Enter the Fairy of the Crystal Forest! (Delilah + Menel)

The way he slurred his words made Delilah snap to attention. She knew this was a game and that nothing here will be truly life-threatening, she still slid into her role of a doctor. Been the youngest medical student in the group and physically looking like a teenager, meant she has to exude an professional air about her so that she wouldn’t be mocked the moment she entered the examination room.

“No you are my priority.” She said and gently pushed him down to sit on the floor. If he faints, she doubted she could even hold him up. Once he was settled on the floor – thankfully he looked too dizzy to complain – she began to look all over him, documenting each injuries in her head. At the same time she took out the blood clotting salve. For every cuts on him, she applied enough to make the wound close up. She doesn’t want to use a healing potion until she knew just how hurt he was. There were also a lot of bruises, muscle twitching from fatigue and the big dagger still stuck in the shoulder.

That was the only major injury on him. Delilah sighed with relieve. Her left over health potion would be enough. She moved to his back and put her hand on his shoulder. “This would sting a little, please bear with it.” She said gently. Then without any further warning, she pulled out the dagger and pour the healing potion over the wound in one swift motion. The flesh knit themselves back together cleanly, leaving not even a scar. Delilah stared at it with jealousy, she wished real life have same sort of potion. It would make so many surgery safer and easier to perform.

“Alright I think all your injuries are dealt with, now just lie down and take a rest.” She said and gently nudged the swordsman again, trying to encourage him to a lying position this time. While he was resting, she could try and clean up the battleground and see just exactly what she got at the end of that battle.

Her own injuries – a fractured arm, burns on her side and numerous cuts that were still bleeding. All of them were completely forgotten. Delilah doesn’t even look like she noticed the extreme low health she was on.

She, this tiny little girl, forced him to sit down and rest. It was almost embarrassing how weak he felt in that moment. He wasn't actually used to surviving the use of that particular skill. Menel only used it in the most dire of situations, and usually that meant dying. Though usually he ensured the survival of his companions in the fight by doing so; which was generally the point. He did after all make his living in the game often by being a bodyguard for other players and NPC's.

Delilah started applying some kind of topical ointment to his wounds which while numerous were mostly superficial. He had little choice but to lay there and accept the treatment; she had a commanding presence as a healer, and he was more exhausted than he wanted to admit. The skill used up a lot of his endurance. Not even mentioning how much of his life it often cost him.

With a little warning she pulled the dagger in his shoulder free, and he stifled the sound of pain that threatened to crawl up out of his throat. It came out as a sort of cough, and then she poured a healing potion out and used it to heal the last of his injuries. The combination left him feeling tired, but far better than he'd felt before. Well enough to notice that she was still injured. From what he could tell, her arm was broken, and she had several other injuries that she was simply ignoring.

He didn't let her wander away from him. Quickly he grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving away from him. "No. Not until you heal yourself. If you want me to sit here and do nothing, then you're going to heal yourself because I can't just sit here and watch you hurt yourself." He pulled out a potion grimly. "I'm not above fighting you over this."

Delilah tilted her head to the side in confusion. “I’m not hurt? None of these things hurts.”

Some may suspect she has somehow turned off the pain setting in the game, however those who knew her in real life knows that she just does not register pain on the same level as most other people. She tried to tug her arm away, she really doesn’t want Menel to overexert himself over this. Yet his grip was strong and was keeping her in place.

She puffed her cheeks. “I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt!” she whined and tried to tug a little harder. However, she could soon see that he wasn’t about to give up. If he got up to stop her, he might collapse again seeing how dizzy he seemed to be before. There was no way around it.

“Alright, alright. If it gets you to sit still until you feel better.” She sat back down. “But I still don’t need the potion. I’m fine.” She was aware she was beginning to sound a bit petulant but he has better use for that health potion then using it on someone who was barely injured from the fight. Despite him been completely right, her health bar have been beeping urgently for a bit now.

“I’m fine! It doesn’t hurt!” The words were practically a whine but all Menel did was stare at her as firmly as his exhaustion would allow. He wasn't budging on this.

“Alright, alright. If it gets you to sit still until you feel better. But I still don’t need the potion. I’m fine.” He smiled at her as she finally relented, accepting the bottle from his fingers which he pressed firmly to her hand. Menel didn't waver until she'd downed the whole potion and only then did he relax finally. He'd leave checking around the wolf's core for her. Likely it was a powerful magical item that would make for the center of a nice magical weapon for her. He hoped so at least, sincerely and fervently hoped that all this fighting had been worth it to get her something that would help her defend herself. And perhaps... just perhaps, it had taught her that fighting was sometimes necessary. Particularly in a game built on the back of the concept.

He sat there wearily watching her as his strength slowly crept back into his muscles. It didn't take long, he was fully healed after all; just winded. Though if he kept playing his body would probably really be feeling it later. The game did an all-too-good job of aches and pains. His eyes roamed the clearing, but never really left Delilah. There was at least it seemed, no other danger here.

"Did you get what you need?"

The whole time she drink the potion, she made a face akin to a child who really does not want to take their liquid medicine. She tried to take as small of a sip as possible, just to make a show that she did drink it. However the swordsman was far too observant and watched her like a hawk. When she finished the potion, she sighed. It was like having both of her siblings in here, except they are not in here like she wants them to be.

She watched him wandered off and pick up the wolf’s core back for her. It’s pretty and sparkly like a geode. Occasionally small pink sparks fly off the edges.

"Did you get what you need?"

“I think so?” Delilah took the core from him and examined the it more closely. Something seemed to be swirling in the crystals. Hard to tell what it was, since it moved so fast. Seeing nothing more from the core itself, she opened up the item description.

“Oh it says in the description that its for wands.” She bounced on the spot. “Perfect. I had people telling me I shouldn’t be using a two handed staff. So I may be able to modify my stuff.”

Delilah hopped up and gave Menel a big hug. “Thank you for helping me. I’m so sorry that you got hurt and waste your potion on me. But you were also so cool!” she let go and began to hope on the spot. “The way you just went all in, so fast I could hardly follow! And then you have all the weapons dancing in the air and you caught them so easily! And! And!” She wished she know her English more. It was hard finding the right words to describe how beautiful and awesome the last attack was.

Delilah didn't seem certain that she had everything she needed, but he was certain that she at the very least had a good start on it. He felt more comfortable with that thought when she exclaimed that the crystal core they'd found was meant for the kind of weapon that she needed to build. With the remnants she had left over from her old weapon, and this new item, she should be able to craft a new one that would hopefully be more useful and powerful than the one she'd been using before.

Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly she was hugging him, and Menel reflexively froze. For a long moment he didn't know what to do about the situation, but after a moment gave in and hugged her back briefly. When she finally pulled away he was smiling ruefully. "I've been fighting a lot of monsters, it's really nothing. You could do it too, in a different way." She might not be a fighting class, but she could learn to handle herself in combat.

"Do you think you can make it back to the woman alright? I should probably log for the evening." He glanced toward the boughs of the crystal forest where the light was getting long. Beautiful streamers of golden light were reflected downward, catching on the leaves and catching a thousand colors before hitting the ground in speckles that made the world look as though it were cast in the shadow of a giant stained-glass window.

She did note how he tensed up when she hugged him. Perhaps Menel doesn’t like hugs? Next time she would try to remember to ask first before hugging someone. Her brother did tell her that some people get a bit freaked out by sudden human contact. Then proceed to use her sister as an example, which earned him a slap to the back of the head.

When Menel asked whether she could get back on her own, Delilah nodded. “Mhmm! I don’t think its too hard to get to.” As long as there was nothing to side-track her. “Thank you again for the help. Can I add you on the friend list? I would love to play with you more often!” She would definitely have to work hard to make time for this game and also ace all her test in her class and placement. She should be able to do it-

“<Daisy! It’s two am go to sleep!>” Hei Yen shouted from the corridor. His voice loud enough to pierce through the headphones and pulled her out of the game. Just a little bit. Look like turning this quest in will be the last thing she could do that night.

They add each other to the friend list and she bid him goodnight. Logging off she flopped into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. She thought of the beautiful sword dance Menel did and hope he wasn't all that hurt today.