Private Eastern Brisshal The Story of a Giant learning how to fight with more than just a canon with the help of his Lepus friend and lots of fistfights in a VRMMORPG DeathGam

[Brutus Dahlgren]

He would motion to the post next to the shack. "He likes to vibe there on the off chance it rains, he likes the water, I think he misses living in a river." He would pause by the door and adjust himself, redoing a few buttons on his shirt to make himself less scandalous before turning to the pouting bunny.

"What if I actually want to huh?" He would ask raising an eyebrow. It...actually wasn't a lie, he found himself realizing. "What if I want to walk hand in hand with you all of the way to the village? Lay under the stars with you and tell you all about my hopes and dreams for the future?" He would ask hammering this all home. He realized this would come off as some sort of tease. Maybe he could play this off as a joke if she didn't actually feel that way about him.

But he really didn't want to.

"What if spending time with you is one of my favorite parts about this game?" he would ask leaning against his door frame.

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

"Oh, I see..." As the Felis pointed towards the post by the shack the Lepus moved over, carefully placing Sam down before she patted his head softly. "You be good then, Sam, I hope it rains for you soon~"

"What if I actually want to huh?"
Badump!

She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as Brutus spoke, the sensation spreading towards the base of her ears too as the lion continued his teasing. "Usotsski..." Her arms crossed over her chest as the Lepus looked away, a pout in her face even as the tip of her ears turned red.

She didn't doubt that Brutus liked to spend time with her, after all they were friends for a reason, but after constant teasing the rabbit was absolutely convinced Brutus was just picking fun at her... especially after the nightclub experience. "Wakata wakata! I get it, it's fun to see me all flustered and red..." She sighed, biting the bottom of her lip slightly before beginning to make her way in the direction of the town.

Badump!

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus would sigh, hanging his head slightly as she walked away, muttering to himself. "God damnit..."

This is what we get.
Shut up.
Come on man, she's not gonna take anything we do seriously
Bruh, what are we going to do?
No fucking clue dude, you got us into this mess with your teasing, we can't even confess to her without her thinking we're making fun of her.
Well Mr Brains, start working on a solution.
Are you gonna pay attention to it when I offer it?
Maybe.

He would follow after her, taking a few long strides to catch up with her. "Alright alright, I'll stop teasing you." He would chuckle. "I mean, jeez, that'd be a pretty fucked up way for me to confess to you either way right? No romance there at all." He would chuckle. "It'd need to be more dramatic, like that shit you read in a manga or see in a movie. I'll hold a boombox over my head and scream my undying devotion to you while I talk you out of getting on an airplane or something."

FUCKING CEASE.

The lion would wince a bit. "But I hope you know that I'm being serious. If you take one thing from any of that, it should be that you're one of my favorite people to play with. If I could have like, a dream team of people to quest with, you're on the A team, top of the fucking A team right next to Corsair."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

Had the Lepus been paying attention she might have caught the faint whispered words that left Brutus as Toko started walking off towards Honeyhome… as it stood however she was currently too flustered, trying to calm down the erratic beating of her heart along with—hopefully—also returning her blood away from her ears and cheeks and into the proper places it should have been at instead.

Her mind was a storm of muddled thoughts all piled together, unsure of which to try and solve first—perhaps it was best to not tough any of them at all. This was all very knew to her, experiences that Nao had never gone through before. He’d seen that before, the mud springs and the night club bring prime examples, and a part of Toko supposed Brutus was just trying to help her in his own way. Live, let loose a little, and just have some fun.

He caught up with her in no time of course, his longer strides quickly closing the distance between them, and a part of the rabbit mused as she remembered the first time they’d met. Back then she had struggled at times to keep up with his pace, the lion having to slow down and stop on various occasions, but after weeks of hanging out he’d started to match her pace more often now.

His rambling, however, quickly pulled the Lepus out of that though—those red eyes turning to look at the man with a sharpness she hadn’t honestly intended, before taking a deep breath and sighing loudly upon seeing the lion wince in response as he adopted a serious tone.

"I know… you’re one of my favorite friends too, Brutus-nii…" A faint smile was shot up at the lion, her way of letting him know she wasn’t absolutely fucking done with him even after his incessant teasing. "… when you’re not being an insufferable ass, that is."

She stuck her tongue out at him then, the color on her cheeks and the pounding in her ears having finally died down as they passed by Old Lady Gertrude’s house.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus would shorten his stride as he caught up with her, casually placing his hands on the back of his head and stretching his arms out in a carefree manner. Easy peasy, just act cool, calm, and collected. Never mind that she just shut you the fuck down, that didn't matter. He would watch as she unflustered herself, letting her heartbeat return and banishing the blush from her face.

A shame really.

His guilt prevented him from riling her back up, poking and prodding at her until he heard the badump of her heart sent aflutter, music to his ears. Instead her glare sent a shiver down his spine as she called him an ass. "Gomen gomen, it's too fun. You're too easy to fluster and its too fun to relish in teasing you. I'm sorry for taking it too far." He would pause and then turn to look at her, his eyes narrowing.

"Quick question though, why do you keep calling me Nii san? I mean, I don't entirely understand the entirety of the the intricacies of honorifics, can you like... explain it to me?"

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

Eventually her heart calmed down, the head around her cheeks dissipating while the two strolled down the dirt road to Honeyhome. She listened to his apology, a faint pout still on her face, though in the end Toko couldn't say she was completely upset at him.

"Apology accepted..." It's not like she didn't enjoy bantering with the Felis, just that sometimes things got too... heated. "... just don't tease me too much."

His quick question had the Lepus tilting her head in slight confusion as she considered it. "Well, the literal translation is 'brother' in Japanese." She wasn't fully sure if that's the answer Brutus was looking for, but figured adding it wouldn't hurt.

"Usually the younger siblings will use it to call the older siblings, same like oneesan, but we sometimes use it to refer to others that aren't family." Considering honorifics were not a thing in Western culture Nao pondered for a moment how best to explain this. "Usually san is used when you're being polite, but don't know each other well, like when we first met."

She distinctly remembered using the honorific at the start of that day... though by the end it had gone from nii to senpai after the results of their little mud wrestling wager.

"Using san with you now would feel weird though, so I switched to nii instead..." A questioning glance was given at the Felis. "You don't like it...?"

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"I'm just..." he paused for a moment. "Seeking greater understanding. I understand that your culture puts a lot of stock into that sort of thing. In English we just have things like Sir or Maam, but in Japanese there's like five different ways to refer to someone, each with their own connotations." He would drawl, his mind would wander, suddenly he could imagine Toko referring to him as "Brother" in an accent close to Hulk Hogan and he would begin to chuckle ever so slightly.

"I guess a direct translation seems a little scuffed. If you directly translated it you would sound like Hulk Hogan, things like Yeah Brutus Brother, you're my favorite person to play with." His chuckle would advance to a guffaw and then a full on laugh. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude or tease you, the idea is just..." he wiped a tear from his eye. "I understand you're essentially calling me family and I don't mean to degrade that, I'm just trying to figure out what I should be using in response. I've been calling you Toko Chan, but I'm not sure if that is demeaning for you."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

"We definitely have more than just five... it can be quite a tiresome game at times though. Westerners don't even user 'sir' or 'ma'am' that much either, right?"

She couldn't help but chuckle along as Brutus explained what her literal translation of oniisan had triggered into his brain, the imagery so hilarious and absurd that the Lepus even had to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye once she stopped laughing.

"Mmmhm, chan is quite fine... we use it a lot with kids and cute things, or younger people and friends that you're close to—usually girls, since the boys don't like being referred with chan often." Well it's not like it was unheard of, but definitely not as common as the popular kun of course. "Ah, but you don't have to feel pressured to use an honorific either, I won't take offense since I know that's not a common thing in Amerika."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Depending on when and where you are we use Sir of Maam more or less. In the south it get used all the time. Up north? Not so much. Still." He would shake his head. "I want to do whatever makes you more comfortable honestly. If Chan bothers you or anything, let me know Bun." There would be a long gap in the discussion before they would finally arrive to town. At this point the giants shoes had worn a well marked trail between the shack and the town.

At the town's edge the giant would turn to the woman. "Divide and conquer again? I'll get the booze and you grab the food?" He would raise an eyebrow, peering down at her. She was slowly coming down off being frustrated with him, but he could tell that perhaps she needed a bit of space from him. When she nodded to him, he would part from her wandering through Honeyhome. The Children would wave to him as he passed, pausing their play to point and call out to him. He would wave back with a beaming smile even though he wasn't really feeling it.

"Brutus!" The Giant would stop to see the quintessential grandmother of the village, Gertrude rocking in her chair. "Dearie, are you busy?" The giant would pause, lumbering over to her porch and would lean down.

"I am never too busy for you Ma'am, what can I do for you?"

"Are you married sweetie? My granddaughter is looking for a husband and your name came up." The woman would peer at him appraisingly behind her wide rimmed spectacles.

"I'm uh...not on the marriage market at the moment." The giant would reply blushing slightly.

"Shame." The woman would reply, adjusting her spectacles. "A man like you ought to have a wife and kids, give him something to come home to after a hard day's work you know."

"I have plenty to come home to." He replied shaking his head.

"Are you at least dating anyone?" She would ask.

The question caught him off guard, and a knot formed in his stomach. "I'm not really dating now. Too busy."

"Nonsense. What do you have to fight for if you have noone you love in your life."

"There's plenty of people I love in my life, just not like that. There are my friends, the people of this village, plenty of things for me to fight for."

The woman would chuckle. "Whatever you say dear. If you want I can introduce you to my grandaughter Ester."

"I'm good, thank you."

With that he would go off on his way, running by the bar and procuring several large bottles of Sake before departing and heading for the meet up spot with Toko. The old woman's words weighing heavily on him.

"Yo @Toko !" He would call out. "Sake is on the menu tonight!"

 

[Toko]

.

.

"I see… that’s interesting."

She had been unaware of there being a difference between the north and the south in the United States, the information stored away in her mind for future reference. "Should I be calling you Sir Brutus then?" A light chuckle escaped the rabbitfolk at the thought as they walked, her precious annoyance with the Felis now long forgotten as they reached the village.

"Ookeeh, I’ll visit Esther and get some goods from the bakery then~" A short and sweet salute was given as confirmation when Brutus divided the tasks, before her ears perked up slightly as she caught the unexpected pet name once more. "However you want to call me is fine with me, so long as you’re not doing it just to rile me up."

With that the hare was gone as she made her way to the bakery, completely unaware of the topics sweet Lady Gertrude had decided to grill the Felis on for the day. Before long the Lepus had acquired a familiar picnic basket and various goods from the woman’s shop, and when she heard from the woman about Hubert—Mabelle’s husband—having recently returning with the catches of the day from the lake she had quickly made a detour to meet up with the man in the hopes of scoring a few unexpected treats.

As a result Toko had taken longer than originally planned to meet back up with the giant Felis, a worried look on her face before the rabbit seemed to light up as Brutus called out to her.

"Ah, gomen Brutus…!" The name without any honorifics felt somewhat odd as it tumbled out of her mouth, the Lepus figuring she could try to address him in a matter that was similar to his culture… although it might need some getting used to for Toko. "Hubert came back, so I couldn’t help but get some fresh sashimi from him~"

Unfortunately nothing similar to soy sauce could be found near the village, a thought that disappointed the Lepus slightly, but sashimi was still delicious even without it—especially with some sake!

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Sashimi?" He would raise an eyebrow. It wasn't something he tended to favor IRL, but for some strange reason his feline instincts were kicking in and his tail flicked and swished idly in excitement. "That sounds delightful." He would pat her on the head. "Speaking of side errands, Gertrude Oba-san asked me to give these to you." He would pull out the vase of white roses. "Something about thanks for your help with her garden?" He would chuckle slightly, nervous to be handing flowers over to the Lepus suddenly.

"And no worries on the wait, Gertrude was talking my ear off about her granddaughter. I guess she's looking for a husband and she was insisting that I get married." His tail would flit about some more as they walked down the trail. "When I told her I was single and happy to be so she lost her mind." He would chuckle a bit to himself.

"How was Esther and her shop? Is business doing well? Does it still smell fantastic in there? Did you happen to ask Hubert how the fishing was? I'm curious about going out and spending a day boozed up with a line in the water."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

"Mhmm, sa-shi-mi~"

She was in a good mood now, excited that Hubert had actually taken a liking to the peculiar way of eating raw fish that Toko preferred. "Oh…! Did her roses bloom at last?!" A surprised look passed the Lepus when Brutus had first produced the vase with white roses, before realization dawned onto the Lepus as she took them in her hands.

"Ii nioi ne…~"

She took a deep breath with the flowers close to her nose, delighting herself in the sweet fragrance they possessed, before presenting them to Brutus so he could smell them too. "Seems this particular bush had been giving her issues for quite a while now… so I decided to try a little bit on Nature magic on the roots after shifting the soil around them carefully with Geomancy." it had certainly been quite the experimental fix, Toko going by the few things she had seen her grandmother do with her own flowers back in the day—she was glad it had worked out for Old Lady Gertrude.

"K-Kekkon…?"

There was a faint pause while the Felis told that the old woman seemingly wanted to pair Brutus with her granddaughter, a weird feeling settling in the Lepus’ stomach for a moment or two before she snapped her mind out of it. "S-Sokka… ah, yeah, I guess Ester is getting to that age now." Toko wasn’t sure why but the whole conversation left a faintly bitter taste in her mouth, and it was certainly a topic she was more than happy to move away from when Brutus asked about the baker.

"H-Hai, Esther-obasan has been doing very well lately—just the other day I helped her move double the usual amount of flour sacks for the week into her storage." It was much easier to talk about this versus the precious topic, that much was sure. "Hubert said that today the fishes were actually biting a lot—he seemed super happy, especially since the last few times they’d come back empty handed from the lake."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Your skillset is amazing, you know Bun?" He would muse aloud. "You have so much skill to make and create things. If you wanted to you could work a farm and always have an amazing crop. You could put a dent into the hunger of this land singlehandedly if you swung at it."

Brutus would shoot her a sideways glance for a moment, raising an eyebrow as she exclaimed her surprise at the notion of him getting married, her heart thumping again. "Have no fear my dear Lagomorphic Love, this Lion has no plans on getting married anytime soon unless you bring me one hell of a ring." He would nudge her slightly to emphasize he was teasing. "That's good to hear about Esther and her shop, I've been supporting her the best I can by eating all of her croissants."

He would chuckle a bit. "And that's good news about the fishing, I should go fishing tomorrow then. Though I wonder what's messing with the fish? That can't be good if Hubert is coming by empty handed." He would pause for a moment and then shake his head. "Guess I'll investigate tomorrow eh?" He would let that hang in the air a moment before pausing in place.

"Where are we going again? I was just walking."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

"S-Stop it… I wouldn’t be able to do that much."

She was flattered by the abilities Brutus thought she possessed, it was nice to know that someone else thought so much about her that they thought she could single ha de doy end The World’s hunger… but Toko wasn’t as confident in he magical abilities as Brutus. Hell, half the time she got lucky if it worked as she wanted it too—not to mention the absurd and inefficient energy management that Toko had on it too.

Badump!

She didn’t pipe up with a retort as the Lion mentioned he has no intentions of marrying anytime soon—not without a huge Diamond ring at least—but the way the rabbit’s cheeks flushed brightly was a clear visual tell she has indeed heard Brutus’ words. She had been distracted with the conversation, having relinquished the job of guide to the giant instead, before the change of topics toward the fish problem caused Toko to tilt her head slightly.

"Mmm, I dunno… isn’t it normal to sometimes not catch anything?" as much as Toko loved sashimi she couldn’t say fishing was something she had a lot of experience in. "… you don’t think it has to do with the goblins and the orc of that other time, right?"

Could they have a way to duck around with that? And, if they did, then why even do so in the first place? What would they gain?

"A-Ah, we we’re going north once we got to Blue Rapid river…?"

Fuck… had she chosen the right road?

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"It could be, it's always worth investigating anything that could be a potential problem. Maybe we should check it out together?" He would pause as they figured out their heading.

"Wait, we're going west." He would turn back to the flustered rabbit. "Isn't Blue Rapid river to the east?" He would blink a few times. "Fucking-" he would sigh and pivot, turning around. "At this rate we'll miss the sunset..." He would furrow his brow before wordlessly scooping the rabbit up and setting her onto his shoulder.

"Hold on tight." he would command as he would break out into a fast sprint. His stride was much longer than hers, and soon he was hauling ass down the trail, back through the village, and then out the other side, much to the amusement of the villagers.

Once he was on the other side of the village, having made up lost time, he would slow down from his speeding lope down to a more manageable and sustainable pace.

"There." Huff. "We" Puff. "Go."

He would manage as he caught his breath. "Now we should be back on track eh?"

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

"Uun, you can count on me!"

At least the Felis knew Toko would help him with any and all investigation—or any other matter really—that he could think of… though hopefully he wasn’t expecting her help for directions, because it looked like she was absolutely terrible at those.

"W-Wait, it’s located e-east…?!"

Her face paled as Brutus had pointed out that fact, before the comment of them probably missing the sunset—Baka, look at what you’ve done…! You’re going to ruin everything for not paying attention!—due to her blunder had the Lepus’ ears dropping low immediately.

"G-Gomen, Brut—uwaaah!!!"

She has casted her eyes downwards upon hearing the sigh escape his lips, and thus caught completely by surprise when the giant scooped Toko up before placing her stop his shoulders—the Lepus gripping onto the collar of his jacket as though life depended on it when Brutus sprung off to the opposite side of the village.

"D-Daijoobu, Brutus…?"

They had made it in record time, the chest of the giant heaving heavily as Brutus worked on regaining his breath. Toko has remained unnaturally quiet compared to her usual self, the Lepus looking down at Brutus with a mixed look of guilt and worry before finally uttering a few words.

"Gomen! I s-should’ve paid more attention to w-where we were going…"

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Gomen nothing Toko." Brutus would manage between breaths. "I was the one who took us that way..." He would dab some sweat from his brow. "And then I had you all distracted and shit, it's not your fault." He would reach up and pat her on the head. "Besides, it's all fixed. We're well on our way to making it to the river." He would motion forward. "It's maybe a few min away, less once I catch my breath and get back up to turbo speed."

The idea of sitting at a picnic while the sun set with the rabbit was the ultimate reward for their hard work today. He'd managed two wins against her, and her against him, and they would end the day doing the same thing they'd done the first time they'd met.

It was kinda like a second date if you really squinted.

"But if you must know, I'm fine! I'm just not used to running with passengers on board. I'm not a uh...Aslan or anything, and I'm not used to being rode by cute bunny girls"

He couldn't help but sneak that last one in. "Or would you prefer the term beautiful bunny woman?"

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

His words, although reassuring, didn’t quite manage to fully make the Lepus feel less guilty about the overall blunder. "U-Uun…" Her reply was short and half spirited even as he patted the top of Toko’s head, the rabbit still very much aware of the short and quick breathing the Felis was doing as he tried to regain his breath.

What did got a soft laugh from the hare was when Brutus mentioned being no Aslan, a hand rising up to cover her mouth as Toko chuckled before his next comment threw the bunny off balance… almost literally. "U-Urusai, Brutus-n—!" The hand had quickly returned to grasp at the collar of his jacket when Toko felt herself lose balance for a moment, the Lepus’ heart beating fast even as her cheeks flushed in response.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

Toko had been about to use the honorific again with his name, barely managing to catch her tongue and hold back. It still felt odd to say Brutus’ name on its own, though it wasn’t like the rabbit disliked it.

"S-Stop it… I’m just a normal bunny, plain and simple."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Badump badump

The fact that she was trying to drop the honorifics was adorable, the way it made her heart race, the way it made his own heart race. Gods above, why did she have to be so dense? He'd practically already confessed to her once already, how many times was he going to have to hammer it home?

"There is nothing plain or simple about you Toko~" He would waggle his shoulders to jostle her around. "You're my friend, and I'll have you know that I am very selective as to the goons I keep in my entourage. You are a top tier fighter, lots of fun to be around, and exceptionally cute." Another jab slid in there.

Watch it.

"So don't talk shit about my friend or I will be honor bound to kick the shit out of you." He would grin. The babble of the river would approach, and the giant would find himself standing at the base of a small rapidly moving river. "So we gotta go north...ne?" He would muse aloud, turning to walk against the flow of the water. "I hope the stars didn't go missing again. I'd be fucking pissed."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.

.

Gods above, why did this Felis seemed so hellbent on teasing her so?

"U-Uwaaah…! S-Stop that, I’m gonna fall Brutus!"

She wasn’t used to being this high up, like ever, in her life before now—the lack of a father in the picture had certainly meant zero piggy back rides growing up—and any sudden movements or jolts from Brutus’ broad shoulders made Toko feel like she’d get bucked off at some point by mistake. Certainly didn’t help that the Lepus wasn’t even sure how best to anchor herself down—it’s not like shoulder rides came with reins and a saddle.

"Also you can’t kick the shit outt—waaah!—out of me…!"

Badump! Badump!

If Toko didn’t knew any better she would’ve thought Brutus was just trying to send her heart into an early grave, but the Lion was far too kind—that much she knew—which meant he was only doing it to help the Lepus feel better about it all. Something something live a little and whatnot… probably.

"U-Uun, it’s north all the way from here… we’ll, northeast I think, but we’ll be fine so long as we stay to this side of the river." His next comment made the Lepus chuckle softly, nodding in agreement. "Yeah that would be a shame, especially ‘cause the skies here are so pretty…"

@Brutus Dahlgren