Aeric looked over to his right hand, fighting a smile that wanted to dominate his face as he saw it being clasped by another hand. True, the decision was a bit impulsive on both their parts but it was a long time coming. All they had needed was the excuse to start. He tilted his head as a sudden thought sprang to mind. “You know, back home you’d be considered something people call a cougar.”

Xii turned to him with a raised ivory eyebrow, “I’m familiar with the animal but what does it mean to you?”

“Basically older women who like to have themselves a younger boy-toy.”

She snorted and her eyes sparkled in amusement, “I suppose I am over twice your age, but then again Yi would be older than even the oldest person where you come from and I consider her younger than me.”

“Culture and maturity do make quite the difference. I feel older than Yi most of the time, Hurma and Lshrkr feel older though.”

“I do agree that Lshrkr often feels the oldest out of all of us. She is old in years, that’s true enough, but she’s also quite mature. Probably because she has been leading her race in various things for close to a century.”

“Her calm personality also lends her that mature air. She feels kind of like a lady, always elegant and in control.”

“Then you have the fact that most people can’t see what she’s feeling.”

“True.” Aeric’s gaze landed on the street, they were headed to the west corner of the city. Going to the redlight district during the day kind of felt wrong, it was something he expected to feel more natural at night. He blinked, “How come your district is also called the redlight district like we use back home?”

“Red is the colour of passions so of course people use it in places where they want the customers to let go of their inhibitions.”

“Is red the colour of passion for all races? I know humans associate the colour with lust and food. It brings those chemicals out and about, but is that the same for elves and the like?”

“Chemicals? I’m not sure what you mean but here, red is the literal emotional colour for passion. Emotional magic always makes red passion and the darker the red the more it leans to wrath. The lighter the colour the more it leans towards lust.”

Aeric turned to her and squeezed her hand, “There’s actual emotion magic? Each colour has an emotion attached and it works on all races? That makes no sense.”

The Aerminian shrugged, “I can’t say I know the details, I’m obviously not the researching type. Magic isn’t my wheelhouse either. I’m just telling you what I know to be fact.”

“Interesting. Well, anyway.” Momentarily pausing, he asked, “Where were you planning to go?”

She turned to him and grinned just enough to showcase a fang, “Well I was thinking we could check out a few of the game corners and casinos first. We already had breakfast so we can do some things that work up an appetite for lunch. Then I know a good place we can go for lunch, and there are a couple of working girls I want to introduce you to.”

Aeric raised an eyebrow, “Why do you want to introduce them?”

“They have some really interesting skills we can actually learn from, and I know you don’t want to get too complicated. Especially this early on, but Aermenians rarely have sex with only a single person. As I’ve mentioned, we get lost in our passion pretty easily. Having just a single person present when we let our inhibitions go could actually be dangerous. Even if you just want to have sex with me and me alone, it’d be best if someone was watching. Just in case.”

Aeric smirked, “You sure you’re not just into voyeurism?”

She tilted her head and pulled him closer, “Well I don’t dislike it, but I’m serious. My body is a lot stronger than it looks, if I squeeze a bit too hard I could crack your ribs. Or a nail might pierce an artery. I always have a good healing potion or two on standby just in case. But if I don’t even notice? I might not be able to stop.”

“That sounds like an actual problem. You’re strong enough that there are few people that could stop you. Having the city lord watch us have sex is not something I’d look forward to.”

Xii cackled and pressed a kiss to his cheek, “We won’t need Ursmir to watch, that’s why I wanna introduce them. They have skills that can sober me up with the snap of a finger. Keep me from going over the edge, plus they enjoy getting paid to do nothing but make sure we are safe. It’s easy money and quite relaxing compared to normal business or so I’m told.”

“I can’t imagine an Aerminian and Human relation is all that common?”

Xii shrugged, “You’d be surprised, our sense of aesthetic is mostly the same. What’s attractive to one is often attractive to the other as well. Physiology is quite different, you quite literally can’t get me pregnant by normal means. Which is an advantage but could also be an issue.”

Aeric opened his mouth but then shut it, only to shake his head and open it again, “We do talk about sex quite often. Yi’s right about that.”

“Well it’s best to have these things out in the open in a relationship, plus we don’t have that much of a different array of topics. We know a lot of what we do in a day since we spend them together at both work and home.”

“You could tell me more about your people. I don’t actually know much about them other than that they are vampiric-adjacent and that they enjoy battle.”

Xii smirked at him, “Well those are considered our most important traits. But yes, you miss the context, I suppose.” She tapped her chin with her free hand, “There is a lot of ceremony involved in our way of battle. The watering and cleansing of our blades, the last rites we give to the departed before they are consumed. The burial songs, the war drums and dances. Those are all hard to explain and would be easier to show you. Though then you’d have to be part of an expedition.”

“I don’t think I’ll be joining one of those any time soon. I wouldn’t be much use, other than maybe fixing clothes and tents and the like.”

“I think I should take you along to one of our practice spars. Then you can see how I and my cohort work together. Meeting my cohort in the first place is something we shoulda done ages ago.”

Aeric sighed and nodded, “Thing is I still feel like I’m meeting so many people so fast, it’s the downside of this new life thing.”

“You have been adapting remarkably well, but tonight is a night for relaxation. We don’t actually have to remember anything about the people we meet today.”

“Well it would be polite to at least remember something.”

Xii snorted, “You do realize most people don’t actually know the name of the person where they shop or go to the bar, right? I don’t really know my favourite bartender’s name. They rarely offer it.”

“They do know yours though, cuz you’re famous and all that.”

“True, anyway I know a game centre that has a few fun games that we can play. It’s this way.”

She stepped through an alley and crossed through to another street, standing before a large wooden building with stone foundations. “It also has an archery range, both for fun and for those who want to practice.”

“So what kinda games were you thinking?”

Xii opened the door and stepped through, making Aeric blinked as he remembered the fun halls back home. The ones with ball pits for children, slides, various arcade games and the like. There were no pinball machines or anything but there were plenty of obstacle courses and what looked to be minigolf. He also saw various smaller games and something that resembled a basketball court only it had three different hoops on each side.

A childlike grin sprung to life on Aeric’s face. “Now this is the kind of thing I could enjoy, this reminds me of the old days.”

Xii smiled as she turned to him, “Brings back good childhood memories?”

“The best, we had a lot of these kinds of things back home as well. I spent so much time playing hooky from school to go to an arcade or one of the fun halls. So, you’re the one that knows her way around. Where to first?”

She motioned for him to follow, she went to the counter and ordered a ticket for both of them. She explained that the ticket would record the games they played and how often they played them and it would charge them when they were all played out. She smirked at him as she dragged him over to the minigolf range, he had to admit things were a lot more exciting when there was magic involved. You had slow-motion balls, anti-gravity bumps, little glyphs that would shrink or grow your ball if you hit it over them, or even make them glow various colours. The course was very three-dimensional and he hadn’t had this much fun in years.

He smirked at her as he straightened his back for his final swing, just needed to put this in to win. Aeric moved his arms back and started to swing only to get bumped in the hip by Xii just before he hit the ball, causing him to mis-hit and graze the ball instead. He turned to glare at Xii who stared back at him innocently. He rolled his eyes and moved back for another swing, this time dodging the hip bump with a smirk as he putted the ball in. Aeric looked at the sheet and looked over at her with a triumphant grin. “I didn’t expect to actually win anything with the amount of physical boosts you must have.”

Xii rolled her eyes as she grabbed his hand and dragged him over to their next game. “Obviously if everyone had their skills things would be unfair. Game hall owners usually have a skill that nullifies advantages. They only work if the people who play let it, though it usually works automatically. Didn’t you notice your minor dexterity stuff stopped working?”

Aeric tilted his hand and flexed his fingers, “Now that you mention it I do feel a little stiffer and less… graceful? Than I normally do - thought I was just having an off day.”

“Nope, that's the skill. Onto the next game!”

He smiled at her obvious enthusiasm as they headed over to something he was familiar with. An old circus game where you had to throw the rings on the pegs, he grabbed some of the rings and grinned at her in challenge, getting answered with a smirk as she nonchalantly tossed a ring right on the smallest peg in the middle.

Aeric glared at her before he threw his own ring, just narrowly missing the centre peg but having it bounce and catch on to the one on the left. He turned to Xii who threw another one and it landed neatly on the centre peg, she grinned at him triumphantly. Aeric rolled his eyes and threw again.

After Xii’s easy victory at the ring toss they headed over to the court and played something that was a lot like basketball. If basketball was in zero gravity and had multiple self-propelling balls that you had to throw or dunk through the hoops. He was having a blast even as he was breathing heavily as he kept trying to outplay Xii. She was obviously in great shape and her physiology did help her a good bit, but he’d admit to being rather competitive as he cheered when he did a rather spectacular backhand toss into one of the rings. Only for Xii to counter with a masterful slap that bounced one ball into another and sent both of them through a different hoop. She smirked at him as she placed her hands on her hips and floated upside down in front of him.

Aeric laughed and launched himself over to her, catching her in mid-air and planting a kiss on her lips. She smirked at him as they floated over the court and slowly spun head over heels. “Keeping your opponent distracted like this is considered illegal, you know. Definitely not allowed according to the rule book.”

“Considering the game is supposed to let us have fun I’m sure the rule book will let us have a pass on this one.”

She smiled and planted a kiss on his lips before pushing him away with her feet and using the momentum to grab a ball, spin in a backflip and launch a ball through a ring. “I’m still gonna win though.”

“Oh, you are on!”

She laughed in delight as he launched two balls in rapid succession towards her rings, one of which she defended with another well-timed bounce. The two went at each other with eager smiles and messy hair. Flying through the room and sending balls bouncing everywhere. Once the game finished and the anti-gravity stopped Aeric bounced down on the softened ground and gasped for air. “That is a great sport, are there teams for this?”

“There are, the balls are faster and the courts bigger for the teams though, there is a three versus three version and a five versus five version. As well as a skill and class and a no-skill and no-class version.”

Aeric smiled, “I might actually think about joining one of the more casual teams. I forgot how much fun sports could be.”

“A bit of competition and exercise are great. Especially if you can do both at once.”

“So, you have more fun stuff for us? Maybe something a little less intense though, I might need to catch my breath.”

She laughed and moved over, holding out a hand and dragging him upright, she planted a quick kiss on his lips as she grabbed his sweaty hand and dragged him over. “First I think it’s time for an icy fruit shake. One of those after working up a good sweat is downright divine.”

She headed over to a stand where she smiled at the girl working behind the counter who returned her smile with a shy and awestruck one. She ordered two mixed tropical juice shakes which were made with something called Iryak milk and various jungle fruits. She grinned at him as she stuck a straw in the cup and handed it over. He took a sip and groaned at the fresh and cool taste that spread through his mouth, she chuckled and sucked at her own straw. Aeric glanced at her and looked her over, “You don’t sweat?”

She looked up and smiled, “Nope, we don’t really get warm, any excess heat our body produces either gets stored in an organ we call the container. Or we release the excess warmth through our breathing.”

“That’s both very cool and sounds like cheating.”

She laughed at his comment, “Can’t deny that getting all sweaty doesn’t seem that fun. Although the things that make you sweaty often are.”

“With you as company, they most certainly are.”

She smiled at his remark and put a hand over his, “After the shake, there are a few games that are more strategic, you might enjoy those. I saw a few other people walk into the game centre so we might be able to find someone to do some couple versus couple matches.”

“They don’t stand a chance.”

“They really don’t.”

She grabbed his hand and walked with him to another couple who were eying a board game. She smiled at them and asked if they were up for a game. The pair, a gnoll and some kind of otter beastwoman glanced at each other before showing their teeth in a grin and accepting the challenge. They sat down and played what was a mix between chess and a real-time strategy game. There were various different units you could put down and you had to defend your own camp while trying to take the opposing one. Each unit countered another and could be countered in turn. Aeric as a veteran strategy gamer picked up the basic quicks and worked on the defense.

Turtle strategy always did suit him best so he left the offence to Xii, which she handled with splendour and a blood-thirsty grin. The two won the game rather handily and shook hands with their opponents at the end. The customary good game and thanks for playing was exchanged as the couples each headed in a different direction. He heard the gnoll whisper to his date with a grin, “Even losing against Xii is something we can brag about.”

The otter nodded and shot a quick glance back, seeing Aeric looking at them she smiled and waved at him. Aeric chuckled and waved back, “Guess you’re at that level of fame, even losing against you leaves people in a good mood.”

Xii smirked, “You should see what happens when I approach a sparring ring, I’ve got actual fans.”

He laughed, “Doesn’t surprise me in the least. With your personality, looks, and skills? I might have to hide from the fan club.”

“They’re not that bad, mostly admirers. Not really the jealous or romantic types, they tend to be the battle-obsessed kind of people.”

“So is it time for one of those obstacle courses?”

She smirked and turned to him, “Just the one? Getting tired already, old man?”

“OLD?! You’re nearly triple my age, bring it on grandma! I’m totally leaving you in the dust.”

She laughed as she jogged up to one of the obstacle courses, this one having various balance beams and the entire course hanging over water. “First one to get wet buys dinner!”

Aeric smirked, “Guess I’ll just have to take my time.”

“Last one there gets to explain to Yi how the birds and the bees work.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I’m pretty sure she knows but challenge accepted.” He moved to stand next to her on a parallel course that had a different path you followed that sometimes intercrossed with the other. “Ready, set!” He dropped into a sprinter's position, glancing over at her with a smirk. “Go!”

He took off, posture low as he let the acceleration bring him upright. He completely ignored the fact that he was running on a rather narrow beam as he sprinted towards an obstacle that was as high as his chest. He sprang and tucked up, smirking, catapulting himself over the ledge legs first, using his hands to clear and guide back upright. Having soared over the obstacle, he got a running jump to grab the horizontal pole and swung over to the next platform. He landed in a roll before turning with the help of a vertical pole, grabbing it so he could swing himself around and keep his momentum. As he swung through the turn he looked at the next obstacle, two walls placed about a metre apart. Piece of cake!

He sprinted off the platform and ran over the wall, using one hand to keep his speed up and keep himself from getting knocked into the other wall. He landed with another roll, moving upward and doing another leg-up jump over an obstacle. He saw various poles standing up from the water with small platforms atop, he jumped from one to the next with ease. Making sure he kept his momentum, he did one last leap to land on the finishing platform before turning back and smugly grinning at Xii who was still only halfway through the course. She stared at him with her jaw dropped and eyes wide.

He waited a little as she caught up, hopping onto the platform and stalking over to him. “What the hell was that!?”

Aeric smirked, “It’s called parkour, the art of moving from one place to the next as fast as you can.”

“I didn’t even know you did sports of any kind!”

Aeric raised an eyebrow, “You don’t stay fit like this as a human without regular exercise, you know. I’m actually a little out of shape, haven't done that much stamina or muscle work in the last couple months. This reminded me to pick it up again.”

“Well, onto the next game, I’m not doing any more obstacle course gambling with you!”

Aeric laughed, “Sure, lead on. You get to tell Yisillia ‘bout the birds and the bees, though.” He winked at her as he walked off, dodging a kick to the ass with a little skip.