Healslut

Venus woke up with something that wasn't quite a headache. It was more like her brain had to push her thoughts through jelly. She blinked bleary eyes and glanced around a clearing in an unfamiliar wood. The first thing she noticed was the weather.

This does not feel like winter.

She again looked around. Taking in the bright light from the nearly cloudless sky and the greenery of the trees.

In fact this doesn't feel like home at all.

The grass felt nice on her legs and the temperature was far too comfortable to be January in New Jersey.

Wait... grass on my legs? Shouldn't I be wearing pants?

Venus looked down and was immediately startled to find herself not in pants, as she was expecting, but bare naked as the day she was born.

"Wo-ahh!" she yelped in surprise and glanced around to see if there was anyone nearby.

Have I been kidnapped?!? she thought frantically. Think Venus! Think! How'd you get here?

Venus took a long panicked minute to rack her brain, but nothing came to mind. The last thing she remembered she was going to meet her friend Trish at a movie. They were going to catch the movie, than meet Sarah a soon as she got done with her shift, to pre-game at Sarah’s apartment.

That was it, the last coherent memory. She barely remembered leaving her front door.

Do I have amnesia? My name is Venus Demilo. I'm 25. I'm a med student. My parent's names are Bart and Jessie. No... I don't feel like I have amnesia... but I guess that's not really a great indicator.

She again looked around the clearing. Then she squinted up at the sky. It looked to be about mid morning and there was a pond in the clearing. She saw some bushes and some trees.

Oh! A squirrel! looks normal enough I guess... does that mean I'm still near Hamilton?.... I have no idea. Never thought learning squirrel breeds and geolocation would help me in any way.

Slowly and very hesitantly she stood up. A gentle breeze rolled through the clearing and felt nice against the heat of the sun.

Venus stood there in that spot in the clearing for around a half hour, paralyzed by her confusion, frantically racking her brain for potential solutions.

Ok. After some thought... if I have been kidnapped, the kidnapper is definitely not nearby or at least not that I can see. But they may come back. I should look for a safe place to hide and for something to protect myself with.

Venus walked carefully toward the treeline keeping quiet... just in case. She came up to the edge and saw what she was looking for, a nice sturdy tree branch. It wasn't the best tool for her defending herself, but it was better than nothing.

She stepped forward, leaning over to pick it up, but stopped half way taking a deep inhale in pain.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

She lifted her foot, seeing a little blood from where she had just accidentally stepped on a vine with a thorn in her bare feet.

Then something flashed in the corner of her vision.

You have taken damage from "plant".

Bright text floated in front of her. She had played enough video games and browsed enough of the web to know a notification when she saw it.

"What in the actual fuck?" She said softly to herself as the text faded from view after a couple seconds.

Am I in a video game? I've never heard of VR this realistic, if so."

The pain in her foot was definitely real. She could still feel the breeze and the grass around her.

"Escape... Exit... End Program..."

She tried as any command phrase for leaving a game she could think of.

"Menu."

Nothing.

"Map."

Suddenly a map sprang into her vision. It was mostly blank. Except for little spots of color that maybe could imitate this clearing and pond.

"Of Fuck. What? What the actual hell?"

It was then that she heard a snap a ways in the trees to her left. Venus whirled around, the map fading, and caught the sight of a slender tan ankle ducking out of view wearing what looked like a shoe made of woven reeds. Venus snatched up the stick careful not to step on any vines this time.

You have equipped "stick"

"Oh fuck off" she whispered.

Slowly working up a lot of courage and trying to keep one eye on her surroundings and the other on the ground to avoid vines, she walked forward. Each step with her right foot sent a little flare of pain up her leg.

Eventually she crept up to the tree she had seen the ankle duck behind. Keeping her breath calm she brandished her stick and looked behind it. No one... Nothing but plants greeted her.

"What are you doing?" a quiet soprano voice tinkled behind her.

"Holy shit!" Venus again whirled around this time jumping over a foot in the air from fright.

She saw a very concerned looking woman eyeing both her and her stick. It was the strangest woman she had ever seen. She had big green eyes, tan skin, and a deep deep green hair dangling over ears tapered to a point. She wore clothes made of what looked like living vines and reed shoes. It was definitely the same ankle she had seen a moment prior.

"Wh- who are you?" Venus asked tightly, white knuckling her makeshift weapon.

"I think that's more of my question than yours. This is my home after all." The woman asked with narrowed eyes.

"So you didn't take me here?"

"Heaven's no. I'll guess I'll go first. My name's Monet. Now your turn."

"V-Venus."

"Vivenus?" the woman asked sincerely

"Sorry. No, just Venus."

"Ok Venus... who are you and why are you in my home?"

"I honestly don't know. I just woke up over there," Venus said removing one hand from her stick to point in the middle of the little clearing. "This is going to sound rude, but I'm genuinely asking. What are you?"

Monet gave Venus a quizzical eye. "You're not from around here are you?" Venus shook her head, though she honestly couldn't be sure if she was far from home or not.

"I'm a dryad... which if you didn't know, means you're not here looking for me huh?"

"A dryad? like from Greek legend?"

"What's Greek?" the dryad asked back.

"You don't know where Greece is?" Venus asked, though she already knew the answer. When Monet shook her head Venus took a second to process.

She dropped the stick. "I'm sorry I've intruded. Can you tell me where I am? and if you're feeling exceptionally generous, do you have anymore clothes?"

"You're in my clearing... it doesn't really have a name, but I guess you can call it Chateau Monet if you like."

"You speak French?"

"What's French?"

This had quickly become the oddest conversation of Venus' life. A thought occurred to her. "Are we in a RPG? Did you choose to be a dryad?"

"What's an RPG? And of course not. Did you choose to be a weird human? Whatever. Yes I have some spare clothes that you can have on two conditions. One, you have to agree to go find my partner Ray..."

"Where would he be?"

"I don't know," Monet replied "he went into the human village two days ago to buy some wine. He hasn't come back and I'm worried."

"If you can point me in the right direction, I suppose I can look for him, but why haven't you gone? Is it dangerous?"

"I really am the first dryad you've met huh? I can't go far from my grove."

"O----kay. And the second condition?"

Monet smiled a little playfully. "A kiss."

"What? Why?"

"It's not often a beautiful naked human appears in your lawn. Figured I'd make something of the opportunity."

At that another notification popped up.

New Quest! Agree to find Ray, Monet's partner.
Reward: Clothing.

This is so fucking strange.