Newman Questions

As nice as it was for John to finally get some real answers for the questions he had, those answers just left him with more questions. If Necromancy was so dangerous, and he was already tainted from just being near it... then why had his powers not warned him in some way? He didn't get any alert to his health or any kind of status effect. More than that, how in the hell was he supposed to get rid of that taint? His gaming knowledge helped him slightly with the possibility of going after Moira. Observe had told him that she was a paladin, and if that was true, then she might have had the power to remove that taint and possibly even fix his Soul Torn status effect. She could have helped him... if he hadn't been so worried over the possibility of having her smash his head in right after that happened.

The rest of his problems came from the groups themselves. If the Golden Rose was the group 'in charge' of Springfield, then that meant that they were after him now too because of his stupid decision to take the book! Somehow in his hunt to find the people who knew about him, he let more people in on his secret, and now it seemed that they wanted to either capture him or kill him... If any of the stuff that Wentworth had said to him was true, then he was truly in trouble now.

On top of all of that... the fact that the Frozen Flame didn't chase after single individuals meant that he didn't know why they were in his little home. They chased groups after all... and they went where they were 'needed'...

... So why were they in Springfield, and why hadn't his new quest disappeared either?

The rest of John's school day was filled with exams. Almost every class that he had passed out some kind of test, and John felt like he did horribly on all of them. He wasn't really studying. He wasn't paying attention in class anymore, if he even went to the class at all! He was too focused on his powers and too worried about everything else going on in his life to try and worry about things like tests! In fact, for every day that went by where John had his powers, it became harder and harder for him to see the point in struggling with such trifling things.

To be fair, he knew by that point that if he had bothered to increase his intelligence or wisdom stat then he would have had better test results, but he still didn't see the point in it anymore. The only test he was really worried about was the short art quiz he had to take in June's class at the end of the day. He had already skipped her class so many times that week that he had nothing for her or to show his progress when he showed up... yet when she gave the results back, he had somehow passed with flying colors for her.

He did so wonderfully on his test that June apparently felt the need to congratulate him on his work at the end of the period... both him and Mary.

He didn't talk to the Spanish cheerleader all that much. Actually, he didn't even try to talk to her. After the events of the previous day, when she had so harshly rejected their possible tryst, it was hard for John to bring himself to continue teasing her. Despite how badly he wanted to continue their new little relationship, it didn't feel right to John to keep it up if it was something that she didn't really want. Part of the fun, he realized, came from the moments where John got to see just how aroused she got from the things he had been doing.

Yet, when he saw her in class, she didn't seem as interested as he thought she had been the other day. Actually, it was quite the opposite in his eyes. When one of them caught the other looking at them, Mary responded with the same reaction nearly every time. She blushed into a deep, furious shade of red. Her expression became stony and hardened slightly, like she was struggling to suppress her anger, and then she turned hard in her seat. It looked like she was giving him the cold shoulder, dismissing him like yesterday's news. When it happened, she even went as far as to hastily slap her legs shut beneath her desk, denying his lecherous gaze before his leering even began... so he tried to not look at her.

Mary's mood with him seemed to get worse and worse as the last hour went by, and when school finally let out for the day, he didn't even get a chance to apologize. When June asked them to stay after school so she could talk with them, he left. After what had happened with June that morning, he wasn't ready to sit around and wait after class like she had asked them to. He just gave up on fixing things with the cheerleader for the moment and ran away.

After he left, he even came up with an additional reason for avoiding June, and, thankfully, it was a good one. If June was so blatant and focused in her attempts to learn about his powers, then he could have really been in trouble if she had tried to ask him about it with Mary there. If he was going to talk to either June or Mary, then he had to do it when they were alone.

He couldn't even do it while the two of them were standing next to each other.

Which meant that he had a whole weekend to think about what he was going to say because Friday was his last school day for the week and he ran away from Ashcroft as quickly as he could. As awkward as things were at the Gym, John preferred the idea of disappearing into his work at the moment... even if it meant that he had to face an angry Grace just to do it. Somehow, the situation with Grace had become one of the least fucked up things at the moment.

At least she wasn't blind.

His gut churned at that thought. That lone little reminder was dark enough to make him take advantage of his Gamer's Mind one more time. He-

"Hey, John!" the sound of a familiar, jolly, blond, Russian giant called out to him. He didn't even have to look over to recognize Michel by this point. After the amount of time they had spent working together in the gym, John could practically feel the way his large, heavy feet shook the earth as Michel ran over to him. It was like listening to a dozen little earthquakes go off one after the other as Michel got closer. The blond man didn't even wait to hear John greet him back. As soon as Michel was close enough, he thrust a large crumpled piece of paper into John's chest and waited. A large, silly grin dominated most of Michel's features as he watched John take it from him... and then he opened it.

"I know things have been a little bit grim lately with everything going on between you and Grace and your stalker, but..." There was a slow pause as John carefully read the sheet in front of him. "I think that this would be a good break from that!"

Marathon for the married! 4k city run = Around FOUR city blocks! Big money cash prizes! Have what it takes? Join in on the fun one week from now on Saturday at the crescent meadows park in the lower Westside of Springfield!

A single phrase was scratched out partway through the flier as John looked at it. It was corrected and lazily updated so the reader could at least tell that the event was tomorrow. John didn't say anything. He knew that the running could work to improve his stats if he went, but he was worried. If he got caught out in the open with all of the people he had chasing after him, then what was to stop them from killing him or killing other innocent people? It was too much of a risk, and he didn't like it. Apparently, his worry showed too because Michel caught on to what he was thinking almost immediately.

"Nuh-uh! Don't you even do that!" the large blond said and violently shook his head. "You owe me after rubbing off your stalker onto me too!" John flinched at that. "On top of that...

"I may have an ulterior motive..." He didn't give John a chance to ask about it, he just told him. "The Marathon for the married stands for a number of different things. The event is most commonly used to help raise awareness for things like families in poverty, domestic ****... and gay marriage..."

John blinked at that last part and watched as Michel’s cheeks flushed into a light reddish tint.

"My-eh... boyfriend is going to be there with our families. There's going to be a barbecue, if you want some food, and some polling, and with any luck..." Michel swallowed suddenly, visibly struggling to get the next part out as the two of them stood there, "... he won't be my boyfriend for much longer." John watched as Michel finished talking by pulling out a small, silver ring from one of his pockets. His thumb rubbed along the edge of the ring as the two of them stared at it for a long, hard second, before he shyly tucked it away again.

"...Oh." John blinked again.

"Y-yeah, you know... There will be food, prizes, and... even Grace said she will be there! Kn-knowing her, it could be a good opportunity for you guys to t-talk since she's been avoiding you, an-and there will be-" Michel shook as he spoke. The words he stammered out were soft and almost silent as he pushed on to try and get them out. It might have been the first time John actually saw Michel without his typical confident, manly attitude. It was a little weird for him.

"Relax, relax." John swallowed. It was going to be dangerous. There was no way that they wouldn't attack. If he was going to do this... then he was really going to have to grind that night. He needed levels.

"I'll be there." Michel immediately brightened as soon John said that. His mouth split and widened into a gigantic, glowing grin as he looked down at the young gamer, and then with a joyous chuckle, he picked John up and nearly squeezed him to **** with the hug he gave him.

For a second, John thought he might have actually seen his health bar drop because of it, then they both went straight inside to work. He was ghostly pale again as soon as he walked in through the door, John knew that. It wasn't surprising to him when he saw his reflection in the glass on the front door.

After all, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to catch up to a level 18 Paladin and a level 12 Artificer by tomorrow. He hadn't even reached level six yet!