Midsummer Feast

Merie looked in disbelief at Adu, the girl she and Anlie met during a party, and wanted to ask what was wrong with her.

Anlie had apparently helped Adu out the day after their date, as Anlie wanted to express it, which wasn’t bad. But what had Anlie shown and told her friend? “I hope you remember Adu, Dear?” Didn’t Anlie think she would remember her, and even if it would’ve been that Merie had forgotten about her, so would her memory serve her when Anlie asked if the three of them could meet up. “You can’t have forgotten by the barbarian at the party, right, Merie?” Adu wasn’t wrong to call herself a barbarian, as she looked like a primitive barbarian for the moment, but it still sounded wrong in Merie’s ears. “I do remember you, Adu. But may I ask what this is all about?” Merie looked at her equipment again and couldn’t find an answer herself. A rough skin-shirt, some more skin was thrown around her upper body, and a wooden spear in hand. Without sounding like an fucking asshole, but Adu was making herself look just as primitive as some racist painted up other races. And it was something Merie didn’t even want to touch with a ten-meter pole. “I’m just playing with the fact that I’m black, and that some might have some expectations about what I’m because of that.” Adu didn’t seem the slightest bothered by the fact that someone really was thinking like that. “But I find it fun to play along with the dumb idea, and after searching for some information, so am I suspecting that I might be able to create a tribe here.” Adu was taking it too far. Not that Merie anyhow would stop her, but it was still too far for comfort.

“Do that mean you should let the devils loose when running the tribe, chef Adu?” Anlie talked as she turned the others her back and signalled them to follow her. Probably too uncomfortable to talk about letting lose in the middle of a city, which Merie couldn’t blame her for. She knew it could result in a harsh headache if someone would overhear them. “It’s not sure that I’ll let the devils loose if I get the chance to create a tribe…” “But there might be a risk for some headhunting if someone would trespassing our territory.” Adu’s idea didn’t sound too bad, especially considering that there were quite some other players going with the very same style, killing everyone entering their territory. “It sounds kinda good. But you might need to create a guild, somehow, to make that idea come true.” Anlie was also positive about Adu’s idea, but she did also point out the problem Adu had to solve before it went through. And it was probably the most significant problem, which could be slightly easier to solve if Adu was willing to pay for it.

Their conversation slowly turned into small shit chatting, mostly about how Adu should try to get a guild, and what she would do to turn it into a tribe. “May I ask what will set your guild apart from others?” Merie didn’t mind Adu casting around the world tribe, but she didn’t know how Adu would turn a guild into a tribe. “I think the greatest difference will be the simple fact that I’m considering not allowing any other equipment than we can create ourselves. And the standard equipment will be the same as what I’ve now.” Was that what Adu considered to do to differ her idea from others? “I see.” Merie was sure there were quite some other guilds going with the self-sufficient idea, and she couldn’t say that it didn’t sound uninteresting. Not that she would consider joining a guild like that.

The area Anlie led them to had stronger low-levelled monsters, mostly lesser forest-wolves. Which Merie had quite some knowledge about, as she had killed hoards of them during some of her dodging training. “Do you’ve any advice for Adu while she trains, Dear?” Anlie seemed to think the two others had the same kind of fighting style, which Merie wasn’t sure about. Not that she’d seen how Adu was fighting, but their styles had to be different, considering the simple fact they were using different kinds of weapons. “If you just want to train at dodging, so would I suggest you keep your ears and eyes open. It’s possible to see indications on the ones in front of you that there’ll be an attack on your back. “Merie was sure Adu would fail tons of times before she succeeded, just as Merie had failed more times than she could count before being able to see it. “You express it as if it should be easy, Merie. But I must say that it sounds horribly difficult.” Adu wasn’t wrong, but she would learn, and if she was lucky so would she also gain the ability Senses. “Don’t sweat it, Adu. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.” “And just think of how well it can fit a headhunter if you learn how to read people like that.” Merie rapidly followed herself up, sure it could be a fun idea. Not to mention that she got a feeling it would be fitting for the situation. “I think you can trust her words, Adu. My dear have got far by learning how to do things like that.” Anlie wasn’t quite right that Merie had got far in the game. If anything, so had Merie only got slightly good at dodging, but it was about that. “Do you happen to be willing to teach me how to ambush others, Merie?” Adu’s eyes were curious and filled with hope as she looked at her. “I maybe can teach you a thing or two if you stay in the party for a while.” Merie wasn’t thinking about straight of teaching Adu, but if she was joining them for a hunt, so wasn’t there any hesitation she would share her tips with Adu.

“BUT ENOUGH OF THAT! I CAN SEE A FLOCK OF DOGS COMING THIS WAY!” Anlie shattered their conversation with a declaration. Merie rapidly equipped her claws and looked toward the area Anlie pointed out. She could see the wolves and took a deep breath, waiting for Adu to take the first step. Ready to watch her and see if she possibly could give her any advice. Adu wasn’t slow to react and held her spear high as she sprinted off toward the monsters, poking the first one she reached before sidestepping to avoid an assault by the next one.

Merie could say for sure that their fighting styles were different, but she could give Adu that she was fast on her feet, but seemed to be aiming at doing far more damage than herself. Not that she could say it was anything wrong about it, and she could honestly maybe a good fit for the party as long as Adu decided to stay. But Merie had seen enough for the moment and leapt into action, joining Adu before she got overwhelmed by the arriving monsters. Noticing that Anlie also was joining at the same time, “MAKE SURE TO SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH HER AS WE FIGHT, DEAR!” “I ALREADY THOUGHT ABOUT DOING THAT, ANLIE!” Had Anlie honestly thought that Merie wouldn’t try to do anything to help a fellow player? Sure, she honestly didn’t care much about most players, but it wasn’t as if she would reject the idea of helping them in her own party.

Merie’s claws slashed (straight blades) through the wolves’ bodies without much resistance. If they looked at it level-wise , so was both she and Anlie far too high level to be training there. “YOU’LL BE ABLE TO SEE THE WOLVES COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER, SO WHEN THEY START WITH THAT SO DO YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL!” They hadn’t even been fighting for long, but she’d already seen Adu getting hurt a bunch of times. Maybe even more than Merie when she first started to train there. “I’LL TRY, BUT IT’S HARD TO NOTICE IT!” At the very least, so did Adu seem to try doing it, so it wasn’t much to do about it. “DEAR! SWEEP IN AND HEAL HER!” Did Anlie already think it was time? Merie didn’t think so, but she would still do it as she was sure Anlie had better knowledge of how strong Adu was.

Merie had lost her sense of time while they were training, but thanks to the timer so was she still able to log out in good time. Meaning that she’d been back well on time to avoid any problems with her parents. Who she’d joined for dinner and small-talked with until there was an unpleasant surprise interrupting. The TV was turned on when the newsreader declared a majority of the schools were considering forcing, through new rules, to forbid the students from playing Rocking World. In an attempt to decrease the risk they would be targeted by the Rocking World Slayer. “I understand how they’re thinking, but I’m not sure it’s the best way.” Not even the mother was along with the idea. “They should know that we’ll find a way to hide it and continue playing, no matter what they say.” Merie wouldn’t even try to hide the fact from her parents. She enjoyed playing the game. “So, you’re more or less saying that you’ll force us to lie if the school asked us if you play that game, Marie?” Her father wasn’t impressed by her declaration. “I won’t force you to lie about it, but I still want to play Rocking World. And I agree with Mom that the idea isn’t a good solution.” Merie was sure there were better ways to solve the problem. Like making it clear that it could be an idiotic idea to meet strangers from the internet, if there happened to be some idiots missing it. “But in case you would risk getting expelled by playing that game, so will you instead force us to choose between two evils?” Wasn’t he pushing it a little too far? Sure, Merie got what he meant, but was he really thinking it would go that far? “Father, I think you’re making it a little too hard on Marie. She likes the game, just like you’d your interests back when we were young. And I’m sure you did have some confrontations with your parents about some of them, like the psychedelics.” Merie’s mother did pull up some information she never could’ve guessed. And it wasn’t in any good way.

“Dad, you aren’t doing that anymore? Right?” She’d always heard how drugs ruined families, and even if there wasn’t anything wrong with this family yet, so didn’t she want to risk it was happening in the future. “I don’t-” “He still use it with some friends, once or twice in four months. But you don’t have to sound so sceptic, Dear. I’m keeping an eye and iron grip around his throat to make sure nothing goes wrong.” The father was rapidly cut off by the mother, trying to make it sound as if there wasn’t anything wrong with what was going on. Still, Merie couldn’t do anything other than trust her mom, as she was the highest standing authority in the household. “So, Marie. Now as you’ve heard that, I would like you to not tell anyone about it, as I can risk my work if the bosses happen to find out about it.” He was probably right, and Merie could understand it. Her father was a group-leader and worked with developing new programs. And even though none in the group would get injured by the drug use, so would it still reflect the whole group badly.