Private Eastern Brisshal Investigating the Consequences

[Ueno Mizuki]

While Mizuki was an avid hunter in the game, who wished to test her limits by finding dangerous prey and taking them down, she didn't want to put her life on the line every single day. That kind of exhausting pattern would wear you down, so occasionally she'd return to an area which was safer and take her time hunting prey that was both delicious and less likely to rip her a new one. Eastern Brisshal was perfect for that, although she had noticed that with the waves of Travelers that were entering the world once more the animals had become more skittish and unpredictable, as they desperately tried to survive all these people who would hunt them for sport.

Right now she was stalking a bear, not a particularly big one, but still a healthy specimen. Bear meat was tough, but it was also good eating, and Mizuki's jaws were strong enough that she could handle the resilience. Of course, to make things easier for herself she'd transformed into a wolf, stalking the bear and slowly getting closer, her body close to the ground as she followed the stench the bear was leaving behind. Bears weren't known for their hygiene, after all.

But Mizuki wasn't the only one in the woods today. Her ear flicked as she heard the sounds of someone else making their way through the vegetation, freezing in place for a moment. Turning her head slowly she sniffed the new scent, carried to her by the wind. Human, female, healthy, no trace of fear. Another hunter? Did Mizuki now have to compete for her meal? She was confident she could win that competition, but she didn't want to fight another Traveler.

Best to take the bear down quickly, then, so the other hunter didn't have the opportunity to claim the kill. She was only a hundred or meters or so removed from her prey, the dense vegetation and the direction of the wind keeping the bear from noticing her. But now that time was running out Mizuki accelerated, her paws hitting the ground in a steady pattern as she suddenly entered a sprint. The bear's ears went up together with its head, but as it only smelled a wolf it didn't realize that it should have started running until Mizuki was already close enough.

A pounce, a snarl filled with sharp fangs, and Mizuki and the bear were locked into an intense struggle. Mizuki dug her dulled claws into the bear's hide, hanging onto its back as she angled her head so she could begin tearing into the beast's neck with her powerful jaws. The sound of two predators trying to kill each other quickly made all other lifeforms in the area flee, except perhaps the human who had spurred Mizuki into action.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Her time spent traipsing through the woods taking apart hunting traps and making her presence known enough that the animals would avoid her, maybe even scatter to different regions entirely. Certainly, the main priority was to make sure that the prey animal population recovered enough that it could start to support larger predator populations again, since it seemed that people would just kill whatever they could come across in the hopes for experience or something along those lines. Why on earth the neanderthals that played this game would believe that something incapable of fighting back would be a good source of experience or mastery points was beyond her. Perhaps the longer that people played this game, the more damage the players' brains received?

Then the sound of animalistic fury caught her attention, her gaze filled with the sight of a wolf and a bear grappling in one of the most bizarre fights that Cleo had ever seen. The wolf looked far from emaciated enough to consider the risk of fighting a bear alone to be worth it, but it was here, clearly happening in front of her, whilst she saw no evidence of any kind of pack. Was she really watching a solo wolf attempt to hunt a bear by itself? And it wasn't losing? That was pretty insane, all things considered. Still, it was a problem.

Hurgh!

With a grunt of effort, she sent her spear flying for both beasts. Either they would both dodge it, one would avoid it, or both would be impaled by the weapon after she sent it flying. Either way, all she wanted was the chance to stop the beasts from killing each other. She couldn't afford to allow there to be any kind of significant decline in predator population or else the players nearby, and technically the NPC's too even though she didn't care about them, would be the ones that suffered.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki was making some headway with taking the bear down, her claws digging in deep enough to draw blood while she'd already ripped chunks of hide and flesh from the back of the bear's neck. The bear's attempts to shake her off had been futile, her grip too strong and her weight too much for it to simply toss her. As it stood the hunt was going quite nicely, and she'd soon be able to feast on bear flesh.

However, she was forced to let go of the bear and hastily dodge when a spear flashed through the air, red and deadly. While she managed to get out of the way, scrabbling for purchase on the forest floor as she fell off the bear's back, the bear wasn't so lucky. The fast-moving projectile buried itself in the ursine's flank, to which it responded with a loud, pained growl.

It was that human again, and clearly, they were hunting the same prey. Mizuki snarled as she found her footing and charged forward, using the fact that the bear was distracted to this time directly go for the throat. Fangs dug into softer flesh, and with a sharp twist of her head, the huntress tore open the throat, allowing blood to flow freely as the bear swiped at her.

Mizuki quickly dodged by jumping backward, watching as the bear tried to go after her, only to stumble and fall down. It weakly tried to push itself up, but having its neck torn open like that while a spear was buried in its flank proved to be too much for the beast, causing it to stop moving and perish.

With the kill confirmed, the wolfkin would have liked to get to eating, but she first had to deal with the human who had interfered. Quickly turning around to face Cleo, the wolfess straightened her posture. She was quite a bit bigger than the average wolf, but then her form rippled. Fur receded and was replaced with clothes that had a similar colour pattern as the fur, and after pushing herself up the wolf now stood on her hind legs.

Within moments the wolf had been replaced by a caenis, a beastfolk with lupine features. Mizuki held up a hand to try and keep Cleo from doing anything, as she'd rather not have another spear thrown at her.

I hope you won't throw another one of those. I'm not here to fight other Travelers.

The female human looked too remarkable to be a Person of the Land. Mizuki would be more bothered by the attempted murder, except... Well, when you saw a wolf and a bear fighting each other, it wasn't like your first instinct was to assume one of the two was actually a person. Not that this made her happier about the spear, but she kept it to a furrowed brow.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Of all the things that Cleo had expected, the last thing had been for the wolf to not only dodge her attack and then finish off the bear, but to also then begin to change. The form rippled as fur was replaced by clothes and bones seemed to snap and pop as thye creature went from four legs to two, standing upright and facing Cleo, holding up a hand as beast became woman, a beastfolk if Cleo's memory served her correctly, though she was no expert on the lore of this game yet. She had met the fox girl and a cat girl, though, so she figured it was a beastfolk. Unless the ability to shapechange also allowed for the ears and tail.

Though when warned against throwing another spear, one appeared in her hand, constructed of Arcanamancy and humming with arcane power. She'd improved her abilities a bit and now they didn't seem like the paper mache copies that she had been producing beforehand. She didn't get into position to throw it just yet, staring down the previous predator as she had to remind herself that the animalistic fury she'd just seen came from a person. A real, living person, with a life in the real world. Potentially a danger to other people. Was it thanks to this game?

You're a fool. Don't you know that the overhunting in this region is driving predators to attack new players and NPCs alike? There's supposed to be warnings everywhere not to hunt here for that exact reason.

She gave her spear a practiced twirl, idly shifting it around and trying to stay loose and limber for the inevitable attack. After what she'd just seen, she wasn't taking any chances. She'd seen people snap and turn murderous in an instant before. This was nothing special.

What the hell even was that, anyway? I don't think I've ever seen a person transform into an animal in this hellhole of a game before...

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Well, the good news was that the other female hadn't thrown a spear yet. The bad news was that she looked ready to, given that she'd just summoned a new spear to her hand. Some kind of magic that allowed either for the summoning or creation of weapons. Mizuki thought she vaguely remembered that Arcanamancy when awakened, could turn arcane energy into solid shapes. However, that would mean she was facing quite the powerful opponent, and while this person certainly looked capable Mizuki hadn't seen her before. And the odds that someone had already become that strong when she'd only started playing after the shutdown was... unlikely.

For the moment Mizuki kept herself balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to dodge if the other hunter changed her mind. She really wasn't looking for any new holes in her body. Instead of spears, however, came barbed words, the wolfkin blinking in surprise and confusion when she was told that this area was supposed to be off-limits for hunting due to the over-eagerness of Travelers. Her fur did bristle a bit at being called a fool, however.

No, I didn't know. I came here from the west, I'm guessing that your warnings are positioned around Honeyhome.

She did still remember that hamlet, but when she was running wild she didn't bother to stop at civilized settlements. If there had been any warnings against hunting she'd completely overlooked them.

However, that was secondary. The other person... she was showing off her ability to handle that spear she just made, but she hadn't made a move to attack yet. As long as she didn't attack, Mizuki wouldn't either. She had no interest in hunting people unless they presented themselves as a threat to herself or others.

You haven't seen someone use the Metamorph mastery before? You really must be new. But if you consider this world a hellhole, why are you here?

It wasn't like Metamorph was very popular, but Mizuki was pretty sure every veteran at least knew that shapeshifting was possible. That did make the question of how this person managed to create that spear more pressing though... was that one of the things which had been changed over the years?

Anyway, can you put that spear down? I'm not going to attack you, and I don't think you're going to attack me either. If you want to talk you don't need your pointy stick for that.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

What the hell was to the west? Cleo had never been further than Honeyhome, now that she thought about it. Had none of the other experienced players moved around and gotten warnings up at places other than Honeyhome? What the hell were they all doing? Surely it wasn't just the new, inexperienced players that were overhunting and causing all of these problems? Well, it possibly was, she had no clue how much that the veterans would actually know or understand about the ecology of the world, especially a fictional world. As far as she knew, information like that was far too boring to appeal to a bunch of entitled gamers.

They're supposed to be everywhere, though I suppose some people aren't really putting enough effort into this or taking it as seriously as it needs to be taken.

She grumbled to herself at that thought, rolling her eyes. How hard was it for people to stick to and pass along the warning that she and Vina had given them? Why were people so damn incompetent when they didn't have any training in things? Just once it would be nice to run into somebody naturally talented at these things, or just smart or logical enough. One look at this woman told her that she should be throwing her logic out of the window, though. It wouldn't serve her much good here.

I haven't. Yes I'm new and I'm here because it's my damn job to keep people alive and this game seems intent on doing the opposite of that. So here I am, willingly entering something that has proven time and time again to be lethal or damaging to those involved with it.

And she meant damaging in more ways than one. She was guessing that this stranger's mental facilities weren't all fully operational, not that she meant it as an insult. Far from it. It meant that the woman was dangerous, somebody that her reasoning abilities likely wouldn't be able to provide her with much insight against, which meant that she was essentially going to be fighting blind, as it were, when it came to actually holding a conversation with this person.

I think I'll keep my spear, thanks. A little hard to feel safe when you don't even need a weapon to do some serious damage to me. It'd be unreasonable to trust you when we don't know each other and my only point of reference is you tearing a bear's throat out with your teeth.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Given that Eastern Brisshal was an area where newcomers could comfortably become familiar with the game, Mizuki was pretty sure most experienced players had already gone to other locations where things were both more dangerous and more interesting. Because of that, she wasn't very surprised that when she returned to Eastern Brisshal from one of the more dangerous zones she didn't encounter any warnings. Or, if there were warnings, she hadn't noticed them.

Well, I had my nose close to the ground to track that bear, so it's also possible I just didn't see it as I was preoccupied. That said if you're working together with other newcomers they might just not have gone far enough west.

Unfortunately, Mizuki didn't think that this female human was going to be satisfied with that answer. She seemed to be in a bad mood, probably because she'd just seen Mizuki hunt a bear while she was trying to get people to stop hunting this place. Which could be a bit of a conundrum: how were newcomers supposed to test their skills if there wasn't enough wildlife?

Look, if you want to keep people from overhunting here I'll go elsewhere, although I'm still going to eat this bear. It's already dead, so it shouldn't matter. As for it being your job...

The huntress placed her hands on her hips as she exhaled. It sounded like the spear woman had brought her real-life job into the game. So far as Mizuki was concerned, that was the exact opposite of what you were supposed to do.

You some kind of officer or doctor then? Well, I understand your concern, but it's not like anyone is being forced to take part, and most of us aren't trying to get killed, we just want to experience something different. The first couple of deaths were a tragedy because we didn't know that could happen, but anyone who still plays now must know what they're getting into.

Truthfully, Mizuki couldn't disagree with the fact that this game was dangerous and any sensible person would stay away from it, but she wasn't willing to just give it up. The opportunities Terrasphere offered were too valuable to her.

She sighed as the spear woman pointed out that she had no reason to trust Mizuki. She'd hoped that the fact she'd done nothing violent yet would be enough evidence that she wasn't going to suddenly pounce, but apparently, this person was a bit more distrustful than that. That certainly pointed in the direction of her being a police officer of sorts: even if most people weren't that bad, the police often had to deal with the worst society had to offer.

Sure, if it makes you feel safer, keep it. I'm not going to attack you though: I don't attack sapients unprovoked. If it helps, my name is Ueno Mizuki, or I guess you'd call me Mizuki Ueno, given your accent.

Knowing the name of someone could make it harder to attack them, as it made them feel more like a person. Mizuki walked over to the bear, keeping one ear swiveled towards Cleo as she went to remove the spear only to notice the construct had already disappeared. She let out an annoyed growl at the sight of the blood freely dripping out of the wound.

You willing to tell me your name?

Making an attempt at more friendly conversation, Mizuki knelt next to the bear. Grabbing the beast with both hands she heaved, rolling it onto its side so its vulnerable belly was exposed. She'd have to start eating before the bear had cooled down too much.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Preoccupied was what she was hoping to be the case, she was pretty sure one or two more experienced players had been counted amongst the ranks of people that were agreeable to helping spread the warning about overhunting, though she really couldn't be certain since she hadn't really done much to actually talk to any of them or really get a sense for the general level of strength as to the people that were helping, but in her own defense, she had been quite tired and had largely left it to Vina, who she had been convinced had a larger network of contacts to reach out to and actually get things done. It was just a matter of assumed competency that hadn't really paid off.

Go ahead and eat it, I guess. Not like it's going to do much actual living anymore, plus we need prey populations to boom before we start truly trying to conserve the predators in the same way.

And then they turned to the topic of the game and of her real life occupation, which Cleo had expected. Also as expected, the female was a staunch defender of the game and of the players, supposedly believing that the players that played now knew what they were getting into. Cleo shook her head, a grim look on her face at that.

Disagreed. In fact, the fact that people are making the choice eve though they know it's dangerous just shows exactly why it's a hellhole and why I have to come here. Nobody else seems willing to protect you people from your own mistakes. And the veterans aren't exactly doing a good job of keeping any new players alive. The first person I ever met was a new player that has already died three times and been killed in reality as a result.

And of course, she didn't touch the topic of her occupation at all, though the revelation of the girl's name made her nod.

Good to meet you, Ueno-san.

She replied with a fairly good grasp of Japanese, though her accent was far from perfect. She'd been practicing languages, once upon a time, preparing perhaps for a shot at interpol. That was before the VRSA. Before this.

I'm Cleo. Cleo Looker. Please tell me you're not about to eat that thing raw?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

It seemed like Cleo was becoming a bit less suspicious towards her, or at the very least was no longer threatening her with the spear. Given how this meeting had started on entirely the wrong paw Mizuki was willing to take what she could get. It wasn't like she wanted conflict with other players, after all: her prey were monsters.

Thank you. If you need help, I can put down some warnings further west. You shouldn't send any newcomers there, it's much more dangerous than here.

Mizuki did understand the problem of overhunting, and if Eastern Brisshal's ecosystem really got messed up that would be bad news for everyone. Honeyhome relied at least partially on hunting, and the newcomers did need some easy targets to practise on as long as they didn't go overboard and start wiping out the local wildlife.

It was also clear that Cleo wasn't convinced by Mizuki's arguments in favour of letting players just enjoy the game. Not that Mizuki had much hope she'd persuade the redhaired beauty in one go: people who were completely focused on keeping others saved weren't that easily convinced to stop trying. She would have frowned and objected, were it not for Cleo mentioning that she'd already met a new player who'd quickly been locked into the game. That did give the wolfess pause, her mismatched eyes expressing her surprise before she frowned and folded her arms.

I see... Someone who'd only started playing recently already got killed three times? That's not supposed to happen...

She brought one hand up to her mouth as she considered this. That did make Cleo's position more reasonable: Mizuki still didn't want anyone to get in her way as she enjoyed living in this world, but other people might require more protection than she did.

Either they were being extremely reckless or they were targeted... There shouldn't be many PKers left, although maybe the four-year break changed that. But everyone should be aware of the consequences: it was a huge scandal, after all.

A game which killed people wasn't something that was going to be kept under wraps. The only way someone couldn't know about the three-death issue was if they'd lived under a rock for four, maybe even five years.

She gave Cleo a light smile as she was greeted with Japanese formality. Either the spear woman had learned about those customs for her work, or she had a personal interest in Japanese culture. Either way, it was appreciated.

Just Mizuki is fine. And it's nice to meet you as well Miss Looker.

She frowned as Cleo asked after her plans with the bear. She didn't appear to be about to stop her, so Mizuki just looked at the bear, her own sharp claws, and then back at the undercover detective.

I can cook it if you want to have some as well: you helped kill it, even if I hadn't asked for the help. But the sooner I eat it the better the flavour.

In this body she could digest the raw meat without having to worry too much about getting sick, and even if she did get sick she could use her magic to cure herself. Cleo, however, was human, and Mizuki wouldn't encourage her to try the same unless she wanted to. Cooking the bear would mean she wouldn't be able to taste the warm blood inside its heart, however...

Well, she could at least get started on skinning the bear. Her sharp claws, sharper than was usual for any wolf (because she'd formed these just now, and they weren't dulled by the ground), cut through the bear's thick hide, Mizuki's eyes glowing faintly and briefly as blood quickly made a mess of her hands as she got to work separating the hide from the bear's frame.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

I can say with relative certainty that it was neither recklessness nor another player that extinguished this player's actual life. Instead, it seems to be the game itself. Bad spawns, powerful mobs that were either smart enough to wait for her to log back in, or lucky enough to catch her whilst she was logging in.

Either way, her meeting with Quincy had all but confirmed that this game was a dangerous thing that could not be enjoyed, no matter how wonderful it could seem or how realistic things could feel at times. There was nothing here that could justify putting a person in so much more danger than they would be in their everyday life. And no, having three lives didn't count, not with the mental damage that had been reported to occur with even the deaths that didn't result in a person's death in reality. All the evidence mounted up to the fact that this game had been produced with actual malice as the intent and driving force.

And then they were back on the subject of the bear, which confirmed that the wolf girl had been intending to eat it raw. Nevermind the fact that she would be eating bear, eating it raw was just a step too far. No human being in the world that could avoid that kind of thing would ever willingly choose to eat raw meat. What had this game done to twist the girl's mind so much?

Honestly, I'd prefer you cook it so that I don't have to see you eat raw meat. Seriously, no human does that. It actively goes against human nature and instinct to eat raw meat if it can be avoided. You'd get so unbelievably sick from doing that kind of thing that I can only assume this Metamorph mastery protects you from it in some way.

She felt a little queasy just thinking about it, leaning slightly on her projected spear as she watched Mizuki proceed to skin the bear with her own claws, tearing through its hide like it offered no protection against the natural weapons at all. The sound was horrific, like wet paper being torn and dragged through water, as blood began to leak and pour from the skinned body. The detective wobbled, turning away as she could almost physically feel her face turning green from the sight.

Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

That's... improbable.

Mizuki didn't want to start another argument, but she couldn't just agree with the idea that this third female had died three times without there being malice or stupidity involved. The game was dangerous, sure, but the spawn locations were much milder than the rest of the revealed areas, and death traps could usually be avoided.

I'm not going to say that it's impossible, but it should be possible to avoid dying three times if you're careful. I can imagine being unlucky once, possibly even twice, but for this person to have ended up in an impossible situation three times, in the short time that she's been here? It's difficult to believe. Of course, I do agree that at the least newcomers should be protected, just in case, but I'd want to know more about this person's circumstances.

It wasn't like she distrusted Cleo. Well, not overtly so. However, it was the first time she'd heard of something like this happening, so she wanted to know more about this. Maybe there was a clue in what happened to this female Cleo talked about.

She stared at Cleo as the redhaired lancer strongly protested against her eating raw meat. She could see where Cleo was coming from, but really...

I'm not a human though, I'm a caenis. You'd probably get sick, but I've gotten used to it. That, and I've got some healing magic if it happens to carry some particularly nasty disease.

It didn't matter what race you were, diseases could always get to you. Well, except possibly magia, but Mizuki didn't know anything about them and she was pretty damn sure they hadn't existed before. However, there were methods to deal with that issue, and Mizuki had gotten used to the taste of raw meat and warm blood.

However, she was forced to interrupt her skinning when Cleo claimed that she was going to be sick. The huntress looked at her hands, soaked in blood, then at Cleo who had wisely chosen to look away.

...Fine, I'll cook it. However, I'm surprised you've never seen someone skin game before.

She would have given her companion a comforting pat on the shoulder, but she was pretty sure the blood would kind of ruin the gesture. Instead, she sent a feeling of calm towards Cleo, wondering if the human was sensitive towards those kind of primal forms of communication.

How about you collect some firewood? That way you don't have to watch.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

It wasn't much of a surprise that her word wasn't taken at face value, even if she'd have rather been believed from the get go, it was probably unreasonable to actually request such a thing. It was a pretty tall tale and even she wouldn't have been so likely to believe it if she hadn't met the girl in question. If she hadn't had to be the one that had to confirm that the girl was, in fact, dead in the real world with no chance of returning to the world she'd known or the family she'd probably loved.

I couldn't begin to accurately describe what she exactly went though, but you can ask her yourself if you ever run into her. Her name's Quincy. Just be gentle with her feelings, though. When I spoke with her, she wasn't aware that she'd actually died in the real world, so it undoubtedly came as something of a major shock.

And then there was Cleo, bearer of bad news and all things that came with it. Though currently, she was Cleo, bearer of a queasy stomach as she listened to this person, this human wearing the digital avatar of something else, declare that she wasn't human. God. How deluded could somebody be?

You're definitely human. None of this is real. You'll still be human when you log off, if you can log off that is. It's strange beyond words to hear you actually say you're not human. Not even that you're just playing an inhuman character, but you actually believe you're not human when you're like this.

She completely missed whatever primal thing that Mizuki was trying to do, being a civilized person that was very much out of touch with any semblance of a wild side, nothing even remotely pinged on her radar. She shuddered, but nodded. Collecting firewood would be good, she could do that and then there would hopefully not be a skinned corpse in front of her that she'd have to stare at and see again and again whenever she tried to sleep

She shuddered again.

I'll be back. If something shows up please try not to kill it if you can avoid it...

And with that, Cleo wandered off for a few minutes, returning about ten minutes later with ample firewood. A body that size would take a long time to cook through, so they needed as much wood as they could to keep the fire alive.

I'm back. I can't believe you're eating bear...

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki could agree with trying to be careful if she did ever meet this Quincy. While she might sound rather dismissive towards the issue, she did understand the gravity of someone dying on Earth and becoming trapped in Terrasphere.

I'll see if I can find her then. I'll do my best not to upset her. I disagree with your position that we're all making a mistake, entering this world, but I don't actually want people to die. Thinking that people should be allowed to endanger themselves isn't the same as hoping they'll get themselves killed, after all.

She didn't think Cleo actually believed she wanted people to die in Terrasphere, but she wanted to reaffirm it anyway. Given how the conversation had gone so far, it wouldn't have been unreasonable for the lancer to think that she was just apathetic towards how Terrasphere was hurting people.

Cleo's argument that Mizuki was, and always would be, a human was certainly interesting, as it brought up some philosophical questions worth considering. However, since the redhaired female human was clearly eager to have a reason to leave Mizuki to her work the wolfess wasn't going to keep her. Instead, she'd return to her work once Cleo had gone far enough away that she shouldn't be able to hear or accurately see what Mizuki was doing.

To ensure that the lancer wouldn't once again get nauseous Mizuki would have to turn the corpse into slaps of meat, so Cleo wouldn't associate it with a dead body any longer. However, before that happened she'd first help herself to the most important parts of the beast: the inner organs. She highly doubted that Cleo would want those anyway.

Her sharp claws worked quick, stripping the bear off its hide, after which she started slicing up its muscles, rending meat from the bone with a finesse that would have demonstrated her experience if anyone had been watching. Since she wasn't fumbling with a tool, and her masteries gave her vastly improved physical abilities, she could work a lot faster than some butcher on Earth.

Along the way she'd scoop out the organs, tearing them into shreds and gulping them down even as blood leaked down her chin and onto the ground. She'd do her best to preserve as much of it as possible, but since she was in a hurry to finish eating the organs before Cleo returned she couldn't help but be sloppy.

However, the ravenous pace at which she ate allowed her to consume the organs before Cleo returned, after which she returned to her work of disassembling the corpse so the detective wouldn't suffer from instinctive revulsion any longer. By the time the redhead made her way back with a big pile of wood in her arms the bear's hide was folded up to the side, and Mizuki had made good progress turning the bear into a pile of bones and a quite a few slabs of meat. Fortunately, the bear had been pretty small, otherwise, it would have taken Mizuki a lot longer. She'd also managed to lick her face clean in the meantime, so the only hint of what she had done was the complete lack of organs and the blood on the ground which could easily have been a byproduct of the skinning and butchering process.

Looks like you found a lot of firewood. Thank you. And it's not like there's anything inherently wrong with bear meat: it's got a pretty sweet taste, actually. Once it's been cooked you should try some yourself. Could you be so kind as to get the fire started? I'm almost done dismantling.

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well at least Mizuki was just strange and not a bitch. Agreeing to be careful with Quincy if she ever found the girl was at least a kinder gesture than she'd expected from the wild woman, though to be honest that wasn't saying too much. Was it a good or a bad thing if somebody was surprised that the woman wouldn't remind a dead person about the fact that they were dead? Either way, that wasn't going to be Cleo's problem if she could avoid it. She wasn't keeping Quincy as a contact, even if she did have a good idea of where to the girl would be.

So that was where they'd left thing when she'd gone to go get firewood, returning with as much as she could and raking her eyes around the kill site and Mizuki herself. It was, frankly a mess, which she'd expected considering that butchering animals wasn't known to be a clean job and that was when using civilized implements, such as knives and cutting boards and other such things. Still, there were a few telltale clues that showed signs of something other than just raw butchering going on here, such as the smudged, faded bloodstains around the beastkin's mouth.

Oh god, she'd eaten some of the bear raw, hadn't she?

Yeah, I figured that it'd take a lot of wood to cook a bear, though I guess maybe I miscalculated just how much bear would need to be cooked in the first place.

She shot the beastkin an unimpressed, suspicious look, trying to let the woman know that she had, in fact, pieced together what had happened. It was her whole job to take clues and piece together what had happened using them. As for the firewood, she nodded.

I'll get a fire started, sure.

And from there it was a matter of gathering the wood, mostly kindling at the beginning, rubbing sticks together in a practiced, if clumsy way. It was a skill she had studied and practiced a bit, but she'd never really had much reason to practice being able to light a fire without any sort of match or lighter, or some gasoline to use to get it all burning. Still, after a few minutes of effort, she had transitioned from a small flame to a larger fire pit, throwing the larger pieces of firewood onto it.

I don't think I can eat bear. It'd be wrong.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Mizuki couldn't exactly keep Cleo from piecing together what had happened. She'd hoped that she'd cleaned up well enough that the detective wouldn't be able to figure out that all the organs had ended up in the wolfess's stomach while she was gone, but as it turned out her attempts turned out pointless.

Most of the bear is still here, so it shouldn't make much of a difference. Better to have too much firewood than too little.

Bears were dangerous because they were large, hulking masses of muscle. Even though Mizuki had scarfed down all the organs there was still plenty of meat to be roasted. The look Cleo gave Mizuki was met with a gaze from the huntress's own mismatched eyes, and after several seconds Mizuki gave a small shrug. She'd decided to cook the bear primarily because Cleo had actually gotten physically ill, and as much as Mizuki wished to do as she liked it would have ruined the taste of the meat if she knew she'd made someone vomit from sheer disgust. But Cleo's disapproval didn't matter as much.

Once the fire had gotten started Mizuki would grab one of the branches Cleo had yet to feed to the flames. Taking hold of it with both hands, the wolfess would let her energy flow through the branch. Its shape would become straighter, sturdier, after which Mizuki lengthened it until she could break it in half. Repeating this process several times, the proto-wildling would use each branch to pierce one of the slabs of meat, then stab the other end into the ground so the meat would hang above the campfire. Given the amount of meat, she had to form a whole circle of stakes around the campfire, after which she sat down and looked at Cleo.

I won't push if you don't want me to, but there's nothing inhuman about eating bear meat as long as it's prepared. Does it really bother you so much, to see someone do something that falls outside of what you're accustomed to?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Fair enough, better an overcooked endangered animal than an undercooked endangered animal.

Though, realistically speaking, she'd rather not see an endangered animal being cooked at all, let alone be complicit in such a thing, but here she was, on her quest to make good with the population of Terrasphere and understand what it was that made the players tick, preparing a fire upon which a total stranger would be cooking the meat of a bear, the throat of which she had ripped out with her own teeth whilst transformed into a wolf of all things. There was no common sense anymore and it felt like it was going to do her less and less good as she went on. Next she'd be dealing with necromancers, or some kind of freaky biblically accurate angel, or something like that.

She shuddered.

From there, she watched as Mizuki used whatever magic she had, probably the Nature Magic mastery if the lancer detective had to guess, to spear and hang the meat over the fire for cooking. With each piece that was suspended, she was reminded that it was a bear that was being cooked and not a cow, or a pig, or any other animal that was actually normal for a human person to eat. This was all just another example of how messed up this game could make people. What the heck had this person even been through to essentially turn her into a feral animal with the reason and intellect of a person? How much of that carried over into real life?

She would have to examine any cases of animal attacks in recent weeks. Just to be sure.

Of course it bothers me. Bears aren't a creature that humans eat, nor is it normal to do something like transform and rip a bear's throat out with your teeth. This is the kind of stuff that's impossible for any sane, normal individual to get accustomed to.

She wasn't going to mince words with that, the beastkin probably would call out any bullshit platitudes or pretending to just be slightly weirded out by it. It was better to just be open with her issues. Not hostile about them, but open. She let the copy of her spear dissipate, sitting and watching the fire as a reflection of it crackled away in her scarlet eyes.

Surely you were the same at first? Please tell me you didn't start off with a taste for raw flesh and visceral, bloody combat?

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

I'm not saying we shouldn't be careful with our bear population, but I don't think that it has quite reached the point where these bears are endangered. There are other forests on the continent, after all. It's honestly rather interesting just how little we managed to explore even before we were disconnected.

Humans were curious, but the players of Terrasphere hadn't even discovered one-tenth of the continent, Mizuki was pretty sure. Of course, that also had to do with the fact that there were a lot of dangerous things out there, which made exploration a lot more difficult.

While Cleo was trying to remind herself of what was normal, and how insane the current situation was, Mizuki had made herself comfortable waiting for the meat slabs to reach a point where the detective couldn't complain about them being too raw. Truthfully, cooking the meat did help bring out the flavour, but Mizuki couldn't help but feel a thirst for raw flesh and blood. The taste of a successful hunt, of triumph.

There are cultures where eating bears isn't considered so strange, back on Earth. It's not common because there's not much point in keeping bears, and out in the wilds it's too dangerous to hunt them. I'll grant you that the transformation is new, though, but that's one of those things that inspires people to write fiction. Have you never played make-believe as a child?

Of course, it wasn't like every child would pretend to be an animal, but Mizuki didn't think it was that abnormal. Even if most children didn't end up re-enacting those fantasies in a game which was so realistic it was difficult to say for certain that it wasn't real.

Cleo's next question made Mizuki pause, her gaze turning towards the fire that was now burning merrily. Her mismatched eyes reflected the light in odd ways, one glowing gold and the other like melting ice.

That's a good question. It's more than five years ago, so I can't be completely certain how I felt back then, but no, I don't think I was the same back then as I am now.

Her gaze turned up at the skies, her legs folded together and her hands resting on her knees. Her tail slowly swished from side to side behind her as she looked at the blue heavens, a part of her wishing she was looking at the starry void of the night instead.

What I remember is that I wished to experience freedom. It might not have started out like this, but as I kept exploring what I could do and what I could be in this world I found that I enjoyed not caring about etiquette or social norms. Well, not entirely, of course: when I'm spending time with other people you'd probably not notice much amiss. But when I'm out here hunting I can cut loose.

She turned her gaze back towards Cleo, staring into those crimson eyes which almost looked like they burned, reflecting the light from the flames.

I'm guessing you've never regretted the turns your life took?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Was that the truth, that the players had basically explored none of this game's world and that most of it was a mystery? How strange. She'd been led to believe that many gamers were the kinds of people to immediately leap to the challenge of mapping out an entirely new reality and seeing everything there was to see. The people that called themselves were nothing if not dogmatic in trying to see, do and hear everything. And in this game, that would probably extend to wanting to taste and feel everything too. Maybe the 'taste' part helped explain, at least in part, Mizuki and why she had this weird fixation on eating raw things and trying to normalize that somehow?

I wasn't really the kind of kid to play make-believe, no. I was always too busy actively pursuing the career I wanted when I grew up and from then onwards I was too grown up to want to do childish things such as pretend to be somebody that I'm not.

In her heart she'd always been a detective and a police officer, ever since the dream had formed in her heart and refused to die off.

Nor have I ever had the...pleasure...of interacting with one of these cultures that finds eating things such as bears to be more normal. Though I'm not surprised to know that they exist, all things considered. They say man is the only animal to eat every other animal on the planet, after all.

The thought of which was disgusting, but she swallowed that disgust and shook her head, instead listening to the tale that proved that Mizuki had been altered by the game in ways that made her worse. Made her dangerous. Sure, she tried to paint it as escaping a fate of feeling trapped and unsure, but it all also sounded dangerous to Cleo. To Mizuki and the people around her. It had Cleo pulling her actual spear off of her back and holding it in her lap, withdrawing a cloth from her inventory to polish the tip.

There's no room for regret in my life, I'm afraid. I set myself a goal at a young age and I managed to achieve it. There is really not much there to regret, if I'm being completely honest. From practically day one, I was driven to achieve it until I finally managed to grasp it. And it felt amazing. And it was real.

@Ueno Mizuki

 

[Ueno Mizuki]

Cleo's words were harsh, dismissing Mizuki's desire to live a different life as something childish, but the wolfess didn't feel like getting angry. Sure, she considered the detective's position too restrictive of what could be considered acceptable behaviour, but since she was the only person to willingly start eating fallen enemies raw out of everyone who played Terrasphere (so far as she knew, anyway) she couldn't claim to hold a normal perspective. To pretend that Mizuki represented the average person, the average Traveler, would be ridiculous.

I'm not talking about some jungle tribes or something. It was fairly common in Russia, as well as in America when they were still colonizing it. I was curious and looked it up, and while it was never the priority meat it wasn't considered out of the ordinary. If you're American by blood there's a good chance your great-great-great-grandfather ate bear meat at least once. Of course, that's long enough ago that blood relations don't necessarily mean anything anymore. Sorry, I'll stop talking about it.

The two had only met today, under less than stellar conditions. She was hardly going to convince Cleo to try bear meat right off the bat, especially given how much the redhead was emphasizing that she considered all of this childish and unrealistic.

She tensed up a little when Cleo grabbed her spear, but quickly relaxed when her companion didn't do anything beyond polishing the tip. Something to help her relax, perhaps. The beautiful lancer wasn't remotely comfortable with the topic, after all. Still, if she was going to question Mizuki's decisions in this world, Mizuki was going to answer. Not with hostility, but with words. She didn't have a chance of actually convincing Cleo, but she might at least make the detective think about what she said.

Sounds like you've been living a good life. I'm a little bit envious. Not that my life is anything to complain about in terms of results, but you followed your passion and achieved exactly what you wanted to achieve. That said... you emphasize that this is not real. And you might be correct: this is a virtual world, after all. However, playing this game made me interested in programming and coding. And what I learned was that when we transfer data, we don't actually move the data. The device at the destination just copies patterns, and the original storage deletes those patterns once they've been fully copied.

Mizuki's eyes narrowed a bit, studying Cleo with more intensity than before. Most likely her words would just be shrugged off, but she wanted to try.

You talked to someone who already died three times. You confirmed that her body on Earth is dead. Yet you talk about her as if she's the same person as the one who died. Do you believe that the Quincy you talked to was the real Quincy?

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

She certainly hadn't meant to dismiss the woman's way of life, that much was sure. She'd only meant that playing make-believe was childish, but it seemed that she hadn't gotten that message across very well. To be fair, this whole meeting was something of a mess. Of course, then the woman went on to mention something about how it was likely that Cleo's ancestors ate bear meat or something. To be honest, it was hard to care about what stuff a bunch of people that had died multiple lifetimes before even her parents had been born had done. That was pretty inconsequential when it came to her. The stature of limitations on those things had run out. Yet still...

I'm not offended. The actions of a bunch of people that came hundreds of years before me can't possibly offend me. Still, there's good reason we don't do those kinds of things in modern society, I'd say. Otherwise we'd still be doing them and they would be normal.

It was like the arguments that people who ate other animals, such as bats or dogs or even things like lions or zebras had. Technically, all things WERE a potential source of food, though it could be very hard to accept that fact. The woman had clearly done some kind of research on these topics, if only to present something of a logical, thought out argument, rather than lashing out and defending her views with visceral emotion and violence. It was strange seeing somebody she had seen be so savage, talking like somebody well educated. She probably was, in the real world. The world that mattered.

Hell, she was even bringing up the theory being worked on that the people that were killed and locked in the game were little more than AI constructs, copied data from those deceased peoples' personalities and thoughts. If she'd had a drink, Cleo would have slammed it back and drained the whole thing, sighing.

You're referring to the idea that Quincy is not, in fact, Quincy, but instead an artificial replication of who Quincy was in life? Her thoughts, her feelings, her memories. Her data. I've considered that too. And it's probably right, but I couldn't just tell her that she isn't even real.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair, her spear returning to her inventory as stress ran through her body. She dispelled it a moment later, a cold, calculated look coming to her eyes.

Yes. The person, Quincy, is gone and only a machine, an echo, is left. But with nothing left of the original, she's the next best thing. It's messed up, god is it messed up. But if I start looking at her as real, where do I draw the line? The NPCs? This wood? The bear meat?

@Ueno Mizuki