I found Nightfall a wonderful brewing partner. We only had to hand a sample in each, so brewing the one potion between us was totally legal. We found the ingredients on the shelves together, prepared them according to the recipe and then I dropped them in when instructed as he stirred the cauldron.
I felt like we found our rhythm, communicating with small gestures instead of words. He was so different from my other companions. While they were all direct and honest, Nightfall was subtle and communicated with few words. I’d expect Bruiser, Bastion, and Brick to just tell me how they were feeling, even if the feelings were unpleasant – more common than not with Bastion, in particular – but Nightfall would just have a slight downturn of his lips or give a nod of approval with eyes that glowed with emotion.
I wondered what he would make of me telling him what I suspected about the world. He looked like he was so close to figuring it out himself, the same way that Bruiser had been. He had a curiosity and a suspicion that things weren’t right, and when they were pointed out to him, he was so ready to believe.
But he was so passionate about his research, if I told him everything, I feared it might derail our studies and he would take up searching out those answers instead. He was such a strange juxtaposition of personality traits, like ice and fire. It felt like he detested what he was, or what he was thought to be, but at the same time had an immovable pride and sense of self-confidence. Yet he was uncomfortable in his skin because he didn’t understand himself. It felt like he was constantly dissociating from himself, trying to remove himself from his own situation to look at himself from the outside… and then he’d rush back into himself with no warning with emotions so deep and strong they were almost suffocating.
“Are you building a harem?” Nightfall asked me, his eyes on our brew as he stirred in even strokes. His tone was nonjudgmental. Just… curious.
“I haven’t set out to do so,” I told him honestly. “With Brick, it just happened naturally. And then with Bruiser… it was the same thing. I didn’t expect it, but it just happened. We talked it over and we’re together. We haven’t taken any bonding vows or anything, although we’ve got…uh… verbal agreements, I guess. But I’m not out to collect a bunch of guys like they’re Yu-Gi-Oh cards or something.”
His eyes flashed to mine for a moment at the unfamiliar term.
“Yu-Gi-Oh cards?”
“Collectable things,” I explained. “I used to have some when I was a kid. In my old life.”
The others seemed to let a lot of my accidental pop-culture references slide, but Nightfall homed in on them with laser precision. I wondered if I looked into his stats file if he had some hidden Perception ability or something.
Before he could ask me too many questions about my old life, I changed the subject and asked him about his time with Bruiser instead.
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I was intrigued to hear about their journeys. Bruiser had helped Nightfall level up much like he had done with me, half beating the crap out of their enemies and letting Nightfall handle the rest until he could take them on his own. I asked about their love lives, and he told me of Bruiser’s casual relationships which started and ended with physical exchanges. I knew this from what Bruiser had told me himself, of course, but it was interesting to hear someone else’s perspective.
Bruiser had never felt the desire to commit himself to another person again since his ex had been murdered, but Nightfall’s view of his casual relationships seemed to be envious. Then again, Bruiser was welcomed in most places he went, whereas Nightfall was tolerated at best.
“So, no girlfriends for you?” I asked.
Nightfall gave me a bitter look. “Dark elves do not find companionship comes easy. There are those who find us exotic, who would take me for an evening but nothing more would come of it. I have had my trysts, but the likelihood of me finding a true partner died when the necromancers slaughtered my people. Who else would love a dark elf, other than another dark elf?”
My heart ached at the bitter loneliness he felt, and I wanted to slap James again for causing so much pain. If I ever found him, I’d pummel him until he wrote some more diversity into this world. At least some women who didn’t sweep for a living, for a start.
We finally finished our brew, bottled it up and returned it to Professor Withernewt.
ACHIEVEMENT!
MITSY ACHIEVED A MINOR IN POTIONS!
+1 INTELLIGENCE = 8/20 INT
ABILITY UNLOCKED: BREWING
+10% gold on potions bartered.
“What’s the difference in getting a minor?” I asked Nightfall. “We didn’t get the whole one-point step with the Healing program.”
“You need a degree first, then whatever your next achievement is will be your minor. You can upgrade, of course, but you will only get one minor per degree.”
“Should we just… upgrade this to a degree then? I mean, we’re already here. And this is kind of easy and more enjoyable than that ridiculous racist class.”
Nightfall considered this, then agreed and we began our next lesson with Professor Withernewt.
I kept to my notes, but doodled humorous sketches on scraps of paper, passing them to Nightfall to try and make him laugh. The most I got out of him was a slight side-smirk, but when the class finished his eyes were shining with a warm mirth that I hadn’t seen before.
It felt like we were actually becoming friends. We took our assignment, which consisted of a list of ingredients we would need to gather out in the wilderness - exactly the ingredients we had used to make our previous potion. I guessed this was how they kept the stores stocked and closed the loop of endless students using and replacing ingredients.
“It will be dusk soon,” Nightfall said hesitantly, holding his list tightly in his hand. “If you wanted to return to Bruiser and Brick for the night this would be the best opportunity. We will have to leave the Citadel to collect these, so we should go in the morning. You may not get any further outside classes until you have completed your goal.”
“Getting sick of me already?” I joked, but he flinched and looked away.
“No, I…” he trailed off for a moment, then looked back to me. “I enjoy your company very much. I will look forward to seeing you in the morning and completing our next degree. You should take the time available to you to relax.”
“Oh… okay,” I said, uncertain if he was being totally honest with me or not. If felt like he was holding something back, but I didn’t know if even he knew what it was.
I pushed it out of my mind and focused instead on my good fortune. I would get to see Brick and Bruiser again. I just needed to walk out the gates before they closed.