The morning had been a blur for Jasmine. She’d always had to use a great deal of willpower to comb through the endless reports and now that there was a chance she might not have to anymore she was even less motivated than usual.

When lunch time came she wolfed down her pasta in a extremely unladylike manner and rushed down to the room she was supposed to use for her testing. When she arrived she discovered a small grey room that lacked any furniture or decor.

“You could have at least put a table or something in here.” She said to the technician waiting for her. He was the same-one that had been working on the machine yesterday. He introduced himself as Mike.

He looked apologetic. “Sorry, it used to be a storage room. We just moved all the stuff out of here and put in the machine. It won't be too bad though once you get in game you won't notice it.”

She snorted mentally. Typical male response. They all seemed to think that as long as you couldn’t see a problem there apparently was no problem.

“So what do I do?” She looked at the contraption rather apprehensively. Why had she thought this was a good idea again? She was going to look ridiculous in that thing.

“Just climb into the circle there and place your arms and legs into the holders. The machine’s gyro stabilizers will provide resistance to keep you upright once I power it on.” With that he pushed a switch on the side and it hummed to life.

She climbed into the machine and put her hands and feet inside the holders. They reacted automatically and retracted until they were snug. Soon she stood there, as if on a floor suspended a foot or so off the ground.

“Now what?” she said feeling even more apprehensive.

“Now you just tell it how long you wish to play, and activate the Imersifier. I’d start with two hours or so It’ll send you a pop-up in game to tell you when the time is up, then just say. ‘Logout’. Also, when you get in call you your character pane by calling. ‘Open Character’. That’ll let you start adjusting your avatar. I’ve adjusted the code so you’ll have an easier to start. Oh and use the ‘Details’ command so you can see what all the stats and everything do, and don’t pick a class at first, all the good ones are locked. And….

“I got it, I got it.” She said, trying to head him off before he built up too much steam. “It’ll be better for testing if I figure stuff out for myself.” She had no idea if that was true, but he was going full nerd on her and she just wanted him to leave. No way she was activating the machine alone with him in the room when she’d be oblivious to everything around her. The thought gave her the creeps.

He looked slightly embarrassed at his long speech.”Good point, Well I’ve got work waiting. I’ll leave you to it. This door locks so you won't be disturbed. Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Will do” She said with a friendly smile as he left the room. She heard the door lock.

“Like hell” she muttered rolling her eyes. Let’s just get this over-with. She was regretting her impulse to try it out. The whole thing had turned into a much bigger deal than she was expecting.

Too late now

Then said. “Set time two hours…. Activate”

There was a flash of light and she woke up on a grassy plain. Her vision was fuzzy, and her limbs didn’t seem to move properly as she tried to sit up. A small blue pop-up window appeared in front of her eyes.

Calibration Complete

Her vision cleared and her limbs started to move naturally. She then closed the pop up and sat up. She knew that players didn’t usually see the pop-ups. This must have been part of the modifications they’d made for her.

She looked around in wonder. Tall grass swayed slightly in the breeze surrounding her and in the distance she could see ever-greens against a back-drop of mountains. It was utterly breathtaking scenery.

“This is too strange.” She walked a few paces then moved her arms around. She then took a look at her body, and noticed she was practically naked. “Oh that’s nice” Her breasts were bound with a coarse linen wrap, and a pair of shorts covered her bottom bits other than that she wore nothing. She had never been too embarrassed about her body but this was a bit much. She wasn’t exactly in great shape and she’d eaten too much dessert this winter. She didn’t normally fret about it like most women but on the other hand aside from the pool she’d never been this naked outside in the middle of the day before.

She couldn’t do much about that for now in any case so she continued to study her surroundings. “It’s so life-like, how is this even possible?” She likely spent ten minutes just gaping at the landscape and wandering aimlessly before she remembered Mike’s advice. “Open Character” She said in a commanding voice not knowing what to expect.

A large translucent pane appeared before her. It was full of numbers and information that may as well have been Greek to her. “At least the top part is pretty straight forward.” She set her name as Jasmine to start with. She realized glumly she was going to have a lot of reading to do to figure out how to play this game. For the time being though she could just get her race set up.

She opened the race list. “What the hell is this?” She didn’t even know what a quarter of the races even were. She was going to just select human, but then thought.

What the hell? If I don’t like my race I can just die and re-roll.

With that she scanned the list. Looking for something interesting. She knew that bard was a class and she liked music but honestly she didn’t know what race would even make for a good bard. Who was she kidding anyway? She just wanted kill things.

“Select Orc” This should be fun for a trial run she thought laughing.

Warning This Choice Is Permanent and Cannot be Changed. Do you wish to Continue?Y/N

“Yes” She confirmed. There was another flash of light and her body felt…. Odd. She looked down at herself in wonder. Her skin was now shaded a light green. Her arms, legs, and stomach had gained a good bit of muscle tone as well. She laughed and her voice came out slightly deeper than she was used to. Her mouth also felt strange and she gingerly touched her face.

“Oh my god. I have tusks.” She laughed and spun in a circle giggling like a schoolgirl.

I wish I had a Mirror.

Blip

Employee Equipment Pack: Orc

Deploying

There was a shimmer in the air a few feet from her and a bundle dropped to the earth. It contained a sleeveless linen undershirt, leather pants, leather armor, two small axes, a backpack, and a bunch of other supplies. Including food, water, and other essentials

“Very nice” She’d read enough reports to know that dehydration and starvation were the most likely way for new players to die. There we hundreds of players who had never even saw a monster or another person. Luckily with this she had a pretty huge head-start.

She quickly dressed and donned her armor. It was a little odd but it beat being half-naked. She then stuffed all the other stuff into her pack, feeling confused as it vanished, but at the same time making the pack heavier. Slinging it onto her shoulder she set-off towards the woods in the distance. She knew that to play the game you needed to level up and to level up you needed to kill things.

She got her chance not too long afterwards. She was wandering through the woods an hour or so later when a small creature appeared in front of her. It was humanoid but very skinny with dark-green skin. Large yellow-tinted eyes protruded comically from it’s head and long pointed ears jutted out from bristly black hair.

“Awww, your kinda cute.” Jasmine said, pausing to inspect the creature. The monster then produced a crude hooked knife from the tattered rags it wore and opened it’s mouth smiling with malicious glee. The smile revealed long needle-like teeth and a long black tongue. She heard a rustle from nearby and two more of the creatures appeared, both armed with crude knives.

The three creatures slowly stalked forward apparently eager for violence. However instead of seeing their victim cower in fear they instead were treated to a smile so cheerfully evil that it put theirs to shame.

Jasmine waded forward with her twin axes hacking merrily at anything that moved. Her movements were crude but enthusiastic and black blood flew in all directions. The world tinged pink and her speed increased as she gave herself over to the thrill of combat.

By the time it was over she was panting with exhaustion and spattered with blood both green and black. She smiled as she looked at the carnage she’d wrought. She still wasn’t sure if she wanted to continue playing but the game really did make for excellent stress relief.

**************************************************************

“Is the new batch prepared?” The boss asked in his normal cool tones from behind his desk. His desk was a masterpiece. Heavy mahogany was covered with masterful carvings of fantastic beasts and the top was polished and lacquered to a mirror shine. The CEO waited patiently while sweat beaded the face of the man across from him.

“Not quite Sir. We’re having trouble getting enough participants our recruiting efforts have slowed. Although we’re supplementing the numbers with our new employee testing initiative.” The doctor prevaricated.

“What initiative? By all accounts you’ve recruited ONE person. We’re still in no position to launch. III’s demanding a thousand more Full Immersion Testers before he can finish the NPC behavior program. Get your ass back out there and get me some more testers. I expect there to be at LEAST Fourteen-thousand players in Otherworld by Friday or I swear to god YOUR going to be testing and your assistant will be recruiting.”

**********************************************************

I awoke to soft sheets and the smell of baking bread mixed with a tantalizing hint of wildflowers and the merest touch of a darker richer scent. The feel of the bed beneath me was unfamiliar, and I smiled as I stretched languidly as my muddled brain assembled the facts into a clearer picture. There was only one explanation. I was in a woman’s bed. I rolled over and splayed out my limbs soaking in the comfort while feeling rather pleased with myself. God it had been too long. Since at least last year, I’d dated a girl last fall but after winter break we’d never really picked things back up. Then there was this stupid game, hell it’d been days since I’d even slept in a decent bed.

……..

“Awwwww dammit” Finally it all came back. The game and the super-rat. My wounds and the hellish crawl with my broken leg. I must have blacked-out from the pain, or the fever. I hadn’t gotten lucky last night. I sighed and slumped down with my eyes still closed. That revelation brought up another important question though.

Who’s bed is this?

The question was answered a moment later when a creak and footsteps let me know someone had opened the door. I reluctantly opened my eyes. I was in a small bedroom with the ceiling slanted to one side. I must be in one of the rooms above the Sten’s Inn. The room was a simple one with only a small dresser and a bed. A pot of flowers on the dresser and the floral pattern on the bed-spread gave it a feminine feel.

The apparent owner came in through the door holding pitcher of water and a wooden tray piled with food. She was a young woman likely close to my own age or a couple years older. She had dirty blonde hair that was tied in a knot behind her head. Her figure was a full one that nicely filled out the simple working-dress she was wearing. Her facial features were a touch too masculine to be classically beautiful but she had a hearty country girl air to her that I found rather charming.

It brought the smile back to my face as I stretched again and sat-up in her bed.

“No use smirkin’ at me like some lordling after a night’s conquest. I had to carry yer heavy ass all the way up from the cellar covered in mud, blood, and gods know what else. Far as I’m concerned Pa’s been too nice to you anyways. You can get your ass outta my bed and leave.” The woman said with a scowl.

The tirade only heightened my amusement and my smile grew from a smirk into a full blown grin. “That’s some excellent bedside manner you’ve got going.” I replied trying not to laugh at her expression. Her face flushed and I could see her take a breath to launch into another tirade when I raised my hands. “Peace, I’m too exhausted to argue.” I said as I slumped back down to the bed. It was a lie, I felt great, but playing the invalid was a rather strong tactic against most women.

Her face softened immediately and she brought the plate of food over to me. I accepted it, then started to eat gingerly. Making sure not to get food in her bed. “I didn’t know Sten had a daughter” I said, around a mouthful of buttered bread. I’d never seen her in the inn before. I’d assumed Sten was a career bachelor.

“I’m his niece really but he’s raised me since I was little. I moved out a few years ago but I still help when he needs some extra hands.”She replied. That would explain it. I’d only been here a couple of days. I supposed she only stayed her occasionally. Her attitude had done a complete 180 and I wanted to find out some info before she got angry again.

“I’m Noob Slayer by the way.” I said extending my hand. It bothered me that I couldn’t give her my real name but it seemed a silly worry since she was an NPC.

“Hannah” She replied, then continued. “What happened? Pa said you were going to find the rat nest, but we found you past out down-stairs covered in blood and filth without a scratch on you. You were burning up with fever and it looked like you’d broken your leg. We cleaned you up and I brought you up here. Sten keeps a room for me here encase I need to stay over for something.”

That was a complicated sort of question. I couldn’t tell her I’d stumbled into a dungeon. Then gotten beaten to hell, killed the beast, leveled up to restore all my HP. Then dragged my broken leg back through the tunnel and passed out.

“Well, I found where all the rats were coming from but they proved a bit too much for me to handle.” I replied truthfully while glossing over the details. “I’m prolly gonna have to go back in there if I wanna stop the rat problem in town.” I said. Although, with the memories of that place still fresh in my mind I had no desire at all to return.

The girl looked really worried this time. “Ya can’t go back in there after what happened, You’ve been unconscious for two days.” Her concern raised my opinion of her a notch. However her proximity was derailing my thoughts. I knew she was an NPC but It was a rather small room, and she was rather lovely, and I was in her bed. She noticed the direction of my thoughts because her scowl returned to wipe away her worried expression, which of course made me smile again. She had a great scowl, it made her eyes sparkle.

“Alright, alright.” I said as I rose from the bed. “I’m getting up.” Her eyes went wide as I rose. Wondering at her expression I looked down. I was very very naked. And…. in pretty good shape. My mostly flabby arm muscles had swelled and gained tone, and my stomach which had been right on the border of fat, had tightened up considerably. I looked like I’d been hitting the gym every day for a month.

Not Bad……

I looked like I had back when I played high-school sports. Apparently, 20 attribute points can make anyone look decent. I smiled to myself before remembering the situation. I looked back up into Hanna’s shocked honey-brown eyes.

“Can I have my Pants back?”

**********************************************************************

She didn’t give my pants back. Although with how little of them were actually left it wasn’t very surprising. Turns out Hannah was something of a seamstress and she’d taken it upon herself to commission a set of clothes for me. Of course the silver for them still had to come out of my pocket. Which put me back at flat broke. However I couldn’t be too mad. I really did need a set of clothes, and the ones she made me were heavy-duty work clothes and provided some minor defensive bonuses.

Heavy Linen Shirt

(Common)A solid working shirt made with heavy stitches and rough fabric, not much to look at, but perfect for doing hard work.

Armor: +1

Class: Clothing

Durability: 25/25

The pants were similar and after putting both on I headed out to run some errands. I whistled as I strode down the main street of Valor’s Crossing. I was in a good mood. The inn had once again healed me back to fighting-fit. I’d got a new set of clothes, although I was still barefoot. I found out my stat increases were getting me into shape and I had loot to sell.

I’d asked Sten about the rat fang and his eyes had widened. He’d informed me such drops were worth a good deal of coin to craftsmen. So I was off to meet with the village smith for a bit of bartering. Hopefully I could find myself a weapon.

The smith was on the other end of town. It was just a lean-to attached to a small house. A man was working a pair of bellows while a chunk of red-hot iron sat near him on an anvil. He moved from the bellows and used a pair of long-handled pliers to bend it. On closer inspection the Iron was a horse-shoe that looked malformed. Apparently, he was trying to bend it back into shape. It took him another few minutes to fix it and not being in any hurry. I waited patiently for him to finish.

“Can I help ya?” The smith asked as he finished on the shoe. He was a burly balding man in his late-forties. He wasn’t particularly friendly but also didn’t seem unduly hostile.

“I’ve come for some business. I was wondering what I could get for this?” I said producing the fangs from my pocket. The man looked surprised but his tone remained gruff.

“Well bring it over-here and let's have a look” He laid the fangs on a workbench and studied them with a practiced eye. “What are they off of?” he asked has he tested a metal file against one.

“Dire rat” I said. I had no idea what they were worth but I was at least hoping for twenty-five silver or so. That would hopefully let me get a weapon or some armor and give me some savings to fall back on. Much like the real world being broke made everything a great deal more complicated.

“Hmmmmm….” He tapped the teeth with a hammer and performed a few other tests while I stood and waited for the results. “I’ll give ya two eagles” He finally said when he finished his inspection. There were eight copper rams to a silver bull, and twelve bulls to an gold eagle. So he’d just offered me twenty four bulls, a little less than I was hoping for.

“Thirty-two bulls” I countered shamelessly. I needed the money. Otherwise I’d be sleeping on the floor and eating fish for every meal again.

The smith scowled at me, then said. “Twenty-eight.”

“Sold!” I extended my hand and the smith grunted as we shook. “You don’t have any weapons for sale do you.” I knew he likely would this was a game after all.

Blip

Instead he just shook his head. “ Ain't much use for making weapons. Been here 10 years, and ain't never had one request for a single sword. I guess I could make ya something, but I doubt I’d be much good. I ain't made a sword since I was an apprentice.”

I was honestly shocked. Granted, Most blacksmiths wouldn’t ever make a weapon, even the ones in games. No-one ever really bought anything from. Besides selling weapons to new players everything they sold was always terrible compared to monster drops or player crafted weapons. As such they were mostly used to dump all the junk that players picked up from adventuring.

As a consequence this guy had forsaken the sale of weapons all together and actually made horse-shoes and other useful items for the people in town. He’d apparently graduated beyond being an NPC merchant and had become a real blacksmith. The implications of that were a little worrying. Either someone had been a great deal too clever when they designed the AI routines, or they were really going for a full immersive experience. Either way it needed some more thinking on. In the mean-time I still needed a weapon.

“Do you have anything I could use? An axe, a sickle? Hell, just an Iron bar?” Anything would be better than trying to fight bare-handed.

“Well….. I might have a few things. Lemme take a look.” The man sounded rather put-upon, but I detected a bounce in his step as he went into his house. I was about to give him back a good portion of the money he just spent after-all.

The man returned with a small hatchet, a lumber axe, a spade, and a.. something. “What’s that?” I asked curiously It looked like an odd cross between an axe and a hammer, although the axe side of it didn’t look very sharp.

The man looked at me as if I’d just asked what color the sky was. “Ain't ya never seen a splitting maul before.” I hadn’t, but then again, I’d lived in the city all my live and although I couldn’t remember what city I did know I’d never needed to split firewood.

“I”ll take that one.” I said enthusiastically. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but honestly, who wanted a sword when you could just use a big freaking hammer? After some more battering, I got him down to eighteen bulls for the maul. Which left me with a good bit left in my pocket. I also wanted some armor but if I couldn’t find a sword, I knew there was no way I could get my hands on armor in this small village. Shoes were of course a priority, but after stopping by the cobblers shop, I found out I’d need more money for a good pair of boots. I bought up the stats of my maul while I loitered in town.

Splitting MaulA Heavy two handed tool used to split firewood. Much more of a tool than a weapon. It’s main utility is in it’s sheer weight allowing for powerful crushing strikes.

Damage: 4-10

Family: 2h Mace

Damage: Crushing

Speed: Very Slow

Durability: 50/50

Errands run and with money to spare in my pocket, I was left with nothing in particular to do. All of my most immediate needs had been seen to and I could live for a week or two off the remainder of my item drop. I was now faced with the choice I’d been putting off for days. Should I take it easy, spend my days fishing, killing small rats, and generally enjoying myself. Or I could brave the dungeon, likely be horribly wounded again, possibly die, but also level up a few times, and make a bunch of money.

Honestly, It was a question that took a lot of thought. If I died in game would I really die? That didn’t seem likely, but honestly the odds were pretty high of my demise if I went back into the dungeon. Risking my actual life on that chance seemed foolish. On the other hand, If I was indeed stuck inside this game, The only way I was likely to get out again was by continuing the story. If I even could get out. Maybe I’d died from a blood-clot or something and they’d just uploaded my consciousness into a game. Maybe reality as I knew it was merely a dream and this was actually the real world. Maybe I’d spent too much time reading crappy sci-fi novels as a boy, and it was starting to affect my world-view. The memory of watching the rat slowly die while I nursed my broken leg made up my mind.

I sighed. I needed more information if I was going to make an informed decision, but I had no idea how to get it. Would the game somehow reveal information to me if I kept playing? The setup of the various menu’s lead me to believe there were human hands in this. Following that assumption however lead me to dead end. If humans really did build this world, what was it’s purpose? Was it just a video game they meant to market? If that was the case, why all the cloak and dagger with memory modifications? This game had to be the single greatest game on the market. Not years ahead of it’s competition but decades. They could have easily had ten million players… Maybe they did have Ten Million Players. How the hell would I know?

UGH….

More questions, and as usual no answers. My train of thought was derailed only when someone called out to me. “Noob Slayer what are you staring at so intently?” I blinked and realized I’d been standing in the middle of the street staring at nothing as I thought.

I turned and found Hanna walking towards me. “Nothing, in particular, I was just thinking about what I should be doing. Thanks for the clothes by the way. They are just what I needed. I was going to buy some when I got some money, but you took care of it for me.” I really was thankful. She and Sten had apparently drug me all the way up from the basement while I’d been passed out and sick. They had cleaned me up and taken care of me.

Luckily with the healing effects of the inn it had only taken two days to heal up. A broken leg in two days was pretty astounding. I again wondered what Hanna thought about that. She hadn’t said anything, had she not noticed his leg was broken? or did NPC’s also get the same bonus from the inn. She said she thought it was broken. Maybe she just didn’t think it was worth noting because that’s the way it always worked in the game. Too many things about the NPC’s in the game were strange.

“I’m not sure, There’s not much work in the village for a newcomer, but you might be able to pick up some more odd-jobs. I’ve heard more people talking about rats lately. I’m heading over to Old Gerta’s place now. She says some things gotten into her cellar as well. It seems to be a pretty big problem.” She said as we stood in the street.

“That’s not surprising.” I said honestly. “I guess I never told you what I found and how I got beat up. When I followed that tunnel out under the inn, it ended up in this big cavern. I fought a dire-rat. I killed it but it hurt me rather badly. I get the feeling there is a big nest in there. That’s likely why everyone is having so many rat problems.”

Hanna frowned as she listened. “Something like that’ll cause alotta problems. It don’t seem like much of a deal for now, but come winter all those seeds, and stored food’ll be missed. I better go check on Gerta” she said turning and heading down the street.

“I’ll come with.” I volunteered. I didn’t have anywhere in particular to be, and if there we more rats, they might need my help. Besides Hanna was pleasant company when she wasn’t yelling at me.

Hanna frowned as I fell into step beside her but shrugged as we crossed the village. Gerta’s hut was a small ramshackle thing on the edge of town. Her husband had apparently died years ago, and she mostly kept to herself.

It was midday and the sun was a pleasant warmth on my now clothed shoulders. A warm wind blew in from the west as we we approached the small cottage. I’m not sure what it was that tipped me off but I put out an arm to stop Hanna’s progress as she approached the door.

“Hold up a sec.” I said as I scanned my surroundings, unsure of what I was looking for.

“What’s wrong?”, Hanna asked suspiciously. Her trademark furrowed brows returning to her face. “And you talk oddly? Where exactly are you from?”

“Hell if I know.” I replied absently as I continued to search for whatever it was that had raised my hackles. “When did you talk to Gerta last?” I asked as I shifted my new maul off my shoulder and into my hands.

“Would ya stop ignoring me? What’s goin' on?” She said in a huff.

Continuing to ignore her I opened the door. The cabin was surprisingly clean on the inside in contrast to it’s run down exterior.. Although it was clear the old-woman was poor she kept the place clean and tidy. I scanned the small abode looking for trouble.

“Is anyone here?” I called out. Wondering at the source of my unease.

I got a small whimpering cry in response and I rushed toward the source. A small trap door was open and a set of rickety wooden stairs lead down into darkness. I hurried down the stairs and entered a small root cellar. A body lay on the floor with a number of rats attacking it.

I ran over to it and let out a few kicks at the rodents trying to scatter them. As they ran I lifted the body of an old woman and hosted her over a shoulder before running upstairs.

Hanna was standing in the cottage looking at me with wide eyes. “let me have a look at her” She said in a calm tone at odds with the look of surprise and confusion on her face. I laid the woman down, and shut the trapdoor with a kick, before sliding a nearby table over-top of it.

“That’s Gerta I presume?” I asked as Hanna tended to the woman. He hands were surprisingly deft and although they shook slightly, she seemed like she knew what she was doing.

“Yes, and she’s in bad shape. We need to get her to Pa’s inn as quick as we can. I’m afraid she won’t last long.” She responded in the same forced cool tone from earlier.

“Give her here. I’ll carry her.” I walked over and picked the woman up carefully. She was light as a feather. I carefully navigated the small room and headed out the door, with Hanna trailing Behind.

“What do you think you need to carry her just because you're a man?” She replied with venom, while we hurried across town. I rolled my eyes. Weren’t women in medieval times supposed to be submissive? Although, I supposed that didn’t hold up all that well in video-games. It’s hard to justify the superiority of the male gender when there are women who can pick up boulders to smite dragons and others who can level cities with magic. That lead me to the thought it didn’t hold up all that well in real society either.

“Are you ignoring me again?” Came another barbed volley from behind me.

“Yes” I said not turning to look at her. Not wanting to get into an argument while a woman was dying in my arms I continued toward the inn breaking into a jog. We arrived in the inn a few minutes later, and I headed upstairs. A few more steps and I laid the women in the same bed I’d been in a few hours earlier.

After I unloaded my burden, it occurred to me it had been Hanna’s idea to bring her here. “Why did we bring her all the way here anyway? Wouldn’t have been easier to just use the bed in her house?” I asked confused.

“Because everyone always heals fast in inn’s.” She said as if I had asked something to which the answer would be obvious to a child.

I had assumed that was the reason but I was unsure if the inn’s healing aura would work on NPC’s. I had never thought about what the ramifications would be of a group of people who had lived all their lives in an environment in which the nonsensical rules of a videogame applied. Would they ever learn anything about healing when they could just take everyone to the nearest inn and even the most grievous wounds would be healed in hours instead of months? It was an interesting question and would likely make a fairly interesting study for some psychologist if this game was ever released to the public.

“Thank you for bringing Gerta here. Although, I really wish you’d stop ignoring me all the time.” She said in a voice that sounded very little like thanks.

“Well I really didn’t want to get in a verbal fencing match with you while I had a woman dying in my arms.” I said as I left the small bed-room. I walked down stairs and plopped onto a bar-stool. While Hanna followed berating me the whole way.

“What do you mean get into a verbal fencing match? I just wanted to know why you wanted to carry her?” She asked sounding baffled.

Blip

My headache was back with a vengeance. I sighed and ordered a beer from Sten. He delivered it with a blank expression but gave me a mile-wide grin as Hanna looked away for a moment, while she continued her hen-pecking.

_____________________________________________

Note: Whew, another long one.

Edited for some minor grammar. Advertisement Support "Kill 10 Rats" PayPal Patreon Previous

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