Oji

Oji listened to Nari's thoughts on familairs with an open mind, and he couldn't help but agree with her logic. Soup was definitely full of that young-person vigor and energy that he had lost a few decades ago. The sable had kept him on his toes the past few weeks that he's been with the older man, but it had brought a new breath of life into his daily activities. While he's enjoyed his sedentary lifestyle with mostly keeping to himself, Soup had helped him to grow more, to get out of his shell, if not always intentional. "Well, who's the one being wise now?" He jested to the young girl, a

Oji let Soup run around the house for quite a few laps, getting the energy that had been pent up from sitting so still. The creature did not like to remain in a neutral state for long. The only time that Soup would sit still was when he was sleeping, and even then he would have dreams where he was running, and his legs would kick Oji's back in the night, and it got to the point where Oji had to get him his separate bed for a week or so. So when the creature ran, he would run until he was told to stop, or until he eventually grew tired. As Soup went for his fourth lap, Oji looked at Nari w

Oji watched the banter between Astreya and Nari with a hopeful smile. It seemed that she had been making friends in her spare time, and good ones at that. She had called him, which he was thankful for, but she was getting along with this bubbly girl very well, and Astreya scolded her for not sleeping enough, which he stood behind. She needed rest, and if she wasn't getting it she would have to be scolded as she was. He listened to the plan, and saw the intense look in Nari's eyes. She meant it, and he had no problem with what she said, and he held his hands up defensively. "I did not pla

Oji fed the sable a few small treats quietly, making small abrasions on his arms and having him lick the wounds. Some would heal, some would not, but the more he did it, the more that it worked and he was healed. It was a nice flow that they were getting into, and he was proud of the little sable. But, he knew that he was starting to run a little low on treats, and he saw that Nari was doing her own little tricks for her familiar. He had heard her say something, and saw a treat flying towards Soup, and her familiar swatted it and ate it, a bit besmirched that her owner would betray her and try

Oji watched with curiosity as Nari attempted to teach her familiar how to dodge some pieces of food. His arms crossed as he learned against his deck, he was trying to figure out how to teach Soup to heal along with him. He was at a standstill, if he was honest. Sure it was easy to teach a familiar to attack, or to defend against attacks. But to teach them how to use a skill alongside you? It seemed a bit more difficult than it should have been, for him at least. Using a healing skill was simple. Put your hands on an injured person, expend some energy, and then bam! They're healed. But for Soup

Oji nodded in understanding. He had noticed how she had a change in demeanor that day, but he decided not to question it too much, since it wasn't his place nor the right time to talk about something like that. Soup, a bit hurt, just whined a small bit. Oji scratched under his chin. "It's okay Soup, don't be offended, she has her reasons." He says quietly to his familiar. He looked as Nari explained what her plan was, and he smiled. "Perfect, I wanted to teach soup how to heal, so if there are any actual damages, I can show him how to patch it up." He set soup down on the ground, while he

Oji smiled as she politely declined, and nodded. "Of course, no trouble at all. Let me just take care of my cup and we'll get started." He spoke, he quickly went in and put it in his sink, then came back to Nari, who then thanked him for his guidance. He just laughed a tad awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down. "I wouldn't call it guidance, I just told you a story that spoke to your soul. Just wise words from an old man." He laughed. Soup was enjoying the attention, but once Nari was done petting him he crawled up Oji's leg onto his shoulders, chirping and making cute sounds

Oji finished his cup of coffee as the sun streaked over the horizon. Soup was sunbathing on the steps of the deck, his small breathing being competed only by the chirps and tweets of birds. As Oji enjoyed his morning, he could hear the sounds of walking up his road. Soup picked his head up, and saw the person coming, a young lady. The small sable instantly recognized her, and chirped in excitement. Soup had met her when they went into the desert, and had become good friends with her. Oji looked up and saw Soup was excited, and he chuckled. "Come here you little rascal." He said. The sable igno

Oji saw the emerald-clad man appear from the shade of the tapestry above him. He approached him as he started to say something, when a young woman appeared from nowhere, calling out for Jomei. With a small jump, he turned to her, Soup's eyes staring intently at both the the man and the woman, not recognizing either of them, but they seemed friendly. He gave a small chirp in reply to their strange human language, and shifted back and forth on Oji's shoulders. "Ah, well at least it's some faces I... somewhat recognize." He said, and looked at the young lady. "Hi there, I'm Oji. I'm guessing

It was another bright and sunny day on the twenty-second floor, and Oji was fixing up his fence in front of his house. a player's familiar had crashed into it on accident while he was out walking, and Oji, after receiving a profuse apology, said it was no problem and asked the young man where he got the power. He was then told about the quest to train his familiar. He went to the quest discovery tab and sure enough, it was there in his "available" tab, since he had met the requirements to take it on. Oji was ecstatic, seeing that he could help Soup with some training. He might be able to wrang

The early morning sunlight of the 22nd floor shone brightly above Oji as he sipped his morning coffee. He was sitting on his deck, swaying on his porch swing and reading the morning news on his HUD. He had recently learned of it's existence, and it had a nice little tutorial block on the third page, and it had helped him quite a few things that he had no idea existed. He now understood what DoT stood for, which he first thought meant Doing other Things. How drastically wrong he felt, and he was glad he learned it on his own instead of on the frontlines when someone shouted it, and he decided t

Everything happened pretty fast for Oji, and he was a bit blown back from the amount of action he could hear behind him as he steered the airship to the behemoth of a boat. "Now that's a ship!" He said to himself, and he brought the ship above one of the ledges. Soon he steered it so it would continue straight onto the horizon. There was plenty of crew here, they could bring the ship back to the city once all of this blew over. After locking the wheel in place and giving it plenty of gas, he sprinted out of the room with the others, and they told him that he could stay behind if he wished.

<<THREAD COMPLETE>> Rewards: Oji - 277+202+236+206+223+245+203+280+195+215+243+216+387+339+336+228+226+333+624+446 = 5660 / 30 = 188 x 5 = 943 + 500 = 1,443 x 1.1 (Slime Farm) = 1,587 EXP, 1,100 Col, <<Survival>> Skill, Life-Changing Trauma

Oji eventually pulled himself together, and with the wind having let up a considerable bit, he decided it was best to head back to town. He quietly traversed the sands, hoping and praying that he was going in the right direction. He had lost the tracks that he and the bandits had caused, and he saw no sight of the bandits anywhere close, chased off my the fierce Sutōmukōzā. Eventually, he followed the rising sun, which he remembered was the opposite direction of where they had gone, and eventually found himself back to the desert village. Disheveled, weary, and his shoes still filled with sand

As Oji stumbled into the cave, he landed on his back with a large bang, only a small bit of sand within the cavern, mounds were around the corners but they were mostly cleaned out. Oji took deep breathes, a big ragged at first, but steadily clearing to his normal breathing routine. He had done it, he had made it to the cave. The adventure had felt like it took forever, but he had made it. A small smile formed on Oji's face, proud of his accomplishments. It wasn't until he heard the groans of Zamek that he realized that he had yet to finish the quest. He came over to check on the elderly man, w

Oji was unable to say anything at first, he just stood still, staring at the giant ball of air and sand coming towards them, it's maw wide open and devouring the dunes in front of it. The bandits saw that he was standing still, and the boss grunted. "Come on Joker" He shouted over the winds. "We have a date with a treasure chest!" He shoved the tip of his sword against his back, but Oji didn't budge. All he was able to do was weakly lift his hand and point at the creature. "Sutōmukōzā" He said, much louder than before. The bandits stopped and looked, and Oji could feel their menacing ener

Oji's ears started to ring as the roar of the storm only grew louder as they dove deeper into the storm. The bandits' horses were now starting to have a hard time traversing the sands, as the bandits got off of them and lead them from their leads. None of them were happy with this, and their disgruntled grunts and moans was all that Oji could hear now, their conversations abrupted to a halt for the time being. "The storms gotten much worse." Oji said to Zamek, and he only coughed in response. Zamek was not doing well, and this might be a one-way trip for him if they did not get time to re

Oji had started the long trudge once again, but this time he was not as excited to make it to their destination. He knew any items or col that he was going to get was now gone. He must have found the bad ending to this quest, and he dreaded the thought of doing this entire quest again. He felt himself slogging behind Zamek, but the point of a sword against his back brought his pace back up to normal. Zamek seemed to stumble more and more, and the bandits had made it his job to pick him back up, and Oji noticed that his skin had started to look a little paler. "Are you okay Zamek?" He aske

Oji felt a bead of sweat roll down his head. This boss was not a good-looking man, that much he could tell from his mask and outfit. But, the scars along his arms and on his neck told him that he was no stranger to a fight, and he came out a winner. He knew that he couldn't win this if it came down to a brawl. He thought for a moment, then sighed in defeat. "There's... something out here that this gentlemen was leading me to. I don't know what it is, but he said it had money there that I was going to get out of it." He said and the boss' eyes widened. "Well now, that sounds like the perfe

"Well well well, it seems we have a worm in our sands boys." the Boss spoke, with a chorus of evil chuckles. The boss got off his horse and took some steps towards the elderly man as his coughing fit subsided. He reached a heavily-muscled arm down, and grabbed into the sand, Zamek emerging with a fist around his neck and lifting him. "Hello sir, I'm afraid this is a toll dune." the bandit boss said, trying to sound intimidating. "So I'm afraid you'll have to pay up." Oji mentally groaned as these terrible jokes, and Zamek struggled against his hand, grabbing his forearm and trying to drag hims

Oji's heart slowly rose into his throat the closer that the mounds got to him. He was confident that his sand disguises would work as he had put quite a bit of sand on top of them, to factor in the deafening winds that picked up and died down with each passing minute. Soon the mounds appeared from the billowing sands and he had counted exactly right, six men with masks and lanterns hanging from their horses so they could see, and to blind the people that were used to the dark. It was effective to say the least. He found himself squinting way more from the light, and it definitely would have ma

Out of options and not wanting to pass away, Oji decided that the only thing to do was to bury themselves. Oji soon fell to his knees. "Zamek, down here, I'll bury you." He said, and helped the elderly NPC to get onto his stomach, and he buried him with the shifting sands, making sure his arms were up above his head to keep a pocket of air for him to breathe. "Take shallow breaths so the sand doesn't fall off your back." He said, and Zamek only nodded, stifling a cough. After that, Oji buried himself a few feet away from him, taking extra caution to cover his legs, and shoved his hand into his

Oji's eyes had started to get crusted by the sands, and it was becoming a lot harder to see through them, only trudging behind Zamek blindly. He did his best to scratch away any of the sand that got caught, but it would just come back in a few seconds, and at this point he was done fighting it. He forced himself to slog up another hill, and he was slowly making it, little by little, but as he crossed the horizon of the hill, he saw... something, to his left. He stopped walking and tried to look, but it only looked like a few small dunes. He shrugged his shoulders, but he realized something abo

The winds howled in his ears as the sand streamed through his hair. The wind had picked up again, and the howling of the wind creature crept into his mind and bounced around like it was made of jelly. Was this giant creature real? Did it exist and could possibly kill him? He wasn't sure, but he really, really did not want to find out the actual answer. Apparently, he had wore the fear on his face like a mask, because as he blocked Zamek's face as he had yet another coughing fit, the older man looked up to him, and then smiled. "My dear boy, the story is nothing but a myth, nothing to fear

As Oji continued to trudge, the thought of Sutōmukōzā still fresh in his mind, he realized that his shoes have been filled to the brim, and was seeping in and out like the crashing tides of the ocean. He had become used to it, but it was still irritating. But thanks to the story, the more he heard the roars of the wind, which had picked up again, the more he thought it sounded like an actual creature, which sent chills down his spine. It still made him uncomfortable, but they sounded far away. That thought made him feel a bit better as he went over the top of yet another dune, doing his best t