Gift Giving

 

It was the afternoon, the day after 'The Goddess' Fated Chosen' had returned from the island of Estora. They had all been exhausted when they go back, and each of them had slept into midday.

While the others were still lounging around, Damien had gone for a walk through Ancona, a singular objective on his mind.

As he wound through the market area, he finally found what he was looking for, a beauty shop. Heading inside, he quickly found what he was looking for: a brush.

Damien wasn't sure what type would be best, so he grabbed one with a small handle and long teeth. This should get through her tail, right? After mulling it over, he decided this should do, and headed towards the check out. However, as he walked up, he felt a tingling in the back of his head. It wasn't the Goddess (this time), but more a warning sense. ...I need to get something for everyone, don't I?

Feeling like he had dodged a pitfall, he turned back around. However, he wasn't sure what to all get. Considering it was just a comb, he decided to get something small for the others as well.

For Bluey, he found a yellow band for tying hair back, since it was getting kind of long. I feel like it's always in the way during fighting, so she should put it up like Kara does when we're in combat.

For Betty, he got a cleaning cloth. Her glasses tended to get dirty a lot and she wiped it on her robe, but this should make it easier to keep them clean.

I should get something for Diana, too. And Dora. And might as well get Delilah something too.

Looking around, he found a blue hair ribbon. Diana tended to tie her hair down past her shoulders, so a ribbon would work. Seeing there were several sizes, he got a couple smaller ones of the same color for her daughters.

Feeling like he was on a roll, he decided to get something for Kara too. After a minute he did think of something, but it wasn't sold at a store like this, so he made a mental note to get it on the way back.

He thought about who else he should get a gift, and Carleen and Liz both came to mind. He felt a little awkward about Carleen, though. Actually....maybe getting her something would lighten the air between us. He looked around, and found some hair conditioner. Having it cooped up in the helmet all the time probably isn't good for it, right?

For Liz, he wasn't really sure what could be of use to her. However, after walking around for a while, he saw a small hair clip that matched her Guild Girl outfit, and snapped it up.

Feeling proud of his choices, he paid for his finds (luckily it wasn't too expensive since most of them were small) and headed out the door.

 

He returned to the apartment, and was immediately accosted by Bluey.

“Master!? Why were you gone so long? We wanted to get dinner...” she half whined, squeezing him to her and rocking him around.

Damien patted her head and chuckled, “You could go with out me.”

Bluey seemed offended, “We wouldn't do that!”

Damien sighed. “It's okay if you do. And here, I got you something,” he took the band out of the bag, and put it on her.

Bluey blushed, looking up at it. She took it off, inspecting it gleefully, then put it back on. “Thanks Master! This is so cool!”

Damien chuckled, “It's supposed to keep your hair back when we're fighting.”

Bluey shook her head, “I'm gonna wear it all the time!”

Damien chuckled again and nodded, patting her again. He then noticed Aurora was behind Bluey, waiting patiently, besides her tail which was wagging furiously.

“Don't worry, I got you something,” he said, pulling the comb out.

Aurora's eyes lit up, and she presented her tail. Damien carefully combed it, and Aurora let out a small 'piyuuu' as he did.

The sound brought out Betty, who seemed to have been doing laundry in the bedroom. “Are you...oh! You got her a comb.”

Bluey ran up, leaning her head forward and pointing to her hairband. “Look what Master got me, too!”

Betty giggled, “That's cute! Do I get anything?”

“Of course!” Damien replied, taking out the cloth. He carefully grabbed Betty's glasses, and cleaned them off, making a big show of it. The cloth seemed to work well, and the glasses sparkled a bit in the sun coming through the window.

Betty blushed as he put them back on, then giggled. “You look twice as handsome now.”

Damien blushed, poking her cheek. “I don't think it cleaned that well.”

Betty leaned up and kissed him. “Are you ready to get dinner at the inn?”

Damien nodded. “Yeah, we need to stop at Diana's first, though.”

 

Stopping at Diana' shack, he knocked at the door. It took a few moments, and Diana opened, smiling when she recognized Damien, then looked at everyone else. “Hi! We're having dinner right now, I didn't make enough for everyone, but if you wait-”

Damien held up his hand. “No, we're meeting someone for dinner already, I just wanted to give you this,” he said, pulling out the ribbon.

Diana blushed, taking it and holding it to her heart. “Damien, you didn't have too...”

Bluey leaned her head forward, pointing like she had earlier. “He got all of us something.”

Diana giggled. “Can you put it in for me?”

Damien tried to tie it, and couldn't get it lined up right, but luckily Betty knew what to do and took over, tying it in place.

“How do I look?”

Damien smiled, “Even prettier.”

Betty elbowed him, and Damien realized Diana was hoping for a kiss. He leaned in and gave her one.

“Wah, Mister!” he heard from behind Diana. Dora ran up and hugged his leg, “You kissed Mommy again.”

Damien leaned down and patted her. “I got her a gift too,” he said.

Dora looked up as Diana showed off her ribbon. Dora seemed in awe, “Wow, that's so pretty.”

Damien grabbed one of the small ones, and took it out. “I got you one too!”

Dora got really excited, and Diana tied it in her hair as Dora could barely stop from jumping up and down. “Now I look just like Mommy!”

Damien handed Diana the last one too. “I got Delilah one as well.”

Diana smiled, “I'll put it in for her later.”

Dora wanted them to stay, but Diana was stern with her. “They're meeting someone, and we need to finish dinner.”

Damien patted her head again. “Don't worry, I'll take you and Delilah out again sometime soon.”

Dora got excited and gave him another hug, then ran back to the dinner room.

 

After saying goodbye to Diana the group started heading towards the inn. However, Damien stopped when they passed the Guild Hall.

“You go get a table, I got something for Liz too.”

Betty gave him a sly look. “Are you trying to win over Liz too?”

Damien sighed, “No, Liz seems pretty happy, doesn't she? I just saw something I thought she might like.”

Betty nodded, and the other three continued to the inn.

Going inside, Liz only had a small line, so he slid his back on his shoulder and waited.

After a few minutes, he got up to the front, and Liz gave him a big smile.

“Hi Damien! Just you today?”

Damien nodded, “Yeah, I just wanted to give something to you quick.”

Liz raised an eyebrow, and Damien handed over the hair clip.

Liz blushed, “You got this for me?”

Damien smiled, “Yeah, I was getting gifts for everyone, and thought I'd get something for you too.”

Liz blushed more, then pushed the clip back. “I can't accept it.”

Damien was taken aback. “Oh, sorry, I just thought-”

Liz shook her head. “It's not that I don't appreciate it, but Guild Girls aren't allowed to accept gifts from their clients.”

Damien facepalmed, “Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that.” He went to grab the clip, when Liz's hand went over it.

“Oh look, I found this clip just lying around,” Liz said.

Damien was confused for a moment, then realized what she was doing. “Oh, yeah, how did that get there?”

Liz put the clip in her hair and smiled. “Well, how do I look?”

Damien gave a thumbs up. “Really pretty. Good thing you randomly found that.”

Liz blushed a bit and smiled. “Thanks for visiting me.”

Damien nodded, then got out of the way so the people behind him could continue.

 

He finally made his way over to the inn, and the girls were sitting in the corner. Kara was already with them, chatting with Bluey (who seemed to have showed off her hair band to Kara as well). Betty was tying the comb into Aurora's hair.

“Thanks, Master, I didn't realize it was supposed to be for putting up my hair as well,” Aurora smiled at him.

Damien was confused, “I didn't realize it was supposed to be.”

Betty giggled, “Yes. Not that you can't use it for brushing her tail, but you can tie it in hair as well,” she explained before finishing tying it in.

Kara looked at him, “Did you get something for me too?”

Damien was about to respond when Kara laughed.

“Haha, just messing with you.”

“But I did get you something...”

Kara blushed, “Oh...”

Damien put his bag down, and reached inside. He pulled out a tent pack and handed it over. “Here, figured you would need a new one after Estora. This one is supposed to be extra-durable, in case we run into snakes again.”

Kara blushed more, taking it. “Thanks...”

Bluey seemed sad, “But I liked when Kara was in the tent with us!”

Damien sighed, “We four barely fit in it.”

Bluey nodded, “You're right, we need a bigger tent.”

Kara smiled and thanked him, “I'll treasure it.”

Damien chuckled, “You should use it, though.”

 

They were all in a good mood, and merrily ate some roasted pheasant and drank ale as they talked about their recent mission. Eventually, they turned to the future, and what they were doing next.

Betty turned to Damien, “I think we should take some easy experience missions, to get you and Kara up.”

Kara blushed, “You don't need to do that, I'll keep up...”

Betty shook her head, “I know, but it's not just you, we need to get Damien to level 10, so he can get his next summon slot.”

Damien nodded, “Yeah, going by the pattern I think I should get one at level 10.” Damien thought for a moment, “You know...why did Herod only have five summons? Shouldn't he have more at his level?”

Bluey growled angrily.

Kara was confused. “Herod? That Divine-Rank summoner?”

Betty gave a weak smile, “Yeah, we've had...a couple run-ins with him.”

Bluey took a huge bite out of a pheasant leg, “He's awful.” Aurora nodded in agreement.

Damien nodded as well. “I know, but I wish I could learn a bit more about Summoners from him. I haven't met any others.”

Betty shrugged, “We can try, although I haven't seen him at all since last time. Either way, getting you both up doing some easy missions should be a priority over money for right now.”

Kara poked her hands together, “I kinda need money, though...”

Betty sighed, “If you really are hurting that much, we can loan you some.”

Kara shook her head, “No, I'll just do some extra missions on the side.”

Bluey nodded, “Yeah, even if everyone else is taking a day off, I'll go hunt some elementals with you!”

Kara and Bluey hugged excitedly.

 

As they were winding down dinner, Damien looked in his bag, seeing just the gift for Carleen left.

Betty leaned over and whispered, “Did you get something for Carleen?”

Damien smiled wryly. “Yeah, I was hoping to ease some of the awkwardness around us.”

Betty nodded vigorously. “Go give it to her, I'll make sure they don't get too rowdy and take them back.”

As he got up to leave, Aurora gave him a smile (Bluey and Kara were happily drinking and singing, half-drunk). He leaned over and gave her a kiss, which Aurora reciprocated.

Walking up the stairs, he found the room he remembered was Carleen's last time. Hopefully she didn't move.

Knocking on the door, he heard some shuffling from inside. As the door opened, he heard, “I thought we weren't leaving until tomorrow?” As she finished, Carleen realized it was Damien.

“Hey.”

Carleen blushed, then averted her gaze. “Hey, Damien. Do you need something?”

Damien put down his bag, taking out the conditioner. “I was just getting some gifts for the girls and I figured you might be able to use this. I'm sure being in a helmet all the time isn't good for your hair.”

Carleen blushed heavily. “You got this...for me?”

Damien smiled and scratched his cheek. “Yeah. Things had been kind of...awkward between us, and I was hoping maybe this could be a peace offering.”

Carleen clutched the bottle to her chest, then sighed, as if some tension had left her body. She shook her head, “No, I'm sorry. I acted like a fool and said something weird while I was drunk.”

Damien blushed a bit, “It's okay. It's not like I was offended by you calling me 'cute'.”

Carleen blushed more as if embarrassed about him actually saying it. “So you're not upset about it?”

Damien chuckled, “No, of course not.”

Carleen finally looked back up at him, and smiled. “Thanks.”

Damien closed his bag and slung it back on his shoulders. “Let me know how it works, I got it at-”

He stopped turning as Carleen grabbed his shirt, her face looking down again. She was silent for a moment, as if trying to muster up something, before finally asking, “You...want to use it right now?”