The first thing Alicia did after waking up was buy a bed. Despite Katrina’s insistehat the couch was fortable, Alicia suspected she was only being polite. Besides, they were dating now! Shouldn’t two girlfriends have a nice, fy bed all to themselves?
A fancy, plush, Queen-size bed; plete with bamboo linens, a thick down forter, two fluffy pillows, and silk cases to dress them in. She was so excited she almost fot to measure the free spa her bedroom. Her Heart Tree took up much of the floor, as it had grown arouhe night of the ge, but thankfully there was enough space for the mattress.
She clicked the option for expedited delivery, giggling happily to herself, and immediately started daydreaming.
Above all else, she wao keep her expectations in check. Kat had requested that they take things slow, after all, and Alicia was more than happy to oblige. She could still barely believe that someone as geous as Kat was even ied in her. Granted, if Kat had said the word, Alicia would have jumped her without hesitation, but she’d also been truthful about being willing to wait.
In all hoy, Alicia was still processing everything Kat had told her. The ge had been terrible for her, and she had done so many things she regretted, but Alicia had focused oacks, the hunting, the feeding. Without Kat mentioning anything, Alicia would never have pieced together that her experiences had also distorted her feelings about sex.
I’m going to do this right. It’s not about sex, it’s about her. It’s about giving her a reliable partner, ohat uands what she’s been through and sticks around to help her heal.
Of course, now we’ll have a pce to cuddle and fall asleep. That certainly won’t hurt.
After finalizing her order, Alicia checked her email and was surprised to find an unread message. Before opening it, memories from st night returo her. She’d woken up in the middle of night, wandered outside to grab a drink, and respoo a text. Katrina had told her that she’d run home to grab some things, and might not be batil the night. The versation had tinued briefly, and Kat had asked if she could share Alicia’s taformation with the other delvers that hadn’t been able to join their expedition.
Alicia had been fused initially, but Kat had expihat it might be a good idea for them both to make some friends. It seemed like such a simple solution, Alicia was almost mad she hadn’t thought about it herself.
As such, the unread message sitting in her mailbox was from the Geomancer Mermaid, Elias.
It was very well written. He shared his regrets that his Race precluded him from assisting with the Key Dungeon, and expressed his sympathies that Alicia had been forced into this situation. He mentiohat he’d quite enjoyed meeting with Katrina the ht, and that he was ied in keeping in touch as she had suggested.
Surprisingly, the thought of having more people to talk to made Alicia so excited she almost stopped thinking about Kat. Almost.
She responded with a message of her own, sharing her taformation and her general hours of avaibility. She wasn’t sure what the protocol was for meeting new friends after the ge, but she always included her hours when she signed off work emails; so many people had strange schedules now, it made uniuch easier.
After hitting send, Alicia finally shut down her puter. She greocket for her phohen had to stop herself from merging with her Heart Tree to leave the house. She knew from experiehat the phone wouldn’t e with her, so she instead walked dowairs to use the frorance.
Thankfully, after having stayed up so te st night, she’d slept in quite a bit today. She was trying to push her schedule as te as possible, despite the protests of her body, so that her schedule could align with Katrina’s as closely as possible.
It was refreshing to be out in the sunlight again. Its warmth filled her body, and the calm summer air filled her lungs as she took a deep breath. Grabbing her watering , she took off towards the river for a m drink. Though it was straaking this walk ter in the day, rather than the crack of dawn, she quickly fouride as she began visiting all of her pnt neighbors.
She noticed that, pared to everything that had been happening in her life retly, the various flowers, trees, and bushes around her house seemed to be growing slower than usual.
Is that because I’m living a more human-standard life now? Thinking ba it, everything before st week is kind of a blur. Like, I know it happened, but I just did the same thing, all day every day, for years. I always khat time was weird for me, but it’s strange seeing it so clearly. Being a pnt is weird.
When Alicia reached the river, she happily sat on the bank and sank her feet into the riverbed. She felt strong roots extend from her feet, slowly beginning to absorb all the water she needed so she could tinue her day.
She’d only just gotten started when her pho off. Her first instinct was that Katrina was texting her, but it was barely noon; no way the Vampire yet. Cheg her phone, she found a text message from an unknown hough reading it quickly dispersed her fusion.
???: Good m, Alicia, this is Elias. We retly exged taformation, and I wao reach out to firm that I have the right number.
Goodness, he’s so professional!
Alicia: Hi Elias! Yes, this is Alicia :) How are you? What are up to today?
Elias: Whew, thank goodness. Alaranoid about getting the number wrong XD
Elias: I did a bunch of work this m, and now I’m just kind of hanging around. Random question, but would you be open to video chatting? My phone isn’t 100% roof.
Alicia: Of course! Just call whenever you’re ready
Her phoarted ringing a moment ter, and just before answering, Alicia remembered to cover her body with an appropriate amount of clothing. With a swipe of her finger, she picked up the call.
On her s, after several seds of pixeted, buffering video feed, appeared a younger man with short brown hair. It was clearly soaki, and water dripped down his face, running over the beginnings of some facial hair before nding ier. His entire body, save for his head and shoulders, seemed to be immersed in a body of water of some kind, though Alicia couldn’t tell what from this angle.
“Alicia! Hi there!” Elias said.
Alicia quickly grew a small colle of sticks and bark, f a makeshift phoand on the opposite side of the small river. She put her phone down, adjusting the bark slightly, before responding. “Hey Elias! Sorry for the wait there, I haven’t video called anyone in… four years? Holy, probably closer to five at this point. I had to make myself a little phoand, you see everything alright?”
“Everything’s good on my end. I’ve already got a phoand mouo my wall here.”
“Oh, are you inside?”
“Yeah, my house is mostly water. There’s a small floor and some furniture fuests, but obviously I don’t use that much. Gettiled in a house is a strange process when you’re an aquatic Race.”
“I imagine! I got pretty lucky, I already had a home, and my Heart Tree just took over a er of it. I still like, walk around and everything, so nothing too much had to ge for me.” Alicia paused for a moment, irely used to small talk. “So, um, what inspired you to reach out? I ’t imagi’s very lonely out in Lake Michigan. Not that I’m pining, mind you, but it seems like we’re iy different situations.”
Elias paused for a moment, thinking about Alicia’s words before responding. “It’s not that I’m lonely, but I guess I just fell into a rut? Even though I have a bun on with other aquatic races, it’s not like the ge magically erased my fear of approag strangers. I was just going to work, ing home, killing time, I think it had all gotten a little old and I hadn’t realized it. When Katrina reached out about the Duhing, I got really excited about a ge of pace, though it’s a bit of a bummer I ’t actually help out. Still, she emailed me basically saying that you two were ied in staying in touch, and she seemed really nice!”
“She’s pretty great, isn’t she?” Alicia said, blushing.
“How long have you two known each other?”
“Like, a week. She flew into my tree without realizing it was a Heart Tree. We got to talking, found out we have a lot in on, and I decided to show her the Key Dungeon ‘cuz I realized she really liked delving. That’s when she expihat, if we didn’t do something, every Guild iy would be hunting for it.”
“And you two are…?” Elias didn’t finish his question, but Alicia knew what he meant.
“Oh! We’re together. Like, partners, I mean. As of st night, actually!”
“Omigosh! Girl, that’s so exg! How did it happen? Who asked who?” Elias swam closer to the camera, resting his arms on a small ledge.
Alicia was more than happy to share what had happened between her and Kat. She left out quite a few details, glossing over most of the more personal stuff, but Elias didn’t seem to mind. Strangely, Alioticed that talking with him felt incredibly easy, as if they’d already been friends for years. Each hour they talked passed in the blink of an eye, and it seemed like they had no she of things to talk about.
They talked about their daily lives, about their Csses and Races, and sed funny stories about their strange physiologies. They also talked about what happehe night of the ge, and Alicia learhat Elias had initially spent several weeks in a bathtub. Afterwards, a friend had helped him move to a local pool, and that had been his home for the better part of a year. He’d eventually moved into Lake Michigan proper, but he didn’t have an actual home until the city gover regained trol.
Alicia had already known that Chicago had itted huge swathes of resources to overhaul the city and make it more Race friendly, but sometimes the extent of their as still caught her off guard. Elias’ current home, aire neighborhood, had been the result of a trated effort to create a work of housing for aquatic Races and unities. Several elected officials were even trying to push the aquatiovations further, and were hoping to build als all through the city, but Elias said that those ideas weren’t very likely to e to fruition any time soon.
Over the course of their versation, Alicia also learned far more than she expected about Lake Michigan. As a Mermaid, and a Geomancer, Elias had stumbled into a very fitting career as a Marine Biologist. He spent most of the day researg Lake Michigan, trying to uand its ecosystem and what the city could do to keep the Lake happy ahy. What ied Alicia the most was that, despite how transformative the ge had been, the biggest threats to Lake Michigan were actually pletely ued. Most professionals were worried about an encroag popution of mussels; they looked first gnce, as the water in Lake Michigan was getting clearer by the day, but that same process had signifit risks to the local ecosystem.
“—and a lot of people think the monsters have an effect, but… shoot. I should probably stop rambling about work, shouldn’t I?” Elias said sheepishly.
“Not at all! I think it’s really iing, especially since I learned so much about pnt life sihe ge.” As Alicia spoke, she pulled her feet out of the river and began to shake the water off them.
“Wait, is that water?” Elias asked. “Where are yht now?”
“This? It’s a small river I made for myself. There’s a ke kinda close to my neighborhood, and I needed easy access to water. I show you, actually!” Alicia grabbed her phohen switched which camera she was using so she could show off her handiwork to Elias. “It’s not very big, but it gets the job done.”
Elias went quiet for a moment. “How far away is the ke? Would you mind showing it to me?”
“Sure! I’ve got nothing going on today. ORC is really aodating with their attendance policies, so I’ve got a lot of flexibility. What are you curious about?”
“Um, just what it all looks like. I’ve got an idea, but I’m not sure if it makes sense.”
“Well, I’ve got a bit of a walk ahead of me, so I’m all ears!” Alicia took off towards the ke, w what Elias might be thinking about.
“Well, it’s absolutely certain that I’m not going to be able to help with tag the Dungeon directly. It’s not uer, and there’s nothing we do about that. But, I’m a Geomancer, and it wouldn’t be very difficult for me to reshape the terrain to expand that little river of yours. With enough water, I could fortably set up a little home away from home.”
“That would be so cool! We could be neighbors!” Alicia said, grinning from ear to ear. “Though, please don’t take this the wrong way, how would that help with the Key Dungeon? I’ll admit I don’t see the e.”
“Most Geomancers build themselves to be offensive casters, but the Css is actually pretty flexible. Personally, my spells are more supportive in nature, and I’ve got some healing abilities. If I were to set up in that river, then I’d be able to help everyone recover from their injuries after each Dungeon run!”
“Elias! That’s such a good idea!” Alicia started jumping up and down iement, and she saw Elias do the same. Well, more accurately, he leapt a few feet out of the water, then fell backwards and made a big spsh, but the energy was the same.
Another few hours passed, this time occupied by Alicia and Elias trying to pn out how to create a temporary base of operations for the Mermaid. They likely could have tinued for several more hours, but they were forced to cut the versation short when the sun began to set. Alicia was shocked so much time had passed, but her surprise quickly gave way to etion when she remembered that the setting su Katrina would be waking up soon.
“So, are we actually doing this?” Elias asked.
“Absolutely! I’m so gd you reached out, and I ’t believe we found a way for you to e help!” Alicia had just returned home, and flicked on the lights before settling onto her couch. “When Kat gets here, I’ll fill her in about all the details. We still have to meet up with Tabitha to discuss our pn for tag the Dungeon, and that will probably affect our timetable.”
“Sounds good to me!” Elias said, smiling. “Oh, and Alicia? Thanks for talking with me. This was really nice, I ’t believe we spent, like, aire day on the phone.”
“Please, I should be thanking you. I only realized a week ago that I’d shut myself off from civilization, and that I desperately o find myself a social life. Now I get to have a neighbor!”
“Alright, well, keep me updated, okay?”
“ do! See ya!”
Alicia finally hung up the phone, after hours and hours of talking, and immediately began giggling to herself. As much as she hated to admit it, the Duhat posed an immihreat to her life was als into one of the best things that had ever happeo her. She had friends! And a girlfriend!
All that was left was a series of bloody fights to the death with Dungeon monsters. Nothing to be scared ht?
