Chapter 35 - "... Rivia? What are you doing?"

“How would I get an attribute?” asked Jason after taking a long look at Napoleon’s status page and pointing to the ‘Curse’ and ‘Fire’ attributes listed there.

Meanwhile, Napoleon jumped up and screamed in delight to run off and show Rivia his new ability. It was a perfect setting for the happy imp. The birds were chirping wildly, the sun was out shining warm pleasant rays of daylight, they felt safe here, and with the small token of kindness in the form of a gift: Napoleon now had a sense of true self worth.

“No idea.” replied Trey with a pleased snort while watching his very first minion excitedly scamper off towards their shared cabin. “I’ll have to ask around if I see any other mages. Maybe I should have kept one of the cultists alive.”

“Trey!” a girl’s voice rang out from across the village center. Trey, Jason and Elise all turned to see Amaia skipping towards them with Nommen in tow. [Human Dialect] “Want to go over that lesson today? Teaching Human language?”

She used her hands to make a gesture indicating speech.

Trey smiled politely and nodded, brushing off Atharost’s arm and fistbumping the ifrit. It was a newly learned habit for the greater class demon, but Atharost liked it after he’d been told it symbolized friendship to a greater degree than a handshake.

“Great!” Amaia sat down a bag she had been carrying and pulled out a series of seemingly random objects. She scooted in close to him, very close to him, to where their legs were touching and held up a potato.

“Potato” she said with genuine happiness, not caring as much about the potato as opposed to... other things... at the moment.

Elise put her chin on her hands as she sat along the wooden platform and watched with a smirk.

“Have you asked him about magic yet?” Nommen asked, expectantly staring at Jason before Jason realized he was talking to him.

“Oh! I completely forgot. I’ll ask him now.” replied Jason with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head. [English Dialect] “Hey Trey! Nommen over here is wondering if you are able to teach him any of your magic.”

Trey and Amaia exchanged quick glances before Trey grinned. [English Dialect] “If Nommen here can tell me how to obtain attributes, I would be more than happy to let him study one of my spells! I understand how the spells I know work pretty well, didn’t have to study to get them, but the innate knowledge gives me a perfect understanding. That being said, let him know that I really don’t have a clue how to acquire an attribute and that would be needed first.”

Jason translated for Trey, and got a response from Nommen in turn. “Nommen says he doesn’t have any attributes, but he knows that in order to get an attribute you have to ‘find the true meaning of that magic type.’ Or at least that’s what he was told by a wizard he once talked to.”

Crickets.

“Not very helpful to us though...” stated Trey, a little bit disappointed but not surprised. He’d been wanting to figure out how people normally acquired attributes all along, because he hadn’t acquired them normally at all. So it would have been worth teaching the kid a thing or two for that kind of knowledge. “Well, let him know that I’d be more than happy to help whenever I figure it out myself.”

Jason translated again, and Nommen accepted the answer with a defeated look.

[Human Dialect] “It’ll probably happen eventually. I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” said Jason to the disappointed boy. “Have any of you seen Corela today? I haven’t seen her since last night.”

None of the others knew, and he then asked the same question to Trey in English.

“Nope. She hardly talked to me at all last night, and when I got up she was gone.” Trey looked mildly concerned. “I had assumed she was visiting with people here to take her mind off of Mattis… Do you think something happened to her?”

Jason thought about what could have happened for a time, becoming nervous the more he thought about it. “Well… I think she’d be ok. But with some of the cultists having escaped, you never know. We should look around and ask about her, it strikes me as strange that she’s not around. Ever since Mattis died, she’s been wanting to be in someone’s company 100% of the time. This feels off.”

Jason repeated what had been discussed to the others, and soon they had gone off in search of Elise’s eldest sister.

An hour later and the group had been asking around the entire town. They’d checked back at the firepit where Elise’s house was and had searched the woods nearby.

In time, they stumbled across a very agitated man who was venting his frustrations upon his neighbors. A woman of sparse description had stolen his sole horse, and had made off with it before he could catch her in the early morning that day. When asked, he’d known Corela well enough but couldn’t tell if it was her because she’d worn a cloak. However, he did see a flash of red hair… which seemed more than a little convenient considering the missing person.

“Did she say where she was going?” asked Nommen to the older man, worried about what his eldest sister may have done in her grief.

The man looked at him like he was stupid. “Oh, YES! I just happened to have a nice chat with her about her destination AS SHE STOLE MY PRIZED STEED!”

Nommen looked sheepishly down and said no more, but Elise put a hand on his shoulder and gave the man an angry scowl for intimidating her little brother like that.

She just felt glad to finally have some sort of lead. If Corela HAD stolen a horse, she’d at least be safe for now and not kidnapped or dead. Now the question became WHY she stole the horse, or if it had really even been her.

She chose to believe it was her eldest sister though. Corela was a gutsy girl, and in her current state of mind Elise wouldn’t put it past Corela to do reckless and stupid things such as steal.

[English Dialect] “Any idea why she would steal someone’s horse and run off?” asked Jason.

Trey shook his head and stood deep in thought, hands on his hips and staring down the dirt road into nowhere. “Well… maybe she was in a rush to get out of town. It could have reminded her more of Mattis. Honestly, I have no idea. I wasn’t able to ever really talk to her because of the language barrier. I don’t know man. Her family knows her best, they’d be the ones to ask...”

Trey paused. “Well. I guess if she wants to leave, it’s not my place to stop her. It sucks for Borthome and his family, but we don’t even know which direction she went in.”

Elise was definitely downcast after this new revelation, and Jason put a reassuring hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder. “Hey… she’ll come back.”

Elise nodded, forced a smile, and kicked a pile of fallen autumn leaves. “Ah, it’s not that I’m worried about that. I’m just confused, that's all.”

After hearing the news of what was likely the missing elder sister, they trudged back through the village and up the hill towards their cabin. They then stopped along Mattis’ grave and paid their respects before Elise went to inform her parents of Corela’s likely departure.

It was a beautiful world, sitting up there on the grass of the hill and overlooking the forest that stretched for miles. With the approach of winter, the forest was turning a multitude of colors. Some of the trees were staying green while others had turned shades of orange, yellow and red. The wind at their backs felt cool and crisp, and the cloudless sky overhead shone a bright blue.

“Any idea what you’re going to do for a living?” asked Jason once the others had quieted down. He picked up a leaf, beginning to peel it back from the stalk and then flung it further down the hill with a flick of his fingers.

Trey shrugged indifferently. “Hmmm. Maybe mercenary work. I seem to be well cut out for it… I was talking to Borthome and he said that there are a lot of opportunities for that kind of stuff. Monsters, bandits, bodyguarding, those kinds of things.”

“What did you do before leaving Earth?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

Jason frowned, huffing with another toss of a nearby pebble. The stone skipped down the hill and landed at the base, coming to a stop right next to the dirt road. “Interesting choice. Well, I just got a book that goes over the basics of alchemy and herbalism. I think I’m going to capitalize on that and go hard. I’ve been hunting a lot recently but I really don’t like killing all of those poor animals. I mean, I know it’s needed for food, but the act of doing it myself kind of makes me sad… so even if I don’t get a class for it from the All Spirit I think I’m going to stick with it as a profession.”

Those poor animals? Man. Jason really lived in a different world than Trey did. He wouldn’t have lasted a day in the mafia.

Trey’s eyes hovered on his new friend for a long time... and decided that maybe, just maybe, this was an opportunity to reinvent himself. So he decided to let off some half-truths. “Don’t think I’m a cold blooded killer now. I really don’t like killing for no reason either, and I love animals just as much as you do! I just have these urges now… you’ve met Sithis. You know what he’s like.”

Jason grinned. “Oh I know. I don’t blame you either, don’t think I was trying to put you down man. It’s just a personal choice for me, and I feel like alchemy would make me happier than hunting. That’s all. I still think you’re a solid person most of the time, after all you saved everybody here from slavery or death! I just question some of your other choices. But let’s not talk about that...”

Trey was pleased with Jason’s response and continued to gaze across the forest from atop the hill as the three siblings behind them chatted amongst themselves about what they were going to eat tonight. Eventually the topics of conversation shifted to more boring matters like the fine artwork of sewing, so Trey’s mind wandered. Eventually though he ended up watching Borthome and his wife Estela moving down the hill to meet a raven haired, lanky man along the dirt road and next to a still-standing house on the right... who had apparently been waiting for them.

They quickly exchanged greetings and began to speak. Neither one of them seemed overly concerned about the fact their eldest daughter had left, and the impression Trey got from the gossip behind him between the three siblings was that Corela had done this kind of thing before. But then again, Mattis had always gone with her… or at least that’s what Elise was saying.

Then from the house to the front right, Borthome and Estela could be heard bartering with the man they’d met at the base of the hill with an increased pitch and tempo. They turned around and began walking back up the way they’d come, with the tall lanky newcomer dressed in peddler’s clothing quick on their heels. The conversation became clearer as they got closer to everyone sitting on the hill, but Trey and his minions still couldn’t make out the majority of the ‘Human’ language.

Estela stood her ground definiantly, red hair flowing in the wind and glared at the shopkeeper. “You owe us Arthos! We lost everything in the attack, they ransacked our home and all our belongings are gone. Whatever valuables they had on them, the guild took with them as payment for saving our town... including our own possessions. We want the debt repaid now! Not later!”

The lanky shopkeeper Arthos shook his head. “Look Estela, I told you already that I simply can’t. I lost a lot too. If I gave you what I owe you now, I’d have nothing left. Just wait and I’ll get it to you in a couple of weeks.”

“You’re a LIAR!” hissed Estela. “I saw you scavenging the bodies of those cultists, you must have been there all day! There’s no way you didn’t make up for your losses, and you probably got much more in worth than you originally had.”

Arthos brushed it off with a wave of his hand and looked rather irritated. “I did what everyone else was doing at the time. And Borthome, now that you’re here I’ve got to ask. What happened to your hair?”

“Burned off. I’m glad to keep what I have.” stated Borthome indifferently. “Come on Arthos, at least give us half of what you owe us. It’s only fair. If you don’t, think of how your reputation would suffer.”

“Is that a threat?” Arthos sneered.

“It’s a fact.” stated Borthome bluntly. “I don’t like this either, but I know you gained from looting the dead. The rest of us didn’t have the opportunity, otherwise I would not ask.”

[Human Dialect] “He owes you something?” asked Trey as he stopped by to watch. Borthome turned in surprise.

[Human Dialect] “Oh, hello Trey. I’m surprised you’re able to formulate sentences so well this early on in your teaching! My daughter Amaia must be doing a good job. Anyways this man owes us a great deal actually. It was supposed to be given to us last week, but now that our home and belongings are gone - as well as Corela’s parents home - we need to call in the debt. But he doesn’t seem to be budging.”

Borthome gave a long look to Arthos who quickly took a defensive posturing, but the shopkeeper looked uncertain in Trey’s presence.

If anything, the shift in the shopkeeper’s open demeanor only served to piss Trey off.

That being said, Trey wasn’t able to understand such a lengthy and fast paced wave of words. So he gave Jason a quick gesture telling him to come over and it was translated soon after.

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[English Dialect] “Do they need money?” Trey asked after considering what Jason had told him. But before Jason could reply, Trey just held up a hand and shook his head. He summoned the coin purse he’d stored within his shadowform, the one he’d gotten from the guild who’d battled the cultists, and handed it to Borthome.

[English Dialect] “Tell them this is payment for rent. It can be my contribution… because I’ve been a moocher otherwise. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll be able to say all of that myself, instead of only a few small sentences!” Trey grinned, then declined to take the money back once Borthome had tried placing it in Trey’s palm again. The look of relief and gratitude on Estela’s face when seeing the amount of money in the pouch was all Trey needed to know as he adamantly refused to take it back, despite Borhtome’s claims that it was far more than they needed.

Estela was eventually able to convince Borthome to take the money, and the woman came over to give Trey a hug of thanks. It didn’t take long for them to let the other man who owed them leave as they continued on into the village to buy some supplies, with Jason’s opinion of Trey significantly increasing.

[English Dialect] “That was a lot of money you just gave away.” Jason said softly while watching them go. “Thank you Trey. I could tell it meant a lot to them, their stuff was stolen and then kept by the guild that came through as payment. They might have had their lives saved, but they were reduced to nothing but a home to stay in.”

Trey ignored him, thinking of other things that’d been on his mind recently. Throughout his time on Earth, Trey had developed a keen taste for alcohol, drugs, and women. Mostly it was to cope with the creeping depression he’d had, and recently that depression had only been kept at bay by the absurd shitstorm that’d hit Trey’s life in the form of Oblivion. He’d been too damn busy to think about that stuff. Now that he was out of that demonic realm though, Trey had more time to think about the things he’d left behind, and he felt himself beginning to drown again.

He really didn’t want to go down that road. Not when he’d come so far in keeping those thoughts at bay.

[English Dialect] “Would you ask Amaia for another one of those language lessons for me?” asked Trey as the older couple left with a wave. “She’s been a great help.”

He looked Elise’s sister up and down rather quickly so that she wouldn’t notice, but failed and gave Amaia a grin when she caught his glance. She grinned back.

“Don’t you have Rivia for that kind of thing?”

“Not really… Rivia and I don’t have that kind of relationship, but two’s always better than one even if that was the case.”

There was a loud sigh and Jason’s head dropped with a snort meant to cause Trey shame.

“Fine. I’ll ask her. But Elise won’t be happy about it.” Jason replied grimly.

It didn’t take long. No sooner had he translated, when Amaia came up from behind and pulled Trey by the arm. Trey gave Jason a wink and a knowing smirk while Jason just shook his head again. She began leading Trey away and off into who knows where, with the pair leaving the others on the hillside.

[Human Dialect] “She was overjoyed to find out Rivia was asleep just now before stealing Trey away.” noted Elise, a little irritated that her younger sister was being so forward. “Is Trey a nice guy? What’s your impression of him?”

Jason immediately became uncomfortable. He hadn’t told Elise about Rivia’s situation as a slave yet.

“Uh… yeah I think so. He can be. I mean, he saved our lives. He’s also cool to talk to! But… he treats Rivia badly. I’m not sure whether or not that’s because she’s a culn he subjugated, or whether it’s because he’s just a closet asshole. It’s hard to tell.” Jason gave an apologetic head bob. “Sorry I don’t know for sure. I just met him after all.”

“Well, I guess we’ll see what happens. Amaia is grown, she can make her own decisions.” Elise got up and jumped onto Jason’s back to lick his ear, purging the thoughts of her younger sister’s poor life choices and gearing up for her own. “ONWARDS PONYBOY!”

Ponyboy? Had Trey taught her that? Jason hadn’t heard that term used in years, but he doubted Elise would just take up the phrase on her own. Jason shook his head, grinned, and began to make his way to the fire pit with Elise riding on his back.

Meanwhile Trey was having a good time with Amaia. She had taken him out to the stream in the woods, spending many hours there into the waning light of dusk and went over various animals or plants to name them in the native ‘Human’ tongue. He did his best to keep up with her teaching and had to ask her to repeat herself numerous times, but he was slowly progressing and it showed.

When they eventually came back, with Amaia leading Trey through the dark and towards the cabin where the usual bonfire was being set up, Amaia stopped him to give him a surprise hug that lasted for over a minute.

[Human Dialect] “Are you ok?” Trey asked the best he could, botching one of the words and causing Amaia to giggle as the redhead nodded. Her face flushed with embarrassment and she quickly looked away just afterwards, then turned and hurried to where Elise and Estela were preparing food for the evening meal.

Trey curiously watched the girl go. He didn’t know how he felt about all of this. He had known she liked him, but he did have some reservations concerning how much he liked her family. Trey and Amaia couldn’t even talk with each other properly due to the language barrier either, and he didn’t want to lead her on. What did she even see in him? Did she not care about his facial scar? Was Amaia looking for a casual thing or was she looking for a husband? He certainly wasn’t looking for anything serious, not now anyways. Not while he was still strung up about Amanda.

He really didn’t understand it. But if she continued down this road, he likely wouldn’t hesitate to make a move. She was cute. Though again… he didn’t want to cause any drama with her family. They were good people and had let him stay with them despite his looks, and based on the way others in the village treated him as an outcast he’d be hard pressed to find another that was so willing to let him in.

This had been an internal struggle raging inside him for the past couple days.

Leaning onto a tree with his left shoulder, he watched Jason interact with everyone. The man had grown so fond of Elise he might as well have had a blaring neon sign stating ‘SHE’S MINE.’ It only made Trey happy for him though. He and Jason had gotten off on the wrong foot in the beginning, but their friendship had developed rather quickly anyways. He could honestly say Jason and Elise would make a cute couple regardless of whether or not she was... real.

Well, ‘real’ wasn’t the word he was looking for anymore. This was pretty damn real. The word he should’ve used was ‘Earthborn.’ Elise was an NPC, so even if she was a living and breathing AI, she was just code in the end and had always been code.

Did that really matter though? If she was code, He was just code too. His body only existed here, in this… game. He wasn’t any more or any less ‘real’ than Elise was, and neither was Jason.

A shiver ran down the length of his body as something cold touched his neck. It was… wet. He looked up to see another snowflake silently drifting down in the dark to land on his forehead. Then another, and another appeared until the soft shower of early winter snow danced amidst his dark enhanced vision and the light of the bonfire not far off.

The crackling of leaves alerted Trey to Napoleon’s presence before he saw the imp. Then again, he was developing a keen awareness of where his minions were regardless of whether he was physically able to see them or not. A distinguished presence unique to each of them was felt, becoming more pronounced as time went on, and even across the village he was starting to realize what general direction they were in… Well, only sometimes. But he was curious as to how far that kind of awareness would go. Would it continue to improve, or stagnate?

[Ancient Demon] “Master come to fire?” Napoleon asked curiously, wondering what Trey was doing here out alone along the wood’s edge.

Trey smiled and shook his head, yawning as he did. It was getting late.

[Ancient Demon] “I’ll head to bed soon, maybe I’ll force Rivia to take a break. Is she still praying to the Dark Origin in our room?”

Napoleon nodded.

“Good.” Trey muttered with a sigh. “I hope she’s more useful next round. Where is Atharost? I haven’t seen him, but I can feel his presence nearby.”

Napoleon pointed a tiny black claw skywards, and to Trey’s surprise he saw a ball of flames soaring across the heavens many miles up. He wouldn’t have been able to see it as easily in the daylight, but with the dark night outlining the living inferno - it was easy to pinpoint Atharost’s location.

“Alright… well go have fun with the others Napoleon. I’ll catch you tomorrow, ok?”

The imp walked over and patted him on the boots a couple times, looked up once more and gave Trey a quick hug before it scurried off towards the bonfire to pounce onto Elise’s lap. Trey’s heartstrings pulled tight while watching the little imp go, realizing that Napoleon was becoming rather attached, and his smile widened.

The ones gathered around the fire all laughed when Elise startled due to Napoleon’s abrupt launching, and Trey was genuinely happy at the way everyone was getting along. This was so different from the life he used to lead, and even from the life he’d had back in Oblivion not long ago. Strangely enough... and despite his old, nagging state of depression that threatened to engulf his thoughts again, Trey felt more at peace here than he had in well over a decade.

They were still sad over the loss of Mattis, and worried about their daughter Corela going rogue after his death, that much was obvious. But they were doing their best to move on with their lives anyways. Borthome and his wife Estela had the utmost faith that their daughter Corela would return, and worry hadn’t been expressed even once. They were mentally strong people, and Trey admired them for that.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there watching them at a distance, but eventually the fire went out and they had all gone to bed. Atharost was nowhere to be seen and Napoleon had headed in with the others as Trey continued to lean against the old tree with thoughts of his family back on Earth.

There was nothing he could do to change his situation. He knew this, but that didn’t stop it from bothering him. Were his parents still alive? What about his brothers? His close friends from back home? Did they even know he was here? Did Amanda ever think about him if she WAS still alive? How did Jason feel about all of this?

The creaking doorway had been left unlocked for Trey to get in. He wouldn’t have been so trusting of people himself, but he was glad that they trusted him enough to do so. He could hear someone snoring in another room and stepped over Elise laid out next to Jason in a bundle of furs across the main room floor.

He suppressed a light chuckle with a glance their way and moved on.

Coming to his room and pushing the wooden door open, which was significantly less creaky than the first door, Trey walked in and shut it behind him. Napoleon was probably sleeping cuddled up next to Amaia or Nommen, because he sure wasn’t in Trey’s room. The imp had taken a real liking to this family, and he rotated who he’d cuddle up with almost every single night.

Trey yawned and almost tripped over Rivia’s sprawled figure in the middle of the dirt floor underneath him. He swore under his breath at her for being stupid enough to lay there, but shut the window flaps and locked it after he noticed she was shaking from the cold. She was still wearing her black silk robes and had fallen asleep reading prayers to the Dark Origin with the book of miracles laid open and to the side. She’d also kicked off the furs in her sleep and her sandals were set along the far edge of their small room.

He shook his head, marveling at the beauty of the girl despite how much he disliked her. The nose underneath her small black horns was straight and perfect, coming to a finely carved prominence that would make most models jealous.

She wasn’t a good person, he was certain of it. They definitely didn’t like each other, and he really only kept her around for the utility of her miracles… which were currently few. He was also pretty damn sure that she’d try to kill him again if she ever got out of the minion contract, so there was no point in fantasizing over things that weren’t going to happen. Perhaps sleeping next to one another wasn’t a good idea after all, he needed to rid himself of the lewd thoughts… but then again it was rather cold at night and he didn’t have anyone else to keep warm with.

He caught himself staring and immediately felt like a creep. Shamefully he lowered his eyes and sat down on the ground, coming in close and drawing the blankets back up over both of them - providing her with body heat as she shivered.

A couple seconds later and her hand grasped his to pull his arm over her. His surprise was silent, but evident by his facial expression. Nevertheless he didn’t say anything, and laid his head down onto the pillow with his front to her back.

They lay there in silence, with the wind howling outside the cabin windows to shake the wooden shutters from time to time as Rivia slowly stopped shivering. With their shared body heat, she began to get more comfortable.

“Do you enjoy this?” Rivia’s voice whispered to him as the demoness turned only her head around to face him, finding herself an inch away from his face. She let off a small smile. It was forced… but she did a good job at hiding it while she slowly began to move her hips around.

Trey raised an eyebrow and gave her a questioning look as he abruptly felt her rear brazenly rub up against his crotch.

“... Rivia? What are you doing?”

Alkir’s message rang clear as a bell in her head. Her master was… attractive, for a human man. However, she would have never chosen such a lowly species to mate with under any regular circumstance. For whatever reason though, her goddess wanted this man as her disciple. Rivia would not falter in her mission because of her own personal opinions regarding mortals.

Rivia internally sighed and went to work, putting a knowing grin on her face. “I see you watching me Trey… I’m not stupid.”

***

Trey lay panting on the floor next to Rivia, looking up at the ceiling and not knowing how to feel about what’d just happened, as she drew the covers back over her body.

“Your minion Rivia has decreased its opinion of you from ‘Wary’ to ‘Resentful.’ Your minion still suffers a 15% experience decrease due to it remaining in the negative category.”

Confused, he scratched his head at the notification. Was she angry with him? Hadn’t she been the one to initiate this? “Uh… are you ok Rivia? Did I do something to piss you off again? The notification I just got…”

“I’m fine!” Rivia lied between her teeth with another sweet but fake smile. “Let’s go back to sleep, I’m just tired.”

Well, it was supposed to be a beta. Perhaps the AI’s still hadn’t patched everything correctly. More than likely he’d somehow pissed her off though… He rolled onto his side, giving her a knowing look.

He raised an eyebrow. "I command you to tell me what's going on. Why are you angry?"

Rivia’s nose twitched. Lowering her eyes and gritting her teeth, she tried to resist the compulsion to speak. She knew she couldn't last forever though, and it only took a couple of seconds for her to comply. Swallowing anxiously, she blurted out the words all at once: "I'm frustrated that my goddess chose to show you favor. She told me that I needed to act to lead you into her flock, and that I do it by any means necessary."

"... Your goddess?" Trey asked bluntly. "You're talking about the one called Alkir?"

Rivia nodded, frustration apparent on her features as she glared back.

"In a dream?" Trey asked, more than a little disbelievingly. "Why do you think that your goddess was the one-"

"Because I just KNOW it was her!" snapped Rivia with a hiss, before she quickly reigned in her anger again. "Just... I just know. Now please, can we stop talking about this?"

Trey paused, considering her words and realizing just how off the deep end this demoness really was. "You're really obsessed with your religion. Do you or your 'goddess' intend to do me harm?"

Rivia quickly shook her head no. "I don't know why, but she favors you."

"And there isn't any other information you can give me?"

"None." replied Rivia promptly.

He shrugged, stretched, and bent over to pull back some of the other furs in the room that’d been kicked off in their tussle. Tucking them around the girl, as well as himself. "Honestly I'm not sure what to think about that, but as long as there isn't any ill intent behind it that's fine. I'm fine with continuing this relationship the way it is. Goodnight Rivia."

He put an arm around her to keep her warm. She was still shivering, but moments later Trey felt her warm body pressed up closer against his. Her face dug into the crook of his armpit and blankets were pulled even further over the top, hiding her obvious look of disgust.

Trey took a long while to register what had just happened.

But he didn’t dwell on it too long.

Instead he had other things on his mind... Rivia was a bombshell, but he still couldn’t take his thoughts entirely off of Amanda.

The lump in his throat quickly grew, but in the end - he was actually proud of himself for taking the flood of old and damaging memories so well. Maybe the time spent with Rivia had helped after all, and in fact… after fifteen more minutes to think about it, he knew it had. In the words of his good friend Kyle, from Earth:

‘The best way to get over old pussy is new pussy!’

He smiled at the memory of Kyle’s mischevious grin after first telling Trey those words, and he laughed at how utterly stupid it was. But he closed his eyes and tried to remember the good memories of his past, while trying to lose the bad ones. It took a lot longer for Trey to do, but eventually he trailed off to sleep with a smile on his face… joining Rivia next to him in the realm of dreams.