Alice immediately blanks. She stares at Pietro for a few seconds. Suddenly, she begins to giggle. "Hehe, you finally called me your daughter!" She screamed while hugging Pietro.
Pietro just hugs her back. While lightly brushing Alice's hair he begins to feel a mix of joy and regret. He doesn't like it. The joy more annoying than the regret to him. I don't deserve to be treated so well, he thinks to himself.
While Alive continues to giggle and hug him he stays quite. After a few seconds of this Alice decides to speak. "I'm sorry." She said while lightly gripping the hem of her dress. Pietro just pats her head in response.
When he's sure Alice is okay he moves to the door and tries to open it. No matter how hard he pulls the door refuses to budge. "Hey Alice. Can you try opening the door." He said.
Alice listens. Without the slightest effort she opens the door. She turns around and gives Pietro a confused glance. "I guess this is your house now. Can I live here?" He said with a smile. Alice grips the hem of her dress and quietly apologizes
Pietro sighs. "You don't have to apologize." Pietro said with a calm face. Even when his heart hurts and his stomach churns his face remains still. "So do you want to meet the neighbors?" He said after a moment of hesitation.
Alice hesitates but still nods in the end. And so Alice Pietro move to house across the street, passing a small carriage pulled by a man sized deformed cat. Alice, of course stares at for few seconds while muttering the phrase 'cute' over and over. While Alice stares at the passing carriages Pietro knocks on the red wood door.
Alice immediately straightens her back. They wait for a minute. Nobody opens the door so they move to the house on the right of theirs. "The houses are really pretty." Alice said while staring at the identical houses lining the sides of the street.
Thankfully, someone opens the door.
An older gentleman opens the door. His gray hair is disheveled and his blue t-shirt appears ragged, similar to his, quite frankly, excessively baggy pants. Seeing Pietro and Alice he grunts in annoyance. "What is it? He said.
Alice ignores the man's bad attitude and speaks. "Me and my dad are new. What do we do?" The old man sighs and rubs his palm against his forehead. "Come in." He said as he opened the door. Pietro hesitates.
So far nobody has tried to hurt me or Alice. Maybe its's because we're out in the open. Who knows how when one of these people react when they have us trapped in their home. Pietro thinks to himself.
Seeing Pietro hesitate the old man sighs again. "Don't worry. It's impossible to try to hurt other people here. Ah, except maybe incarnations like that lass following you." He said while pointing at Alice.
Pietro looks at the old man. Then he looks at Alice. In that moment he decides to try to punch the old man. As he raises his fist he feels an unimaginable pressure surrounds him. His body goes stiff and his mind shuts down for several seconds. Concerned Alice speaks to Pietro. "Are you okay?" She said while grabbing his hand.
Pietro wakes up in that moment. "I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you." He said before patting her head. The old man gives them a strange look before guiding them to the living room.
On the back wall is an old fashioned chair with carvings of leaves lining the armrest, a blue floral prink covering the brown cushions. In front of the couch is a rectangular wood foot rest, the couch directly facing the large TV across the room.
The old man moves to the couch, inviting Pietro and Alice to sit there. Alice accepts but Pietro doesn't, instead choosing to stand. After making sure everyone is comfortable the old man speaks. "So what are you here for? Child abuse? Or did you kill your daughter." The old man said while staring at Alice.
Pietro glares at him. After several seconds of awkward silence Alice speaks. "So, umm. Where are we?" She said. The old man responds almost instantly. "No idea. So since I've answered one of your questions can you answer mine." He said.
Pietro just puts up his middle finger in response. Not until I know what your'e talking about, he thinks.
The old man also flips his middle finger in response. Alice, somewhat confused, tilts her head before also flashing her middle fingers. The old man, seeing this immediately starts laughing. "Bwahaha! My god how innocent is this kid. Never mind. Just ask what you want, just make sure that scary little girl puts her fingers down." he said before putting his arms behind his back.
Alice frown a little bit before look at Pietro. Seeing that familiar annoyed glance he shakes his head. Shortly after Alice helped Pietro with his seventh murder she began to really enjoy the feelings of adults fearing her. In that moment she was the punisher and she loved it. Whenever a victim would try to hurt Alice or say certain things she would ask Pietro "So when can I kill it?"
One thing that always lead to Alice scaring the victim was when the victim treated Alice like a weak and innocent child. In this moment, Alice clearly wants to hurt the old man. She might be able to, just as the old man said but Pietro would like to collect some information first.
Finally Pietro speaks. "Just give me whatever is considered common sense here." He said with his arms crossed.
The old man thinks for a few minutes. After seeing Alice copy Pietro he giggles, speaking after. "Okay so first. We can't die unless we're corrupted. That little girl is what we call an incarnation of regret. When the both of you give up you will turn into a monster." The old man stops.
He moves upstairs and come's back with a teenage girl. She looks perfectly fine. Her skin is intact and nothing seems to be missing. "This is my grand daughter. My daughter abused her and eventually killed her. I knew and I did nothing. The moment I begin to forget or break down she will cut me open and fuse with my body." He said after giving the girl a hug.
After looking at her for several seconds he begins to speak. "Second everyone here has one of these. So far every single person in this world was involved in someone's death. Third, most people worship the moon." The old man stops once again.
After taking a short breath he talks again. "Finally, society is just about the same here. You need a job to make money to buy a home. We don't need to eat but most people do. The jobs are different. We have a bank and diners as well as gambling dens. Most people work as a food processor or hunter."
Suddenly, Pietro stops the old man. "Why would I need a house. Also why does anybody need money here."
The old man gives Pietro an annoyed glance then returns to speaking. "Every now and then some dangerous beast will show up. You won't die but you will feel the pain of death. Every house is made of a material they dislike. For the money aspect. The weaker people here wanted to feel some semblance of normalcy." He said.
Finally, the old man finishes speaking. Alice just stays quite, glancing at the old mans grand daughter every now and then. Pietro begins to think to himself. Do I just walk in ask for a job? What do I even eat? Who or what made the currency?
Thinking about the potential similarities to earth Pietro's mood turns sour. One thing he especially disliked about earth was the repetitive days. Sure this place is weird but at least I can do what I want. He thinks to himself.
Am I really going to end up as another cog in the unchanging machine again? I'd prefer that didn't happen. Maybe I should try being a hunter. I'm sure I can at least feel something when i'm killing. Plus the creatures here should be fun to kill. Pietro thinks.
He looks to the old man. "So how do I become a hunter?" The old man, clearly surprised gives Pietro an odd look. "Just wander outside and bring back the corpse of whatever you kill to the tallest building in the town center." He said.
Pietro thinks for a few seconds before asking some more questions.
"Am I going to need some kind of license or do I need to register under an organization?" He said.
"After your first kill you have to register as a hunter. All you have to do is sell the goods. So I guess you do have to join the organization but the benefits are worth the restrictions." The old man said.
Pietro begins to think to himself, wondering if he should try to join. On one hand his actions will be restricted but on the other he can have some fun. After a few seconds Pietro speaks again."What are the benefits and restrictions?" he said.
"All kills have to be sold to the organization, you are not allowed to attack fellow members, and nobody is allowed to claim another's kill. If this happens they will be feed to the beast one hundred times until the pain breaks them. The benefits are the store discounts, health insurance, high pay, and learning to explore." the old man said.
Pietro once again goes silent. This place has health insurance? I can't die so why would I need it? Does this place have some weird disease I need to avoid? He thinks to himself.
The old man looks at Pietro, realizing something after a few seconds. "Just because we can live without a head, assuming you we're attacked by a normal monster, doesn't mean that your head will just grow back. If you loose a limb you need to absorb some processed monster meat, which is pretty expensive, in order to reattach it or grow a new one." He said.
After a few moments of silence Pietro prepares to leave. Of course after thanking the old man but before he can go he has to wake up Alice. It seems that she got bored while Pietro and the old man were talking. Her hair is a mess and drool is dropping down her mouth.
The old man laughs a small bit before opening the front door. Pietro just sighs before lifting Alice and placing her on his back. At first he tries to go back home but without Alice awake the door just won't open.
Should I wake her up? He thinks to himself.
In the end he decides to just wander around the town while she sleeps. After thinking for a few seconds he decides to wander the outskirts. As he walks he'll see a carriage pass every now and then. They all vary in quality, some made of what looks like wood and some made of what looks like stone.
The only thing in common among the carriages is the dog or cat like monster pulling them.
Occasionally he'll glance at the identical houses or the light brown wood road.
After spending what feels like an hour exploring the outskirts, which is made entirely of houses as well as a few shops, he moves closer to the center. The middle of the city seems to be made of small shops. Some of them sell weapons, some are diners, some are hostels.
As he moves closer to the center he notices that the buildings have been replaced by farmland. The further he moves the bigger he realizes the city is. Finally, after crossing several acres of farmland he makes it to the center.
There are only six buildings.
What seems to be the hunter organization, a large library, a small tower, two exceptionally large factories, and what seems to be two five story storage houses. As he begins to examine the buildings further he begins to feel something wiggle on his back.
"Good morning. Where are we dad?" Alice said