Farzee goes to rest her head on Veril’s, and he’s suddenly stricken, as he dearly wants to take her closeness for more than it currently means. I see him fighting the excitement within himself as he embraces her warmly. He’s trying to be the supportive friend she needs, but he’s deeply enamored with her, and attracted to her. I can’t say I don’t know what it’s like to be fighting off physical attraction to someone, or hell, even attraction to Farzee specifically. Still, I see the tears that both of these Dormies shed in each other’s embraces, and I breathe deep, slow, sad sighs for them. They’ll be okay. Eventually they’re going to be okay.
Leezahna approaches me and quietly, angrily mutters, “I, I don’t get how, how people love you. So many people seem to, when I hate you. I’m. I’m sorry that I hate you. I think. Not a lot makes sense right now. Will things start making sense again?”
Oh wow. That hits like a punch to the gut. I know that feeling of nothing making sense quite well. Whispering softly, I respond, “It’s okay to hate me, or dislike me. I hurt you badly, and it was awful of me to do. Things will start to make sense as you find your own way in the world, your own way to be, and who you are, who you really are underneath it all. I’ll be here if you need me, even if you don’t like me. Leezahna, do you want hugs or physical reassurance, affection of any kind? Would you consent to me offering you hugs, despite your anger at me? You do not have to, at all, you are under no obligation, despite whatever you might think of me, or what I’ve done. You don’t owe me anything.”
Leezahna flashes me a furrowed brow, which slowly morphs into a confused, almost sorrowful glance. She mumbles, “I don’t, I don’t know. I think, I think the tra—. Shit. Sorry. The *Red*. F^&*. Ixeyla. I swear, I’m trying to, to—. I, I learned, and, and I agree, and—. She was kind to me. Nice to me, when everyone else abandoned me. I think maybe just her for now. Um, thank you. I think. Almost? Kind of? I—. I don’t get it. How you can love and be loved. You’re, you’re—. I’m sorry. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you so much. But, but you’re right. I’m so confused. I don’t know who I am, but, but I can’t find that out, if I live with Mother. I’ll just, she’ll just—. Thank you for not hurting her, or killing me. You’re a monster. But, I guess, maybe, sort of a kind one. Maybe.”
That’s about right, and what I expected from her. As I draw a deep breath, before I can respond, Leezahna adds, “This, um, stuff, infinite, um. Am, am I allowed to—. I mean, it’s only fair, as a Dimineros, righ—? Sorry. Shit. I see how awful that sounds now. What do I do to earn what I want?”
Passing that deep breath out through puffed cheeks, I nod to myself at my assessment of the journey Leezahna is on. This could get to be pretty tough, giving her a home right here, right next to everything valuable. On the other hand, if she does start acting out, it’ll be pretty easy to find her, and whatever she decides to claim as her own. Psheww. This is, phew, a hell of a tricky one. She seems to understand to not act out on her anger, her own inability to comprehend me, and so on. If I can just make a few more advancements on my projects, then I can afford to offer her this trust I’m offering her, no matter what she does. I just—. I need to get there. I fear Lu would be heartbroken if the shop was destroyed, with no way to repair it to its magical nature.
I guess it’s now or never though. She wants to know, so I’ll take her to get some parchment, a quill, and ink, for now. Now that we’ve got that, I start, “Leezahna, if you want to write poetry or a letter that you’re never going to send, or an idea you have, or draw calligraphy letters, or write a story, or anything, go ahead and use any of these supplies. If we ever run out, you’ll have to buy your own, and I’m about to show you how. Go ahead and start on something simple for now, something you can do fairly quickly, then I’ll show you how to make the money that lets you get either more supplies, or whatever you want. Whatever you make will disappear, and be replaced with money, so if it’s something you’re proud of, make sure to make a copy of it first.”
Stuttering, Leezahna responds, “O-okay. Okay. Y-yes. I’ll—. I can do that. Is, um, there’s nowhere—. Can, can I go over there?”
I nod at Leezahna as she spots furniture over in the craftworks area. Yeah, it’s probably easier to do writing or drawing while sitting down at a table or desk. It might be one of the first things she’ll want to buy, a stool or chair, then a desk. I’ll try to make sure there’s help on hand to be able to move her furniture into her new home for her. I guess we could make her home on this side of the library, since there’s no space on the other side, but that does put her right next to our vaults. Will she think I’m being overbearing? Glancing towards my inner circle, my querying glance is asking what they think, and if they’d be willing to help. Leeza could go on to be quite a challenge if I don’t handle this correctly.
Lucky looses a very short, very quiet growl, almost a grumble with his tail completely still, but then whuffs affirmatively, his tail wagging as normal. So he’s not happy about helping her out, but he’s still happy to help out in general. I gnaw on my lip as I gaze down at Lucky with worry. Does he have any sort of foresight? Or is he mistrusting because she had a bad attitude? Or does he sense something else? Or does he just not like her, because she’s a pretty woman who approached me while I was with Lu? I’d chuckle a bit if it was the last one. Leeza is like a frightened little kid to me, I can’t even comprehend the idea of her being a “romantic threat” in any way, and that’s not even counting the fact that we’d have to heal a lot of hurt before we could even build a friendship.
My Wings, Teuila wears a semi-grim expression as she shakes her head slowly, incredulously, muttering, “Only you Airhead, only you. I think you did good. I’m proud of you. You’re going to take her into the shop next, right? Is she the last piece? Uh, that was insensitive. Not sure how better to phrase it though. Bluh, stupid emotional crap. Sorry.”
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I flash a half smile at Teuila, somberness adorning the rest of my face as I nod and respond, “I’m going to do that, yeah, but no she’s not the last shop owner we need, not entirely, not yet, but depending on what she has, we might already get to see catalogs. Don’t worry My Wings, I know what you meant. Anyway, speaking about the shop owners, let me pull out the phone.”
Drawing out the device, I realize I want to use it to capture pictures of my loved ones, especially my loved ones and myself together. I breathe through my nose, trying to push back waves of the fear of loss. Passing a slow sigh through my lips, I try to remain calm, though my lower jaw quivers. I know that in some ways, taking pictures would be admitting my fear, admitting that I think there’s a possibility that some day, we might never see each other again. I guess—. I guess it’s okay to admit that I’m afraid. I tell everyone else that. Right Reggie? Yeah, yeah you do buddy. It’s okay to be scared. You want to hold on to them, and pictures would honor them if something did happen. It’s okay pal. It’s gonna be okay.
Breathing deep and sighing again, I look towards Lu, who smiles sadly my way. With her eyes downcast, Luni mutters, “I’m sorry that you’re not going to get to be friends with her. She’s always going to resent you, always. But you did good, my Hero. I’m so proud of you. Remember what I said though.”
Hm, what was it? Not everything will go the way I want, or hope, but we’ll make it through in the end? Or was it want or need? If not everything is going to go the way that I need, I should probably get some more backup contingencies—. Luni shushes my mind with a, “Bup bup, no guessing, it’ll be okay. You’ve got this. Always have, always will.”
I can’t help laughing a bit, feeling like somehow my relationship with Luni is reaching deep into our past, simultaneously strengthening, and expanding, despite the wear our relationship has been through. I stand before her, and once again, Lucky nudges me closer to her, but he needn’t have. I pull her into my embrace and kiss her tenderly, lovingly. Lucky’s tail wags as happily as anything. I fight the smirk at my son’s response to be able to smile warmly into the kiss I share with Luni.
Luni, rivers and June. Her name means both. I don’t even know which languages those translations might be from. Perhaps Polynesian? It’s Fakeworld stuff though. Still. It encapsulates so much of our lives, both of them. I sift my fingers through Luni’s dark bob-with-bangs haircut to rest my forehead against hers. She presses warmly against me, ever so slightly closer, intentionally pressing her curves into more—. I blush, as she intended to get me to do. Still, I can’t help smiling at her. Te fidgets nearby, angry at herself for feeling needy and jealous again, but oddly, as I release Luni, it’s Lu that Te strides towards to hug tightly. Luni’s eyes sparkle and glee rides beneath the surface of her thoughts, but there’s a certain mistrust, an unsurety. I’m more and more suspicious, and more and more certain I know the answer Luni doesn’t want me to find out, or to accidentally share with Teuila.
Only a moment later, Teuila leaps at me, forcing me to catch her, even though she drops her gravity to nil. She peppers my face with kisses, until I can catch her lips with mine. Blushing and grinning at her, she offers me her derpy closed-eyed mile-wide grin as she bobs her head side to side. Leezahna returns, and mutters a query about what to do next. I pass a breath through puffed cheeks before yawning, and doing it again, trying to aim away from Leeza so she doesn’t catch me and come to believe that it’s in response to her. I flick my head towards the bunker that Vylon is snoozing up against in his dragon form, while Vyela keeps an eye on it. I motion Vyela to enter the dugout with the shop stall, just for that tiny bit of extra security, an extra mote of reason to be dissuaded from acting out.
Flicking a glance towards Lu, and then flicking my eyebrows towards the shop stall, Luni giddily leaps behind the counter and begins, “Hello traveler, how can I help you today? Are you looking to buy or sell?”
Leezahna looks confused, so I mouth sell as she glances my way. She turns to Lu and answers that she’d like to sell her writings. Luni motions to the counter, and Leezahna places them down. The writings begin derezzing, and a small stack of bills begins to rez into existence in their place. Later we can tell her that she can sell directly for gems, but for now, this is good enough. Leeza picks up the bills, still confused, unsure what they signify or what to do with them. There’s a couple hundred dollars, so either the shop thought her penmanship was great, or poetry, or whatever she’d written or drawn.
I give her the tiniest of telekinetic nudges, and mouth buy. Leeza starts to brighten up as she asks, “Could I, maybe buy, a really nice, soft chair? If, if possible, in Desinruth style, with satin lining, and brass trim.”
I’m more than a little surprised when a lovely chair with satin lining and brass trim materializes. That was more specific than I thought the shop could get. It is from Luni’s shop though, so of course it’s absolutely impeccable quality. Leezahna gasps and looks almost giddy momentarily before asking aloud, “Is, is that mine? Can, can I keep that? Do I, is it, is—, what even happened? How? Wh—. Can I keep doing this?”
Trying not to let my smile seem insincere, I nod and answer her questions, “That is absolutely yours Leezahna, you earned it, one hundred percent. We’ll help you move it into your new room. If Lucky and Lu don’t mind, I’ll have them dig and stoneshape it to your specifications, within reason. Please be considerate of their feelings and time. What happened is you earned money for your work or artistry, and you traded that money for a specific good. Not all shops from all people who stand behind the counter will have everything you ask for, but you lucked out this time. That’s why I’m going to ask you to please stand behind the counter, and greet us as if you were a shopkeeper, just for a moment, please, I beg you.”
Leezahna looks at me warily, slightly grumpily, but then looks to the amazingly well-crafted chair, gnaws on her lip and slumps her shoulders momentarily. She then blushes, realizing she’s seeming ungrateful, and scurries behind the counter to be the shopkeep we need. She strokes the chair and marvels at it momentarily before offering up a curt greeting.
After putting down a large stack of one hundred dollar bills, I ask as I have been asking, “I’d like something that helps to allow me, Reggie Shellcracker, to determine the available shop catalogs.”
I’m a tad surprised when many *thousands* of dollars begin derezzing. I suppose the quality, and size of the goods is to be expected at that price.