4 The Group

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked, "Why do you look worried?" Otto didn't glance at her, but at the two people running around listlessly. He didn't know if they were testing their fighting ability or something else. There was a sudden disappearance of a blue dot.

He didn't want to go somewhere with a new dead body and he hadn't seen any wildlife other than the monster. He didn't even think it was possible since the place where he started was empty except for a few trees and when he activated his skill there was no green dot in that area. He was sure he didn't see anything, he was sure.

"Just seems a bit weird that there's no one here," Otto replied, "Say how old are you? You seem pretty young, though I'm young myself."

Elizabeth looked up, a bit scandalized, "I didn't mean everything, don't be stupid about it."

Elizabeth frowned and looked around warily. Otto sighed, "It's not like your age is going to kill you. Your name, maybe, age? I don't think so. Unless of course there's a disease or something like that."

"Is that the creative imagination of a writer?" Elizabeth asked, "I'm eighteen, by the way, nineteen in a few days."

"Hardly," Otto stared back at her and then Ater, who appeared to be holding back peals of laughter through meowing inconsistently with a slightly ruffled owl flapping above him, "I'm twenty or so, just treat me like I'm twenty. It's the golden age. And I don't write sci-fi or disease stories, I write mysteries."

Elizabeth huffed and stared at Ater, "What? It's Ater, he's my familiar."

"I can tell for myself," Ater meowed at Elizabeth, "And you can call me Liz if you want. Elizabeth is a mouthful and everyone calls me Liz. Is it weird meeting a thief?" Otto shook his head, it wasn't weird at all. The blue dots were increasing again. He stopped walking to stare at them.

"Is it weird meeting a possible murderer?"

"No."

"Then a thief is no problem," Otto shrugged, his vision was being dyed in red and he had just, gotten used to it, "If everyone we're meeting is a convict, might as well get used to it. But that also means that there will most likely be someone who is harmful. We'll have to be careful with who we're letting in our group from now on."

Strawberry Pudding was a bright blue symbol over Elizabeth's head.

"You mean, there will be other people who want to kill us all?" Otto nodded, "Shit." Elizabeth frowned and gripped her swords harder, knuckles going white as everything in her head. Disgust ran through her as she felt the urge to vomit. Otto looked over at her, concerned.

"F-feeling the urge to vo-" She vomited.

"It's fine, don't think too much of everything that has happened," Otto dragged her hair back. It wasn't too long, but it still got in the way, "The more you think, the worse the feeling gets." Elizabeth gave a weak nod as she slowly stopped kneeling, forcing herself to swallow any remaining bile.

"That's it. Doing better? Yes? Most likely. You're too young to be doing this anyway."

"H-how are you dealing with all this shit?" Elizabeth asked, "People are dying, you just saw a dead person. I get that I'm still a kid to you, but still." Otto shrugged and stared at the blue dots flowing around his eyesight, blurring it. He should've asked how to stop his skill, it was making his entire mind go blurry and his head was starting to hurt from the amount of stuff rolling around him.

"It's okay, compared to where I'm supposed to be right now," Otto stared at a blade of grass, "There's freedom, although slightly suffocating, there's freedom. Would you rather stay in prison for the rest of your life... Well, in your case it'd be only a few years, but you're 18, change is hard for someone your age. What are you going to do?"

Elizabeth looked down at her trembling hands

"Liz, just try your best to survive and avoid the maniacs if you can. There's not much you can do about the situation right now."

"Is that writer instinct or what?" Elizabeth asked, jokingly, "Anyway, what was it like on trial? I mean I was on trial but it was for theft, which isn't all that scary. Most times. Murder trials must be different to the smaller trials I had. Alan was usually there with me too... Ah, wait. I recognize you. The red eyes made it a bit hard, but you're the author that was charged with two counts of murder. Saw you on TV... Ot... It's Otto isn't it?" She talked about her trial with a blank look fleeting over her face.

"Yeah, that's me," Otto picked a piece of grass and ripped it, piece by piece. It was as real as it could get, "Anyway, we need someone else who's not as squishy 'bout killing someone or else we won't go anywhere like this. I'm a somewhat good shot so it should be okay, but it's still better to get 'nother one."

The blue dot was getting farther and farther away from them, another blue dot appeared, then another, then another. Suddenly, the blue dots just increased. Otto narrowed his eyes to squint at the area beyond them, "Let's continue that way."

Ater walked forward, ignoring the two as he glanced around and at the owl; its wide beady eyes staring at him, analyzing. He stuck a nose up in the air and paced foreword, paws landing silently each time. The air was getting colder and Ater knew that meant there was less time, but he wasn't sure how much time.

The area was going to be reset soon and he knew that it wasn't good when it did. Seasons came faster in the Midway Plains than they did in other regions. Much faster.

"Ater?" Otto called as the cat walked out of view.

"Meow?" Ater replied as he walked back around, the owl following him. Otto covered his mouth to stifle a laugh as Ater meowed. Ater head-butted him and turned around staring beyond a small hill as Elizabeth seemed to stare at her stats, poking the air a few times.

"We should get going," Otto repeated as he cracked his neck to start heading to another area. It hasn't even been one day yet. Elizabeth nodded and she walked beside him, looking around for any sign of people. Otto didn't need to. He knew where he was going and where people were grouping together in one large party.

There were more and more people joining in what was now labelled [Party No.1], "What a lame name." He muttered. Soon the people came into sight and Elizabeth sighed a long longing sigh that racked through her as she saw more people.

"Don't be stupid. They're all criminals, criminals of all crimes." She stiffened under Otto's harsh words.

"Then... we'll have to be careful," Elizabeth replied, Otto nodded to her answer. They walked forward and saw a group of about ten or so people. A girl near the front was giving out orders, handing out what looked liked edible food.

"Hey, forgot to ask, but what's your skill? Mine is 'Infinity Steal'. Fucking useless if you really want to know." Otto laughed a bit.

"Mine is 'Best Aim'," He lied through his teeth, making up a semi-believable name on the spot, "Can aim stuff, or see its trajectory. It even includes how much I'll screw up when shooting so it's good for my class."

Elizabeth nodded, "Say, by infinity steal does it mean you steal, like, infinitely? Or ju-" Elizabeth glared at him, "Was just wondering. 'Infinity steal' sounds cool though, you know, like you can steal an infinite number of items. But don't tell these people your skill. Even if they ask, but don't lie, just say you don't want to."

"Hey, there are more people there! Two people!" A tall man saw them and called out to them, "Come here! We have food!"

Otto and Elizabeth walked forward, acknowledging the group as someone near the middle handed out some leaves, most likely edible. Otto leaned down and picked Ater up, the cat made a whining noise but allowed him regardless. Literal eagles were stalking around the group, a tiny cat wouldn't be able to protect itself. Ater's fur was soft.

"Hi!" Elizabeth started out, Otto staying quiet, "We're uh, well, we found each other and sort of, err-" A shorter girl interrupted her, bright gleaming blond hair flipping away.

"We know, we know!" She smiled, dazzling, "We all found each other like that! It was just like... boom you're here y'know. We're all criminals too, so I mean like, let's get the cat out of the bag before anyone's upset. I was in for prostitution so like actual sex, 'cause apparently it's illegal to do that, y'know Canada. I know, bit weird." Elizabeth shook her head furiously, turning red as she shook her hands out in denial.

"It's not weird at all! I was in for thievery," Otto made a soft sigh beside her, "My friend here was in for murder, though he says he didn't do it. He's rather famous too, been on TV and all that."

The girl looked behind Elizabeth to Otto's scrawny figure, cat in hand. The owl had trailed them, "He's Otto Bettering."

"Kettering," Otto pointed, "Otto Kettering, the stupid book spelled my name wrong. No one's going to notice Otto Bettering." He scowled and Ater lifted a small paw to pat at his arm. The girl gave him a calculating stare as she continued on with chatting with Elizabeth as if Otto didn't exist. Something that annoyed him just a bit, just a little bit. A large hand patted his back.

"'S fine," A large rather thick-voiced man told him, "No one wants to come near the killers. 'S normal. I'm Adrian. His thick accent forbidden many people from understanding him. He had light, near white, hair and clear blue eyes that were more of a royal blue if anything.

"They do not like us here. We are, we are... unreliable to them. Unpredictable."

"We're all trapped together, killing others won't do us any good," Otto grumbled, as Adrian patted him on the back again, "Well then, what were you charged with?"

"Was drunk, but a guy," He looked wistful for a moment, "I did not know his name. The drink you see is a... problem. What about you?"

"A little girl and her grandfather, though I really didn't do it," Otto kicked the ground, "I was just there, wrong time, wrong place. But then again, everyone is, aren't they?"

Ater shifted in Otto's arm, "And this dumb cat can't stop being a nuisance."

Ater looked away from Otto and Adrian laughed, giving a somewhat hard slap to Otto's back, "Drunk killing doesn't seem so bad. As long as you don't drink, we're all fine."

"'S true," Adrian nodded in appreciation, "He is cute." He lifted a hand to rub Ater, who leaned into his hand with a soft cute purr. The hand was large, warm and comforting. Otto laughed a little as Ater nodded a little, ears perking here and there. It was amusing, to say the least.

"Very soft, adorabil*."

"Anyway, so who's that girl?" Otto looked over to the blond girl, "And the tall guy who called us?" The tall guy had gone back to handing out food, one by one. One leaf per person as each person nodded their heads gratefully. Otto didn't feel hungry, he didn't even think a lot of time went by.

"She is Lola and he is Jack," Adrian replied, "Jack in for burglary." Otto nodded as the tall guy handed some leaves to a tiny kid, "The kid he is handing leaves to is Meredith, but people call him Merry because he is merry. Was in for theft too. Most of little ones are."

"Then what about him? He looks like an old man," An elderly man sat on a large rock holding onto a long wooden stick that he picked up. His wrinkly face overlapping with sharp black eyes that were disgusted at everything. His shirt had a little drop of blood on it, he was an gunman too.

"What's an old man doing here?"

"Old men commit crimes too, Otto," Adrian noted wisely, "Fraud, and he is a good shooter. His name is Josef."

Otto looked around, everyone looked normal enough, just like any normal citizen, but again, criminals are normal citizens that just do un-normal things. Usually.

"Huh," Otto said, "Fraud." The old man looked at him, nose up, chin up, just everything up, "He any dangerous?"

Adrian shook his head.

"He is on a thin limb, got into an argument with Jack over food," Adrian snorted, "Old men will die soon anyway. Why bother share?" Otto looked disapprovingly at the snuffling man whose back was hunched in a bizarre shape, like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

"Jack does not like to be disobeyed. He is weird," Adrian said wisely.

"He's probably a control freak or something," Otto muttered, "It's why he's keeping all the food." Otto angled his skill to look at the leaves. He turned around alarmed.

[Folium Somnum - A leaf that causes the user to have a lower heart rate and drowsiness after one hour of eating them. If over ten are eaten, the player will die from their heart-stopping, regardless of level, a common poison]

"What wrong Otto?"

"Don't eat the leaves," Otto warned Adrian, "I know it's weird and creepy, but it's a skill. Don't eat the leaves, they'll make you fall asleep. Ten of them kills you." Adrian's eyebrows furrowed but he conceded and listened, avoiding Jack and his basket of leaves as he came around.

"You are a funny one, you know?" Adrian told him, "A very funny one."

"... Sure, but I'm going to get Elizabe- Oh shit she's already taken one."