Origin ARS 3 (Origin A.R.S.) (16 page)

The grotto was alive with activity. Mermaids swam here and there. A sorcerer ruthlessly trained his spells to finish mastering those he had learned. A beautiful elf and her fairy friend worked on their tans, for some reason. Basically, now that the Shar-Shar had been kicked off the island and several mermaids had come out of hiding nearby, the rest of the day had been determined to be a rest day.

Scott chose to spend his time perfecting his skills while he thought about his next move. None of the twenty-three mermaids that had been gathered up from the surrounding area had a solid lead on where the Shar-Shar had taken them beyond the fact that they had headed toward the mainland. It had become apparent that they no longer stayed in their former village, and there were no other clues regarding the current whereabouts of the kidnapping fish-men.

Once the Shar-Shar had taken the missing girls on land, the mermaids could not follow further. At present there was only one real way to find them and that was to locate the mermaid queen. Her royal fishiness was still in the middle of her visit with her lover, a man who lived in the city of Anatola a few days’ journey to the north.

Something about that information did not sit right with Scott. If the queen was so close, why had the mermaids not gone to search for her? It made no sense.

A darker thought had crossed his mind after a while. What if they had gone, but were captured or the queen herself had been compromised?

He finished casting his drowning sphere spell. His eyes turned to the ocean. “Not by sea... We’ll have to go overland.”

The sorcerer had made his decision. It would mean that his group would be shrunk back down to Rhea and Ero as his only companions, but that is the way that things had to be. He had not asked specifically, but he thought it highly likely that someone had gone to find the queen. Yet, her royal highness had not returned to the grotto. The only options were that she was compromised, no one had made it to her, or she currently spent her time in an effort to get help.

“If we go by sea to see the queen directly it could lead us into a trap. Overland travel will take longer, but it won’t be expected.” If the queen had been captured or there was a trap waiting in the sea, they would avoid it on land. The mermaids cannot walk on land except for the nights of the full moon. No one would expect them to have located help this soon since their first inclination would be to hide or find the queen. At least, that was what Scott had thought of the situation.

Of course, there was also a problem with that decision. The queen did not know the three of them. No matter how he tried to think his way around the situation, he could not find a means of convincing the queen’s lover to let him near her. If the queen did not know of the situation there was the possibility that she would suspect some sort of trick.

It was possible that she would believe him simply out of fear for her people. Yet, after meeting the mermaids and speaking with many of them, they seemed to be quite laid back. She might not believe him, or even if she did there was no guarantee that she would move quickly.

Scott nodded his head. He would choose to locate the queen as a secondary option. Though, he would need to speak with Rhea, Ero, and the mermaids.

He stopped his training and jogged over to where Rhea and Ero currently sunned themselves on the beach. Scott could not help but smile at the glorious image before him. After they finished he mermaid rescue operation they should find a nice beach like this one and just have fun for a few days. Grinding for money and levels was fun, but this was good as well. Why not enjoy life as much as possible, right?

“Ladies.” said Scott.

Rhea and Ero sat up and turned toward him at the same time. Scott fought down the blush that started to creep up on his face. He hated that he did that so often since coming here. Was that his true nature, or did something happen to him? It was one of many things he felt that he should discuss with Rhea in the near future.

“What’s going on?” asked Ero. She blinked owlishly at him then grinned. “Wait, I know... You want to fill me with a little experience...”

Scott smiled at her. “Actually, yes, I do. That will have to wait a few minutes, though. We need to discuss something else.”

“Not to sound like a parrot, but what’s going on?” asked Rhea.

He nodded to her. “I know we decided to take the day off, but I wanted to discuss the next move for a moment, we can go back to our mini-vacation afterward.”

“Alright.” said Rhea. Ero nodded her head as well. That seemed like a good idea.

Scott related his thoughts and fears to the girls. He spoke of his belief that either the queen was compromised or the sea route to her location was trapped in some manner.

“So, you want to try to reach her overland?” asked Rhea.

“The mermaids won’t be able to go with us.” said Ero. She pouted slightly. She liked the mermaids. They were so much fun, and they did lots of
interesting
things with each other.

“True on both counts, but that is also the problem. We can’t be sure that the queen will even speak with us, if she doesn’t know us.”

“What do you propose then?” asked Rhea. She knew he would not have come to disturb their lazing about if he did not have a plan.

Scott drew a circle on the ground then made a point in the lower right. “We’re probably around here somewhere in the sea. Eizen is over here.”

He drew a large squiggly line and wrote the word Eizen behind it. “Eizen is an island, but the mermaids would probably consider it to be mainland since it is a really big freaking island.”

“Yeah...?” asked Ero. What was he getting at?

He smiled at the little fairy. “It’s more likely that the Shar-Shar went there. We need to talk to the mermaids more about it, but if that’s the case, we could go to Eizen and meet up with Sharde and Gambol.”

Rhea blinked then looked at him for a moment. Her eyes widened in realization. She made a fist then she smacked it against her palm. “You want to hire her guild to search for sign of the mermaids!”

“Exactly! They would have contacts and the ability to move unseen.” said Scott.

He continued. “If she is willing to help out, we might be able to get word to the queen or find the mermaids and free them without falling into any traps in the sea to the north.”

“I can logout and go talk to Shara... Sharde directly. If she knows we are coming, we can meet up properly.” said Rhea.

“That would be great! I hope she has time to do it.” said Scott.

Rhea giggled at him. “I’ll just tell her that you thought of her personally and she’ll come running.”

“That’s a little mean Rhea.” Scott gave her a look.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Think so? Do you have any idea what she’s been doing since we parted ways?”

Scott tilted his head to the side then narrowed his eyes. Slowly, he said, “No... You wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Rhea took him by the hand then grinned. “It’s a secret.”

Her stuck out his tongue and made a rude flapping noise. “Fine, don’t tell me.”

The elf pulled him to her then kissed him on the nose. “You’re worried about her aren’t you?”

Ero flapped her wings a little then fluttered up to sit on Rhea’s shoulder. She was curious about that as well. She had seen many of his memories, but his direct thoughts were a bit of a mystery to her at times.

“Does it show? I don’t know her, really. Yet, she seemed so interested in me liking her that it was sort of heartbreaking.” said Scott.

Rhea gave him a warm hug. Her forehead pressed against his. “She’s been lonely for a long time. Some of it is my fault, but most of it is because she is uncertain of her place in the world.”

Ero leaned forward and kissed him on the jaw. She did not have anything to say, but she felt like kissing his cheek. She wanted to be supportive. She was such a nice little fairy BFF.

“Don’t take this wrong, Rhea. OK?” asked Scott.

“Hmm, tell me and we’ll see how I take it.” she said casually. She knew better than to promise things like that.

Scott chuckled lightly then said. “Your sister is such a beautiful, and obviously loving, girl. Why doesn’t she have someone?”

The high-elf sighed. “She doesn’t really know how to deal with boys. If anything her biggest issue is that she actually wants a large family.”

“Why would that be an issue?” asked Scott.

Rhea giggled then clutched him tightly like he might try to escape. “Her idea of a proper family unit is derived from human pop-culture of a specific variety.”

“How so?”

“Well, I fell for the whole concept of monogamy and the idea of only spending my life with that one special person.”

Scott kissed her on the nose. “Good to know.”

She smiled softly but then sighed. “Don’t forget Ero...”

Scott’s eyes widened a little but if she was going to make a statement like that, the least he could do was abide by her wishes. “Who could forget Ero?”

He leaned forward and kissed his BFF softly on the side of her face. She giggled then whispered something into Rhea’s ear.

The high elf sighed softly again then laughed a little. “You’re welcome Ero.”

Scott was a little unnerved by the interaction. They were becoming a little too comfortable with the idea of being part of whatever the hell the three of them were to each other.

Rhea smiled in a gentle way then took a deep breath. “Sharde, rather Shara, is different.”

Scott asked once more, “How so?”

“Well, her idea of a proper family is what you might call a harem. She thinks the best possible way to be with someone is to have one main boyfriend and a few close sisters.”

Scott blinked. “I... see. Well, actually I don’t see. How would that keep her from being extremely popular with boys?”

“She is, actually. There are fan sites devoted to her. Perverts buy her underwear on the internet and wear them on their heads for dark rituals related to being perverts.”

“Wait... what?” asked Scott. What the hell was that about?

Rhea giggled sweetly then leaned back. “I’ve never done it, but lots of girls sell their underwear online. If they didn’t, how would the perverts get their proper ritual equipment? The whole thing would just fall apart.”

Scott stared at her blankly for a moment. “Your civilization is... interesting.”

“Interesting? Does that mean you want to buy my underwear, Scott?” asked Rhea. She grinned at him then waggled her eye brows suggestively.

He barked out a laugh then shook his head. “I already have panties of my own. Why would I need yours?”

Rhea laughed at him then glanced down at the blue thunder that he wore down under. “Yeah, can’t beat that. I wonder if there is a market for man-panties?”

“I’m sure someone would want them. I’m sort of pretty, you know.” said Scott.

Ero giggled so hard that she nearly fell from Rhea’s shoulder. That had come out of nowhere, but it was hilarious to her.

Scott removed himself from Rhea’s clutches then took a step back and turned away from her. He wiggled his manly buttocks and looked back at her. “I’ll holla’ if you give me a dolla’.”

“Hey, no fair! We don’t use that currency here.” cried Rhea.

She lunged forward to try to grab his wiggling posterior but her prey stepped away. “No pay, no play!”

“No way!” cried Ero. She wanted in on this. It certainly met her idea of something
interesting.

“Wiggle, wiggle, ladies!” Scott jiggled his man-booty and hopped away whenever they leapt for it.

Rhea cried foul then jumped up and started to twist her body back and forth in a rhythmic fashion. “Two can play the wiggle game, fella.”

The high elf swayed and jiggled her mighty bosom, while Scott continued to twerk like his life depended upon it. A battle of the bulges had commenced; there could be only one victor!

“You call that wiggling, woman! Learn from the master!” cried Scott. His booty moved into wiggle-overdrive.

Rhea snorted, but her eyes told the story that her lips refused to speak. A hint of drool began to form at the edge of her lips.

She realized what was happening, however, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. She began to shimmy rapidly. “I won’t lose to you!”

Ero jumped between them and began to flail around wildly. She did not know whether to shake it or shimmy it, but she excitedly wiggled anything that came to mind. She might be small, but she had a lot to work with.

“Give it up! You can’t fight destiny.” exclaimed Scott. He dropped down and thrust his booty toward Rhea. He then wiggled it so powerfully that it looked like two ham hocks were battling with a ferret beneath his Fi’Shoo Pantsu.

“Cheater!” cried Rhea. She leaned forward and rapidly wiggled her chest from side to side then started to hop up and down furiously.

Further down the beach several sets of eyes watched them in fascination. It was Kiley who spoke up. “What... What are they doing?”

Neira answered her. “I don’t know.... but it’s kind of hot.”