The "Best" RPG Ever-51

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---

This world's grocery carts were made of wood, but at least in this store's case it was good wood, not "high risk of splinters" wood. The fact that they had them was comforting enough. Katherine came back with a significant portion of the list floating in the air around her, and Lynn watched while she gently set them all into place, reshuffling what was already in there to make it all fit. "You know...that's just way too cool."

"I'm pretty happy with it," she smiled.

Lynn started pushing the cart toward the location of the last few items on the list. "The first time we rented out that community center room, a guy said he recognized us as some kind of performers. Which went along with something I'd said before that to..."

"I don't want to be rude, but it makes my impatience to hear the point a lot worse when I can already hear said point bouncing around in your head."
"Well, okay then."

"Just about everyone in our party has some skills that would make for a good show. It'd be a nice break from fighting monsters, improve our reputation, make a lot of people happy, and probably still make some good money too."
"You're thinking of psionic juggling in my case."
"Right. Mind-reading is a good circus act in theory, but it's hard to show off to a big crowd. One: You and the random audience member you picked get accused of collusion; two: People have secrets they don't want announced in front of a big crowd and that's likely to be one of the biggest thoughts in their head when a known mind-reader is threatening to do just that. But the graceful way you can just wave objects around through the air, maybe combined with the gymnastics you can do..."

"I'll think about it. It does sound like fun, honestly."

---

When Zack finished and went looking for her, he found Rayna examining a pink bedsheet with paw-prints all over it. "I hope that's not for me."

"You? No no no, I'm thinking of this one for myself. I'll show you yours." She waved at a dark-blue one, no pattern. "You approve? Although I feel I should mention that at least back on Earth, blue was the girl color as recently as a century ago. It just flip-flopped a little later, in a manner just as arbitrary as the assignment was to begin with."
"It's good, I like it." He sighed. "You're..seriously not trying to tease me, are you."
"Huh?"
"You don't actually mean anything by saying that?"

"Of course not, what would I even mean?"

"If Katherine or Mira brought that up I would think they were trying to goad me into changing my mind and getting something pink or whatever. But you, you just...know things, and want to announce them."

Rayna hesitated for a moment; she wouldn't have expected Zack to pick up on something like this so quickly. "It's...an old bad habit. I know it comes across as 'look how great I am based on how much stuff I know', but it's just the first way I learned to relate to people. Somewhere in there, I feel like I'm trying to 'help'. Sooo, tell me if I start to annoy you with that? Or you can do what Lynn does and elbow me or step on my foot when I'm going overboard."

"I'm...fine just knowing you don't mean anything by it."

"Okay, so!" The fox-girl started digging through the pile, and first pulled out some sky-blue covers with a white cat-paw-print pattern. "Kat?"
"Kath. She has pajamas just like that..."
"So would she like something that matches or no?"

"I think yes."

Then, a purple cover with bats randomly strewn around on it. "Mira?"
"Should work," Zack nodded.

Finally (and obviously for Nora), dark green covers with an abstract pattern of diagonal lines pleated in. "I think she'll like it."

"Great! Now for sheets, all our beds are the same size, so I just got a bunch of sets in white, off-white, green, blue, and pink, to just get rotated around through laundry periods. It should be easy enough for you to avoid the pink ones barring a conspiracy—which I will personally work to prevent."

"Thank you."

"Oh yeah, I also found a really big dog bed that might fit, if you think...?" She picked up the object in question to show him.

He shrugged. "Might as well try, if it's not too expensive." The wolf had practically attached himself to Zack's leg since entering the store, but didn't seem to be aware they were talking about him. He wasn't sure at this point whether the animal would be insulted by the gesture, like the comfort of the bed, or just not understand the concept at all. He was strangely smart, and keen to not be seen as a pet, but then he had accepted a steak last night in a slightly standoffish way.

---

Zack and Rayna were the first to get back, followed not long after by the archer and psion. Everyone except for Aria got to work putting all of the groceries and toiletries away, and then the beds were made, Rayna's choices finding approval from everyone. The box of books which Mira and Nora brought was left in the library to be sorted late since it was almost time for lunch by this point. Just as offered, Katherine made lunch, with Mira insisting on helping out.

"We are actually close to running out of money," Zack announced halfway through the meal. "You?"
"Uh.." Lynn took a moment to appraise her own party's inventory. "It's not too bad, but a little more wouldn't hurt."

"At least some of us should go hunt some monsters, then. Unless there's something big like the worm that needs all six, two groups of three makes the most sense."

"Uh..you only have one healer, though," Aria pointed out.
"I can heal, too," said Zack. "Not all that much, but most of it is just getting whoever's hurt back to town anyway."

"Splitting up will work if we take low-risk jobs and Nora goes with whichever is the higher risk," Katherine agreed. "And I guess Zack with the lower risk."

"In that case, I should go in Nora's party," said Rayna. "With our best tank elsewhere, illusions are a good way to keep the heat off."

"You could still use a front-line fighter. And I've got a shiny new scythe I'm dying to really try out," Mira offered.

"That leaves me with the other group," said Lynn. "Sensible enough, we'd have short, mid and long-range covered, and I can do elemental damage if we need it."

"Well, that sounds like a consensus to me," said Rayna. "We head out after lunch! Right?"
"Right."

---

Rayna took over examining the available quests for something relatively simple, on the board outside of the guardhouse rather than the more exclusive one inside. "This seems simple enough. Thin out the dire leopards...seems they've been coming after the guard lately."
"We have anecdotal evidence of that," said the archer.

The fox-girl nodded. "Lynn and I actually fought a couple of those on the way into town."

"Does it actually say where they are?" said Zack.
"Yep, a cave area where a huge bunch have been spotted." She took the physical paper itself and offered it to him. "What do you think, your group for that?"

"What'll you do, then?" said Katherine.

"Hmmn..some newly-discovered ruins to scope out. They want a map of the area, no reports of monsters but if there are any then get rid of them. The end goal is to make the place relatively safe for the real researchers to look into, so try not to destroy it. Well, I do have a lot of advantages when it comes to drawing maps and diagrams."
Nora said, "Isn't th-that one the lower risk?"

"The cats are a known quantity," said Lynn. "Something where we don't know whether there even are monsters, much less how strong, is far riskier. Illusions make it easy for everyone to get away and make a better plan if there's something nasty."
"Hey now, reading minds isn't supposed to be your talent," Rayna teased with a grin.

With a small sigh, Katherine psionically pulled the ruin exploration request off of the board and exchanged it with the one in the fox-girl's hand. "So we're agreed on these two?" Everyone nodded or said or thought 'yes'. "Let's get going, then. The sooner this is done, the sooner we can actually relax in the new home."

After a brief trip inside to get a few more details and some paper for the map, they split off at the town gate.

"I don't know about you two, but I get bored of silence pretty quick," Rayna said.

"I agree!" said Mira. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"Hmn. Well, I do wonder a bit about demon anatomy. Or at least, yours?"
"What abooouut it?"

"Just..okay, Clera has wings because she can literally fly. They're for flying. You have what seem to be vestigial wings, practically decorations, except they're probably a bit of a weak spot for being cut or pulled off by a particularly brutal opponent. Unless they help you fly your broom somehow?"
"I don't think so. But they are cute, right?"

"I'm of the opinion that they are, but not everyone is. To a lot of people they undoubtedly look...monstrous? I mean, there's even spikes on them, which gives a threatening vibe even though there is no way you could use those to attack."

"Well..I can't help looking monstrous. I mean, I'm on my way to turning into an actual demon, so it's to be expected at some point, right?"

"...Embryonic."

They shared a moment of mild confusion before turning to Nora. She clarified: "Th-the wings. I d-d-don't think they're actually v-vestigial. A newly hatched b-bird can't fly, either."

"Oh, yeaaah. That's a good point," said Rayna. "Your form changed after eating a demon, right?"
"Third one specifically," she nodded. "So it'll definitely happen again, at least at the archdemon stage if not before."
"Which means she could grow bigger wings." The elf nodded agreement. "And I guess either hollow bones or whatever kind of magic physics fudging lets Rose fly, too."

"So what about you?" said the witch.
"Me? My ears and tail serve the same purpose as a fox's. Sorta. Bipedal tail is different from quadruped, but there's definitely some balance help there."

"You don't need that much fur to balance, though. I mean, Katherine's balance is amazing with nowhere near the floof. Almost seems like a fire hazard."

"It's cold resistance. And fox tails just are bushier," she shrugged. "Honestly though, I think I'm more like those domesticated foxes in Siberia. Not only the thick, soft fur, but I'm also way friendlier and nowhere near as cautious as some shrewd, wild fox. But most importantly, I have the occasional urge to try and get someone to pet me."

"Really?" Mira squeaked excitedly, stepping slightly closer. "I have wanted to touch animal girl fur since I first met one. But Zack's—you know, Zack, and Katherine won't even let me touch her ears in a dream."

"Well, it's best saved for when we're not out in the wilderness with monster probablities about," said Rayna. "But I'd be happy to oblige that whenever we get back. Do you want a touch, Nora?"

The elf girl had started blushing and looking away since the topic of petting came up. "What?!" she sounded mortified that they were even talking about it.

"Well, I thought it was only fair to include you rather than talking around you."
"Th-th-that's very thoughtful, but no. C-can we talk about something else, please?"

"Sure, whatever you'd like."

---

The wolf didn't seem to like her.

Since the three of them had left, the huge, white-furred beast had paced around near Zack's legs or around Katherine's general vicinity, whichever one was farthest away from Lynn. "Soo...can this guy, really understand English?"

"Common," the catgirl corrected. "Respect the lore. And—pretty well. I can translate the other way if you want to talk."
"Well, I'd like to ask why he's acting so supicious of me."
"Actually ask him," Zack suggested.

"Okay.." She moved slightly closer, but not so much as to be in the animal's "personal space". "Why do you keep drawing away from me, huh?"

Katherine channeled the wolf's response: Alpha of rival pack.

"Wh—alpha? Rival? Look, we're friends here for one thing. Uhm, allies?"
You compete for hunts.

"It's, not really a competition. We get the jobs from...a bigger alpha."

Did that one win fight with Alpha?

"No.."
Not alpha, then. The wolf made a sound she was sure would be a 'hmph', if a human made it, and turned away.

She sighed, moved around to where he was facing her again. "..Okay, look. We're on the same side here, right? Uhh..killing some..competitors? So we need to at least be able to work together, right?"

Knew that already.

"So this..ducking away from me, then. You're not gonna do something like that in the middle of battle?"

No. But rival alpha won't poach me.

"..You, like the one you have now, huh?" Lynn smiled briefly to Zack, who seemed bemused by the whole exchange. "Well, I'm not interested in poaching, alright? We just share a common goal."

You are staying in our den. The thought came with an accusatory tone.

"Hey now, that was a mutual agreement," Katherine interjected. "Everyone's happy with it, unless you're not, in which case you're the only one."

The wolf looked surprised, and moved out from under Zack to give him an inquisitive look. He took a second to interpret the look, and then nodded.

You..joined our pack? Alpha won fight with you too? the wolf asked excitedly.

"Me? Like I was trying to tell you earlier, I'm not the alpha, Rayna is. You know, the fox-girl? I dunno if she fought with Zack or not, but do you think she'd win that one?"
The wolf made a grumbling sound and moved out from under Zack and brushed against Lynn's legs briefly before returning close to his alpha.

What's gonna happen when this gets brought up to her? Katherine asked privately—between humanoids, at least.

She'll say I'm the alpha. It's a joke from our channel and fans, whenever someone asks which of us is the boss, each of us says the other one is.

I don't think he'll get the joke, thought Zack.

He's basically human-level smart based on this conversation alone, Lynn responded. Maybe 'raised by wolves' culturally, which we should probably aim to fix. Beginning with fuzzing his idea of what an 'alpha' is.

Fine. If he decides to attack you, though, it's not on me.

Please, Katherine responded, If you see him attacking someone you'll jump in to save them anyway. He didn't respond beyond an audible huff.

---

The first couple of sections of this part really would've fit better into the previous part, and I'm honestly a little tempted to wait a little while with things the way there and then edit those parts backwards into 50 and hope it doesn't confuse people too much by then. It'd make this part a bit short, but that's not too horrible.