"Oh it's kind of clean now" Ari said waking up in the now familiar cabin.
Remembering Buttons statement that it represented her mental state she was pleasantly surprised to see the broken windows now fixed and the damp dreary curtains and floors now clean.
"Where is he this time?" Ari said climbing out of the fox skinned bed sheets.
Looking around the room she focused in on the closet.
Remaining perfectly silent she carefully walked over to it, careful not to creek the old wooden floors of the cabin.
"Aha!" she shouted as she pulled the top door open dramatically only to find nothing.
"Aha!" she shouted as she opened the long lower doors only to find nothing.
"Incoming!" Buttons shouted as he rolled out from underneath the bed, right past Ari and into the closet as the door in Ari's hand pulled itself shut.
Left standing with an incredulous look on her face Ari backed away.
"Uh..." she said looking at the door waiting for Buttons to seemingly fall out.
On cue a rustle from the closet came as Buttons small body dropped from the top closet shelf.
"Wait what?" Ari said looking at the still shut bottom door with Buttons on the floor in front of it.
As he sat up Ari saw a chocolate chip cookie in his left hand.
"Wait where did that come from?" she asked as he looked at her as he ate it in one go.
"I don't know" he replied spitting cookie crumbs on the floor as he walked over to his chair.
"Dream physics, it's probably best to just leave it be" Buttons said as he climbed up the chair and picked up his book.
As he handed Ari the book and pen she set it down on a nearby cabinet near the bed and opened it up.
Tapping the blank pages with the pen the blue lighting flashed up as she set the pen down and looked at her profile with green writing over it.
//LEVEL UP! DREAMER LEVEL 2\\
Flashed in her eyes before dissipating leaving her profile for her to see.
[Dreamers Profile]
[Name: Zariah Brooks]
[HP: 90/100]
[Strength: 1] > [Strength: 2]
[Speed: 6] > [Speed: 7]
[Stamina: 10] > [Stamina: 11]
[BP: 10/100]
[XP: 64/100] > [XP: 20/200]
"Oh cool I leveled up" Ari said as she flexed her thin biceps in gest.
"Yeah as you gain experience you'll level up which adds a little boost to your stats. Obviously the best way to develop is still by using your bonus points" Buttons said as he sat on the chair in the corner kicking his small feet.
"What about you? You're a shape-shifter or whatever, you level up too?" Ari asked.
"I'm an extension of you, as you get stronger so do I, obviously in different ways. You get stronger, faster and fitter I already have my base ability and it evolves over time and I get damage points but that's it" Buttons said as he reached behind his back and pulled out a sandwich.
"Man you eat a lot, you gonna hibernate or something" Ari said with a smirk watching him open his mouth ready to devour.
Pausing mid way he looked over at Ari and proclaimed:
"I'm basically your subconscious remember, I eat as much as I do because this is how much you eat and think about food" he said in a matter of fact tone before eating his sandwich.
Ignoring her own subconscious saying she eats like a bear going into hibernation she focused on her stat book.
Remembering the discomfort she felt in her ribs throughout the day she thought it best to invest all present points in her health.
Clicking the confirm button she took a second to feel around her sides.
A smile crept across her face feeling her pains completely gone.
[Dreamers Profile]
[Name: Zariah Brooks]
[HP: 100/100]
[Strength: 2]
[Speed: 7]
[Stamina: 11]
[BP: 0/100]
[XP: 20/200]
Feeling content with her stats she looked over at Buttons who was licking mayonnaise off of his paws.
"Aight I'm set, what's today's mission?" Ari asked grimacing.
"There's no way I'm that messy a eater right?" she muttered under her breath.
"Probably are. Anyway today's a bit different, it's a co-op mission" Buttons said.
"What you mean co-op? Wait someone's joining us?" Ari asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep" Buttons replied.
"Like as in someone else who does this for a living. I mean I don't do it for a living but you know what I mean" Ari said in a rushed ramble.
"I know what you mean and yes you'll be working with another dreamer on this one" Buttons said as he hopped off of his chair with a paper in his hand.
Handing the wrinkled page to Ari she opened it.
"Aubrey Evans? So is this a girl with no hair or a guy?" she asked looking at the crude drawing of a bald person with 'Aubrey Evans, stress and anxiety' written above it.
"It's a guy. He played football and loved every second of it" Buttons said.
"Understandable" Ari said with a smirk.
"He was dedicated to his craft. Spent years working on it and working on it and it led... nowhere. He was good but not great so a lot of his peers kinda just passed him by. People his age were playing in big games watched by millions and he could barely get minutes on a local team. The one thing he loved didn't love him back so he dropped himself into the ocean one night drunk off his ass" Buttons said shaking his head.
"Well sounds like we gotta show him there's more to life than a game" Ari said putting the hood of her hoodie up.
"Sounds like rain" she said listening to the sound of raindrops pitter-pattering the roof of the cabin.
"Rain, water. Oh cause he drowned himself" she said looking up.
"Yeah good shot this place gets flooded so we should probably get out there" Buttons said running on his little legs towards the door.
Leaving the cabin Ari looked out and the grey skies laden rainy field.
"Ay wassup" sounded a figure in the distance walking over to Ari out of a cabin not too dissimilar to Ari's.
"Um hey wassup" Ari said taken aback by the statuesque beautiful muscular woman walking in the rain towards her.
"I'm Kate, you are?" the short haired brunette asked as Ari stood gobsmacked.