#Children of BFFH

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 120

 I was grateful to receive an inheritance boost to my vampiric skills from my sister, but I couldn’t help wondering if I should’ve tried something unique instead as I watched Valeria throw blobs of light to sear undead kobolds.

 She was playing a race the rest of us hadn’t even heard of until she was making her character.  I wasn’t surprised that Momma Cosette never told us.  She might have unlocked Brightborn before most of us were even in the womb, but had I really looked through the possibilities available to me?  Between Father, Mother, and Dani, there had to be a slew of interesting race options that I never even considered.

 Similar to Stormcrow, I had picked a vampire pixie because Dani played one.  He had taken after his aunt, Iris.  Then there was the fact that Four was playing a half-pixie, so…  well… he just makes everything seem more appealing.  Maybe I had started playing Ancient Tribes of Earth too young.

 I started considering how much work starting over would be.  Valeria’s character was extremely cool, but she was still weak, despite her personal skill growing by leaps and bounds as she played with us.  There was an opportunity nearby to be one of the first in the whole world to play one of the stranger undead races.  I was fairly certain that I’d start in that city or maybe even in our little town if I waited till the essentials were constructed.  Unlike Valeria, I already knew the game reasonably well, so I wouldn’t be starting completely from scratch.  Though there wouldn’t be any inheritance bonuses to racial abilities if I didn’t… Well, I could have a human base race for any undead, right?  I frowned, wanting something more unique.

 The main appeal for humans in Ancient Tribes of Earth was their ability to increase all skills slightly faster than normal.  If I received an inheritance boost to that, all skills would increase substantially faster, but I doubt the total increase would match the increase to a race with a specialty in something, like trying to compete with any of the elven races with an archery bonus or practically all dwarves at mining.

 Realizing that Valeria might get overwhelmed if Stormcrow and I didn’t act—Crazy was busy killing more than her share already—I used one of my wide range fire spells that I had plainly named “fire box”.  As the name implies, it incinerates things within a box-shaped area.  Yes, I had an inheritance bonus with fire and ice magic, but I didn’t have to make use of it.  After some ice slicks and more fire boxes, I considered what abandoning Dwynwen would be like.

 I could leave her gear with one of the others for my new character to use.  Would the others be upset that my role in our group changed?  I doubted it.  Aid wasn’t that far from his Wizard title and would be able to match even my fire spells for damage once he had it.  I wondered if there were any cool titles that only undead could gain.

 Frowning again, I realized that I’d be troubling Ella if I switched characters.  She wouldn’t be able to recognize me without spending at least an hour doing nothing but building an association in her mind between my character and me.  I didn’t really want to do that to her, but I was becoming more and more certain that I wanted to try something new before other players reached us and started making undead of their own.  Ella would forgive me.  I knew she would, but I still hated the idea of giving her extra work.

 “Hey, guys!  Look!” exclaimed Crazy, her grin coming through in her voice.

 I could picture that wide, toothy smile that would be cute if not for the insane look in her eyes.  When I moved Dwynwen to see what she was seeing, I realized that Crazy had alerted the enemies in the room to our presence.  Why would she care?  Her character was a superhero nutcase just like the player and could probably mop up every last enemy on her own if we didn’t get in the way.  I caught myself smiling as I imagined the poor zombie kobolds trying to fight the real Crazy.  I loved my friends.

 “Uh oh…” moaned Valeria as she realized what Crazy had done.

 Crazy charged in as the group of zombie kobolds who had been desperately packing turned to fight us.  With Thor-like subtlety, Crazy brought the hammer down, obliterating the first kobold she reached.  Meanwhile, I froze a few in place, quickly casting another fire box shortly thereafter.  Stormcrow zapped some others with his lightning spells, and Valeria used her Brightborn essence through that dimensional magic of hers.

 I almost lost my timing as my brain just clicked some information into place.  Valeria’s inheritance came from Momma Cosette, someone who became famous as an arena combatant.  Inheritance boosts came from powerful skills, so Momma Cosette’s character had to be great at dimensional spells.  What were the odds that a vampire who could open doorways between places would end up in the care of a woman who spent her free time using similar magic?  Had Auntie Aaliyah plotted this before Momma Cosette even started playing the game, getting her thinking along the lines of how to fight with such magic?

 I knew for fact that Auntie Aaliyah’s plots could span thousands of years with ease and could easily be as quirky as setting things up for her to receive a slice of cake at the precise moment to make a comical incongruence with something she had just said.  Catching something she had done was really rare for me, but I would bet that Momma Cosette had asked her good friend, Auntie Aaliyah, for advice on an interesting fighting style before she delved too deeply into the game.  There was no way to prove my theory, and Auntie Aaliyah probably wouldn’t admit to it, but…

 When a slice of cake suddenly appeared next to my monitor, I really did miss my timing on a firebox, losing the boost from the prior ice slick.  I couldn’t care one bit about the slip as my senses focused on the cake.  I could sense the moisture within it and smell the chocolatey goodness.  I had no doubt that Crazy had already noticed and could infer where it had come from.  This was a reward I would savor.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 117

 “Good morning, Momma Mila!” I called, confident that I had woken up in my own bed.  I could see my things right where they should be.

 “Good morning, Ella.  Today is ” she replied, her voice as cheerful as ever.  “Today is Saturday, June Thirteenth.  You are scheduled to spend most of your time on Ancient Tribes of Earth today, having a great number of building designs to create for the newly founded village of Madness.  There are currently twenty-two blueprints from Four and Messy for you to examine before creating the game equivalents.”

 As she spoke, I remembered a large number of different buildings that I must have spent hours on, otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered a thing.  “Madness?” I asked in concern.  That didn’t sound like much of a town name.

 “Yes.” replied Momma MIla, sounding amused.  “There was quite a debate over what to call the village, but everyone eventually agreed to go with Dea’s suggestion, which had initially been shot down immediately.  The town is named after my daughter, as Dea had suggested.”

 Nodding, I was certain I wouldn’t remember that one.  I got dressed, put on my glasses, and stepped out into my family’s living room.

 “Hey, sweetheart.  Ready for breakfast?” asked Daddy as he glanced at the time.

 “Sure!” I told him.  Looking around, I asked “Where’s Mommy?”

 “She had an early job this morning.” he replied, giving me a one-armed hug before standing up from his chair.

 As we walked toward the main kitchen, I noticed a notification blinking away on my glasses.  Opening it, I saw blueprints for buildings.  Shortly thereafter, the word “STOP” flashed for a moment, and I realized I had almost walked into a wall.  I adjusted course behind Daddy and went back to studying the first blueprint, picturing what the building would actually look like and how the plumbing would work.  This tugged on a memory, and I pictured a few buildings sitting in a circle on the border between a lush, green area and a grey, creepy area.  I also remembered a layout that Crazy had made, depicting a large metropolis with two of almost everything to provide for the living and dead equally.  Noticing the name as I was mentally examining her layout, I rolled my eyes at the city name.

 “Food, Ella.” prodded Daddy, causing me to lose whatever I had been doing as I took in the options for breakfast.

 I took a blueberry waffle, some scrambled eggs, orange juice, some toast with strawberry jam, bacon… I loved bacon.  I almost grabbed a scone when I instinctually checked my plate.  No, I didn’t think I’d be able to eat a scone too.  Using a spell to hold my food and drink, I hugged Daddy again before heading to find my friends at our usual spot.

 When I arrived, they were chatting about some village named “Madness,” which seemed like a silly name for a town.  I listened and munched on food as they debated whether or not to plan for Crazy’s suggested layout.  That triggered a memory, and I almost forgot my toast as I looked over what might actually be the right layout.  Neat!

 After we finished eating, we did some cleaning for Marco.  Then I double-checked the day and my schedule as I followed my friends toward the gaming rooms.  I wasn’t lost, not that my friends would let me get lost.

 When we arrived, I took my normal chair, logged into Ancient Tribes of Earth, since that was what everyone else was doing, and looked around.  I was standing in some strange village and remembered something…  I could imagine buildings stretching out from this point in different directions.  These buildings, neat as they were, would eventually be replaced by a central keep or castle… I wasn’t quite certain.

 Realizing that the others were hurrying around, I wondered what I was supposed to be doing.  I checked my to-do list from Momma Mila and got busy with a design I had apparently started yesterday.  Building in the game was relatively straightforward.  The architecture skill allowed you to plan structures and place an outline of them on any building spot where you had permission.  Construction crews could then build right over the outline with degrees of perfection based on their associated skill.

 With greater points in architecture, more tools were unlocked.  Some tools simplified the process and others allowed for more detail.  If your skill was high enough for the task at hand, the outline would appear precisely how you planned it.  Thanks to spending a fair amount of time with my parents in-game and having an inheritance bonus, my skill was pretty high.  The fact that architecture grew with time spent playing with tools also helped the skill to shoot up.

 Unlike my memory of the city layout, my in-game plans actually had links to the buildings I was currently working on.  This was so neat!  I felt like I had been given a gift, getting to help build a city from scratch.  I backed up the layout to the current village plan and got to work, nearly losing my place when I saw a group of undead trudging on by with wagons of part.  Creepy workforce!

 The area for which I was designing buildings would be town center, gradually progressing into a more fortified structure as we gained resources to build it.  With the center ring of buildings—our temporary homes—completed, I needed to get the next nearest houses placed, marking the start of streets.

 Time passed quickly as I finished the previously started building and started converting one of the blueprints stored on my glasses to the game blueprints.  Several buildings later, I caught sight of Four.

 I dodged around a group of skeletal laborers that were working under the commands of some other type of undead and reached him.  Feeling more than a little curious, I had to ask, “Hey, Four… Sorry if I’ve brought this up before, but… How are we paying for this?”

 “The initial funding for the undead side came from the rulers of Greyshire.  Crazy’s negotiations were extremely thorough.  We’ll be paying taxes from that side of the town to Greyshire for as long as this area is under their rule.  We’re going to have to do a lot of questing and general monster hunting to keep up funding for the living side, but Valeria, Luce, Stormcrow, and Crazy are all working on that already.  Don’t worry.  We’ll manage.  The labor costs are amazingly low with the mindless undead doing the heavy lifting.” he assured me with a smile.  “With you between buildings and noon approaching outside of the game, let’s see if everyone’s ready to break for lunch.”

 I nodded my agreement and logged out, realizing that I really was hungry and wondering what was for lunch today.  As I waited for my friends, I kept part of my mind focused on the prospect of food and wondered what I had been doing.  Everyone looked so busy in the game.  With everyone so focused, I was certain that I had been enjoying myself too.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 114

 “Are you sure about this?” asked Messy, her character surveying the necropolis beneath us.

 Four let out a small laugh before saying, “No, but we don’t have a better plan.  Every undead creature we have fought in here is Evil, so I can’t imagine there being a better spot to lure the Jaggagawaroeth.”

 “I like the plan.  Sure, we’ll probably all die and have to fight our way in here to recover whatever equipment survives—unless Messy is willing to teleport to save our stuff again—but we’ll also bear witness to one of the craziest fights the game has seen in years!” I assured them, knowing that neither the Jaggagawaroeth nor the undead of the Necropolis would go down without a fight.

 “How long before it gets here?” asked Asp nervously.  His character was peering over the roof’s edge of the building we had cleared out, shining greatsword in hand.

 “Might want to back up or put that away, Asp.  Your sword’s a bit easy to notice.” I warned him, though his wings were also pretty noticeable here if they could be seen from the ground below us.  “As for time…”

 “A real life hour.” responded Doc, who had volunteered to sneak out of the Necropolis and watch the Jaggagawaroeth’s approach.  Her estimate would be good.

 Fighting into the necropolis hadn’t actually been too terrible.  Most of the footsoldiers and archers were weak skeletons.  Their only advantage was numbers. The one skeleton commander we had fought could take a hit, but Rona had managed to hold it in place with her magic until it was destroyed by Layla.

 Valeria’s character was a bit problematic here.  Yes, she amplified the vampires beyond what even the unholy ground was doing for them, but the skeletons grew stronger when they approached her.  We wanted to avoid seeing what enemy vampires, liches, or worse might do within her aura if possible, so she was doing her best to keep it small.  The unholy ground amplified her powers as well, so the aura kept trying to expand.

 Simply waiting was boring, so I opted for tedious and boring instead, using and reusing my non-combat spells to help maintain the balance between all types of magic.  As with most powerful titles, there were few people with the Wizard title in Ancient Tribes of Earth, at least going by the player estimates on forums.  Auntie Aaliyah refused to give actual numbers out, even for us.

 By the time I realized the ground was shaking, I had cleaned the area of all filth, adjusted the ambient temperature several times, made and unmade numerous tiny pocket dimensions, read and reread the few books in this building through an auto-learning spell, levitated the tableware into a large variety of patterns, and played with the lighting in as many ways as I could manage.  I was definitely ready for combat.  Luckily, even extensive use of my utility spells barely used my mana.

 The Jaggagawaroeth was visible in the distance and obviously approaching the city.  Even the undead noticed.  After Doc joined us, our group took turns on the roof, spying on the necropolis’ preparations to fight the incoming beastie.  Instead of just minor skeletons manning the wall, a large contingent of zombies joined them.  There were also skeletons as tall as houses, large lizard-like zombies, and a host of beings too covered in gear to really tell what was wearing them.

 “This should be entertaining, shouldn’t it.” stated Father, who had appeared out of nowhere behind me.  Sensing him was always a little odd.  His body gave off heat that I could detect, but I couldn’t actually sense him directly at all through my magic.  

 “Do you approve of the plan then?” questioned Four, hopefully.

 “We both do.” stated Mother, who was on the floor above us, probably here to watch as well.

 To my surprise, several of the other parents were coming down the stairs as well.

 “Is everyone going to watch us play?” I asked, feeling a little nervous at the thought.

 “Oh, yes.  Who would want to miss this?” asked Father with a kind smile.  “Mila’s projecting various screens throughout the household, so we don’t all have to squeeze together between the two rooms.”

 “But… we’ll probably die.” I told him with a frown.

 He shrugged.  “Ancient Tribes of Earth isn’t a game anyone, save for its creator, plays without an occasional death, but choosing such a magnificent death can be very worthwhile.” he encouraged, smiling again.

 Despite what was happening, I found myself relaxing, which was probably Father’s presence affecting me.  He wouldn’t be nervous at a time like this.  I doubted Father had really felt nervous for a very long time.

 When the Jaggagawaroeth was in reach of the archers, who fired enormous volleys at the creature, it jumped, clearing the height of the volleys with ease.  Luckily, it didn’t seem to know exactly where we were yet, or we would have been crushed like all of the homes  that had been where it landed.  The ground shook hard enough that several of our characters fell over, including mine.

 As the undead started attacking again, heedless of risk to life or limb, the Jaggagawaroeth went wild.  A relatively small chunk of the sprawling city was gone in an instant when the Jaggagawaroeth swung its massive tail.  Each step flattened scores of undead, and it didn’t seem to mind eating them either.

 “Maybe we should retreat.  This isn’t working.” I stated, certain that the undead hadn’t even managed to slow the Jaggagawaroeth.

 “Just wait.” stated Father, sounding amused.

 I didn’t have to wait long.  A very, very large skeletal dragon can swooping in from the giant castle and over twenty beings that had to be liches drifted off its back as it swooped around, breathing out lightning on the Jaggagawaroeth, which was actually noticed.  The Jaggagawaroeth actively tried avoiding the lightning, crushing more buildings as it rolled.  As impressive as that attack had seemed, the Jaggagawaroeth barely looked injured from it.

 Bright, blue light shot between the liches and runes formed in the air clear across the giant circle, which seemed to focus on the remaining lich who rode the dragon.

 “Father, is this…” started Four, sounding as impressed as I felt.

 “Yes, this is similar to the raid magic we use these days.  I’d guess several of those liches would give my character a run for his money.  The leader is probably a raid boss himself.” suggested Father.

 For the Jaggagawaroeth’s part, it jumped to the side, shattering even more buildings, but that wasn’t enough to save it from the pale white beam shrouded in wifts of darkness that shot forth from the circle’s center.  The Jaggagawaroeth howled in pain as part of its skin sloughed off, looking rotted where the beam had touched.  Unfortunately for the undead, I could see the Jaggagawaroeth regenerating already.  The beast leapt into the air, biting a member of the circle from his place, though a globe of protective magic had sprung up around the caster.

 The Jaggagawaroeth jumped again and the liches shot off in different directions while the dragon swept in and raked its claws along the Jaggagawaroeth’s hide, peeling away bits of skin.  The dragon’s tail shattered when the Jaggagawaroeth’s tail met it with a rapid blow.  Unlike how the Jaggagawaroeth regenerated, the dragon’s tail reformed, shattered pieces flying through the air after it to reconnect to its body.

 The battle continued for several minutes as we watched in amazement.  Instead of trying an enormous attack again, the liches had split into several smaller circles, still creating large spells to strike the beast.  The leader on the dragon’s spells seemed almost as large as those of the circles by himself.  Still, the undead were gradually losing numbers to the Jaggagawaroeth.  It would win.

 “Valeria, don’t you think it’s about time to help them out?” asked Mother, her voice coming through from Valeria’s mic.

 When Valeria’s character reached the rooftop, a giant dome of red light shot out from her, stretching hundreds of feet, maybe even a thousand.  Her light still didn’t reach the battle.  She wasn’t strong enough.

 I nearly panicked when the skeletal dragon dived toward us, but Father rested his hand on my shoulder while telling everyone it’s alright.  When the lich on top of the dragon reached his hand out to my friend, she accepted and was pulled onto the dragon’s back.  They flew back into the battle before the Jaggagawaroeth chased the lich.

 Bathed in the light of Valeria’s character, Felice, the liches’ magic was obviously stronger.  Beams of energy that had been several feet in diameter were now over twenty.  The first breath of lightning from the dragon tore most of the Jaggagawaroeth’s leg off.  To my surprise, the Jaggagawaroeth actually looked scared.  The beast leapt toward the wall, slamming and shattering a barrier that sprung in front of it, but the barrier had slowed its momentum.  The liches weren’t so forgiving as to let this intruder escape.

 “Ladies, gentlemen, I would join in this fight too if I were you, though I’d keep a healthy distance.” suggested Father with a smile for us.

 “But.. they’re Evil!” protested Layla through the mics.

 “Not all of them, and you’ll want them to know you’re on their side if you want to survive this.” he assured her, guiding his voice through my mic with a spell rather than leaning down.

 Layla still seemed to hesitate, but she joined us when I made a temporary bridge from rooftop-to-rooftop until some of us were in range with our longest attacks.  I knew we weren’t safe.  The Jaggagawaroeth could easily swat us if it charged us, but the liches had its undivided attention now, despite lesser undead swarming over its tail and getting crushed whenever the beast moved.

 To my great surprise, every circle of liches suddenly attacked at the same time, targeting the Jaggagawaroeth’s with smaller versions of that spell which had rotted its body.  The leader dived, jumping from his dragon when the Jaggagawaroeth managed to swat it.  The leader dove into the hole created by his brethren and the Jaggagawaroeth shuddered.  For a long moment there was silence, and then the Jaggagawaroeth’s body seemed to zombify.  To my horror, we had given the undead a Jaggagawaroeth puppet, and Father had allowed this.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 118

 I was a bit surprised that everyone had agreed to stay and build a city together.  Well, we usually do everything together, but I hadn’t expected the vote to be unanimous for it immediately.  Sure, I liked Crazy’s plan, and the idea of carving out our own territory in Ancient Tribes of Earth was appealing, but no one had even brought up other options.  We just took a vote and got to it.

 I had expected someone to argue for a different area.  With only Luce, Valeria, and me being vampires, most of the group would probably prefer a completely living area for a city.  Yes, we were getting free resources due to Crazy’s insane haggling, but we also had to pay taxes, something the Garde did not deal with.  No one ruled the Boss.  Of course, he wasn’t granted titles of nobility either, but he was basically a king here.  I mean, he seemed like a king outside of the game too, but that might just be my opinion.

 Catching sight of Crazy’s character motioning, I activated Greythorn’s invisibility and hurried ahead.  Crazy didn’t often use stealth, but when she did, she was actually really good at tracking.  Frowning, I hoped Valeria wasn’t regretting her decision to play a Brightborn.  She simply had to have the lowest stealth bonus in the game with how radiant her character was.  Spotting her character moving only took me a glance in the general direction.

 Crazy had found a group of guards outside of a ruined stone building.  We had been exploring an ancient city for the good part of an hour now, working on a quest for Greyshire to eliminate intruding zombie kobolds.  There had been several scouting parties so far, but we hadn’t found active guards like these before.

 In the unholy lands, my character was substantially stronger.  My base physical attributes all got a boost as well as all vampiric abilities.  Unfortunately, every single enemy we’ve encountered received similar boosts.  Zombie kobolds went from typically weak threats to something worth a bit of concentration.  Large groups like what we were hunting required a group of players from someone at my character’s power level.

 When I saw the ground freeze under the kobolds, I used my lightning magic.  My aunt focusing on lightning in the magic came mostly from her sense of humor, but I was seriously grateful for the inheritance boost.  Crazy landed from a jump just after my spell went off, smashing into one of the falling kobolds.  Then Valeria arrived, her Luminescence ability retracted as much as she could, so she wouldn’t be boosting our enemies.  She hurled her essence, burning the frozen kobolds and causing some of their skin to crack off.

 Deciding against engaging in melee while Crazy was doing some sort of sliding trick around the ice, I stuck with my lightning magic, creating a wall across the doorway.  If there were reinforcements nearby, I didn’t want them coming out unscathed.  With the wall in place, I use my ball lightning spell.  Where lightning was instant damage, ball lightning was a sustained spell that drew my mana more gradually while acting as barrier and attack at once.  I could create fifteen of the balls at once, but I knew I needed to work on controlling them better.  Aunt Iris could practically make her version of the spell look like she was juggling the balls of lightning across a large field of battle.

 Part of the trick Aunt Iris had taught me was creating directional macros which could move different groups of balls simultaneously or do more intricate maneuvers.  The downside with long strings of commands was the difficulty in interrupting the right individual ball’s movement if an ally got too close.  In this case, I trusted Crazy to simply dodge.  Her melee skills were beyond what the character stats would suggest, not that she ever actually showed me her stats.  I knew because I had let her play Greythorn a number of times so she could demonstrate ideas she had for me.  Under her control, Greythorn moved with liquid grace, dancing through the air while cleaving heads.  Sure, she had been demonstrating on weak opponents, but I still couldn’t have pulled it off so smoothly, despite her using an entirely different layout for her keybinds than the rest of us.  If I tried to play Crazy’s Justine, I might take a while just figuring out where the walk buttons were assigned.

 While I maneuvered my lightning, Luce was alternating between burning heads and stabbing them with shards of ice.  Unlike Aid’s character, Luce’s Dwynwen only inherited a boost to a narrow field of spells from their parents—the Boss had focused heavily on fire and Momma Alma on ice—so Dwynwen had a massive bonus in all thermal-based magic, but that’s it.  If she alternated the types of attacks, she could steal heat away and add it to the next fire spell, making her attacks stronger than normal for her character’s skill.  Yes, anyone could learn the trick, but most wouldn’t have the inheritance bonuses to keep both sides balanced or the timing to do it so well.  Waiting too long to cast the fire spell would let some of the stolen heat dissipate.  Casting too soon would cause the spell to launch before all of the stolen heat arrived.  I was sure Luce had some macros helping, but there was still a great deal of timing involved with spells going off in different areas.  Dwynwen’s spells typically did even more damage than my lightning but weren’t cast as quickly.

 Between all of our attacks, the battle didn’t take too long.  Zombies had a racial penalty to their intelligence from partially rotted brains, so the average zombie kobold wouldn’t be as quick to decide to run.  We quickly looted the corpses before proceeding into the building.

 I grinned as we descended down the steps into an area that reminded me of the catacombs in Paris.  We had visited France a few years ago, and I had found the catacombs to be both frightening and beautiful.  If the base of the kobolds was truly down here, they had good taste.  I couldn’t wait to see what all awaited us.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 115

 After the zombified Jaggagawaroeth was sent out of the city, we watched anxiously as the leader of the liches restored the bone dragon and reclaimed Valeria from where she had been thrown.  Instead of returning her to us, the leader flew off toward the keep.

 “Come with us.” stated a cold, cruel-sounding voice.

 I turned to find that we had been surrounded by the liches, who must have teleported around us.  Wait, no… they weren’t all liches afterall.  Some were obviously skeletal and probably liches by the bright glow of their eye sockets and powerful magic they obviously controlled.  Others looked more like vampires, wearing skeletal armor.  Then there were a couple who somewhat resembled ghouls in the game.

 “Do as they say.” stated Four, taking command.  He knew as well as the rest of us that we couldn’t win in a fight here.

 We were grouped together and then teleported away, arriving in a stone room with an arcane circle engraved in the floor.  As we were escorted down the corridor, I did my best to memorize the floorplan while considering how I might escape if needed.  I knew any attempt was futile while surrounded by much stronger characters.  The variety among them also limited options, since there wouldn’t be a single weakness that could be exploited against all of them.

 Eventually, we reached a large throne room that was bathed red in the light of Felice, Valeria’s character.  Instead of a lich sitting on the throne, there was a young gir-... No, she was a halfling like my Bryn!  Was she alive?  I doubted it.  Her skin was pale enough to be a vampire’s, and her eyes had a slight blue glow to them.  I couldn’t see her skin past the outfit she wore.  Most of her body was covered in what might have been a regal gown with the fine embroidery, but her chest was covered by a breastplate, etched in runes.  She wore rune-covered gauntlets on each hand that rings attached to each of the fingers.  All I could go by was her height, face, and ears, which had the slight points of most halflings.

 “Why did you bring that monster to kill us?” asked the ruler, motioning for Valeria to keep silent.

 Four’s character stepped forward.  He bowed and then said, “If you’ll allow me to explain, you’ll find we weren’t here to destroy you at all.”

 The ruler nodded, and Four swept into an eloquent explanation of how we happened across the city at random while fleeing the Jaggagawaroeth.  He told her of how the undead we had encountered weren’t cognizant to our knowledge, so we had no reason to think there were any intelligent undead within the city.  He spoke of our struggles before entering these lands and the cities we had avoided, not wanting to endanger the populace.  This led to him explaining that a city filled with lesser undead had seemed ideal for weakening and distracting the Jaggagawaroeth, hopefully buying us time to lose it.  According to him, we aided in battle the moment we knew the monster could be defeated and hoped that she, the ruler, would take the newfound guardian of the city as a gift.

 As Four just demonstrated, there were plenty of reasons for him to speak as our leader beyond him being the oldest.  I knew I would never have made the story sound quite so plausible as he just had.  When I glanced back at Momma Alma, she looked quite pleased with her son’s speech.

 To my relief, the ruler did as well.  She looked around at her subjects before saying, “As this was clearly not an attack from the living against us, are there any against me granting them leave to remain here as our guests while they enjoy our lands?”  Noticing one of the vampires preparing to speak, she stared at him, until he took a step back, bowing immediately.  With no protest, she said, “Welcome then, heroes of the living, to the city of Greyshire.  If any of you desire to renounce your heartbeat in favor of an undead life, we will grant you the honor.”

 Announcements lit up my screen, stating that new races were now available to play on our account.  The new strain of vampirism wasn’t particularly interesting for me, since this world had many, but I hadn’t heard about a playable zombie race before, nor the spectres.  We even had unlocked mummies!

 There were also other announcements, telling us of increased reputation with Greyshire, new quests being available, and even a world achievement!  World achievements weren’t exactly rare, but they didn’t happen nearly as frequently these days, since the game had been around for over a decade.  I did, however, like the idea of our character names being recorded together in the game’s libraries.

 Breaking my train of thought, the ruler then said, “I would also like to extend a special invitation to you, Felice.  If you stay here with us, I’ll grant you titles, wealth, and plenty of opportunities to grow stronger.”

 There was a long pause before Valeria spoke for her character.  “That is a gracious offer, but I would not abandon my companions.” she replied, doing a fair job of sounding regretful.

 “I suspected as much, but the offer will remain open to you if you ever change your mind.” stated the ruler.

 “Your majesty,” started Crazy, and I was certain everyone else was staring at her character as I was.  “Would you be terribly offended if we were to found a new village on your lands?  One that would welcome the living as well as the undead in hopes that other adventurers may eventually witness the joys you have to offer?”

 “And what would be the benefit of this for my people?” asked the ruler.

 When I looked over at Crazy, she was grinning.  The explanation that followed was worthy of her grandmother in its complexity and thoroughness.  I gave up following the discussion several minutes into it, and Aspy fell asleep.  Even most of our parents, who had been watching up until that point, wandered off.  Momma Alma, however, seemed amused as she listened attentively.

 When she was finally finished, we needed to log off for the night, but we all gathered up in one room to discuss what she had just done.

 “Well,” she told us with a grin that made me shudder, “I doubt all of us want to go running back to our parents’ city after traveling this far, not when we could build something impressive here!  Yes, we lack the resources that we enjoyed in our parents’ city, but I haven’t found anyone else near these lands even asking Momma Mila to help me search!  This is ours!  We can set up everything how we want, but only if we act now!”

 “I doubt too many others will…” started Aid with a frown.

 Crazy interrupted him, saying, “No, they’ll come.  Won’t they, Layla?”  Her grin was enormous as she looked down at the phone one of the quadruplets held.

 “Some for sure.  I can’t say how many, but some of the people in my stream were talking about trying to find this place.  I doubt it’ll be too hard, since they can follow my video logs.” explained Layla nervously.

 “So we need to build now!  I know Four’s often thought of building a city, and Messy enjoys building as well.” insisted Crazy as she gave Messy hug so fast that I barely registered her movement.  “Plus, we have Ella!” she exclaimed, disappearing.  When I looked around, she had moved behind Ella, hugging her.

 “Yay?” asked Ella with obvious uncertainty.

 “Yay!” exclaimed Crazy with an enthusiastic nod.  “How high are your non-combat skills that you inherited from your parents?” she asked.

 Ella took a moment, having to look them up, but she read them off.  Unlike most of our parents, Ella’s had spent a large amount of time in the game without fighting, and Ella had joined them in their endeavors frequently.  Poppa Dejon’s character was considered a master architect and engineer, since he kept pushing his skills higher.  Momma Noelle’s character was also an architect but also had top rate cartography, a skill she maintained to know where she had been as much as to sell maps to other adventurers.

 Assuming we could hire some of the undead for laborers, this might actually work.  We all agreed to think about it before tomorrow’s gaming, so I went to bed with thoughts of what I’d like Bryn’s personal home to be.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 111

 I hurried through the forest, stopping to examine tracks while wondering how much of this would still be here in a few hours.  With a sigh, I pushed back thoughts of how wrong ruining a place like this was and began pursuing the troll.  A troll was likely to attack our wagons if they drew too close, not knowing how quickly it would be dispatched.  As a Ranger, I had other options than killing.  Thinking about the lumbering Jaggagawaroeth that still trailed our group, I wondered if I really had time to play nice with a troll.

 “What’s up, Doc?” asked Four teasingly.  He was watching my screen.

 I ignored the Bugs Bunny reference, having heard that plenty of times.  “Debating whether or not to shoo the troll away nicely.” I admitted, knowing that killing the troll would take me some time too.  I did have some basic fire spells, but nothing near as fancy as what Aid’s character could do.  Most forest trolls could only be killed by fire.

 “Want help?  I doubt we really need everyone on the wagons, though Layla and Rona will be really upset if the wagons are destroyed.  Logging in at a random location isn’t fun.” he commented as he thought about it, probably considering a hundred things at once with how his mind worked.

   “Nah.  I’ve got this.” I assured him, deciding to do this the nice way.  “Mind sending someone else to scout while I handle this?”

 “No problem.  Stormcrow, mind going on a stroll?” asked Four, probably certain that Stormcrow wouldn’t mind.

 “Sure thing.  The forest is plenty dark here for us vampires.” came the reply.  He sounded excited about the idea.

 With Layla and Rona on their way home now that Marisha had left, the rest of us were trying to get a little extra distance from the Jaggagawaroeth, hoping to keep our lead.  When we had first set out, we never had dreamed that we’d be mixed up in such a crazy escort mission.  I was more than a little concerned about the plan to ditch the beast when we finally arrived.

 Currently, the Jaggagawaroeth still seemed to be tracking Rona’s character.  If she died, it might well switch its focus to a different member of our group.  Were we going to ditch our gear and all die together after leading this creature as far away from civilization as we could manage?  Being the only ones in the vicinity, it might latch onto us again!

 I had shared my concerns with my friends, of course, but no one had a solid suggestion yet, though Crazy threw out a few wild ideas which involved a whole lot of running around, dodging, and building.

 My mind focused on the game the moment my character’s motion sensing pinged.  Creatures that moved near me were outlined by pulsing outlines, making them easy to see.  My quarry was in a tree, waiting to pounce on me.

 I used a spell to manipulate the liana on the tree, causing them to lash out in an attempt to tie up the troll, which dodged by leaping down and roaring.  Having already anticipated that, I released my second spell, which caused arrows drawn on my bow to ignite.  Since I was using incendiary arrows, the flames would last.

 The troll backed away, but stopped immediately when my arrow landed in its path.  No matter my quarry’s size, I would only need five arrows for what I had planned.  When the final one landed, creating a large, roughly circular ring of flaming arrows, I used a spell for creature binding.  Trolls were considered monsters, not animals, and had more intelligence than many creatures found in the forest, but they also had the “creature of nature” type, allowing me to bind them as a servant for a time.

 Earning my Ranger title had taken a great deal of practice doing this type of thing, and granted me enormous bonuses to my efforts.  The troll didn’t have a chance.  Once bound, I only needed to lead it off an hour or so, long enough that the wagons would pass through its territory.  I could maintain the spell and use the troll to help guard our wagons from a distance, but then I’d be left finding a nice place to release it.  The farther from its natural territory that I left it, the more of a penalty I’d have from “Nature’s Ire”.  Rangers wouldn’t actually lose the title from being cruel to nature, but we could become the enemy of the natural world rather than a protector, something I chose to avoid.

 Things were going plenty smoothly up until I noticed my troll sniffing the ground just before pounding its chest and roaring similar to a gorilla.  I sighed.  There was another troll nearby, and we had just ran into its territory.  There had to be some luck on my side, because we weren’t attacked instantly when my troll did the brief challenge, but I did hear a distant roar.

 If trolls were nicer beasties, I could just keep mine back while I tamed the second one.  Unfortunately, trolls hated company.  If I tried bringing a second one into my group, they’d still constantly try to fight one another.  One of the problems with “befriending” intelligent beasties was that they were very difficult to train for anything against their nature.  Why did there have to be trolls here?

 I hesitated only a few seconds before calling my troll back, which it protested with some disappointed grumbles.  Then I gradually made my way on a different course, stopping and backtracking again whenever my troll tried calling out its rival.  If I circled the entire territory, I could gain a visual that would show me the boundary, another perk of being a Ranger.

 Eventually, I gave up trying to find the end of the second troll’s territory, since Four told me they should be clear of danger from my irritable friend’s path.  Since we hadn’t traveled terribly far, I was relatively safe releasing him.  As a Ranger, I was an alpha predator and had to stand my ground until the troll fled.  With a troll, just pulling a torch out would likely have been discouragement enough.  Instead, I readied my bow.  With the torch, the troll might have tried gauging who had the greater reach, but this troll had seen what I could do with a bow, running immediately when I used my intimidate skill.  Scouting in Ancient Tribes of Earth really was an interesting time, especially as a Ranger.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 107

 “Oh, look.  They’re making it rain.” stated Aid flatly, just seconds after the match started.

 “Lucy can protect against that, right?” I asked hopefully.

 She nodded, but was pursing her lips as if she was considering something.  “Please, just call me ‘Luce’ already.” insisted Luce, still staring upward.

 “This isn’t just rain…  They would’ve waited till we were outside if it was.” replied Four after several seconds of silence as we all thought.

 “You’re right.  Wow.” agreed Mariasha.  “Interesting move.”

 “What?  What’s happening?” I asked, feeling more than a little afraid to find out.

 Staring at the ceiling, Mariasha said, “Apparently, the quadruplets came up with a way to cause extremely rapid oxidation.  I’ll counter the rusting, but this is going to take some focus.  I won’t be able to look for Layla at the same time.”  Seeming to catch my look without even glancing at me, she said, “Yes, I technically could, but we’re fighting at their level, remember?”

 I frowned and asked Four “Any chance you can counter the spell itself?”

 He shook his head.  “I don’t have any idea how they’re doing it.  They probably bounced ideas off their father last night or asked their mothers for assistance, guessing you’d have a metal base.”

 I sighed and briefly considered giving up.  I was out of my element and obviously a poor commander for this, but my father would throw a fit if he heard I just gave up.  “Valeria, get our attack force to the top of their base.  I’ll need you to stay here as another line of defense, redepositing anyone who appears back over there.”

 She nodded, and a portal immediately appeared next to her.  The others hurried through without a thought, but I stared at the opening in awe.  I could feel the metal around their base, and an idea popped into my head.

 “I believe I just felt their flagpole, it’s metal like ours!” I exclaimed excitedly.  “Valeria, can you create tiny portals?”  When she nodded, I said, “Make portals just big enough for you to fire through at different locations around their base.  If you see an enemy fire, but be ready to widen the opening if I tell you too.  We can snatch their flag if you happen to create a portal next to it.”  Pointing, I said, “I think it’s a bit farther that way.”

 I grew excited as Valeria searched, concentrating on finding that flag before our enemies found ours.

 “Aid, Dea, and Stormcrow are out.” announced Mila, probably not even a minute after the team had left.

 “What!?  What happened?” I asked in surprise.

 My teammates both shrugged.

 “Rona’s out.” announced Mila seconds later.

 My fortress was feeling all too much like a prison at the moment.  “Is there anyone outside of our fortress yet?”

 “Not that I see.” replied Mariasha immediately.

 I felt her ability to see other places was more than a little unnerving, but I was glad that she was on my team.  I took a little while rearranging the fortress to create a hallway from me to the outside, allowing me to see.

 Bolts of lightning rained from the sky, and the earth exploded outward.  Walls of fire appeared to block the path of my team.  Giant plants acted as water cannons, shooting from different directions.  Drones buzzed around in the sky, shooting small bursts of water.  In the middle of it all, Four, Lucy… er… Luce, and Doc were still moving forward.  The lightning veered off in odd directions, water bounced off invisible barriers instead of striking, and the group walked on air when the ground opened at their feet.  A gust of wind suddenly pushed at them, blowing their hair wildly, but Four held onto Doc before she flew off.  I had to remind myself that this was just a game to them.  Where I often spent weekends alone on video games, they had each other to practice warfare.

 “No…  Our flag’s gone!” exclaimed Mariasha.

 I stared at the spot where our flag had been uncomprehendingly for several seconds, and then I shut the fortress again, thankful that I didn’t see any blood splatter from an unknown source.  Layla had somehow traversed that battlefield and strolled right into our fortress because I wanted to see what was going on.

 “Open the portal wider!” I ordered in desperation, feeling their flag nearby.

 “I wouldn’t…” started Mariasha as I hurried through.

 I ignored her, looking at my surroundings.  There were stone walled corridors lit by torches, but I could feel the flag just beyond an ornate stone fountain.  Three small pools of water sat vertically from smallest down to the largest as the water streamed from a pot held by one of the quadruplets.  Her sisters stood guard, each by their own pool.  The rest of their team was there as well, but I was betting this to be some sort of secret passage.  I tried twisting the head of the lowest sister, having to dodge when a stream of water shot out from one of the other guardians till I fixed the head.  Was this just a trap, or was it really a passage?

 I stood there, glaring at the fountain and considering whether or not to just destroy the wall, when I noticed a seam around a stone in the lowest pool.  I used a spell to push it rather than risking myself this time.  The wall to each side of the fountain swiveled, revealing a path.  I hurried inside and grabbed the flag, which left me frowning.  The flag stayed in place even after the pole moved.  I was so focused on the illusory flag that I nearly missed the water shooting at me from multiple directions.  Luckily, a path to the side opened as my entrance had shut.  I jumped into it only to find Ella staring into my eyes.

 After helping Ella reset the trap, I went out to assist the others.  Something seemed wrong about me taking orders from the quadruplets, but I knew I was supposed to do what they said.  One of them was the team captain, and I had no hope of knowing which.  There was a water gun made out of solid metal as if it had been made just for me.  I gladly used it along with the different spells I knew to shoot water at Four and Luce, but I had to dodge quickly as some of the streams turned back at me.

 The battle was intense, but my team scored a point not too long after I had joined the fight.  Layla had captured the flag.  I was instructed to retreat and regroup with Layla, but found myself gliding alone underground on a sheet of stone not long after.  Wait, not alone.  Someone was holding my hand, but I didn’t know who.  I heard Layla tell me to open the metal fortress I had designed and obliged her.

 “Marisha?” questioned Messy when she saw me.  She studied me up until I pointed my floating water gun at her, and then I had to dodge as water appeared all around me in flashes of light, attempting to hit me.  I slammed the door between us shut, but heard knocking on the other side just after.

 “I got them!” exclaimed Layla a little after I heard Mila announce it.

 I had forgotten Layla was here.  Trusting her, I opened the door, but she wasn’t there after all.  Neither were Mariasha or Valeria.

 “Make sure to guard the base for us!  We don’t want them retaking it.” she told me from nowhere.

 Not too long later, I was standing closer to the mansion when I had a weird feeling pass through my head.  “We lost.” I stated in shock as the fact registered.  “I helped us lose!?”  Ella was staring into my eyes with a smile.

 Mariasha patted my arm.  “Everyone gets Ella’d from time to time.” she assured me.

 “Yeah, don’t feel bad.” insisted Four with a smile.  “The quadruplets played us from the start.”

 “Sorry if you feel weird.” apologized Ella.

 I stared at her for a second before quickly averting my eyes.  Her power was extraordinarily potent.  I knew there were spells to manipulate minds, but I hadn’t heard of anything quite that effective.  Without experiencing her magic, I probably wouldn’t have believed such a spell could be so effective.

 “So that room was a decoy?” I asked, putting the pieces together.

 “Made just for you.” stated one of the quadruplets with a big grin.

 “Please, don’t feel bad.” insisted another one of them.

 Then a third said, “Decoys are pretty common in our games, and having Ella guarding the decoy is just good sense.”

 I nodded, feeling the strategy did seem effective.  Bewilder the enemy and then capture them.  Still, I felt a little ashamed for falling into their trap that easily.  Father would be interested in hearing about this little match, despite my loss.  I really doubted he’d be too surprised that I lost after hearing what these kids were like in more detail.  Their abilities were extraordinary.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 91

 “Duck!” exclaimed Luce as a wicked-looking axe swung out from the wall at Layla’s head.

 The rest of us were dodging as well.  Though we had decided to take things slowly, none of us actually took any skills for our characters that involved the discovery and disablement of traps.  This latest one appeared in the form of a pressure plate disguised as regular flooring, which triggered those axes from over thirty feet back in the hallway to swing out in quick succession all the way to another twenty feet ahead of us.

 “This game is crazy!  That almost took off my head!” exclaimed Layla, panting rapidly as if she had just been running.

 “Really is different when you’re using your character’s body, isn’t it!?” exclaimed Rona excitedly.  She was actually doing fairly well at this, using her magic to block off opponents with wall spells and help destroy large groups quickly.

 “It is.” I agreed, not feeling too comfortable with VR myself.  I didn’t have much experience with the VR rigs due to largely focusing on Ancient Tribes of Earth when I was allowed.  My biggest advantage with my current character was the many hours spent under Momma Cosette’s tutelage last week.  We had spent a number of hours covering the basics of sword fighting, moved to more advanced techniques, and then started covering more while shapeshifting.  There were reasons I had chosen a samurai-style character, given that Japanese swordsmanship was covered in my lessons and I’d be expected to utilize magic in our upcoming training.

 One of the disconcerting sensations while in the VR rig was how slowly my character could react.  I still had an advantage in being able to recognize what was happening more quickly than a human, but I didn’t always time my response well to the much slower body.

 “Anyone need healing?” questioned Layla, holding her bow at her side.  One of her interesting character choices was an ability that allowed her to imbue healing magic into her arrows.  The arrow merely needed to hit our armor to heal us, but Rona wasn’t using an armored character this time around.  A little healing had been wasted several times as the magic forced the arrow back out of the wound.

 “Let’s keep moving.” insisted Luce, leading the way in her tall, steel-clad character.  Her character wasn’t really the size of an adult, but she was taller than the rest of us, more likely to take traps to the upper chest than to the head.

 When Luce cautiously opened the doorway—standing to the side as she forced it open with her sword—the rest of us prepared to attack, but nothing jumped out at us.

 “A bedroom?” questioned Luce, sounding surprised.

 The room was covered in dust and cobwebs, but would have been very nice in its time.  The canopied bed was large enough for three people to rest comfortably and appeared to be in the best shape of everything here.  The door of the armoire looked to have fallen off years ago, the dresser was obviously ruined by the damp seeping in through the stone, and the large mirror had shattered when something had knocked it over.

 “Let’s at least look for treasure.” encouraged Rona, grinning as she looked around.  “I wish my room was this big.  Unlike you people, I live in a normal house.”

 “My house is perfectly normal too.” insisted Layla.

 “Yeah-yeah.  We’re weirdos.” stated Luce teasingly as she cautiously stepped into the room.  “Something is off here.”

 I pulled my sword in agreement, following close behind her.  When a sheet from the bed lurched for her, I met it with a slash from my sword as she stabbed up through it.  The whole bed writhed, its form twisting as more sections of the now ooze-like creature shot out at us, taking the forms of different blades.

 Luce stepped between the bed-creature and our casters, allowing me to step up closer to our enemy, meeting its attacks with my sword.  Rona used some sort of cold magic that shot into the creature in a thin line, but quickly spread, slowing the creature down.  Where my sword met the frozen body, that part of the body shattered quite satisfyingly.  The fight was over fairly quickly from that point.

 “I’m so glad that wasn’t the type of ooze that isn’t affected by cold!” exclaimed Rona happily as we carefully poked around the room.

 “There are actually several types immune to cold, and this was a mimic, not an ooze.” stated Luce as she lifted a sheet with her sword.

 “But it’s body was oozing.” pointed out Rona as she gave Luce a frown.

 Luce shrugged a little, letting the sheet fall.  “True, but mimics are typically intelligent where oozes usually aren’t.  Furthermore, no one knows what the natural form of a mimic looks like, since they’re always taking on other shapes, even after death.  ‘Mimic’ might be a broad category for numerous types of creatures, each with its own preferred shape.” she suggested.

 “I’m just glad they can’t mimic people.  Fighting a Luce would be terrifying.” stated Rona with an exaggerated shudder.

 Layla laughed.  “Yeah.  I’d just surrender.”

 “No!  Even in the shape of Luce, a mimic would still want to eat us.” I insisted, becoming more and more certain that Luce actually could bite through someone.  She was very strong and equally durable.

 Luce lifted the front of her helmet, giving each of us a frown.  Then she said, “Gross.  No offense, but I doubt any of you taste good.  Mimics might lack taste buds to find any of us palatable.”

 I made a noise as if I was clearing my throat.  “Vampire in the room.  I would suggest that their taste buds are perfectly fine for a mimic, but when eating a person, send signals to their brain similar to what yours do when you’re eating something you enjoy, like ice cream.”

 “Do vampires like ice cream?” questioned Layla, seeming genuinely curious.

 “The good ones do!” I insisted, feeling a lack of ice cream was certainly a failing of my old life.

 “Woo!  Jackpot!” exclaimed Rona excitedly.  When she had tried opening the lower left drawer of the ruined dresser, the side fell off, which I had taken for a sign of decay.  Instead, there was a hidden compartment filled with jewelry.

 “But what do we even do with jewels and such?  Is there a vendor in the dungeon?” asked Layla, who couldn’t be too against the find with how she lifted one of the necklaces up and smiled appreciatively.

 “We’ll divide up the loot before we quit, and then these characters will have money for purchasing better equipment in the loading room, assuming we end up playing them again.” explained Luce.

 “Do you think I’d be allowed to come visit fairly often?” asked Layla worriedly as she caressed the necklace she had picked up.

 Rona laughed and said, “They let me come back often, and I’m not even a relation.”

 Luce nodded in agreement.  “You’re our friend, so you’re stuck with us now.”

 I smiled and impulsively hugged Luce.  She smirked but still hugged me back.  In my old life, I didn’t really have friends.  Now, I wasn’t certain what I’d do without them with me.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 66

 Smiling in appreciation of the interior maze Maiko had created, I listened to her explain our battle strategy.  She and Doc would be our only defenders.  Four, Luce, and Crazy were currently casting spells to mess with Aid and Aiko’s ability to sense the paths.  Crazy was going to take the hidden backdoor out of the fortress while I pretended to be her, accompanying Four Maimo, and Luce to the main gate.  Stormcrow, of course, would be watching from above for enemy tricks.

 The strategy seemed fairly sound to me.  Maimo could easily shift the paths of the maze while people were inside, sensing their footsteps through the stone.  If there was too much resistance from the others blasting holes, Doc could buy her time, creating telekinetic barriers as needed.  Since neither Messy nor Aid would move at full speed during a battle, there was little chance of someone slipping through.  Even if someone managed to slip through, mazes weren’t the easiest places to search, proving fairly effective at delaying enemies in the past.  Actually...

 “What’s wrong, Dea?” questioned Maiko, looking concerned.

 “Hopefully, nothing, but I think Valeria can effectively walk through walls.  We might have to be extra careful if she slips inside.” I explained, not sure what to think of having the two new members of the game.  There was certainly excitement in the unknown, but both members were on the opposing team.  Had Ella planned that from the start?

 “She’s right.” agreed Four.  “We can see how it goes, since Valeria’s still inexperienced, but she might be able to sweep through the corridors without ever even entering the fortress.  Even if Valeria doesn’t think of it, the others might have.”

 “Are you completely positive that you don’t want me on defense?” questioned Crazy, grinning so madly that Maiko and Maimo both stepped back.

 “No, I still think I’ll manage.  Our flag isn’t in plain sight, and only Messy should be able to sense it easily.” insisted Maiko.  “Let’s just hope she’s on defense.  If she’s on offense, you better find their flag extra quick.”

 “Are you certain the puddle I left for you will be enough water for some kill shots?” asked Luce dubiously, despite having filled an entire pit.  For water battles, Luce liked to keep a large globe of water floating nearby, and wasn’t opposed to sucking the moisture out of the air whenever she needed more.

 Maiko and Maimo both nodded simultaneously as Maiko said, “Yes.  The water turrets are already loaded, so I really just need a little for refills if they get that far.”

 “Looks like they’ve signaled already.” announced Four.

 Maiko frowned, but told us “I think we’re ready enough.  Any objections?”  When no one disagreed, she signaled the timer.

 I quickly switched forms, trying not to think about how much I disliked the baggy shirt she had handed me to match the one she had prepared for Crazy.  We looked like we had borrowed one of Four’s shirts for a nightgown.  She probably had chosen this to give me more freedom for shifting, which I very much appreciated, but I feared the quadruplets took after their dad’s sense of style a little too much at times.

 When the countdown finished, my group headed out.  A large group was exiting the other fortress too, so I put on my wildest smile, attempting to look as Crazy as possible.  Unfortunately, head-to-head fights really weren’t my strong point.  If they attacked, the other team would quickly realize that I wasn’t the real Crazy, and probably take me out before I could mimic any of them effectively.  Luckily, Four and Luce could surely handle Aid quickly, and then help me with the others.  Having most of their team out for a minute might really help our odds of a quick win.  Apparently, the other group had similar thoughts.

 A large wall of fire encircled us barely a hundred feet out of the gate.  The other group started to jog toward the back of our fortress.  Stormcrow was immediately on them, having barely left the grounds himself, and launched a lightning bolt toward them.  My jaw dropped when I saw an equally large bolt almost knock him out of the sky.  Who could have…  The answer popped into my head almost as fast as the question.  Valeria.  Valeria was in that group, defending them.  She must’ve redirected his lightning.

 “Walking over.” stated Four, having finished creating an illusion over the top of a telekinetic bridge, so we’d know where to walk.

 As I hurried up and over the flames, I was thankful that Aid or Aiko was keeping the heat from reaching past the fire’s light.

 “Duck!” exclaimed Luce as a child-sized bird hybrid flew at us on the bridge.

 If not for Luce, Maimo would have been splashed by one of the water balloons that had been dropped, taking her out.  None of us were used to two birds in the air.

 “You know… I’d feel bad if I zapped her.” stated Maimo with a frown.

 “Just scare her a little.” suggested Luce with a grin as she fired off streams of water from the nearby, floating globe.  “Oh.  Nevermind.” she stated when Rona’s wing was struck and Momma Mila announced her being out.  “I really expected her to dodge that one.”

 I rolled my eyes.  Luce had obviously sent it a bit fast for most of us to dodge.

 “Shouldn’t we attack the other group?” I suggested, feeling more confident that we’d be able to take them all out.

 Four shook his head.  “Not the mission.  Don’t you have faith in Maiko’s defense?’

 “Well, I do, but Valeria’s still a bit of an unknown.  Cosette’s training her.” I reminded him.

 He nodded once as he said, “Fair point.  I’ll go slow them down a little more.  The rest of you gang up on Messy and get their flag.  Aspy’s probably with her.”

 Feeling a moment of envy for his eyesight, I temporarily altered my eyes to get a better look at the other group.  He was right.  Aspy wasn’t there.  Valeria was surprisingly adept at redirecting attacks.  The other group was almost to our wall.

 “Run, guys!” ordered Luce as she started off at what would look like a jog to anyone that didn’t know her.  For Luce, this pace was barely more than a walk.

 A portcullis lowered behind and in front of us as soon as we passed the threshold.  Normal metal would probably bend under Luce’s strength, but this fortress was never made of normal metal.

 “Right…  Give me a minute.” stated Luce with a frown.  The floating globe of water spread out into a large number of rotating streams, sawing away different sections of the portcullis.

 “This is why Aika prefers going over walls.” mumbled Maimo.

 “We’ll go over on the way out.” stated Luce as she glared at the portcullis.

 Sticking with my role, I grinned and asked “Are you sure you don’t want me to…?”

 “No, Crazy.  I have this.” insisted Luce.

 If the real Crazy had been spotted yet, there would be a large amount of noise from walls being torn apart.  Crazy’s punch made even Luce’s look gentle, at least when she punched at Messy.

 When Luce busted through, I had expected Messy to reveal herself, but I still didn’t see her anywhere.

 Luce started to step through the opening, but bounced off thin air.  “Cheap, Aspy!” she exclaimed, despite knowing that Doc would probably be doing similar by now.  She started punching it repeatedly, knowing that he’d have to exert more effort than she was to keep her out.

 “Are you sure I shouldn’t…” I started to ask.

 “No!” exclaimed Luce, punching and following the blow through the now empty hole.  Running into a large, metal wall that appeared in front of her, she called “Really, Messy!?  That’s how we’re playing today!?”

 If there was a limit to the number of walls Messy could create consecutively, none of us knew it.  She never seemed tired.

 The wall vanished to show Messy grinning.  “Sorry!  I couldn’t resist.” she teased.

 “Ready to dance?” I asked, doing my best to look as excited as possible and hoping Messy didn’t accidentally dismember me with her control being a little worse than normal still.

 “Nice try, Dea.  Serenity’s creeping up the Southeast tower at the moment.” replied Messy, still smiling as her golden gaze rested on me.

 “No fair!” exclaimed Crazy, probably from the indicated tower.  She could yell really loud when she wanted.

 With the gig officially up, I changed to a much larger form, strengthening my muscles and bones.  “My turn first.” I announced, lifting the broken chunk of portcullis and charging Messy with it.

 She stopped me with a kick, but I was satisfied that the ground was indentend from the impact.  There wasn’t a chance that I could beat Messy in hand-to-hand combat on my best day, but I had three allies.  I had at least a fifty-fifty chance that Crazy would get excited and abandon the search to try giving Messy a timeout, assuming Luce and Maimo didn’t manage to take her out first.

 As Messy dodged my next hit, she was forced to use her power for aerial flips off nothing.  Luce was mercilessly trying to tag her out with hundreds of watery streams flying through the air.  I doubted even Four could dodge quite that much, but Messy had an infinite number of tricks at her disposal.  She twisted and turned through the air, creating floating knight-like shields to deflect streams as needed.  The shields would vanish as they fell.

 To my surprise, I managed to grab her ankle, so I quickly tried flinging her into Luce’s barrage of water.  Instead, she pushed her hands off nothing, hurling me into a hole that opened under me…. a wet hole.

 “Dea has been killed, but will be able to return in one minute.” announced Momma Mila.

 Auntie Raine had already moved me off the field.  Sitting there, I felt confident that I could have dodged that pit if I hadn’t overextended myself, but I had grown too excited.  Next time, I’d do better.

 I did too.  After my respawn, we had managed to get a kill shot on Messy when I distracted her with a few well-timed water spells.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the flag.  We had searched for only around five minutes when Mila announced the first capture, which was followed by the second incredibly quickly.

 Laughing, Crazy said, “They used Valeria!  That’s awesome!”  Going by her unfocused expression, I guessed she was doing that thing where she watched elsewhere without moving.

 My group didn’t even bother heading to defense.  We all knew that we were beaten, since Ella had taken advantage of a gap in the rules.  Without a doubt, we should have seen that one coming, but no one had expected Ella to pull such a trump card.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 65

 I knew that I was staring too much, but watching a solid block of stone appear from nothing was incredible, just like seeing that stone be quickly carved into a second fortress.  Owning a single keep would have been considered expensive in my time, but these people were not normal.

 Today would be my first attempt at one of the “battles” that the children here enjoyed, and I already feared that this children’s game would make veteran soldiers run for cover.  In preparation for today, I had studied the rules and watched videos of previous battles.  While numerous dangerous attacks had been banned, there were a great many things that still seemed too dangerous to me.

 The ground might swallow me whole, walls of fire might erupt around me, or lightning might strike me.  I could be captured in water that fought my movement, possibly turning to ice if I grew close to escaping.  Illusions might rob me of my senses, making me doubt my reality.  Wind might sweep me away, hurling me around the yard till I managed to escape.

 Luckily, Ella was my team captain, or I might find myself under her control, despite my natural resistance to such magic.  With just a look, she could turn an enemy into an ally, and she wasn’t what I was fearing the most.

 Crazy was on the other team, and that girl seemed to suffer from greater madness in battle than she did on regular days.  Numerous rules had been placed just to stop her more dangerous tactics, but she could still do terrible things.  Her plants were strong enough to send Luce flying with a hit, strong enough to resist burning in Aid’s heat, and versatile enough that even Messy—a girl who could manifest whims as reality—strained at times to fight back.  Furthermore, the plants were even more terrifying to behold in person than the blackened, desiccated flora shown in the videos, affecting the mind far before the body of their victims.

 Momma Cosette had helped me practice using my magic in combat, but we both knew that I was an amature facing experts.  Yes, the adults at Somerset Estate were greater experts, but the children here weren’t at all normal.

 “Huh?” questioned Ella to no one in particular, breaking my chain of thought.  “Oh, right.  Everyone is ready?” she questioned, looking around.  “As captain of the primary fort, I have the duty to inform you of changes to the rules.  With the changing of seasons, we find ourselves out of snow, ending our glorious snow battles till winter comes again.” she explained, her gaze focused and determined.  Nodding to the opposing team, she said, “Luce will still have an advantage for the next several months as our ‘kill shot’ has been changed to roughly three-hundred milliliters of water.  She can deflect, but not directly control attacks made against her.  In addition, the rule against extending feelers into the opponent’s base before the battle is now in effect.  If there are no questions…” She looked around once again before continuing.  “Let’s head to our forts!”

 Having the most forgetful of us as a captain would probably seem as a severe disadvantage to anyone who didn’t know Ella, but the past month had taught me that she was just as skilled as the others in many things.

 After meandering into the fort, I realized that the layout was different than in any of the videos.  Knowing that something changed regularly really was different than seeing it firsthand.  My eyes were drawn to Ella as she started giggling.

 “Ella, are you okay?” asked Messy in concern.

 Ella wiped a tear from her eye as she nodded.  “Have you made our flag yet?  I’d like a nice, white one on an elaborate wooden pole.”  A flag appeared next to Ella in a puff of shadows, and she grabbed it immediately.  The flag made her giggle some more.

 “What are we missing?” questioned Aid as he watched her with a wry grin.

 “You see… we’re pulling a Crazy today.” she told him between giggles.  Then she pointed the flag at me, and said, “Please, tuck this away for us.”

 My teammates stared between Ella and me for a minute before Aspy started laughing.

 “That’s so cheap!” he exclaimed as he laughed.

 “Not technically against the rules yet, so I guess we win.” stated Messy, shaking her head.

 “Wait.  What isn’t!?” exclaimed Rona.  “You guys know I haven’t done one of these yet.  How did we just win?”

 Though I completely agreed this seemed completely unfair, I took the flag into one of my rooms as Rona’s mouth dropped open.

 “What was that!?” she questioned.

 “Sorry.  I never thought to mention my natural magic when we were introduced earlier.” I told her with a smile.  “I have several private rooms, and our opponents won’t be able to enter and reach the flag.”

 “We’ll still have to get their flag.” stated one of the quadruplets.

 “But not needing a defender is a bit amazing.” added the other.

 I knew that one of them was Aika and one was Aiko, but telling them apart was completely impossible for me.

 Getting herself under control after briefly forgetting where she was, Ella explained our attack plan.  Aspy and Rona were supposed to do aerial reconnaissance, distracting Stormcrow as well as they could if he was flying around.  I was going to be acting as the primary defender for our attack group, redirecting as many attacks as I could while Aika and Aiko helped deflect whatever I missed.  Messy would stay at our fort with Aspy, to keep the enemy attackers busy in the hopeless search for our flag.

 The big problem would come from Four, Luce, or Crazy, whichever was defending the other fort.  Four’s predilection for illusions made his attacks tricky to notice, while Luce could bombard us practically endlessly.  Crazy was likely to just tie everyone up while laughing, not even bothering to give us a timeout with a killing blow.  Thanks to practice with Momma Cosette, I was fairly certain that I’d manage to slip out if she just grabbed me, but fights still freaked me out a little.  When the countdown timer began, I felt like I should be sweating.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 62

 “We’re here.” announced Daddy as he parked the car..

 “Where are we?” questioned Mommy, looking around.

 Seeing the house, both of us exclaimed “Uncle Tom and Aunt Jamie’s!”

 When Mommy looked back at me, I could tell she was reading something on her glasses.  Looking surprised, she said, “Oh.  You’re spending Crystal’s birthday with her this weekend.  I hope we brought a gift.”

 I looked around and spotted a present next to me on the seat.  “We did, Mommy!”

 “And there’s another in the trunk.  That one’s from you, Ella.” explained Daddy with a smile.

 I nodded and focused on the blinking icon that had appeared on my glasses, which opened text and a picture to remind me that I had made Crystal a sundress this year!  Remembering designing and working on the dress was easy, but I rarely could remember which gift matched which year.

 Following my parents inside, I focused hard on remembering why I was here.  Momma Mila would surely remind me, but I did like to remember some things on my own.

 “Hey, guys!” exclaimed Aunt Jamie after she opened the door to see us.  “Come on in!” she told us, motioning us onward.  Then she turned and called “Crystal, they’re here!”  She hugged my parents and then me before saying, “Why don’t you go up and see what she’s doing?  Do you remember the way?”

 “No, but Momma Mila does.” I assured her.

 Aunt Jamie gave me a tight smile and nodded, motioning me along.

 “Oh.  I do remember.” I stated after Momma Mila had me turn a couple corners.  The living room had changed, but I could remember being here before.  Crystal and I often ran up the soft, light gray carpet over the stairs.  I remembered the nearly smooth texture of the baby blue walls before I touched them.  Yes, I had happy memories here, which made me grin and hurry even faster.   “Crystal?” I asked, poking my head through her open doorway.

 She didn’t seem to hear me, probably because there were earbuds in her ears.  Maybe she was really focused on what was on her phone.

 Sneaking up behind her, I maneuvered her present under one arm and tickled her foot.  With her suddenly kicking wildly, I had to block, moving back to avoid hurting her if she kicked too hard.  Crystal wasn’t like my friends and me, since she wasn’t descended from the fey or other mystical beings.

 She spun around, an angry look on her face that quickly turned to a smile as she threw a pillow at me, which I caught.  Then she pulled out her earbuds and said, “Ella!  When did you get here?”

 I blinked and stared as I tried to remember.  “Umm…”

 She giggled and hugged me, snatching the present from my hand as she released me.  “Is this for me?”

 I nodded after seeing a thumbs up and a picture of a dress I made her on my glasses.  “Yes!  Please, open it!”

 Grinning, she ripped away the carefully folded wrapping paper, tore back the tissue paper, and let the sundress fall down as she held the shoulders.  “Ella, this is beautiful!  Don’t tell me that you made this one too?”

 “I did!  I stared at dozens of sunsets to choose the prettiest one, planned out how to dye the fabric to fit the folds I had sketched, and even did the sewing!” I insisted, actually remembering the process.  “Do you like it?”

 “I do!  I really do.” she told me, hugging me again.  “Mind if I wear it tomorrow for the start of the party?”

 I shrugged and said, “It’s yours to wear whenever you want!”  Why was there a party…?  Oh.  Birthday party.  I was here for her birthday, so there had to be a party.  I was staying the night this year?

 “Thank you!  I’ve got to show Mom.  She’ll be jealous when she sees this.” insisted Crystal, grabbing my hand as she hurried out the door.  We were barely in the kitchen when she said, “Mom, look what Ella made for me!”

 “Crystal, that’s gorgeous.  You made that, Ella!?” questioned Aunt Jamie, looking surprised.

 As I nodded, Daddy said, “Yes, she did.  Spent hours just planning everything out.  Noelle helped some with the dyeing, but Ella did most of the work by herself.”

 Shaking her head in disbelief, Aunt Jamie said, “You make me believe you’re best suited for an entirely different profession every time you give a gift.”

 “If she doesn’t end up working for Mr. Somerset, I’ll be very surprised.” replied Daddy, smiling back.

 Mommy nodded and said, “Working for the Boss really is the best.”

 Aunt Jamie didn’t argue, turning to Crystal and saying, “Are you going to wear that when your friends arrive tomorrow?”

 “Well, duh.” replied Crystal, smiling broadly and spinning around with the dress held up to her shoulders.

 “Opening gifts without me?” asked Uncle Tom as he came out from the other room.  He bent down and hugged Crystal and me.  “Sorry that we couldn’t make it to your party this year, kiddo.” he stated as he looked into my eyes.

 “That’s okay.  Everyone gets busy.” I assured him, wondering which of my birthday memories were from this year.

 I smiled in gratitude, stood, and said, “The ribs should be done soon.  Is everyone about ready to eat?”

 “Yes!  Let me go hang my new dress, so it doesn’t get anything on it.” she told him.  “Come on, Ella!”

 I followed her, running up the stairs and watched as she put the dress I had made her for her birthday away.  How long ago was that?  Noticing the icons on my glasses, I exclaimed “Happy birthday!”

 She glanced back at me, looking amused, and finished hanging her dress.  “Thank you, Ella.” she told me with a smile.  Moving to sit on her bed, she said, “I heard you were in France just last week.  Can you remember what it was like?”

 France… I had memories of France.  How many times had I been there?  Looking through pictures that Momma Mila displayed for me on my glasses, I realized that the memories really were from this trip.

 “We actually went to England and Spain too, just doing short visits here and there.  In France…” I started, deciding which parts were safe to tell Crystal.  “I remember seeing a little of Montpellier, Nimes, and Marseilles.  We visited castles, museums, and such.  The trip was all part of history lessons.” I told her with a little prompting from Momma Mila.

 “Ugh… I get so jealous at times.  You get to see so many different places!  And where you live… ugh… It’s so pretty!” she insisted, looking like she was deciding whether to attack me or hug me.

 Nodding, I said, “The boss is good to everyone.”

 She laughed.  “That’s an understatement.  I was so mad that we didn’t make it back for your birthday.  I love visiting!  We had driven to Minnesota to visit my relatives there, and our stupid car broke down.  I bet you never have to deal with broken cars.”

 I shrugged and told her “I wouldn’t remember.”  There was no point in struggling to remember unpleasant things.

 She laughed again as she said, “True.”  Tapping over her eye while nodding at my face, she said, “Wouldn’t Mila remind you?”

 Mila wrote out “No need.” for me to read.

 Shaking my head, I said, “She says there’s no need.”

 Crystal opened her mouth to say something else, but Uncle Tom yelled up the stairs “Girls, food’s on the table!”

 We hurried downstairs together as I wondered if I was visiting for a special reason.  Missing a step as I tried looking through recent notifications, I was glad we were near the bottom, so I didn’t need to cheat, flipping off my hands and back onto my feet.  Even I remembered not to get caught using magic away from home unless threatened.

 “You must be hungry!” teased Crystal, maybe thinking I had jumped on purpose.

 “Of course!  It’s dinner time.” I told her.

 “Race you to the table then!” she exclaimed, darting toward the other room.

 Seeing the notification about her birthday, I let her win, though not by much.

 “Glad to see you two are hungry.” teased Uncle Tom as we took our seats.

 As we ate, I wished I had a better memory to take notes for Chef Marco.  He always loved hearing about the foods we ate away from home, and I thought he might like Uncle Tom’s grilled ribs, though I was certain Chef Marco could grill ribs too.

 When dinner was over, I was surprised that my parents were leaving without me.  I remembered Crystal sleeping over in my room, but not the other way around.  When we laid out a blanket to rest on while watching movies in the living room, Crystal explained to me that she was having a slumber party for her birthday tomorrow, and all of her friends wanted me to join the party again.  Hopefully, I’d be able to remember some of them this year.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 54

 “I’m very happy that Father isn’t making us spend time in traffic.” stated Aid as we strolled to the family ship, now parked in the yard.

 “Mother convinced him.” announced Luce with a toothy grin.  This trip had been her idea, but we were all looking forward to it.

 “I’ll make sure to give her an extra hug then.” I told them with a smile of my own.  Most of my free time over the past couple of weeks was spent hanging out with our new friend, Valeria, trying to help her appear more human.  I was quite certain that her success could largely be attributed to Cosette and Mila’s work with her and Valeria’s determination, but all of us kids tried to help her practice, playing out countless scenarios to test her.

 “I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the city, even if only through a car window.  I quite like cars.” insisted Valeria.  Coming from a century where being kept inside, studying to be a proper aristocrat, was seen as something grand, she had a much different view on many things than the rest of us.

 Ella, on Valeria’s other side, happily exclaimed “I enjoy cars too!  There’s always something new to see!”  The day Ella could grow bored would probably be the day Auntie Aaliyah decided to permanently wipe out this universe.  Some things were incredibly improbable.

 “I prefer the view from the sky.  We’ll get to see everything at once!” suggested Aspy as he barely restrained himself from jogging ahead.

 Doc sighed dramatically before saying, “My brother’s wanting to look down on everyone again.  How can I get him back on the right path?”

 He moved to shove her, but was blocked just long enough by a telekinetic wall that she was able to move to the side.  Then he did chase after her, first on the ground and then into the air where they were quite obviously messing with each other’s abilities, falling an inch here and there.  Not having Crazy around to join them was sooo relaxing!  Stormcrow was too burdened with his bags to fly, and the quadruplets were probably arguing with their parents about what gadgets they should bring to show their grandfather.

 “Think Grandfather will recognize us this trip?” questioned Luce apprehensively.

 “If not, we’ll remind him again.  He usually senses that we’re of his blood.” replied Aid, giving our sister a hug.

 “Yes, but he doesn’t always really know us.” complained Luce with a frown.

 “He will one day.  We just have to be patient.” I assured her.  Father had told us that Grandfather’s madness was only temporary, but Grandfather had been confused since before we were born.  I couldn’t even guess what Grandfather would be like with his mental faculties fully functioning.  Mother only ever spoke positively of him, but I just couldn’t see the man she spoke of in the one I knew.

 Once on the ship, we quickly stored our luggage and prepared for takeoff.  Though Mila kept the ship in perfect order, my siblings and I were still expected to do proper flight checks when one of us flew.  Today was my turn, so I was finding what fake problems Mila had set for me while the others started deciding what game to play for the flight.  I knew my parents had us do these checks for when we flew spaceships without Mila, but the routine really was tedious.  Ten minutes and six problems later, I was barely done before everyone finished boarding.

 “If you want to play with the others, I’ll gladly convince Daddy to let me fly.” offered Dani while hugging Leilani.  My tiny niece would be turning four next week.

 “Thank you, but I’ll take my turn.” I told her, not missing that she offered after I finished my pre-flight checks.  “You fly a little fast for some of our passengers.”

 She rolled her eyes, but was grinning at me.  Dani was very well aware of how the rest of us felt about her piloting, given that she sensed our emotions.  Leilani was trying to wiggle out of her mother’s arms to hug me, no doubt sensing my feelings as well.

 “Enough, children.  On we go.” ordered Mother as she took the co-pilot seat.  “We’re already running a couple minutes late.”

 “Yes, Mother.” I told her.

 At the same time, Dani said, “Fine, Mom.”  Dani really did love to fly ships, especially at the edge of her ability to control them.  She was very, very good, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to crash a few times that I didn’t know about.

 Once Dani was belted down and Father had Leilani, I guided us off the yard and into the sky.  The ship’s defenses were turned on, so local radar wouldn’t even detect us.  Father surely had permission for us to be flying from the yard already, but there was no reason to startle anyone with this ship’s speed, not that I’d push its capabilities at all this flight.  If I did push the ship, we’d probably arrive in Caerllion within an hour rather than three and a half.

 Mila could probably outfly my parents, but manually controlling the aircraft throughout the flight was a test of patience and awareness, especially with Mother discussing ideas Messy had told her about for a city.  I knew Messy loved the idea of creating a city too, but we rarely directly discussed it together, each plotting a big surprise for the other.  Unfortunately, she was probably ahead on her designs.  Messy was brilliant and could probably persuade Mila to help her even more than Mila helped me.  Being siblings had perks.  Then there was Auntie Aaliyah, who was just as doting as she was disturbing as a parent.

 Luckily, the conversation kept me plenty occupied throughout the flight, so I didn’t end up feeling like too much time had passed by the time I was taking us down for a landing West of the castle.  I nearly botched my landing when I caught sight of the most rickety-looking bus I had ever seen bouncing along the smooth road from our landing pad.

 “Just an illusion, Four.” stated Mother with a smirk once the ship was settled on the pad.  “Aaliyah’s driving, so expect a loud stop too.”

 Probably on queue, given that Auntie Aaliyah was well aware of our conversation before we knew we’d be having it, the bus seemed to swerve out of control, do three donuts, and screech to a stop perfectly over a couple parking spots.  I laughed, shaking my head.  Auntie Aaliyah waited outside the bus to admire all of our faces as we approached, despite knowing precisely how we’d react without looking.

 The bus’ interior was far more luxurious than necessary for the short trip to the castle, but I wasn’t going to complain.  The illusion on the outside would probably be dismissed before we arrived to keep up appearances with the locals.  Mother was a duchess and couldn’t be seen looking as anything else outside of the castle.  As her children, my siblings and I needed to have perfect manners whenever we might be seen by the public anywhere in Europe, which was one of the obvious drawbacks with our visits here.

 Despite not having the Slayer name, Slayer politics were part of our life when away from Somerset Estate.  Poor behavior on our part could lead to those under Mother to embarrassment, possibly leading them to betray Mother’s interests.  Sadly, our distant cousins were known more for their enormous pride than great wisdom.  Foolish attacks against one another were common.

 “How was the trip?” asked Messy once we were settled.

 “I’d wager better than yours.” replied Aid with a smirk.

 “What!?  No way.  Ours was awesome!” insisted Crazy.

 “She lies.  Mother was Mother, so there were constant hassles.” argued Messy, shaking her head at Crazy.

 Looking at Messy in shock, Crazy said, “But they were fun hassles!”

 After a little more debate, the two related their journey to the rest of us, probably leaving out bits that not everyone could know.

 “No, I’ll definitely pass.” insisted Luce when Crazy expressed her wish that we could have been there.

 Departing the bus with my luggage in hand, I noted that the bus was a slick, black vehicle that had to be custom built.

 “Lord James, a pleasure to see you again.” stated Sebastian, who was already waiting for us.  “Please, sir, allow the servants to tend to your luggage.”

 I refrained from sighing and left the luggage by the bus.

 “Are there guests already?” questioned Aid as he placed his suitcase next to mine.

 Nodding, Sebastian said, “Yes, Lord Aiden.”

 Luce frowned, setting down her luggage as well.

 “We’ll go see your grandfather tonight.  For now, show the others around.” ordered Mother.  “Most of our friends haven’t been here before.”

 After a little discussion, the trip started with a tour of the grounds to hopefully avoid bumping into our parents’ guests.  Cosette and Valeria were covered in protective spells to keep the sun from bothering them, and Dani and Leilani already had their inhuman skin and hair colors covered by an illusion.  We’d be safe if spotted, but I was counting on Aid steering us clear of anyone we’d want to avoid.  Not openly using magic was always a strange feeling for most of us.

 My siblings and I were able to answer most questions about the yard, even knowing the public stories of those in the family crypt.  Communicating through Aid, Sebastian told us that Father and Mother wouldn’t be available for lunch, so I suggested a light lunch down by the lake, knowing the servants would gladly bring us food if Mila didn’t beat them to it.  Luckily, the adults with us agreed.  Even Mommas Ai and Mai didn’t want to subject any of us to local business dealings.  Those two probably knew more about the area than even my siblings and me, given that they spent most of their childhood here.

 Resisting the urge to ask Doc or Momma Maple to show us all more of every given place’s history during the tour was torture, but this estate was steeped in Slayer family secrets.  We’d have to wait for tomorrow to have our history lessons when we ventured out to other parts of the United Kingdom.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 51

 When our morning exercises were over, I joined the other kids around Valeria.  Four was still attempting to get her to see residual energy around her, so he could start teaching her how to use spells.

 “Try again tomorrow?” suggested Messy as she squeezed his shoulder.

 “Sounds good to me.” admitted Four.  “Mind taking a break for today, Valeria?”

 She shook her head, saying, “Sorry.  I really don’t see anything.”

 “Don’t worry about it.  Most people take time to figure out how to see the energy.  Four’s just eager to teach.” insisted Messy as she playfully shoved Four aside.

 He shrugged and said, “Sorry if I was being zealous.  I like seeing that moment when people first recognize the energy around them.  There’s always a…”

 Interrupting him, Luce asked “A moment of shock as everyone realizes that my brother is a little crazy?”

 Aid snickered, nodding in agreement.

 “What?  People really do have neat expressions!  You know they do!” insisted Four as he frowned at his siblings.

 Stormcrow quickly assured him “We know.”  Then he stepped over to Valeria and offered her his hand, saying, “Hi.  I’m Damien Storm, but everyone calls me ‘Stormcrow’.  I’m a wereraven, despite the nickname.”

 “‘Stormraven’ just doesn’t sound the same!  Far less Gandalf-ish.” asserted Aspy.

 “I know!  I’m not complaining, just explaining.” replied Stormcrow with a grin.

 Noticing Valeria looking at him, Aspy said, “I’m Aspen Castello, by the way.  Just call me ‘Asp’ or ‘Aspy’.  Most of us use nicknames.”  Then he stepped into the air, supporting himself with his magic.  “My sister and I have telekinetic magic.  We can lift things, create barriers, or apply force to things just by thinking about it.”

 Taking my turn for an introduction, I said, “I’m Daphne Castello.  Call me ‘Doc’.  Aspy and I are descended from an Italian emigrant.  As Aspy said, I can do like he’s doing, but I also will see some of your past if I touch you, accidentally or not.”

 “My past?” questioned Valeria, almost jamming the words together with how quickly she spoke.

 Nodding, I told her “Yes.  I’ll see a large area around you too.  Honestly, I’d love to see where you lived all those years ago if you don’t mind.”

 “Will I see it too?” she asked, still speaking too fast.

 “I can show you, if you’d like.” I offered.

 “Me too!” exclaimed Luce, grinning excitedly.

 “Actually, I’d be quite interested as well.” added Four.

 “Me too.  Our father’s already cancelled our normal lessons for today.  He thought you might want some company.” explained Aid.

 A bunch of the others started checking if their schedules were clear too.

 “Mom!” exclaimed the quadruplets all at once as they split off, two running to one mother and two running to the other.  Their schedules obviously weren’t clear.

 Mine was, so I warned “Looking back hundreds of years might take me a couple hours.  I’m a bit faster at it than Mom, but that’s still quite a few years.”

 “What would I need to do?” questioned Valeria hesitantly.

 “Yay!” exclaimed the quadruplets in unison from where they were with their moms.

 “Allow me to hold your hand for a couple hours.  I should manage in that time.  This is exciting!” I happily exclaimed.

 “You know, Vito is just that way.” pointed Valeria.

 “Oh, there are a number of things they don’t want me to see, and their lives are fairly active.  Skimming past events is easier when dealing with someone or something stationary, like some of the pieces from their collection that they promised to show me eventually.  I wouldn’t be so confident if you had been running around for five hundred years.” I explained.  “I might even be able to see Italy in minutes if you just sat around for the past couple weeks.”

 “Sorry.  I didn’t.” replied Valeria apologetically.

 Momma Mila started speaking from the nearby speakers, saying, “Vito asked me to warn you that you will see a death in her recent events.  He also wishes to apologize for not bringing anything yet.  He had honestly forgotten, and promises that he or his brothers will arrange for you to see interesting bits of history soon.”

 “Thank him for me!” I exclaimed, happy that I’d finally get to see bits of the old world.

 “Please, let us in on that as well.” stated Four hopefully.

 “I will!  Don’t worry.  I”m sure Vito doesn’t mean for me to be the only one who gets any fun.” I assured him.  Then I suggested “Why don’t we go watch a movie?  I doubt Valeria’s had an opportunity to watch… well, anything, really.  Maybe The Hobbit?  Just ask Momma Mila to pause it for us if I start showing you something interesting.”

 “I love you, Doc!” exclaimed Aspy as he gave me a hug.

 “She’s a vampire, so she can handle something scarier, right?  You should at least show her something like Alien.” insisted Crazy with a frown.

 “Valeria, would you mind letting Crazy step back into that room for a bit?  I think she still wanted to try breaking out on her own.” suggested Messy with a grin.

 “Oh!  I actually would!  May I!?” asked Crazy, bouncing on her toes.

 Valeria shrugged and opened a doorway, shutting it again when Crazy seemed to vanish.  Then she told Messy “I still want to know how you escaped.”

 Messy’s eyes went from their normal golden luminescence to a brilliant golden light surrounded in pitch blackness.  For just a moment, there was a doorway similar to Valeria’s, but this one made me feel distinctly uncomfortable.  “Through something like that, but imagine it making you feel happy and being extremely bright.”

 “Why didn’t you just show us the bright one?” asked Aspy as he hugged himself.

 “That light would seriously hurt a vampire and blind most everyone here.” replied Messy with a small frown.

 “Okay.  Good reason.  I like being able to see.” replied Aspy appreciatively.

 Breaking the moment of silence where I was thinking yet again how incredible Messy was, Valeria asked “So what is a movie?  I know the word means ‘a motion picture’, but the memories Vito shared don’t really help.”

 “You’ll see soon.” I assured her, taking her hand to lead the way.  I mentally pushed away the visions from my clothing and focused on Valeria.  We hadn’t even left the gym when I grimaced and forced myself to keep walking.  Valeria had attacked a man when she first woke up.  From what I knew of vampires, I was amazed that she kept herself from killing him.  She had still looked more like a cadaver than something alive at that point.  Of course, she was more shriveled before a different man’s blood had reached her.  He had been crushed by debris as an archway collapsed.

 I did my best to focus on other things while keeping the visions speeding back through time.  Little that interested me happened around Valeria for many, many years, and her shriveled husk wasn’t a pleasant sight either.  Knowing someone had been perfectly motionless for so very long was strange to me.

 Finally, I saw Valeria being placed into the large, stone sarcophagus where a pool of blood waited.  For a moment, I forgot myself, thinking that Valeria would drown, but I realized how silly I was being and let the visions flow.  I was tempted to start showing the others what I was seeing when Valeria and the woman carrying her were in the city, but I decided to wait, knowing that Valeria would be turned soon.  I felt so sorry for Valeria when I saw how sick she was, but that time disappeared, and I finally reached more pleasant sights.

 “Valeria, please, let Crazy out.” instructed Messy just after I started relaying the visions.

 I heard Crazy protest at first, but she stopped mid-sentence as she saw the small palace in which Valeria had lived.  Beautiful.  We watched some of Valeria’s lessons, and I skipped past her sleeping and bathing.  There were numerous comments about the types of food she ate and the language we were hearing.  Even pushing the visions ahead at a normal pace to hear the words in their proper order, I didn’t really understand much of the language, related to but largely different from the Italian I knew.  I was vaguely aware of Crazy making a lyre on the spot after hearing Valeria play, but I managed to keep my focus despite the nervousness that Crazy’s magic had incited.  Disappointingly, Valeria rarely had been allowed outdoors, so we didn’t get to see much of the city.  Still, witnessing snippets of her life had been amazing.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 48

 Even after a couple weeks with the three brothers on their island, the world held constant wonder for me.  We had flown to this city on an airplane in the night, and parts of the city still seemed lively.  The view from the air had been dazzling. lights stretching out toward the horizon.  On the ground, I could see that many of the streets were lit, but empty.  I wanted to explore and learn more, but we were racing the sun.  Vampires were always racing the sun.  I had learned this.

 The blood knowledge granted me was full of facts and language skills, but Vito said he couldn’t share wisdom or understanding through blood.  I had no idea what he had meant initially, but Zachary and Papak⁠—Vito’s brothers⁠—helped Vito to show me.  I knew dozens of languages, but I could completely miss what was being said if I didn’t understand colloquialisms of the area in which they were spoken.  Likewise, I knew what numerous machines were, but I still didn’t understand the details of how they worked.  The blood knowledge granted me mental paintings, but I needed experience to relate to the artists’ emotions.

 Learning from the brothers was much more fun than the tutors in my old life, strict and impatient if I grew distracted.  My old home was probably long gone.  My dresses, hairbrush, and lyre certainly were.  Embroidery practice wasn’t necessary anymore, though Vito felt I should still perfect my skills just for the sake of having them.

 “What’s the matter, child?” questioned Vito as he wiped a tear from my cheek.

 I shook my head, saying, “Nothing.  Sorry.”

 Ariadne hugged me.  “Missing us already?  We will visit.”

 “I was thinking of my mother.  I know she’s been dead for hundreds of years, but I feel that I saw her just weeks ago.” I explained, brushing another tear away.  I knew Ariadne wouldn’t care about tears in her shirt, but I still did.  I lived in a time where fabrics were precious and tended with great care.  Ariadne could create new ones in an instant, already cut and sewn.  Magic lessons were more important now than knowing how to store my clothes.

 Ariadne squeezed me tighter, looking more like a girl my age than an old vampire of considerable renown.

 “Never forsake your tears, my dear.  Vampires who forget the concerns of mortals don’t tend to live long themselves.” stated Vito, smiling at me like a kindly grandfather.  “We’re here.” He announced, though the limousine hadn’t stopped yet.

 I looked out and saw a sprawling building, not the biggest I had seen since waking, but certainly quite large.  The brothers had spoken of James Michael Somerset III in so many different ways that I had no way knowing what he’d be like.  He was rich.  That much was inarguable.  I wasn’t certain if he was young or old, human or something else.  The brothers acted as if he was a younger brother, but spoke of him as someone of incredible power whenever I asked a question.  They made jokes about him, but warned never to underestimate him.  They were probably confusing me on purpose.

 I blinked, and then found myself staring.  A young man had appeared at the front of the house.  He wore a fine suit, similar to how the brothers dressed, and looked as if he was prepared to wait an eternity for us to reach him.  Yes, the limousine was a slow, meandering thing, but the brothers had insisted that acting mortal when observed was paramount for a vampire, lest we draw the attention of a Slayer.  I took most of my first week to realize that the Slayers were a family, not a group of vampire hunters, though they apparently did hunt vampires down if the vampires drew their ire.

 “I’m sure I’ve told you, Valeria, but you should always expect James to know more than you do.  These days, he tends to be more aware than my brothers and me.” Vito reminded me, smiling as he observed James.

 When we finally stepped out of the car, James immediately smiled, saying, “Always a pleasure to see you, my friends.”  He leaned down to look me in the eye and held out a hand as he said, “Valeria, meeting you is a pleasure as well.  I am James Michael Somerset III, and you are quite welcome to live here, though I left discussing your presence with Cosette to Vito and Ariadne.”

 Vito was frowning a little when I looked up at him.  “How long have you known?” questioned Vito.

 “Only three weeks, but I am quite certain that Cosette will oblige you.  Unfortunately, I can’t remain to see you inside.  I’m actually out on business at the moment, but Mila is ever willing to accommodate your needs.” he told us, disappearing as he said the last word.

 “But… I wasn’t even awake yet three weeks past.” I stated, looking to Vito and Ariadne for answers.

 “No, you weren’t, but James is James.” replied Vito, still frowning slightly.

 “You know there was probably a reason he couldn’t warn us.” suggested Ariadne.

 “How could he be out on business if he was here?” I questioned, hoping for an actual answer to this one.

 “James is James.” replied Vito with a shrug.  “He didn’t run off just now.  He either wasn’t really here, leaving an incredible illusion to greet us, or he teleported here long enough to greet us in person.  Either way, don’t expect anyone else to pull off such a trick.”  Then he muttered in a barely audible whisper “I swear I felt him, so he was probably here.”

 “In this household, you’ll be able to be yourself without disguise.  Most everyone has magic of their own.  Though some are very human physically, others will exceed you greatly.  Do be careful not to hurt anyone, or you might see what James is like when he’s in a bad mood.” warned Ariadne.

 The doors opened, and a very beautiful maid stood just inside the building.  I jumped, my head swiveling back and forth, when I caught sight of our driver stepping out of the limousine.  They looked like the same person!  That face… “Mila!?” I asked.

 “Yes, I am Mila Wilson.” replied the maid as she curtsied.  “If you need anything, just ask.  I’ll hear and attempt to help you.”

 “You’re the oracle of the mirror.” I told her, wanting to be certain.

 She smirked.  “I’m hardly an oracle, but I am well-connected.  My other body will get your bags, so please follow me.”

 “Always listen to Mila if she gives you instruction, my dear.” stated Vito as he and Ariadne went up into the house.  “Mila takes care of this household and all who dwell here.  She’s also the daughter of the brightest person you’ll ever meet, and her daughter is…  Well, how is Serenity these days?”

 “Exuberant just as often as when you last saw her.  I’m keeping her distracted with a project at the moment, so she won’t bother Valeria before she’s moved in.” explained Mila, sounding amused.

 Vito nodded and said, “‘Exuberant’ does seem quite fitting for her.  Valeria, don’t challenge Serenity at anything until after you’ve gotten to know her.  Just as you could accidentally hurt some of the more human children here, Serenity could accidentally hurt you if she gets carried away.”

 “She rarely hurts anyone other than herself more than superficially, at least physically.  The shock to people’s minds is more often the problem.” insisted Mila, glancing back at us.

 “Have there been any serious incidents lately?” questioned Ariadne in concern.

 Mila shook her head.  “No.  The worst we’ve had recently was a visitor who suffered from mild shock after having a snowball fight.  Serenity went a little overboard trying to protect her.”

 “Snowball fight?” I asked.

 “Ah, yes.  You would’ve been kept indoors in winter.  Rolling small balls of snow and throwing them at one another in a sort of game was common even when you were born.  Here, there are probably complicated rules and a great deal of magic involved.” explained Vito.

 “Magic more than rules in our snowball fights.” acknowledge Mila, sounding amused.

 When I stopped asking questions, Mila started explaining what rooms we were passing throughout the house, promising to show me a map and explaining more once I was in my room.  The second floor of the Northwest wing was where Cosette lived, and where I’d be staying if she agreed.

 The door opened as we arrived, and a pretty, chestnut-haired woman with deep blue eyes stood there in a lovely, white blouse and a dark blue skirt that barely went past her knees.  I knew that this wasn’t considered immodest now, but I also knew my mother wouldn’t have approved, even with the white stockings covering her legs.

 Brushing back some wandering strands of hair, the woman said, “What a pleasant surprise!  Please, come in.”  Then she stepped out of the way, motioning for us to enter.

 “Sorry to barge in on you like this, but we felt discussing things with you in person would be for the best.” replied Ariadne, squeezing me by my shoulders after she walked with me into the room.  “This is Veleria Cornaro.”

 Curtsying, I said, “A pleasure to meet you, Cosette.”  I felt nervous, reminded of when mother introduced me to different nobles.

 Cosette seemed amused when I met her eyes.  Had I done something wrong?  What if she turned me away?  What would become of me?

 “Nice to meet you, Valeria.  Care to sit?” she asked, pointing us onward farther into the room.

 “Thank you, my dear.” replied Vito, gracefully walking past her and taking a seat on a comfortable-looking sofa.  Furniture had changed a great deal over the years, and I couldn’t gauge whether much of what was in here would be considered expensive or not.

 Ariadne and I sat next to him, and Cosette took a seat opposite to us on another sofa there.  She was well-bred.  Her posture as she walked and sat made me certain of it.  She was speaking with one of the oldest three vampires and still seemed confident in her domain.

 “I accept.” stated Cosette after we sat in silence for several seconds.

 Huh?  What just happened?

 “Are you sure?” questioned Ariadne.

 “Yes.  Though this is certainly unexpected, You and Vito wouldn’t bring such an untrained vampire here if she did not need someone to care for her.  She obviously needs some more practice blending in, although I’d guess her to be at least a couple hundred years old.  How did you find her?” questioned Cosette.

 I couldn’t figure out what I was missing, but I knew I must be missing a great deal.

 “Quite right.  She is five-hundred-and-sixty-four years old, but her mind matches her body.  Whoever prepared her blood bath was quite skilled, so her body was almost at peak condition within days.  There was an accident at an archaeological site, and the worker’s blood revived her when the seal was broken.  Highly unusual circumstances.  She’s fifteenth century Italian and from a noble family at that.  Furthermore, she possesses quite rare magic.  Even Ariadne hadn’t seen the like among the fey.” explained Vito as if talking about an enjoyable outing.

 I had so many questions.  What was a blood bath?  Who was injured?  What were the fey he spoke of?  Would asking anything be considered rude by Cosette?

 Apparently reading my worries on my face, Cosette said, “A blood bath is, more or less, what it sounds like, Valeria.  A vampire is immersed in blood that was transformed, allowing it to retain vital energy for many, many years.  That was primarily used as a way to hide during dangerous years for our kind.  Your body drank up the blood and its energy.  A more experienced vampire would have been able to completely wake themselves after the blood ran out.  Since you were newly turned when you went in, you didn’t have that sort of reflex, drying out till you were indistinguishable from a well-preserved corpse.”

 “What seal was broken?  Who was injured?” I asked, since she seemed obliging.

 Ariadne hugged me again.  “One of the workers was struck by a crumbling pillar.  The lid of your coffin was broken, allowing his blood to nourish you.”

 “And what are the fey?” I asked.

 “Magical beings whose blood mingled with that of humans off and on throughout the years, granting magical gifts to the descendents.  Some can disappear at whim.  Others can control light, sound, or fire.  There are fey who change their shape faster than you can change your clothes.  Categorizing them all would be tedious, so we tend to lump them together more often than not.” she told me.

 “What is your magic like?” questioned Cosette.

 Seeing Vito nod, I showed her.  Her eyes widened in surprise, and she smiled at me in delight.  Maybe she really would accept me.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 29

 Hearing the changes in Momma Emma’s breathing and heartbeats, I knew she’d be up soon, so I shut off my school work and pulled out her birthday present.  For this year, I had “painted” her a family portrait and created a heart-covered frame out of oak, growing a protective coating over it as she had shown me so many times.  Keeping my own dark energies out of it completely was still too difficult for me, but I managed to keep any thorns from erupting, guiding the magic to color the wood instead.  Jet black oak was weird, but anyone who looked at this would just think it was chemically treated.

 A sound barrier was erected the moment Momma Emma fully woke up, so I asked “What’s she doing in there?”

 Momma Mila appeared in the mirror in my room, saying, “We’re discussing things.  Just give us half an hour, and then you can give her the present.  I’m looking forward to seeing her reaction.”

 “Think she’ll notice the paint!?” I questioned, grinning at the thought.  Instead of using actual paint, I had used plant pigments combined with oils from other plants to create the effect of a painting, forcing my dark energies to the unseen side of them where the “paints” connected with the wooden frame.  Essentially, the “painting” was a collection of new species grown into a single piece of art.

 “The moment she touches it.  You didn’t trap her birthday present, did you?” she questioned suspiciously.

 Shaking my head, I said, “Of course not, Momma!”  The thought had crossed my mind, but I didn’t want to startle Momma Emma first thing on her birthday.

 She nodded and smiled before saying, “Just join us after the sound barrier is down, and no spying.”

 “Yes, Momma.” I replied, slightly disappointed that I couldn’t see what they’re up to.  They had done this sort of thing regularly since I was born, but I’d figure out what was happening eventually.  I always did.

 Cooking breakfast was out, since Momma Emma would want to eat with everyone today.  Being born on Valentine’s Day, she felt kissing every last one of us was necessary each year.  Breakfast was a good time to catch a large chunk of the household, not that most of us ever tried to dodge her after what happened when I was two.

 One of the newer people here at the time, Frederick Petrov, didn’t see the harm in slipping out early for work.  He didn’t realize that would make Momma Emma consider him to be prey.  Momma Emma had reached the grass before his car had reached the end of the drive.  Needless to say, he was captured, hauled back, and properly kissed on the cheek before being sent off to work.  Fighting Momma Emma on her birthday was like picking a fight with the house, yard, and occasionally your own clothing.  Very few here could win against her when she got serious.

 After thirty minutes of gaming to pass the time, sound started reaching me from the other room.  I quickly logged out, grabbed Momma’s present, and ran to her room, creating a kinetic wall over the actual wall when I ran up it to make the turn.

 “Hey, Sweetie.” she told me, flushed and smiling.  Had she been exercising?

 “Happy birthday, Momma!!!” I exclaimed, handing over her present.

 “Wow.  This is big.” she replied, causing the wrapping paper to unfold with a touch.  Her change of expression gave away that she was already looking at the present.

 I could have used something synthetic instead, but Momma Emma preferred natural materials.  The surprise had lasted long enough anyway.

 “Sweetheart, this is amazing!” she exclaimed, looking our family portrait up and down.  She was obviously sensing it as well.  I could feel her magic coursing through it, but she didn’t make any adjustments.  Stepping closer, she hugged me with all her strength.  “I may have to start using the Boss’ illusion spell if I don’t start aging more.  Another ten years, and we might look like sisters.”

 “Wouldn’t that be awesome!” I exclaimed excitedly, picturing us going out together.  Seeing that she didn’t seem as excited about the idea, I said, “At least I won’t look like your older sister.  Messy already looks like Grandma Aaliyah’s big sister.”

 Momma Emma laughed and said, “Yes.  Yes, she does.”  Then she kissed my forehead.  “Let’s figure out where to hang this before we go out for breakfast.

 “Oh!  I already know!  I sized it for the wall in our living room opposite the TV.” I explained, hoping she liked the idea.

 She pursed her lips and tilted her head as she thought.  “I guess I could see that, moving the other pictures to the sides.”

 I nodded, following as she carried the picture over there.  Then I helped hold the other pictures as she unbonded them from the wall.  We didn’t use nails like some people.  Momma simply merged the back of our pictures with the wood from the wall, so rearranging things was simple.

 Hearing Momma Mila move over to get the door, I wondered who was here.  I didn’t hear anyone out there.  I understood why when I heard Grandma Death and Messy step inside.  They had probably appeared out there rather than making their way through the house.  My jaw dropped as I sensed what Messy carried, wrapped up as a gift.  There was a fruit unlike anything I had ever seen before.  I really, really wanted to taste it, but I forced myself to be patient.  This was for Momma.

 “Happy birthday, Emma!  Daddy'll join us after he finishes work!” exclaimed Grandma Death, skipping over to look at the painting.  “Oooh.  Nice job, Serenity.  She really looks like the queen of her domain, and the forest looks beautiful.  Am I really that short!?”  Her eyes were wide, staring at me as if she was perfectly surprised by the idea despite knowing everything, which was the same expression I had given her in the painting.

 Nodding, I exclaimed “Yep!”

 “I like how your Great Grandma’s hiding behind the throne.  Sis is looking flirtatious, sitting on the armrest like that.” added Messy, her golden gaze taking everything in.  ”But why are you attacking me even in the picture!?”

 I shrugged and said, “Because it’s fun?”

 “Serenity Malice!  You goofball.” stated Momma Emma in a chiding manner.  She hadn’t noticed the small, dark tendrils coming out by Messy’s feet.

 The next several minutes were spent discussing the other features I hid throughout the picture, such as the monsters cowering in the woods and the animals bringing us food.  During the discussion, Momma Emma kissed Grandma Death and Messy on the cheek, hugging them each as she did so.

 "Mind opening your gift?" questioned Messy as she held out the present to Momma Emma.

 "How can I deny my favorite sister-in-law-who-makes-a-cute-niece?" replied Momma with a big grin as she took the present.

 "It's sooo cool!" I insisted, smiling when she gave me a look.

 After opening the package, she gently caressed the smooth black fruit, which instantly split into five equal slices, revealing a black pit.  Black veins ran through the perfectly white flesh.

 When Momma offered, we each greedily grabbed a slice.  The sweet flesh practically turned into a liquid in my mouth, but the chocolatey veins and skin had a satisfying crunch.

 Grabbing Messy by the shoulder, I said, "Messy, showing me up on Momma's birthday isn't fair, but I forgive you."

 "Thank you?" she asked, looking worried.

 “More breakfast?” suggested Grandma, licking her fingers.  “We need time to digest, so we have plenty of room for cake later.”

 “Cake will be served in the evening after dinner.” replied Momma Mila, smirking at her mom.

 Hugging her, Momma Emma said, “Onto breakfast!���

 Messy blocked when I moved to tickle her, creating a floating wall of steel between us in a burst of shadows.

 “So cold, Auntie!” I complained, meaning that the steel was obviously well below room temperature.

 She sighed, never really thinking of me as her niece, but I caught the slight twitch of her lips at my joke.  Momma Emma lifted me up onto her shoulders, making me duck as we passed out of our wing.

 Auntie Raine and Pufflewink were waiting expectantly in the hall just outside of the kitchen, and I used my fey telepathy to convince Pufflewink to give Momma Emma a lick in return when she was kissed.

 Momma set me down, so she could attack people more easily once we were in the kitchen.  The Boss was the first to get a kiss, tilting his head for her as she approached.  Momma Alma and their kids were next.  The kiss attacks would continue for over an hour, I was sure, but I split off with the rest of the kids to eat in the dining hall.  We’d be decorating it for tonight’s party after we finished.  Having read plenty of stories about other places, I sometimes wondered how people elsewhere got by with so few parties each year.

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 26

 :We’re gathered here to discuss Aspy’s birthday.: I reminded my sisters, who had started goofing around despite our meeting.  :Only Aika’s created a gift, and she’s not too satisfied after finding out what the Somerset’s are giving him.:

 Maimo sighed.  Speaking aloud, she said, “He’ll still like the puzzle box, Aika.  Your design’s neat.”

 Aika shrugged, seeming unconvinced on the outside.  Inside, we could feel her worry.  Gift-giving wasn’t a competition, but we were competitive anyway.

 “Ladies, sorry to interrupt your discussion, but Ella would appreciate your support in making a gift for Aspen.” stated Momma Mila from the bedroom’s speakers.

 “Please apologize for us, but we need to help one another first.” replied Aika glumly.

 Momma Mila sounded amused as she said, “Oh, I think you’ll be interested.  Let me show you what she has in mind.”  A sort of wrist-mounted screen appeared on the room’s large mirror.  “Ella was somehow inspired by watches when she had started describing this to me.  Though I doubt the original design was quite the same with how Ella is, she did get this much done on her way home.” continued Momma Mila.  The device split as she spoke, showing us the circuitry inside.

 “So… it’s just a touch screen with a bit of connectivity and... “ started Aiko.

 “Wait.  Is that thing spring-powered?  Can it even generate enough power to keep going?  What’s that power pack then?” asked Aika.

 “I honestly consulted your father and Maxine when looking for ways to improve the design.  A few changes in material and the addition of the battery will make it work.  Ella was mainly concerned about the aesthetics of the device, possible functions, and the existence of the mechanical aspect, a byproduct of seeing analog watches.  We believe Aspen will enjoy the gear-driven system’s uniqueness when using it.  As for applications, I’ve already given it a custom OS, an interface for myself, and other basic utility programs.  What Ella thought you might enjoy creating are additional gadgets for him to access with it, hence the modular design with the ports located around her ‘attachment thingies’ as she put it.” explained Momma Mila.

 Our brains were already in high-gear.  Some of the designs we had scrapped could be revitalized to act in conjunction with the computer.  Momma Mila would certainly handle the software aspect of whatever we designed, and some of the stuff may even be allowed in our battles.  The comic book vibe of Ella’s plan excited us.

 “I call the drones!” exclaimed Aika aloud, so Momma Mila could already start planning the software.

 “I’ll do the wrist launcher.” I threw out next, already imagining what a small dart launcher could look like.  He’d be able to use it with actual weapons when he got older if he wanted.

 “Dibs on turrets.” stated Maimo, mentally showing us her basic idea for a turret base that could use an assortment of firing mechanisms.

 After a little more thought, Aiko said, “I’m giving him goggles.  He might like an extra display at times, plus, I’m sure he’d love a personal camera in addition to the drones.  Think of the videos he could make with the combination!”

 “Fine.  I’ll do a turret camera too for the low shots.” agreed Maimo.

 “To the lab!” we exclaimed together.  Even with the considerable help from Momma Mila, there was a bunch of work to be done.

 Dad was still out on his job today, but Aurora and Maxine were tinkering away when we arrived in the lab.  Between Aurora and the ex-villain, we found Aurora to be the stranger one.  They were both brilliant, but communicating with Aurora was… different.  Trying to ask her questions was practically useless most of the time, but she’d just solve things if she was shown a problem, even one as vague as a schematic with a flaw we were missing.  Her ability to visualize projects even impressed Dad!  We could always bring problems to Momma Mila, of course, but we wanted to know Aurora better.  She was practically family.

 Today, we were going to focus.  Yes, those two appeared to be  installing an upgraded flight controller for Maxine’s exosuit, but only Aika was staring at it.  The rest of us were just casually glancing as we started drawing at our stations.  We could see that Aika was considering how small she’d be able to make the drones, but she should be calculating the… Ugh!  She got us to pick sensors for her.

 :Do your own work!: I told her.

 She winked as she grinned at me.  I resisted the urge to open the concrete under her.  She’d probably just float anyway.  Air magic could be unfair, but I still had the advantage underground as we were.  Telling myself to focus, I did some calculations to compare different types of launchers.  Primary ammunition would need to be soft, so he didn’t accidentally damage anything at this stage, meaning the ammunition shouldn’t have any parts that give it weight.  No thrusters… Well, I could picture a lightweight propeller system similar to what Aika was going to use, but the muzzle velocity would be terrible.  Slow start versus self-correction became the conundrum.  There was only one thing for it… I was doing like Maimo and having different types of launchers on a single module.

 :Camera ammo!  Great idea, Aiko!: I told her appreciatively.  Aspy would be able to do shots following the bullets like in movies.  All of us appreciated the idea of hilarious expressions being captured as people got shot.  With the relatively low-velocity rounds, I could modify a tip to protect the camera.

 Hours passed, and we had to take a break for dinner, but our moms were fine with letting us continue when we told them what we were up to.  Birthdays were important among us.  Maxine gave us some tips when she looked over our nearly-finished designs, even creating a “sticky grenade” dart for the launchers.  Aurora just modified a few things like normal.  Though our gifts wouldn’t be the most inventive by themselves, we were confident that Aspy was going to love using all of this together!