Knock knock [closed]

Wolfgang's smile seemed to be contagious to the blonde, as her own grew larger. Mackenzie had allowed Wolfgang to lead the way for the most part. She matched her pace to his with great ease, walking just about a quarter of a step behind him. Her arms hung as her sides, swinging gently in sync with her walking pace.

The ranger raised an eyebrow as he started his comment about his instrument practice. It lowered once he spoke once more, and a soft chuckle emitted when he mentioned her teaching him. "I'm by no means a teacher, but if you really want me to I don't mind." She hadn't really taught anyone anything. Sure, she had taught her brother plenty of things, but that was her brother. They communicated and understood each other like almost no one else could.

If she was seriously going to teach him, a question popped into her mind that she was ashamed of herself for not thinking of before. "Before you wound up here... Did you play any instruments?" Kenzie couldn't believe she didn't think of that. Her mind was oblivious and secluded to any passerbys, or anyone who may be around her. They didn't matter. Not right now, at least. Of course, they kind of did... She didn't want to accidentally bump into someone.

Wolfgang nodded at her question. "Yeah, guitar. I had a little band going--" He rubbed his nose. "--before I moved from Boston, that is." His accent seemed to accentuate when he said his hometown's name. Bahstan. The player weaved through the crowd of people too, ducking around a young couple, also seeming to talk amongst themselves. It was like the metro on a Friday afternoon there.

"Come on, let's get off this street," the boy said, taking hold of the girl's hand and ducking into a sidestreet, an alley of sorts cutting to the next road over. Wolfgang realized they were getting close to the market. NPCs swarmed there, not to mention players.

Mackenzie had never really cared to notice how much of an accent Wolfgang had until he said that one word, Boston. Playing video games over the years, she was accustomed to the various accents of the VAs, and so she never truly noticed them until something ringed in her head to pay attention to it. But he played guitar, eh? Her mind went to thinking on how to relate the guitar to the lyre. She gave him a nod to ensure the fact that she had indeed heard him.

At his proposal of leaving the area, she had only somewhat heard it. Kind of a one ear, out the other type of thing, until he grabbed her hand. Part of this was because she was thinking, part of it because of the growing noise and number of people in the area. However, her attention was centered on him as he led her away from the mass of NPCs and players.

"It sucks there are so many people over there... It's such a pretty area." Mackenzie was completely fine with not having to deal with people. The less, the better. In that moment, something clicked in her mind, and she realized she was still holding his hand. Ah well, he wouldn't mind... right?

He didn't mind. In fact, the thought floated through his head as well, her hand in his hand, the warmth the two shared. He smiled to himself, into the dark corners of the sidestreet. It was only fueled by his run-in with her brother. Though he would never admit it to her, there was all the more adrenaline in their meeting, in every graze of skin or flirty comment, knowing he was forbidden. A forbidden fruit. He almost felt guilty in the excitement that brought him.

"There are prettier areas in the city." Wolfgang's voice slackened, and again his accent seemed to shimmer, the 'are' becoming an 'ah.' Perhaps he was too focused on his own words, swallowing once he said it. Shit, maybe her brother was right. Maybe he did seem to spend too much time in the city.

But why should anyone blame him? He was a 40s kid, long-removed from any time period where hand-to-hand combat was necessary. Why was he expected to be okay with all of that? The blonde boy ran a hand through his hair, his bangs fluffed up long before he touched them.

Wolfgang was definitely a city boy. She nodded in agreement. "Like the castle~" She hummed cheerfully. That was probably one of her most cherished memories of coming to Aubade so far, getting to just be a kid again and exploring unknown territory.

Keeping her pace matched in-time with Wolfgangs, Mackenzie looked out of the corner of her eye as he ran a hand through his hair. "Something on your mind?" Her question had a note of genuine curiosity. Her mind was usually racing with thoughts, half of them stopped short by another topic change. She was more or less scatter-brained, and yet, still had managed to survive so far, both in Aubade and the real world.

The slightly-more-shadowed appearance of the street triggered a yawn from the blonde ranger. The sun had began to set, and while it made for quite a beautiful sky, habits took hold. Blinking out the weariness from her eyes, Kenzie shook her head to finally get rid of any small scrap of sleep her body longed for. She had gotten a good nights rest, there was no reason to be tired. Well, except for the fact that she felt rather relaxed.

"Nope." He mentally shook out his head, clearing his thoughts. He swung her hand back and forth with his, and stepped out onto the next street over, a quieter one. The lamps attracted betaflies, a swirl of yellow and blue lights, and they seemed to swarm overhead, fluttering silently with the occasional buzz.

"Those things are weird," he acknowledged, flicking his nose to the sky. They were everywhere, buzzing around aimlessly. He wondered if they ever left the city. Would he ever be able to figure that out?

Damn, her brother really got to him there.

Mackenzie gave a solid nod. She followed his swinging, adding momentum to the swing until it was like a half-hemispherical pendulum. She let her fingers interlock with his as their hands swung, a small smile staying on her face. As they got onto an even quieter street, her shoulders relaxed. Too many people were programmed into Aubade, too many players were in this place.

She'd be happy once she reached the higher levels and could separate herself from people.

The ranger followed Wolfgang's glance as he motioned the 'weird' bugs. She offered a shrug. "They're literally everywhere, and shockingly hard to kill. It's like the damn things are invincible." Curious cerulean eyes watched them momentarily, before misplacing her foot and nearly tumbling. She caught herself quickly, though.

"When we finally get out of Aubade... Would you kill me if I came to visit? I like walking with you, and exploring castles." She offered a wink at her mention of exploring castles. She chose the word when and not if because she had to have some sliver of hope... didn't she? Her reasoning for pressing the question was he was the first guy not to be immediately chased off by her brother... and he had a sword here.

Wolfgang couldn't help but laugh at the windmill they were starting to create. At her question, he bit his lip. She was rather optimistic. Well, then again, she was already charging the gatekeeper. "Sure, I don't get many visitors in Manchester," he said. He wasn't sure how exciting he would be without colossal structures to pick through. New Hampshire didn't have many castles.

Though there weren't many people on the adjacent street they'd begun to walk down, a group of NPCs were walking down the road, men with pickaxes over their shoulders, long beards hanging off their chins. They walked side-to-side, taking up the entire road, talking loudly about getting drunk and Roslarian politics. Wolfgang pressed his body against Mackenzie's as they walked past, putting the hand he held her hand with around her shoulder. When the group were behind them, he didn't let her go.

Kenzie didn't notice Wolfgang biting his lip in reaction too her question. But his response, she definitely noticed. A spark of excitement danced behind her eyes, which she kept glancing downwards. "Well, I plan on seeing you there, then." They would make it out of Aubade. They had to. She knew Wolfgang had yet to really advance beyond the city, but maybe there was still hope to get him out there...

Storing that thought away for later, her head snapped upwards at the sudden gaggle of NPCs coming right for them. There were so many of them... Were they the guard? Mackenzie took a step to the side away from the group, somewhat at the lead and slight surprise to Wolfgang suddenly pressing against her. With his arm now around her shoulder, the hand that had been free now rested on top of his.

Man, they really looked like a young couple now.

Her mind flitted back to her brother, who would surely have Wolfgang's head if he saw how they were walking. She knew her brother was overprotective and thought it was for her own good sometimes. She could avoid the drama that came with relationships. But this was an entirely separate universe... Could she be allowed to live a bit? By technicality too, she was just an avatar in a game. Sure, her cognitive processes were controlling the avatar, but otherwise... Wasn't she just a bit of coding currently?

Once again shaking the thoughts from her head, this time about the existence of life, she looked at the path ahead of them. It came to an end, with a split decision on which way to go. "Which way should we go? You most likely know the city better than I do."

With his arm around her shoulder, he had to keep a special eye to properly walk straight. They were, in a way, one organism there, and while he wasn't going to remove it for the world, he kept his eyes focused on his legs. He almost missed the question, and his answer came a bit late. "Oh, um--" he looked down the street. Was he really supposed to know the city that much? He took a lot of walks...

"There's a pub down the street we could dip into." Wolfgang had never drank at a bar before. The majority of his alcohol was smuggled from his friend's dad, who left the liquor cupboard open and never seemed to notice it was gone. Or, perhaps, he bought extra specifically for them and left the whole thing alone...

"If you wanna. If you want to head back to your brother, we can do that."

His late response perked her curiosity, but she brushed it off when he finally gave her a suggestion. A pub, eh? Her father would have her whiskers if she even mentioned alcohol in the house. Something about her mother being a formal alcoholic and her and Shep being a product of it..? She couldn't recall properly. But for now, it seemed like a good idea. They had to sell non alcoholic things there too, right?

The next suggestion made Mackenzie's head think. "We could head down to the pub... I can shoot him a message to meet us there." Letting go of Wolfgang's hand that settled on her shoulder, she swiped open her UI and opened the message tab. This was probably the equivalent to texting and walking, which she had basically mastered. Phones were definitely cheaper these days, according to her mother.

Mackenzie tried her best to deal in compromises. Quickly creating a message, and adding the coordinates for her brother, Kenzie sent the message off. As soon as she was done, she closed down the UI, the soft glow no longer lighting their path. Her hand went right back to resting on Wolfgang's. "I've never really been to a pub before... I hope they let us in." She chuckled.

"We should be fine," stated the boy as they continued up the street. His eyes were glued to signs, to logos plastered on buildings. His voice seemed a mile away. "It's just a video game, I don't think they ask for IDs." He finally had an aha moment as the little bar came into view. He knew a lot of quests where posted there, but they had to sell some kind of drinks there.

Wolfgang ducked into the door, and the place seemed to open up before him. What seemed to be a tiny hole-in-the-wall was a large cavern, a basement whose ceilings were high and vaulted on the backs of wooden beams. Stairs led down to the ground level, an assortment of seats where people of different garbs rolled dice and held cards up to their noses, everyone shouting something or other. A pretty waitress caught their eye, and though the boy couldn't hear her over the noise, her gesture into the atmosphere welcomed them. Wolfgang cracked his neck and smiled. Well, that answered her previous worry.

The lancer walked up to the bar and sat. It was rather short, but that was because the man who served them was little more than four-feet tall, a dwarf with a long beard. He grimaced, but his brow seemed to be glued that way.

"What can I get ya?"

Wolfgang looked at Kenzie with an open mouth, stuttering over a few syllables, until the bartender stopped him.


"Arachabula Potion, comin' up."

Wolfgang swallowed. Gee, that sounded kind of scary. The dwarf looked at the girl, raising his plastered brow, his mien crackling with impatience, like popcorn ready to explode in a kettle.

Shepard had seen them pass by the alleyway he sat in, blue eyes pressing a heated glare into the back of the boy's head. Yet, he didn't move from his spot. If Kenzie wanted to be alone with him that badly, then it was--whatever. Shepard crossed his legs and began absently scrolling though the map in his UI, wondering if he should make another stop at the forest. He really enjoyed it there...

A ping and an alert flashed on the side of his UI. Eyebrows knitting together, he wiped the message open, leaving the map of the UI open. The message made him wrinkle his nose, and a scowl set on his face. What the actual hell? Furiously, he wrote back with anger coming off of him in waves.

I've been there before. I've gotten a few quests from there. But here is the thing.

What the fuck?

You kick me out saying you want alone time then all of a sudden you invite me along? Why?
What was the purpose of that?

Shepard pressed the send button with emphasis. The messaging vanished, leaving his map hovering in front of him. He didn't move, seething in frustration.

Kenz walked into the pub, trailing directly behind Wolfgang. The atmosphere was quick to overwhelm and excite her all at the same time. All the shouting people seemed to suck away her mood, but the inviting look made her feel a little... giddy. She hadn't gone on many quests and so hadn't been down here.

Taking her seat at the bar next to Wolfgang, she watched him stutter with a small chuckle. When the bartender gave her a glance, her eyes swept over the menu and shrugged. "Give me the lightest thing you've got." She could tell from the scoff the dwarf gave that he knew she hadn't really ever drank before, but tried to keep his cool as he slid her her drink, and slid Wolfgang his. Tossing the bits to the bartender before taking a sip of her drink, Kenzie nearly jumped out of her seat at the Ping! of the notification.

Cerulean eyes swept over the words in a fury, an eyebrow raised in puzzling confusion before a pang of pain hit them. Swiftly, her fingers worked back a reply.

"Hold up.

I wanted to hang out with you and Wolfgang, but it was obvious you two weren't going to exactly get along. I just wanted to try and prevent someone losing a life by flipping a coin. I didn't have the choice what side it landed on.

Markie, I'm sorry.

I'll take it as a decline, I'll talk to you later. You're still welcome to join.
-M

The nickname of Markie was one she only used when she truly meant an apology. Swiping her UI down, she took another sip of her drink, glancing at it as it gave a light sting down her throat. Nothing terrible, but noticeable. Glancing back at Wolfgang and his drink, she looked almost baffled at the neon liquid. "Are you sure that's safe?"

Wolfgang didn't notice her messaging back-and-forth with her brother. He was too busy looking into his drink. The orange liquid had a white membrane floating around in the midst of it, like a cloud of mucus; Wolfgang's nose twitched, but he looked up to see the watchful squint of the bartender, peering over the wobbly counter. The boy gulped. He would have to drink it; he didn't want to look like a wuss and deny the thing he just bought.

The boy closed his eyes, and downed the whole shot. It concocted in his mouth, a mix of waxy cream that went down like a symptom from a head cold. It was bitter and sharp, and going down it seemed to immediately want to crawl back up, but the watery liquid, the potion, was sweet. It pushed it back down, and the whole drink landed in the depths of the player's stomach. He looked pale. A shockwave of white resonated over his skin in a white, followed by a bright-red. He couldn't feel his jaw for a moment, but when the numbness tingled away, he felt normal once more. The boy blinked, and panted for a moment.

The moment seemed to pass soundlessly, with only his heartbeat passing the time, and it was weird being able to focus on everything else. The sounds of the pub flooded back. His gasps of air popped into his consciousness.

The dwarf chuckled. At that moment, his face seemed to relax, but it was for less than a second. His wrinkled glare straightened again.

"Would ya like anotha?"

"No, thank you..."