The "Best" RPG Ever-93

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---

A pen whirred across one piece of paper after another, each filled page shuffling itself to the back of the stack. The whole act floated in the air a couple of feet above Tsaron's kitchen table, with nobody else in that particular room to directly observe it. In his living room, he sat back on a chair with Ezra lying on her back with her head turned half-toward him on an armrest. "I do appreciate your taking care of this," the captain of the guard stated. "I've completely forgotten what the paperwork for this situation is supposed to look like."

"One advantage to complete control over one's mind," the elf said, tapping the side of his head. "Steel trap. Nothing just slips out without my say-so. That said...I am filling in a couple of gaps with guesswork. Even my version is a century or two out of date. Tea?" A filled cup floated close enough for Ezra to reach it.
"'Course." She reached out and sat up just enough to take a sip. "So long as it looks more or less right. Unlikely anyone will ever read it through other than me."

"Mira might, if she gets wind of it." In response to a questioning look: "Some sort of legal assistant in the other world. Meticulous if not slippery."

"That...may explain a thing or two of her responses to me. I wonder if this was intentional, too. Another part of the grand plan."
"If not, they must be celebrating it all the same."

The elf gave a characteristic pause too brief to become awkward, but just long enough to signal a change of subject. "Not to...accuse anyone of being a liar, but...are you aware of who's shown up in town lately?"

"Randall's here. You encountered him?"
"Knee-deep in drink. Didn't seem very happy to see me, either."

Ezra sighed, facing the ceiling. "He hasn't seen you since back then." Her voice slipped fully into an ancient, comfortable drawl: "I believe he is under the misapprehension that you are still possessed of the empathy to feel what can be called 'hate' toward another person."

"Heh. Harsh, but fair." Tsaron took a sip of his own cup. "There is only one I hate, and thankfully, he's quite dead."

She turned to almost-facing him again. "I assume the 'steel trap' remembers how you were, back then. Just after."

"Oh, of course. My beliefs haven't really changed, just my subtlety. If I don't care much to be a 'hero', it's because I'd prefer they were unnecessary.

"He said something about the gods employing nightmares to bring him here."
"The same thing to me," Ezra agreed. "He has no motivation to lie about it. Went on to volunteer the memory of his death to me."

"Well, it makes me glad I already came here of my own free will. At least—as far as I can tell, anyway. Did you ever get a sense you were being guided here?"

"Not at all. If anything, gathering everyone here feels like a response to my presence. Perhaps I am the one they talk to now, ever since Ceres..." her statement trailed off. "...but nonetheless, it's terribly rare and often unhelpfully vague. I know they can show up in person, in dreams or visions, and just say whatever it is they want said. But they have never been content to so much as grant me a secondhand account of such an audience. Just: 'Famine coming, warn the king.' 'Remember this face'—hired to kill me. Or: 'Here's a rain statue.' 'Okay, now there's a fire comin' from the east, take care of it would ya?'"

"Countless years, and we know no more of our supposed purpose than when we first got here," Tsaron said, nodding thoughtfully. "'Grow strong. Be ready.' The first a foolish command, and the second unachievable as a result of the first. Or are those commands for the new group, and our only job now to ensure they fulfill them?"

"We never did try Valorum's idea," Ezra said. "Just sit in a circle and refuse to do anything until they explain themselves to us."

"Too boring. Randall would never agree to it."

"I'm too busy anyway."

There was a noise of paper shuffling, and being tapped against the table a couple of times to straighten itself. Ezra sat up slightly. "I suppose it's finished."
"Indeed." The papers floated into the living room, and the captain of the guard pulled herself into an upright sitting position, chugging the last bit of the tea in her cup before receiving the papers and beginning to scan through them herself. "I hate to keep bringing this up, but it would be quicker and easier..."
"No thank you."
"Right. I'll quit distracting you, then."

---

Since Mira was helping with the cooking, it was up to Zack to answer the gentle knock on the door to town. He stood up, waving Lupa to stay put, and went to open it, finding Rose there. "Heeyy. I got sorta lost on the way back here..."

"You're still in time for supper, anyway," the knight said, stepping back and to the side slightly to let her in. "Before you go in any farther, there's something you should..." His attempted warning went unheeded, the dragon-girl barreling her way on into the living room as though she didn't even hear it. Zack sighed, throwing the door shut, and followed.

Rose gave a voiced gasp. "Who's this?" she said. Lupa, naturally, hopped to her feet to look up at her with a friendly expression.
"Big lizard! This one is Lupa," she said.

"The wolf turned into a person," Zack said, coming up behind the dragon-girl. "Her."
"Animals can do that!?" she said, astonished, toward him. Then looking back down at the smaller wolf-girl: "You're so pretty~!"

"Not..most of them..."

"Rayna said this one is stronger than Rose, too!" Lupa said proudly, wagging her tail and soaking up the attention. Again, Zack's response went practically unheard.

"Really? We should have a contest!" The dragon-girl leaned forward and reached out a hand and carefully rubbed the top of Lupa's head with its scaly palm—which was leaned into eagerly. "After food, though."
"After food!" she repeated happily.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you like her," Zack said, shaking his head slightly.
"Eh?" Rose popped upright to face him, confused by the remark.

"Never mind." He received a conveniently-timed mental communication from Katherine. "I think the food's about ready, and Mira's in the kitchen, so..."

"Oh yeah! Um, I sorta just left her outside Vae's house..." The dragon-girl started in that direction.

"Food!" Lupa cheered, following. Of course—she hadn't actually eaten in this form yet, so she was eager for the experience. And also probably just hungry to begin with. Zack shrugged and followed too. Did you teach her how to use utensils during that mind-meld thing?

Sort of, the psion replied. The motions are in her muscle memory but she'll need some help with the situational part. Back up: Did you say 'mind-meld'?

That's what it was, wasn't it?

I just didn't take you for any kind of Trekkie...

Zack mentally shrugged. It's just pop culture. Everyone knows about that stuff these days.

I wouldn't go that far.

After supper, everyone who planned on heading out into town gathered in the living room: Zack, Nora, Katherine and Rayna. Lupa was there too.

The psion said, "Alright, so...you two need to get to someone who can deal with elemental gems and enchanted stuff. We need to go buy some chickens. Those are both in the same direction from our town-door, at least at first, so we can just start off together." This suggestion was met with a brief word of agreement from everyone else.

"Look," Zack said, turning to Lupa, "You don't have to come with us this time. You could stick around here if you want..."
"This one wants to go with Master, though!" she said insistently.

"That's...fine, but you can't expect to follow me around everywhere, forever," he said, starting off toward the door (along with everyone else). "At some point you need to be an independent person. It wouldn't hurt to at least hang out with the others sometimes."
"Okay!" she agreed cheerfully—although possibly just so he'd drop the subject for now.

Then, seeming to at least take the idea of talking to the other members of the "pack" to heart, she moved over toward Rayna. "Fox! Is this one really stronger than Rose?"
"Well—let's see. By the objective, numerical definition of 'strength' that my Sight lets me see, certainly. On the other hand, there are lots of different meanings of 'strong'..."

As long as the three of us are together, we have something to discuss, Katherine said mentally—between herself, Zack, and Nora.

Is something wrong? the elf asked.

Well...

We realized earlier, the knight interjected, It won't be easy to keep...things, a secret with Lupa around. She knows about it, and probably wouldn't even understand why we wouldn't want her to talk about it.

I see...
It's still really embarrassing, but I'd just rather come clean about it on purpose than have it revealed by accident, Zack continued. But...not if you don't want to.

I think it should be all right.

It's different now anyway, Nora continued. The more we've gained memories of this world, and felt like people belonging to it...the less strange the behavior seems. If anything, beastfolk who don't want that kind of interaction with people they care for are unusual. I doubt there will be too much surprise or upset.

Are you okay with it, though? Katherine asked. I mean...you're an elf, so it seems like it'd be more embarrassing for you than either of us, even.

I don't mind. Nora gave a mental impression of shaking her head slightly. Over the past few days, I've realized I'm maybe not so...innocent in certain ways as I imagined I was. So it feels insincere not to admit to that, at least among friends. Anyway, I believe I understand the gesture the same way you do, as one of affection. So there should be no shame in it.

All right, the psion replied. Well, we'll work out the details later, but it's good to have your opinion on it, at least.

"Hey, are you guys having a mental conversation without me?" the fox-girl said teasingly, having finished her explanation to Lupa, leaving her with a thoughtful expression.

"It's nothing important," Zack said, maybe a little too quickly.
"You'll probably find out later anyway," the catgirl added.

"If you say so. I think this is about where we part ways, isn't it?"
"Right," Katherine nodded. She gave directions the rest of the way to where Zack and Nora were headed, both aloud and by mental communication, and then split off with Rayna to buy the sacrificial animals for the night. Lupa continued following Zack.

While she caught up next to Katherine, Rayna directed some thoughts the psion's way: Since I know better than to pry about whatever you three were talking about...

What?

Well, since we were on the subject of Lupa's strength I took another look at it. The numbers were a little different this time from my first glance a few hours ago, Rayna said. Naturally, I took a closer look. Seems like she's using her magic to passively buff her physical stats at all times.

I thought her class description...no, wait. Thinking back to it, the psion realized the same thing the illusionist already had.Weasel words. Incapable of casting spells. Not, mind you, incapable of using magic. I would guess that it's because her magic functions purely as a buff to her phyiscal ability that it can't function for spellcasting like most people's. It's worth noting her natural strength without that buff is still higher than Rose's, so..while she might be weaker than usual in case we encounter some sort of anti-magic field thing—because why would that not exist somewhere in this world—she'll still be way more capable than me or Aria or, say, Mira would.

Right, Katherine nodded. Good to know.

---

The dragon-girl was sufficiently distracted throughout supper by Lupa and the flow of conversation among everyone else, so Mira waited until afterward, while she was busy doing some dishes and Rose watching from a kitchen chair (obviously wanting to help out, but not feeling particularly competent at the task), to speak with her. "Soo...how'd your talk with Vae go?" she said.

"Oh! Um, it went great! I sorta lost track of time, and she had to point out it was starting to get dark. She taught me a bunch of words for plants I'd heard of before, and I got to see some of her rarer ones—oh, and I helped one or two of them get a little healthier!"

"That's good," the witch nodded. "I admit I'm pretty ignorant about this stuff, so I'm glad we found someone at your level you can actually share it with."

"Heheh," the dragon-girl chuckled nervously. "Oh! Before that though..umm.."

"Yes?" Mira paused in her work to tilt her head Rose's way.

"Uh..never mind. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a secret or not. Maybe it isn't, but like, I didn't ask?"
"That's okay." They could both hear the door closing as the group headed back out to town left.

"I think Lupa went with them," the witch said. "Guess she forgot about the strength contest thing."

"Well, we just said 'after food', not right after," Rose shrugged. "Eeee, she's so cute. Like, all the 'normal' beastfolk seem like they're trying really hard to pretend to be human most of the time, but Lupa's totally happy acting like an adorable puppy!"

"I'm a little surprised at her eagerness to learn things," Mira said. "You noticed it too, right? Anytime she asked a question and someone answered, she'd go all wide-eyed and lean in like it was the most important thing to hear. Compared to the wolf she was, it's night and day."

"Uh-huh. I guess she really wants to fit in with the 'pack', and everyone's always talking about some stuff or other, soo...like, fitting in means being able to talk about that stuff too."

"..Ah, right," Mira said, remembering. "I'm thinking of summoning another demon to eat tonight."
"And you want help killing it again?" Rose asked. "Sure, I don't mind!"

"Heheh, I hadn't even asked you. But it would really be appreciated," she said. "I uh..admit I didn't think you'd say no, but Katherine wanted express approval from everyone before we went ahead with it, and I'm inclined to agree. They have been pretty dangerous lately, and I can't put together any kind of pattern except that each one's different from all the ones before it."
"Hmn. What were all the other ones?" Rose asked.

"Let's see...my first was a little..pumpkin thing," she said, counting on her fingers. "The second one was this floating fire that mostly just ran away from us. The third was our first real fight—an incubus, which..caused some problems. Then the ice dog you helped us out with."

"Did the pumpkin one give you plant powers?" the dragon-girl said.

"Well..not really? I can summon pumpkins, but I think they're not actually plants. More like—some sort of magical construct. If you smash one, it doesn't really stick around very long afterward, and...I'm not sure it's a good idea to try to eat demonic pumpkins, either. I can make them explode by combining that with the fire demon, or make them burst into the green supercold stuff from the ice dog."
"But pumpkins are usually on vines and stuff, right? If your magic makes fake pumpkins, why can't it fake that?"

"Huh." Mira put a finger to her chin. "I don't see any reason why it couldn't, per se. But I haven't stumbled on that aspect naturally. I guess you've given a pretty great demonstration of how useful vinelike things can be, too. I'll have to see what I can come up with later, I guess."

---

Ezra made her way back toward the guardhouse, planning to check whether any of the party had been sighted in town recently to avoid the need of this late a visit to their house if possible. Most people immediately made way for her when she put on a sufficiently stern, focused expression—immediately convinced she was involved in doing something important—so it tended to stick out when somebody didn't.

"Excuse me, Lady Ezra." About halfway through the intended trip, a tall, old Vulpin man in traditional Haestran garb hailed her attention in a mild tone of voice.
"Do you need something?" she said quickly, implying urgency with her present business while expressing a willingness to listen if it was, in fact, important. Now that her focus was on him, she knew this was Fazren: Priest from the same temple as Nora originally was. Ron had told her of the latter relation, while the news of a veteran Weaver had reached her ears quite naturally not long after his arrival.

He had a kind, if slightly mischieveous, grin. "I've been asked to relate the unhelpful advice that you should try to get a good night's sleep tonight, if possible."

"I see."

She crossed her arms, sizing him up further: He had used an honorary title, which suggested he knew something of her background. This was an observant person, and his continued presence in town would likely come from an interest in keeping an eye on Nora for a while, if only from afar. This presented a small opportunity. "Do you know whether Nora or her companions are in town?"
"I do," he said with a slight nod, and did not elaborate.

"Are they? I have some legal documentation that needs signing, today if possible," she said.

"Pardon me, I couldn't resist the joke," Fazren said with a further grin. "Indeed, I saw her and her curse-afflicted friend enter an enchanter's shop a couple of streets over, with an adorable Canis girl I didn't recognize in tow. I certainly hope that's convenient enough for you."

"I'd prefer if the more important matters were the convenient ones," she stated.

"Wouldn't we all?"

"Thank you."
"Of course," he nodded. "See you around, Lady Ezra."

In the store, Zack was sitting across from an old human man busy closely examining his gem of brightness in preparation to repair it, Lupa on a chair to one side. Nora was at a counter on the opposite end of the store, where another expert was just beginning to cut the giant gem along the intricately curved dividing lines between its contained elements. "Theere it is. I'll say, miss, I'm surprised a little crack like this even caught your eye," the man was saying while he got to work. "It's lucky, for sure. Attuning one o' these things to an adult is tricky business." The knight shook his head slightly, but didn't say anything. It generally wasn't worth correcting someone he was only going to interact with this one time. "And we don't even have any in stock! Someone'd have to be willing to ship one all the way through uninhabited Frontier territory..."

He trailed off while the shop door opened, and the captain of the guard stepped through, looking around briefly before approaching them. "I have the papers ready," she said once in conversational distance. "It's best we take care of them as soon as possible."
"Okay," Zack gestured toward the man working in front of him, while Lupa leaned forward enough to peek just past the knight toward her. "Do I need to come with you, or..?"
"We can do it here. Any space here free to write on?" she said, toward the cashier.
"Uh—we can uh, y-you can use my counter if you want," she stuttered, clearly intimidated. "Not..usin' it for anything, hahah."

Zack got up and followed the Captain to the front counter, Lupa popping up and coming along as well. Nora had turned to face them, but stayed where she was. Ezra produced a large stack of papers and set it on the counter. "I can summarize the contents if you want. Each section has to be signed by you, me, and a witness. You mind being a witness?" she added, turning toward the elf.
"Um, n-not at all."

"Good. Let's get this over with, then."

She clearly didn't enjoy filling out a lengthy legal form any more than Zack did. It was vaguely similar to what he imagined an adoption form would have, except that the condition for Lupa exiting guardianship and being counted legally independent were based on the judgement of "the representative of the government heresigned" (i.e., Ezra) along with a nebulously-described panel of "capable individuals" rather than her age. The knight's legal responsibility was similar to that of a child's parent: To ensure she was fed, taken care of, and not "taken advantage of" (a particular issue the forms seemed especially preoccupied with). Overall, it was an excessive overabundance of words to describe an extremely straightforward agreement. They only had to sign in four different places, a fair step down from the last employee contract Zack remembered signing back on Earth, so it wasn't too tedious in the end. Besides that, all of the work was finished by the time they were done.

The man working on Zack's gem and the person who'd been busy cutting the crystal for Nora came to the front counter while Ezra tapped the papers against it and stuffed them into a folder before putting it away, the latter bringing a small collection of steel bracelets set with the pieces of the crystal. "I'll take care of the bill," the Captain informed the cashier, who nodded right away.

"Um..w-we can afford to pay for them," Nora said nervously.

"I'm spending my own money, not the town's," she informed the elf curtly, before turning to leave.

"Oh. Um. T-thanks..."