The forests teemed with life, sounds of jackals kakkering in the distance as day turned into night. While there was ample room to slip through the trees, the treetops blocked out the sun, leaving the ground barren, except for mosses and the occasional fern.

Silvia slipped through the trees with an arrow knocked on her bow, her ears twitching in the direction of every sound. She held up her hand to stop her handsome companion in his tracks. He stumbled to a halt and looked at her cluelessly, still fiddling with several plant stems he had found along the way.

“You should be alert” she warned, nodding to the shield and shortsword resting at his side, “Hold them ready!”

Riyu rolled his eyes and lifted his shield, “Got it, stop worrying”

*She doesn’t get it does she… I’m twice as strong as I was before, twice as agile, twice as tough, and just as clever. I managed before, we will easily manage now*

Silvia looked at her travel companion and sighed.

*This guy… He’s so lazy… Doesn’t he understand that people who survive use every edge at their disposal, including staying alert?*

“I’m not worried, you know why?”

“Oh that is good, no need to explain, I’m not worried either”

“Grr… I’m not worried because I can run faster than you”

“You what? What does that have to do with anything”

“Seriously? Have you not noticed the jackals are looming close by because they are waiting for a meal?”

“I can handle some jackals”

“No… You still don’t get it. Jackals are scavengers”

“Then what are you talking about”

Silvia’s ears twitched, and her eyes widened, as she dived to the ground. Wood splinters blasted against Yuta’s shield as he ducked his head. Where there were several trees before was now a cloud of dust, and standing within it an enormous shadow standing three men tall.

“Troll” Silvia shouted as she scrambled to her feet, “Run!”

The toes of her boots dug into the ground as she sprung through the woods. Yuta stared up at the creature as the dust cloud cleared. It had a pointed nose, and large pointed ears. It stood menacing over him with its slender yet muscular frame and green skin. Each of its five fingers held razor sharp claws.

Yuta was in awe of the creature’s stature as it pulled back its arm to strike. Having been caught flatfooted and unaware, his feet felt like they were rooted to the ground. As its muscles rippled and it thrust itself towards him, he clambered backwards.

FWET FWET

Two arrows, shot through the gaps in the trees, and lodged into the side of the troll’s head.

WROAR

It redirected the strike of its claws in the direction it was struck, just missing Yuta as it swiped into the air like someone swatting at a bee.

“I said run you idiot!” Silvia said before darting off out of eyeline with the troll.

Yuta watched on as the troll swatted at the arrows in the side of its face. As they scattered to the ground with a drop of its blood, the wounds in its face sealed themselves.

Yuta shook himself out of his daze and grasped his sword and shield tight. He sprung his legs back under himself and leapt to his toes.

SWOOSH

Darting to the side of the troll’s blow, he sprinted off into the trees after Silvia.

The jackals began hollering and yipping in excitement as they ran beside him through the trees.

YIP YIP YIP WROAR

The thundering of footsteps pounded behind Yuta, quickly gaining on him. Wood splinters blasted up from over his shoulder and smacked into his luxurious hair. Quickly digging his toe into the dirt, he made a steep turn to the right, leaving the troll to shoot ahead of him.

*Think Yuta!*

*Wait, aren’t they vulnerable to fire and acid?*

*Damn, I didn’t distill any acid back in town, nor do I have anything to set on fire*

*Fuck, doesn’t that mean this thing is going to be unkillable?*

*Where the hell is Silvia? Why is she running off so fast? Can’t she at least help?*

Yuta grunted and snarled as he shot through the trees, darting left and right to weave out of the way of the troll’s attacks.

Silvia panted heavily, taking in big gulps of air as her legs shot her through the forest. Her ears twitched as she scouted both ahead and behind for signs of danger and opportunity. The muffled sound of the trees gave way to a ravine up ahead, and by squinting her eyes, she could make out an old rope bridge swinging in stiff winds just up ahead.

As she sped out from the trees, and onto the planks of the old bridge, winds sweeping down from the mountains in the east, hit the bridge so hard that it twisted and bucked, almost throwing her off. Tossing her bow over her shoulder, she scrambled along the planks and made the hundred yard journey to the other side.

Yuta burst out of the trees on the other side of the ravine in a panic, darting from side to side to avoid the blows of the troll.

“Hey! Heeeey!” he yelled.

Silvia could barely hear him over the wail of the wind. What was he expecting? Her to make a perfect long range shot, accounting for the wind? It was impossible, all she could do was watch, and hope that the fool could find his own way across.

She slid her dagger out from its sheath and began slicing through strands of the rope that held the bridge together. Wanting to make sure that if she had to, she could bring the bridge down.

Yuta dived through the legs of the troll, into the pack of jackals close at its heels. They nipped and snapped at his toes, trying to unsteady him, and trip him over for the troll to land a killing blow.

Yuta grunted as he slashed wildly with the shortsword, nicking several of the small jackals, sending them scattering. His eyes shot over to the bridge, wide with desperation.

WROAR

The wind swept the troll’s stringy locks of hair across its eyes as it swung down at Yuta, causing it to hit nothing but dirt.

Yuta peddled his legs hard, and shot onto the bridge between gusts of wind. The boards rattled underneath every step.

WROAR

The troll stamped forwards and smashed its claws through the posts holding up the handrails of the bridge. While trolls aren’t the smartest of creatures, they are situationally aware, and capable of using the environment to their advantage. The posts blasted into splinters, leaving the side rails to unravel and whip in the wind.

Yuta crashed at the center of the bridge, and clung tightly to the boards as it twisted from the troll’s blow.

WROAR

*Fuck fuck fuck*

Yuta clung to the splinter filled boards for his life, as he was tossed around like a rag doll. The troll gripped both of its hands onto the edge of the bridge, and thrashed at it wildly, sending massive waves across the bridge.

*Ahhh! I can’t hold it!*

CLUNK CLUNK

The troll stepped onto the bridge with surprising agility and finesse, slowly making its way out to Yuta as he cowered at its center.

He gazed through the planks, to the churning waters fifty paces below.

WROAR

The troll lowered its head and it’s claws, and dashed along the length of the bridge.

“Sorry guy, but this is your best shot” Silvia said as she struck her dagger through the last lines of the bridge.

The bridge unravelled and whipped into a free fall. The last swipe of the troll’s claws cutting through the air just above Yuta’s head.

Yuta’s eyes opened wide as he felt the bridge fall out from under him. Still clung to the boards he swung towards the cliffs at terrifying speed. The troll shot over him and arced into the raging waters below.

Silvia watched on as her travel companion smashed hard into the other side of the ravine, and then flopped into the water. A pang of guilt shot up her neck.

“Uh…”

*Why didn’t he just let go?*

Silvia sheathed her dagger and stood to her feet, her hair blowing in the strong winds as they crashed down from the far away mountains. She clutched at her heart, and she turned her head away.

… A few moments earlier…

As the wind rushed through Yuta’s hair, and the blurred image of the rock ahead zoomed up to meet him, he felt strangely calm. Almost as though his body had a spoken language, that reassured him of how tough it could truly be. He gripped tight onto his shield and braced it against his shoulder as he pounded into the rock. The shield split into pieces as he bounced off the rock, and tumbled into the water.

His consciousness faded for a single blissful moment, before the cold snap of the water slapped him awake. He reached out for something to hold as the darkness threw him about like a chew toy. Trying to straighten his body, orient himself upward, and kick against the currents were all individual challenges to which he wasn’t capable of overcoming in his current state, let alone all of them at once. And so the darkness dragged him as it willed, along the bottom of the storming waters.

…

Mirio’s focus was intense as he looked over an orb of magic between his palms. It folded and shifted like scattered winds. It’s color was smokey grey, with only traces of blue and gold shimmering at its edges. His hands were tense as the magic resisted his control and struggled its way free of the orb, spiralling out in flares of wild magic.

*Focus smaller, calmer, and remember what it means to make your own choices when others are forced upon you*

The flares became calm, restoring the orb to its perfect spherical shape.

“Phew… Intense”

He balanced the spell in one hand as he reached for his water skin with the other. His face twisted up as though he was drinking something sour, but in reality it was the opposite. There was just something about new magic that took from the balance of the body, and left him with cottonmouth.

The spell evaporated with a snap of his fingers.

*I gotta say, creating offensive spells from something so beautiful, really goes against the grain for me*

SMACK

The bar manager’s grip tightened on Mirio’s shoulder.

“Ey, so this is where you got to?”

“Oh, right, sorry was just taking a quick lap around the back of the bar”

“Relax, I’m not coming after you for it”

“Mhm” Mirio replied with a tense smile.

“How long you been on duty today anyway, all day almost? You’ll be off soon though”

“Yeah”

“Did I see you doing a bit of magic?”

“Uh, well, yes and no. It isn’t really a spell yet, just some spare thoughts of mine”

“It looked like a ball of smoke to me, our illusionist makes those sometimes so we can fog out the club”

*How do I say it is a bit different than that without sounding like a pretentious know it all? I can’t can I…*

“Nah, just me being silly. How is it in there?”

“Way too busy, which is a good thing, but also a pain in the ass”

“Yeah, that is the price of having a successful business I guess”

“Part of it,” the bar manager said as he lit up a pipe and took a puff.

“I should be getting back”

“Nah, you’ve only got five minutes left on your shift, stay with me a bit then you can head home”

“Alright”

“I noticed a bunch of girls in there watching you all night”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I guess because your armor is made of magic, and you are a pretty decent looking guy. Young too, which helps”

“I think it is just the fact I’m on display, makes them curious”

The bar manager held in a big gulp of smoke before letting it slide out from his nose, “They know they can’t have you because you are on duty. Go in there without the armor, and with just some plain clothes and watch it shift though. Those same girls staring at you all night will walk you by”

“You think so?”

“Oh yeah, they won’t even recognise you. Know why?”

“Because I broke an illusion they had of me?”

“Nah, it is because they were only looking at the spark you had while you were too busy to notice them. As soon as that is gone, you are just like everyone else”

“Isn’t that kind of messed up though”

“Not really… I don’t really remember girls’ faces, just the spark in their eyes, and the curve of their lips. It’s the same”

“I’ll be honest, I only noticed a few looking at me though, maybe three max”

“Three that you saw, girls are sneaky, the trick is watching when they linger not what they look at. Just watch when you are on shift again, girls won’t always look at a guy they are sizing up, but they’ll slow down and lose focus on everything else around them for a second”

“No kidding?”

“Yup. Especially in clubs like this. It’s all a game”

“Is it though?” Mirio replied with a raised eyebrow, “I don’t know that it is”

“Guess no one knows how it is”

“Is that true though?”

“Huh?”

“Well aren’t you just setting yourself to fail thinking about it so dismissively?”

“What do you mean bud?”

“When I was getting good with swordplay, or even magic, although I’m no mage. What made me get better quicker than anyone else was that I was focused on it, and I never dismissed anything”

“Yeah but girls and fighting couldn’t be further from each other. They are opposites aren’t they?”

“I dunno, maybe they are, but I have a feeling that all skills are based on a similar framework. That the energy and control you feel in a fight, might just also exist in good banter with a girl. Certain ways of reacting in a conversation are like good footwork for example”

“I think you are stretching it, not everything is the same, nor does it have to be”

“True. I don’t really mean anything exact by it, just have a hunch that all skills might have a common thread”

“Yeah? Winemaking is the same as riding a wyvern? Haha, sometimes things are just too different to make comparisons”

The bar manager tapped out ash from his pipe and eased out a jet of smoke from between his lips.

“Guess I’m done for the night then”

“Yeah, but don’t go home, go and mingle”

“You serious?”

“Yeah, I’m curious if any of those girls will let you talk to em”

“I don’t know if I’m just going to go up to them though”

“Come on, don’t be all precious about it, everyone is out for the same reason right. Embrace it” he said with a smack to Mirio’s chest.

…

Yuta woke up cold down to the bone. His body felt like a wet rag slung up on the side of a bathtub. The smooth pebbles of the shoreline had dug into his skin leaving him covered in swollen pockmarks, and his body was propped up against a boulder on one side. He looked up at the midday sun as it hovered overhead.

“Ha, I made it,” he smirked.

*Guess if I’d had a stronger body like this back on earth, I wouldn’t have been done in by that umbrella*

He propped himself up on his arm, and looked himself over. His clothes were soaked through and he was missing his right sleeve. He looked at his exposed arm and noticed the mark on his arm was still unchanged by the transformation. The dragon’s curse mark stared back at him causing his gaze to turn cold.

He pulled himself to his feet and looked up stream to see how far the current had taken him. Half expecting to see the ravine within walking distance, his jaw dropped open with what he saw.

“I can’t even see it from here!”

ERRRR

The snarl of a wolf snapped behind him.

Yuta scrambled for a branch near him and thrust it out in front of him.

“Back!”

Its front lip quivered, and lifted to reveal its kanines.

*Fuck, if I’d laid there any longer I’d have been eaten. I really don’t need this right now, can’t this thing just go away. I’m awake now, surely it doesn’t think it can take me?*

ROW ROW RRRR

The wolf snapped its jaws and prowled closer, locking its focus tightly on Yuta and preparing itself to pounce.

“Can’t you just fuck off! Leave me alone”

ROW ROW

The wolf dived out at him as other wolves hidden in the brush pounced in unison.

Yuta swung the tree branch, and then rushed back into the freezing water, leaping back into the river, and rushing to swim away from them to the other side. He kicked his legs hard and swung his arms furiously into the water, but then suddenly stopped. Several of the wolves were waiting for him at the other shore.

Left with no other choice, Yuta treaded water in the middle of the river, as he was dragged further downstream by the current.

The wolves jogged alongside him on the shoreline.

*Fuck, are they are just going to keep following me the whole way*

…

Mirio waved off his mage armor spell, leaving the magic to unravel and zip away back into the ether. His eyes scanned the crowd as he entered the club. Half expecting the crowd to remember him, he did it with a careful stride. A man in a rich purple shirt turned towards him with a monocle and scoffed.

“They let anyone in these days, pathetic”

“Hee hee hee” a halfling girl in entirely too much makeup and holding a wine glass responded to the man.

Mirio raised his eyebrow and brushed past them.

The mass of bodies carried their own heat, and made the air heavy with their combined breath. The faint aroma of sweat mixed with an array of perfumes and wafted past his nostrils. The illusionist’s light tricks caused the ceiling to swirl and move with all manner of colors.

As Mirio clambered his way through the crowd it felt as though he was being dragged in the currents of a river. Thick crowds of people pushing him from one side to another. And even with his attempt to make eye contact with the girls that passed by, everything moved too quickly.

He gazed up at the podium he had stood upon most of the night, where his replacement was rolling his eyes in boredom, and he wondered why it was that he felt so powerless now, when he hadn’t felt even an ounce of it before.

*Is it really that powerful? To be seen differently?*

THUD

A girl smacked into him, her plush body easing the impact, but not the rude scramble to get past him. He tried to make eye contact with her and her friends but they slipped away. It was enough to send him into a state of heightened concern.

*Am I really this shit? I don’t even know the first thing about how to handle all of this. Maybe he was right, maybe things just are different and I was confusing a similarity because I felt confident about it without really understanding it*

Mirio shoved his way through the crowd to the lakeside patio and gripped onto the railing. The crescent moon hung so low in the sky it was made red by a band of the atmosphere. Mirio stared out at it with a wistful longing.

“Blood moon tonight” a halfling man with a colorful frilled shirt said between sips of his drink.

“Mhm”

“Come on, don’t be so glum, she can’t have broken your heart that badly”

“Oh no, I’m not getting over a girl or anything, I’m just thinking”

“Then why look like you are sucking on a lemon, here have a drink” the halfling said as he thrust his drink up as high as he could.

Mirio smiled and took it graciously. He sipped on the drink a few times as looking over the lake, comforted by the halfling’s presence, and then passed it back down to him.

“Come on, tell me what is really up then”

“No nothing, it’s just I feel a bit irrelevant in amidst the crowd, so had to clear my head”

“I suppose this place can be a bit overwhelming to newcomers, you are new right? You aren’t some perpetually miserable sod?”

“Haha, yes I’m new. Though I usually am stood up there”

“Oh, so you are one of the guards, my respects to you sir. If you see me get into trouble, I won’t hold it against you if you give me special treatment” he winked.

“Yeah, the bar manager told me to hang out down here after work, to get some perspective. I didn’t expect it to be as different as it was”

“Well of course it is different, everyone down here is full of shit, and up there you can look past it”

“True, I guess I just thought something from up there might transfer if I walked down here”

“Naw, people are too fickle, and you place too much importance on their glances. When you step down, and become part of the crowd, you have to remember to shed those heavy expectations you have of yourself and start fresh. Find a place to start, and just start there”

“Do I really look that helpless?”

“Only kind of”

“Pfff, haha, can I get another sip of that?”

“Sure, you can even have another sip after it, but not a third” the halfling said with a wink

“How do you manage an environment like this when it is so packed. I mean how do you talk to anybody”

“Oh that is simple. I don’t. But I’m a halfling, there is way more room at my level”

“Ha, maybe I’ll get one of the mages to cast a spell on me and I’ll join you down there”

“Nah, better at your level I think. Us halflings are used to our height. It’d be strange to you, and you gotta do what is right for you”

“Right for me?”

“Yeah”

The bard’s words resonated in his head, the same as they had the night he had blasted a hole in the temple of Apollo.

“When faced with a choice that is not your own and there is nothing about making either choice that expresses who you are, make your own observations a priority over panic”

“Make my own observations a priority over the panic…” Mirio whispered under his breath

“Exactly,” the halfling said with a cheer.

…

*Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck*

Yuta watched on anxiously as the wolves settled into the task of tracking him as he floated down the river. With a boring efficiency finding root in their stride it was now a certainty that they were in for the long haul.

*This is unfair! FUCK*

Yuta pulled down his status screen and flicked through it helplessly, before casting it away.

*If only this stupid thing had worked properly from the start, I’d probably be a king by now, and instead… I’m here*

*Faulty piece of shit*

*I was supposed to get it easier with this thing, and in the end all I have is the alchemical knowledge I earned on my own. And the lessons I forked out for. This stupid screen hasn’t really done anything*

“Hey, stupid incompetent goddess, your gift is a piece of shit. Its broken, you incompetent little bitch”

PING

The water around Yuta vanished as all of a sudden he was standing in a dark room. A magical blue mist blew in as if on a breeze and suddenly stood before him was the goddess that had sent him to this world.

“Are you serious?” she squeaked, “I don’t even watch your stupid lifeline, but today I was flicking through, and this is the kind of bullshit you are thinking?”

“What do you expect, I get sent to this world with nothing more than a flick to the head. No guidance, no ‘oh by the way here is how things work’, and the power you gave me doesn’t even work because I can’t read it until it unlocks. It is pretty much the same as having nothing at all!”

“I’m only going to say this once, because your indignant behaviour is boring me more than having nothing to watch, but… It isn’t my job to make you cunning enough to be able to use the gift I gave you, just to send you to a new world with something”

“Why not?! Its outrageous, just give me a book to help translate it or something”

“Hrmm, no I won’t do that. There are already people in the world capable of decoding it and using it effectively”

“Who?”

“Look here mister, my job is one thing, and one thing only. To tolerate people like you just enough that you get a second chance in another world. I don’t have to do even the slightest thing to help you once there”

“Isn’t that just total shit though? Where is your passion for your job? Or even just pride in what you do?”

“Hey! I’ve had enough of you, I’m seriously about to change the channel or blink you into a pit somewhere”

“You can’t be serious. Please I just need help”

“Do you though?”

“Yes! Please, just help me!”

“Why should I? You humans just abuse any power you get anyway, and you clearly won’t do anything good with it. Just look at you… You find a potion to make up for your physical weaknesses, and you choose to lower yourself to thievery and deception. You disgust me”

BLINK

The darkness warped around Yuta as his voice cut off in the transfer. Water filled around him on all sides, as he was once again floating downstream with the wolves tracking him from the shore.

“Damn it!”

*Whatever, I don’t need her help, I’ll just figure out a way to outsmart these stupid wolves myself*

…

Mirio glanced over at a small seated area by the lakeside, where two beautiful elven women were shimmering in the club lights. Their dresses were form fitting and covered in ornamental patterns like he had seen before in wood carvings. His heartbeat was heavy in his chest as he pushed himself up from the railing to approach them.

*I suppose that if I have nothing to say, I should at least act confidently, and carry a conversation. Make sure I don’t spoil their mood with my interruption*

Putting one foot in front of the other he forced himself to appear before them.

“Ah, hi there! I saw you guys were resting from the dance floor, I wanted to ask you both to dance, but considering how sore your feet probably are, maybe I can settle for introductions instead?”

The elven woman in silver embroidery flicked her auburn hair over her shoulder and gazed up at Mirio as he stood in wait for a response. Her friend, an elf with considerable bust and curly blonde hair, turned up at him a moment later, squinting and holding her lips open in agitation.

“What did he say?” the blonde said.

“He said our feet are probably too sore to dance, so wondered if he could introduce himself instead” the auburn haired one replied.

“I just mean to say that, I haven’t really met all that many people in the city yet, and I figure I should at least get to know people like yourselves”

“Why though?” the blonde said as shaking her head, “Are you trying to get lucky or something? We aren’t here for that,” the blonde shot back.

“I’m relieved to hear it,” he said as beaming her a warm smile, “I’m Mirio”.

“Sheena” she replied with a limp hand in Mirio’s grip, “And this is Mona”

Sheena flicked her golden locks over her shoulder and turned towards Mirio with a curious twitch. Mona stared at Mirio with an unsettlingly calm gaze.

*Okay, pressure is on… I just have to come up with another twist on the conversation. They already said they aren’t here to meet guys, so I suppose I could try talking about dance?*

“I haven’t been here long, but I’ve noticed that women from different continents have different dance styles. The halflings are enthusiastic, the dwarves quietly groove to the bass tones of the music, and the beastfolk use rhythmic motions almost like a gentle fight choreography”

Mona reached out and grabbed Mirio’s sleeve, “Your shirt looks like shit, why didn’t you dress up a bit”

“Oh right, I’m just off work”

Sheena swatted her hand off him, and replied to his comment, “And elven women? How do we dance?”

“Like you are wading through water, casting it from your fingertips”

“Haha, oh my” she replied with a snort, “I suppose we do!”

Mona twisted her head and looked up and down Mirio’s trousers.

“You keep in good shape?”

Mirio twitched at the bizarre tangent, but brushed it off as a quirk of her character, “Just like you guys enjoy to dance, I enjoy keeping myself capable I guess”

Sheena stroked her hand along Mirio’s arm and peered up at him, as though testing for a reaction. He turned to her with a pleasant smile and touched her shoulder gently with the same arm. He squatted down to their height and pulled over a stool.

“Nothing impressive, just swordplay practice, and basic conditioning” he continued.

The girls crossed their legs and turned their knees towards him as he scooted in closer.

“Aye, how you all doing?” a beast folk with a wolf’s head slurped out between sips of booze.

The man leaned in and slung his arm around Mirio’s neck, “And who are these lovely ladies?”

Mirio had seen scenes like this play out many times before as observing the crowds while on duty. He knew that the girls would quickly leave to avoid the man’s lurid gaze. Even now he could sense them shifting uncomfortably.

“Just a moment guys” he said as he stood up and guided the wolf a couple of steps away from the girls.

He offered the wolf his hand.

“Haven’t met you before have I? Name is Mirio, and you are?”

“Bah! I was trying to talk to the cuties over there but you pulled me away” the man said as tightening his grip around Mirio’s neck.

His furry grip, crunched and wound its way around Mirio like a python. All of a sudden the full weight of the man pulled down on him, bending Mirio over. The wolf turned back to the women with a laugh, “Haha, good old mate of mine”.

He leaned his snout down to Mirio, “Fuck off”

Mirio lowered his center of mass, and straightened his back, and found a good grip around the front of the wolf’s legs and waist and stood up straight, lifting his kicking paws into the air.

“Of course I remember the old move” Mirio said with a smile as he flicked the wolf around his back and threw him off with a sense of flare.

The wolf growled and approached with raised blood in his veins.

“Nobody just throws me aside”

“Mate” Mirio said as he propped his hand on the wolf’s shoulders, “This is all for nothing, ease up will you? Jealousy doesn’t look good on you”

“Jealous? I’m not jealous! You patronising little shit”

“Not here yeah, let’s walk outside”

“Don’t you tell me what to do!” the wolf said as shoving Mirio back a step.

Mirio lifted both his hands in a faux surrender, “Surely, there are better things to be doing?”

“Not by my reckoning!” the wolf said before he charged with claws bared.

SWOOSH SWOOSH

Mirio deftly stepped to the side of each swipe of the man’s claws, and gripped tight onto the front lapel of his shirt. Letting out a foot he then dragged the wolf to the floor, and pressed his knee onto his back, to pin him.

*He’ll hurt somebody if I don’t hold him down. I can avoid it just fine, but I don’t want anyone getting slashed in the back as this guy lets out his frustration*

“Mate, stop being a prick” Mirio said with a shove of his weight onto the wolf’s back.

“I’m not a prick, you are, you damned player. Leave the women be, they deserve better” the wolf mumbled in a stupor.

*Does this guy really think he was saving the girls from a big bad?*

“What are you even saying, I was just talking to them, not trying to make a move” Mirio said into the wolf’s ear.

“Horseshit, I saw the way you sauntered in, like you hadn’t a care in the world. It’s obvious you are a predator. I might look like a vicious animal, but you are the dangerous one here”

*What does he mean I looked confident? I was just putting that on to not be a burden on the girls… Couldn’t he tell?*

“I think you have things confused, I’m actually a guard, I’m just here to have a drink after work and I got curious to talk to someone rather than always watching from up on the podium”

“Well, that explains your grip” the wolf mumbled.

“Are you alright now if I let you up?”

“Yeah, I won’t throw down again”

Mirio eased back from the man, and offered a hand to help him up.

“You okay?”

“Yes, I think I’ve had one too many, I’ll just have one more and head back home” the wolf said before stumbling off to the bar.

Mirio turned to the girls by the lakeside and shrugged helplessly to them.

“Why did your friend attack you?” Mona whispered intensely.

“Oh no, I just met that guy, he just thought I was doing better with you guys than I really was and felt a certain way about it”

“What an idiot,” Sheena replied with a shake of her head.

“Nah, I kind of get it… Guys are protective, and we get confused sometimes between that and envy. We see things that aren’t there, misinterpret things, jump to the wrong conclusions. It’s fine, I just wish he hadn’t swung his claws in the crowd, because it is easy to hurt someone”

“Weren’t you worried about yourself?” Mona asked.

“Oh no, it’s all good, I’m used to it, it takes more than that to rattle me”

“Well, nice meeting you, but we’ll be okay now thanks” Sheena said with a smile.

“Right… I’ll leave you guys to get back to it. If you ever want a dance, let me know”

“Maybe some other time,” Mona said with a pat to his shoulder as the two girls slipped past.

*Damn it, that could have gone better…*

“How did it go?” a familiar voice said into his ear.

Mirio turned to the bar manager and paused for a moment to consider his words.

“You were right, I guess people in general have short attention spans”

“Especially here,” the manager said with a smile.

Mirio nodded along and began considering the implications.

*Does it mean that all people have a limit of how much they will consider about you at one time? If that is true, the quality of what you share has to be succinct and easier to handle. And you can’t expect people to search your actions for deeper connections. Does that mean no one is really ever talking to each other? Are we all just saying enough to give people their fill, before they go on their way?*