Chapter 66: 62. Family and Evolution (I)

“Blegh, you stink!” Kleo orbited Jay’s head as soon as he entered the motel room. “I let you go out on your own, and you come back smelling like depression and failure. I didn’t choose you as my master for this.”

“Mercy, Kleo, mercy.” Jay chuckled as his [Faerie] drummed her little feet against his forehead. He could tell through his [Faerie Master] Talent she was annoyed not because of his smell but from worrying over him. They shared a profile. She would notice his mana going out each time he used magic. She would feel his emotions, too.

“Is that the guy I rescued?” Kleo pointed at the next thing that drew her attention. Her [Faerie] ADHD was showing.

“And the guy you rescued brings gifts." Derek raised bags of food. “Got Wendy’s. And some fresh orange juice from a man selling on the side of the road.”

“Not an assassin?” Kleo asked Jay.

“Nope,” Jay answered, confirming through the [Slayer of Assassins] Title.

Kleo nodded sagely, stared at Derek for a few moments, then gave him a perky smile. “Well, I’m glad you survived last night. You’re someone worth more of my attention now.”

“That’s good to hear,” Derek said. “Thanks for saving me, by the way.”

Kleo waved it off. She extended her gravity thruster wings and blasted away. She looped around the room and dropped into the lap of Jay’s mom.

She was reading a book by the window, the blinds mostly closed except for a thin open line that let in some sunshine. It shone on her, illuminating her brown skin and long dreadlocks. Jay moved further while Derek closed the door and dropped off breakfast on the room table.

Jay stopped by his mom’s side, waiting with bated breath for her reaction to his presence. His mom flipped to a new page in her book, slipped in a bookmark, and put the book away. She turned to give Jay a bright smile.

She was okay again. At least for now. But that was more than fine with Jay. The urge to hug her nearly overcame him, but he was very aware of his own ashtray smell.

“I stink,” Jay said with an apologetic smile.

“I don’t care,” she replied. “Come here.”

She swung her arms wide. Kleo shifted out of the way before Jay came around and hugged his mom from the front. Then he lifted her up gently, using [Moonwalker] to reduce her weight. That way it wouldn't be an uncomfortable experience for her. He could give his mom the best hug he could muster.

“Whoa, why do I feel so much lighter?” his mom asked with a laugh.

“It’s school arc,” Jay said. “With things slowing down, I’m exploring my powers in more mundane or unique ways. Like [Moonwalker] being used to lower gravity on anything I can carry.”

“Does it say what ‘you can carry’ or ‘what you carry’?” his mom asked.

Jay blinked. He looked at his Skill again. “What I carry.”

“If we tell you to lift a car, and you’re grabbing it by the fender, is that technically carrying it enough for you to lighten the load?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Nice,” his mom said, patting his head. “Reread all of your Skills, man. If it gives you any wriggle room, abuse the hell out of it.”

Jay planned to since that was all he could read in his profile. His Talents and Titles remained unreadable even though he knew the gist of what they could do.

Jay kept holding his mom up. Afraid of letting her go. Then he convinced himself she’d be all right and placed her down. Once released, she returned to regular gravity. His mom wobbled slightly from the transition.

“Freaky,” she said.

“That’s the point,” Jay said before looking at Derek. He was in the corner with his hands behind his back. Jay smirked. “Dude, you’re setting yourself up to be my Alfred.”

“Someone’s gotta do it.” Derek shrugged.

His mom tilted her head to the side. “I like him. He can hang.”

“He’ll be hanging around a lot more. He's the in-between with the CWG until our regular spooks are up and running again.”

“Good, good, because those other guys aren’t much fun,” she said.

“I wanna throw them up into the sky,” Kleo said, landing on Mom’s shoulder.

“And I’m going to do my best to keep that from happening,” Derek said. “And avoid other unfortunate mishaps, right?” Derek shot a hopeful look at Jay.

Jay thought back to the crazed agent that shot Emily and got karmic death in return. The [Freak] shrugged. “We’ll try.” He went over and picked through the food, handing some to his mom. “Anyway, you gotta sleep, Derek. You’re running on fumes.”

And Jay had Kleo’s evolution to complete.

Derek agreed to depart after informing them he’d be the next door over. The agency would have them moved out and placed in a better house soon. The new location was getting filled up with furniture and replacements for what the Luckruns’ had lost, which might take a week.

Derek offered to get them to a nice hotel, but those ran close to the public highways. Mom didn’t like being near I-95 or any of their ilk. Too many creepy tourists and out-of-state people pass through on those big roads. And mom has a weird thing for motels. She would want to stay here until she was good and ready.

They thanked Derek and saw him out.

“Rank up time?” Kleo asked.

“Yup,” Jay said.

Kleo tore off her clothes and frolicked through the air with a merry yip.

Jay slapped his hands over his eyes to keep 30 Intellect from burning that image into his head. He managed to cover his vision just in time.

His mom graciously went into the restroom with Kleo first before Jay entered and put the lid down on the toilet to take a seat. He stared at a crack in the ceiling corner as his mom helped Kleo get more comfortable in the sink–a bunch of head pats usually did the trick.

“Okay, I’m ready!” Kleo said.

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Jay pulled up the system notification for Kleo’s rank-up evolution.

Congrats! Teeny Faerie reached a milestone in its growth! It’s on the verge of evolving and requires your acceptance. Are you prepared to evolve Creepy Kleo to Rank 2? Yes or no?

“Here it goes,” Jay said, selecting the Yes option.

In his experience evolving to Rank 2, Jay could remember brief flashes of floating through a void. There was a purple light following him. But no more than that. Out of curiosity, he glanced over at Kleo and watched in awe as she hovered in the middle of the sink while sitting in the lotus pose.

Her being naked didn’t bother him as much compared to the initial moment when it felt like she was flashing him. He was simply engrossed with the process of her evolution and wondered if he’d done the same. Looking back into his memories, he vaguely remembered sitting normally in the tub at first, but when he awoke from his rank up, he’d been in the lotus pose like Kleo. He was too occupied by all the gunk coming out to realize he’d sat differently during his evolution.

That was something else to keep note of.

“Ah, maybe I should’ve timed this,” Jay said.

“I’ve got my watch set,” Mom said.

“You’re way ahead of me on this,” Jay said. His Mom had gotten a limited profile yesterday, a secret gift from YoAnna to help her survive the assassins. Jay took a peek, his left eye shining silver-gold.

 

Name: Jhara Luckrun, Rankless Class: [None]  Health: 220/220 Stamina: 250/250 Mana: 280/280 Chance: x3/x4 Noteworthy Info: This human shares an allegiance with you under the same Godling and Pantheon. No Affinity. Highest Attributes are 20 Discovery/20 Conviction. Most signature item is the machete. No pivotal Skill. Most Particular Talent is [Voice of Bardic Madness]. Most Unique Title is [Runner of Chance].

 

“Is it weird your mom has a profile?” she asked with a smirk.

Jay had looked at it multiple times, probably from disbelief that his mom was part of this game. But not quite. Pre-System humans outside of the Champions gained incomplete profiles like hers. But they could acquire AP directly from their efforts–his mom gained a burst of the stuff during the assassin attack.

“It was a surprise for sure,” Jay said. “Kinda wished YoAnna mentioned it.”

“As a [Runner of Chance],” his mom said haughtily, “I believe things had to stay on course for me to make it in the first place.”

“Through secrecy and manipulation,” Jay muttered.

“You don’t come across as secret-squirrel-reliable, man.” His mom reached over and strummed her fingers through her son’s dreadlocks. “It’s about time I wash that for you.”

“I could do it myself.”.

“But it’s more fun for me when I do it,” she said. “Who knows how much mom and son bonding time we have left.”

That right there was a kick to Jay’s gut. Sometimes, the self-referential jokes and cheesy lines for a trashy laugh were fun. He’d gotten it from his crazy mom. But it was a double-edged sword. After all, comedy was a few steps away from tragedy.

Jay reached out and held his mom’s hand while refocusing on Kleo’s evolution.

It involved him, too, if only as her master.

At the last minute, he started to feel a thrumming in his chest. It became more noticeable over time, becoming bigger and more intense vibrations that made him feel a tad queasy.

Kleo’s glow brightened. At the same time, a purple light shone from underneath Jay’s hoodie. He let go of Mom’s hand and took off his hoodie to see his chest alight.

“Cool,” Mom said.

“I’m Kleo’s home,” Jay explained. “For good and ill.”

[Teeny Faerie]: Flutter your wings and cross the boundaries holding mortals bound. Sip magic from the secrets and old things that were once forgotten and gone. Be a gift, bringing power and prominence to those you cherish. Be a curse, bringing weakness and calamity to those you despise. Your course is magical, whimsical, powerful–a treasure and danger to all, especially to the Master who claims you. For they will become your home for good and ill. Every Even Type Level Up delivers +1 Poise, +1 Agility to your Master. Every Odd Type Level Up delivers +1 Perception, +1 Discovery to your Master.

Jay reread Kleo’s Familiar Type. He focused on the parts that seemed esoteric but meaningful. YoAnna’s Godling Dungeon had shown Kleo’s capabilities which included this description more literally than expected. When she perished to rocket attacks last night, she reformed herself inside of Jay's chest, too.

Kleo was sneaky, powerful, and indestructible. As long as nobody killed Jay.

If Jay took the [Faerie] with him another noir-styled adventure, would Kleo get empowered by the search for secrets? Jay would be interested to see Emily and Kleo work together.

“Hm,” Jay hummed.

“What’s on your mad mind, man?” Mom asked.

“We’re missing one more Champion for a noir-styled team,” Jay said, his mind going somewhere distant and mysterious before snapping back to the present. He shook his head. “Ugh, just another one of my freaky moments.”

Before his mom could comment, Kleo’s evolution took a turn for the dramatic. She illuminated the entire bathroom with a bright pulse of purple light. At the same time, Jay felt his chest churn weirdly–then rip! Just as the first traces of blood started to stream up, Jay whirled off his seat, flipped up the lid, and vomited chunks of his lungs into the toilet.

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