So… dad said… its powerful… can attest to that… and… huuuh… right… remember who I am… Kilniara rose in his thoughts and he smiled then quickly grimaced. Right… so… how? When I’m always thinking … ugh… He closed his eyes and breathed deep again, this time not running from the thoughts, but diving back into them with as much of his logical mind as he could bring to bear, struggling to cleanse his emotions to at least some sense of stability. Sheesh… it really is a drug! No wonder so many songs and movies are about this… its… it is addictive! He remembered his dad taking him out to a meal at a local restaurant just a couple weeks before he’d returned to the States. It was only the summer before he headed to university and his father had set him down and offered quite a bit of advice about being a man and beginning to live independently. At the time, Joe had simply loved the time with his father, more than anything else, but his father had managed to offer advice and he took it to heart as best he could.
Despite that, he couldn’t remember anything of use for the current situation beyond remaining true to himself. He grimaced and with that decided to evaluate how he was doing and who he was, despite the utter alien nature of his current circumstances. Right… alien world… people actually to relate with… interesting… another thing to figure out why humans are... well... human like here… anyway… good for that… got relationships and friendships… seem a bit… mercenary but … OK… not too bad… hmm… very harsh with justice… Joe paused at that with a grimace, remembering the previous thief that had been beheaded. And… ok… slaves… so… that’s really easy… no slaves. And… figure out another way to deal with thieves… Uh… a lot more sexually free than I’m used to… but… doing not too bad… kept it to a kiss… but... gotta... be honest... more honest with Kilniara.
Joe’s mind began to wander again, remembering the actual drug inducing feeling of his first kiss, his body actually shuddering and his breath stuttering as he breathed deeply. The kiss had been … powerful. So… right… gotta be careful of kisses… and… gotta treat her right. First girlfriend and all that… ooh… yeah… His acknowledgement of Kilniara as a first girlfriend rapidly brought to mind his father offering a chuckling warning about girlfriends, especially firsts, but it seemed he’d lucked out in that regard, as Kilniara did seem to truly like him and for that, he was grateful. If you can, for your first, make sure she likes you… likes you likes you… Don’t chase after ones who don’t like you…
Joe frowned. And how do I know that? His internal snark settled and he honestly checked himself. Dad wouldn’t have said if I couldn’t do it… so… check? His thoughts went back over Kilniara’s interactions with him and he found that she seemed to genuinely like him, but then he frowned in worry when his father’s very serious warning about the power of love and intimacy significantly altering a person’s perspective came to mind once again especially in relation to being in love. His father’s primary interaction with the world was to joke in almost everything. If he didn’t joke, it was time to truly listen, and this had been one of the few times he’d grown unusually serious, concern radiating from him.
So, he went back one more time, but found himself unable to evaluate Kilniara in any other light. That caused Joe to grow genuinely concerned and he bent his thoughts to understanding why. But nothing came to mind and he slowly settled. He didn’t want to become overly suspicious as that seemed to be a rather rapid and foolish way to destroy any relationship, but he finally decided he need to honestly evaluate regularly. Best option would be to find someone I can talk to… but… Not Zilnek… can’t do that… brother’s not… yeah… Garnedell? But… so young… Kukurnal? … not… no… not really a friend… more just a study partner, I guess? His thoughts wandered over his acquaintances and he found himself slowly growing depressed as he knew almost no one. He sighed and then grimaced, pulling himself from the spiral into greater depression with an ease most would be jealous of and he sighed deeply and turned his thoughts to other things, finding his evaluation now failing to produce a meaningful growth. He did make a small mental note to possible consider Garnedell as someone to confide in, but quickly moved on, his mental state not exactly comfortable.
So… then… need to think about… oooh! He then remembered fighting the goblin king and quickly dug out the items he’d won once again, inspecting them carefully before putting them away with a bit of a sigh as he realized that they were the same; two wooden rings that allowed the wearer to bear any weapon. Something amazing for this world, but incredibly disappointing for him as he’d already practiced most of his life with multiple different weapons.
He soon found himself bouncing meaninglessly over various ideas to distract himself as he didn’t have much to think about and spent his time bouncing between his memories of last night and meaninglessly meandering through his status. Finally, Kilniara woke and slipped into the room, sidling past the two boys before joining Joe on his bed. She glanced at the two sleeping boys before she smiled lasciviously and sidled into his side, her head on his shoulder and her hand drawing lazy circles on his chest. They said nothing at all, but were soon looking at one another, simply staring and enjoying each other’s gaze. When the boys started to stir, Kilniara quickly stood and smiled at Joe before grabbing the washing station for herself.
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When she finished, she turned to the room and waved goodbye brightly, “See you guys downstairs. I’ll get breakfast ready.”
“Wait! What about…” Joe trailed off as she’d already left the room, “Well, I guess we’ll be training after breakfast, then. Up and at ‘em. Cleaned and dressed. We’ll head down to breakfast in fifteen minutes.”
Joe stood up and began jostling the boys awake as he spoke, not letting up until both had stumbled out of the bed. Joe watched for a few moments to make sure they were awake before he began cleaning himself at the watch basin. After he’d finished, he turned back to find Garnedell awake and in line for the wash basin after him, although Zilnek had crawled back under the covers and in bed. Joe walked back up to them and began ejecting him from his bed a bit more violently.
Zilnek woke with a bit of anger but when he woke up, he calmed himself and Joe renewed their relationship with a quick hug and a pat on the back, “Relax man. We’re all good. We just need to get up, right?”
Zilnek nodded, “OK. Sorry I went back to sleep.”
Joe laughed, “And tomorrow you might find me going back to sleep so you’ll have to wake me up.”
Zilnek slowly began to grin at that and Joe replied with one of his own before turning to leave, “See you guys down at breakfast. Kilniara’s already ordered, so if you want warm food, come fast.”
Joe left and headed down to the common room where he found the alcove in the back corner now being ripped open, a doorway being built in its place. What… oh! The private dining area for the Matriarch. Where’re they going… well, crap! There goes the courtyard, I guess? I hope they leave enough for me to exercise in the morning.
Joe looked away from the new construction and saw Kilniara already seated and even with her food. That was fast! Joe settled in next to her before opening up conversation.
“That… seems like it came very fast?”
“Hmm. Not sure why, but yeah.”
“Huh…”
“And it’s much better, too.”
“Really?” Joe asked, a bit surprised, before he took a bite of the food and relishing it. After the first bite, he actually groaned a bit as the flavor burst on his tongue.
“Yeah? Me, too. It was pretty amazing on my first bite.”
Joe said nothing in reply for another couple moments, taking several more bites to enjoy it, “This is really good! I need to know what it is.”
“You can try to ask the chef, but most artisans are pretty guarded about what they make. They don’t want people to steal their stuff.”
“Huh. No copyright, I guess.”
Kilnaira looked at him strange, opening her mouth to ask a question but was interrupted when Garnedell and Zilnek loudly scrambled across the room before throwing themselves into the seat.
Joe sighed and shook his head, “Guys! I understand you’re hungry, but, keep the noise down and don’t bother people.”
Garnedell replied sincerely with an apology, but Zilnek’s was a bit dismissive and his sister slapped him and forced him to redo his apology. Joe didn’t let any emotion come through, hiding his humor at the situation but realizing that she really was teaching something important for Zilnek to learn. Although, he seems to do well enough with others so maybe it’s just because I’m so relaxed?
Both Garnedell and Zilnek expressed the same appreciation of the food that Joe had, and the conversation vanished in the face of excellent food, all four simply diving into the breakfast. The meal went by silently and Joe then called for all of them to go out into the courtyard this time to practice their combat forms. Might as well use it, and not so crowded back in the room. Maybe I should explore the places a bit more from now on. I’ve got more than enough time to get my base stats up. No need to stress so much.
All three sprinted up the stairs after the meal, quickly forgetting Joe’s rebuke to remain quieter from before breakfast as Joe took the steps a bit slower to pick up his bag and be ready for the day. Might as well have it ready, we can warm up and head out right after!
Once they made the courtyard, they found about half of it occupied for the new extension for the dining area and Joe felt some relief to know they would still have some place to practice besides the room, although the space now was significantly smaller. He did make sure to stick a bit away to give the construction workers the space they needed to build. He soon had all three going through their forms as he took the first bit of time to spend on instructing them before leaving them to their practice so he could go through some of his other forms he’d been neglecting, as he hadn’t been using his sword or sword and shield very much, let alone his fighting sticks and several other weapons, including some he didn’t actually have, as his convenient bag he’d gotten didn’t have them either. Maybe I should still get them, then? To actually have the weaponry to maintain my forms, even if I don’t use them much, for now.
Joe let his mind play with the idea as he slipped through his forms before finally deciding it would be wise. He didn’t have any books, internet, library, or any other form of information besides his memory and if he forgot it, it would likely be gone forever. He would need to make sure he practiced just to at least refresh his memory. I’ll need to start checking what kind of weapons they have here, first, but I’ll probably need to start drawing them out so the blacksmith can faithfully reproduce them. Huh… that’s… going to be annoying.
Joe didn’t let that detail bother him much, although he did make sure to make a mental note to begin drawing tonight and make sure he had a good representation of the weapon before he talked with the blacksmith. Maybe see if I can find where the best one is, including the library? Maybe?
Joe finished his forms for the last time, clearing his mind to focus on his movements and to make sure he was doing well before returning to his teaching job, wandering from apprentice to apprentice correcting minor missteps and improper forms. He made sure to do this at least two times through each of their forms before wrapping everything up and calling everyone to head on out to the beginner dungeon once more.