Rough Draft - Coye 4.2 (Patreon)

They returned a little after ten in the morning, running into minimal interferences on the way back. He politely waved goodbye to a group of adventurers who were departing from the gate on their way to make the journey to the Labyrinthe of Light a few days north of here, but they ignored him for the most part aside from a casual nod. Coye felt awkward for having even done anything. He wouldn't have bothered in the past, but he was in a good mood so he figured he might as well.

When he came through the front door, Coye was expecting to see Tammy at the front desk, and maybe Dorothy if he was lucky. What he found instead was Suzette engaged in a discussion with the Guild Mistress. An unlikely combo, but one he found satisfying.

"Do you have any idea when he'll be back?" Suzette asked. She was flustered and had a creased brow.

"N-No, I'm... sorry..." Dorothy tried to sound sympathetic, but the yawn she was forced to express mid-sentence didn't help. "He stayed here at the Guild last night, so if I had to guess he's likely off training right about... oh," her eyes perked when she saw the boy standing at the opened doorway. "Speak of the Demon Lord."

Suzette looked over her shoulder and all at once her worries seemed to fade away. She turned and her frilly black dress turned with her. "What wonderful timing, Darling!" She said, clasping her hands over her heart. "Just who I was looking to see."

'Wonder what this is about,' Shayla cocked her head. 'She's got all those mommy vibes going on, so maybe she brought you lunch?'

Coye didn't see any indication that he'd be getting a lunch off of his lover. Rather, he had the impression that Suzette was at the Guild for business.

"Hey Suzette, Miss... um, Dorothy," he caught himself before making a slip-up. He'd already went through this surname to name transition with Suzette, but it proved even more difficult to do the same for Dorothy. "What's going on?"

"This acquaintance of yours came in and was looking to register a quest, and she wanted you specifically for it." Dorothy stated.

Suzette walked up to Coye and smiled, then leaned down to grant her lover a surprisingly inappropriate kiss given the time and place. Coye was embarrassed by her sudden display of affection, but when put on the spot and it's either kiss or be kissed, he'd always choose to kiss back if he could help it.

Dorothy looked on at the outburst of romance, totally at odds with the suffocating reception room, with its dark lighting and its overabundance of monster trophies. At first she thought it only fair to look away and give them privacy, but she was too shocked to fully do so and merely stared in confusion. This was Coye's other lover?

Byng, she could understand to a degree. They were coworkers, and after the Gengaggi was more forthcoming with her affections it made sense for Coye to change his outlook on her. But Suzette Lillis? Dorothy was stunned. She felt like this older woman was in an entirely different league from Byng and especially herself. Suzette dressed like a Duke's wife, wore expensive jewelry and had hair the most perfect curled hair Dorothy had ever seen.

Compared to her, an overworked, overstressed busy body who barely had time to take a bath once a week at best, Dorothy felt like she might as well have been a Bog Hag straight out of the swamps of Drerland. As she looked on, though, she started to question herself why she was comparing herself to Coye's lover here. Where did that come from, Dorothy wondered?

She forced herself to look away, only to find that Tammy was now behind the desk standing at her side, a pot of coffee on the table with an empty mug for her to use. Tammy was taking a long sip from a mug in her hands.

"The plot thicken," she said to Dorothy, joining her in befuddlement over Coye's kiss.

"What? Oh, um, excuse me-" Dorothy called out to Suzette, feeling that this affection was bordering on gratuitous.

Suzette pulled away with a loud 'mwah,' leaving one dopey-smiled boy in her wake as she returned to the counter with him trailing after. "My apologies," Suzette giggled like a woman half her age. "It's just been a few days since I've seen my precious Darling, and I'm sure you can agree that any woman would be hard pressed not to do the same. Isn't that right?"

"Totally," Tammy agreed.

"Er- uh... I-I suppose?" Dorothy looked around awkwardly as Suzette kept her eyes on her for a moment, studying and saying nothing. The virginity in the air was so thick she could almost taste it, that poor Guild Mistress.

"S-Sorry," Coye bowed his head in deference to his employer. "Maybe we should take this somewhere more private?" He asked.

"W-What?" Dorothy took a step backward, picked up a clipboard and partially hid her face behind it. "If you need to, um, get something out of your system then p-please take care of it somewhere outside of the Guild! We talked about this, d-didn't we?"

"He meant registering the quest, boss."

After an awkward silence, a look of realization dawned on Dorothy's face. "Oh. Please, forgive me, I haven't been in the right frame of mind these last few days..."

It was true. Ever since they had their talk four days ago, something had been off and Dorothy couldn't quite put her finger on and it was driving her mad to no end. Given that she was already flustered on the best of days, it led to several unfortunate blunders that cost her precious time. Errors on paperwork, calculating the wrong amounts, backing down faster during fee negotiation. It had been rough.

Tammy tugged on Dorothy's sleeve. "Why don't you take them to the backroom and do your thing?"

"Yes, of course. My thing." Dorothy stared at Coye for a moment, then fixed her glasses which were near falling off her face. "If the two of you would just follow me," she said, lifting the bar to the counter allowing both people to enter the record room behind her.

Suzette stared at Tammy for a moment, wondering who was really in charge around here. Tammy shrugged silently in response and then got out a book of puzzles to start on, giving Coye a side glance as he passed her.

Coye had rarely been in the records room all that often, just on the few occasions where Dorothy needed to speak with him as urgently as possible. It was a small yet cozy space filled with shelves of countless reference books, office supplies and envelopes of unfiled paperwork, a square table with four chairs, and in the back wall there were two windows where dim light poured in. In the nearest righthand corner, Coye could see the magical bin that sent his and everyone else's completed quests and finished paperwork to the Association of Adventurers HQ. This room was also where Dorothy brought most clients looking to register quests, as she found her office a bit too formal for such discussions with ordinary people.

Dorothy seated her two guests and took a seat on the opposing side for herself. As if making a statement, Suzette had her arm wrapped around Coye's even as they sat side by side. This proved to be a continual distraction to the Guild Mistress, even if she couldn't understand why it kept distracting her.

"Well, then..." Dorothy started after downing a sip of her coffee in the hope that it would steady her mind. Tammy had already prepared it with just the right amount of cream, so it was off to a good start. "Do you remember how this went the last time you registered a quest, Mrs. Lillis?"

"Please, call me Suzette. I see you often enough in my shop that I don't feel the need for such formalities." Suzette smiled gently. "I just need to tell you about the situation and then you'll present a baseline fee which you think is fair and we'll go from there, yes?"

"Yes, that's exactly right," Dorothy nodded, pleased to skip straight ahead. "I should also mention that depending on my judgment, I can't promise you that Coye will be the one to ultimately accept your quest."

"And why is that?" Suzette tilted her head.

"My rank might not be high enough," Coye spoke up.

"Ah. Understandable, I don't want to send you off on something that's too dangerous for you, Darling." She smiled at her lover before turning her attention to Dorothy. All at once, her flirty and loving persona shattered as Suzette's golden eyes narrowed and she cupped her chin. "Where do I begin? I suppose I should start off by saying I was expecting a shipment of cheap goods from Dewhurst that were due to come in roughly five or six days ago. I had told my Darling as such, remember?"

"Yeah, you were pretty stressed about it if I recall..."

'More like she looked like she was gonna kill someone over it...'

"Indeed. Well, earlier this morning I found the reason as to why my shipment never arrived. My wagoner appeared in town sans wagon. I'm sure I don't need to explain to you of all people how hard it is to find good help in Dewhurst, but my associate assured me this was an experienced man who'd be able to make the trip along the Trade Way in only a few days. He said there was no need to hire any thugs off the street to guard the cargo, and the deal was so low that I wouldn't lose all that much if something unfortunate were to happen. Lo and behold, something unfortunate happened."

"Oh, that's no good." Dorothy frowned and took out a notepad from one of her pockets, then dipped a quill from an inkwell already present on the table. She began taking notes. "Are we talking bandits or monsters here, exactly?"

"A monster. Specifically, I'm informed a Lindwurm appeared and ate the horse before the wagoner was forced to abandon the cargo and run for his life."

"Really?" Dorothy paused and looked up from her notes. A momentary glimmer appeared in her weary eyes. "You rarely see Lindwurms venturing outside of their caves in this day and age! What a rare occurrence... I wonder what it was doing?" She tilted her head, her hand getting to work as it transitioned from taking informed notes to scribbling a doodle of the monster in question. "Perhaps it was looking for a mate, or- no... it's not the right season for that. Maybe-"

"Maybe it was hungry," Coye offered, hoping to get her back on track in a way that wouldn't embarrass her too much.

"Ah-" Her cheeks went red as she looked down at her notes and then at her client, whose business persona had cracked and was replaced by a rather amused grin. "Yes, that's right... that poor horse..."

Suzette snuck in a side glance at Coye and found it rather cute the way he enjoyed this passionate outburst. She found it amusing as well, and she definitely saw why Coye had a thing for this quirky woman who while lacking in elegance made up for it in personality by the shovelful.

"The horse is the least of my troubles," Suzette sighed. "The wagoner was forced to walk for a day on foot without food or water until he was picked up by a caravan, who took their sweet time bringing him here to share the news with me. He tells me that the Lindwurm carried off the wagon, likely to its den or what have you. I'm not sure what the creature would want with it, there was no food, but perhaps it wanted something to hoard?"

"Actually. Lindwurms don't hoard things. It's a common misconception that Lindwurms are related to dragons at all, they're much closer to snake than they are to-" Dorothy blinked, this time catching her trivia spouting all on her own. She lowered her head. "Ahaha, sorry. I do tend to get ahead of myself."

"You're absolutely fine, Miss Whittle." Suzette smiled.

'At least she's learning?' Shayla frowned at the nerd's inability to help herself.

"It likely took the wagon to see if there was anything worth using as nesting material. Otherwise, I don't see what it would want from it... can I ask what it is that you're hoping to accomplish with your quest, Suzette? I shouldn't have to tell you that Coye is only one adventurer and he won't be able to bring back an entire wagon full of goods by himself."

"I could try," Coye offered half-jokingly.

Suzette giggled at the offer but shook her head. "I merely wish for you to track the beast down, slay it, and determine the status of my wares. If you find that things are in good condition, then I'll hire some scavengers to go and fetch them for me. If not, I'm content knowing I paid to make the roads that much safer."

Dorothy finished writing her notes, which were now neatly formatted to accompany the unplanned sketch of a Lindwurm. "Alright, that should be all the information I need to fill this into a proper quest. Do you mind if I ask you something, off the record, though?"

"No, by all means." Suzette gave another friendly smile.

"I'm just wondering why you're going to the effort of even registering this formally through the Guild at all, when you and Coye are... together, and all."

"I was wondering why you wouldn't ask me directly, either..." Coye admitted.

"It's simple, Darling. Our relationship isn't transactional. Does it come with perks like discount on certain trading cards? Sure, but I wouldn't ever ask you to perform free labor for me just the same as you wouldn't take as you please from my store."

"Discounts on trading cards...?" Dorothy mumbled to herself as she looked over at Coye with a mix of jealousy and interest.

Given that Shayla was trying to remain true to her word that she would ease up on her distaste of the Guild Mistress, the Pixie sighed and offered a bit of advice. 'Seems as good a time as any to tell her you both share the same hobby, baby.'

Coye was already on the verge of telling her himself, but the advice was enough to push him over the edge. "Recently, I started collecting RealMonster cards."

"Really, now? I had no idea." Dorothy smiled and thoughtlessly leaned over the table with excitement, dropping her pen as she clasped her hands together. "You'll need to show me sometime, Coye! I've got... well, I guess you could call it quite the collection, myself."

"Yeah? I'd love to, Dorothy. I don't have very many, but-"

"That's ok! I'd love to see anyway." Dorothy smiled, and it was bright enough that it seemed to erase all her weariness and fill the room with bright, positive energy.

As Suzette looked at the two of them, she was dead certain something would happen between Coye and Dorothy sooner or later. Whether their chemistry was that obvious or Suzette's intuition was just that good, she looked forward to seeing what came of his little crush.

Dorothy once again became aware of her client and pulled away from her adventurer. "Damn it, Dorothy," she said as she clasped her forehead in shame. "I'm usually not this bad, I'm so sorry..."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Suzette reached across the table and patted the younger woman's hand reassuringly. Dorothy blushed at being touched by such a beautiful woman, almost thinking it was beneath Suzette to deign to do so. "Once this quest is all neatly wrapped up, I'd love for nothing more than the two of you to have a nice little play date with your little cards... emphasis on the date."

"Wuh..." Dorothy blinked as Coye blushed and looked at his lover and frowned.

"Oh, nothing. I suppose you're not the only one getting ahead of themselves, that's all."

For a moment, Dorothy was almost certain that this woman was suggesting she went on a date with Coye. That was silly. For one, this woman was Coye's lover... although, he did say he was looking for more, didn't he? No. Dorothy shook her head, she had to have misheard. She couldn't do that, anyway. It was right there in the Guild Master's Code of Conduct, after all.

But if it wasn't...?

She reddened, ashamed of her trailing thoughts yet again taking her in stranger and stranger directions. Card games and dates that most definitely wouldn't happen needed to be pushed aside for the moment, as the quest registration was far from down.

"I'm afraid that I have to speak up about something that has my concern. As things stand, I don't feel comfortable sending Coye off to battle a Lindwurm on its home turf. He'd likely have to track it to its den, where any number of things could happen. This isn't a job for one silver-ranked adventurer to handle on their own."

"And who said short-stuff would be going it alone, huh?" A familiar, scratchy voice called out to the group from behind the closed door. Byng then dramatically kicked said door open and appeared wearing her adventuring gear, her hands on her hips as she struck a pose.

"Hello, dear." Suzette said, nonplussed.

"Hey, Byng." Coye smiled casually.

"Oh. Byng. How nice of you to invite yourself." Dorothy said awkwardly.

Byng's wide smile turned into a frown as she crossed her arms. "The fuck? Why is everyone being so chill about my timely entrance! I waited for exactly the right moment, and this is the reception I get?"

"I'm more curious about how you knew we were back here," the Guild Mistress admitted.

Tammy poked her head into the backroom long enough to inform her, "By now it should be fairly obvious I do things based on whatever would most amuse me. I thought it would be funny if I told her. I admit I'm occasionally wrong in my judgements." She then resumed her activities in the other room.

Byng shrugged and dismissed her annoyance, then bent over and hung her arms around Coye's neck from behind. She gave her lover an affection peck on the cheek, causing him to blush, and then looked forward at their boss. "Anyways, think I can help out with this, Dotty? Never hunted a 'Lindwurm' thingy before, but hey, might be fun, gahaha!"

'I'm sure the three of us could handle it, don't you think, baby?'

Coye gave it some thought and agreed. "I'd love to have you along, Byng."

After another slight double take at the boy and both of his lovers, Dorothy tried not to focus on the surreal sight of them all together and instead focused her mind on work. "Well, you might have troubles piercing its scales with your arrows... but you'd likely be able to serve as a decent enough support role for Coye to take care of things. I see no reason not to send you both on the quest if that's what you'd like."

"Wait a second there, hold up! Decent enough?!" Byng stood up and tightened her fists. "I am wounded to hear that's how low you think of me! Wounded!"

“I’m sorry to say this, but unless you’re very advanced with your Arts or your arrows are made of extremely powerful material, then after a certain point being an archer is a liability.” Dorothy said even though she really didn’t want to. She hid her face as she did, hoping not too upset Byng.

“No, you’re right…” The upset archer groaned. “There’s only so much I can do with the flimsy crap you Karnallians use to make arrowheads.”

Suzette cupped her chin. She saw a chance to make some gold as well as help out someone she was beginning to care for. “I might have to talk to some of my sales acquaintances and see if I can’t set you up with better materials, Byng.”

“Eh, It’s no big deal. I’ll figure something out for myself!”

Coye smiled at the way his girlfriend dealt with her own limitations. Given how recently he was just upset over his lack of progress, it was nice to see someone who was a lot more relaxed about their progression. Not everything was worth worrying about all the time.

“Well, now that that’s all settled… do you want me to go ahead and give you what I think is a fair estimate?” Dorothy asked.

“Yes, by all means. Let’s finish up talking business.”

Dorothy presented a figure which Suzette opposed at first, which was all part of the game. They had a brief back-and-forth over the price which when taking out the handlers fee and the associations cut would come down to a nice, even 4,200G. Suzette didn’t argue as vigorously as she would have if this quest wasn’t going to her lover and his girlfriend, which Dorothy appreciated because she did not want to deal with a seasoned business woman in all her power.

‘Not bad. She really wasn’t kidding about wanting to respect your time, baby. That’s a pretty decent payday, even after you split it with Byng!’

Coye agreed, even though he really would’ve done this for free if she had asked.

“I also have one more thing to say about this before we wrap it up,” suzette announced and turned to face the boy. Her expression tensed and her eyes looked off into the distance.

Sensing that this was a delicate matter, Coye reached out and took her hand into his. “Everything ok?”

“Yes. Everything’s fine, I was going to say that there will be a special reward for you at the end of the quest so be sure to do your best for me. Alright, darling?”

‘Sweet! Now we’re talking.’ Shayla liked where this is going.

“Um, yeah? What did you have in mind?”

“You know. This is about that thing you were asking me about the other day, the thing I was hesitant about?”

Because of the vague wording and the somewhat embarrassed tone Suzette adopted in her speech, Dorothy came to the incorrect conclusion that the older woman was offering a sexual favor to Coye. She blushed bright red at the revelation, only for her to grow even more confused when Byng spoke up.

“Hell yeah! Now you can’t kick me out just because I smell bad!” The huntress announced by pumping a single fist into the air, though not high enough to reveal her armpit.

Coye, Who was clueless until now realized what Suzette was implying. She was referring to when he asked her if she knew anyone he could see about buying a house.

“Are you sure?” He asked, trying not to sound too excited. “I know that you were really upset at the idea the other day…”

“Not upset. Just hesitant. What I had in mind is somewhat of a big deal, but I can’t keep living in the past forever. I’m ready to move on, and by helping you out with your problem I’ll be able to do so.”

“Um…” Dorothy muttered to herself. Being a somewhat naïve girl, the guild mistress had no idea what they were talking about. It sounded like a big deal, which made her curious, but she didn’t want to pry into their lives or else she’d risk going past the point of appropriate professionalism. She and Coye Might’ve grown closer over the course of their talk the other day, but she wasn’t about to pry into what she thought was a conversation about his sex life.

Then, it occurred to Suzette that talking openly about extra rewards might be seen as a breach of guild policy. She looked up at the guild mistress and asked, “This isn’t against the rules or anything, is it? I should’ve checked before mentioning it in front of you, but-”

“Oh, no that’s quite all right. What are the two of you get up to in your relationship on your own time is in no way a matter of the guild, so long as the agreed-upon amount is, um, taken care of…”

Shayla looked at her with suspicion. She figured that at some point the guild mistress has gotten lost in the conversation, and she could only guess to what conclusions she was jumping into.

Before anyone else could catch on to her strange behavior, Dorothy moved the topic forward and began to discuss Lindwurms In much more detail to the two adventurers who had never fought one before. They were large reptiles – very large – and they shouldn’t be underestimated. Ranging from 20 to 50 feet long, it could almost certainly swallow both of them and have room for more. Like dragons, the species is able to breathe fire and for that reason Dorothy stressed how Venturing forward into their lair should be avoided at all costs. Luring the monster out would be more advantageous, as you really didn’t want to be caught in a tight, underground cave with nowhere to run.

Once her heavy-handed exposition had come to an end, Coye Went on to ask his Guild mistress if there were any special parts he should look into harvesting if he wanted to make an extra profit. Dorothy gave it some thought, but she didn’t think harvesting from a Lindwurm was a one person job. To really get into its innards and dig out what was most valuable would take a team of skilled butchers, so she suggested he focus on getting his typical picks. Eyes, tongue, teeth and claws. She did recommend that he bring backsome of the creatures spines, as those could be grounded up into a powder used in some medicines.

Dorothy seemed as if she had Something else to say, but she was having trouble expressing herself. In another act of mercy, Shayla prodded the boy into asking her for her thoughts.

‘I think she wants something from you, baby. Might as well ask her what’s on her mind.’

Coye looked closer at Dorothy and saw that she was fidgeting in place, looking back down at the doodle of the monster she made. “Was there anything else, Dorothy?” He asked in a friendly manner.

“What? Oh. No, no it’s nothing… Just I was only thinking that if you’re going to be harvesting some of its parts anyway then…”

“Come on girl! Spit it out already!” Byng encouraged.

“Yes, it’s like I always tell my darling here. Honesty will get you everywhere.” Suzette covered her mouth and giggled.

Dorothy blushed as she hardened herself to make a selfish request. She never had asked a personal favor from an adventurer like this, but if it was Coye, then there was a good chance he might actually do it for her. He was always so helpful and kind…

“Well, if you really wanted to know I was thinking that I would really like One of the Lindwurm’s scales for myself. But only if it wouldn’t be too much trouble! The last thing I want to do is-”

“Of course I can do that,” Coye smiled. “I’ll bring you any part of it you want, Dorothy.”

“Coye…” she muttered his name, emotions rising within her.

“Sheesh. Do we need to leave you two alone for a little while?” Byng Smirked from ear to ear, wanting to tease the two without pushing them too far and risking ruining things.

“W-What? Byng, no. That’s-” Dorothy grew embarrassed at the thought, even though she and Coye Had spent plenty of alone time together in the past Discussing work and monsters.

Suzette had her back. She knew that Dorothy would be a tough nut to crack, and also that it would spoil everything if they got in Coye’s way. She spoke up, “all jokes and teasing aside, thank you for always looking after my darling and taking such good care of him. You’re so thorough when it comes to discussing monsters, it’s no wonder he always comes home safely.”

“Think nothing of it. It’s my job!” Dorothy smiled nervously, latching on to an excuse to get away from Byng and her prodding. “I take as good care of him as anyone else here. There’s no favoritism going on or anything, really…”

Suzette and Byng exchanged looks while Coye Took her defensive, the more seriously and frowned. Shayla simply rolled her eyes and fought back against her desire to undermine her own recent attempts to work past her distaste of Dorothy. Changing was hard and she wouldn’t fully be OK with the idea of Coye and her hooking up for a while, at any rate.

Given that all was taken care of as far as the two adventurers went, they said their goodbyes to Suzette which for Coye meant another long and drawn out kiss in front of the woman he’d been in love with for two years now, and then the two of them took off to prepare for the quest ahead.

Suzette stayed behind, as she still had to fill out some forms to properly register the quest, but she was already feeling quite relieved. Even if she didn’t get her merchandise back, getting to spend some time with her beloved at his place of work and seeing How he interacted with this his bumbling boss was worth far more than a measly 4,200G.