Chapter 180: 181: Close

It is the next day.

Veli doesn’t seem to have any magic yet, at least according to him when Fresh had asked him about his abilities. Much like with humans, some fairies are born with an innate natural talent for spell-casting from the day of their genesis. Others however, are late-bloomers and have to make do in other ways, until they come to grow an understanding of their powers.

“Left,” says Shamrock, flicking the little toy slime on the table. It wobbles menacingly towards Veli who jumps to the left and swings at it with a little, fairy-sized stick.

To say that business is slow today is an understatement. There is no business.

Perhaps it’s the rain. Perhaps it’s because it’s shortly before most of the lay-people get their new wages, having already spent most of their old pay. Perhaps it’s just a random coincidence that nobody felt like shopping today. But the end result is the same, the store is more or less empty. Their biggest customers today were the neighbors, who had come by for some hot coughee for their breakfast.

With his good arm, Veli stabs the stick into the side of the slime. Shamrock flicks it again and the gelatinous mass wobbles into Veli, throwing him down onto his bottom, the stick staying stuck in the toy slime.

“Don’t stab slimes,” advises Shamrock, looking down at the fairy, who dusts himself off and gets back up. “They’re stab-proof,” he explains, gesturing to the indifferently wobbling slime. The stick flops out of its body, rattling against the ground with a strand of goo still connecting it to the toy.

“I’m paying a hundred Obols for this,” says Jubilee with an annoyed tone from the side of the room, their head in their hand as they rest on the counter and look at the two of them. Shamrock looks over at them and then back down to Veli.

“Employee benefits,” says Shamrock.

“The employee’s benefits are that they’re employed and that they get paid!” barks Jubilee at him, not bothering to lift their head.

“Jubilee~” says Fresh, grabbing Jubilee from behind and wrapping her arms around their chest. “There’s no work today, let Veli learn some stuff.”

“You’re touching me again,” says Jubilee, their free hand tapping against the counter in annoyance.

“Mm,” acknowledges Fresh, not letting go despite that. Jubilee sighs and both of them turn back to watch the only thing there is to watch. Veli, not being able to use any magic, has asked Shamrock to teach him how to fight without it. Fresh thinks that this is a horrible idea, since he only has six health-points. But who is she to judge? Shamrock didn’t hesitate for a moment before shoving a tiny stick into the fairy’s hand. She doesn’t even know where he got it from and she can’t help but think that he had one prepared in advance, having seen this sequence of events coming.

Fresh doesn’t really get Shamrock sometimes. Given his quietly stoic nature and bouts of occasional silliness, he’s hard to get a real grasp on. But she can’t help but wonder how perceptive he really is. She has the feeling that it’s much more than he lets on.

But then again, isn’t he likely the highest leveled out of all of them? That would entail having perhaps the highest intelligence and wisdom stats. Though, stats are apparently gained at a different rate, depending on your class and personal affinities. He had to survive on his own as a declared member of the witch’s sect for years, possibly. That certainly requires a certain amount of zealotry, but also wits and planning.

“Right,” says Shamrock, flicking the slime again as Veli makes his next attempt, coming from the other side. Fresh lowers herself down, resting her chin on top of Jubilee’s head.

The rest of the day goes like this. The only reprieve is when Fresh leaves to go upstairs to cook lunch for everyone and then comes back down half an hour later with plates of pan-toasted sandwiches. She even made a tiny one for Veli and to her delight, she even got the portioning right. Basil’s, she delivers downstairs to the priestess, who is busy working on her plant creams today in the basement. Sparing a moment to chit-chat, she returns upstairs just in time as Veli, the now sweaty fairy, apparently gains his first stat-up for the day.

Fresh claps excitedly for him, praising him for his hard work. She realizes as she watches the window of his menu vanish, that she has never seen any of her friends get a stat-up. Then again, it’s not like they ever train.

Basil comes through, bringing her already empty plate upstairs.

The fairy-house prototype is in her eyes, finished. Veli had talked to the others last night, providing them with a list of herbs and flowers that Basil had made, describing each one and noting what to look out for or if there were any special requirements before harvesting. Fresh hopes that they aren’t out there working today though. Not in the forest in this weather.

She scratches her cheek, watching as Veli drops down to start doing one-handed push-ups. Some of the fairies are real go-getters though, apparently having adopted the same attitude as him. Which is a little frightening, as it’s almost self-destructive.

A hand grabs her hand, which is by her face, from behind. Fresh turns head around, seeing Basil with a tub of cream.

“You’re going to rub your face open if you always scratch your skin like that,” scolds the priestess, pressing a dab of cream onto her cheek and rubbing it in.

“Ah, sorry,” apologizes Fresh, not sure why she’s apologizing. “It’s a habit.”

“When you think?” asks Basil.

“It can’t be much of a habit then,” quips Jubilee. Fresh squeezes her other arm, which is still around them, tighter, as a sign of protest.

Eventually, another customer comes through the door. The tired-man.

“Hello!” says Fresh, greeting him. “How did you sleep?” she asks.

“Never enough,” yawns the tired-man, lurching through the aisle like a zombie as he heads towards the back shelf. Fresh frowns.

“Can you let go of me?” asks Jubilee.

“No,” says Fresh, having now trapped both Jubilee and Basil here in a deathly snare, one with each arm. Neither of them seem to be putting up much of a fight though. That’s the good thing about this kind of weather. Cold, rainy days are great hugging weather. “Didn’t the ram help you?” she calls out over the shelves.

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“It did,” replies the magistrate a moment later, shuffling around the bend, a few bottles in his hands. “Quiet sleep doesn’t make up for a lack of it,” he explains.

“Get more sleep then,” she says. Jubilee nudges her. “What? It’s true,” notes Fresh.

“There isn’t much sleep to be had these days,” replies the magistrate, placing the bottles onto the counter. He looks at the three of them.

“Twenty seven Obols,” says Jubilee, reaching for the change drawer to pull it open. Fresh twists to the side after they do so, pulling them a step back. “Hey!” snaps Jubilee. Basil, quietly laughing, takes the man’s coins, putting them into the open drawer. Fresh turns the other way, pushing Jubilee a step forward again and Basil back to the side.

“You know…”

“What?” asks Fresh. Jubilee sighs, grabbing the tired-man’s change and handing it to him, before Fresh pulls them back again and hits the drawer closed with her hip. “Thank you, come again!” she smiles at him.

He stares at the three of them, perhaps deciding if there was even anything to say about this. But he doesn’t seem to find anything and he takes his coughee and leaves, yawning loudly as he goes.

“Can you let me go now?”

“No.”

Veli drops to the counter, his shaking body giving out after this latest bout of exercise.

“Why don’t you do something productive, like him?” asks Jubilee.

Fresh blinks, looking between the two of them. “I am,” she explains, squeezing tighter.

Razmatazz

Free hugs!

*pats side of unmarked, white, box-van*

Step right in!

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