“That was awkward,” Dawn said as soon as the door to our room was closed. “The fuck is her problem anyway? One minute she’s shy and scared, then next she’s biting people’s heads off.”

“We had an interesting conversation earlier,” I replied, and explained the way she’d admitted to doing something awful at the behest of her parents. “I’m not sure I like her parents.”

“I know what having that type of parents is like,” Dawn groaned. “I’m still scared they’re going to come at me.”

“Hey,” I murmured, putting my arms around her and rising onto my tiptoes to give a short kiss. “Whatever they do, I’ll back you up, and so will my family, including May. We can beat them.”

Dawn gave a weary sigh and moved further into our room. I followed, glancing around at the place. Our large soft double bed was opposite the door, with a frosted window above it that was currently dark with night. We had a wardrobe too, and two bedside tables, one for each of us. It was nice, homey. We’d even gotten a rug for the floor to liven it up a bit. I expected the place would have more things added to it as our time in Cora progressed.

“See, I’m worried,” my girlfriend said after a moment, her brows furrowing in a way that made me want to press a kiss between them. “The church is up to shit again, you know that right? Out in the world? They’ve been recruiting from the bored basic class, promising a world of work and purpose. Shit like that, and now this weird new empire in Cora is doing the same kinda thing. Did you know that Pagutum pays double what the rest of the world pays for quests? It wasn’t like that at the start either.”

“Wait really?” I asked, feeling my stomach churn as I felt a sense of forboding swirl within me. Even just what she’d said now was causing me to feel like something big was going to happen in our world, the real world.

“I’m a history nerd, and a lore nerd, you know that right?” she asked, and when I nodded she continued. “Well, what’s happening in the game with Pagutum, and then out there in the real world with the Church, it just feels connected you know? Like something is going on, but I just can’t see it.”

While she might be right, I wanted the worry I could see within her to be gone, at least for now. It was time to get in bed and relax, not agonise of the fate of the world.

“Well, then why don’t you look at me instead,” I told her gently, taking her face in both hands.

I pressed my lips to hers, slow and caring, hoping to distract her from the worry she was carrying. As she slowly relaxed into the kiss, I moved my hands to her shoulders, kneading the tight muscles I found there with gentle presses of my fingertips, earning a low moan of relief from her.

Maneuvering her towards the bed, I pushed her back down onto it. She shuffled her way up until she was entirely on the bed, and I followed, laying my body fully atop hers. Gosh that felt good, gravity pressing me down against her, every inch of me in tantalising contact with her.

“Is my distraction working?” I asked playfully before I kissed her again.

Dawn’s only response was a wordless hum of approval and a slight nod of her head. I took that as an indication to continue, feathering my tongue first across her upper lip, then her lower lip. Her response was to nip teasingly at my larger lower lip, her arms wrapping around me, pulling me tighter against her. Oh she felt so nice, so warm and strong and soft all at once.

My hands were moving on their own, my want and love for my girlfriend ruling their actions as they plucked at the hem of her shirt before diving beneath. I’d never get tired of the way she felt, the touch of my fingertips to bare skin sending shocks of sensation up through my arms, causing it all to move sluggishly as I was overwhelmed with that first touch.

Dawn parted from me for a moment, her golden eyes lidded with intertwined affection and desire as she basked in my attentions. “Shit, Tami. How do you get me so worked up like this?”

“I don’t know. You tell me,” I murmured as I moved my lips down to her neck, licking and sucking delicately on the soft skin I found there.

“O-oh!” she gasped as my roaming hands slipped under her bra and found a nipple with an impish little flick. “Because you’re wildly attractive and I’m in love with you. That’s why.”

“Seems plausible,” I chuckled, withdrawing my hands and leaning back to straddle her so I could begin unlacing the neck of her shirt.

With the lacing undone, I lifted her shirt over her head. The shimmying movements she made to help caused heat to build desperately within me, holy shit that looked hot. Idly I wondered if I could convince her to learn one of those really hot dances from spain or whatever. The fantasy  got away from me, taking my breath away, and I dove down to pepper kisses across her collarbone, then further down to the exposed skin of her breasts.

Her bra needed to come off too, but I couldn’t be bothered with the whole unhooking exercise, too much effort and my hands were shaking slightly now. Instead I just pulled it down and out of the way. Dawn stilled in anticipation as my mouth descended, my lips and tongue beginning to play and tease at the already firm bud I found there.

I couldn’t help a smile as she arched her back slightly, eager to give me more leverage in my attempts to please her. Attempts that seemed to be working, if her erratic breathing was any indication.

Her fingers wound their way into my hair and she gave a hitching gasp, “Oh, Tami.”

As much as she seemed to be enjoying the attention I was giving her nipples, her hands were insistent that I travel further down. Goddess she was amazing. Simply the knowledge that this was Dawn, the girl I loved so damn much, the girl that I’d been friends with for so long, a spark of romance just waiting for the right conditions to ignite into flame. It took my breath away. Pleasing her like this, it did strange, ethereal things to my heart.

When I reached her soft cotton pants, I dipped a single finger just below the waistband and ran it from one side to the other, relishing the shiver of anticipation I got from her. “Tami please,” she murmured, her voice mirroring the shake her body has just made.

“Please what?” I asked with a grin, my other hand grasping at the softness of her inner thigh.

“Please go down on me, please,” she gasped.

“Alright, as you wish, my love,” I replied, taking hold of both her pants and her underwear, pulling them down slowly to reveal her already oh so wet center. “I love that I have this effect on you,” I told her, looking up to meet her intense orange gaze.

I didn’t wait for a reply, leaning down to run my tongue across the outside folds of her, grinning as I got yet another shiver in reply. I went slowly, my tongue staying light and soft as I began to work at her. I wanted this to be slow, I wanted her to have melted long before I allowed her to finally come.

I kept my pace like that, slow and steady, with a few naughty little dips further between her, or across the more sensitive areas I knew. Dawn wasn’t having any of it though, her hips surging up to try and bring more of my mouth into contact with her, but here in Cora, I was stronger than her. I pushed her down into the bed again with a happy laugh, almost a giggle when she moaned with the need I was teasingly denying her.

“Tami, more, please!” she groaned, pulling lightly at my hair.

“Hmmm?” I asked, lifting my head to make eye contact, pretending to consider her request. “Maaaybe,” I said, drawing the word out.

When I went back down, at first I kept to the previous pace, but when her hips strained at my hands again, I acquiesced. I placed my mouth over her, drawing a broad, hard lick up from bottom to top. She shuddered, a wordless, throaty sound of approval bubbling up from within her. More of that then. I did so, while one hand moved down so that I could slip two fingers gently inside.

She bucked slightly as I entered her, and I had to hold her down again one handed. My girl was a wild one, that was for sure.

With the new tempo of tongue and finger, she didn’t last long before she fell apart under me. The muscles within her clamped down on my fingers, her inner thighs twitched and her hips arched up again, just once. Then she fell back and shook with the pleasure I had given her. I leaned the my head against the inside of her thigh, staring affectionately up at the girl I loved as she rode the waves of her orgasm. Shit, she was so damn gorgeous. I loved her so much. My heart beat in time with the pulse of her shudders.

“I love you,” I told her, my voice rough with the emotion.

Giving me a breathy laugh, her voice still edged with euphoria, she said, “I love you too, Tami. Now please come up here so I can kiss you.”

I did as she asked, making my way up until I was laying next to her, her laugh giddy as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me tight. My mouth was still slick with her as she kissed me, her tongue reaching out to lick the wetness from my chin and lips before commiting to a full, unhurried make out session.

“It is so hot when you do that,” I murmured when we came up for air.

“When I lick myself off of you?” she asked, her tone part smile and part smirk.

“Yeah. Fuck, I’m so turned on,” I grumbled, moving in to continue the kiss.

No sooner had our lips met before we heard something strange. A small series of cracking sounds came from down the bed. We parted, our eyes meeting for a moment before we looked down the length of our bodies with alarm. Was the bed breaking already? I figured we’d at least have a few months with the thing before we decided to make love in our combat forms and set it on fire or something.

More cracks sounded, allowing me to pinpoint the sound as coming from my pocket. I reached down quickly, my hand closing around something, smooth except for some jagged edges. I pulled it out, finding the little egg I had retrieved from the pirate ship. That felt like a lifetime ago, back before Dawn and I had been together.

How on Earth had it had followed me this whole time? I’d changed pants several times, even died so many times that I’d lost count. How was the little thing still with me? It was no longer green either, the shell was now a mix of dark blue and grey, much like my own colouring. It was also cracked in several places, and even as we watched, another crack appeared.

“It’s hatching,” Dawn said in wonder, and I had to agree with both her words and her tone.

With another crack, a large chunk of the egg broke off, and a little tiny scaled face poked out to stare straight at me with dark eyes. Dark eyes that held the tiniest little flickers of lightning within them.

“Squaa,” the little thing chirped, blinking at me with confused, dazed little eyes.

“Oh. My. God,” I whispered.

We watched in growing awe as the little thing pushed its way out of the egg, before laying down in an exhausted heap in my hand. It was only like three inches from nose to tail, if that, and every one of those three inches was adorable. It was dark grey and blue, exactly like me, tiny scales running all the way down its serpentine little body, the nubs of feathers poking out between them.

Little wings, still unfeathered except for those same nubs came out of its shoulders, as well as small legs from its hips, although they already promised to be large and powerful when it had time to grow. Its head was a blunt wedge shape, somewhere between a snake and a crocodile, and its tail took up almost half of its total length.

“It’s so cute,” Dawn whispered, drawing the little creatures attention.

It tilted its head at her, as if learning and memorising my girlfriend. “Squaa?” it squeaked, trying and failing to lift its little head further off my hand.

“What do you think we feed it?” I asked, my heart clenching with care for the little thing already.

“It has sharp teeth, so maybe we give it meat? Probably nice and tender meat though, nothing tough for the little girl,” Dawn mused, then grabbed her shirt and pushed up from the bed. “I’m going to go and grab some from the cold room and heat it up a little.”

“How do we know it’s a girl?” I asked, staring at the strange little wyvern thing in my hand.

“We don’t actually, I guess we’ll have to figure that out,” Dawn laughed as she shimmied back into her shirt and pants. Damn, I was still pretty horny too.

I watched my girlfriend quietly leave the room, then glanced down to see my new little friend doing the same.

“She’ll be back, don’t worry,” I told it gently. “With food.”

It just blinked at me, then laid its head down on the soft part of my palm where the thumb met the rest of my hand. It’s eyes were huge as it gazed up at me, little slits for pupils like a cat. I had a feeling that the colouration and occasional sparks of energy within its eyes were no coincidence. It had been in my pocket when we fell into the space between worlds, and it looked like it might have been changed the same way I had.

“So little friend, we’re rather similar aren’t we?” I asked it as I reached up to gently run the pad of my thumb over its little head.

It made a little murmuring sound and closed its eyes with a yawn. Oh, it was probably going to fall asleep before Dawn got back. I kept patting it with my thumb anyway, coaxing the little baby to sleep. It probably needed it considering how much effort it must have taken to get out of the egg.

It was indeed asleep when Dawn got back, carrying a little bowl of shredded bacon. She took one look at the peacefully sleeping little creature and gave a quiet laugh. “Exhausted huh? I’ll put the meat over here and we can wait for it to wake up.”

“Alright,” I nodded, then a thought occurred to me. “I wonder what it is?”

“Check your notifications, I bet it counts as a pet,” she replied.

Sure enough, up in the corner of my vision was a little blinking notification.

Through many long battles, with your body’s warmth and a little bit of love, you have managed to hatch a Storm Amaru. This creature is available to be summoned and unsummoned from the pets tab. Its statistics and other information can also be found in this tab. Take good care of your new charge!

“It’s called a Storm Amaru,” I said, looking down at the little baby in question. “Also apparently it has stats and stuff?”

I navigated through my menus to the pets tab and had a look. It had very little in the way of stats right now, but I was able to see it was female from the information page. “Looks like she’s a girl, at least according to the info sheet,” I told Dawn. “Her stats are at almost nothing right now, but I guess that will change as she grows up.”

“Yeah that makes sense,” she replied, fighting a yawn. Giving me an apologetic smile, she told me, “Sorry, I know you didn’t get off. Maybe I can repay you in the morning? I’m so tired from the day of walking and fighting.”

“Yeah sure,” I smiled, reaching over with my free hand to run my fingers lovingly through her hair. “I’m down for sleeping.”

“What about your new little pet?” she asked, pointing to her.

I thought for a moment, then shifted until I was lying on my back, depositing the small thing between my boobs, where it stirred restlessly before settling back down. “There, problem solved. Boobs are so useful.”

“That they are,” Dawn laughed and rolled her eyes, kicking off her pants and snuggling into bed.

I guess I was going to be sleeping in my clothing tonight, there was no way I was going to be able to move much with my new charge on my chest. Oh well, I wasn’t bothered, and I felt sleep creeping up on me too.

“Goodnight Dawn, I love you.”

“I love you too Tami.”