The moment Leander sat down in the cafeteria, Lacey popped up as if she had been summoned with Kevin close behind. The look in her eye told him that she had another scheme up her sleeve and it was already too late to retreat. Since she had been helpful last time, Leander decided to hear her out.
“How are things going with Fey?” Lacey asked, not bothering to hide the small smirk on her lips.
Leander smiled as soon as Fey was mentioned. “Perfectly,” he told Lacey. Yes, everything was absolutely perfect.
For some reason, Lacey was disappointed by his peaceful happiness. “You aren’t having even a little dilemma? Maybe about a certain mushroom?”
“Magic is doing just fine, too,” Leander assured her.
“Just tell him,” Kevin prompted, confident she was never going to get the reaction she wanted.
Lacey pouted slightly, before continuing to her point. “Remember when you stole one of her beloved pets when you were supposed to just be keeping him safe?”
Was that what this was about? Arwyn had never seemed upset in the slightest about the situation, so his guilt had long faded away.
Unwilling to give up due to Leander’s non-reaction, Lacey pulled out a small shadowy bunny that Leander could immediately recognize as a gloom. “The marketing department is looking for pets to test their new custom plush line out with. I’ve dropped enough hints. I am sure you can figure out the rest.”
She placed the shadow bunny stuffed animal in Leander’s hand and departed as swiftly as she had appeared, with Kevin hot on her tail.
Leander stared at the gloom plush for a few moments. Would Arwyn really want a physical copy of one of her pets in reality? After thinking about it for a few more seconds, he connected the dots. Lacey had been hinting that he should give her a plush of Magic. He was certain that it would make her happy, but that led to another dilemma.
Which version of Magic would she want most?
Even though he knew she was not the best with surprises, Leander did not want to tell her about it. At least not yet.
◊◊◊
With the pet competition over and done with, the guild had gotten back to their travels towards the Sea of Sand. Hiking felt more monotonous than ever now that Leandriel could no longer join them, so Fey was ecstatic to see the town that bordered the Sea of Sand and the mountainous regions coming into view. What was the name of this one again?
“Sandstone Divide,” Blade spoke up, just in time. (He was just as relieved to see it as she was.)
The town was not actually made of sandstone. Instead, it was set on a perfect divide between the rocky terrain they had been traveling through and the loose sand of the path ahead. At the line where the biomes touched, there was a gradient of heavy gray dust that looked like powdered stone.
At the edge of town, there were several buildings with large signs marking them for sale, as well as some player owned shops, bases, and dwellings dotted between the unsold properties. One such building immediately caught Fey’s eye.
It was a green cabin style building with a sign that read ‘Bill’s Cupdrake Cafe’. Right outside the cafe was a giant duck, probably about as tall as Blade or Sirena, propping up a sign.
“Take on the DUCK Special Challenge!!!
Win and eat free!”
“Shall we stop for lunch?” Fey suggested, her eyes locked on the sign and the giant duck holding it.
“It’s odd to see an earthdrake so far from water,” Mimi commented, also watching the duck in question.
“Did you just say an earthdrake?” Blade asked, double checking the information on the monster just to be sure she wasn’t making anything up. (She wasn’t.)
“It’s so cute!” Sirena exclaimed, “Look at the little pink bow on its head!”
As if to show off, the earthdrake in question turned its head to present the bow to everyone. The bow was set at a perfect angle and held on by nothing that they could see. The vibrant pink popped against the muted browns of the earthdrake’s feathers and the dark, almost black beak. The Feypets were curious about the large water (or is it earth?) fowl, and Amethyst gave her bubble arm a little wiggle to remind herself of her own accessory, the king slime’s crown.
When none of them made a move to enter the cafe, the earthdrake gave a rather indignant and very loud quack, summoning the owner to the doorway.
“Mallardy,” he scolded, “What have I told you about threatening potential customers!”
The earthdrake, Mallardy, gave an even more indignant quack in response, and the owner shook his head. “Sorry about her. She’s always talking quack.”
Sirena burst into laughter and Fey cracked a smile at the pun. Blade was left confused by the serious tone, unsure of whether or not he was meant to take it as a joke.
“Are you Bill?” Fey asked, wondering if the name of the shop was just another pun, or if it was actually his.
“I am,” he confirmed with a smile, “Were you hungry? I just opened up for lunch.”
“Yes!” Sirena confirmed immediately, instantly breaking off her laughter before anyone could refuse, “I need to see the inside of this place!”
The inside turned out to be just as duck themed as the outside. The decor, and even the menus had ducks, duck habitats, and feathers galore. But that was nothing compared to the items inside. Fey’s eyes widened as she took in all of the terribly punny options before her.
Featured on the cover of the menu was a Fowl Cream Float with a rubber ducky shaped ice cream floating on some kind of blue soda. Inside, the menu was split between drinks, meals, sides, and desserts. Snapping her attention straight to the desserts, Fey noticed that there were also Downies (Brownies) and the Cupdrakes promised in the cafe’s name. Not to mention they were all a decently cheap price.
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After looking over the rest of the menu, Fey decided. “I definitely want a Double Quack Burger with a side of Feather Fries.”
She had to order an extra large amount for the curious pets who were just as eager to try the food as she was. Luckily, Bill hadn’t had any issues with Boris coming inside despite his size.
“Really? I need to see how great the Mi-great Mash is,” Sirena considered, barely holding back more peals of laughter as her smile wobbled between normal and maniacal.
“I’ll just have the Quack and Cheese,” Mimi said, “It comes with complimentary Quackers.”
Left behind by the others, Blade hastily chose a Double Quack Burger with some Swimonade. As soon as they decided, Mallardy came in and took their menus. It took almost no time at all for their food to arrive, with Bill personally setting down a basket of duck shaped crackers, lemonade with duck shaped ice cubes, mac and cheese with noodles that looked suspiciously like webbed feet, and the feather shaped fries. The burgers looked disappointingly normal, since the duck themed elements were hidden beneath the bun.
“This is amazing,” she breathed, closing her eyes for a moment to take it all in, and mustering all of her effort to appear like a mostly sane adult. “Blade, you should take on the challenge.”
Blade, who had been enjoying his own meal, dropped his burger in surprise resulting in a somewhat squashed sounding quack. “I should?”
“You definitely should,” Sirena agreed, doubling down on the idea, “If you win, we eat free.”
Before Blade could object, Fey raised her hand. “Blade would like to challenge the DUCK Special!”
Bill came back out. “Already? I suppose it isn’t as easy to do on a full stomach.”
“Can you explain the rules?” Blade asked.
“Certainly,” Bill agreed, and gestured Mallardy over, “You will have to survive one minute against Mallardy’s pebble barrage without getting hit. You have to pay for a dish or item for every stone that hits you.”
So there was a chance of half winning as well. That was nice to know. However, Fey couldn’t help but notice something strange. “What if more stones hit than dishes and items ordered?”
“You will be charged a base price for every stone after,” Bill answered, not seeming upset that she had caught the hidden trap.
Blade looked ready to back out at this, until he thought of something. “Can I bring equipment?”
Bill took a few moments to think the question over. “Yes, but no weapons. I don’t want any risk of Mallardy getting hurt.”
“I’ll do it,” Blade decided, and was quickly guided to the arena Bill had set aside just for this.
Mallardy was quite vicious, taking care to aim each magically thrown stone with precision even if the rules of the game limited her to one pebble at a time. She was very unhappy when her wicked plans were disrupted by Blade’s shield. The angered earthdrake tried tricky angles and all sorts of moves to try to sneak past Blade’s defenses, only to end with a rather disappointing score of three. It was almost four, but the very last pebble had bounced off the edge of the shield, disqualifying it.
Frustrated, and a bit scuffed, Blade was finally able to return to his meal. “I thought that would work.”
“You did great!” Sirena encouraged, “We each got two items, and now we only have to pay for three for all of us.”
“You mean we still have to pay for three,” Blade sulked.
Fey also thought that Blade had done very well. There had been some tricky shots he had been able to block just in time, and more that he had managed to dodge instead. Still, now that she had seen what it was, Fey wanted to try her own hand at it. Since she was going to do it anyway, she decided to check something.
“If I challenge the DUCK Special and make a perfect win, can I clear Blade’s debt?” she asked Bill.
Bill considered it for a moment before nodding. “It has to be absolutely perfect,” he warned, “If even a single pebble hits you, you’ll have to pay for that too.”
“It’s a deal,” Fey agreed.
Just then, a message popped up from Leandriel. “Can we meet? I have something I need to ask you.”
Fey quickly sent a reply. “I’m in Sandstone Divide. Meet you at the gate? I need to finish something real quick.”
She had just enough time to see Leandriel’s response telling her that he had no problem waiting before it was her turn to challenge Mallardy’s clever pebble barrage.
Face to face with the earthdrake, Fey had to admit she was a lot more intimidating. Those beady black eyes especially seemed to be filled with malice. The moment the timer began, Mallardy went for a tricky curved throw. Unfortunately for her, Fey had the unfair advantage of Critical Sight.
The minute ended with a victorious Fey and a rather upset giant duck. No matter how quickly Mallardy had thrown her pebbles, it had been no use. Luckily, Bill was both impressed and amused by the whole situation and even gave Fey a Downie to go.
Downie in hand, Fey rushed to the gate just in time for Leandriel to arrive. Just like the Quackers, the Downie was cut into an adorable duck shape. Fey immediately offered her prize to Leandriel. “Isn’t it cute?”
Leandriel carefully accepted the offering and looked it over with a smile. “Where did you find this?” He didn’t remember this being part of the game, but Fey had always been good at finding the oddities Fantasia had to offer.
Fey told him about finding the cafe, and how she had beaten the challenge. While they talked, Sirena had given up on waiting and dragged the others along on a quest to pass the time.
“Fey-Fey,” Magic suddenly cut in, “Lee-Lee wants to know which me you like better.”
Leandriel and Fey were both taken by surprise at the sudden interjection, but Fey had no hesitation when she answered. “You are perfect the way you are now, Magic,” she told him, patting his death angel mushroom head. She had no idea what had brought that on, but she was not going to press Leandriel about it and Magic seemed happy too.
◊◊◊
Arwyn was relaxing after work when the doorbell rang. Odd. She wasn’t expecting any visitors. Reluctantly, she opened the door, only to see the all too familiar pillar of perfection standing right outside.
“Leander? You should have told me you were coming.”
“I wanted to surprise you,” Leander replied, a slightly hesitant smile on his face as he watched for her reaction.
It was then that Arwyn noticed that he was carrying a bag that had two conspicuously unmarked boxes. One of those boxes was at least twice the size of the other. Curious to see what he was up to, Arwyn invited him inside.
“If you had come a little earlier, I might have shared my dinner with you,” she told him.
“That is alright,” Leander assured her, “I just wanted to give you something.”
He proceeded to pull out the first and larger of the two boxes and hold it out to her. Arwyn opened it up without hesitation to see a full sized feathery mushroom that she recognized immediately.
“Magic?” she asked, looking back at Leander. “How did you even get this?”
“The marketing department were looking for pets they could test their new merchandise with. It is just a prototype, but since it was just made it should be close to the quality of the real thing,” Leander explained, “Since I can’t give Magic back-”
Arwyn cut him off mid-sentence with a tackle hug. Leander was the sweetest guy ever! He had gone out of his way to order a custom plushie of her mushroom friend before they were even released to the public. She broke off hugging him for a moment to take the incredibly soft death angel Magic from its box and bring him into the hug.
“What’s in the second box?” she asked.
Leander glanced back at it. “Earlier, when I was trying to decide which form of magic to give to you I asked Sire- Leah for advice.”
“You got her a plushie too?” Arwyn asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I could not submit a pet I do not have, but they did give me one of their earliest prototypes,” Leander admitted, “It was the only gloom they had available.”
With his answer, Arwyn was now certain that Leah had leveraged this plush from the innocent Leander in some way. “What did she tell you?”
“To ask you personally.”
Arwyn suddenly remembered their meeting at the gate in Sandstone Divide. That was what he had meant! Still, to demand a reward after sending Leander on another mission; she would have to make sure Leah didn’t start getting any more ideas.
“Leave it here,” Arwyn said, her wicked grin making it through her tone and onto her face, “I’ll make sure she gets it.”
Leander smiled in return, though his was more mischievous than wicked. “I thought you might.”