A Date

[TO GIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT SKILL, PLEASE THINK OF A NUMBER FROM ONE TO FIVE]

"Five," Ian thought.

[THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK.]

"Oh wow!" Lilac exclaimed. She seemed to be very excited, her horror changing into euphoria.

She ran to touch a switch on the wall that turned off the fire extinguisher.

"Was that really your first time using that skill?" she asked and sat back down. "Shooting Star? That's so flashy!"

"I might have overreacted," Ian said, trying to calm his heartbeat. He did not save fair ladies from such monsters every week.

"I think it was completely appropriate," Lilac protested. "Them spiders have no business here."

The days passed by like golden sand slipping from Ian's fingers. His arm got better and he had to leave the hospital. He did not miss the bland food, but he missed getting to see Lilac almost every day.

Then came the time to try on his cybernetic suit.

His health points were maxed out, but he had nothing else to show off, and this irked him, but he fully intended to jump into the suit and walk across the streets of 13 to see how his old bullies with their Sandwich Systems would react.

The suit was of the inflatable sort that could fill up the spaces reserved for massive muscles, which surprised Ian positively. He fit perfectly into the cybernetic suit, being just the right height, and the helmet felt good and cooling around his head.

He stepped in front of a mirror in all his glory, admiring the illusion of suddenly becoming a bodybuilder.

He looked different, admirable, but there was something irking him. His helmet was not as fitting as the rest of the suit. The cause of this was surely his long hair.

He could have given himself a haircut, but he had no eye for style.

He called Lilac in hopes of setting up a date while using the whole hair thing as an excuse. He could walk around and parade his new identity later.

He really didn't want to be the one swinging around with scissors, but on the other hand, he certainly didn't mind meeting Lilac again.

She came to knock on his door, dressed to the nines, in a cybernetic suit that followed the outline of a swimsuit with sleeves.

Ian was nearly knocked unconscious by her beauty. She was streamlined and healthy, curvy to the max, and her step had a lively bounce to it that had been lacking at her workplace, the dull, dreadful hospital building.

She let her hair down and swirled around to give Ian a good look at her outfit.

Ian felt the dread of not knowing what to say. He thought her thighs looked sporty, but spoken out loud, it could come across as him saying she looked fat. On the other hand, it was always an option to sound very generic, but that would sound like Ian had not thought any positive thoughts about her and resorted to standard bland compliments.

"You have changed your style. You…you look fetching."

Fetching. Ouch. She was going to take it as him being slimy.

"To match the suit you mentioned!" Lilac merely smiled.

[WARNING: HEALTH POINTS DROPPING]

[HEALTH POINTS 90/100]

[TO INCREASE HEALTH, DRINK WATER]

Ian was sweating, that was true, but he had expected himself to have more stamina. A lady could literally make him nervous enough to neglect his bodily needs for hours.

In the tropical areas, especially while fully clothed in a cybernetic suit, it could be lethal for someone whose constitution was just not used to the heat.

"I will get us some water," Ian said, smiled, and removed the helmet entirely to show off his pearly whites. "Want some lemon juice in it?"

Ian drank his lemon water and sat down with his acquiantance, who was quickly becoming a friend.

[HEALTH POINTS: 100/100]

"So…"

Lilac looked at him, apparently measuring him up and down to decide what to think about his hair.

"You do need a haircut, don't get me wrong, but I can't see an army guy having those luscious locks. No offense."

"None taken," Ian said. "Do what you have to do."

They sat down in the kitchen, surrounded by plastic bags that were supposed to catch all of the hair that fell down, but that seemed pretty useless. Their cybernetic suits would soon be in need of some light vacuuming.

"What was that noise from the living room?" Lilac asked.

"Did you hear something?" Ian got up, with his hair looking all funny, and walked into his living room.

Something strange was happening – it was as if items had been melting together and awkwardly given up their attempts in fear of being seen. The grandfather clock was doing something with the couch. The lemon water on the table was definitely not behaving as water should have behaved.

Krobinnuti portals could pop up anywhere, at any given moment. This was the reason for the heavy military presence in areas of high population density.

Krobinnuti portals supposedly looked just like that, with ordinary items melting together to form new and terrifying elements that would then open the portal properly to let the beasts through.

Ian didn't have time to react with his rational, cerebral mind. He made a beeline for his gun.

"DON'T COME HERE, LILAC!" he yelled.

The couch rippled, having swallowed half of the carpet and the entire clock. A whisker appeared from the distorted fabric of the floral couch, but it wasn't like losing a piece of furniture was a big deal.

"Oh, please…" Ian groaned.

He was so afraid for his own life and Lilac, too, he was shaking, and the slowness of the white, furry snout appearing from the portal did not help things.

The beast was trying to smell him. Its snout scrunched up as its whiskers wobbled.

The maw opened up to a ferocious snarl.

Ian shot at it, missing by a fraction of an inch, he thought for a second that these beasts were damn fast and then the krobinnuti jumped out of the portal, its massive, muscular body filling up the entire room.

Lilac screamed. The scream snapped Ian back to his senses.

He forced his mind into an united whole that pointed the full strength of his power into the beast.

The flames were not quite as flashy this time, but nevertheless a faint glow could be seen inside the ribcage of the beast.