“I get it. This won't stop until I die. But when I die, I want it to hurt. When my friends leave, when I have to let go, when this entire town is wiped off the map, I want it to hurt. Bad. I want to lose. I want to get beaten up. I want to hold on until I'm thrown off and everything ends. And you know what? Until that happens, I want to hope again. And I want it to hurt. Because that means it meant something. I means I am something, at least...pretty amazing to be something, at least..." -Mae Borowski, Night In The Woods-

_____

Over time, the places James considered home seemed to be expanding.

Sometimes, often really, it was his apartment. The place he shared with Anesh and Alanna and Sarah. And also Auberdeen, and Rufus, and Ganesh as well. He was trying to get out of the habit of thinking of Lily as a roommate, both because the iLipede had been moved to a more friendly environment for her species in the basement, and also because it turned out iLipedes just didn’t really grow in intelligence like striders did.

James occasionally looked at Rufus, and felt a heavy concern for the little guy, paired with a simmering anger at the dungeon for its irresponsible touch when it came to creating its Life. Rufus had started out as a feral animal level mind, that had taken a long time - potentially years, it was hard for anyone to know - to grow into a reasoning creature. But why was a question no one could answer. Strider brains were a mystery for now, and while James didn’t like just calling everything magic and leaving it at that, he did feel like getting smarter was a special stapler spider trait. Like how camracondas had their freeze ray, or chanters grew plants.

Rufus was a part of what James considered home though. Which was why, sometimes, home was the Lair.

Visiting someone in one of the apartments, hanging out in the baths after a particularly grueling and traumatizing event, going to movie night, sampling weird potions in the basement, chatting with new arrivals and old friends, or even just the simple fun of watching - and sometimes ‘helping’ - with one of the games of Ball that the youth group played in the back parking lot. The Lair had become a source of comfort for James, because it was a place where he poured his hopes and dreams for a compassionate community, and the horizon of the future.

That future showed up a lot around here, in a bunch of different forms. Sometimes it was Marlea, with her newly integrated fourth member, just… being a hive mind. Being something totally new and never before seen on this world, walking around and drinking pumpkin spice lattes on the way to planning for a Climb delve. Sometimes it was Ava and Hidden slinking around and making friends, being another novel thing; a child growing up with her sister who just happened to be a not-so-imaginary friend. Sometimes it was a much more clear ‘the next generation’ kind of future, when Morgan and Liz and Color-Of-Dawn just kind of existed in the Lair, each of them a weird form of chosen one, each of them coming of age in a world of magic and wonder, but where they were also trying to figure out college plans, and how to have a relationship when you were the only ones in your peer group who thought polyamory was normal.

The Lair wasn’t perfect. People here still got into arguments or had falling outs. No one was immune to fucking up. But when they turned so much of their attention toward actually making a world they all wanted to live in, the sting of those mistakes was blunted a bit.

Today, for James, the Lair was home for another reason. It was the place that had food, and a table large enough for a bunch of his friends and loves to sit at and have lunch together.

Or try to anyway. For some of them, they were finding their attempts interrupted by James and Zhu.

”Check this one out!” Zhu said eagerly, sliding a glossy picture across the table with his talon extending off James’ arm as his host nibbled on chips. “I like this one. It looks cool.”

James kind of agreed. ”Also the… I wanna say ‘technical specs’ but that’s not right is it?”

”The power. The clarity!” Zhu shifted the photo to the side, moving copies of a medical textbook out with incredibly detailed diagrams. “It’s perfect!”

Alanna and Anesh, all three of them holding their sandwiches in loose double handed grips but not taking bites of them, stared at James and Zhu with a solid wall of disapproval. “Why is Zhu carrying around pictures of eyeballs.” Alanna ‘asked’.

Slowly, keeping his smile fixed in place, James reached up and gently tapped on his eyepatch. “Cause…”

”Ah.”

Anesh shook his heads and took simultaneous bites of his food anyway, one of him chewing a little faster so he could comment. “See, I didn’t guess that, because this picture looks like it has feathers.” He said, tapping the zoomed in high res image that could have been a passable yellow orb if not for the black ring in its center.

”The picture does have feathers!” James said happily as he crunched into another chip. “That’s an eagle. Bald eagle specifically.” He grinned almost sheepishly, rubbing his cheek as he looked over toward the others heading for their table. “I figured… you know. If I’m gonna fix myself, I may as well go for an upgrade while I’m at it, right?”

Having wound their way through the other tables in the busy dining area of the Order’s full time eatery, Keeka and Arrush sat on the bench to James’ right, making the table feel exponentially more occupied. “Yes!” Keeka said as he overhead the last of what James was saying. “I will help you, if you need it! I am very good at the tricks to it!”

”Oh hey, yeah.” Alanna nodded, tearing her eyes away from where the picture of the bird eyeball was still watching her. “I kinda always forget you two were pretty modified before… uh… shit, sorry.”

Arrush’s sad smile on his newly reforged muzzle looked right at home there. ”It’s okay.” He said, pausing after a couple words for a breath he didn’t need to take anymore, and then jerking his head from side to side as he remembered. “We were. But Keeka was always better at it.” Arrush’s boyfriend shifted closer to him, bifurcated tail spilling over the back of the bench to wrap around his partner’s own version of the appendage while the rest of his body nestled into the space between Arrush’s upper and lower arms on this side.

The cute moment was sort of broken by Dave arriving and announcing himself with a “Hey guys!” that worked to break the spell of open love the two ratroaches were under. Dave didn’t notice, and just dropped onto the other side of the table with his plate of hamburger and pasta salad. “Haven’t gotten to do this in a while, huh?” He asked, laying his arm on the table to let the small paper drake crawl down it and sniff around his tray.

”…Dave, did Pendragon shrink?” Anesh asked as the little creature wandered slightly around the dining surface.

”What? No, that’s silly.” Dave took a large bite of his food and watched his new friend as he chewed.

With that non-answer standing in the air, and Keeka now trying to simultaneously cuddle Arrush, eat his own food, and reach out to entice the little dragon over to him, James simply leaned back in his chair and watched. “I missed this. A lot.” He whispered to Zhu.

”I know. It’s… weird, I guess is the word? I know I can’t only live these experiences, or I’ll starve. But because of… because of the disease, I feel more active here. I almost feel like you!” The navigator fluttered his glowing feathers in a laugh.

”We’ll find something.” James whispered.

”Sure whatever. Ask about the dragon.” Zhu whispered back.

Alanna beat them to it. “Dave. Hey. Dave. If Pendragon hasn’t regressed, why do you have a dragon?” She talked around a mouthful of food.

”Uh… because I’m raising another one? I don’t understand the question.” Dave shrugged as he kept eating. “Isn’t that normal though? James got a new friend after Rufus and Auberdeen grew up!”

Feathers curled slightly against James’ skin, betraying Zhu’s alien nature. “Oh, I am not okay being the ‘new friend’.” The navigator sounded like he’d just eaten his version of an entire lemon.

”Yeah that’s weird.” James commented as the little dragon slowly reached out its black plastic alligator clip head to nip lightly at Keeka’s outstretched paw. Then an echo of a memory hit him, and he struggled to keep his breathing even as he grappled with knowing that Zhu hadn’t replaced Rufus or Ganesh or Auberdeen or any physical Life, but someone who would have been a lot more deeply connected to James. Someone he’d never know. The moment was gone in a flash; James had talked to his therapist enough about this, he could handle it. His grief was real, but it wasn’t… something he needed to focus on now. He’d do that on his own time. “Those are mostly people, too, not animals. Is… is Pendragon an animal? Or animal level? Yeesh, our lives make classifying this kind of thing so hard.”

”It’s always been hard. Pigs are basically smart dogs, but everyone thinks they’re okay to eat.” Anesh pointed out, which got a wide eyed and somewhat horrified look from Arrush, who shifted away from Keeka to slowly pick his own sandwich apart. “Also James can we… can the pictures not be on the table? Being observed by a single floating eyeball is not making lunch easy.”

”Oh! Sure, sorry.” James rolled his shoulder and prompted Zhu to pull back the sheets. “So is Pendragon okay?” He focused on the important matter at hand.

”Yeah? I mean, just cause an animal grows up doesn’t mean they’re dead James.” Dave gave him a short little laugh. “Auberdeen is fine, right?”

Anesh laughed stiffly. ”To be fair, Auberdeen showed up fully grown. Also yes, she is fine. She’s at anime night with some of her classmates tonight, I guess.”

Stopping midway into bringing a chip to his mouth, James froze in disbelief, mouth hanging open. “Wait, hang on!” He exclaimed, tossing his food back to his plate. “Auberdeen has an anime night, and we don’t? That’s… that’s just depressing! I’m depressed now.”

”Can we not make an anime night?” Arrush pronounced the unfamiliar word slightly odd, but with genuine curiosity. “Is it fun?”

”Uh… I guess so?” James met his newest boyfriend’s myriad offset eyes. “Actually yeah? Yeah, we probably can! I mean we’ve sorta got some breathing room right now, don’t we?”

”Isn’t the world ending or something?” Dave asked.

Zhu’s talon slid across the table to try to prod Dave, until James noticed and jerked his arm away with a laugh. “We’re working on that!” Zhu informed him. “Some… somehow!”

”Constant preparation to address crises.” James said, nodding stoically with his eyes closed. “Doing stuff like…” he waved around the crowded dining room and the chatter of all the people in the Order who were having lunch here. “…you know. Response and Recovery and Research are part of it. Training and improving ourselves. Learning more magic, and how to use it. Doing what we can to strengthen the world and humanity. Even this,” he pointed at Pendragon Two - a name he hoped wasn’t correct - as he talked, “is important! Pendragon has saved our lives and been a critical part of our operations multiple times. Raising more dragons like her is… you know, building the future.” James shrugged, suddenly realizing he was rambling. “Sorry.” He apologized for no reason as he went back to eating.

”Magic like the car dungeon?” Arrush asked, taking a long and even breath before adding, “The parking lot. Not the other different car dungeon with the moose.”

”Wait the what.” Dave’s head snapped up from where he’d already destroyed half his burger.

”Route Horizon has motorcycle moose.” Alanna said, rubbing her hand forcefully across her jaw where one of them had tried to murder her last time she’d seen them. Though in the moose’s defense, Alanna was trying to ride it sidesaddle at the time. “Well, more of an elk really.”

Arrush nodded, a small smile creeping onto his muzzle again as the constant conversation gradually made him feel more and more comfortable being in public despite how he felt about his changes. “It was…” he stifled another unnecessary pause, “very funny. Once Alanna wasn’t trampled to death.”

Alanna nodded in a rapid blur of loose hair. “I’m really good at not being trampled to death!” She told the table.

While Anesh casually rubbed at her shoulders in a comfortable exalting gesture, Arrush slowly let himself relax, and Dave vacuumed up his food like he was in a hurry to get somewhere, James and Zhu just relaxed, both of them laying their connected arms flat on the table as they watched the others banter and eat. The only people missing from his close social group were Sarah and TQ, but the human was currently doing an acclimation day with a few new hires, and the camraconda was helping out with something in Townton.

”So are we going back?” Arrush asked him, dragging James out of his distant mental space.

”Hm? Back where?”

”The dungeon that… has cars. The parking lot. That one.” Arrush’s conversational floundering this time was entirely because he tripped over his words and not because of a physical impairment.

Alanna’s head snapped up from where she and Keeka were now both trying to feed the new little dragon from a box of paper clips that Dave had handed over. “We should name that one.” She said, a sharkish smile growing on her face. She opened her mouth again to say something else, but James quickly held up a hand and stalled her.

”Momo called dibs on one of them.” He told her.

”That’s fine, she can name the other one!” Alanna laughed. “Also it’s fine, I don’t have any real ideas. I was just gonna channel Sarah’s joie de vivre and put some semi-absurd words together and call it… I dunno, Pylon Motoroic or something. That sounds kinda dumb? No, that sounds dumb.” Alanna picked up on feelings of amusement from the people around her, and quickly ditched the dumb name.

James paused only briefly, and then slowly started clapping. “That’s good!” He declared, getting a look of embarrassed pride from his girlfriend.

”I like that one!” Zhu added. “Mostly because it’s kinda dumb!”

”I don’t really like that one,” Dave chimed in as his pet dragon was slowly corralled back to his side of the table, “because motoroic isn’t a word.”

For a brief moment, James had to wonder if Keeka was preparing to lunge across the wide lunch table to try and tackle Dave. He smiled at the look on the ratroach’s face; the lack of a human shape not stopping him in the slightest from understanding exactly what Keeka was feeling. He didn’t need Alanna’s Empathy power - though she was look at the ratroach in the same way, so it clearly worked too - to know that Keeka was having the most common reaction to being exposed to Dave for the first time in a social context.

James really did think Dave was his friend. He’d also told Dave that directly, because a good friend wouldn’t give the gift of ambiguity to someone that had a problem with it. But wow could Dave be kind of a dick sometimes.

”We’ll put it on the list of ideas.” James said as Arrush slowly lured Keeka back to a sitting position by scratching a claw across the back of the thin band shirt Keeka was wearing. “Dave, do you have any ideas?” He tried to not make it sound too accusatory. Not not accusatory, but not too accusatory.

“Double Park?” Dave asked with a shrug, and got a series of groans at the pun he hadn’t realized he just made. “Because it’s a parking lot, but also a park park, right?”

”…That’s… you’re so close to being clever.” Anesh told him with a shake of his heads.

”Oh. Uh, thanks!” Dave looked up happily from where he was coaxing the paper dragon to crawl up to his shoulder again. “Anyway I’m done eating and I gotta go. You guys have a good one!” He made his escape the way he did most things; bluntly and rapidly.

Keeka watched him go. “I don’t… um… I know Dave is your friend…”

”Dave’s kind of a dumbass.” Alanna told the small ratroach, leaning past an Anesh to steal one of Keeka’s fries as a gesture of friendship. “He’s our friend but he says stupid shit all the time. Anyway. Arrush, you were talking about the dungeon?”

”Oh. Yes.” Arrush’s mixed insect and mammalian eyes looked up from where he was staring in light confusion at his plate of food. “Isn’t it one of the places we should go to, a lot? It gives out easy magic. Even if it isn’t… isn’t… dangerous? It still feels better to have.”

James nodded and tapped his nose before pointing at Arrush. “Yeah, it’s also kinda easy to move people through in numbers. There’s a few issues with it, like how it’s only open half the time and the other half the entrance goes to the other dungeon. Which means that, because of the time dilation, there’s a double stretch of time inside where the exit doesn’t work? We need to test telepading out, too.” He struggled not to sigh at the overwhelming number of things the Order had on its plate.

”The biggest issue is actually using the points it gives.” Anesh said.

Alanna elbowed her smaller boyfriend. “We don’t know they’re points.”

”They’re called AP, and they level up abilities. They’re ability points.” Anesh had an opinion on this. He figured, and was pretty sure he was correct, that they were overthinking things when they refused the simple solutions. “Oh, fine.” He relented as Alanna tried to shift him off the edge of their bench in protest. “The issue is using the AP.”

”No?” Arrush looked confused at that, too. “It was easy to use.”

Anesh nodded at him. ”Exactly. That’s the problem. We don’t want people leveling up in breathing and walking - unless they want to obviously - we want people leveling up in… well, what they want.” He dropped the crust of his sandwich onto his plate, finishing a small final bite of the parts he wanted. “So if it’s that easy, we need to figure out how to get materials and opportunities to the area around the entrance. So delvers can come out and instantly start working on programming or sewing or brain surgery or whatever new and terrible thing Research is doing this week.”

”Aren’t you Research this week?” James prompted with a smile.

”Yes. That’s how I know.” Anesh smiled back. The other Anesh continued with a shake of his head. “Also there’s so much that’s worth testing there.”

Arrush shifted like he had something to say, but didn’t want to interject. Two people noticed, and both Keeka and James silently drew Anesh’s attention to the nervous ratroach, opening up a long pause where Anesh placidly waited for Arrush to speak up. “Sorry…” Arrush started to say, before cutting himself off. He was still working on that. But at least he knew to work on it now. “Magic?”

The word was said like a question, but Anesh didn’t know how to answer it. “Magic what?” He asked.

Alanna’s eyes abruptly widened. “Oh. Oh shit, magic.” She slapped a hand onto the arms of both Anesh next to her. “You guys, magic.”

”Are you making fun of Arrush?” Keeka asked, eyes narrowed at her.

”No, this is what Alanna does when she’s actually excited.” James answered. “But I don’t… get… whyyyyy magic!” He slapped a hand into his forehead, Zhu making a startled revving noise as the navigator jerked his talons away before skewering James’ other eye. “Arrush you’re a genius!”

”You’re all exhausting.” Anesh declared. “Arrush? Elaborate please, before I get a headache?”

Arrush sagged slightly as he realized that things were mostly okay. “All the other magics, they… um… feed each other. They all work together. Shouldn’t this one do that too?” He unconsciously mimicked how James talked and started to craft an example. “If… if we get a point, and cast a Climb spell, would we level up in that spell? Or Breath magic? Or something else?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

”That’s an interesting question.” Anesh nodded. “I think that we could-“ he was cut off as his double leaned over and slapped a hand on his arm just under where Alanna’s was, “-yes?” He asked himself.

”Oh! Magic!” The other Anesh declared. Anesh stared back at himself, until it clicked in his brain, and his own eyes widened.

James decided to cut in. “This is hilarious to watch. Good idea Arrush, I bet that’s gonna be absurd, in a way that’s good for us.” He took a breath. “The only issue now is getting Lincon or someone else to show us the other entrances, especially the unmonitored ones, so we can secure our own access. The Mormons are considering letting us check out the non-car park next month, but our agreement never specified entrances they haven’t found, sooo…” James gave a coy shrug, accentuated by Zhu’s gravely chuckle.

”I don’t like this.” Arrush hissed out a whisper, mostly to himself, but some of the others managed to hear over the noise of the crowded dining area. Alanna’s raised eyebrows in his direction pushed his own ashamed gaze down to the table where his boyfriend was still being silly. “The agreement. I don’t like it.” He said louder. “It’s not fair. You didn’t make an agreement with the Sewer when you realized about us. Why are we being nice to them when they’re… like this?”

James held back a grimace as he awkwardly stared through the gap between the others and toward the main hall into the dining area. Watching a few others wander in for lunch, and trying to figure out what facial expression he was supposed to have as he nodded in a friendly way at Morgan while he tried to figure out what to say to Arrush. “It’s… complicated.” He said.

Sensing a sudden spike of complex anger from Arrush, Alanna jumped in. “James isn’t saying that cause he thinks you’re dumb, he’s saying that cause he thinks he’s dumb and he’s buying time to think.” She told the upset ratroach who shifted against Keeka as he tried to push back his anger and found it easier than normal. “But I’ve got an answer, if James doesn’t mind!”

”Please, yes.”

”Okay.” Alanna set the edges of her hands on the table and met Arrush’s eyes. “Diplomacy is a good idea because it’s a replacement. You’re pissed off, right?” Arrush nodded at her, a couple of his eyes flicking to the side like he was still worried he was walking into a trap. “Right. Exactly. And they’re probably also annoyed on the other side. I mean, I know they are.”

”It was kind of inevitable when James got involved.” Anesh said in a forlorn voice.

Alanna shuffled a hand through his hair as she continued. “All that ‘being annoyed’ stuff, it’s in place of ‘being wounded’ or ‘being dead’. That’s the point. We could solve our problems by killing each other until one side is dominant, sure…”

”But!” James added, “It’s important that neither side wants to do that! They might all be shitty people who suck, but shitty people still have friends. They’ve got people they care about and don’t want to lose. And that matters more than supremacy at the risk of annihilation.”

Alanna nodded, and kept drawing on her deeper civics knowledge, the information only a little bit augmented by her litany of yellow orbs. “So with the most radical portion of their leadership… uh… James’d…”

”You are not allowed to call it that.” James protested as Arrush and Keeka made chittering laughs. “Besides, that’s inaccurate. They’re neither dead nor converted to members. And those are my signature moves.”

Continuing undeterred, Alanna ignored her partner. ”…they’ll find it harder to continue the worst parts of their operation. We get to reform parts of what they’re doing, make sure they play by some rules, and we get it at a great deal because all we have to do is not use their dungeon breaches without permission.”

Arrush’s sigh caused a rapid clicking as he let his muzzle open freely, the glowing interior no longer at risk of melting anything if he wasn’t careful. “I… I understand…” he said the word slowly.

”But he thinks we should have taken all their stuff!” Keeka cheerfully added, astutely parsing his boyfriend’s wants and needs. Needs like ‘having all of the spellbooks so their enemy had none’.

James covered a laugh with the back of his hand. “Alright, well,” he said with light amusement, “I agree actually. We never found the spell that blanks streetlights, which… I mean, I don’t ’want it’, but completion is important to me. And the number of mindful reverberation spellbooks they have is insane, so I know they have more of the fucking things. I doubt we could get all of them, but it means they have a way of copying spellbooks, and the fact that they refuse to share it is annoying. Can you imagine if it worked on Climb or Sewer books?”

”Or just on anything in general?” Alanna pointed out.

”It doesn’t.” Anesh answered confidently. “Otherwise, why would they be collecting recycling to turn into gold?”

”Touche.”

James smiled at Alanna, only briefly distracted when he realized Zhu was messing with his surviving potato chips and rearranging his plate into a crunchy mosaic. He didn’t bother stopping the navigator, wanting to see where this was going, but he kept talking as he watched. “Yeah, anyway, the point of diplomacy is mutual benefit. We get their ethical behavior and some dungeon, they get us not fighting them. Everyone ‘wins’. But it does feel gross after what they did to all those kids.”

”I have a question.” Keeka’s suddenly solemn voice got everyone’s attention, even Zhu, who stopped trying to create art of out James’ lunch. “Can I talk to them?”

”The… Mormons?” Anesh asked. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. They seem… James if I say they seem racist is that correct? They seem really racist though.”

”No!” The arms on Keeka’s right side flailed at the closets Anesh, who caught one and briefly held his new boyfriend’s hand for a second. “Well, yes! The young ones! Can I talk to them?” He reiterated his request. “I just… I think I know what it’s like. I think I could listen to them, and understand, and help.”

The simple fact that Keeka’s first instinct these days was to help, even people he’d never met, was uplifting to James. Especially because he knew how far Keeka had come from the scared and traumatized person he’d been when he’d first teleported into the Lair. “I don’t know.” Was how he answered, though. “A lot of them…” Well, a lot of them were fucked up, was what James wanted to say. The Order was learning, over the last week, that there were basically two types of magic students in the Mormon church. Either the ones who were faithful already, who rapidly became the kind of fanatical True Believers that were both problematic and dangerous, and the kind who didn’t really want to do this at all, and had started to take damage to their psyche from the stacking contradictory beliefs. “A lot of them are hurting in a way I don’t think you can help with. They’re kind of erratic, cause they’re the ones that the brainwashing didn’t fully take on.”

”I could still try.” Keeka pressed. “I know they might think I’m wrong. I don’t care.” He was sitting upright now, a pair of his hands clasping Arrush’s mismatched limbs for support. “I could help! So I should.”

”Speaking of fanatics…” Zhu whispered ever so softly, possibly directly into James’ thoughts.

James gave Keeka a sad smile. ”Yeah.” He said softly. “Okay. We can try. I’ll get you in touch with Recovery.”

“The others?” Arrush asked, voice thin.

”The others?” James and Alanna echoed.

He nodded, antenna bobbing softly as he scratched at his wiry tan fur. “The ones that it did ‘take’ on.”

”Oh.” James slumped. “They’re mostly still down there.” Because, especially for the ones that were adults now, it was hard to negotiate for more than simply making the abuse stop. “And I kind of… I kind of want to see what we can do about that? But I don’t know where to start. Tactical strikes seem too obvious, but I really want to break their shit and take their stuff and drag all those people somewhere safe to help fix them.”

Arrush moved like he wasn’t sure if it was okay to reach out to James, and ultimately decided that the table was too large for it to not be awkward regardless of if he was ‘allowed’ to. ”I will help.” He stated, determined.

”We can call that Plan C.” Anesh said.

”C for Crime.” The other Anesh added.

”James our boyfriend is becoming a Vaudeville routine.” Alanna tried to put one of the Anesh in a headlock and got dodged, her boyfriend narrowly ducking the grab and equally narrowly avoiding sending what was left of his food off the edge of the table.

James laughed as the other Anesh gently stole the finished plates and stacked them in the center of the table, where his counterpart and his girlfriend couldn’t cause a calamity with them. Glancing over at the pair of ratroaches sitting at the table, James decided to shift over to the side a little and get closer to Arrush. “Hey. You doing okay?” He asked. “Just… you know, in general.”

”I don’t know.” Arrush answered honestly. “But I’ve been worse! And that means this can’t be that bad.” He gave James a tentative smile while Keeka leaned into him, distracted by something on his phone. The smile held for a second, and then slowly stretched wider, his angular face stretching into a more toothy grin.

As he watched, curious, James figured out that Arrush was testing what he could do without hurting himself. Little things about his new body that he hadn’t fully explored over the last few days of self-confinement. “You look cute like that.” James said without thinking, and then smiled himself as he watched the exposed hide around Arrush’s eyes flush a neon green that was practically iridescent. “Also like that! Man, I wish when I blushed it literally glowed.”

”There might be a potion for that!” Keeka offered, turning to prop his legs up on the bench and his back planted firmly against his larger boyfriend. The swirled ends of his antenna bobbed as he tilted his head back and looked away from his phone. “They have one that makes your eyes glow now!”

”Ooh, I’m interested in that.” Alanna ceased her attempts to playfully attack Anesh and focused on what Keeka had said. “Does it give night vision or something?”

James gave a single sudden bark of laughter. “Nope!” He declared. “It literally just makes your eyes glow, and reflect light so they glint a lot more. We’ve got a lot of it! You can pick some up at the allocounter. The… the allocation counter. My mashup name doesn’t work, ignore me.”

Sitting up and rolling his shoulders as he recovered from surviving his girlfriend’s affection, Anesh straightened his collars and cleared his throats. “We have a couple others, too. Red was, and is, doing some large scale brewing experiments, and if they work but aren’t super useful, we just let people have them for fun. There’s one that induces synesthesia for numbers too, which sounds like hell.”

”Is that not… wouldn’t that just be cool for you specifically?” James asked.

”No. Partly because I am not defined by my maths degrees, and also partly because I would like to go about my day without having an acid trip.” The corner of Anesh’s mouth quirked downward in a sad frown. “Unless someone gets forgotten again, obviously.”

”Hey, veering hard away from that depressing morass,” Alanna bumped her shoulder into Anesh in a less combative and more comforting move, “what the hell is the alchemy department even doing? How come our successes are weird and our failures are… actually I never hear about the failures?”

“Because the- oh, thank you.” Anesh paused as a nervous human teenager and an even more nervous ratroach of impossible to determine age, both in black aprons, swept by their table and rapidly made off with the empty plates. “I forgot we weren’t at home.” He laughed to himself, echoing what James was thinking in that very moment. “Anyway, the failures are frequent, and some of them are somewhat gruesome. And some of them are enigmatic, which worries me more. Like the happy rats.”

”I am a happy rat!” Keeka said, peeking over the edge of his phone to gaze at Anesh with his upper eyes.

Zhu tapped a talon musingly on the end of James’ hand. “Happy rats worry you more than dead rats?” He asked. “That sounds… wrong somehow.”

”We still don’t know why the rats are happy, or what the potion did to them. Also the infomorph that Nik tried to use to communicate with them just didn’t take; I guess rats aren’t exactly complicated enough to grow an assignment, even if they are the smartest rats we’ve ever seen.” He sighed. “I don’t even know why I’m upset? Research is genuinely magical. You should all come visit and help out, it’s fun. All of you except Arrush, I know you already do help out.”

”You do?” James arched his available eyebrow.

Arrush ducked his head. “I pick sap. It’s not that helpful.”

”It’s not not helpful. And you’re objectively better than Nik ‘Callous Disregard For Climb Spell Safety Protocols’… uh… whatever Nik’s last name is.” Anesh’s blush was less pronounced on the one of him that wasn’t talking, but there was some splash damage from the embarrassment of not knowing his coworker’s whole name. “Anyway you’re great and we’re glad to have you.” He finished to Arrush. “Also if anyone knows how to talk to happy rats, we’re looking for suggestions.”

“Entice them with garlic bread.” Arrush offered, pointing a claw down at Keeka.

The sudden way that Keeka’s eyes lit up and his whole body moved like he was ready for garlic bread made James and Zhu burst out laughing in unison. The two of them shaking together with mirth as Keeka chittered out a defense. “That,” James gasped out as he raised his head from the table, “is the-“ he didn’t get to finish his sentence before there was a light pop of air and someone landed with shined black dress shoes on the empty bench that Dave had been sitting on.

Whatever noise James made, he wouldn’t deny that it was startled. If the incoming teleport didn’t get people’s attention, his high pitched squeal was certainly loud enough to silence the conversations at the nearby tables in a wave of curious looks shot in his direction. On the other side of the dining room, the pair of kids who were bussing tables simultaneously dropped the stack of dishes each of them had, a startled fumble at James’ panicked yell turning into the clatter of porcelain, quickly followed by someone who had the aura of a Response knight organizing their table to help get stuff quickly cleaned up.

”Sorry!” James called out an apology as the intruder hopped down off the bench.

”JP what the shit is wrong with you?” Alanna demanded as their friend looked around for a more comfortable chair than the long bench he had landed on feet first. “You know you’re not supposed to do that.”

Dusting off the cuff of his jacket like he was disappointed with the quality of the crumbs in the Lair, JP looked around at the cluster of his mostly familiar social circle and nodded. “Good, you’re all here.” He said. “I have need of your particular services.”

”Crime?” Arrush asked, recovering first.

”Yeah it’s mostly crime.” Zhu agreed. “We’ve been discussing it in your absence.”

James crossed his arms, mindful of Zhu’s manifestation as his navigator moved to add his own additional limb to the folded limb stack of disapproval. “You are really good at only showing up when I’m trying to have lunch with people I’m dating.” He told his friend. “How come we never hang out anymore when you don’t want me to do crime?”

”It’s not crime!” JP protested. A little too loudly to be unnoticed, as at least two camracondas at an adjacent table started discussing what kind of crimes JP needed people for today. “But yes, your polycule being an adventuring party is convenient for me! And you’re our only designated problem solver, so-“

Alanna huffed out a heavy breath. “I’m so fucking angry that you’re not wrong.”

”Also that last part isn’t true, Simon is back now. You can just call him. He’s probably downstairs at his place.” James pointed out.

JP pressed his hands into his forehead, staring down at the ground with a maddened gaze. “Oh my god, this was a mistake. How did you ever start a coherent organization? No, don’t answer that.” He straightened up, puffing out his chest and taking a long breath. “I need you in your role as paladin. Spire-Cast-Behind and Alex have both requested help, and I don’t want to split attention too much. I’ve got a team assembling for Spire’s thing, which means I need you to go meet Alex and figure out what she needs.”

”You don’t know?” James sharpened his focus on what was maybe a serious matter.

”Of course I know. I know she asked for help, but she was cryptic about it, and might be held prisoner, which is why I’m sending you.” JP said. “But I doubt it. Planner says there’s some kind of infocloud, so I’m sending you to be safe. I’ll add Simon to the other side, he’s good at punching things, right?” He didn’t wait for James to reply. “Take whoever you feel like, I don’t think it’ll be a big deal and we can always teleport reinforcements in.”

James nodded. “Alright.” He agreed. “Anyone wanna go on an adventure today?” He asked the table. Alanna’s hand shot up right away, a grin on her face, and Arrush mimicked the motion with that slow stretch of figuring out that he could move without pain.

”I’m out.” Anesh said. “One of me is still sore from getting shot, and the other me doesn’t want to figure out what that feels like.” He added. “James should be out too! James you’re still half blind!”

”It’ll be fine.” James said, not dismissively, but with a quiet confidence that he would be able to handle it. “Keeka?”

”…Arrush is going.” Keeka said.

Before he could add to that, Arrush wrapped three of his arms around his partner, pulling him close. “You were also hurt.” Arrush said quietly. “And you weren’t fixed fully.” He knew talking was still hard for Keeka, and would be for weeks to come, but he didn’t want to bring that up around everyone else right now. “This won’t be the same as the last one. Will it?” He actually wasn’t sure, and directed the question at JP.

”Nah, we’re not setting up in the area, just going to check on Alex.” JP wobbled a hand. “Spire’s thing seems like it’s a bigger problem. Some kind of zombie apocalypse giant monster thing I guess?” He recoiled from the alarmed and pointed glares everyone at the table gave him, three different species expressing displeasure with him for burying that lede. “It’s fine! It’s not a big deal, I swear! Especially with Planner riding along, you know?” JP watched as James and Zhu uncrossed their arms, just to sit straighter, and cross them again to make a point. “I swear, I’m making it sound worse than it really is. It’s fine. Can you just go check on Alex? I’ve got an address for you, you can leave whenever.”

James sighed. “Alright.” He said. “Alanna, Arrush, and I’ll take care of it.” He looked at Keeka and gave a tilt of his chin. “Can you keep an eye on Anesh for me? Literally everything he said about Research today has made me terrified I’m going to come back and find that he’s caught fire again.”

”Again?!” Keeka’s alarm came out as a clicking squeak.

”That was over a year ago, and only happened once.” Anesh protested. “That you know of.” The other Anesh said under his breath.

“You see why I need you keeping an eye on our boyfriend?” James said with mock seriousness, smoothly soothing Keeka’s anxiety while still managing to get a prod in on Anesh. “Alright. Let’s get gear together and leave in… twenty minutes?” He asked the others. They nodded, and James turned to JP. “We’re on it, go back to… hey aren’t you supposed to be in Alaska right now? Hang on.”

JP’s answer was quick and nonspecific. ”I wear many hats.”

”Like a toque?” Zhu questioned. In reply, JP quickly pulled a telepad and vanished, giving a small mock salute to the table. “I bet he wears a toque. He seems toquey.”

”I dunno what that means.” James said, circling the table to give Anesh goodbye kisses, and a more chaste hug to Keeka who sort of indicated he’d like one as James passed. “Anyway. What do we need for this?”

”I’d like a camraconda, for one thing.” Alanna said as she stood and stretched, towering over the others. “I know Ember has the day off, I’ll go ask him if that’s cool.” She got a nod in response, and waved as she took off, walking like a mostly normal human to cut through the fifty other people having lunch in this room and go find her Responder partner.

James looked back at his big ratroach boyfriend. ”Arrush, you need anything specific?”

”Armor.” Arrush said, almost sheepishly. When James raised his eyebrow at him, he clarified. “Mine… doesn’t fit anymore. I changed enough. The shirts fit, but the armor doesn’t.”

It concerned James that Arrush had tried on his own armor before he’d talked to any of his friends, in the wake of his change. But he didn’t say that. ”Oh! Right, I’m positive someone here has a Refit blue. You wanna take care of that, while I go get stuff from the armory?” Arrush nodded at him, standing slowly while still keeping some of his limbs wrapped around Keeka. “Alright. Meet in the lobby when you’re ready.” James hesitated for a moment, not sure how comfortable with physical affection Arrush would be right now, before a light motion from Zhu tugged him a step forward and into a quick hug. James smiled at how much more solid Arrush felt now, looking into his eyes from up close and seeing a cautious anxiety about everything that they’d probably need to talk about soon. They could figure it out later though, they’d have time for all of it.

And then James and Zhu were left to their own devices to figure out what was needed. Right after James texted Simon to be prepared for JP, and his first official paladin operation. One which might involve some kind of kaiju, if James had paid attention properly, so maybe requisition the fireball gun.

Which meant the fireball gun wasn’t on the list of things James could take, but that was okay. He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted for their little group.

James might never be fully in the mindset of being completely prepared for a fight to the death at any given moment. But he’d walked into enough situations underprepared at this point that he wasn’t interested in doing it again if he could help it. Which meant one thing.

Backups.

Multiple shield bracers for everyone was a given. But more than that, multiple telepads was important too. Extras for when someone got hit in an awkward spot, because blue imbued items were bad for combat situations. That was also why James didn’t pick out any of the leveler equipment that had extra blue powers; it wasn’t worth the risk of it spontaneously combusting mid fight.

Sometimes they did things that were worth the risk though, which was why he got a pair of the identification glasses, and also two of the laser pointers that broadcast your own emotions onto anyone you hit them with. They might break, but they were small and kinda replaceable, and the effects were useful. A lot of Officium Mundi dungeontech was useful, really, but weighing their group down with random gear that they weren’t completely comfortable with was a bad idea, which was why James wouldn’t let Zhu bring the nerf gun that shot spiders.

He did grab a couple copies of the logos statuette that he’d used in Utah; the little figurine that, when activated, would let whoever was winning a fight start grabbing weapons out of other people’s hands. James had heard someone describe it as ‘perfectly fair, because it’s symmetrical’, which was technically correct and also a complete fucking lie, considering he had no intention of acting like an anime character and announcing to any opponents what the thing did.

For himself, he also grabbed an upgraded drone controller to clip into his skulljack braid, and a set of quadcopters to use for surveillance. And also a suit jacket that let him sense the presence of bugs nearby, which he quickly put back on the hanger. Partly because it looked dumb over his teeshirt, and partly because James didn’t think he could live with himself if such a treasure got converted into a blue orb the next time someone stabbed him.

He was already assuming that someone was going to stab him on this outing.

When James got back to the Lair’s lobby, feeling like he was about to step out for a mild errand, the other three met him there looking ready for anything.

”Where’re we off to?” Alanna said, patting Arrush on the shoulder and finishing their chat as James approached. “Somewhere exotic this time? Oh! Alex was in Egypt, wasn’t she? This’ll be great! We can show Arrush pyramids.”

”Well she was.” James checked his phone - three fourths charged, that was probably fine - and got the address JP had sent him. “She is not now.”

Zhu peeked at the address in James’ thoughts. “Oh. That’s… actually no! I won’t be disappointed! This is an adventure and a jaunt!” He insisted, mostly to himself it seemed.

”That’s what disappointed people say.” Smoke-And-Ember said. “Also hello. I am here.” The sleek camraconda gave James a downward bob in greeting.

”Hey Ember. Thanks for coming along by the way.” James grinned as he wrote onto a telepad, and then extended a hand toward Arrush. “But yeah. Right now? Everyone get ready for the exotic and distant locale of Oklahoma.”