Post by Shouichi Kanoe™ on Jun 13, 2023 13:02:33 GMT -5
My name is Shouichi Kanoe. For five years, I toiled endlessly as a sell sword with one goal: survive. Well two if you count making enough money to keep my old man afloat. Now I will fulfill my father's living wish, to find my brother and clear his name. To do this I must become someone else, I must become something else.
But jesus christ before we do anything about that, did anyone catch the license plate of the train that just hit me? Last thing I remembered, I was butting heads with a rude asteroid. I pushed it away and then… and then… I sat up immediately looking around, but grew a little disappointed right away. I was just in the doc’s lab. Apparently I had been asleep on the bench.
“Was it all just a dream..?” I must have sounded disappointed. But that was wrong of me right? If it was all a dream, that meant that no one had ever been in danger. It would be selfish of me to wish everyone was in danger so I could play hero.
“So you’re finally awake.” The doc approached me, patting a hand on my shoulder, “You did a number on the suit, how do you feel?”
“The suit was heated to almost 3000 Kelvin! You realize that’s half as hot as the Sun?!” His assistant chimed in from his side. It may have been the drowsiness, or just that I wasn’t sure who Kelvin was, but everything she said confused me so I just smiled and nodded.
“I’m feeling good, but it sounds like the asteroid did a number on the suit huh.” I scratched the back of my head, laughing a little bit. The doc and his assistant blinked before looking at each other in unison. I might not be a brain guy, but even I knew what I said must have been exceptionally dumb to get them to look at each other like that.
“Shouichi…” The doc scratched the back of his head like he was trying to find an explanation in his balding roots. Don’t tell him I said that.
“The asteroid capped out around 2000 Kelvin. The suit reached 3000 from the inside.”
I still wasn’t quite sure what they were getting at, but I was starting to think that Kelvin was pretty important. I think my face gave away my confusion because they both just kind of sighed and pointed at the suit. It looked like it was partially melted, from the inside.
“Wooah who did that? Was it the asteroid?! Did he come back after I threw him away?! Also, that was kind of small for an asteroid. It was really anti-climactic.”
I’m not sure what it was I said that triggered them, but the doc and his assistant kicked me out of the lab. They said they needed some peace and quiet while putting the suit and the launcher tube back together. Apparently the launcher tube broke after a single use. I was going to tell them that was a pretty poor design flaw, but they seemed upset enough.
Instead, I found myself with an ice cream cone, sitting on a park bench. I thought it was kind of ironic that even now I was experiencing such rough temperature shifts, although I’d say the ice cream is worth it. Although, I guess even in my time in the wilds I wasn’t exposed to that extreme of a shift. My mind continued to wander to my time in the free territories.
It had been almost 2 years since I had flunked out of magic school, almost 6 months since my family had lost everything, and I had lost my brother. It was hard trying to find work as a mercenary when you couldn’t differentiate yourself with magic. It was even harder to join a party as someone who could only swing his fists and swords. So instead, I had been kind of a guidesman through the free territories for those pilgrims and other wanderers that made their way through.
Although that particular night, I was not a guide. I was just cold, and hungry. As you imagine, not many people trekked through the wilds without purpose. And those with purpose usually knew exactly where they were going. Unfortunately for myself, my woes had compounded when I had reached the last of my rations earlier that day. I figured I’d just power through, sleep the night, and hunt in the morning, but I heard some startling sounds that had woken me up. A cry for help, and the howl of a wolf… immediately followed by nearly half a dozen more.
At the time, I hadn’t even hesitated to rush in. My breath was haggard as my feet landed between a hunter and her child, a pack of wolves in front of me. It seemed the hunter had a pretty good day, and that was what drew the wolves to them. I guess the kid had been helping out or something? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, I just knew I had to do something.
“Alright poochies, I know your mother taught you better than to steal from others.”
The largest wolf snarled at my quip as if to rebuke it.
“Okay fine they have an excuse, but I know grandma taught you better.”
The wolves seemed to be done snarling as one of them lunged at the human group. I don’t really remember exactly what happened, I just know the next thing my arm was in intense pain, and felt really heavy. Apparently the wolf had lunged at the kid, instead I had put myself in the way. This resulted in the wolf’s body quickly forcing my 5’4” body to topple over from it’s weight. This had to be the most painful thing I’d ever endured. Still at least the people behind me were safe, that thought put a smile on my face.
“Come on you overgrown fuzzballs, is that all you got? We gonna do this one at a time like we’re getting paid hourly or do you want to get this over with?!”
I shouted at the other wolves, slowly rising back up to my feet. I supported my bitten arm with my other to alleviate some of the pressure from the clinging wolf. My baiting seemed to work as the others lunged at me as well. I grunted only to keep myself from screaming. I grinned to remind myself that the plan was still working. I spoke low to the mother and child behind me.
“Quick, while I have their attention, run!”
The red haired woman, trembled and shook her head, “We’ll never be able to make it back to our tribe with the meat while the big one watches.”
She was right. I grit my teeth as the wolves began gnawing against my limbs. It was now or never, I had to do something. If I didn’t act this woman and her kid were going to die, but everything hurt so much. I just… I just wanted to…
“Haaaaa!” I shouted to keep myself from crying. I mustered all of my strength to take heavy steps forward, toward the large wolf. It seemed surprised for a moment, but quickly followed suit, charging back at me. I jumped up, narrowly avoiding it’s jaws grabbing my throat. Instead I slammed my forehead against the large wolf’s head, forcing my body against it. I reached up my arms, despite the wolves gnawing at them and weighing them down, grabbing a hold of the large one by it’s mane.
“GO! NOW!”
The red headed lady and her equally red headed kid ran without hesitation, seeing now that I had all of the wolves handled. I hope they got that food back to their tribe. The painful gnawing against my limbs brought me back to reality for a moment. I couldn’t tear them off of me right away, otherwise they’d just go right after that lady and their kid. Sure they might be able to get away, but they’d have to leave their tribes food behind to do it. So instead, I just bared it a little while longer. The plus side was, no one was around, I didn’t have to put on a strong face or anything.
So I cried. I thought my limbs were going to get torn off, as I screamed at the top of my lungs. The tears streaming down my face at least served to cool me down a little. I was just lucky the large wolf didn’t join in. I had just wished I could wipe some of the snot away from my nose. After a while, I don’t know if my screams scared them off or if they just realized there wasn’t enough meat on my bones.
Either way, the wolves seemed to give up eventually, releasing me as they slinked off into the night. In hindsight, that was probably the only reason I survived. At that point, I doubt I had the strength to pull them off anymore. Finally, I laid there. Alone.
Ahh… I dropped my ice cream! A big old scoop landed right on my lap. I guess I had been so caught up in my memories I forgot about it. Well that’s alright, it wasn’t a particularly fond memory anyways. I got up to go home and change before hitting the hay, but I couldn’t help but rub my forearms a little.
But jesus christ before we do anything about that, did anyone catch the license plate of the train that just hit me? Last thing I remembered, I was butting heads with a rude asteroid. I pushed it away and then… and then… I sat up immediately looking around, but grew a little disappointed right away. I was just in the doc’s lab. Apparently I had been asleep on the bench.
“Was it all just a dream..?” I must have sounded disappointed. But that was wrong of me right? If it was all a dream, that meant that no one had ever been in danger. It would be selfish of me to wish everyone was in danger so I could play hero.
“So you’re finally awake.” The doc approached me, patting a hand on my shoulder, “You did a number on the suit, how do you feel?”
“The suit was heated to almost 3000 Kelvin! You realize that’s half as hot as the Sun?!” His assistant chimed in from his side. It may have been the drowsiness, or just that I wasn’t sure who Kelvin was, but everything she said confused me so I just smiled and nodded.
“I’m feeling good, but it sounds like the asteroid did a number on the suit huh.” I scratched the back of my head, laughing a little bit. The doc and his assistant blinked before looking at each other in unison. I might not be a brain guy, but even I knew what I said must have been exceptionally dumb to get them to look at each other like that.
“Shouichi…” The doc scratched the back of his head like he was trying to find an explanation in his balding roots. Don’t tell him I said that.
“The asteroid capped out around 2000 Kelvin. The suit reached 3000 from the inside.”
I still wasn’t quite sure what they were getting at, but I was starting to think that Kelvin was pretty important. I think my face gave away my confusion because they both just kind of sighed and pointed at the suit. It looked like it was partially melted, from the inside.
“Wooah who did that? Was it the asteroid?! Did he come back after I threw him away?! Also, that was kind of small for an asteroid. It was really anti-climactic.”
I’m not sure what it was I said that triggered them, but the doc and his assistant kicked me out of the lab. They said they needed some peace and quiet while putting the suit and the launcher tube back together. Apparently the launcher tube broke after a single use. I was going to tell them that was a pretty poor design flaw, but they seemed upset enough.
Instead, I found myself with an ice cream cone, sitting on a park bench. I thought it was kind of ironic that even now I was experiencing such rough temperature shifts, although I’d say the ice cream is worth it. Although, I guess even in my time in the wilds I wasn’t exposed to that extreme of a shift. My mind continued to wander to my time in the free territories.
It had been almost 2 years since I had flunked out of magic school, almost 6 months since my family had lost everything, and I had lost my brother. It was hard trying to find work as a mercenary when you couldn’t differentiate yourself with magic. It was even harder to join a party as someone who could only swing his fists and swords. So instead, I had been kind of a guidesman through the free territories for those pilgrims and other wanderers that made their way through.
Although that particular night, I was not a guide. I was just cold, and hungry. As you imagine, not many people trekked through the wilds without purpose. And those with purpose usually knew exactly where they were going. Unfortunately for myself, my woes had compounded when I had reached the last of my rations earlier that day. I figured I’d just power through, sleep the night, and hunt in the morning, but I heard some startling sounds that had woken me up. A cry for help, and the howl of a wolf… immediately followed by nearly half a dozen more.
At the time, I hadn’t even hesitated to rush in. My breath was haggard as my feet landed between a hunter and her child, a pack of wolves in front of me. It seemed the hunter had a pretty good day, and that was what drew the wolves to them. I guess the kid had been helping out or something? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, I just knew I had to do something.
“Alright poochies, I know your mother taught you better than to steal from others.”
The largest wolf snarled at my quip as if to rebuke it.
“Okay fine they have an excuse, but I know grandma taught you better.”
The wolves seemed to be done snarling as one of them lunged at the human group. I don’t really remember exactly what happened, I just know the next thing my arm was in intense pain, and felt really heavy. Apparently the wolf had lunged at the kid, instead I had put myself in the way. This resulted in the wolf’s body quickly forcing my 5’4” body to topple over from it’s weight. This had to be the most painful thing I’d ever endured. Still at least the people behind me were safe, that thought put a smile on my face.
“Come on you overgrown fuzzballs, is that all you got? We gonna do this one at a time like we’re getting paid hourly or do you want to get this over with?!”
I shouted at the other wolves, slowly rising back up to my feet. I supported my bitten arm with my other to alleviate some of the pressure from the clinging wolf. My baiting seemed to work as the others lunged at me as well. I grunted only to keep myself from screaming. I grinned to remind myself that the plan was still working. I spoke low to the mother and child behind me.
“Quick, while I have their attention, run!”
The red haired woman, trembled and shook her head, “We’ll never be able to make it back to our tribe with the meat while the big one watches.”
She was right. I grit my teeth as the wolves began gnawing against my limbs. It was now or never, I had to do something. If I didn’t act this woman and her kid were going to die, but everything hurt so much. I just… I just wanted to…
“Haaaaa!” I shouted to keep myself from crying. I mustered all of my strength to take heavy steps forward, toward the large wolf. It seemed surprised for a moment, but quickly followed suit, charging back at me. I jumped up, narrowly avoiding it’s jaws grabbing my throat. Instead I slammed my forehead against the large wolf’s head, forcing my body against it. I reached up my arms, despite the wolves gnawing at them and weighing them down, grabbing a hold of the large one by it’s mane.
“GO! NOW!”
The red headed lady and her equally red headed kid ran without hesitation, seeing now that I had all of the wolves handled. I hope they got that food back to their tribe. The painful gnawing against my limbs brought me back to reality for a moment. I couldn’t tear them off of me right away, otherwise they’d just go right after that lady and their kid. Sure they might be able to get away, but they’d have to leave their tribes food behind to do it. So instead, I just bared it a little while longer. The plus side was, no one was around, I didn’t have to put on a strong face or anything.
So I cried. I thought my limbs were going to get torn off, as I screamed at the top of my lungs. The tears streaming down my face at least served to cool me down a little. I was just lucky the large wolf didn’t join in. I had just wished I could wipe some of the snot away from my nose. After a while, I don’t know if my screams scared them off or if they just realized there wasn’t enough meat on my bones.
Either way, the wolves seemed to give up eventually, releasing me as they slinked off into the night. In hindsight, that was probably the only reason I survived. At that point, I doubt I had the strength to pull them off anymore. Finally, I laid there. Alone.
Ahh… I dropped my ice cream! A big old scoop landed right on my lap. I guess I had been so caught up in my memories I forgot about it. Well that’s alright, it wasn’t a particularly fond memory anyways. I got up to go home and change before hitting the hay, but I couldn’t help but rub my forearms a little.
