Despite the news of some dangerous river stunt the next day, I actually slept ok. I may have been getting used to living in a state of perpetual peril. Not that I would ever say that to Abel. He would probably use it as an excuse to double my training intensity or something. Still, it was hard to be worried or upset curled up with my girlfriend after a day getting to know new people and protecting strangers from crowds of Ascendants trying to kill them.

Yesterday's entire ordeal had been...fun. No one had actually died that I had seen, though I hadn't exactly stuck around to check on the people Lament cut up. It had all just been one big adventure. And Callie was right, it felt GOOD to be on the right side and know it. The WCP was so murky most of the time I'd kind of lost the feeling of just helping people. Hell. maybe I never had it. Even at the Unity I'd been running from crisis to crisis rather than taking time to just do some good.

Not that I was planning to devote myself to helping the helpless full time or anything. But Callie had reminded me that being an effective Wishmaster Candidate and being a good person didn't have to be mutually exclusive. Hell, I'd probably MADE some alliances helping Sydney out. It was a model I could keep in mind going forward. Just because the WCP existed in a grey area didn't mean I had to. Not all the time.

So it was with a weirdly cheerful demeanor that I hopped out of bed the next morning, ignoring my girlfriend's enraged hiss as she was exposed to sunlight. After an obligatory vampire joke and a quick kiss I was off to get ready, meeting up with everyone in the dining room off the front entrance.

While at night the room seemed to be some kind of gathering hall, with the pool tables in use and some darts games, during the day it was used to serve meals buffet style. They had a whole breakfast laid out in chafing dishes. To my surprise, Sydney and Megan had managed to get a room. I'd thought the Robin was full, but maybe they paid to get someone bumped or something.

They waved enthusiastically when they saw us, while Wren just sat at the table, eating some waffles and sipping orange juice with a stoic expression. Lament, Lestri, and Saiten had actually already showed up (unless they bunked with Wren at least) and were enjoying some eggs with Sydney and Megan. I fixed myself a plate of steak and eggs and plopped down across from them. "Hey guys. Morning. How's the food?" Despite asking I didn't wait and dug right in. It wasn't bad. The steak was a bit overdone, but not like shoe leather or anything, just more pink than red.

Sydney, who was clearly a morning person, took a long sip of coffee and chirped. "Oh we don't have any plans. Megan was probably going to go out looking for trouble again, and I wanted to check out the Unceasing Stairs. They sounded pretty cool, if a bit confusing." She shot a pout at the black coated man I only now realized was sitting next to her, the same on who had threatened us back at the Wombat. "Unfortunately Riley says that the place is dangerous, and that the rumors I heard were probably meant to lure gullible tourists on so people could attack them."

The dark haired man with the scruffy cheeks gave a long suffering sigh. "Yes, well it is traditionally a poor decision to announce how much you have to spend in areas such as these before asking for directions. If those young men had been any more obviously drooling over the potential windfall you represented their eyes would have been replaced with chits." he glanced to me with a frown. "I suspect your new friend may have another potential location to visit in any case."

I just shrugged. "You got me. Nightstrike and I had so much fun hanging out with your guys we figured we would invite everyone along on the trip we have planned today. Be warned, Apollyon planned it, so there's about an eighty percent chance that it involves potential dismemberment. Still, he says we're going white water rafting, and that sounds like fun to me at least." I glanced at Wren. "You guys are invited too of course, though after the fish incident I wouldn't take it to heart if you declined."

Lament cut in with a laugh. "He told us about that. It sounds fun. Your teacher seems like an interesting guy. I'll accept on Wren's behalf. Boy needs to toughen his spine a bit, and Lestri was complaining about missing out on the fun anyway." She shot a glance to Saiten. "Am I to assume you won't be participating Master?"

The big man shook his head. "Not on your life. I doubt anything your pugilist could arrange would be any significant threat to my person, but I don't particularly enjoy being wet. I'll most likely follow along on land, just in case you run across someone too high ranked to be reliably countered." Ah, so he really was like her version of Zeke. Considering Doomtown was closed to E-rankers I doubted he had reason to worry, but they weren't from around here, so being a bit wary was the smart call.

That made me wonder exactly what Zeke would DO if I was ever attacked. I knew that despite not being nearby Zeke was able to keep track of me easily. If nothing else, stats in the B-ranks were potentially in the tens of millions. He probably had enough Perception to be listening to this conversation from the literal polar opposite spot on the planet. I also suspected my mask might have some kind of Perception or conditional defensive enchantment on it.

Part of me hoped I'd never have to find out, but a deeper part really hoped I got to at least witness him cutting lose someday. Seeing what a B-ranker could do would be eye opening at the very least. I was jarred from my thoughts as a plate smacked down next to me, a rumpled and glaring Callie sitting down to my right. "Coffee." She growled. I smirked slightly as I got up to go get her some.

I made it like she preferred, then dropped it on the table in front of her with a thud. She took a long pull, closed her eyes, and let it seep into her bloodstream. Callie's morning demeanor, as usual, relied heavily on how she woke up. Getting roused early tended to make her grumpy. Coffee helped. After a few seconds to get her head straight she was fine though. The extra morning sulk was partially a factor of her trying to do things for herself and be a bit selfish like I asked, even if she never said it.

"So." She said, after polishing off the whole mug. "What were we talking about? My brain just switched on a minute ago and it had to boot first." I snickered at that, grabbing her plate and heading to the buffet to fill it up with things I knew she would like while she talked to the others. I didn't feel like rehashing, so it seemed faster. Speaking of hash, there was some corned beef hash I hadn't noticed, as well as biscuits and gravy and I added some eggs before bringing the plate back and setting it in front of her.

She almost swooned at the smell. "Thanks honey, you're the best." She never took her eyes from the plate, but gave me a perfunctory peck on the mask before she assaulted her breakfast like it had sworn vengeance on her family line. Since everyone had already seen Callie eat yesterday, they understood that as long as you kept your appendages away from her mouth she was safe enough to eat with, and didn't stare at her devouring her food with relish (not literally, thank the gods, I'd have left the table).

"Anyway." Said Sydney. "I was just telling Nightstrike that rafting sounds like a lot of fun! I doubt even Riley would complain about it, the big worrier." She stuck her tongue out at the somber, formal man, and he gave a small smile. Sydney had warmed up to us all immensely over last night's bonding, and it was jarring to see what a big difference that made in terms of our interactions. She reminded me a lot of Jessie now, actually, though still less outspoken and a bit more timid.

Megan nodded. "Rafting sounds like more fun than trolling for a fight. At least in this town. Half the idiots I met yesterday were garbage in combat anyway. If I was included in the invite I'm in. We can pay our way, and pay for our people too." She nodded to Riley and the five other rabbit themed attendants. "We brought two teams for this. Kind of like your friends over there brought three." She nodded over at Sloane, who had just come into the room with her own posse.

I almost literally smacked myself in the face with my palm. Of COURSE Sloane brought twelve people to form three teams. Why not triple your odds. Hell, Melinda was an E-ranker. She probably knew about the tournament before I did. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd sent along the twelve of them specifically so I could get them ready for the tournament in the first place. I felt like an idiot for not considering it before.

The only thing that made me feel a bit better was that Callie looked as shocked as I did. It was a little petty, but it was nice to know I wasn't the only one thrown in the deep end with all this. She was way more suited to political maneuvering than I was, but she was still learning, same as I was. Seeming to pick up on my amusement she just rolled her eyes, mimicking Sydney's earlier gesture and sticking her tongue out at me.

We all finished up breakfast, with Mel and Abel being the last to arrive and eat, and then Abel hopped to his feet excitedly. "Alright." He said with gusto. "Since we're all finished, which of you are planning to come along on our little excursion? I'm assuming the kid told you all about it and invited you. He prefers to share the pain." That got an uneasy chuckle from a few of the minions, and a middle finger from me, which my teacher just laughed off without acknowledging it verbally.

Everyone who was interested held up a hand, letting him know who was coming. He nodded in satisfaction. "Oh good. None of you are trying to weasel out of it. I knew I liked you for a reason." He clapped his hands together. "Well then, let's get going. It's a bit of a walk to the river, and we want to get there early before all the boats are gone. They run out sometimes and we'd need to wait for the next day for them to get new ones."

With that, he turned on his heel and strolled out of the room without another word. I got another ominous feeling from that last statement, but once again it mostly just confirmed what I knew. This would be dangerous or life threatening in some way, that wasn't news. The others gave me exasperated smiles for the most part, but we all got up and followed after him once we paid for our meals. As we left, I couldn't help but look forward to the coming day. This had been a lot of fun so far, even the dangerous parts. I had no reason to believe this next activity wouldn't be the same.