February 13, 2019, 6:03 am. The morning after tickling Rufka into submission after she ate my last glazed yam.

After a not-so-productive, but definitely enjoyable night, Rufka and I are back on our way back to the challenges when I get a notification I was half-expecting, but had kind of lost track of.

"Quest Completed: Survival. Requirements: Survive for 30 days. Calculating Rewards."

I stop in the middle of my explanation about the difference between an animated character and CGI, a topic prompted by Josh and Rose's argument about the best Disney princess during breakfast. (Elsa, obviously.)

"We completed our Survival Quest," I inform Rufka. Her ears perk up as she takes me by the elbow and guides me to one of the stone benches in the challenge room.

"Rewards calculated. Base rewards: "Quest unlocked: More than One; System Features Unlocked: Subclasses, Class Advancement."

Knew those were coming, but it's still nice to see. Now, there should be some bonus-

My eyes trail down the long list of bonus rewards. Most are subclass unlocks, such as Explorer. Or mechanic, engineer or clockmaker. I've also earned sufficient contributions to unlock the first two stages of the More than One quest. The prompt floating there asking if I'd like to begin gestating a child is more than a little surreal. At least I know that when I close it, the option will remain available in my Quest menu.

A thought that feels a little too heavy.

So I continue looking through the subclasses. Teacher, Tel'thoni, Instructor. Similar, but all different subclasses. For a second, I wonder if Tipan swapped her subclass out while we were teaching the others in Elementalist's peak.

Probably not.

Part of me is offended that there are no cooking subclasses available. I know they exist. Rufka has at least three unlocked.

Cooking isn't the only missing subclass. For some reason, despite my study of Rufka's enchanting, and my general knowledge of runework, I don't have any enchanting subclasses unlocked.

At the bottom of the list of bonus rewards are an upgrade of two cubic meters to my spatial storage, a coupon for one free meal at Raz's that I was totally going to abuse and a pair of socks. A special pair of socks.

Going to the park, I claim the socks.

"Sab's Favourite Socks. A perfect replica of the socks Forerunner Pandora borrowed from her friend after a sudden winter shower left her feet soaking. Now both friends can wear the same socks, depriving neither of their comfort."

"Bonuses once bonded: Warm and Cozy: Improves Health Edge by 1.0 and Stamina Edge by 3.0 while equipped. Nostalgic: Improves mana and focus edge by 2.0 while equipped."

"Current Bond: none. Cost to bond: two iron rank integration points."

I hold the black socks with their little tuft of black fluff at the top, a smile fixed on my face even as tears bead in the corner of my eyes.

Rufka's hand on mine draws my eyes towards her. "These are Sab's socks. She lent them to me before we were whisked away. Not even a month before our unannounced departure. Sab and I had been wandering around, looking for apartments together. Cause we knew we'd need to find a place soon. We were looking at this horrible old place that looked like it might topple over if the wind blew too hard."

"But they had cheap rooms, so Sab and I were there to check it out. She didn't need to; did I ever mention that?"

"Mhm," Rufka answers as Smoulder climbs into my lap.

"Anyway, Sab and I go inside, it's still a bright and sunny day. When we come out, sudden downpour. So, we made our way back to Sab's place. Right outside, I get distracted by this truck driving by. Semi-truck, you know, the big vehicles like non-flying airships."

"I remember."

"Right. Anyway, I stepped away, lost my footing and stumbled back into this puddle that was the size of a lake," I say, stretching my arms out to my side.

Rufka arches her eyebrows at my exaggeration but doesn't comment as I continue. "So, what does Sab do? She hauls me out of the puddle, getting herself soaked in the process, then takes me up to her place, and immediately sends me into the shower. By the time I came out, she had a change of clothes laid out for me. Sent me home with my wet clothes in a bag, telling me I could keep everything I was wearing. Including these socks."

"She never told me they were her favourites," I mumble at the end, running my hand over the sock.

"You are lucky to have such a good friend," Rufka states,

"Yeah. Yeah, I always knew it too. Told her I didn't deserve her."

"On that, I disagree," Rufka says, pulling away and turning me to face her, tenderly brushing the tears away from my eyes. "You were her friend. There is no deserving when it comes to friendship."

I give Rufka a small half-smile, then pull her towards me into a hug. Smoulder's warmth soon joins us and I take a deep breath.

"Okay. We should... we should get back to it. I've got new gear, and a subclass to equip and-"

Rufka holds a single finger to my lips, not releasing me from the hug. "I think we can afford to wait a few minutes more."

Nodding, I hold the sock in my hand as my heart reaches out for my missing friend.

...TPWM...

February 13, 2019, 6:52 am.

After I've recovered, and bonded the socks, which are just as comfy as I remember, Rufka and I begin the challenges for the day.

On our very first round, I tag Atun with my new ability. Which sends IFF into a weird fit for a second as it registers her location in six different places at once until resetting to only the one in front of us. Even as I've been setting my IFF in place, Rufka has been distracting our opponents. And by distracting, I mean knocking the first one out of the fight while peppering the one carrying a three handed shield with arrows.

While they're still focused on Rufka, Smoulder decides to stretch her legs and knock them out of the fight. And the arena. Discovering that Smoulder has also been getting all the arena rewards for all this was... kinda shocking. Not as shocking as the fact that Rose has access to two shops though. Apparently he still counts as a pet as well as a properly integrated user.

Shaking my head, I watch as the body disperses into blue mana, floating up to Atun. She gives us a wink as the mana slips beneath her skin, calling out our victory and laughing. Then it's onto the next round. When we finish our string of flawless victories, Atun leaps down into the arena. Before she has a chance to use her ability to draw me closer, I open with Lesser Cataclysm.

It drains all my Facet, as the entire arena seems to flicker for a second, cracks spreading out like shattered glass. The cracks are the worst around Atun's avatar, shattering her to pieces.

When reality reasserts itself, Atun is back on her throne... and her corpse is still lying defeated on the arena floor. We get the quest victory notification, much like the last one but Atun isn't smiling or laughing as she leans forward on her throne, staring at me.

I can't help myself as I smirk and give her a little wave.

After the amount she's been cracking my head against the stone? It feels good to one shot her.

"Not sure what happened, but we won, right?" Rufka asks as she steps up beside me.

"Oh yeah," I reply, still grinning at Atun.

"Cool. Let's hit the shop. And it's my turn next!" Rufka says, leading me out under Atun's watchful eye. As we step out of the arena, we get a new update.

"Bonus quest. Defeat Desh Atun's remaining avatars without using the Ability Lesser Cataclysm. Rewards: 10,000,000 Arena Points. 1 Armour Upgrade. 1 Personalized Armour."

"Guess she didn't like you smashing her that hard," Rufka says as I stare at the last reward for a second before dismissing the message.

"Guess not. Worth fighting her without it, you think?"

Rufka just looks at me, blinking all four of her eyes for several seconds before grinning. "Of course, it's worth it. How boring would it be if you one shot her every fight?"

I chuckle as we make our way to the shop, both of us picking up another two of the Progression Points. Smoulder spends all her points on Integration points, and when I check her Status, I notice she's maxed out her physical attributes already and is bringing her mental up as well. I pick up Anchor immediately and given the strength of the rest of my Abilities, I decide to purchase Seed as well.

Testing Anchor, I use it then start teasing Rufka by asking her questions, then repeating the question only to answer it for her. With the minimum Facet, I'm able to loop three times before I become 'unanchored', each attempt lasting a maximum of thirteen and a half seconds. More than enough to be useful, though I notice it creates a kind of field that limits the effect to the shop when I use it. Further tests confirm that it has a rather small range. Which I can increase if I pump Facet into it, but it gets expensive fast. It also feels like a stronger version of my Pause, since it seems to freeze time outside the anchored zone while I run the loops. My time-sense assures me time is still passing, just at a very low rate.

Even better, I can activate it when I already have time Paused, though it ends the regular Pause the moment I do so. Still, it means I can have three attempts to do things after a full Pause. At least, when not dealing with Atun's weird field. Unfortunately, it also has a cooldown equal to however long I spend in all three loops.

Satisfied with Anchor, I attempt to activate Seed and... nothing happens, other than getting a sensation in my gut that I did, in fact, activate it.

"Weird," I mumble as Rufka flexes her bow several times.

"Did you grab that seed ability?" Rufka asks as a bolt of blinding energy forms on her bow.

"I... yeah. Is that plasma?" I ask, the energy like something out of the YouTube videos Sab would make me watch. It's a lot more impressive when it's right in front of you. And not held in place by anything but my thiani's hands.

"Think so. It's Arcane Bolt," Rufka replies, sucking the energy out of existence instead of firing. "Creating it takes half my Blitz. Firing it would take the rest."

"You know what that sounds like?"

"What?"

"A good excuse to make breakfast. I'm out of Facet anyway," I add after a second. Then I start heading for the kitchen as I consider my abilities. Anchor is going to be useful, though the fact I can't keep any of the loops does limit it somewhat. And Lesser Cataclysm... It honestly feels more powerful than anything I've ever heard about. And I want to test it outside the dungeon and whatever the weird dungeon space is that we're inside when we're in the arena.

Once Rufka and I finish breakfast, we tackle our next set of opponents. Then face Atun without my Lesser Cataclysm. Despite Rufka's new arrow working through Atun's field, we lose, though it takes her several minutes to pin me down. The next round is similar, though I get defeated much quicker, Rufka claims she almost had her.

On our third attempt, we make the arena almost completely impassable, cluttered with solid chunks of metal anchored to each of the tiered platforms that felt more like flavour than significant battlefield hindrances until we made our changes. Our opponents are still alive, trapped in a forest of reflective surfaces too blunt for them to easily kill themselves until we're ready. With passages through most of the arena that will only allow Atun through if she hunches, Rufka and I finish the final combatants. Atun laughs as she leaps forward, the metal structure shaking as she lands. But it holds.

Then there's a flurry of action as Atun charges through a passage to get to me. Anchor lets me see three different versions of how she's coming at me and gives me a solid chance to avoid her.

I follow the guidance of my best course of action, taking a half-step backwards as a now-us sized Atun roars up the tunnel. Should've known that a little thing like battlefield preparation wouldn't stop her. I fire off another Anchor, thankful that it doesn't seem to be affected by Atun's disruption effect. None of my three attempts to dodge her succeed, so I decide to punch her instead. To my surprise, my punch lands, and even knocks her back.

"She's not as heavy," I call even as I dive out of the way of an incoming Smoulder. Smoulder's impact throws Atun into the nearby post, causing it to bend under the impact.

A bright pulse hits Atun before she can recover, exploding and sending me flying. I can vaguely make out loud noises as I'm tossed around through our metal cage. When I come to a rest, I realize something's broken. Probably a lot of somethings. And my eyes have bright spots that are nearly impossible to see through.

I notice something furry come up along the edge of my vision even as we get a victory notification for defeating Atun. Then I'm hoisted up by soft arms. When I'm carried across the portal threshold, my injuries vanish and I feel completely fine. Not that I don't milk being in Rufka's arms until she reaches a bench and sits down.

"That... was terrifying," Rufka says, stroking my hair.

"Hmm," I reply, leaning my head into her hand.

"Didn't expect it to be so.... explosive."

"Contained area. Nowhere for the concussive force to go except through us," I say before stopping myself. "At least, I think that's what happened. I don't really remember it that well."

"Sorry."

"No problem. Much better than when I nearly burned you in my sleep," I say, kissing Rufka's cheek.

"I don't deserve you," Rufka replies, making me blush for a second.

Then my eyes narrow. "You said that doesn't apply."

"As Roberts is fond of saying, all's fair in love and cuddling," Rufka replies as Smoulder nods sagely from her shoulder. Pretty sure the little traitor doesn't even understand what Rufka's saying.

"That's not... it's love and war," I complain, though not with any great amount of effort.

"Are you sure?" Rufka asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"I... This feels like an argument that it would be foolish to win," I admit as Rufka steers me towards the kitchen for lunch.

"Good," Rufka says with a serious nod. Then as we reach the kitchen she adds, "Also, I totally deserve you. I'm just that awesome."

My retort is lost as she silences me in that, oh so effective, way that lovers do.

And I can't help but agree. She really is.