Savage Awakening 102. ( ๑‾̀◡‾́)σ

(1/1) 

They found Evan in one of the sick rooms—a cozy little thing on the fourth floor with a grand window overlooking the Faction's north side. You could see the fountains spurting up in the town square from here.

Evan lay in a little bed. He wasn't alone—there were three nurses there, all giggling. A brunette whispered something in his ear, and he gasped, "Woah! really?" There was more giggling. One of them pinched his cheeks. Another ruffled his hair. He just lay there happily. He was a little confused but he also liked being petted.

Zane was speechless. Weren't they supposed to be healthcare professionals? … Should they be doing that?

To the side, Reina looked on with an arched brow.

The nurses noticed them and broke off blushing. Evan meanwhile perked up.

"Zane!" He beamed. He scrambled out of bed, scampered over, and hugged him. Suddenly, Evan felt emotional; he mumbled something heartfelt into Zane's shirt. He was sniffling a little. Zane didn't hear what the boy said, but the feeling behind it was pretty clear. He patted Evan on the head.

Then Evan looked up and saw Reina. His eyes went wide. He shuffled behind Zane a little.

"This is Reina," Zane explained. "I've told you about her. My girlfriend."

Reina's face didn't change, but she felt very happy hearing him say it.

"Ohhh!" said Evan. He tugged on Zane's arm and Zane bent over. He got on tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "She's really pretty…"

"I know," said Zane.

Evan shuffled out from behind him. "Hi! I'm Evan. It's so nice to meet you!"

Evan felt nervous. He tended to be around new people, but he was even moreso right now. He felt a little scared. Zane got why. Reina was studying him. She could be intimidating—it was in how she held herself, how she looked. She just looked like a queen. She had a presence to her.

Still, Evan put on a smile. He tried not to show it.

Reina smiled too. "It's nice to meet you too, Evan. I should thank you. Zane tells me you helped keep him out of trouble in Titansteel."

"I did?" Evan blinked. Then he looked at Zane, and Zane gave him a pointed glance.

"Oh! Um… uh-huh!" Evan felt quite guilty; lying didn't seem to come easy to him. He tried changing the subject. "Zane talked about you all the time! He said you're really awesome."

"Did he, now." This made Reina even happier. She was also a little speechless. "That's… very sweet of him."

Zane scratched his head and looked away.

"Mhm!" said Evan. "Thanks for letting me sleep in your hospital, by the way! It's so comfy, everything's so big and pretty. And everyone's been so nice to me!"

"Yes, well…" Reina frowned at the nurses, who all flinched. But she smiled at Evan. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. We've worked very hard."

"She built all this, you know," said Zane proudly.

"Well—I wouldn't say that," said Reina hastily. "Lots of people helped."

"Reina is super smart," said Zane, nodding. "She gets the job done. You should see the rest of the place."

"Wait. Can I?" said Evan, wide-eyed.

"Alright," said Reina, flushing. "That's enough." She directed that bit to Zane, though he could tell she liked it. To Evan—"And… sure. We can arrange a tour."

Evan was just about to say something, all excited, when his stomach growled. He blushed. "Um. Can we get something to eat?"

Reina softened. "Of course we can."

***

They had a little private dinner at Reina's house, a cozy little cottage a little ways out in the Moon Tree orchards. Reina got some good stuff out of the B-rank Beacon—fancy-looking chowders steaming with essence and a high-grade Dungeness crab dappled with red and blue spices. The meat was sweet and tender and it just dissolved in your mouth.

Evan started sniffling in the middle of the meal. Reina asked what was wrong.

He was in tears. "I—I think—I think this is the tastiest thing I've ever eaten…"

Then—"Um. Can I hug you Miss Reina?"

Reina was a little surprised. "… Sure?"

He waddled over and gave her a hug. Then he waddled back and went back to eating; he gave a little 'ahhhhh.' He was in bliss.

Zane often marveled how Evan could squeeze so much joy out of the smallest things. He wondered if you could learn this skill.

"So Evan," said Reina. "Zane tells me it's your first time out of Idaho. Is there anyone you'd like us to contact to let them know you're okay? Our Beacon has national coverage."

Evan deflated a little. He put down his fork and swallowed. "No…" he mumbled, looking at his feet. "My uncle passed away right after the Change."

"Oh! I'm...so sorry."

sed."No, it's okay!" said Evan. He gave a little smile. "He died saving me from a Monster. The last thing he told me was that I've got to use my powers to help those who can't help themselves. So I'm going to go around and help as many people as I can!"

"That's wonderful..." said Reina softly. She was taking a real liking to him; Zane could feel the warmth in her heart. She felt an urge to mother him. "But you don't have a Faction, Evan. Have you been wandering this whole time?"

"Yeah..." He looked sheepish. "I don't really have somewhere to go back to. We were the only people in our safe zone."

Reina and Zane exchanged a glance.

"Well, if you need somewhere to stay," said Reina gently. "You can stay with us."

Evan looked stunned. "Really?"

"Yes," said Zane.

Evan looked to him and then to Reina, then back to him. "Aww geez…" he started tearing up again. He scrambled over and gave Zane a big long hug. Then he gave Reina a big long hug.

"You guys are the best!" he sniffled.

He went back to finish his crab.

***

After dinner, they found Evan a place to stay. A quaint little 2nd-floor apartment right around the main square. It was lit in soft warm candlelight; oil lamps dangled from the ceiling under crisscrossing exposed wood beams. A fire murmured in a hearth. A plush wool rug ran the length of the wood floor, ending at a four-poster bed draped in soft furs.

It was supposed to be a temporary place until they found something bigger. But Evan fell in love with the place instantly—he gasped as soon as he saw it. He kept gasping as he went around exploring. Then he sank into the bed and disappeared into it. He was just gone.

"I love it!" squeaked his voice from somewhere in the furs. They left him there and agreed to meet up the next morning for breakfast.

***

Zane and Reina went off to do their own thing.

The night passed. Zane went to pick up Evan the next morning. The first thing Evan asked was, "Where's Miss Reina?"

Zane winced. "She's still sleeping."

"Oh. Okay!"

He was glad Evan didn't ask for details.

You had to be careful with this kind of dual cultivation. Essence gains were based on the intensity of the pleasure. He… may have overdone it a little. She'd asked him to—quite loudly in the moment—but he still felt kind of bad. On the bright side, she got two Levels out of it.

Evan was pretty much ready to go right away. He seemed to have a similar thing to Zane—for him, he just wanted to adventure and go on quests and help people. Do hero things. For Zane, he wanted to fight things. Different motivations but they ended up in a similar place.

The Pacific Northwest was pretty cleared by now. Zane had checked the Beacon map. He was mainly eyeing an A-ranked dungeon down in Los Angeles now. It was the highest-ranked dungeon on the West Coast.

Evan, meanwhile, still had a bone to pick with those Tomb Kings, who he thought were just the worst bullies. They decided pretty quick they'd go together. Or rather, Evan said, "Can I go with you? Please please please?" And Zane didn't have the heart to say no.

***

Before they left, they got a message from Avery.

I'm bored.

What's taking you so long, you big goof? It's so crowded—I swear everyone's a World Ranker! I used to think I was special.

At least the food here's really good. And their water Cavern of Insight is like SeaWorld on steroids, so that's been fun. But the line's gotten so long I can't even get a timeslot nowadays. So I'm just walking around bumming food off Elias. Did you know you can make scones that are consumable C-rank treasures? I'm eating like a dozen of them a day, it's great!

Oh there's some cool people I want to show you! There's this one guy who's kind of like you. A lunk, I mean. But he has even less of a life than you, if you can believe it! Jk. Kind of. That dude just eats, breathes, and sleeps training. We spar sometimes and it's funny watching him get mad 'cause he can't beat me up. He's like stupid competitive. He one-bangs literally everyone else but I'm just too good I guess ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Did I mention I learned some new tricks?

Anyway, you better come soon or I'm gonna assume you're just trying to avoid an ass whooping! ( ๑‾̀◡‾́)σ"

"Who's that?" said Evan.

Zane thought about how best to explain Avery and gave up. "She's… you'll see."

***

Reina came to around noon. She badly wanted to go with him. But in the end they both knew she was too important. For now, she had to stay here. He promised he'd be back soon.

They had one last goodbye kiss.

He made sure he had all his Law treasures on him. All those Law Fruit, plus those Titansteel Tree Leaves, and that Worldseed he'd gotten, and even that one recording of that Steelheart Conclave Elder's punch—he still had a play left of that. And he'd get to use Elias's super-Caverns of Insight.

Maybe it was overconfident. But to him, it wasn't a matter of if he'd break through. It was a matter of how fast.

Then he and Evan set off for San Francisco.