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Book Two! We made it! Hooray! We are going to do a little time skip, just a few days. For no other reason than to put a little space between Book One and Book Two. I hope you are all enjoying my unhinged rambling.
I would say something like book two is going to focus on X or Y. But that would imply I have way more of a plan than I do. I am flying blind here! Everything is off the dome! Everything is going to crash and burn!
Or not, who knows! Anyway, back to our normal programming.
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The last few days have honestly been a bit of a blur. Mostly due to the natural high that pulling off a heist gave me. I tried my best to just chill, and went to lessons as normal.
Today though, I'm excited for today. Because I am now finally going to be able to spend some of these hard stolen fracs! Although my excitement is a little dampened by the fact that Aunt Flow came to visit - a little early, I might add. I'm really not looking forward to wearing the bloody belt again for the next five-ish days.
I drag my ass out of bed, and throw on my nicest fit. I even take the smallest pinch of elven glamour and apply it along with my makeup. I'm not above using every advantage when it comes to buying cool shit.
Sophia stirs from her sleep. "Ugh, why are you using powder? Everyone becomes a nightmare to deal with when you do that." She says.
"Because we're going shopping today! And I don't mind people looking if it gets me some good deals."
"I mind if people look." She says with a slightly grumpy expression.
"It's not like that. It's just about the fracs."
"Well, I'm coming with you." She gets up and starts getting dressed herself.
"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way." I wrap my arms around her, from behind, and we just stand like that for a moment. It's so fucking good having a girlfriend.
***
We hit the market via the Rift in the Assets handling class. I thought about inviting some of the others, but decided against it.
Because this is a date!
Just Sophia and I, checking out the market, maybe getting a bite to eat. Shame there's no movies here.
'Gestalt, can we invent movies?'
[We think we could replicate a basic movie set up. We scoured your memories, we need something like film and a way to project light through it. Hmmmm, yeah, leave it to us. We can cook something up.]
Cook something up? I'm loving how Gestalt is stealing my language.
[We are certainly doing no such thing!]
'Okay buddies.' I mentally smirk at them.
I'm walking around the stalls arm in arm with my girl. She's so much taller than me that I even get to rest my head on her shoulder, which makes my heart squee.
We grab some street food as we wander around. The glamour is getting me a few looks, but as I only used a tiny pinch, I wasn't quite getting the attention I did that first day. Still got us some strange meat on a stick for free. It might have been rat.
[Good.]
We are here for a purpose, as much as I am enjoying this date. I circle us towards the poorer part of the market, looking for my friendly mugger.
It doesn't take us long to find him. His boys and him are lounging around in a cafe. The owner of the cafe looks a bit worried and very put out. I ignore the owner and walk straight up to my friend Belvedere.
"Hi Belly." I grin at him.
"Never call me that." He says while waving at one of his minions. The minion in question got up from his seat and offered to me, another did the same for Sophia. "We saw what you did to the corpse, den. Thanks, they were picking up street kids." He waved around, "Most of us here are street kids."
"Happy to help." I say while throwing him a small bag of fracs. "Thanks for the investment. Now I need something else from you."
He took the bag and pocketed it. "I'm listening."
"I'm looking for artifacts, the really good shit. Do you know where I can find them?"
"I know a place if you have the fracs."
"You know I do." And I do. Even with the Academy's thirty percent cut, and then the remaining fracs split four ways, I am still minted. We made out like bandits.
Belvedere chugged down his drink. "Alright follow me."
We follow him through the streets. Into a nicer district, which makes a nice change. He takes us up to a big mansion looking building and nods to the guard hanging about near the entrance. "I got two for you." He said. "They are looking for the back room stuff."
"Fuck off." growled the guard.
"They are Rift Walkers." Belly said, of handedly.
That certainly changed the guard's attitude. "Alright, the Cat will want to see them." The cat?
Please, please, please.
We follow Belly into the mansion, all the way through, until we get to the back rooms. There inside is a big old fat cat dripping in finery. Yessss!
"Bug girl." the cat says. "Good meat, purrs and grooms."
"Purrs and grooms." I reply.
"Oh, Oh wow, I can understand him!" Sophia said.
"Yeah, Gestalt is a trip, arn't they." I grin at her.
Back to the Cat. "Good morning killer, I'm looking for artifacts. With sharp claws."
"Sharp claws? I have good meat. Stare."
He opens up a number of cases around him. Each holding a rare and powerful object that left me drooling.
There were a number of swords, bows, spears and hammers that I dismissed out of hand. Amazing items but not really my style.
But then the cat cracked open a chest that was entirely up my street. "Groomed clean. Fresh, curious what is it?" I ask.
"Good meat yes? Called Arc Spitter."
"Prime meat. Good kill. Cost?" It looks like an electric Tommy gun. It is a thing of beauty. I must have it.
"Ten fractals." says the Cat.
"Cut the liver." It's expensive, ten Fractals is a thousand fracs, but I have the money. "Stare more."
We go through a couple more cases until we get to a one that holds a pair of scepters. "Isochron scepter and Disrupting Scepter." Says the cat. "Disrupting confuses mages magic. Makes them nippy. Isochron mimics spell, you cast again and again."
Both of these seem extremely my jam. "How much for both?"
"Forty two fractals."
"You ask prime, yet offer entrails. Thirty."
"Groom yourself, Isochron is a field of carcasses."
"You sweeten the meat?"
The fat cat considers this for a bit, then digs out a small little box. Inside there are claw like items that you put over your fingers. "Neko-Te makes you real cat. Gives claws."
Not my style. My fight with the vampire clearly showed me that I do not want to be fighting up close and personal. But it could work as a nasty surprise. I've gotten pretty good at pulling bullets from my domain at the end of my finger tips. I bet I could pull these directly on them.
"Curious. Give insight." I ask.
"Poisoned claws. Immobilizes victims. Makes them sluggish."
"Group kill. With scepters forty five."
"You suck marrow, but purr on it. Forty five."
"Good kill." I say and show the cat all my teeth.
That's a good chunk of my fracs, but it's worth it. These are some juicy as hell artifacts.
The fat cat packs up the items for us, and we head back out into the city.
"Thanks Belly."
"Not my name." Belly says as we part ways. Him heading back to his boys. Sophia and I are heading off to find a nice restaurant.
I wanted something fancy where I could wine and dine my girl. But honestly thinking about it, neither of us really feel all that comfortable in that high society environment.
So instead we park ourselves up at a dwarven stew shop. Not fancy, but a lot nicer than the dwarven rat stool under the train station. This place only has the finest, plumpest rats.
The serving lady offers up two huge bowls of rat stew. Now I know you are thinking this is gross.
[No, we are thinking that it tastes like victory. Please eat the stew slowly, we would like to savour it.]
'Can do buddies.' Honestly rat is way better than I was expecting it to be. So it's no problem on my end.
"Tangerine." Sophia starts, "what do you think about children?"
It's gotta be too early to be having this conversation. God damn girl.
"They are loud and snotty?" I say, committing to nothing.
"I want them, in the future, I mean. It's important to me. Even if I never return to the church, I still want to help look after children. It's what I always wanted. Even to have some of my own one day."
Oh, wow we are just straight up having this conversation then. Okay, don't panic, she said in the future. It's not like she wants to knock me up today. Or I guess she wants me to knock her up. I wonder if there is some magic bullshit way to get that done?
"Okay, I feel very young. I'm definitely not ready now. But I guess I don't hate the idea of having kids around. In the future. I definitely want to finish the academy first."
Fuck, if she's not cool with waiting would I like adopt a kid with her now? Probably. Shit, I am such a fucking simp. This can't be healthy.
[It is not.]
'What do I do here?'
[We are not touching this one with a ten foot pole. Good luck.]
"Yes," Sophia replied, "I also want to finish studying at the Academy before anything else."
Oh thank god. "So just curious, is there any magic that helps two women have kids or something?"
"Not that I know of, but I can research. If not, there are other methods." Sophia looks a lot happier, like a weight had been lifted.
Yeah that was what I was afraid of. There will be no men or anybody else coming into this relationship. Not sure how I feel about a donor though. Fuck I'm too young to be having this conversation.
[Do not panic. We believe that Sophia is merely testing the waters. Seeing how receptive you are to the idea of children. Not that she wants to have them now.]
'Oh thank god. I was worried that I was going to be changing nappies between classes.'
We finish off our rat stew and head back to the Academy.
We curl up into bed together and engage in copious amounts of hugs and snogging. Sophia seems even more passionate than usual, we got very French.
I have to say we've gotten rather good at making out. We barely ever bump teeth now.
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