TJ only began to pin and insist he didn’t reatment, but before he could get a full word out of his mouth, Stanton grunted again. “Kid. Let me take a look at you.”
fronted with irrefutable old man logid insisteJ walked forward to where Stanton groaned and stood up.
“This tree’s given too much to use again.” Without further expnation, Stanton walked off into the forest. He didn’t seem too ed about another pukwudgie attack, but TJ couldn’t help but keep his eyes peeled and stantly roving around. There wasn’t any suspiovement through the branches, but that wasn’t much of a guarantee. Feeling inside himself, he could feel that level 7 of Neophyte wasn’t too far off, but it would require anht of about that same caliber that they’d just gohrough. Or, at least as mahs on the enemies’ side. The thought again turned his stomach. He could still taste the blood on his tongue, and TJ fought the urge to wash out his mouth with some of the limited water in his pack.
Prying his mind from his brief fixation, TJ instead watched Stanton approach several of the tall, proud trees and seemingly fer with them for a moment. None suited his fancy, until they reached the fourth majestic, solitary tree. Differently from most, it stood in somewhat of a clearing, nothing nearby. Stanton only o brush a finger across the thick bark before he nodded appreciatively. The old maured for TJ to approach, and he did so.
“Put your hand on it.”
“The tree?”
“Of course.” The old maed.
TJ did as he was told, feeling a little silly. Even so, he trusted Stanton, they’d saved each others’ lives multiple times already, what was toug a tree pared to that.
“Thank you.” The older man muttered.
“You’re wele?”
“Not you.” Stanton rolled his eyes and looked up at the of the tree. Before TJ could ask any more questions, he felt something push into him from the pce he was toug the trunk. With a quiet hiss of surprise he pulled his hand back. Stanton immediately grabbed TJ’s hand and pressed it back to the trunk.
“Don’t move.”
TJ, now anticipating it, felt the exge of… energy, he supposed he’d call it. There was a faint warmth that apanied an eerie, unfortable tig sensation, as if a crawling vine was climbing up his veins. Despite the strange feeling, TJ embraced the warmth, trusting Stanton. As he allowed the energy to permeate his body, TJ’s aches and pains died down. His nose cracked faintly before stopping its ag, while the two puncture wounds that remained in his stomad thigh itched unbearably.
He fought the o scratch the itches, groaning for a moment as the itch transitioo pain before fading. With a faint expectation of what had occurred, TJ lifted his shirt to look at the wound in his stomach. The scab had bee a puckered scar, no lohreatening to tear at slight movement. On his back, the wound was mostly healed, a smaller scab remaining, while the one on his thigh had also formed into a thick scar.
“That’s all the tree and I do for now.” Stanton interrupted TJ’s self-examination. “I figure you’ll be fine for now. There was something in you, but I think your body was ok with it. Maybe bacteria, maybe something else. I’d say take a couple weeks to figure out how you’re feeling, but you ’t. It might be miserable, but that’s all I do for now. If, for some reason, it gets worse, let me know and we’ll find something else to work with.”
“You healed me! That’s more than enough. Thank you!” TJ leaned forward and took the older man into a hug. Stanton, surprisingly, didn’t resist more than a quiet grumble.
“Don’t thahank the tree. It was willing to give up its owh for you.”
“It what?”
“This tree was strong enough, and willing, to give up some of its own life for you. It should recover, but it might not. A proud old coot, like me.”
“I… have so many questions.”
A grunt. TJ was getting used to reading the subtle implications in his tones. Or, he was losing his miher way, TJ decided to ask.
“You talk with trees?”
“Eh. I uand them, more like. This one was willing and proud when I asked.”
“And Natural Harmo you take its ‘HP’ and give it to me?”
“Something like that.” Stanton gave no further information.
“Dammit old man!” TJ couldn’t help himself as he stepped closer to the stubborn man. Stanton held his ground, but TJ didn’t care. He didn’t want to intimidate him, but the hot emotions boiling inside demanded release. “I get you don’t like to talk, but information will save someone’s life. I want to be able to help myself, help you, and if we , help others. My son is somewhere I ’t find, and all I do is trust the shitty ‘god-making’ System to keep him safe a me see him. However, right now, your ‘nature’ could be keeping us back from saving someone’s life iure, and so help me, if you keep standiween me and him I will leave you to be eaten by the pukwudgies! So be a grumpy fu your time, not mine!”
Stanton leveled an inscrutable gaze at TJ as the younger man swiped furious tears from his face. “Fair. I ‘siphon HP away from natural creatures and anisms into a willing recipient.’ It takes MP for me to do it, and I’m mostly out now. I ’t refill Suzie, and that’ll be my priority for now. As for ent on a little walk, I figured that sihere wasn’t any rush, I’d look for a healthier tree before I used the Skill on you. o kill the trees scripting them when we look for volunteers.” An ued fieress colored Stanton’s words i sentence. He deliberately calmed himself and tinued, “Natural Harmos me pick up on the emotions of the anisms in the immediate surroundings. I think that’s about it.”
“Thank you.”
Stanton gruhough there was a certain twinkle in his eye as he did. When TJ noticed it, Stanton chuckled, “Let a grumpy old fuck keep his grunts and mumbling. I’ll work with you, but I’ll be a pissy codger as I do. pining is the spice of life.”
“I’ll take it.” TJ answered, a wry smile of his own answering Stanton’s and breaking the thiing tension. They walked back to the trail, where they put their backpacks on and resumed their walk towards the highway. The g of their shoes (and mocs) apahe swirling winds through the trees. TJ imagined he could hear a voi the air, a breathy tone, but he k was in his imagination and Skill. For o was Stanton who broke the silence.
“It’s good to see you pissed off. To let loose. Lets me see who you really are.”
“Cause I cussed you out?”
“Cause a guy as calm as you in this situation, with some voi your head and your baby missing, seems like a psychopath. Even if you puked cause you ate someone.”
TJ fought to keep his ge down at that st sentence. He opened his mouth tue but iook deep breaths through his nose.
“You’ve acted like a regur guy who’s just on a longer hike than expected, is all. I believe you have a kid, and he’s obviously not here. But seeing you soldier on like that was weird. Seeing you crack cause of something stupid shows that you’re just dealing well with the pressure.”
The old man didn’t say sorry or anything like that, and TJ didn’t expect him to. It would have felt disingenuous or hokey if the flinty man had. Even so, the apology was clear, and TJ nodded his thanks. Stanton grunted food measure, and they returo walking forward towards their destination.
—---
To their relief, there were no more pukwudgie ambushes for an hoing off TJ’s HP recovery, as the rough trail transitioo a packed dirt road, to a gravel road. Stanton worked to refill the revolver, resummoning it every couple of mio el another bullet into the individual chambers in the der. Fifteen minutes after beginning their jog on the gravel road, a small pack of five coyotes lunged out of the brush to attack, but TJ hadn’t o activate Diviransformation to deal with them. Suzie appeared in Stanton’s hand frighteningly quickly, and he squeezed two shots off. One fell while another whimpered and limped. TJ shrugged his backpack off to ehat Primal Savagery would activate. Then, after taking two steps forward, he punted another itom of its . Its jaw and neck cracked unpleasantly as it flopped to the ground in an ie heap.
Only two healthy coyotes remained. Stanton fired one more time, and the wounded coyote dropped, dead. The two remaining es turail and fled. They disappeared into the surrounding brush, making no further sound beyond the stepping of their feet.
3 Coyotes, Level 4-5 sin. Experience gained.
Again, TJ could feel that he wasn’t too close to that 7th level of Neophyte. Somehow, this journeying through the forest on foot seemed to be providing some modicum of experieo Savage, though not mubsp; Maybe tinued “savage” as would give more experience, but for now, TJ knew he wasn’t going to get a level by journeying to Pine any time soon.
He almost wanted a couple more fights to happen, just so he could be sure that he would titing stronger, but TJ instead preferred the possibility that he could make it to the town without dying. After that, he could focus oing levels. Even so, he couldn’t help but wonder what level the coyotes that’d fled were. Then, he remembered he was an idiot.
Just after he’d gotten the Skill, TJ had Appraised the pukwudgie leader that’d spoken to him. And he hadn’t used the Skill since, except to look at the leather he prepared or the mocs he’d made. He’d never eve on Stanton. TJ turned his gaze to the older man, who was eling his MP into the gun to refill as much as he could. With a thought, he Appraised him.
Acolyte, 4
“Is your race level 4?” TJ asked.
“No.” Stanton replied, then seemed to check. “Actually, yeah. Acolyte 6, Druid 3. Why do you ask?”
“At Human 5, I got a new Skill, Appraisal, and I realized I’d never used it on you. All it tells me is that you’re an Acolyte and level 4. I guessed it was in human, since I know you’re at least level 5 in Acolyte.”
Stanton, true trunted. “Doesn’t seem too useful.”
“It isn’t for now. But I realized I could have used it on the pukwudgies or coyotes or any other number of things, so maybe it could have been useful.”
“The.”
TJ didn’t say anything as he did as much, his vision flig over a dozen things.
Ponderosa Piree
Bush
Robsp;
Sandstone
Indian Toilet Paper
Pine Needles
And so much more. The Appraisals didn’t give TJ any additional information, like it did on his coyote leather and mocs, though.
“Why does it only sometimes give a J wondered as he touched a roly belled “roext to a “sandstone”.
“Do the rocks have names?” Stanton asked, his face fused.
“No, it just calls this one rock, while that one is sandstone.”
“Does it not know what basalt is?”
As soon as Stanton asked, the bel for the rock shifted to basalt. “It’s based off what I know.” TJ said, the information clig nearly immediately. “What you tell me about these forests?”
“Well, that there is sometimes called Indian or Cowboy’s Toilet Paper. Proper name is mullein. Those are brittlebush. Those over there are creosote. That bush there is a jojoba.” With each word that oken, TJ’s Appraisal shifted to instead dispy the information he’d been given. When Stanton expined what a Mormon Tea bush was, though there weren’t any nearby, TJ got the distinct impression he’d opened a of worms he hadn’t wao dive into. Even so, the refused to close, and TJ focused owitg bushes as Stanton spoke.
Wait, twitg shrubs?
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