B R O { social / paxilon / c }

Pax walked through the streets, that last quest weighing heavily on him. If he hadn't gotten his shield before that quest, they probably would have been pretty badly wounded. That kid was a headache and a half that Pax hadn't been entirely prepared to deal with. He had resigned himself to finding an inn in this starter town, rather than walking all the way back to Tolbana. He was beaten and tired and hungry. He put a hand on his stomach and moaned. He was mostly hungry.

He walked into the market district and looked around. He had never actually stopped in this town for very long, and the scents of food were everywhere. With a genuine look of frustration on his face, Pax spotted a familiar face. All thoughts of hunger left him. His frustrated grimace easily turned into a scowl. If this were an anime, a dark looming shadow would have appeared on his face. He began walking forward, feet stomping along the cobblestone path.

"You. God. Damn. Moron!" Pax's words were utterly dripping in distasteful emotions, "Why are you here? Why are you in this god damn game?!"

Pax grabbed the friend he hadn't seen in what felt like forever by the shoulders and shook him. He was a bit lacking in words to say and he just gritted his teeth and groaned in anger. He let his head sag towards the ground, "You idiot."

Pax turned his head back up to his friend, eyes full of bewildered and angry tears. Hektor was such a moron. Of course this was going to happen. Luckily, Pax had found him before he tried something stupid like fighting mobs with his bare hands. Pax knew Hektor would do something as stupid as that.

"Hek," Pax choked out, blinking away a few of his tears, trying to regain his composure, "you haven't looked at the god damn news, have you?"

He punched his friend weakly in the chest, holding back a sob, "We're stuck in here, Hek. Kayaba. That bastard has us trapped in here. We've been stuck in this fucking game for days now. Kiera and I have been doing our best, but . . . so many people have already died. If you die in here, the Nervegear . . . it fries your brain, man."

Pax punched his friend again, much harder this time. He received a message about not being able to harm people in safe zones as he screamed in anger again, "Why did you have to listen to me about this game? Why don't you look at the news?! God DAMN it! You just had to- . . . I wish I could've- . . ."

Running out of steam, he sagged into a sitting position on one of the boxes. So much had already happened over the past few days, he didn't think he could take anything else. He looked up at his friend, "You idiot."

Pax felt himself go numb. Any other day, he'd have been pleased. Even in this stupid game of death. Having someone there to help him through those rough patches. Hektor was that friend for him. The only friend he had, really. The tears fell away from his eyes, and he coughed a dry, wheezing cough. His eyes went from watery to painfully dry as he stared at the cobblestone road that was laid out in front of him. Legs passed by, but he took no notice of anyones' faces. After everything that had happened today, he couldn't take the possibility that he would do something stupid and get his only friend killed.

"Hek, I-..." he was cut short by his friend wrapping around him. He stiffened up and started shaking, wanting to punch his friend all over again. After a few seconds, he just let go. His body released all of its tension in an ungraceful flop. He felt his head bounce into Hektor's chest and he sniffled. Suddenly, his eyes weren't dry anymore. He listened to Hektor speak and nodded weakly.

"You're right, it's too late to yell at you IRL for this, damn," he went to let out a huff of air from his nose in amusement, but only got mucous. He grimaced and wiped off the disgusting material from his lip. He chuckled dryly and pulled his head off Hektor's chest, "I just got done helping some asshole who aggro'd 3 mobs at a time."

He didn't add in the whole going crazy part - he figured it was a moot point by now. With a sniffle, he shoved his face back into his friend's torso, wrapping his arms around the back and he squeezed. Even if he was pissed as he had never been pissed before, it was good to see a familiar face that wasn't looking to stab him in the gut.