All the characters appearing in A Gentleman Scientist and A Perky Pyromaniac are copyright Klei Entertainment, Don't Starve. No infringement of these copyrights is intended.

A Chance Meeting

The Gentleman Scientist sat on his bed roll in contemplative thought while waiting for dawn and pondered what his next actions should be. He knew he had to find a way out of Maxwell's deranged world one way or another, but after numerous weeks of simply surviving and finding no sign of any way out of this madness – he was beginning to lose hope.

He also felt lonely.

It was an odd experience to him; he went for weeks on end without seeing another living soul in the real world without feeling any consequential loneliness as his constant experiments and pursuit for knowledge kept him occupied. But now there wasn't a simple barrier in the form of a house and physical distance preventing the rest of the world, who he had loathed previously, from interacting from the misanthrope.

Now he was in an entire different dimension where pigs stood proudly on two feet, giant tentacles sprouted from the ground to kill wary creatures, spiders the size of small mammals crawled around at dusk and an ominous presence lurked in the dead of night.

He shivered at his recollection of the first night.

A few weeks ago he would have thought himself ludicrous for even entertaining such a notion as a beast that only dwelled in darkness, that could literally 'vanish' in the presence of light. But this was Maxwell's world he reminded himself, and the same rules didn't apply. He eventually settled upon believing it was a creature of Maxwell's creation intended to be his unruly demise if he wasn't careful.

But he was careful, well, most of the time. He berated himself daily for his rash actions that landed himself in this situation – he was too greedy and believed that a human life was far too little time to truly gain the knowledge he wanted to and he unknowingly struck a deal with the devil himself.

He surveyed his camp: a campfire was burning steadily in the centre, and two chests neatly positioned a safe distance downwards from it. Just above that, there was his creation humming quietly, he simply called it a 'Science Machine', it allowed him to refine some of the materials he collected and create more useful contraptions.

On the other side of the camp, there was a small wooden table which housed his makeshift log armour, a useful backpack constructed from twigs and grass that held an assortment of gathering tools ranging from pickaxes to shovels and finally a spear with a razor sharp piece of flint for the tip.

Weapons were essential in surviving in Maxwell's domain, much to his chagrin. He had learnt that the hard way after being chased by hounds for an entire night, blindly stumbling in unknown territory before eventually ending up in the swamp and awakening a tentacle that became his unknowing salvation as it slaughtered the hounds.

He sighed, dawn would be minutes away and he could swear that the days were becoming shorter. He also felt a chilly breeze in the air much often than not and the only reasonable explanation would be that winter was coming, which meant resources would become scarce and he needed to stock up.

Finally the sun appeared over the horizon, and Wilson had newfound respect for the star that had saved his life on more than one occasion. His hypothesis was that he was still on planet Earth, due to numerous physical signs indicating it – most notably the sun, but this portion of Earth was under Maxwell's influence which allowed him to toy around with it in deranged ways. He suspected that he was on an uncharted island somewhere.

He stood up and stretched gingerly, massaging his aching muscles from the tedious efforts of gathering materials that he needed. He finished his cold breakfast consisting of a morsel of rabbit that he caught yesterday and some wild berries. He slipped on his gear, a log suit and a backpack before lifting his spear and making his way out into the wilderness.

Wilson fished out his papyrus map and studied the charcoal engravings upon it; he spotted the area where he noted the most rocks were and set off in that direction. He had plans for improving his Science Machine into something more substantial that allowed for more ingenious contraptions that he somehow just knew how to create – probably and after effect of gaining the forbidden knowledge that Maxwell gave him.

Eventually the grassy path turned stony, and he could make out the rocks in the distance. He smiled at himself and felt pleased that his geographical memory had not failed him. As he came to the rocks, he kept looking for the tell-tale golden gleam that indicated it housed gold – a useful commodity in this place.

Spotting his target, he grinned and retrieved the pickaxe from his backpack and went to work on the rock. After several minutes of swinging, the rock steadily disintegrated and left him with a hoard of flint, stone and three nuggets of gold. He estimated he would need one more to create the two essential electrical doodads for his new contraption.

He carefully stored the materials in his backpack and continued onwards in search of more gold bearing rocks, and then he heard a Tallbird shriek in anger. Immediately he scuttled behind a nearby rock and surveyed the area around him, but it sounded quite a distance off.

Frowning, he peeked around the rock where he thought the sound emanated from. The sight made his jaw drop.

A girl was running furiously with a Tallbird egg away from the furious mother, her expression was one of terror and frustration as she wobbled along. Wilson's usually lighting paced mind slowed momentarily as he processed the scene before him, and highlighted the most important detail – another human being.

A pained squeal snapped him out of his stupor. Evidently, the Tallbird had caught up with its unfortunate victim and had pecked her viciously on her left arm, the egg crashed to the ground and its contents flowed freely while the girl lay there in them clutching her wound.

The Tallbird was furious, and it attempted another peck but was interrupted by a certain scientist. He flung his pickaxe and it hit the creature alongside it's giant head, enraging it further and gaining it's undivided attention.

Wilson was terrified, he feared these creatures and rightfully so – they struck unnaturally fast and moved incredibly quickly. He didn't understand why he intervened without considering the consequences first, which a scientist should.

He noted that now wasn't the time to contemplate his decision, but for action. He reached for his spear and backed up while the Tallbird approached him with fury sketched into its solitary eye. He dodged the first peck, and the second peck (which nearly took his foot off, he noted) and swiped at the creature's long legs.

It wailed in agony and tried to peck him again – with no time to evade, Wilson slumped to the ground and angled his spear upwards towards the impending blow. He hoped this plan would work, because if it didn't, it would result in his death.

The spear travelled its way into the bird's eye as it slammed into it at full force, killing it instantly and rendering the weapon useless. Unfortunately Wilson was still in the way and the huge head fell onto him knocking out his breathe and cracking his armour a bit.

He managed to scuttle his way out underneath the Tallbird's corpse and slowly came back to his senses as the adrenalin wore off. Suddenly he remembered, the girl. He rushed over the girl who still lay in the egg's viscous contents, eyes closed and breathing shallow as she clutched her bleeding arm.

He crouched beside her and slipped his hand underneath her back, which elicited her opening an eye in response which stared at him.

"I need you to sit upright, to apply the salve." He stated curtly, time was of the essence.

A weak nod in reply later he fished out a healing salve out of his supplies and applied it to the wound while holding her up with his other hand. Slowly the anguish sketched on the girl's face subsided into something more manageable, and he sighed in relief.

He took in the girl's slender frame, and noted her skinny appearance. She was probably starving, he thought, as a wave of sympathy strung his usually uncaring heart. He felt sympathy for this girl thrown into this world; she looked so defenceless and innocent. While he had his smarts to survive here, he doubted this girl had that luxury.

The salve was doing its job, but he would need to bandage the wound to prevent further problems. When he thought she had relaxed enough, he spoke. "I'm going to lift you up now, and place you against a rock so that I can bandage your wounds."

The girl's brows furrowed momentarily, then gave another hesitant nod. As gently as he could, he scooped her out of the gooey contents and carried her bridal style towards a nearby rock. He couldn't help noticing her slick twin tails as he propped her against the rock.

By this point, she regarded him with a tired gaze as he worked on further cleaning her wound and applying some makeshift bandages he constructed from silk a few days ago. When he was satisfied with his handiwork, he scurried back to his backpack and brought it back to her.

He took out a handful of berries he picked on the way here, and her eyes lit up with desire while her stomach churned audibly. She was positively starving as he presumed. She tried raising her good hand but to no avail. The previous endeavour had left her completely drained of energy; Wilson noted this and held his hand up in a peaceful gesture.

"Don't move yet," he commanded firmly but gently, "I'll feed you."

A faint blush found its way to the girl's cheeks, and he couldn't suppress his own smirk. Even when people are close to dying, their ability to feel embarrassed remains intact. The gesture carried no real weight to the scientist – she couldn't feed herself in her current condition so he had to, nothing more than that.

After apparently debating this option, the girl gave him the thumbs-up by nodding. Inwardly he hoped this wouldn't be how they would have to converse in the future, with him speaking and her gesturing. He hoped that she was just too traumatized and exhausted to actually speak.

Still, anything was an improvement to the solitude he has spent here. He popped a berry into her mouth and they watched each other as she chewed and swallowed. Soon they developed a comfortable pace and it became less awkward for the girl.

Before they knew it, Wilson fed her his last berry and they sat in silence for a while. He started standing up but was interrupted by a small voice.

"Thank you," it said.

He looked at the girl quizzically, and she smiled a tired smile at him. He returned the gesture and stood up completely and surveyed the sky – it was tinged with the orange that represented dusk. Soon it would be night.

They would not be able to reach his camp in time, and the girl was in no condition to walk that distance, they would be spending the night here. He took out his emergency fire supplies and started building a fire close to them which he would light when the darkness enveloped them.

The girl watched him work – and eventually saw confusion written on his face as his hand fumbled around in his pockets for his fire-starting kit consisting of a piece of flint and a stone. They were gone, probably fell out during his fight with the Tallbird. As he turned to make his way to the battleground, the girl's voice chimed.

"Look in my pocket," she said weakly, "I have a lighter."

He looked at her sceptically, how could she possibly have a lighter with her? Then he came to the conclusion that it must have been on her person when Maxwell transported her to this world. He reached into her pocket and felt something sturdy, and pulled it out to reveal an interesting looking lighter with a flower on it.

He shook it to determine how much fluid there was left, but no sloshing sounds were heard. He noticed her smirking at his reaction.

"Just try it," she coaxed.

Shrugging, he flicked it open and it revealed a small steady flame burning gently in the gloom of dusk. But it was empty, he thought, how could it still function? He tossed the question into the attic of his mind for later consideration – he needed to light the campfire, and he did so.

The sight of the fire calmed the girl who watched it with a slight smile. In seconds after the fire was lit, the darkness covered the area around them which the fire couldn't pierce. Wilson was relieved, he knew that the fire would last until morning so he went and sat next to the girl and huddled closer.

She regarded him with worried look, maybe afraid that he was going to try and take advantage of her in some way. He scoffed at the notion – he was a gentleman, it wasn't even a possibility much less a thought in his mind.

"The evening will become deathly cold," he explained matter-of-factly, "it will be better if we stay close together and conserve body heat."

"That… makes sense," she replied tersely.

With that, he closed the distance between them and sat against her. She was still sticky from her contact with the egg's contents and somewhat smelly, but he didn't pay that heed at the moment. He was ecstatic that he found another human being! Though he wondered why he only found her now, was she transported in recently? Was she one of Maxwell's ploys to break him?

He peered at the figure curiously; she was watching the fire with a gleeful expression. No, he decided, she couldn't be part of the nefarious devil's plans. Suddenly he came to the realization that he didn't even know this girl's name.

"What is your name?" he asked, pulling her gaze away from the fire and onto him.

"… Willow, and what is yours?" she asked.

"Wilson," he said proudly, "pleased to meet you, Willow."

The tension in her seemed to rise for a moment, before disappearing entirely. She looked into his dark eyes, searching for any hint of malice or deceit and found none.

"Same here," she said and smiled, and rested her head against his shoulder turning to watch the fire again. Wilson should have been unaffected by the gesture, but somewhere deep down inside him, he felt a tingle of… something that he couldn't place.

He looked at her again and noted the bags under her eyes; she had probably not slept properly for a few days at least. Before long her breathing became extremely steady and her eyelids drooped ceremoniously against her eyes, and she fell asleep.

Wilson smiled at the sight of her, she snored ever so slightly and her mouth was slightly ajar. He rolled her name across his tongue before eventually succumbing to sleep himself wearing a satisfied smile.