A/N I don't own anything other than my OCs
Ch. 15 City fun pt. 1
Cailan POV
Waking to the vision of my Anora made everything real. I knew Ferelden needed protecting but it always felt too big, I couldn't protect it all, Anora narrowed it all down. She is my Ferelden, and she needs me to be at my best. The smell of breakfast was the thing that woke me up fully, Nick you're Maker sent.
"My Queen~?"
"Mmmm~?" she buried into my chest.
"I'm going to get you some breakfast." she petted my face.
"Mmm~." she flopped over allowing me to get up but gave herself enough leverage to reach out and pinch my buns. Sweet Maker, is she more handsy than normal? I got dressed and rushed into the kitchen.
'POP! POP! POP!' Andraste's flaming knickers! Confetti fell around me. Looking around the kitchen I found a confused Dagna, Ayla, and Sereda holding small empty cups.
"Ugh?"
"Congratulations!" Nick called out holding a plate of pancakes and bacon. "My boy has become a man!"
"He-he-he. Good job, heard ya from my room, but I'm not sure if that was your lady or you. Either way, good job." Oghren cheered holding his own popper.
"Maker be kind, were we really that loud?" My face is going to erupt.
"Relax, we're only teasing. You look good though, like a mountain has been lifted off your shoulders."
"Yes, Anora has always been the wisdom I never use, but... now that she's safe, what do we do? Loghain is her father but also a traitor. To kill him, would be to kill my wife's father, and if I don't, a traitor to Fereldan walks free." the room when quiet.
"Just make him a Warden." we all just looked at Nick like he grew a second head. "What?"
"Make him a warden?!" Aeden barked. "He had Howe as a right-hand man!"
"I'm not saying it's the best answer, but by making him a warden he can no longer be part of the nobility-"
"Stripping him of any political power," Duncan added.
"And I don't have to kill him, but we just can't make a king regent into a Grey Warden, that would make every kingdom wary of Wardens." I finished.
"True, so we got to win the lands meet, after we win you can order him to join the Wardens for his crimes, which we have a mountain of evidence of and witnesses like that slaver-"
"Caladrius." Zevran clarified.
"And the blood mage."
"Jowan." Neria hissed.
"And let's not forget about the injured civilians we have sleeping in the other guest rooms." Right, nearly forgot about them, nick ended up magically expanding one of the guest rooms and providing some extra bedding.
"How are they?"
"they're out of danger, but their time down there will leave some scars and not only physically."
"Can you do the same thing you did with me when I was... tranquil?" Neria's voice grew quiet by the time she finished her question.
"I can and have, but it still sticks with you, they'll still remember what happened, and it's going to take some time before they can truly be at peace with what happened." we grew quiet again, feck. "Don't worry too much, we mortals are nothing if not resilient. Time, food, and help, and we tend to get back on our feet in no time."
"Here's to that!" Oghren to a swig of his juice. "Mmmm~, love me some orange juice. Now, what are we doing today!?"
"I'm going to deliver my fine wife some breakfast." everyone just cheered at me as I made my leave, letting loose more poppers. So embarrassing.
-/-
Lyna POV
This is it! After studying Nick's golems, I think I figured out the rune that changed electricity to mana. Julee's a bloody master at this! Tracing the rune on paper was easy but copying it on steel is stupidly difficult. This one line was a bitch, it was a simple straight down line with a slight curve at the bottom.
"Careful... careful... care-"
"LYNA!" my hand jerked.
"Shit!" I groaned. "Sera! What did I tell you about disturbing me when I'm working!? It's dangerous in here!" she's going to get hurt one of these days.
"You need to get out of your house! Why is it so Dark!? Hey what's that!?" she rushed over to the lamb Julee gifted me.
"It's a lamp, it uses magic to create light." I sighed; I'm going to have to get a new steel plate.
"Magic!?" she made a gagging noise. "Who needs it?"
"Sera, what do you want?"
"Uh? Oh! Yer girlfriends are here." I felt a blush crawl up my face "and what's his face. The one with the glowing eyes, what a creep. Can ya imagine running into him in a dark alley? Ack! But I bet ya like that huh!?" she started making kissing noises. this little brat. "Ya think they know the Raven!? Bet they got in Raven's way as he saved the day!? Buncha chumps!"
"Okay! Okay. I thank you for telling me." she stuck out her hand, giving me the gimmie-gimme motion.
"Messengers get paid." THIS PUNK! I gave her 2 coppers. "Two coppers? Kinda cheap." I point to the door.
"Get out of here!" she booked it. I looked over to my mirror. My hair's a mess~! I gave myself a whiff, still smelled like that soap in Nick's guest room, nice~, and my clothes were ok~, maybe if I remove my apron? Better... I guess. I think Julee likes the wild look and Sky just wants me, such thirsty eyes~. She's lucky Ava's into that. Mmm~, I brought up the girls a little making sure I could see my cleavage, but there's nothing wrong with being a tall mug of water once in a while. Walking out my door I found Sera talking up Julee, for a moment I thought it was Jak but Julee was slightly taller and has longer hair.
"Alright, I called her, cough up horn lady!" That little shit! Julee smiled and handed her, A GOLD COIN!? Sera's eyes looked ready to pop out of her skull. "T-Thank you, ma'am! Is there anything you need Ma'am!? Water? Food? Uh... A tour, maybe!?" she saluted Julee like a soldier.
"No~, but thank you." she patted Sera's hair straight a bit, she looked like a mom happy to see her child have fun. "But Sky's looking for Ava, if you can help there's another coin in it for ya~." she flashes her another gold coin. She zoomed past everyone like they weren't there.
"She gonna try and rob you blind~," I warned. Her wholesome smile turned predatory.
"Lyna~!" she opened her arms wide and walked towards me. "You look great!" she wrapped me up in her warm arms that beat back the winter cold. She smelled great, strawberries, I think. "And smell great. Ya smell like cinnamon." oh is that what that is? It just smelled good to me. "Hey? Umm, something happened last night," she whispered into my ear, her voice sounded worried. "Is it ok for us to talk in private?"
"Oh! Uhhh? S-sure." I led her to my house, only to freeze. My house is a mess!
"Lyna?" she came up behind me, her very soft breasts pressing across my back. "Is everything okay?"
"uh! Yea! Just uhhhh~." she giggled. Gods what a sound.
"Messy lab~?" My face was burning up. "hehehe~ it's okay. I tend to have a messy lab too."
"But-"
"Nicky made small golems that would clean up after me when I cause a mess, rune making is a messy art." she placed her hands on my hips, sending shivers up my spine. "Can I see your lab~?" she whispered, I felt nervous and my heart was beating like crazy! Why is this so nerve-racking!
"T-then, welCOme!" MY VOICE CRACKED! Please just bury me where I stand! Julee just hugged me tighter.
"Thank you~, a scholar's lab is their safe haven, so thank you for allowing me to enter." her breath smelled sweet. As we walked into my house, I realized that we were all alone. My mouth was going dry.
My house isn't very big, I lived with Ava not wanting to live with pops forever. The apartment had three rooms, my room where I kept most of my tools and bed, Ava's room, and the living room, the largest room where I do most of my work. We dug into the city's old sewer system, some kind of collapse sealed off a good chunk of the underground, I'm thinking an earthquake or something during the war, we keep Raven stuff down there.
"You were making runes?" huh? She rushed over to the table looking at my failures.
"Oh, uh, well, a little?" Julee rushed over to me cupping my cheeks, I'm never getting rid of this blush.
"Can I see!?"
"Aren't you a runes expert?" she shrugged.
"I could be a runes master and I would still love to see you work~." her smile lit up my living room. Damn what a woman~.
"Oh, uh okay, but uh weren't you going to ask for something?"
"Ah, you're right. Have you heard about last night?"
"The Arl turning into a 30-foot super demon wanting to kill everyone? Sera's been telling everyone with ears about how the Raven defeated the demon and saved the day." Julee giggled.
"She really loves the Raven huh?" I huffed.
"That brat's going to get hurt, she needs to stay safe not looking for the Raven." If the king wasn't there last night she could have died, and she's walking around as if nothing happened. Kids are scary.
"Hopefully with Cailan's return and Nick helping the city, the Raven can rest." I blinked at her.
"Huh?"
"From what I understand the people believe the Raven appeared because of the injustice and crimes done by the corrupt nobles. Hopefully, with things getting better the Raven will rest." I... never thought about that. Is the Raven's time coming to an end?
"Uh, well here's to hoping. Soooo~, what did you need?"
"Right, I keep getting distracted. That's a nice shirt by the way." Lyna scores! "Our group, joined by the Raven infiltrated the Arl's estate last night." She proceeded to tell me the parts Ava wasn't there for, she stopped before the encounter with Howe though. "Nick was hoping you could help the victims with missing limbs. He's willing to pay you anything you wish... within reason." I looked her in the eyes.
"Anything?" her eyes glowed like the sun behind her glasses. Gulp. Her tail slowly reached out touching my thigh, my heart was pounding, and my mind felt fuzzy.
"Is there... something you want?" She stepped forward and I backed away slowly only to hit the wall. "Maybe I have something you want?" She placed her hands to my side, pinning me to the wall. She's... taller than I remember and her breasts were... larger than I remember. "Lyna~," she used her tail to tilt her head to face her, "what do you want~?" she lowered her lips closer. Goodbye, 4-year dry spell~!
"MS. JULIA!" The door slams open revealing Sera.
"Yes, Sera?" Wha? In the blink of an eye, Julee teleported across the room and onto the couch and acted like she wasn't about to do all kinds of naughty things to me.
"I helped Miss Sky find Ava!" Sera marched into my house as if she owns it.
"Thank you so much Sera~! Your payment." She handed her a gold coin. Sera sat down next to her and started playing with the gold coin.
"Sera." I couldn't keep my annoyance from my voice. "shouldn't you be with Lady Emmald?" leave~!
"Nah! She's not feeling too well, she sent me away. Hey... Ms. Julee... can you help her?" her quivering voice cemented my lonely night.
"Oh darling, of course! Let's go get Ayla!" she lifted Sera into her chest and started walking out the door. "Lyna sweety, can you tell Nick your answer?" Before I got to say anything, she gave me a soft goodbye kiss leaving me breathless. "Bye~"
"Uh, um, you, huh?" words! I need words!
"gross~!" Sera gagged. Julee giggled at her reaction and walked out of the house closing the door with her tail.
"OKAY!" Ugh! Okay? Is that the best I got? I dusted my shirt, next time. Knocking at my door got my attention. "Who is it!?" opening the door a crack revealing a smiling Nick.
"Yo! Julee said ya needed me? Nice shirt."
"Thanks. Come in." maybe it was Julee, or it was Nick's nonchalant attitude, but I wasn't as nervous as before. "Thought you'd be busy?" he shrugged.
"People are moving their stuff outside before I magic up a new building. So, I'm guessing Julee told you about my proposal?" He walked over to my work desk and looked over my rune working. If I squinted, he and Julee had the same look at my work. "Hey, can I see you work on runes?"
"... aren't you a runes expert?"
"I wish, I'm more like a journeyman. Still, I would love to see you work." Julee? I patted his chest. Flat. He gave me a strange look.
"Oh! Uh, sorry. It's just, Julee just said the same thing." he gave a throaty chuckle. Gods his laugh seemed to vibrate my whole body.
"I can see that. I'm not sure how many other rune makers you've seen but most of us have little quirks that make it easier to apply runes. I cheat, wanna see?" What do I have to lose?
"Sure." He proceeded to summon a steel sheet around palm size, which I found unfair. I had to lug around my shit everywhere. He proceeded to... tap the sheet? Runes started appearing on the sheet spreading out from where he tapped, the rune finished and began to glow, before a sphere of light appeared lighting up my room.
"Simple right?" Andraste's freckled butt-cheeks!
"that's not fair!" grabbing the sheet I flipped it over trying to find the trick he used. "How?"
"Magic," he answered with a smug grin. I'ma punch him.
"Do it again but this time with some of my metal." reaching over to the desk grabbing some scrap, and this time I got real close to the metal. Again, he tapped the metal and the runes started spreading through the metal. Like before, the runes finished and began to glow forming another sphere of light. "Ya a damn cheat." He chuckled, shaking my house again, and bringing a blush to my face, I hate his stupid handsome face.
"I aim to please. So, can you help us with Howe's victims?" uh? Oh yeah.
"Um, I might, but I need supplies. Ava's arm was no joke, it took me over a month, and it wasn't cheap."
"Lyna, name your price."
"I need a blacksmith's workshop."
"Mother Base and all of its metals are at your disposal." Woah~, Julee, gave me a tour of Mother base, it was one of the most impressive workshops I have ever seen, and I've seen Wade's shop.
"I'm not cheap." He put a small bag on the table.
"50 gold coins in that bag. As a start."
"kinda small?" I lifted it, it almost weighed nothing.
"It's a bag of holding." Wha? "it's bigger on the inside. And yes, you can keep it." opening the bag the inside looked pitch black. I put a finger up to the knuckle, hand, and finally up to my shoulder. No matter how deep I went I couldn't reach the bottom.
"Uh?"
"Think of gold coins." true to his words my hands felt metal. I brought out a hand full of glittering gold coins.
"Woah~." I let them fall back into the bag.
"As long as it could fit in the lip it can be stored in the bag." I immediately started shoving things into the bag. Metal, spoon, rock, cup, fruit, awesome! "Should I take this as a, yes?" that stopped me halfway through trying to shove a chair into the bag.
"mmm~," I gave a quick look around my place. "I also get to design my place."
"Deal. Is that all?"
"Ummm~, ya know about Ava, right?"
"That she's the Raven? Yep." I nodded.
"I want you and the others to help me make her new armor." with Julee and Nick's help Ava will be unbeatable.
"I don't see why not."
"... and you won't get angry ifIsleepwithJulee!" he just looked at me for a long moment... before laughing! "HEY! WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!?"
"Lyna~." He smirked while taking a seat on my couch. Leaning back as if he's done it a thousand times. "It was her smirk, right?"
"Huh?" wha?
"Her smirk. It drives me wild." Wha? "So cocky~. Like-"
"Like she won something!" He nodded at my comment. "I just wanna-!" I flailed my arms about, trying to get my point across.
"Make her bend to your might."
"YES! Show her who's boss!" my breathing was coming out heavy.
"Oh Lyna~," he put his hand around me... when did I get on the couch? "She gots ya."
"Wha?" He was a lot closer than before; his eyes are amazing. Like no secret is too hidden for him to find. He gave me a book. "The Paladin and the Stable Boy?"
"She tends to jump between the female leads, but she loves to be the villainess most of all." I flipped through the book finding some pictures. I couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. Nick grabbed the book tilting it 70 degrees making an image appear. HOLY SHIT! I snatched the book slamming it shut.
"You're giving me smut!?" My face is about to explode with all the blood rushing to my cheeks. He just laughed, I slapped his chest, the jerk.
"I'm just trying to give you a fighting chance. What's the last thing she did before she left?" there is no way I'm telling him that! "She had you up against a wall~?" AHH! He's reading my mind! "I'm not reading your mind." Liar! "Page 139. The evil witch tries to seduce John." I gave him a glare but still flipped to the page. Giving it a quick read, holy shit! He was right! The evil witch Ramona had John up against the wall just like Julee had me in, even the part where the Paladin Susan interrupted the witch's plan. Sera, Lady Emmald better be sick!
"Lady Emmald?"
"She dropped by to talk to Valendrian, Ayla already healed her." I'm going to kill that brat! "Now all you can think of was how good her lips were," so good~, "her soft hands," so soft, "her inviting eyes demanding you sin." what sin? "she'll have you by the end of the week, which you should be happy to know is longer than I thought." how long did you have me holding out? "But seeing you light up like a tomato tells me that you will be waking up in her bed in no time."
"How are you so calm about this? I might-"
"Will."
"Sleep with Julee." I finished annoyed at his interruption. He just looked at me with the same smirk Julee had.
"Because Lyna~." He leaned closer, his breath smelling of mint. "She has you wrapped around her little finger~." the nerve of this butt-face. Him and his stupid beautiful blue eyes.
"So are you!" I hissed at him, but his smirk didn't move.
"Yep. I'm not going to deny that, that woman has some crazy power over me." his smirk turned to a smile. "And ya too. Welcome to the club~. We have t-shirts." He backed away, taking his warmth with him. He was also wearing a shirt that spelled out 'I like them horny~!' with a cute cartoon picture of Julee and Sky giving a thumbs up, what kinda shirt is that!? Did he always have that on? "Here, for you." He also gave me a shirt that I'm never going to wear.
"I'm never going to wear this."
"That's your choice, but it is one of the most comfortable shirts you'll ever have~." like I'm going to believe that. "So will I be seeing you at Mother Base?" I gave him a long look before nodding.
"Yeah. I don't see why not." He gave me a salute before walking out the door. I look at the shirt in my hands. So dumb... Gods damnit! He was right! It was warm and it hugged me in all the right places.
"What are you wearing?" Ava's voice made me jump three feet in the air.
"AVA!? What are you doing here?" Don't look! I covered the words.
"I live here." oh yeah.
"What are you wearing?" she had a shirt with the words 'I like big ears and I cannot lie' with a Neria and Theron giving a thumbs up.
"Nick is selling a bunch of clothes for a few coppers a bundle." she lifted a bunch of cloth bags.
"How many have weird phrases?"
"... all of them."
Of course.
-/-
Nick POV
Alright~! With Lyna and Julee's genius, those men and women resting in Eamon's estate will be back on their feet in no time.
"Hey! Let us out of here! And if not all of us at least me." One of the prisoners yelled from the cages. The cages paid for themselves in less than a week. Most of these guys were just drunks, disorderly conduct, vandalism, or public indecency? Good lord. I had the golems hang signs of their crimes; public humiliation is one of the worst punishments for minor crimes, Valendrian agreed.
"Oh, calm down. The golems will open the door when you sober up." Valendrian called out.
"I am sober!" Valendrian just looked at him. "Mostly! I'm mostly sober!" the elf corrected. Dude, it's like 10 in the morning? Is it the unclean water? I mean alcohol would be safer than drinking dirty water, but my golem would only put you in a drunk tank if you were way over the limit. Is my blood/alcohol method too much? I did use Oghren as a base sample. "How long do I have left?" the golem lifted one finger.
"Your blood/alcohol level will reach an appropriate level in one hour. Please drink liquids." the golem ordered pulling out a mug and filling it with water from one of its many runes and passing it over to him, the elf just sigh taking the glass and slowly drinking the liquid. I put everything I could think of in my golems, first aid including water runes, gas mask, dry rations, mugs, plates, flint for fires, and immense strength, ya know for those pesky problems that try and kill you. And that was just what I thought was first aid, it also had some weapons.
"mmm~, fresh." the drunk nodded. I should build a water tower in case of an emergency.
As I walked past the cages I stopped at the face of a man.
"Roland~." the man snapped his eyes to me and froze. "Why is he here?" I asked the golem in front of the cell.
"This individual was found attacking a woman."
"Who?" Roland looked nervous but knew he couldn't go anywhere.
"She called herself a lady of the night." a prostitute.
"Was beating your wife not enough?" I asked. Roland stayed quiet. "I thought that if I scared ya a bit you would calm down, curing your liver would stop you from living your life like there was no tomorrow. What's his punishment?"
"The guards were called but will take some time due to the panic at the Arl's estate." The golem replied. Part of me wants to walk into that cell and disarm him. To maim him to the point where he can't hurt anyone else again. Another part told me to allow the legal system to do its job; the people of this city need to see their system working.
"Mmm. Next time Roland." I warned and walked away. Walking past the remaining cells I passed a very drunk Nelaros.
"Well, if it isn't the freak lover~." Love me tenderly, not even Oghren's gotten this bad. I could use his breath as a disinfectant. "Come to laugh~! Like the rest of these sheep!?" I looked around finding no one but the Golem guard. "I had it all you know? The prettiest girl, her equally hot sister, a good job, money~." why in the hell is he telling me any of this? Gods has he been complaining to the golem this whole time? "So, I gloated a little bit to Kendells! How was I supposed to know he was going to kidnap Lyna?" Dude, that guy's ego could float a blimp and have enough hot air left to lift a couple of hot air balloons. "Sure, I probably shouldn't have said that I at least had a spare sister." Dawg! "And then tried to play it off as nothing happened and force Ava to marry me." Come on~. "And then flirted with Shianni."
"Alright! Alright! Please stop! I got it you made some mistakes. We all make mistakes... just, try and do better... and stop day drinking, it's not good for your health." I definitely need to make that freshwater system.
"What do you know about mistakes~!? You with the power and the women, with all your power to create and heal. You can do no wrong." I felt the venom and spit from here.
"hehehehehHEHEHEEHHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHHAHAHAAH!" my god I needed that. "No wrong? What the hell are you talking about Nero?"
"Nelaros!"
"I make mistakes all the damn time! I tend to do what I want when it strikes me, I wanna help people but slaughter a group of cultists and bandits and sleep like a baby. Some of them no doubt had families, friends, and children they need to take care of, but in my need to keep my loved ones safe I determined that their lives meant nothing to me." I looked him straight in the eye. "We are not perfect Nelaros, we are flawed mortals trying to do what we can to help the people we love. We aren't almighty beings that win at every turn, we fail. It sucks, sure, but being flawed gives us the ability to grow." why am I even telling this guy anything? The man looks sloshed. Maybe that's why, two people that mean nothing to one another screaming out their grievances.
"I've fallen too far." he looked defeated, slumping against the bars.
"It's never too late Nelaros. The good thing about hitting rock bottom, is that there's no other way to go but up. People need help moving their things in and out of their new places. Help, don't help, choice is yours." I walked away, I have more runes and buildings to make.
-/-
The alienage is a bit of a strange place. From what I understand and have been told about the alienage, is that this is where the elves, elf-born, and poor tend to live, then they are surrounded by a wall to keep them in case of revolt, it was a gated community in the middle of the city, it even had a moat. I say wall but it's more like planks of wood slapped together and somehow became a wall. The wall made the elves grow up and not out, explaining the multi-level shacks. I ended up creating over 10 houses and helped add runes. The elves were ecstatic at their new homes, they were still iffy on the golems but they seem to tolerate them.
I got a bit artsy and removed the wood that made up the wall and replaced it with a 40-foot stone wall 10 feet wide. It did encroach in the moat but I didn't really care and if anyone has any problems, they can take it to Cailan. It's good to not be the king sometimes. I also made large golem statues that were meant to keep the alienage safe in case the darkspawn invaded the city, a real Hogwarts protection method. I tried to make them look like elven heroes of legend, but I only knew like 3, Andruil, it gave me shivers looking at it, Shartan, that one elf that worked with Andraste, and Ava in her full Raven outfit. So, I just... Kinda... patted it a little.
"Is that Spider-man?" asked Dagna next to me.
"... Nope." yep, "Come on let's see if there are any restaurants open!" she grabbed my sleeve before I got too far away.
"Nick... it's 8 at night according to this watch you gave me. Nothing but bars are open at this time. Not every place has mage light to beat back the night." she stated pointing her thumb into the city that looked pitch black dotted with torches and then back to the alienage which had light poles using mage light to illuminate the street which was guarded by golems.
"Right~. So back to Mother base for dinner and a movie?"
"Nicky~! Dagny~!" Sky came over carrying a blushing Ava. "Annie and Lyna going to live with us!" I looked over to Ava.
"Jak allowed Lyna to live in your flying island for as long as it takes to make her mechanical limbs, and I'm going to keep an eye on her." she narrowed her eyes at me. "And you."
"Gasp! You don't trust me?!" I grab my heart acting as if I've been struck.
"Not as far as I can throw you. Jak warned me about your... evil hands."
"Gasp! I only use my hands for good! And sometimes naughty things." Sky nodded enthusiastically at my words.
"It's true! His hands feel amazing! You should try it!" Ava's face just got redder before lifting a piece of paper. Sky reads it and gains one of the saddest faces I have ever seen. She gently puts Ava down and walks over to Dagna and me, and just hugged us. The hell's on that paper?
"My stay of execution." she summed up reading my mind. Sky turned to Ava with a determined look on her face.
"No one is infallible Ava Tabris. I can't take you, but you can take me." she walked up to a calm Ava. "I wonder~. How long can you hold yourself back? Nicky!?"
"Yes Ma'am!?"
"I need sexy clothes!"
"What kind!?"
"ALL OF THEM!" Gods, why is her serious self so sexy?
"Don't you think you guys are taking this too far?" Dagna joined the conversation. Sky and I gave her blank looks.
"Make her sexy clothes too," Sky ordered.
"Of course." Dagna punched me but she didn't have Natia's strength, so it felt more like an annoyed kitten.
"Don't make me things I don't want!"
"Are you sure? Jak would love to see you in some sexy clothes~." she started coughing at my teasing.
"What!? Why would I care about that?" she inched closer. "How 'sexy' are we talking?" she whispered. I brought out some designs Lily, Zevran, and I made. I put them in a sexy journal, it was a normal journal but had the word 'sexy' in bright pink loopy font on the cover. It wasn't too crazy, at first. Lily wanted to make fancy undergarments but still wanted the normal everyday woman to afford them. It only got lewder and kinkier as we went deeper and deeper into the book. By the midway point, Dagna looked ready to pop at some of the designs. "I can't wear any of this!" she slammed the book shut.
"Don't worry I'll give you some of the milder stuff," I whispered back. She blushed at me.
"That's not the problem!" she hissed. "Who would wear something like that?"
"I will." Sky stated with a fearless look. She was on the hunt. Dagna just looked at her for a moment before a bit of drool came out of her mouth.
"Nice," she muttered cleaning her mouth. This little perv. I couldn't be prouder.
"Excuse me, are you finished?" we all turned to Ava, arms crossed giving us a blank look. Sky coughed and put on her game face and giving Ava a huge smile.
"Yes! Of course, sorry about that. Allow me to escort you to your new home." Whoa~, she's going full lady killer. She extended her elbow for Ava to hold, Ava didn't look impressed but took her offer anyway.
"so~, what movie should we watch?" I asked.
"Princess Bride?"
"Princess Bride."
-/-
"It's like a play in your own home!" Lyna touched and played with the TV trying to figure out how it worked. "Tell me elf man! How did you get in the thin box!?" most of our group was here, we were missing Duncan, Cailan, Sten, Shayle, Aeden, Wynne, and Morrigan were still at Eamon's estate.
"The battle of wits has begun-" Westley, played by fantasy Cary Elwes who was a dashing half-elf, said to fantasy Wallace Shawn's character a goblin.
"Tell me your secrets!"
"Lyna! Sit down, we can't see the movie." I complained. "It's magic! Please sit down." she turned to me with the look of a mad woman.
"Magic? Magic!? MAGIC!? By the void, what does that mean!? Do you know what that means? Did you purchase this thing without knowing how it works?! Do you just buy things and randomly put them in your house?! Have you lost your mind!?" Slipping into the Gamer's store, I quickly bought a how-to book on TV creation.
"Here I got the instruction manual!" I summoned the book tossing it to Ava. Lyna rushed over to her sister snatching the book and reading it like crazy.
"Ugh! Why is the writing so strange?" Lyna's complaint was valid, Thedasian English wasn't earth English, it was a bit more Shakespearean, which was interesting cause according to Sereda, Dwarves taught early men how to write, I guess the written language changed over time.
"Different culture," I explained watching Westley trick Vizzini with the poison. I don't know what it is about watching movies I've already seen with fantasy characters but it just made it better, Harrison Ford was a dwarf, Johnny Depp was an elf, Will Smith was a Tiefling, it was kinda cool.
"Wait, this says it needs lightning?"
"Electricity."
"How?"
"Runes."
"Hey! Take your questions out of here, I'm trying to enjoy a movie." Lily complained chucking some popcorn at me. I wasn't asking the questions.
"I will!" Lyna jumped to her feet and raced down the stairs probably to the armory where I keep the blacksmith's workshop. She's been here like a day and a half and knows Mother Base like the back of her hand.
"I'll help!" Julee ran after her.
"Should we be worried?" Dagna asked leaning next to me eating my popcorn. I told her not to eat her popcorn before the movie started, classic mistake.
"Nah~. They'll probably bond over making it." probably end up making out. More popcorn hit me in the face.
"Keep it down~." I returned fire, hitting Lily in the face. "It's in my hair! You fox!" that's an insult? This time I opened my mouth catching some of her return fire.
"How childish~." Sky drawled leaning back in her seat. She was wearing a toga with a short skirt revealing most of her legs as she crossed them. I didn't know she watched Basic Instinct, I wasn't sure if she was wearing anything under there but from Ava's and Ayla's blushing faces, she might not. "Don't you agree Lady Tabris." she smiled ever so smugly.
"Uh, um, I. No! I find it whimsical~." Ava snapped out of Sky's sexy trap. She was then pelted with popcorn.
"Keep it down!" I yelled launching a handful of buttery popcorn at her. She didn't like that, and without saying a word she launched a handful at me, thinking fast I lifted Dagna as a meat shield.
"Gak! Ya butt-face!" she grabbed some popcorn and shoved it in my face.
"AH! I'm going to smell butter for a week!" she was able to jump away before I got the chance to retaliate.
"Yeah! get him Dagny!" Astral cheered.
"Hey! You're my sister!?" I grabbed a hand full of popcorn, "You're supposed to be on my side!" I chucked it at her, but it phased right through her and hit Sky dirtying her dress. "Oops." Sky just looked at the mess her new sexy dress became, and gave me a look that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Instead of grabbing a handful of popcorn, she chucked her whole tub. Throwing myself to the ground I saw it sail overhead and hit Jakky, sticking to her horn.
"Oops." Sky whispered. Everything was quiet.
"AS YOU WISH!" Westley screamed as he fell down the hill.
"We all make mistakes~." Sky whimpered. Too bad it was drowned out by Oghren's obnoxious laughter.
"HAHAHAHAH! Look at your face!" Sereda and Zevran inched away from him. "Ya was getting comfy then BAM to the dome!" he was silenced by the very same bucket landing on his head. "... you do understand, that this means war."
"Don't waste fo-" I cut off Sereda with a hand full of popcorn.
"Quiet down! I'm watching a movie!" I yelled.
"EAT BUTTER!" she launched some popcorn at me, and with that, the war started.
It was brutal. The rules came and went but only one stayed, Ya made noise you were targeted. Many didn't make it, Alistair was the first to go, he didn't take it seriously and walked into no-man land and got destroyed. Elissa fell quickly after him trying to get his buttery corpse out of no-man land, but we were petty beasts and still pelleted them with popcorn from time to time. Alliances were made, and betrayed. The Mighty Dwarves coalition was betrayed by Oghren after I bribed him with whiskey. The dragon masters last less than 10 seconds cause Astral tried to take control and Sky buried her in popcorn. The elven freedom fighters seemed like the most stable group but they didn't coordinate well making them easy pickings. In the end, only one stood victorious!
Theron, mostly because he sat in one place and saw the movie.
War, war never changes.
-/-
"Make sure you clean every scale," Sky ordered shampooing her hair.
"I am~." At the moment I was taking a bath with my ladies. We used cleaning scales to remove all the popcorn and butter, but the feeling was still there so we ended up taking a bath, well it was more like Sky demanded a bath. I was in the process of hand scrubbing every scale on her body, she was a bit upset that I got in the way of her seduction, and I had to make it up to her.
"Ya played some dirty tricks out there Nick~, "Nat sighed as she laid in the quite honestly huge tub, this place looked more like a Japanese bathhouse. Thank you magic.
"all's fair in love and war~." she clicked her teeth.
"The cheaters excuse." that got a chuckle from me. Feck me I needed this.
"I really missed a fun time~." Julee pouted. Bringing Nat into her lap.
"Pah-lease, I bet you were all over Lyna, that poor elf." Nat teased making squeezing gestures in the air.
"Not really~." Julee gave a loving sigh. "She was so invested in making a TV that all I could do was watch her work~. Like when Nicky cooks, or when you dance, or when Sky makes new jewelry."
"Dance?" Nat gave her a confused look.
"Of course, dance! You move like water! I'm unsure if it's because of your training or cause you're gifted, but every time you move, it is like a living water moving past every obstacle." she smirked. "But I got you~, My Naughty Nat~."
"Ooooh~! Watch those hands Hooooope~." Nat moaned.
"Nicky~." Sky pouted. Good lord woman, make up your mind, full polish or brief clean. I patted her tail.
"You're clean." she grabbed me and jumped into the bath.
"Sky no jumping in the tub~," Jak warned as I came up beside her. "You give her too much freedom."
"Sorry honey~, but I'm a weak man when it comes to you ladies." she huffed and sat on my lap. We watched Sky lurk toward the girls like a crocodile before pouncing.
"Ahhh! Sky~! What are you doing with that tail!?" Nat gasped
"How are you?" Jak whispered to me.
"... I'm ok." she grabbed my face and stared at me. "... I can't get Hespith and Laryn out of my head."
"Is that why you've gone overboard with the protectiveness?"
"Overboard?" have I been going overboard?
"You were always protective. I think it happened when you... came back, but I'm not too sure, I didn't know you back then." thinking back, she was right, after my death I started going a bit mad with the defensiveness, the armor, Mother Base, the fact that I was becoming more ruthless. I really have changed.
"Is that a bad thing?" she shrugged.
"I love you, so I tend not to mind too much, and I think when we leave Thedas you'll calm down, but for now I think your fine, we're in the middle of an apocalypse so it's ok. I'll ring you back into reality if you overstep too many bounds." I brought her into a kiss breaking for air.
"Thank you."
"Hey! I wanna kiss!" Julee yelled before Sky fulfilled her wish. "Not from you silly~… ok, from you too. Nat, you too!" she gave Nat a kiss before passing her over to Sky and swimming over to us. "Nicky~." she puckered her lips but before I did anything Jak put a finger to her lips. "Jakky?"
"Promise me you won't go after Ava for a while. She needs to find herself and a horny ram isn't going to help."
"Mmmm~." she groaned.
"No buts. You can be her friend but no touching." she grabbed my third leg bringing me to full attention. "You too mister. You have plenty of ladies here."
"Yes ma'am." she let Julee kiss me.
"Now it's my night, so get your licks in now ladies." she got up revealing her naked body, and walked out of the bath. "don't keep me waiting~."
-/-
Ayla POV
I'm grateful for Nick's little cleaning golems, cause I wasn't about to clean up last night's mess, especially not on my free day. I've been working too hard not to have a break.
"Ayla~," Julee called out interrupting my couch potato-ing with cereal breakfast as I watch some mindless cartoons about some kid and his group collecting monsters and using them to fight.
"Mmm~?" I mumbled through a mouthful of cereal.
"Brace yourself. Sky's going full out on her seduction, and if you're not careful she'll take you instead~. Hey? is that coco puffs?" she ate the spoonful I was bringing up to my mouth.
"Do you want some?"
"Ah~, I love your sarcastic voice~." she tried to take another bite but I moved it away from her hungry maul.
"Thanks~." only to hand feed Sky to my left. HOLY MAKER BE GOOD!
"S-s-s-s-sky! What are you wearing!?" Sky did a little turn showing off her very scandalous dress, it was the toga all over again.
"You like it? Nick, Zevran, and Lily made it. Nick called it a maid outfit." What sort of maid dresses like that!? Her skirt barely covered her butt and every time her tail rose I could see her blue-striped panties. Her top brought her breast to the forefront giving me an amazing view of her cleavage. A bit of milk dripped from her lip, landing on her chest, and ever so slowly crawled across the heavenly plane that was her breasts, before disappearing through her cleavage, Maker was I thirsty. "Lily even taught me some moves."
"Moves?" I whizzed out.
"The bowl~." she proceeded to squeeze her breast together and poured some of my cereal on her boobies, making it pile up in between her cleavage creating a makeshift bowl. Praise the Maker. "Are you thirsty~?" yes~. She lined up her cleavage to my lip and slowly funneled it into my open mouth.
"Wow~," Julee whispered snapping me out of my drunk lust. "Let me have some!" she got cheek to cheek and drank some milk, and there goes my cereal.
"Okay ya pervs! Get out of here! I don't need to get all horny in the morning! Go, go, get!" I shoved them off the couch and towards the kitchen. If I'm not careful I'm going to spend my whole day in bed.
"Handful huh?" I looked over to find Dagna eating her own cereal. Tch, I still want some, but I ain't going back into that kitchen.
"Dagna-"
"Nope~. You need to stand up to them." she loudly and annoyingly slurped her milk. Look who's talking, Astral snaps her finger and you go running.
"Morning comrades!" Sereda called out walking into the living room fully dress and ready for the day, with a bright smile. I wonder what it's like to be a morning person.
"Sereda? Isn't it your day off?"
"Yes! I wish to explore the city. We have been working with all our might. It is time for us to explore!"
"Us?" she clapped her hands around mine.
"Yes! We holy maidens must stick together!"
"You just don't want to travel alone."
"... Holy Maidens~!" sigh.
"fine~. Let me go get my armor~." There goes my lazy day. "Can you get some money from Nick?"
"Ya guys going to explore?" Jak asked sticking her head from the kitchen. "Can I go?" ah~! What a cute pout!
"Yes! Join us, fellow lady! Lady Natia due you wish to join!?"
"Yeah! Come sisterhood! Let's rule this city!" Nat jumps out of the kitchen, bacon in hand. "I heard Denerim has one of the largest markets in the world!" yeah, you heard it from Cailan and ya can't trust him when it comes to Ferelden. 'All the trees smell of freedom!' Maker's glowing butt cheeks what does that mean!? I lived here my whole life and no tree ever smelled like 'Freedom' they smelt like hard work! "Nick! We need all the money!"
"Only if you take Morrigan with you! She has been couped up with that book so long that Aeden's getting jealous." should I buy my mom something?
-/-
Denerim is rather large. It eclipsed Redcliffe and seem to stretch out forever from the sky. Reaching the market was a bit of a journey we first had to grab Morrigan, drop by the Alienage, watch Nick work a little, mmm~ them buns, get the money and explore the market. To Cailan's credit, this is one of the 2nd largest market I've ever seen, but Orzammar still had it beat. Jak split up the money and we broke up into groups, I ended up with Lily, Morrigan, and Sky. It would have been better if Morrigan didn't complain every other minute.
"I should be studying Flemeth's grimoire. I have no time for all these distractions," she grumbled as the seamstress measured her body.
"Mory~. You need a break. You've been working yourself to the bone." Lily smiled as she was also being measured.
"Don't call me that!" she hissed.
"What colors are you looking for sweety?" the elderly worker asked Morrigan looking lost at the question.
"Dark red velvet with gold embroidery and it should be low cut in the front," Lily answered for her. "Mmm~, very ladylike."
"What did I tell you about watching my breasts?" Morrigan hissed.
"Do you want Aeden to follow you around like a starving wolf or not?"
"He already does that." Morrigan scoffed.
"No, he follows you like a husband in love." Morrigan blushes at the expression. Ugh, get married already... oh Maker, I'm becoming Nick. "If you want Aeden to hunt you like Sky hunts a Druffalo, you need to show less~."
"Does that really work?" I asked. Lily nodded at my comment.
"Oh yes. When I was a bard, I would leave a trail of clothes leading to the bedroom where I would strike." Uh, please don't say that with a smile.
"Will Nicky like more clothes?" Sky asked as two workers measured her.
"mmm~. Nickolas likes the natural curve of his lovers that's why most of the clothes he gives you are skin-tight. My advice, get clothes one size smaller but with more give, but Nick can make you that~, get something puffy, catch him off guard." Morrigan made a gagging noise.
"Mmm~, can you do this, land-walkers?" she asked the nervous workers.
"Umm, yes?" one of them nodded.
"Very well, I want this. Make it so." they saluted and ran off.
"And you missy?" my seamstress asked.
"Oh! Uh." I've never been to a clothing shop so I've never done this before.
"White with gold embroidery with crimson stitching. A sun dress please." Lily called out.
"In winter?" Yeah, sun dresses are for when there's sun to have.
"Yes please." The seamstress looked at me for confirmation I just nodded. She shrugged and walked away.
"Don't worry, Nick can add some runes to make it comfortable."
"I guess but I'm sure he'll add some crazy laser defense system," I muttered. "I also see you're dressing me up like a chantry mother." She plastered a confused and offended look on her face.
"Whaa? Me? I just thought you'd look good on you~. Nickolas will love it." I squinted at her. She just kept up the innocent act. "You know~, you would look so good in a hat."
"No." she clicked her tongue.
"Can't win them all~. Sky it's time." like a bolt of lightning Sky's tail whipped out wrapping around a worker that walked into the dressing room. "So how can we help you?" the woman looked shocked. "You've been following us for the last 30 minutes. You make a poor assassin. I hope you didn't kill someone for those clothes."
"At least we don't have to buy those dresses." Morrigan sighed.
"Eh?! What are you talking about? Of course, we're buying them! You'll look amazing! You'll thank me later." Morrigan sighed. "Now, what about you?" she asked our stalker.
"Marjolaine sent me." Lily face shifted from amusement to shock to rage. I have never seen Lily angry, annoyed, sure, happy, all the time, sad, every time we watch 'Up', but rage. No. Never rage.
"What does she want?"
"She's in the city and wants to see you.
"And if I don't want to see her?" her voice dripping with promised death.
"She has your lover." lover?
"Lover?" Lily asked.
-/-
Nick POV
Well, isn't this a thing? I was sitting in a chair surrounded by Kossith, which were qunari that haven't ever been part of the Qun.
"So, you guys come here often?"
"No." one of the horned women answered, Kendra, by my observation.
"mmm~. You guys know I have a group of bloodthirsty weirdos armed to the teeth coming to save me, right?" in all honesty I could snap the rope holding me no problem but...
"Yeah! Just wait for the Raven to show up and wipe the floor with you!" Sera was also here. This sassy child was kidnapped somewhere outside the alienage, probably near her mother's house.
"I ain't scared of no bird!" a young man taunted back. I wanna say he was 16, maybe 17, but Kossiths were rather large, so it was a little hard to tell. I do a lot of bad things but killing a kid that's too much.
"Kaaras, relax. She just getting your goat baby brother." Herah, his sister spoke out, pushing him away.
"I'm not a kid anymore Herah! I'm 13 already." 13?! Holy shit man.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" I asked the hell is a kid doing here?!
"School? Why would I go there? I know enough to read." he gave me a sneer, which I have no doubt would have been scary to your everyday dude, but finding out he was a child only made it funny.
"so~ you're the man My Leliana fell in love with." A French accent called out, the door opened revealing a woman.
Human assassin
Marjolaine
Age: 29
Lvl: 33
HP 600/600
MP 5/5
Str: athletic
Vit: she needs to drink less wine
Dex: she's a smooth criminal
Int: Leliana's after me
Wis: I need to attack first
Cha: she has a certain grace to her
Luk: she found the one man in the world that would lead Leliana to her
Ailments
Paranoid
Single-minded
Crazy
Weak liver
Marjolaine met Leliana when the latter was sixteen and attending a soiree in Val Royeaux with her guardian, Lady Cecilie Vasseur. Marjolaine herself was a wealthy widow and patroness of the arts. Leliana was impressed by her and Marjolaine appeared to be as well, and soon was calling upon Lady Cecilie. As the Lady was aging, Leliana frequently entertained Marjolaine.
The two grew very close. On a hunting trip, Marjolaine gave young Leliana her first bow. In teaching her how to use it during that trip, Leliana accidentally wounded a hart the hunters were tracking. Leliana was too unnerved to end the animal's suffering. She watched in amazement as Marjolaine did so, telling the girl "Never delay the inevitable. If you can strike, strike."
She thinks that you're Leliana's lover
You got to be joking!?
"I can see why~, such beautiful eyes." she crazy.
"Hey! Back off ya creepy eye lover! That weirdo's spoken for!" Sera yelled in my defense.
"Ugh. Why did you bring this... garbage?" she gestured to Sera.
"Say that to my face ya old bag of bones!" Sera kicked at her. Marjolaine rose her hand to smack her but froze as I unleashed my intimidation skill on everyone but Sera. Young Kaaras fell on his back like a scared goat.
"You strike her, I kill you." Marjolaine backed away.
"Keep them secure," she muttered rushing out the door.
"Yeah! Ya better run!" the room grew quiet other than Sera's struggling, trying to get comfortable.
"You could get out of that rope at any time, can't you?" the older male, Kasap, asked. I just looked at him. "Right. A group of bloodthirsty weirdos you said?"
"mmm~." he looked at the other mercenaries in the room.
"Why didn't you just kill us?" I nodded my head to Sera.
"Kids don't need to see that." the silence returned.
"I've seen plenty of dead people!" Sera corrected. Good lord really?
"That's not a good thing Sera! You're like 5!"
"10!"
"That doesn't make it better! You're a child! You should be playing with kids your age, not chasing heroes in the dead of night, or being kidnapped by mercenaries!"
"Don't tell me what I should be! You don't even know me! I'm not your daughter!"
"I just don't want ya to get hurt!"
"I wanna live my own life! If I get hurt, I get hurt!"
"Um." Herah tried to interrupt.
"WHAT!?" we screamed at the same time.
"We would like to surrender." I looked at the rest of the mercenaries nodding at the concept.
"Ya babies." Sera taunted.
"Sera..." sigh, "Fine just... go sit in the corner or something." I ordered them as I snapped out of the ropes. "Sera look... where I come from children tend to be more protected."
"Well, we ain't there! We're here!"
"... Yeah, we're here." sigh. Feck man, I sat back down.
"Hey get me out of here!" she struggled against the rope.
"Nah~, I got the feeling you'd just run off looking for the Raven in this mercenary-infested warehouse."
"... fine." she slumped in her seat. "Soooo~, ya plan on making my girls into honest ladies?" who is this child?
"Honest ladies?"
"Ava's a bit shy and self-conscious of her arm, and Lyna loves her work more than people. Treat them well won't ya?"
"... I'll do my best." we sat in silence for another 30 minutes.
"This is boringgggg!" Sera whined. "Hey! Glowy do some magic~."
"What am I, a jester?"
"Yea! Chop-chop!" this annoying sassy child. Using some prestidigitation, I played an episode of Avatar. Let's hope our rescued party gets here soon.
Three episodes in we heard the screaming of guards and felt explosions that rocked the warehouse.
"Alright, stay behind me," I warned the mercenaries, freeing, and putting her in a makeshift baby holder on my back.
"Hey! This is embarrassing! put me on the ground!" she tried to wiggle free.
"Knock it off. I know you can take care of yourself but I'm not taking chances. Let me do all the talking." with the chaos getting closer and closer, I raised an earth wall to shield us from any makeshift shrapnel. With a roar, the door gave way and allowed a furious Skywalk into the room.
"Nicky!?"
"I'm here!" I waved behind the wall. "Got some-" I didn't get to finish as she brought me up into a hug. Ah~, the dragon has come to save the damsel from the evil noble. Classic.
"Tight!" Sera cried. Sky quickly released me looking at Sera.
"Oh?! The little one." she then looks at the kossith who flinched at her glare.
"They're with me. Right guys." they all nodded. Sky huffed. "My lady, will you please finish saving us?" I beg like a southern debutante.
"You're a nutter ain't ya~?" Herah commented.
"Yes, he nuts a lot," Sky answered with a straight face.
"HA!" Sera laughed, I laughed too, Sky was really getting good comedic timing. She led us through a hallway of death, she was not gentle on her way in here, finally reaching the rest of the ladies who were confronting Marjolaine, who was now on the floor at Lily's mercy.
"Nick!" Julee cried out in relief. "You had me scared! How did you get captured!?" Sera took that moment to pop her head over my shoulder. "Oh. Sera! How did you get captured?"
"They hit me with a needle before I got to go full Raven on their butts. Is the Raven here!?"
"You're grounded." spoke out Ava in her full Raven outfit.
"I knew you'd come save me!" Raven just groaned. "Also, ya can't ground me."
"Just stay with Nick." I looked over to Lily, she looked ready to kill Marjolaine in the worse way possible.
"Ah~, Lily my lover~. You have saved me~."
"Nick, please take this seriously." She looked annoyed at my acting, never looking away from the downed assassin master.
"Sorry. So, what do we do with her?" I asked becoming more serious. In-game, I always killed Marjolaine, sure the creators never really used her again but her threat never made me feel good.
"Do you have any of the cuffs you gave Zevran?" I summoned some cuffs, making some quick adjustments. Before the cuffs just made it impossible for Zevran to hurt us but now I made it so if the wearer tries anything to attack us it will cause pain, a bit like a shock collar... oh god, it's a slave collar... kinda... I passed it to Lily, who slapped it on Marjolaine, which morphed into a collar, not a dog one! A lady one, like for fancy balls.
"You believe this will stop me? I will- AHHHHHHH!" she screamed as the collar administered a good dose of shock. I made it sense the thoughts of its wearer and give her a shock every time she thinks of hurting Lily or anyone in our group. I have no doubt there are some workarounds but it was the best I could think of with the time I had.
"Uh? Nick?" Lily asked.
"I... added some precautions. It won't kill her... probably... just hurt." Marjolaine slumped onto the ground. Oh damn, she's not moving!
"Gak!" she coughed, oh man that was close.
"She's fine."
"I wouldn't call that fine," Sera commented. I shushed her.
"Nick, if you could make slaves of our enemies why didn't you do so sooner?" Classic Morrigan.
"I don't do slaves Mory. I find the practice inhumane and barbaric."
"And yet you created this collar?" she kneeled down next to a twitching Marjolaine trying to examine the runes.
"Don't bother, I put the runes on the inside, and set it to self-destruct after removal." it's bad enough I made the damn thing, I'm sure as hell not going to let this thing get out to the public, same reason I'm not shooting everything with my gauss rifle.
"Shame." she clicked her teeth.
"Let's leave, there's nothing left for us here." Lily somberly ordered walking out of the room, and the other ladies followed her out. I on the other hand walked over to the corner where a chest of loot awaited me.
"Hey, I'm getting some of this right?" Sera asked.
This punk.
-/-
First Day! Or the New Year's Day of Thedas with a dash of Christmas! All of Denerim seem to be in a jolly mood, even with the blight going on. I think it was cause the drinks were half off in every bar I passed by. The elves seem to be in a right good mood, chanting in the streets, laughing with friends, and talking about their change in fortune. Even Lily was in a feast mood, she was pretty bummed out of Marjolaine, she was drinking like a thirsty Oghren and singing like a drunken sailor.
"Nickolas, are you working today as well?" A surprisingly sober Valendrian asked.
"Can't not. Some of these people still live in shacks. I'll take a break after I finish this street." I've been working on the elven renewal project for nearly a week and I've made some real progress, I was hoping to finish the apartments by today and start working on more everyday things, like laundry shops, restaurants, workshops, places meant of business.
"Do you believe this will be enough for everyone to have a home?"
"I would like to think so." nothing is perfect, I feared making too many houses and not enough workshops for craftsmen, so I would leave empty lots on every street and make the apartments larger and higher, making it larger and larger until I hit the barrier, I reached five stories, larger than the wall itself so whoever got to live there will get a good view of Denerim. Everything spread out from the center tree making the alienage into a bowl or stadium. "I'm probably going to need to make a large homeless shelter or an orphanage." I've seen a lot of shoeless children wearing old clothes filled with holes. That's why I started selling cheap clothes in the alienage's center, shoes, socks, shirts, sweaters, pants, things kids would need to stay warm, should have known many of the other elves needed clothes, I ended up selling out rather quickly. I bought more cloth and used my crafting skill to make more clothes, and not having the willpower to stop myself from writing dumb stuff, it wasn't surprising to see an elf wearing pants with the word 'juicy' or a shirt saying 'I saved the world and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'. Wynne gave me a disappointed look every time she read one.
"mmm~, well I suppose you're dead set on this so I'll get the people ready." I waved at him goodbye.
"Nicky~! We need more chicken!" Sky rushed over a basket in hand. That's another thing, chicken was the food of First Day like Turkey is for Thanksgiving, or Tamales for Mexico, or Soba noodles for Japan.
"Are they going to make it to the table?" I made that mistake once already.
"90%… 80%… 70%."
"Alright, I'm going to stop you right there. Ava!" I called Ava from one of the dozens of picnic tables laid out for the other elves to eat and celebrate the new year.
"Mmm~?"
"Please make sure the chicken gets to the table." I summoned a bunch of freshly roasted chicken onto Sky's basket. She gave me a salute and led Sky through the crowd of elves. I started working on the houses lasting most of the day, there was a break where Sera demanded I continue showing more Avatar so I just made a small drive-through theater for the kids showing the TV series. It was a hit for more than just the kids, some teens, and adults also sat around watching some episodes, it was nice, Aang and most but not all airbenders were elves, there were some goblin monks, Earthbenders were dwarves and Orcs, Firebenders were human and tiefling, and Waterbenders were Kossith and slimes.
With housing finished, all I needed to do was destroy the rest of the unused buildings and talk to Valendrian about what was needed, but that's for tomorrow afternoon.
"Nickolas~!" Leliana came up next to me. Woah~! That some breath.
"Lily. how are ya?" I put my arm around her waist before she fell over.
"Watch those hands Walters~." she giggled. Ah man, she's out of it.
"Lily, how much have you been drinking?"
"Only a little bit~."
"A lot." Ayla came up next to us. "she's been drinking all day." sigh.
"I got her." Ayla gives me one last worried look before walking over to the picnic tables. "Lily, how are you feeling?"
"Good, good~!" her smile has never looked faker. "Marjolaine will never bother me again~."
"It's okay to be sad. She used to be your friend." she placed her head on my chest.
"She tried to kill us, kidnapped you, she hurt a lot of people." I hugged her tight.
"And? She was still a large part of your life. She was your mentor, your friend, your lover." she giggled in my chest before I heard a sniffle.
"You really do know everything don't you?" she muttered. I rubbed her back trying to give her comfort.
"you'd be surprised."
"Will we ever get to know?" I just looked at her for a long while as she rested on my chest.
"Yeah... I think you will." she began snoring on my chest. My shirt's going to be covered in drool. I carried her like a baby, oh god! The drool's going down my neck! I walked over to Jakky. "Hey I'm going to get her back to the house." she gave me a quick kiss.
"Love you."
"Love you," I whispered walking away from the alienage.
"Do you think someone will love me?" Lily muttered to me as we walked down the street back to Mother Base.
"What nonsense are you talking about? We love you. You're our family, ya dummy."
"Really?"
"Really."
Really, really?"
"Yes! Really!"
"And you'll never get sick of me?"
"Probably not."
"That's a bit noncommittal."
"No Lily, we will never get sick of you!"
"Good." she buried into my chest. Good lord, I bet she can walk too. Arriving back at Mother Base I laid her on her side on the sofa, not wanting her to throw up and choke. I threw a blanket over her, put a bucket next to her, water on the counter, and just sat there. My life is a bit wild ain't it.
Welcome to the gamer's store!
And like always I looked through some things to buy, with cash flow being what it is, thank you darkspawn, I can see what new skills I could buy, pets I wouldn't buy, and just see weird things that just exist in the multiverse.
Why would anyone want unfertilized phoenix eggs? Is it a magical ingredient, food, DECORATION!? There was no context. It wasn't in the magic section, the food section, or the pet section, it was just on sale!
I did end up buying some cookbooks, a single skill book I thought was a good team skill.
Inspiration – make people dance to your tune! You can inspire others through stirring words or music. MP cost varies on how long, how many, and how much you empower someone.
Due to your Cha stat, you start at intermediate! Skill cost is 30% less MP.
Nice~.
I laid my head back, how much time do we have left before the final battle I wonder.
You've slept on a couch!
HP, MP, and CP are 50% restored
"Barrragh!" The hell!? Leliana blowing chunks woke me up. I patted her on the back and helped keep her hair from getting in the way. "Maker forgive me~. Nick... Save me~."
"Nah~, let this be a lesson, only Oghren can drink this much."
"You... monster~." I passed her some water. "You, kind, monster. What happened yesterday?"
"Ya got drunk." she gave me a blank look. "And a bit handsy. Other than your hangover, how are ya feeling?"
"Terrible... I told you about Marjolaine, didn't I?" I rubbed her back.
"A bit."
"Uuuuugh. Damn it. I'm okay, alright. We don't need to talk about it. I just... need time."
"And I'll be here."
-/-
A/N: I'm not sorry I made Nick a bit white knighted. I wanted Nick to be a flawed man, I didn't know what flaw he would have, I hoped it would come as I wrote. But every time I would try be Nick, I would think about how he died, the family he left behind, his fears, and his new experiences, making friends, gods, what failure will lead to if he fails, broodmothers, being eaten alive or worse. The enemies he needs to face, and the unknown still left out there. So, I made him protective and I'm happy with that.
I also felt like I haven't had enough senses with nick Interacting with the rest of the party some I'm probably make a chapter or two with Nick interacting with the rest of the group.
Like always review and I have a DeviantArt page where I make some art about this Fic