The Gamer Chapter 1354 – Touch Grass (Patreon)

Meeting Hailey that day was uneventful. John was primed for something due to Siena’s confession and yet nothing happened. The country gal arrived, was as charismatic and wonderful on the ears and eyes as ever, spent two hours with him and Scarlett in the workshop, and then left the technomancer with another revolutionary piece of complicated engineering. At one point, John did bring up the topic of how her thinking had gone. The answer he had gotten in response had been evasive, the kind of evasive where she might have gotten angry if he pushed too much. He let her figure it out in her own time.

John still had over 2 weeks before he would leave the area. No need to rush things.

Afterwards, he did some work around his construction site with Aclysia and Beatrice. Putting pipes in, specifically. Water, ventilation, sewage, those three situations needed some sorting. Plans made ahead of time made that an easy task, as they already had put in where these pipes left the house. The pipes they bought mostly slotted together without issue, and where they did not, lubricant solved all issues.

After they went through the majority of pipework in the walls, they called it a day and John found someone to spend the next few hours with. There was a huge selection. His first instinct was to check on Nathalia. He found the dragoness snoozing in her obsidian tower, as she was prone to do these days. Sometimes he envied her draconic ability to just sleep for however long she wanted, whether that was to recover or just to pass the time. Dragon sleep apparently was notably different to human sleep.

If this was how she wanted to spend the vacation, napping most of the time away, that was valid. John was pretty sure most people took their days off to catch up on their sleep budget. She would do what she enjoyed and he would do what he enjoyed. Either he would be building this house, hanging out with the girls, or gaming.

Which is what he did with the rest of the day, letting it pass him by uneventfully. The next morning went much the same way. It wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that he decided to leave the bus again. Spontaneously, he asked, “Want to touch grass?”

The question was aimed at the woman above him. In a reversal of situations that happened occasionally, John was kneeling under the gaming table. The past thirty minutes had been spent with his face between Lee’s thighs, lapping up her delicious love fluids. On his knees was far from his favourite position. A sacrifice worth making, to let his tongue enjoy the privilege of cunnilingus.

Lee had just calmed down after a recent orgasm and gave the question some thought. “Come on,” John nudged her on a bit. “It’ll be nice. We can check what the fairies did to our forest.”

“You’re asking me to go outside, my dude, that’s the opposite of nice most of the time,” Lee pointed out, even as she pushed her chair away from the table. “Fine though. Hanging out with you is kinda fun, so I’ll deal.”

“How gracious,” John hummed semi-sarcastically and got out. They headed towards the wardrobe. Casual nudity was great, but the forest floor was prickly. John could live with that, Lee could not. Her Stats put her above mundane athletes, but she was not superhuman to the point that a sharp stone she stepped on would break before her skin did.

Lee put on solid shoes and that was the only solid thing she put on. Hotpants and a cropped top, an outfit straight out of Metra’s closet – almost literally. Their wardrobe was a shared affair, where everyone got their segment. Almost everything inside it had been enchanted with refitting, so clothes could be shared without issue. Private garments were either expensive dresses or were kept in private rooms in the Palace.

John only put on boots and thin pants himself, sparing himself the top entirely. Their minimalistic clothes made the two behold each other’s curves with clear desire. Something they reigned in for a bit and was quickly forgotten when they stepped out into the daylight.

It was a blazing hot day. There was not a cloud to be seen. Mercilessly, the sun showered them in aggressive beams. Hadn’t he been in full control of his tan via slider, John would have become considerably browner by now. Lee had gotten a bit of colour. Not much, by genetics she did not tan well.

“What exactly are you anyway?” John wondered out loud.

“Cute?” Lee suggested immediately. “A talented Illusion Barrier architect? Goods that should be stored in a cool place away from the sun?” The last suggestion came alongside her shielding her eyes with a raised hand.

“My lover isn’t even on that list?”

“I try not to define myself through you, at least not primarily.” The response was clear and sincere. John would not have it any other way and smiled as he led the way. To embrace her or at least hold her hand would have been the normal course of action. In this heat, either would have gotten sweaty and sticky, so they opted to just move around the Abyssal side of the camp.

Over by the workshop they had erected for Hailey’s tests was now a greenhouse. John could see the moving forms of four of the five maids inside. Apparently, Aclysia continued to trial Delicia with various tasks a maid should be capable of. “Where’s Claire?” Lee asked, having noticed the maids herself. Even as blotched forms through the opaque glass, they were distinct.

“She probably is in the Palace,” John responded. Dust still accumulated in their absence. Someone had to check there periodically. Importantly, that let Claire be somewhere with less direct sunlight. Oklahoma was not her state of choice, with its warmth and sunshine. “Did you know she suggested she’d take care of the farm when we go back? I think she might need to find something else to do.”

“Honestly, Aclysia might need the permanent help,” Lee responded, the grass whispering softly under their footsteps. Even during rainless stretches, Undine saw to it that their lawn was brimming with vitality. “Not like there’s ever less chores. Every week someone new joins the household.”

John laughed. “It’s not that bad yet.”

“Yet?” Lee raised an eyebrow. “You planning on accelerating the harem growth? You stacking waifu magnetism modifiers or something? It has been getting ridiculous lately…”

“No, I’ll try not to add anyone else for a while.” The Gamer caught Lee’s doubtful glance and raised both hands in a defensive gesture. “Look, these things are out of my hands sometimes. Attractive women come along and I act before someone else can.”

“Totally foreign concept to me,” Lee said sarcastically. “I basically had to seduce you.”

“And it was impossible to resist you. I love women that keep cold pizza by the table and a drawer of sex toys,” John teased her with the truth.

Lee maybe would have blushed, if it wasn’t so hot already. As it was, she did punch him softly in the shoulder. “So glad I wasn’t born a guy,” she said. “Fleshlights look like the world’s worst sex toys. Must be horrible to clean.”

“Mine always walk to the shower themselves.”

“Dick!” Lee declared. Laughing, they walked along a little further. Besides the maids, there was no one else around the main camp. It appeared that the haremettes had largely returned to the Hudson Barrier for the day, to take care of official business. “Alright, this is a good spot,” Lee suddenly said and dropped down into a squat. One hand went flat on the floor. “Touched grass, quest objective accomplished. Can we go back inside now? I want to enjoy the time I have before Rave takes the thermostat back.”

“Well, you can head back whenever you want. I think I might want to pick up a rock first.” John’s eyes fell on the one haremette he did manage to spot. Past the edge of the clearing, between the trees, a certain brunette was moving along in her dress of leaves. It had shifted green, in accordance with the spring season. As he got closer, he spotted the little pink and red flower petals that were mixed in with the leaves.

Sneaking up on Gnome should have been impossible, especially for him and Lee. The vibrations of the ground should have given them away long after their conspicuous appearances did. Despite that, she noticed neither of them. Her hands were gliding over the bark of an old tree. “Uh-huh?... Hmm… okay… I don’t know if I can… Eeeep!”

The season elemental’s conversation was interrupted when John suddenly slung his arms around her midriff and lifted her up. The act required his limiters to be broken. A girl, even as gracefully built as Gnome, was quite heavy when she consisted mostly of animated dirt. Whirling her around, he made the brunette shout out in confusion. He let her down before that confusion could manifest into action.

“J-john!?” she yelped when he let her down. “I, uhm, I did… I would have… enjoyed that more if you announced yourself…”

“Sorry, teasing you just never gets old.” The Gamer made it up to her by kissing her on the forehead. When that alone did not succeed, he pulled her against his chest and stroked her back. “You’re my adorable flower, blooming in every season. I did not mean to startle.”

“Umu,” Gnome let out a quiet, confident and happy sound. The hug was answered in kind. Firmly and lovingly, she held him in that reassuring way that only she and Nightingale had perfected, in their individual ways. It was odd how much he enjoyed feeling vulnerable in her arms. One of the few places in the world where lowering all his guards was something he knew would not get him hurt. “I love you,” she whispered, making him shiver all over.

“You’re too good for me.” John brushed over her hair, played with the braid at the back for a bit. Then he kissed her forehead and they separated.

Gnome kept her arms open, her face growing a little redder, and offered a hug to Lee as well. The young Fateweaver took the offer with two eager steps. “Been too long, cuddle rock,” the gamer girl said, rubbing her cheek against Gnome’s chin.

“It’s been, like… 2 hours…?” the season elemental suggested carefully.

“Too long, as I said,” Lee doubled down and the two exchanged a kiss. They were close enough in height that Lee only had to get a bit on her toes to reach Gnome’s lips. “This is my kind of touching grass.” With those words, she squeezed Gnome’s butt.

Gnome’s blushing intensified, John laughed, Lee herself turned a bit redder. “What are you getting embarrassed for?” the Gamer teased the young Fateweaver. “You were the one that did it.”

“Oy, you know I’m weird, idiot!” Lee’s flustered response was great.

‘Great, but it could be better,’ John thought and bowed down next to her ear. “I love you,” he whispered with the kind of sincerity one would speak their vows to. Lee went from reddish to strawberry crimson. The shade of the trees had barely allowed them to cool down and now she radiated the same level of heat as the sun.

“I… dude, that’s… yo, fuck you!” The word salad was delightful. John scratched the embarrassed girl’s neck. Like an overly excited puppy, she leaned into the gesture and gradually relaxed.

His Lee was so simple and so complicated at the same time. Watching her easily embarrassed nature clash with her urge to be openly sexual was always so entertaining. Easy to exploit as well. Once Lee and Gnome stopped holding onto each other, the Gamer asked, “So, what were you doing? Is there a fairy in the tree?”

“No… well… kinda?” Gnome responded and walked back over to the trunk. She put a hand on it and closed her eyes. “There’s a soul in this one. It remembers existing on the other side. It awakened from all the magic in the soil. There’s… others like it out here… I was, uhm, checking on them… trying to make the soil more comfortable.”

“Interesting.” John put his own hand on the bark, trying to sense what she was talking about. There was something faint, something that he would not have noticed had she not pointed it out to him. It was far too distant to allow him to communicate.

“I’ve heard that some of the plant life comes ‘alive’ when it gets pulled into an Illusion Barrier.” Lee sat down on a rock that poked out of the ground. “Not a really well-studied phenomenon… is it like… sad that it is alone or something?”

“It doesn’t really feel in the same way?” Gnome responded. “It has something like happiness and something like concern and that’s… it, basically.”

“What would happen if we’d put down the barrier?” John wondered.

“As far as we know, Fateweavers that is, it’d return to the mundane space and go back to sleep.” Lee kicked some of the red dirt under their feet. Even out here in the forest, the unusual colour of Oklahoma’s soil was present. “There’s been some sightings of all kinds of plants doing this. Sometimes it happens with other landmarks too, like animal corpses, but that’s even rarer.”

“Is this where fairies come from then?” the Gamer wondered. “Matured souls of plants and such, touched by the Abyss, gone through several cycles of entering and leaving barriers?”

“That’s a theory…” Lee started, only for her and John to speak at the same time, “”An Abyss theory!”” They both burst out laughing.

“I’m happy you two have a good time,” Gnome giggled.