Chapitre 249: Reima finally gets to F***... I mean Fluff.

The next day on the 30th of July Reima and a still reluctant Ciri entered the Dark Forest again, a large breakfast courtesy of Tom had them fully prepared to spar for most of the day. This of course was only the side activity, their main purpose of coming here again was to meet Nerissa and see what else they could discover about this worlds vampires.

Reima had been doing some reading on the local variety and discovered that they aren't even close to the ones in the Witcher, the higher ones atleast. This worlds vampires are more akin to those you'd discover in a horror novel, they can't come into contact with direct sunlight, garlic hurts them as well as running water, the reasons for this Reima can't quite figure out but they exist nonetheless.

The dark forest consists of many trees that leave the lower canopy in almost pitch darkness, if Reima didn't know any better he'd think that these were created via magical means... Or where they? Either way the duo find the clearing that they'd used yesterday and set the picnic basket Reima had filled with store bought sandwiches to the side, he could just store it in his Folded Space but he wanted to try and feed Nerissa's rabbit form... It's for this creepy reason that he'd also packed the basket with carrots, much to Ciri's chagrin.

The thing he'd concentrate on teaching her today would be Witcher Signs... He was surprised to hear that Geralt tried to teach her but she wasn't able to use any, this was surprising seeing as she easily learnt Aard and Igni in just a few hours within the forest meditating. When asked why she had trouble learning them she just shrugged and said "It was like I had a block on my magic... One that doesn't seem present now?" the explanation wasn't very satisfactory for Reima but he had to drop it as he didn't want to badger her.

After a couple more hours of combining various sword forms, Sign and spells Reima spotted a black red eyed rabbit watching them via his Observation Haki. He immediately halted their practise and almost skipped over to the basket, "Snuf-I mean Nerissa I've got carrots, you want some?".

The bunny hops over and thrusts it's head into the basket, unfortunately for her she doesn't seem to be able to retrieve anything. Ciri sits next to her and tries to lift her out of it but gets kicked with her back legs causing her to huff and start eating her own sandwich. After a couple minutes a serene scene of Reima sitting next to Ciri with a black rabbit nibbling a carrot hungrily in his arms.

This continues peacefully for around half an hour until something runs into the clearing, Ciri is already up with her sword drawn but quickly settles down as she sees that a child with tears streaming down his face is before her.

He falls onto his hands and knees while sobbing, "Dad, dad! I'm lost... Please." Ciri clears her throat causing the boy to jump, he looks to be around 6-7 years-old and is wearing wellingtons and a fishing hat. The boy sees that he's not in any immediate danger and speaks up, "Miss! I'm lost, can you help me please?"

Ciri kneels down still clutching her sword, "I can and will, what's your name?" she asks in a soft voice.

The boy seems enchanted by her and stutters out "L-luke, are you an angel?"

Reima scoffs at the side and mutters "Alright, calm down Anakin.", the bunny in his arms seems to feel his agitation and wiggles deeper into his arms.

Ciri "Well Luke, where did you lose your parents?"

Luke "I don't know... We were fishing when some black thing took Dad away." he sniffles, "He told me to run and I did, the black things didn't want me."

Ciri glances at Nerissa in Reima's arms, "Don't worry we'll find your dad, monsters are only in stories after all."

Nerissa hops out of Reima's arms and transforms behind a tree before walking back, still barefoot and wearing a white sundress. "My family are the only vampires in this forest, they also don't need to feed on live prey..." she whispers to Reima as Ciri comforts the child.

Reima "From what I've seen there shouldn't be anything fast enough to be described of as a "Blur" around here... The only thing that seems to fit would be a vampire."

Nerissa looks uncomfrotable at this thought and Ciri walks up over to them, "I trust everything is, well?" she says, emphasising "well". Reima steps forward and whispers his suspicions of vampires, her gaze at Nerissa turns vicious but when he mentions what Nerissa had said she seems to come to the same conclusion. "What should we do? The boys father is most likely dead."

Reima rubs his forehead, "We'll look regardless, I'm a Witcher and I consider you a Witcheress... It's in the job description. She nods and everyone turns to the young boy, Luke, "Could you lead us to the lake you were fishing at?" He shakes his head and explains he ran randomly, he doesn't know which direction it would be in.

Nerissa "There is only one lake big enough to fish in around here." she says as she starts walking north. Reima notes that the quickest way to exit this forest is also indeed to travel northwards, usually if someone was attacked the attacker would drag them deeper into the forest but that doesn't seem to be the case here? He'll hold his conclusions until they reach the scene of the crime.