Jimmy and Micky just chilled on the edge of the secret watering hole. It probably wasn’t as secret as they felt, but the only people that came hear were kids that wanted to get away from everything. Right now that was Micky, and the [Village Idiot] was happy these days because people were screaming and hollering about somebody else for a change. And she didn’t even come home with a single welt from a rock! She didn’t have to dodge one of the big [Rock]s that could take Micky's head clean off! She was in heaven, it was a good day! She just hoped that Micky would stay the people’s problem for the rest of her life, so she could marry, and have a big family, and go to work while her husband looked after the kids and… it would be spectacular.

She would be sourly disappointed but she wasn’t about to ruin her daydream after all. [Dreamer] was a possible promotion class! Why shouldn’t she work towards it? Number one FOP hopeful class, right there.

Micky just enjoyed peace while it lasted. The village had a “Not in my sight, not my problem” kind of outlook to life. Nobody was going to seek him out, but he should probably not be seen in town for a while outside of his studies. Micky decided to test out his improvised [Tame] by practicing on the fish and other [Critter]s running around. They were the perfect creatures to test out spells on since they were system recognized [Target]s. They would never become more then what they are, never go [Hero] on you mid-fight, and would never be more than food or pets, unless exposed to [Dungeon] levels of mana and aether.

In order to make [Charm] into [Tame] he would have to make the feeling go both ways, among other things. He would also have to make the connection into something that they could communicate through. It was far more complicated than turning [Charm] into a lesser [Mass Charm], which was just removing the targeted interface and instead, casting over an area. Of course [Mass Charm] had FoF features and a bunch of other things, plus variations on either area casting or mass targeting. The biggest problem was that he had to get spellcraft that was actually viable and would work. He didn’t have the mana to perform real [Spellcraft] like arcane mages did. But if it was just some improvisation he could modify a spell, particularly his oldest spell. He knew it like the back of Bob’s head, his stupid, stupid head. Man, did Micky hate that head. So Micky tried to first modify the basics of what charm sent to the target.

It did not go so well. Three floating fish and one that could only make left turns, he decided to start with an easier part of the spell. There weren’t any but while none of the fish were dead, he wasn’t sure that a [Hero] fish wouldn’t appear and slay the [Demon King]. They would be fine after a few minutes or so but it was still weird. Micky had decided to work on the duration of the spell by making it a passive that was agreed upon by both parties. Of course the fish were going to firmly deny that agreement but that was a good thing for Micky. Micky would later be traumatized by more fish acting strange and one that had turned blue for some reason.

Jimmy had finished carving out a hook from a small twig and had been working on the twine while Micky was working on torturing fish. There was a decent sized stick to use as a rod laying next to him when he was done. When he really needed to get the line out there he would forget the rod and just toss the line itself in. But the pond was small enough he could get to where he wanted it with a rod.

“You think I can stay over tonight?” Asked Jimmy

“Ya dude, you can sleep over anytime you want. You might have to bunk with somebody though.” Said Micky.

“No problem I’ll just sleep with you like usual. You’re sure your parents won’t mind us sleeping together?” Jimmy

“Nah, they’d have no problem if it was you. You can sleep with me anytime you want.” Micky

“I’ll take you up on that proposition than.” Jimmy

“I guess it’s time to head back.” Micky said. The sky was turning dark and he didn’t want to worry his parents two days in a row.

They headed back along the trail will there was still plenty of light out to see by. Both Micky’s parents would probably be out for work since it was still ‘Daylight’ even though the sky was turning. They often didn’t get back till the sky was well and truly the color of pitch.

Micky used Jimmy to scout for him. If Mrs. Robinson the old crone was around Micky didn’t want to be anywhere in her sights. She could peg a bird with her ire at one hundred paces and a rock or two. She was in a ‘Nice’ mood and only hit him with a tomato in the morning but you never know when the mood to rock away her troubles might strike.

They got back to the house without incident. It was at the house that there were incidents. Apparently the bushes his mom liked had taken on the burden of the towns ire for him. This meant his mom would likely let her ire out at him. Better be a good boy for a while so that she could only let her ire out on his younger siblings. He was sure one of the brats would do something wrong soon and give mom catharsis. In the meantime, he just needed to get in the house and hide that dirty scroll in his room. There was also the painting Jimmy was lending him that he never returned. And now that Jimmy was here he still didn’t plan too.

When he got to the door *Bam*. It was hit by a rock. He turned to see that Simone kid in perfect throwing form, fully dedicated to the throw.

“How can you do this to the village Micky!” she yelled.

Micky was sure that Simone didn’t even care or really know him. He didn’t hang out with her crowd, too young. And she never tried to hang out with him. He also couldn’t blame her, she was trying to keep the target off her back, he did the same when he was in her shoes. That was why Mrs. Marson hated him after he told the town about her affair and she became the towns target of ire. That’s why Mrs. Marrion hated him after he told the town about the time he saw her naked with that male horse. That’s why Mrs… *Bam*

Another rock another thrower. He better get inside before the really big rocks started getting thrown. He was actually pretty sure none of the adults were going to throw something big and heavy at him but just the kids would be enough. *Bam* well not. He caught Simone’s second throw subconsciously. She was still too green if she thought she could hit Micky with a rock. He had trained his dodging and weaving and even catching over those 3 long years. Ah, the memories, it seemed like such a long time ago. Almost fun in an annoying sort of way. He was so young then. There were so many things he did not know. Like Mrs. Marson’s 3 sizes, or Mrs. Marrion’s *Bam*. He should really get inside.

Micky dove for the house, only holding the door open for long enough to let Jimmy in before slamming it shut. It was like a rainstorm was let loose. The kids might have some qualms about actually hitting Micky, but no qualms about hitting or even wrecking a house. Micky went to all the windows to shut an secure them. There was going to be rocks piling up outside and he didn’t need them in the house. Then his mom would make him clean them up. At least this time he wouldn’t need to answer the uncomfortable question about what he did this time. He never knew what he did, specifically. Oh sure, he had put a frog in Susan’s bedroom today, or the fact he peed in Mrs. Robinson’s tomato patch, or… *Bam* that rock almost hit him. He quickly tossed it back outside and then closed and secured the window. It was just a stick to prop open the shutter but he had to tie it down at the bottom.

And of course when he finally got to the last of the windows and tied them down the rock rain stopped. Well of course, that would happen. Micky wanted to swear but he wasn’t sure who to swear too, or at. He could always swear at the system but he always did that and felt like the system was starting to ignore him. He could swear at the gods but which one. ‘Dragons’ was always a good swear but he felt like it wasn’t enough to just say ‘Dragons’, he needed a target. Hmm, truly the art of swear was deep and profound.

When Micky opened the door, since it was the easiest thing to close in a hurry, he saw what has caused the kids of the village to stop throwing rocks. [Guard]s he swore.

Micky opened the door all the way and started walking out. There was no point in delaying this since the [Guard] was involved now. He saw Bob standing next to the [Guard] and Micky got even more pissed. He thought he recognized that [Guard], it was Bob’s distant uncle. So it wasn’t the village it was Bob again. It wasn’t enough that he went bitching back to the village elders, crying that we weren’t [Dead]. It wasn’t enough that he went crying home to mommy and asking her to fix things so he wasn’t a lier anymore. No, He had to get the [Guard] involved. Ya, Micky was pissed. He kinda worried what was up with Pinky but Micky hadn’t heard a thing about him, so he was probably ok. But Micky had to worry about himself right now.