“Don’t get any bright ideas loser we’re only like this because you kept stealing the covers and it gets cold in the void,” Mercedes says looking up from Mateo’s bare chest.

  “I’m sorry, what happened, where’s my shirt?” He says removing his arm from her seeming flustered.

  “You must have passed out right after you rudely stole the bed I told you I was taking, I was in the bathroom and when I came back, anyway the dragon god lady woke up,” Mercedes replies.

  “The dragon god woke up, that’s right, I must have been so exhausted that I just kind of passed out, wait where is Serenity?” Mateo asks.

  Mercedes moves off him rolling her eyes as she sits on the edge of the bed staring at the floor. She’s wearing a revealing, but subtly innocent night gown. It’s white with a hole at the back for her tail. A golden pattern wraps around the neck and chest. A thin choker around her neck with a half crescent pendant radiates a small amount of mana.

  “Calladen told me to take you into town to get supplies before you spoke to Serenity, it’s important he says,” she replies kicking her feet as they dangle over the floor.

  “What about the dragon god Dios?” Mateo asks.

  “Unless you can stop her right now then I wouldn’t worry about it,” Mercedes says pulling a rolled tobacco stick from her inventory.

  Mateo grabs the back of her nightgown pulling her back to him. He steals away what seems like a cigarette, and she sighs irritably.

  “Daddy, give me back my smoke stick,” she says feigning innocence.

  “Natalia teach you that?” Mateo questions.

  “No, but I’ve been around a while and I know what you perverts like, I also have more cigarettes, so it doesn’t really matter that you took one from me,” Mercedes says challenging him.

  “I might have some goatveil cheese for a woman that doesn’t smell like a smokestack,” Mateo says tossing the cigarette in her lap without addressing the comment about him being a pervert.

  “Do you tease the other girls?”

  “No, just you for now,” Mateo replies.

  “What’s so interesting about me?”

  Mateo moves closer joining her at the edge of the bed. Her mouse ears twitch anxiously as her tail darts through the air.

  “You said you watched several generations of your children come and go, I’ve not had a single child,” Mateo says pulling the cigarette from her lap and lighting it by arcing void lightning with his fingertips. He takes a puff blowing smoke through his nostrils. “Do you ever regret having them?” He asks offering her the cigarette.

  Mercedes accepts the flaming tobacco stick and takes a puff exhaling slowly.

  “No, I loved my babies to their last breaths.”

  “Do you want to rest a little longer, the world can always end in a few hours when we are well rested, I can tell by the dark circles under your pretty little eyes that you didn’t sleep much,” Mateo says letting off a cold sad breath.

  “Is this how you seduce the other girls?” Mercedes asks a hint of suspicion in her voice.

  “No, I use Serenity’s perfume remember.”

  “What about the cheese?”

  “I said I might have some for a woman that doesn’t smell like a smokestack,” Mateo replies cunningly.

  Mercedes takes another puff of the cigarette before flicking it into the air where it disappears into the void. She peers back at two empty pillows and sighs.

  “I sleep naked, don’t touch my breasts unless I move your hands, don’t go lower than the tail, and don’t ask me to sit on your face.”

  “Um, what?”

  “I’m just messing with you; you aren’t the only one who can be cunning.”

  Mateo rests with Mercedes for a few more hours in his void palace. When he wakes Mercedes is dressed in a button-down shirt and green shorts that stop mid thigh. There’s a small bag slung over her shoulder and her long silver hair is pulled back in a ponytail.

  “Good morning,” Mateo says.

  “It’s evening, and we need to get to the market before all the good sales are over,” Mercedes replies.

  Mateo steps out of bed pulling a shirt from his inventory and slides it over his head.

  “You know you can just equip that right?”

  “I like to dress myself sometimes, keeps me feeling, real,” Mateo replies.

  “Real?” Mercedes questions.

  “I’m here because I died, I’m living a new life with the user interface of a video game character, sometimes it just feels fake, performing things, even simple tasks like getting dressed helps me feel like I’m not just in some kind of simulation.”

  Mercedes moves closer to him straightening his shirt as her bag dangles from her shoulder. Her pale blue eyes peer up at him, and a subtle smile graces her thin lips.

  “I don’t know what a video game is, but I think I understand what you’re trying to say,” she steps back admiring her handy work, “we can’t have you looking like a vagabond in the kingdom of elves though.”

  “No, I don’t guess we can, lady um?” Mateo pauses waiting for her to insert her last name into his dialogue.

  “Spadetail,” Mercedes replies looking up at him.

  Natalia appears above Mateo’s shoulder yawning and stretching her arms. Her wing slaps against Mateo’s face as she rests on his shoulder.

  “Hey, watch where you’re spreading those things,” Mateo complains.

  “Don’t be so loud, I have a migraine, oh hey Mercedes,” Natalia says rubbing her temples vigorously.

  “Hey Natalia, we’re headed to the market, where do you think we should go first, assuming that you have insight over his inventory,” Mercedes replies.

  “Snacks, then the armorer.”

  “Why do I need to go to the armorer?” Mateo asks.

  “Because the only vendor you have at your void palace is Ladarius and he makes sweets, if you had an armorer, he would be able to repair your equipment, but since you don’t, you need a mystic repair hammer,” Natalia replies.

  “And who’s fault is it that I don’t have an armorer?” Mateo snipes.

  “Hey, you only had enough for a snack vendor or a potion vendor, the choice was obvious,” Natalia says squinting her eyes.

  Mateo takes in a deep breath exhaling slowly as the anger radiates from his body. The look of irritation on his face is not lost to either of the women in the room.

  “Let’s just go to the market,” Mercedes says grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room.

  Mateo and Mercedes emerge from a portal in the southern district of Y’shtol, known as the elven market. Terror and Jade are dining in an open diner with the Harmony Casters and Yasmina. A dog sized lizard bolts from their table toward Mateo kicking up dust as he gallops through the wooden streets. When the creature reaches Mateo it leaps into the air wrapping it’s scaled appendages around him.

  “Hey Rayo, you ok buddy?”

  “I spend night with Charlotte, we have much pleasure,” he replies in a reptilian tone.

  Rayo removes himself from Mateo transforming into a large ivory snake and slithers up his side perching around his neck. Mateo pats his head gently and waves to his friends, who wave back. Yasmina stands as if to approach him, but Mercedes quickly pulls him toward the market.

  Expecting to see only dark elves, Mateo is surprised to behold a more diverse marketplace. Beastmen, dark elves, and even scaled vendors display their goods. Mercedes directs Mateo to a small shop at the end of a row of tailor stalls run by Nezumi, which are mostly making clothes for people of a shorter stature like the Nezumi. The shop is plane only displaying a small wooden board with a hammer and anvil chiseled into it. Mateo folds back a heavy cloth entering the storefront.

  The interior gives off a warm blue glow created by large fungi growing on the walls. A heavy worn chandelier hangs from the wooden ceiling, but it holds no candles. Instead, the large metal framed decoration is lined with crystals that give off a cold white glow. They have the appearance of raw quartz and don’t seem to be very valuable. A bell dings as Mateo steps inside walking up to the counter.

  “Excuse me, my name is Mateo, and I am looking for a mystic repair hammer,” Mateo yells into the shop.

  The wall behind the counter has two openings both covered by thick pelts like the entrance. Mateo stands there for a moment but receives no response. The shop seems empty except for its inventory which isn’t very impressive consisting mostly of weapons and articles of clothing made from iron and leather. Mercedes steps up to the counter and looks up at Mateo.

  “I’m short, you’ll have to pick me up,” she says motioning to him.

  Mateo lifts Mercedes into the air like a child and she knocks on the counter four times in sequence.

  *Dun, duh dun, dun.

  The heavy pelt on the left kicks into the wall beside it and a large beastman steps out. The man himself is around seven foot tall and covered in orange fur with black stripes. A long fluffy tail waves around behind him suspiciously. Seeing the tail Mateo’s eyes are immediately drawn to his ears. Not angular like a cat but round like a tiger. This man is surely a tiger man Mateo thinks.

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  “Mercedes, it’s good to see you babe, what can Tony do for you?” the man asks in an old school Italian mobster accent.

  “We were perusing your inventory and are wondering if you have a mystic repair hammer.”

  “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t, what’s it to you babe?” Tony replies.

  Mateo stands there staring at the man’s round cat ears unable to ask the singular question eating at him.

  “Who’s this chum with you, and why’s he starin’ at me like that babe?” The man turns toward Mateo, who is paralyzed by curiosity. “Hey you, is there a fuckin’ brain in yer head or what?”

  There is a short pause as Natalia floats off Mateo’s shoulder to look around the shop.

  “Are you a tiger?” Mateo asks.

  “What do I look like fuckin’ Garfield to you, ofcourse I’m a fuckin’ tiger, what are you cause you look like a turd nugget to me, not even a whole turd, just a nugget, a fraction of the shit you could be.”

  Mercedes climbs onto the counter and stares down at Tony with a spouse’s rage.

  “If this is how you treat your customers it’s a wonder you have any at all!” She yells.

  The large tiger man rubs his head nervously seeming embarrassed.

  “What would your father think of this behavior, no don’t answer that, I know what he would say,” she says pausing as she becomes more stern in her voice and movements. “You’re not from my loins, what kind of tiger wants sugar crusted flakes of corn more than meat, a weak tiger that’s what kind of tiger, you’re no tiger, you’re no better than a big orange cat.”

  The leather pelt covering the door on the right flies open and a small furry orange cub erupts from it exuding an aura of energy and excitement. Mateo’s gaze is drawn to her heterochromatic eyes and Mateo’s thoughts wonder off to images of Stitches staring into his eyes with a broken smile. The small tigress climbs onto the table wrapping her paws around Mercedes.

  “Fufu,” Mercedes says returning the embrace her stern voice replaced by a more caring tone.

  Mateo ignores their reunion returning his gaze to the tiger man.

  “You’re a tiger and your name is Tony, you’re Tony the Tiger?” Mateo asks.

  The shop keeper straightens the collar on his shirt expressing himself in a more formal way.

  “Names Tony, you want things good, Tony makes them great, what can Tony do for you Mr uhhh…” he trails off.

  “Ryusane, but you can call me Mateo, and I need a mystic repair hammer.”

  Tony looks over toward Mercedes and his daughter Fufu then back at Mateo.

  “Who is she to you, Mr. Ryusane?” He asks in his gangster voice.

  “Mercedes, she’s my friend, I met her when I met king Calladen, she said she didn’t want to serve him anymore and I kindly told him to release her,” Mateo says with a sly grimace.

  “You’re telling me you told the king to let her go and he just, let her go, Mercedes Spadetail, the most adored and revered Nezumi in the Twilight Everglades, king Calladen’s most prized, well, I can’t speak for what he thinks about her, but the stories say she was his possession, I don’t think of Calladen or any of the other night skins to feel that they possess the Nezumi, but that’s not a story for now.”

  Mateo holds out his hand. Tony stares at it for a moment and then grabs it. They both grip each other firmly and shake.

  “I need a mystic repair hammer,” Mateo repeats.

  “Well, I ain’t got one here, but I know a long and lengthy quest that can get you one,” Tony replies.

  Mateo sighs audibly rubbing his temple.

  “What’s the quest?” Mateo asks visibly irritated.

  “Quest ain’t none of your business, blank it out of your mind bub, I do the quest, the quest gets done, badda-bing badda-boom, you got a magic hammer.”

  “What’s the catch?” Mateo asks.

  “Catch, ain’t no fuckin’ catch chum, but, I go do the quest, the quest is dangerous, I love my daughter and I don’t want her to be in dangerous, you know what I’m sayin’, so that’s where you come in, I’m granting you the honor of watching over my lovely little cub Fufu.”

  “How long is this quest?”

  “I was just pulling your whiskers saying it was long, a day or two tops, just gotta go to a location you don’t need to know about and retrieve an item that ain’t none of your business and a client who will remain unnamed will pay me in exactly what you’re looking for, convenient right chum?”

  Mateo looks down at the cute little tigress playing with Mercedes. They have moved from the counter to the floor where Fufu gives off a tiny ferocious roar as Mercedes entertains her.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Mateo asks.

  Tony sighs loudly becoming visibly distraught. He looks over at Fufu and takes a deep breath. Slowly exhaling his eyes return to Mateo.

  “Fufu’s mother wasn’t exactly a tiger, Harley was a Nezumi with a very tall stature, we were young, and I was reckless, started out running a dongon gang,” he stops smelling the faint scent of tobacco on Mateo.

  Tony pulls out a cigarette lighting it. He offers it to Mateo and Mateo takes a puff. Two wooden stools rise from the floor on either side of the sales counter.

  “Go ahead and sit, I got time, you’s got time, let’s share it.”

  Tony shares the moments he spent with Harley Hollowtail, Fufu’s mother. Natalia having the ability to recreate memories from telepathic waves, but unable to draw simple images like a map, paints the scene.

  There I was standing on the corner of Y’shtol and Illius, when I saw a broad so beautiful she could be the goddess of beauty herself. Long brunette hair round grey ears, that little whip tail waving behind her. And the uniform she was wearing. A Nezumi night guard. My body just moved, my instincts kicked in. This was the broad for me, the one.

  “Excuse me ma’am, but might I ask your name?”

  “It’s Harley, why you asking?”

  “My name is Tony, what’s the name Harley mean?”

  “Harley means I’m thick and loud, is that too much for you little tiger?” She replies mockingly.

  “Is that a challenge babe?”

  Several instances of lustful interactions are described as Mateo ignores Tony’s excessively detailed accounts of them being depicted by Natalia.

  Harley appears her belly protruding outward as she rubs it. Tony approaches her wrapping his paws around her.

  The scene changes to a medieval hospital. Healers work tirelessly to treat patients as Tony sits on a bench shoving sugar corn crisps into his mouth. A healer approaches him seeming nervous.

  “Sorry Tony, she didn’t make it.”

  “What the fuck do you mean she didn’t make it?”

  “Harley died during the procedure, we don’t know why, but she seemed like she was fighting something and then she just smiled as I held her out, Fufu she said right before she, my condolences Mr. Tigre.”

  The healers hand Tony a small orange furred beast girl. He holds her screaming figure in his arms. Undoing a few buttons on his tunic he presses the child to his warm furry chest, and she calms, her squeals of terror turned to a soft purr of comfort.

  “She has diabetes, she needs a heavy sugar intake, or her blood sugar will drop, and there’s medicine, she’ll need to take it for her entire life.”

  “Lucky lucky, that’s what Harley wanted to call her, we knew, we knew she might not survive the pregnancy, but she wanted to go through with it, it’s fifty fifty she said, I have this child and live, or I don’t, either way, I’m not giving up on our child.”

  The scene changes and a young Fufu confronts her father.

  “You said mom left and she was coming back!” Fufu yells.

  Tony stares down at her with tear filled eyes.

  “Fufu, my little Fufu, mama isn’t coming home.”

  “Liar, you’re a liar, just like grandpa says, a big orange cat.”

  The scene changes again and Tony stands over a gravestone. The inscription reads, ‘Harley Hollowtail, loving mother and perfect wife who gave everything to share a brighter future.’

  “Sorry to hear about your beloved, we’ll watch her for a few days, just get me one of those hammers,” Mateo says.

  “You’ll get your hammer, but know, if anything happens to my little Fufu it’ll be resting in your skull and not your hands.”

  Tony disappears to do a quest and Fufu joins Mateo’s party to shop around. They stop by a few shops getting materials that help repair items and ofcourse, snacks. Natalia has in her inventory alone five hundred and twenty-seven different flavors of dried meat. Something she is very proud of.

  “Mateo I’m close to unlocking another achievement,” Natalia says.

  “I’m sorry, an achievement?”

  “Everybody’s meat, it’s when you collect five hundred and thirty different meats.”

  “I didn’t even know achievements were a thing,” Mateo states.

  “Don’t worry about it, just buy a few different meats while we’re in the market,” Natalia says with a sweet smile.

  Mateo and Mercedes spend a couple of days watching Fufu. She’s adorable and Mateo enjoys playing with her. Perhaps one day he’ll have a cub of his own, and it’ll be as cute as little Fufu.

  Several more days pass and Tony does not return. Fufu becomes restless demanding to see her father. When the elves try to restrain her, she becomes violent. Mateo is able to calm her with his calm beast skill, but only for so long.

  “I’m sorry Fufu, I’m not saying he’s dead, but no one has heard from him,” Mateo says.

  Fufu flies into a rage forcing Mateo to the ground.

  “He’s not dead,” she says digging her claws into his forearm.

  “Fufu stop.”

  “Please tell me, he’s not dead,” Fufu demands.

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s not very comforting, you’d be a terrible parent,” Natalia scolds.

  “You’re not helping pigeon wings,” Mateo snipes back.

  “Pigeon wings, I’ll have you know these are the magnificent wings of a raven, and Stitches would punish you severely for suggesting that I resemble a gluttonous grey pheasant,” Natalia complains before disappearing.

  Fufu wraps her arms around a grounded Mateo holding him close as the familiar feeling of moist tears rain down soaking into his tunic.

  “I want my daddy, he’s all I have,” she cries.

  Mateo pats her back gently as she weeps on top of him. Mercedes returns with some sweets for Fufu. She also seems very distraught. She tries to pull Fufu off of Mateo, but he raises his hand motioning her away. Little Fufu looks up at Mateo her heterochromatic eyes filled with oceans of sorrow and stutters.

  “D-Daddy went to recover a shipment that was attacked when the bad bads showed up, where all the soldiers were when the fighting started, it has a lot of stuff and,” she pauses wiping tears from her cheeks, “my medicine.”

  New quest available: Tony’s more than good apparel and travel gear. Tony, the owner of Tony’s more than good apparel and travel gear hasn’t returned from his ‘short’ quest to get you a magic hammer. Find him to receive your magic hammer. Bonus! If you complete this quest while your pixie has her sexy goth armor equipped, you’ll receive an additional reward that is slightly better than just my gratitude. Warning! You can only have one active party member during this quest. Choose wisely, like, the healer cat girl or I don’t know, the vampire king of elves. Your choice really.

  “Natalia, what the hell is going on with the user interface?”

  “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Either you’re admiring yourself, or you have some absent bodied admirer,” Mateo replies.

  “I’m sure many entities find the perfection of my physical form enticing, just look at all this ass,” Natalia replies spanking herself.

  Mateo flicks her behind and she shoots off into the air.

  “Hey, that hurt jackass,” she yells.

  “You can gloat later oh great goddess of beauty,” Mateo replies.

  “Really, a goddess of beauty,” Natalia blushes, but then glares at him, “hey, you’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?”

  “Never more serious.”

  Mateo calms the young tigress handing her over to Mercedes. He exits the shop leaving some supplies and heads to where his friends are staying in a tavern called ‘Midnight’s Seclude’.

  Yasmina is absent, but Stitches, Terror, and the Harmony Casters are all present. Mateo doesn’t bother with Terror or the bards instead approaching Stitches’ room. He knocks twice and Mitsu opens the door. He’s only wearing boxer shorts, and he’s covered in passionate bruises.

  “Oh, it’s you, how is my sister?” He asks.

  “She’s well, watching over a vendor’s daughter by the name of Fufu, is Stitches presentable?” Mateo asks.

  “Fufu, and how is the young tigress doing?” He questions.

  “Distraught, her father is missing, look I really need to speak to Stitches,” Mateo replies.

  “One moment please,” he says shutting the door.

  The room seems alight with movement for a few moments before Stitches emerges in a thick turtleneck sweater that hides her passion marks. Mateo tries to ignore this, but he does feel somewhat, jealous.

  “Hey Stitches,” Mateo says rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

  Stitches notices his jealousy and her cheeks turn blush with embarrassment and guilt.

  “You needed me for something,” she says avoiding eye contact.

  “Ahhh, I can see the shame in your eyes, feel the guilt rattling your voice, you voracious whore,” Natalia says pointing a judgmental finger at Stitches.

  Mateo wraps his arms around Stitches embracing her with his warmth.

  “Mateo, are you… mad at me?” Stitches asks.

  “Don’t listen to the old pigeon, she can be insensitive at times, that’s what old age does to you,” Mateo says rubbing her soft ears.

  “Old pigeon! I am not an old pigeon you insolent buffoon!” Natalia protests.

  “And Stitches isn’t a whore for enjoying herself, she’s our friend and I won’t have you calling any of our friends whores, well except maybe Beatrice,” Mateo replies.

  A figure emerges from the shadows of the hallway stepping up beside Mateo.

  “I prefer slut, it sounds young and exciting, maybe even a little cute, like a cute little slut,” Beatrice replies with a perverse grin.

  “And your brother?”

  “Oh no, he’s an old beat whore, probably been sleeping with queen Hera since we left, not that I blame him, the old harpy is renowned for her, well, let’s just leave it there,” Beatrice says.

  “I was going to ask Stitches to join me on a quest to find a tiger named Tony, I can only have one active party member and I thought a healer would be a good candidate, but I’ll accept anyone who is a willing participant,” Mateo states still holding Stitches.

  “A night alone slugging it through the corpse filled marsh with another realmwalker, maybe you should take me instead, maybe, you should take me right now,” Beatrice says biting her bottom lip playfully.