Collide Gamer

“What would you need jugglers for?” Moira asked.

The redhead had joined them at the wedding planning. It was a display of her stoic side, that she had come out to sit with them. Her clothes had starkly swung back to the conservative, a red t-shirt and jeans that covered most of her up. Striking as her figure was, her curves retained their allure despite this.

“What won’t I need jugglers for?” Rave asked and scribbled her signature under another letter. It was put on the big pile of messages that would go out once the grinding session ended. “They’re gonna toss stuff around, it’ll be funny.”

“Are you arranging a marriage or a carnival?”

“Lil’ bit of both?” Rave responded and stretched. Her naked body was as gorgeous a sight as ever. Taut skin over athletically sculpted muscles, medium sized breasts that adjusted their shape naturally with the bend of the motion, long, smooth legs with playfully wriggling toes. She held the utmost of her stretch for one gorgeous second, then collapsed back into the armchair.

The Among You game had concluded, but John had not yet bothered to open the Raid and thus Rave was robbed of her vista. They worked in the regular glow of artificial light, filling the living room. Aclysia had not yet joined them again, having elected to exorcise her poor mood by spending a couple of hours preparing a more elaborate dish.

John loved that he had women in his life whose way of dealing with stress was to cook the most delicious things imaginable.

Currently, it was just him, Rave, Moira, Hailey, Claire and Fianna around. He had considered putting his clothes on out of respect for the redhead, but ultimately decided that it would be weird to make a token gesture like that in response to what had happened the previous day. If Moira wanted to revert things to how they had been before, she would have to say that. Until then, she was a guest in his house and it was his rules.

John also did not weigh into the conversation. He just let Claire hand him a steady stream of invitations he had to sign. While they did plan to send out e-mails to everyone, for events like this, it was nice to have a physical memory. John was convinced 90 – 99% of these would end up in the bin, but it was worth the effort for the few that didn’t.

“A wedding should be a solemn event,” Moira asserted. “Solemn and joyous.”

“Ya can do that with your wedding, at my wedding we’ll be happy and celebrate that the Lorylim didn’t eat us all,” Rave responded.

“As someone who was almost eaten,” Fianna weighed in, “I agree with Rave.”

“Jane,” the feline Lightbearer corrected. “Even if ya don’t join us by the end of the week, we’ve been hanging out enough that ya get that right.”

“Appreciated,” the feline sniper responded. “Cats got to stick together?”

“As do Caramelldansen enjoyers,” Rave said.

Fianna went from calm and collected to blushing and stammering in 0,87 seconds. “I-I d-don’t enjoy it t-that much!”

Hailey snickered, her crafter’s hands aptly sealing another envelope. “Gal, come on. Ain’t no reason to be ashamed of a lil’ weebin’ about. When ya leave Jane and Lulu alone, they just throw Jojo references at each other for hours.”

“You dare to approach that topic?” Rave asked.

“Ye, what’cha gonna do about it?”

“Not much.” Rave’s finger hovered over the three devices in front of her. At one point or another, the amount of tabs they had opened had reached a point where it had just become more efficient to spread them out across her smartphone, tablet and a laptop. She grabbed the laptop and started tapping about, looking for something. “How do we feel about an ice skate rink?”

“I’m not opposed, but do we need an organizer for that when we can just ask the elementals?” John wondered.

“Fair point.” Rave closed the tab. “We’ll do a little elemental park; we can have a ‘natural’ ice skate rink there.”

“Sounds good.”

“Might I suggest a chorus?” Moira asked. “Hymns to the Lady, echoing within the hallowed halls, to give to your union sacred strength.”

“Moi-Moi, I know ya mean well, but I ain’t one of your religious gals. Keep the hymns for Hailey and Rel.”

The country gal put another sealed envelope aside. “Wonder if it’d be appropriate to rewrite some of the hymns I grew up with and just replace Lord with Lady?”

“Depends, how many puritans of either side do you plan to invite?” Fianna asked.

“Dunno… When it comes to my weddin’, stuff gets complicated… I might just keep it to a lil’ ceremony in my hometown.”

John’s insides did a short, unpleasant tumble. His mind, against his will, jumped to his own complications that no longer had to be considered. ‘Another wave of regret won’t change anything,’ he said to himself. He had grieved plenty. These were just the invasive reminders of an overly quick mind.

“I am considering the pure logistics of your many weddings and it frightens me,” Fianna said, calm as a cucumber once more. She certainly had her own stoicism. It appeared to be a lot more pronounced than Moira’s, considering one had semi-regular outbursts of emotions and Fianna could only be made to move by dominant displays or Caramelldansen. “I would say you will bankrupt yourselves, if I did not know better.”

“We might cause inflation, however,” John responded. “If we aren’t careful. It’s good to get more Tokens into circulation at the moment, but there will be a moment when the money market is saturated and then we might have a problem.”

“Economics,” Moira drawled, voice dripping with disdain. “The games people play to live materialistic lifestyles.”

“Economics is indeed a game, but is it an intriguing game where people want to play or a poorly made game, where people will roll the dice as rarely as possible lest they get a myriad of bad outcomes?” John put the pen down for a moment to circle his wrist. “Even if you have a disdain for materialism, which I can respect to a degree, you have to agree that it is better to be prosperous than not.”

Moira kept her arms crossed and her gaze unwavering. “It is a game whose existence I acknowledge. As the Warden, my mind is dedicated to smiting the wicked. You can continue to seek prosperity for the people, it is the role the Lady bestowed upon you.”

“You don’t have any urge to understand economic systems?”

Rave rolled her eyes. “Why do ya ask that like it’s a surprise. Only reason I know the difference between Modern Monetary System, the Austrian School and Keynesian Economics is ‘cause I ended up with a nerd.”

“Which one is free markets?” Hailey asked.

“The Austrian School – well, that’s a particularly hands-off school of the free market and it…” John petered out when he realized no one was looking in his direction anymore. The topic was so boring to them, it did not even justify glaring at him. “Alright – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”

“Heroes in a half shell!” Lee shouted from one room over.

“”TURTLE POWER!”” various women around the house joined in.

“…Did anyone here actually watch it growing up?” John wondered.

To that, there was silence. Quickly looking it up, John verified what he was thinking. “The original animated series ran from 1987 to 1996 – it ended before I was born.”

“You’re a 99, right?” Rave asked.

“Did manage to barely claim the last millennium, yeah,” John asked. “Unlike our youngest.”

“Born a millennia after us,” Rave sighed. “Poor Lulu.”

“I thought Lee was your youngest?” Moira asked, confused. “Born at the end of 2000, right?”

“Last minute of 1999,” John corrected. “Or so the story goes. As for Lu Zhi, she was born later, but she grew up in time dilation, so she gets an extra 20% of life experience.”

“H-huh…” Moira mumbled.

“Time dilations make me keep forgettin’ I’m older than the two of you,” Hailey drawled, then turned to Moira. “We can laugh at these younglings, right?”

“I will not laugh at people for the year of their birth,” Moira responded. “The Lady places us on Earth when we are meant to be placed there.”

“How old are ya anyhow?” Rave asked. “Feel like I should’ve asked at some point”

“I am 20. 21 in February.”

“Noooooooooooooo,” Rave sounded scandalized.

“What’s so stunnin’?” Hailey asked, head turning back and forth between the redhead and Rave.

“I’m two years older than ya and we were in the same year!” Rave pointed out.

“And how many years did you have to repeat?”

“Two!”

“Was it because you’re bad at math?”

“Among other things!” Rave flailed about, almost causing the stack of cards near her to fall over. She managed to secure it, then turned to the flustered Warden. “You’re like a hatchling fresh out of the egg!”

No one else shared that thought, but Rave rambled on anyway.

“Wow… my rival is just baby chicken. Ya might beat me because my knees give in before yours,” Rave teased.

“Shut up!”

“Ahhh, my spine, my old, crooked spine… I’m a crone next to you...”

“You are impossible!” Moira beat her knees with bunched up fists. “Can you ever display the slightest bit of respect?”

“Ya should pay respect to me, I’m your elder.”

“I – you- urgh!” Moira threw her hands up in the air.

Laughing, Rave jumped next to her and bumped shoulders with the redhead. Moira shoved back. It escalated into a wrestling match within seconds, Warden and feline Lightbearer They tumbled and wound, vying for dominance.

This was the kind of annoyed he had come to expect from Moira – the good kind. She wasn’t running anywhere and for all of the upset she displayed on the surface, she engaged and showed the occasional smile.

While all of that was going on, John noticed Fianna standing up and taking a seat next to him. Her robotic arms were just a little cool to the touch, wearing their difference on their sleeves. The valley of her breasts, where his own upper arm soon found itself, was pleasantly hot by comparison. “Should I be needier, Sir?”

John understood the question. This week was supposed to be about her, but neither during the game nor now did he spend a lot of time paying attention to her specifically. “A difficult question… that depends on who you want to be, I suppose?”

“Do you not prefer women that offer themselves to you?” she asked, genuine curiosity swinging in her cool voice.

“I prefer women that are happy with themselves. Do I enjoy it when Claire hops into my lap, eagerly grinding her bubble butt against me? Certainly.” As John spoke, the vampire maid did exactly that. “We can look at this as a continuation of our talk the other day. You want to live for my goals, right?”

“Affirmative.”

“Do you think I would be offended if you did not? Consider you any less for my harem?” She shook her head. “It’s just like that. I do enjoy women that approach me with their needs. I’m a simple guy, I like feeling needed, especially sexually. Just the way the brain is wired. At the same time, I enjoy a quiet woman, someone restrained, who only comes to me when they have deemed it worth their time. It’s not like Lyndell spent most of her time running after me. In other words…” John scratched Fianna’s tiger ears. “Just be yourself. I have broad tastes. The only thing I can say with certainty is that I do not like lies or distortions.”

“Understood, Sir,” she spoke evenly. She remained where she was, purring while nuzzling against him. Claire soon transitioned to not just grinding her bouncy butt against him, but riding him properly. It was quite the wonderful position to be in.

Fianna, unlike Lyndell, knew restraint very well. She did not push him, nor did she get so dangerously close that he was enticed to kiss her. There was a calculation in all of her moves, like she could never really shut out her reason. John could somewhat empathize. It was hard for him to find moments where his brain wasn’t running one way or another, to find peace in just… acting.

Moira and Rave finished up their wrestling match with no winner. The two were panting, having instinctively lowered the magic in their systems to prevent the house from breaking. Bedroom eyes were exchanged, the redhead blushed, then backed away. “That’ll teach you!” she declared.

“To tease ya more? Definitely,” Rave agreed. “When’s your birthday anyway?”

“…14th of February,” the redhead muttered.

“Really? Valentine’s Day? You?” ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⟡fire.net

“Yes, bloody me!” Moira cried out, her English accent coming through strong. “Get back to your card signing, you insufferable twat!”

“Twat! Blimey!” Rave teased.

“Do you want a cup o’tea? Maybe a botoo of wotah?” Hailey asked.

“Oh, I will not be bloody criticized on matters of accent by you, Yankee!”

“Ya just mad ‘cause we won,” the country gal responded.

“I have no affiliation with… Ah, why do I bother.” Moira flipped them both off. John just smirked at it all. Even if she had conflicted feelings regarding him, she did certainly have her friends. The Gamer was happy to see that much.

While those three did their thing, he continued to scratch Fianna’s ears.