"C'mon, give up ya brat!" Greg said as John and Tanya returned to the apartment.

  "Grrrr... Never," Chris grunted, struggling under the weight of her older brother. The pair of them were wrestling on the floor, with Greg on top of her back, his arm wrapped around her neck.

  "Tap out or I'll choke ya out." He said calmly, applying more pressure to his hold.

  "Hrrrgghh... I'll... beat... Ya yet!" She said, and tried in vain to hit him in the junk.

  "Enough of this." He replied, then, leaning back further, he cut off the blood flow to her brain. She slowly turned purple, then her body went limp, passing out.

  "Damn, that seemed more heated than normal," Tanya said as she walked by the pair of them.

  "Yeah. I think she is angry that she needs our help against the gangs, but refuses to admit it." Greg said, standing up and ying his sister in the recovery position. John could see the colour returning to her face, so he stopped being too concerned that the two of them had gone too far.

  "Sounds about right," Tanya replied, then went into the kitchen to grab a few beers.

  "Is she going to be okay?" John asked despite himself.

  "Yeah. She will be fine. It's not the first time she wouldn't admit she lost." Greg replied. He left her on the floor and moved back to the living room.

  "She'll be sulky fer a bit, then she'll be back to normal," Tanya added.

  "I see," John said. He knelt beside her to check her breathing. It was a bit ragged, but other than a little bit of bruising on her neck, she appeared none the worse for wear. Still, it didn't seem okay to just leave her on the floor in this condition. He scooped her up in his arms and cast a spell. "Middle Heal!"

  Green magic moved through his body into hers, healing all her injuries and steadying out her breathing. He moved her over to the couch and y her down, then sat down beside her.

  "Aww... yer going to spoil the poor girl if ya do stuff like that fer her," Tanya said with a ugh. She handed Greg and him a beer, then sat down on the other side of him. It almost looked like the st fifteen minutes didn't happen. Well, other than the sleeping beauty beside him.

  "What? She was injured, and I like to think of myself as a healer." He said, not thinking too hard about it.

  "A healer? Do ya mean a doctor? I thought ya were a pilot and a mercenary?" Tanya said, looking a little confused.

  "Right. Well, most of the magic I know is healing magic. I do know a little fire magic, but I haven't had much practice yet with it." He replied.

  Right, I suppose in this world of advanced technology, magic might just be a novelty.

  "That is kind of cool. Ash can do some stuff with electricity, but she doesn't really use it much." She replied, leaning into his side again. "Can ya show us what ya can do with fire magic?"

  "I can, but I don't want to set anything on fire."

  "Dude, look at the room. It's all metal. Ya won't burn anything here. Hell, I doubt yer spell is hotter than the psma cutters Chris uses every day down in the shop." Greg said, injecting himself into the conversation. "Just hit the wall over there by the stairs."

  "Fine. Firebolt!" John said, casting his spell. A ball the size of his head shot out of his hand and smmed into the wall, leaving a scorch mark on the metal but otherwise caused no further damage.

  "By the world tree! That almost hit me in the face!" Ash called out from the stairwell. "Why are you throwing attack magic around the room?"

  Ash and Niki came up the stairs into the apartment, Ash in her flight suit, Niki wearing a bck leather jacket and pants simir to his. Ash seemed angry, and Niki seemed nervous.

  "Hey, Ash. Didn't know ya were here already. I was just getting John to show off some of his magic." Greg said, taking responsibility for John's spell. "Besides, if he did hit ya, he could heal ya, too. Ya would be just fine." He added, giggling a bit.

  "You must be Niki! John mentioned ya were coming with Ash. He didn't say anything about how adorable ya look, though!" Tanya said, springing up from the couch and approaching the cat girl.

  "Right? Isn't she just the cutest thing?" Ash added, gently pushing Niki in front of her.

  "Umm... Hi." She said, her cheeks blushing deeply.

  She looks uncomfortable.

  "Girls, give her some space, please," John said. He was about to stand up when Chris shifted herself and y her head on his p.

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I'm Tanya, that guy sprawled out on the couch is my older brother Greg, and the blue-haired woman on John's... p pretending to be a corpse is my sister, Chris." Tanya said, introducing everyone.

  "Ahh... Hello. Is... is she going to be okay?" Niki asked, looking over at Chris.

  "Probably. She lost another argument with Greg," Ash said, moving over to Chris and poked her feet. "Wake up, Princess, you have an audience with your humble subjects."

  "Five more minutes, Mom. They are my subjects, they can wait... Zzzz," Chris mumbled, and turned over on John's p, hiding her face into his stomach.

  "See? She is fine." Ash said, then moved to the kitchen.

  "Subjects? Sounds like an amusing dream," John mused, wondering what she was actually dreaming about.

  Maybe my Scouter skill could tell me what... Naw, I don’t think I want to invade someone's dreams with it... Things might get weird.

  "Heh, yeah. She has some interesting dreams some days." Tanya said, then brought Niki over to the couch, sitting her down beside him. She took a spot on the other side of her.

  "Do you want something to drink, Niki?" Ash called out from the kitchen.

  "Oh, I couldn't-" She replied, but Ash cut her off.

  "Nonsense. Here I'll make you something light and refreshing. There is only a little bit of alcohol in it. Have you had a drink before?" Ash asked.

  "No. By the time I was old enough, I couldn't afford it." Niki replied, seemingly embarrassed about her situation.

  "Niki, you can say no if you want to. No one will force you to have a drink." John whispered to her.

  "It's okay, I am just... a bit overwhelmed because of the… shopping. Ash found me a lot of stuff." She whispered back.

  "Good. You look good, by the way. Was that outfit her idea?" He said, looking at the leather outfit she was wearing. It was fairly tight-fitted and did a good job of showing off her curves while not exposing any skin. It was quite striking with her white hair and blue eyes.

  "No. I..." She said, then lowered her voice even more. "I just wanted to match you, Master. Do you like it?"

  "I do indeed." He said, smiling at her. He would have rather she just picked out what made her happy, but he wasn't going to compin about it. She did indeed look good.

  Of course, with her figure, she could probably do the Marilyn Monroe thing and make a potato sack look good.

  "So how did the rest of your shopping go?" He asked.

  "Oh, it was really good, Sir. Miss Ash found me a few outfits to wear, both for work and lounging around. Then we grabbed some drugs and things she says I might need... things to make my time in space more comfortable for a woman." She said, her cheeks turning bright red again.

  What in the world did Ash get her to make her embarrassed?

  "Well, if you ever need more of whatever it is, let me know. That's not something you need to spend your money on." He stated, then took a sip of his drink.

  "Oh... ah... Thank you, Sir. I will remember that." She replied. She was trying really hard to not look at him.

  "Did you drop your bags off downstairs?" He asked her.

  "No. It should all have been delivered by now on the carriageway. Did you get a notification to accept it yet?" She said, looking back up at him.

  John opened his Link, and sure enough, there was a message to accept a delivery. He did and closed the device. "I must have missed it. It's onboard now, though. When we head back to the ship, I’ll show you where to pick up deliveries, and you can take them to your room. You can show me some of it then if you want."

  "My room?" She said, sounding confused.

  "Yeah. You can have one of the rooms next to mine. Did you think you were sleeping in the hallway or something?" He said, ughing a little bit.

  "S-Sure... I mean, thank you." She whispered to him, her cheeks turning even redder.

  Why is she so nervous... Damn it, I am an idiot. It has been a hell of a day for her; she is probably exhausted, and I just dragged her to a house party.

  "Listen, I'm sorry I had Ash drag you here. You must be tired. If you need to lie down, I am sure Tanya or Chris will let you use a bed, okay? You're safe here. I won't let anyone hurt you." He told her, idly stroking her head. She leaned into his hand, started to purr for a moment, before she took a deep breath and visibly took a hold of herself.

  "Thank you, Master. I'll be okay, just, just don't leave me, please."

  "I won't, Niki. I'll protect you for as long as you want me to." He replied.

  "You two look very serious. Here is yer drink, Niki. Just sip at it and enjoy." Greg said, handing Niki a cocktail that Ash had cooked up in the kitchen. "Just be careful not to down it as Tanya and Chris do, otherwise ya might end up going on an adventure with them."

  "Thank you. Adventure?" Niki said, her tone sounding curious.

  "Yeah. Drinking heavily usually ends up with them running around the Third Ring, wearing less clothing than appropriate, and causing mischief. Nothing terribly illegal, mind ya, but one would question their sanity." Greg said, ughing about a memory he was thinking about.

  "Hey now, painting all the INP ships pink wasn't my idea. I was just following Ash." Tanya said, throwing the elf under the bus.

  "It would have worked too if that stuck-up Kat-bitch wasn't on duty. She takes her job way too seriously." Ash said, sitting down on the other side of Chris.

  "Kat-Bitch?" Niki asked.

  "Yeah. Lieutenant Katrina Eligan, or Lady Eligan if you go by her title." Ash said with a sigh. "She is naturally one of the good nobles, but she has a habit of foiling our shenanigans. I still can't believe we had to fly with her on John's ship the other day. Be careful with her, John. She might drag you somewhere you don't want to be, with her holy crusader attitude."

  "You know she has been nothing but helpful to me since I arrived in the system, Ash. Hell, she even came up with the pn to help Niki here. That said, it seems like nobles are a major problem for commoners like us. I will try to avoid them as best I can." John replied to her, then took another drink.

  Tanya and Ash looked at each other with a smile. Greg began to ugh.

  "Bhahahaha, best advice I've heard all day. Yeah, ya better stay out of the schemes of nobles, Hoss, ya will live longer and have a more peaceful life that way. Now, let's eat up and watch some racing!" Greg said, then turned up the volume of the TV.

  "There are burgers on the counter, if anyone wants some. Might be a tad cold now, though." John said, leaning back into the couch.

  "Mmm...food," Chris mumbled on his p.

  "Shhh... It's starting," Greg said, and tossed an empty can at Chris, bouncing it off her head.

  "Ouch! Hey, ya bully, that's not fair. I was enjoying having a nap on this... pil-low... oh... Hi John." Chris said, looking up at him sheepishly.

  "Welcome back to the nd of the living, Chris. Here, meet Niki, my new crewmember." John said, then another empty can bounced off his head.

  "I said, be quiet! Don't make me come over there." Greg said to John seriously. They held each other's gaze for a moment, then the dwarf let out a loud ugh. "Hahaha, I was just teasing you, John. You have been accepted into our friend circle now, so I expect the same treatment back. Got it!"

  "I sure do, Greg," John said, downing his beer, then throwing his can at Greg. It bounced off his temple and rolled to the floor. "Now, go get me another beer, would ya. Oh, and grab me a burger too, ya brat."

  The pair of them started to ugh at the absurdity of the situation, then they settled in to watch the show.

  For some reason, Ash got up, got John a beer and a burger, and brought it over to him. He thanked her profusely, not sure why she would do that.

  Wait, didn't they say she likes me? Oh god, am I going to be in a weird love triangle with her and Tanya now?

  John had forgotten the story about men having multiple wives now that male birthrates were severely diminished, so his mind raced with the potential issues that might arise. However, Tanya and Ash were both quite happy with the way things were progressing, and Tanya couldn't wait to tell Ash what happened earlier in the bathroom.

  Niki just sat there, oblivious to everyone else's thoughts, wondering if she would have the courage to model her outfits for John ter.

  He isn't going to rip my clothes off, is he?