Previously in NWC-
Reno purchases food form May, thus completing his shopping trip. During his conversation with May, he learns of an individual who willingly loans to citizens of Bambadale, despite the high risk. He returns home to see Medusa still working on her project. Luna convinces him to start a fire and Medusa gets scared. Reno manages to comfort Medusa into sitting by the fire and they all have a peaceful evening. After eating dinner, they return to the barn, deciding to bring Medusa with them. They all quickly fall asleep...
"Ughh… can't… move!" Reno wakes up to the inability to move his arms or legs, only being able to move his neck slightly. He opens his eyes to find that Medusa had wrapped herself around him in his sleep, her sleeping face next to his. "Medusa… time to wake up! "He tries to squirm out of her vines but it only makes her instinctively tighten her grip. "Ahh! Medusa, time to wake the hell up!" He begins raising his voice, which causes Luna to slowly wake up.
"Hm? Reno? What is it, for what reason are you so rowdy this morning?" Luna slowly floats out of the blanket as she tries to wake herself up.
"Medusa! It's getting very hard to breath here!" He tries to remain calm and not move but the discomfort from his joints being constricted make him squirm slightly. Medusa, still fast asleep, subconsciously tightens every time she feels movement. "Medusa!" Feeling his bones begging for freedom, he begins yelling. Medusa shows no signs of waking up. "Don't tell me she's a heavy sleeper! MEDUSA! You are NOT allowed to be a heavy sleeper! WAKE UP!" Using the last of the remaining oxygen in his lung he yells as loud as he can. The cows in the field even raising their heads in confusion. Medusa slowly stirs, loosening her grip just enough for Reno to breath. He gasps for air as she still somehow stays asleep. He gives it one more shout, which finally causes her to yawn and rub her eyes.
"Muh?" She slowly sits up, retracting her vines completely as she yawns. "Ree?" She opens her eyes and looks at Reno, smiling and holding her arms up in excitement. "Ree!" She gets up, slowly regaining her full cognitive ability.
"Thank god!" Reno stretches and breaths, never having been happier to do either. "Medusa! You have to not squeeze me so hard! I could've passed out- or worse, died!"
"Nooo…" Medusa hangs her head as her tone lowers to one of shame.
Reno sighs and pats her on the head. "Just… be more careful, 'kay?" He speaks gently, smiling slightly to try and put her at ease.
Medusa visibly brighten up, smiling again. "Ree!"
Luna watches silently, floating there. "(With absolute certainty her dad.)"
The group make their way to the FTG. They eat some of the food Reno had bought the prior day before splitting up. Medusa quickly goes back to her project and Reno grabs the practice sword, slinging it once more around his body. "I think today is the day I finally start my training!"
Luna watches as Reno starts stretching, getting ready to practice his swordsmanship. "Have you ever swung a sword before, Reno?"
"Not a real one, no." Reno's blatant denial causes her a small level of discomfort, but she decides not to voice it. She watches as Reno grabs the hilt of the sword and tries to pull it out of the sheath, failing, causing it to fall to the ground. "Damn it." He struggles putting the sword back in and he tries again, the same turn of events playing out. "Damn it!" He tries to put the sword back but keeps missing as can't see the sheath. "They make it look so damn easy in the games!"
Luna watches with a growing sense of urgency to stop him. "Perhaps sheathing your sword on your back is not the wisest? Maybe around the waist shall prove more sufficient?" She watches as a lightbulb goes off in Reno's head and he begins moving the sword. "Better?"
"Maybe, actually!" Reno grabs the hilt of the sword and pulls it out. His draw is slightly sloppy and it's obvious the weight is unfamiliar to him, but he still manages to keep a hold on the blade. "Aha!" He does it again and again, getting slightly more refined with each attempt. After 30 minutes of drawing his sword and making a pose, he finally begins to swing the sword. He draws it one more time, takes his preferred pose of holding the sword in his right hand and having his left hand close to the other, hovering slightly above it. He widens his stance, a bit too much which causes him to stumble almost when he makes his first swing. "Ahh!" He manages to stay standing, not falling on his face. He takes his stance again, this time closing his legs slightly. He continues this process, trying to find the stance that best suits him. Through trial and error he's able to find a semi-stable stance, taking practice swing after practice swing until his arms begin to get tired. It doesn't take long before he's breathing heavily and leaning on his sword as he sticks it in the ground to hold himself up.
"Reno, I understand you've never swung a sword before, but don't you think you're getting winded too fast?"
Reno looks at Luna with distaste, breathing heavily as he speaks. "Well EXCUSE me if my world has no need for things like swordplay! It's not my fault that the need to know how to swing a sword died out years ago!"
"I was referring more to your level of breathing after such a short time frame. You're leaning on your sword already!"
"Look, man, I'm doing my best, okay?" He finally manages to catch his breath, hesitant to pick his sword up again. "I'd like to see you swing this thing around for a couple of minutes, THEN you can talk."
"I've no need, I'm capable of using magic for my fights."
"Not all of us can use magic, Galoghor."
"Galo- Don't you dare call me that ugly name again!" Luna begins angrily flying in Reno's face, attacking him to the best of her ability.
"Hey, back off!" He picks up his sword and waves it back and forth at her. "I'm armed and dangerous!" They do this, taking turns at attacking the other, with no real intention of hurting the other.
"Muh?" Medusa gets curious from the commotion and turns to see Luna and Reno playing. She gets excited and rushes over, wanting to join in the play session. Without thinking about it, she sends a large vine directly at Reno, hitting him in the middle of his stomach. He flies back several feet and lands on his back, slowly gripping his stomach and rolling over. "Ree!" She triumphantly waves her vines around, thinking she had just won a game of sorts.
"Ughh… I think I'm dying… Luna, I'm sorry… tell Arthur I love him." Reno lays his head down after struggling to move, the force of impact and level of pain causing him to momentarily blackout. After 15 painstaking seconds of Medusa cheering for herself, Reno regains consciousness. "Ughh… Medusa… what the hell!" He finally manages to push his upper half off the ground to watch Medusa's face slowly go from excited and happy to concerned and guilty. His stomach is turning, the internal bleeding quickly forming a bruise the size of his entire stomach. He see her expression drop and his conscious begins hurting too. "Medusa… that was very good!" He's unable to bring himself to make her sad by scolding her. "You just have to be a bit gentler next time, okay?" He forces a smile which is more like him gritting his teeth than anything.
Medusa's smile slowly returns as she begins to wave her vines again. "Ree~!" She dances happily, not realizing she'd nearly killed Reno.
Completely running out of strength, he finally collapses again, sighing and groaning as he lie there. "No... more…"
Luna floats over and hangs there silently for a couple of seconds. "Are you alive?" Her voice is riddled with concern, but she tries to maintain a composed tone as not to lose herself.
"Ugh…" Reno, incapable of speaking at the moment, groans in response.
"Wanna take the rest of the day off?"
"Mmhmm…" He remains in this spot, face down in the dirt for another minute until Medusa gets curious and slides over.
"Medusa, sweetie, may you please help your daddy up?" Luna speaks to Medusa, her tone sweet but still concerned.
"Daa!" She picks up Reno and sets him on his feet, smiling with excitement as she completes the task. "Daa!"
Luna hovers over to Reno, her concern slowly disappearing after she sees him able to support his own weight. "Let us go sit, Reno." She slowly guides him towards the fireplace, watching him as he sits down, leaning against the tree. "I would like to apologize. I believe Medusa got the wrong impression of our little argument. Are you okay, all things considered?"
It takes Reno a bit to work up enough strength to speak, his voice plagued with pain and discomfort. "It feels like my stomach is constantly being hit by hammers, except it's like a constant stream of them." He grabs the bottom of his shirt, even the slightest contact with his stomach eliciting a pained response from him. He pulls his shirt up slightly to revel his dark red stomach. "Ughh, that's one nasty fuckin' bruise… God, I feel sick." He lets go of the shirt, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the tree.
TO BE CONTINUED...