Rough Draft Coye Vol 2 Ch 17 (Patreon)

Good news, I had a burst of motivation and the next chapter of RotGM is further along. Might come out later today, maybe tomorrow.

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Shayla slept hard as Coye went about his business in Cransmere, making a stop at the market to sell his feathers. People looked at him with impressed glares as he walked past them covered in the blood of beasts. It made him feel like a strong, respected hero for once.

Finding a buyer wasn’t too hard. After working past his awkwardness, he asked a few stalls if there was any interest in what he had and was ultimately directed to a fletcher who might take the feathers off his hands.

Apparently, their feathers make for arrows that glide effortlessly through the air. Hearing this made Coye alter his plans.

Rather than selling the entire bag for 100G, he saved about 40G worth of feathers to give as a present to his date tomorrow. Coye was still unsure what to think about Byng, but he promised Shayla to put his best foot forward and try to enjoy himself.

Shayla woke up as he left the market and she praised his decision when he caught her up. The fact that Coye was able to think of giving his date a present without her having to tell him to gave Shayla hope.

When he got back to the Guild, Tammy was amazingly still at the desk. Instead of working on her nails, the receptionist was paging through a magazine about the latest trends in Imperalis fashion.

“Sup,” she greeted Coye without looking up. “Job done?”

“Hey, Tammy... yeah, here,” he removed his trophies and was about to take them out of the bag before Tammy spoke up.

“Cool. Just go ahead and sprinkle the bleeding Owlbear feet over my desk, why don’t you? I will love it if you do that.”

“Sorry...” Coye laughed awkwardly and kept the red, bloody sack tied closed as he held it out for Tammy to take.

“Whatever. I’m just busting your balls, man.”

“Uh... ok, then.”

Tammy sighed and took the bag into the room behind her, then came back with some paperwork she needed to fill out to complete his quest. “You want me to get someone to wash those clothes?” She asked, making every syllable sound like a chore.

“Please,” Coye nodded. “I’ve got a big quest tomorrow so I need it ready by then... if, um, it’s not much trouble...”

Tammy shrugged her shoulders and yawned. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll make sure someone leaves them outside your door since apparently you’re a chronic masturbator now and installed a lock.”

“W-What?! That’s not why-”

“Chill, I ain’t judging. Wish I could get a lock in the storage closet, personally. Would be soooo much easier to take a nap on the job.”

‘Respect, sister.’ Shayla approved while Coye did not. It wasn’t worth engaging Tammy over it, though, so he moved on.

Coye went up to his still empty dorm room and set his dirty adventuring gear on the bed while changing into a casual pair of shorts, a light tunic, and a pair of slippers. Right as he headed down to fetch dinner, a maid entered his room and left with his clothes.

He took off his hat at the table as Shayla clung to the top, and placed it on the table. As he ate, he passed little scraps to her and as ever was surprised by the amount she could pack away. He was hungry, too, so he had to go as far as to ask the cook for seconds.

After dinner, Coye got hung up listening to the bard singing songs of Realms far off. It was fun, and since he sat in the corner away from everyone else, he was able to chat with Shayla as long as he kept it to a whisper.

Once they had their fill and returned, he locked the door, lit the candle on his nightstand and laid back down on the bed.

Shayla rushed out and stretched her wings. “That singing just about put me to sleep.”

“I thought it was pretty.”

“It was, but man, was it slow.”

“Do you want to go straight to sleep, then?” Coye asked.

Shayla narrowed her eyes out of suspicion. “Why? Is there something you wanted to do tonight, you cheeky perv?”

“N-No!” His face lit up in denial. “I just wanted to know if there was anything I could, um... do for you, is all.”

She looked at him, confused. “Do for me? Like what?”

“I dunno,” Coye slumped and looked down at the floor. “I’m just feeling... really grateful is all. I had such a good day today, my sex drive is under control, I got to open some cards, completed a real tough quest, and everything went so well because of you.”

The Pixie was overwhelmed by how candid he was being with his emotions. She wasn’t used to being the recipient of gratitude. If anything, she only had experience with the opposite due to her pranking.

“You don’t gotta go out of your way for me, or anything...” Shayla started to twirl her bangs, smiling despite her words. Because of her curious nature, she was reminded of their conversation earlier in the day and figured it might be a good chance to get some answers out of the boy. “If you really wanna, though, I’d be interested in seeing what you got as far as magic goes.”

Coye’s mood dipped on the spot, “I told you I suck at it.”

“But you know how to do a little, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t know if you suck at it.”

“I know how to do a few spells,” he admitted. “In theory.”

“Well, c’mon then! Show me!” Shayla urged Coye, and he felt the pressure break him as always.

With a sigh, Coye raised his finger tip, closing his eyes. In his mind imagined a magical sigil and inscribed a simple pattern on top of it, then pictured the result of the spell that he wished for. “Burnhit,” he chanted and unleashed his mana.

His fingertip glowed bright red and a single spark shot forth out a few inches above it. It fizzled as quickly as it appeared, leaving only a transient wisp of smoke before fading.

Now that she knew just how bad he was, Shayla suddenly felt bad about pushing him to displaying his skills. Coye was saddened at his attempt, his face contorted into a rare show of genuine frustration.

“I told you I’m no good at it,” he pouted.

“I didn’t say anything...”

“I can tell what you’re thinking.”

Shayla shrugged. “Maybe you’re just not good at fire magic. Have you tried other kinds of spells?”

“Yeah, I know a bunch of other entry-level spells but they all come out the same way whenever I try.” Coye repeated the exhibition with a few different spells, barely able to summon a breeze, a pebble, and a single water droplet respectively.

“Well...” Shayla grasped at ways to make his situation more hopeful. “How much do you practice? Maybe you just need to put more hours in!”

“I’ve been practicing on and off for two years. Even took a few classes from some Mages in town. If I could do it, I’d have had some kind of breakthrough by now.”

“Fuck,” she blurted, doing little to pick his mood up. “I mean, uh-”

“It’s ok,” Coye smiled. “Part of me has come to accept that it’s just not something I can do... but it still bothers me since I’m a half-elf. Magic is supposed to come naturally to my people, you know?”

“So what? Being a total piece of shit is supposed to come naturally to Pixies but I’m only like, one third a piece of shit. Half, at worse.”

Coye started to laugh, his smile growing more genuine. “I guess you’re right.”

Crossing her arms, the tricky girl smirked and countered, “So you’re saying you agree that I’m a piece of shit, huh?”

“W-Well, when you put it that way...”

She joined him in laughter, the mood now warm between them.

He was no longer disappointed, and he asked, “Pretty sure I already know the answer, but it’s not like you can teach me magic, right? Maybe I’d learn better if it was you.”

“Yeah, no. How do I put this...” Shayla paused and considered for a moment. “As a spirit, I don’t ‘know’ magic, I ‘am’ magic. I can just kinda do random shit inherently.”

“Thought so,” Coye nodded but wasn’t that shaken up over her answer.

This motivated her to ask, “Why do you even wanna be a Spellsword or whatever, anyway?”

“My dad is a Fighter, and my mom is apparently a Mage of some sort. I don’t know, it’s silly... I just thought it’d be nice if I could be the best of both of them.”

“You’re right, that is silly. Just focus on being the best you.” She shot him a commanding and convincing expression that made him smile.

“I’ll try...” Coye nodded his head. “Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do for you tonight? I really want to take care of you the way you do for me.”

Shayla saw the way he looked at her and it made her little heart race. That sincere adoration was too much, and she couldn’t fight it for the life of her. “I’m still tired,” she insisted. “I would be down for sex if it weren’t for that, but-”

“I’m not super turned on or anything, I could, um... maybe make you feel good the way you do for me?” Coye offered.

Shayla thought about his proposition and a dirty smile manifested across her face. That didn’t sound too bad, she would be the first to admit. She’d been wanting some attention from him since before they even met, but he was so focused on his selfish pleasure that he couldn’t think to offer until now.

Just picturing the things he could do to her made Shayla’s desire pulsate. Maybe she would get him off once or twice after that, too since drinking up some of his semen would certainly perk up her drained mana reserves.

“Look at you,” Shayla mocked and fluttered her long eyelashes at the boy. “Someone’s becoming a real gentleman, it seems. You want to make me feel good, huh?”

“Y-Yeah. I really do.” Coye blushed. He felt guilty for being unable to reciprocate properly, but it wasn’t that he didn’t want to please. Far from it.

“Well, I guess I wouldn’t mind... you owe me a lot for everything I’ve done for you, after all. Open your palm for me, baby...” Shayla licked her luscious lips and stood, snapping her clothes away with her magic to indulge in a long-awaited reward.