Somebody couldn’t wait until tonight to see me, it seems.

Opalina, after seeing my sorry state, pulls me out of my office and we move out into the entrance hall. She sits me on one of the tables before disappearing into my humble kitchen as if she owned the place, returning with a lovely cup of tea for each of us. If the disgusting state of the kitchen bothered her she’s not showing any signs of showing it.

The beautiful older woman places the teacups down onto the wooden table and takes the seat closest to mine, barely putting any space between us. For anyone else it might seem overly familiar and overbearing, but for Opalina it just feels natural. I welcome her gentleness by my side.

After we’re both settled in with the nice cups of tea comes the hardest part. She starts grilling me mercilessly on the state of the Guild. The neglect, the disrepair, the spiders, the rats, the things broken by Sam... everything. She really chews my ear out for a good while before letting me speak.

After explaining myself and my failures for a good twenty minutes to Opalina, she sighs for a very, very long time. “You should at least get the door fixed, Sweetie. I know a good contractor I can set you up with as soon as you’ve got the funds to start working on this place.”

“That would be for the best. I wouldn’t know who to trust in this town.” I avoid eye contact with Opalina, feeling embarrassed now that she’s heard the full extent of my five years of depression.

Opalina Hart has never known the meaning of personal space, and she sure as hell hadn’t learned it in the short span of time since yesterday. She sighs and hugs me to her breast. “Sweetie?”

“... Yes?” I say, blushing hotly.

“I’m a doctor, you need to stop thinking I’d be disappointed in you, or mad over this... I understand depression and the effects it has on a man.” Her gloved hand begins to affectionately stroke my hair, fingers massaging my scalp. “There’s no reason for you to feel any shame in telling me about your condition.”

I know she’s right, logically. But I still have a sense of pride and it’s hard to combat against that no matter how gentle or soothing her words may be. 

I try to think of something I can say in this situation, but after mentally stumbling around all I can manage to say is a clumsy, “I’m sorry.”

Smiling gently as always, Opalina releases me from her hug and brushes some stray hair out of her face so she can stare into me with those beautiful purple eyes of hers. “I’m going to have to start punishing you if you insist on apologizing constantly for things that aren’t your fault in the slightest, Dear.” She says with a low, barely hidden undertone.

I know it’s early in the day, but... the way she’s looking at me and what she’s saying causes my emotions- as well as my confidence- to stir. Under the table I slip my hand and place it on her plush thigh, wrapping my fingers into it and squeezing suggestively. She has more meat than Sam and Zutiria combined, and the softness is only amplified by her silky pantyhose.

“I believe I would like that, Opal...”

Her face turns red as can be and her expression becomes a conflicted mess of deep interest and embarrassment. “Hmm. You really have grown up into a naughty little boy haven’t you...?” She manages to make out while placing her hand on mine, before taking it off of her thigh. 

“Not yet.” Opalina leans in, whispering into my ear.

She pulls away from me and sips from her teacup. “I only wanted to confirm if you were still going to be visiting me tonight, Dear.”

“Actually, you got here right when I finished my main task for the day and the girls insisted that I go to see you as soon as I was done.” I conveniently left out the part where they said I don’t have to come back until next morning, but I’m certainly sure that the three of them discussed all this last night in my absence.

Gods, I haven’t even considered what sort of girl talk they got up to when left to their own devices...

“Goodness! But it’s so early! You didn’t work yourself too hard for my sake, did you?” She looks at me sternly with a frown from her red, full, pouty lips.

“I would lie and say no, of course not, but...” I stifle a small laugh and her frown becomes a motherly grin.

“Goddesses above and below, what am I going to do with you?” The mature woman reaches out to playfully pet my hair once more as she’s always done since I was a boy.

“So you’re saying I have you all to myself for the rest of the day?” Opalina’s eyebrow raises, playfully.

“And the night as well.” I remind her as smoothly as I can, causing the warmest giggle to burst from the mature healer as she holds her hands in front of her lips to hide it in a rather dainty manner.

“Honestly, Dear, show some restraint.”

I lean closer into Opalina’s personal space, my lips barely inches from hers. “The new me isn’t very good at that.”

Surprisingly I’m met with her wand pressed against my lips before I can push any further. She laughs softly and pushes me back properly to my seat before getting out of her own. “You don’t need to impress me, you silly boy... Come along now. If you’ve really got nothing better to do than shamelessly grope an old lady’s thighs while flirting, then your time would be better spent helping me out with just a few little errands I have to run. It won’t take long at all”

Opalina Hart is a good, honest person. But in my many years of experience with her I know for a fact that when she says she needs help with ‘one or two’ errands then by all accounts the rest of the day is forfeit.

I have no right to refuse so I agree and head back to my office quickly sort out the documents I’m able to mail off today and leave the paperwork that can be mailed as soon as Sam and Zutiria sign out for them to notice it in my absence. Naturally, I leave a note but this time I don’t bother having it tease Sam.

I leave the ruinous comfort of my Guild behind and step out into town with the doctor. Much to my embarrassment, she insists on brazenly walking with her arm wrapped around my own as if we were an official couple.

By now it’s been well established that I’m more or less Dewhurst’s public enemy, so when I’m seen walking around with the town’s most coveted, beautiful woman in town I feel even more murderous glances than usual from the thuggish locals. This confuses my confidence very, very much and I don’t know whether to feel elated beyond belief or worried for my life.

Currently I’m just trying to deal with it and enjoying the warm, comforting squeeze of her large bosom digging into my arm through her coat.

My predictions about the day’s events were entirely on the nose. I should know, I’ve been shopping with Opalina a great many times in my youth and well into my adulthood. It’s hard to refuse a request from her after all and I would never pass up an opportunity to spend more quality time with her.

Things were so much simpler back then, compared to how things now seem to be heading between us.

I was just a young man eager to help the woman who visited me several days a week to cook for me and who went out of her way to help with emergency finances when she could.

Yes, she was beautiful, and sure as any man would I may have pleasured myself to the fantasy of Opalina, but it was pure. A gentle longing that I never felt sad over because it just wouldn’t happen in a million years.

Yet here we are...

Opalina drags me to a number of stores and though they are typical of Dewhurst, being dirty and suspicious, we still leave each one with a growing collection of bags in my arms. Medical supplies, groceries, clothing, books, a little bit of everything she could think of buying was being dragged along by my strength alone.

Salvation seemed near at hand when Opalina brought me back to her home at the clinic after roughly two hours of shopping, but the sweet release of bag duty was further than I dared hoped to dream. We merely dropped off my current load in the backroom and then headed straight back out onto the streets of Dewhurst to resume Miss Hart’s extravagant shopping spree.

That said, It certainly isn’t all bad.

We talk about a lot of things over the course of the long day.

We discuss the girls more in depth, my plans now that the Guild is back in action to a degree, and I learn about how well her business has been doing over the last few years. According to Opalina it’s seen a small decline thanks to the rise in demand for cheaper, behind the scenes and no questions asked treatment. The criminal element of Dewhurst thrives day after day while bleeding dry the precious few honest people the town has left.

Speaking of the criminal element, while on our way to a shop I happened to catch Butcher Bludman out of the corner of my eye chasing after a raccoon with his cleaver as one would expect. He’s madder than I’ve ever seen him... The sight is odder than it should be, though, despite the butcher at least wearing a full set of clothes.

Bludman’s in a much, much rougher state than he was when I left him only yesterday. Covered in bruises, cuts and toting a massively swollen eye, he looks almost like he was tortured within an inch of his life.

I try not to draw attention to myself as we pass by, but I seem to remember Sam saying that he went back to the steezweed farm chasing after a wolf that Sam ‘forgot’... even though he already paid for all of the wolves.

By all accounts the only living thing on that farm should have been Spliffert, or at least it would’ve been if I hadn’t told the man to get out of town.

My mind is one that always tends to assume the worst, and the butcher already said himself that he was acquainted with the humble farmer. Said that Spliffert was his dealer. But I can’t piece together the puzzle of just what the hell happened last night...

Did Spliffert escape? He would have had three to five hours before Sam came by to start moving the wolves which seems more than enough to me at least, but if he did escape then it doesn’t make sense why the butcher would be covered in injuries. Besides that, what motive would Bludman have for suddenly deciding to chop up Spliffert?

Putting aside his own wanton bloodlust and psychopathic urges, at least...

“Dear?”

I snap back to reality realizing I’ve just left yet another store and without my noticing another five bags of miscellaneous odds and ends have been added to the ever-growing burden on my arms. Opalina stands at my side, with an amused yet concerned expression coloring her beautiful face.

“You’ve been lost in thought for quite a while now.” Opalina giggles, her hands obviously free of any such load to carry. “I didn’t want to say anything since you looked so serious, but then again you’ve always been like that when trying to figure something out. Care to let me in on your inner monologue? Or perhaps you were simply just zoning out as this boring old lady drags you around from store to store?”

I shake my head and laugh. “Don’t worry. It’s not like that, I’m happy to help. I was just trying to put together why a mad butcher would try to murder his drug dealer.”

Opalina’s look changes from amused yet concerned to just straight up concerned. “Think about this sort of thing often, do you?”

My cheeks blush and I look away, “It sounded much less strange in my head.”

Her deep, husky voice trails off into yet another series of playful laughs. “In my experience, most things tend to.” I can’t help but join her, the warmth of her amusement infects me and I laugh in her wake.

“Come on, Sweetheart. Only a few more shops left and then I promise you I’ll bring you home and feed you up fuller than you’ve been in five years.” She begins walking away.

I follow after her and can’t stop myself from grinning. “Not too full, I hope, I had plans after dinner and would hate to be bloated for the rest of the night.”

Opalina stops in her tracks and turns to face me, her face coated with such a mischievous aura the likes I’ve never seen on her. She leans in closer until she reaches my ear, whispering, “You’re being an awfully presumptuous young man, today. You seem to have certain expectations of what will happen tonight, and while certainly flattering to an old woman like me...” She giggles. “I may just leave you high and dry just to see the look on your face.”

A shiver runs down my spine as her melodious voice drifts into my ears and leaves me at a loss, my breathing becoming heavier. I can’t afford to back off now, though. I want to show how serious I am about this. “Miss Hart, with all due respect I don’t believe I’m being presumptuous in the slightest. If I’m being overeager, however, then I apologize but I believe I have a very good reason to be.”

“Pray tell.” Her full lips come even closer, and I feel the whisper of her warm breath tickle the insides of my ear.

“My entire life I’ve stared at a lovely treasure chest, ornate and beautiful. I lived under the assumption that it was locked and would always remain so, yet yesterday not only did I realize the chest was never locked in the first place- the lid was cracked half open the entire time.”

Dropping all hints of seriousness and tension, Opalina pulls away and chuckles at me in an amused fashion. “Did you really use such flowery metaphors and poetic nonsense just to say you’ve been staring at my chest your whole life?”

I return her smile sincerely. “I like to think I’m a lot wittier and charming than I may indeed be.”

To my surprise, Opalina leans in once more and kisses me on the cheek before whispering, “Don’t put yourself down, little boy. Mommy thought it was very cute.”

Her words and actions have the intended effect and I blush profusely when she pulls away. It seems that no matter how much confidence I develop, I might never be able to win against Miss Hart and her mature charms... I think I can learn to be ok with that.

“Don’t keep me waiting, Sweetheart. Let’s go. We still need to hit up the liquor store, I believe I was promised a cocktail, wasn’t I?” Opalina turns away and flashes me a seductive smile, as she playfully sashays away- purposefully swinging her wide, curvy hips like a pendulum as she goes.

I have a long night ahead of me...