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“Harry, can I... uh, have a second?”Blinking, the seventeen year old looked up from where he was sorting through the piles of parchment he had tipped out from his school bag. The summer had been sticky hot, and stressful for everyone involved, himself most of all. Hence his retreat back to his bedroom, sorting through his school supplies in order to avoid another 'discussion' come argument with his family. Hence why it was so odd that Dudley Dursley would be stood nervously at his bedroom door with a somewhat shifty facial expression. Harry tilted his head to one side straightening up from where he had been arranging parchments into neat piles, was his cousin hiding something behind his back?Even though he had been expecting his Uncle to storm into his room, changing his mind for the umpteenth time that day alone, this was the first time Dudley had approached him since the summer of his fifth year after the Dementor incident. The irregularity alone was enough for Harry to put his notes on a useful little charm down on the review pile and turn his full attention to the blond, gesturing to him to start talking.“Sure,” he agreed, mentally wondering if this was going to be an interrogation or a confession of hatred and gratitude in equal measures. Dudley had changed somewhat since the Dementor incident, but Harry hadn't had a chance to talk to him about that or even since then to see just how deeply that change went. He had been leaving cups of tea outside his room, but given the number of times Harry ended up stepping on them, he wasn't sure if it had been a prank or a genuine gesture of awkward and uncertain reconciliation. Neither of them really knew how to talk to each other, and Dudley was terrible with apologies as well. Either way, his cousin had become quieter, more thoughtful, and Harry could swear that the blond's eyes lingered on him more than once as he went about his business last summer. The curious thing was that there was no hostility at all in those looks, just contemplation, wariness, and confusion in equal measures.Dudley shuffled in, and nudged the door part-way closed. Enough that they would have privacy, but not shut so as to arouse his parents' suspicion. Ahh, he must not want Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon to know they were talking then. Interesting.Harry sat down on his bed, “What's up, Dudley?” he asked when it became apparent that the other male was too nervous, or uncertain, to start the conversation himself.For a moment, the blond visibly struggled with himself before he finally thrust a small clumsily wrapped package towards him in one meaty pink shovel sized hand. Harry blinked in utter bemusement as he stared at the red, gold and green patterned wrapping paper – left overs from Petunia's Christmas roll, he could tell because the colours matched the tinsel and baubles she'd decorated the tree with for the last twenty years.“I... never got you a Birthday present. Ever,” Dudley finally said, studiously not looking at his cousin as he wiggled the wrapped present forward, hand trembling ever so slightly. “I even... when Mrs McQuay got everyone that little notebook in Year Five, you were so happy so I... I kicked it in dog shit just so you couldn't have it. That... that was harsh and unfair and you'd never even had a proper present before so...” His voice seemed to die again as he finally seemed to realise his cousin wasn't going to be taking the package so tossed it carefully onto the bed beside him. “My user ID is 'Broken Fist', give me a PM and... we'll, I'll...” he came to a stumbling halt still wrestling with himself. “If you want, that is, I'll give you a hand. You've probably.... probably never played any games. Not the good ones like 'Second Life',” he admitted quietly, finally looking away from the lone hand knitted sock of green and gold winged balls discarded on the floor.Someone had gone to the effort of hand-knitting a pair of socks for his cousin.His cousin who had saved him without a second thought even after he'd punched him in the face, even after everything Dudley had done to him throughout their lives. His cousin, who he would have abandoned without hesitation had their roles been reversed.Dudley didn't give the Gryffindor a chance to respond before he fled the room, red faced, guilty, and yet relieved. Even pleased with himself. As soon as his cousin's door closed behind him, he couldn't stop the small smile that split his face. He hoped Harry did PM him when he finally got himself registered. It would be nice, Dudley decided, he had never been allowed to know his cousin, not properly.He looked forward to meeting Harry for the first time. The next time Harry even looked at the package was while he was rummaging in his trunk for pyjamas, still feeling devastated, raw, and jittery by the events of the last forty-eight hours.The escape from Privet Drive, from the waiting Death Eaters, Hedwig – his beloved Hedwig dying in a flash of damnable green light (was that green light going to steal the lives of everyone precious to him, he couldn't help but wonder?), Moody's disappearance, George's injury, his wand moving all by itself, finding out about Ollivander's abduction... He was still half expecting to have Moody stump his way through the door and start complaining about how everyone thought he was just going to roll over and die without putting up a fight, never! CONSTANT VIGILANCE!His lips twitched slightly as he dragged out a set of Dudley's less horrible hand-me-down shirts, plain rather washed out red with green and gold spots. This was the set that he'd had when he was eleven, they still fit, depressingly enough. Being a midget was getting old but it looked like it was going to be something Harry would have to live with. At almost seventeen, he certainly had only grown three inches in the last two years, going from a depressing 4'11” at fifteen, to an equally depressing 5'2” at seventeen.He paused, staring at the clothes in his hands as something niggled at the back of his mind. Now what was it.... he frowned, wondering just what they reminded him off. It was only when he dropped them onto the bed that the light-bulb went off at the sight of the crumpled fabric. Dudley's crumpled present.Well, there was no time like now to find out what his cousin had been talking about, and he needed something, anything, to get his mind off what had happened earlier that day.Digging out his messenger big, he flipped it open, and pulled out the clumsily wrapped present, turning it over in his hands and just wondering what on earth his cousin had gotten him. It felt moderately weighty but not quite evenly distributed, the ends of the rather long package felt heavier than the middle section, shoddy wrapping job aside. Actually curious now, Harry picked at the mangled sellotape holding the package shut before giving up and just tearing into the paper. Wrapping was evidentially not one of Dudley's few appreciable skills.A box with a large white 'Dreams Gaming Device' emblazoned on the front with what looked to be some Chinese characters, and a smaller subheading announcing that it was Version two-point-five, now featuring an inbuilt power-pack for mobile gaming. Just below the text to the right was a small section that pictured a game case of 'Second Life', proclaiming that it came free with the device. He turned the box over in his hands, reading the text written on the side curiously.“Step into a virtual world with Dreams Gaming Device. With our smart REM linking technology let your mind fly free, and adventure while your body sleeps, and rests ready for the day tomorrow! Instructions inside along with a free starter pack of 'Second Life', the most popular online virtual MMO to come out of China since 'The World' and the ever classic 'Life'.”What followed was a list of sponsors, and how to get into contact with Customer Services and Tech-Support should there be any problems. Only downside of that was there would probably be no opportunity for Harry to ever contact their Tech-Support or Customer Services.So... Dudley got him a Virtual Reality Gaming headset and game? That was actually pretty cool. And expensive if he recalled the prices of such things correctly – about half that of a good quality Cleansweep if he converted to Galleons.Opening the box, he removed the instructions and set them to one side before carefully lifting the headpiece out via the polystyrene blocks around the ear-cups. It honestly looked like something out of those old fashioned Sci Fi shows that Uncle Vernon liked to watch on the weekends. White and grey lined headphones that cupped the entirety of the ear, small ports and what looked like a blue-tooth and WiFi receiver antenna, and an eye-shield made of pale blue coloured plastic. The headphones did indeed feel rather weighty but due to the plastic and the way it was built it did feel strangely light as well, and weirdly fragile. He flicked open the instruction sheet on how to use it before exploring the ear-cups to find the slot where he had to put the game cartridges for Second Life – which could be found in a small sealed game case at the bottom of the box behind a small cardboard cut-out. Currently a blank plastic proxy was in the port, he pushed it in a little further, heard a click and then the thing shot half way out. Enough for him to pick it free. He eyed the hole but couldn't see anything circumspect so reached for the game case.Second Life was exactly what the game-box promised, a chance to live in a fantasy world of magic and monsters, to meet new people, and have fun. He glanced at Ron's bedroom clock and decided it really was time for him to go to bed, pretty soon his friend would be making his way upstairs and, right now, Harry really didn't want to talk to anyone. About anything.He changed into his pyjamas, and hid the game box under his cot, out of sight, before slotting the cartridge in and sliding it onto his face. Climbing into his bed, he curled up so he was cocooned in the blankets and the headpiece was hidden from view.He closed his eyes. And felt himself begin to fall. “|Greetings! Welcome to Second Life!|” a chirpy female voice resonated in his ears.Harry twitched a little, his eyes opening and burning at the bright white light around him. He blinked rapidly before turning around to face the young woman behind him. In an endless chequered room, she was sat in an overly large, very technological looking floating chair with a headpiece that had numerous wires and attachments running from it into the device. He eyed her, she was slim in a buxom kind of way with smooth flawless skin and long flowing violet coloured hair, wearing a tight sleeveless PVC miniskirt outfit in white and blue.Her smile was somewhat plastic, “|You are our seven million, seven hundred and seventy seventh thousand, seven hundred and seventy seventh player, please wait a moment.... Error, non-standard connection found, calibrating.... Reconnection established…. Apologies for the wait, I will commence the infrared and sound wave scan. From now on, as soon as you put on your game helmet, you can start playing Second Life!|” the girl explained with such cheerful, chirping happiness that it couldn't have sounded more forced to Harry's ears if she had choked on a Cheering Charm. He flinched as two metal orbs popped into existence and started circling him with red lasers that scanned up and down his body. It took about thirty seconds but he couldn't stop his eyes from watching them warily. “|Okay, you are now ready to create your character. Before creating the character, I must warn you, you have only one chance to design a character. Once the character creation process is complete, your race, name, and looks cannot be changed. Please start creating your character!|” the girl chirped as several lights exploded around the seventeen year old revealing several figures.“|First, choose the race you like. We have humans, elves, dark elves, celestials, dwarves, beasts – featuring Wolf, Bird, Dog, and Turtle types, and elementals – featuring Boulder, Flower, Grass, Leaf, Tree, Water, and Wind spirits.|” the girl explained, each of the mentioned species stepping forward and bowing their heads as they were mentioned. “|Commercial jobs are also a feature of our game. These are: Archer, Bard, Barrier Master, Beast Warrior, Mage, Necromancer, Ninja, Priest, Summoner, Taoist, Thief, Warrior, and Wizard. Please bear in mind that your job class can be restricted by your starting Territory, as some job classes will not be available in certain continents.|”Harry hummed, he looked at the figures floating in front of him.His eyes lingering on the Bird Beastman, on the large wings that gently stroked the air. He had always dreamed of having his own wings to be honest.“What sort of skills would a Bird Beastman possess? Advantages and disadvantages, that sort of thing,” he asked looking back at the violet haired girl who's smile became a little more natural.“|Avian Beastmen possess the unique ability of flight, and the skill advantage Keen Sight, and Hearing depending on the breed of bird you select. However, due to the nature of Avians in general, your character will possess hallow bones, and have decreased stamina, strength, and endurance, but higher agility,|” the girl explained, leaning forward slightly. He realised then that she was probably an actual person, her mannerisms were no longer so plastic or forced, so she must actually quite enjoy the game itself, but probably dislike having to go through character creation for new players.He eyed the other species. He had personally always been somewhat physically weak and easy to injure regardless of being a speedy little bugger. Dudley had proved time and again how easily he bruised, and it wasn't like the numerous broken bones and visits to the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts had done anything to disabuse him of the notion that he was squishy and fragile. Perhaps he should attempt something a little more.... durable? Robust?But still... those wings...“Is it possible for mixed species?” he questioned, glancing to the young woman. After all, Hagrid was half Giant and seemed to have obtained the best of both worlds, giant strength and endurance, human intelligence and magic, he just had to deal with the idiot human social repercussions. Fleur obtained Veela beauty, human control, and wand magic. Professor Flitwick obtained human magic and friendliness, but Goblin intelligence and battle prowess. If it was possible in real life, would it be possible within the game?The girl smiled, “|Please allow me a moment to contact my Superiors. This is an unusual request, and we have not encountered it before. Please wait,|” she chirped, eyes sliding shut.While waiting, Harry decided to question the creatures about their advantages and disadvantages, skills and other such things. Thus far, he had come to the conclusion that mixing Elf and Avian would be his best bet. Elves had an agility bonus that meant the mixing wouldn't cause it to suffer but also allow for over all more strength and durability, not to mention increased wisdom if he was understanding the game mechanics correctly (there was a high chance he wasn't, but it made sense, so surely it would?).“|My superiors have spoken,|” the girl chirped, jarring Harry out of his conversation with the Avian and Elven avatars. “|Second Life policy has never encountered this request and thus there are no rules for or against it. Your request has been approved. Also, as your circumstances are unique, and since you are our very special seven millionth, seven hundred and seventy seven thousandth, seven hundredth and seventy seventh player our superiors will be providing you with a special advanced knack here at character creation. Please finish your character creation before selecting your advanced knack,|” the girl explained happily as she waggled a finger in his direction, winking at him.Harry nodded slowly, “Alright, thank you very much miss. I would like to have Elf and Bird Beastman mix please,” he requested watching as the avatars all vanished and his new model appeared.It looked a fair bit like him, which was to be expected. Short, almost feathered black hair in a smooth attractive face, long pointed ears peeking out from the ebony strands, he was lean and almost willowy with long pure white feathered wings hanging from his back. He stared at the wings and felt a pang of regret. The avatar opened his eyes and revealed the same emerald green gaze Harry saw in the mirror every day.“Can you make the wings resemble those of a Snowy Owl, please? White with black speckles,” he requested and watched as the change occurred in front of him. He nodded, “That's fine thank you.”“|Alright, Elf-Bird Beastman, confirmed. Hair colour: Black. Eye colour: Green. Wings: Snowy Owl. Will that be all?|” she asked curiously, seemingly a little surprised, though over what he didn't know as he nodded mutely. “|What would you like your screen name to be?|” she inquired.Harry was silent for a moment, “Hedwig,” he decided.“|My apologies, Player, but that user name has already been taken. Would you like a list of untaken variations?|” the woman asked before beginning to list off a collection of five at his nod.“Confirm White Hedwig please,” Harry decided.“|Name confirmed. Where do you wish to start your adventure? Each Region has its own theme, items, advantages, and monsters.|”“Please randomly assign me,” Harry stated roughly. He had probably made a mistake in his character, and was finding it very difficult to keep his own feelings of melancholy down. Choosing to model his character after Hedwig so soon after her death wasn't particularly clever, it felt rather like picking at a still open wound. Already memories of that damn green light and her death screech were filling his ears, drowning out any explanation the chirpy woman was giving.“|Please decide on your advanced knack!|” the woman demanded loudly, snapping her fingers in front of his face, suddenly there, her floating chair in front of him making him jolt back to the land of the living. She sat back with a short huff, her pretty face twisted in annoyance for all of a heartbeat before she smiled benignly once again. “|Here is a list of advanced knacks, and what they do,|” she explained, flicking a wrist and summoning up a board of information in mid-air for him to read.Swallowing his depression, he read through them quickly.“I'll take Steel Wing please,” he said. It seemed like the most useful, he would be able to use his wings as a shield or even as a weapon if need be; pluck a feather, and use it as a sword if he lost his weapon or had a need for throwing knives.“|Advanced knack confirmed. Thank you for playing Second Life. Hopefully I'll be seeing you in the game White Hedwig, have fun and remember that if you need any help anyone in the Newbie Village will be happy to answer your questions!|” the violet haired girl chirped as light flooded the room. Harry glanced at his avatar as he felt himself move, the two of them falling back and towards each other.White and black feathers flooded his vision, brushing across his skin in a painfully familiar caress that made his chest ache, and his eyes burn as he remembered his beloved pet. Everything about her. The bubble of happiness when Hagrid presented her cage to him, and told him that she was his. Harry's very first real birthday present, and his constant dear companion. Her fiercely intelligent golden eyes, her fluffy white feet and black patterned feathers. How she would tilt her whole head when she 'rolled her eyes' at him, how she would cuff him around the head with a wing when he was being melodramatic or selfish or stupid. How she would bring her kills back to share with him, and chirp demandingly when he got quiet and withdrawn, demanding attention and affection from him. Sunlight shimmering on powerful white wings, the soft coo and squeaks and barks, the smooth soft feel of her feathers, the pinch of her talons. Her bright amber eyes and how she would blink slowly at him in regal consideration, and how she screeched and rattled her cage furiously whenever Uncle Vernon raised his voice, or spoke aggressively at him.The world rushed past him, and he squeezed his eyes shut against his tears as everything jarred to a stop, and went black.
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“Wow, he's been lying there a while.”“What about her?”“Just arrived. She'll be adjusting for a while longer. Damn, is it me or are the new players getting better looking?”“Definitely. Think she'll want to be my girlfriend?”“Haha, you're level ten, she won't have a choice!”Harry cracked his eyes open, flinching slightly from the sudden pain the sunlight brought. He hadn't thought pain could be simulated in these games but apparently, yes, yes it could. His body felt wholly strange and unusual as he heaved himself up onto his hands and knees, apparently having been laid out face down on the dirt ground.“Oh! They're waking!” a male voice exclaimed, almost immediately above him.Harry immediately launched himself to his feet in alarm, unknown people hovering above him was never a good thing. He flailed, not anticipating that his knee-jerk reaction had also extended to his new wings, the magnificent white and black fans beating the air and throwing him away from the ground a little too hard. He ended up having to do an odd twirl when his feet touched the ground so he wouldn't over balance, and fall over.“F-fast,” one of the men breathed. He looked like the average twenty-five year old, with thick black hair in dread-locks, he had handsome chiselled features, and wore an almost insect like black armour. He was staring at him in open mouthed awe. Behind him was a somewhat younger looking boy with plain but cute features with an equally astonished facial expression but very flamboyant red robes and a fancy green jewelled staff, and laid out on the floor, face down, was a long haired figure with the characteristic pointed ears and dusky skin of a Dark Elf.Harry frowned at them, replaying the conversation he remembered hearing when he was dragging himself out of unconsciousness. So... they planned on forcing that girl into being one of their's girlfriend. But which one was it?The one in armour shook himself and smiled as charmingly as he possibly could, “Is this your first time playing 'Second Life'?” he asked, both he and his friend completely ignoring the dusky skinned figure on the ground as her fingers and limbs began to twitch with signs on awakening. Harry's eyes narrowed a little at the question, he thought they were going to be bothering the girl but perhaps they now saw him as the bigger threat? Or were they making nice in the hopes that he wouldn't report them, or trying to figure out whether or not he even heard them before he woke up?“Yes,” he admitted coldly.Wait, that wasn't his voice? It was too high. No one mentioned anything about Avian Beastmen having different vocal software. Though, thinking about it, given a few of the advanced knacks he read about, it wouldn't have surprised him.“What's your name?” the robed one asked. “I'm Merriden Kettle, this is Gray Lion,” he said introducing himself and then his armoured friend who still had yet to look anywhere else. The Dark Elf struggled to their feet, dusting themselves off, revealing that they were not, in fact, female. Just long haired. And definitely pretty. But definitely not female now that his face and front half of his body was revealed.“White Hedwig,” he stated shortly.“Would you like some help, White Hedwig? We have more than enough money for your equipment and we've been around long enough to know the best training spots,” Gray Lion offered with another smile. Was he... He was. He was staring at Harry's chest. What... oh god, did this idiot think that he was a girl?!“No,” he ground out, turning around and walking away before he got violent towards those morons. He didn't know what would happen if a level one character got killed but given the fact that he was a starter, and one of those guys was level ten, he didn't fancy his chances. Levels were a foreign concept to him but he understood the main gist of it, the higher you were, the stronger you were.“What a bitch,” Merriden Kettle muttered, “C'mon Gray, let's find a better girl. She clearly doesn't know a good deal when she sees one.”Harry bristled furiously as he came to a stop and then glared at them over his shoulder, “I wonder if you're this disgusting in real life, or if you only behave like it where there are no legal consequences. 'Do you think she'll be my girlfriend? You're level ten, she won't have a choice',” he echoed brutally, scowling at the two suddenly motionless players with knife-sharp green eyes. “People like you are scum.” He didn't wait for a response before he continued on his way, as far from them as possible.The newbie village was a quaint place that reminded him a lot of Hogsmeade mixed with the medieval renaissance faire he went to once as a kid with Aunt Petunia and Dudley who had been on a big 'knight' phase and wanted to see the jousting tournaments. Only instead of tents, there were actual wood and brick houses with wattle and daub plaster, a mixture of thatch and tiled roofing, and dirt roads between the houses. It was pleasant enough, if a little uncanny valley because there were none of the scents or sensations he would have expected, no faint breeze on his skin, no smell of grass, animal dung, fresh bread, or even hot metal from the blacksmith/farriers. It was beautiful to look at, and there was a lot of the kind of noises that he would have expected. But still, he felt just a little.... uncomfortable.Plus with the situation he just walked away from, he figured he was best off making himself scarce. He left the newbie village entirely, and made his way to the Lake which, judging by the signs, was actually a good training ground for level one to ten players.He sighed as he came to the water's edge, the stretch of land looking remarkably like something from the New Forest. He looked around himself, spotting a small aqua coloured blob of shiny goo that looked as if it had gained sentience and oozed its way free of Neville's fourth year potions cauldron. Snape had been particularly virulent that year, he recalled. And the number of cauldrons Neville went through tripled, to the point where his Grandmother stopped sending replacements by February and Harry ended up having to share with him more often than not. If only so Snape could take as many points as possible from the both of them.He stared at the goo. It stared back. Beady black eyes narrowed before the monster lunged for him with comically blunted fangs. He raised an eyebrow and kicked it in the jaw as soon as it came within range.|White Hedwig's attack was successful. Flesh Eating Slime HP -10.|So that was how it worked. Huh...Harry watched as the Slime glooped to a halt before reforming; slowly, and looking a little less shiny and colourful than before. It bared its teeth at him again, and slithered forward with clear intent. These monsters must not have all that much intelligence. Then again, this was supposed to be the beginner area, it would be like one of Remus's DADA assault courses but for the first years.He kicked it again, perhaps a little too hard as it promptly exploded into a cloud of smoke, startling him into taking another one of those wing-boosted jumps backward that nearly sent him toppling into the lake behind him.|Successful attack. Flesh Eating Slime has died! Earned 25 EXP. A knife. A pouch.|Harry blinked as he stared down at the objects left within the wake of the blue ooze's explosion. A fairly standard single-edged dagger with a wooden handle wrapped in brown leather with a fairly good edge. It looked to be only six to eight inches long. And a small leather hip-pouch that Hermione would have probably used to organise her ink bottles for class. He picked them up none the less. He didn't have any weapons and having something for carrying, even if he had nothing that needed carrying just yet, was always a good idea.|Advice for newbies: To view your statistics, say the word “System”.|“Huh... System,” Harry incanted, watching as a large screen popped up in front of him.
NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female
LEVEL: 2 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: None | FAME: 0 | HEALTH: 100
STRENGTH: 5 | STAMINA: 6 | AGILITY: 15 | INTELLIGENCE: 8 | SPIRIT: 5 | WISDOM: 10 | CHARISMA: 9 | LUCK: £$%^& | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing | EXPERIENCE: 25 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 1
INTENTORY: 1. KNIFE |2. N/A |3. N/A |4. N/A |5. N/A |6. N/A |7. N/A |8. N/A |9. N/A |10. N/A |11. N/A |12. N/A |13. N/A |14. N/A |15. N/A |16. N/A |17. N/A |18. N/A
Huh, not bad in terms of stats. Strength was clearly not his strong suit, and he was rocking it up with all of the Agility points. His Wisdom was also pretty high too. Was someone having a laugh at him? He knew he had a lot of 'world experiences' but that didn't really equate to wisdom, at least, not in game terms he didn't think.“Wait...” he trailed off, blinking. “Female?” he choked, staring at his gender declaration.Turning, he checked his reflection in the lake.Somewhat short, messy feathered black hair that was in a rough angled bob cut, short at the back of his neck, and getting longer towards his jaw-line, leaving strands of hair to rest against his collar, pale skin, vivid green eyes, his ears were pointed, to be expected. His face though, he would quite easily admit that his features were too sharp to be considered cute or beautiful or even ruggedly handsome. He looked feral in real life. His avatar had followed suit. Sharp exotic features glared at him from his reflection. Narrowed eyes, a feline-like face with high cheekbones and a petite nose, a small thin mouth, and gracefully arched eyebrows. The scar was gone, thankfully. Long white and black wings arched up from his back, clad in the typical Newbie outfit for the area, it became apparent why the Players back in the village had made a mistake.“What in the...” Harry trailed off, promptly turning red as he patted his chest in distressed confusion. Breasts. Not big ones though, thankfully. But they were there, irrefutably so. He cupped them in a kind of dazed confusion. They were soft and warm under his hands, heavier than he expected, but less sensitive than he thought they would have been too.He shook his head in bewilderment as he dropped his hands, “I wonder how I complain about this?” he mumbled distantly. After all, he had no way of contacting Customer Support in real life, but there must have been somewhere he could complain about this in the Game, right?He yelped in pain as something clamped down on his ankle like Crookshanks in a mood.|Flesh Eating Slime's attack was successful. White Hedwig HP -3.| Harry turned and looked down unhappily at the blue ooze chewing his ankle, it hurt a fair bit. Guess the ninety-nine percent realism the game proclaimed it was famous for had kicked in. He crouched and smacked the Slime away from his leg using a wing, watching in mild fascination as it separated into ribbons of goo, mid-air.|White Hedwig's Steel Wing attack was successful. Flesh Eating Slime has died. Earned 25 EXP.|Harry smiled a little in excitement, despite the gender issues, this wasn't so bad.He blinked, hearing a strange sound behind him.Eight multicoloured ooze monsters were clustering on the grass behind him, staring at him with vacant eyes. He looked at the knife in his hand and decided, why not?He lunged forward, into the knot of gelatinous ooze, wings and limbs lashing out in a flurry.He'd never been a very physical fighter but the Weasley Twins had taken him aside more than once and taught him a few tricks to fisty-cuffs. 'Sometimes Magic just isn't the answer and since you've got the Trace, and the Ministry would give anything to get you under the thumb, it's a good idea to know how to handle yourself.' They taught him to hit hard and fast, get in and get out quickly before he could be struck in return. With his wings, he was able to jump over the majority of the slimes, and land on them with both punishing kicks and down thrusts of his knives – the previous kills having amassed a small selection of them.“You're strong. For a girl,” a voice spoke up as Harry killed the last in his little mob of Neville's Potion Accidents with a contemptuous flick of a wing. A little victory chime in his ears told him he'd just reached level ten as well.He glanced over his shoulder, frowning a little when he recognised the Dark Elf from the newbie village where he first woke up. The one that he had mistaken for a girl at first.Harry frowned at him, “What does being a girl have to do with being strong?” he asked contemptuously.Out of everyone he knew, not including Voldemort, the ones he'd least like to get into a fight with were the girls. Hermione could kick his ass six ways to Sunday with all the spells she knew, Ginny would just kick his ass as hard as she physically could, Molly Weasley was a force of nature and all you could do was stand back and hope it passed by with as little amount of devastation as possible, Professor McGonagall would just turn him into something unpleasant and then take points off for his lack of acceptable appearance, Fleur... she was a Champion in the Triwizard Tournament, he hadn't seen what she was capable of, but he really didn't want to know. She was part Veela so he was assuming fire had something to do with it. And then there was Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater no one wanted to get on the wrong side of the wand. Yeah, women were fucking terrifying and anyone who said otherwise was welcome to say that to their faces and see what happened – the smart ones will watch and drink tea while they finish with him.The young man didn't answer, merely strode over and began to circle him, hand on his chin, the other folded around his chest.“You're not much on top,” he decided quite out of the blue, making Harry frown in confusion, not understanding, “but you've got nice legs, and an interesting face. Plus the wings. Not many people choose Bird Beastman due to the strength and and stamina penalty but you don't seem to have a problem with it,” the boy pointed out as he actually grabbed one of Harry's wings and stretched it out fully. “Huh, owl wings. I was expecting something stupid and feminine but owls are pretty awesome,” he stated as Harry twitched, and jerked said wing out of his grasp with gritted teeth and crawling skin. “Can you fly yet?” the annoying Elf asked, practically looming over him.Harry had to remind himself that due to, whatever happened earlier, he was currently playing as a girl. As... as Hedwig. How would she react? Well, she would probably have bitten him and flown off by now but Harry had yet to level up enough to the point where he could fly. He had tried to fly earlier but gliding and hovering seemed to be the best he could do thus far.“I'm Lung Tien by the way,” the other Player finally said, having decided that the girl in front of him wasn't going to say anything just yet.He was curious. She had started the game after him and yet woken up before him. Not to mention what she'd said to those other Players, it got him thinking, then he'd stumbled across her while she was level grinding. It was quite amazing to watch as she killed the Slimes using punches, kicks, knife stabs and even her wings. He wasn't aware that Bird Beastmen could use their wings as weapons – they just seemed like huge targets to him. “Tell me your name. I'll need to know it when we join up,” he told her bluntly. She was by far the most interesting girl he had encountered on any MMO, the majority tended to stick with support roles and leech off the other male characters for stuff they were too weak or cowardly to collect themselves. Not to mention they put so much emphasis on their bodies during character creation they usually all ended up looking alike with only a slight individual flair. This girl... it looked as if she'd just requested her race, subspecies, and got started. After all, it was almost unheard of for a girl to start any customisable online MMO with something less than a C-cup.“Not interested,” she told him flatly before turning and walking away. Lung blinked in surprise, she... that was unexpected.He followed her anyway. Those wings were kind of hard to lose.“System,” the girl called and paused as her screen popped up.
NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female
LEVEL: 10 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: None | FAME: 0 | HEALTH: 330
STRENGTH: 10 | STAMINA: 12 | AGILITY: 30 | INTELLIGENCE: 19 | SPIRIT: 23 | WISDOM: 20 | CHARISMA: 18 | LUCK: £$%^& | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Glide, Hover | EXPERIENCE: 3100 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 3
INTENTORY: 1. KNIFE |2. POTION |3. POTION |4. BLUE GOO |5. ORANGE GOO |6. ORANGE GOO |7. KNIFE |8. N/A |9. N/A |10. N/A |11. N/A |12. N/A |13. N/A |14. N/A |15. N/A |16. N/A |17. N/A |18. N/A
Lung blinked as he saw her stats, level ten already? He was still only level six. But still, this was good, he knew her name now at least, White Hedwig. She was a fair bit faster than he had anticipated but physically a lot weaker as well, only strength ten while he was already on strength twenty. She was pretty damn stubborn as well judging by that Spirit stat, it looked as if she would be immune to most low-level status affect spells and ailments, not to mention her attacks would still be powerful even if her health dropped beneath critical point. She would do well as a mage with her wisdom points as well, and it was always good to have a mage on your side. Right, Lung decided, he was definitely sticking with Hedwig. She was interesting, high-level, didn't back talk, and wasn't one of those annoying bishie-hunters, not to mention he was more of an ass man than a breast man. Lung tilted his head and watched her walk with a grin. Yup, definitely sticking with Hedwig.Harry ignored his new shadow with an ease borne of familiarity, it was almost like having Colin following him again, complete with eyes on his backside. He twitched as they reentered the newbie village. Harry sighed running a hand through his hair and looking about for someone who could help, ignoring Lung Tien entirely as he asked what he was doing. Instead, Harry made his way towards a little old dear on her rocking chair sat in one of the porches of the houses.“Could you help me, please ma'am,” he requested as he approached her. The old woman smiled and rocked a little.“What would you like to know?” she asked in her wispy delicate voice. She was wrapped up in a lace shawl wearing a rather frayed dress, good honest boots caked in mud, her thin white hair was pulled back into a messy bun and she was peering up at them through her glasses. She looked a little like the classic grandmother from a fairy-tale.“Could you tell me how to become a warrior, please?” he requested, ignoring the way Lung Tien spluttered and tried to break in squawking 'you can't do that! You're clearly mage material!'.The old woman chuckled, “Collect ten wolf-fangs and inform the Mayor's son,” she explained, “Though perhaps you should listen to your young man, and look to becoming a Mage. A great deal of power sleeps within you, my girl,” she pointed out.Harry bowed his head slightly, and got to his feet, “Thank you ma'am, but I think I'll stick with my original plans.”Lung Tien scoffed unhappily, “You'd make a poor Warrior with that measly strength stat,” he pointed out. “Besides, I'm planning on being a Warrior so what use is there in your becoming one? You do realise the realism patch also causes the player pain when they're attacked, right? Girls should just stick to magic so they won't get hurt. Its not like I'll scam you by not buying you decent equipment,” he added unhappily, folding his arms in offence.Harry stopped and faced in, frowning irritably, “Leave me alone,” he commanded out before turning and continuing to walk away.God damn, Dudley complained with Piers about girl players in Life and The World, mostly about how weak they were and how they had to protect them, but on the other hand they were all cute and happy to play 'girlfriend' for good equipment and protection from monsters. He hadn't realised it was such a wide-spread phenomenon that it was actually expected by everyone, and that not doing so was considered strange and unexpected.Speaking of, how did he go about finding his cousin?Lung Tien seemed to have taken his request to heart and left, so there was no asking him, and he couldn't be particularly bothered to turn around back into the village in order to ask an NPC. He would try later, when he got back with his Wolf Fangs. Hmm, the sign post for the Plains suggested it would be his best bet to find the appropriate drops, level ten to twenty monsters. Likely as not there would be Wolves in there. There didn't seem to be anyone there, which was good. Lung Tien had been really getting on Harry's nerves trying to boss him around so much just because his character was female, he didn't know how he would have reacted to yet more people doing the same.Time to start fighting some wolves. “System!” Harry called wiping blood from his face, slumping down on the ground as his menu opened up in front of him. He'd been there for a while killing everything he'd run across, wolves and the much more rarely spawning bears. He'd collected the required ten wolf-fangs a fair while ago but hadn't wanted to leave until he'd finally hit the level twenty cap.
NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female
LEVEL: 21 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: None | FAME: 0 | HEALTH: 30/710
STRENGTH: 27 | STAMINA: 26 | AGILITY: 53 | INTELLIGENCE: 45 | SPIRIT: 55 | WISDOM: 59 | CHARISMA: 30 | LUCK: £$%^& | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Glide, Hover, Fly, Defence Cloak, Razor Wing | EXPERIENCE: 11,550 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 8
INTENTORY: 1. KNIFE |2. N/A |3. N/A |4. BLUE GOO |5. ORANGE GOO |6. ORANGE GOO |7. WOLF FANG |8. WOLF FANG |9. WOLF FANG |10. WOLF FANG |11. WOLF FANG |12. WOLF FANG |13. WOLF FANG |14. WOLF FANG |15. WOLF FANG |16. WOLF FANG |17. WOLF FANG |18. WOLF FANG
Level twenty one, he must have gotten that one in the last mob he'd slaughtered.Still, he had more than enough fangs to make a job change with a few odds and ends to sell off for more potions. He shuddered at the feeling of blood sticking to his skin, and got to his feet. He would go and change job class, sell the stuff he didn't need, buy new armour, and take a bath to clean up. The Inn should have some form of bathing facility for players to use, right? This was a 99% realism game, if they could feel pain, something like bathing would probably be needed. It wasn't like blood evaporated of its own accord.Heaving himself up and closing the menu, Harry stretched his wings out and jumped into the air. He didn't have the health points right now for another Wolf Mob, he could avoid that if he flew to back to the Newbie Village.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Harry had always been a quick study when it came to technology. No one from Little Whinging Junior School could boast any form of skill with wiring or electricals, and yet Harry was repairing Dudley’s broken toys, alarm clocks, and Petunia’s kitchen appliances with more than a small degree of skill. So it barely took him any time at all after he finished his forays into level-grinding to figure out how the ‘Second Life’ systems, preferences, and settings could be changed to suit him, along with all the little extra features that just made life so much easier. He may not have been as logical as Hermione, but he was very intuitive, and possessed a little used super power in the Wizarding World known as: common sense.Hence his setting things up like an internal alarm/pop-up that informed the Player of the time, ten minutes before they were due to awaken so they could get to a safe zone or step out of whatever fight or tournament or event they were participating in. The alarm became his life-saver. Not to mention the game itself.Harry had never seen a wedding, nor participated in one. But he had absolutely no idea how... mental it drove people, older women specifically. It was all he could do to avoid Mrs Weasley, and her mad cleaning, primping, and arranging sprees. He would have been less annoyed if she hadn’t been trying to keep him away from both Ron and Hermione at the same time, but she must have had some inkling of what they intended on doing. Some kind of sixth sense when it came to their safety, or when they intended on doing something she wouldn’t have approved of because neither Ron nor Hermione would have let any information slip regarding their intentions to drop-out of Hogwarts. Either way, ‘Second Life’ became his sanctuary away from the chaos of the Burrow in full 'wedding preparation' swing.He gained the Warrior job classification a few days ago, and pointedly ignored Lung Tien when he showed up to offer snarky and derogatory commentary that very nearly got him a knife to the throat. Why the arrogant little toe-rag was harassing him, Harry hadn't the faintest idea, but it was getting old. And fast.He now had a new appreciation and respect for Ginny, Hermione, and especially Fleur's restraint in dealing with idiot men who wouldn't take no for an answer, or get out of their space, or just accept the fact that they knew what they were talking about. Lung Tien was rapidly getting all over his last nerve, and Harry just didn't know how to deal with him without literally attempting to stab him – something that he had seen get other players into trouble. If your fame dropped to negatives, you got infamy, and a bounty put on your head in accordance with how high your infamy numbers were.“If you won't go away, make yourself useful at least!” he finally snapped after half a week, glaring at the somewhat taken aback Dark Elf. “My cousin told me to PM him, but I haven't the faintest idea how to do it. How do I contact him?” he demanded, wings bristling with agitation and annoyance.Lung Tien pressed his lips together unhappily. He didn't really want to share Hedwig with anyone. She was cute, and actually took the game seriously, or rather, her combat seriously. And while he never said as much, she... she did make for a good Warrior. She would be a phenomenal mage, but, she was a damn good warrior. He did idly wonder if she knew some form of fencing in real life but any question of her life outside the game was met with a Look that stopped him from prodding further. Clearly, an avenue of conversation she would never entertain with a strange man on the internet, which was decidedly intelligent, if insulting to his honour. He was hardly like those pig-fart examples of men she first encountered within Second Life, he would never force himself on a girl.“Basically, if you know his username, you go through System. [ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: This is a PM. /END MESSAGE. ] And that's how you do it,” he explained, adjusting his armoured gloves a tad and watching her as she turned away to send her message.Tien had never played with a girl like Hedwig. And he found himself enjoying her quiet company a lot more than those soft frivolous airheads who shrieked away from monsters and pain, and spent their time hanging on his arm in the hopes for cuter armour, and weapons as if he were little more than a walking wallet/money pouch to be used. The one time he'd gotten Hedwig a staff, a white and green one with ribbons and hearts like his last MMO-girlfriend went gaga for, she'd given him such a dirty look he legitimately thought she was about to take it off his hands and insert it somewhere uncomfortable. Instead, all she did was hit him with one of her lightning paralysis attacks, and then walk away, leaving him face down in the dirt twitching horribly.Orange Peel laughed himself sick when he stumbled on the Dark Elf, helping him up and using one of his few Healing Spells to fix up the damage and bring his health back to normal. The cheeky combat mage thought it was hilarious that he'd never encountered a 'feminazi' before, cheerfully explaining that some women just did not appreciate being treated as if they were anyone or anything less than another guy. Holding doors open, giving equipment, money and attempting to protect them were insulting. Basically, if you wouldn't do it for a guy, don't do it for one of them. Also, any fart jokes or dirty humour jokes weren't allowed. They were still ladies, and didn't like it.Hedwig didn't act like a feminazi, or at least, the kind that Orange Peel described to him. She just... didn't like being thought of as weak, as someone who couldn't protect, or provide for herself. She had a surprisingly strong moral centre as he had already seen when they first met, and several times again when she stepped between players either about to get into fights, or harassing newbies, younger players, or women.She sighed, dragging him away from his thoughts. Some of the lines of her face and back had tensed up something awful even though her face showed absolutely nothing at all. That was... he thought cousins were generally close?“He should be here soon. I told him to meet us at the Sea Turtle Restaurant,” Hedwig explained, fingers brushing the handles of her knives before checking her money pouch, item pouch, and the wrappings on her straight sword.“You are.... anxious,” Tien noted. She only ever touched her weapons like that when she was uneasy. A kind of nervous tic, always ensuring she had something to defend herself with close at hand. After following her through a few monster dens, he was more familiar with her quirks than he would have been of any other player's. She kept so quiet and rarely allowed any emotion to show that he had to watch her in an almost obsessively stalkerish way just to get her habits memorised. And right now, she was displaying almost every single one of her anxiety markers, and several more that he hadn't yet figured out. Worry began to gnaw at him.She looked at him and for a moment, Tien thought he would receive a glare. But she wavered, and he actually saw emotion cross her face as she chewed her bottom lip. “I left my Aunt and Uncle's house in... unfortunate circumstances. My cousin said something that... a few years ago would have caused considerable upset. I have been... worried.”Tien's mind was practically klaxioning as another mark tallied itself in an unwanted category. He was going to have to question Hedwig's cousin extensively when he arrived. The more Tien thought about it, the more he was beginning to worry about Hedwig's home life. At first he just thought he was being paranoid because she refused to talk about reality to him, figuring that it was just because she didn't want to give out personal information to what was essentially a stranger, but like he said, she had some anxiety markers that made him uneasy. Some of her habits and behaviours were textbook, and he tried to ignore it, but now this? He was getting more and more suspicious of his first conclusions.“Come on,” she stated, turning and making her way to the southern part of Sun City where the restaurant was. “I'd like to get something to eat before he arrives.” Mainly because Harry wasn't too certain he would be able to eat once Dudley was there; too nervous, and wary of having his food stolen, just like the old days.It was something he'd noticed. A lot of his experiences from Hogwarts, the Triwizard Tournament, they were paying off here in Second Life in surprising ways. True he couldn't use his magic here, but magical theory and all those little magical trivia tit-bits Hermione had told him over the years were greatly useful. Even what little he recalled from science classes, such as low pressure and cloud formations, not to mention other things like temperature differentials and such, came in handy. Somehow everything was calculated and the game system was entirely self-sufficient. How that even worked just boggled Harry's mind, and he gave up trying to understand it a long time ago, just accepted that it worked.Hermione could have explained it all, but... well, she wasn't one for games, and she had pretty much completely cut herself off from the muggle world. The more Harry thought about it, the stranger that seemed to him - that she was willing to accept a place as a second class citizen in a backwards society that was breeding itself into extinction rather than staying in the muggle world, and working to the point to possibly becoming the Prime Minister. She could have certainly pulled it off. Or become a high flying lawyer, scientist, doctor, the sky was the limit for someone like her. Thinking about it... he had no idea what she planned on doing with her future. He... didn't even know her favourite colour, or foods. He didn't know who her first crush was, or her mother's name, he didn't know if she had siblings, or if she had ever had any broken bones. He didn't know what she was scared of – beyond heights, and that was because he put her in that position riding Buckbeak to rescue Sirius. He... barely knew her. And yet he called her his bestfriend, his sister in all but blood. But he knew even less about her than he did about Dumbledore. Everything had always been about him. His problems. His life. His interests.Gods, he was selfish.“Hedwig.” A hand landed on his shoulder, making him tense, and automatically grasp a knife. “You almost walked past the restaurant,” Tien pointed out, outwardly ignoring the knife but internally shitting a brick. He'd seen how quickly she could make a level twenty five orc-spider into paste with that thing. He had never seen her this jumpy. Not even when they were exploring the Serpent Tunnels, and he thought that would be the most unsettled he would ever see her. Clearly he was wrong.“Ah.” She let go of the knife and rubbed her face. “I'm sorry, Tien. I... I wasn't paying attention,” she admitted softly before opening the door and heading in, holding it open for him to follow.“Clearly,” Tien muttered softly, watching her with poorly concealed concern as she made her way to one of the tables at the back in front of a bay window. The Restaurant wasn't too crowded, but the people there did turn and watch her progress. She had been establishing something of a reputation for herself as being swift, silent, and lethal when monster grinding, as well as willing to step in and defend others if she saw an injustice. Capable of taking on monsters of considerably higher level and winning, she was something of a lone wolf given how Tien was the only Player who managed to partner with her due to the simple fact he didn't leave her alone. She had drawn attention from various fighting groups, yet so far only the Saint Knights Coalition had attempted to approach her. They had, however, made the mistake of choosing one of the most misogynistic Players in Sun City to try recruiting her. Really, they should not have been surprised when she considered the 300 point drop in her Fame worth it to Corpse Camp him down five levels after some of the shit that came out of that moron's mouth. If she hadn't done it, Tien would have in her place, that was how bad it was.The Saint Knight's leader, Fan, had yet to send anyone else to contact her.Tien would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned that the womanising asshole would approach her himself. It wasn't that he thought she would be taken in by his pretty face, and as a Celestial it was a very pretty face, he was the type of guy who would Corpse Camp her down to level one, and steal all of her belongings if she said no. And he wouldn't do it alone. He would get everyone in the Coalition to help him do it, rendering her every attempt to escape moot. He treated women like clothing, and saw no issue with burning one that had no use to him, he had seen it before. And poor Ice Phoenix, she had no idea...“Tien...” Hedwig called, stood at the table waiting for him.Though, now that he thought about it, Fan would have to fight a lot of the Players in Sun City to cause the beastwoman harm. While Hedwig wasn't the most social of Players, she just had that effect on people. They flocked to her. They wanted to help her. Protect her. They just... liked her, despite her, at first, prickly attitude. It helped that she was a staunch defender of others, she was practically adored by the younger players and the women in Sun City for running off stalkers and bullies on their behalf (Tien had encountered a few underage players forming a fanclub of all things).“Can I take your order?” the perky NPC waitress chirped, leaning forward slightly and giving Tien a much appreciated eyeful down her loose top as he sat down.“Apple juice, and some cinnamon pastries,” Hedwig requested. She loved pastries and never drank anything that wasn't fruit juice or milk – she never told him why she refused anything alcoholic and actually got up, and left him to pay the bill the one time he pressed the matter, so he had long since stopped bringing it up.“I'll have some cranberry mead, and a portion of lamb stew,” Tien stated as the girl noted their orders down, and swanned off with a very appreciable swing of her hips. “When will your cousin be getting here?” he asked once the waitress had left, taking her perky derrière with her, watching as the beastwoman opened her profile and began to organise her items. Another nervous tic.“Soon. Half an hour to an hour,” she stated shortly, not even attempting to hide her menu from his eyes like most would have.
NAME: White Hedwig | GENDER: female
LEVEL: 35 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: Warrior | FAME: 800 | HEALTH: 1481 | MANA: 444 STRENGTH: 45 | STAMINA: 38 | AGILITY: 60 | INTELLIGENCE: 50 | SPIRIT: 65 | WISDOM: 73 | CHARISMA: 45 | LUCK: £$%^& | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Fly, Defence Cloak, Razor Wing, Lightning Conflagration, Static Rain, Thunder Roar, Hammer of Thor | EXPERIENCE: 32,788 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 0 INVENTORY: 1. Super Potion |2. Super Potion |3. Super Potion |4. Super Potion |5. Potion |6. Potion |7. Potion |8. Mana Seeds |9. Mana Seeds |10. Mana Seeds |11. Mana Leaf |12. YinYang Fruit |13. Soul Benediction |14. Soul Benediction |15. Soul Benediction |16. Soul Benediction |17. Tent |18. TentTien smiled slightly in fond amusement. Her Luck stat was just as messed up as always. Though he had to bite his tongue almost to the point of tasting blood when he saw her Wisdom stat. It was disgustingly high for someone only on level thirty five. Most players had less than half that Wisdom stat when lining up at the Mage's Sanctum and the Priest's Temple. It was almost painful to see her wasting that kind of potential. But she had made herself clear. She would rather stab her enemy than set them on fire.Though given the power behind her electric attacks...“Here we go, enjoy your meals!” the waitress chirped suddenly appearing with trays, before flitting away to other customers.As the two tucked into their meals, Tien sat back to do some people watching, idly wondering if he would recognise Hedwig's cousin when he walked in. Often times family looked fairly alike. He half hoped they did. That way people would most likely mistake this 'Broken Fist' as her brother, and assume he was her Husband. Though the thought of marrying Hedwig alternatively made his ears hot, and the rest of him cold. She would sooner kick his ass than marry him. She didn't even seem aware that there was a marriage system in Second Life.He nodded his head and waved a hand in greeting as he spotted Nan Gong Zui march into the restaurant with a face like thunder, undoubtedly searching for his god-sister, Ice Phoenix, and thus Fan of the Saint Knights Coalition. That could get messy. Nan Gong Zui had a hot temper where she was concerned, and Fan enjoyed pushing at all of his most painful buttons. And if things between them kicked off, then the Righteous Blades and the Saint Knights Coalition would butt heads, and Sun and Moon Cities would be in the middle of a Guild War. Not pretty. It would drive away the majority of their economy as no newbies wanted to get involved in a long standing grudge.There went Chuang Wai, and Swan Beauty, trotting after Nan Gong Zui, throwing nods in his direction in place of their leader who distractedly waved an arm in Tien's direction as he scanned through the Restaurant patrons before stalking off elsewhere when it became obvious the girl wasn't present.“Phoenix is pushing her luck,” Hedwig murmured softly, taking Tien by surprise, lifting all the hairs on his arms as he snapped his head around to stare at her. She was watching Nan Gong Zui and his team as they left, her expression hard to read. “One day, they aren't going to go chasing after her. And all she'll have left is Fan,” the winged girl commented softly. She turned back to her food, “No one waits forever.”Tien sighed as he leaned back in his seat, “You're right but... families don't give up on each other so quickly. And Nan Gong Zui is as traditional as it gets. He feels as though Ice Phoenix is his responsibility, even though he's only her god-brother.”Hedwig paused, her fork hovering over her pastry, “God-brother?” she echoed, sounding a little pained. Tien nodded and she set her fork down with a firm clack, finger lingering on the metal for a second. She took a deep breath, and kneaded at her eyes for a moment before picking up her drink, “...may have to deal with Fan sooner than anticipated,” she mumbled, just catching the edges of Tien's hearing. He blinked, startled as he leaned back in his seat. She had already anticipated antagonistic behaviour from the Saint Knights Coalition?“I wasn't... aware you knew what was going on,” he admitted hesitantly, eyebrow raised.She blinked, looking at him from over the rim of her glass and he was once again struck by the colour of her eyes, wondering if it were natural or just something she selected during character creation. She set her drink down. “I may not like talking, but listening is always worth while,” Hedwig pointed out gently, “People have a bad habit of lying, but you can usually tell if you listen. Little things give you clues.”The Dark Elf nodded thoughtfully, she had a point. He wasn't used to hearing things so insightful these days. People liked to think they were philosophical, but they often came across as self-righteous and irritating when doing so, even in Man-hwa and Japanese Manga. Especially in Western comics.Hedwig abruptly sat up, hands clenching to the point of white knuckles on her drink, “He's here,” she whispered staring at the door way.Tien twisted and stared.Her cousin was not what he expected.Tall, thickly built, and ridiculously muscled. Human and clearly a Warrior. He wore heavy set armour that was at least in the level forty equipment cap. Thick blond hair, rumpled, and messy caught the light as he looked around. He wasn't ugly, but his features were a little too thick and rounded to be classically attractive. His eyes were just that shade too small and close. A hundred tiny imperfections that, had they been on separate faces, wouldn't have been so bad. But combined all together they just...Clear sky blue eyes landed on them and for a split second, Tien could see what a girl may find attractive in the muscle-head. You didn't find many people with eyes that shade, even in the game. They were like Hedwig's stunning green orbs but... quieter.Confusion twisted his features as he hesitantly made his way over, “Is that you?” he asked, blinking at the Owl Beast-woman in confusion.Her smile was tight, and hesitant as she kicked a chair out, “Yes. My game glitched while I was in character creation and, well, I have no way of contacting the company to complain so I'm a little stuck. It's not so bad. The Players have caused me more problems than anything else,” she explained as the Warrior took a seat, and she turned back to her food. And it wasn't Tien's imagination when she leaned on her arm, as if to shield her plate surreptitiously from the blond.She never did that around him! Around anyone even!Fist nodded, “Well, you've always had that effect on technology,” he pointed out sheepishly, “When you didn't PM me, I thought you may have thrown the game away.”She shook her head still not looking up, “I will admit, I did forget about it in the... excitement, of leaving.”“How did that go?” Fist asked, leaning forward and touching her hand. Tien bristled visibly as Hedwig tensed, but her eyes weren't on Fist, they were far away.Her mouth opened but nothing came out for a few seconds before she closed it, took a breath and started again. “George lost an ear. He was one of the twins you met back when we were fourteen. Fred, his brother, was the one who dropped the prank sweet you ate.” Fist shuddered and moved his mouth strangely, as if checking his tongue was still where it should have been. “Moody...” she suddenly snapped her head up and looked at Tien before back to Broken Fist, “Here isn't the best place,” she stated flatly.He nodded and jerked his hand back as if burned, “Of course. I'm sorry,” he spluttered, leaning back in his seat.“Order food or whatever, I need to wash my face a second,” Hedwig stated, getting to her feet and stalking away. She was upset, Tien decided, she only ever did that when she needed to clear her head and think something through. She would only be a few minutes and he doubted he would get an opportunity like this again.“Her home-life was abusive, wasn't it?” he asked Broken Fist who snapped his head around so fast the Dark Elf almost saw the dip in his hit-points as his neck cracked. “She hasn't said anything, she rarely says anything to be honest, but the way she moves, speaks, and glares at people is very telling. What happened? Given the way she was curling her arm around her food when you arrived I can assume she was starved for a time, and within your presence. She was very tense, and anxious about meeting you again, I must admit, it's painting a very unfortunate picture in my mind's eye about how- ” Lung Tien could have carried on for another twenty minutes with all of his observations, and deductions regarding the younger woman. He may spend most of his time playing online games, but he was very serious about his future job. He wanted to be a Detective, or a CSI, or even a criminal profiler. Any and all, he didn't care but he was determined to catch criminals in either a small or a big way, and make the world a better place. But Broken Fist came clean without even the slightest bit of pressure.Perhaps there was more to his choice in the word 'Broken' than Tien had previously anticipated.“She was,” he admitted, eyes downcast. “We grew up together. She's only a few weeks or so younger than me, so we've been in all the same classes and schools. Her parents... Mum doesn't like talking about them, she always told us they were drunks who died in a car accident. But we found out when we were eleven that they were murdered when one of their friends tracked us down to talk to her about Private school. She was sent to live with us the next day. Mum complained about how she was taking the milk bottles out and found her on the doorstep with nothing more than a letter.“But we took her in. I still think she would have been happier in an orphanage after everything but... Mum was scared. She'd always been scared of them. Her sister married a bad sort, at least that's what she said. That's why they got killed.”Tien pursed his lips, scowling at the improbability of such a story. But Broken Fist wasn't lying. He could tell that simply by his body language and facial twitches, even the tone of his voice. This was genuinely what he had been told and understood to be true.“How was she mistreated?” he pressed, he had to know. He didn't know why, but he... had to.“She lived in the cupboard under the stairs, even though I had two bedrooms.” The Dark Elf's blood ran cold and hot with anger and horror. “Mum made her do all the chores, gardening, cooking, cleaning, the lot, and barely ever fed her. Dad just shouted and snarled. He... he hit her once or twice, never hard. I don't think he even liked the idea of touching her. He would always scrub his hands if he did. I... I was spoilt so much I'm lucky I'm not a sociopath right now. She saved my life. Back when we were fifteen. We were attacked and I panicked, I freaked out and couldn't do anything. She got rid of them and dragged my ungrateful ass back home. I blamed her and my parents tried to throw her out. It didn't happen. Mum managed to talk Dad down from it but still...”The two sat in silence, mulling over their thoughts before Tien placed a knife on the table, glaring at Broken Fist with steely grey blue eyes.“Hedwig, for reasons I cannot fathom yet, seems to want to give you a second chance. But you're only getting one. Betray her, hurt her, even look at her wrong, and I will Corpse Camp you to level one, hack your software, and melt your brain. Am I understood?” the Dark Elf hissed, standing up and leaning into Dudley Dursley's face. Much like many other players in Sun City, he had fallen into Hedwig's thrall, and would not tolerate anyone attempting to do her harm, or ill. People like her were rare and precious, and needed protecting. Especially from the things they refused to protect themselves from.The blond nodded, “Crystal.” If he was surprised by the other male's vehemence to protect his cousin, he didn't show it. And little to Tien's knowledge, Dudley had been expecting it. Harry had that effect on people.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Dudley Dursley had been on pins and needles for days, ever since he'd given his cousin a copy of 'Second Life'. Ever since he and his parents had left for an extended holiday out of the British Isles, ditching the strangely cheerful and scatty man, and strict young woman who were apparently there for their safety.He had been logging into the game almost obsessively, checking his messages, just in case. If his parents weren't used to the behaviour, they likely would have been concerned. The most he heard on the matter was an unhappy whimper from his mother when she complained of hardly ever seeing him in between his training for his boxing, and that 'horrid foreign game'. His dad told her to leave it. After all, a young man wanted to do his own thing and while he undoubtedly loved his mother, it was still considered uncool to hang out with his parents.Dudley didn't enlighten them to the small fact that now his eyes were open, his parents disgusted him.Every time he looked at them it felt like something was crushing his insides as he remembered everything they had ever told him about his place in the world, and all the things they'd said and done to a child who didn't understand why. He hated them for what they did to Harry, and by extension, what they'd done to him. The weird merlin-guy that his cousin admired was right. This parents had nearly ruined him with their coddling. Their obsessive need to deny his cousin everything and give it to him instead.So he spent all of his time in Second Life whenever he wasn't doing laps or working up a sweat in the gym.Second Life was all the things his parents hated. It was full of magic, unnatural things, foreigners, and men and women who were so much more attractive, intelligent, and well paid than they were. Mr and Mrs Dursley were very envious people, and Dudley knew that quite well. Had they seen just what kind of game their son was playing, their reaction would not have been so low-key or calm as that one complaint his mother gave.But he loved it.It truly was a second life, a second chance for him to be someone completely new. Someone without the guillotine 'Big D' hanging over their head. Here... he could be Dudley, the Broken Fist, he didn't have to pretend to be the bully he used to be, or watch out for his 'rep'. If he wanted to sit on his own in a bar, then he could, or if he wanted to lounge around in a field of flowers no one was going to point and laugh at him for it. Here he could fight to his heart's content, and not have that bitter, sour milk feeling in the pit of his stomach when he looked back and recalled the children he used to bloody simply because it was funny. Here, he was praised for killing monsters, and being strong and boisterous. The fact that he was a gentleman too had only caused people's respect for him to rise. Though he never officially joined any team, he did flit from group to group, and his level skyrocketed accordingly.Not to mention his cash.Then... out of the blue...[ New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE: Dudley, this is Harry. Only recently figured out the PM system. Are you still interested in making another go of it? /END MESSAGE. ] Dudley thought his heart was about to launch itself out of his throat. He had almost given up hope of his cousin trying to contact him, either because he didn't want to, threw the game away, or had the misfortune to end up on a different continent (PMing between continents was impossible). Harry's survival instincts were top notch, he would say one thing for an easy life but wouldn't follow through unless it benefited him or he genuinely liked you, Dudley knew that no matter where he ended up he would have been fine, could handle himself. He wasn't the naïve and falsely optimistic type. Dudley's parents had ensured that. But that didn't change the fact that Dudley still wanted to see him, spend time with him.[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: Yes! Yes, I'm definitely still interested. Where are you? We could meet up, if you'd like? /END MESSAGE ] he hastily sent back.
[ New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE:
Um, I'm in Sun City. And yes, I would like to see you too. When would you like to meet?
/END MESSAGE ]
[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: I can meet you now, if you'd like? I'm not too far out. Just in the wilds between Sun and Moon. Twenty minutes, half an hour? That is if you want. /END MESSAGE ] It felt almost ridiculous how hesitant he was being over this, how both he and Harry were dancing around one another, trying not to trample over the elephant in the room or make demands or push anything on the other. It was delicate work and neither of them wanted to ruin this precious second chance. At least, Dudley most certainly didn't. In fact, he had already sheathed his sword, and began to sprint towards Sun City. He'd never been there before, he tended to spend most of his time in Moon City, liking the Asian feel to it – though he definitely had a predilection to Japanese culture, Chinese culture was amazing and he most certainly wasn't going to be turning his nose up at it any time soon.
[ New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE:
That's fine. Can you meet us at the Sea Turtle Restaurant? It's a tavern not too far from the west entrance, black and white Tudor style building with multi-panelled windows like Aunt Marge has. I'm currently with a Dark Elf Warrior, look for the snowy owl beastman. Just to warn you though, I don't look like Harry Potter anymore.
/END MESSAGE ]
[ System: Private Message: Recipient WHITE HEDWIG: That's fine. I don't exactly look like myself either. I'm a human Warrior with blond hair, actually, the same hairstyle you always have. I'm a bit taller and a lot broader. Anyway, I'll see you in a little while. I... I look forward to it. /END MESSAGE ]
He waited briefly for a reply but never received one as he continued to run. Unless he was being sarcastic or trying to pick a fight (and hadn't Dudley been thrown through a loop when THAT happened. Complete role reversal. Why the hell was his cousin actively trying to start something?), Harry generally wasn't one to mince words. He ignored any monsters who crossed his path, making his way to Sun City which was just about visible over the hills due to the central tower.Sun City was built like a medieval fort, a castle enclosed within high walls with towering parapets, and a long bridge leading up to a draw-bridge entrance. He didn't pay too much attention to the style of buildings around him, except to note the distinct European flare, as he looked around for the Sea Turtle Restaurant, idly wondering if it was a Dragon Ball reference before his eyes landed on it – the lack of pink laying his suspicions to rest as he made his way over.Only for his fingers to hesitate on the door-knob.Was he really ready for this? Could he go against sixteen years of ingrained behaviour and built-up bitterness?He pushed open the tavern door. Well, he would never know unless he tried.It looked about what he would have expected from a Dungeons and Dragons Tavern, men and women in armour were milling around and casting glances in his general direction before carrying on their business. Flamboyant mages in swishy robes, thieves in not an awful lot of clothing playing cardgames and juggling knives for amusement. Barbarians and warriors arm wrestling over barrels, teams with maps spread across tables and booths discussing plans and dungeon crawls.He spotted his cousin almost immediately, it was hard to forget a face he had grown up seeing every day and occasionally have haunted his nightmares. It was also rather hard to miss the wings. Very few people chose the Bird Beastmen, the strength and endurance penalty was considered too steep a price to pay for the agility bonus.Harry... Dudley couldn't stop himself from studying his cousin as he approached, that wild black hair was longer now, a little calmer with the extra weight, still not long enough to do anything but get in his eyes though. His face was the same, too soft to be considered handsome, too sharp to be called beautiful, but without that scar. Dudley had always secretly liked it, it was pretty cool all things considered. It wasn't until earlier that very year he learned just where it even came from, Mr Dodge had been entirely too enthusiastic in telling him everything that they never knew about Harry, making his parents alternatively terrified and furious, and Dudley guiltier than ever. Large emerald green eyes had already spotted him. No longer hidden behind awful glasses, Dudley was struck by the clear, almost unnatural shade of them.It wasn’t until he got closer that he noticed something... unexpected.He didn’t think Second Life allowed gender-swaps. Piers had made a complaint about it the last time they spoke; usually he liked playing female characters as it was easy to gouge free items and XP from male players on the Chinese servers. Not to mention that female characters tended to get extra help in character creation, more perks and such. Still, it wasn’t obvious, noticeable yeah, but not quite at the level of those ladies in his magazines, thankfully. It would have been creepy on so many levels.She was willowy, clad in leathers and mythril plate, it wasn’t good armour against bashing damage, but piercing and slashing it was pretty good and more importantly, it was light weight. Very light weight. He could even see Mythril chain on her wings. At her waist was a rather beaten up Chinese Dao, the leather hilt wrappings were fraying slightly and sweat stained. A brace of throwing knives was strapped across her chest and hips and a large Japanese cavalry spear was on her back – a bisento with a lacquered red handle.Sat opposite, was a rather tall Dark Elf. He looked to be about Dudley’s height, maybe a little shorter – barely. He had classically Asian features, sharper and definitely one of those ‘Bishounen’ types he often heard girls gushing over. Typically Asian silky powder fine ice blue hair fell down his back, pulled out of the way in a high pony-tail with three thin braids framing the left side of his face. A face that was glaring at him with calculating flint blue-grey eyes. He was dressed in mid-to-heavy armour with an iron cuirass encircling his chest and curiously plated iron grieves running from ankle to knee. Resting blade down against the table beside him was a large green hilted Zanbato.Hesitantly, he made his way over. “Is that you?” he asked warily. He was almost certain it was, no one in the world had eyes that shade, and the majority of weapons just screamed Harry and his survivor-type mentality.The smile he received was an unknown, he had never seen his cousin look at anyone like that, and she kicked a chair out. “Yes. My game glitched when I was in character creation and, well, I have no way of contacting the company to complain so I’m a little stuck.” Yeah, that whole being on the run thing. Those people hunting him down and everyone he knew and loved in the hopes of trapping him. “It’s not so bad. The Players have caused me more problems than anything else,” she explained as he took a seat.He nodded, admitting that she’d always had curious and strange effects on technology. It wasn’t hard to imagine something would mess up with the VR tech, still, given how it messed with someone’s mind, it could have been a hundred times worse. Maybe this said a little more about Harry’s mentality than it should have? His cousin, while not effeminate, was a lot less prone to the more... boyish antics that Dudley was familiar with. Perhaps it was because he had been forced into being a House Wife from an early age and denied anything like toy robots and other boy-stuff.“When you didn’t PM me, I thought you may have thrown the game away,” Dudley admitted sheepishly. It wasn’t hard to imagine.Harry shook his? Her head, “I will admit, I did forget about it in the... excitement, of leaving.”Excitement? He couldn’t stop himself from grabbing his cousin’s hand, squeezing it tightly in sudden anxiousness. “How did that go?” he asked, trying to keep his tone light, eyes flicking to the Dark Elf who had yet to introduce himself, or stop scowling. He didn’t think this guy was one of Harry’s lot, but there was a chance, either way, it would be a good thing to be careful about what was said.Harry’s mouth opened but the words seemed to get stuck. “George lost an ear,” she finally managed to say. “He was one of the twins you met back when we were fourteen. Fred, his brother, was the one who dropped the prank sweet you ate.” Prank sweet? THAT had been a prank? He almost suffocated on his own tongue! He shuddered in remembered fear and couldn’t stop himself from testing his tongue and jaw. It had been startling and terrifying when his tongue was suddenly too big for his mouth, when he could barely breathe, and then suddenly his mother and father were screaming, his cousin was grinning and laughing while the red haired man he’d seen make the living room half explode was raising a wand. “Moody...” the tone of Harry’s voice made Dudley’s blood go cold, someone had died. Suddenly, she was looking between the Dark Elf and him, “Here isn’t the best place.”He realised he was still clutching his cousin’s hand and pulled back as if burned, mentally hitting himself for touching him when he knew, he knew, Harry didn’t like to be touched. And how could Dudley blame him when all he had ever known from the Dursley Family’s hands was pain? He wouldn’t make that mistake again.“Of course. I’m sorry,” he spluttered, trying to put as much distance as he could between them to try and get that tense line in his cousin’s shoulders to relax. It didn’t.“Order food or whatever, I need to wash my face a second,” he muttered, getting to his feet and escaping into the bathroom. Damn, he’d scared him away.“Her home-life was abusive, wasn’t it?” the Dark Elf suddenly burst out, the second the door to the bathroom had swung shut. Dudley’s muscles tensed almost painfully as he whipped around. Those flint coloured eyes were intense and far too sharp and intelligent for him to even begin formulating a viable lie. “She hasn’t said anything, she rarely says anything to be honest, but the way she moves, speaks, and glares at people is very telling. What happened? Given the way she was curling her arm around her food when you arrived I can assume she was starved for a time, and within your presence. She was very tense, and anxious about meeting you again, I must admit, It’s painting a very unfortunate picture in my mind’s eye about how – ”“She was,” Dudley burst out, hanging his head, wanting to just close his ears. Of course Harry wouldn’t have said anything, he never did, he looked so surprised when that Merlin guy even mentioned that he had been abused. He had always tried to actively hide the fact. Embarrassed, that the people who should have been taking care of him were doing the opposite, as if it were somehow his fault. Which, he supposed, was how his parents raised Harry to think. “We grew up together. She’s only a few weeks or so younger than me, so we’ve been in all the same classes and schools. Her parents... Mum doesn’t like talking about them, she always told us they were drunks who died in a car accident.” Why was he talking? Why couldn’t he stop? This wasn’t any of his business! This was Harry’s private life, he shouldn’t be telling but... He couldn’t stop. He needed to say it. Needed to explain it. Either his family, himself, or maybe Harry. Was it for forgiveness? Absolution? Or... was he just fed up of lying to himself?“But we found out when we were eleven that they were murdered when one of their friends tracked us down to talk to her about Private school. She was sent to live with us the next day. Mum complained about how she was taking the milk bottles out and found her on the doorstep with nothing more than a letter. But we took her in. I still think she would have been happier in an orphanage after everything but... Mum was scared.” She had always been scared. “She had always been scared of them. Her sister married a bad sort, at least that’s what she said. That’s why they got killed.” Magic Folk weren’t a bad sort. He had learned that the hard way. Their world was just different and harder to understand, the dangers were more and they had evolved to handle that so their bodies and abilities made them less concerned with the regular dangers people like him faced. And they looked down on the rest of them for it, some of them, and his mother had the misfortune of growing up near once such person, or so she finally managed to explain to him, her expression twisted into grim lines of anger and fear.“How was she mistreated?” the Elf pressed.Dudley sighed, staring down at his armoured fingers. “She lived in the cupboard under the stairs, even though I had two bedrooms.” There was also the spare room that they kept nice for Aunt Marge. That was four bedrooms in one house, and they refused to even give her one when there were two almost always empty. “Mum made her do all the chores, gardening, cooking, cleaning, the lot, and barely ever fed her. Dad just shouted and snarled. He... he hit her once or twice, never hard. I don’t think he even liked the idea of touching her.” Thankfully. Dudley didn’t think he could even look his father in the eye without wanting to punch him right now, if he knew that he had been... the police would have to arrest him and collect his father in a body bag. “He would always scrub his hands if he did. I... I was spoilt so much I’m lucky I’m not a sociopath right now.” He rubbed his fingers, remembering a time when they were smaller and thicker, when they trembled in terror that he didn’t fully understand. “She saved my life. Back when we were fifteen. We were attacked and I panicked, I freaked out and couldn’t do anything. She got rid of them and dragged my ungrateful ass back home. I blamed her and my parents tried to throw her out. It didn’t happen. Mum managed to talk Dad down from it but still...”How could Harry even face him after everything he had done to his cousin? All that he and his family had put him through?A flash of silver caught his eyes as the Dark Elf placed a dagger very noticeably on the table in front of him, blade pointed in his direction. There was a very dark promise in the other man’s eyes, one that made the hairs on Dudley’s arms stand on end and his stomach twist and curl in a thrill of fearful anticipation.“Hedwig, for reasons I cannot fathom yet, seems to want to give you a second chance,” the Elf stated coldly. “But you’re only getting one. Betray her, hurt her, even look at her wrong, and I will Corpse Camp you to level one, hack your software, and melt your brain. Am I understood?” he hissed, standing up and looming into the seventeen year old’s face, eyes boring into his face.He nodded slowly, “Crystal.” Having the human warrior join them left a vile taste in Tien’s mouth as they made their way through the forest, and his ill temper showed in the viciousness of his attacks. Hedwig was even quieter than usual and somehow, somehow managed to disappear with regular frequency to scout on ahead. Whatever technique she was using, was clearly better suited to Thieves or Ninja. Or rather, she was better suited to Ninja or Thief. Almost as much as she was suited to being a Mage.Tien could only sigh as he watched her disappear into the bushes once again.“Are all Caucasian women this independent?” he asked helplessly, forgetting for a moment that he was both very angry with Broken Fist and his family, and that he hated him as he looked helplessly at the blond.The warrior nodded, “Ha-Hedwig’s always been independent. Reading and writing before me, walking before me, the only thing I did first was talk. I... –”
[ WOLF KING HAS SUCCESSFULLY ATTACKED WHITE HEDWIG, WHITE HEDWIG HP -100, 1381 / 1481 ]
“SHIT!” Fist swore, the two of them whipping around and racing to where their Teammate was fighting.
[CRITICAL HIT SUCCESSFUL, WOLF KING –600 HP. CRITICAL HIT SUCCESSFUL, WOLF KING –600 HP. CRITICAL HIT SUCCESSFUL, WOLF KING –600 HP. ]
The two warriors came rushing into the clearing in time to see the mountainous white creature drop, hitting the ground with a thunderous crash; throat, groin, and armpits slit open and fountaining blood.
[ SYSTEM NOTICE: WHITE HEDWIG HAS KILLED WOLF KING. ]
They stared as she landed, spinning her bisento, flicking blood from the blade. Apart from a bloody tear on her leg, she was unharmed. The Wolf King hadn’t been able to do anything but get that first attack in before she seemingly lashed out, and tore it apart.“A boss... on her own,” Dudley murmured his eyes wide. He had half expected his cousin to be weak, but clearly that was not the case!Stowing her bisento, the dark haired girl scooped up her spoils and glanced over her shoulder at them arching an eyebrow, “What?”Tien sighed, “Don’t run off like that. The next time you encounter a Boss, they may not be quite so low levelled,” he scolded, frowning as he dug into his bag and threw a potion her way.She sniffed, snatching it out of mid-air with reflexes that still made Dudley whistle in admiration, “The system tells you when I’m under attack,” she pointed out, tearing the cork out with her teeth and necking the potion.“Not the point. You could get hurt,” Tien stated stubbornly.Hedwig eyed him briefly before throwing the glass bottle at his head; unfortunately, Harry’s throwing skill was nowhere near as good as his catching skill when it came to objects that weren’t streamlined, such as knives. The throw went wide and shattered against the tree behind Tien who merely raised an eyebrow.“Pain isn’t something that concerns me,” she stated flatly, patting her leg briefly to check it was fully healed before making her way off again.The Dark Elf pinched the bridge of his nose, “Has she always been like this?” he demanded, looking at Dudley in a mixture of annoyance and concern.He shook his head, “Mostly it was just snark and sarcasm. She’s pretty witty to be honest. But... the last few years have been wearing on her.” He closed his mouth and the look on his face clearly stated that no more on the matter would be said. It was making Tien very nervous and angry. He wanted to get to the bottom of this but neither party were letting him! They were teasing him with bits and bobs of the truth and then pulling back while telling him there was more but refusing to elaborate on just what it was!!“Um, Tien?” The Dark Elf jolted, turning rapidly to the Owl Beastwoman as she appeared beside him, a queer look on her face, “I, uh...” She made a helpless kind of face and outstretched her hands.Cradled within her palms was a tiny pure white wolf cub, blinking up at him with liquid amber eyes.“What...?” he stared at the tiny creature.Hedwig shrugged, pulling it back against her chest when it began to wriggle, it stopped almost immediately and began to paw at her fingers, licking them. “The Wolf King dropped an egg. I thought it was some kind of restorative item so I picked it up. The thing hatched and now the system keeps telling me to give it a name. What is going on?” she asked, having to adjust her hold as the wolf cub almost squirmed free.Fist chuckled, appearing beside her, “The game has a pet function too. Basically, you donate a little blood to an unhatched egg and you get a pet. They’re level one to begin with but as they get stronger they learn attacks and such and can help you in battle. They’re pretty useful critters.”Hedwig groaned, “My hands were bloody when I picked it up. Does that make this scrap of fuzz mine?” she asked, idly pulling her thumb out of the animal’s mouth as it tried to use it for a chew toy.“Yup. Your blood, your pet. What’re you going to name him?” Fist asked, reaching out and rubbing the unusually small cub’s ears.“Romulus,” she decided, “Romy for short.”Tien chuckled, “After the Roman story?” he asked as the system flashed up confirming the registration.She smiled, “A little. My favourite teacher at school was called Remus, he helped me a lot when no one else would,” she explained rubbing the wolf’s head. “He had health complications and had to leave at the end of the year, I haven’t seen him much since. He was one of my Dad’s friends at school.”Tien sighed staring at the little white wolf, “Well... not quite the grand battle animal just yet, we should head back to the beginner areas to level the little guy up before heading somewhere else. He can only gain experience if he takes part in a battle.” There was a pause, “Is it even a he?” the Elf asked, frowning.“Er,” Hedwig muttered, not quite so intelligently.
[ PET OWNER: White Hedwig | PET NAME: Romulus | LEVEL: 1 | HEALTH: 30 | MANA: 10 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 0 | STRENGTH: 5 | PHYSIQUE: 3 | AGILITY: 15 | INTELLIGENCE: 4 | WILL POWER: 5 | WISDOM: 3 ]
“It doesn’t say,” she admitted in surprise.“We’ll find out later. Pets don’t get assigned genders until Level forty; it prevents breeding rings from popping up. They develop the ability to speak at roughly level thirty and by thirty five they can understand complicated subjects. Level forty they gain the ability to even disobey their owners if their loyalty stat isn’t good enough,” Dudley explained, being surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject.Hedwig nodded and opened her hip-pouch, gently setting the wolf cub in there, leaving him to peer out with a wide grin, and a lolling tongue as he peered around the world with large yellow eyes.“We’ll find out later.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
For a character in the upper reaches of the level thirty bracket, suddenly being demoted back to grinding wolves and slime was a little embarrassing. However, Romulus was loving it. He may have been tiny but apparently he was a blood thirsty little guy. The first time Hedwig had had taken down an enemy he had jumped in, and started grappling with the second wolf's stringy back leg, sinking his tiny puppy teeth in and growling and tugging as if he were playing tug of war.It took a swift knife throw to save the cub from an angry mauling from the larger animal, but that was beside the point.With the rate the three warriors turned the Wolf planes into something that more fittingly could be described as an abattoir, the white wolf cub had grown fifteen levels into level sixteen, learned three new attacks, and was now no longer quite so tiny. Or quite so cub-ish as he was now big enough to stick his nose into Hedwig's hip-bag in search of the wolf meat she had picked up from their grinding excursion. She idly wondered if this could be considered cannibalism as she swatted his nose away and sent him sniffing off after more prey such as bears, which were rare enemies to encounter in the wolf plains, worth triple the experience points, but twice as hard to kill. No threat at all for the group of warriors, but never the less, it would bolster Romy's levels up a significant degree.After that, Hedwig's system started alarming over outside interference. She bade her goodbyes, and logged off, ready to confront the day and feeling like crud as Harry Potter opened his eyes, and glowered with ill restrained temper at Fred and George Weasley, who had been given the task of waking them up today in order to get ready for the wedding.After the whirlwind of preparations Mrs Weasley had been fussing over earlier in the week (And driving Harry utterly barmy, forcing him to retreat into Second Life more often) the events of the actual day were much more sedate. Thank god. He didn't think he could handle it if everything went to pot.Mrs Weasley blubbed a little about Percy not being there, Fred grumbled defiantly but kept his mouth shut until she went upstairs to fuss over Fleur, along with Ginny and Hermione. The boys were all strong-armed into their robes, Mrs Delacour prodding her wand at their hair and using a rather clever French charm to make it neat. Harry made a mental note to ask Fleur to teach it to him later. Fred handed him a large dose of Polyjuice potion coloured pale turquoise with a pale creamy purple shimmer to it. It looked a bit like nail varnish to Harry's inexperienced eye, yet infinitely more appealing than Crabbe's mud-like colour and texture.The thing was... Fred had made a mistake when summoning several hairs from one of the few red haired muggle boys in the village. He had a sister. Of all the hairs that Fred managed to lift from the boy's clothes – he put the sister's hair into the Polyjuice Potion.Blue eyes glared at the freckled twins from an equally freckled face, “This had better be an accident,” he growled in the girl's higher squeaky tones. His height hadn't changed at all, thankfully, and the girl was just as rail thin as Harry himself, with a small difference. And thankfully it was small. Breasts. Her breasts were roughly the same size as Hedwig's in-game set. So at least he wouldn't be knocking into them with careless hand gestures.Fred's horrified face that was slowly breaking into utter hilarity told him that it was, indeed, an accident. But one they would never let him forget. “Well, I must say you look lovely, Ms Weasley. We were going to call you Barney but how about Bertha? Betty, B- ”“Oh shut up and transfigure my dress robes into something appropriate. What's done is done. Go with Lily. We can just say it was in honour of the mother of the Boy Who Lived, or some such rot,” he stated venomously as Fred transfigured his once nice bottle-green dress robes into a more appropriate burgundy and gold trimmed dress and his shined black shoes into matching burgundy slippers. He seemed a little shocked though. Why, Harry didn't have the slightest of clues.She was easily taken as a Weasley with her straight carrot shaded hair, oval shaped face with more freckles than skin, blue eyes – the same shade as Ron's at that – and the fact she stood with the core members of the family showing people to their seats. Muriel received the chilliest of glares when she made what seemed to be her usual derogatory commentary regarding all and sundry, it shut her up so for that he was thankful, never mind the startled expression on Ron's face. The wedding ceremony itself went off without a hitch.Harry suffered through Ron's sniping grumbles and then Krum's unhappy snarls regarding Luna's father and his peculiar pendent. He was even forced to deflect the Bulgarian's flirting which was done with the same brusque efficiency of Hedwig at her most short-tempered, and most likely hurting his feelings in the process but Harry was neither friendly enough with Krum, nor in a good enough mood to care right at that moment in time. He stomped off in a right snit, and Harry could only snag a few sandwiches as one of the waiters passed and stalk through the rows of chairs and tables, avoiding older people and such until he came to a familiar face.“Mr Doge,” he greeted, startling the squeaky wizard, “May I sit?” he asked, gesturing to the seat.“Oh, oh, yes, my dear. Of course!” he squeaked and shuffled a little to give him room. Harry sat, gently placing his glass on the table and quietly revealing just who he was to the startled old man. What followed was a very enlightening conversation that quickly turned into an argument, and then a gleeful spewing of gossip from one Muriel Weasley when she arrived as she poked her unshapely beak-like nose in.Something that Harry put a stop to once he felt he had gathered as much information as he could from the sour old woman.“Then why didn't she publish it when he was alive?” he cut in mercilessly while the old woman was lambasting the late Headmaster and his family. He arched an eyebrow at the woman who froze, midword and glared at him. “Because Ms Skeeter is a liar, a coward, and a sensationalist who relies on the gullibility of her audience and the outrageousness of false scandals to sell her work. Anyone with more than two braincells to rub together would put her articles and books where they belong, at the bottom of an owl cage,” he declared, climbing to his feet.Whatever Muriel said to his departing back, he didn't hear as suddenly Hermione was leaning against him, giggling breathlessly as she steered him towards a free table, complaining about her feet.Then a Patronus appeared and chaos erupted throughout the party. "That's Dolohov," said Ron. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle.""Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do?""Lock the door," Harry ordered, "and Ron, turn out the lights."He looked down at the paralysed Dolohov, thinking fast as the lock clicked and Ron used the Deluminator to plunge the café into darkness. Harry could hear the men who had jeered at Hermione earlier, yelling at another girl in the distance. He really should have followed through on the stray thought to punch that degenerate wanker in the face when he jeered at Hermione. Drunk or not, you didn't do that to a girl. He'd been on the receiving end of that behaviour enough in Second Life to know how it felt."What are we going to do with them?" Ron whispered to Harry through the dark; then, even more quietly, "Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now."Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Harry frowned darkly, staring down at the immobile figures, churning it over in his head, hard and fast. Dolohov's eyes were flicking between them rapidly even as Ron and Hermione were beginning to look increasingly concerned with Harry's silence.The Department of Mysteries, the night Hogwarts was invaded, and now. This man had been there at all three events. He had wielded his wand with gleeful malice and precision. He hadn't been playing around, using stunning charms, or even anything as tame as a Diffindo. No. This man... Harry remembered him. He had been the one to throw that awful purple curse at Hermione and broke not only Neville's wand, but his nose too. He beat Moody too, which only went to show how skilled he was. There was something else. It niggled. Dolohov. Antonin Dolohov...This man had murdered Mrs Weasleys brothers.He deprived Ron of his uncles. The two that Fred and George were named for. He remembered their faces, briefly, dimly, from very long ago, back at Christmas, when Moody showed him that picture of the Order.“Yes. That's exactly what we do,” he finally decided. Ron gaped.“But, killing people is wrong! Dumbledore said–”“Dumbledore is dead. Because he let a Death Eater walk free.” Harry crouched down and stared directly into Dolohov's panicked eyes. He didn't hate the man, he wasn't even angry, or particularly sad. He just felt... resigned, and afraid. “You can't play catch and release with murderers, Ron. And that's exactly what these men are. Actually, no... They're not even murderers. These people are Terrorists. They kill according to their beliefs but they don't care who gets caught in the crossfire... They claim they're for Pureblood supremacy, but they've wiped out more Pureblood families than even Grindelwald. They're a pack of rapid dogs led by a sociopathic megalomaniac who can't tell up from left. This man alone has tried to kill us three times. How many other people do you think he's killed?” he asked, looking up at his best friend with dark eyes. “What do you think he would have done to the waitress after he'd killed us. After all, she's just a muggle. She's got no way of defending herself. How many supposedly muggleborn students has Hogwarts seen that have actually been Halfbloods? The products of what this man and his ilk do to defenceless women?”Hermione shuddered and gasped a quiet sob while Ron went white and bit his lower lip so hard he tasted blood. They both knew Dean Thomas's mother was a muggle, that he had quietly confessed he was fairly certain his father was a Wizard who... had been less than moral towards her. Harry didn't mention Ron's uncles. That was too below the belt. He couldn't emotionally blackmail him like that, he couldn't.Harry nodded, “We aren't in school any more. This is a War. We can't win anything with Stunners and Disarming Charms. We can't hand them over to the Ministry either. This is the only course we can take. Unless one of you is confident enough in your Shrinking Charms to keep him pint-sized for the next year and stick him in an unbreakable fishtank.”Hermione shook her head tremulously, “It would kill him. His body and brain wouldn't be able to function properly, they'd still be operating as if he were at his proper size – it would just be a long and slow death,” she explained, her voice trembling. “Jing Ki's Law of Animal Transfiguration.”Harry nodded, and turned back to the bound Death Eaters. “Better something quick and painless, than slow suffering of starvation,” he murmured, remembering the pain of starvation only too well, the fear, the hallow biting, the lethargy, the heartburn. “Reducto,” he intoned. Obliterating the man's head.It was a mercy really, he told himself as he turned to the unconscious Death Eater, Thorfinn, and did the same. He vanished the remains, the bloodstains, and tried desperately not to look at either Ron or Hermione. Not sure if he could handle the looks on their faces.He swallowed shakily, “Let's get out of here.” Thankfully, one of the nicer side-effects of the Dreams Gaming Device was putting his mind so far out of reach of Voldemort, the anger induced migraine the man had caused melted away the moment he stepped into the game. He just stood there for a moment, soaking in the artificial sunlight, feeling it warm him all the way down to his bones. Earlier that day, he murdered two men in cold blood. And it had been so easy. So goddamned easy.Romy whined, leaning against his leg and nosing at his hand, demanding attention. Harry patted the animal on the head and began his trek to the Sea Turtle Restaurant. That was the usual meeting point for the three warriors. While he waited for them to get there, he could read the bulletin board where it posted quests and various item requests along with wanted ads for teammates. A lot more low key and local than the Adventurer's Guild arena.And if he found a job he liked, well, Tien and Dudley were perfectly capable of using the PM function to contact him if he asked the Barkeeper to pass them a message, and slipped him some gold at the same time. He was quite determinedly not thinking about the events earlier in the day as he pushed open the door to the bar.“White Hedwig, we've been waiting for you,” intoned a pleasant male voice.Pausing in the door way, Harry looked over his shoulder, shifting a wing out of the way, and frowned a little in confusion at the sight of the Celestial behind him. It wasn't Fan, but it may as well have been. He possessed short hair and typically attractive and sleek features that seemed to define the majority of men in the game. Definitely warrior class judging by the clothes. And his position at the head of the pack clearly stated he had some power within the Saint Knights Coalition.“Can I help you, Kui?” he asked, taking a wild stab in the dark. Fan only really had the one lieutenant that the men trusted. That was Kui. A warrior of repute who possessed exceptional skill with a blade. Or, at least, that was what the tavern gossip said.Thankfully, it seemed as though Hedwig's luck held true.He nodded and made a small gesture, stepping a little to the side as if to direct her, “Indeed, please come this way. Fan would like to speak with you.” He was very polite. But the presence of the seven muscle bound Warriors at his back more than clearly stated that this wasn't a refusal optional invitation. He pursed his lips, giving half a thought to tell him to go and shove it. Today had been a bad day, almost over all, and right now all he wanted to do was sit down, have a drink, and just exist for a time without complicated drama. Or the mental image of Dolohov's splattered head across clean linoleum café floors flashing up behind his eyelids.But resisting now would only cause more trouble.He growled unhappily but stepped away from the tavern, “Very well, lead the way. And make it quick. Today has been shitty all over,” he grumbled falling into step behind the Celestial warrior. Was that an almost wince?The closer they came to the outskirts of the village, the more irritable and on-edge Harry became. The sight that greeted him made both eyebrows shoot up and his already sour opinion of Fan turn into one of outright scorn.Sat amidst banners all depicting his team's symbol, he was being waited on hand and foot by various women, most recognisable amongst them was Ice Phoenix who was surreptitiously attempting to crush another girl's foot as she hand-fed the Celestial grapes.Harry turned around in disgust, fully intending on walking away then and there. But the wall of muscle behind him wasn't moving. They did, however, shift uncomfortably in the face of the black look on his face. Kui coughed pointedly, and only then did Fan look up and spot them, and the 'woman' he had summoned, squaring up to fight her way through his warriors just so she wouldn't have to look at them.“Ladies, ladies,” he demurred, gently ushering the girls off, “a little respect for our soon to be friend,” he lilted, eyeing the girl up and down as she finally turned to face him.A snowy-owl beastwoman, how unique. Most women who wanted the winged look went for Angels or Celestials as they had such substantial bonuses to charisma, wisdom, and dexterity. The fact that she had even opted for a Warrior job class was something of note as well. She was the only female Warrior he had encountered in game thus far. All the others were of the Thief, Mage, or Priest class. There was rumour of an odd Necromancer girl, and on the other continents there were other job-classes. He was definitely of the opinion that the Barrier Master job-class would have been ideal for a large number of women. Keep them to the back and out of the way doing something useful with themselves for once.However, despite her gender, she had managed to make something of herself as a Warrior. Looking her up and down, he could clearly see why.She wasn't one of those perfumed, permed, and painted up dolls he had fawning over him moments ago. Women spent inordinate amounts of time choosing their looks in character creation. Large eyes, oval shaped faces, flawless skin, D-cup breasts (minimum), and silky flowing hair. They selected clothing based on what was cutest and most fashionable. Opposite them, stood this woman. Thin, lean, small chested – not flat, there was a pleasant handful there – with sharp features, and even sharper eyes. Her hair was short, wild, and windswept. She wore plain clothing, good boots, light weight armour, and chainmail over her wings. Her sword was well used, and the spear over her back equally so. Even the wolf at her side, a recent acquisition, was up to a fairly respectable level, intelligent looking and handsome, pure white with a noble face, he sat at her side, ears pointed attentively forward as he peered at him from waist height.Fan was still trying to decide whether he approved, or disapproved, of the exotic sight in front of him.“Please, Miss Hedwig, sit,” he purred, gesturing to the white chair in front of him, ignoring the scornful, arrogant gazes of the girls behind him.The girl stalked forward and unslung her spear so she could sit comfortably. As she settled back, her arms folded and legs open – prompting scandalised titters and giggles from the girls – Fan decided he disapproved. She was too masculine and uncouth. A girl opening her legs like that. Especially with that arrogant expression on her face. He would enjoy breaking her to pieces. And once he had her subservient, he would put her into more appropriate clothing, teach her how to speak. She would make for an amusing pet. Her looks were quite to his taste – those eyes especially – and contrary to what most girls felt, he preferred the smaller breasted. Anything more than a handful was an unsightly waste more befitting a cow than a young lady. But what did those silly insipid baby factories know? Squabbling and squealing over clothes and appearances instead of important matters.“Get on with it,” the Beastwoman demanded, glaring at him.He inclined his head, hiding the gritting of his teeth at her impertinence. No woman should ever speak to him in such a manner. He would have to break her of that habit. He mustered what little patience he had and straightened, slamming up the aura of the charismatic leader of the Saint Knights Coalition, most beautiful and wanted man in Sun City, the Ladies Man and Man's Man. The Beastwoman was visibly unmoved. In fact, he doubted she had even noticed. Impertinent little chit.“Very well. Straight to the matter at heart then. We would like you to join us for the Adventurer's Tournament,” he explained smoothly. “Since you are not part of a team, you are likely unaware that the Grand Prize, so to speak, is a plot of land in which to build a Player City. As a member of the Winning team, you would have free housing within the city and a place of honour within my Government.”Poor Fan had no idea how telling that last part really was.Hedwig continued to stare at him expectantly, when nothing more was forth-coming, she unfolded her arms and got to her feet. “I am afraid I must decline,” she stated coldly, watching as Fan's pleasant façade crumpled into that scornful glare he had been unsuccessfully hiding (Really, Draco Malfoy was better at hiding his feelings than this man). The man's face twisted into something ugly and hateful. It was quite shocking how he could go from looking so pretty, angelic, and beautiful into something wrathful and hideous, with that ugly mottled pink and red flush beginning to colour his face.She had fully expected Fan to attack.She hadn't expected the men behind her to attack. Romy was the only thing that prevented her from being stabbed through the chest then and there as the wolf snarled and lunged at her attacker, clamping powerful jaws down, and crushing his wrist as he slashed his blade at her.The inch-deep tear in her side wasn't fatal, thankfully.But it was the starting signal for a fight she knew she couldn't win.Fan and Kui were both at a higher level than she was. Forty, forty-five, possibly even higher. She didn't know. She was still only level thirty-eight. Strong enough to qualify for the Tournament, but certainly not one of the stronger combatants. Which begged the question of why Fan had even bothered to try and get her to join them. Teams of more than six or seven people were generally frowned upon. Especially at tournaments, so it couldn't have been as an extra meat-shield.Disregarding Fan and Kui, there were still seven Warriors roughly the same level as she was, if not close behind. Not to mention the men already there. She spied two archers and a combat mage.No, this wasn't a fight she could win. If Dudley or Tien were there, they just might have managed it. And lost their entire stock of healing potions in the process. But it was just her and Romy, and Romy wasn't at a high-enough level to do much more than get in the way and get himself hurt.“Razor Wing!” she commanded, enfolding her wings around her and whipping around viciously. Each feather now having the strength and sharpness of a freshly sharpened dagger, striking sparks against her attackers' armour, shredding leather and skin. Under the protective umbrella of her wings, she had a split second to scoop up Romy before she crouched and launched herself into the air – abandoning her bisento. She didn't have the time to grab it, not the free hand as she pumped her wings hard.“Glacier Spear!” a female voice screamed just as Hedwig cleared the trees. A lance of ice-magic shredding through not only her wing but also her shoulder.Romy slipped from her arms with a panicked yip as all the strength and control went out from her right arm. Shit! Shit, shit! Harry dropped, managing to change his painful tumble into something more controlled. He grabbed Romy's back leg, as the animal fell and managed to curl himself around the animal as he hit the ground with a dull thud and the distinctive snap of his good wing breaking like dry twigs beneath him.He rolled over, Romy leaping out from his arms to snap and snarl at the Mage who attacked him. Ice Phoenix stared down with a conflicted expression of righteous anger and guilt.“Static Rain!” a male voice roared and Harry screamed as electricity ripped through him. Fan's combat mage had caught up.He heard Romy's snarls cut off with only a pain filled yelp and looked up, despite the pain. Three of the Warriors had cornered the animal and were taking it in turns to slash at his legs, laughing when he failed to dodge the blows. Anger burned hot in his veins, allowing him to ignore the pain as the lightning spell ended. Just his luck to run into someone with the same magic element.“THUNDER ROAR!!” the Beastwoman boomed, her voice literally turning into a weapon that tore the earth with lightning and sound, throwing the three Warriors who were torturing her Romy away. If only her wings hadn't been broken she would have used her most powerful skill 'Thor's Hammer', and obliterated this section of forest.“Cascade!” another girl screamed and Hedwig's attack cut off, her vocal cords no longer able to produce sound.Shit! A bard! Status magic that silenced him, preventing the use of magic! He hadn't expected the girls to join in! The girl in question was smirking smugly at her, clearly enjoying the sight of the Beastwoman bloody and broken on the floor. Her smug expression fell away when Romy, limping, bleeding, stood in front of her, hackles raised and pink foam at his mouth, growling threateningly.Harry dragged himself to his feet and drew his Dao left-handedly. It was heavy and awkward, but he absolutely refused to go down fighting. Especially since escaping was no longer possible. Losing a level was no big issue, but his pride absolutely refused to let him meekly bow his head and let Fan have his way.She glared at him as he swaggered over, oozing satisfaction. Behind him, Kui followed, his expression shuttered and a little pained as he stared at her. Fan grinned and slowly drew his sword.“I wish I could say it hurts me to see you this way,” the Celestial sneered, “But I must say it fills me with nothing but satisfaction.”Harry said nothing, couldn't say anything, and merely waited for the attack.“Alas, it would have been amusing to see Nan Gong Zui's face when he walked into the arena to find you at my side. But this is just as good. One less thorn to rally at that mongrel's call.” So that was what this was about. Nothing what so ever to do with her combat skill, and everything to do with pissing off Ice Phoenix's God-brother. Everything to do with preventing him from having another fighter. Harry's blood burned at the casual dismissal and he decided, then and there, that he would offer to join Nan Gong Zui, but only for the opportunity of beating Fan into a bloody smear across the flagstones.The celestial smirked, as if reading his thoughts, “You won't be good for much of anything, soon enough,” he promised before launching forward. “I have men stationed at every rebirth point in the city!” he roared, managing to land a deep slash against her thigh as she awkwardly tried to move to block it. “You'll be Corpse Camped down to level one, you impertinent bitch!” he shouted, laughing as he knocked her Dao away with a twist of his blade. “And when they're finished with you, you'll belong to me!”She saw it coming. She knew it was coming. But even as she moved back, the slash on her thigh buckled her leg. And she couldn't retreat fast enough.Fan's blade mercilessly punched into her stomach and out through her back.He grinned ghoulishly and twisted it as he pushed it further into her body, until the hilt was pressed against her stomach and her blood was soaking through his gloves.“Learn your place, woman,” he spat, using the word as if it were a curse before planting a foot against her chest and wrenching his sword free in a fountain of blood.Blood that turned to light as the world dissolved around her.It felt like a freefall. Or a Portkey that was hooked into his lungs instead of his bellybutton. Cold and roaring, and completely disorientating as the ground slammed into her feet hard. Sending her stumbling and dizzy.And right into a pair of Warriors – a sword already tearing her throat open.Light and roaring.Harry had a few seconds to reorientate himself when he appeared before a Fire spell immolated him on the spot, and his world dissolved into light. The world whirling around him as if he were trapped in a dryer. Or a tornado.Three swords tore into her stomach.She was stabbed in the side of the head.Her neck was snapped.She was flash-fried.She was hit with lightning.Her heart was literally torn out of her chest, she had a moment to see it still beating within her murderer's hand before everything turned to light once again.Her whole body rebelled, and her game device bleeped warningly.The real-world asserted itself with painful abruptness and Harry gasped, choking on air, as he stared at the ceiling of Grimmauld place.And then he flung himself out of bed and sprinted for the kitchen, the bathroom was too far away, and he vomited into the sink. Repeatedly, and violently. His whole body trembling as it purged itself of something it didn't wholly understand. It didn't feel any of the injuries, any of the deaths, its mind was telling it it had to have felt. Injuries that should have been there, but weren't. And his magic was in utter chaos. Rioting within his body, and Harry's head was pounding with that Voldemort induced migraine that just wouldn't go away, and he wanted to scream.But he didn't.Hermione and Ron needed to sleep. To sort themselves out after witnessing him commit a murder. Multiple murders.They needed to come to terms with the fact that the kid gloves were off, and that Harry was likely to murder again. If it meant they would stay safe, that they would survive to see the end of the war, they knew he would burn the Ministry of Magic to the ground. And it scared them, how intense he was about their safety. He knew he scared them. But things had changed now. He had changed.Second Life had changed things for him. In a world where one spent most of their time monster killing, the survival mindset that Harry had lost since his years at the Dursleys had come back, full force. Leaving him a colder, more ruthless, person that neither Ron nor Hermione had ever met before. They only knew him as the confused, slightly clueless but generally affable boy who had a nasty temper when pushed. They never knew him when he was a cold hearted bastard who would steal from his Aunt's purse just so he could have lunch at school. They didn't know him when he was more Slytherin than Gryffindor. When he couldn't afford to be the Gryffindor.Harry panted, leaning over the sink and shook.He had never died in the game before. Apparently, it caused problems with his magic which made his body react badly. So he got forcibly logged out of the game. Understandable. He turned the tap on and watched as cold water washed away the bile and half-digested sandwiches of the wedding away. He rinsed his mouth out and sipped a little at the cool water to settle his stomach before turning the tap off, and making his way back to his bed on silent feet. He was tired, sore, and had a headache the size of a Wolf King. And three times as mean.He climbed wearily into bed, giving his game headset a critical look before turning it off and sliding it to the side. No, no, for now, until his stomach wasn't so delicate, and his brain not throbbing, no games. No Second Life. He was going to sleep. Real sleep. Healing sleep.Damage control could wait for tomorrow.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Returning to the game was... Harry would be lying if he said he wasn’t wary. But the Rebirth point he spawned at was unmanned. A few players glanced his way, and then paused and looked again. Not an uncommon reaction, avian beastman were rare after all, and Harry was playing on the Chinese servers where female players who took warrior roles were rarer than pearls in pigswine. Beastwomen even more so.The thing was... there was absolutely no sign of the Saint Knights Coalition anywhere within Sun City as he warily made his way through the streets. And yet despite that, players would pause and watch him, which was becoming more concerning the further in he went. None of them accosted him, or tried to talk, or even looked overly hostile. In fact, several people looked concerned. How odd.“Status!” she called, watching as her profile snapped up, and then proceeded to wince.A nine level drop. She was no longer qualified for the Adventurer’s Tournament.Romy was still there, no level drops, thankfully. Actually, they were now both at the same level. Twenty nine. Of course with the level drop, all of her stats had plummeted as well, and two of her best techniques were now out of reach, Thor’s Hammer and Lightning Conflagration, she didn't have the MP for them. Annoying but not unexpected. There was a huge number of Private Messages blinking at her, that would take a while to get through. Best do it with a cup of tea and something to eat before she began regaining those lost levels.Sighing, she made her way to the Sea Turtle Restaurant, already drawing up mental plans to go training and thinking of the best locations to do so. The Serpent Gorge would be one of the best places, as long as she carefully avoided the Gorgon. No, wait, Snake Gorge was where she planned on going before she got KC’ed. The Graveyard would be the best place for now. The enemies there tended to be the perfect bracket for level thirties and up. Given how she only had one level to go before hitting that (And regaining Lightning Conflagration), it wouldn’t be too difficult to deal with some rogue Skeleton Warriors.Pushing open the heavy oak door, all sound within the restaurant stopped, bringing her up short as every head turned and stared. Discomfort crawled up her spine. A large number of the patrons were from the Righteous Blades – which was surprising as their main base was in Moon City, Nan Gong Zui must have still been trying to talk Ice Phoenix away from Fan again – but there were some Sun City local Players, all of which were staring at her.“Hedwig,” Kong Kong greeted, sounding oddly gentle as he pushed his chair back and got to his feet. “Are you alright?” the Thief asked, placing his hands on her shoulders and smoothing them down her arms, checking for injuries, and speaking as if she were some kind of injured wild animal.She stared at him, and took a step back, frowning, “I’m fine. Why are you asking?” she asked suspiciously, wings ruffling slightly. This was almost completely out of character behaviour for Kong Kong.Swan Beauty was suddenly beside her, “Because word got out Fan tried to have you Corpse Camped. Broken Fist and Lung Tien freaked out when they received a message saying you were ejected from the game via the Medical Emergency Failsafe after successively receiving nine level drops within the space of two minutes, five seconds. There have been players of weak constitution who have suffered heart attacks or brain aneurysms from similar rapid mental stress,” the woman explained bluntly. With the two of them being the only female warriors either had encountered in Second Life, they had an understanding to be honest to the point of insulting one another. Kong Kong often joked that the two were more like sisters than Ice Phoenix and Swan Beauty.“Are you alright?” Kong Kong then repeated, his face twisted in concern.There was a moment before Hedwig allowed a small smile to curl her lips, “Yes, thank you, Kong Kong, Swan Beauty. I’m alright.”“What happened?” the woman demanded, folding her arms and scowling.Hedwig allowed Kong Kong to guide her to their table, he was a good guy who was just perhaps more chivalrous than most. The fact that he was now treating her like glass was very annoying though. But she supposed it was sweet in a way, since they, and everyone else, now seemed to be under the impression that he was a delicate girl with poor health in real life.“Fan requested a meeting. Fist and Tien weren’t online yet and I figured I could always fly away if it got hairy so I agreed. He asked me to join his Team for the Adventurer’s Guild. I refused. His men attacked. I flew off with Romy but- ” She hesitated, as furious with Ice Phoenix as she was, this was her family. “One of Fan’s harem girls was a Mage and nailed me in the right shoulder and wing. And then Fan skewered me. He bragged a bit about how he would have liked to see Nan Gong Zui’s face if I’d agreed to join the Saint Knights, but that was about it.” Kong Kong was swearing by the end of it, gripping the table hard and grinding his teeth.Swan Beauty looked as if she’d swallowed a lemon, “You hesitated when you mentioned the Mage,” she noted bitterly. “It was Ice Phoenix who shot you down, wasn’t it?” she asked.Hedwig pursed her lips and looked away prompting more swearing.“What about your health?” Kong Kong asked.“I just threw up. I’m fine,” she assured them.Kong Kong shook his head, “Nausea wouldn’t trigger the emergency medical ejection,” he pointed out in concern.Hedwig shook her head, “Then I really can’t tell you what happened then. I’m pretty durable in real life, so aside from throwing up and having the shakes, I was fine. It might have been stress. The last few weeks have been... difficult,” she admitted carefully. How did one explain they were a murderer? Quite simple, they didn’t. “Anyway, have you heard anything about Romy, my pet? He wasn’t there when I rebirthed.”Swan Beauty nodded, “Broken Fist is taking care of him until you log back in. He and Lung Tien are at the Serpent's Gorge with Nan Gong Zui and the rest of the Righteous Blades.” She paused a moment, clearly debating something, “They have signed onto the Righteous Blades for the Adventurer's Tournament. I'm under the impression they want to avenge your honour against Fan.”Hedwig sighed, “I don't need avenging. I just lost a few levels. It's not the end of the world,” she muttered in annoyance. “They're taking this game way too seriously.”Swan Beauty smiled, “The curse of being male, I suppose,” she intoned. Hedwig supposed she should have been insulted by that comment, but all it did was make her smile. It was true to a degree. Hermione certainly didn't take Quidditch as seriously as he and Ron, and Ron definitely took it way more seriously than Harry. And probably more than was healthy to be perfectly honest. Still, at least it wasn't Oliver Wood levels of obsession.The owl beastwoman sighed and got to her feet, “I'll check my messages later then. Thank you for your concern, but I'm really fine.” She offered a small smile, “This actually works out better for me. I get to do solo training now, which is, in all honesty, easier for me than worrying about my Teammates at all times.”Kong Kong grinned, “I'll say. Didn't you brain Tien with your bisento once?” he teased.She nodded, smiling a little wryly. “I'm not used to fighting in groups,” she admitted before giving them a wave and wondering off. “I'll be in the Graveyard if someone wants me.” And completely missed Kong Kong's cheeky mutter of 'A lot of people want you, you're just too oblivious to notice'.Swan Beauty snorted and promptly clocked him upside the head. It didn't take long for both Dudley and Tien to start shouting at her over the group chat, demanding to know if she were alright and received the usual brusque 'Oh, stop fussing, would you?' as she had been in the middle of breaking a Skeleton Warrior's elbow. Due to how she'd lost a lot of money, on top of levels, after her altercation with Fan, she needed to not only go after mobs with large drop-rates but also ones that offered a fair amount of experience points. Skeletons were pretty ideal in that respect. Slow, but if you ground down the bones into powder you could sell them for ten silver pieces at a time. Very useful and very much needed – as both her Dao and her bisento were taken by Fan when she was Corpse Camped.Right now, she was fighting with her own pinion feathers. They made for some quite devastating blades in all honesty. But she needed a new bisento or spear, and soon. She'd already used more Healing Potions than she was happy with due to the simple fact that she was just better with a bisento or a spear than she was with a sword or a knife in melee combat.It was just embarrassing in all honesty. Half the cuts on her legs came from her own clumsy movements and not her enemies.Still, it was not difficult to rake up the required cash for a visit to the Weapon Shop in order to get another bisento, it wasn't as good as her level thirty-five Houtengageki, but it would last until she could get a better one. In all honesty, the defence bonus on this was actually higher than on his previous bisento, even if the damage bonus was lower by a considerable degree (twenty points, ouch). She didn't bother replacing her dao, while she was fair with a blade, it just wasn't her weapon. She did swap out and upgrade her gauntlets though for a set of Motor Drives, three layers of iron that overlapped her knuckles in a thick plate that was also flexible allowing a full range of finger movement. They needed some complicated lacing as they weren't riveted onto a glove, which meant there was no way of her getting the gloves off in a hurry unless she was very confident with her ability to use a knife to cut the strings without opening her hand up in the process.Suited and booted (figuratively), she maxed out her inventory on recovery items before returning to grinding. Only taking a hit of Health Potion, or Mana Potion, when her stats hit the yellow mark of depletion. She earned back Lightning Conflagration upon hitting level thirty three, Thor's Hammer would return at thirty eight, which she was fast approaching with the rate she was mincing the mobs around her.She didn't run into any trouble until she reached level forty three, and lost several feathers to the opportunistic mouth of a Leopard Barbarian.Her reaction was instant. She threw herself into the air and bolted for open ground, six Leopard Barbarians on her heels, armed with swords – spiral swords at that, high level forty equipment – and shields. They were fast. Not quite beating her on speed, but close enough that her wings ached just from trying to keep ahead of them. This was not a mob designed for being tackled by a lone player, which was mighty frustrating as she didn't do well with co-op, or team play. Making a lot of missions, events, quests, and the like impossible for her.The problem with paying attention to the lot on her heels, was that she didn't realise they were herding her – until she flew right into the chest of a much larger Leopard barbarian. Dressed in a ragged cloak of red dragon scale and brown leather trousers. A thick mane of spotted hair framing a ferocious face and vivid yellow eyes. The bottom of Hedwig's stomach dropped out. Leopard Chief. Boss of the Barbarian tribe of Leopard Beastman, a level fifty five Boss monster who worked with his Barbarians like a regular co-op team. Making them almost impossible for a lone player unless they were in the level sixties or seventies. If she couldn't escape, this would mean another level drop.“LIGHTNING CONFLAGRATION!!” she screamed immediately, feeling the heady drain of the high level spell soak out of her, like being dehydrated and drinking something – you could feel it soaking into your brain. Using spells was that sensation, but reversed. The tongues of vivid gold and white lightning bathed the twenty feet of Leopard infested ground around her, the monsters roared in pain unable to move with the momentary paralysis her attack caused. It was enough for her to crouch and execute Razor Wing, spinning in place and launching herself skyward, flying up and away from a fight she couldn't win.“DIVE LEFT!”Hedwig didn't even pause to consider the sudden voice, distinctly human and male, that split the air. She just did as told, twisting in mid-air to spot the Leopard Chief slash where she had been a split second earlier. Figures these bastards would be terrifying jumpers.“WING NEEDLE!!” Hedwig roared, flicking her feathers and swinging her wings like a fan, sending feathers flying at the Leopard Chief like knives. The fact they were bladed as well meant the attack was a very unpleasant surprise, but an awesome trump card in tight situations like this.The Leopard Chief roared in agony, crossing his arms over his face as the feathers stabbed, pierced, and slashed at his flesh, and he tumbled with an almighty crash and unhappy snarl into an oak tree.Landing, she found herself beside a boy she'd never met before. A human warrior. Brown hair, not quite pale-not quite tanned features, brown eyes, he wore black and was armed with a pair of small thief's daggers. However, his equipment may have been light, but it was higher level than her own. By quite a degree.“Thanks,” she muttered quietly, knowing he would hear her as the Leopard tribe began to gather itself. Six barbarians, one Chief who was roughly trying to brush bladed feathers away – and only cutting himself in the process. He was going to Aggro at her in a minute, that was the downside to Wing Needle, it didn't initially cause a lot of damage, but it was an utter bitch to deal with and would steadily chip health away the longer it was left untended. Downside was that tending it made that health chip away faster. Which pissed the monster off, which drew it's attention to her, and made it attack in pretty much a frenzy.“Cold Fox,” the other player introduced.“White Hedwig. Need to deal with the Barbarians first. Chief is going to aggro on me, we can't handle all of them at once,” she explained, studying the group. “Think you can draw the Barbarians into a group? You need to be quick. My attack doesn't discriminate between enemy and ally,” she warned. That had been a bit of a bitch when first using it, Dudley ended up losing a level and she lost three hundred in reputation for killing a teammate.“Yes,” Fox agreed with a firm nod, not even asking how fast or what said attack was. Well, given how much higher his level was compared to hers, it wasn't surprising.The brunet player shot off, weaving in between the Barbarians with deceptive, actually graceful movements. For a moment, she forgot to move, too busy staring at how frickin' effortless Cold Fox made the whole thing look, like a dance that only he knew the steps to. Likely he was trained in some form of martial art in real life, that was the only explanation for it.Never the less!“Static Rain!” she commanded, throwing the spell over the Chief as he was trying to bite the feathers out. That combined with the currently metal quality of her feathers still in his body, acted as multiple tazers, and not only provided electrical damage directly into his body, but also heated and provided flame damage. She ignored the Critical Hit system announcement as she shot forward, grabbing the Chief and flying upwards as hard and as fast as she could.Thor's Hammer was a high level spell. It took time to build.She reached the peak and flipped, once, twice, three times, flinging the Leopard Chief down beneath her as she slammed both gauntlets together, lightning encasing both of them before her wings folded, tucking in against her body as she dropped like a stone.Far below, Cold Fox slipped down between two sword strikes, eyes flicking upwards as he heard the distinct sound of the air screaming as an object reached terminal velocity.The girl, White Hedwig, was dropping like a rock towards the ground, her ankles latched around the now struggling Leopard Chief's throat, putting him headfirst towards the ground. Lightning arced and crackled off her as they got closer and closer to him and the Barbarians who still hadn't noticed. She was going to plough that attack right into the centre of the mob. Interesting.He shot forward, hamstringing three of the Barbarians, dropping them snarling and thrashing to the ground, and jumped clear as he saw her heave on the Leopard Chief's head, flipping him over and then kicking him down. Sending him hurtling to the ground face first with no hope of survival.The almighty crunch that filled the air as he landed on two of his Barbarians made even him wince a little.The follow up was devastating and terrifyingly fast.White Hedwig landed, knees first, on the Chief's spine. The ground beneath them cratered, stone and earth tearing ten feet around them and sending a gout of air out so strong it knocked the Barbarians off their feet and made even him stumble.Gauntlets swung down, and everything went silent and white as the Chief's head exploded under the force of the blow.Cold Fox cursed as he was flung clean off his feet and the world vanished in white lightning and a solid roar of sound.Then, just as suddenly as it came, it was gone.Cold Fox blinked, getting to his feet and shaking away the spots in his vision as he surveyed the twenty foot crater that had once been a small forest clearing. And the single living being in the middle of it on her hands and knees. None of the mob had survived, leaving scattered piles of loot here and there.The girl on the other hand, wasn't moving.He could quite easily take the loot and leave her for whatever monster that happened upon her, but that would have defeated the point of his even speaking to her in the first place. He had half been hoping to find that mouthy Dark Phantom brat, Miwa, training alone when he saw the lightning over the treetops, he had been wanting to give that arrogant brat a thrashing since they ran into each other a month previously. But instead he found a girl facing off against a Mob she had no chance of winning against.It wasn't hard to recognise her. Being one of the only female Warriors, not to mention the only owl beastwoman in the game had made her something of a lesser known celebrity, who got catapulted into something more when word got out she was Corpse Camped and forced to log off with the medical failsafe. A nine level drop if memory served. It looked as though she had regained those levels, and more. So it would have been a shame to see her lose one of them, besides, the Medical Failsafe was not something to be sniffed at, or ignored. And he wasn't the type to let girls get hurt simply because he was too lazy to bother helping them. It wasn't as if the Leopard Mob would have been difficult for them to handle together. Alone, it would have been hard and he would have most likely failed.He hopped into the crater and cautiously approached the woman. She was breathing hard but otherwise fine, not moving though.“Impressive attack,” he praised. And it really was. A a huge Area Effect lightning spell like that, damn. He knew she wasn't a Mage but if she was unlocking spells like that at her current level, maybe she should look into a class change!Green eyes cracked open and the girl nodded gratefully at his acknowledgement before she very weakly began to get to her feet. “Takes all my Mana,” she admitted, which explained why she was unwilling to use it on the get go. If it hadn't taken them out immediately, chances were that she wouldn't survive after the attack. Not worth it unless she was certain of a victory. Cold Fox couldn't even attempt at playing the humble card as they both knew if he hadn't been whittling down the Barbarians' Health, they would still have had six enemies to deal with after that attack.The girl dug into her inventory and necked three Mana restoratives. After that, the two of them picked up the loot and divided it out between them and tossed the stuff neither of them wanted or needed in a bag for selling at the town. In all, they got thirty gold for the lot, and each received fifteen.“Lunch? I owe you,” Hedwig pointed out, gesturing to the near-by bar.Cold Fox nodded, Hedwig was generally as quiet as he was, and seemed to be very much a fair player. She was quite determined to see him receive his fair share of the loot and gold from this latest venture, which was all well and good, fair and all that since he had aided her in taking down the mob. But she was also buying him lunch as thanks for actually doing so when he was not obligated to lend the hand that he did. It was a quiet and, dare he say, pleasant affair. Hedwig didn't badger him with questions, or look at him with coltish dewy eyes. In fact, unless he spoke to her, she didn't pay him much attention at all, merely letting him get on with his meal and his drink in peace. A vastly appreciated difference from the usual women he would himself having to deal with.Speak of the devil.He frowned a touch when he spotted one of the more persistent flies making her way over, sunny smile on her face. “Fox! There you are,” she chirped enthusiastically, making Hedwig wince a little at both volume and pitch to his amusement, clearly she was trying to let everyone in the bar know that she knew him and was on 'friendly' terms with the well known player. The girl sat herself at their table, situating herself between the pair as if she were blocking him from the Owl Beastwoman who didn't even bat an eyelid or look up. She was currently unlacing her gauntlets so she could eat more comfortably.“You shouldn't go running off like that, you know my agility isn't as high as yours,” the annoyance whined as she shifted her upperbody to just the right angle to give him prime view down her shirt. Fox refrained from sighing and snapping at the girl, and opted to continue his meal without commenting. In honesty, she wasn't bad looking. White hair, blue eyes, pale smooth skin, nice breasts, a slim body, and she showed it off to great effect with the low cut midrift revealing Mage's garb she had on.Realising she wasn't getting any attention from the subject of her affections, she turned to the Owl Beastwoman, smiling like a shark, “I see you've taken another stray in, Foxie.” Cold Fox's hands tightened spastically on his chopsticks, almost splintering them, at the sound of that godawful moniker this annoyance persisted in dubbing him with. Hedwig was the only one who noticed. She looked at him, and then the annoyance, with a raised eyebrow. “What's your name?” the annoyance chirped sweetly.“...” the Owl Beastwoman stared mutely at the annoyance before, “White Hedwig. Yourself?” she asked coolly. The annoyance seemed to take it as a challenge.“Winter Rose,” she bragged. “Are you the same White Hedwig who had to use the Medical Failsafe because she lost a few levels?” the scorn just touching the edges of her tone clearly said what she thought of that.Hedwig nodded, her facial expression not changing. “I am.”Winter Rose nodded as if she knew all along, “Mighty reckless of you to come back online. What if it happens again? It's real easy to upset people on this game,” she continued, a sharp look on her eyes that was fooling no one.Hedwig merely stared at her once more, expression not changing. The silence stretched on into something awkward and uncomfortable. Winter Rose shifted uncertainly, refusing to admit she was intimidated.“You are an exceptionally stupid young woman, aren't you?” Hedwig finally asked, making Winter Rose splutter in shock. The Beastwoman got to her feet, tossing down several coins, “A word to the wise, Miss Winter. Not every woman on the game is as shallow as you,” she pointed out coolly before turning to Cold Fox. “Thank you for your help earlier,” she stated before walking out of the bar. Silence followed in her wake.Cold Fox slowly turned to Look at Winter Rose. “Leave,” he ordered darkly.The idiot girl spluttered for a moment, and he had to narrow his eyes before her face drained of blood and he scampered off. Leaving him in peace.Sadly though, the meal was ruined, along with his mood.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The Vampire Catacombs. A secret dungeon hidden beneath the streets of Sun City, stretching out from beneath the entry bridge, down the mountain, and into the surrounding cliff-faces. In all honesty, Hedwig hadn't meant to come here. Secret Quests tended to be utter pains in the ass. However, the dungeon itself, regardless of the high level, was said to be good for level grinding.She had no intention of going further than the first level, the enemies there would be tough enough to handle as it was, and she had no intention of challenging anything more trying than Ghouls, Firebats, and low level Vampires. She was here to gain levels, not lose them. The only problem was, as she found after taking out three Vampires, nine Ghouls, and a small flock of Firebats, was that her usual combat techniques weren't viable in such an enclosed space. She needed to come up with an entirely new combat style, or she was going to lose all her money buying healing items just to train here.What a pain.Chugging a Super Potion, she made her way out of the catacombs, shielding her face briefly with a wing as the sunlight threatened to blind her.“Hedwig,” a voice acknowledge, coloured ever so faintly with something that sounded like surprise, or could have been annoyance. She jolted back out of reflex, hand crackling with lightning before she recognised the person in front of her. Hard not to considering how they had been eating at the same table not too long ago.“Cold Fox,” she greeted, ignoring her small flush of embarrassment at getting caught off guard. She eyed him carefully. While his face generally betrayed nothing, there was a definite difference in his shoulders now than when they first met. She arched an eyebrow, “Training?” she questioned, gesturing back to the catacombs behind her, deciding not to comment on his bad mood. Cold Fox shook his head once, “Quest,” he clarified and she nodded. He must be after the Master. There was rumour that he had a rare item, several of them actually, but many players had completed the Catacombs and come up short, so the rumour was debunked and ignored no matter how much the NPC who issued it persisted in claiming. The Vampire Catacombs were considered more trouble than they were worth. Not even dedicated level grinders liked to train there simply because Vampires were absolute bastards to put down, couple that with the enclosed spaces, and the fact they hit like a freight train, and had a very low drop-rate for restoratives... Not to mention the unpleasant fact that most Vampires had necromancy spells under their belts, which often meant a never ending march of Ghouls. Summoned Ghouls which were worth fifty, count it, fifty EXP for an enemy that had as much health and attack power as a Bear which were level twenty two monsters.Fox eyed her, an eyebrow lifting ever so slightly.“Training,” Hedwig answered the unasked question, “I was going to fetch my Pet for some extra back-up. He's currently with my cousin in the Adventurer's Tournament,” she explained with a sour face. That was a long trip with every chance of running into the Saint Knights Coalition, or the Righteous Blades. She didn't want to deal with either of them right now.There was silence for a moment, then... “What level are you?” Cold Fox asked, folding his arms and leaning casually against the rock face. The two of them were currently stood on a cliff edge just beneath the bridge to Sun City. From the front, Sun City looked like a fortress, much like Hogwarts but with a definite European Gothic vibe to it, all pointy towers and gargoyles hidden behind a high stone wall in the middle of a canyon. The main entrance to the city was a wide and long bridge without railing or guard-wall. Beneath it, City side, was the entrance to the catacombs.Hm, that was actually a good question, she hadn't checked her stats in a while.“Status!” the Elf/Owl Beastwoman commanded, watching as her menu popped up. “Options-Profile Share: User Cold Fox. Confirm!” she continued, allowing the other player access to her menu, to see her combat stats, items, inventory, and even her equipment list.
NAME: White_Hedwig | GENDER: Female
LEVEL: 44 | RACE: Elf/Owl Beastman | JOB: Warrior | FAME: 13,000 | HEALTH: 2000 | MANA: 1800
STRENGTH: 50 | STAMINA: 35 | AGILITY: 75 | INTELLIGENCE: 60 | SPIRIT: 65 | WISDOM: 85 | CHARISMA: 50 | LUCK: £$%^& | SPECIAL SKILLS: Steel Wing, Fly, Defence Cloak, Razor Wing, Wing Needle, Lightning Conflagration, Static Rain, Thunder Roar, Thor's Hammer, Jupiter's Lightning Storm, Quetzalcoatl's Spear EXPERIENCE: 51,055 | UNSPENT SKILL POINTS: 75
INTENTORY: 1. Hyper Potion |2. Hyper Potion |3. Hyper Potion |4. N/A |5. N/A |6. N/A |7. N/A |8. Mana Root |9. Mana Root |10. Mana Root |11. Mana Extract |12. Fruit of Yggrassil |13. Soul Benediction |14. Soul Benediction |15. Soul Benediction |16. Soul Benediction |17. Tent |18. Tent
1. Hyper Potion | 2. Mana Root | 3. Mana Root | 4. Mana Root | 5. Witch's Broth | 6. Tea of the Healer | 7. Phoenix pinion | 8. Powdered Dragon Horn | 9. White Oak Wand | 10. N/A
Fox nodded, “You have a lot of unused Skill Points,” he observed. And a second Inventory menu. Someone had done the intelligent thing and bought themselves a secondary item pouch – so many players didn't realise you could even do that.She nodded, “I forgot about them,” she admitted idly.True enough. From what he'd heard around the town, the girl had been training like a thing possessed in order to regain her lost levels. Most players after they hit the level thirty five bracket tended not to notice the system announcements unless it was one of the warning pings. They were designed to get Player's attention in a very loud and obnoxious manner, thus were impossible to ignore unless you were on the Top 5 Infamous List (like Odd Squad's Lolidragon).Still, she had good stats. And had apparently done some serious grinding in the last two weeks if she had been able to go from her former level of twenty nine, to a whopping forty four. Though given how her usual teammates were in the Tournament after her level drop, it wasn't surprising that she would spend all that time grinding instead. Though... He would have thought she would have gone to watch. Is that not what most girls would do?“What's it like inside?” he questioned.She sighed, “Tight. Real tight. Little to no light. Ghouls crawl out of every patch of shadow you can think of and if there's a Vampire at a high enough level within a hundred metres their spawn rate doubles. All in all, not a place for a lone player. Enemies hit hard, fast, and like to box you in. Vampires, Ghouls, and Firebats occupy the first few chambers. After that you'll begin to see Lamia, and Wendigos, before hitting Nosferatu. The Master is supposedly somewhere within the burial chambers under the ruined Cathedral,” she explained, recalling the NPC's cryptic words.“There is no Cathedral,” Cold Fox pointed out with a frown.“Currently, no. But there was one written into Sun City's backstory. It's under the Crystal Chamber. The one that dictates who owns the city. When the City opens for invasion, if you destroy it, ownership of Sun City will pass to you. The Cathedral was there before it got burned down. The Castle was built over the ruins, supposedly.” Cold Fox felt his eyebrows moving towards his hairline, where on earth did she get this kind of information? “I spoke to the NPCs in the rose gardens and read a few plaques around the city,” she explained, spotting his facial expression.So, that meant she currently was the only one who knew where the Master was. Plenty of players had managed to reach his throne room and fought a hellishly difficult boss, the Nosferatu Vlad. But if Hedwig was correct, that was not the Master, which meant that no one had actually completed this Quest. Not properly.Interesting.“Alliance?” he proposed, standing straight and extending a hand to the girl. She had already proved more useful than any of the fools he dealt with at the Adventurer's Guild, and she was by far the most tolerable female he had encountered, barring a small handful – the human Warrior from the Righteous Blades, Swan Beauty; a lone Cat Beastwoman Priest, Milliana8; and the Dark Elf Bard, Sonita Road.Hedwig eyed him warily a moment but eventually took his hand, “Agreed.”| SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT : WHITE_HEDWIG HAS JOINED PARTY COLD_FOX |Hedwig scratched her forehead idly, it looked as though Dudley and Tien would have the assistance of Romy a while longer in that case.“The first chamber is clear,” she informed her new partner as she turned and made her way back into the gloom, snapping out a bolt of lightning at one of the torches, lighting the oil rag. The rough hewn square chamber was revealed in its flickering orange-yellow light, a few pieces of loot here and there, trinkets, useless bits of tat she had ignored. Cold Fox eyed the deeper shadows here and there as he nodded to her explanation.He drew his daggers and approached the second chamber. Cold Fox didn't think he had ever stepped into a more difficult dungeon in the entire game. The Vampire Catacombs stretched him to his absolute limit at his current level – not that he stayed at that level for long with the amount of experience points that Wendigos dropped.Panting, he sprawled back on a fallen pillar, shaking his head and grimacing at the feeling of his sweaty hair. He didn't even bother to try and bat Hedwig off as she saw to the missing chunk of his thigh, pouring half her Hyper Potion on the wound before swallowing the rest herself. When they first started this dungeon grind, he had endeavoured to be as self-sufficient as possible. That had not lasted very long, and it was only the very swift interruption of a wing with the same toughness and consistency as metal that prevented the Warrior from finding out how it felt to be on the receiving end of a distinctly unfriendly hickey. Life Drain was a bitch and for some reason his weapons were only causing half damage.After that, their combat style evolved to make full use of Hedwig's Steel Wing skill, Cold Fox's knife skill, and the sheer amount of speed the pair of them possessed. Even though she was a considerable number of levels below him, Hedwig's speed was actually on par with his own after she'd fed some of those unspent skill points into her Agility. The rest went into her strength and toughness, making her a combat monster that was faster than a Thief but hit just as hard as a Warrior.Hedwig got on with it. That was one thing Cold Fox had noticed about her over everything. She just got on with it. When she was injured, she would finish her current enemy, pull back, deal with it, and then return. If there was a pile of loot, she would take the most useful and leave the rest. She got on with her level-grinding, rocketing up to level fifty one within a day of their teaming up, and continuing to level sixty in the following two more, she didn't go off exploring or treasure hunting, or trying to strike up conversation with him. She didn't stop him when he decided to go down one tunnel instead of another, instead she just watched his back, and carried on with her level grinding. The pair of them were silent shadows moving through the dungeon at the best of times. They had even run into other players, or rather, sidled by other players – a team of three, warrior, priest, and thief – as they argued over which direction to take and whether or not to lay traps behind them to stop Nosferatu from sneaking up on them. None of the three had noticed either of them, even Hedwig with her large white and black wings.They left the team to bicker and carried on, heading north.After two more hours of walking and fighting, Hedwig stopped him.“This is it. We're close to the burial chambers,” she warned, nodding to the dusty stone shelves around them. He frowned at her in askance. “This is bone powder.” She reached out and picked it up, allowing it to sift through her fingers like fine flour, only... it wasn't. The consistency wasn't that of a ground up substance it was more... like wet chalk that'd been left for too long, and... Yes, now that he took a closer look, the dust was in... a certain shape. “Also, here, runes. These would be names, families or clans, perhaps even great deeds had they done them. Under cathedrals in England were the catacombs of nobles, priests, and great soldiers. Saints would have marble tombs, which I imagine we will end up finding further in, along with whatever royalty was written into the story if they're sticking with the European medieval theme that Sun City has.” She paused thoughtfully then and checked her inventory before grimacing, “How many health potions do you have?” she asked.He checked, “Four.”“About the same. We need to get more,” she decided, and shook her head at the almost frown on his face. “We'll be going against the Master, Fox. If what you've heard about Vlad is bad enough, imagine what the real one is like. You can stay here if you'd like, actually, it may be a good idea. If those players show up you can tell them it's a dead end and you're waiting for me to respawn and get back before going the other way. I'll go and get the potions and come back. I'm fast enough to dodge all the enemies,” she theorised quickly. Again, she caught his almost frown, and returned it with a look of confusion. He did not like the idea of her dungeon running on her own. Yes her speed was tremendous, but Nosferatu were just as fast, and sneaky. They liked jumping out from behind corners, and in these tight confines, she would be hard pressed to fight one off – especially as they often summoned Wendigos as back up.But she had a point.“Quickly,” he ordered sharply, before sitting down on his heels, crouching like a gargoyle amidst the darkness. Eyes glinting threateningly in the gloom.She nodded, muttering something snarky under her breath before skipping a single step and running – out of sight in the blink of an eye. Cold Fox scowled irately, settling in for a long wait. At full speed she was likely to reach the outside in an hour and thirty minutes. He would be here for possibly four hours. So, he opened his pack, took out a blanket, laid it on the dusty floor, and dug out some papers, idly scratching out a map of the catacombs. Perhaps they would come back on an item hunt in future.He decided not to think too heavily on the fact that he was making plans for the both of them.Cold Fox didn't have to wait as long as he feared for Hedwig's return, likely as not, she had cheated a little by taking to the skies upon escaping the tunnel system, and just flying over the walls straight to the item shop. He was fast beginning to feel a faint sting of envy over how convenient her ability to fly was. Still, he almost smirked as he watched her approaching through the darkness, that envy was tempered somewhat with amusement now as she was forced to tuck her wings under her armpits to avoid them catching, or dragging, on the tunnel walls around them as she sprinted.She finally staggered to a stop, breathing hard, and quite unable to talk as she braced her arms on her knees and panted from exertion. This, however, did not stop her from unclipping a third item bag from her waist and passing it to him. Opening it up while she got her breath back, he was greeted with nothing but Restoratives – good quality ones at that. Ones you had to buy at the Adventurer's Guild Market, not the cheapass item shop next to the city gates. Hyper Potions (700hp return), Mana Extract (Full mana return), Witch's Broth (500hp, 200mp), Soul Benediction (status ailment cure-all), even Roman Nuts! He couldn't stop his eyes from widening at the last item. They were obnoxiously rare. Granting the consumer immunity to all forms of damage for five minutes, they had a 0.3% drop rate in Demonic and Undead Monsters. Where had – no, better yet, HOW had she gotten hold of them?“Ready?” she asked, breath back. And Fox studied her for a moment.He knew Milliana8 exchanged sexual favours for rare items and high level equipment, and Sonita Road was not above using her feminine charms to get item discounts at the Adventurer's Market. But on the other hand, Hedwig most certainly did not ooze the same sexual grace that Milliana wore like a badge of honour, nor did she exclude any hint of feminine delicacy that Sonita was well known for. He had seen enough of how the other players in Sun City reacted to her to know that she was completely heedless, if not ignorant, to the almost feral appeal she had to men (What was it his mother said? Something about taming tigers?). In a game like Second Life, where everything from the shape of your nose, to your breast-size was customisable, Hedwig was refreshingly real, and completely unconcerned with anything but playing the game. She reminded him of a woman he knew from work. And just from that he knew that she had either bought the Roman Nuts, or received them in a drop. She wasn't the sexual or feminine type. Too... raw, and wild for that, the idea of following Milliana or Sonita's example would either have her recoiling in disgust, or just being confused.He nodded at her question, clipping the item pouch in place at his hip, and drew his silver washed knives. Idly, he wondered how she would react if he started hitting on her.He smirked a little to himself. She wouldn't even notice most likely. Not unless he made it so obvious he would be warned for sexual harassment. But... that had its amusements as well...Pushing his thoughts aside, Cold Fox took the lead as usual, and began to make his way further into the tunnel, eyes flicking this way and that as the area became less dusty... the cobwebs not quite so thick. And the bones in the shelves less mouldering, more solid. Some of them... not even there at all. Just very clear spaces where once they had been, and now as if they had lifted themselves free and slithered off somewhere. If this were a horror movie, this would be the point where all the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight and he came to the conclusion there were zombie skeletons clattering around. Since this was Second Life, however, he knew that there most likely was, and skeletons were only level thirty five. Nothing to fear.Slowly, the white stone became cleaner, and the torches overhead were lit. Orange fire light flickering across gleaming bleached bone as ghoulish grinning skulls leered at them through the darkness. The lack of enemies was making Fox's skin tingle with anticipation. Something big was going to happen, and soon. An ambush? Then came the change of smell. No longer was there just dust, and stale air, now there was the faint revolting perfume of rotting flesh and putrefaction. He felt Hedwig shift closer and made a quiet sound of disgust and distress. Turning, he followed her line of sight and suppressed a grimace of his own. The bodies were no longer ancient and bleached. Fresh bodies, bones stripped roughly of flesh – meat and tendon still stubbornly clinging to brown and grey bone fibres. A shrivelled blackened eyeball dangling from a gaping eye socket glared out at them even as yellowed broken teeth sneered. If he hadn't been forced to sleep in rooms a lot worse than this as part of his training, he likely would have found it disgusting as well. He shifted, and deliberately brushed Hedwig's side with his own, jarring her out of her horrified staring even as he turned away and carried on walking. He slowed a moment to let her catch up. Thankfully, she did not reach out to grab at him but instead pulled the collar of her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose (he said thankfully, but was a little disappointed regardless).It was almost jarringly abrupt when they found themselves stepping into what could only be a cross between a mausoleum and a king's bedchambers.Cream marble gleamed around them, decorated in velvet drapes of rich red and gold embroidery. Vivid shades of peacock blue and emerald green catching at eyes here and there amidst the chamber. And of course, utterly unmissable, was the large bed that spanned the entire width of the chamber opposite them, swathed in silks, velvet, and linens of vivid and decadent colours and embroidery only just visible between the thick drapes that hid it from view.“Welcome, gentleman and lady,” a richly cultured baritone purred from behind the now moving curtains.Fox felt Hedwig stiffen a little behind him and he stepped forward firmly, he hadn't liked that tone of voice nor the particular emphasis on her gender, and clearly neither had she. The curtains shifted and opened, revealing a sight that both of them could have done without.The Master was not what they had come to expect out of the game. For one, he was as ugly as sin. His skin was the same colour and texture as old cottage cheese, long pointed elf-like ears jutted out from a narrow pointed face, and high-sharp cheekbones. Stringy slicked back black hair, and unnatural acid yellow eyes watched them as a grin stretched, literally, from ear to ear, revealing a black gummed maw of double rowed serrated fangs akin to that of a shark's mouth. Lounging around him was what seemed to be a harem made almost exclusively out of beautiful Vampire women and a pair of Lamia twins. They wore little to nothing and did not seem shy about pleasuring each other while their Master was busy with his guests. Or rather... as they both noticed, with the only woman – Hedwig.The Master seemed to almost turn to smoke and drift lazily their way, reforming in front of the bed, standing up and smirking at them. His robes loose and indecently revealing. “How many centuries has it been since last I had visitors?” he pondered languidly before he roughly waved an arm at his harem. The girls all gathered themselves up, not bothering to dress but instead merely climbing off the bed, and filed out of a side door with giggles and looks in Hedwig's direction. “My children, as much as I love them, are much too concerned with frivolous things like security to let me have company. Especially company as lovely as yourself,” the Master continued, quite clearly completely ignoring Cold Fox. His yellow eyes trailing up and down the Owl Beastwoman's body with ponderous intensity, Fox recognised that look well enough, and it turned his stomach every time whenever he saw someone gauging another human being as something less than human. He nodded, tapping his chin with a long spidery finger, black clawed nails catching the light, “Yes. Many, centuries have passed since I last had someone new to entertain me,” he mused to himself.“I'm here for the sword,” Cold Fox announced sharply. This thing... he was only an NPC, but he was quite certain that were he to encounter this man in real life he would kill him out of sheer principle.The Master looked at him for the first time since he entered the chamber, an eyebrow climbing his wrinkled forehead, “Are you, indeed?” he questioned slowly, before a smirk crossed his lips. “Very well, I may allow you my blade, if... you allow me the pleasure of your companion,” he capitulated, yellow eyes boring into black even as a clawed hand swirled black smoke into the air, and a golden sword formed in his hand. It was a beautiful blade. Double sided, it looked as if it were almost made of bone, or golden stone, it had half a hand-guard that curved up like a fang, and the hilt possessed what was unmistakably a stylised gothic Christian cross.“No deal,” Cold Fox declared flatly.Hedwig shoved him out of the way and screamed as the blade pierced clean through her wing.The Master laughed as Cold Fox rolled and flipped back to his feet, throwing one of the daggers with deadly precision right in his face, the Nosferatu didn't even bother to block, the blade sank in through his eye socket but... there was no damage. His blade was completely ineffectual. The Master gave him a fanged grin as he lifted the beautiful sword and lazily licked off the blood running down the edge with a sickeningly prehensile black tongue.He closed his eyes, savouring the taste as Hedwig gulped down a Restorative and got to her feet.“Virgin's blood,” the Master purred in ecstasy. “Ooh,” he moaned, “How many years has it been since my tongue tasted this sweet nectar?” he near enough sang, eyes opening. Discomfort crawled up Cold Fox's spine, the white of his eyes had turned black, leaving only a ring of poisonous yellow to watch them. “I shall definitely have to keep you, my dear,” he declared before lunging forward.And the fight was on.The problem was, none of their weapons did any damage to him. Cold Fox's knives could stick in, but there was no damage and no drain on his Health. Hedwig's lightning spells caused massive drops in his health but all he required after that was a single lick of blood off his sword and he was back to full health. His regen was utterly insane! It was only the fact that he refused to use damaging attacks on Hedwig that stopped them from being TPK'd, the worst Hedwig had to face was status ailments, but with her Spirit stat being so ridiculously high she was able to soldier through almost all of them and heal him before dealing with her own health issues.Even punching him was useless because Fox's fists just sank straight through him when he turned his body into that queer black mist – which felt incredibly unpleasant when he put his hand in it.Hedwig's wings were no defence against that sword either. It was as if her Steel Wing knack was completely stripped away, or its strength was so ridiculously huge that it simply didn't matter. It seemed to amuse the Nosferatu whenever she would put herself between him and the sword, knowing her defence would do nothing but still using her body to stop the blade from reaching him.Cold Fox grunted, pushing himself up, jaw throbbing like a bitch as he got to his feet. Hand already digging through the Inventory pouch to grab at a potion. The Master wasn't only a bastard with that sword, he also had enough strength to throw him around like a disliked rag doll and –Hedwig screamed, high and loud, and full of pain.Fox shot upright, his eyes widening as the girl thrashed, screaming her throat raw as the Master gripped her waist tightly, easily lifting the shorter female off the ground, and lazily licked at the bloody stumps on her back where her wings used to be, smirking over her shoulder at him as he then sank his teeth in, making her scream even louder.He lunged forward, grabbing at one of her torn-free feathers, “Howling Wolf!” he roared, swinging the feather like a blade – it bit clean through the Master's arm and severed it. Hedwig dropped to the ground, fingers clumsily digging through her inventory for a Healing potion even as the Master's arm regrew in a shower of blood and back-handed the warrior aside.The Master reached down and pulled her up, grinning with his bloody mouth as he held her close and gripped her chin, “It has been many years since I last had a Queen,” he purred running a bloody tongue up her cheek. “I think its about time that changed, wouldn't you agree?” he asked maliciously as he forcefully turned her head, from the corner of her eye she could see two odd glands in the roof of his mouth flex and two serpent like fangs unfolded, dripping with a horrible viscous liquid that smelt like rotting fruit.Her hand was still in her Inventory Pouch.She had no weapons.Nothing except a glass bottle.She swung her arm up and slammed it into the side of the Master's head before those fangs could flash forward and bury themselves in her neck.But there wasn't the expected sound of shattering glass, rather an odd gagging hiss.She found herself dropping down to her feet and staggering backwards, hitting the ground in a sprawl as she realised what had just happened. Eyes widening as she looked up at the Master. What she had rammed into the side of his head hadn't been a bottle of Restorative that she thought she's had in her hand – it was the White Oak Wand she'd been given by the crazy NPC who gave her the secret quest.Those black and yellow eyes stared blankly at her even as the skin around the wand began to crackle and blacken. She swallowed and watched as the Master just.... crumbled. Like a piece of pork crackling left in the oven for too long it burnt and turned to ash, crumbling to nothing. A loud reverberating clang filling the room as the golden sword hit the ground beside his ashes, gleaming in the orange light of the torches.She near enough jumped out of her skin when a hand landed on her shoulder, wide green eyes landed on Cold Fox as he crouched beside her, Hyper Potion in hand. “Drink,” he ordered, brusque but almost gentle, keeping a hand on the bottle as her own – shaking too badly to keep a decent grip on the glass – raised it to her lips. He watched with careful dark eyes as her shaking subsided as the potion started doing its magic. He didn't move towards the sword he had clearly come to claim, instead, keeping a hand, warm and solid, on her shoulder until her wings had finished regenerating (It looked rather like a scene from the discovery channel on fast forward, first were baby owlet wings that steadily grew, shed the fluffy down and then became strong adult wings).She shuddered, “I hate vampires,” she finally managed to declare. Fox shook his head and repressed his mild smirk. She craned her head up and he was struck, not for the first time, by the colour of her eyes. “Leaving?” she asked hopefully and he nodded, they could come back and go treasure hunting later when they weren't so drained, and out of restoratives. He'd given her his last Hyper Potion and judging by the fact that she'd grabbed the wooden stake instead of a potion he was assuming she was as well.He helped her get to her feet and they split up, Hedwig went rummaging for whatever items she could find while Fox debated with himself, glancing between her and the sword on the ground. “Hedwig,” he called, she glanced at him and he gestured to the sword.She shook her head, “Yours. I have no skill with swords,” she declared simply.There was near grimace on his face, “It is one of the three godly weapons,” he explained.And she shook her head again, “And I can't use it. Its yours Fox.”Cold Fox watched as she then brushed the matter aside and went back to cracking open crypts and collecting gold and items. Well... He had his answer. Stooping, he picked up the blade and put it into his inventory. He would practice with it later, fighting his way through the Catacombs tired and injured with an unfamiliar weapon was pretty much almost suicide.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sun City was a welcome sight as Hedwig arced through the air, finally free of that claustrophobic dungeon. The view was very different from the back of the city, she could see all the beautiful terraced gardens and parks and verandas that weren't visible from the front. Sun City was as different as day and night depending on what side you approached from. Over the bridge was dark, foreboding, the ground leading up to it a barren wasteland. From the other side, up the mountain path, it was beautiful, drenched in sunlight, rose gardens and climbing wisteria and ivy, wild-flowers decorating the stretch of scrub land leading up to the wrought iron gates.Bright buttercups waved from below as she passed overhead.“Where do you want to land?” she asked, looking down to the stony faced warrior she was carrying. Cold Fox was not all that heavy with her strength stat, so it wasn't too difficult to clasp hands and take to the skies, though she didn't think he appreciated the way she allowed them to free fall before opening her wings and gliding in a graceful curve upwards into the sunlight.“Sea Turtle,” he grunted shortly, and tightened his grip to the point of cutting off her blood circulation as with a mighty pump of her wings they dove forward between the spires and towers of Sun City. A few players and NPCs stopping to stare as they went past. With the final round of the Adventurer's Tournament taking place, it was surprising that there were any players in Sun City at all. But then again, neither of them were there, so they hardly had room to throw stones. Having various dungeons to yourself for level grinding while EXP whores were busy beating one another to death in Star City must have been a relief. No more kill steals.The pair of them landed gently outside of the restaurant, Hedwig hovering momentarily so Cold Fox could swing himself down before she too followed suit. The inside was pretty much empty aside from a few NPCs guzzling beer and ale, a single player party was occupying a table at the back, arguing over a map, it was the same group they'd passed by in the tunnels before hand.Hedwig nudged Fox and nodded to them, silently asking whether or not it was alright to intervene, probably to help. He eyed her flatly for a moment before sneering grumpily and turning away, ordering a Black Magic on crushed ice for him, and non-alcoholic apple cider for her. Smiling a little as he waited for their drinks, Hedwig made her way over to the group, realising with an unpleasant start, that Winter Rose – the mage who had not very subtly threatened her earlier – was amongst their number.Still, she brushed it off and knocked on the end of their table as the Priest, a rather irate looking elf, was busily jabbing his finger on their handmade map. The sound immediately had all heads turning her way. She ignored the hiss that came from Winter Rose.“Sorry to interrupt,” Hedwig began, nodding her head apologetically, “I spotted you three down below in the Catacombs, I guess things didn't work out too well?” she questioned.The Dark Elf Thief nodded, she was a startlingly beautiful woman and quite different from the usual characters Hedwig saw in the area, for one, her vivid orange hair was in thick braids like he'd seen Angelina once wear, and she was dressed in what she could only describe as traditional African tribal garb – she had no idea which one, it involved a lot of brightly coloured beads and cloths.“Yeah. We got jumped by a ten-strong team, five Nosferatu, three Lamia, and two Vampyres. Of course then they started spawning Wendigos and Ghouls, and it all just went down hill from there. Ugh, I'm Hii'ane by the way, nice to meet you,” she added, stretching her hand out in a handshake, something that had never happened to Hedwig in this game. Mainly because Dudley's game and headset were attuned to the Chinese servers, not the European ones. Hii'ane's must be the same.She took the hand, “White Hedwig, pleasure. Look, I'll make this quick as your Mage has a dislike for me. If you're looking for the Master, you won't find him in the Throne Room. There's an old NPC up in the southern Rose Gardens not far from the white tower in City Centre. He'll tell you a bit about the city's backstory and give you an important item. You'll be able to find the Master under the old Cathedral,” she explained bluntly, “Good luck fighting him. He's got crazy regen and weapons have no effect on him. He's also a fucking creep.”Her piece said, she turned around and left, accepting her drink from Cold Fox as he handed it to her, the two of them retreating into the beer garden out back.“Soft,” he stated disapprovingly as they sat down. Hedwig rolled her eyes and flopped back on a bench, stretching her wings out over the back of it even as she drew her knees up to her chest. She wanted to say that she was being vengeful toward Winter Rose, setting her up to face the Master like that, but they both knew it would have been a lie because Hedwig had been planning on telling them before she even knew the other girl was there. She had been planning on helping them.“Maybe I am. It's not a bad thing. Sometimes,” she allowed before sipping her drink, blinking a little in surprise when she didn't taste the apple cider she had been expecting. She shot Cold Fox a look, but he was studiously ignoring her in favour of cloud watching, so she returned to her drink. It tasted like actual apple-pie, but slightly dusted with cinnamon, nutmeg, and honey. It was warm, as if heated before being given to her.She loved it and greedily made her way through it, unaware of the Assassin's glance of amusement.The two of them enjoyed their drinks silently, watching clouds drift lazily overhead, by the time they'd finished, the sun was beginning to set and their headpieces were reminding them that real life was waiting and demanding their attention. Hedwig sighed as she set her empty tankard down, mournfully wondering just what that drink was and where she could get some in real life, or even how to make it! She'd ask the NPC next time she logged in.“Tomorrow?” Cold Fox questioned.Hedwig hummed, “Maybe. It's the last event in the Adventurer's Tournament tomorrow, right?” she asked, and received a nod, “Then no. My cousin is competing with the Righteous Blades. I should probably go and cheer him on or something.”Cold Fox nodded in understanding, that was fair enough. Family was important.“PM me in future then,” he told her quietly as he opened up his friends' list and sent her a request. He had... enjoyed Dungeon grinding with her. Something he hadn't done with many people before, not even Sonita Road or Milliana8.Hedwig nodded, accepting it, “Will do.” And then logged off. Harry was livid when he logged into Second Life the next evening. How dare Ron– argh! Storming out of the tavern where Hedwig had been sleeping (apparently, when players went offline, the Avatars remained behind where ever it was they logged off, unless via emergency failsafes or outside interference. At which point, they would spawn at the nearest Rebirth point.), the Owl beastwoman stomped past anyone who might try to engage her in conversation, immediately making for the wastelands. She needed to kill some things. Kill them hard. Kill them fast.Hopefully she would be in a better mood by the time she reached Star City in time for the final round of the Adventurer's Tournament – she had specifically set a system alarm that would give her enough time to fly to the colosseum to watch it.She had been slaughtering everything around her with such negligent ease that by the time she'd been fighting mobs for over half an hour, she was completely slathered in blood and unaware of her stunned audience as mechanically she danced, ducked, swung, and leapt over the monsters trying to take her throat out.“My god...” Winter Rose breathed, feeling her knees go weak as she clung to the bark of a near-by tree, feeling pins and needles sweep across her skin, leaving gooseflesh in their wake. Her eyes were round, watching the Owl Beastwoman steadily, absently, and beautifully dispatch the lower levelled monsters around her.She had ditched Hii'ane, her husband Efra, and their friend Streak Hawk after their disaster of a dungeon run against the Master. She didn't think she had ever felt so weak, terrified, or violated before in her life, watching as the ugly beast tore through Efra, their level fifty eight warrior, like wet tissue paper before casually beheading Streak Hawk, their elf Priest, without even looking at him. What followed after that was her and Hii'ane slowly being Life Drained and poisoned, all the while getting molested by that fucking creep. Her skin still crawled and she wanted to cry. After they died, apparently Turned, the two of them appeared at the Rebirth Point where Efra and Streak Hawk had been waiting. Hii'ane hadn't waited for either of them to speak before she was throwing herself at her husband and breaking down into tears against him. Winter Rose hadn't been much better but she had been left to her own pain while the two men clustered around the Dark Elf in concern.So she'd stumbled off, abandoning their team, and striking out into the wilds to look for Cold Fox, this was the place he usually liked to train. Instead, she'd found the Owl Beastwoman fighting and found her breath stolen away.In real life, Daiyu was a photographer for various fashion and shopping catalogues. She was still relatively unknown, but the pictures she had submitted to the National Geographic of the natural world, micro-photos of rare butterflies, insects, ants. Grand vistas from famous mountain tops. She loved photography and liked to think she was a connoisseur of all things beautiful, male, female, plant, animal, earth, air, light, and dark. If it was beautiful, she would see and she would enjoy it. Hence in her opinion, anything she didn't like, was ugly.She had come to the conclusion that the Owl Beastwoman was ugly because of her instant feelings of dislike toward her, the scorn she felt at the grubby, dirty, young woman sat beside her Cold Fox. But now, she was spellbound, her mind racing as her fingers automatically fumbled for her Photocritter, a little Pet she'd bought at a market stand, she had thought it was perfect for her as it took pictures, was easy to store, wasn't too ugly either, it certainly had its own kind of macabre charm – uglycute her sister would have said.Almost immediately, she got to work, photographs of the winged warrior piling up in her pocket as she desperately tried to get as much of the clearly high-level warrior as possible. A little photoshop and she could make it look as if she were fighting amidst water, or would it be better to keep it as scarlet red blood? She could definitely see the beauty in the young woman now. The raw power and wild ferocity in every line of her body. The effortless grace of a dancer and the seemingly weightless manner that she turned to meet a new threat. She almost glided instead of walked, flowing like water, or wind, around attacks and strikes. She didn't... she didn't have that natural pretty demure charm, or that almost chemical beauty, or that classical elegance. She just was. And Daiyu couldn't help but think that she had seen nothing more exhilarating before in her entire career photographing for fashion magazines in Hong Kong.So caught up in her work, she was completely oblivious to the small mob that was coming up at her from behind.She was so absorbed that she continued to take pictures even as her subject leapt clean over her head, spear flashing in the morning light overhead before the entire mob were wiped out with a single action that her poor exhausted little Photocritter could barely keep up with.Winter Rose stumbled back, landing on her backside, her eyes wide as the warrior's clothing and hair settled. Her Photocritter managed to take one more shot and then she turned to face them, eyes flashing in recognition, but nothing else.“Are you alright?” she asked flatly.Winter Rose nodded dumbfoundedly.And that was enough for the other player, White Hedwig, to nod and turn, beginning to walk away.Winter Rose scrambled to her feet, hastily stowing her tired Critter away. “H-hey wait!” she called, stumbling after the warrior. “Th-that was amazing!” she gushed as soon as she caught up, “I've never seen anything like it!”Hedwig glanced sideways to her in mild confusion, “Cold Fox and I parted ways yesterday. I'm not going to meet him. We only partnered for convenience sake at the last dungeon,” she pointed out, clearly expecting Winter Rose to go back to her prior behaviour and leave.Instead, she waved a hand, “I figured. Don't get me wrong, I adore Cold Fox, he has a face and body that models wish they could have. And all of his mannerisms are gloriously graceful. But you... I've never seen anything like it! You were beautiful. Honestly! You stole my breath away!” she exclaimed, latching onto Hedwig's arm. “Do you study any Martial Arts in real life? There's no way you can fight like that in game and not be able to in real life!” the girl gushed excitedly, stars practically gleaming in her eyes as she looked down (just a little) at the other girl.Hedwig's green eyes were wide (and they were such a lovely shade of green too! Rose wondered if they were custom or if she really had that shade of eye colour in real life) and her expression shocked, and rapidly becoming a little anxious and wary. “Ah, no. No, I was... never allowed,” she admitted stumbling over her words ever so slightly.'Please tell me I haven't just acquired a fan. PLEASE!' the warrior mentally begged, trying to gently extract her arm from the clingy Mage's grasp.“Um, I have to go. My cousin is competing in the Adventurer's Tournament. I want to give him some things before he gets into the arena,” she explained before trying to wriggle her arm free.Winter Rose was oblivious, or so aware and determined to ignore her that she merely tightened her grip, “Excellent! I was planning on going there anyway, I wanted to get some photographs of the Blood Elf and his Odd Squad!” she explained happily.Hedwig sighed and looked heavenwards, silently asking what she had done to offend the gods. Unfortunately, thanks to the extra weight of Winter Rose, they didn't get to Star City in time to visit Dudley or Tien before they were due out in the arena. So, grumpy, Hedwig by-passed the lines waiting to be seated and flew into the colosseum to get herself a seat not far from the front.“Hedwig!” Dudley called, spotting her from his place in the crowd. A fair few of the Righteous Blades turned to look at her, Nan Gong Zui, Swan Beauty and Kong Kong making their way over along with Dudley and Tien. “Where have you been? You missed all of our matches!” her cousin complained unhappily.“Sorry, Fist, I've been level grinding,” she explained with a shake of her head, leaning down to pat his head. “I wanted to get here earlier to give you guys some equipment but I was held up a little and missed you. Sorry about that.”“No problem,” Nan Gong Zui told her, waving her apology aside, “How are you feeling? Think you feel up to joining us?” he asked, before nodding over to the rest of the Righteous Blades who all called in agreement. Kong Kong being the only voice of protest while Chuang Wai admitted that he would be willing to sit out if she wanted to join them. “We added your name to the team roster so there should be no legal issue.”Hedwig snorted, “Sorry, no can do. I don't qualify for the Tournament anymore.”Tien spluttered, “Surely you regained your levels though! You've been grinding like crazy!” he exclaimed in confusion.The Owl beastwoman smirked, “I have. But I don't qualify for the Tournament anymore. I went way past the level cap days ago,” she pointed out with a grin as Kong Kong, Broken Fist, and Lung Tien spluttered in shock. Nan Gong Zui and Swan Beauty just laughed.“What level...” Dudley asked faintly.“Last I checked... sixty three,” she bragged in mirth, three levels above the cut-off limit for the tournament, watching as her cousin blanched before a light of competitiveness filled his face. It was a nice feeling, she decided, her cousin had always been better at games because he was the only one who played them, so she had been anticipating forever hanging off his coat-tails in this game. To know that she was now so much more stronger than him was just satisfying. And knowing that the two of them were now going to be directly competing against one another was fun – like facing against Draco Malfoy but without the animosity. Both of them were good, both knew that they were good, both wanted to see who was better.“There-there you are!” panted an unwelcome female voice before a much unwelcome, but not unfamiliar, weight settled against her arm. Winter Rose gasped for air, having tried to rush her way through the throngs of players to get to her side, meanwhile, Hedwig had an expression that Dudley was very familiar with on her face, the one that said 'I would hit you if only I could get away with it' written all over it.He snorted, “New friend?” he asked evilly.The dark expression the Owl beastwoman shot him said enough. “Go fight your damn battle. Oh and Fist, don't be afraid to use your fists on them. Second Life only has a 0.3-percent difference with real life. Real life applies as well as game logics. There is no glass ceiling,” she pointed out with a grin as a gong rung out encouraging everyone to their seats and starting positions.That.... that was actually a good point, those who overheard her realised. If you applied video game logic to real life, there were no limits, everything was possible.“//Everyone, a hundred of Second Life's most outstanding teams will soon be participating in an intense battle for survival. Don't look away, or you'll miss seeing this exciting scene. Don't close your mouths – cheer your hearts out for your favourite team! I am Xiao Li, the commentator who will be reporting this entire life-and-death battle for you all today!//” the commentator roared excitedly, even going so far as to hop around excitedly as he shouted into his microphone.“Good luck,” Hedwig commanded, reaching down and giving Broken Fist a high-five. He gave her a thumbs up as they turned around and returned to the main area of the arena. She sat back, Winter Rose beside her with a trio of small photocritters floating around her, she frowned and glanced at them, she had one of those things out earlier when they were in the forest. Deciding to brush the matter off, she turned to observe the other teams.It seemed as if, with the exception of a pair of rather odd-ball looking teams lurking together at the back of the Saint Knights Coalition, the other ninety eight teams had split into three factions. Nan Gong Zui and his Righteous Blades were chock full of familiar faces from Sun and Moon City, all fairly high levels players (or what she used to consider high level before her last dungeon run with Cold Fox), and all of them very honourable if memory served. These were the people who played fair and tried to do the right thing. They would help new players, guide them on their first Dungeon runs, etc, hold doors open for girls, help elderly NPCs even with the most asinine of tasks. The kind of people that their mother's would be proud of.The Saint Knights Coalition equally had familiar faces in it. Mostly from Moon and Star City though, but there were a few faces she remembered around Sun City. Ice Phoenix in particular. Though she was in the stands, instead of amidst the Coalition. Kui was there, standing at Fan's elbow. Both of them had spotted her, Fan's expression was haughty and arrogant, but also maliciously pleased to see her. Kui however, had blanched chalk white, and his eyes were wide. Oh? She guessed he must have learned Sense and got a good look at her stats and level. Looked like someone had been branching out their skill sets. (Sense was primarily part of a Priest's skill sets, it was a fairly minor spell, but difficult to learn. Worth its weight in Crystal coins though. Any job class could learn it, Priests just found it easier because the more they concentrated on precise healing, instead of spamming heal all spells, the more attuned their magical senses were until they just learned it Other job classes had to go through gruelling, and often terrifying training to gain that knack.)The final group seemed to be comprised almost entirely of Beastmen. And all of them were chomping at the bit to get started from the look of their restless shifting and the sounds of metal scraping on rock and metal.“//Battle, BEGIN!//” Xiao Li crowed, clearly expecting an explosion of movement. Much like everyone else in the stands.However, it didn't happen. The three groups faced each other, in stony, grim silence. And not just any silence, Hedwig felt the hairs on her arms stand on end, this was the silence that came before a storm.The Tiger Beastman cracked first, “AT THEM!” he roared, shattering the silence and beginning the clash as he and his men pitched forward like a tide of fur and anger.Nan Gong Zui, cold and stone faced, merely drew his blade, “Kill,” he commanded sharply, knowing and trusting his allies to do as told. He didn't even speak loudly, he had no need to as the Righteous Blades rose up behind him and followed him unflinchingly into battle. The crunch of armour and blades nearly drowned out the deafening cheers and screams from the audience.Hedwig paid Fan and his cowardliness no mind as she watched and analysed the battle. Nan Gong Zui had been training hard, she could see. He looked roughly level forty seven, perhaps a tad higher if the movements he was performing were any indication. Then again, he was good at what he did, it wouldn't surprise her to know that he had been using advanced knacks above his level bracket since day one. She could see the oddball team moving around the fringes of the conflict and felt approval. They were small in numbers, being only two teams strong, but they were well balanced, she could see that easily enough. They were doing much the same thing as Fan, waiting for the other teams to fight and exhaust themselves before getting involved. The difference was that with their small numbers, it was a viable and intelligent tactic. For Fan, who had the largest force in the arena, it was just cowardice.“Oh, it's the Blood Elf!” Winter Rose squealed – right in Hedwig's ear. The Owl Beastwoman flinched and leaned away in mild pain. Downside of being an owl. Their eyesight is good, their hearing is even better. “There! There! Oh, his face is gorgeous! Lens, quickly, pictures, zero in on the albino elf with the black dao,” she ordered the light blue photocritter who fluttered off, green and red critters staying on her shoulders.Hedwig had to approve of the Blood Elf's movements. There was definitely talent in that and it seemed as if he was taking full advantage of the Game's 99-percent realism in a way that so far only she and Cold Fox had. That dao though... she'd never heard of a black one. Was that one of the Godly- no, Fox said that the three Godly weapons only came in one type for each. He had the sword. There was an Axe somewhere supposedly on the Western Continent and no one knew where the third one was, just that it was a long bow. Perhaps it was a Growing type? They weren't listed in Equipment registries because certain places gave you different growing types based upon your preferences. Such as the hidden quest in the Northern continent. Apparently you could get a Growing Type weapon from a tree, but it would depend entirely on what weapon you asked for. No one had managed to even find that quest, let alone do it because the Northern continent was mostly made up of forest, flowers, and mountains. Finding a single tree there would be impossible.Not that she wasn't going to try after this Tournament was over.She spotted Dudley fly away after clashing Kui, the two of them going at the same time – Kui having managed to thrust a blade through the human's chest even as Dudley slammed both armoured fists together on the other warrior's head. An earclap manoeuvre with all of his strength, literally crushing Kui's skull like an egg. It looked as if he had been disarmed earlier, losing his sword, and fallen back onto his boxing. Good. It was nice to know her advice hadn't been ignored.Leaving Winter Rose behind, Hedwig made her way out of the arena to the in-house rebirth point. Once there, she had to stop short as what looked like a brawl was happening in front of her. Apparently the Saint Knights weren't taking the fact that they had been killed as a sign to stop the battle and were lashing out at everyone around them in an effort to kill as many and lower their levels as possible.She drew her bisento and slammed it to the ground, “Jupiter's Lightning Storm,” she intoned coldly. Watching as the floor lit up, startling everyone into looking down and stopping their movements. A split second before forked tongues of lightning filled the room. She held the spell only for a split second, not enough to kill, but enough to cause Status Effect – Paralysis.“That is enough,” she growled stalking forward. “Your parts in this tournament have come to an end. Continuing to fight right now, in front of the rebirth point only proves how pathetic you are. Get out. Now. Before I corpse camp you to level one,” she promised, silently invoking Quetzalcoatl's Spear, lightning encasing her whole body and concentrating on her bisento, which lengthened, thickened, and gained red detailing. All the while everyone in the room could feel the electricity rolling off her body.The troublemakers quickly made their exit and she dropped the spell before hanging out healing potions to those who remained.She pointedly ignored Fan when he flashed into existence at the rebirth point. Not even blinking as he started sneering at her. She was busy with more important things.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Well, if it isn't the pathetic little chit who couldn't handle a little pain,” Fan sneered at the owl beastwoman as she handed out restoratives to one of the Righteous Blades’ Dark Elf Warriors, a former teammate of her’s whose username was disgustingly ostentatious. Lung Tien, really? Celestial Dragon? How tasteless. The steely blue-grey eyes of the Dark Elf narrowed furiously on him, but he didn’t move. Infuriatingly, the woman didn’t even look up as she moved on, handing another potion out, this time to a member of the Beast alliance.He grit his teeth at her complete dismissal of him.After the shame of being defeated by that albino elf Prince and then the pure outrage and fury that came with being killed by Nan Gong Zui, of all pathetic wastes of space, this was too much. Having some mewling pair of tits ignore him while he was speaking to her, the blatant disrespect of her betters set his temper flaring.He grabbed her arm, “YOU WILL LISTEN TO YOUR BETTERS WHEN THEY ARE SPEAKING, WOMAN!!” he roared, yanking at her arm – only, it didn’t move. At all.Green eyes locked on his face, cold and glaring, eyes that then slid down to the grip he had on her arm, lingered, and then canted upwards to his face, dark eyebrows coming down into a scowl.“Let. Go.”Every hair on his body bristled with outrage, “You – ”And then he bent double over the hammer-like gauntlet that buried itself in his stomach, cutting his HP down 90% in one hit. He gagged, eyes bulging in a mix of disbelief and pain. The system cut pain reception down to a scant 30% of what he would have felt in real life but never – even in the game – never had he ever been hit so hard before. He had drunk a max potion and been restored to full HP, and now he had only 10% of his overall health remaining. She had only hit him once.A pair of soft lips hovered beside his ear, breath moist and warm against his skin, “You should learn to respect those around you. You never know what they’re capable of,” she whispered softly as he slid off her hand and fell to the floor gasping.“Ouch. When you said you’d hit the seventies level cap, I hadn’t really believed you,” the detestable voice of Nan Gong Zui spoke out. Fan shuddered. Level seventy? That wasn’t possible. Not when the majority of her team were here! Whose team had she been partnered with? She couldn’t have been solo-ing, women were useless in combat!“Believe what you like. Either way, I’m heading to the Northern Continent. There’s a Quest up there where you can claim a Growing Type Weapon, I’m going to check it out,” the woman explained stepping over the Holy Knight’s prone form. “I’m assuming Romy’s in the pet-storage, right?”The Dark Elf, Lung Tien, nodded, “Yeah. He hit the level forty cap earlier, he’s been asking after you,” the warrior added. “Your loyalty stat may not be very high, just to warm you. You’ve not been with him for a while.”“That’s fine.”Fan didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as the woman left, Dark Elf and blond human Warrior in tow. Nan Gong Zui looking down on him before sighing, “Dumb bastard,” he muttered before following after.He was going to kill that bitch. Corpse Camp her again down to level one, and hire a hacker to fry her fucking brain. Romy was surprisingly ecstatic to see his ‘Mother’ again. Eagerly bounding up to the winged warrior and standing on his hind legs in order to lick her face, forepaws on her shoulders.“You’re okay! Why didn’t you come and get me? I like Uncle Fist and Uncle Tien, but I like mother more,” the monstrously huge white wolf complained childishly. Hedwig sighed, messing with his ears, not bothering to push him down. With her strength stat there was no problem with his weight like there would have been in real life.“I was level grinding in a place that I didn’t think I could protect you in. Plus, someone needed to keep those idiots safe,” she explained ignoring the indignant yelps from the boys.Romy huffed, “They were fine. All they did was train with Tattoo Face and eat other people's faces when they didn’t think I was paying attention,” he complained.Dudley and Tien started yelling in horror and embarrassment, their words garbled and indistinct with their distress as Hedwig continued to stroke her wolf’s ears and eye the pair of them in thorough amusement, a light of speculation in her gaze.“Eating other people's faces, huh?” she echoed curiously, smirking as Dudley and Tien went ash white – an impressive feat given Tien’s Dark Elf colouring. “When did this start? And who was it?” she asked.Romy huffed, “Two weeks ago. It was weird. If they were going to attack each other there should have been more biting. It was like moths bumping into each other using their faces. Fist was with someone like him. Tien was with someone like mother.”Dudley choked and had to turn away in mortification, hiding his face in his hands with a groan of dismay. It was then that Hedwig started laughing. The last person she expected to hook up with a man was Dudley, mainly because she’d spent her life under the impression that he – like his father – was homophobic, and Tien had spent the first month of Second Life staring at her backside and following her around like a lost puppy muttering about marriage and how he hoped people thought they were an item. So, to find out that in her absence the two of them had found other interests and started kissing was... interesting as much as it was hilarious.“So, when were you two going to tell me about this?” she asked playfully, smirking at the pair.Dudley shuffled, “Well, ah, with what Dad used to say, err, I didn’t think....” he trailed off awkwardly.“You thought I’d be homophobic, like him,” she summed up lazily as she scruffed Romy’s ears, smirking at his sheepish nod. Hedwig hummed, wrapping her arms tightly around her wolf and gently swaying with him, his tail wagging from side to side happily with the affection. “It isn’t frowned on with my lot, you know. At least not anymore. I think my godfather was gay as well. He never married but the way he acted with Remus, my dad’s other bestfriend... I always wondered,” she mused before looking over at the pair and smiling, “Honestly, as long as you two are happy, I don’t care what you get up to. Just try not to corrupt Romy’s eyes in the process,” she teased, making their faces go red.“But my eyes are fine though,” the wolf protested.Hedwig kissed his snout, “I know they are.” Somehow it was easy. Easy to be so affectionate with the wolf, to touch and hug and kiss the animal that called her mother. Even if it was a game programme, nothing more than a collection of ones and zeroes and software packages that had to follow the rules of this virtual game... Harry supposed that was why it made it easier, safer, to show affection, to give affection, to the fake animal than to a real person, like Dudley. Like Tien.“Are you sure about going to the Northern Continent alone?” Dudley asked anxiously, “There are plenty of high-level grind spots in Central.”“But no quests for Growing Type Weaponry,” the beastwoman pointed out.Tien shook his head, “The Dryad Tree quest hasn’t been completed yet for a very good reason, it’s nearly impossible to even find!” he exclaimed, “Not to mention there’s no way of communicating between countries. No such thing as PMs and what have you. Are you sure, Hedwig? We could come with you. Nan Gong Zui would let us,” he pointed out wheedlingly.Hedwig glowered at him, “I am perfectly able to take care of myself, Tien,” she pointed out sourly, “Just because I have tits doesn’t mean I am in any way incapable.” Dudley laughed knowingly, making Tien eye him in disgusted confusion while Hedwig huffed.There was an inside joke there that he wasn’t privy to and it was pissing him off.“Are we going somewhere, mother?” Romy asked as he dropped down to all fours at long last. Hedwig nodded as she opened up her inventory and rummaged around.“Yep. Here, I picked this up for you. Hold still while I equip it,” she requested as she materialised the item in hand and equipped it to the large white wolf.Dudley gaped, “That’s Icarus’ Plumage! A super rare item, where the hell did you get it?” he wheezed staring at the large feather wings that were now arching out from the wolf’s back. Romy yipped excitedly and pumped them hard, taking to the air and fluttering around his Mother in glee, performing flips and rolls and tumbles in the air.Hedwig smiled as she followed the wolf’s progress with her eyes and fiddled with the colour wheel to turn them as pure white as her pet, “I completed the Vampire Catacomb Quest, defeated the Master and raided his crypt. If you guys want to do the Quest, you should talk to the old NPC at the northern rose garden, he’ll tell you where the real master is. Vlad is the second in command you find in the Throne Room. Just be careful, he’s got crazy regen, hates male players, and regular weapons have little to no effect.”Dudley sighed, watching the wolf fly around the pet centre, side-slipping Odd Squad’s Phoenix and Meatbun duo with a roll, “Can you even afford a ship to Northern? It’s like... five-thousand crystal coins.”Hedwig nodded, “Sure. But I have eight thousand and Northern supposedly has the strongest dungeons so I’ll do some grinding while I’m there to earn the remaining two thousand.”Dudley pulled the Dark Elf back and smiled at his cousin, knowing a lost cause when he heard one, “Stay safe. In and out of game.”Hedwig smiled, “I will.” [New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE: Cold Fox, I heard about a quest in the Northern Continent for a customisable Growing Type weapon. I'm shipping out for it tonight so I won't be available for any dungeon runs until I get back. Sorry. Maybe when I get back. /END MESSAGE.] [New PM received! Sender: COLD FOX. MESSAGE: Would you like some company? Northern Continent supposedly has exceptionally powerful enemies. And I owe you for Bloodthirst. /END MESSAGE.] [New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE: Can you afford the ferry fee? It's five thousand crystal and two gold coins. /END MESSAGE.]
[New PM received! Sender: COLD FOX. MESSAGE:
I can. Central Continent is getting boring anyway. I will meet you at the docks.
/END MESSAGE.]
[New PM received! Sender: WHITE HEDWIG. MESSAGE:
I don't imagine Northern will be much different, and the trip takes five days. If you're still interested, I'll meet you there.
/END MESSAGE.]
Cold Fox was waiting for her at the docks as promised, she didn't know why she was surprised but she was.“Where is your cousin?” he asked, peering around one of her wings as if expecting to see Dudley lurking behind her.She shrugged, “He's a member of the Righteous Blades.” Nan Gong Zui would have no doubt allowed him to run off with her if he'd asked, they were friendly and as much as he respected her he was also old fashioned and under the impression that it was a man's duty to protect his relatives – male or female, but especially female. But both she and Dudley had their understanding that they were their own people and neither of them needed each other to watch their backs, the game was just their opportunity to try again as family while enjoying themselves. They were never going to be as close knit as say the Weasleys.Cold Fox tipped his head to one side, eyes narrowing a hair as if questioning what that had to do with anything and she huffed a little in amusement as she made her way past him to pay for her passage.“My cousin and I are friendly, but not particularly close. I don't expect him to drop his life to follow me to a different continent when he's finally joined a Guild he likes, and even found himself a boyfriend,” she explained as she paid her fee and collected the scrap of ticket from the smiling NPC.“Boyfriend?” Fox echoed, and then stiffened a little when Hedwig turned to him with a cold look.“Yes. And I am very pleased that he has found happiness,” she said frostily. Well. He shrugged a shoulder with a small huff of a smile, it was hardly his business what others did. She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before nodding shortly and turning, whistling sharply, a moment later a white shape shot down from the sky and landed beside her. “This is my pet, Romulus. Romy, this is Cold Fox, he's a friend,” she told the pure white wolf beside her wearing the one of the Icarus Plumages they obtained from Vampire Catacombs. It was quite a handsome animal, head level with her ribcage, golden eyes, and powerful looking jaws, he examined the pet's stats and was somewhat surprised to see it in the upper-level forties bracket, meaning it was intelligent enough to speak and learn.“Nice to meet you, Cold Fox,” the wolf greeted with a small dip of its head.He nodded to the animal before looking at the woman in amusement, “You taught it manners?” he asked mirthfully as they headed down the pier towards the ship.She nodded, “Of course. He can talk now so it only makes sense to be polite,” she said, smiling as she reached down to ruffle the animal's ears.The two of them paused to present their tickets to the dockmaster before they were allowed to board, and were shown to their room – because they were in a party, they had a shared room which didn't bother him at all. He half expected her to take issue with it, but she seemed completely ignorant to the social implications of a young man and woman in a shared sleeping environment.The five day trip to the Northern Continent had to pass in IRL time, so for the next five evenings whenever Harry logged in, he was trapped upon the ship with both Cold Fox and Romy. It wasn't so bad, he actually found it more agreeable than the tent. After Ron had left, it left just him and Hermione in hiding, depressed and being influenced by the Horcrux, slowly starving, too scared to venture into any of the near-by muggle towns or villages just in case they were caught and it became a bloodbath. Cold Fox was quiet, yes, but it was soothing, not depressing like Hermione sometimes became when she went quiet. He didn't worry constantly that Cox Fox regretted coming with him and was slowly coming to resent him for their circumstances.He spent most of the ship journey fussing and loving on Romy, teaching him tricks and fighting techniques. His loyalty stat went up the more she interacted with him which was pretty cool, she got to learn a lot more about Tien and Dudley's activities than she ever wanted to learn, along with the rest of the gossip going on at the Righteous Blades. Romy was very curious and demanded explanations for a lot of things, and she didn't see a problem with explaining them.“Why don't you have a boyfriend then?” the wolf asked one evening while they were sat with a few of the other players eating dinner, Cold Fox beside her with his own dinner pausing at the question.Looks were exchanged between the others and Hedwig shrugged a shoulder, “Never been interested. I just want to kill monsters and explore interesting places,” she said with a grin as she ruffled his ears and turned back to her drink. Playing Second Life had only served to highlight how small her world had been, how insular the Wizarding World was, enclosed and secluded. She'd travelled more as Hedwig than she'd ever had as Harry, and true part of that could be laid at the feet of being a school child, but when her world was narrowed down to four locations, and half of them she wasn't permitted to travel without escort....“You've never been with anyone before?” Fox asked curiously beside her.She smirked at him, “Did I say that?” she asked idly. “I've never had a boyfriend but I've had girlfriends in the past. They just didn't last very long,” she admitted with a quiet sigh, ignoring the sudden overly interested men within hearing distance. “My first was a senpai. Her boyfriend had unfortunately passed away the year before. We were close, him and I, he was a good guy who tried to look out for me. I was there when it happened, when he died, and she kind of used me as a rebound because of that. I'd liked her since I was thirteen, we played the same sport at school on rival teams so we were familiar with each other, and I'd been teaching her and a few other classmates self-defence that year. She was very smart and pretty, but.... she was in a very bad place and looking for validation. I was only fifteen and kind of stupid at the time. I'm not good with people and I ended up hurting her feelings. The other girl was last year. My bestfriend's younger sister. I think... I don't think I really had real feelings for her, not really. She was pretty, and she was interested in me so.... everyone expected us to get together, and she was very pretty. I wasn't particularly thinking much. But things got crazy at the end of the year and we decided it would be better if we broke up.”Fox hummed, eating his meal quietly for a moment, “So, you're not interested in guys at all?” he asked, almost sounding disappointed.She shrugged looking up at the sky, not even objecting as Romy stuck his nose in her food bowl to eat the left overs. “I've... thought about it. But there were no decent guys at school,” she admitted with a laugh, “I was either already close enough friends with them to know their hygiene habits, or had gotten into fights with them.”“Hygiene habits?” Fox echoed in amusement and trepidation.“Would you want to kiss a guy who only brushes his teeth when they change colour, or wears their underwear for three days one way, turns them inside out and then wears them another three days before bothering to toss them in the laundry?” she asked rhetorically with a shudder.Fox recoiled in disgust, and put his food aside.Romy did not have that problem and eagerly gobbled the discarded food up.“So, if a guy had good hygiene and hadn't gotten into a fight with you prior, you'd at least consider them?” the brunet continued his line of questioning thoughtfully, watching her from the corner of a brown eye.She huffed, “Not even close. He'd also have to know how to defend himself and have a good sense of humour,” she stated with a chuckle, “My cousin isn't particularly protective, but my bestfriend and his five older brothers definitely are. And my best female friend has actually set a teacher on fire in my defence once,” she bragged fondly. She had damn good friends. Even if.... Ron wasn't a friend anymore. Her smile dropped.“What's wrong?” and of course Fox noticed immediately. She could never particularly accuse him of being unobservant. Uncaring perhaps on occasion, but never unobservant.“We had a falling out. My friend and I. We're currently on a camping trip, and he just up and left us a few days ago. Actually, the day after we separated in fact. I haven't heard from him since,” she admitted drawing her knees up, “I hope he's safe.”Cold Fox didn't respond, not verbally anyway, he scooched a little closer and leaned into her side which for him was pretty much akin to a hug from what she recalled of his mannerisms. She appreciated it. She herself still wasn't a hundred percent with physical contact. It was easier in Second Life, there was just enough of a disconnect between herself and the avatar that it didn't feel suffocating or sticky when someone touched her. It didn't make her want to shimmy out of her skin, or make her so uncomfortable she got shaky and ended up with heartburn for the rest of the evening.The other players left her be after that night, not that they were particularly talkative towards her before hand with Cold Fox practically looming over her shoulder like a particularly unfriendly shadow, but it seemed a little more pointed now. Whether it was because they thought she was a lesbian or what she had no idea, but she shrugged and passed the last day on the ship brushing Romy thoroughly and humming whatever tune was stuck in her head from the wizarding wireless that afternoon.They got off the ship in a town called 'Lily City', which was oddly apt despite the almost viking like architecture – the water ways around them were stuffed with waterlilies, looking more like the photographs of Taiwan and China she would see in the travel magazines Aunt Petunia would cover the coffee table with to make the neighbours think they were well travelled and rich.She drew even more stares in the Northern Continent than she did in Central, which was unsurprising when she took a moment to consider why – there were no beastfolk here. Winged or otherwise.She tensed a little as Cold Fox came up beside her, hand pressing against the small of her back and sliding around to her hip as he frowned at the other players. Several of them looked away and she forced herself to relax, keeping in step with Fox as they walked away from the docks, Romy padding at her side, keeping sharp eyes on their surroundings. Fox had very warm hands, she noted somewhat inanely as they walked, and the feeling of his arm around her waist was very different to how it felt when Ginny did the same. She just couldn't put her finger on how.“Shall we get a room at the inn and start asking around for your quest, or do that first and then get a room?” Fox asked quietly as he pulled her a little more tightly against him as they skirted past a group of holymen warriors who were eyeing the obvious foreigners with curiosity and interest.Was she really that much shorter than him?“...Ask around first,” she decided, stepping forward and away from him. “I heard rumour that it was a fairly low level quest, but a hidden one involving goblins.”Cold Fox nodded, not even batting an eye at her retreat as he summoned up a map, “According to the guides on Northern Continent, there are goblin territories here, and here. The forums I looked at also mentioned that the growing type weapon was to do with a talking tree.”Hedwig sighed and peered at his map, “Talking tree hm. That's a new one. Are ents in this game?” she asked peering up at him.“Ents? No. But there are dryads, nymphs, man-eating fly traps, and a number of beast types that are half plant,” he listed, pulling up the territories of each beast on the map.Dryads overlapped a tiny bit with one of the goblin territories on the mountain in the north east.“Maybe this one. It's the closest goblin territory,” she mused, shifting closer so she could point it out, only to tense up when his hand once again found a home on her hip. He didn't move it even as he used his other hand to zoom in on the map.“Nearest city is Icicle. And.... there's this one here. Northern's player owned city, still as of yet unnamed,” he observed, pointing to the city territory in the centre of the map.Hedwig ignored the hand on her hip with a little difficulty, “Hmm... I knew that city ownership could be transferred, but I hadn't heard anything about the events going live,” she muttered, eyes tracing the various paths between their current position and where they needed to go.“They haven't. The Adventurer's Tournament in Central was at the same time as the other tournaments in the other continents. All of them have land as their various rewards,” Fox explained, suddenly snapping his head around to glare at someone, tightening his hand on her hip and pulling her closer. Another group of people went past, a mixed assortment of angels, elves, and holymen. Hedwig's large white and black wings were five times the size of the small wings on the back of the angels. And they were all staring at her again.She hated people staring at her.“Let's... forget the inn tonight and just go,” she muttered, “Did you keep your Icarus Plumage?” she asked looking up at him. He shook his head, expression twisting ever so slightly in annoyance. “Well, hold on tight. I'll – ” He twisted around to face her, chest to chest, and both of his arms went around her waist, squeezing tightly.She froze.“I prefer not to be carried like a shopping bag,” Fox told her plainly when she made no obvious to move or continue her sentence.“...R-right.” Guess he really hadn't appreciated the free-fall outside the catacombs. She sighed and tucked her arms up under his armpits and around his shoulders. “Come on, Romy!” she called, bending her knees a little and launching herself skyward with a hard thrust of her wings – feeling Fox's arms tighten around her waist as their heights seemed to reverse, his head now level with her chest as they flew. Beside her, Romy swept past and then pulled back to fly a little bit behind her.They left Lily City behind, and went straight towards the towering forest of giant trees and vines.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Flying like this was much more agreeable, Fox decided, head pillowed comfortably on the beastwoman's chest, arms around her waist, as they flew over the Northern Continent's forests. She was firm under his arms, back muscles tensed in order to support his weight, but her curves were definitely soft and pleasing against his face – he determinedly did not rub his cheek into them. That would have been incredibly rude and inappropriate this early on in their courtship. He was tempted though, and made a mental note to do so once he had progressed further – he wondered if she would be less resistant to the idea of game marriage than RL marriage? Some girls were more so, and others were less so. Hedwig seemed to take the game both more seriously and less seriously than other players, it was often hard to tell what direction she would take things.“That looks good. Fox, what do you think? That blossom tree over there!” Hedwig called, shifting her grip on him as they began to hover, pulling him up a little and pointing. He tightened his grip around the woman's waist and hauled himself up, turning and feeling her move her arms with a little bit of a grunt as she tried not to let him fall. He probably shouldn't have been so smug to see her pink cheeked considering how it was more likely to be the exertion of carrying him on a long flight than anything particularly hopeful, but he stubbornly enjoyed it all the same. She looked quite fetching with a blush.The tree she pointed out was in the absolutely tiny sliver of space where the dryad and goblin territories overlapped, perhaps the size of a tennis court, the trees were a visibly different colour between the dark every-green styled mountain trees and the pale almost yellow-green of the dryad forest in autumn. More of a vivid emerald colour that reminded him intensely of Hedwig's eyes – he wondered if that was a sign of good fortune. And then he saw the plum blossom tree she was pointing at, blooming completely out of season, hidden in the heart of the emerald green forest, smaller and almost completely overshadowed by the branches of the other trees.It was the only flowering tree they had passed during the entire flight, and it was far enough off the beaten path that only someone with a flying mount, or extraordinary good luck, would have ever found it.He could have raised his voice to reply, but, where was the fun in that?He dipped in close, practically nuzzling into one of those pointed ears, “It's the best sign we've seen yet,” he said, lips brushing warm skin. He felt her tense up under his arm, but she didn't drop him.Instead she shifted her grip and dropped into a sharp dive.He didn't scream, or yelp, but the sharp inhale gave him away all the same as he tightened his grip on her. He did however smirk a little to himself as they slipped between the monstrously huge tree-branches. Someone was a little tetchy. And blushing.They landed not too far from the cherry blossom tree, and Hedwig hovered a little to let him find his feet before landing a few paces away. She was definitely red faced, and seemed irritated about it as well as she marched forward towards the tree without looking at him. Romy landed and looked between them curiously before huffing only slightly judgmentally and trotting after his mistress.Hedwig meanwhile had decided that Cold Fox was getting towed like a sack of oranges next time, on a rope, at five feet distance. She would make a noose loop for him to put his foot in. See how he reacted to that.The sound of crying jarred her out of her thoughts and very carefully, she circled the strange tree to see a half-naked young woman wearing a dress seemingly made of flower petals. This must be the dryad of the tree – which looked nothing like any kind of tree Hedwig had seen. It's bark was pure white, it had flowers instead of leaves, and all of them were a bright pink. The dryad herself was quite lovely, her skin was almost the same shade as her tree, but glowed slightly, her hair was a silvery green colour that looked almost metallic and had living flowers and twigs growing around her head like a crown. Her flower petal dress was modelled to look a lot like one of the multi-layered fussy chinese Hanfu outfits, but just as delicate as the material they were made out of, they spilled out around her along with her improbable hair, looking like a figure from folk-lore or legend.Hedwig sat down and put her weapon down so she wouldn't startle her, Fox however hung back, examining the dryad thoughtfully.“Are you alright?” she asked, startling the woman into squeaking and whipping around.Vivid emerald green eyes, almost the same shade as her own blinked wetly back at her, “O-oh! You're – ” she blurted, hand jumping to her mouth, “Please!” she exclaimed, leaning forward, crawling practically into Hedwig's lap and forcing the owl beastwoman to lean away. “Please! My lady! The goblins have taken my Indunn! Please, you must get it back!” she begged tearfully, dissolving back into tears, “My baby – they took her, please! Please you have to get her back!” she sobbed, clinging tightly to her.Hedwig grimaced a little, and not only because she was getting cried all over. A dryad with a baby called Indunn? Whoever designed this gave really got their mythology mixed up. Dryads were Greek mythology. Indunn was the Goddess who handled the golden apples that gave the Norse pantheon their immortality. So much so that the apples themselves were sometimes called Indunn. The dryad had plum blossoms, which was a Chinese mythology thing as far as she knew which was why she wore the hanfu. She looked up at the tree, spotting the way several of the branches had twisted into a kind of cradle. A cradle that was too small for an actual human child but could probably grow a fist sized fruit.“...What does she look like?” she found herself asking because if completing this quest was what got her a growing type weapon then what the fuck ever about butchered mythology. She wanted a new glaive, a powerful one. No doubt the blade itself would be only level one to start with but she knew she could level it up quickly enough.The dryad wiped her face off on Hedwig's shoulder before sitting back, “She – she's beautiful. Pure golden light, you could cup her in both hands, so perfectly formed.”“Human shaped? Apple shaped? Seed shaped?” the beastwoman prompted pointedly.“Pomegranate.”...Of course. Why not. Pomegranate. Because the mythology here wasn't messed up enough. A golden pomegranate called Indunn born of a Dryad from a plum blossom tree. Perfect sense.Hedwig nodded, “Goblins have your baby. Alright, we'll go and get her back,” she promised.“We?” the dryad echoed and then looked past Hedwig's wing to where Cold Fox was patiently waiting. She squeaked and hid herself behind Hedwig, “A – a man?” she whispered fearfully....ah.Was this another requirement for the Hidden Quest? Men would frighten the Dryad away?“Yes. He's my companion,” Hedwig quickly reassured her, “Cold Fox won't harm you.”Emerald green eyes looked up at her, “He is... with you?” she repeated anxiously.“Yes.”Cold Fox smirked folding his arms. “Did you like the dryad's dress?” Fox asked out of the blue as they hiked up the mountain side searching for the entrance to goblin town, Romy in the lead as he used his passive tracking skill to sniff the goblins out and lead them straight to the cave entrance. But of all the questions to ask...“It – was pretty enough I suppose?” she answered, not having given it any thought beyond how odd it was.He slid a sideways look at her, “Not a fan?” he asked casually as they ducked beneath low-hanging wisteria blossoms. Almost the entirety of the Northern Continent was stuffed with flowers, it was quite pretty. If Hedwig ever got a garden of her own, she'd probably set it up a bit like this, natural and wild looking, instead of obsessively cultivating it like Aunt Petunia always forced her to – it would look like a mysterious wild glade, she decided.She shrugged a shoulder, “I didn't pay it much attention to be honest. Why are you asking?” she queried, looking over at him as she paused.He tipped his head to one side, brown eyes flicking up and down her in a way that made her suddenly weirdly self-conscious of her clothing, the armoured thigh-high grieves, multitude of pouches, sleeveless chinese styled green silk top that hung down to her knees, even her hair was messy and windswept and that had never been a consideration. Until now. “I've only ever seen you in armour. I wondered if it was something you'd be interested in,” he admitted killing her embarrassment and making Hedwig snort unattractively.“I have never worn a dress in my life, Fox,” she laughed as she faced away to continue climbing. Never mind the fact that until Second Life she – he had been very much a boy, and very much not interested in wearing women's clothing, oh wait, no, he'd worn that gown to Bill and Fleur's wedding. Okay, so he'd worn a dress once. But disregarding that, it had all been robes, Dudley's hand-me-downs, his uniforms, and.... She opened her mouth to tell him what her normal tastes were only to stop with a small frown.“Hedwig?”She tensed a little when she felt his hand slide across the small of her back to her hip. “It's nothing,” she grunted, twisting away.“Its not nothing if it puts that look on your face,” Fox pointed out solemnly.She grimaced, “I – just had an unpleasant realisation, that's all, don't worry about it.”The hug was entirely unexpected, and she tensed violently, attempting to jerk backwards out of sheer reflex only for Fox to tighten his grip and squeeze her against him even more tightly. Her breath stalled for a split second as something strange and shivery rose up in her chest, making her toes and fingers tingle. His body was really warm! Was it possible to get sick in a game? She swallowed uncertainly and paused when she felt the arm around her back lift and gently nudge the back of her head into the warrior's neck, fingers burying into her hair and gently rubbing the back of her head.What – was she supposed to do with this?“Um... There there?” she choked out, awkwardly patting the brunet's back.He laughed, practically collapsing on top of her, his grip loosening as he pressed his face into the side of her head.“That's my line,” he muttered into the back of her ear, making her shiver just a little bit before he rearranged his arms around her and tugged her back in tightly against him, “It's a hug, Hedwig. You looked like you needed one.”Oh.It was nothing like hugging Missus Weasley, or Hermione, or even Ginny. She didn't realise it because she didn't have that – discomfort. Didn't feel like she wanted to peel her skin off, or run a thousand miles away, she didn't feel ...trapped. It – it actually felt nice. Grounding.Hesitantly, she lifted her arms and returned it, uncertain. But Fox just rubbed her back and held her until it stopped seemingly like such a big deal. Until the jittery feeling faded away and it was just.... nice. She leaned into him, wings curling down.“Mother! You're not supposed to do that in public!” Romy exclaimed, nosing his way between them, forcing the owl beastwoman to jerk backwards. Fox resisted for a split second but ultimately let her go as the wolf barged his way between them.“W-what?” she spluttered in confusion.“You're not supposed to do that in public!” Romy repeated, scandalised. “Uncle Tien said so!”It took a second but she spluttered on a laugh, “Romy, hugging is fine, that's fine to do in public!” she laughed crouching down to run her fingers through his fur. He looked so confused as he turned and wriggled in close.“Really?”“Really, really. I'm hugging you right now,” she pointed out, not daring to look in Fox's direction. She might burst out cackling, or die of mortification, depending on what his face looked like. “Hugging and kissing are fine in public, but anything more than that is not allowed.”The wolf grumbled, “Uncle Tien said that mother wasn't allowed, specifically.”Her eyebrow shot up, humour giving way to annoyance, “Is that so?” she asked dryly, looking up at Fox who had his arms folded and a scowl written across his face. “Well Uncle Tien isn't allowed to tell me what to do, and if I say its okay, then its okay. Alright?” she asked, getting to her feet and rubbing the wolf's ears.“Alright.”“Then let's get going.” The Indunn quest was a pain in the ass, but one that should have been quickly resolved.Both Hedwig and Fox followed Romy's nose to the cave system that housed Goblin town, and they slaughtered their way through with insulting ease. When they finally reached the huge shanty town of goblins, they could have gone and slaughtered everything there and left it a ghost town, but that would have been so easy, and boring. So Hedwig suggested they try to steal it without any of them noticing. It was a mark of how bored Fox was that he agreed, and then smugly suggested making it a competition, whoever got the apple first could make a single request of the winner and they HAD to follow through as long as it didn't harm them. Hedwig set up some hard rules for that, helping on a quest was fine, but nothing that would purposefully cause trouble or infamy, nothing that would harm another player either.They agreed, shook hands, and Romy took up position hidden out of sight as their finishing line. They had to get the pomegranate baby without being seen, and get it back to Romy. And of course, to make things interesting, they were allowed to attack and sabotage each other as long as they didn't use weapons.It should have been just a fun distraction.Hedwig used her flight and years of experience as a rule breaker and trouble maker at Hogwarts to sneak around unnoticed by the goblins. She lurked beneath the Goblin King for a while until someone was ordered down to the treasury, she followed them and managed to slip in where she found the pomegranate baby. It was pure gold, and a little bruised when she looked closely at it. She used one of her potions to restore it to full health – which was of course when Fox plastered himself up her back, and she meant plastered.He pressed the entire length of himself flush against her, hands sliding across her hips and then up her stomach.“Mmm, you got here before me, I'm impressed,” he breathed against the back of her ear, and she flushed, adrenaline and something else buzzing through her right before one hand smoothed up and cupped a breast and he licked her ear!She whipped around to elbow him with a yelp, he just laughed and jumped backwards, the fucking pomegranate in his other hand!“You – ” she spluttered, red faced as he smirked and sped off, bolting out of the treasury.She followed, and a game of cat and mouse developed as the two of them did everything they could to avoid the goblins, and Fox evaded her. Unfortunately for Hedwig, he was just as dangerous in hand to hand as he was with his knives and every damn time she caught up she found herself being tripped, flipped, and one time even found her arm tied to a ladder he was quick to use and escape her.They took so long with their game that the goblin king noticed the pomegranate was gone – and sealed all the exits out of goblin town with a bellowing roar of fury. Something they didn't realise until they reached Romy and found their way out blocked (Fox had been insufferably smug as he handed the pomegranate over to her with a gallant bow and a glitter in his eyes as she snatched it up and shoved it in her bag with a scowl and a blush, right until he realised they were trapped).The two of them were more than a match for everything the goblins threw at them – but Hedwig did notice that their enemies were getting.... tougher. From level ten goblins to level thirty Orcs, and then level forty five High Orcs riding level fifty war wyrms – and their numbers didn't seem to be slowing. She'd gone up seven levels already!“I think – this is a siege event!” she shouted over the shrieking of the goblins as more and more of them swarmed up the rope-bridges and cliff sides to their platform.“Seems like!” Fox grunted, Bloodthirst a golden blur from the corner of her eye as he decapitated a war wyrm and kicked it over the edge where it knocked aside several more orcs. “Good training though,” he huffed, rotating his shoulder and readying the God Weapon once more.That was one way to look at it.The level seventh dragon clinched it for her though.“This isn't going to stop!!” she shouted over the roar of flames, her wings wrapped around Fox as they sheltered behind one of the tiny rocks. Romy had been killed during the skirmishing and was waiting for them at the pet-storage in the last village they passed through, Lily Village, which was where they would respawn if they died. “We have to kill the source!” This was supposed to be a low-level beginner quest! Not a gruelling siege quest with level seventy crimson dragons!Fox panted against her, “Think you can out fly that thing?” he asked, tugging a restorative from his inventory and chugging it, the vicious black burns up his left arm shimmering away in green light.Could she?She huffed a vicious grin, “Can't be harder than the real thing.” He nodded, eyeing her silently before he hopped into a crouch.“I'll draw its attention, you take off, and then keep it off my back while I kill the Goblin King. That ought to fulfil the siege conditions,” he decided.“Right,” she grunted, readying herself.“Hedwig,” Fox muttered, drawing her attention.His fingers were hot around her chin, calloused and rough even though it was just data, just video game data, but his lips were soft and warm and dry when they pressed against hers.“For luck,” he muttered into her mouth before ripping himself away and lunging hard and fast across several stalagmites, using them as stepping stones and drawing the dragon's attention.She swallowed hard and shook herself, throwing herself into the air and lashing out at the beast with lightning, drawing its eyes back to her and giving the human warrior his opportunity to escape.Now she just had to deal with a dragon.It was like playing quidditch – if the bludgers were three hundred feet large and breathed fire.She lead the dragon on as much of a merry chase as she could with them both in the huge underground shanty town space, she even managed to bounce its head off several walls and structures, but she was getting tired. She only had enough mana for one good lightning bolt, and her stamina was on its last dregs – she couldn't keep this up for much longer.Or at all she realised as she dodged a claw, and flew straight into the dragon's tail.It hit her with the force of a train, and flung her into the far wall where she fell and crumpled to the ground, tasting blood and breathing hard, both wings broken.The dragon bellowed a victory and lunged for her.One good lightning bolt left.Better make it count.She lifted a hand and struck, the bolt going wide, up and over the dragon's head. Missing it completely.And hitting the huge rock formation above it.The ceiling caved in, crushing it under several tons of stalactites and stone.
[ SYSTEM NOTICE: WHITE HEDWIG HAS KILLED SCARLET DRACO FATALIS. ]
She heard the level up notification ping twice and slumped in place, breathing wetly, too tired for the moment to reach into her inventory. Eventually though, she dragged herself upright, ribs and wings on fire as she did so, and chugged one of her stronger potions, immediately feeling a lot better – even more so when the dragon burst into mana smoke and her little platform was filled with glorious loot.She took her half, reasoning that she was allowed first pick since she had been the one to kill it. She did leave some pretty good things because she was fairly sure they would be of more interest to Fox than herself. She was a bit hesitant about taking the dragon dung, but from what she knew of herbology, and from the flavour text on the item itself, she figured it would be useful to give to the dryad for whatever reason. She also took 'The Heart of Scarlet Draco Fatalis', ignoring how it continued to beat in her hand because that was absolutely disgusting and creepy.“Siege is over,” Fox announced as he climbed up beside her, giving the dropped look a quick glance over before taking all of what remained without arguing (he did pause on a few items and give her a small slightly soft smile that had her scowling and turning away, they weren't useful to her, there was no point looking at her like that).“Good,” she grunted, and then held up her broken glaive with a scowl, “I suppose its a good thing we're on this quest, but I was kind of hoping to sell this when I had a new one,” she sighed. It had been a damn good weapon, she could have gotten a fair bit of gold for it.Fox hummed, and then held an arm out to her, “Let's get out of here and give the tree her fruit.”She huffed a smile and took his hand, letting him haul her in, “That's the best suggestion you've had all day,” she said agreeably, not even flinching when he pulled her straight into his arms, even if she did give him a dry look for it.“You're just sore I won,” he teased, smirking.She was, but she wasn't going to admit it as she wound her arms around him and shot into the air, smirking a little when he gasped and automatically scrabbled for a hand-hold around her. She tightened her grip and swept out of the hole in the ceiling, eyes sharp and looking for that one discoloured patch of space against the tree-line where goblin territory and dryad territory met. They had to fly to the otherside of the mountain, but it stuck out like a sore thumb from their current angle, the pink of he plum-blossom tree clearly visible where it huddled beneath it's larger companions on the other side, as if they were getting a look behind a privacy screen.Hedwig swept down and let Fox down first, only the warrior didn't let go of her waist once his feet were on the ground, he pulled her down against him in a hug. “Better to get my fill now before the wolf rejoins us and objects,” he explained when she made a slightly confused noise.She sighed and patted his back a bit, letting him hold her as much as he liked – which was apparently a lot if the fact that he didn't let go after a solid three minutes of holding her was any indication.Eventually she gave a small wriggle, “Can I – give the tree her fruit?” she prompted a little plaintively.He huffed a small noise of disapproval against her neck but pulled back, “Very well.”She nodded and withdrew the pomegranate from her pouch, pausing when she realised it was clutching the dragon dung in shiny golden roots and had already developed a little green shoot as the tip of it split open.Well..... she had no idea what that meant but it was probably good, right?The Dryad was thrilled to see her baby, and gushed excitedly when she saw how it was so healthy and already growing.“You must stay the night!” the dryad exclaimed, “With the mystical fertilizer of the Fatalis – ” (is that what they were calling it now?) “ – she will surely grow! She will want to express her thanks personally, please stay!”Hedwig glanced over at Fox who nodded agreeably. She nodded, “Alright, we'll stay the night.”The dryad cheered, clapping her hands together, “Wonderful! Please, be welcome!”The huge tree that sheltered the plum-blossom groaned, and the gargantuan roots suddenly lifted, revealing a rather comfortable looking cave, complete with a bed of dried grasses and moss, and a circle of stones with dry wood for a campfire.The dryad produced a lot of delicious fruits and nuts for them, and then, “I must find a way to thank you personally. You saved my baby when I couldn't,” she lamented, kowtowing to them tearfully. “My wood is weak, and there was nothing I could do. I feared by little girl would die, withered away in the goblin keep. Please, anything I can do, it is yours, just ask it of me!”Hedwig's mouth opened to request the growing type weapon, but the words froze on her tongue. 'My wood is weak'. It – was a risk but.... if she was saying that then.....Fox hummed, “A dress,” he decided, making both women look at him in confusion, he pointed to Hedwig, “For her. Make a dress for her like yours. She has never worn one in her life, and all girls should dress up beautifully at least once.”Hedwig flushed, “Fox, don't waste your reward on something like that!” she hissed, “It isn't – I've always had my cousin's hand-me-downs, aside from my school uniforms I don't have nice things, seriously, I would look ridiculous.”His expression darkened and he folded his arms, “It is my reward and I will spend it how I wish. Choose what colours you like.”She spluttered, and then stubbornly sealed her mouth shut in favour of glaring at him.Fox arched an eyebrow at her before smirking at the dryad, “Red and gold,” he concluded. The dryad gasped, hands flying to her mouth as her expression lit up in excitement.“You want to – ” she gushed, and squealed when he nodded solemnly. “Of course! And you, my lady? You have yet to make your own decision.”Hedwig scowled, swallowing hard and folding her arms, “....If you have any restoratives, it would be appreciated.”“Yes! I have many!”Roman nuts, Seeds of Yggdrasil, and even an Engorged Mana Fruit were presented to her. Roman Nuts were a rare drop from undead and demonic monsters and provided momentary immortality, the Seeds of Yggdrasil were cure alls – total HP, Mana, and status restoration plus multiple buffs of Haste, Attack up, Defence up, Accuracy up, and Special Attack up. Meanwhile the Mana Fruit was said to double your mana points briefly, while Engorged Mana Fruit doubled it permanently. They sold for ridiculous sums of Crystal Coins, but Hedwig had exactly zero intentions of doing that when she could just eat it herself.Hedwig continued to give Fox the silent treatment for the rest of the evening save when she attempted to try and talk him out of his ridiculous request, the warrior would just shake his head and tell her his mind was made up.She was at the point of ripping her hair out and telling him she was a man in reality when everything went a bit – static. And weird.Fox jerked where he was sat and stared at her in naked concern, “Hedwig?”Everything glitched out again and pain lanced hot and sharp behind her eyes. Her eyes and – her forehead.No – no, he wasn't – she was in Second Life right now! She shouldn't be able to get visions from Voldemort here!!Fox grabbed hold of her, “HEDWIG!”Everything kind of snapped into place, sharper and more intense than before, it felt like her mind was sinking into the game, latching onto every little detail and clinging to it ferociously. She swallowed, feeling the callouses on his palms against her arms, the grass that was cool beneath her knees, the smell of the campfire, the fruits, she could taste the plum she ate earlier lingering in her mouth, that stubborn little piece of plant-fibre stuck between her teeth, the brunet's warmth from where he was sat so close. The sound of the trees overhead, the shimmers of gold and black in Fox's eyes as he searched her face, that one stubborn strand of hair that was strangely longer than all the others.She reached up and grasped it, swallowing hard as she felt the silky powder-fine texture between her fingers, and the world settled a little more, the pain in her head faded and sank away.“I'm – I'm okay, I – I don't – ”He tugged her into a hug, “It was a hack. Someone attempted to hack your headset,” he muttered roughly, tucking her head into his neck as he ran his fingers through her hair.That wasn't a hacking attempt on her headset, but on her head itself. But that wasn't something she could tell him, so instead she clung on tightly and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling sick to her stomach as she realised that Voldemort could reach her even here.She shuddered, and Fox tightened his grip.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Harry sighed, taking his helmet off and stared up at the ceiling of the tent, listening to the faint sound of the rain pitter pattering down onto the enchanted canvas. He felt warm and rested, comfortable, a little achy but only in that way that happened when you'd slept heavy, deep, and well, without so much as a twitch or turn. His scar didn't even prickle.If his scar didn't hurt, had that really been a hacking attempt on his helmet?He didn't know enough about technology or virtual gaming to say one way or the other. He would have to trust Fox's judgement, which lead to the question of who would even want to hack his helmet, and why?Fox.He flushed horribly, pressing his hands over his eyes.Fox kissed him.He rolled over and shoved his head into his pillow with a whimpered groan.He did not need this in his life right now! He had enough going on with the horcrux hunt, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Voldemort – he – he did not need Fox complicating his one form of escapism with relationship nonsense. Not that there was a relationship! Or a chance of one! Fox was just – a teasing asshole, that was all, it was what he did. Admittedly he had been more.... obvious lately. Harry was the one having problems with it, as much as he tried not to in the game because there was always something else to do and focus on, which was why he liked playing. It took his mind off the current situation. One of which was Ginny. What should he do? It would be like cheating on her, even though there wasn't anything between them anymore, they'd broken up months ago so, did it count as cheating? He – wait, what was he thinking?He groaned into his pillow again, scrubbing both hands through his hair as he curled up into a miserable humiliated and confused little ball, just trying to shut his brain up for a moment by listening to the sound of the rain, the faint rustle of Hermione's blankets as she rolled over, the quiet sigh of her breathing as she continued to sleep. His relationship issues should be secondary to the Horcrux hunt. Hermione had put her own on the backburner for it. She'd erased herself from her parents' memories. When when she returned their memories to them, that was going to be a breach of trust too much and their relationship was going to be forever changed if not ruined by it.Eventually, he couldn't lie there anymore. His mind kept circling back to the goblin caves, the way Fox pressed up against his back and smoothed hands across his body, and murmured quietly in his ear. He flinched so hard he practically ripped himself out of the bunk-bed to go and hide in the bathroom and dunk his head under the cold tap, shivering in mortification and guilt when he surfaced, finally identifying the weird tingly feeling he had when female to the more familiar feeling of arousal when male. He had been turned on. Fox touching him and getting into his space excited him and oh god he did not need this.He rubbed his face and looked up in the mirror. She just needed to get a grip. She would have to tell Fox the next time she went online that she was actually a guy in reality and that as flattered as she was, she couldn't accept his feelings because she was still – she had an agreement with her ex-girlfriend.Her very pretty ex-girlfriend who had gone through guys like tissues before her. Her pretty ex-girlfriend who was along in a high stress situation, surrounded by her ex-boyfriends who were all great people and.... she was out here. Ginny would never be the cheating type but – Harry had broken up with her. For her own safety. But... thinking about it... she wasn't very safe right now. She was just alone. Alone in a school with Death Eaters. Any of the Slytherin students could have blurted about their relationship to their parents. She wasn't safe at all. Not really.It wasn't until she was turning to leave the bathroom that she realised.She wasn't in Second Life.She wasn't White Hedwig right now.She whipped around and grabbed the mirror, eyes wide as she examined her face because – it was her face. It was her face!Her as Hedwig, not Harry, only it was her as Harry too because they were the same – it was the same face but... in the middle. Blended. Enough of one to be mistaken for the other.She reached up to touch her hair, weighed down with cold water, it was calmer, it – she hadn't realised how long it had gotten outside of the game, it was actually longer now than in Second Life and...She shuddered, dropping to sit down on top of the toilet in a strange haze of disbelief. She hadn't realised. She'd heard that there was a disconnect between player and avatar, that people had difficulties sometimes switching between the two. She thought it was that strange buffer-sensation where it felt real but not quite. But that wasn't it, she realised. She was probably one of the very few people who played the game without modifying herself at all. The wings were difficult to get her head around at first, but she was used to flying so actually doing so wasn't too much mental gymnastics, but for the people who had changed themselves completely. Coming in and out of the game and having to get used to being taller, shorter, prettier, thinner, stronger, not even human.... She hadn't realised how similar she was to her game avatar, not really. The only difference was.... was their gender. Hedwig was female. Harry was male. But they looked like twins. Identical twins.She got to her feet and faced the mirror again, tracing her face with her eyes, sharp eyes and even sharper cheekbones, lack of food stripping her down as if she had been with the Dursleys again, her skin was clear and she had long dark eyebrows. Bright grass green eyes. An elfin face framed in long untidy black hair that brushed her shoulders.A soft recognition.She had always known who she was but sometimes it... she hated herself. Sometimes she looked at herself and hated her face, her body, just, everything about herself. She had always attributed it to being 'Harry Potter' the 'Boy Who Lived', being famous against her will for something she hadn't done, that had caused the death of her parents, the loss of her life and the future she should have had. Why wouldn't she hate it? She thought you would be hard pressed to find a person willing to celebrate fame at so steep a cost. When it had been about her Quidditch accomplishments she had enjoyed it, when it had been her successes in the Triwizard Tournament she had enjoyed it, she liked recognition, she liked being praised – but only when she felt she'd earned it. But, this was different. This recognition against her self-hate.That self-hate wasn't to do with her fame, and the bitterness she felt towards it. It was her. And now that she looked into the mirror and recognised herself she.....It felt like a whisper inside sighing with relief, a whisper of 'there you are', and something relaxing. A confidence. Recognition.This was her.It was too much.She fled the bathroom and the mirror.Hermione was still asleep and the bun-bed that Ron had claimed for himself remained empty and glaring and it was too much and the tent was too small and it was lonely and dark andShe fled the tent, stepping out into the rain and stopping just short of the ward line, shivering in the frigid deluge. Each drop of rain felt like a knife on her skin, the wind swept up and around her bare legs as she stood in the dark and stared at the ominous pitch black woods around her and shivered, listening to the sound of the trees and the wind and distant animals in the dark.The cold brought clarity.It was just a game.Second Life was just a game, yes she was playing with other people but they were people on the otherside of the planet from a completely different world. They were muggles. She was not Harry Potter in that game, she was Hedwig. But while Harry Potter was her reality, he wasn't her. Hedwig – Hedwig was who she was without that expectation. Her bare bones. Stripped of all the expectations of the magical world, of her parents' history, unmarked by the fingerprints of Voldemort or the Dursleys. Hedwig was who she was down at her very core, unapologetic, without excuses.And Fox was interested in her.The question was, did he have feelings for her? He could be interested and not want a relationship, not have feelings for her beyond simple physical wand. It was something they would have to talk about. Talk about and... she would have to tell him about her reality. About being a man. If he wanted to have anything to do with her after that.... then they would have to see. Fox wasn't in danger from Voldemort because the man didn't even know he existed or how to find him, Harry didn't even know where to find him or what his real name was. He could be like Harry, from anywhere in the world, just playing on the Chinese servers, he could have a glitch in his game as well and be a woman in reality. Who knew. He would be safe from Voldemort regardless. She had been attracted to Ginny and agreed to go out with her, she had enjoyed their time together. But the same could be said of Fox as well. In truth, the only reason she could think of for why not to give anything a try with Fox was because of Ginny. The fact that she was actually a man didn't even occur to her until that moment, and even then only because Fox didn't know and didn't particularly strike her as someone who would be interested in another man....Did this make her gay?She chewed her lower lip, tasting tangy cold rain water, and shivered as she watched the sun begin to rise and stain the sky in ever lightening shades of grey, pink, and green with the dawn through the clouds.She wished she could speak to Hermione about this but – it felt unfair talking to her about this when she was stuck in the tent all the time, when she had been forced to put her issues with Ron to one side for the war effort, and here Harry was lamenting about his distractions.Maybe she could play Second Life too?Harry paused, frowning thoughtfully.That was an idea.She had the headset, and Hermione deserved an escape as much as she did, and with their food supplies being so small it would probably be better for them if Harry were the one in charge of it. No offence to Hermione, but she wasn't a particularly skillful cook and she wasn't used to scrounging and living on so little. Harry could make their meagre food supplies stretch further than she could. Yes it would be lonely with one awake and one asleep, but.... they were going to end up hating each other if they were both stuck in here with no one else to talk to and it would break her heart if she lost Hermione's friendship.Quietly so as not to wake the other girl, she crept back into the tent and got changed out of her wet t-shirt and boxers before grabbing the headset. She removed the game cartridge and turned it on, finding herself in the same open space as she had during her calibration and character creation phase.“I would like to create a separate account on this headset for another person,” she called out over the empty expanse, “Is this possible?” she asked.“Good morning,” a male voice greeted, and Harry turned to see a tall figure in a blue almost military-esque long coat, vivid green eyes not unlike her own, thick long red hair that matched the red dragon wings coming out of his back, and a black tattoo down the left side of his face. He smiled gently at her. “If you wish for a second individual to utilise your Dreams' Gaming Device I can assist you in setting up a second account. You will both have to undergo the login process before loading into any of the installed games, meaning you will not immediately be able to begin playing at your leisure. Is this agreeable to you?” he asked kindly.Harry nodded, “That's fine. Thank you. Can I ask what the login process is?”The red head nodded, snapping his fingers and summoning a menu screen, somehow his long black pointed fingernails didn't shred his skin, but she assumed it was a perk of the avatar. “Please select a username and password for your account. You will be prompted to use these every time you place your headset on from this moment forward – this will allow the device to load your neutral information properly.”“I see. Thank you very much,” she said with a small bow like she had seen many of the other Second Life players give before she turned to face the screen. It was pretty quick and painless to input her username from Second Life and user her house as a password, the red headed man just watched her with a small patient smile as she did so, unnaturally still.“Your account has been connected and your neural information is locked in,” he announced once she'd finished confirming her password a second time. “When your friend wears the headset I will guild them through their calibration and login process. The only game registered to this device is Second Life, will they also be playing this game?” he asked gently.“Probably,” she admitted, “I haven't asked if she wants to yet but I wanted to make sure it was possible before offering so I didn't get her hopes up.”The red head nodded, “I understand. I will await her arrival.”Harry nodded slowly, unsure about what it was in that statement that put her off. Was this person an NPC? She thought she was dealing with a moderator or an administrator like the first time she logged in and went through character creation but – well, she supposed it made sense. She hadn't been able to contact any of the administrators or moderators in the game so far, admittedly once she was in a position to ask Dudley about how to do so she had stopped caring about having a female avatar, it meant very little to her by that point.“Thank you. Hopefully you won't have to wait long,” she said before logging off, and seeing Hermione looking pale and tired as she made herself a cup of tea, wrapped up in her dressing gown.She took a deep breath and got to her feet, taking the headset off.“Hermione?” While Hermione took her first steps in Second Life, a little doubtful but fascinated by the concept, Harry borrowed her wand (with permission) and took.... drastic action to rectify their current food situation.Several quick transfigurations, a few charms, and a wingless Hedwig was stepping out past the ward-line of their camp and heading down the near-by bridal path to a muggle campsite. She smiled a little at the kids that ran past, shrieking and playing, at the overweight sunburnt dad with a disposable BBQ he shouldn't have really had, poking at some rather sorry looking sausages and burgers with a beer in hand, at the snoozing mother in her camping chair with her sunhat and sunglasses, book open on her soft stomach, barefeet crossed at the ankle, toe nails painted alternating colours that only her young children could have done judging by the glitter involved.She only paused long enough to ask the father which way to the nearest village or petrol station and headed off in that direction – it would take an hour and a half to walk judging by the distance he told her. It would be a nice walk though, cold, but dry. It would clear her head and cheer her up some she decided, to get out and stretch her legs. It was a risk, a big one, but they were slowly starving to death in that tent and she wouldn't have it anymore. As long as she didn't apparate or use her holly wand then she wasn't likely to be found by Voldemort or his people because she didn't even look like Harry Potter right now. No one looking out for him would see her and consider him when they saw the padded bra she wore to highlight her figure.She had a pocket of transfigured small notes and coins, carefully done, and tried not to feel too guilty about the counterfeiting as she reached the village and began to shop. She was only going to collect general groceries so hopefully they wouldn't look too closely at her money like they would if it were someone buying luxury goods like sweets and soft drinks, alcohol and cigarettes. It took an hour to go through all three shops in the village to get everything she thought they would need, and then came the arduous task of getting it all back to the camp – thankfully her backpack was bottomless and featherlight so while she made a show of struggling with the bags in her arms, eventually once out of sight, she stowed them into the backpack too.Hermione was still under the game when she got in, so Harry focused on getting all of their food stored and prepared properly. All the vegetables and meats were enlarged and then rendered down. She started off with large vats of soup that she then portioned out into zip-lock bags and put into the freezer. She followed the instructions on the bags of flour for how to make fresh bread and used maybe a little too much yeast as the loaf she made came out extra puffy, while the other two came out fine – these were also bagged up and put into the freezer. She cooked up all the raw meat as well to be frozen as she knew it would last a minimum of three months if cooked and then frozen, but wasn't too sure about raw meat. A few bottles of milk and blocks of cheese also went into the freezer along with several bags of veg both pre-bagged and chopped up from the engorged ones that went to making soup. She boiled the bones of the meat for broth and froze it. She put two different stews on to slow-cook with the intention of freezing them into portions as well. The rice and pasta were stored away along with the tinned food, and the fruit she got were chopped or blended together into portions and smoothies that ended up in the freezer too. It sucked that they didn't have any fish, but she couldn't recall Hermione being much of a fish eater at Hogwarts even though Harry knew it was supposed to be particularly good for young women? Something Aunt Petunia had said when Dudley pitched a fit over eating one of her cod liver oil tablets thinking it was candy.That was when Hermione woke up.“That was amazing,” the seventeen year old girl breathed, staring up at the ceiling. “Muggles really..... they really made a whole world like that,” she said, her voice cracking and breaking as she started to cry.Harry immediately rushed over in alarm, if someone had fucking corpse camped her she was going to rip them into pieces. “What's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?” she blurted, wrapping her slightly floury arms around her.Hermione sniffled and then froze when she looked at her, “Ha-Harry?” she blurted, goggling.She nodded, “Are you alright? Did anyone give your trouble?”The Gryffindor girl pushed the headset up and away, and then grabbed Harry's face as she swung herself out of the bed, “Harry, what have you done to yourself?” she demanded in astonishment, running her fingers carefully across her face and through – through her longer hair. Right. Of course that was why she was alarmed. She didn't look like Harry at all right now.She smiled and carefully caught the other girl's hands, “I thought I'd actually make myself useful,” she admitted with a proud smile, gesturing behind her to the table and the little kitchen area with the evidence of her meal preparations. “I disguised myself and got us some food from the near-by muggle village.” Hermione gaped as Harry began to tell her everything she'd been up to while she had been playing Second Life. Showed her the portioned out meals and explained her thoughts about bulking out the stew and soup meals with the rice and bread and pasta that she'd made so that it would go further. Showed her the bottles of squash that they could add to water so they'd have something to drink with a taste, and the box of teabags too. Then she stopped talking.It had been something she had been chewing over while playing Second Life for a while now, while stewing and rotting in this tent during the day without anything to do, and it had been something she had eventually worked out while she had been aggressively tenderising meat, kneading bread, and chopping vegetables that day.“I dragged both you and Ron out here without a plan. You put your trust in me, and I have let you down. I let you down badly enough for Ron to leave, and that's on me.” She looked down at her hands. Hands that despite the flour and the dough still under her nails were somehow smaller and softer than Hedwig's had been in the game. Unsurprising. He was a mage and she was a warrior, even though people would have thought it should be the other way around, Harry couldn't change what he was. “It's going to sound strange, but playing Second Life made me realise how timid I've been in facing this war. I talked big, I took a big step when – I killed those Death Eaters in the cafe, but.... I was too tentative afterwards when it came to our safety. And that led to the two of us slowly starving to death in this miserable tent, paralysed by the loss of Ron, and too terrified to take a step forward. I'll do better from now on,” she promised strongly, looking up at her bestfriend, grabbing hold of that core of steel she had discovered as Hedwig, the confidence of facing people who could, would, and did kill her, and knowing that she could conquer that as well. “If you'll still let me.”Hermione burst into tears, and threw her arms around her shoulders, “Oh, Harry! I'm so sorry I made you think – this isn't all on you! This isn't your responsibility! We're in this together!!” Fox was already online when Hedwig opened her eyes to the earthen ceiling of the Dryad's clearing. She could hear the dryad trying to talk to him and being met with his typical silence. She hoped he hadn't been waiting for long. It was just going to make their conversation harder.He was sat on a rock at the mouth of the cave, and when she sat up, he glanced over his shoulder and smirked softly at her.She felt a small unhappy lurch in the pit of her stomach to accompany the flush of appreciation from her hormones.He immediately noticed a different and straightened up as she got to her feet.“Hedwig?” he prompted quietly, the dryad gasping happily to see her awake and up.“We need to talk,” she stated with a calm she didn't feel.“About?”She stared at him. “I'm bad with people,” she stated bluntly. Judging by the slight twitch of his mouth he was well aware and amused by her succinct declaration of her shortcomings. “But you made yourself quite clear yesterday. We need to talk about that.”He turned to face her attentively, “Your tone is hard. You do not share my feelings?” he asked patiently.She didn't clench her fists, it was too obvious a tell, “I don't know what your feelings are, Fox. You have expressed interest, but not feelings. Are you interested in me physically, or personally?” she asked plainly, her heart hammering hard in her chest. She had spoken to Hermione eventually about Fox and what she had experienced in the game once the tears had run their course. She had actually encouraged her to explore the possibility of a relationship with Fox, pointing out that she had broken up with Ginny, there was nothing that should hold her back except informing Fox of the truth. It was an online game, the only weight to their relationship was the weight they gave it themselves. And that was to be discussed with themselves alone. But regardless of what happened.... it was a game. It was a game, and Hedwig could walk away whenever she needed to. The worst thing that could happen was Fox not wanting to be near her anymore. And she would be upset about it, but at the same time, it wouldn't change her life, wouldn't destroy it.Her world would keep spinning if Fox rejected or accepted her. If he left, or stayed, it wouldn't change the fact that when she took the headset off, Voldemort would still be hunting them. That Dudley would still be waiting in Central to try and patch up what relationship he could.Fox stared at her for a long moment, at least doing her the courtesy of thinking his answer through properly and choosing his words, “Both. Your looks are nice but more than anything, they are honest. I like that. Your personality is to my liking too. I enjoy your company. I would like you to be my girlfriend, or my in-game wife if you aren't opposed to the benefits of the marriage system.”Girlfriend. Wife. Both.She took a deep breath.“If that is how you feel, then I need to tell you something first.”“You got back with your girlfriend?” he asked flatly.Hedwig shook her head, “No. I like you as well Fox. I enjoy your company. But my game glitched during character creation. This avatar – it is how I look in reality, for the most part anyway,” she added looking to one side. She was actually more muscular in this form than she was in reality and it was vexing. “The only difference, aside from the obvious, is that.... I am not a woman.”Fox stared at her. His face expressionless.Hedwig stared back.“I'm male in reality. My game glitched during character creation and changed my avatar's gender to female.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
He got to his feet and walked away.Hedwig watched him stalk out of the clearing in silence, the dryad staring at them both with her hands over her mouth in stunned disbelief. Only when he was out of sight did she sigh and droop a little with disappointment.Oh well. It wasn't like she hadn't expected it.Life moves on.She turned back to the dryad with an apologetic smile, “You said something about your daughter yesterday?” she asked quietly, feeling more than seeing Romy butt up against the back of her legs and huff softly. She dropped a hand onto his head and sank fingers into his fur, feeling him lean into her leg. She wondered idly if Hermione had a pet yet but brushed the thought off. She'd only been playing for nine hours, she wouldn't have even gotten to a high enough level for a job class yet she didn't think, her friend would be exploring all of her options and gathering information first.She met with the pomegranate baby, who had grown into what looked like an eight year old child, she had pale soft looking skin and long golden hair too metallic to be human and green eyes, she wore a similar dress to her mother in white and gold as well. Hedwig found herself unable to focus much on the conversation as the two dryads explained the fertilizer had made the daughter grow strong, she heard that her mother had provided a gift but wanted to do so as well.She felt like she was speaking from far away as she admitted she had broken her glaive while fighting the goblins and needed another one, if it were possible, she would like a replacement.The little dryad nodded with enthusiasm, her wood was very strong thanks to the care that Hedwig had shown her – healing her hurts when she was first found and feeding her the fertilizer, she had absorbed the strength of dragons. Any weapon forged of her wood would have the same strength.She watched absently as the dryad child marched to her tree, a beautiful white cherry-blossom with golden flowers instead of pink, and reached into the gap in the wood. The tree groaned and creaked and flowers shook off, scattering everywhere, getting into Hedwig's hair, her clothes, Romy sneezed as a petal went up his nose. And then with a loud crack, something gave within the tree, and the child ripped her hand free, dragging with it a long white and gold partisan glaive.She examined it with tiny fingers before nodding in satisfaction and turning to the beastwoman.“A fine weapon,” she declared in her tiny childish voice before holding it out to her with all the solemn dignity of royalty.She accepted the blade with a grateful bow of her head.It really was beautiful. Pure ivory white, climbing golden vine patterns across the wood like something out of Lord of the Rings, the blade itself was gold though, the same metallic shade as the dryad's hair, with tiny chips of what looked like green emeralds amongst the intricate plant-like detailing. It didn't have a name outside of [WHITE GLAIVE], but when she looked at its stats, she had to pause and reread them.Level: 80
ATK PWR: 800
SPECIAL: Imbued with the strength of Dragons, absorbs fire damage and deals critical damage to all draconic and reptilian enemies.
[Gifted by the Dryad child Indunn, this growing type weapon is born of both the strength and kindness shown to it by its rescuer. Wherever the adventurer walks, the forest will show them kindness and protection.]She'd absorbed the strength of the level seventy crimson dragon. The potion Hedwig had given her for her injuries must have made the difference between level one and level ten? This was supposed to be a low level quest. And how many people were going to think to use a potion on a piece of fruit. She certainly hadn't, not consciously anyway. She'd just done it.Weird Potter Luck kicking in again maybe?She stepped away from the dryads and swung the glaive forward. It felt good in her hands, a little lighter than her previous one which in reality would have been considered a flaw but given her strength stat in the game and the attack power of the weapon in question meant very little in the grand scheme of things. It was perfectly sized to her hand, not too thick and not too thin, her nails didn't dig into her palms like it had with the be de corbin she'd wielded while in her level twenties, and it wasn't so thick that she got a hand cramp wielding it like the huge vougue she had for all of a single day before she sold it out of sheer irritation.It sang as she swung it through the air.The wood was sturdy and inflexible as she planted it in the ground and held herself up on it.She took a deep breath and reached for her mana, letting the lightning filter through her and snap and crackle up the shaft into the blade. It glowed blue and lengthened by eight inches. Impressive.She released the magic and turned to the dryads, “Thank you. It's perfect,” she told them with a smile.The older woman smiled, “We're glad. Will you be waiting for your companion?” she asked, “I had hoped to introduce him to Indunn as well.”Hedwig looked away, looked to where Romy was sat attentively at the edge of the clearing, ear flicking when he realised she was looking at him. “...I don't think Fox will be coming back,” she admitted after a pause before smiling at the two. “At least while I'm here. Take care of yourselves ladies. I think I'll be heading back to Port Lily,” she decided.She would find a nice quest to put her new glaive through its paces, level Romy up, and.... get her head back on straight.“Are we not waiting for Mister Cold Fox?” Romy asked as she walked out of the clearing.She stroked his head with a small smile, “I don't think he wants to travel with me anymore,” she admitted with a little disappointment. Figured he was lying when he said he liked her for her personality, then again, she wasn't surprised. There was a reason why she kept this part of herself wrapped up in Gryffindor colours and family concerns. Stripped down to her bare bones.... she couldn't even call herself Slytherin, not really. Not... anything actually.Did she even have a personality outside of being a Gryffindor? Outside of 'the Boy Who Lived'?A small most definitely unnatural rustle behind her dragged her away from her existential musings to spot Cold Fox stepping out from behind a tree with a small frown on his face. All at once her heart sank a bit. Was he going to attack her for letting him think she was a girl all this time? Because she had essentially 'tricked' him into homosexuality? She knew the Dudley of yesteryear would have beaten someone black, blue, and bloody for even suggesting it, his gang would have helped.“I'm calling in my prize,” the assassin class human declared, stalking forward.From the Seige event? “What do you want?” she asked, knowing he wouldn't have forgotten their terms, but unsure if he was going to pay attention to them or care about them at this moment in time. His body language was not filling her with a great deal of confidence, he was tense, his hands were fisted, and his shoulders were up, aggressive. She opened a Whisper channel and told Romy to fly back to Port Lily. If Fox killed her, she didn't want him doing the same to Romy.The assassin watched as the wolf turned tail and leapt into the sky, something like realisation softening his features for a split second before they tightened again as he turned to glare at her. It was enough to make her want to pull a weapon but she didn't. Losing a level was a pain in the ass but.... if that was what it took to salve whatever wounded pride he had then it was barely anything, she didn't see why she had to apologise but she had been the dishonest one.“Close your eyes,” he demanded.She didn't sigh. She just closed her eyes and braced herself for the swing of his sword. At least she would be there at Port Lily by the time Romy showed up.She heard him take three steps forward, and then suddenly there was a hand on her cheek, another on her shoulder – was he going to snap her neck? What a strange position to do it in though – before lips pressed against her own. She flinched back, mouth opening in surprise only to feel the fingers in her hair tighten and pull her back into him. Fox's tongue pushed into her mouth as he slanted his mouth more firmly over her lips, the hand on her shoulder jerking away to grab at her waist, fingers scrabbling in the fabric of her clothes to pull her in tight against him. This was nothing like kissing Ginny!!And then as quickly as it started, he pulled away.She blinked her eyes open and stared up at him, swallowing and quickly closing her mouth even as she felt heat begin to crawl up her neck and burn her face. Then she realised she was holding onto his arms and quickly untangled herself.He kissed her again, the angle was awkward as she'd turned away in embarrassment.“Fox,” she grunted, unable to say anything further as he got his mouth properly on hers, kissing her mouth open to get his tongue in again. He was softer this time, slower, and she couldn't help the slight noise and shudder she gave when his hand smoothed down the back of her beck, her wings rippling as all her feathers stood on end for a split second.Embarrassment at such an obvious tell had her yanking backwards, and planting a hand firmly on his face, over his mouth and scowling up at him.“What is this?” she demanded perhaps more sharply than she intended. “I tell you the truth and you just up and leave without a damn word and now come back and do this. Explain, Fox. I thought you were going to send me to the Rebirth point, not – this,” she grit out. She hated being confused, being wrong. Everything in her life had depended on her ability to read people being a danger to her, and Fox had read like one right before sticking his tongue down her throat and – now she was flustered and furious about it.He picked her hand off his mouth and gave her a level look that told her he was questioning her intelligence, “I would have thought it obvious.”“Sorry, you're going to have to use your Big Boy Words this time,” she snarked irritably, referring to the many times before now she had been able to interpret an entire conversation without the brunet having to contribute a single word.He sighed as if she was the one being difficult and stepped into her space again, “I needed time to think,” he stated flatly. “You dropped quite a bombshell on me and I needed to decide whether or not it was important. I have never considered myself gay, or bisexual, but you were honest the moment you realised my feelings and I realised just now that you fully expected me to be violent for doing so, but did it anyway. It reminded me of the good qualities that I admired in you. So I decided to kiss you and see if the attraction was still there even while knowing the truth.”“And the fact you kissed me twice means?” she asked shortly.“It's still there,” Cold Fox admitted. “Are you still interested in me after I walked away? You seemed to get over it quickly enough.”“My world won't stop just because a boy doesn't return my feelings, Fox,” she scolded him shortly, making him actually smirk and reach out, gently rubbing his hands up her arms. “But yes. They're still there. I can't say they're particularly strong right now but.... I'm willing to see where this takes us, if you are.”“I don't think I can call you my boyfriend like this,” Fox mused, fingers catching on her hair.“Like this I am a girl. So girlfriend is fine,” she dismissed.His fingers stilled as he looked down at her, “It isn't uncomfortable? Being referred to as female, girlfriend?” he asked curiously.Hedwig shook her head, “Why would it? I am a girl in Second Life. It might be strange in reality but.... I don't think it would bother me.”“Will you marry me?” Fox asked.She flushed scarlet and shoved a hand in his face, “Let's just see how things go before doing something like that!!” The Second Life marriage system allowed for multiple benefits, shared item storage which meant they had access to one another's item pouches as well as providing extra space in said storage, it consolidated their money into one large lump-sum that both had access to, certain items (like the transport ticket between continents) could be paid for once and shared between the two of them, and it removed the 'adult content' filter for their interactions.“The what?” Hedwig repeated flatly, staring at – her boyfriend? Over the rim of her tankard in the Blooming Bud Tavern on Port Lily. All around them were rowdy players drinking and feasting, discussing their future plans and dividing up loot between themselves, it was absolutely the same as any kind of tavern in Central Continent.Fox smirked at her behind his own drink, “The Adult Content filter. Also known as the sexual harassment alarm,” he elaborated. Hedwig frowned. “Oh? You've been lucky. Second Life had to input a system warning in the first month of its release because higher-ranked players were getting physical with the lower levelled new players. Unless Players are married or give very clear verbal consent, there's no way to be intimate without the alarm triggering.”“Would it trigger if someone said no even if they were married?” Hedwig asked warily.“No,” Fox admitted before studying her thoughtfully as she frowned and looked down at her drink, “How old are you Hedwig?” he asked suspiciously.She blinked, “Seventeen, why?”That.... threw him for a loop. “You're younger than me,” he blurted in surprise. He had only just turned eighteen when he got hold of the game and while things like legalities had never been a concern of his, he was surprised that she was similarly minded. “This game is Eighteen-plus.”She tilted her head in confusion, “What does that mean?”He knew she wasn't stupid but... what?“You need to be over eighteen to play this game.”She pressed her lips together, “Oh. Nothing on the box said anything about that....” she muttered, frowning a little. Fox never thought of himself as particularly demonstrative, but he couldn't help but reach out and press a thumb against the crease between her eyebrows and try to smooth it away.“If the mods haven't already contacted you about it, then I doubt it matters much,” he dismissed.“It's not me. My cousin, Broken Fist, he got the games for us and he's only a month or so older than me,” she explained, frown reappearing. “And now he's got a boyfriend too. I wonder how old he is and if he knows....” she trailed off unhappily. He didn't huff in amusement, but it was close. So concerned with other people yet she didn't even ask how old he was when he stated she was the younger party. Either she trusted him or didn't care. It was odd, he had fully expected her to be the older of them because of the way she moved and acted, at least until the subject of romance and them came up, then it became somewhat suspiciously apparent that despite her prior relationships he was likely to have more experience on the physical side of it. No doubt she would have more on the emotional side of the spectrum.“Do you want to head back to Central?” he asked. They had enough coin for it. More than enough if they sold some of the rarer loots from the Goblin seige, if they got desperate they could probably sell the wolf's Icarus Plumage – they were unheard of in Northern Continent and more than a few people had eyed them as they walked past.Hedwig frowned in concern, “I want to say yes, but we just got here.... It seems unfair that so much money was spent just for my quest. It feels selfish. Is there anything here that interests you, Fox?” she asked.Was there?None of the public quests for the Northern Continent had particularly thrilled him. The Dryad quest was a hidden one with only rumours and whispers online. Supposedly the Final Boss of the game was stationed somewhere on the Northern Continent but that was a rumour of a rumour – and one of many with some saying that the final boss was on Central, another saying you had to defeat all the Heavenly Beasts before they came together like a Super Sentai mecha to form the final boss.He finished his drink, “Not particularly. None of the publicly known quests interested me at all. Aside from you and our marriage, there's nothing of note in the North,” he dismissed. He had followed her here after all with the expressed purpose of obtaining a girlfriend, it wasn't like he lacked money what-so-ever, and it was clear both of them were remarkably frugal. Finding a girlfriend who could not only keep up with him in this game, actually understand him when he decided that verbal communication was too much of a hassle, and didn't hang off his arm like some kind of shrill baby animal demanding attention, was more difficult than he had originally anticipated. Chinese gaming culture unfortunately encouraged the hyper-feminization of its female players, and romanticised the traditionalist masculine 'provider' role of male players. He was familiar with such roles through his family and other contacts, but online gaming was so much more archaic about it.Hedwig sighed, propping her head up on a fist and watching the antics of the other players, “Extra item storage would be useful....” she muttered under her breath and Fox hid his triumph with a mouthful of their food. Marriage was the practical choice, and they were, both of them, very practical people. She would work it out eventually and agree, or she wouldn't, it would be disappointing but like she said earlier, his world wasn't going to stop spinning because a boy didn't share his feelings. Or in this case, wasn't ready to.In the end, for Hedwig, what really made her mind up was the sudden realisation that there was no way in hell she would be able to have a marriage in Central if she decided to change her mind later – news would get around the entire continent within an hour and then Dudley and the rest of the Righteous Blades would show up. She huffed on a sardonic laugh, the only person who would be anywhere half-way appreciative of the news would be Winter Rose the photographer mage who used to stalk Fox, and then started stalking her.“Alright. How do we do this then?” she asked, looking up at him.“The same way you would a marriage in reality. Get dressed up and go to a church, swear a vow in front of the priest, and then you're married,” the brunet explained making no move to hide how pleased he was by her decision. He got to his feet, “No time like the present.” He summoned something long, red, and gold and presented it to her. “I'll book you a room to get dressed.”Was this the – she took it feeling decidedly frazzled, “Fox, I have no idea how to wear something like this,” she objected weakly.“First time getting married?” the woman on the table next to them teased, she was a stunningly beautiful Celestial Cleric and surrounded by five very attractive young men of various classes and species, all of whom were wearing fairly high-level equipment and armour.Hedwig flushed in embarrassment, pulling her wings in tightly against her back. 'First time', insinuating it would happen again, what kind of person did people take her for?“Aww, she's cute,” one of the guys decided, and she felt Fox shift next to her and frown at him.“Behave yourself,” the woman quipped as she got to her feet, “Not to worry sweetheart, I'm Solitary Blossom, these are my husbands, Naedra, Moriarti, Reaper, Commander Moustache, and Honeybeezey.”“White Hedwig,” she offered stiffly.The cleric nodded with an easy smile, “Mm, I know. You're somewhat famous in Second Life, did you know?” she asked lightly making Hedwig tense up and look at Fox in alarm.“You were logged off via medical emergency, and then came straight back and not only remade the lost levels but went past them. Plus, you're the Lucky Seven,” he explained flatly. “The seven millionth, seven hundred and seventy seventh thousand, seven hundred and seventy seventh player. The company tends to give special rewards to people like you.”Hedwig shrugged, “I just got Steel Wing, that's all,” she admitted.“An advanced knack for being the Lucky Seven?” Solitary Blossom complained, “How cheap! I would have complained if I were you. Demanded something like – a seventy seven percent increase in beauty,” she decided, flicking her hair off her shoulder.One of her husbands chuckled, “You'd break the game if it tried to make you even three percent prettier, Blossom,” he sweet-talked.She laughed smugly, “I would, wouldn't I?”“Absolutely,” one of her other husbands agreed.Solitary Blossom whirled around and seized Hedwig's shoulders, “Well, let's go and get you all dressed up! I've never helped someone else get married! Just for today I'll be your Big Sister! Boys, help him get ready!” she ordered, gesturing to Cold Fox who suddenly looked a little uncertain himself as he realised he wasn't going to be left out of this crazy woman's antics.“I – don't think I – agreed – to this!” Hedwig spluttered as the cleric began to usher her to the stairs.“Oh hush now! We've got to get you cleaned up, sweetheart! You can't walk down the aisle on your special day covered in travel dirt!”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Solitary Blossom was very... experienced, which was probably the nicest way that Hedwig could put it as she was wrestled into lingerie, the red and gold dress that Fox had handed over, her hair was pinned back, her face smeared with coloured clays, powders, and grease. Not even her wings escaped as they were preened and oiled and bejewelled with gold and ruby chains.“Is-isn't this a bit much?” she ventured, flinching back when the cleric waved some manner of rubber edged clamp in the direction of her eyes.“Not at all!” Blossom proclaimed, beaming as she grabbed Hedwig's chin with one hand and clamped the device down on her eyelashes. She was strong enough and fast enough to get away from the Cleric but it had come up in conversation earlier that she was the Landlord of a city in the North, Blossom City, that she'd won it in the Adventurer's Tournament. She was taking time out of her busy recruitment drive to help Hedwig with this wedding nonsense, it would have been incredibly ungrateful to treat her poorly. “It's your first marriage, my flower. They're always a bit special. You'll regret it forever if you don't make a little bit of effort,” she said loftily, waving a tube of mascara as she pulled the clamp away.“F-first?” the owl beastwoman echoed, stung.The celestial didn't notice, “Oh my, yes. Those five I was with earlier are all mine. Second Life lets you have as many spouses as you like but only the one avatar,” she explained cheerfully as she applied the mascara with quick and confident flicks of the brush. “Makes it so much harder for dishonourable and disgusting behaviour to go unpunished, but if everyone is happy and comfortable with the arrangement, why not?” she said happily, “Close your eyes, my flower. All of my boys have my love equally, and they too love each other like brothers. We are, the six of us, very happy. We were friends long before we sat down to speak of taking our relationship to the next level. There were a lot of arguments in the early days, but we got through them with trust, communication, and understanding,” she lectured lovingly as she dusted the lid's of Hedwig's eyes with gold and red powder. “If it were possible in reality, I would marry them all there too. And Moriarti's wife along with him,” she added with another tinkling laugh.“Moriarti is married in reality?” she spluttered, the Cleric whipping away the make-up brushes as she snapped her eyes open before any of the powder could be smeared down her face or into her eyes.Blossom nodded with a bright smile, “Yes. She gets terrible VR sickness so doesn't game with us, but she's an absolute dear.” She laughed, cupping a hand to her cheek, before her expression softened and she gently pushed a few stray strands of Hedwig's hair behind a pointed ear, “Many don't take in-game marriages as seriously as they do marriages in reality. I'm not one of them. If I declare my love, I do it with my heart and soul at every given moment. This world is as real as we make it, our relationships are what we build and maintain. Your marriage to Cold Fox can be the romance of ages, or it can be the coming together of friends. This is your choice. But make no mistake, my flower, it is what you make of it. You will both have to put the work in.”She pressed her lips together, “I think we're just figuring things out for now,” she admitted. For heaven's sake, they'd only agreed to see how things would go between them this morning. “The marriage is purely for utility's sake.”Blossom blinked, “Really? Poo, how boring. I guess there won't be a wedding night then?” she teased salaciously, getting in the warrior's face with a sly smirk.Wed-Wedding night?!! “Seriously, don't mash 'em like an animal,” Honeybeezey declared seriously with all the gravitas and sage knowledge of an expert, “Boobs are delicate, nipples are flower petals, you gotta be GENTLE!” he roared, waving his eighth tankard of alcohol through the air like a sword – slopping half of it on top of Commander Moustache.Reaper scoffed, slamming his empty glass down, “Breasts are great but it's the ASS man! Boobs are made for babies to chew on, they don't have much in the way of sensation, but legs, man, touch a lady's thigh right and she shivers! WAH-HAHAHAH!!”“If you're gunna go with that, why not just fingerblast her into oblivion then?” Moriarti scoffed dismissively with a roll of his eyes, actually being marginally helpful in shoving some nicely smelling cologne in his direction while Naedra brushed Romy's fur to a glowing white sheen.As... fascinating as the subject matter was, with the amount of alcohol the five other men had consumed, everything just came out in various shades of obnoxious and vulgar and Fox was half an inch away from killing them just so he wouldn't have to listen to them talk about Solitary Blossom's feminine blessings. Then there were the many attempts to get him to drink which, he had no intention of showing up to his wedding drunk and needing to be carried by others. He could hold his drink, but somehow he didn't think it would endear him to Hedwig who, quite responsibly, had never partaken in any alcohol during their acquaintance – even though it was perfectly permissible within the game despite her age.Still.'She's not going to be comfortable with anything this physical for a long time. I wish they'd shut up,' he thought sipping at his drink. It was just reminding him that he was going to have to wait and be patient, two things he was very bad at unless being paid otherwise. The five men had hustled him upstairs, thankfully leaving him to his own devices to get washed, only to fuss like old maids when he re-donned his usual Shroud Silk garb – apparently his normal high level armour wasn't good enough for a wedding. Naedra ran out to get him some appropriate wedding clothes after calling his wife to find out what colours to get, he returned with a traditional red, black, and gold robe that offered exactly zero defence or ability, in fact, it was level five clothing that could be purchased at an NPC shop for less than the amount of alcohol they'd drunk just this afternoon. There was even a red and gold scarf for the wolf.But apparently the value was secondary to the aesthetic.Fox normally wouldn't care, but it was going to sting his pride something fierce when he showed up to the wedding in his level 5 robes and she was there in her level seventy set. What would they look like to any observers?He'd received the dress first thing from the Dryad when he'd logged in, she gushed enthusiastically that she'd used her own flowers and the fibres from her daughter's first bloom shed. He'd heard of quests that gave stronger rewards depending on how you fulfilled them, but receiving level seventy robes from a level ten quest was ridiculous. But then again, they did survive that siege event. He'd researched it afterwards, it had been a Hidden Quest on top of a Hidden Quest. Just what kind of ridiculous luck did Hedwig have to stumble into two well hidden extremely profitable quests?“Oh!” Commander Moustache exclaimed suddenly, hand jumping to his ear, “They're ready! Yes, yes, sweetheart. I'll message you when we've got him to the Cathedral – a garden wedding? Of course.” At least open a Whisper Channel.Fox sighed and finished his drink off before getting to his feet, he sincerely hoped no one thought he would be the latest in Solitary Blossom's harem. She was far too high maintenance for his tastes. Also, her level was low and he wasn't really a guy who played well with others. He eyed the woman's husbands and shook his head quietly. He would not be able to stomach sharing his partner with anyone else.He found himself behind hustled to a small cathedral on the waterfront, the gardens overgrown and teaming with wildflowers, cosmos, poppies, other things he didn't recognise. The five husbands ran off to get a priest and began pulling things out of their item storage, very quickly a number of seats were set out, they were all in suits, and there was an archway covered in flowers behind him.Did Solitary Blossom get married so often that her husbands started carrying this stuff around?What a waste of Item sto-You could have multiple item pouches and being married let you pool them all. Son of a bitch!“You got rings right?” Naedra hissed at him. Fox rolled his eyes. Yes, he had rings. He'd stolen them out of the Goblin King's treasury the second he saw them. He pointed the man to the wolf who was sat, perfectly attentive, pillow between his teeth, and the rings upon it. Not his idea. Commander Moustache insisted they involve the pet.“They're here!” Honeybeezey called and quickly scooped up his violin to begin playing. Fox blinked slowly. He hadn't anticipated the dark elf as a Bard, he thought archer.Then he turned around and paused, blinking.Oh....She... cleaned up better than expected.She was flushed red with embarrassment and discomfort, and jerked one of her sleeves at him so he could see her clothing a little more.[I look ridiculous,] she complained over a Whisper Channel, walking awkwardly and carefully so as not to step on the hem of her dress even as she seemed to have trouble with the voluminous double bell-sleeves.[You look fine. Now hurry it up before I kill these idiots,] he returned fighting not to glare at them as they ooh'ed and ahh'ed appreciatively to see her, Solitary Blossom dressed in pinks and whites behind her carrying the long trailing hem of her over-robe with a beaming smile. Hedwig looked very fine, he could definitely get used to the sight, but he could see how uncertain and uncomfortable she was in it – perhaps something a little less grandiose in future? With less chance of tripping on a hem.Mini-skirt perhaps?...He cleared his throat and shoved the thought to the side, yes, they would explore further clothing options in the future. For now though, they had vows to speak and item-storage to merge.As soon as she was close enough, he caught her arm and tugged her to his side and looked at the Priest.“I, Cold Fox, do here-by request to take this woman, White Hedwig, as my wife,” he declared before the elderly NPC could open his mouth before looking down at her, feeling her hand tighten on his arm.“I-I, White Hedwig, do here-by request to take this man, Cold Fox, as my... as my husband...” the owl beastman announced, her voice dying into a whisper of embarrassment, ears tipping pink before she took a deep breath and straightened up, breathing out. There she was, the hesitancy was cute, but it wasn't what he found attractive in her.“Noooo!!” Solitary Blossom exclaimed from Hedwig's side of the 'church' chairs, “More dramatic! It's a declaration! Make some vows! Goodness, put some effort in!” the woman proclaimed glaring and pointing at him with her handful of flowers. So annoying. Did they really look like the kind of people who did frivolous unnecessary things?Hedwig sighed and rolled her eyes a little, feathers puffing before they flattened down and she turned to face him. “I, White Hedwig, take you, Cold Fox, to be my wedded husband. Before these witnesses I pledge my loyalty, honesty, and effort. You are the person whom I choose to build a relationship with, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, through darkness and into the light, from this day forward.”Words stuck in his throat. He wasn't good at speaking and that.... that was a lot more than he was expecting.He grimaced as he received several whisper messages all at once from the men watching. All of them overlapping at the same time, completely unintelligible.He sighed, “I, Cold Fox, take you, White Hedwig, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer. I pledge before these witnesses to respect and honour you and work with you to build a future together from this day forward,” he recited, scratching around in the deeper recesses of his mind for wedding vows from films, books, and even the tiny handful of ceremonies he had seen.“Please place the ring upon your husband,” the priest requested, Romy coming up beside them with his tail wagging a mile a minute.Hedwig paused to see them but thankfully didn't hesitate long as she looked between the two bands, him, and then selected the plainer and larger of the two to slide onto his left hand. It was a simple thick, flat gold band with a single tiny emerald stud set into it, it was a level twenty item that provided poison immunity.“Please place the ring upon your wife,” the priest said to him, and Romy turned to let him collect the simple braided gold twist ring, and slide it onto her finger. It was a little tight, but it resized immediately. The ring itself was not an equippable item, it was what was often termed as a 'loot' item, something to be sold for more money. But he had swiped it at the same time as his poison resistance ring because he'd seen it and thought it was the type of ring that Hedwig would have liked. It was simple, elegant, and subtle. Much like the woman in question in his opinion.“You may now kiss the Bride!” Solitary Blossom proclaimed loudly from the background.For that alone, he decided he wouldn't kill her as he kissed his wife.[ SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: MARRIAGE CEREMONY SUCCESSFUL. PLAYERS COLD FOX AND WHITE HEDWIG ARE NOW HUSBAND AND WIFE ]
Solitary Blossom tried to insist on some kind of reception but Fox made some half-hearted comments about putting the advice the others gave him to good use, and the five husbands were quick to usher her away, loudly declaring that newly weds needed time alone. The two of them wasted absolutely no time in getting on a ship back to Central, paying only the one payment of five thousand crystal coins now that they were married.“I get the feeling Solitary Blossom is the type to follow people she takes a liking to,” Hedwig muttered as Fox held their cabin door open for her, fighting not to grin at the way she had her skirts bundled up in her arms so she could walk freely.“Not just her,” Fox agreed. He also got the feeling he would be endlessly receiving messages about how to 'properly' bed a woman, as if he didn't already know. He closed the door as Hedwig immediately made a beeline for the bathroom, their room didn't have two beds like the last time, just one, there were rose petals on the bed and candles on the tables with a basket of chocolates and a bottle of wine next to a smaller bottle of oil.He took a deep breath, and slowly let it out.He didn't know Second Life had a 'honeymoon' function on its ships, he turned away from the room and huffed on a small smile when he saw her through the open bathroom door roughly scrubbing her face free of powder and lipstick. Then she de-equipped the dress, and Fox nearly swallowed his tongue.
The Mature Content filter was definitely turned off.
She re-equipped her usual clothing almost immediately, opting to leave the hard metal armour pieces off for comfort, but it was long enough for him to see the black lace and silk undergarments she had been wearing. Thigh-highs, suspenders, see-through lace panties and a matching black lace bra, the fabric so thin and fine he could see the dark outline of her nipple in the mirror even as it was actually hidden beneath a lace-flower. And then hidden completely from view by her usual high-necked sleeveless green silk tunic and black trousers.“That's better,” she sighed, stepping out and smiling apologetically at him, “It's a nice dress, but, I just look like such an awkward turtle in it.”“You did,” he agreed, unable to deny it even as he stepped into her space and stole a kiss, “But if it was your first time in something like that it's to be expected.” He kissed her again, feeling the way she slowly began to relax, leaning into him as he kissed her. As he thought, physical contact was still an uncertainty with her, he would have to get her acclimatised to his touch, a good thing they had five days at sea with no other company than each other, perhaps the 'honeymoon' function would deliver food to their room?He paused mid-kiss as her wings shivered, flinching outward a little and puffing up. She tore her mouth away and hid her face against his shoulder, turning red.Oh?She'd done that the first time they'd kissed as well. What had he – ah yes. Slowly, he drew his hand down the centre of her back, pressing his fingertips against her spine, and felt her whole body shudder even as her wings fluffed up again.“Fox...” she complained, pointed ears sunset red.He chuckled a little, “Alright,” he said, shifting his grip to a simple hug, mentally filing away his new knowledge, that her back was very sensitive and if her wings ruffled like that then he was doing something right – and he probably also shouldn't do it in public.She huffed, “I didn't say stop,” she grouched, reaching up and pulling him down into a kiss of her own. That – was a surprise, but not one he was going to complain about as she licked her way into his mouth, and pressed tightly against his front, breasts soft against his chest in a way that was rapidly eroding his decision to try and be patient for her. Not that she seemed to care for patience right now, he realised as she steered him out of the bathroom doorway and towards the bed.It was only when he was sat with her in his lap, and things began to get a little heated that he pulled back, “Wait,” he commanded, sliding a hand up to press a finger to her lips before she could chase him. “Are you sure about this?” Because if this got any heavier then he was going to fuck her, and while he might enjoy every second of it, he would rather a willing and enthusiastic partner than a girl who lost her nerve but couldn't speak up, he was willing to wait but he wasn't so sure his self-control would extend to stopping in the middle of this. No one had ever asked him to stop. He would like to think he would if asked, but until he had been placed in that position he could not say with certainty. Just as he couldn't have said with certainty before that he would never be attracted to a man – Hedwig was male beneath her avatar. And sex was a very different activity between the sexes. Was Hedwig prepared to be on the receiving side of it?She leaned back and gave it thought. Which he appreciated, no matter how impatient for an answer he was.“...Blossom said that this relationship would be as serious or as casual as we let it be,” she said slowly, “But when we made those vows, I wasn't just being dramatic for the sake of it. I do want to see what I can build with you. And... this is something you want, isn't it?” she asked tilting her head at him.He nodded, “Yes. But is it something you want?”She shrugged a shoulder, “I've never done it before, so, I'm at least willing to see what it's like. It isn't like you can hurt me, or get me pregnant.”He gripped her hips a little more tightly, “So it's curiosity?”She nodded slowly, “Yes. Mainly. I want to know what it's like. And I trust you.” He dropped his head against her chest. She was curious about sex and trusted him to be the one to teach her. He felt her fingers run through his hair. “This is only as serious as we want it to be, Fox. You don't have to do anything you don't want,” she soothed, “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”He took a deep breath, smelling the faded remnants of whatever perfume that she had been doused with before the wedding, something warm and slightly spicy, before he tightened his grip on her and twisted, throwing her down onto her back across the bed. She spluttered, wings flailing a little before he pinned them down and crawled on top of her, she swallowed, staring up at him with large green eyes, a flush slowly beginning to crawl across her cheeks.“Oh no, my Wife, I very much want this.” Harry stared at the ceiling of the tent through the eyeshield of her headset in a daze.That – that had happened. More than once.Inanely she expected to be sore, she wasn't, but she had a problem downstairs that needed taking care of before Hermione woke up and started asking questions. But... Harry wasn't sure she could get out of her bed right now. She felt really... disconnected right now. Kind of loose and lazy and... happy.If this was how people felt after sex then she absolutely understood the hype. Not that the act itself wasn't... pretty damn good. A bit weird, she hadn't known what to expect and the logistical issues of very different anatomy threw her off but, well, she knew what she was doing with a dick, and Fox knew what he was doing with a woman, they made it work and.... she blushed remembering how loud she'd gotten, how she'd moaned his name and begged him not to stop. She had turned into a – well, she had been very eager at the end and it was embarrassing.Oh god, she hoped the cabins on that ship were sound-proof.But.... it had been good.Fox had been careful with her the first time for all that he often came across as an uncaring asshole, he just showed emotions and communicated differently to the average person. The second time was a bit rougher, a bit more exploratory, she didn't know whether it would translate to their real bodies but apparently she had a bit of a weakness for a mixture of dirty-talk and praise and her face burned remembering some of the things Fox had whispered in her ear as he slowly rocked into her. For someone who wasn't particularly talkative eighty percent of the time, he was a gobby little shite in the bedroom.She whimpered and shoved the headset off to go and grab a shower, a cold one, or – was it wrong to jerk off while thinking of your boyfriend? Of your husband? Harry had always been viscerally uncomfortable with the concept of... doing that while imagining actual people. It just felt uncomfortable, even when he'd been seeing Ginny he couldn't bring himself to picture her while handling himself. No, no, no, he – cold shower. Definitely.Day one of agreeing to date him and they were married and fucking.That was.... quite the escalation. How in the hell was he going to explain this to Hermione?And he was going to have to explain it to her, he realised as he got out of the shower and got dressed, finding her already with breakfast laid out for them and an eager look on her face.“How did your talk with Cold Fox go?” she asked as she poured him a cup of tea.“Um,” he blushed horribly as her face lit up.Voldemort kill him now, how did he explain?