[color=ed1c24][center][h2]Akeno[/h2][/center][/color]

Less than a day ago, she had still been a regular teenager. Akeno had been a few months away from graduating high school but already knew which university she was going to attend; she was still living at home with her parents but was already thinking ahead to when she would finally move out and be able to live by herself. Her biggest worry had been what she was going to do with her new found independence and whether or not she had picked the right classes.

Now here she was, killing wild animals with her bare hands.

Her elbow hurt where it had struck horn and bone, the body she now inhabited not as conditioned, as toughened up as her previous one. There was blood too, just a few drops of it; not her own, but the blood of the creature she had just bludgeoned to death, running down her forearm.

A sigh escaped her lips as the message popped up in front of her eyes, telling her what she already knew. It disappeared almost as suddenly, apparently reading her dismissive attitude as an actual dismissal. How did that work anyway? Why was she seeing messages at all? The goddess had said something about a system and their connection to it; was this that system?

She wasn’t given much time to think about it, as the old-sounding orc began to call out orders to their little group. The others would handle making a fire while Akeno went with her to chase down the last of the birds; there was no dissent and one of the others simply nodded and got to work. Akeno turned to look at the old orc and considered whether or not to do the same; the other orc was quickly setting themselves up as the leader, giving orders like this and coming up with the plan, and they’d all just kind of gone along with it because no one had a better idea. Now she was truly taking charge and they were still going along with it, just like they’d probably go along with her next idea too.

The question was did Akeno want to be a part of this group? Did she want to go along with what this stranger planned? She had her Elwet, she’d completed the requirements of the quest given to her by that orc back at camp; she could just leave now. Or, she could [i]leave[/i]; do what she’d said earlier and just abandon the camp entirely and try to make her own way. Neither of those seemed like good ideas, but then neither did teaming up with a bunch of people she knew nothing about. Who were they, before all of this? What would they do with this second change? Could she trust them? Could she afford not to trust them?

Whatever. Better to go with what was working so far. Honestly, Akeno wasn’t good at this kind of thing; scheming, planning around other people, trying to figure out their motives. She was the kind of person who went with the flow of the situation; let other people take control and do what they wanted so long as it wasn’t too onerous. Life was easier that way. There were a few exceptions, times where fighting for her autonomy was worth the headache, but this wasn’t one of those times. Yet.

She shrugged at the old-voiced orc and began to walk out of the clearing, following the path scratched into the dirt by the fleeing Elwet.

[color=ed1c24]“Fine, let’s go.”[/color]

[@Zeroth][@ERode][@Crusader Lord][@Kazemitsu]