Fortune Favors (QQ) Chapter 5 (Patreon)

I let out a low hum as I wipe down the simple war horn. I'm trying to make it look presentable for whenever I go back to the Bard's college.

Ugh. I wish I had the internet. Then I could ask it how the fuck I repair a horn.

I should give it a name...

Things with names are typically worth more, and calling just 'Horn' will get old and might allow people to underestimate it.

I scratch my chin as I look over the object. 'I'll do this whole 'an instrument whose name is forgotten to time' thing. That'll be good. Maybe I should more or less leave it as it is. Let it keep that 'ancient feel'.'

But what do I call it for my bard friend?

Hm.

The 'Horn of Blasting' sounds pretty decent.

I nod once. 'Yeah, I think I'll use that.'

The next thing I sort of need to fix, would be the hat. But I don't even know where to begin with that.

The edges are frayed, there are a few tiny holes in the brim. The hat is old and a little decayed. I can't see it surviving much more action.

Maybe... I should sell it to the College of Winterhold before it becomes unrepairable.

It is an enchantment they have probably never seen before. It would surely hold value to their master enchanter.

I'd also bring the horn there, but damn it, I made a deal and if I go back on it, I'm no better than that asshole I took these things from.

Anyways, whatever his name was eventually died. It was hilarious- er... interesting... to see him realize his age was catching up with him, the wrinkles that formed on his hands, his muscles deteriorating, his hair bleaching and falling out.

How he shouted and cursed at the top of his lungs, damning me for 'tricking him' and questioning to the world, asking what he did to deserve it.

Good riddance. Fucking asshole.

Speaking of his death... I did notice a few changes in myself.

I am surprisingly stronger. I'd say around twenty percent.

It was seemingly a lot less for Tsukasa, but, of course, hasn't she been mooching off her boss' energy for decades? I'm satisfied with my one-fifth increase in abilities.

I sit the horn aside, and stretch slightly, rising to my feet. 'Well, that's as good as I'm going to get it.'

I pick the horn back up and blankly shove it towards a piece of bamboo attached at my waist. My hand turns into a misty black fog as it reaches the front of the pipe, the horn being sucked inside easily.

I had managed to figure out that little ability fairly quickly after some tutoring from Tsukasa. Once more, like turning into a fox, it was sort of a 'riding a bicycle without ever touching one' sort of experience.

Tubes are... interesting to say the least.

I picked myself up a nice little piece of bamboo that I plan to carry around with me from now on. It's about the size of a finger... if not a little longer... it's like one of those blowguns you'd see a tribe use to shoot poison darts in movies.

But. When I enter it...

It expands into like... a tunnel I can sit straight up in.

CERTAINLY not stand, mind you, not even crouch, but I can sit with my legs crossed with only minor discomfort.

I have been exploring the tunnels which now crisscross my entire home and let me just say... damn. Tsukasa did not fuck around in designing this room.

It's like a fucking highway with branching paths and fucking signs. Like, what the fuck?!

My ability to enter pipes with items has been quite useful. I can just leave them there for me to collect later. It's like walking around with a miniature shipping container. It can store stuff, but I have to physically go inside to stack things.

Hell, I like to go inside and read at times. It's surprisingly comfortable. But that might be my tube fox nature screaming at me to get inside of a small, enclosed space.

The one downside I can honestly say about the pipes, is that, well, besides the obvious part of them not being infinite, they also don't exactly 'remove' the weight of the object in question.

If I put ten pounds of gold in my tube, it will be ten pounds. If I put ten thousand pounds in my tube, it will be ten thousand pounds.

At a weight surpassing like... thirty pounds I'll be forced to hold it in a single hand instead of attaching it to my belt. Anything past one hundred would probably take two. That's why it's long, so I can hold it in two hands. The only exception to this rule... is Kuda Gitsune who are treated as more or less weightless while in the pipe.

I need to get into enchanting magic. If I can get one of these things to fly? Ohoho. I could just fill it full of rocks and weight, then hurl it at people.

Pull a Mjolnir with a tube. That'd be badass.

But that's probably a fair bit away. Sadly, I don't think Skyrim has any flight enchantments, so I'd be forced to delve into Touhou enchantments at the very least.

Speaking of skyrim...

I walk back into the bedroom and poke me head under the dresser and gaze out into the world.

Nnnnope. Some random destroyed ruin in the middle of nowhere. Oh. Is that Merida's statue in the distance? So, I'm near-ish to Solitude. Not close enough to walk, however soooo today's a bust.

I retreat back into the safety of my home and grab a book.

Time to do a little reading, then-

"Dear, we should begin regaining some of the spirits that we spent." Tsukasa announces as she comes from a pipe in the wall somewhere behind me.

I take a deep breath and turn around slowly. "You know what? No. Not right now."

The girl pauses sounding genuinely confused at my rejection. "N-No?"

"I have been sitting on my thoughts for a while... Over the past month we have known each other, not a day has gone by where I am not filling you with my seed. More often than not twice or even thrice per day. I have explored every part of your body, but... I know nothing about you. No. I don't want to have sex. I want to get to know you better. Not as the only other Kuda Gitsune in Gensokyo, but as a person. I want to know what you like to do. I want to know your favorite food. I want to know your favorite color and hobbies."

"If we want our continued relationship to work, I want us to be more than simple friends with benefits. I want to have sex out of love instead of convenience." I frown, my animalistic ears flattening slightly.

She stares at me for a long moment, an unreadable expression on her face. After around a minute she lets out a quiet sigh. "Alright."

Well... that was... easier than I expected.

**Linebreak**

I follow along beside Tsukasa as she leads me through town, her mood is strange to say the least.

She is a bit exasperated, but also a bit excited and hopeful, her eyes stray over to meet with mine, an impish smile on her lips. "You wished to know things about me, correct?"

"I do." I nod once.

"Very well." She simply replies. "Follow me."

She leads me through the winding village roads, eventually leading up to a much larger building.

"My favorite color is white." She admits as we march up to the doors. "As for hobbies... I suppose I didn't have many beforehand. I like collecting coins, I suppose... oh! and those little finger trap things are fun to mess around with. After that, I suppose I do like to read every now and then, but as Lady Megumu's messenger and advisor, I never really had much time to myself. I was kept constantly busy micromanaging the more... problematic... youkai here in the town. A word here, a guiding hand there. It ran fairly smoothly... as good as it could have been, at least."

She opens the door and walks inside, casting a glance over her shoulder. "Come. Don't lag behind."

She leads me through the building, youkai of all sorts linger around working, I would quite call them 'office jobs' but it's about as close as sort of primitive society like the people within Gensokyo could have. They are calculating, bartering, discussing.

It's fairly interesting.

The fox-eared woman waltzes through the building as if she owns the place, seemingly leading me somewhere vaguely important.

"As for favorite foods? Hn. Grapes are nice, but quite the rarity in Gensokyo. As for another fact about myself, I am a bit of a... neat freak... I cannot stand my clothes to be dirty."

I did notice she took a frankly unreasonable number of showers. Like at one point she took five in a single day.

We walk towards a large fancy looking door, my ear twitching slightly as I can hear shouting on the other side.

Tsukasa throws it open and struts inside, the argument ceasing in an instant.

Three figures stand in the room, the first, some simple nameless white wolf tengu, the next some sort of green haired youkai girl.

The third figure, a woman with very dark blue hair, nearly black, and a blue dress sits behind a desk, fingers on her temples as she seems quite annoyed. She has pointed ears, pale skin, a sizable bust and vibrant red eyes. On her back are two black wings, signifying her race as a Crow Tengu.

She is... frankly stunning.

The largest majority of named women in Gensoko are attractive. Be it mook or extra boss.

She gazes up, hearing the door open, her eyes widen fractionally as Tsukasa steps inside the room, her gaze strays to me briefly, some confusion entering her features.

She shakes it off, returning to look at second half. "Ah, Tsukasa good timing. I believe I require your advice once aga-"

"The wolf tengu is trying to hide that he was encroaching on the vine youkai's territory. He is aware that he is in the wrong, but he doesn't necessarily care." Tsukasa casually drops as she grabs my wrist and leads me around the edge of the room.

"YOU-" the wolf tengu begins.

"Is this true?" The winged woman frowns, glaring at the white haired man, the wolf ears on his head flattens down as he shrinks in on himself. Even when not the target of such a glare, I can feel the sheer pressure it exudes.

She is powerful. Terrifyingly so. Definitely not someone I would want to be on the bad side of.

"W-Well-" the man whispers only to be cut off.

"I do not want excuses. You come to me. Waste my time. My Free Time. A commodity that I have very little of... over an issue which you yourself have started." Her gaze slowly strays to the other youkai in the room, the apparent Vine Youkai. "I will have him removed from your land. If he causes any further issue he will be punished without remorse."

The green haired girl bows her head slightly then turns and leaves.

"You." The crow woman frowns while gazing down at the remaining man. "Get out of my sight."

The white haired man scurries away, casting a baleful glare over his shoulder at Tsukasa.

'Oh. That surely won't bite me in the ass later. Ugh. I can see it now. 'You got me in trouble!' then he'll try and hit Tsukasa, then, as her second half I'll be forced to step in and be all 'you dare hit my woman?!' Despite the fact that she is definitely stronger than I am. What a fucking headache.'

As the door clicks shut behind the man, I find myself now her sole focus. "So... Tsukasa... who is this?"

I find an arm wrapped around my shoulder as the fox girl pulls me close, I feel... a little uncomfortable about the affection shown. I mean, we have sex, but...

Wow.

My life is weird when hugging, holding hands and kissing seems weirder and more awkward than fucking.

"Well, Megumu, this... is my second Half." The girl admits.

"Second half? Ah. Right. You are a Kuda Gitsune... I had forgotten." She looks over my form slowly. "It has been a long time coming, I suppose. I am glad that you found your missing piece, Tsukasa."

"So, what brings you here? I had thought that you said that you would be taking a break from your advisory position... and seeing him, I can guess why you have done so."

"Oh, I am still taking a break, its just that my other half here, Argo, wanted to know more about me and I felt obligated to show him a few things about myself. My previous job being one of them."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, I suppose... Argo was it?" The red eyed woman nods in my direction. "I deeply respect Tsukasa. She has assisted me for decades... if you treat her poorly I will hunt you down."

I audibly swallow.

"E-Er... right... it's- it's nice to meet you as well." I stutter out, eyes darting from the woman to fox-wife.

Tsukasa pulls me away rapidly. "Alright, we've wasted too much time here! Let's go! Also don't scare my other half- byyyyye~"

**Linebreak**

The girl beside me in bed has her arms wrapped around me, her face pressed into my chest... sort of a common sleeping arrangement for myself over the past month... however, what is unusual, is the fact that we are both wearing all of our clothes, and the fact that she didn't more or less force me to try my hardest at impregnating her.

'What time is it, I wonder? There's no real clock here...'

My ear twitches slightly as I can hear a gentle rain shower peppering the roof of my home... it is peaceful.

'How long have I been asleep? I feel wide awake.'

Tsukasa's face rubs slightly against my chest, causing my eyes to soften slightly as I look over her.

I... wouldn't call our relationship by any means perfect or even 'functional', but, after yesterday? I feel a lot better about it. It is a good first step.

After we met her previous- if her words in private are any indication, not that she seems to have informed said person about her decision to quit on a more-permanent level- boss, we went out and she showed her favorite place to eat, a simple little noodle stand that is run by an elderly youkai woman.

An elderly youkai.

Like, damn. I genuinely wonder how old she was.

Regardless, her ramen was absolutely divine. Like holy shit... I think she spent her entire life mastering just one thing... and I can fucking respect that.

I'm a little offended that Tsukasa didn't show me that place earlier, but I'm glad that there is now a more... 'less physical' relationship between us. It's more... calming... to be around her now.

I find my eyes drifting shut as I shift my hug slightly.

I can feel her sit up, causing one of my eyes to crack open.

She looks around blearily, eventually her gaze falling to me. For once, I can see a warm smile on her lips one that isn't overtly smug.

Oh. There's the smug.

She crawls out of bed with a quiet yawn as I sit up.

She glances upwards, her smile falling slightly. "Rain, hn? Ah well. There wasn't much I wanted to do outside today."

"That's fair." I agree with a slow nod. "I was planning on just reading most of today, I think I have almost figured out that one healing spell, which is very good... I also need to read a bit more of my alchemy books as well."

I tap my chin and let out a low hum, then shrug. "I've been a recluse for the past couple of days... one more won't hurt."

**Linebreak**

I sit at the edge of a tube, legs near the edge leading outside, there's a book in my lap as I let out a low hum.

So. I can feel my magika... that is the largest part of a spell... however, there are also some conditions that must be met. I must 'shape' the magika. Typically through doing a few brief calculations- brief for novice spells, that is, they grow more extensive the higher tiered spell it is- that shape the magical power into the desired effect. Mentality is also a bit of a factor. It sort of functions like DXD devil magic, where if you 'imagine' a fireball, you can shoot a fireball. However. There's a bit more to it. You need to implement 'rules' to the spell. The calculations. Each spell has their very own rules that must be followed, I'm certainly not skilled enough to begin bending said rules in an attempt to develop new spells, so I'll probably stay within the guidelines for now.

I close my eyes and focus, a brief golden light flashing against my eyelids, I can feel a slight drain in my 'power', but nothing much. It's a passive drain. I am merely making my power visible. I have not yet truly cast the spell yet.

What to imagine for the spell?

I channel power, causing the glow to intensify, a warm feeling spreads throughout my body.

'Bones mend, bruises fade, stab wounds zip up, lacerations and scrapes scab over and heal.' I exhale slowly, I feel warm... and a bit tingly.

All in all, it's a nice feeling.

I crack open my eyes, seeing a bright golden ball of light exploding in my right hand, it seems to coil and wrap around arm, streaks of golden healing light circling my form.

After around four more seconds I clench my fist, snuffing out the spell and let out a single pant of exertion.

That is mildly tiring.

I kept it active for around twenty seconds, but I'm mostly out of energy now.

Regardless, I can feel my reserves begin to slowly trickle back into me.

At this current rate I bet I could be back to full energy in... thirty minutes.

My hands shake briefly as a bright smile splits my face.

I've got magic!

REAL magic!

Even if it's just basic healing, I can still use something I could only dream of using previously.

I slink out of the tube, book in hand, turning what appears to be a several hundred foot fall into a simple two foot one as my body grows in size rapidly upon exiting the tube.

What now? I can't really test my fire spell inside a wooden house... and it's still raining, so I'll postpone that learning that for now.

Alchemy?

It's always good to learn more about alchemy.

I sit my book aside on the little makeshift bookshelf Tsukasa brought me.

Said girl is somewhere within the tunnel network she imbedded into my- our house. She wisks herself away to her proverbial man cave... what's the feminine version of man cave? She Cave?

She shed! It was she shed.

Anyways, she seems to have a 'she shed' somewhere within the tunnels, and to be fair, I haven't even really explored all of them. A lot of the pathways just look the same, all things considered.

'Ah! Wait! Winterhold check!' I crouch down, opening the door.

My breath catches in my throat as I gaze up at a large, frankly perilous looking, stone bridge leading up to a large building precariously balanced on a large spire of earth.

THAT'S IT!

"Tsukasa!" I call out into the home. "Can you bring me the pot, the cloak, the hat, and the knapsack?!"

A small pot clangs to the floor as it is pushed out of a nearby pipe, I stand up, I put a hat on my head, the nonmagical newsboy cap, that is, not the cannon one, then begin the process of hiding my tail, wrapping the fluffy appendage tightly around my waist and pulling my pants up slightly over it.

The satchel strikes the floor a moment later, followed by a red cloak and a floppy little wizard hat.

A head pokes out of the pipe. "What about the horn?"

"Oh, I told another guy that he'd be the first I bring any magical instruments to. I don't plan to break my promises."

"Hn. Alright."

"Thank you, though." I call out. "I... I l-love you."

The girl pauses moments before retreating back into the pipe system, her face flushes slightly. "Y-You too."

She quickly runs away, crawling back through the pipe system.

ugh. we're weird. getting flustered at such simple showings of affection despite the fact I've blown out her back several times per day for the past month.

I grab a small bamboo pipe with a cork in it and pick up the first object, the pot, and haphazardly shove it inside.

I do the same with the hat, then I fold the hood and place it within the pipe as well.

It feels a bit heavy, but it is still easily held within a single hand, I smirk and crawl outside after slipping the satchel of soldier summoning on my shoulder.

I probably won't sell that thing in particular, however I'm not about to NOT take it with me. There's no telling what I might run into getting to Winterhold... even if it is probably only a thousand foot walk from my portal to the entrance of the college.

I rise to my feet on the other side of the portal, the sound of snow crunching underneath my socks and geta sandals.

I can feel my socks getting a little bit wet, causing me to idly curse Japanese footwear.

I begin marching my way up the steep hill towards Winterhold, making sure to keep track of my surroundings.

After around five minutes, it appears my caution was unwarranted.

My eyes stray over a few white plants with red berries.

Snowberries.

The most valuable part of the plant being, of course, the snowberries themselves. It is an extremely resilient plant, capable of growing anywhere in Tamriel, be it the icy hellscape of Winterhold, or the swampy... well, swamps of Blackmarsh. It can be ground up into a paste that is an insulator better than most furs. Some tailors place an even layer of this pulp in between sheets of cloth to make better winter clothing. This process does make the creation of the clothes quite a bit more expensive as it takes around fifty berries to insulate even a square foot of cloth.

I blink repeatedly, shaking off my daze.

Snowberries huh... they're a bit different from the snowberries we have in my previous world. those are typically white... also poisonous.

I might grab a few on my way back.

I turn and continue walking, turning as I come around a watch tower, walking along the stone bridge into said tower until I enter the small- and a little sad- town of Winterhold.

As I turn and begin walking up to the watchtower, a yellowish skinned elven woman spots me, calling out to me as I approach. "Cross the bridge at your own peril. The way is dangerous, and the gate will not open. You shall not gain entry."

"Why not?" I question.

"You people only complain. I will not have you disturb our school any further. We have students learning here. Nord superstition will do them no good right now."

I glance around slowly and begin speaking again. "I believe... there is a slight mistake."

She seems to take in my full appearance, looking over my fairly exotic clothing. "Hold on... you aren't from around here... are you? I apologize. I am just used to Nords from the town coming over and creating problems for those within our walls. But you are different. I can see that now. What brings you to the College of Winterhold, stranger? Do you seek to join?"

"I do dabble in some magic here and there, but that isn't necessarily the reason for my visit today." I smile kindly. "I am something of a traveling merchant... and I have gained a few items with... let's call them interesting enchantments. I am looking to part with some of them... I could have dropped by any hold's court wizard, but frankly, I don't think anyone but the college would give these items the true respect they deserve."

"Respect?" The woman echoes.

"Plus, I'm open to bartering... and am mostly self-taught. I've heard that the college has the most extensive library in Skyrim. I'm open to trading for some copies of books." I hum, a bright smile on my face.

"A self taught wizard, hn? That's quite rare. might I see you cast a spell? I typically only allow a certain... quality... of people to enter the school... mostly to prevent blustering and bluffing Nords from walking in and disrupting our students."

"Oh sure, sure... I'm sort of lucky I figured this one out earlier today, then... this is my only spell, but I've only been learning magic for about a month or so."

The light of basic restoration magic appears in my hand as I cast the spell, warm light swirls across my body as I cancel the spell a few seconds later.

"You have only been learning a month?! That was quite an impressive healing spell for only that much learning. Are you facing any issues? I noticed you ended it quite swiftly. I might be most experienced in Destruction magic, but I do at the very least know a bit about healing magic of that level."

"Oh, I was working on it shortly before and spent most of my magical power, I'm sitting at about twenty percent right now and I don't want to use much more."

"Ah. I see. Very well, this is more than enough to enter the college. Please, follow me." She turns and begins slowly walking along the precarious stone bridge leading up to the school. "If you do have unique enchantments as you say, you will want to speak to our enchantment specialist, Sergius Turrianus. But he is quite... Cranky, so if you do interrupt whatever it is he is doing, I had better hope your enchanted items are as impressive as you say."

"I've got a pot that can create infinite food, a hat which can shoot an apple-sized ball of steel faster than most bows can shoot arrows, and a cloak that has an enchantment that changes to the weakness of whatever attacks you... plus my bag here."

I tap my knuckles on the bag, causing a blue spectral knight to appear behind us with a flash as we continue walking. "But I'm not too keen on selling the bag. It's probably my only way of defending myself as I am now."

I can see the woman's eyebrows shoot upwards. "Yes... those do indeed sound quite potent. I can see why you would want to travel directly to the college to sell those. Anywhere else and you would probably get a poor deal... except for the pot, at least, you could have probably gone to either the Storm Cloaks or the Imperials and gotten a lucrative deal there."

"Or they could 'Collect it for the war effort' and given me a pat on the back and two copper septims for 'graciously donating it' at sword point." I frown.

"That is... fair... the chance that they would do that certainly isn't zero." The woman nods slowly. "Without enough reputation, or the backing of a powerful group, it is likely that they would do those acts to streamline their war effort. Why pay a simple merchant when that money could be used to buy more weaponry and supply?"

As we leave the bridge and step into the larger courtyard of the college, there is a slight pop as a figure appears next to us with a flash of light.

The high elf's eyes widen slightly as she looks at the man. "Ah. This is great timing... merchant- whom I now realize I never asked the name of- this is the Archmage of the school, Savos Aren."

"Hello." I nod my head slightly.

"Greetings." The man with ash grey skin nods, his blood red eyes looking over me with intrigue, flicking back between myself, the bag at my hip and the summoned spectral knight behind me.

"Interesting..." He mutters quietly.

"My name is Argo." I begin.

"You have heard my name and Title from Faralda here, it is a pleasure to meet you, I have... never seen your kind before within these walls... Lilmothiit, correct?"

"What the hell is a Lilmothiit?" I mutter under my breath.

"No?" The archmage question. "Hn. I had assumed that with the vulpine features you were a... hm..."

"Pardon?" The elven woman mutters.

"Ah. So you noticed. I guess that's to be expected." I lowly hum as I take off my hat, causing my ears to spring up.

I shift my pants slightly, allowing my tail to uncurl. "Ah. That's better."

The high elf woman can only look at me in confusion as I slip my hat back on my head, tail gently swaying behind me. "You're wrong about a me being... lil-moth-iit' or whatever, I am a Kuda Gitsune. And I am here to sell some pretty potent magic items."

"If they are anything like your bag there, I have a feeling that we could come to an arrangement." The man smiles. "Now, shall we get out of the cold to negotiate?"

With a snap of his fingers we are suddenly elsewhere. Or, at the very least, him and myself.

Ah. The Archmage's quarters.

He gestures to a nearby table. "Please, have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine. I've got basically all I need." I reply easily as I walk over to one of the chairs that seem to be pulled out by telekinesis and take a seat.

I draw my gaze away from the assorted plant life growing nearby before a headache can strike me. Quite a few rarer ingredients appears to be growing here and my 'Green Thumb' power is drooling at the prospect of giving me knowledge that i probably won't remember... speaking of knowledge, write down what i learned about snowberries with them being incredible insulators.

The Archmage of the college smiles slightly as he takes a seat across from me. "Now... tell me of these magic items of yours and we can decide a price."