Sweet Coding.

"Shall we go in?" Red suggested to Binary cheerfully.

Then, not waiting for a reply. "OK! WATAH!" the crimson crusader shouted out, enthusiastically knocking on the door, very very hard.

"ANYONE HOME?"

"She's.... overdoing it..." Shin commented, sweatdropping as he gave a bowl of COFFEE-FLAVORED YOGURT to Chris.

((KNOCK HARD ON DOOR, SEE IF ANYONE ANSWERS))

1001 sucked in a sharp breath as Red pounded overzealously on the door. If there was actually anyone inside, they'd just killed their chances of making a decent impression. "I'm headed in, Chris. Who knows what Red could get herself into if we turned away from her for even a few seconds?" the Djinn said to Chris. He expected a reply, but received none. "...Chris?" he called nervously.

Chris, in the real world, was in utter bliss. The spoon that had previously carried a miracle-bearing lump of coffee-flavoured yogurt was hanging out of Chris' somewhat open, smiling mouth. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head and he was vibrating slightly in the aftermath of what he called a 'coffeegasm.'

That, and the almost literal 'explosion of flavour' had somehow carried him out of his seat, over the backrest of the bench, and onto the ground behind it. 1001 sighed and facepalmed. "Nevermind, then..." he said. "Sorry about that, Shin," he called to the ace. Turning away from the window, he looked back at the house, looming over Red as he waited for the door to open, if it ever would.

<(Chris was inflicted with Coffeegasm! 1001 is on his own! 1001 eyes the door cautiously!)>

A single eye appears at a gap in the vines and hole in the door that neither of them had noticed before.

Once this disappears, Red hears a soft click, followed by a creak as the door slowly swings open.

"Ooh~!" Red awed at the event. "That was pretty neat! Excuse us!" the crimson crusader greeted as she pushed open the door and went on in.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Shin was desperately trying to wake Chris up.
"Agh! Come on man! You can't go to heaven yet! You've got tons of more coffee-flavored yogurt to chow down on! Chris!" Shin called to the scientist, but to what avail?

((Go inside building, try waking Chris off with promises of more coffee-flavored yogurt.))

Chris shuddered as another fresh wave of caffeine washed through his systems. "I...feel...g...o...o...d..." he stuttered, sounding not unlike a certain video game villain that had also lost his mind. What little bit of sanity he still held felt extraordinarily light, almost like he could just float away and leave the rest of the world behind.

Sighing at his operator's condition, 1001 lowered his feet to touch the ground and ducked down so he could fit through the door. "Please pardon us for intruding on you," he said respectfully into the darkness, hoping the one inside had caught it.

<(Chris is succumbing to coffeegasm! 1001 enters hut! 1001 tries: Respect!)>

"No matter," came a soft voice from behind the open door. To the trained ear, one would notice that there was just the slightest shudder in it, but not enough to be noticeable to just anyone.

Once they were inside, the door closed behind them. The sound of flint striking metal sounded, and a spark erupted from near the source of the voice, followed by a held torch being lit.

Though the light was barely enough to fill the cabin, which was almost completely empty save a few necessities and a very uncomfortable-looking bed in the far corner, it illuminated enough of the source of the voice for them to make it out.

It was another human themed navi, garbed in blackened robes that covered most of his body, leaving only a scarred face visible.

"My apologies for the lack of light," he said. "Such measures are unfortunately necessary."

"It's because you're a werewolf too, isn't it?" Red inquired, suddenly and sadly.

"We don't mind, as long as we know where you are- um... What's your name, actually?" Shin commented, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he unloaded a second mini-fridge from his sack.

"You can call me Red! And that was my operator, Shin!" the crimson crusader said, introducing herself and her operator, before gesturing to her companion. "And this is-" Red paused, giving Binary time to introduce itself.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Shin had filled a bucket with ice-cold water and held it precariously over Chris' head.

"Forgive me for this," Shin sighed, as passerbys looked on in confusion. "MORTAL BLOW! ICE COLD AWAKENING!" the ace shouted, dumping the contents of the bucket onto the scientist.

"...Binary. My operator is Chris, but he is unresponsive at the moment; I apologize," 1001 said, introducing himself and his operator...

...who was completely unaware of the bucket of ice water perched above his head. Chris only awoke once his helpful friend had tipped the bucket, at which he snapped out of it completely. "WHABERJINKONARUHINARULESURFANWHA!" he shouted in gibberish, sitting up abruptly and accidentally smacking his face against his own knee. He suddenly looked around, confused as to why everyone was staring at him. "Uhh, Shin, buddy? Why's everyone staring at me? And why am I over here soaking wet?" Chris asked, completely and utterly unaware to what had just occured a minute ago.

"...Where'd my coffee-yogurt go?"

1001 mightily facepalmed once more at his operator's actions, and turned to face the torch-bearing Navi. He didn't say anything, but the shining golden eyes that covered 1001's body were fixed upon him with an unyeilding gaze.

"A werewolf? What?" the navi asked suddenly, looking shocked. "No, no. What gave you that idea? There's no werewolves out here...I think."

The navi shook his head, trying to ignore the perfectly audible antics of Red's and Binary's netops.

"No...to be honest, I don't know why I'm hiding. I just know that if I go into town, those damn zealots will tear me apart." He sighed, before realizing he still hadn't introduced himself. "Oh, sorry, my name is Damian."

"Ah~ I'm glad we stopped here then before heading there then," Shin mused, picking Chris up, and handing him a battery-powered blowdryer. "You're yogurt's safe, but I think you should indulge more slowly. Now, how about some creme brulee of the same flavor?" the netop offered, handing a bowl of coffee-flavored creme brulee to Chris.

"Yeah, we might need more information on where we're heading," Red replied, plopping down on a folding chair she had just recently pulled out of her picnic basket.

"So, Damian, if you don't mind, will you tell us all you know about the village up ahead?" Shin inquired, waiting for the navi's story.

((Shin used INQUIRE on Damian. Shin gave Chris "Coffee-flavored Creme Brulee!))

"They're...well, religious zealots of some sort. You two will probably be fine...well..." Damian glanced past Red towards Binary. "Not entirely sure he will."

"Me, well, I don't know why I was targeted. My first memory was timestamped not even a year ago, but they had already targeted me for some reason." He sighed. "I guess you could try asking them why, but I make no guarantees how well that'll work. You'd want to find a few people not part of that mob."

1001's gaze, already fixed on Damian, intensified. "And why would I be endangered?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Chris, now safe from the Giygas-like effects that new coffee-flavoured products tended to bring him, was digging into the creme brulee. However, as delicious as it was, he wasn't completely oblivious to what was going on in the Net. "I second the question, Damian. Why Binary; he hasn't done anything wrong as far as I know," Chris said, looking up from his treat. "By the way, Shin, you're way too awesome for me to even try and describe. Cheers, buddy," he added to the man sitting beside him.

With the word religious zealots in mind, Red and Shin looked to Damian, then to Binary, back again, and another time. Myun kind of just picked at the ground.

"I see what you mean, Binary's current form may be a problem for encountering people described as 'religious zealots,'" Shin mused, as his navi and her support unit nodded in agreement.

"Well, here's an idea," Red suggested, getting off her chair. "Binary, instead of being some thousand-eyed god being, will turn..." there was a dramatic pause. "Into a basketball!"

Myun and Shin immediately fell over.

"Er- I was thinking a large belt circling around you, but a gray basketball full of 0's and 1's might be ok," the ace sweatdropped, getting up and handing Chris a towel. "What do you think, Chris?"

<(Shin, Binary's white, not grey. Think white jellyfish.)>

"Ahh, now I get it," Chris said, wiping the area around his mouth daintily with the towel. "In that case, 1001.NMO, disengage! Everyone, cover your ears!" he exclaimed, his hands scrambling around a holo-screen in front of him, tapping various functions and disabling the Navi Model Overide.

1001's body suddenly started twitching, as his control over it went zip. In midair, he curled into a fetal ball, looking out of place seeing as he was about 7 and a half feet tall and heavily muscled. Gradually, his many features started to blur and fade away, until he was pretty much just a floating sphere with random colour splashed onto it. This colour quite literally solidified, then broke off like paint, revealing the white, translucent interior; the black 1's and 0's swimming around like nobody's business.

Now confined by the laws of gravity, Binary fell from his floating position and splattered onto the ground, quickly reforming after a few seconds. "1001.NMO: DISENGAGED!" he monotoned, bringing to mind the warning Chris had said about covering one's ears.

"Now then, Binary, you heard the lady. We need you to morph into a sphere, about yay-big in diameter, and reasonably bouncy and firm. And while you are in the sphere form, you are to remain completely silent," Chris commanded. Binary complied with an, "AFFIRMATIVE!" and next thing the group knew there was a white jellylike basketball with black digits floating around inside it.

"So, should we head in?" Chris asked, while Binary just sat on the ground as a basketball.

"So, if that's all your advice, Damian-san," Red began, picking up the Binaryball. "We'll be on our way. Come on, let's go guys," the crimson crusader piped cheerfully, walking toward the door, Myun following closely behind.

"We wish you luck as well," Shin said to Damian as he closed the screen in the net world and settled on watching his navi.

Damian cringed at the monotone voice of Binary, but did not comment on it. He merely nodded to Red to indicate that that was in fact all he had to say.

((Sorry for the delay and crap modpost. I've been busy lately and stuff.))

As Red stepped out of the house, she sighed, and turned toward the village. The sun looked dreary, but it was time to find out what was to be.

Holding the Binaryball under her right shoulder, the crimson crusader traversed toward the town, expectant of some answers, and more people.

Myun followed closely behind.

((Head to village))

"So, uhh, yeah. Just stay quiet, Binary, and we shouldn't get into too much trouble," Chris repeated.

The Binaryball tucked into Red's arm did ... absolutely nothing. He had apparently taken Chris' words to his nonexistant heart, and remained silent.

The door closed behind them the instant they were outside, leaving little indication of the refuge's presence. Red walked towards the town. The woods, as she drew closer, thinned even more, but never fully disappeared, still leaving several trees spread around and through the village itself.

As they got a clear view of it, they noticed six main buildings: three circular, three elongated, arranged close together so that the long buildings seemed almost to spiral out from the round ones. Though several more are scattered outside of this center, they don't seem to stand out as much.

A crowd was gathered at the far end of a village, from which a considerable amount of noise issued. Closer to Red and Binary, however, a short line of monks walked in what appeared to be a circle around the center six buildings.

Red and Shin observed the village building structure and residents curiously. Upon noticing the monks, Red handed the Binaryball to Myun, who securely held onto it, and curtsied to the monks.

"Hey everyone! I'm Red_Riding_Hood.exe! Nice to meet'cha!" Red greeted the villagers enthusiastically, waving "hi" with her right hand with the same amount of excitement. She then moved on to introduce her companions. "These are my friends, the bunny, Myun, and the ball, Binary! Binary doesn't talk a lot though, must be hard, not having a mouth," the crimson crusader continued, pointing out her allies through pointing. Myun nodded furiously at the last statement.

"So... do any of you know the exit? I feel like we've been stuck in that forest for months!" the red-cloaked navi inquired sillily, making herself look like a klutz.