I sat on an old tree stump behind the Brill Inn. Jarvin, the undead I was talking to inside there earlier, told me I should try looking at pictures of Alliance areas or if I was brave enough- visit them. It seemed like a silly idea, though I suppose I couldn't really doubt it. Especially since he was able to remember something from before. I think a part of me also didn't really want to doubt it. I wanted that small ray of hope, even if it was extremely unlikely. I broke out of my thoughts for a moment; noticing movement up ahead. I tilted my head searchingly but didn't move. Those were two things about me. I was curious as fuck but I was also lazy as fuck. I sat there a moment thinking about what I wanted to do. Curiosity won.
I got up from the stump and crept passed the cramped trees and ducked under the hanging branches towards the direction of the noise. It wasn't long before I found the cause of it- an undead woman picking herbs. I face palmed; feeling stupid for wandering over here.
"Come to burn my herbs, have you?"
My hand fell from my face and I looked at the woman. It was the undead from the inn. I chortled to myself as I replayed her remark in my head. She gave me a long eye roll and went back to picking herbs. I followed behind her; keeping my distance.
"Is there something you want?" she asked; stopping after several moments and turning around to face me.
"You shouldn't be wandering around out here by yourself." I said.
She shifted her eyes and gave me an 'Are you serious?' look. "I can take care of myself, thanks."
I wasn't sure what came over me but I reached out and grabbed her arm. I felt her tense up and I honestly was expecting her to land a blow to my face but she didn't. "I'm sorry for earlier." I said apologetically.
She broke into a smile, "So you are a softy, hm?" she giggled.
I shook my head. "No, but I know when I've done wrong. And earlier, I was just angry."
"So, you cook when you're angry?" she asked puzzled.
"No, I did that out of boredom." I said.
She shook her head; still smiling. "Well," she said before the smile left her mouth. "Just remember that we were all in the same boat as you at one point. We know what you're going through. But you have to remember that you can't take it out on others." she paused a moment thoughtfully. "Everyone's fighting their own battles," she recited with a hint of sadness in her voice.
I didn't have anything to say to that. I thought it fairly corny, honestly, but I felt now wasn't the best time to point that out. I just nodded at her.
"I may be asking too much but..would you like to help me?" she asked.
I paused for a moment. My guy side was screaming 'No! The fuck! Picking flowers?' but I ignored it. "Sure." I said finally.
"Great!" she exclaimed. "I just need peacebloom."
And with that we circled around the wooded area; eyes searching for the peacebloom's familiar white petals among the tall grass.
"I don't believe I remember your name." she said; hands gripped onto the stem of a plant. She pulled it out quickly and tucked it into her arms.
"I don't believe I gave it." I retorted as I too pulled a peacebloom from the ground.
"Fair enough." she said slightly amused. "I'm Miranda, in case you wanted to know."
I nodded slowly. "Nice to meet you." I said; thoughts still focused on the task at hand.
We continued around the forest; doing a loop around the outside and a zigzag pattern through the middle before stopping. It was dark outside. I imagined it was well past midnight after we had finished collecting her herbs. She led me to the small building past the Inn. We crept inside and were greeted by pitch blackness.
"Give me a moment to light some lanterns and mi..."
"FUCK!" I yelled. As soon as I had stepped in I felt something sharp dig into my foot. I pulled it up quickly and balanced on my other; still trying to hold onto the peacebloom.
"Mind your step..." she said tentatively.
"Too fucking late for that. Just get some light on so I can see what the fuck I stepped on." I said annoyed.
I heard her moving around in the darkness. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes that had passed but my foot was aching and it felt like she was taking forever. I sighed when she managed to light two lanterns. The light swept across the small room; casting an orange glow over everything. She hung them up on opposite sides of the room and then walked over to me. She took the bundle of peacebloom from my arms and brought it over to a desk while I grabbed onto my foot and lifted it up to get a better view. There was a rather large gash on the bottom. To my surprise there wasn't any blood, just a clear view of the inside of my foot. My eyes skimmed over the floor but I couldn't see anything that could have caused it.
Miranda turned from the table after setting the peacebloom down. "What in Azeroth's name happened to you!" she shrieked. She looked more frightened then I was and rushed over to me. Kneeling down; she held onto my foot and peered at it. She ran her fingers around it and looked to see if what did it had maybe gotten lodged inside.
"It's fine. It's not too bad." I said; wincing as she poked the flesh around the wound.
"Not too bad?" she cried. "You have a hole in your foot!"
"And Jarvin has holes in his face but I don't see you freaking out on him." I said.
"Those are marks from his death you idiot." she hissed.
I watched as she stood up and disappeared into another room. I set my foot back down on the ground; making sure to keep the front part up and balance on my heel. Miranda returned with a long strip of bandage.
"Sit down," she said; walking over to me and kneeling in front of me.
I rolled my eyes and steadily lowered myself to the floor. She grabbed my foot and set it on her lap and I watched as she wrapped it up tightly.
"That should help for now." she said; eying her work with a stern face. She bit her lip and furrowed her brows as she gave one last look around me to see if there was something she missed. "We can go to Beryl tomorrow and he can heal it for you." she suggested.
"No. It'll be fine."
"You're going." she said.
"I'm okay."
"You're going and that's that. Stop being such a stubborn ass!" she yelled; standing up and returning the leftover bandage.
I stretched my legs and and placed palms on the floor behind me; leaning back and observing the room. There were two large tables filled with vials, herbs, tools, jars and jumbled papers. The walls were covered with papers of diagrams and data with a few shelves scattered around holding more vials and bottles of various liquids and herbs. It was then that I noticed it. In the corner under one of the tables was a spiked crab. He was about the size of my head and had large spikes spread out on his back and claws.
"You bastard." I said; eying him. I grabbed onto the edge of the table and lifted myself up. Quickly, I grabbed a small axe atop the table and dropped myself back onto the floor. I crept forward underneath the table and gave the axe a quick swing in the crabs' direction. It hit him spot on and he hissed at me angrily; opening and closing his claws rapidly.
"Come on bastard!" I taunted. In hindsight, this was probably the most ridiculous fucking thing I've ever done but I was way too pissed off and in pain to care.
He retreated farther away; scrunching himself up against the wall. I continued moving forward and this time just unleashed all hell. I began swinging the axe repeatedly, every which way. Followed by slamming it against the floor. If I couldn't chop the bitch I was going to crush it. I gave it one last blow and observed it for a moment. It wasn't moving anymore and the axe had done a number on it's shell; leaving it cracked and oozing small streams of blood. I tossed the axe at it and rolled out from under the table. Miranda was standing in front of me; hands on hips.
"What the hell were you doing?" she asked.
"Killed a crab. I think I stepped on him." I said.
"A crab?" she said puzzled. She bent down and looked under the table. "Ughhh...that's so gross..." she moaned.
"What he gets." I said. I felt a lot better taking my anger out on something. Though, I don't think I wanted to make a habit of killing crabs.
"Let's get out of here. Johaan doesn't like people hanging around inside for too long." she said; holding her hand out to help me up.
The next morning, Miranda and I were sitting inside the inn in front of the fireplace. She had gotten a bowl of mushrooms and offered me some but I passed. If we didn't need to eat, I wasn't going to waste time with it. We just sat in silence; watching the flames dance around the logs and every now and then they'd shoot up as if getting a burst of energy before falling back down; returning from their small 'high'.
"Johaan, I needed it today. You knew that."
I turned around and saw a rough looking undead with no hair sitting at a table. Another undead stood on the other side; hands pressed against the wood. I assumed that was Johaan.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Some fucktard killed my fucking crab and that was the only specimen I was able to find." Johaan said angrily.
Miranda's eyes widened and she looked at me quickly; mouth agape. I shrugged at her and put my finger to my lips; letting her know to be quiet and not say anything. She put her face in her hands and shook her head quietly.
"Well. Next time be more careful. I'm giving you a week to get another one."
Johaan turned on his heel and left without another word.
"You are such an idiot." Miranda mumbled from behind her hands; before pulling them away and looking at me.
"Yea, well. He started it." I said defensively.
"So childish," she said with an eye roll before leaving for the staircase behind me.
I watched her disappear up the steps. I eyed her bowl of mushrooms she had set on the table. Leaning over; I grabbed one and popped it into my mouth; chewing thoughtfully. They actually tasted pretty good.