Dark-Clad Company

“Hey, I’ve never seen you around.”

The ridiculous goggled man threw one arm around Yuri’s shoulders, making him hunch a little under its weight.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, let’s step away and have a chat. I like talking to new people.”

The man started walking, and Yuri, caught in the half a clinch, had to mirror his steps. He threw a glance back, but neither the girl, nor Gaudeamus were in sight. Did they just leave?

They stopped in a quieter place, behind one of the stalls.

“So, what’s your story? Where are you from? Do you have a quest for me? Are you a merchant? Wait, let me see,” the man threw questions out in rapid succession, like some sort of unhealthily agitated doctor or crime investigator. Then he started tapping Yuri’s shoulder and sides, and looking him over, which cemented those associations.

“What are you…?”

“Don’t worry, I’m just looking. I don’t steal from people, unless I’ve already killed them. Joking.”

The next moment the man started waving his hands, and Yuri felt an uncomfortable sensation, just like when you’re searched on the entrance to the airport when you’ve got nothing to hide, but more intense. His intuition told him, that this man looked through his inventory.

“Man, you’ve got nothing on you. No money even? Have you been robbed or something? Wait, let me throw something your way.”

Yuri felt a sudden pull, as if something heavy has been put into his invisible pockets. In a way, it was exactly what happened, as the man has transferred some items from his inventory into Yuri’s.

“So?”

“Um… Who are you again?” asked Yuri, trying to take a step back, but hitting a wall of a nearby house.

The man has taken a step closer anyway, no longer having his hand on Yuri, but still filling half of Yuri’s field of vision. He could see his reflection in the man’s goggles.

“His name is [Insert Your Name Here]. And he is the bravest lad I’ve seen around these parts!” exclaimed a familiar voice.

Gaudeamus has entered the nook they were standing in, with a dog on his hands. It was the same dog that had followed them before.

“Oh, Gau, where have you been? I could have used your help with finding thirty-two Golden Feathers,” said the goggled man.

“We went to the Camp to lend a hand with #####. I’m sorry to not be there when you needed us. But you prevailed?”

“Yeah. I still had to kill an entire afternoon on hunting those gulls though.”

“You hunted them?”

Yuri wanted to ask Gaudeamus, where is the girl, but could not find a moment to cut into conversation. Things became even more difficult, when suddenly a new face dropped on them from the roof. Though from Yuri’s perspective using a word “face” would be a little misleading.

A newcomer had feminine features, which were not obscured by her green tunic (darker green, to not look too similar to a certain popular elf boy). Practically placed bags and equipment indicated her pragmatic nature, while a bow and a quiver gave out her status as a ranger. She hid her face with a chaperon, a hood and a short cape that is sometimes associated with early English longbowmen. But chaperon was not the only thing that hid her face.

At a glance, one would think that it was just shrouded in darkness, but a closer look would show that it was not exactly darkness. It was some sort of interference. A static. A white noise, that made her features completely unperceivable. In some sense, she did not have a face at all.

“Someone said hunting?” she asked, landing right next to the Gaudeamus.

“I wasn’t like killing them,” said the goggled man, “I had to capture them, then I needed to somehow made them shine with happiness, and only then pluck one feather from each gull, when they turned gold.”

“This seems like an overly complicated quest,” remarked Gaudeamus, “And how did you make them shine with happiness?”

“Speaking of happiness, where did you find Fennel? I’ve been looking for him for a solid hour,” said the ranger, and started to pet the dog in Gaudeamus’s hands, “You stupid tail-wiggling vermin, stop running off like that!”

“Wait, it is your dog?”

“So you see, I tried feeding them fish and worms, but it didn’t do anything. So I decided to tickle them, which was a stupid idea, but they dropped feathers, so I guess it worked.”

“Yes, mine. It’s Fennel! Haven’t I showed him to you, guys? Wait, what? You tickled the birds?”

“Well, I was going to try anything at this point. And it was more like scratching anyway. But I’ve got the feathers! They were more of a Pinkish Red Feathers, but Librarian said that it’s okay. And since when do you have a dog?”

Yuri’s head was starting to spin. Who are these people? What are they talking about? It all doesn’t make any sense. But what doesn’t make any sense, most of all, is what is he doing in this situation? Why is he here? Should he be here?

He took a couple cautious steps away. They didn’t seem to notice, caught up in the conversation. They were bright, they were big. They were suffocating. Outrageous orange hat, red surcoat, green tunic. Ringing bell-like voice of what’s his name? No, not “what’s his”, it’s “insert your”. Clear and noble voice of Gaudeamus. Gaudeamus freaking Igitur. Rich, to the point of almost being overwhelming, voice of this new ranger girl.

Yuri took two more steps back. And two more.

“Of course, I’m not using my pet during battles! I’ve got you two to take hits now, I won’t endanger this sweet potato.”

He was small and dark, in his deep blue shirt. Tarnished in dirt and pine needles.

“You should have seen where some of those last gulls were! I had to literally climb down the well…”

He slipped away. 

With a hard and heavy feeling in his chest, Yuri left the market square, and without even thinking dove into one of the smaller alleys. He found a quiet empty place, and sat on the ground next to the old wooden fence, that seemed to serve no purpose but to confuse the player.

He did not belong here. Not only in this world, but in any place that was so stupidly loud and bright and fun, and where he would always be left on the sidelines. He used to be so angry at himself for having this nauseating feeling every time when he tried to keep up with the world around him. Not keeping up in college. Not keeping up at parties. Not keeping up at work. It was as if his fundamental perception of reality worked at a slower speed, than everyone else’s. As if he traveled from some kind of another universe. Heh.

He used to be angry. Now he just wants to be alone.

“Is it blood that I smell?” heard Yuri over his ear, and someone’s black strand of hair touched his cheek.

Yuri shivered, but was too tired to try to get away. He just moved his eyes to see a face of a familiar black-clad girl, Ada. She was hanging over the wooden fence, with half of her body on this side, and the other on another.

“Why does everyone in this town has to say some nonsensical phrase every time I as much as walk by them?” said Yuri with a sigh.

“You don’t know? You must really be not from around here. I thought everyone does this. It’s like a… tradition. A custom,” started explaining the girl, seemingly with no intention to change her uncomfortable position, “Every time you come face to face with someone, you need to say the first thing that comes to your mind. It’s like a trust thing. If you’re holding your thoughts to yourself, that means that you’re up to no good.”

“So that’s why everyone looked at me with those suspicious eyes,” muttered Yuri.

“Yeah! That and maybe also because the only one who doesn’t do it is [Insert Your Name Here]. And he is…”

“I’ve met him.”

“So you know! People say, that he must have been hit on the head when he was little. He’s the son of the Elder, and to be honest, he helps around a lot, so everyone kind of pays him no mind. But he’s very difficult to be around. He takes everything that’s not nailed to the ground, breaks every pot he sees and can somehow get in your home in the middle of the night to say that he finished watering your cucumber patches or something.”

“God, so he’s the main character! Why didn’t I realize this right away?” said Yuri, lightly smacking his forehead with a palm, and slowly dragging it down his face.

“Yes, he sometimes rambles about being the chosen hero, and the great destiny that awaits him.”

Yuri looked at Ada, who was slowly swinging back and forth on the fence. She looked right back at him, with her big grayish blue eyes, that seemed a little too lively for her overall grim appearance. On a closer look, a mark under the corner of her eye was surprisingly detailed. It resembled a black star, with eight points, four longer and four shorter. Like a simple image of a wind rose.

“If you don’t mind me asking, but why are you telling me all this?”

“Well, I smelled your blood, and found you here. I wanted to scare you at first, but you seemed so down, so I decided to cheer you up. I’m not from Heartwood as well, and I know that it’s the worst when you’re in a new place, and you’re among all these people, but you’re just alone.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you have cheered me up. Thank you,” said Yuri. And then, “Wait, you smelled my blood?! Oh, of course you have.”

He touched the bite on his leg. The makeshift bandage has loosened and was almost falling off. Yuri bent down to fix it. He was focused and lost in thought, and with Ada not saying anything, the conversation has subsided. The black-clad girl pulled herself to the Yuri’s side of the fence, and in some impressive acrobatic feat reoriented herself so that now she was hanging upside down from the fence only on her knees.

“How did you…? Are you sure you’re comfortable?” asked Yury.

“Of course! Don’t underestimate years of practice,” she said confidently.

“Years?”

“I’m older than I look!”

“Sure.”

It must have been those years of practice or some kind of wild magic that allowed her tunic to stay where it was supposed to be, and not fall down on her head.

Gulls cried in a distance. Some crows answered them with their irritated caws.

Yuri looked up to the sky.

“You know, there is something that my mother told me once. If you can’t understand some things, or can’t make a decision, or you’re just lost, you need to change your angle.”

“Change your angle?” muttered Yuri. He imagined how there in the sky an invisible camera looked down at the town, Ada and him. He remembered watching several tutorials on setting up the camera in the engine, and spending hours on making sure it worked just right. Then he tried to imagine, how this scene right now would look in the game. How his entire day would look, if he had to animate it.

And it clicked.

All the strange things that he encountered started to make sense, if he looked at them from an isometric perspective. Of course, every NPC would throw random lines at you, if you got too close. This is just how RPGs work! And the flying dog? That was just a bug, that he has not fixed yet. Under some conditions, dog’s running animation for got stuck on one frame, and it looked like the dog was levitating. Ranger’s face? Another bug, although he thought he had fixed it. Sometimes NPC faces would glitch out when changing their equipment.

It all seemed so silly now. He knew the explanation, he knew the cause, and all his worry just vanished.

His face brightened.

“Your mother was a very wise woman,” he said.

“Of course she was. She was the best.”