Summoned Again?

I spent an hour with their chosen representative and gave her two seedings, much to the Elder Fox's satisfaction. I did my best to ignore everyone else in the town that had piled into the town hall to watch.

I really am perfectly fine with having others watch now. I thought and held in my sigh. I tried to not think about what my relationships were going to be like when I went back home, especially if it gets into my head that I need to have an audience to perform. I'll face that dragon when the time comes.

“Face coverings, everyone.” I said as I walked out of the town hall and equipped my full armor set. The other heroes took in sharp breaths at the thing, because they hadn't really noticed it when I had it on in the cage. I handed out coverings to the three new people and George the horse man, whispering that it was only until we left the fox territory to respect their wishes, and the others all put theirs on.

We went to our carts, hooked up the two horse people, and everyone except me climbed aboard. I turned and waited for the old fox woman to come out.

“Day Man.” She said and held a gloved hand out to me.

I took it in my armored hand and bent down to tap it to my helm. “Elder.”

“Safe journey.” The old fox woman said.

“Try not to drink my offering at once.” I said with a chuckle. “You know I haven't shared it with anyone, not even my group.”

“We will dole it out on special occasions only.” She said.

“It's good for another four months, then the fizz will die out on its own. It's still drinkable after that, it just won't be as tasty.”

“We have mages that can cast stasis.” She said.

“Really? Can I talk to one of them or have them perform the spell for me?”

She waved her hand and another figure appeared beside her. Their speed was remarkable, since they all put their extra points into the proper stats and skills. In fact, I had to use up some of my spare points to put my running and movement skills to max, just so I could keep up with them.

“I will need something to cast the spell on.” A male voice said.

“You sly old fox.” I complimented the old fox woman and she let out a happy little bark and chittered a little. I took out another bottle of pop and opened it. The man's gloved hand glowed and then he cast the spell on the bottle. The bubbles froze in the liquid and I nodded.

____

You have gained the spell Stasis. When cast on an object, it will remain in its current state until the spell wears off or is cancelled. A more powerful magic user can make this condition permanent, meaning it won't fade over time, and it can only be dispelled.

____

“Then my caution for it becoming unusable for you was unwarranted.” I said and put the cork back on the bottle and handed it to her. “Thank you for your hospitality, Elder.”

She nodded her head to me and I went to Sugarlick's cart. Both horse people started to trot at the same time and kept pace with each other as we left the fox settlement. When we were far enough away from their territory, Sugarlick let out a huffing neigh. We went another half an hour, just to make sure we were far enough away from the foxes, and pulled off the road.

“All right, we're stopping for the night.” I declared and hopped off the cart as I stored my armor.

“Who made you the boss?” Lionel asked and stored his face covering, as did Nat and Angel.

“You just did.” I said with a laugh and Nat joined me.

“He really has no social skills.” Nat said as she came over to me. “My elbow's getting sore.”

“Ha haha!” I laughed and waved at the cat women to stay by the cart when they took off their face coverings. “It's really too bad that you cheer for the other team.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Nat asked with squinted eyes.

I laughed again. “Please don't take that wrong. I'm not confessing that I want to convert you or anything.” I said and took out a huge tent that I bought when we picked up more supplies at the wall. “I just have a feeling that we're going to be great friends. I have no problem being friends with someone after I sleep with them.”

Nat blinked her eyes at me for several seconds, then she smiled. “You make sex friends.”

I laughed again. “Not like that. I just... when I hit it off with someone, we usually end up in bed together. It doesn't wreck our friendship when it does, though.” I explained and unrolled the huge canvas tent in a good spot. “It doesn't always happen, since we still need chemistry, you know?”

Nat thought back to meeting the albino horse woman named Paula and nodded. They definitely had a lot of chemistry.

“You're damn cute, and nice, and your sense of humor is pretty close to that of an ex of mine.”

“An ex, huh?” Nat chuckled. “Are you regretting losing her?”

“Not at all. She's happily married with kids on the way.” I said and Nat looked a little surprised. “At the time, my life was a mess and I couldn't give her the time and love that she needed. We both knew that, so she moved on and found someone that she's going to spend the rest of her life with.”

“That's... wow.” Nat said and helped me pull the tent out to the right size and we drove the spikes and support holders in place. “Where did you get this? A circus?”

I laughed again. “Close. It was an elephant man, actually.”

“Oh, my god.” Nat said. “Was he huge? He had to be huge, right? This tent is enormous!”

“He was nearly twenty feet tall.” I said and spread my arms. “His feet were this big around.”

“Jesus!” Nat cursed my favorite curse.

“One more question.” I said and gave her a serious look. “Are you sure you don't like penises? Mine's only slightly over-used.”

Nat burst out laughing and shook her head. “No, you ass. Stop teasing.”

I walked over to her. “I'm glad you know that's what I'm doing.” I said and put a hand on her shoulder. “I won't ever question your personal choices or what you choose to do with who you choose to do it with.”

Nat looked into my eyes and there was a little jolt of something between us. It wasn't chemistry, though. Neither of us had the urge to kiss the other; but, we felt a lot closer than strangers normally would. Without speaking, I stepped close and pulled her into a hug. She didn't tense up or try to pull away. Instead, she put her arms around my waist and hugged me back.

“Hey, what's with the touchy-feely thing going on?” Lionel asked.

“Dammit, he's too far away for an elbow to the gut.” Nat said and I chuckled as I let her go.

“I was just greeting a new old friend.” I said and Nat grinned at me as I turned to look at Lionel. “I don't think that's going to happen with you.”

“Damn right.” Lionel said. “There's only one of us that I want to...”

Angel walked by him and came over to me. “Damon, can I try?”

I slowly reached out to touch her shoulder and something hit my hand and knocked it away.

____

You have gained the spell Focus Push. You can cast a small barrier to hit any part of something that you can see, to push it in any direction you choose.

____

“Lionel!” Nat spat, recognizing the spell. “That was uncalled for!”

“I don't want him touching Angel.” Lionel said. “He just came out of that town after... after...” He waved his hand and I suddenly felt clean, even though I hadn't taken a bath for two days. Even the sex stickiness that I couldn't quite get completely cleaned up was gone.

____

You have gained the spell Cleaning Hands. When cast, anything targeted will be scrubbed clean as if many hands had given it a proper bath. Works on both animate and inanimate objects.

____

Angel gasped as part of the spell hit her. “Lionel! You're supposed to wait for people to ask to be cleaned!”

“But... he... he was...”

Angel sighed. “No, I shouldn't snap at you. You're right. He was just touching... well, had touched...” She looked at me. “You were touching that fox woman, weren't you? Intimately?”

“I can freely admit that my fingering technique was used occasionally.” I said and her face flushed only a little red. “I did wash up with a towel and soap, so I wouldn't have it inside my armored gauntlets.”

“That's a relief.” Angel said. “The researchers warned us about direct and indirect fluid transfers.”

“Yes, and isn't that an interesting disease.” I said and they gave me surprised looks. “Nat, you read my report, didn't you?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me, why hasn't it gone airborne or migrated to the animals?” I asked and Nat gasped. “Decades of breathing and eating, moisture from saliva, wastes, and contaminating the water sources by both swimming and cleaning... and yet, it hasn't made the transition to spread by any other means. The only thing people are worried about is direct fluid transfer from one to another. That's it.”

“No, that...” Lionel started to say, and stopped.

“Did you know there are still normal humans living here?” I asked and all three of them were shocked. “It's why a lot of the population is so stringent about contamination. Anyone that catches it is sent right to the wall and the research facility, so they can study it. When they finish, they send them to be with their 'people', since intermixing species outside of the city is frowned upon and letting them go back to the human settlements to infect their families is a huge no no.”

“I can't believe... after a hundred years...” Nat whispered.

“Right. It shouldn't be possible. It should have converted everyone already and it hasn't.” I said. “I also haven't met anyone that's been alive since it started. Yet, anyway.”

“That's what you're looking for!” Nat said and I nodded.

“I'm hoping, beyond hope, that I can get one or two beings that might have been here since then, or at least know the stories of that time.”

“You didn't have any luck with the foxes?” Angel asked.

“Not even a little. The oldest is almost sixty and you met her.”

“The Elder.” Nat said and I nodded.

“Most of the towns and villages I've visited so far have mostly born residents and almost no infected and converted, except for recent ones, and they can't help at all in this quest.”

“So, you haven't been goofing off all this time and screwing everything that moves. That's good to know.” Lionel said.

“Angel, please.” I said and she tapped Lionel's gut with her knuckle to make him grunt. “Thanks.”

“We need to work on finding who we need, so we can track down where all of this could have started from. Tomorrow.” Nat smiled. “First, we need to set up this tent and get some sleep.”

“It has compartments inside, like huge rooms.” I said and we all started working together to get it set up. Luckily, they took direction well and we had everything set up about fifteen minutes later.

Nat looked up at the 40 foot tall central post. “Jesus, that's a huge pole.”

“That what the fox woman said.” I joked and took out the large bed I had in inventory.

Nat looked startled for a second, then she laughed and Angel joined in. Lionel looked a little perturbed.

“Did you guys get bedding?” I asked.

“Just bedrolls.” Nat said. “We've got our storage spaces packed with other supplies.”

“I'll loan you some.” I said and went to their 'rooms' and dropped off things that looked like actual beds. They were already made up and even had pillows on them.

“How big is your storage?” Nat asked, surprised.

“I'm not sure it can be measured, since the things inside all have different sizes.” I said. “After I stored a mountain full of metal ores and passed out from mental strain, I stopped worrying about what I could carry.”

The three of them stared at me and I laughed.

“Ask me about it tomorrow.” I said and waved at Sugarlick and George as they ducked into their own room. I walked over to my own room and closed the flap. “I hope you don't mind sharing a bed tonight.” I said to the already naked women. Purrs, a bark, and a bleat of agreement responded. “Selene first, like usual?”

“YES!” Selene yipped and hopped onto the bed and the others laughed.

“One scratched itch, coming right up.” I stored my clothing and climbed onto the bed.

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