Chapter 507: Looking stupid

“Demi?”

Mason warped into the young great tree of Nassau where he’d left his newest player, and hopefully newest girlfriend. He and ‘mushroom girl’ had met in the Neutral Zone. He’d promised to come find her, then they’d slept together when he tracked her down and took care of her after she was forced to flee her home.

She was definitely joining Nassau, so that was amazing. But their ‘relationship status’ wasn’t exactly clear. All he knew for sure is that he really liked her, and wanted things to continue, despite the…female complications.

“Change of plans,” he called, by which he meant their plan to go to the fey and track down the ‘satyr king’ to ask about Mason’s Life Seed artifact. “We’re gonna stay and plan a minute, so it’s time to meet the settlement. If you want a change of clothes or something I can…oh.”

Mason stopped and stared when he saw way more exposed skin than he expected. Demi was turned away from him but completely nude, her arms held out to the sides, the great tree’s nymph guest Calypsa kneeling down beside her.

“Uhh.” Mason honestly had no idea what was going on. The women had just met about an hour before.

Demi turned her head and grinned.

“She’s measuring me for an outfit. She thinks she can make me something I can bind, because I’m Nature Affinity.”

“If that’s alright, druid,” Calypsa said, glancing up at him. “It might require a…bit of contribution of your own magic, if the vestments are to be at all useful. My waters are still very weak.”

‘Contributing’ to nymph magic meant sex. It

always

meant sex. Though Mason had no idea if

Demi

knew that. Her knowledge of the game was deeper than he’d expected for being isolated. But it was one thing to know what a nymph

was

, and something else to see how they behaved…

He also wasn’t at all sure Calypsa needed the girl naked and inspected. In fact, he was

pretty

sure she didn’t. The creatures were pretty much always trying to get your clothes off, especially if you were a Nature class, and apparently being a woman didn’t protect you.

Not that it was exactly a problem. Mason scanned demi from head to toe, lingering on her small, pert ass. Calypsa—who wasn’t known for showing much emotion—actually

smiled

at him as she ran her hands up the sides of Demi’s hips.

“That tickles.” Demi fought a giggle and glanced at Mason. “How long did it take to make yours?”

She meant his ‘Eve’s Vestments’, created by a great tree avatar that was something like a nymph queen. They didn’t do anything, other than give him something to wear after his endless battles, not to mention shapeshifting. But they had an armor form that was pretty impressive. Eve had also promised to improve them when she had more time. And after another visit…

The thought of taking Demi to the inhumanly beautiful tree avatar became suddenly very appealing. Maybe he could take a

few

girls. Make a whole trip of it. He could show them the new north now that it wasn’t eternally frozen…explore the rivers and new life…

There was so much to see and enjoy in this new reality. But Mason had to protect the world before he could relax in it. There was just never enough time.

“It didn’t take long,” he said. “But the one who made it was powerful. If you can do it now, Calypsa, go ahead. But we can’t stay. We have a lot to do and…”

“I have what I need for now,” Calypsa said, standing and giving Demi a friendly nod. “Come back when you have the time, druid, and we’ll finish it.”

When I have the time

, he thought.

So never?

But he knew he couldn’t focus

entirely

on survival. He had to at least try to have a life, or give some of the people he loved a life. Who knew how long it might be before it felt like things were ‘safe’?

And—another fact he had to admit but tried not to think about too much—how long before one or all of them died?

He held out his hand for Demi, and with a glance at her own nakedness she shooed him back and rolled her eyes.

“Turn around,” she said, and Mason snorted.

“Pretty sure I saw everything the other night.”

“Well that was the other night.” Demi still didn’t turn, and Mason shook his head and spun away, not able to fight off the grin.

Because of their magical and affinity connection, he could literally smell her emotions, and sometimes her actual thoughts or memories. But inside the nymph’s grove there was too much magic floating around, and he couldn’t smell a damn thing.

“There.”

Mason wasted no time looking, but was silent as he inspected. Calypsa had obviously grown her some clothes.

Her top was covered in something green, loose and leafy, a few holes here and there like he was looking up through a canopy. It exposed her flat stomach, and a similarly made skirt covered her lean legs down to her knees.

He took a deep breath and blew it out.

“Do I look stupid? I look stupid. OK just get me something, then, or I’ll…”

“That’s not it.”

Mason spared a glance at the subtle smile on Calypsa’s face before she waded back into her pool. She definitely knew what she was doing. He wanted to lift up Demi’s skirt and claim her again, and keep at it until he never heard words like ‘that was the other night’ again. He took another deep, calming breath.

“You look like some kind of nature goddess.”

Demi grinned and Mason rolled his eyes.

“Just expect some…resistance. OK? The women of Nassau already have competition problems. So I wouldn’t…”

“The

women of Nassau?” Demi laughed and put her hands on her hips. “You mean

your

women. I already told you it’s fine. I’m not gonna step on any toes.”

Mason found himself shifting his weight, not sure what to do with the ambiguity. Did she mean she wasn’t interested? She seemed

pretty damn

interested before. With her ankles on his shoulders as she screamed for more, for example.

But maybe it had just been the system-boosted sex drive talking. Maybe the magic-swapping, mind-blowing sex he thought he’d been having was still just…untapped lust for her. And now in the cold light of day, she’d changed her mind.

God damn nymph grove

, he thought.

Why can’t I tell what she’s feeling?

He wanted to walk up and grip her, smell her, tell her it was too late for games. But maybe she was right. Maybe he shouldn’t be fighting for this so hard. He had enough women and dangers to deal with. The only reason he was doing it was because…well, because he fucking

wanted

to.

He imagined a nodding Cerebus somewhere in the fey, giving him a thumbs up. Except Mason’s wise and ancient patron was so reckless and crazy he’d maybe tried to destroy existence out of spite, or because it was a good time. So he possibly wasn’t the greatest role model pre or post apocalypse.

“Everything alright?”

Mason looked up and realized he’d gone several long seconds without talking. He shrugged, reminded how ridiculous it was he was spending mental effort on woman problems when the literal survival of the species was at stake.

“Do what you like,” he said, his tone guarded now. “But we need every player we can get. So let’s go get you introduced. We have a training facility here and it might be wise to show everyone your powers. Take a look at theirs. Because next we’re going to…”

“I watched everyone fight,” Demi said, her tone matching his. “In the Neutral Zone. I have a good sense of things.”

He stood and stared into Demi’s deep, dark eyes, his paranoid brain squawking its annoying tune. It said outlandish shit like maybe she was a spy for the east. Or maybe she had allies, or a rival patron god that hated Cerebus and sent her here to destroy his avatar. Most of that was batshit crazy. Except possibly the last one…

He gestured her forward to take his hand, but she walked right by and put her own on the side of the great tree.

“I’m a nature caster, you know,” she said. “I can talk to the tree, same as you.”

They both warped out. Outside, Mason could finally sense Demi’s emotions, though it didn’t do him much good. She was bouncing around like a pinata, which he decided at least meant it wasn’t all negative. So that was something.

“Come on,” he said. “My main people are in the Nexus. It’s a bunch of beacons all clumped together at the top of the tree, and there’s a good gathering hall.”

He turned to go before realizing Demi was staring out into the settlement with an open mouth. She shuffled to the rail and looked out over the forest, the Nexus, and the settlement below.

“Great spirit. If only my grandfather could have seen this.”

Mason looked out and smiled. He was so busy it was easy to ignore the sheer wonder of the forest settlement.

“Yeah. With all my running around and putting out fires, I forget sometimes.”

“You shouldn’t.” Demi shook her head, some moisture in her eyes. “You never know what can happen. How long a beautiful thing will be yours. What you’ll miss when it’s gone.”

Mason wasn’t an expert on women, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t just talking about the view. A piece of him wanted to just say to hell with it and put it all from his mind. But a bigger piece refused to let it go.

“Did I do something, Demi? If I did, I didn’t mean to.”

A wave of her emotion washed over him, and in his mind’s eye he saw her throwing her arms around him. Possibly slapping him. Though the main current seemed to just want to turn and run away.

“Not everything’s about you,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I’m ready to meet your people now. I think.”

Mason nodded, deciding maybe she was just nervous. She hadn’t seen people in months except to fight them one on one in a fake tournament to the death. How he’d suddenly turned into a clingy teenage boyfriend he wasn’t sure, but he decided it was time to put a stop to that shit right now.

“OK,” he said, squeezing her shoulder, swapping to ‘Mason the murderous leader of soldiers’. He forced his brain to think of Demi as just another new recruit. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t actually matter what they think of you. We need ranged players so bad I put up with the worst Irish prick you’ve ever met. You could literally say anything, you’ll still be welcome.”

Demi smiled a little. So that was something. He walked her towards the Nexus, trying to decide what the hell his new dungeon teams should be now with Demi if they decided to split up.

The safest and likely best decision was to put her with another team, split their nature affinities. Make her Carl or Phuong’s problem.

It was perfectly logical, and probably correct. But he would have been lying if he said he wanted to.