Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Глава 33

Chapter 33

Camrad_RIP 21.01.22 в 21:39

The road was still as boring, long, and dusty as it had seemed at the beginning. The creaking of the wheels, the neighing of the horses, the smell of sweat, leather, and shit in equal proportions - all this did not add to my good mood, and it legitimately gave me a headache and a willingness to kill another legendary creature for a hot bath. I think I've conveyed enough of the shades of my mood, at that moment, when Tarya, hitherto silent and quiet, said just one phrase:

Camrad_RIP 21.01.22 в 21:44

"Teach me, Tin." Quietly and mundane, she said, as if she were commenting on the weather.

Camrad_RIP 21.01.22 в 21:45

To be honest, I was waiting for this moment, and I was a little afraid. Even a hedgehog knew that sooner or later my words would have to sprout, like the seed that was sown. Until now, the girl herself had remained silent, limiting herself to small talk about nothing and cooking, not trying to demonstrate that she had heard my point of view at all.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 06:44

I can't even say what I wanted more: for her to make the first move, or for her to remain withdrawn. The latter, of course, was low and despicable on my part, but bordes don't let go of the bitard, even after many years. I didn't know how to talk to girls, and I still haven't!

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 06:45

However, since she was able to transcend her traumas and fears, leaving them behind and taking that very, many times mentioned, step into a new life, it would be ugly and wrong to back out now. No, I could probably make a case for "she found her own way" and other crap like kung fu warrior movies, but that would be a pretty messy decision. It's kind of rotten. I mean, I almost broke her personality (not even talking about the ring!), and when she's accepted the need for change, I tell her to "deal with it, dearie, yourself"? No! Since I gave her my hand, I'll have to drag along the one who now has no other way but to follow me.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:01

"And what do you want to learn?" I ask distantly, not taking my eyes away from the bright blue sky, which seems to be a vast and boundless ocean, into which it would be too easy to fall forever.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 07:24

"Anything!" Suddenly she says, happily and cheerfully, and pokes me in the side with her elbow. "I really don't know anything about the world, and what I do know and know how to do... You're right, Tin, I don't want that either. So teach me, my lord, according to your will!"

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:35

The last phrase was so out of step with the townswoman's vocabulary that I almost coughed. Was she quoting someone? However, there can only be one answer to such a phrase. Only, perhaps, I will cover the two of us with silence, so that the ears of others do not burn. Even if the noise around us is strong, and we are talking very quietly, what if our coachman, for example, decides to warm his ears. Right now he is busy arguing with his acquaintance leading the cart next to us, but you can't be too careful.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:36

"No way!" I shook my head disapprovingly. "You must decide what you want, my beauty or nothing will ever change for you. First circumstances dictated your will, and now I will dictate it. I gave you a choice, so choose, don't dump it on me! Just think hard and tell me, what would you like?"

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:38

"It's not that easy, you know!" I think she even got a little indignant.

Camrad_RIP 21.01.22 в 21:46

"So I'm not rushing you." I try to calm the emerging resentment. "Think about all the things you wanted that you could never afford. Not just mountains of gold and silver, but what you wanted to be. Say this."

Camrad_RIP 21.01.22 в 21:46

I feel like a therapist from an American movie, but I see no other options for having a conversation, and I can't slip. I really wonder what exactly she will answer, what she considers important?

Camrad_RIP 21.01.22 в 21:48

"To see the world, I guess." She stretched out in a low voice. "When I was a kid, I always wanted to run away, far away, where there was no one but me. I couldn't escape, and I had nowhere to go, so I stayed."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:42

I punch my inner hiki in the jaw, forcing myself to listen and try to understand. You can't make funny jokes here; she needs support and encouragement. In a good way, I should have started this conversation earlier, but the main thing now is not to ruin this endeavor, since by some miracle she was able to overcome herself.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:03

"We'll see the world, there's no doubt about it." I nodded. "But I don't think you'll be interested in dusty roads and stinking caravans, like this. I can't take you to the most beautiful places in the world in an instant, but I can show you. I'll try to show you."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:20

An idea took shape in my head that seemed more tempting and clever by the second, to the point of desperate bewilderment that I hadn't come up with it before. I had no choice but to be amazed at my shortsightedness. But even though I had grown accustomed to my abilities, I did not always use them for creative and unorthodox purposes (unless, of course, those purposes involved murder).

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:21

The skill works perfectly, and a level-six townswoman has no chance of deflecting or even weakening such an effect. After a few heartbeats, we are both sound asleep.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:22

"I've been wanting to ask you something for a long time, Tarija." I turned to the maiden who flinched at the sound of my voice. "You speak too well for a standard townswoman, especially compared to the rest of your fellows. Where did that come from?"

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:24

The object of my interest only gave me a frown, and then I looked around once more, appreciating the endless landscapes of the violet shimmer of the dream world.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:44

"You're kidding me now, aren't you?" The woman asked sadly, her eyes fixed on me with frightened eyes. "Will you at least tell me what's going on? Where are we?"

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:45

"Eck!" That's all I could say.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:46

Okay, I admit, I'm a bit of a klutz. I'm too used to the dream world, so much so that I don't even pay attention to it, but for my companion, even just being here is already quite stressful. It's trivial for her to look away from my figure, because then she would have to look into the shifting mists that replace the floor, the ceiling, and the walls, stretching for miles in all directions. Infinity is frightening, and this world seems truly endless.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:25

Realizing my mistake, I instantly took control of the dream, turning it into a small and cozy room, stacked with soft armchairs and equipped with a hot fireplace. This elicited an immediate reaction, followed by calm. She still doesn't know what's going on here, but the nightmarish abyss beneath her feet is already gone, which is good.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:31

"I apologize. My mistake, I admit my guilt." I start apologizing right away because I intuitively feel that it was my fault. "We are in a world of dreams, where any dream you see, and quite fantastic, can become a reality if you try hard enough... Geez, I feel like I'm reciting a travel brochure. So, I decided to show you through my dreams the places I have been, would like to be and have never been. Here it is."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 08:32

A moment of silence, and then that pest, that traitorous face, that vile bitch, quietly giggled and started laughing! Laughing at me, bitch, laughing! She's in withdrawal, she's stressed out! And I feel like an idiot! I mean, I feel even more like an idiot than usual.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:48

"Oh, you should have seen your face, Tin." She finally calmed down, though, and stopped laughing. "I was really scared, sorry for laughing... Phew... Don't do that again without warning, please, that fog was really scary."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:52

"Well, all right!" I waved both hands away. "I already realized I was stupid, and I even know exactly where. I'm going to put you back in a good mood with the speedy hiking route. That is, I'll show you different interesting places, because you didn't understand, about tourism... Shit, I'm going on a fucked-up date again... It's not a date, by the way! Why are you laughing again?"

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:02

And she was really laughing like a goddamn terminal stand-up victim, except she wasn't rolling around on the floor! She even managed to fall into a freshly created upholstered chair, unable to stand on her feet. No, I understand that dealing with the opposite sex I am a little dumb, but that's no reason to mock me. Which of us is the boss, and which of us is the submissive follower promised me by the Ring? I've never been mocked in a fantasy medieval time!

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:09

"I'm sorry, but you look so funny when you make excuses, I can't help it." She seemed to like the chair, for she did not seem about to get out of it. "Just like the son of the chief magistrate's clerk when he came to ask for the hand of the blacksmith's daughter. All dressed up like a turkey, and babbling, too..."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:10

She noticed the kindness on my face, though, and then decided that her cool stories could be left for later, rather than retold now. For I was seriously considering giving her a quick preview of the golden collection of horror movies of Earth. In the first person, so to speak.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:23

"My mother was literate, though she didn't say where she learned it." Quickly, quickly, this bird chirped. "She never taught me, but she always spoke well, and I tried to follow her. It came in handy later in life when I had to play. They believe easier and all that, that's all."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:24

She started to answer the question I'd asked at the beginning of the conversation, determined to placate me and distract me from thinking about all sorts of bad things. I had to admit that she had succeeded in calming me down and then dispelled the chainsaw that had been formed from the matter of dreams. Obviously, it was working and humming.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:26

"An ulcer," I said as if I were passing a verdict in court and diagnosing it in my medical records at the same time. "You are a complete pest, totally devoid of conscience and self-preservation."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:28

"The sneaky and insidious enslaver." She answers in the same tone. "You've bewitched me right away, and you're not even going to fuck me. Or... You don't like women, you like men? Just say the word, I might as well use my new power and bring... It didn't work, did it?"

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:30

The last phrase she uttered without faked embarrassment and understanding squint, but in a quite normal tone. She's going to troll me again!

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:35

Shut up, girl! - I'm making a mean face. - I didn't buy that kind of joke after the first two weeks on the boards, and you're planning on playing me on my own turf? You got a lot of balls!

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:36

Of course I didn't fall for it, but my butt was on fire for the first two weeks. But that's the way it is with everyone on the Internet - until you get a shot, you can't communicate normally with the degenerates and moral freaks that inhabit the network. Especially if you are one yourself.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:38

I look at Tariоa, who pretends to be all "obediently modest" again, except for shuffling her foot (because she's sitting in a chair), and then I smile and laugh softly. I admit that this altercation has really cheered me up, which, after weeks of silence, when the only companion, even if silent, was Ygra and her "Y", was far from being at its best. Tarija laughed, too, not withstanding the theatrical pause and destroying the image of the modesty she had so carefully constructed.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:44

"Okay, what would you like to see?" Having calmed down, I return to my previous course.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:46

Give it all you've got. - The girl finally thawed out with a sly smirk. - I'll take a look, and I'll tell you.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:47

"Well, lady, you asked for it yourself..."

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:47

I was going to do my best to show off what I could, to get the most out of my abilities. I really wanted to show off my skills, to show off, and I was not going to hide it. And the hope that the system would view my artwork positively enough to raise the last level of the ability I had not fully mastered played its part, too.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:51

And I was creating like never before.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 17:57

I showed her the underground city I had visited, but by rewinding it in time to the years when it was still inhabited by living and breathing creatures, rather than a vast necropolis. I had to make a lot of things up as I went along, but I had the basis, as well as a high degree of concentration with a sick imagination.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:53

We sat in the same cushioned armchairs, and majestic halls full of light and human noise passed us by, mysterious corridors covered with secret signs, laughing people going about their business. I led an admiring, unadulterated-looking woman to an underground reservoir, in which there were no monsters, only crystal-clear water. She even got out of her chair (after making sure it wasn't dangerous), wetting her hands with the water. And tried to splash me!

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:55

I didn't upset her and let her get me wet, and then I retaliated by having to adjust the dream to dry us both out near the end. But it was, without a doubt, fun, almost for the first time since I'd arrived in Kraj. Fun and good-naturedly funny. This world doesn't get enough good jokes at all, yes.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:56

After that, I showed her the central hall, where the evil Spectre now sat, only without the destruction and desolation. The shimmering threads of all sorts of charms, the engravings and bas-reliefs, the mirror-finished floor, and the hundreds of reflections from the magical lamps that turned the room into a living fairy tale.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:58

I showed her the most beautiful forest scenery, avoiding a demonstration of the greenskins that inhabit those forests. I showed her the sunrises by the river, when the sky turns blood-red and the wind blows your hair like you're standing on the bow of a ship.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:59

I led her through the gloomy, yet delightfully enchanting swamps, whose magic was not even spoiled by the multitude of monsters that inhabited them. I led her through the forest at night, when it is filled with the rustles and thousands of sounds that permeate the world with an endless melody.

Camrad_RIP 22.01.22 в 19:59