Origin ARS 5 (24 page)

"Rhea!" cried Ero before she fluttered over
to the blue haired High Elf.

Herbert stood up on Scott's shoulder and
waved at paw at the fourth member of their group. She had been
missed.

Rhea laughed loudly and held out a hand for
Ero to stand on. "Look at you, Ero! So ladylike."

Ero performed a quick pirouette that caused
the hem of her skirt to rise up lightly into the air. "Thanks!"

Scott smiled at the sweet scene then gazed
gently at Rhea. The high elf glanced over to him for a moment then
lowered her eyes a little, a soft tinge of pink rose up within her
cheeks. "I missed you." he said.

A gentle smile crossed her lips. "I missed
you as well."

They shared a warm, endearing, moment before
Rhea lifted her free hand and gently brushed her hair back over her
ear. "So, what have you three been up to today?"

"Back breaking labor!" exclaimed Ero. She
lifted her arms into the air and flexed her muscles.

Rhea grinned at the tiny girl. "How'd it
go?"

"Fairy well! We earned three silver!" Ero
beamed a bright smile briefly then blinked and touched her finger
to her lip. "I hope that's a lot."

"It's about a week's pay for one normal
highly experienced laborer." said Rhea.

Scott spoke up. "Want to help us out with the
clean-up from now on? We only just started the other day."

"I'd like that. How long are we contracted
for?"

"Two weeks. The debris should all be cleaned
up by then since we have super powered people helping out." In a
world where hundreds of workers might have a lifting and carrying
capacity that was higher than a bulldozer on Earth, clean-up after
a natural disaster was simple. Scott alone had the weight carrying
capacity of a light truck. Though, he could only carry stackable
debris or singular large pieces due to his size.

"So, about twelve days left?" After Scott
nodded, Rhea grinned. "We could earn a little over half a gold coin
if the four of us worked together!"

"Speaking of money, what did you start with?"
asked Scott.

"I chose to do a premium tutorial dungeon as
well, but spent most of my loot compensation on equipment. I have
just a little under one gold left."

"Same with me." said Ero.

Herbert made a chittering sound that Ero
translated as, "Me too."

Scott rubbed his chin. "Sounds like we might
be close to four gold after we finish this job. Are we going to
pool our money or just keep separate accounts?"

It was Herbert who spoke up first. Ero
translated for the chittering rodent. "Herbert says that we should
start by opening a savings account that provides a reasonable
interest rate, but does not include excessive money handling fees.
We should take half of the money that we have on hand and place it
into that account and evenly distribute the rest."

Scott blinked at Ero then glanced down at the
cape wearing Grassrat. "Herbert, you know about financial
matters?"

Herbert chittered excitedly and Ero
translated once more. "A Grassrat knows to save food for hard
times. The grass dies back in the winter. Besides that, part of my
tutorial training involved learning about necessary aspects of
functioning in a society other than my own."

Scott glanced at the rat then to Ero and
finally to Rhea. "Sounds like a good idea to me." He did wonder how
much Ero had embellished the grassrat's words. Even as a baby
Herbert seemed quite intelligent. It was one of the mysteries of
the so-called monster races.

Rhea and Ero nodded. Scott looked down at
Herbert. "Good idea, let's go with that."

After they finished discussing the rules of
how their party would operate financially, Scott decided to bring
up something that had been building within him for days. Rhea could
not help but laugh as he expressed his desire. "You want a giant
robot?"

Scott rubbed the back of his head and
laughed. "Come on! We could be total badass giant robot
jockeys."

"Actually, it's not a bad idea. Some monsters
are huge and the ability to have a giant robot battle with them
could do wonders, but..."

"But?" asked Scott.

"You should know that war-mechs aren't
allowed for civilian use in most countries without special
dispensation. Even if you managed to get that, the least expensive
commercial models cost over a hundred platinum Fayth." said Rhea.
She lifted a finger before Scott could continue. "That's not even
for the giant ones. We'd be talking dozens of Aurans for a low-end
version."

"A few billion copper Fayth?" asked Scott, an
incredulous expression on his face. His anus would normally clench
at such an amount of money having been mentioned, but this time it
was too shocked to even make an attempt to pucker.

After that pronouncement the group had a nice
meal at the restaurant and discussed other things. Scott explained
what had happened during his tutorial training, and the others
shared their own tutorial moments. Rhea had finished her tutorial
quicker than the others as she already knew the best methods for
completion, but she still spent a little time farming monsters to
build up money.

Inevitably, the discussion turned to one that
surprised Scott greatly. He spoke up, "What? Are you serious?"

Rhea nodded then unleashed a sigh. "Yes,
Sarah stopped by your house."

Scott leaned back a little then gently
lowered his fork back down to his plate. He had just been about to
take a bite of his spaghetti when the topic had changed. "You, what
happened? Did she say why she went there?"

"Not really, though she was concerned by my
presence." admitted Rhea.

"I'll bet... Why were you at my house
anyway?" he asked.

Ero offered Herbert a bit of the lettuce from
her salad and he gratefully accepted. After the transaction they
both turned back to look at the other two members of their group.
This promised to be interesting. While Herbert knew very little
about the situation, he could tell that it was a tense subject.

"I was about to head off to see the captain
about the government deal. Sarah arrived before I left."

Scott frowned then propped his chin up on his
hands. His eyebrows pressed together. He took a moment to think
before he asked, "She wouldn't tell you what she wanted?"

"She wanted to talk to you. Though, as a
parting shot she made up a lie." said Rhea.

He closed his eyes then took a deep breath.
"What's wrong with that woman? What lie did she tell?"

Rhea flinched slightly then curled her
fingers into a fist. "I've already checked, and it is not true.
Alright? It's not true."

"What's not true, Rhea." asked Scott
softly.

"She... Sarah tried to claim that you were
the father of her child." said Rhea.

Scott nodded. "Ah, is that all?"

Rhea blinked at him. "Is that all?
Really?"

"I couldn't be the father of her child unless
life had decided to play an incredibly cruel joke on me. So, I
believe you." said Scott. He vividly recalled that Sarah had
claimed that Jake was the father of her child. Unlike their
relationship, which had been involved proper protection and
planning, Sarah had forsaken the concept of condoms or the pill
during her time with new old boyfriend.

"Scott... I, are you sure?"

He gave Rhea a look. "Are you lying to me? It
would not be the first time, but I decided to put that all behind
me."

"What? No! I would never lie about something
like this!" exclaimed Rhea. She stood up from her seat and slapped
her hands down on the table. "I swear, I'm not lying. I did
check!"

"I know." Scott offered her a warm smile. "We
don't have any more secrets, at least nothing
earth-shattering."

Rhea bit her lower lip a little then sighed.
"I'm sorry..."

"No reason to be. We moved past all that, and
I understand your reasons. Hell, now that I've seen just a little
of this world, I even appreciate a few of those lies on my behalf."
said Scott.

"I... Yes. Thank you for that." said Rhea, a
slight stutter in her tone. She looked away from him briefly.
"Maybe I should have just not answered the door."

"Why? Sarah's the one who has no business
showing up on my doorstep." said Scott. "My wife can do anything
she likes in our house."

"Wife?" Rhea's eyes lit-up and her smile
returned. "I like the way you say it."

Ero handed Herbert a small chunk of radish,
and the Grassrat handed her a peanut. They both chewed on their
meal while they continued to watch the soap opera playing out
before them.

Scott reached forward and gently took Rhea's
hands in his. "I'm not the best guy in the world. I lack ambition,
drive." He took a deep breath. "I never really had anything in my
life worth fighting for until I met you. No one, especially not a
woman who cheated on me the same night that I proposed to her, can
change how I feel about you."

Rhea's face became flush and she closed her
eyes. Emotions were a difficult thing for her people. They did not
understand them completely, but they did feel them. At that moment
many complicated sensations washed over her. "Scott..."

"Rhea." he said softly.

Ero munched on her peanut, and watched the
sappy romantic moment with keen interest. This was better than
television!

The blue haired high-elf extracted her hands
from her husband-to-be and then took a step back. She gazed at him
with a vibrant intensity. "Thank you."

"Hmm? What for?"

Rhea smiled softly at him for a moment. "No
one has ever said something like that to me before."

Scott stood up then walked over and slipped
an arm around her. "I'm glad that you took a chance on me."

The tips of her ears turned bright red. She
kissed him softly on the cheek then wrapped her arms around him.
There was nothing else to say, but the silence in the moment spoke
volumes.

Of course, that silence was broken by the
sudden outpouring of cheers from the other patrons in the
restaurant. Scott and Rhea broke apart, shocked by the sudden
noise.

"Aw, that was so sweet!" cried a girl holding
a server's tray. A man at the bar called out, "We rent out rooms,
you know."

"Hey, do you see their hair?" asked someone
in the far corner. Two other people at his table looked at Scott
and Rhea more closely.

"Think they're one of
those
couples?"
asked the man.

Another man, one with beady eyes and a
sneering expression, snickered. "Damned cosplay freaks. What kind
of idiots change their hair color and try to pretend to be other
people."

"Maybe they're the real thing?" asked a red
haired girl at the table before she filled her wine glass.

The people at the table had a merry laugh at
that. The first man spoke again, "Right, Origin and her boyfriend
would just happen to be having a lover's discussion in the middle
of this restaurant."

"People gotta eat." said the redhead.

First guy snorted then stabbed his meat with
his knife. "Whatever, that shit aggravates me."

"Dude, you're just mad that Origin didn't
write back when you sent her that love letter." said Beady
eyes.

A loud grinding noise echoed through the air
as First Guy's teeth ground against each other. "That stuck up
ice-bitch! What kind of woman receives an epic love letter and
doesn't even give the guy who wrote it a handjob, or something? No
damned manners at all."

"I think I see why she didn't write back."
remarked Redhead with a smirk of wry amusement.

First Guy snorted at his female companion. He
waved a fork around in her direction. "She didn't write back
because she thinks she's too good for me. My father owns a game
franchise that covers an entire solar system! Six planets, and
thirty-seven inhabitable moons!"

"Maybe your father should have sent her a
love letter then." said Beady eyes.

The snort returned. "He did. She shot him
down."

"Let it go, man. She has a boyfriend now."
said Beady eyes.

"Fuck that, and fuck all those cosplaying
assholes." First Guy raged a little then gripped the edge of the
table tightly. "I sat behind that stuck-up princess in high school
chemistry."

"Really? Did you ever talk to her?" asked
Beady Eyes in growing excitement.

"I picked up her pencil for her once... the
bitch." muttered First Guy.

Beady Eyes leaned forward. "Did she say
anything?"

"Yeah..." First Guy closed his eyes and
acquired an expression that bespoke a memory of wonder and
enchantment. His hands rose to his face and he puckered his lips a
little. "She said,
Thanks
."

Beady Eyes squealed a little and kicked his
feet under the table. "No way dude, did she let you touch her
tits?"

"No! Not even once, the bitch." First Guy
growled. "Worse, she even actively dodged when I tried to trip and
fall onto them during our human courtship rituals class."

Redhead spoke up. "What? The nerve! Were you
partnered together?"

"Yes! She would step back and toss her hair
instead of letting me accidentally grope her breasts, as is the
human custom." remarked First Guy.

The beady eyed restaurant goer frowned.
"That's not right. How were you supposed to learn anything if she
wouldn't help you?"

An angry sighed escaped the lips of First
Guy. "I know. I even told her that. Do you know what she said?"

"What?" asked Beady Eyes.

A derisive snort was First Guy's answer. It
took a moment before Beady Eyes understood what his friend meant.
"All she did was snort at you?"

"Wow, so cool." remarked the redhead. Her
eyes began to glimmer with a feral light. "No wonder every guy in
school tried to accidentally bump into her after class."

"I tried it once, too. All she did was sigh
and shake her head after we stood back up." First Guy grumbled
softly then shook his head before giving the foursome at the other
table a dirty look.