ROUGH DRAFT Coye Vol 2 Ch 13

I think we're at the halfway point now? I also started a new chapter of RotGM like I promised. Either way it's going good.

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Coye had all sorts of reasons to be happy that morning, so as he left the Darkwood General Store through the front door, he had a big smile plastered across his face.

Above anything else, his focus was on getting to the nearest alleyway so he could talk to Shayla properly. He had so much he wanted to say to her that he unintentionally lowered his guard as he left, which was a rare occasion.

Shayla saw it happen before he had any idea what was about to happen. ‘Watch out!’ She shouted to him, using her magic to cause him to trip and fall backward.

Coye fell flat on his ass and looked around, confused. “W-What the, why did you...?” he started to speak, only to realize the source of Shayla’s panic.

He had almost walked into a tripwire trap someone had set up in front of the store. There was only one person crazy enough to do something like that, and the boy looked around his surroundings for any trace of her.

‘Above you, dummy! Think fast!’ Shayla alerted him to an oncoming arrow shot from above aimed straight at his face.

Coye reached out to catch it, but Shayla didn’t want to take that chance so she conjured a small puff of wind to slow its trajectory to a half. From there, he could just pluck it safely.

Instead of a pointy arrowhead, there was a circular sack of powder that no doubt would’ve done something funny to him if it was allowed to explode on contact.

She’d hit him with a few of these things before. One of them smelled so bad no one in the Guild would talk to him for a week, another left a nasty stain that required magic to wash out.

Coye didn’t know what this one would’ve done, but he didn’t want to find out.

“Byng,” Coye grunted, not feeling up to this routine first thing in the morning. “Wherever you are just please, leave me alone...” he begged, standing up and dusting his pants off.

“Not a chance!” An enthusiastic, high-pitched yet slightly gruff voice responded to his plea.

He looked around the surrounding area. It was quiet. There were only a few townsfolk minding their own business on this typically busy street, none of which seemed to notice the adventurer being stalked from afar.

Their heads were turned once the four-and-a-half-foot-tall green-skinned girl jumped down from the building across the street from Darkwood General Store, though. With a wooden bow clutched tight in her hand and wearing a skimpy tribal-looking leather ensemble, Byng stood from her dramatic entrance and smiled at Coye with a mouth full of sharp, pointy teeth.

“Sup?” She asked, slinging her bow into the strap on her bandolier.

‘Ohhh,’ Shayla gawked at the appearance of a new cutie ripe for Coye’s taking. ‘Is this the one chick you told me about?’

Coye nodded subtly in response as Byng approached.

He had told the Pixie that there was a particular girl who wouldn’t leave him alone but was not a part of his group of bullies. Byng was an outsider who’s crazy enough to live primarily in the Gnarled Woods. She only turns up now and then to take a few quests at the Guild and sell off any excess meat, pelts, or trinkets she brings home as a result of her hunt.

She also had a strange fixation with Coye and loved catching him unawares through hunting traps and testing her trick arrows on him. It bothered him greatly, but Shayla was already suspecting that Byng didn’t do these things to mess with him as he convinced himself to think.

Before Byng even approached, Shayla was already working on the beginnings of a plan.

By the time Coye next blinked, Byng had sprinted to him and pressed her face right up in his business, practically inches away from his lips. “How the heck did you stop my arrow? Huh? You just thrust your hand out and it just stopped! What’s up with that?”

Coye was met face to face with her huge round eyes which sparkled with immense curiosity. They were golden, almost like Suzette’s, but burned with a brighter orange.

That was far from the first thing he noticed about her as she got closer, too. Coye took a step backward as he took in the smell of Byng, surprised at how it contradicted his memory.

Byng always smelled like a girl who lived out in the woods, which is to say she stank like the earth and sweat. Today was seemingly the same smell as always, and yet... it made Coye’s head dizzy in a way he didn’t understand and he felt a curious tingle in his lower half.

He took a step backward, answering, “Um, I-I want to be a Spellsword eventually, so I’ve been practicing my magic...”

Byng stared him down unblinking until scratching her short, upturned purple hair and shrugging her shoulders. “Nice, keep it up. Sucks that you dodged it, though, that one’s a new itching powder arrow I’m testing! Really wanted to see how it works on a human, y’know? Yeah, you know what I mean.”

Coye didn’t. He responded by reflexively throwing the arrow back at Byng, wanting to be as far away from it as possible. “C-Can’t you test your arrows on someone else for once...?!”

Byng tilted her head, her long and pointy ears lowering in contemplation. “Nah. Wouldn’t have any point if it ain’t you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Byng gave him another creepy grin and threateningly lowered her eyebrows. “That’s a secret,” she snickered.

Coye frowned and turned away from Byng, trying to disengage as he always did. “Whatever... I need to head back to the Guild, so...”

‘Oh no, you don’t,’ Shayla pounded on Coye’s scalp with her foot. ‘You aren’t going anywhere till you chat up this cute Goblin girl or whatever she is.’

Stopping in his tracks, Coye opened his mouth despite knowing he can’t say anything in response. Luckily, Shayla knew him all too well and answered his concerns ahead of time.

‘Sure, she messes with you, but have you ever really taken a chance to get to know her? She’s not one of your bullies, and she definitely wants to hang around you... so I don’t see why you can’t indulge her a little and see what happens?’

Coye looked back at Byng, who was eying him down as she always did with a smirk. She tilted his head at his intentions, asking, “What’s up? Aren’t you gonna head back?”

He had trouble seeing Shayla’s point of view. Sure, Byng was cute in a way. Her breasts were small, but her thighs and backside were absolutely massive on her small frame. It wasn’t her looks that pushed him away, it was her attitude and habits.

But then again, he still wanted to be prepared for whenever the Baddest Bitches rolled back into Cransmere. Byng wasn’t as bad as they were, so she might make for good practice at dealing with assertive women.

Coye blushed and turned back toward her, trying to come up with some small talk. He hoped this part got easier, but so far, it never did. “In a bit, yeah... so... um...” he paused, choking mid-sentence before finishing, “What are you doing back in town?”

Byng stared. Whether she was surprised at his attempt to start a conversation or she was carefully thinking of a response, he wasn’t sure. She was a hard one to read, and she ended up taking the conversation in an unexpected direction.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me why you stayed overnight in the General Store.”

Coye broke out into a massive blush as the girl looked at him like prey caught in one of her traps.

‘Holy shit, I think I love this one!’ Shayla laughed and slapped her knee, cheering the blunt, stinky green girl on.

“That’s... er... I wasn’t feeling good... and-”

Byng got tired of waiting and stepped into Coye’s personal space again. Her eyes were narrow as she scanned him head to toe, and then took in a few deep sniffs of him. “You smell like sex. Did you become a man in there, Coye? Good on ya.”

Coye’s jaw dropped and he froze, remembering he felt like he was being watched before walking into

After a few moments of her unblinking gaze, Byng started snorting and she patted him on the shoulder. “I’m just joking, don’t mind me. What’s all that stuff?” She pointed to his card folder.

“...I-It’s a new hobby, nothing important.”

“Cool, can I see?”

Coye shook his head, nervous.

She hadn’t reacted negatively until now, but Byng sighed and crossed her arms. “Fine, be that way. No skin off my back, or whatever you Karnallians say.”

‘Coye...’ Shayla was upset to see the full extent of how bad her partner really was with women. Until now, he’d only seen him interact with Dorothy, Tammy, and Suzette. Tammy intimidated him, but he could at least have a semi-normal conversation with her. This level of hesitation and nervousness was something she hadn’t seen from him before, and it would take work to get him past it.

Shayla was ready to use drastic measures if she had to.

“Anyway, I was just stopping into town so I could stock up on a few things. Got a little distracted, might’ve had an overnight stakeout, can’t remember,” Byng smirked and shrugged her shoulders. “Who can say?”

The girl turned away and saved Coye the trouble of ending things. “Ah, well. I can see where I’m not wanted, so I’ll get out of your hair for now... just keep your eyes peeled. Never know when I might be around the corner trying to getcha!”

Coye breathed a sigh of relief as Byng began to disengage of her own accord, when suddenly, he received a new command from on high.

‘Don’t let her get away. Ask her out on a quest, or I’ll use my magic to drop your pants right here in front of the whole town.’

“What?!” Coye couldn’t stop himself from reacting to Shayla’s bizarre command.

Byng looked back. “Huh? What’re you so surprised about, shorty?”

He contemplated what it would be like going on a quest with Byng, and he couldn’t do it. Coye prayed that the Pixie was bluffing, but he knew that there was no possibility of that being the case. Shayla was serious.

He heard the sound of his belt buckle clicking, but it was held in place without falling thanks to magic.

“I-I’m not surprised, don’t worry about that, ahaha... um... Byng... before you go I thought I’d ask you something if you don’t mind...?”

Byng raised an eyebrow and started to play with one of her big upturned hair spikes. “Why would I care? Go for it.”

Coye gulped and shut his eyes. He could do this. Yesterday, he just slept with a beautiful woman, and as scary as that was, he pulled it off with hardly any help from Shayla.

He wasn’t convinced that anything would come from this, he wasn’t sure if he even liked Byng on a personal level. Then again, he never really made an effort to get to know her beyond the teasing she put him through.

It’s not like he had any choice in the matter, so he clutched the folder tight to his chest and asked, “Do you maybe wanna go on a quest together sometime? I-I mean, I know we both mostly do solo parties, so... nuh-nevermind, it’s stupid, I...”

‘Good enough. Next time, don’t sound so unconfident.’ Shayla said as Coye’s belt buckled itself back up as a reward for compliance.

“Oh?” Byng’s big eyes grew even wider, as did her smile. “Where did this come from?”

Coye looked off to the side, looking anywhere but Byng’s direction. “It was just a random thought... I don’t know...”

“Random thought, huh? I like it, you should try having more of those.” Byng laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Never woulda thought I’d see the day where you asked me out on one of those... dates, I think the word was?”

“What?! No! I wasn’t asking you on a date, I-I wanted to see if-”

“Nope, I’m not letting you take it back!” Byng laughed at him and started to walk away with red cheeks. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, but I’ll warn you right now. It ain’t gonna be easy to impress me!”

“Wait, come back! This isn’t a-” Coye tried to stress one more time but Byng ran off down the street into an alley and disappeared before he could clarify.

Thus, Coye was saddled with a date he didn’t intend on having with a girl who mildly intimidated him.

He was about to duck somewhere and go talk to Shayla about this, but before he could, the Pixie spoke.

‘Uh, you might wanna look behind you, big guy.’

Coye frowned but did as he was told, and was met with a terrifying sight.

Suzette’s head poked out of the half-opened door to her shop, a dark shadow overcast on her pale face. By the looks of things, she’d been watching for almost the whole time. Coye didn’t notice because he was distracted by his feelings, but now that he did, he felt guilt and embarrassment.

Now that she’d been caught, Suzette opened the door more and folded her arms. “Darling...? Did you really just ask another girl out on a date not even five feet away from my doorstep?”

“N-No, I... I mean yes, but it wasn’t a date, it was-” Coye stumbled around with his words, fear slurring them

Suzette broke character and started to laugh out loud. “Oh, I can’t tease you like this. Not when you’re already so flustered. Relax. Go and have your fun, Darling, I doubt I can keep up with you by myself, anyway.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. Would you rather I was jealous and demand all of your affection?”

Coye pictured that and where it might lead, and did not like what his imagination came up with. “...Uh, no.”

“Then don’t worry about me and enjoy your date tomorrow! Make sure you stop by and let me know how it goes.” Suzette winked, abruptly closed the door, and flipped the closed sign to open.

‘...Man, I thought she was gonna come out here and like, stab you or something.’

“Same...” Coye mumbled.

Now that he had a moment, he found the nearest alley to talk to Shayla. Coye scanned the environment and couldn’t find any trace of Byng, so he knew he was safe.

“What the heck was that all about? Why did you make me-”

‘Because she’s got it for you, bad, and you got to choose Suzette so now I’m choosing your second target!’

Coye blushed. “I-I’m not looking to have more sex, or anything, I-”

‘I got something I want you to think about for a sec, Coye.’

“...What?”

‘When you first saw those cards, you weren’t sure if you liked them, right?’

“Yeah, but-”

‘And then when you opened them you found out they were really cool and now you want more of them.’

“I... don’t get it...”

‘Of course you don’t, you dense, dense little...’ Shayla stopped herself and grumbled. ‘I’m saying that people are like cards. Byng might be a little weird but there could be more to her than you’re allowing yourself to see.’

“...Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Coye admitted. This was just like his realization regarding Suzette all over again, albeit a little different.

He still felt bad about brushing off Byng all those times in the past, but this time, Coye also experienced a sense of loss. He wondered what he had been missing out on if Shayla was correct, and what might happen if he took the chance to get to know Byng better.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad?

She was cute, cheerful, and full of energy, his total opposite in many ways. But she came off as honest and that was refreshing.

A darker part of Coye’s mind remembered her unique scent and the strange feeling it gave him, and he figured it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he had more of that in his life, either.

“Ok.”

‘Ok?’

“I’ll give Byng a chance and try to get to know her better.”

‘That’s my boy!’ Shayla patted Coye’s head as she grinned, proud of him for taking the initiative to alter his mindset. It wouldn’t be easy, but with a little luck and some help, she believed Coye could pull it off.