Chapter 416: Nature walk

"Oh."

Demi looked like an animal that had caught its own tail. Mason quickly realized she expected her pitch to be recruited by Nassau was going to be…a bit harder.

"Are you...sure?"

Mason almost laughed but fought it down. However desperate she was to join the settlement, he suspected his need for players was worse.

"We have plenty of room, food. You'd get your own house. Not many rules except don't get in fights. Though as a player you’re a bit like a soldier. You'd get some guard duty. And we need people leveling up, exploring, looking for dungeons." He stopped, getting more serious. "And one day maybe you have to fight. If there's a war."

The girl's expression was hard to read. Mason was doing his best not to inspect her, but from her face he honestly couldn't even tell her ethnicity. Asian, probably? Except she had freckles, and slightly Caucasian features. She was actually pretty unique looking, but an obvious natural beauty without wearing any kind of make up.

"I don't want to fight in any wars," she said, looking a bit angry as she shook her head. "Why do you people never learn. Can't you just leave each other alone?"

"I don't want to fight in any wars either," Mason said, feeling defensive. "As far as I'm concerned, they can stay over in the east, and we'll stay here, and that's the end of it. But if they pick a fight, I don't have much choice."

"You whites. You never start it," said the girl bitterly. Mason felt his eyes narrow.

"Ninety-nine point nine per cent of our species is probably dead and gone. So you can leave whatever racial horse shit that is in the ash. You’re a player, and you’re a human, that’s all this ‘game’ cares about."

He could tell the girl was surprised. She sat up a little straighter, meeting his eyes again before looking away.

"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just...been hard." Demi's shoulders slouched again, and some wetness touched her eyes. "Some days I don't even know what the hell I'm fighting for. What's happening to us. I lost my friends. Everyone. It's just me now and I..." she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be selling myself as useful. And I am, I promise. It's just..."

Mason knew an attractive young women in need was basically his kryptonite. But he was also looking at a terrified, isolated person who had apparently been on her own now for quite awhile. He couldn't remember seeing someone who needed a hug more, except maybe Annie. He stood and took her hand from the table and helped her stand.

"You're not alone anymore, Demi," he said. "When this is over, we'll come get you. Don't worry about who beats who in the tournament. There's all kinds of people in Nassau, I promise. Civilians. Good people. Not just giant, warlike white men." He smiled.

Demi looked embarrassed, and fought a sob. Mason stepped in and pulled her into a hug before she could think about it. Pretty soon she was trembling and probably crying against his chest, squeezing him tightly enough she had to have a little apocalypse-strength.

"Sorry," she said finally, pulling away and wiping at her eyes.

"Don't mention it," he said, glancing at his balcony. "You can eat and drink for nothing up there. You don't have to talk. No one will bother you." He remembered Blake and winced. "OK, after I get rid of someone, no one will bother you."

The girl looked nervous but nodded, and Mason gestured for her to follow with a hand on her back. He managed to get her all the way to the stairs before really looking at her as she walked.

But curiosity and yes probably interest eventually won. She was skinny, but definitely not too skinny, with obvious hips and legs that went on forever. He decided it was probably best to find her a husband. And quickly.

He noticed Blake staring at him over the railing with an incredulous head shake.

"This is Demi," he said, getting her up the stairs. "A new player prospect from the west. Demi. Blake. He was just leaving."

"Was I? Yes I must have been. Charmed." Blake stood and gave Demi a winning smile before looking between her and Mason a few more times, his smile transforming into a more common smart-ass grin. "Right." He clapped his hands and went for the stairs. "Good luck in the rest of the tournament. I apologize in advance for wiping out your players."

"Not if I see you first," Mason said. Blake glared and gave a one handed dismissal as he went down the stairs.

"He's not part of your house?" Demi said. Mason had no idea how to explain the complexity of his brother so he just shrugged and shook his head.

"What can I get you? It's all on the house." He snorted at the words. "Guess I know where that expression comes from now."

Demi looked a little shy but she started flicking through the table teleporter and soon grinned as she clicked a few times.

"It's not like I'm starving or anything. But there's not much variety where I am, and I didn’t want to waste my points here so I got basic stuff. It gets a little bland."

"I know what you mean," Mason said. "I've been eating what we call salted 'stupid bird' for weeks."

Demi laughed and showed her teeth with a wide smile as she looked at the magically appearing plates.

"I don't have much salt. Oh my God." She took a deep breath of what looked like fresh baked bread, opening her almost grey, brown eyes and giving Mason a big grin. "Oh I'm sorry, do you want some?"

Just the thought had Mason’s stomach threatening to revolt.

"I've been stuffing myself for hours," he explained. "But go ahead. I'll drink something and avoid staring as you eat."

Demi grinned and attacked her food, mostly silent for a few minutes. Eventually she sat back and sighed, her eyes half closed.

"This place is the cleanest and safest I've felt in..." she shook her head. "It's hard. On your own. Back in the old world I thought I'd be happier alone. But I don't think I'm made for it. I can't believe I miss people."

Mason grinned. "I'm the same way. Can't live with 'em. Can't live without 'em."

Demi smiled and wiggled into the couch. "If I don't get up and move around I'll fall asleep."

Mason was about to excuse himself and tell her to do just that but she reached across and grabbed his wrist, then pulled back shyly.

"Can we walk? I...haven't spoken to anyone...you know, in awhile. I don't want to stop."

"Sure. I can go anywhere in this place but I've hardly tried anything. Want to see what there is?"

Demi nodded enthusiastically and Mason stood, pointing towards the exit. He resisted the urge to pull her along, not sure what he needed in his life was another woman.

On the other hand, there was nothing technically stopping him. And Demi was both exotic and attractive. Not to mention she smelled vaguely like a nymph, mixed with soap and a young woman’s fresh sweat, like she was a potion mixed just for him...

He blinked and did his best to think of something neutral and pleasant to say, reminded he actually wasn't all that smooth with women. He eventually gave up and just said what he was thinking.

"You know, I almost envy you."

She turned and stared like he was crazy.

"All I wanted was to find some cave, some swamp, and hide away from the world. It's what I was trying to do before..." he shrugged. "All this."

"Well you did a terrible job," she said, and Mason laughed. She pursed her lips and looked a bit more serious. "How on earth did you get to be...a ‘Baron’?"

A dozen scenes of violence and complexity flashed through his mind. Killing gnolls. Meeting Haley. Killing Sebastian and saving Blake. Taking over as Patron. Fighting the orcs and goblins and centaurs and...everything else.

"Sometimes I have no idea."

She smiled a little, and he opened up the Neutral Zone 'amenities' list when he got her to the elevator. A few dozen things popped up, most of which didn't appeal to him at all, and he blew a little air looking for something simple.

"What do you figure 'Old Earth Terrain' means?"

Demi shrugged, but Mason clicked it, and another list of just about every geographic area of earth opened as a list. They both looked through before Demi stopped and pointed.

"There. That one."

Mason nodded and clicked ‘South Central North America’, and the elevator dinged instantly just like it always did. They walked out together into high, yellow grass, with a few trees ahead and a winding river stretched across a plain, a few mountains in the distance.

Demi put her hands over her mouth. She stared until she shook with a sob.

"How…it's my home," she whispered. "I've been here. That's the Poteau river. It looks exactly the same."

Mason just stood in silence, eventually putting an arm around Demi's shoulder. She soon clung to him like a life raft and cried into his shoulder, finally calming with some deep breaths, not even attempting to wipe her tears, seemingly unconcerned with the show of emotion. Mason found it extremely disarming, and appealing.

"My mother was Cherokee," she said quietly, pointing out towards the horizon. "There's...there was a reserve there, from the mountains to the river. It wasn't our ancestral lands. But it was ours."

Mason nodded, still silent, only talking after a few minutes of looking out over the peaceful scene, and walking a bit more.

"What about your father?"

"A professor," she said, shrugging. "It's a long story. They met in Florida when she was a waitress there. It didn't last long but he kept in my life. What about you?"

"Orphan." He shrugged, not really wanting to explain. "Got adopted by rich people. Pretty lucky."

Demi smiled a little. "I can see why you're a leader," she said, and Mason raised an eyebrow. "You can say a lot without a lot of words."

He thought about that as they watched a few birds complain and fight over the tree branches. He activated Speak with Nature, smiling as he felt the life all around him clamoring for attention. He shook his head.

"Somehow...this place is real. It's not fake. This is an actual place I can feel with my magic."

Demi nodded. "I feel it, too." She was still leaning against his shoulder and hadn't pulled away. "Do you talk to them? The plants, I mean. The animals. Can you do that?"

Mason nodded, shaking with a laugh.

"Trees are boring as hell. They only ever talk about the weather."

Demi covered her mouth and spasmed with a laugh.

"The trees near my cabin ask me every day how many days since it rained. They're like kids in a car. Is it rain yet? Is it rain yet?"

Mason laughed and thought of the great tree in Nassau, Streak and Violet and the growing number of living things disturbing his thoughts.

"I have a bonded wolf. Literally all he thinks about is food. OK sometimes playing or hunting. But mostly food."

Demi's eyes went wide with interest, and she held out her hand. Green...sparkles flared from her palm, and a kind of stalk grew out of her hand until it formed a little mushroom. Demi grinned, then went pink.

"Oh. Um. This is..." she paused and kept getting pinker. "His name's…Dick."

Mason raised an eyebrow and Demi looked increasingly mortified.

"We didn't get along at first. So I called him Dickhead. Because...you know, he's a mushroom, and he...well. It just stuck."

Mason laughed and lifted a hand, touching the little fungus and getting a spark of natural magic like a jolt from a battery.

"Mushroom girl," he said with a smile.

"Mushroom girl," Demi sighed, vanishing the fungus-pet with another flare of natural magic. "You know I have real classes. I can use any kind of plant. It's not like..." she gave a defeated sigh. "OK. I've been on my own quite awhile."

They'd both turned inward and Mason now had his arms sort of casually draped behind Demi's back. Her hands were on his chest, and it was suddenly feeling a lot less 'comforting' her and a lot more 'hitting on' her.

She seemed to notice about the same moment he did, looking a bit shy but not uncomfortable, or opposed. And she smelled so damn good.

"I suppose you have a woman," she said, blasting away any further doubts Mason had about how she might be feeling.

"I…have a few."

Her eyes flicked to his then away. She made a little sound like 'oh', then before either of them had enough time to consider, Demi got up on her tip toes, pushing herself against his chest, and hovering her lips about an inch from his. He kissed her without hesitation.