Rosa

Carefully, I dipped my chopsticks down into the noodles and pulled out a nice mouthful. Blowing on it, I put it into my mouth and slurped, pulling the delicious brothy noodles in between my lips. Heaven. Finally, after so many trials and setbacks, I had my ramen. The glorious savoury and umami flavours touched my tongue and I gave a little whimper of appreciation.

“Oh my goodness, look at her ears wiggle while she eats!” Civette whispered, and I opened my eyes to find her staring at me. I scowled back at her.

Before I could adequately respond to her slander, I had to take the last of the noodles between my chopsticks and push them into my mouth. God, the ramen they made here was reka as.

“Wanna go? I most definitely do not wiggle my ears when I eat,” I grumbled, wincing almost immediately afterwards. I’d let my guard down and my accent had become thick as. The other kids at my old school had always made fun of me for how I spoke. Calling me a ‘posh guy’, or a ‘high class bogan’. I couldn’t help but enjoy taking full advantage of the English language.

Beside me, Amelia chuckled and ran the backs of two fingers down my arm in a gesture that felt both respectful of my personal space, but also familiar and intimate. I glanced up at her, following the way she floated her lavender hair out of the way.

“Rosa, you kinda do wiggle your ears,” she teased gently. “Also, where are we going?”

“Absolutely nowhere. I will not be moving until I have finished eating,” I said, confused.

Opposite me, Tami laughed and winked at me before responding to Amelia. “It’s slang from down in oceania. New Zealand, I think, if I’m getting the accent right. My girlfriend is from down there and she sometimes talks like that. ‘Wanna go’, means like… ‘I’ll fight you’. The tone she used is more like, ‘shut up’, or whatever. It’s pretty all over the place though, ‘cos it’s slang.”

“Huh,” Amelia grunted, giving me a considering look.

“I’m going to eat my ramen,” I grumbled, pointedly centering my attention on my food.

While I ate, the others chatted about the war and how things were going for their side. Tami and Civette told us about how they’d come very close to stopping the Pagutum Empire from getting the airship technology. Sadly, a high level Pagutum player had stepped in to stop them. It sounded like she’d used an unbelievably expensive Dice of Fate to do it. At least, according to how they described the portal.

I couldn’t exactly tell them why I knew that, though, considering how I’d learned that information. When I’d consumed the woman whose face was now known as the Witch of Chains, I had found one in my pocket. The special dice were one of many closely guarded magical technologies that the Pagutum ruling elite had obtained over the years, and two were consumed when someone used their formidable power to transport themselves.

I would never have admitted it, but listening to Tami and Civette talk about their adventures, I found mood dipping. The way they gestured with obvious enjoyment, recounting their stories, it made me sort of jealous of the fun they’d had during their time playing. Meanwhile, I’d spent the whole time in a sort of depression and rage-fueled fugue state.

“So… the fire one is your girlfriend, right?” Amelia asked around a forkful of messily eaten noodles. “And the ice one is your twin sister?”

“Yeah, that’s them,” Tami smiled, glancing up and to the side fondly. “My girlfriend’s name is Dawn and her character name is Aurora. Taylor is my sister, she’s also a streamer called Lips and Shades.”

“How come they aren’t here?”

Tami shrugged. “Dawn is up in the library being a lore nerd and Taylor is doing some fan meet up thing. I sure as shit wasn’t going to the latter, and Dawn likes her alone time with books. So, since Kimmy here was also not interested, we figured we’d go find somewhere to eat.”

“Cool,” Amelia nodded.

The meal continued in a similar fashion, with the other three chatting up a storm while I quietly impersonated an inanimate object and ate my delicious, delicious ramen. God, I had missed this. There were no greater pleasures in life than your favourite food savoured after a long drought.

Long after I'd finished my ramen and some green tea, they finally finished doing their extrovert friendship ritual. I was dragged into the conversation a few times, but I managed to stay in the background for the most part.

When we finally left the shop and stepped out into the warm, bustling interior of the city, I was more than ready to have Amelia alone to myself again. With that goal in mind, I rather forcefully took her hand in mine and dragged her away and towards where I knew the adventuring outfitters had their shops.

I needed some proper gear if I was going to play the part of supporting mage to my new friend's gun toting cowgirl schtick. Maybe I should invest in a bookish battle librarian style to compliment her? I would have to see what was available for purchase, of course, but the idea had merit.

"Ow, you're hurting my hand," Amelia grumbled, after we'd travelled down a few streets. "God, you look so small and cute, but you have the grip strength of a gorilla."

"Sorry," I muttered, easing my grip. I didn't let go, though. So what if I was feeling a little possessive? Amelia was the first person to show me proper compassion in a very long time.

Her hand slipped out of mine once she had the freedom to do so, leaving a cold void where it had been. I hunched over and scowled at the ground. That is, until her arm came down to land over my shoulders, and I was once again enveloped in a warm bubble of happiness. Plus, whatever emotion she was putting out was delicious. Like a hot chocolate on a cold day.

“So we’re going to get you some gear, now?” Amelia asked, squeezing my shoulder.

I nodded. “Yes. If I am going to play the role of your support, I’ll need appropriate attire.”

She snorted, and I glanced up to see her smiling down at me with amusement. “Appropriate attire? Why not just say support gear? You always speak so formally.”

“I speak like this in order to distance myself from the people who raised me,” I sighed, ears wilting. Then I chuckled and looked up at her, grinning about the subject for the first time in a long time. “Cos othahwise I’d sund loik thus, and uu’d barely be able to undahstand uh word oi say, ay.”

She giggled and pulled me closer, almost doing damage with her chin. “So cute. You’re right, though. I’d never be able to understand you.”

“Stop calling me cute,” I grumbled, perhaps a little half-heartedly.

“Never.”

****

We found our way into a spellcaster’s apparel store and ducked inside. The place was pretty big, especially by Artifisuki city standards, but it still had that cramped atmosphere. Metal walls were disguised with wood veneer where possible, and carpet kept the floor insulated from the heat of the engines below us.

Amelia disappeared pretty quickly, only to come back with a cloak that she handed to me. I took it from her wordlessly and inspected it.

Cloak of the Huntress
A simple soft leather cloak, lined on the inside with fur. This cloak has been modified to carry many dulled metal rings along its surface so one may attach camouflage to it.

“I figured since you’ll be my spotter, you’ll need some camo like me,” explained Amelia with a smile.

“Good thinking,” I mused, draping the cloak over my arm so I could go back to what I’d been doing previously.

I was picking out my outfit, but all the enchantments on the items being sold were rather dull. There was a cute pair of billowy pantaloons that would go really well with some leg wraps, but all they had on them was a flimsy +4 defence enchant.

“These pants are cute, but… I kinda want better enchants on them,” I said, holding them up so Amelia could see.

“Well, you’re already going into a high magic build,” she shrugged. “Why not work on enchanting and create something really cool with them?”

I stared up into her pretty pink eyes for far too long before I finally groaned and closed my eyes. Why didn’t I think of that? It was so obvious!

Squaring my shoulders, I said, “Okay. New plan. We buy these pants, some nice leg wraps, a silk shirt, and a soft leather jerkin. Then I go and buy as many enchanting supplies as I can possibly manage. Hopefully with that I can power level my way to a useful enchanting level.”

Amelia’s lips quirked up into a smile, and her hair floated up to dance over her shoulders. “What on earth have I gotten myself into with you?”

QuietValerie

It has been literally forever since I tried to write this story. Hopefully my current writing style isn't too jarring, but I imagine there'll be some problems picking this story up again. It's hard to keep the tone and style the same after all these years xD. Anyway if this gets a good reception I'll keep going, if not, I'll work on a chapter every now and then until it's finished. Anyway, um... if you'd like to support me and get access to various exclusive works, jump into my patreon and throw me a few dollars a month! It really helps keep the dream alive.