Chapter 174 - Running around the city. (Patreon)

“Well, that was nice,” John said. “Yu-p,” Rave agreed, popping the p sound. A moment of silence then John sighed heavily. “I think having powers just ruined fantasy movies for me,” he lamented, “can’t really get into when I see a force choke and think about how I would actually fight a Sith.” “By throwing Salamander at them?” Rave suggested. “I mean, let’s be honest here, Sith’s and all that jazz aren’t really that powerful.” “True, true,” John mused, “Not as strong as a Space Marine anyhow.” “Am not even going to entertain that debate with ya. The fact that I even know what Jaghatai Khan is thanks to that podcast annoys me,” Rave stated as they aimlessly walked around.

“So, any shops you want to check out first?” “Mhm, I’d like to buy a laptop,” John answered, “Now that I have the money for it, that seems like a worthwhile investment.” “I brought mine,” Rave told him, “it’s somewhere in my trolley.” “We can’t game together on one laptop though,” he reminded her. “True, true,” she mused. 

Suddenly she stopped and grabbed his hand. “What’s the pro-?” John was silenced by Rave pressing her lips on his. John was a more than a little surprised by the sudden gesture of affection, even if stayed just a quick meeting of lips. “Heeeey,” Rave giggled, “I love you!” Then she started walking again, pulling him by the hand for a moment until he unfroze and walked at her side. 

“What was that about?” he wanted to know. “Dunno, just wanted to do it?” Rave said and stuck out her tongue, “ya didn’t like it?” On the contrary, John was ecstatic, but saying so would have been to easy. “Maybe a bit more tongue action would be nice?” he teased her just because he could. “What? Eating me out in public?” Rave pondered, “I mean, maybe, but it is way too cold for exhib-action.” “Not my fetish I have to admit,” John said. “Same, actually,” She admitted, “Was just going with the flow.” 

They passed a clothes shop and Rave nodded at the door. “Let’s go inside and buy mittens,” she raised their joined hands. As nice as the gesture was, in the cold winter their fingers were threatened to turn into icicles. “Good call,” John therefore agreed. 

He needed to exchange some more money for that. Giving in to the annoyance of likely having to do that multiple times he just exchanged 10 grand and was done with that for now. “…I hate this system,” he said after storing away most of that money in his inventory. “What now?” Rave asked while she was browsing scarves. The mittens were on the second floor and they hadn’t even stepped on the escalator that would bring them up there. 

John folded the 100 euros in paper that he kept on hand and put them into his front pocket. “Well, apparently Euros don’t get included in my money poll but instead take up inventory space. It’s just a single slot but it’s still annoying,” he explained. “Man, Gaia really has you on her shit-list recently, doesn’t she? You get nerfed, you can’t level for almost three months, you get annoying interface interactions,” She listed. 

“Well, it is still more convenient than before,” John defended the green-haired deity, “but I would be surprised if this is the last patch I get. My Gaia Dependency Factor is still at 80 after all.” “Mhm…” Rave hummed as she put a Christmas hat on. The red and white thing was of obviously bad production, with cheap lights being glued onto it. Rave slapped away the white bobble that fell right in front of her eyes, accidentally triggering the lights with that motion. 

“So, how do I look?” she asked, stemming her hands into her hips. Between the bright yellow jacket, the blue pants, the pink hair and the red hat with the dancing lights there was only one answer. “Stunning,” he said the expected thing first, “and like a walking colour block.” “Ruuude!” Rave laughed and threw the hat back on the aisle it came from. 

They headed up to the second story, only after checking some hairpins however, and John nudged his girlfriend into the right direction before she could get lost in the underwear section. ‘Note to self,’ he thought at the occasion, ‘get into a lingerie store with her.’

Rave checked the display of mittens and came to a conclusion after a mere twenty seconds. “I’ll take these,” she decided and grabbed a thick, woolly pair of a plain brown. “And you will be taking these,” she tossed him a pair of bright pink gloves. “Uhm,” John wanted to voice his objections as he looked at the things. ‘Who even designed these?! Who gave the okay to sell that?!’ he screamed inside his mind as Rave give him a grin that made it clear that she wouldn’t take a no on this. “What?” she stated after continued hesitation, “it’s the same colour as my hair, it’s tots romantic. I even do the same for you!” she waved with the brown mittens in her hand. 

John was about to comment that brown gloves were easily justifiable in society compared to bright pink ones. Then he remembered that he was talking to a hot punk with pink hair, a tongue piercing and a love for techno-music so big that her nickname was Rave, who also happened to be his harem approving girlfriend. He swallowed his complaints and decided to take the bad with the good. They went to the checkout, John paid and they were back on the streets.

“Man, my hands are warm now but boy is this less nice,” John sighed when they kept walking hand in hand. “Ja, it’s a bit of a downer,” Rave agreed. The thick layers of warming cloth made the hand contact less satisfying. “But don’t ya dare let go!” she warned him. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured. 

‘Stoooooooooooop!’ a sudden mental shout in his mind. He did and Rave looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Sylph wants something,” he told her. ‘Damn right I do! Turn to your right, mister money maker,’ the tempest elemental instructed. He did and immediately knew what the blabbering air spirit wanted. 

In the window of a candy shop stood a gummy bear bigger than his hand. Glorious, it’s smooth red surface shining brightly in the golden light of the windows light string, it was sitting like a king upon his throne inside a green, decorated Christmas sweets box surrounded by other, smaller, pieces of sugary candy. John saw how this was ending, and he was afraid of it. 

‘That, buy me that! I demand this as your tribute to me! To the queen of winds and storms, the reincarnation of wind itself, the balloon that quacks in the night! I demand, John, I demaaaaaaaaaand!’ The shouts were growing increasingly wanting. There was no way he could decline and get away with it unscathed, he would never hear the end of it if he did. However, he needed to somehow play damage control, or get something out of this. Then he had the idea that would satisfy everyone involved.

‘Okay, Sylph you’ll get that gummy bear…’ ‘HURRAY!’ ‘…but only if you can be silent for twenty minutes while and after eating it,’ there was a moment of silence. He felt the mental conflict in Sylph’s thoughts. Was it worth NOT talking for a whole twenty minutes and get a gummy bear for that? A hard question for the tiny and not particularly bright elemental. 

‘Uhm, ehm, uhr, ehhhh,’ Sylph started stammering as her brain failed to envision what twenty minutes of silence would even be like. ‘Gnoooooooome, what should I doooooo?!’ she decided to find her answer in someone else. ‘Huh? If you r-really want it, I guess you will have to take the deal?’ came the startled answer. ‘But, but, butt, butt-plug, but, no words…for twenty minutes? How can I survive that?’ Sylph wanted to know. ‘I don’t know but If you don’t get that gummy bear I WILL NOT SURVIVE,’ Salamander cried out, ‘For fucks sake, take the deal before your boredom makes me take a bath in Undine and end both of our miserable existences.’ A surprising amount of interest in that idea radiated from the mending elemental. Cornered like that Sylph finally agreed, ‘Okay, fifteen minutes no words, I promise.’ ‘Twenty minutes, no sounds,’ John corrected her, ‘complete silence.’ ‘Uwuwuwuwuwu.’ ‘Mimicking Gnome won’t make me renegotiate, young lady,’ He sternly thought at her. 

John waited for an answer. Then there was a sudden wave of acceptance from Sylph. ‘Okay, okay, kay, k. You win, I’ll be silent for twenty minutes while eating the gummy bear,’ she agreed with a heavy sigh. He had gotten what he wanted so he went inside the shop.

“And?” Rave asked whilst following him. “And now we are buying Sylph a giant gummy bear so I get to beat the Elementalist challenge, the other girls get twenty minutes of relaxation and Sylph gets what she wants. This way everyone is, mostly, happy,” John explained while grabbing one of the boxes and carrying it to the cashier. He payed and at the next corner he created another barrier to put the thing into his inventory.

He checked the time on his phone. “Wow, we have been out for five hours already?” he wondered. Between all the walking and the movie, he hadn’t realized it. “Time sure flies,” Rave said, “Let’s eat something fancy and then head back.” “Sure, as long as I get to by a laptop on the way back,” John agreed, “any idea where to eat?” “Let’s just stumble into the first restaurant that is open.”

That happened to be an Italian one. They went inside and looked at the menu. While they were deciding on the food Rave ordered a beer, John took some juice. “Drinking at this hour?” John asked when the half-litre glass was placed in front of his girlfriend. “Oh, shaddup, who’s gonna judge me, da princess?” Rave slurred and took a mouthful of the golden liquid inside the tall glass. “Okay, stuff tastes a lot stronger than what I am used to,” she said, “better take it slow.” “Well, I am not carrying you home in case you forget yourself,” John threatened but they both knew that he would. He ordered some spaghetti, Rave had a pizza. 

“So,” she started a new topic while they were waiting, “used Observe on me yet?” “Nope, thought I’d wait until tomorrow. If Lydia wants to test us anyhow I thought I’d keep the suspense alive,” John told her. “Mhm, but I am curious…what level was I again when you saved me?” “48, which was already an insane spike from the 37 you were before that.” “Probably still had some of Thana’s blood in my system,” Rave guessed, “should thank Herman for checking that after the fight next time I see him. Anyhow, I just went through two months of daily training so tell me what I am at now!” “Just a moment,” John obliged her and used Observe.

“Okay, so you are now level 61,” John said, “which is pretty impressive…but you only raised your physical stats it seems.” “I guess that makes sense, daddy is not the best at teaching me about my magic, he is a martial artist after all,” Rave said, took another swing of beer and added, “I would need my bitch of a mother for my magic.” “Does she have the same magic as you?” “Nope, but similar. Mother is another light soul, her powers are all about lightning,” Rave said. “Isn’t that an air type?” John asked, thinking about Sylph. “Nah, there’s a difference between lightning, which is a light type power, and electricity, which is an air type power. It’s like attributes and stuff,” Rave provided an unclear explanation. John made a mental note to ask Lydia about this later.

“You lucked out inheriting that then,” he commented, just as the food finally arrived. “Yeah, me and my sister both. Although Liz is with mother and she can stay there,” Rave said. “Liz? Is that her name?” John asked, he knew nothing of Rave’s sister aside from the fact that she existed and that knowledge only got to him through the video Regan had showed him when Rave was presumed dead.

“Yeah, it’s my younger sisters name,” Rave said and glared at him, “don’t ya go and try to fix my family situation, mister good-guy.” “I have learnt to not try and help people that don’t want it,” John tried to ease her tension with his calm tone. “Good,” Rave clarified and that was that. They moved onto the food on the table and less dangerous topics.

Later?