The Gamer Chapter 1046 – A blank space in his calendar (Patreon)

John: Thinking about you <3

The Gamer ended the lengthy set of messages, heartfelt and analytic, he had typed out and put his phone to the side. It felt a bit odd to send her a heart emoji. Momo was one of the few outside the harem group chat that could receive such a thing unironically. Most likely, he would get a load of sarcasm in return – whenever she answered. That could take days or even weeks. There was no telling where the sassy support was these days.

As for where John was, the answer was his living room. He had just had a very nice eight hours of sleep, followed by a hearty breakfast, and a prolonged morning orgy that compensated yesterday’s complete lack of sex. Now everyone was getting ready for their day, putting on their clothes or phoning up whoever they had to.

John’s eyes were glued to Nathalia, who was putting on a suit. Vest and pants were black, the shirt and her tie red, the latter being of a darker shade. Aesthetically, it was a perfect copy of the one Scarlett was wearing, minus the gloves the technomancer liked to wear when going out. Their curves and height made a hell of a difference in the way they came across.

Two redheads, in suits the colours of coal and blood, standing straight with their shoulders back, ready to take on the world, was about as sexy as non-maid uniforms could get. Once both were dressed, Scarlett poured both of them a small glass of whisky and they clinked on the start of a successful day.

“You two hit it off nicely,” the Gamer noted. He wasn’t sure what he thought about the casual consumption of alcohol. Following a two-hour orgy, he wasn’t in a position to lecture them on vice indulgence though. Especially as, with their superhuman livers, a glass of whisky probably evaporated faster than a cheap American beer.

“I like what I have seen of the business world so far,” Nathalia answered, running a hand through her decisively red hair. Usually it glowed orange with power, but she had muted the effect for whatever reason. Maybe she didn’t want to burn her suit or maybe she wanted to colour-coordinate with Scarlett better. The fact that even her eyes had their incandescent glow suppressed, leaving them as red reptilian-esque irises, strengthened the latter case. “It is satisfying to acquire wealth and force disappointments to up the productivity of my mate’s guild.”

“While I appreciate having a partner who can drive the proper bargain,” Scarlett added, while bringing the whisky glasses to the dishwasher. “I said I didn’t need a birthday present, but you fucking went ahead and got me one anyway.”

“So, how does that work?” the nude Lightbearer asked. Her upper body rested on the back of the Harem Couch and her arms dangled lazily, her recently used phone in hand. “Scarlett does all the backend and Nathy heads out? Brain and brawns operation? Nothing against ya, Nathy, but ya aren’t the company running type. Way too much sitting around and number shuffling.”

“We’re still working out the details,” Scarlett said. “Still have to show Nathalia the ropes on how to properly negotiate with other CEOs. Generally, though, yeah, that’s about right. Fantastic to have someone who is actually fucking competent to run around for me.”

“And when I get back, I get to use her,” Nathalia purred, putting an arm around Scarlett’s shoulders. “A wonderful arrangement.”

“Just remember not to dominate the entire workforce into labouring themselves to death,” John cautioned. He was glad that Nathalia was taking so quickly to the business world. Maybe some of her hoarding instincts were kicking back in now that she was no longer promiscuous. A domineering dragoness acting as the chief negotiator of the largest company conglomerate in Fusion was worrisome though.

“How am I going to pull the competition’s talent out of their companies if our work conditions are bad?” Scarlett asked.

“Just saying, you are the same woman that would rather risk the people washing your windows stealing from you than pay them more so they won’t have to,” John reminded her. “I had to bribe you with nudes.”

“And I stand by that – because I was paying them enough to live and their job was washing windows,” Scarlett threw back. “Do you expect me to pay them like engineers for a job literally everyone can do with thirty minutes worth of teaching? Are you going to take the side of people fucking stealing? They weren’t starving, they just didn’t get to buy everything they wanted to.”

“I would have to look into that way more than I have to have that argument with you,” John backed down. “So, because I trust you, and because I know you have all the data, you beautiful control freak, I will just say that you’re right.”

“I love you for knowing what’s best for you,” Scarlett said and then looked up to Nathalia. “Anyway, we have a board meeting in fifteen. We should go.”

“I don’t like your directors,” Nathalia pointed out while they headed to the door.

“I don’t pay them to be likeable, I pay them for results,” Scarlett answered and left the door open behind her. The elementals headed out after her, then Rave went to her room to actually get dressed. Thana, who had at least joined them for breakfast, refused to move or acknowledge anyone’s existence. The two maids also headed out, to go after one of their many duties.

The apartment, usually filled with so much life, became a quiet and largely empty place. With few present to assert its wishes on it, the Harem Couch turned into an outwardly simple piece of furniture. Music played quietly from the boxes, some techno playlist that Rave had put on flowing from one song to the other.

A vacated home had a peculiar feeling to it that John used to enjoy a lot. Probably because, back when he was a loner, that was the time he could spend safely masturbating and screaming unhinged at his PC. Now that his home was usually filled with casually naked loved ones, his young mind was less enthused about the lack of such around. The quiet also had a value, especially after such a busy day, and John enjoyed that the loudest thing around was Velka, nibbling on the table.

“Don’t do that,” Metra berated the birdcat and casually grabbed her by the scruff. Repeated warbles protested that she was getting dragged away to the edge of the Couch. The First of Wrath was lying on it, holding the Magryph with one hand and an e-reader with the other. In the absence of her full power, John had managed to convince her to spend some time educating herself.

Metra hadn’t cared to really learn about anything outside of martial matters for several millennia and it showed in several ancient views. Some of them John could sympathize with, the question whether or not a monarchy was always worse than a republic was certainly a debatable one, but her historical illiteracy about the consequences of certain rhetoric or policies made many discussions with her unproductive or one-sided.

John had given her an extensive reading list, containing philosophical, religious, economic and historical works of importance. He didn’t expect her to get through half of it. Neither did he expect her to turn into a scholarly mind. Metra had a really hands-on approach on life and John loved that about her. The perspective had value, especially when things left the realm of the theoretical. He just wanted her to expand her horizons a bit, just like her ancient view on some things expanded his. Something that was old could very well have more value than something that was new.

Once Velka let out a defeated meow, Metra let her go and pat her head. “Smart girl.”

“Smartest girl,” Nia said and opened her arms. Immediately, Velka dashed across the room and jumped up at the pariah. The dog-sized chimera was too big to sit on someone’s shoulders now, but she could wrap her front legs and wings around someone to secure a grip. Nia needed to support that by holding the black-white feather-furred pet by the rear-end.

Purring, Velka rubbed against Nia’s face repeatedly, until she decided the best use of their intimate moment was to squeeze the blonde’s nose with her beak. She was kinder to the naked pariah than the table. Still, it looked a bit dangerous.

“Don’t you cut Nia’s nose,” John warned, while carefully scratching the Magryph’s head.

Velka swiftly let go of Nia and decided that John’s hand was a much more enticing target. A bird she partially was, but no owl, so her attempts to catch his limb were fruitless no matter how much she reared her beak. She did have fun doing it, so that was fine.

“Want to go feed her?” John asked. He had a couple of hours off this morning, because he wanted to let a couple of responses pile up before he had to deal with them piece-meal.

Velka heard the word ‘feed’ and immediately wound her way out of Nia’s arms and dashed out of the open door. Excited running could be heard, getting further away from the door, only to reverse. Peeking back into the room, the Magryph let out a demanding screech.

Only after all of that, did Nia come to the conclusion that she wanted to answer with a simple, “Yes.” Her expression didn’t show it, but her happiness was evident in the caring way she took John’s arm. Together, they headed out, saying goodbye to Metra who only waved at them. They still left the door open behind them, for Rave to finally close it when she headed out.

Their walk through the corridor happened at a quick pace. Quick was too slow for Velka. Anything short of sprinting was. Excitedly, the Magryph stormed down the corridor ahead of them, only to come back when the distance between them grew too great. On a few occasions, she preferred to just sit and wait. On another, she walked circles around them, like a cat about to pounce. When they finally reached the door to her home, the Magryph pulled down the handle for them and eagerly warbled.

The little outgrowth of the Palace’s southern corner was tailored to the needs of the Magryph. It had two levels, the lower connecting to the outside via a stable door, while a hole in the roof allowed her to enter the second. A hole in the ground, large enough for even a small adult to fit in, connected to a tunnel system that let her gain access to the Palace’s corridors. Since she had learned to open doors, it was no longer needed, but John kept it around. The potential security risk was alleviated via a lock that only unlocked when she was on a camera screen.

As for the contents of the room, there was a shallow pond for her to bask in, a litter box, several places and elevated platforms for her to sleep, and a growing arsenal of curiously shaped safes. When she was younger, John had given the Magryph several toys that consisted of a series of riddles that finally allowed access to some kind of small treasure at the end. His strategy had since inverted.

As Velka’s hoard of shiny things grew, she became exceedingly nervous about where to store them. Aclysia had complained, a number of times, that she found random things in areas that were already difficult to clean. The perpetrator had been obvious, but the evidence had coincided with the breaking point when Velka tried to hide a crowbar under the harem’s bed.

The solution to the problem was to give Velka her own safe storage places that were more than just ‘hidden’ inside her compartment. Therefore, John gave her safes that required riddles to open them. That had ended the epidemic of clutter around the house and trained her memory in addition to problem solving skills.

It did not end the occasional confused store owner wondering where the semi-shiny object they had left lying around had gone.

Velka’s hoard grew steadily through four ways. One, John or one of the haremettes rewarded her for something. Two, she was sent on a training mission with the local police department to find some lost or stolen item (which she would then only give back if she was compensated in some way). Three, she stole it. Four, and this was the main contributor nowadays, people gave her something. For reasons of her cuteness, it had become a part of tourist culture to toss the wild Magryph something shiny, when encountered. Nothing too valuable, usually just a Token or other coin.

“Outside,” John told the Magryph, while he and Nia manifested their clothes.

Velka didn’t move.

“Outside,” John repeated, more insistently, and Nia started to tap towards the door very, very slowly.

“Open the storage,” Nia demanded, looking at the white object in the feeding corner of the room. Velka had easy access to an automatic feeder that supplied her with dry brackets and another one with nuts. Both had to be refilled every now and again, but kept her alive if she failed to catch herself a fish from the Hudson or to adorable her way into getting gifted something by the local food shops.

The only thing Velka did not have access to, by virtue of the weight of the lid and a heavy lock, was a big storage unit in which John kept meat. “I think that bird cat is too smart for her own good,” he told Nia, “and if I pull out the key in her presence, she will either take it or somehow peck a replacement out of a particularly hard tree in the Logging. Outside.” He pointed at the open door.

Velka warbled like a moody teenage girl and finally walked out. Annoyed, Nia poked him in the side repeatedly, a petty gesture more than a painful one. “You are terrible.”

“You are spoiling her,” John returned and opened the storage. It was of a peculiar, and highly costly, kind that halted the decay of meat. That meant that things could be kept without cooling them. Units like it only worked while the lid remained closed and could only be made so large. John pulled out a bag of dead mice and then hastily sealed the container again.

Then they headed out and started feeding the mice to Velka. Whether that happened by tossing or having her snap the tiny corpses out of their hands, the Magryph swallowed them whole. Like most birds, all she needed to do was to properly align the food item to slide down her throat.

“Adorable,” Nia said, scratching the sated Magryph’s belly.

“Hm…” John checked the time and decided he had enough for a spontaneous date.

“How about we visit the Menagerie?” he suggested.