Chapter eleven: Playing around

Hello anyone who decides to read this. Sorry about my absence though i doubt anyone really noticed haha. Life has been really rough, beating the hell out of me is more like it... Hope you enjoy it!

 

-11- Playing around

 

Waking slowly, my eyes shot open with alarm. Leaping from the bed, I landed in a combat stance... then remembered where I was. With a short yawn I fell back in bed and sighed with comfort. A smell caught my attention and when I listened, pots and pans could be heard clinking randomly. The scent of food was filling the household and if I sharpened my hearing, faint whistling could be heard. Hopping out of bed I stretched and took a few minutes to enjoy the serenity. Putting on a pair of jeans felt a bit awkward in the groin, but I could not complain. They were clean, new, and I was grateful to have them! Opening my door caused the sounds and scents to get stronger. Urving was standing with his back to the hall, bouncing back and forth to a song he made himself. It smelled heavenly out here, but I was unsure what he was making. He was pouring batter so possibly pancakes or waffles?

 

"Good morning." I said and he spun in place instantly.

"Morning bud! How'd ya sleep?" Urving replied, his face igniting with a thrilled expression.

 

"Pretty good! Been a long time since I've had a bed..." My response made him frown, but he was unstoppable this morning.

"Ya got a nice big one now! Two, if ya count mine." Urving bent over at the waist as he said this. "Now, bet you're hungry, aint ya Issac?" My nodding made him smile. "Alright! Have a seat!" Urving waved me to a nearby stool.

"What're you making?" I asked, climbing up the chair like a small ladder. "It smells delicious!"

 

"Pork links, hotcakes, and eggs. If there's something else you wanted, I can make it too!" Urving offered, pointing at the pans that crackled and sizzled.

"That sounds great! Thanks!" As I got comfortable on the stool, I was offered a carafe of juice.

 

"Would you rather coffee?" Urving asked pushing some sausages around and turning back with a pot of black liquid.

"Coffee, please!" A smile covered my face as he filled a large mug.

"How do you like your eggs Issac?" Urving looked over his shoulder as he asked this.

 

"No preference! Whatever you're making." Though tired, I tried my best to be enthusiastic.

"Alrighty!" Urving replied as he pulled a plate from the counter.

Taking a few short sips of the steaming liquid, my throat opened and I felt a bit more awake. Honestly this was way to much coffee, but I am simply not the correct size demographic for the mug. Still it was nice to have a cup of joe in the morning. Urving continued whistling, as he plated a hefty portion of scrambled eggs, sausage links, and five pancakes. Damn he eats a lot! My face instantly spread with shock, as he set it down for me! Refilling my coffee, he peeked at my face and had a small laugh. I cannot possibly eat all of this and I was really hungry! But I didn't want to insult him...

 

"Eat what ya can buddy! I'll take the leftovers!" Urving explained as he returned to the stove.

Upon tasting the sweet fluffy pancakes, I melted. They were terrific... everything was! Eating breakfast drew my attention to the strange stove Urving was using. The object was just a metal counter portion, but it produced solid jets of flame. These little blue fires were powerful enough to gently lift each pan! Levitating ever so slightly gave all of the cookware a ghostly freewill. This showed itself randomly as they would turn and slide without any input from Urving. They never seemed to leave the fire though... Perhaps some form of counter force is keeping it from moving too far? Everything here, on this planet, is peculiar. Even though that is basically a stove top, it has a hint of alien flare. Urving was soon finished cooking though and he clicked off the stove with a tap of his claw. Each pot and pan softly clinked back down to a lifeless rest. Urving filled a plate with an immense amount of food, which dwarfed my amount by a landslide.

"Wanna watch some tv?" He asked as he picked up his plate and mug.

"Sure... I'll get my monocle!" Even if I have to read it all, I was still interested in alien television.

"Lemme just... put on the subtitles..." Urving's voice seemed a bit confused as he set his food down.

Removing the monocle from its box, I looped the chain around my ear and set it in place. Though uncomfortable, I was able to keep the eye piece in place and move my head freely. Urving was hitting colored squares causing many menus of varying options appeared. Some said normal things like volume, picture, and color. Others were a bit stranger like kinetic tracking, link codes, psionic interaction, and visual transference. Soon enough though the screen canceled all imagery, then clicked back on with a line of text running along the bottom! With a big smile my way, he returned to the couch and pulled his coffee table up to us. Urving snapped through a few channels, but then seemed to choose something. Each passing image was paired with out of context sentences, which I still read rapidly.

"Channel one three three." He spoke out suddenly. "This something you wanna watch buddy?" Urving referenced the news cast that he had put on.

"I... wow..." Reading the text took my mind away and I was unable to speak for a moment. "Yeah, if that's alright..."

"Eleven hours ago, six people were shot and killed in the upper south side of Drannon Ur." The female panda said in her native tongue. "It is still unsure who perpetrated such a horrible crime, but authorities have begun targeting known gang affiliates for information." She finished as the camera panned away.

"Thank you Gratia, our hearts go out to all the victims and their families." A hefty male jaguar began speaking as he was put on camera. "The race for Hierophancy is heating up as the candidates prepare for the second round of voting to begin. The front runner is predicted to be Ronald Grumps, who had a commanding lead over Millaney Swinton and Don Hall during the last registry." As the anchor spoke, pictures were paired with the faces.

Ronald Grumps, is a hefty blonde rat who was speaking sternly in his photo. Millaney Swinton, stood proudly with her arms crossed, she is a type of tree monkey. Don Hall, who is an aging boar, was waving to a crowd of people in the picture. The news anchor went on to say that several other candidates have dropped out due to Grumps dominating lead. This is incredible! Though Urving seemed bored, I was enthralled by the fact that this worlds politics unfurled before my eyes! On earth, I was far too young to appreciate this kind of thing, but now it felt incredibly important and interesting. One of these three Anthronians was going to be the next President, or whatever, of Al Ur En! How does that work? Does this position mean they run the world? How many continents does this planet have? Are they all under one unified government? What preceeds the creation of laws? How and when do Anthronians vote? Will I get to vote? Probably not... It became apparent that this line of thought could flow freely all day. Better change it for now and talk with Urv... Ferris later.

"What do you usually watch?" I asked him after a few more seconds of reading the news. "This is getting kinda boring."

"You sure bud? You looked like you were enjoying it..." Urving's voice was soft, but his eyes implored me to be honest.

 

"Yeah go ahead!" Speaking nonchalant, I continued devouring my breakfast.

"Let's see what's on... two six nine." Urving stated firmly and the screen reacted.

We both let out a laugh as we saw that it was a commercial. Even though Urving didn't pay it any mind, I was still drawn into reading. Apparently it was for some kind of cleaning chemical. The canine on the advertisement was incredibly amped about it, but I could tell it was nothing special. Probably just this worlds equivalent to bleach and water! Soon after the advertisement an animated program came on and I was taken aback. Urving watches cartoons? You have got to be kidding me...

"Gather all the power you want Azelot, you still cannot protect the planet!" A deep voiced wolf shouted down from the sky, where he hovered. "I will..." He created a large orb of red light. "DESTROY YOU!" The sphere was thrown downward and what followed looked like a bomb test video.

 

Once all the mayhem had settled and a giant crater remained, the wolf laughed heartily. Slowly lowering to the ground with a spacey whoosh sound, he landed on the edge of the devastated landscape. Turning away, the evil wolf set his sight on a nearby city and clenched a paw closed. From behind him, a tall column of blue energy tore upward into the sky and the wolf spun around in disbelief. Floating in a sphere of raging blue electricity, was a floppy eared dog with crazy hair. Letting out a frustrated growl, the wolf dove toward him, bursting into flames, as he took to the sky. They fought for a while and I was drawn in by the sheer badassery of it all. When I said this was a cartoon, I was mistaken... So much violence and blood made this feel more like an action film! Each punch showed fangs and fur being ripped free, as the two canines dueled to the death. At one point the dog kicked the wolf in the gut and sent him tumbling, end over end through the air. Retaliating instantly, he launched a salvo of energy projectiles, the second he regained balance. Swatting several away, the dog flew backward as he avoided the light bullets. The dog kicked the final bolt away, then spun in the air and unleashed a massive, screen filling, explosion of energy. As the light overtook the images, bold black letters appeared. To be continued, is what it read on the subtitles. Soon after more commercials came on and the station promised they would be right back with more, Death orb X. I have to say that was pretty awesome and I pretty much finished my... most of my breakfast during its run time.

"You want some more coffee bud? Water, juice, soda?" Urving's rapid fire offers were paired with him heading to the kitchen.

"Do you have any milk?" I asked feeling a bit childish.

"Of course! Goat, Horse, Cow, Gor'bak, Buffalo, or Reindeer?" Urving's response made me laugh, but he awaited an answer...

"Cow..." I replied a bit unsure if he was teasing me or not... what does reindeer milk taste like? What the hell is a Gor'bak?

 

"Here ya go Issac. Was everything tasty?" Urving asked as he set the tall glass of white liquid down. "Ya full buddy?" His face flashed with concern, but a smile covered it up.

"It was great! I'm stuffed, thank you!" My heart went out to him as I saw his caring eyes return.

"Excellent!" He exclaimed patting my shoulder and picking up my plate. "Barkley and Phelix aren't coming over till four. So we can do whatever you want till then!" Urving explained, snapping up the remaining two pancakes.

"Sounds great!" I replied confidently, but I was actually unsure of what to do...

 

Urving went to the kitchen and I heard him place the dishes into water. He returned within seconds and lumbered over to the sofa. Taking a seat, he pulled me into a quick hug, then relaxed. Urving's at home attitude made me feel comfortable. Like I had freedom again, but it would simply be monitored, no... guarded. All this colossal bear wants from me is love and he seems willing to do anything to get it. Watching him snap through the channels was comical, as he would intently check my reaction to each program. He eventually put on a game show, where contestants had to get through various obstacle courses for money. Watching that got dull after half an hour. You can only watch people fall in the mud so much... Urving seemed to pick up on this, or got bored himself, and changed the channel.

"Wanna play DB3 Iza?" Urving eyes burst with extra life as he asked this. "I have other games also." He added as I was preparing my response.

"Sure, should I get that card." Jabbing a thumb over my shoulder only caused his face to shift slightly. "The thing Riot gave me?" Saying this made him recognize what I meant.

"Oh yeah! Grab that and you wont need the translator." Urving nodded quickly as he suddenly understood what I meant.

 

This is exciting! Television is one thing, but video games are an entire new world all together! That show was pretty awesome though... A lot of hype has been put around this game, Dread bringer, so I can only imagine how cool it will be. It took a little while, but I quickly found Mel's card amongst the other presents. Upon my return, Urving was bouncing with excitement. Presenting the card to him made him laugh and shake his head. Urving simply pat the sofa and as I hopped up, the game began. A scroll unrolled across the screen and on it was an incredibly detailed picture of a great war. Countless Anthronians all charged toward a floating castle, which appeared to be blocking out the sun! It panned further along the scroll as a narrator began speaking.

"In the times of magic and myth, a great tyranny seized the land. The disciples of darkness had found a way to seal off the light and all hope was lost." As this was said, the scroll began depicting mass death to all the soldiers.

"That was Dread bringer one." Urving chimed in.

"Few heroes stood against the darkness, but they managed to bring light to the land once again." The scroll showed a small band of people standing in front of the crumbled castle. "Many rejoiced and the world began to heal. Little did they know... Dark times had just begun..." The scroll began burning where the future would have been written in.

 

"Part two ended there." Urving added as a montage began.

It showed a lot of gameplay and from what I saw, it was incredibly fast paced! Characters of all species cast a variety of spells and used unique attacks against various monsters. It showed expansive landscapes being traversed and more combat moments in various locations. This was all paired with an triumphant orchestration, full of epic drums and dramatic vocals. More landscapes were shown ranging from forests, to mountains, to deserts. As the music lowered it showed a series of more normal tasks. Cutting wood, cooking food, hunting, gathering, various crafts, and other activities were all depicted, as the music slowly built up again. Once it reached a climax, the camera zoomed way out, until we saw the planet from outer space. Slowly the sun was engulfed and then wrenched from the sky by a grim reaper esque figure. Only the stars remained, but they faded quickly into nothing. White text slowly formed and the Anthronian letters read, Dread bringer three: Lords of light. Two soft white sparkles fell across the screen and became two sentences in a small flash. One said "start new game" and the other said "continue adventure".

"Alright Issac, hold your paws... hands, like this." Urving put both paws up, with his palms toward his body.

 

Before my eyes two flashes of pale orange light projected from the row of colored buttons, below the television. It scanned his massive paws for a while, then stopped and made a cybernetic sound, like loading on a computer. After a few more seconds, it made a type of conformational noise and Urving's paws were encased in translucent gloves. These gauntlets were thicker around the wrist and they extended to the knuckle, where lines of energy traced the remainder of each clawed finger. These gauntlets gave off an ambient corona of pulsating orange and though they appeared solid, Urving blurred them slightly as he leaned back and got comfortable again. Watching my amazement, Urving pointed at the screen and I saw it reacted! It's a controller! Somehow these gloves of colored light could control the game. With a flick of his finger he went to continue adventure and then to another option appeared, which read "Restart campaign".

"If you joined my game, you would die constantly, but you will level up faster." Urving stated, as I stared at the restart option. "So if we restart everything will be set up for your level." This was said sort of like a question.

"I wouldn't want to ruin your progress..." My voice was both excited and guilty.

"Nonsense! I have played this game lotsa times!" He hit the restart option and I read its warning.

The screen filled with a large red square. This vibrant plaque had sparkling gold text that said, "Warning! If you restart the game all faction status, environments, quests, infamy, and fame scores will reset. You will maintain all equipment, skills, stats, and levels. Proceed?" Urving hit yes and the screen filled with white light as it made a type of soaring noise. The next thing I saw were two figures on each half of the screen. One was fully armored and looked like a true hero, where the other was puny and simple... Urving's character sort of looked like him. He was a bear and he was huge, but instead of a round belly this avatar was ripped. Both shoulders were covered by spiked pauldrons and he wore a type of plated vest that extended down over his waist. Tall metal boots, with dragon insignias on the shins, covered his lower legs and a bundled up mass of chain mail was wrapped around the remainder of his waist. My character, presumably, was a tiny plain looking feline, but I guess that is the starter model. The graphics were incredible though! Where in most games I remember, cutscenes and mini-movies were the only point you saw detailed animation, that was not the case here. In the background dozens of random Anthronians walked around the tavern our characters stood in. Everyone reacted to one another, whether it was positive or negative they were like real people. Urving was fiddling with some options, but I was too transfixed by the detail of every character and each face! I’m subjective enough to admit it is still just a video game, but it has to be one of the most visually incredible games I have ever seen! That could be because I haven't seen or played anything like this in years...

 

"Pretty awesome, right?" Urving nudged me as he saw I was impressed. "This is my guy. He's a berserker level eighty seven! Overall level three hundred and nine!" Urving sounded proud, as my jaw fell open. "I've had this character since the first Dread bringer. It would be shameful if he wasn't strong by now!" Urving laughed and I couldn't help joining in.

"So I just do... this." My voice faded off while I watched the light reacted to my miniscule hands. "Wow..." The glow focused down to a few thin beams as I was scanned.

 

Seconds later, I had a pair of weightless, green energy gauntlets, which I waved around eagerly. "Great! Now let's put in your card code." Urving slid the card off the table and began fiddling with the back. "Go ahead and start making your dude, gotta scratch... this... off..." His voice faded, as he focused his eyes and claws on the back of the card.

 

This felt incredibly strange... My every finger twitch seemed to cause a reaction in the game! It was similar to using a computer mouse, but with each finger independently controlled. When my thumbs moved, the little cat rotated and change poses. It took several minutes, but I figured it out pretty well. Index fingers select and the pinkies would go back. Each hand effected that side of the character, which was a little strange at first. Shuffling through the options, I found a menu that let me change what race I was! Everything from aardvark to zebra and back again was available in this game! Each species brought a new character model, a handful of odd symbols and lists of random numbers. It was comical passing bear, and still being pint sized by comparison. On my second skimming of the character races, I saw it, coyote! Quickly I worked the base model, who was a vibrant red color, into what I saw yesterday. Though not perfect, I got him to look as close to my animalistic form as could be.

"Oh my gosh!" Urving hugged me against him. "I know this is a serious game, but that is so cute!" His hug became tighter, as I looked up at him from beneath his mounds of fur.

"Thank you." My muffled words were only a little annoyed because he hadn't released me yet.

"Go ahead and finish. We'll put in the code at the end." Urving released me from the fat and fur prison upon saying this.

There were a few more menus beyond the race and appearance tab. Scrolling over I saw the next one read "Combat classes" and my eyes lit up. In games of this nature your "class" is essentially how important you are. I will have to choose carefully! Moving down, I read through them all and was amazed at the variety. Air mage, assassin, barbarian, bard, cavalier, earth mage, fighter, fire mage, magician, mechanic, monk, priest, ranger, shaman, soldier, tamer, thief, and water mage were all playable character types. Each choice changed the outfit my avatar was wearing as well as the symbols overhead. This was a hard decision as each class also had a small description that made them all sound appealing! What is the difference between magician and... all the other "mage" classes? Soldiers seem very plain in description, but they have an excellent survival rating. What do all these symbols mean? I'm wasting time and I just want to play!

"Any questions, just ask bud." Urving said softly like he didn't want to break my focus.

Though a kind offer, I had made my decision. Upon reading the flavor text for the monk class, I was sold. Being a student of the martial arts myself, this spoke to me! Plus you get to start with a gi and red belt, which looked funny in contrast with Urving's armor. My second choice would have been bard, but it is low on the survival rater, where monk is ranked good. Urving laughed in a satisfactory type of way once he saw my choice.

"Is that a good class?" My question felt a little desperate, as I wasn't fully confident of my choice.

"They are all good!" Urving replied in a snap. "Plus once you get to a certain level you reincarnate and choose another class." He added simply.

"Oh cool!" My peppy attitude made him smile. "Is that how you got to such a high level?" I asked and he nodded.

"Each time, you keep all the stats and levels you got from the previous class. But you lose all powers, skills, and spells." Urving explained as I examined my kung fu coyote. "So you always get better, but you can still try every class! Then, if you find one you like, you can master it, like my guy!" He added with a big grin.

"Berserker wasn't on the list..." I noticed after a few seconds of thought.

"Yup, when you master barbarian you become a berserker." Urving sounded very excited as he saw I was starting to understand the general mechanics. "Mastering a class takes a long time though..." He warned me playfully.

 

"I see, so it sort of never ends?" I replied with a heightened enthusiasm.

"Nope, as long as you keep your character you can keep playing!" Urving's ecstatic voice was fun to hear. "Plus they add new map quadrants and dimensions every month or so!" He added and my eyes went wide for a moment.

"What are we waiting for!" I flipped to the next menus, which was comprised of numbers and stat names.

 

It was a typical list of traits that make up any living being, human or Anthronian. We all have strength and dexterity, which we work to improve. All sentient creatures gather intelligence and seek further wisdom. Simply being alive gives you charisma of some kind and each of us perceives the world in our own way. Only the weak lack the endurance to survive and keep going... Wow, did I really just go emotional over video game stats?

"Monks need a lot of strength and dexterity, but all your skill attacks will be based on wisdom and perception." Urving again spoke softly, as if he didn't want to break my concentration. "High perception gives you better accuracy and good endurance is always a plus." Urving added once I looked up at him.

"Does that look good?" I distributed them quite evenly, but gave a generous portion to strength and dexterity.

"Yeah, you'll get some more points once we put this bad boy in!" Urving waved the little plastic card about.

The next tab had a list of new symbols, but it told me what they all did. At the very bottom it said I had a small amount of points to improve these skills! Each icon now made a bit more sense! They were labels to represent a skill or power my character knows. Some of them needed upwards of ten points per level! I only had seven currently, so I upgraded a skill called "fist blitz" and another called "crush kick" mainly. Urving suggested I add a few to "vitality", for extra health and "iron hide", which gave me protection. Before moving on I read through all the skills that were not sealed by little locks. I could only assume I will unlock more as I level up. Swapping to the next tab I saw it was personal info. I put in my name (nickname) and I was able to make him a bit taller. The part that stumped me was a selection wheel that held a variety of colorful images. It showed the four elements, but it also seemed to have day and night, as well as a small heart. It said vocational affinity and I quickly understood this must shape my out of combat abilities.

"If you want to be able to do everything pick the heart, but you will suck at first. Survival stuff is divided into fire, water, earth, and air." Urving explained as I read the blurbs about the elements. "Light is for being good, helps you get more fame and money. Darkness is for being evil, you deal more damage and you will get more infamy." I nodded to him, as I saw Urving's had chose water.

The little fire ball said it helped smithing, fire making, hunting, and more. The water droplet apparently boosted fishing, swimming, boating, and others. Wind was depicted as a mini tornado and it governed weaving, fletching, athletics, as well as other various abilities. A cluster of three leaves was used to symbolize earth and it improved your gathering, alchemy, wood cutting, and many others. Dark and light seemed sort of plain, since I could care less what little digital people think of me. The heart said all vocational talents increase, but slower than normal. I decided on earth, since making potions has to be useful, right? Urving nodded and began speaking brightly about my decision.

"Good choice. We're gonne be an awesome team!" Urving exclaimed putting an arm around me, as I moved to the last tab. "This is just the finalize chart, but you can put in the code right there." Urving pointed to a tiny golden sphere at the bottom of my screen.

As I activated the little gold ball it spread across my half of the screen. One side said "gold gift" and the other side said "power plus". Urving said this was a power plus card and so I clicked that option. A long bar appeared and the Anthronian alphabet below that. Each character was translated for me as I moved over it! Though I could easily explain each letter and number in detail, the game felt more important. Urving showed me the card and I slowly matched each symbol, in the correct order. Once it was full the cursor jumped to input and I pressed it. My character flashed an illustrious white color and a type of heavenly chorus rang out. Now the finalization menu displayed an alert, fifteen points unused! Returning to the skills page, I was happy to find a wider variety of skills. Something called "meteor punch" caught my eye and I used ten points to upgrade that. The remaining five went to "vitality" and "iron skin". Once finished I went to the final screen and hit confirm. Suddenly I was behind the character and my motions now controlled his movements and actions.

"Alright this is tutorial tavern. Everyone here will tell you how to play the game, but I can also do that." He chuckled as the actual game began. "Your thumbies control movement and the camera." Urving stated as he moved his guy around sporadically.

Urving ran to the door and vanished into a silhouette, as a loud creaking noise filled the tavern. Like everything on this planet, it was foreign to me at first, but soon it was just like a normal controller. It wasn't exactly easy, but I was able to follow Urving to the door and used my index finger to move through it. Now outside, we were on a dirt road and it was dark out in the game. Urving's character was holding a torch and that provided a decent amount of surrounding light. Each side of the road was flanked by a thick forest that looked like they would be hard to traverse. To the left the road dipped into a valley, where a small village was tucked away. Up the right side of the road was a vast mountain range, but they were in the far distance. Urving began hopping around, his character grunting each time and causing a small boom as he hit the ground.

 

"Middle fingers jump and dodge roll. Pointers interact and target." As he said this he paired the first control with the left paw and the second command with his right. "Pinkies still cancel, and the ring fingers bring up items and skills." He added as I began jumping and rolling as well.

"How do I fight?" I asked and he chuckled softly.

"When enemies are near by your character will get into a fighting stance. Then these are all attack commands!" He held up his first three fuzzy fingers, looping his pinkey and thumbs together. "Let's go and you can try it out!" Urving said with a huge grin as he began running up the road toward the distant mountains.

Like in real life, Urving's avatar ran much faster than I did, but only because of size! My characters actions were actually much faster, but each of his steps were at least three of mine. This was really fun though and all I did was make a person! The enviroments were detailed and almost every plant, tree, and stone had interactive options. Just on our little jog up this path I found two green herbs and a blue flower! I can only assume these are ingredients of some kind, but I will ask later, as Urving didn't react to me obtaining them. Up ahead where the hill levels off, Urving was standing and awaiting my approach.

"A group of goblins always spawns up the road here. You should be able to take them out easy!" Urving declared as I reached him and could see little figures in the darkness ahead.

 

"If you do this, you can sneak up on them." Urving put his palms flat toward the screen and his character dropped to one knee.

 

"Alright, cover me!" I cried commically and he laughed, as I shuffled toward them slowly.

 

How do they know what a goblin is? Did they visit earth and absorb some of our culture, or is it a translation coincidence? Regardless, I soon saw that they were not like earth fairytale goblins. They were blue or purple in color and had shark like mouth all the way across there faces. Other than that they were pretty much the same impish humanoids I would have guessed them to be. Pelts and crude cloth covered various parts of the little creatures bodies. One of them screamed out in a hissing gibberish and they all ran toward me. Like Urving described my character instantly took up a fighting stance and I moved my hands back into readied position. As they approached I flicked my fingers about randomly to get a feel for how it worked. My index fingers threw right and left punches, where my two middle fingers caused him to kick. Easily defeating one of them, I watched as a powerful side kick sent it flying away from me. The other two hit me, but it didn't decrease my health that much. I found that if I timed it just right, punching with varying hands could be chained together in rapid succession. This applied with kicks of the same leg, however the combo was shorter. Using my ring fingers seemed to activate special attacks, as my guy lunged forward and unleashed a savage series of strikes. The last goblin was trying to stay behind me so I jumped up and over him, which made Urving laugh in an entertained way. Aerial attacks were different too! Landing knee first knocked the goblin on its a*s, but it wasn't dead. The little red meter was near empty, but still a sliver remained, flashing softly. My other ring finger caused the character to shout with rage and perform a powerful axe kick, which flattened the little fiend against the ground.

 

"Great work bud!" Urving shook me slightly, by the shoulder. "Notice how one is sparkling a little?" He pointed at the body on his screen, which was behind me. "That means it has treasure on it!" His smile grew wide, but I only found six gold pieces.

"This is fun! Thank you for letting me play." I responded as I saw my character kneel down to collect the coins.

"No, no, no! Thanks for playing with me!" Urving replied with commical seriousness. "Thank you for... trying..." He searched for the word, but as his gaze returned I could see this effected his mood.

 

"Couldn't get beaten by the first enemy! What would you think of me?" My laughter covered his emotional statement, but it did not go unappreciated.

 

"I wouldn't have treated ya any different!" Urving chuckled with his eyes closed, then returned to playing.

 

After a few more minutes of running, I couldn't hold my tongue. "Thank you Urving... for being so understanding..." Looking up at him only got me a repeat smile.

"No prob, I'm here for ya buddy!" His crushing hug was welcomed this time.

That is exactly what I think I needed to hear. Almost to remind myself of how great this big burly bear has been to me. Urving was so excited, as the sun began to rise in the game and I gasped at all the fine detail the enviroment held. Each flower, leaf, and blade of grass fluttered about individually and the breeze accurately effected their directions. Walking through the underbrush of the thick woods, caused the fallen foliage to scatter. This was incredible! Suddenly my character was tackled down and I lost a fair portion of health! It was mountain lion and it had already attacked again! As my character got up, he was scratched twice and knocked back down. Urving dealt one hit to the creature and it was defeated by the massive hammer he swung.

 

"Thanks, didn't see that coming!" I nudged him as he resheated his weapon.

"Certain enemies can ambush attack and you have to rely on your actual sight, to tell if they are around. Using the targeter (right pointer) will help if they are within range." His explanation made sense and I nodded to confirm my understanding.

"Is there a way to block or guard?" I asked and he nodded, then crossed his arms at the wrist.

Urving's character brought up both fists and defended himself. Urving went onto explain that, with good timing, you can force a blocked opponent off balance. I will have to practice this on a few enemies to get it just right... I was having a ball though and I simply wanted to keep playing! I climbed a tree for no real reason, then jumped off and threw various acrobatic strikes as I fell. Urving laughed as he also tried to climb the tree, but was stopped a few inches up by his size. This left him to, hilariously, climb in place, which looked funny for such a large animal. After a few more minutes of mindless movement, Urving decided he wanted to move on.

 

"Why don't you lead? I wanna see you discover the game for yourself!" Urving's suggestion was not my first choice, but it felt wrong to dissapoint him.

"Alright, but is there a map or something?" I only asked this because I wanted to reach the coast.

"Oh yeah, duh!" Urving palmed himself in the forehead and his character mimicked the action. "One finger opens inventory. Two fingers opens the character sheet. Three fingers will open the skill menu. And four fingers will open the journal, which has a map!" Urving explained quickly showing me each menu as it appeared.

Staring at his map I decided to continue heading east as that would reach the ocean. No particular reason why I want to go to the ocean, just figure it would be a good starting point. We strode through the woods, which occasionally caused our characters to move slower. When the forest became to thick, they had to push plants aside and clear a path, which hindered us slightly. My arms were getting tired, but I found you could relax them and no consequences would occur! Relaxing back, I began combat with some bandits! One of them fired a crossbow our way, but missed. Two approached with small swords, spitting petty insults and curses. It was easy to deflect the attack and once I had, he didn't stand a chance. As I was going to kick the guy to the ground, a bolt hit my character in the chest and he cried out. This caused the screen to blur dramatically and my character fell to his knee's for a moment. As I rose the second thug slashed me twice, but I managed to guard the third hit!

 

"I got the shooter, don't ya worry!" Urving assured me and I saw him climbing some stones in the distance.

 

These bandits had set up a sort of make shift camp amongst some fallen trees in a clearing. Urving quickly scaled some rocks, as I finished off one of the bandits. Once up there he hit and obliterated the small rabbit into nothing, but bloody chunks and legs. I scoffed in shock and covered my mouth, but my character simply copied me and took a knife to the gut. My health was critical now, but I simply attacked with everything! Fist blitz near killed him and as he was recovering a crush kick ended the foolish swine. Once I gathered a few things from them, I checked my inventory to find it was near full! Apparently, at first, you can only carry ten objects! I had found a dagger and a few bolts, which Urving gave me. All of the bandits each had a varying amount of gold coins on them as well! It took a few seconds, but my character started to recover health naturally and Urving was alright with waiting. Continuing through the forest, we quickly encountered a few more beastly monsters! One was a mass of tentecles, which was hard to attack without being hit. Urving had to severely wound it, so I could finish it off. The other was a type of sasquatch creature. This foe was powerful and nearly killed me one hit! Again, Urving crippled that sucker and allowed me to get revenge. While I was waiting to recuperate a silver envelope appeared on Urving screen with a soft ping.

"Riot's logged on!" Urving declared happily as it vanished. "He will probably try to join us in a bit." As Urving added this comment I couldn't help smiling.

What a cool game! Not only is it super detailed and fun, but you can play over the internet, or... whatever they call it! That is awesome and I will be excited to see everyone's character. Though a sliver of shame comes along side my low level, that only tempered my desire to become stronger! The gold meter at the bottom of the screen was near full and I would soon gain new abilities. We continued on for about twenty minutes, until another ping marked the arrival of a letter. This envelope was gold in color and it didn't open until Urving targeted it.

 

"Player: Diet_Riot, wishes you join your party. Do you accept?" The note read once Urving opened it.

"What should I tell him?" Urving asked me, but I was still laughing at his name.

"Of course! The more the merrier!" My grand response got a big grin from him.

"Gotta warn ya, more people means stronger enemies!" Urving's stated in a "last chance" type of way.

"No problem! I am interested to see Mel's character." As I responded Urving seemed startled that I used his real name.

"Hello?" A voice said through the tv once Urving accepted the invite. "Urving? Issac?" Mel's voice stated with only a slight amount of electric distortion.

"Heya Riot!" Urving cried back into his controlling glove.

"Hello?" I also tried and heard his response from the television.

 

"Heya guys!" Mel's joy was obvious, as he practically shouted. "How ya like the game so far Issac? Better than anything we had on earth, right?" Mel and I laughed over this.

 

"I'ts been hella fun! Thanks for the card, it was nice starting with something extra!" I replied speaking into the back of my wrist as Urving had done.

 

"No problem!" Mel's response was bright and cheery. "I'll be right with you guys give me a second..." Mel's voice faded until we heard nothing.

 

"Let's wait a sec." Urving stated and I nodded.

 

Waiting gave me a bit of time and allowed me to practice some of the combo attacks. Three punches and then a kick seemed to knock the foe down. Two punches and then two kicks, seems to be followed by a heavy punch. As I was playing around I accidentally performed "meteor punch"! Like the other abilities you had to use your ring fingers, but this skill required me to be in the air. The attack itself was sort of plain, but I had high hopes for the damage. Meteor punch shot the character from the sky to the ground and caused a great impact. His fist striking the earth scattered leaves and left a small crater in the ground beneath. Urving cheered a little as he saw the joy my discovery brought.

 

"When you unlock a skill you can watch a little video on how to use it. Sorry, forgot to mention that." Urving said after I had practiced it a few times and my character's stamina was depleted.

 

Choosing to not respond, I simply nudged Urving with my elbow and grinned his way. A small chuckle came from the big bear, as he peeked down at me and pat my shoulder. This felt nice... It was good to not be afraid... to actually open up and try to live. Playing videogames has helped to break me out of my shell and it was hard to ignore how good that felt. This bonding time with Urving has empowered my desire for the future tenfold! Even if it is not ideal, I need to show Urving I appreciate what he has done thus far. Not only do I owe him for... everything, but his excitement to have me has only grown each day! I would have to be a pretty cold person to ignore how hard he is trying...

 

I had gone off track and so I jumped back into the game quickly. Checking my inventory again, I saw it now contained nearly one hundred gold coins! Upon closing the inventory, a figure began forming just feet away. A column of white light, which hummed softly, had appeared from the sky. It thinned away into nothing and left a person behind in its wake. Waving to us both was a thin skunk wearing a navy blue cloak. As Mel's avatar approached I saw that instead of the traditional black color, he was blue and white! He shook hands with my character... and  I felt it! The gauntlet produced a force of somekind that immitated Melvin's grip! Shaking back with the phantom hand, I began laughing and looked at Urving who was equally entertained. That is astounding! How in the hell could it possibly formulate the perfect feeling of another persons hand? It immitated the handshake so flawlessly, that I wouldn't have thought twice had I been blind folded.

 

"Welcome to the weird world of Dread Bringer!" Mel's avatar said, but I heard him through the tv.

"Thank you! What level are you?" Still shocked by what just happened, I found myself asking this without thinking.

"Currently, only 34. Overall level though is four two seven." Mel said back with a slight chuckle.

"Damn, how long have you been here?" My voice had an heir of humor that got to Urving.

 

"Only like... three years." He replied plainly. "Going on four I think..."

 

"Wow... have things changed? You know... for us... humans?" Even though I had a firm tone, I managed to convey positivity.

"Heck yeah! So much stuff wasn't our size before, lemme tell you that!" Mel shouted with a loud laugh following.

 

Urving was laughing like crazy at this. "So... things are good for us?" Again I tried to sound happy, though I was trying to be serious.

 

"Issac, look at what you're doing right now..." Mel replied bluntly causing both Urving and I to laugh simultaneously. "You tell me kid. How are things for us humans?" It felt silly and ironic seeing his Anthronian avatar say this.

 

"Things will only get better, right?" Urving muttered softly referencing my words from last night.

His eyes were longing and beyond that I could see sad emotions welling up. "Yeah, you're right. It will get better everyday." My response brought a endearing growl out of Urving.

"If you ladies are done with the heart to heart, I would like to kick some a*s." Mel said as he had his character sit down.

"Oh shut it stink face!" Urving playfully snapped at Mel, his voice still a bit frail.

"Come on, I'm close to leveling up!" Running off in game I didn't wait for them until I found a nearby clearing.

 

They caught up a bit later and we continued on together. If I was ambushed, I may die before one of them could have caught up. Eventually we faced off against another group of bandits and I saw Mel's character class. With a few funny gestures and a swipe of the arm, he sent a solid wave of water crashing into the approaching enemies. While they lay dazed, I was able to damage almost every single one! Mel slapped them down again with another mini tsunami and I was there to finish them off. The same heavenly light and angelic voices emanated from the television as I gained a level! Mel cheered and Urving pat my shoulder. Instead of using the points immediately, I opted to start saving and build up a large pool. I already seem to do... decent damage. Urving seems to annihilate anything he hit and that is what I was aiming for! Eventually we reached the coast and I was greeted by a vast green sea of endless potential. Boating was one of the games skills, so... what's across the water? How big is the map anyway? Urving said there are new dimensions... I cannot even begin to fathom what that is going to look like...

"The fog furrow coast!" Mel declared as he stepped forward to the waters edge.

 

"Damn, you know a lot about this!" A chuckled came out as I responded.

"I was sort of a nerd on earth..." Mel admit, though not in a harsh  way. "This is just right up my alley!"

 

"What's a nerd? Is it dangerous?" Urving asked innocently, but I think it was rhetorical because Mel just laughed.

"Can't lie this is pretty awesome!" As I turned the camera toward Mel, I saw a city! "Wow..." I faintly whispered.

 

In the distance was a tall walled off town, that extended outward into the ocean! Smoke rose unevenly and if one listened hard enough, the sound of ship bells could be heard in the distance. Heading that way with no indication made them not follow right away. I'm glad they did however... Maybe ten seconds later a huge rumble shook the screen and the ground ruptured throwing my character into the air. Plumes of sand fell from the massive beast as it rose from beneath the beach. It was larger than any creature we have encountered thus far and its roars shook the screen with ferocity. The closest thing it could be compared to, would be a crab. But this thing had eyes closer to a spiders, a tight cluster of flashy black beads. The warped carapace held four claw tipped arms instead of two. The body was covered in rocky outcrop like formations. Lunging forward with a claw open I brought both arms up, but didn't have to guard! Urving's character caught the claw and began fighting to push it back. This translated by him literally pushing both paws outward with a small grunt. Reacting quickly, Mel drew his hand back and then flung a spear made of solid ice forward! This shattered off the creature, but gave Urving the opportunity to push it back and attack! He hit one of the legs and it caused a wicked crack, followed by guttural screeching. As the fiend stumbled it stabbed Urving, but did very little damage! Another hit from Mel and Urving seemed to cripple on of the legs! This caused a small prompt to appear on my screen and when initialized, my character climbed onto the giant crustacean! With a little instruction from Urving, I managed to reach the creatures eyes, avoid being hit, then blind the monstrous being! Wailing with a horrific intensity the staggering and agonized flailing threw my character to the ground. This dealt little damage and he recovered quickly.

 

"Get em Issac!" Urving called as the stumbling tower began flinging claws randomly.

 

Seeing that the foe was close to death, I leapt forward and use meteor punch! Unfortunately I came up short and the creature impaled a claw, straight through me. Blood, bone bits, entrails... It was a brutal scene before the screen went gray. Laughter overtook my embarrassment, but Urving simply joined and assured me that it was no problem. While Urving blocked the creature's stray strikes, Mel resuscitated my avatar after applying a type of magic dust. As he performed his revival action, my character... and all his gooey bits came back together! I levitated a moment as Mel's avatar chanted harder and louder. All the light flew away and I (the avatar) was as good as new! Actually, I was half health, but whatever... The thing killed me one shot anyway, what's one half my hit points? Running passed Urving, I dodged a claw attack perfectly and then another! Beneath the creature now, I jumped and meteor punched it's back leg causing it to be ripped free! I made a type of "HA" noise as it collapsed and died, which Urving responded to well. This was equally awesome as I leveled up again from defeating the crustacean.

 

"Nice one buddy!" Urving pat my head with a wiggle of his tiny tail.

 

"Who's hungry? Gonna have plenty of crab when I'm done!" Mel laughed as his character began deshelling the giant beast.

 

Urving sprung with alarm for a second, but I saw him simply remove his pager from his pocket. "Oh wow! Time really flew by! Hey Riot, Phelix and Barkley are almost here. We're gonna have to go soon." His words were sort of sad, but Mel wasn't bothered.

"Oh sure just ditch me!" He joked. "All good, pops is gonna be home pretty soon. I better clean up!" Mel sounded like he was admitting it to himself. "See ya Urv! Have fun Iza!"

"Bye Mel, thanks again for the bonus!" I replied to my only human friend.

 

"Save progress. All local players." Urving stated a few seconds later holding his paws toward the screen.

 

After maybe, fifteen seconds the game confirmed the save then removed our controllers from existence. Watching the gloves flood away in sinewy strands of emerald light made me gush with amazement. Urving watched my fascination and enjoyed it almost as much as I enjoyed the game itself! Once the light was gone my gaze moved to Urving, but he seemed concerned or alerted.

 

"Did you wanna keep playing? I'm sorry I didn't ask!" Urving exclaimed as he got up.

"Relax, it's all good! That was awesome!" I mock punched his arms a few time.

 

"You can play anytime buddy! Even if I'm not here, feel free!" Urving assured me and pat my back happily.

"I do need to catch up, don't I?" Laughing this out felt nice, as I was always critical of my performances.

"Just enjoy the game bud. It isn't going anywhere!" Urving replied as he stood up and headed for the kitchen. "Want something bud? Hungry, thirsty?" Urving asked.

"I'm a little peckish..." My reply made him laugh.

 

"I got ya covered Iza!" Urving replied, but then stopped. "Wait... peckish?" His voice was friendly, yet mocking.

 

I simply shrugged, as he returned with a large box of what I assumed were crackers. Could I have been more wrong? They were sort of like cookies, but not sweet. Miniature biscuits are the best way to describe them, but they were not that fluffy. They were a tasty snack and Urving grabbed a pawful himself. They tasted sort of like gravy, but I guess turkey would be a more accurate description. Urving also brought me a bottle of juice, which had pictures of both recognizable and alien fruits. It was sweet, tangy, and very refreshing. It is funny how easily they blend our worlds in small ways, like food and fashion.

The doorbell rang shortly after and I jumped at the strange sound. Urving eagerly offered to carry me and I reluctantly accepted. His excitement made me ignore how awkward this felt. Urving just wanted to carry his pet and that is innocent... It did feel nice getting to answer the door, like this was partially my house as well. It was swell to be noticed right off and not seen secondly. Over these last few days, I have learned to hate people looking down at me.

"Hey Urving! Sup spaz!" Barkley exclaimed as the door opened.

 

"Yo fellahs!" Phelix added offering a finger for me to shake with.

 

"Thanks for coming over guys!" Urving greeted them, as I was hoisted into a more comfortable carrying position.

 

"Hello you two." My response was a little shaky as Urving shifted me about.

"You having a good day kid?" Phelix asked as they both entered.

 

"Yeah, how are things?" Barkley was also interested in my current mood.

"Can't complain at all!" I responded leaning toward them both eagerly. "I played Dread bringer today and it's awesome!" The two of them cheered lightly after this.

"Oh man, that must've been fun!" Phelix stated, but I think he was talking to Urving mostly.

 

"Dude, that's awesome! Can't wait to play with ya!" Barkley added, nudging me slightly. "What class did you pick?"

 

"He went with monk!" Urving answered for me. "He's a coyote too!" Urving added.

"No way! Can't wait to see that!" Barkley quickly had a seat at the counter.

"It's gonna be great to play with ya! I'll send ya some money when I play next!" Phelix assured, but I told him he didn't have to.

 

"I'm was gonna do that too!" Urving exclaimed, like he really wanted me to hear.

 

"Thank you both! I'm certain I can find my own gold though!" This got a laugh from the group, but Urving was the loudest.

"Wanna smoke Iza?" Phelix asked after he retrieved something to drink.

 

"Yeah less is more, if ya get my meaning!" Barkley waved a paw to reference how few of us were here.

"Totally, sounds good!" Urving gave me a quick hug when he saw how friendly I was being.

 

Urving and the others gathered around his coffee table. Barkley had a tiny metal cylinder, which I instantly recognized as his grinder. Watching eagerly as he created a pile of ground pot, Phelix had a small laugh. Looking up I realized he and Urving had been watching me the whole time. From the way they stared it was not mocking or judgemental. I can only assume that they were just talking about me...

"He's so much different than Riot!" Phelix exclaimed as I stared inquisitively.

 

"Of course, all humans are different!" Urving explained with a short laugh. "It said so in the pamphlet!"

"Yeah, Spaz seems... I don't know, tougher?" Barkley stated shooting a glance to me, then Urving.

 

"Oh man, poor little Riot was so terrified when I first met him! Took the lil dude a few days to even talk to me." Phelix used a pitying tone as he mocked Mel playfully.

 

"Riot doesn't smoke either!" Barkley added with a chuckle.

 

"Or drink for that matter!" Urving compounded with a growing grin. "He's a little badass!" Urving exploded shortly after.

 

I was hugged across the table and it almost picked me up! It was impossible not to smile when you are being called "tough" and “a badass" by creatures two, three, and four times your size! Also receiving attention and affection from Urving was sort of fun. It made me laugh thinking this must be what a teddy bear feels like! Constantly at the mercy of a much larger beings love.

 

"You guys give me too much credit!" I said as I fell back into a seated position on the floor. "I did run and hide at first sight!" A less confident laugh followed this.

"Well..." Barkley began as Urving searched for something to say. "We did all shout at you, first thing. Probably couldn't have helped!" The three of them laughed and I eventually joined in.

"I don't even think about that!" Urving scooted around the table a bit, to be closer to me. "All I remember is how much fun you have been!" Another softer hug was paired with this statement.

 

It was hard to figure out what I wanted to say. "Thanks man..." Was all I could mutter, but my smile held much more.

"Delia really likes you! She's super shy normally, so that has to say something!" Barkley added as he emptied the grinder onto a magazine.

"Yeah and Gene... well she'll warm up to ya!" Phelix was just trying to be nice, but I understood Genevide didn't like me that much.

 

"Urma asked me to apologize for Urnest, but I told her you understand. He's young is all..." My face contorted a little, but I managed to smile as Urving said this.

"He's fine. He'll warm up to me too!" My confidence made them all give varying degrees of praise.

 

"Yeah!" Urving exclaimed hugging me.

 

"Let's get clouded!" Barkley stated with a big grin, as he handed the pipe my way.

That is an interesting way of saying "get high". I thanked him, then took a powerful, deep hit. Feeling the scorching at the back of my throat, I coughed out hard and instantly gagged on my bone dry throat. Urving pat my back, but it didn't help since I was trying to take a drink. Still I managed to clear my throat and my breathing returned with a semi-wheezing additive. The others commented on how my "smoking voice" was cool. Hearing myself, it sounded like I was sick or trying to do a Batman impression. Do they have superheroes? That isn't a terribly important question, but my curiosity is limitless! Wait... Ferris is psychic and the lion who captured me was telekinetic. They are superheroes in a way! Can I learn or be given these powers? They probably wont trust a human with them...

"Oh man, you guys should have seen his face when the controller turned on!" Urving exclaimed as smoke drifted from his maw.

"That must've been freaking adorable!" Phelix laughed as he messed my hair up a little.

"You remember Riot? He thought we were putting him in handcuffs!" Barkley laughed uproariously. "Now look at him, higher level than any of us!" The others joined in after hearing this.

"It's all that free time! Kolm pampers him like crazy!" Phelix interjected as Urving was preparing to speak.

"Not that Issac wont have the same freedom." Urving pat my shoulder. "If you guys ever get a human, you'll understand."

 

"Figure I'd just borrow yours!" Barkley laughed as he playfully pushed me, then took his hit.

"Iza makes his own decisions. I wont force him to do anything!" Urving snapped back, but I was so touched by his words.

"I did promise Delia..." I added nonchalantly as the pipe was passed to me.

 

"See, canine at heart!" Barkley replied smiling my way.

 

"Your so awesome buddy!" Urving hugged me again, the fluff of his body obscuring my vision.

 

"Thanks! Just being myself!" I replied a little bashful.

"Well, I love it!" Phelix exclaimed with a quick applause.

"Me too..." Urving whispered to himself, but I looked up and gave him a smile.

 

"You guys are too kind!" My response caused a mix of "a'wws" and laughter.

 

Several bowls later they were still discussing Dread bringer 3. There is a ton of stuff I haven't seen and from what they are telling me, I barely scratched the surface. It has been fun so far, but it sounds like this is something Urving really enjoys! Maybe it can be a bonding point, since it is sort of human. The guys also communicate through it apparently... It is funny calling them the guys, since they are actually a dog, a weasel, and a bear. We were getting low on grinded pot and I was getting hungry! Better still, I didn't have to say anything! Urving somehow picked up on this... Urving seems to greatly enjoy food, or maybe it is seeing me enjoy a meal. The others insisted on going out to get food, but I carefully whispered my concerns to Urving, when they weren't looking.

 

"Well we can't all fit in the car Barkley. Why don't I just go?" Urving suggested, but this just made me feel bad.

 

"We're the guests, we'll go! Don't worry!" Barkley waved at Urving, but shot a short wink my way.

 

"What'd ya want kid?" Urving asked with a small light sparking in his eyes. "Where ya goin?" Urving turned to Barkley suddenly.

 

"Arfies! Get those corkscrew fries!" He replied brightly.

 

"I'm not sure..." My answer was paired with a small amount of thinking. "Whatever you wanted, get two!" I snapped my fingers in a discovering way.

 

"Get us two large number sixes." Urving stated turning away from me.

"Got it, we'll be right back!" Phelix announced following Barkley to the door.

 

Watching them leave held some anticipation. In the back of my mind, I was acutely aware of how much food meant now. Not being able to eat freely has made anything from a small snack to a full meal, feel special. Urving was excited to be alone with me again, as he planned to keep smoking. He is much larger than I, so it must take more for him to feel it. Also... I'm thinking clearly, so I obviously need a little more. This is not easy to accept, but damn they are really trying! Not once have I felt pressured or exposed... Sometimes it feels like I have to much attention, but that makes a lot of sense! I’m trying too… I hope they see that…

 

"Hey, I gotta work tomorrow, but I'll be back asap! Ferris is gonna come and visit. To keep you company." Urving announced all of a sudden and I nodded, still in my own head.

"Sure... What do you do?" I asked, now actually drawn to this question.

"Like my job? Oh, I work as security." He replied, still as intrigued with me as ever.

 

"Makes sense!" I laughed to myself before taking a long drag on the pipe.

 

"Why does everyone say that?" Urving sounded serious, but I only laughed a little more.

"Because you're intimidating! I mean, damn..." I tried to make him laugh, but a tiny smile was all I got for my effort.

"I hope..." He began, but then looked at the floor. "I hope you aren't intimidated by me..." His glassy eyes, though droopy from smoking, held great amounts of emotional content.

 

"No, not at all!" I replied again touching his arm. "I was at first, don't get me wrong... But now..." I faded off trying to find the words I wanted.

 

"Thanks bud..." He replied putting an arm around me and closing me into a half hug.

 

Phelix and Barkley returned rather quickly. Apparently a large number six, is a type of club sandwich, loaded with various meats and vegetables! It was served on a bed of curly fries, but they were too salty for my taste. I will have to become familiar with the menus of local restaurants... This isn't exactly the best sandwich I have ever eaten, but I couldn't complain. Feeling full is one of the things I treasure most now, that and safety. It was sort of strange watching television again, with Urving, Phelix, and Barkley, as the three of them knew all the shows. Eventually they put on a sport called ralg, which was similar to soccer. Unlike soccer this sport was played with both hands (paws) and feet (paws?). The goal was by far the strangest difference between the two games. The "goal" in ralg, was a huge stone ring, which could be pushed around by the goalie. Apparently the goal tender cannot physically block the ball, only move the goal away from it. The ball was made of solid wood, making it difficult to pass and intercept. Overall it looked fun, but I would probably be killed playing with Anthronian's Urving's size. Some of these athletes were bigger than Urving, which frightened me deeply…

 

"Run, come on!" Barkley cheered as one of the players mad a mad dash up the field.

"Go, go, go!" Phelix added raising his paws slowly overhead.

 

"Move it, come on! Move it!" Urving waved a paw as the goal tender was caught off guard.

 

I was unsure what to cheer for or about, so I simply watched. This moment brought me through time and I was given glimpses of moments spent with my father. I remembered fragments of many sporting events and games watched on television. A hot, stinging sensation began clawing at the back of my eyes, but I avoided tears easily. It was far to happy right now to just start crying. Still it is tragic how my life, how I used to live, is nothing but memories now. In my heart I was still broken up over having to restart and begin again...

 

The game ended soon with Phelix's team coming out on top. Apparently they are from, wherever, Phelix originates. The two of them, Barkley and Phelix, began breaking down how the game works, while we smoked a little more. Urving would chime in occasionally, his gritty voice reduced to a smolder by the pot. Phelix's bright eyes never ceased to shine when I looked at him and Barkley's patience with me has grown a lot, so I must be greatful. Not only that, but I was feeling more comfortable so this wasn't as freaky as my first day. I sort of knew these pe-... animals and that made all the difference.

"We should take him to a match one day!" Phelix announced, patting my shoulder as he stared up at Urving.

 

"Hell yeah!" Barkley added, patting my shoulder.

"Of course, but only when you are ready Iza. No pressure!" Urving reassured what I was hoping would be the case.

 

"Yeah, sounds great!" I tried to show as much enthusiasm as possible, but I think they saw through it, as the conversation changed quickly.

"So Issac, you gonna try and mate soon?" Barkley asked, as nonchalant as one would ask for water.

"I... Uh... You... Well..." Stumbling over my responses, I was probed with three eyes, who awaited an answer. "In a few years maybe... I'm not sure..." My face was on fire with embarrassment.

"Don't pester him! Humans don't talk about that so openly!" Urving insisted to him, but he just frowned a little.

 

"He was talking about my pups earlier..." Barkely seemed confused.

 

"No, it's all good! Just sort of a curve ball!" I laughed, but they stared at me blankly. "Like in baseball?" I muttered feeling their eyes weight upon me.

"I LOVE BASEBALL!" Urving declared raising his muzzle to the ceiling as he shouted.

 

"Wait really?" A warmth grew in my heart while I watched his eyes illuminate.

"Yeah, we've played baseball here for years!" Urving nodded with both eyes shut. "I want to take you so badly now!" He bounced with excitement, pawing at me gently.

 

"That is astounding! I would have never guessed!" Laughter came out on its own following this.

"Humans play a game called... ten hiss, ten this... uh... ten list? Whatever, I like that one!" Phelix laughed at himself, declaring he was too high to remember.

"Wait, you guys have tennis too?" I was shocked, looking back and forth. "What about football or hockey? Do you guys have golf or... or... wrestling?"

All three of them looked at each other, as I listed my last spontaneous sports. A small gleam grew in their eyes, but my head just tilted from confusion. The next thing I knew, I was cheering on someone called the Phantom feline, who was in the middle of choke slamming a fat swine to the mat. It was great because I think they were actually fighting! Unless this was incredibly well choreographed, this fight is going to critically injure one of them! Though violent and sometimes brutal, the male in me was excited to see more. Something about this was awesome, another "just like earth" moment! The match ended, but the announcer, a jackrabbit, quickly declared another battle to be underway soon.

 

"So Issac, what's golf?" Urving asked during the commercials.

"Oh, it's simple sort of... You take a club, like a thin bat, and hit a little ball as far as you can!" Explaining this made them all listen.

"I like it so far!" Phelix smiled my way.

 

"Yeah!" Urving added, his nose lifting as he smiled.

"You dopes..." Barkley shoved them lightly.

"You essentially have to get the ball in a hole with as few hits as possible. It is not nearly as easy as that sounds! More of a skill than a sport, we used to say!" This felt righteous, like being a human was important!

 

"We have a similar sport, but we drop fruit from flying craft!" Barkley added after I was finished.

"Oh wo-... wait, really?" I looked between all the faces, to try and understand this absurd game.

"No, I'm messing with ya!" He knew I was on to him because no one else played along!

 

"Don't do that man, he just got here!" Urving scoffed, but it was in jest and we all laughed.

 

"I would have totally believed you! Honest!" It would have taken a heart of stone not to laugh at his face.

"See, he trusts me!" Barkley put his arm around me and jarred me in place. "Seriously though, we'll have to go to a ralg match or a brawl, sometime!" Barkley's eyes lit like a firework, causing Phelix to follow suit.

 

"Sounds great, just promise not to ditch me!" This was meant to be a joke, but inside, I wanted an answer.

 

"No, never!" Urving's face was hurt greatly. "It wouldn't be fun without you!" His dire face made me smile inside.

"Don't cha worry!" Phelix quickly threw this out.

 

"No dog left behind!" Barkley's joke made me laugh and the others joined.

The day furthered into what I could only imagine a day at the frat house would be like! Beer, pot, women, wrestling, sports... all mannerisms of man oriented activities. It felt great relating what I could to there world. Urving continually inquired about the earth versions of things or if I was enjoying what we watched. Like anyone in a new friendship he was desperately seeking my acceptance and joy, but Urving pursued in a subtle, almost nervous manner. It is understandable that he fears my fleeing or scorn, but on realistic level, am I not a pet? Do we mean more than pets? This bizarre companionship I was now a part of still needed nurturing, as did I... It has been painful to accept how weak and unprepared I am...

 

"It's getting pretty late, we gotta work tomorrow, so..." Barkley said after a while, but I had noticed the time for a while.

"Yeah, thanks for dropping by guys!" Urving replied, rising and scooping me up all at once.

"Hope today was fun kid, sorry we didn't do much." Phelix appeared dispirited for a moment. "Promise, we'll do something fun together before I go!" His smile was unstoppable and I couldn't avoid replying positively.

"Great, I hope we get to hang out again soon!" My semi-awkward response was well received, as they rubbed my head individually.

"I live nearby so you aint gettin rid of me so easy!" Barkley scratched my head, a big grin and laugh emerging from this.

"See you guys later! Thanks again!" Urving waved as they headed toward the towering cube of a vehicle. "Well that was fun, hope you had a good time!" Urving turned inward and spoke to me, once they had gone.

"Yeah, this has been... surprisingly normal, thanks." My response made him smile, but we both laughed a moment.

"I guess that's good, right?" Urving tilted his head with a confused grin, but I nodded putting him at ease. "Great! Glad to hear!" He set me down and shut the door behind us. "Ya know if you ever wanted to be alone, you don’t gotta ask. Right?" He suddenly added, just as I was going to walk away.

"Uh, well... now I know, thanks!" My stumbled laughter still put a smile on his mug.

"Great! Now I wanted to set up your pager, since I have to work tomorrow." Urving lumbered over to the pile of presents. "We can also move your stuff into your room!" He announced happily, turning over his shoulder a second.

 

"Sure, but..." I began a deeper thought. "You don't have to try so hard..." This was paired with an uneasy smile.

"Well... what if I wanted to?" An innocent smirk crossed his maw, as he pat my head with his enormous mitt. "Now, you have to turn it on and it'll prick ya, so don't be afraid." Urving began tearing apart the packaging of the rectangular box.

 

"Wait... does it use my DNA or something?" I asked, but he nodded like this wasn't fascinating what so ever.

 

"So no one can steal it!" He happily announced gripping the internal plastic and stripping it from the unit itself. "Here, put your finger right... there." Urving pointed to a pin sized hole on the bottom of the unit.

 

Placing my finger on the hole caused a needle to spring forth and prick me. Jerking my hand back, I began suckling my punctured finger and watching the unit come on. It was sort of funny to watch, a machine using blood to come to life! It was like a bad horror film! Still the unit activated and it began running a type of diagnostic or update program. After it ran this for a several minutes, the screen came on and a few symbols popped up, which I assumed were logos and not letters. Soon it stopped this process and it dropped to a blank blue screen with a ripple background. Several icons lined the bottom, some recognizable and some foreign.

 

"This is how you get to your messages and this is how you dial. I'll put my number in though." Urving tapped the keys with his claws, to show me what it did. "Hope you are alright with the rodent size. I was going to get you a canine sized one, but I figured it would be a bit big." Urving chuckled and my face twisted a little upon hearing "rodent".

 

"No problem at all! It's nice to have a freedom like this!" I took it from him when offered, but didn't do anything with it right away.

 

"Yeah, it comes with a few games, but if you press this! You can buy new ones!" Urving announced, hitting a strange little icon, which I can only describe as a wonky dollar sign.

 

"But I'm gonna be here most of the day, right?" This sort of depressed me as it didn't sound very exciting, but safe at least. "Why do I need more games?" I laughed, but he was seriously trying to find an answer.

"Bro, I want you to have as much stuff as possible!" Urving seemed to admit, but that just made me gush internally.

 

"A'ww stop it! I'm really grateful, I am, but I just need some time." It felt nice getting to release some of these feelings.

 

"Alright I'll go buy some time. You want spray on or spreadable?" He asked grabbing his keys and pager.

"Wait... what?" My mind began exploring the astrological concept of purchasing more time...

"I'm just kidding boy!" Urving pawed me in the gut and I was unable to keep my cool.

"Come on!" I shoved at his paw away playfully. "That isn't cool man!" Laughing at myself was something I haven't openly done in a while.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." His eyes were little sparkles of pure joy. "I gotta go call my boss and get my uniform together. I'll be out in a lil bit!" Urving headed for his room as he said this.

"Alright." I nodded looking around, unsure...

Once he vanished around the corner a small panic took hold of me. It was hard to decipher and understand, but it was very real. Not fear, but anxiety took hold and I forced myself to logically think about why I was feeling this way. Part of me simply felt excited for my first alone time in the house and I didn't want to waste it, but another more powerful feeling was beneath that. It was the unavoidable desire to run away... It confused me, as I was unable to understand why I felt this way? Even though not ideal, I was happy, so this uneasiness must be instinctual now... A shiver went up my spine seeing the irony of what has happened. In running away from this, I have made it harder to integrate with society once again…

 

Stepping into my room I sat on the bed and clicked through the pager, phone... device. Why or how they got the word pager was beyond me, but this is essentially a cellphone. The technological advancements are incredible though... Small hexagonal shaped lenses lined the inside of the screen bracket. With microscopic precision, they each reflect off one another to form a solid screen of pure light. It worked as a handy flashlight and it was crystal clear at any angle. Touching it, or interrupting the light in any way, caused the others to amplify and attempt to fill in that portion. It was overall silver in color but the face, where the buttons are, is black. The "screen" is essentially a pair of metal arms with these light cells on the inside. It is light and despite this, it feels incredibly solid.

 

I moved my attention to the television in my room. Like the living room unit, it was controlled via the hands and snapping. Though I didn’t want to watch it, the act of using this one was fun in itself. Heading out the backdoor, I found it pleasant to simply be outside. My heart was opened to enjoying the nature and my mind became lost in the understanding of my location. This planet, however close to earth it is, was far from home… A small smile developed, as I heard the neighbor dog barking at me. Curiosity got the better of me and I peeked through the fence, but was not happy with what I saw… Imagine a bulldog the size of a wild boar… The fangs poking up from this beast maw as it spat bark after bark, could easily rip straight through me…

“Normal dog my a*s…” I muttered as the blood eyed beast, charged the gate barking.

Shivering and rushing inside, I tried to forget the giant gray and brown monster, that is separated by just a wood fence. Upon entering I found Urving at the room down the hall, but he reacted to me shutting the backdoor. His nubby tail wiggled at the very sight of me and he waved me over. Proceeding into the room, I saw Urving sitting at an isolated box, which he was going through. Sitting next to him, on the other side of the box, I began looking at the photographs with him. It was sort of odd, seeing solid photographs when I thought this race super technological. A picture on this planet was much wider and more oval in shaped, but they were apparently treasured just as heavily, as on earth. Urving had them all kept in a metal box, stored away safely.

“This is my mom and dad. They both live on En, so I don’t see em often.” The two bears were much younger, as the cub in their arms was very small.

Staring at the three pictures took me through a small portion of his parents lives. His father was tall, strong, and all black fur. His mother was short, petite, and a soft brown in color. Each photo showed them a little bit older. From the first cub (Urving, I assume) where they glowed brightly with new found joy, to the second (Urma) in which the graying had began. The final photo was the two of them, kissing, older and sparkling with the happiness of freed parents. It was somewhat beautiful to see these two animals, both presenting features their children now wore. Life and family is the same here it seems…

“Oh! Yeah, I found this for ya!” Urving shot a paw into the box and took hold of a colorful object. “I figured even a boy as sophisticated as you could appreciate this!” It was a stuffed animal of some kind…

 

This lengthy, dragon like serpent was rainbow in color and it had the head of a chameleon. Two long dragons wing spanned a fair length of the toy. Staring at the beady little eyes and the silly fanged grin made me smile. It felt silly, accepting a stuffed animal, but judging by the damage… this was special to him and has survived a long time. This thing was cut, stitched, torn, repaired, and overall held together with love and careful needlework. Urving’s brilliance told me that my accepting this was a precious moment for him.

 

“Thank you, what is it though?” I asked pretending to fly the winged, snake, lizard, dragon thing…

“It’s a xoluti!” He reached for it. “They’re a mythical creature that bring good luck! But it is really difficult to catch one.” Flying it around, he pretended that it landed right in my arms. “Hiya Issac!” His cartoony voice made me raise an eyebrow and a half smile.

 

“Thanks Urving.” Was all I could manage to say through my sheepish grin.

 

“No problem, there are some books in here also, if ya get bored.” He added pushing a paw through the box.

“Great, I’ll look at them as soon as I can!” The legitimately excited me, as I was intrigued about their literature.

“No rush kid! Just wanted you to know!” He rocked himself into standing and headed for the door.

 

It was getting late and Urving declared he would have to go to bed soon. He asked if I would prefer moose or sloth for dinner… This place is freaking weird sometimes… Opting out of trying sloth for the first time, I decided moose would more than likely be… edible… It is a little bizarre that a race of anthropomorphic animals, would openly consume feral animals… I would really hope they do not cannibalize, but something told me that was a big possibility. Remembering some of the fucked up things humans would eat and the fact some anthronians consume humans made me shiver… Yet this felt even somehow… To take my mind off of this, I played videogames while Urving cooked. Though I offered to help several times, he declined and told me to “just have fun”. Being called things like “buddy”, “kid”, “boy”, and even “spaz” has grown on me… I only mention this because Urving actually said “just have fun buddy boy!”

 

“Dinners ready! You wanna eat in the living room?” Urving asked, leaning over the kitchen counter.

 

“Wherever you wanted! No stress…” I replied, just a bit nervous about the food I was about to ingest.

Alright, so it was delicious, but that doesn’t change the fact, this is an odd meat to choose! That is another thing… Urving does not seem to eat vegetables or fruits… Not that I am complaining, as I ate produce far too much while on the run. It just makes me a little worried for his health… Did I really just say that? He’s a two thousand pound animal, he can take care of himself! Still, just the thought did tug at my heartstrings… It was a very peaceful night. We ate, watched some TV, played videogames, and just relaxed. This is what I have wanted since I was taken from earth, serenity. Comfort led to drowsiness and soon, I decided to retire to my bedroom, which was such an awesome choice to get to make!

“You want me to tuck ya in?” Urving asked, a tiny frown developing, as I think he knew what my answer would be.

“That’s alright…” I muttered, but felt bad instantly. “Good night Urving.” I gave him a hug, which made him growl lovingly.

 

“G’night Issac! Sleep well buddy!” Urving hopped up to return the hug.

 

It felt really weird just walking away from him as he continued to watch television. Not that the fact he is a giant bear hasn’t become stale, I just feelt bad leaving him… Wait, what is with me? Did I really just say that? Hey, what can I say? Urving’s just a swell guy! He has yet to do anything I didn’t want him to, or force me to do anything he wanted of me! What does that say? Ooh man, I think those few glasses of wine I had before bed are making me woozy. That’s probably why I am tired, the booze not the…