The Strange Case of Nadia

[Rorick Skyve†]

Maxim silently watched as Jasmine took off. He almost wanted to smile a little, seeing how well it had worked out for him. This entire situation could have gone south in more than a few ways, but now he was by himself again, left with nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. Now that was a status quo he'd like to see lasting.

Still, he was now left with new choices, new possibilites. He wouldn't actively try and follow either of the girls, of course not. Still, staying inside here was not that desirable either. It was dark and secluded, yes, but as a matter of fact, people had found him in here before, so it was safe to assume others would too, eventually. And if he was unlucky, those new people would be far less benign. No, he had to move out of there, sooner or later. Maybe try and look for other supplies, weapons, anything. That would inevitably mean running into more of his peers, but that was a risk he was willing to take. He had gotten rid of those two, he could do so again.

Not immediately, he'd risk meeting Nadia or Jasmine again and being accused of stalking them. He didn't need that. He could wait a few minutes, then make his move.

Sounded like a plan. Though he still had no idea what exactly this building was or where any of the others were, where he wanted to go and how he was meant to defend himself from any potential attacks, he felt sort of confident. Even with the people watching. They could watch, they could judge. It didn't matter this time, society's standards and norms were no longer important in any way.

Felt sort of nice. Liberating, in a way. Though of course, if he had been given the choice, he'd have chosen to stay at home in retrospect. Wake up and find out it had only been a dream or something like that. Then again, had it been a dream, he'd have most likely been given a better weapon than that useless bow.

((Maxim Kehlenbrink continued in The Land Across))