Gabe:
Jade: "You’re Fruit Boy’s brother?” She looks at me from head to toe with a quizzical look on her face.
I look at Koji with a questioning face. He shrugs his shoulders.
Jade: “I’m Jade.” She turns to Koji: “You didn’t tell me he looks NOTHING LIKE YOU, Fruit Boy! And here I was expecting him to be your twin or something so I could look at both of you all day! Gimme the bag. Make sure his hands are clean, Fruit Boy!”
Koji carefully maneuvers a cloth bag out of his item pouch and Jade snatches it from his hands. I’m still always impressed when something larger than the pouch somehow fits inside it.
Koji: “Wash your hands and arms in the fountain.”
Gabe: “What? Why?”
Koji: “You’ll understand why in a bit. For now, they just need to be clean.”
I wash my hands in the fountain.
Koji: “All the way to your elbows.”
I scrub my elbows. Pretty sure I haven’t scrubbed my elbows in this game yet. Come to think of it, except for my time in the pool with Lucia, I haven’t gotten wet at all in Dungeon Quest. My elbows are pretty dirty. And my hands were dirty before I started. Man. I do look like a beggar.
Koji hands me a white cloth to dry my hands and arms. He inspects them more than I’d usually expect.
Jade: “First the left rings. Hold the strips in place for me?”
Jade hands Koji two small strips of something shimmering. He wraps them around the third and fourth fingers of my left hand. Jade swipes across them with a small tool and they are suddenly a single piece of… what are they? I touch them with my right hand. They’re rings. They feel smooth and cold to the touch, like metal. I have time to look at the rings for about 3 seconds before Jade talks again.
Jade: "These go on your left hand. Hold your hand out while Fruit Boy holds them in place."
I put out my left hand and Koji places cool, shining pieces of the same stuff above and below my fingers. Jade is holding a tool and slides the tool along the spaces between my fingers and around the side of my hands. The last side just barely doesn't reach. Koji places another small strip to extend the shining material, pulls on it, slightly compressing my hand, and Jade uses the tool again. It has a blue-ish light and a thin edge, sort of like an icing spatula or a paint scraper. Behind the spot where she touches, the stuff is perfectly connected - it has no seams or evidence it was ever not a single piece.
Wow. It’s really convenient that this stuff is so easy to work with! Koji is adding small pieces here and there, and Jade is closing up the holes with her little tool. I’ll have to get some clothes made from this stuff someday. It’s also really comfortable and I love the cool feeling of it.
Koji lays another piece above my arm, and another one beneath it. Jade swipes with her tool, and then steps back.
I now have what looks like a perfectly fitted glove on my left hand that extends up my arm to my elbow.
I flex my hand. It feels really nice. The fit is almost perfect. However, it doesn’t seem to have much stretch.
A handful of concerns run through my mind.
I touch the top. Confirmation. I can't remove the glove / gauntlet thing. Which means I no longer have access to my hand. The two rings they put on are totally hidden from sight. So what happens if it gets caught on something? I guess it's super close to my skin so it's unlikely... what if something gets inside? Like honey or ooze or something... I guess that isn't very likely. And if ooze or honey gets inside I guess I can also get water inside to wash it. What about if my arm gets bigger? Right. If my arm gets super muscular and huge then I might have a problem, but I'm nowhere near that issue now. Lol. Either way I would have to cut it off, and I don't want to do that to a gift. What if it itches? I scratch the gauntlet and feel nothing underneath.
Wait.
How am I supposed to cut my fingernails?!?
I look to Koji but he is grinning ear to ear. This is probably not the time to bring up that concern. Come to think of it, I have no idea if fingernails grow in Dungeon Quest. My biggest concern, ironically, is if I somehow start to itch.
I guess this is why they wanted me to have clean hands. I should just sit and be quiet for now. I'm pretty sure this is gonna work out. And if it doesn't, we can fix it when it comes time.
I get a bracelet and another ring on my right hand, things around my ankles (Anklets? Honestly... I don't understand what is happening), a necklace, and a corded belt. All of it is made from the same shimmering blue-gray material.
And, with the exception of the necklace and the belt, none of them are removable. The necklace is just large enough to fit over my head, and the belt is actually over 3 meters long - you wind it around multiple times and fix it with a clasp (with a red gem embedded in it) at the end.
Jade and Koji step back and look at me.
I probably look like a mess. I mean, I’m wearing ripped, old clothing, and now I have a bunch of fancy jewelry. And an arm glove gauntlet thing.
Jade: “I am so glad that I had not met your brother, Fruit Boy. He’s even uglier than you are. You want to give it to him?”
She hands him the white cloth bag.
Koji: “So… when you died at the rainbow slime event… well, when you almost died and the earthquake happened, I felt really bad. I wanted to get you an item bag, but they cost like a million dollars. So I remembered that I had met Jade when I was at the market. I asked her if she could make you a backpack. We got… sort of carried away making stuff… but here’s the backpack. I’m sorry about taking you to see the slimes, and I’m sorry for asking you to kill one.”
He hands me a pack.
It's made of the same strange material - the one they wrapped around my hands and fingers. It’s like a designer version of a drawstring backpack, with a cover over the top. The pack is larger at the bottom than it is at the top. It’s actually big enough that I could put Lucia in it if I wanted to.
Hey! That could be a great idea! Except I’m not sure if the material is breathable.
Actually, do slimes breathe?
Whatever. I’ll have to ask her or offer it to her somehow. But I doubt she’d want to be inside a backpack. Either way…
I give my brother a huge hug.
Gabe: “Thank you so much Koji! I’ve wanted something to carry stuff for so long here in Dungeon Quest. This is the best gift you could have gotten me.”
I give Jade a hug as well: “Thank you for making this Jade. Thank you.”
I can tell she is uncomfortable after just a few seconds, so I stop the hug and step back. Jade’s face is bright red.
Jade (mumbling): “Fruit Boy… keep your brother in line… tell him to keep his hands to himself…”
Gabe: “This material is really cool! I especially love how easy it is to work with - that tool you used looked incredible! What is it?”
Koji looks at Jade, who looks at Koji. Then they both look at me.
Koji: “It’s just cloth.” Jade: “It’s just metal.”
Koji: “It’s metalcloth.”
Gabe: “Metalcloth? Sounds cool. Is it common?”
Koji: “It’s sorta new in the market. But let Jade explain the stuff she made.”
Jade points at the glove on my left arm: "It's a gauntlet."
Gabe: "A gauntlet?"
Koji: "Yeah. You know how we used to play *Gauntlet* when we were younger? This material is super special... it's actually so strong that it can be used as a shield. I know you wouldn’t accept an actual shield... so instead we made you a gauntlet. It'll probably still hurt, but normal stuff like daggers or swords won't be able to cut it. Here. Hold out your arm."
I hold out my metal-coated left arm.
Koji shoots magic spark at it.
I recoil instinctively, but the spark hits point-blank. I feel a slight buzz in my forearm, and the spark dissipates completely.
Gabe: "Wha.....?!?"
Koji: "Pretty cool, right? And you should be able to cast your own magic through it when you learn magic.”
Gabe: “How much did all this cost? Can you make clothing out of it? Did you get a crazy deal on this stuff?”
Koji looks at Jade, whose face is again bright red.
Koji: “There isn’t any more of the material, and it’s… not possible to get any more. I’m going to be working with Jade for a while to pay off the cost of making stuff.”
Gabe: “Koji… you didn’t need to do that for me…”
Koji: “I know. I just… I wanted you to have something nice for once here.”
Jade: “Alright. If Fruit Boy so obviously loves you, I can forgive you for being so ugly.”
I look at Koji. He just shrugs with a smile on his face.
Jade: “The material is metalcloth, as Koji mentioned. It’s cut-resistant, stab-resistant, waterproof, and protects from harmful magic. It is not an understatement to say that this pack is the most valuable thing that you now own.”
She continues.
Jade: “Because of your unluckiness, and the attack that happened yesterday, I spoke with one of my friends at the market, and Fruit Boy and I re-tooled the buckle on your belt.”
She turns to Koji: “I forgot to ask, Fruit Boy - does your brother have any magic he can do? Or did you get both the looks *and* the brains in the family?”
Koji looks at me questioningly.
I respond: “I’m not sure if it’s magic, but I can make myself glow.”
I turn on Peace of the Pacifist, and I begin to glow with a golden hue. The metalcloth on my body glows with a silvery-blue light.
Jade: “Man. If it weren’t already bad enough! I guess that will do. Turn on your magic, and put your hand over the gem in your belt.”
I place my hand over the gem, and it begins to feel warm in my hand.
Gabe: “How long do I hold it for?”
Jade: “About a minute if you’re doing magic. Otherwise it takes a week or so.”
A minute passes, with both of them watching me. I feel awkward.
Jade: “That should be good. You can move your hand and turn off the light show.”
I remove my hand, and the red gem is glowing. I turn off Peace of the Pacifist, and the gem stops glowing.
Jade: “Undo the belt by pushing on the red gem. You are the only person who can undo the belt once it’s latched. There's a spot where it fits through your backpack. If you EVER take off that backpack, you will also have to take off your belt. At that moment, you must tie it to something that can’t be moved.”
Koji (excitedly): “It’s like a bike lock! You just wrap it through something like a fence, or a bike post, and then it latches! The gem is a soul gem that Jade got from one of her friends, and the belt is enchanted to open or close when you touch the gem!”
Jade looks both angry, frustrated, and proud.
Jade: “I don’t usually work with enchantments. I don’t ever work with enchantments. But this metalcloth… it will never break. The enchantment is simple - telling it to separate or close - so it will never break. The soul gem makes it so that you are the only one who can use it.”
Gabe: “Soul gems… soul gems are expensive, aren’t they?”
Koji turns to Jade: “But you said that…”
Jade: “I just happened to have an extra one lying around. I didn’t have any use for it, and I don’t want your backpack getting stolen.”
Her face is bright red and she turns around. I think she can tell.
Soul gems are expensive. I don’t remember exactly how much they cost… but I remember the enchanter saying something about them costing a lot.
Gabe: “Well… someday when I find a material that’s really nice, I’ll give it to you Jade. Thank you.”
Jade is still facing away from me, but I can see her ears turn bright red. Yep. I think that should work.
Koji: “I know it’s a lot. I sorta just wanted to get you a backpack. But this stuff is really cool. And the bracelets and rings you could get enchanted someday, or you could use gems as catalysts and turn them into magic items!”
Gabe: “Honestly, I don’t know what to say. Thank you again to both of you. Thank you so much.”
I grab both of them and pull them into a hug. Jade fights against it for a moment but then gives in. I’m not gonna worry about political correctness “you shouldn’t hug someone you don’t know” garbage here inside a game.
Jade: “Are you crying?!? What is wrong with you?”
I wipe tears from my eyes.
Gabe: “So what if I’m crying? Boys can cry.”
Koji laughs, and Jade glares at him.
Gabe: “You guys wanna come with me to the church so I don’t get mugged on the way?”
Koji looks at Jade: “Jade actually probably needs to get back to her booth…”
Jade: “We’ll go with you.”
---
Koji (quietly as they walk): “You haven’t given Gabe a nickname yet! You always give people nicknames.”
Jade: “Shut up, Fruit Boy! I do what I want.”