Because of Daisy’s deliberate lack of advertisement, it wasn’t clear to most of the Non-Heroes what was happening until the feast was most of the way prepared. By sunset, Natsuko, Daisy, and Kane had felled a square kilometer of forest and re-purposed the timber into at least a hundred bonfires in and around the tent city plus an enormous one in the center of the town plaza to which was added all the rest of the leftover wood. The party stretched all the way around the moat and into both the inner and outer cities creating an ambient halo of warm, flickering light along the horizon.
The smell of roasting pine and cedar filled Natsuko’s lungs as she took a deep breath. She stood on the far side of the bridge with the other two masterminds of the feast, watching Non-Heroes stream out of the city to figure out what the fires were for. Natsuko could hear the spread of information in real time as those handful of Heroes who asked her or Daisy directly about why they were chopping trees informed the other Non-Heroes about the spontaneous feast.
“Should I grab our fire?” Daisy asked. “I hate to exclude people but…”
Natsuko nodded. Even if part of the rebellion had involved accepting Non-Heroes as equals to Heroes as conscious entities, this night was also about getting her friends together. And she was not in the mood for the friends plus Lawrence the Shopkeep. There was even a part of her who wanted to make it the original five only, but that dynamic had long-since expanded and evolved. Sofiane was closer with Team Harald and Natsuko herself was already feeling closer to Daisy and Kane. If the end of the world hadn’t forced them back into close proximity, Sofiane might have drifted away. There was a time when a more naive Natsuko might have been bothered by that fact. But now, it felt like proof that the algorithm Shuixing was always going off about was alive and kicking. It was moving again. And she was part of that movement.
“You and Kane grab us a spot and I’ll go find the others,” Natsuko said.
She found Sofiane doing some last minute sightline modifications along the wall with Medea, but he agreed to round up the rest of Team Harald and meet her at the feast fairly quickly once he realized this was another ‘Daisy and Natsuko won’t take no for an answer’ thing. The research team down in the sewers were more obstinate, but Natsuko convinced them the fun was mandatory by threatening to murder all of them and destroy the world in the process and Shuixing was kind enough to play the role of the one telling them Natsuko would really do it.
“I didn’t expect you to be so gung-ho about it,” Natsuko said as they walked back through town to find where Daisy had set up camp.
“Er, it’s a long story, but I promised Pechorin I would enjoy myself.”
Natsuko pursed her lips. “Pech, huh? That boy sure gets around. I haven’t seen much of him though.”
Shuixing shrugged. “You’ll see him at the feast, I suppose.”
Shuixing had already resolved to do something about the two of them that night. Only a day before,Sofiane received reports that a few of the opposing Heroes had gotten a hold of ranged FDJ weapons. Their only advantage now was the network of links that existed between the rebels—both Hero and Non-Hero—in Numberspace. This free circuit of information, if properly functioning, could make the rebels unpredictable to the Xians and other Heroes. However, it only took one or two gunked-up nodes to cut the circuit off. Natsuko was one such node, and Pechorin the gunk.
They found Daisy, Kane, and the entirety of Team Harald sitting around a roaring fire on the southern edge of the camp. While waiting for the food, they had struck up a game where everyone wrote something on a note and stuck it to someone else’s forehead and they took turns guessing.
“Howdy guys! Pop a squat, we’re almost done!” Daisy shouted, patting the fallen log she and Kane were sitting on.
Daisy had already guessed hers and the word ‘whipped cream’ now rested in her lap. Faisal, Margaret, and Sofiane were out as well, with Sofiane’s lap holding the word ‘blindfold,’ which had sent he and Gomiko into a fit of giggles when he guessed it but left everyone confused. Gomiko herself was still wearing a note on her forehead with an equally esoteric reference to soap. Harald’s forehead note said ‘grizzly burr’ with that exact spelling and Kane’s said ‘Kane.’
Kane tapped his chin. “Um… is it bigger than a bread box?”
Daisy gently patted his arm. “Sweetie, we’ve already confirmed it’s a Hero who wears purple and is from Deco Imperia.”
“Oh yeah. Are they bigger than a bread box?” he asked.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Yes, Kane, they are bigger than a bread box.”
At that Sofiane whispered something to Gomiko which made her blush and giggle.
Daisy side-eyed them and pointed to Harald. “Your turn!”
Harald rubbed his temples. “Gods-dammit, I’m almost there. Is it… fuck…”
“It’s not fuck,” Sofiane said.
It was then that Natsuko noticed the bottle of Cascadian wine he and Gomiko were passing between them.
She pointed at it. “Hey Puffball, where’s more of that stuff?”
He waved his hand. “Everywhere, Natsu, we’re killing the stock tonight.”
“When we might get attacked?” she asked.
“The Yishang and the Xian aren’t gonna attack us with four days left. That’s money they’re not making when it’s all over,” Sofiane said.
The freak episode of rationality passed and Natsuko accepted a bottle of Imperian apple wine and sipped on it as the game wrapped up. The last to go out had to hold their hand near the fire for five seconds and to everyone’s surprise it was Gomiko who lost out at the last second to Kane correctly guessing that it was him after he asked if the answer rhymed with ‘cane.’
“Sofa, I asked if it was slippery and you said no!” Gomiko said.
“It’s not slippery, it’s sticky. That’s the opposite of slippery,” he replied.
“Babe, you literally—” Gomiko suddenly realized everyone was listening and flushed bright red. Dropping the matter, she dutifully underwent her punishment for losing and held her hand near the fire for a few seconds that no one bothered counting before yelping and pulling it back.
“Alright, one more round, I want in,” Natsuko said.
“Everyone, write for the person on your right this time!” Daisy announced.
“Last time you let us pick,” Faisal said.
Daisy grinned. “And this time I’m not! Write for the person on your right!”
Coincidentally, Natsuko was on Daisy’s right. While everyone else agonized about what would be funny to write for the person they were sitting next to, Daisy dashed hers off in a couple seconds and slapped it on Natsuko’s forehead. Once everyone was done, Team Harald, sitting beside each other, had all done more in-jokes while Kane put ‘Kane’ on Daisy’s forehead, Sofiane put ‘juice box’ on Kane’s, and Natsuko wrote ‘Scytheworm’ on Shuixing’s. To no one’s surprise, Natsuko ended up being one of last two along with Kane.
“Is it bigger than a bread box?” Kane asked.
Daisy sighed. “No, Kane, it is not bigger than a bread box.”
“Damn…” he muttered. “Your turn, Natsu.”
Natsuko bit her lip. She sucked at guessing games like this.
“Okay, so they’re a person who is a male Hero from the first generation that I know personally, has been dimension-jumped, has a tragic backstory, and who I have a complicated relationship with…” Natsuko said, stroking her chin. A moment later her eyes lit up and she snapped her fingers. “Frederick!”
Daisy closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. “Natsu… you’re going to give me another falling out arc…”
“Shit… Not Frederick then, huh? Your turn, Kane,” Natsuko said.
“Is it a juice box?” Kane said.
“Yep! You got it,” Daisy said. “Natsuko loses.”
Natsuko ripped the note off her forehead and was unsurprised to find Pechorin written on it. She had figured it out about four guesses back but she refused to entertain Daisy’s lackluster attempts at playing matchmaker. Holding her hand to the fire was preferable. Especially since fire didn’t hurt much due to her being a Fire Elemental.
As she moved her hand towards it, Daisy yelped. “Wait! We have a new punishment! Now you have to… um… do truth or dare!”
Natsuko rolled her eyes. “Fine. Dare.”
“I dare you to say who—”
“Daisy, that’s just truth,” Sofiane said.
“Ugh! No one asked you, Puffball!” Daisy said.
A slightly tipsy Gomiko put a hand over his mouth and shushed him.
“Natsu, I dare you to wear that note on your head for the rest of the night,” Shuixing said.
Natsuko scoffed. “What!? I can’t do that!”
“Then pick truth,” Shuixing said.
At that, Natsuko looked over at a grinning Daisy whose question was written on her face. If it was a firm no or yes, Natsuko would’ve been happy to just get it over with. Public humiliation was hardly new to her. But the question of where she stood with Pechorin had built up into a huge knot that she would’ve rather fought all eight xian simultaneously than try to unravel. And given how late this was coming, it made more sense to wait until they had escaped into a new world than to shove everything she wanted to do with him into the less than four days that remained. Between the two options, the note was less odious.
She slapped ‘Pechorin’ back on her head. “Fine. Next game.”
Before they could pick a new game to kill time with, Pechorin arrived wearing a waiter’s tuxedo and holding a platter of random food items ranging from cheesecake to drumsticks to turnips. He set the platter down on an empty stump and started passing around some sticks for roasting.
“Food’s here,” he said.