Groaning and sore, Monica slowly opened her eyes again, greeted by cold black nothingness in front of her.

So this was what actual death was like. The cold embrace of the void as she floated in eternal emptiness, forever lost to the darkness for -

“Chk…”

…

Lifting her stiff arms off the ground, she reached up to her face, picking up a very concerned Silk off of herself as the sunlight flooded in past them finally.

“C-Chkchk!!!”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake finally…!”

She slowly sat up, squinting as her eyes did their best to adjust to the light outside the mountain tunnels they’d been in for so long.

Prim sat over her, panting and sweating like she’d just finished a marathon. Silk was bundled in her lap, all eight eyes swollen like they’d just finished crying from worry. She patted the concerned bug, scritching them like a cat, having missed her first companion while they went spelunking.

“W-What happened…?”

“Well, um… you very nearly got sent packing back to town.”

...Right.

The memories all flooded back in at once, that green-haired nightmare’s face burned into her mind’s eyes as she shuttered remembering the blow that had killed her. The witch leaned back against a tree, staring upwards, unfocused and lost in thought.

“...I’m gonna kill that bastard myself sometime.”

“Yeah, I thought you’d say that… i-it was close, at least?”

“Not hardly. They only ever used the one skill, and I couldn’t even land one status effect on them.”

“Well, yes, but I haven’t seen anyone else that could have dodged that long. In terms of survivability, you seem like a nightmare to actually deal damage to.”

“I guess so… how’d we get back out here anyways? Didn’t I die?”

The three of them were in fact back at the entrance to the mountain back at Graff’s Quarry, specifically in the sunny glade nearby where Silk had been having a wonderful time relaxing. The dark interior of the mountain and the dungeon within was nowehere to be seen, much to her chagrin.

“Oh, well…”

Prim fiddled with her inventory, eventually pulling out a vial of transparent, glimmering liquid.

“I thought it’d be bad to let you get sent back to town in your full spider getup, so I popped one of these revive items on you before you despawned. Then I, uh… carried you all the way back to safety, ehe.”

She smiled sheepishly, suddenly understanding why the crafter seemed exhausted.

“Oh… Oh, I… thanks, Prim.”

“No problem, really! I, uh, kinda wasn’t much help with the fight back there so I’m just glad I could do anything helpful at all- gah!”

The crafter was knocked backwards slightly as Monica flicked her on the forehead.

“I’d have died for real without you there, and we’d have never found the second dungeon. No one on Team Primonica is useless, got it?”

“Okay, okay, you’re right… but, you’re not very good with names, are you-”

A second flick to the forehead knocked her flat on her back, deservedly.

“So… what now? We kinda missed out on the dungeon because of me…”

“Well, you’re still recovering and I’m more than a little tired from sprinting all the way back, so… why don’t we leave it for today? I don’t think I’ve seen many other people come out this way, and the path there is pretty out of the way.”

“Yeah… yeah, we come back later, then. We got a pretty massive haul already too, right? We can get the store stocked up some.”

“Right!!”

The crafter practically leapt up as she remembered the original reason she’d dragged them both out here, fatigue fading instantly as she pulled the mage to her feet.

“E-Easy, I’m still sore…!”

She was awarded no such mercy, the beaten down fox being once more dragged bodily back to town, earlier embarrassments feeling hard to dwell on as the contagious excitement bled into her too.

----------------------------------------

Sunset came and went, passing fast as the day blended into the next morning seamlessly, the crafter and crafter-in-training having set out to work with their newly filled storehouse the moment they’d returned to their makeshift home and shop.

Stone was chiseled, ore was smelted, concoctions were brewed, and clothes were tailored, the once empty building gradually being filled in as all manner of recipes and crafting methods were experimented with, the exhausted duo slowly unwinding as they chatted and laughed and argued late into the night.

Despite only having met a day earlier, the year’s worth of events in the past few hours were enough to make them feel like they’d known each other for months already.

By the time the sun beaming through the window found them the next morning, both of them were some degree of passed out and asleep on the floor of the store, Prim flopped out in her chair as half-finished armor lay in front of her, while Monica had ended up laid out across the front counter, her hair and tails completely unkempt and messy.

“N-Nnnn… oh, it’s morning…? Guess we fell asleep… hey, Monica, wake up.”

The only reply was loud snoring, drowning out anything else.

“Monicaaaaaaaaa, it’s morning…”

Her retaliatory snoring only grew louder and more defiant.

“MONICA!”

“Guh, gah, eh, huh, wh-?!”

The dozing fox shot up at once, finally roused as she went to full alert instantly, promptly causing her launch directly off of her perch as she crashed onto the floor behind the counter with a massive thud.

“...guhmornin…”

The shop owner herself slowly pushed herself up from her chair, muscles all tightly wound and locked up as she stretched herself out once again, unwinding the knots tied in her limbs once more, waking up significantly more gracefully than Monica had managed.

She peered around the shop, their constant experimentation and testing last night having left the store a complete mess, half-made items and materials scattered haphazardly across the shelves and display tables, looking like some manner of natural disaster had struck the previously new and pristine storefront.

One of the piles of crafting debris shifted around some, a very disoriented Silk emerging from within as they chittered groggily.

“Gmorning, Silk…”

“Chhhhhhk… chkchk…”

They grumbled back at her, the halfling reaching down to give them an appreciative pat on the head before they scuttled off towards the counter their assigned summoner had collapsed behind earlier.

Prim set out to try and tidy up somewhat, taking notes on everything they’d cobbled together as she made a somewhat orderly list of prospective items to stock once the store opened proper.

Monica had already gone back to sleep behind the counter, her dull snoring mixing in with the sounds of the rest of the town slowly waking up outside. Doors swinging open, voices echoing off the cobblestones, footsteps and wagon wheels racing past-

Knock, knock, knock.

-and now, a loud knocking at their front door, catching her off guard as she stopped in the midst of moving a massive pile of ingredients aside, caught off guard and unsure of what to do.

She hadn’t started advertising that this was a shop yet, so she wasn’t expecting any customers of any sort. Not that she had anything to sell, either way. The only other people who would even try and go into a random unmarked building like this otherwise would be server admins that knew it was a player-owned building, or players trying to randomly barge into NPC houses for quests and items.

Brow ever so slightly furrowed, she headed to the door, deeply confused as she cracked it open just slightly to look outside, looking up towards whoever was there.

“Sorry, we’re not quite open yet I’m afra-”

The halfling kept looking up.

And up.

And further still.

And even further up past that, her neck bent all the way back as she stared up at someone roughly three times her height standing there, eight feet tall and looming over her like a full grown tree as they were forced to duck a bit just to peek through the doorway.

“O-O-Oh, um, is this n-not a store…?”

The monolith of a woman before her seemed entirely lost and directionless as they peered into the mess of a shop, not having had time to finish cleaning everything up.

“Oh, well, it is a store, yes! Or it… will be a store? Which is to say no, but yes, but not right now, but soon maybe, just not currently this second but… hopefully soon!”

She could practically hear the dial-up noises as her prospective customer tried to process anything at all that was just said to her.

“U-Um…. so it… is a store?”

“...it is now! Come on in, please.”

Smiling sheepishly, the towering guest showed herself in, looking around at the partially organized mess they’d made of the place.

Not only did they stand taller than Monica and Prim stacked together, they also wore a set of heavy armor, plates laid over chainmail beneath, undecorated metal that clearly seemed to be starting gear. An equally nondescript heavy shield was held close to her chest in one hand, a matching shortsword sheathed in a belt across her waist, the simple arms and armaments of a fresh-faced tank player of some description.

Her hair was a shiny silver-grey, roughly shoulder length as it flooded off her head, parting around two pointed, elvish ears as she otherwise struggled to keep it out of her face. A pair of pale white eyes scanned the cluttered shop, still fairly disoriented as if they’d only just started moments ago.

“Sorry, it’s a bit of a mess right now, we haven’t really opened yet or anything. But! I’m sure I can at the very least help point you towards what you’re looking for, or maybe even work on crafting it for you maybe?”

Their eyes lit up a bit, clearly a bit more confident in themselves as they pulled up a list they’d made for themselves earlier.

“Ah, t-thank you! Let’s see here… a few skills people mentioned for what I was looking for, um… Hide, Repel, Lurk… m-maybe Blowback and Wind Cloak to be sure…”

“Oh, you’re looking for skills? I know a place that sells some basic skills not far from here, and otherwise a lot of stuff comes from just doing things enough times. But, er… I don’t mean to come off as rude, but what class are you, exactly…?”

“Mm, I-I never introduced myself!”

The ditzy tank hastily bowed, arms stiff to her sides as Prim barely avoided being headbutted.

“E-E-Elise Aelevia, Vanguard, a-at your service!!”

Vanguard was, as she gathered looking at her, a tank class. But whereas something like a Paladin generally focused more on mixing offense and defense both, Vanguards leaned more heavily into defense while using support abilities to heal or buff the comrades they protected. One of the most team-centric classes the game had on offer to start.

But… it was a tank. A role designed for someone to take hits head-on. And this girl…

“Aha, right, you’re a tank then. I should have guessed from seeing your armor. And I assume you’re new as well?”

“Mmhmm! I-I only just started a bit ago and I’m still Level 1 and everything!”

“Right, right. So, on that note, er… you do know all those skills you listed are for avoiding enemies, yes?”

“Yep!”

…

She smiled brightly, as if this was all perfectly understandable.

“...and you’re a tank, correct? You didn’t pick the wrong class to start with?”

“Nope! I asked what the best way to n-not take damage was, and people said to play something with heavy armor, so I picked the heaviest one they had!”

“…”

“...what?”

“That’s, um… I suppose that’s one way of looking at how a tank works, yes.”

“So all I need now are all those skills I mentioned, and nothing will be able to damage me!”

The elf leaned forward, bouncing a little excitedly as she explained her absolutely foolproof plan to her newest friend.

Meanwhile, Prim felt as if she about was tell a child unfortunate news about Santa.

“Well, y'know, um… tanks like Vanguard usually avoid damage by using their shield and armor to stack enough defense that things can’t hit them through it, right?”

“Yeah! My defense is already super high, so no worries there!”

“I’m sure it is! But also, they’re also meant to… be attacked by things.”

“...e-eh?”

“Well you have all that defense for a reason, so if something attacks you, you can-”

“N-N-Nooooo no no no, nuh uh, no, no way, no no no…”

The mere mention of being attacked had sent her into some kind of panic response, quivering like a startled housecat as she clutched tight enough to her shield that it seemed like the metal would start to warp at any moment now.

“I-It’s not that bad to be attacked, really! I’m sure you’d be perfectly fine, you’re a tank and everything…”

“B-B-B-But I only picked this class because people said I wouldn’t get attacked…!!”

“I think you might have misunderstood…”

Several long minutes were spent consoling Elise as concept of being attacked turned her into an anxious wreck, flustering around the store as she hyperventilated and raved, finally tiring herself out enough that Prim was able to wrangle her into a seat to calm down.

“I-I really blew it, huh…”

“Now, now, it’s probably not as bad as you think it is. The game is still fairly open ended, I’m sure there’s a way to play a… tank that… doesn’t really tank…”

“You t-think so…?”

“Well you wouldn’t be the first unique build I’ve seen, to say the least.”

As if on queue, a loud yawn echoed from the back half of the store, a pair of fuzzy ears peaking out over the countertop as one bed-headed Monica awoke from her deep slumber once more.

“Wuzzall that noise… can’t a girl get her… beauty sleep…”

“Speak of the devil… Elise, this is Mon-”

Prim was cut off as she looked back to the significantly taller girl, earlier fear and nervousness now nowhere to be seen as her pearly eyes glittered and sparkled like diamonds, reflecting two fiery red fox ears in them has the only emotion in the tank’s mind unabated joy.

“Oh, we got customers…? Hell, lemme pick myself up and I’ll- hnghh?!”

Monica also did not get to complete her thought, being scooped up off of the ground a towering elf Vanguard lifted her entire body off of the ground, crushing her in a hug like a plush animal as she threatened to pop her like an overripe grape.

“Oh my gods, they’re so fluffy and soft and cuuuuute!!~”

“P-Put me down…!”

The captured fox flailed for dear life, face going blue as they felt the life being squeezed out of them, Elise’s actual melee class STR legitimately at risk of crushing her to death.

A very concerned crafter rushed over, doing her best to (unsuccessfully) pry her party member free from the bear trap of a bear hug as the trio wrestled in a confused heap.

By the time she was finally free, Monica ducked behind the even shorter girl, warily watching a very embarrassed Elise, flustered and red-faced.

“Ehe, I-I may have gotten just a little excited, I’m sorry.”

“Haven’t I died enough recently…”

“Look, I’m sure Elise here was just a little… overeager, is all, yeah?”

She nodded in agreement, despite clearly still intently staring at the kitsune’s tails swaying behind them.

“...I’m sure she was.”

“Regardless, I’m sorry we couldn’t be more help with what you were looking for, Elise. Hopefully the skill shop has what you were looking for, and I hope your build ends out working out for you.”

“W-Well, about that, I, u-um, was actually sort of hoping that since I, um, don’t really know what I’m doing so far, that you both m-might, err…”

The tank shuffled awkwardly in place, twiddling her thumbs as she fumbled her words, unsure of how to say it… before bowing down as deeply as possible, a 90 degree angle that still stood taller than either of the other two standing in the room.

“...p-p-please take me on and teach me what to do!!!”

Silence crept over the messy store, both Monica and Prim processing for a good long while.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“...absolutely no-”

“Monica.”

“...ok, fine. But no more… bear hugs.”

“N-None at all…?”

“……only one a day.”

This limit was instantly broken, the relieved elf scooping both of them up at once as she clung to them lethally tight once more, a worried Silk watching and chittering in concern as both of them were slowly compressed even tinier than they already were.

And from that day forward, the three of them officially become a dedicated party, the nigh-on unstoppable trio of a witch that wouldn’t attack, a melee uninterested in fighting, and a tank mortified of tanking, and a lovable little spiderling mortified at having been involved in all of this.