ROUGH DRAFT Coye 6.10

A peasants story this was not.

Learning the rules to RealMonster made Coye feel like Byng must have a couple of days ago. It was much more complex than a simple game for children like he expected it to be.

The game is played with two players, each player controlling a deck of fifty cards. Players started with four mana and with every passing turn they would gain another man to their pool up to a total of twelve. With that set amount of mana, players could summon monsters, cast spells or use items to bring the opposing players heart points to zero.

The basic concept was simple, but every card had different effects and trying to understand some of the more basic ones threw Coye for a loop. There were cards that searched, cards that milled, defended, weakened, grew in strength, and so on. Dorothy assured him he'd pick these sort of things up the more he played and learned about specific card effects but at the moment it came off more like information overload.

Shayla, on the other hand, was drastically reconsidering her thoughts on RealMonster. She was already mildly interested even if she lied and said she only liked the art, but now it seemed like something that much more up her alley. She could already tell that this was a game centered around bluffing, strategic counter plays, trickery, and deceit. She wanted to know more and eventually try it for herself, but for the moment she was letting Coye enjoy Dorothy being cute as she rambled about the things she liked.

"So now that we've covered just about everything, would you, um..." Dorothy got up from the couch and sat down at her desk, opening one of its drawers to pull out a small box. She opened it and inside were two smaller boxes. "A while back I bought these starter decks, but... You know..."

"No one to play with?"

"Sad to say, yes," Dorothy sighed.

"Well that changes today." Coye got up and sat opposite Dorothy's desk on one of the chairs.

"Really? I... I know I shouldn't be surprised at this point that you actually want to do things with me, but... gods, my self-esteem is low..."

"I hope it doesn't feel even worse after I beat you," Coye teased, getting a smile out of her.

"We'll see about that. Now. There are two decks to choose from... Roaring Dragons-" Dorothy prominently displayed the box to Coye, which featured a monstrous looking red dragon flying over a mountain. "Or fanciful fairies." She did the same with the second deck, this one having art of a beautiful fairy woman sitting on a throne wearing a crown.

'Is that... Titania?' Shayla inspected the box art. 'Huh. Pretty. Anyway, you know which deck you have to pick, right?'

'Obviously.' Coye smiled and reached for fanciful fairies.

"I'll go with this one."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Why, did you want it?"

"No!" Dorothy was almost suspiciously quick to point out. "No, I just heard some things about that deck in a hobby magazine and they were, um... Less than flattering."

"Is it a bad deck?" Coye started to open the box, and bursts of fairy light shot out of it along with fireworks nearly identical to the ones Shayla was so fond of setting off. They waited for the card opening show to get done with, and it stretched on for what felt like a gratuitous amount of time.

When it was finally over, Dorothy commented, "roaring dragons is supposed to be the better one. Fanciful fairies is more for collectors."

"How so?"

"It comes with- well, open it up and have a look!" Dorothy hurried him.

Coye upended the box and poured the contents onto his hand. There were a bunch of included chroma chips(forgot what I named them, will check later) that tumbled onto the desk while the deck of cards landed safely on his palm.

'Go through them nice and slow! I want to see all of the art, baby!' Shayla grabbed onto his stocks of hair, showing him that she was truly excited.

Coye then did as commanded and flipped through the fifty card deck. There were a bunch of common fairy cards he didn't have, including three copies of standard pixie cards that Shayla was hoping to see. The art on them was different for each, but when placed together they formed a triptych showing three different fairies playing pranks on different people. Shayla approved.

There were fairy spells, including one based off of the pixies ability to manipulate luck, ironically enough, a couple of fairy items, some mid-level fairies, but the selling point was the high-level cards. Including the star of the deck, titania the fairy Queen, there were an additional seven holographic cards.

They each belonged to a single archetype- the Unseelie Court.

'Holy shit-' Shayla remarked as Coye flipped through the different pictures.

'What's up?'

"You don't have any idea who those are, do you?'

'Not in the slightest.'

'Those are like... The baddest of the bad fairies in existence. They were kicked out of the fairy realm thousands of years ago, or something like that! They live in Karnalle now, or so the legends go.'

'Huh,'

Coye looked at the seven in more detail, (insert details about them here in the final draft).

"I don't understand. How come this deck is so weak if it has so many shiny cards?"

"Well, how do I put this... That deck is just an excuse for collectors to get their hands on the Unseelie Court cards and titania. You're not really expected to play with it. Getting those cards is difficult otherwise, you know? They're very rare. Look at titania for example."

Coye inspected the card and read the effect. He raised an eyebrow and started flipping through the rest of the deck to see if he missed anything.

"You've noticed it, have you?"

"Yeah. Titania's effect doesn't activate unless fairy king Oberon is on the field but-"

'they didn't even include her husband in the same deck as her? What the fuck!' Shayla was confused.

"Exactly. Oberon is in his own deck that you can buy, and that one comes with the seven commanders of the wild hunt."

"The wild hunt? I think I've actually heard of that one." Coye raised an eyebrow.

'You can ask me for a fairy lore dump anytime you want, big guy, although...' Shayla looked at Dorothy who seemed itching for an excuse to rant. 'Someone else seems just as eager to clue you in.'

"I wouldn't be surprised if you had," Dorothy said. "Their fairly infamous- the stuff of nightmares, really. Parents across Karnalle tell their children stories of the wild hunt, but reality is even more frightful. They are a band of warriors from the fairy realm who cause all sorts of trouble throughout kingdom, allegedly. Documentation on them is scarce but we have enough proof to definitively know they exist, but what exactly they are after is unknown to even the most dedicated of fairy scholars."

"You seem to know a lot about fairies, don't you?"

Dorothy smiled softly. "Fairies are very interesting. I'm not solely interested in beasts, all sorts of magical life forms catch my interest. Fairies are... Well, something I've always had a fondness for."

"Really?" Coye noted the irony.

"Oh, yes. I've read many books on the topic and I could go on for hours about the intricate differences between species and more! When I was little, I even used to play pretend in our garden and pretend my dolls were fairies, ahaha..."

Shayla kept quiet even though Coye expected her to make comment. She was too embarrassed. Of course she should've just trusted Dorothy sooner, but this was almost annoying. She was just about the most open to meeting a fairy person in all of Cransmere, and Shayla knew then that Dorothy could ultimately be trusted when it was time to reveal their secret.

"I'd love to hear you talk about fairies more soon, actually. I'm really interested in the subject, too. But for now..." Coye picked up his deck and straightened it all into order. "We have a game to play, don't we?"

"Of course!" Dorothy said excitedly as she opened the roaring dragons box and familiarized herself with its contents. Once she had, they both began shuffling the deck and then placed it down on a large playing mat Dorothy produced from her drawer. The mat had an illustration of a bunch of monsters fighting on it which seemed both cool and very in character for her to have.

After making sure Coye understood the fundamentals, they both drew five cards and the game began.

He made it through turn after turn, countering Dorothy's dragons which seemed to have a much better game plan than his fairies did. Whereas all of his fairies had contradictory effects and very little synergy, her deck knew exactly what it was doing. Dorothy would summon low-level Dragon eggs, protect them with spells and artifacts long enough for their growth ability to activate where she was allowed to search her deck and place a baby Dragon from it on top of the egg. These baby dragons started to have their own effects on top of the growth ability, and after another turn past, they would mature into juveniles, two turns after that, adults.

Stopping them was simple, they just needed to be destroyed when they were eggs. Unfortunately, Coye's fairies seemed more interested in bullshit like coin tosses, randomly swapping cards from each other's hands, placing cards at the bottom of the deck, and other unhelpful effects that might work better if the deck was actually built around one gimmick instead of a hundred. As soon as Dorothy's dragons were big and strong enough to destroy them, his fairies had no chance.

Worse, his Unseelie Court cards were absolutely useless even when he had enough manna to summon them. All of them had complicated effects, many of which required cards that didn't come with this deck to be helpful. Essentially, he was running a deck overstuffed with boss monsters and none of their supports.

Still, Shayla noticed that Coye was playing especially bad. At first, he thought he was letting Dorothy win intentionally because he enjoyed how cute she was acting. Admittedly, Dorothy was acting adorable. She didn't just play this game, she role-played it. Perhaps it was because she trusted Coye enough that she didn't mind exposing her sillier side, but whenever she played one of her dragons she would make silly Dragon noises or when one attacks she would roar and pretend to breathe fire. In her head, she was actually envisioning these battles as if they were actually happening and it was just the cutest thing ever.

But even then, Shayla had a suspicion Coye was up to something.

Dorothy accepted her when with grace, but she was obviously very happy to have one her first ever game of RealMonster.

"I can't believe it, it's even more fun than I thought it would be!" She sighed dreamily, then realized she was essentially rubbing in her victory. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was it fun for you, Coye?"

"Sure was," he smiled and started to shuffle his deck. "All thanks to you. You got really into it there for a while, huh?"

She started blushing as if she only now became aware of the acting. "I... um... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to let my imagination get the best of me."

"Dorothy, you should know by now that you don't have to ever worry about holding back around me. Play the game however you want to play. I'll just sit here and smile, happy to get to spend time with you."

Dorothy looked down at the playing mat, anywhere but Coye's face she was gaining a crooked, awkward smile and her palms were sweating over her nice cards. She might have to invest in those transparent sleeves if they did this more often. Following his cue and assuming that they were playing a second game, she gathered up her deck and started to shuffle it.

'Good luck this time, baby,' Shayla teased, the accusatory lilt in her voice suggesting she knew his intentions but all Coye did his smile and draw his five cards.

On the second battle, she paid closer attention to his hand and mapped out all of his options. Even if he didn't understand the game very well, she noticed he knew more than he was letting on. He made vital mistakes in many places where he actually might've gotten an advantage had he wanted to. Mistakes so basic that not even and idiot would make. Shayla knew he was doing this on purpose. But to what end? She kept quiet for now, watching the game develop until Dorothy had a full field of high-level dragons and Coye was left with zero heart points.

Dorothy felt very pleased over victory but just as guilty. It wasn't her fault that Coye's deck was unplayable but she felt like it all the same. She apologized for how thoroughly she steamrolled him and then offered to switch decks for the next one. That was when Coye made his move.

"It sounds to me like you're underestimating fairies."

"No, not fairies... just those cards... Fairies themselves are magical creatures of incredible power in many respects, but that deck-"

"I bet you anything I can make it work."

"A bet?" Dorothy laughed. "Haven't we had enough of those lately?"

"Maybe, but what's one more?"

"You're serious about this?" Dorothy started to grow nervous. She thought he was joking, but it was anything but the case. "Did you, um... Did you have anything in specific in mind?" She was hesitant but ready to hear him out.

"Yeah, I think so. We'll have a two out of three match. The winner gets to command the loser to do anything they want."

'Stealing Byng's tactics? Maybe I should let her know about this...'

'Just be quiet for now. I'll be counting on you soon.'

That got Shayla's interest and she quieted down as demanded.

Dorothy's anxiety spiked as her mind immediately traveled to all the strange places Coye could take this if he was the victor. Those terms... They were so forward. Surely he didn't mean anything, did he? He was smiling straight at her, expecting an answer.

"Um... When you say anything..."

"I mean it. And the loser can't back down."

"Oh. Oh dear, that's... Certainly something... ahaha..."

"If it's too much for you, we don't have to do this. It was just an idea."

"Hold on a second," Dorothy interrupted, leaning forward in her seat at an interest. "I... I'm not uninterested, I just want to know what I should expect if I lose...?"

"You won't lose. Roaring dragons is stronger than fanciful fairies, isn't it?"

"Coye..." The tension made Dorothy whittle in her seat and she bit her lower lip.

"If you really want to know what I'll ask from you when I win, you're just going to have to lose and find out."

Dorothy could feel herself growing breathless. The anticipation was making her crazy. Did she actually wants to find out? Did she want to lose? She opened her mouth to speak but Coye beat her to it.

"Then again..." He cupped his chin. "If you accepted the terms of the bet, it would be pretty incriminating, don't you think?"

"Incriminating?" Dorothy stammered. "What exactly do you mean by that...?"

"I mean, you'd basically be telling me in no uncertain terms you're okay with anything happening. Wouldn't you?"

Dorothy's eyes went wide.

Now Shayla understood where he was going with this. He was testing how comfortable Dorothy was with him making moves on her, while giving her the power to say no. He was gauging her consent and comfort after how much stress she's been through lately. If she says no, then that means Dorothy still needs time to recover. If she says yes here, he knows he can move forward a little more. In a way, it was ingenious of him. It was another indication of how scary this boy was getting. He wanted Dorothy to be the one to admit she wants to be messed with.

Dorothy struggled for a long time as she wondered what she should do. She didn't get the extent of Coye's scheme here, but she did understand the connotations which came along with accepting. He'd spelled that out clear enough. Her acceptance would imply a lot of things, and yet... She couldn't fight back how much she wanted to accept his terms.

She swallowed down her nervousness, closed her eyes, and spoke.

"Sure... Why not? That sounds fun, I think..." Dorothy was trying very hard to sound casual, but it failed completely and there was some sweat on her brow betraying her inner turmoil.

"Yeah?" Coye kept up his innocent grin even as he shuffled his deck again. "I wonder what it is you want to make me do so bad?"

"What? No! You have it all wrong, I just-"

"well if it's not that. Then you must want me to win so that I can tell you what to do even more? Right?"

Dorothy kept shifting around in her seat uncomfortably, sweating harder by the second. "No, I'm just curious as to what you're... um... I... I don't know, okay? I'm really bad at this! Bad at... Whatever it is we're doing here."

"Flirting?" Coye tilted his head and placed his now shuffled deck on the field.

Dorothy's heart dropped. "Is... Is that what this is? Are you flirting with me? Like... Openly? Flirting?!"

'You should really ease up for a while, baby. You're going to break her.' Shayla forced herself to suggest. It was fun watching this happen, but he might get carried away if she didn't.

'Fine. Just wait for my signal.'

Shayla raised an eyebrow but was open for whatever happened.

"Who can say? Maybe I'll tell you if you win. Are you playing or what? You haven't shuffled yet."

"I'm playing!" Dorothy was quick to assert, almost a little too quick. She picked up her cards and started shuffling them, at which point Coye struck.

'Jinx her deck for me, Shayla. As hard as you can.'

Shayla was surprised to hear him ask for such a thing. 'You know I'm down for trickery like that, but where is this coming from?'

'Dorothy just consented that she's okay with anything happening. I don't need to play games about it. This is what's happening.'

'Okay, fair, but you promise you're not going to push her too far when you win?' Shayla asked. To quell her fears, Coye shared what he planned on asking of Dorothy and got her support. 'Oh. That's not too bad, yeah. Good thinking.'

'So you'll help?'

'Yeah, I'll help you cheat. Don't I always?' Shayla smirked and then snapped her fingers, putting her magic on Dorothy's deck. It was imperceptible to the victim, as it wasn't as flashy as it was when she helped Coye break Auguris's armor. That, and Dorothy had no talent for magic whatsoever and couldn't sense these things.

Dorothy placed her unknowingly cursed deck on the field and couldn't believe her rotten luck. She pulled the hand of only mid and high level dragons without a single one of her eggs or any of the spells she used to search for her eggs. Her game face was very poor and she had trouble pretending things were all right with her current hand. She looked sad, but she forced herself to smile knowing Coye had been having bad luck as well.

Coye summoned one of his low-level fairies and after the first turn had passed and Dorothy still hadn't drawn anything useful, he could start attacking her directly. Turn after turn of this past with Coye slowly racking up chip damage and Dorothy drawing nothing but lead. Low level monsters didn't do much damage but they would win you a game like this if your opponent was unlucky enough to have an empty field.

Several turns later and Coye won his first round of the day.

"Now I feel how you must've felt, ahaha..." Dorothy laughed awkwardly as she put her hand back into the deck and started shuffling. Shayla didn't even wait for Coye's instruction before she jinxed Dorothy's cards again. She did it just as strong and noticed it took a little less mana than it usually did. This made her happy and showed more of her growth.

"I warned you not to underestimate fairies," Coye teased as he shuffled his deck as well.

"Guess I should have listened..." She smiled and then drew another hand of only high mana monsters. "No way... are you kidding me...?"

"Something wrong?"

"Just... two bad hands in a row, ahaha..."

"Pretty unlucky," Coye teasingly frowned and shook his head. "Want to shuffle and to draw again?"

"No, that wouldn't be fair... I'll just... Hope for the best..." Dorothy's pride wouldn't allow her. She gulped when remembering what it might cost her in the end, though. What did Coye plan for her? The anticipation of defeat loomed on the forefront of her mind, distracting her and clouding her thoughts.

The same events played out for a second time with almost identical results. Dorothy couldn't play a single card while Coye kept stacking his side of the field with low-level fairies until her heart points were zero. She was so shocked that she dropped her hand on the desk, her big strong dragons now nothing before the might of common fairies.

"That... I... I can't believe it..." Dorothy forced herself to look into Coye's eyes. Anxiety carried her away, along with a hint of interest and perhaps desire. She fantasizes about Coye and his apparent gigantic sexual appetite. She'd consented to doing anything he wanted if she lost, and here she was. Was it finally her time? Was he going to stop casually flirting, holding her hand or touching her thigh, and go for something more daring?

"Guess that's that, then..." He smiled.

She couldn't read his face. He had the same old innocent smile as he always did and there wasn't a hint of malice or ill intent to be found but still she couldn't stop thinking about the worst case scenario. Was it the worst case scenario? It might've been a strong word given Dorothy didn't even know what she wanted to come of this. She'd consented. Anything was on the table and she would've been all for it, but now that it was staring her in the face Dorothy didn't know what to think.

"Having second thoughts?" Coye asked as he started picking up his playing field and setting his deck to the side.

"I don't know..." She answered honestly and stared at the ground. "I didn't expect to lose so swiftly, and now I don't know what's going to happen..."

'Remember, baby... Take this easy.' Shayla didn't need to sense her to know that Dorothy was going through distress. There was a mix of excitement and fear, and if it got any worse, the girl was likely to start trembling.

Coye stood up from the desk and walked around it. Dorothy swiveled her chair in response and looked up to him, trying to gauge his intentions. She was shorter than him as he stood there, looming almost menacingly. That same smile of his kept going and seemed scarier by the second. As Shayla worried, Dorothy started to tremble.

"You want to know what's going to happen?" He asked in a stern voice.

She thought about it for a moment, gulping and nodding after making her decision. No matter her hesitation, she accepted in the first place for a reason. She wanted to grow closer to Coye and wanted their relationship to burgeon past whatever it was right now. "You won, so... Tell me what I have to do..."

Coye ceased leaning over her, taking initiative by placing his hands on top of Dorothy's, which rested on the armrests. He leaned forward, getting up right in her face. She stopped breathing, her entire world becoming those sparkling blue eyes of his that never used to be so bright but now captivated her everything. She struggled with what to do, wondering whether or not to close her eyes, pucker her lips and hope for the best, or what.

Though her fantasies were running wild, Coye had something much more mild in store for her.

"What you're going to do for me, Dorothy, is to take those two days off. Get lots of naps. Read a bunch of books you've been missing out on. Do whatever you want and not worry about anything besides looking out for yourself. Is that clear?"

She sat there as Coye was within kissing distance and became dumbfounded over what he said. She tilted her head, unsure of whether or not she'd said something wrong, or maybe misheard him. Dorothy didn't understand his intentions or why she felt so disappointed. Was she let down that he didn't do anything more daring?

"Is... Is that all?"

"Were you expecting something more?" He teased, smiling again and leaning just a tiny bit forward.

Her shock finally getting the best of her, Dorothy scooted the chair back unintentionally and stammered, blushing furiously as she shook her head. "No, no- it's just- you made such a big deal about this and... I thought you had something else in mind..."

"Truthfully, I did. There's one more part of your vacation I forgot to mention."

"... Oh?" Now Coye wasn't the only one whose eyes were sparkling, although more subtly than his. She leaned forward in her seat. "You, um... Better fill me in then. I want to make sure I do this right..."

'Seal the deal, baby.' Shayla patted him on his head.

"On the second day, I want you to have a nice, long bath, brush your hair, wear something nice, and then come visit me at my cabin that night."

For a moment, there was only silence. Then, the silence was interrupted by Dorothy's mind being flooded with implications. Visiting Coye's cabin. At night. After making herself look pretty for him. At night!? He didn't outright say anything would happen, but she knew what might occur if she took him up on it. It's all right there for her to see. Her breath left her and she struggled to contain her anxiety and excitement.

It went on for so long that Coye almost started getting worried for her, but he held it back and instead asked gently, "will you do that for me, Dorothy?"

She thought about it and she didn't have to think very long. That growing side of her that wanted to do as Coye said made her answer almost instantly. "Yes, Coye. Of course I will..." Dorothy said.

Shayla keeps the fact to herself, but she now thinks Coye has finished Dorothy off. She can sense the love coming off of her as she looks into her eyes. Whether or not either of them knew it, Dorothy was already his and everything passed point was just a formality. There's no fun in telling him that, though. She'd keep quiet for now.

"Good," Coye stood back upright and patted Dorothy's shoulder. "I'm going get going for now, then. I want you to start enjoying the rest of your vacation. Alright?"

"Wait-" she gulped. "You're leaving? I thought we might play some more or maybe... I don't know..."

"I have other things to do today. I kind of told that I would meet them in the lounge and hang out for a while. I'd invite you, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to be the center of attention right now. Do you?"

"No," Dorothy admitted. "I would rather keep to myself until I'm ready to get back to work..."

"Thought so. It'll be okay, just try and have fun on your own for a while." Coye made it to her door and opened it up, smiling back at her

"It's been so long since I've had a chance, I don't know if I know how..." She laughed awkwardly.

"Do your best. It was really fun playing with you today, Dorothy. I can't wait for more."

"I guess I'll see you in a few days?"

"You better," he gave her a stern reminder and close the door as he left.

He was now in the lounge but thankfully there wasn't a crowd waiting for him or anything. It was empty and he had time to go to a vacant lounge chair and sat himself down. Coye needed to decompress after what he'd just done.

'Congratulations, baby. Pretty sure that was the most forward I've ever seen you. I think you overdid it a little, but I don't see her complaining.'

Then, Coye surprised her by letting out a gigantic sigh. She experienced the emotions coming out of him, relief and anxiety that weren't there before. She raised an eyebrow and confronted him on the subject.

'Wait. Was all that confidence back there bullshit?'

'Most of it, yeah...'

He smiled softly and admitted the truth. 'There's no way I could've acted like that toward Dorothy if I didn't force myself. It felt really weird being that demanding with her and openly flirting with her, even if I liked it.'

'Well you did a good job of faking it. I couldn't even tell you were bullshitting! I got to admit. I'm a little relieved that side of you isn't legit. You're getting too good at this. Way too good.'

'I'll take that as a compliment.'

'It really wasn't, but you do you.'

Coye smiled. 'No matter how closely end up getting, I find it hard to imagine I won't always be at least a little nervous around Dorothy. She was my first, um...' He paused himself before saying something potentially revealing to Shayla, something that might upset her.

'You can say it, you know. I already know she's your first love. It's not like that holds any meaning now, dummy. I'm over my pettiness with her!'

'Are you really?'

'For the most part, yeah. We'll find out when I get to introduce myself to her, I guess...' Shayla shrugged. Coye was proud of her growth, but before he could say as much, the door to the lounge opened up and Tammy poked her head in.

"How'd it go, killer?"

"Pretty good."

"Are you and the boss a thing yet?"

Coye blushed and fought back against his embarrassment by scratching the back of his head and answering truthfully. "Not yet but hopefully soon."

His honesty caught her off guard and Tammy ended up smiling fairly widely for her and laughing softly under her breath. "I'd tell you to keep me updated, but I'll find out even if you don't. I always know."

'The gossip queen strikes again,' Shayla smirked.

"Anyway, I got a bunch of people in the cafeteria waiting to swarm you. Should I send them in?"

"Can you give me a couple minutes? I'm still, um... Out of sorts."

"Normally, no. It would've been funny if I sent them in while you're still feeling out of it, but I'm in a good mood so I'll tell them off."

Coye had a chuckle at Tammy's amazing generosity and thanked her for her service. She left after giving him another smile. Afterward, Coye enjoyed his moment of decompression before beginning a boisterous afternoon talking to his many peers. There were many adventures and Guild staff alike who wanted a piece of him to the point where people brought in chairs from the lounge to sit around Coye. It was unlike anything else he'd ever been through in his life.

Everyone wanted to know about him. They asked questions about where he came from, how long he's been adventuring, why he always kept a low profile until now, and so on. Coye answered honestly to just about every question he was asked. It was both exhausting and exhilarating. He got all sorts of offers to go on quests together, inquiries to his relationships with Byng, Suzette and Dorothy, some even wondering if he had something going on Tammy. Coye was honest about these as well, but he tried to emphasize he wasn't just randomly sleeping around and he is only after meaningful relationships and having new experiences after missing out on life for so long.

This little event went on for several hours straight, and by the end of it, Coye actually felt like he'd made platonic friends for the first time in his life. He made many promises to trying get to know some more of them soon while still trying to be noncommittal. Part of them hoped this fixation on him would die down in a couple of days, while another part of him enjoyed the spotlight.

Shayla watched all this happened in silence, simply smiling at the progress her boy had made. When they first walked into the Guild together, no one barely gave him a glance unless it was to occasionally check his cute looks out. Now, his peers looked at him with respect. It was only going to get better from here.