“Thanks for helping us out with that fight. Good luck with whatever it is you plan on doing,” Fenrir tells Azalabulia now that all of the loot has been distributed and since there is nothing else down here for them. The tunnel they came from has been opened back up, so now there is nothing preventing them from leaving.

“Wa-wait, you mean that you are not going to beg me to join you now that you have seen my awesome powers?” Azalabulia asks before realizing how pathetic she sounds and getting back into character. “I – I mean… heh, I guess you must be pretty scared of me to not be begging for me to join you, fufu.”

“Fufu?” Oleander asks, mimicking her attempt at unique laughter.

“Y-yeah. You know, like, ‘fufu, ya scared?’”

“Hey, Rao, you should teach me how to do that shrinking thing,” Oleander says, changing the subject away from Azalabulia.

While those two walk off together, Rock and Shogun following behind them, Cassiel and Fenrir say their goodbyes to Azalabulia.

Or rather, they try to. Every time they turn away to leave, Azalabulia comes up with something else to say as if trying her hardest to convince them to take her with them.

“I – I can use awesome magic!” Azalabulia says.

“I’m worried you’d blow up our ship on accident,” Fenrir says.

“I… I can help clean!”

“Corwin already does that,” Cassiel says.

“Why – why won’t you take me with you? Come on! I would be a great party member to have!” Azalabulia pleads.

“Why are you so desperate to come with us?” Fenrir asks her.

“W-well… you all seem nice and… everybody else I’ve tried partying up with would either make me do all the work and expect to get carried through everything or they umm… couldn’t… couldn’thandlemyroleplaying,” she explains in a quick, hushed voice. “Ba-basically, they just didn’t understand me and my needs!”

“I’m not sure we’re what you’re looking for. Most of the time we spend in-game is just spent chilling around or fishing. At least, I try to make most of it fishing.”

“That does sound boring, but – but I still want to come along! The… the Cursed Flame of Bahamut has chosen you all as worthy companions of mine!”

“We already got one new crewmember today – two if you want to count the fox thing, and we were short on hammocks to sleep on before him,” Cassiel says.

“That’s fine! I can sleep on the floor! Just let me come with you!”

Fenrir and Cassiel huddle together to discuss the strange woman.

“She really wants to come with us,” Fenrir whispers.

“Yeah… she’s kind of suspicious, but I think she’s harmless. Probably just desperate and really wants people to play with. I’ve met people like her a bunch of times before,” Cassiel whispers back.

“Same. She seems like the type where once she finds people she actually clicks with, she wants to cling to them. Do you think she’d get along with everybody?”

“She probably would. Wait, you let that new guy join us after he was begging you, so how come you haven’t given in with her already?”

“Well, because. Rao is a guy, and I’m not into dicks, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about giving in to some random guy begging to join. Plus I felt bad for him and somebodyneeds to teach him how to be normal. This girl – I mean, she’s just a roleplayer. Doesn’t seem weird outside of that, and I’d be worried about what you, Serra, and Nell would think if I just accept a new girl coming aboard so easily.”

Cassiel takes a peek up at Azalabulia’s teary eyes.

With a sigh, Cassiel whispers, “I think we should let her come with us.”

“If you’re sure, alright. Just don’t get jealous or anything because another girl is around.”

“I… I said I was going to stop being like that, you bas—…hmph.”

Fenrir gives Cassiel a quick kiss before pulling away from her. “Alright, you can party up with us,” he says to Azalabulia.

“Please! I’ll – I’ll do anything you need me to! I’m so bored of playing alone!” Azalabulia cries.

“I said you could join.”

“I’ll… I’ll even teach you some of my awesome unique spells!”

“Hellloooo?”

“I-i-if it absolutely comes down to it… th-then… my – my – my body…”

Azalabulia looks up and sees both Fenrir and Cassiel walking away from her.

“Wait!” she shouts.

“Are you paying attention now?” Fenrir asks. “We said you can join us.”

“Really? You mean it?” Azalabulia asks, her eyes wide and looking like she’s about to cry from joy.

“Yep.”

“Yes! I – I mean… heh, I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist fighting alongside my dark power. Together, wolf, we shall drown this world in the darkness of my accursed flames!”

“Yeah, we’re just going to go sailing and fishing and stuff for the most part.”

“Then I shall turn the oceans we sail upon into oceans of flames! We shall replace the water with lava and catch only the greatest, most powerful of hellish fish!”

“You’re not allowed to catch The Shoebill on fire. You’re out of here if you do.”

“I won’t! Promise! No setting shoebills on fire! By the way, what’s a shoebill?”

“Extinct birds. Used to be really cool. Our boat is named after them. So, as long as you don’t set our boat on fire, I’ll be happy and we won’t throw you overboard.”

“Deal! Deal, deal, deal! What’s my bedroom going to be like?”

Fenrir and Cassiel look at each other and sigh. “Were you listening to anything we were saying earlier?” Cassiel asks.

Azalabulia touches her lip and tilts her head.

Despite Azalabulia looking older – more mature than them both, they each feel as if they are far more mature than she is. In fact, both of them are somewhat confused by how her personality so strongly contradicts her appearance. She looks like a cool and mature, somewhat sexual, moderately edgy woman. Instead, she acts like a kid whenever she’s not chanting spells, and even her spell chants are childish.

“O-oh… yeah, I – I might recall saying I would sleep on the floor,” Azalabulia says, tapping her fingers together as the three walk through the tunnel to catch up with the other four.

“I’m starting to feel bad for Olly,” Cassiel says to Fenrir.

“Why’s that?” Fenrir asks.

“First Nyaiko, then Rao, now her. All in one day.”

“They’ll grow on him. He’s always been kind of iffy about adding new people to our groups, but as soon as he gets to know them, he’ll treat them like he’s known them for years. I mean, he’s already starting to get along with Rao better despite Rao probably getting the farthest on his bad side.”

“I still can’t believe he did that.”

“Did what? Who did something?” Azalabulia butts in.

“That guy with the red hair, Rao, peeked under my friend’s tunic to figure out if he’s a guy or girl,” Fenrir explains.

“Who? The girl with the antlers?”

“That’s Oleander. A boy. Not a girl.”

“Ah… heh, I knew that. I was just testing you! For example, what gender do you believe I am?”

Fenrir looks at her abundant chest for a couple of seconds and shrugs. “No idea. You look like you could go either way.”

“Wa-wait! Seriously? I – I don’t look like a girl?”

Cassiel elbows Fenrir in the side.

“Alright, alright. Yes, you look like a girl. It’d be impossible for you to not look like a girl when you’ve got all that on display,” Fenrir says with a sigh.

“All what on display?” Azalabulia asks.

“He’s talking about your boobs,” Cassiel answers.

“Ah… I – I knew that. I can cover up more now that I’ve got a party!”

“You’re only this revealing because you wanted to find a party?”

“I – I was told by the guy who made these clothes that it would work to make new friends.”

“To be fair, it’d work against Cassiel,” Fenrir says.

“You bas—… I’m not some boob addict!” Cassiel shouts.

Fenrir leans closer to her and whispers, “I’m addicted to yours.”

His teasing whisper makes her really happy as evidenced by her wide smile, but those words are also extremely embarrassing and makes her elbow him again.

The group of seven reaches the surface and gets some fresh air.

“Good, that foul beast is gone!” Azalabulia says after taking a cautious look around.

“You mean the giant gorilla minotaur thing?” Fenrir asks.

She nods her head. “He is the one who chased me and made me hide down there.”

“I thought you said you were drawn by dark powers wanting to challenge you or something like that?”

“So… that oversized monkey came after us because it was waiting for you to come out of the tunnels?” Cassiel asks Azalabulia.

Azalabulia looks away from them and tries to whistle just like Cassiel was earlier, but manages to be even worse at whistling than her.