Dustin

Dustin chuckles at her suggestion as he leans up against a tree, pulling out a small plate with a cake on it as he takes a bite. “Slimes while simple are social creatures, they need to be in groups or else they get depressed.” He cuts a small piece off the cake and eats it. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to stunt his growth.” His plate and cake disappear into his inventory and he walks towards Arabelle. “Slimes aren’t too different from people in that manner. They need social interaction and if they don’t have any it can negatively affect their health.”

AAH! Dustin? What the hell are you saying? That’s a weird thing to say! By golly I hate you. He laughs off the incredibly awkward statement before she responds with how her day was boring but now it wasn’t because of Dustin. “Well, I appreciate the sentiment but I tend to be a lot less fun than most think.” He smiles softly in response to her sweet smile. “Anyways, I know a spot not too far from here where we can cool off. I’ll show you after you get what you need though.” He looks around, picking a spot and sitting down.

Dustin smiles as the chaos unfolds, this being a dream of his to fight alongside his friend in a sea of enemies while the strongest players fight their own battles not too far away. “Hey Belle, you ever seen those old karate movies?” He smirks as he runs up to a fish and kicks it, chopping its neck and jumping way back to where he was before, moving and smiling between the horde of monsters and people. “You know I’ve never really been to a festival.” He looks at the area around him, “Always had something to do the day of.” He chuckles and runs up to Arabelle holding out a basic cookie.

”That was a gnarly hit you just took. Don’t let it get you down.” He tosses it up towards her and he moves away from her again. “I’d hate to see the funnest person I know get boring cause of a little spear attack.” He moves back through the area to where he believes is the proper spot. “These things never end.” A short chuckle escapes his lips as he clenches his fists and raises them up, getting ready to fight again.

Arabelle’s message caught the boy off guard as he looked down at Kirbs and suddenly her face was covered by an envelope, the ding distracting him from the what she said. “Oh, sorry... I gotta take this.” He turns away and opens the menu, pulling up Arabelle’s message and quickly typing a reply. After he says what he needs to say, his menu closes and he turns back to the girl he was talking to before. “What were you saying?” His question punctuated with a bite of the cookie he had offered her. “Yeah, I do. Which is why I give everyone snacks.” He smiles as he finishes the sweet in his hand.

Her next question was one he hadn’t heard before. Usually it was “let’s rush to get this done and leave comfort for when we get back to the real world” and Dustin liked this change of pace. It was like she understood this was a game, despite its flaws it still has beauty. “Actually, you cool if we wait for someone? She’s a friend of mine, I’m not sure if you’ve met her or not. Her name’s Arabelle, and she tends to be fun.” He smiles as he sits himself on a bench and looks around for the signature purple hair.

Dustin smiles as a message lets him know his item is done. He hadn’t waited that long, but part of him felt bad for being so impatient about it. Crafting is hard and Dustin knew that just as well as the next guy. I should head there now and pick it up. I have a new order for him though but I don’t want him to work his fingers to the bone. Walking up to the man on the first floor with a confused look. Hei was probably on his way down, and he grabs his sweatshirt, equipping it right there.

Soon after, Dustin heads up to Hei’s shop. As he makes his way back he grabs an order form and fills it out. A pouch of col falls on Hei’s counter as Dustin walks towards the exit and smiles. “Sorry to make you work so much.”

-obtained: <<Security Sweatshirt>>

-paid: 550 col

A R E  Y O U  K I D D I N G  M E ?

Dustin’s menu wakes him up with that stupid bleep that always seemed to pop up right as his dream was getting to the good part. Son of a gun, why would anyone text me at... “Holy [censored] it’s noon?!” He asks, sitting up rapidly and looking around. He grabs his sweatshirt and a cookie, opening the message and reading it. All this business about Kirbs needing his help and sleeping in was giving him a headache and now he had to toss the hay to his slimes. He starts to wrap his Starlit Wave around his hands and then he opens his front door.

Right outside of the fence housing his slimes, a bale and a half sits on the ground. Dustin grabs the full bale and lifts it up over the fence, setting it down closest to him. He grabs half of the remaining half bale and sets it in Mr. Fluffy’s enclosure.

He quickly runs through the field to get back to town and to the teleporter. His feet climb up onto the platform and he shouts the command, causing his vision to blueshift and he appears on the seventh floor. A red head on a bench catches the boy’s attention as he walks towards her. “Hey Kirbs, wanna get going?” He asks politely, holding a cookie out towards her.

@Kirbs

His teacher instantly brings up Ryoko and Dustin blushes for a moment, hiding it behind his wrapped hand. “I don’t really think that’s your business.” He fires back, words filled with bite. She had always been a bit of a pushy teacher, but she always knew how to get the info she wanted. Dropping his hand as his face fades back to its normal color, he extends a hand toward the girl he didn’t recognize. “I’m Dustin... but you already knew that.” He smiles innocently as he pulls his hand back whether she shook it or not.

After a quick rummage through his inventory, he pulls out a cookie and offers it to the new girl, taking another out and biting through the cookie with a smile.

After Miss Aris-San explains that she’s a pacifist to the girl Dustin smiles. “No need to worry about that, I can take care of us three. Especially if we stay on this floor.” His fist comes up and clenches tightly, and his ring on his right hand becomes extremely visible. A small silver ring that contrasted greatly with the blue wraps that seemed to glow. It had something to do with a night on a mountain with his two friends, but that story was just between them. “And don’t worry, kickin’ butt is what I do best.” A playful smile crosses his face as he thinks for a moment. Just given the fact that Miss Aris-San was helping meant she thought the girl needed it, especially since she stopped to talk to her on her way to cook for the kids. “I’m sayin’ I wanna tag along.” A short chuckle escapes, “If you’ll let me, of course.” He explains.

Dustin smiles at the mention of Mr. Fluffy, he pats her on the head and pushes her away. “I’ll bring you next time I find him. By the way, Mr. Fluffy isn’t good, the others are bullying him, not letting him eat.” Dustin explains as he walks back to the Garden. His hands wrap around a bale of hay and he puts it in his inventory, taking another and throwing it up on his shoulder. The weight is so different from the real world it’s kinda weird that he didn’t have to struggle to heave this thing around all day.

Dustin often carried two bales of hay from here to his house and he never used his inventory. This time though, he puts them both in his inventory so he can spend some time with his best pal. “I gotta feed the little guy in his own little enclosure so the others don’t steal his food.” He chuckles as he steps back into the garden and looks around, not spotting anything and turning back to Arabelle. “Anyways, how has your day been so far?” He asks kindly.

A single fishman comes up and rams his weapon into Dustin, the pointy end shooting out of his back but the pain was only a tingle. In the real world it would’ve been a totally different story and now that the monster was on him Dustin had an opportunity. His hands press against the creature and the spear pulls out of him.

His guildmate started barking orders. Almost sounds like Stryder. He scoffs and smirks, his fists glowing green as he charges out towards the enemies and he shoots past Arabelle, winking at her and chuckling. “On it boss-woman.” His fist slams into the ground, launching him into the air to do a backflip as he hits one enemy into another, and coming back to the landing his foot pushes another fishman into one of their comrades as well. By then her request for a festival date had finally sank in and his face turns a bright red.

A quick breath in and out calms him down enough to think of a decent reply. “Wouldn’t be a good day if I didn’t hang out with my best pal.” His front leg pushes him back and he shoots to the side, then pushing himself forwards again. Unpredictability was the key to survival in group brawls like this, and maybe if he kept moving at speeds so high he would be able to keep the whole group safe. His legs stop right next to Arabelle and pushes her a little to the side. “Nice plan, next time though, I’d like to run in willy nilly and see how we do.” A big smile crosses his face and he gives her a thumbs up before moving away to give her more space to work her magic.

Taking a stroll through the city was nothing new to Dustin, the sights and people made doing it a blast. His hand reached down as he picked up and apple from a stand not far from where he was, tossing it to the NPC and smiling. Everything was as it should be. His blue sweatshirt with his hood up, the wind blowing gently and the sun shining brightly; it was the perfect day and Dustin was gonna take advantage of it. He pulls out a cinnamon stick and pops it in his mouth, the roll of bark separating his lip from his bottom set of teeth and the spice instantly setting in. “Hello Roger, how’ve ya been?” He asks his old pal as he walks past him opening his bar. “Can’t talk, gotta run.” He chuckles, taking off in a sprint through the streets.

He used to do this all the time, but recently it’s become easier to avoid unprecedented events as he had become faster. He shot up in the levels and had decided to check out this floor to see what was up, check the taverns and make sure his shop was still his.

As he ran through the streets, his movements fluid and almost professional. He jumped over a table with ease, landing on a fence and jumping up to the rooftops. The nearest gate wasn’t that far, and he was trying to get better at this free running thing. Why not set a goal for yourself Dustin? Maybe if you can get to the gate without falling you’ll be catching up to Pinball. Maybe your skill will improve as well. A playful smirk tugs at one side of his mouth and his eyes narrow, there was no stopping him now. His legs started moving at and incredible rate, pushing him across the shingles and over the alleyways, even across a street once. A few flips and tricks were sprinkled in to his gauntlet of drops gaps and jumps to add a little pizazz.

On the last building before the gate the boy notices a familiar face and his legs drop from under him. He lands on his butt and slides down falling to the ground and landing gingerly on his feet. “Miss Aris-San, is that you?” Somewhere amidst the commotion his hood had fallen to reveal what used to be his blue mop of hair, which was probably a surprise to the former teacher of his as last she saw it was brown.

(OOC: hope you don’t mind I dropped in to have a little fun)

The boy smiles at the small group forming of lower leveled players all here to fight the hordes and keep the NPCs safe. How was he supposed to do this? Attack them all and try to keep the hate from one of the players on his team or try and pick them off one by one? It didn’t matter to him, he was just gonna fight and try to keep his best pal safe.

His fist begins to glow red and he clenches it. “Hey Belle. Watch this...” He runs in, moving towards the closest creature and his fist draws back, the red light glowing brightly and his face full of intent. The path however, was slippery and his leg shoots out from under him. A thud and loud pained exhale was audible to the players behind him.

The red glow pulses and diminishes, slamming into the ground. The Purple sign popping up and reminding them all that the world they were in wasn’t real, and that nothing could be changed about it. Oh god, I hope she wasn’t watching. He stands up and jumps back towards the group. “Did you watch?” He asks, worriedly. One of the players starts talking about how he’s gonna enjoy the festivities instead of fighting, and Dustin tilts his head, holding a cookie towards Arabelle. “Take this, I’ll be buying takeout if you wanna gossip later.”

Dustin smiles, her joke catching him off guard and he begins to think up explanations for being so awkward. An internal sigh of relief would’ve been audible if it was physically possible. She begins explaining the time she went on the earning a living quest and Dustin’s eyes fall to the ground, the life in his face falling away with it. Pinball... Dustin’s fists clench up and he turns away, the name sending a chill down his spine. “I know the guy. He helped me get the martial arts skill a while back. Before that I went hunting with him; after which... nah, it’s no biggie.” He blows off his almost passion filled companionship like it’s nothing. “He was kinda cute, but lets not get into that. He later chopped off my arm and tried to kill Kirbs, and then a few weeks after that he ambushed Jinx and I.” He looks at Arabelle, still kind of mad about that ambush. “Stryder had to save us.” He frowns and shoves his hands into his pockets.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out Dustin was pretty mad about Pinball all the time. I’m gonna kill him.

Her next question catches his attention, and he looks at her. “I was at the garden getting hay for my slimes. They don’t need nutrients, but they like the flavor.” He says, walking away from her and towards the garden, the blue jacket tied around his waist blowing gently in the wind, his hands grab sunglasses and he sets them on his ears.

@Arabelle

Dustin smiles as he sits in a tavern and his burger finally gets set down. This floor was a pretty one with all the water and the festival. Dustin would’ve been there had his burger not taken so long to be made. “Thanks Roger...” he gets interrupted by a ding and an envelope appears. Damn it, what is it now? An angry Dustin opens the message and sees it’s from Arabelle, his new best pal. As he reads he twists his new ring and smiles, opening up a message of his own and sending it almost immediately. A small amount of col was left on the table as he rockets out of the tavern and towards the festival grounds where he sees the girl with purple hair.

His fancy attire donned because of the festival is quickly replaced by the blue sweatshirt and khaki cargo pants he always wore. “So, what are we killing today?” He asks, gently punching Arabelle’s shoulder and chuckling. The commotion made it hard to know what was going on, but Belle was about the smartest person Dustin knew and he was willing to rely on her to figure things out and come up with a plan. Though he was way more into winging it, so he never asked for a plan. A smirk crosses his face as he imagines the carnage that’s about to unfold, and he wouldn’t be happier fighting alongside anyone else.

Dustin smiles as he walks into his guild leader’s store once more. Having been here all of two times before this only once to buy something, he always seemed to walk past it on the way here. “Hey Stry, I’m gonna need 2 TP crystals. Gonna be doing some dangerous stuff, don’t wanna accidentally die out there just yet.” He smiles, opening the transfer window, but instead putting it in a pouch, opening the transfer window was always a drag and Dustin hated forcing people into a trade like that. “Here’s the col I owe you, I’ll get out of your hair now. Tell Hei I said hey.” He chuckles like a child as he grabs the crystals and walks out of the shop.

Purchased: 2 TP crystals

Spent: 1,600 col

Dustin walks into a shop owned by an old friend and makes his way to the stock on the shelves. She had a nice establishment and Dustin tended to hate shops, so he hadn’t seen it yet. His old friend had helped him with quite a lot in the good old days and now Dustin had pretty much shot past her and reached almost level 25. This shop made him wonder just how old his friend was, and it was kinda funny how she always talked to him like she was older. “That ring with the dragon on it. I want it, here’s the materials.” He says rather callously and sets a bag of materials on the shelf right next to where the Ring was.

Purchased: Oroboros- Silver ring with a dragon eating it’s tail on it: 2 ACC

Spent: 5 T1 Materials

A blue sweatshirt wrapped around Dustin’s waste as he walked through the garden on the first floor. He had been looking around all day but not really finding anything. That hadn’t changed either, he was still empty handed despite having worked so hard all day. A ringing catches his attention and an envelope appears on his display. Why is someone messaging me today? I don’t recall saying anything about shooting me a message anytime they want. He opens the message only to form a small smile as he reads who it’s from.

He closes his menu and starts the short walk from the garden back to the town of beginnings.

Upon arrival he sees the short girl and starts towards her. He was covered in dirt and sweat, wearing a basic tank top as he finally reaches her and he smiles, pulling his hair back and fixing it a little. “So, what’ve you been up to?” He asks, his smile like that of a child.

“Shiro... chan? Who is that?” He asks, furrowing his brow trying to think. Did I really forget a whole person? He thinks on it a little more. “I don’t know any Shiros.” He explains, sitting next to the girl and pushing her a little, playfully so she wouldn’t get hurt. “And who do you think you are? ‘I give you permission’.” He shakes his head and chuckles, taking a bite from his bowl and sitting back. Her next question made sense, and he didn’t know how to explain the answer entirely, but that’s never stopped him before. “Nope, never been in a hotel. My dad was American, so when we’d go to America to visit his family he always had somewhere to stay. If he didn’t we’d camp.” A nostalgic grin places itself on his face, and he looks down at his food. “Hunting and fishing, chopping firewood, spending time with Dad and Kadin. It was good times in the Salyer household.” His smile begins to slowly disappear and he apologizes to Arabelle. “Sorry, I got super weird there.” He says, standing up.

He walks towards the stairs in the back of his house, turns around and glances at the girl. “Oh, and if you ever get tired of going to your shop to sleep, feel free to crash here whenever you want. Lord knows I’ve got room.” He smiles, tossing a cupcake across the room and then a key. “Make sure to message me first so I’m not walking around... exposed, okay?” A quick wink and a smile sends him upstairs and into his room.

He takes off his necklace and hangs it on the photograph, and his black shirt comes off to be replaced by the unicorn one once more. He falls onto his bed and turns bright red. Do I like her? No, that would be weird, I haven’t known her that long, and how does Belle know I like her? I don’t like her. Why would Belle think I like someone named Shiro-chan? Who is Shiro-chan? Why does she call me Kouhai-kun? Why did I tell her I walk around... exposed? What the hell is wrong with you Dustin? That’s super frickin’ weird. I hate you.

———————————————————————————

Summary:

both:

<<Zylara’s Quartz>>

2 SP

500 col

So she had figured it out... she wasn’t stupid, and Dustin was never a good liar, so he figured why not come clean? “Well... you could always ask her yourself, you know her.” He explains, but then he holds his hands out in front of himself, like he was claiming innocence. “But I don’t like like her.” He frowns, dropping back on the couch and lookin up towards the ceiling above them. “Besides, not like it matters, she’s not into me that way.” His voice was uncharacteristically void of life and quiet. He looks back at Arabelle, frowning softly. She offers a trade and Dustin looks at his bowl and tilts his head, his cheeks turning a faint pink. Isn’t that a little weird? He looks back at her, holding his bowl towards her. “You’re welcome to try mine, but I’ve had yours before.” He claims, another bad lie. Sharing food was a foreign concept to someone from his family. Your food was your food, no one else’s.

He turns and looks at Arabelle for a moment, and he squints. “You got a house or you in those crummy inns?” He slurps up some noodles, sauce flying onto his face and he ignores it as it disappears. “I never used inns, I slept in trees. Something about them felt unreal to me.” He explains, standing up and placing yet another log in the fire.

He plops back down next to the girl and chuckles. “Another question if you don’t mind. Is there anything you want to do in this world? Like... I wanna try all the desserts here. I still have never tasted Ice Cream, like real ice cream.” His conversation skills weren’t the best, but they tend to be at least active for a while.

Dustin follows Arabelle to the shop and orders ramen with orange chicken and walks out. “I like noodles.” A simple reply and a simple order. It was basic and the boy was kind of embarrassed that he had no idea what to get. He usually got snacks and cooked his dinner himself. It was always crappy and burnt, but it saved him a little col. Either way, he was about to have an epic hangout with one of his best friends. Nothing could ruin this day, aside from a select few people showing up, but that was unlikely.

They finally made it back to Dustin’s place and Dustin opens the door to a house he still wasn’t entirely used to owning.

A small table sat in front of a regular couch, and a fireplace across the room. A chair is placed at the head of the table, angled towards the couch slightly to make it easier to talk to people. Both of which had never been used really. He plops on the couch and looks at Belle, “Make yourself at home.” He removes his sweatshirt revealing his unicorn shirt, but quickly changes that to his plain black shirt. A red blanket that looked handmade forms behind him and he holds it out towards Arabelle. “Anything you wanna talk about?” He asks, never really having a full blown conversation with Arabelle before this. With anyone before this really, except Jinx and Kadin.

It was nice to have a friend.

Dustin smiles at Arabelle’s comments and pulls his fist up towards his chest as it begins to glow bright red. “Yeah sorry, your beauty distracted me for a moment.” He steps forward once slowly and then rockets in to the Dragon’s side and punches the monster right under its eye. The monster gets thrown across the field into a tree and explodes into a kaleidoscope of pixels and shards while Dustin simply stops next to Arabelle. “That was awesome, you did so much damage out there.” He smiles and holds his hand up for a high five, making sure not to make it too high for her to reach.

Dustin sits in the field as the window opens congratulating them for beating the second dragon and showing their rewards. The tone of a selection that had gotten so annoying to the boy at this point, rings out as he closes said window and looks up at Arabelle (if she wasn’t sitting with him) with a childish smile on his face. “You said something about takeout earlier?” He asks, his voice hopeful and his eyes full of life. The best way to get this boy’s attention was food and fighting, and right now Arabelle had both.

She had a sword to point at anybody she wanted.

[H:2] Dustin: 480/480 HP | 29/48 EN | 11 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC | 2 EVA | BH: 4
[H:2] Arabelle: 244/300 HP | 17/30 EN | 10 DMG | 9 MIT | 3 ACC | 2 EVA

Zylara: 0/175 HP | 65 DMG | 35 MIT | 1 ACC [DEAD]

Dustin watches in admiration as his quest partner shreds into the enemy and dances with her weapon. Such grace was the right way to earn Dustin’s respect, and she had officially earned her place as Dustin’s second favorite. He smiles like a child and starts to charge his next attack, running in and going to hit the monster as it attacks Arabelle and hits her scythe. Good instincts, maybe she could go toe to toe with me. He smiles, it made him truly happy to see someone who could handle such a weapon, it took skill to swing a weapon accurately and it took even more to know when to let go and let the system take over.

Dustin sees the monster watching him and he slams his fist into the ground, launching him into the air and he lands, moving into the trees and running to the back of the monster. He had free reign now that the creature was focused on Arabelle. “Hey, I have healing potions to reimburse you for any you use here.” He says, but too quiet for her to hear, and he jumps through the woods, keeping a close eye on the dragon and the girl. She was kind of cute next to the spear, but he was interested in someone else.

At the thought of his favorite guildmate, his face turns red and he trips, falling and rolling back to his feet.

[H:0] Dustin: 480/480 HP | 45/48 EN | 11 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC | 2 EVA | BH: 4

[H:1] Arabelle: 244/300 HP | 23/30 EN | 10 DMG | 9 MIT | 3 ACC | 2 EVA

 Zylara: 140/175 HP | 65 DMG | 35 MIT | 1 ACC

Abilities:

<<Mend Mini-Twigs>> : On a natural roll of 15+ in LD when this attacks, miniature sticks will form in front of your character in attempts to trip you, in result you will receive -1 ACC on your current attack.

Dustin smiles as he walks out of the building and steps onto the dirt in front of his house. He grabs a bale of hay and throws it over a fence to feed the pink, blue and green slimes, petting one. “The small one is Mr. Fluffy, the others bully him.” He says, scratching the creature and tossing him back into the enclosure. “Sorry ‘bout that, gotta keep ‘em fed or they’ll die.” He starts walking towards the destination, headed towards the teleporter in the main settlement of the fourth floor.

Once they had gotten to the second floor, Dustin would make sure Arabelle is following, smirk and toss a cookie back towards her. “Better fill up before we go to fight.” He chuckles and walks right out of the town into the field.

A rustle in the leaves grabs his attention, and Dustin perks up in excitement and anticipation. His fists begin to glow green and he runs through the brush, seeing a dragon and taking a big swing, missing narrowly and hitting a tree. A purple window pops up and reads “immortal object” and he withdraws quickly. “[censored], sorry, I missed.” He explains to Arabelle and prepares to attack again.

Dustin: 480/480 HP | 46/48 EN | 11 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC | 2 EVA | BH: 4

Arabelle: (you can type that in yourself)

Zylara: 175/175 HP | 65 DMG | 35 MIT | 1 ACC

As he sits and looks around, the room empty and bright, Dustin looks around for a moment. The room was unusually clean, but his old sword, Fury’s Hand, was still out leaning up against the table in front of the couch. He tries to figure out what’s going on before suddenly he feels a push against his back and a small “boo” pushes him over the table and he grabs the sword, spinning around and pointing the blade towards the, what he now realized was a small lady. “Damnit Belle, you can’t do that.” The black blade falls to the ground along with a sigh of relief as he lumbers over to her flicks her in the forehead. “Sorry for drawing my sword, but you can’t scare me like that.” He reaches the kitchen and sees Arabelle’s boots on the ground.

”That’s funny...” he grabs the plates from the table and walks to wash the dishes, scrubbing the pancakes plate til it shines. “Why’d you take your boots off if we’re gonna be leaving here soon?” He puts the plate up in the cabinet and begins washing the cups, placing them in the cabinet as well. He walks back upstairs for a moment and grabs the necklace, walking back to Arabelle and putting it on, “You ready to go?” He asks, walking towards the front door. “Or would you like the grand tour?” He asks, mostly jokingly.

At the mention of a crush and her question, Dustin blushes to the point of wanting to hide under the bed upstairs. He walks out of the kitchen into the living room and sits on the couch, crossing his leg and laying down pulling out a cookie. “Wake me up when you’re ready to go, and the doors locked to my room so no snooping.” He had hoped the lie would be enough to keep her from snooping around, but he didn’t have that much to find in there. He kept his journal in his dresser, but still.

Besides, it was mainly to keep her from talking about the picture of Dustin and Kadin from when the game first started. He hated when people outright asked him about Kadin because he could never explain Kadin just right. The small picture sat on the boy’s dresser and a necklace dangled from the corner, a blade that matches Kadins on the end of the chain.

Dustin wakes up and sits up, looking across the coffee table into the fire, completely forgetting there was a cute girl about his age somewhere in the building alone with him.

Dustin pours a glass of Orange Juice and getting ready to answer about when he moved in when she asks him if anyone else lives here, and how it’s a big house. “A life of opulence is a life of solitude.” He says quietly and almost shyly, like it hurt him to say that. “I’ve lived here about a week, haven’t told you guys cause I didn’t want y’all to see me in my natural state.” He says, fixing his hair in the reflection on a spoon before sitting down with a bowl of cereal and eating it. The room looked right out of a knight story, with a homey yet medieval feel to it. Dustin looked at home with the absence of real world luxury, like he had never gotten used to flipping light switches or turning on the AC.

Like force of habit, he gets up and grabs a log quarter and tosses it into the fire, walking back to his chair and sitting down.

As he eats, his eyes stay down in his bowl. He wasn’t used to eating with people, and this made his nerves settle tremendously as he did it. “So... you been getting stronger or am I gonna have to carry you again?” A quick glance up and down her body and he smiles, “To be honest, I could actually carry you to the spot, but that would be weird.” He looks back down into his bowl and his spoon chases the last few bits of food around the white liquid. “But seriously, I don’t wanna have to worry about you getting hurt, should I call someone up?” He asks, a worried look in his eyes which were still glued to the milk.