Butler Boy - Chapter 5 (Revision)

Unscheduled Update:

Okay, so a lot of people criticized Arden's actions towards the end of Chapter 5 as uncharacteristically/unnecessarily stupid/silly/problematic.

Let this be a testament that I can, in fact, take the hint when people raise valid critiques.

So I've revised the end of the last chapter and wanted everyone to know and/or have access to the new 'end,' so it wasn't a surprise.

*Also, while I'm here, a quick note. There are a few franchises that the Chaos Gacha uses that I just don't know well enough to use stuff from. When they're relatively simple items that just boost speed/strength/endurance, that's one thing. But specific sentient familiars that have unique personalities can cause problems when writing them.

In that event, I'll use my best judgement to substitute something that I do know that feels equitable OR just grant a reroll and take the new result.

This is just a convention to allow me to more easily write material that I actually know instead of needing to do excessive amounts of research into fandoms that I'm unfamiliar with.

Thanks for your attention!

Story below, changes are relatively minor and only affect the last few paragraphs, but I've included more to allow people to get back into the swing of the story. Also, the gdoc is already updated if you'd rather read it here.

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Contrary to the ticket, she stared at the capsule like it was a snake about to bite her, which... yeah, there were probably snakes you could get as familiars. I mean, if you could pull the Divine Dogs from JJK, you could pull a pet snake.

“Alright, I guess... here goes nothing,” Addie muttered, taking the capsule from me and working her painted nails into the latches carefully before- “Holy shit!”

My eyebrows rose as the plastic hemispheres dissipated into motes of stardust, leaving Addie wide-eyed holding a small slip of paper. “Huh, what's it say?”

She blinked, looking down at the small print... “Uhh... let's see... 313.Paper Trail. A rarity of one-point-eight with... point-four eight percent chance odds. It's a 'common trait,' that... huh. For some reason you are always carrying the relevant paper or information with you. And so do your familiars apparently. Just reach into your pocket and you can find whatever legal identification you need.”

We stared in silence at the slip for a few moments after Addie finished reading it off.

“I... guess I should be grateful that I didn't get something weirder,” Adelaide stated quietly, her tone a little disappointed as she frowned at the result.

“Well, you'll never get another parking fine ever again,” I shrugged.

Addie blinked, sitting up straight. “Oh my god... I can park wherever I want to. I never have to worry about getting a new hunting license! Wait, wait, let me see...”

She closed her eyes, concentrating, and focused before reaching into her pocket and-

“That shouldn't have fit in there,” my sister noted as she pulled out the wad of papers, looking through them. “Holy fuck... this is a concealed carry for my gun. I always thought about getting one, but I just kept the damn thing in my car for emergencies instead. Never mind, this is awesome! I'm never going to have to wait in line at the DMV ever again!”

I snorted as Adelaide cackled, glad she'd gotten something she liked. “Just... uh, watch out, okay? Like, you could probably pull out an FBI badge or something if you wanted to, but even if it makes you officially an FBI agent, it's probably not going to alter memories or anything and you won't have the training. So don't do anything stupid with it, okay?”

“Right, right...” Adelaide nodded slowly, coming down from her high as she looked down at the paper. “All I'll have is a piece of paper or a badge or something... still fucking awesome.”

“Glad you liked it, now...” I blinked, looking down at my hands.

I still had two silver tickets.

I cocked my head and looked at them closer. One of them was the ticket I'd gotten for healing Addie. I'd burned the one that I got for telling her about the gacha and given her the reward. The other...

“Figuring out how to share the gacha,” I muttered, frowning at it.

Right... most people wouldn't even try, probably. I guess that's an achievement. Even if I trust Addie, she could have gotten something that would put me in danger. If I'd trust the wrong person...

That also meant if I didn't immediately use the tickets, I needed to store them as tickets, rather than capsules. If I tore a bunch of tickets, stored the plastic balls in a safe, and got robbed...

Yeah, not good.

“Well, let's see what you get, right?” Addie asked, nodding at the tickets.

I sighed, the last thing I needed was an enabler. “If I get something that doesn't fit in the house, you're explaining it to Mom. Probably pull a fucking tank...”

Deciding to get it over with, I ripped one. Instantly a plastic capsule appeared in my hand. Popping one open, I immediately felt knowledge begin to flow through my mind to the point that I hardly needed to read the paper to know what I’d gotten. Shaking my head and feeling like it was a bit more full than it had been before, I handed the paper to Addie.

79. Adept Mechanics (3.2 Rarity, 0.63% odds)

-Rare Skill-

You are as skilled as a veteran engineer, if given the tools you can repair almost any mundane machine and you could even design a car from scratch and build it yourself. In addition, you tinker and design faster than you should be able to without sacrificing quality.

“Whoa... that's nice. That's... you just got like, all of Algernon and Dad's skills fixing cars and then some, didn't you?” Addie asked, reading it to herself.

“Yeah, and I feel like someone just crammed it into my head sideways,” I muttered.

Seriously, learning how to sex good and draw hadn't been this bad. I guess heavy sciences have a lot more to them, don't they?

“You okay, bro?” Adelaide asked, leaning over to check me out visually.

“Yeah, just... can I get some advil or something?” I asked, a bit plaintively. “This reminds me of when I pulled the art skill, just worse.”

Because we aren't talking about the other skill I'd pulled.

“Yeah, sure, lemme just... shit, that's mom driving up, isn't it?” She asked, shaking her head and moving to grab a bottle of pills. “Just wait there, okay? I'll get it.”

I looked down at the remaining ticket in my hand, then shook my head and reached over to stuff it into my school bag underneath my homework before tucking away the Adept Mechanics paper I'd gotten.

I'd tear that one when Mom wasn't literally walking in the door.