Chapter 124

Burdens (II)

Emma sat on the bed while Diya sat on the floor, with the former braiding the latter’s hair, humming a low tune. Diya had her eyes closed, a faint smile smeared on her lips. At the same time, Larua was teaching Senna a local board game; the young girl often cried out in frustration over the complex nature of the game, prompting Larua to laugh gingerly at it all.

“So, you’ve seriously never got your hair braided before?” Emma asked.

“I, I did it myself, once,” Diya replied shyly. “But... it didn’t look good.”

“What are you talking about? You have a perfect face for the braids!” Emma exclaimed as she heaved over and looked down at Diya, smiling. “It’s oval, but slightly round at cheeks, and has that innocent-lookin’ style that has all the guys drooling. Now, I -- I can’t pull off braids.”

“I--I’m sure you could!!”

“Nah, no way,” Emma shook her head, chuckling. “I styled my hair like that once, and Cain looked me in the eyes and told me it felt like he was kissing some school tween. It cut... real deep.”

“Bah, what the hell does he know?” seemingly fed up with the game, Senna walked over with Larua following right after. “Braids would look great on you.”

“... you’re right. They would,” Emma nodded. “How about we style each other and give the guys a shock, huh?”

“Hey, that sounds like fun!” Larua exclaimed. “And maybe we do the naked Dragon dance!”

“...”

“... or, maybe not...” Larua mumbled as the other three women stared at her strangely for a moment. “Khm, alright, let’s get down to braiding!”

In the meantime, three guys were sitting in the other room, each with a bottle of beer in their hands, sipping it slowly while chattering. It wasn't about anything in particular and was mostly just to kill time and have some fun.

“Really? You actually asked out your high school crush?” Jamal asked Daniel with a somewhat shocked expression.

“I mean, yeah? Why be scared? Whatever she said, we’d never end up together anyway.” Daniel shrugged.

“So, what’d she say?”

“A resounding no.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah,” Daniel nodded. “It stung.”

“What about you, Lukas?” Jamal asked. “Any sweethearts?”

"... Heidi," Lukas replied with a somewhat dreamy expression. "She was an underclassman. Real small, cute, big smile."

“What happened there?”

“Nothing,” Lukas replied. “She went to college, I went to work.”

“What about you?” Daniel asked Jamal.

“Nah,” Jamal quickly shook his head. “I had three girlfriends in my entire life. Sheila, Tamara, and Rosa. All of them hate me now. I dunno, I was never good with the girls, you know? They always... scared me.”

“Scared ya’?” Daniel looked at him queerly. “Dude, you cleared the first floor of this goddamn thing. You’re fighting monstrosities ten times your size. And... girls scare ya’?”

“Hey! Girls are scary dude, okay?! They... they might not break your arm or tear out your leg from your groin, but have just one woman say ‘Is that it?’ in bed, and you’re fucking donzo. You’re probably never having sex again.”

“... ouch. That happened to you?”

"No!! But--it could! Heck, they can say it out of spite, y'know? Maybe the sex was great, but hell, maybe she didn't like the way you did dishes that day. And, just as you're thinking to yourself, 'damn, I went all out today; she must have had tons of fun', she comes at you with one of 'em 'Just once?', and bam--your whole world goes up in flames."

"... what kinda shitty-ass women did you meet in your life, man?" Daniel glanced at him askew, appearing confused. "They aren't scary. They're just like us. Just, y'know, prettier, and stuff."

“Hey, there’re no women here, man,” Jamal said. “You don’t have to go on your anti-sexist protests or whatever.”

“So, you feel the same about the girls in our group?” Lukas asked.

“What? No! They’re different!” Jamal exclaimed. “I mean, y’know, they’re a bit weird, but they’re nice.”

“... so, who’d you go out with?” Daniel asked.

“Dude!!”

“Look, I’m just sayin’. But, really, there’s like, one choice.” Daniel shrugged. “Emma’s tied up with Cain, Senna... well, she’s illegal. And Larua... well, though my dick’s like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’, my brain’s like ‘she’s a monster dude; you’d be doing bestiality and stuff’. So... that leaves Diya.”

“She’s cute,” Lukas said. “But... I don’t know about dating her.”

“Yeah,” Jamal nodded. “She gives off this... this ‘little sister’ vibe, right?”

“Yes! And I’m pretty sure she’s like, you know, our age.” Daniel nodded.

“...”

“...”

“... we gotta make Cain have more girls join.”

“Yup.”

“We’re pretty strong, right? I bet lota girls wanna hang around with strong guys.”

“This ain’t neither the 14th century nor a fantasy harem novel,” Daniel scoffed. “Girls go for intellect, sensitivity, and a sense of humor.”

“Oh, yeah, just like guys go for tenderness,” Jamal said. “Compassion, smarts, and nothing else.”

The discussion soon heated up and continued for nearly half an hour before it was broken when they realized there was another soul with them in the room. Cain stared gingerly at the three who, by now, all looked beyond embarrassed. He held back his laughter, merely turning his back to them, but his dancing shoulders prompted the three to shot up to their feet and quickly leave the room. ”Hey! Meet me downstairs in a minute! I’ve a friend to introduce to you lot!” he quickly shouted after them. Their limping backs and faint nods were the reply he needed as he let them walk their shame off.

Shaking his head, he made his way to the girls’ room and eavesdropped for a moment, realizing they were also talking about spicy stuff. In their case, however, it was the literal sort of spicy stuff -- their preferences of hot food. He walked in without knocking and startled the four for a moment.

"I never knew you were the hot-wings type a lady, Senna," Cain smirked at the young girl. "I gotta take you out once, y'know, we're out."

“Oh? Now we’re eavesdropping?” Emma arched her brows. “Real classy, C’.”

“Hey, I’m all ‘bout that class,” he chuckled. “Anyway, meet me downstairs in a minute. I’ve a... a... friend to introduce you to. I’ve this strange feeling you’ll like him, Em’.”

“Why?” she asked.

“He’s a fourteen-year-old boy with interest in fancy clothes and makeup.”

“... my weird excitement aside,” Emma said. “Should I be worried that you’re out and about, befriending fourteen-year-old boys?”

“Hey, that’s what the quest was about,” Cain shrugged. “Besides... I didn’t know he was fourteen until, well, until I kinda made him cry.”

“Dude...”

“Hey, it’s cool! He’s my apprentice now! Calls me ‘Master’ and all.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“There’s really nothing weird about it!!” Cain exclaimed defensively. “It’s just a pure Master-apprentice relationship!!”

“Aha.”

“Perv...”

“I--I.. I think it’s cool...”

“... ah. Whatever. Just meet us downstairs... I’ve already told the guys...”

Cain sighed and turned around, leaving quickly and finding a dark and hidden corner to light up a cigarette and mull over it all in peace. Even if someone banged his head against the wall a hundred times without a break, he'd never -- not even for a second -- believed that the events of today would have unfolded as they did. It was all so... unexpected. No, even beyond that. Finding ten bucks in your winter's jacket after a year is unexpected; having one of the best smiths in the future calling him a Master on the day they met... that was...

"... is there even a word for it?" he mumbled aloud, wondering. He was hardly a wordy man, even if he often spoke one-word-too-many. "It's... bondonkulous? No, that's not a word. Hmm... ridonculous? No, that went out of style before I was born." this train of thought led him to thinking about how many things went out of style since he was in high school. He still vividly remembered the banged, spiked haircuts plenty of guys were sporting and sleeve tattoos and lip piercing while listening to some new-age metal.

Man... things change in the blink of an eye, as his mind trailed here, Lana’s face came into his mind. She’ll too if we keep spending so much time in the Tower, he sighed, putting out the cigarette that he barely took a few puffs of. I should have asked Sheyla to set up a personal relay... I guess I can try making my own, but I’ll really have to get lucky with the materials.

The rush of having returned and the notion of having the advantage over everyone had begun to further wane. However much he was preaching to others to ‘learn how to relax’, this was slowly becoming a repeat of the last run. Stay inside for months, if not years, go out for a month or so... and straight back in. With gear we can amass here, Cain made a snap decision. I won't have to return to the Tower until the fifth floor. At the current pace... I'm assuming just a little under a year? Maybe slightly longer if I forbid the others from attacking any major bosses. Yeah, that sounds good... real good.