and sit down on the couch while I start the link. I look back up as Reggie bursts into the room with his usual 'flair'... "Helloooo!"
I let out a sigh, and he looks over to me.
"What's wrong?" He asks me.
"Just having flashbacks..." Last time you busted into a room like that I was naked...
"Ah." He says as he looks to the side. Yeah, you remember, though I don't think I want you to.
The stone finishing its link process and I stand up. Now that I am much more comfortable walking, I feel as though actually going places without help is something I can actually do now. "Be back in a few days, maybe less."
"A few days?" Reggie asks.
"Yeah, I am headed back to the starter area for a few days to see if anything has changed in the dungeons there."
"Ah okay. Stay safe." He says as he gives a wave.
"Come back safe." Anduda says before going back to messing with their menu, I think they are trying to figure out how everything works but I don't quite know.
"You guys keep Anduda safe for me." I say to the wolves, then look up to the others, "You guys too, if you don't mind."
"Yep," Melina says. "I don't think I want to be on the receiving end of you being mad." I mean... I don't think I would kill you if something did happen, but the person who did it might wish they were dead.
I duck out of the room and head downstairs, leaving the guild hall and making my way to the center of the town. I get to the fountain in the center and pull up the travel menu. The early towns in the game you could teleport freely to, but the late game areas require a travel stone. I always linked one before leaving as I wanted a quick way to get from place to place for resources. I select Mogen, one of the starter cities you can spawn in, and hit teleport.
The world around me shifts in a kaleidoscope fashion, layering itself before unfolding into the tall pearlstone buildings that make up Mogen. The green crystal lights inactive as the sun still shines with many, many people walking around freely. The sounds are actually overwhelming as there are hundreds of people talking to each other. I don't remember this being that popular of a city, so I guess there are a lot of people here that haven't logged in since they first played the game. Most, probably around 90%, are wearing the starter gear that is given to them.
If I had to guess, there have been a lot of people who have died already, but we haven't heard anything about because they just don't have any connections. There have probably been hundreds, if not thousands of people that were out in the middle of nowhere when they logged out, so it wouldn't surprise me if some of them died. It concerns me, because if dying is permanent now, than we may never know the true death count since the start.
I start to walk through the crowds, weaving through as I try to avoid running into people. It is amusing seeing people's faces as they look up at me, though making sure I don't step on any of the people on the smaller side is annoying. I get to an opening and continue walking, the road has started to open up now that I am away from the city center. There are now just small groups talking with each other, and from the little I have overheard, they are mostly talking about going out and finding something small to kill for some money. I'm glad I don't have to worry about money...
Speaking of money, I think I should try to find a place to stay for now. I take a quick look at the map and find a small inn called Moth's Peak. It's not too far away and seems like an okay place so I might as well head there. I look up and notice a few people are looking at me, mostly the small groups around. I start to feel uncomfortable so I start to walk towards the inn.
The inn isn't anything special, the same pearlstone base with some small sections of dark wood and stone as highlights. I duck under the door, finding no one in the main lobby, it is small with a few small tables scattered around. There is a woman behind a desk reading some papers, she glances up at me and gives me a scoff. I have a sneaking suspicion this isn't going to go well. I start to walk over to her and she holds up her hand.
"If you are looking for someone specific, you wont find them here." She says. What the hell is she talking about?
I tilt my head. "I'm just here for a room."
She looks at me, face unchanging. "One gold Lens a night." She says flatly. I know it's probably not that much...
"I'll go find another inn then." I say as I turn around. While it's not like I can't pay it, I don't want to be seen as a pushover.
"Don't have the money?" She asks with a chuckle.
"It's not that, I just know I can find somewhere else that will be cheaper." I shrug.
She scoffs. "No one will give a lower price to your kind here." Right, this was one of the regions that experienced the most issues from the tyrannical rule. Makes sense that they wouldn't like me.
"Then I will camp out." I shrug, not like it really matters. I walk out the door.
"Stuck up bitch..." I hear her say as I leave. Wow, very comforting words...
Well there goes plan A, I'll try another inn before figuring out where I will camp, the monsters here wouldn't even be able to kill me if I was naked so it doesn't really matter if I have to camp.
"One gold Lens." An old man tells me. Shit.
"No thanks." I say as I leave another inn, this has been the third one since Moth's. They have all given the same price, looks like that lady was telling the truth, oh well. I'll just find a place to camp...