Authors: Scottie Futch
"Of course. Who wouldn't miss their best fairy friend?" he said with complete sincerity, and a warm smile
Ero leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Good. Can I have the sink, or are you still trying to pretty yourself?"
"All yours dear lady." he said lightly before making a grand sweeping gesture toward the sink.
"Thank you, gentle sir." she said enthusiastically. She took charge of the sink. While she brushed her own teeth she looked at Scott in the mirror. After rinsing once, she said. "So, what's the plan?"
Scott slipped his arms around her then lightly caressed her stomach. "Depends. How is the little mama doing?"
Ero's face reddened slightly. "We're doing well. No sickness or anything. That doesn't really happen with fairies. Though..."
"Though?" asked Scott before he caressed her ear with his cheek. He kissed her softly on the shoulder while he caressed her lower abdomen.
"I spoke with a few of the fairies who were helping out during the debris cleaning mission. One of them turned out to be a fairy mid-wife."
"Did she have any words of wisdom?" asked Scott.
"Yes..." Ero leaned back against him and looked at their image in the mirror. It made her heart practically sing to see his arms wrapped around her. "I should go visit a fairy hospice and have an elder look me over. They'll be able to tell me how our baby is doing."
Scott kissed her on the ear. "Alright. We'll get right on that."
"Uhm, yeah... But..." she said, haltingly.
"But?" he asked.
"If I go..." she said softly before stopping. She took a breath before she continued. "If I go, they'll want to observe me for a month to see how the lunar cycle and tidal forces effect me."
"I'll be without my best friend for a month?" asked Scott. That did not sit right with him, but he would not hesitate to make it happen. The health and safety of Ero and their baby was top priority. If he were to be honest, he would prefer it if she did not go adventuring at all until the baby was born.
"Yeah..," said Ero softly.
He kissed her softly on the ear then whispered, "I love you Ero. We need to take you to see a fairy doctor."
She made a soft hiccupping sound then turned around swiftly. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at him. "Scott..."
They shared a warm embrace for a time. While they did so, Rhea awoke and checked to see where everyone was. For a moment, jealously and annoyance flared within her, but when she saw that Ero was crying she managed to force those unworthy emotions down to where she kept them caged inside her heart.
"Rhea...?" asked Ero gently after she noticed the elf maiden standing in the doorway.
"Good morning Ero," said Rhea in a soft, measured tone. She blinked once, slowly, took a breath then asked "What's wrong?"
Ero sniffed the air a little then chewed her lip. "I was just telling Scott about what the mid-wife said."
"Oh? We do need to get you to a fairy doctor," said Rhea, a slight smile on her lips. That smile could have meant a lot of things, but it was still a friendly smile.
The fairy girl nodded twice then embraced Scott tighter. "Yeah, but..."
"No buts, young lady. You're going to the doctor," said Rhea with a gentle smile.
Ero made a cute face then stuck out her tongue. "You're not my
real
mom!"
Rhea laughed a genuine, heartfelt laugh. Scott tried his best to hold it in, but he could not help himself. He laughed as well. The girls were trying so hard to get along despite the issues that even he was not too clueless to miss. He could not help but feel joyful and relieved during moments of such good humor.
"Ero, go hug your fake mother," said Scott. He released the fairy girl then swatted her on the bottom.
"Oh. Anything for you,
daddy
." remarked Ero with a grin.
Rhea rolled her eyes then huffed a little, but her smile returned when the fairy girl gave her a warm hug. Ero asked her, "Forgive me?" The elf lightly stroked her hair for a moment then kissed her on the forehead. "I forgive you."
"Gonna ask me to forgive you?" asked Ero cutely.
"No," said Rhea with a slightly amused smirk.
"My step mother is so cruel." remarked Ero with a giggle. "I should bite her or something."
Scott interjected. "You know... I might be from the South, but not that far South."
"Yeah?" asked Rhea, confused.
"We're starting to sound a little inbred," said Scott.
That brought another round of laughter from everyone. They did have a strange relationship dynamic, but at least it was not
that
strange.
Morning rituals were finished, and everyone gathered in the common room of their apartment. Ero, once again the size of a doll, fluttered over to the table and sat down on an overturned coffee cup. It was her official seat at the hotel round table until they purchased something more suitable. She could sustain human size for a much greater period of time now that she had gone up a tier, but that did not mean that she could be human sized for lengthy periods of time. It drained her stamina and mana continually.
Herbert sat next to her, and made a concerted effort not to start practicing his dance moves. He was quite dedicated to his craft.
Scott and Rhea sat next to each other on the couch. It was Scott who spoke first. "Alright team. It's time to decide what we are going to do with ourselves."
"What do you mean?" asked Ero.
He looked to the tiny fairy then said, "Well, we've finished our last job and spent half of our general fund on this room. We need to get some money flowing, but we also need to train. You and Rhea both have to leave the group for a lengthy period of time as well."
"Rhea? You do, too?" asked Ero. After Rhea nodded, Ero tilted her head to the side and asked, "Why?"
"Business in the Divine City. We need to slow the board down so I am going on tour as the face of our empire. I'll be in and out for the next four years in ARS time."
"Oh! How long will you be gone?" Ero leaned forward, her eyes wide and sad.
"About eight days at a time, with four days here afterward," said Rhea.
Ero asked a question that Scott had also been about to ask. "Can't you just do that thing where you make more than one copy of yourself?"
Rhea sighed. "Not really. It would be seen as a sign of rudeness if I bifurcated like that. It's one thing to have aspects running the game world. It's another entirely to log in as a player and play while I am supposed to be focusing on the fans. It's like I don't think they warrant my full attention."
"Bad PR?" asked Scott.
"Yes, very much so," said Rhea with a sigh. "That's the last thing we need. Let the player base think I couldn't be bothered to give them my all when my family calls for a tour of the commonwealth."
"Hmm, so we only have you with us for what, another three or four days?" asked Scott.
"Two actually..," said Rhea.
Scott winced. "It's really going to impact your training isn't it?"
"Can't be helped. I can make up for it in various ways, but we do need me to do this if we are going to buy a little more time. Even if it only gives us an extra year or two, that's a lot of time to plan and train," said Rhea.
"True. Maybe it's not so bad," said Scott.
Rhea gave him a mildly hurt look and he waved her off. "Don't take it like that. I'm talking about everyone. Ero needs to have proper medical care, Herbert needs to get a little older, and my magic needs a lot of time and effort to develop."
"So, what are you saying?" asked Rhea.
He took a moment to respond. There was a lot to say and he wanted to say it right. He leaned forward and allowed his eyes to grow hazy, a distant look arose within them. "When I first came to ARS, I was like a little kid. I ran around like a happy idiot and did stupid things at times."
Scott's eyes narrowed a little. "I can't do that again. It's fine to have fun, but we can't just wing it. I need to be better than I was before, more focused. I can take the next few years to develop my powers and train. Out of all of us, I am the only one who doesn't have an innate capacity to mesh properly with this world."
"You don't mesh?" asked Ero. Herbert chittered a little and she translated his mousy chatter as a similar question.
"None of us are native to this world, but everyone here besides me has spent most of their life dealing with a similar state of being. I've only dealt with it for a few months. My game playing knowledge only helps out by a small amount. I need to redefine myself completely," said Scott.
"So, what do you intend?" asked Herbert by way of his fairy translator.
Scott looked down at the tiny Grassrat. "I need to become what I pretend to be. I am a sorcerer, a twilight master. I need to live up to that and stop merely playing a game."
"You need to train," said Ero, on Herbert's behalf.
"I need to train, true training," said Scott in agreement.
The Grassrat waddled forward and reached over the gap between the table and couch to place one paw atop Scott's knee. He chittered something then inclined his head.
"I understand," said Scott.
"Wow! You can speak Grassrat now, Scott?" asked Ero.
Scott shook his head. "No. I just don't need a translation to know what he meant."
Herbert had left his world behind and sought to become something remarkable as well. Though they were of different species, they were brothers of a kind.
"What will you do then?" asked Rhea after a moment.
The sorcerer took a breath. "I'll spend most of my time in training or challenging tough opponents in the field. When everyone is together we can go on specific missions. Once we have things sorted, I'll need to head to Twilight Desert to undergo real training."
Rhea nodded her head. "I understand. That would help a great deal. Though, the monster level in that area is quite high, we could all undertake training there."
"We can? I only knew that it was a place where twilight sorcerers gathered," said Scott.
The elf maiden grinned at him. "Yes, it's one of the better places to train since the monsters tend to be able to take a lot of punishment. Good for skill development. There are even a few dungeon areas that have cropped up there recently."
"Cropped up? You make it sound like the gods didn't just put them there." Scott smiled at her, a twinkle in his eye. It was nice to just sit and talk about things like this.
Ero reached over and lightly stroked Herbert's fur while Rhea explained the truth about the dungeons of the world. "Dungeons, monsters, and things like that happen on their own here. There are certainly many pre-set areas, but mostly a dungeon happens when creatures at odds with the local government take over a location. The levels, bonuses, even the layout of the dungeon can change drastically after an abandoned place becomes a dungeon and the new owners start tinkering with it."
"Some of that dynamic world-building stuff you mentioned before?" he asked.
Rhea raised one hand up and made a magnanimous gesture like she had become royalty. "But of course, good sir." she said with a soft laugh.
The group discussed various things for a time. The discussed plans for the future and plans for the present. Eventually, plans for that day came up. Scott brought up a subject that he thought might be beneficial. "I think we should get a transit pass and ride around for the next two days to unlock the major towns in this kingdom."
Rhea immediately nodded her head. "Good idea. Right now, the way that the stats work would make taking the train the better idea compared to world travel, but by the time we leave this area altogether we could probably run faster than the train."
"My thoughts exactly. At that point we could save a lot of money when we need to come back here simply by using world travel instead of keeping up with the transit pass," said Scott.
"We should get the weekly pass for you and two day passes for me. It costs more than buying two day passes, but it would still let you travel around quickly for the rest of the week." suggested Rhea.
"So, one silver and forty copper. Doable."
"What about Herbert and I?" asked Ero with a pout. Were they being left out?
"You can ride for free. Small children, small pets, and fairies ride for free. At least you ride for free as long as you stay fairy sized," said Rhea. "Though you do need to ride with a paying customer."
"Neat!" said Ero lightly. She then unleashed a throaty chuckle and offered the group a sultry gaze. "I'm a free ride."
Scott laughed at her antics a little then looked at the group. "So, we're agreed then? We're going to spend these two days setting up shop in the area by going to all of the major stopping points and making fast travel markers?"
The others agreed readily. However, after they stood up another thought occurred to Scott. "We should check the local bulletins to see if there are any easy delivery jobs..."
"Ah, there we go. I was just about to suggest that," said Rhea. "If we're lucky we can earn a little coin and social experience for doing easy missions."