After AnimeCon: Farewells

    “Here we are again in luxurious Tionetta,” Emily murmured. “Population: what, six?”

    The petite girl with the bright blue pixie-cut had her feet up upon the dash once again, and now she was also resting her arm upon the rolled-down window. Emily had her hand held out to feel the steady wind across her palm, occasionally splaying her fingers to let it pass through them. The breeze tousled her bangs and made the sleeve of her shirt flutter, and Brian took a moment to glance over and appreciate her cute features, her slender neck, and her punkish disposition as she slouched in her seat.

    “Nah,” Brian chuckled. “Probably at least like, sixty? Right? They have a McBurger, and a gas station. A bar.”

    “It’s a truckstop town, you gotta figure most of ‘em are like, transient,” Emily argued. “Rather than uh, residents. Even Rebecca was saying all the hunting lodges and cabins and stuff out this way are just seasonal. Not like people’s main address.”

    “You can’t staff a McBurger or a gas station alone with just six,” Brian pointed out.

    “Sure you can,” Emily said. “Two people work at each; night shift and day shift. Then, you’ve got a bartender and a hooker for the bar. My count’s six.”

    “Riiight,” Brian rolled his eyes. “My guess is sixty.”

    “Sixty, no way,” Emily let out a pssh. “Definitely six. With Rebecca and Stephanie, and then us rollin’ into town? We just doubled the local population.”

    “Uh-huh,” Brian shook his head. “Well, should we stimulate the local economy? I am gonna get gas. You guys want lunch?”

    “Coffee,” Kelly spoke up. “Please.”

    “Are we hittin’ up the bar? Rudy’s, yea or nay?” Emily asked. “I kinda want to check it out.”

    “I vote yea,” Kelly said. “Didn’t I say something last night? We were gonna prove once and for all how hot Brian really is, see if the local skanks are all over him.”

    “I say nay,” Brian said. “Not interested in bar skanks, ‘specially not ones sleazing around a bar when it’s not even what? Two in the afternoon?”

    “It’s a town of six, where else are they gonna sleaze at this time of day?” Emily laughed. “The gas station? Hell nah. They’ll want to be drunk as fuck. Drinkin’ away their sorrows, ‘cause they’re stuck in some ass-end of nowhere town like Tionetta.”

    “Christine?” Kelly prompted. “We have two yeas and one nay.”

    “If Brian doesn’t want to go, then I don’t want to, either,” Christine answered in a soft voice. “I don’t think we have any reason to go.”

    “Probably not even open yet, anyways,” Brian said. “Ah—look, I see Rebecca’s car.”

    Rebecca’s hatchback was parked beside the big twelve-pump gas station, and both of its doors opened up as Brian pulled in behind them. They’d been separated for just a brief short while, but still a little surge of excitement went through him simply at seeing Stephanie again. Because, seeing her beaming smile just made him feel great. He turned off the ignition, and then they all piled out of the car together.

    “Hey—missed you,” Brian said, opening his arms as Stephanie bounced over into his embrace.

    “I missed you too!” Stephanie giggled. “What were you guys up to?!”

    “We were just following orders,” Kelly gave a small salute. “Christine got herself a spanking like you wanted. Then, Brian asked Emily to suck off my foot just like you wanted. It was definitely uh, therapeutic.”

    “Sucked off your foot?” Rebecca asked with raised brows, turning towards Emily.

    “Uhhh, well, yeah,” Emily admitted. “I gave her foot a nasty BJ. She came. Who know Kelly was such a dirty little footslut?”

    “Emily—ew,” Kelly swatted the back of Emily’s head. “I did not, and—gross.”

    “So uh, hah ha, bar?” Emily sheepishly changed the subject. “We have two yeas and two nays, over here. What do you think?”

    “I want to see!” Stephanie said, looking quite content from her position in Brian’s arms and showing no signs of letting go of him. “I’ve actually never been in a bar.”

    “Rudy’s?” Rebecca glanced down the single main street of the small town. “I’m not sure it’s open. I know my uncle’s been there? I’ve never been.”

    “Two more yeas, then,” Emily looked incredibly proud of herself. “Let’s see if it’s open!”

    “I didn’t say yea!” Rebecca teased. “But, I’ll go if you guys want to.”

    “Christine, how are you feeling?” Stephanie asked. “How did it go?”

    “It helped,” Christine admitted.

    “Pssh, she loved it,” Emily said. “Totes unlocked some deep secret sub fetish.”

    “Speaking of subs,” Brian said. “You guys hungry? What do we want to do for lunch?”

    “Anything but McBurger,” Kelly said. “The convenience store doesn’t do made to order food, they’re just like a pocket grocery and then they had a little prep station for coffee.”

    “I know Rudy’s sells wings?” Rebecca said. “I don’t know that they’ll have much else, though.”

    “Wings!” Emily affirmed her vote. “Let’s check out Rudy’s!”

    “Does Rudy’s do coffee?” Kelly asked.

    “I… don’t think so?” Rebecca tried to remember. “When I drove through here for supplies in the mornings, they weren’t even open.”

    “Then, gimme one sec while I run in here,” Kelly told them. “And, I gotta powder my nose.”

    “Ya know, when Brian says that I think he’s joking about makeup, but when you say that, I think you’re joking about cocaine,” Emily teased, joining her to hurry into the gas station.

    “Rude,” Kelly snorted. “But not completely untrue. So, there was this one time—”

    “Are those two getting along?!” Stephanie asked in a whisper. “I did talk to them.”

    “They’ll be okay,” Brian promised. “We’ve all been playing nice. Well, except for me—I was a little hard on Christine, there.”

    “No, you were fine,” Christine shook her head. “That was good. Thank you.”

    “Christine, you can relax!” Rebecca took the girl by the shoulders and helped ease them down another inch. “We’re all friends, here. We’re all okay. Right?”

    “Of course,” Christine murmured.

    “She’s much better!” Stephanie said. “Whatever you guys did, it helped a lot, I think.”

    “It did,” Christine confirmed.

    “Maybe,” Brian was the skeptical one, this time. “Just, yeah. I don’t know how this is going to work.”

    “What do you mean?” Stephanie asked.

    “Like, she wanted punishment, but, she didn’t do anything wrong?” Brian said. “Doesn’t spanking her when she hasn’t uh, erred, set a bad precedent? Shouldn’t we be rewarding her, when she’s good?”

    “Oh, Brian,” Rebecca giggled, shaking her head.

    “Treating her with respect will make her feel guilty, so that’s punishment,” Stephanie said. “When you ‘punish’ her with spankings, that’s actually the reward! Kind of like that.”

    “What—because, then she doesn’t feel as guilty?” Brian arched an eyebrow. “I don’t want to ever mistreat her, so I’m not sure that’s how this works.”

    “It’s working so far!” Stephanie rubbed her nose against his. “You’re all doing fine. Right, Christine?”

    “Yes,” Christine lowered her head in obedience. “Thank you.”

    They waited a brief few minutes for Emily and Kelly to finish up in the store, with Stephanie very happy to be in Brian’s embrace. Then, the group all walked down the street together to Rudy’s. Tionetta was a small town and really featured just one main strip, so the little bar with its open sign lit up was just two places down from the gas station. The door jangled when Rebecca pushed it open, and they all filed inside to look around. It wasn’t a large place, with just a pair of tables and then a row of stools at the bar, and the walls were decorated with an eclectic mixture of football paraphernalia and large blown up photos of the local wilderness.

    “What the fuck, it’s super bright in here,” Emily observed. “No, no. Bars are supposed to be dark. Seedy. Neon lights. Smoke.”

    “It’s two o’clock in the afternoon,” Brian rolled his eyes. “It’s two o’clock, and they have big windows in front—the sun’s still out.”

    “You know what I mean!” Emily protested. “It’s all wrong. All wrong!”

    “Hey, good to see ya!” A middle-aged woman stepped out from the door behind the bar. “Oh my goodness, look at all your hair! Y’all are so pretty!”

    “Thank you!” Stephanie chirped.

    “I should get a picture—look at all those colors!” The woman chuckled. “Are you one of those, what do you call ‘em? Content creator teams, for V-tube? Out this way makin’ a video? You all look like models or influencers or whatever you call them. Are you camping? College students?”

    “We were just in the area camping,” Brian said, nodding. “They all saw the bar, and were real interested in stopping by.”

    “Well hey, glad to see ya! My name’s Donna, welcome to Rudy’s—we’ve got beer, and we’ve got wings,” Donna explained. “Lotsa folk grab stuff here to take to their cabins. We’ve got buffalo, garlic, BBQ. Oh, shoot—I don’t have the fryer on just yet, though. We just opened up for the day! I can get it goin’ right now, if y’all want somethin?’”

    “Wings!” Emily turned a pleading expression towards Brian. “Wings?”

    “We can order wings, sure,” Brian said. “What kind?”

    “I’ll get the fryer heatin’ up!” Donna hurried off back to the back again.

    “So yeah, it’s just a sports bar,” Kelly observed, gesturing across the far wall to reveal football pennants and jerseys hung up. “Not like, some rural country bar.”

    “Mm-hmm!” Rebecca said. “Not many places out this way have cell coverage or can even pick up TV stations, but my uncle comes here to catch games. They must have satellite TV?”

    “Aww,” Emily’s shoulders sagged. “Was hopin’ it was like, a hick bar. Country. Rustic. Redneck cowpoke dudes in trucker getups, jukebox with twangy steel guitar.”

    “Oh, sure, and they’ll all wear cowboy hats? Snakeskin boots, six-shooters, cactuses and cow skulls on the wall?” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “It’s Tionetta not Tijuana! We’re in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. This is what rural bars are actually like!”

    “It’s cact-i, not cactuses! Or cactussy,” Emily stuck her tongue out at her friend. “I mean, yowch. And hey, c’mon—the gas station ‘cross the way sold coonskin hats! That’s totally country. C’mon.”

    “There’s antlers!” Stephanie pointed at one of the walls. “They do have antlers. Deer?”

    “Elk, actually, looks like,” Rebecca said. “White-tail antlers curl forwards. See how these ones go more to the back, instead? Elk.”

    “Do you hunt?!” Stephanie seemed awed by the prospect.

    “I do!” Rebecca nodded. “Well, I haven’t this year. It’s been so busy. Last year, though. It’s also why they sell furs and leathers here, Emily! Because, this is a hunting town! Hunting doesn’t mean hillbilly or redneck—”

    “I kept sayin’ it!” Brian laughed. “That you guys were just caught up in generalizing everything you thought you saw, out here. Being judgmental.”

    “Does ‘hunting’ not mean redneck, now?!” Emily held out her hands. “Girls. Back me up, here.”

    “That’s just a ‘Murrican stereotype,” Kelly remarked. “That hunting is all low class. Over in Europe, hunting is a rich people thing. Bein’ big game hunters with an entourage, having a kennel full of trained hounds. Riding after foxes on horseback, and all that posh shit.”

    “But, hey guess what? We’re not in Europe, sooo—”

    “I’ve never been hunting or fishing,” Stephanie admitted. “My family only went on one ‘camping trip,’ but we didn’t even really camp! We rented an RV, and drove out and then hiked through the woods up and down trails and we went in a canoe. But then, we actually stayed at a motel! We didn’t even spend the night in the RV we rented! It wasn’t real camping.”

    “This was my first time real camping, too,” Kelly admitted. “First time really being way out in the woods. It’s been cool.”

    “I used to go camping with Michael and Will,” Brian said. “But, whew, guess it’s been a while, huh? This here is the first time I’ve been camping in ages.”

    “Guys…” Rebecca let out a deep sigh of dismay. “This wasn’t real camping!” We had a nice cabin, right there! We were within forty feet of the road!”

    “That was a ‘nice’ cabin?” Kelly laughed. “Uhhh Rebecca no offense, but…”

    “It didn’t have running water!” Emily argued. “Didn’t have electricity. It didn’t have internet.”

    “That doesn’t make it real camping!” Rebecca said. “Just because—”

    “But, but we slept in a tent and everything!” Stephanie giggled. “We were in the woods! It counts! We had a campfire! It’s camping!”

    “Totally counts,” Emily agreed with a nod. “Rebecca’s just all gung-ho about it. S’not real camping unless you’re playing survivalist way way out miles away from your vehicles. Rejecting all of the trappings of civilization. Rejecting modernity.”

    “Hmph!” Rebecca let out a cute huff. “Hmph!”

    “Fryer’s goin’!” Donna returned. “Just be a couple minutes. What can I putcha down for? We sell by eight-piece, or sixteen. Can do them up in whatever flavors you like, s’no trouble to mix and match by whatever count. Drinks?”

    “Uhh,” Brian gauged his companions. “What do you think? Eight of each, so we can share and try a bit of everything? Sixteen of each? I can eat a lot, but Emily’ll have like, two wings.”

    “Hey!” Emily protested. “That’s not true. I can eat, like. Six? Eight? I can eat an eight-piece all by myself, probably!”

    “You’re not fooling anyone,” Brian said. “You’ll be stuffed full in a minute.”

    “Nooo! I feel fine~!” Emily groaned. “I want to go on a walk~!”

    “Let’s do sixteen of each,” Kelly produced a debit card. “We can take whatever we don’t finish with us. This one’s on me.”

    “I can pay,” Brian said.

    “No, I can pay!” Stephanie fumbled for her pockets. “Let me. Please!”

    “I can—” Brian tried to persist.

    “Let me—” Kelly pursed her lips.

    “No!” Stephanie swatted them both. “Bad. No. I’m paying. You guys did lasagna, and then Rebecca did French toast. It’s my turn—I insist!”

    “Okay, okay, sheesh,” Brian chuckled. “Thank you.”

    “Thanks!” Emily said.

    “Thank you, Stephanie,” Kelly smiled.

    “Thank you Stephanie!” Rebecca said.

    “Thank you,” Christine said.

    “You’re welcome!” Stephanie beamed at them, presenting her card to Donna. “Sixteen wings of each flavor, please. Um, I don’t drink, but if anyone else wants beer, or?”

    “We do have soft drinks in cans, and bottled water,” Donna informed her. “Or sure, I can getcha beer, but I will need to see ID.”

    “Water for me,” Brian said.

    “Water for me as well!” Rebecca winked at him.

    “I… would love a beer, but,” Kelly scowled down at the cup in her hand. “I’ve quit drinking! And, I already have coffee. So, yeah, I’m good.”

    “Mr Spice or Dr Maple or yeah, whatever brand you have’s fine,” Emily lifted her whole arm for a big thumbs up.

    “We do have Dr Maple. We carry Soft sodas—Soft Cola, Diet Soft, Dr Maple, Citrus Lite, Mountain Dawn…” Donna listed off.

    “Then, um, two waters, two Dr Maples, and… ?” Stephanie looked towards Christine.

    “She’ll just have a strawberry-flavored pedia-lite,” Rebecca teased. “We still have a couple bottles from that pack!”

    “Ooph,” Christine’s cheeks bulged for a moment and she covered her mouth. “No—please, no. God. I, I don’t ever think I can ever again—”

    “Or, we can get her blood?” Emily looked around. “S’a hunting town, they gotta drain the—”

    “Two waters, two Dr Maples, and then a Diet Soft for Christine,” Brian said, swatting Emily’s arm. “Christine always went with Diet Soft. You should remember that, by now.”

    “Nah,” Emily sniffed. “She wasn’t mah girlfriend.”

    “Well, she is now, so—”

    “Y’all are a hoot! I’ll get your wings dropped, then I’ll be right back with yer sodas and everything,” Donna promised. “Wings’ll be ten, fifteen minutes or so.”

    “Y-you wouldn’t ever drink blood again, right?” Stephanie whispered.

    “I…” Christine seemed to need to pause to think it over. “I don’t think I’d mind it. After all of that, I’m not sure blood will ever be… unappetizing to me? Does that sound weird?”

    “Yes,” Emily answered immediately. “That’s super weird.”

    “It’s a little weird,” Brian admitted.

    “Well, we’re not gonna give you blood ever,” Kelly said. “Too risky, and yeah. Just, no. Weird.”

    “I’ve had blood before!” Rebecca chimed in. “It’s not that weird. I drank a cup from my first kill, you’re supposed to—”

    “S-so let’s grab a table!” Stephanie interrupted, waving her hands to grab everyone’s attention. “Before uh, before the dinner rush or whatever comes in! Please.”

    “Rebecca, do you really still have strawberry pedia-lite?” Emily asked. “I coulda just grabbed one of those. Instead of runnin’ up Stephanie’s card even higher.”

    “Eh, they’re probably buried way back in there behind everything,” Kelly waved Emily off. “Just siddown.”

    “Napkins?” Brian started pulling them out of a napkin holder.

    “Ooh, if we’re having wings, I should go grab my thing of wet wipes?” Rebecca tapped her lip. “And, if you want while I’m in there, I can grab the remaining strawberry—”

    “Please don’t,” Christine blurted out. “I. I don’t think I can even bear to see them.”

    * * *

    Their group grabbed seats around a table at the far wall, with Stephanie scooching a chair closer to Brian so that she could sit with her side pressed up against him and Emily taking position across from them. Rebecca and Kelly took the opposite side of the table as well, leaving a chair next to Brian for Christine, but Christine lingered on her feet after everyone else had sat down. Donna was already appearing around from the back with their drinks, and Christine hurried to intercept the woman so that she could carry the tray over on her behalf.

    “Damn, nice service this place has,” Emily whistled. “Look at the legs on this one. Brian, make sure you give this one a nice big tip.”

    “Oh?” Brian said, accepting a bottled water from Christine with a grateful nod. “Just the tip?”

    “You guys,” Rebecca let out a sound of exasperation.

    “Thank you, Christine,” Stephanie said.

    “Thank you Christine!” Rebecca joined in.

    “Cheers!” Emily raised the can of soda she was given.

    Christine nodded as if she was simply doing her duty, left a can of Diet Soft on the table for herself, and walked back to return the tray. Stephanie’s arm slipped around Brian’s back and she clung up against him in a hug, while on the other side Kelly and Rebecca leaned in to check out something Emily was pulling up on her phone. Brian found himself simply feeling at peace—enjoying himself here with everyone. It felt like it had been a while, and he surprised himself by actually starting to relax a little and pull Stephanie close.

    “Brian?” Stephanie asked, looking up at him with her big blue eyes. “I’ve… I’ve really missed you. A lot. So much.”

    His hand was around her shoulder, so he drew her close and kissed her brow. Everything the girls had been struggling through this past month while he was unconscious weighed on him. Brian never could have expected to suddenly be absent from their lives and have these girls he loved so much suffering for it. He didn’t regret attempting to rescue Chloe from the creeps in that alleyway, but the price everyone paid for it was difficult to endure all the same.

    “You know what?” Brian murmured, squeezing her tight and kissing her forehead again. “I missed you, too. Even though I was out of it. Know that sounds crazy.”

    “It doesn’t sound crazy,” Stephanie assured him.

    “For a while at least, I spent this past month in the dreamscape,” Brian said. “Kind of aware and kind of not. It felt like—well. I was afraid that all that time at AnimeCon with you, with Kelly and everyone, that that was a dream. And that the surreal time trapped in the dreamscape was just that fantasy drawing to a close, or me about to wake up. I, uh. I dreaded waking up. Wasn’t sure what I would wake up to.”

    “Mm,” Stephanie gave him a noise of affirmation.

    She believed him wholeheartedly, he realized, and he was lost in her eyes for a while as that fact really struck home. Stephanie was tapped into his feelings on a deep level and would always believe him, and believe in him, when he was being earnest about something. Because, she simply knew—she could feel it. In serious moments like this he would never have to dredge through the details with her or argue back and forth trying to reach an understanding. Unlike things had been with Chloe, there was a bond of trust here so unshakeable that he would never have to explain himself or defend himself from her willful misunderstandings or misinterpretations or justify his position on something.

    “Was terrified of waking up and, uh,” Brian winced. “Being alone. Or worse—still being with Chloe. That whole AnimeCon having all been a dream, or a uh, I guess some wishful fantasy. But, when I did wake up? Emily was right there in my room. Kelly was there—and then I knew. I knew everything was going to be okay. Knew you were real, that this was real. That you were somewhere waiting for me. It was just… such a relief.”

    “Mm-hmm,” Stephanie nuzzled against him and then kissed his neck. “Kelly called me. Just before they were going to wake you up, to let me know. I wanted to be there, too. So much! I, I was, I went the whole way back to my dorm, and. And I was just pacing and pacing, and my thoughts were all winding up, and I almost couldn’t breathe. Just. Waiting, for them to call me back.”

    “Did you think something might go wrong?” Brian asked.

    “I don’t know,” Stephanie shook her head. “I worried that—I worried that it still wasn’t time yet, that they wouldn’t be able to rouse you. Or, that you would wake, and still be in pain. Or, or that your feelings about everything had changed, that—I don’t know. I don’t know what I was thinking. I—I. My thoughts were so knotted up into circles that I don’t know what I thought at all. Hah. I knotted into circles, that doesn’t even make sense? Um.”

    “Really glad you were able to take time off to come out and see us,” Brian planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Really, really glad.”

    “I know,” Stephanie let out a sigh of contentment. “Could feel it. It was—it was absolutely intoxicating. Validating. Filling. It was perfect. I am sorry about how things went with Chloe… I know that’s not how you wanted things to go.”

    “It was rough,” Brian exhaled slowly. “Things went for the best, though. Right?”

    “They really did,” Stephanie looked up at him. “You saved Christine from Chloe. She, she has a chance, now. To live, to be happy. To be loved.”

    “I hope so,” Brian said.

    “You’ll see,” Stephanie lowered her head again and pressed her face against him. “Brian?”

    “Hm?”

    “I know I said I would finish school,” Stephanie said. “But… if you ask me to drop out, I will. I really will. I want to finish school, but I need all of you… my degree isn’t as important to me. So, if you ask…”

    “I’m not going to ask that,” Brian said with a pang of sympathy. “You know I don’t want to be apart from you, either. But. This, all of this with us, I know this hasn’t been easy on you at all. Experiencing these ups and downs, having everyone’s different feelings jerk you around. Even now, you seem… worn out, exhausted.”

    “I can manage!” Stephanie promised. “I love you. I love you all. It’s worth it.”

    “You know we love you, too,” Brian said. “But, we all need some time to process all of this, to heal. Get used to Christine not being Chloe. Figure out a new normal, get everything back on track. We love you to pieces, but staying with us when we’re all such a mess, it’s not healthy for you. Forcing you through mood swings.”

    “If Christine can learn her power again, it will be better,” Stephanie sighed. “Right before we went our separate ways back at AnimeCon, she was able to make a blind spot around her that I could stand in. When I needed a breather.”

    “Hah, well I know Emily’s gonna have us learning magic and practicing the charm stuff as a priority,” Brian said. “We’ll have it all figured out, the next time you see us. So that you can come and stay with us for weeks, months. However long you like.”

    “How about…” Stephanie’s lips pressed up against his neck. “Forever?”

    “Forever, then,” Brian nodded.

    “I’m going to miss you all, so much,” Stephanie growled. “I, well. Rebecca and I talked. She offered to take me back to my university from here. So that I won’t have to bother Megan to make a trip, and um. It shaves an hour off of the travel time, since even though Tionneta is more north, it’s not as far west as Seneca, and. The interstate route from here is quicker. I, I. I just don’t want to go.”

    “It won’t be as bad as it was before,” Brian promised. “I’m not in some weird magic stasis anymore, so we can call and talk all the time. Whenever you want to hear my voice. Or we can do video calls, whenever you want. We won’t feel so far away. And, soon as we have our living situation there figured out? Can make trips out to see you, visit you at your university.”

    “Really?” Stephanie beamed up at him.

    “Really,” Brian said. “This’ll be farewell, but not goodbye. We’ll see each other lots, we’ll visit each other. Call each other. I’m getting a new phone, soon.”

    “Emily added me as a friend onto your socials,” Stephanie admitted in a sheepish voice. “She logged in as you. And, um. I did try to call you all, back there when Rebecca was driving us here, just. No reception.”

    “Yeah, but that’s just a Tionetta thing,” Brian said. “Our internet radio kept cutting out, too. We had to switch to just tracks Emily already had on her phone.”

    “Uhh, hey which were only AMAZING,” Emily butted in. “What’re you two whisperin’ ‘bout all by yourselves over here, huh? Steph! Didja tell Brian you’re playin’ through Fantasy Wars? Brian! Last time she came over to visit, I sent her back with my old Gamestation deck and a copy of Fantasy Wars. Well, uhh technically your copy, I lent mine to that one friend of Mark’s and the dipshit never even gave it back. Have you been playing?!”

     “Um! A little!” Stephanie giggled. “I haven’t beaten it, yet. Ohmigod, but it’s so cool being able to see all the stuff with Lance, and just… picture Brian. He was dressed as Lance the day we met. Brian, you were such a good Lance! You were perfect, your cosplay was just completely spot-on! I think I’m going to cosplay Elaine, for next year’s AnimeCon. Megan and I, we um, we had a Hero Hero Haruki marathon, too. I knew of it back then, but I hadn’t actually seen it myself. It’s really funny!”

    “Awesomesauce,” Emily flashed them her trademark thumbs up. “You know there’s a third season of that comin’ out, right?”

    “I heard!” Stephanie nodded. “I… actually jumped into reading ahead in the manga, from where the anime left off.”

    “Cool, cool, so you’re all up to date?” Emily asked. “Based.”

    “Ugh, don’t even start—” Brian laughed.

    “Based and Skullfie-pilled,” Emily held up her palm for a high-five. “C’mon. Right here.”

    Stephanie obliged before Brian could stop her, leaning over to smack hands with Emily and then returning to his embrace.

    “Emily—you’re gonna corrupt my innocent waifu into some kinda degenerate weeaboo,” Brian sighed, shaking his head in dismay.

    “It’s already too late!” Stephanie teased, giving him a wet smooch on the cheek. “I love you.”

    “Love you,” Brian chuckled. 

    “I’m still going to miss you guys so much, though…!” Stephanie sighed.

    “Hey, s’not like you two’re headed out the door right this second,” Brian gave her another big squeeze. “You’re staying with us for lunch, right? Wings? And then, I dunno. We’ll never feel too far apart. You know, way back in the day I used to call Emily and stay on the line with her when Shinobi Souls was on. We’d watch it together, but like over the phone.”

    “Can we?” Stephanie pleaded, wriggling with excitement. “Please? Wait—what animes are you guys watching, now?”

    “Dunno, I’ve been out of it for a bit,” Brian shrugged. “Think we actually might do some sword and sorcery movies, to hype up for the renaissance faire thing? We can sync up over stream or however you want to do it.”

    * * *

    When their order arrived, the still-steaming baskets were absolutely drenched in the three different kinds of sauces. Despite several attempts at grabbing the first bite, both Emily and Brian burned their fingers and had to endure the admonishments and laughter from everyone else and wait for the wings to cool down. Once they were all able to dig in, Brian thought they were either the good kind of greasy, or the bad kind of greasy—Brian wasn’t able to decide which.

    Stephanie held a garlic wing and took tiny, embarrassed nibbles, while Kelly bit a big portion off of a BBQ one. Emily went right for the hot ones and immediately almost coughed it back out as her sinuses reacted, while Brian and Rebecca tapped wings against each other in cheers and then each took a bite. Christine waited with her hands in her lap for everyone else to start before reaching for a share, but Brian wasn’t sure if she was being polite, or if she actually didn't care for wings.

    Did Chloe ever eat wings? I THINK she did, but now it’s hard to remember.

    Chloe would have complained about these ones no matter what, just as a point of principle. As the weeks went by all of her preferences that Brian had carefully memorized were already starting to fade, and he found himself surprised by that. She had enjoyed a total stranglehold over his thoughts for such a long time, and Brian felt like he had been trained to always put thought into what she might want or not want before anything else.

    It was a strange feeling to be free of that, but not a bad feeling.

    “Alright! So,” Emily wiped her lips with a napkin. “Yeah. Renfaire. Who’s in? Everybody?”

    “I’m in,” Brian said. “For sure, yeah. Just need somewhere to start on making a costume for it.”

    “Garb!” Rebecca perked up, fanning her face as she swallowed a bite from her hot wing. “Not a costume—medieval garb. For LARP or live combat gaming, what you wear isn’t a costume, it’s real clothing. Just, from a different time period. Something made just as a costume won’t hold up!”

    “Alright, alright,” Brian chuckled, wiping his fingers again as he switched back to grabbing his drink. They were all going through napkins fast. “Excuse my uh, my faux pas there, I’m normally coming into this from like the cosplay side of things. So, I need to look at putting this stuff together for like, function over form?”

    “What you wear should be stuff you can fall down or roll around in, at least,” Rebecca nodded. “And, you should be comfortable! So much of the cosplay stuff I see isn’t made for comfort or convenience. Just for how it looks.”

    “Hm, right,” Brian nodded. “See what you mean, there. But then—hard to decide where I should start.”

    “Mm! Mmm! You should be a knight in shining armor!” Stephanie proposed, setting down the food in her hands. “A heroic figure! We can find you armor pieces. Something princely. Make you something handsome and dashing!”

    “No way, he should be like, a bandit,” Kelly suggested, licking her fingertips. “Rough around the edges, dangerous looking. A rogue-type. Shirtless, bodice ripper hunk. Like, Brian’ll be the guy who kidnaps you off to his fortress way out in the woods, so he can ravish you. Think about it.”

    “Mmm, agree on having him go shirtless!” Emily bobbed her head with enthusiasm. “Hellz yeah. Have him just wear like, a loincloth and a fur belt. Bracers. Be like a brawny bronze age… mythic hero caveman dude.”

    “Don’t I get a say?” Brian chuckled. “I was thinking some… grizzled mercenary adventurer type. Some armor maybe, yeah. Fur collar? Those’re always cool. Scars. Lots of weapons.”

    “But, but, but, you’re already like a handsome prince!” Stephanie protested with a cute pout. “You are. You really are.”

    “So, we all agree Steph should be just in pure white robes, like a priestess or saintess or something?” Emily said. “Full-on healer, and everything. Kelly… should wear something evil, low-cut. I mean like, not just a bit o’ cleavage, I’m talkin’ something that goes the whole way down past her belly-button. Curling demon horns, too, maybe some kind of succubus queen? Is that allowed?”

    “Those kind of horns are allowed,” Rebecca nodded. “They do have to be made of foam or soft goods, though. Because safety!”

    “Then, Emily’ll just be a goblin,” Brian said. “We’ll get you back in full body paint again. Pointy ears. Skimpy outfit.”

    “Hey!” Emily protested, choking on her food again. “Goblin—what’s that supposed to mean?! I mean, skimpy? Okay. But—”

    “Yeah, how skimpy is too skimpy for this event?” Kelly asked. “So we can plan things out.”

    “Um,” Rebecca laughed. “Well, about the same as you’d expect at an anime con during the day. After dark, things are definitely a bit more relaxed outside of the common ‘business’ areas of the little town—you’ll see girls going topless, and such. I think full nudity would be frowned upon at this one everywhere, but you can see that too, at some of the smaller festivals.”

    “Damn,” Brian blinked in surprise. “Huh.”

    “Are all of us going?” Emily asked. “Christine, too?”

    “Christine, any interest?” Brian asked.

    “I’ll go if you want me to,” Christine deferred the question.

    “Do you want to?” Brian pressed. “Do you have any personal interest in going to that kind of thing? With the group, or I guess just in general?”

    “I…” Christine stopped and frowned. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I want. Except for the things that I’ve done to… not have happened. But, as for the future? I… I really don’t know.”

    “Hey, that’s okay,” Brian said, taking her hand. “We still have time to figure it out.”

    “Well, some time,” Emily said. “We’ve got like what, a month? Before Bear Valley Renfaire?”

    “Little over a month,” Rebecca nodded. “We have time.”

    “That’s not much time,” Stephanie’s brow furrowed. “I’ll have so much sewing to do!”

    “What are we gonna do about our hair?” Emily asked, glancing around the table. “All of us have crazy anime colors—is that gonna be a problem? Not uhh, period-looking, or medieval-times appropriate?”

    “Some girls have dyed hair,” Rebecca shrugged. “Lots of fantasy stuff is allowed, so. It shouldn’t be any kind of problem.”

    “What are we gonna do about that like, in general?” Kelly asked. “I’m, uh. Technically not allowed to have super bright red dyed hair at Dollarydoos, by their employee handbook rules. Since apparently that’s not ‘professional.’ Just, my store manager doesn’t care, and is letting it slide. Is this gonna be a problem for anyone?”

    “I was maybe going to wear a wig,” Christine spoke up. “So that. So that I look like I used to. So that people won’t necessarily associate me with you all, since the group all has special hair colors, now.”

    “You’re one of us now, though,” Brian said in a soft voice. “Right?”

    “I… am,” Christine said, unable to meet his eyes. “If you want that. But. It doesn’t need to be weird or difficult for anyone. Since. I was Chloe, since I was the psychotic ex-girlfriend. Our friends in Seneca don’t need to know about our new situation, or speculate, or give you guys any trouble on account of me. I know a place where I can buy a wig that looks just like my old hair.”

    “Well, I’m rockin’ this blue,” Emily shrugged. “If I can’t find a job that allows it, I’ll just keep looking? I don’t want to go back. Actually really bothered me a lot when it started to, like seein’ the dark creep back through my roots when I started to run out of magic.”

    “Stephanie?” Kelly asked. “Is the pink going to be a problem? For you at school, or for your assistant librarian stuff?”

    “Um…” Stephanie blushed. “A little tiny bit, maybe? The uh, the one department head at my college was not thrilled with seeing the change. But, no one asked me to um, to change it back or anything yet, so…?”

    “Damn,” Brian couldn’t help but scowl. “Wish I could like, find a way to go into the harem settings and enable or disable this stuff. I love your look with the pink—you’re beautiful—but, I never wanted any of this to cause you any problems, or—”

    “It’s okay! It’s okay,” Stephanie hurried to assure him. “I really do like the pink! Just seeing it in the mirror makes me so happy! An-and I love Kelly’s red! Emily’s blue. I love the colors.”

    “Seems unfair, mine is just… brown, apparently?” Rebecca winced. “Will anyone even notice if or when mine changes? I mean, I think it’s a slightly different shade than my natural, but it’s not any kind of big leap? I think it will be like going from light brown to chestnut?”

    “So uhh,” Emily coughed. “Why doesn’t Brian get a color?”

    “Exactly!” Brian slapped the table as if appreciating that someone had finally said it. “Sexism, is what’s going on.”

    “Psshh—” Kelly rolled her eyes. “What color would you even be?”

    “Not blond I hope, I don’t have the complexion for it,” Brian chuckled. “It’d make my face look too ruddy.”

    “Super Slayer Brian?” Emily said. “You totally could. Bruh, you’re already pretty jacked, I mean—”

    “Oh Brian, stop,” Rebecca giggled. “You’d look fine no matter what!”

    “I think so, too!” Stephanie agreed. “Anything except bald! Please don’t go bald.”

    “You don’t like the bald look?” Brian arched his eyebrows at her. “What if I—”

    “Not for you!” Stephanie laughed. “Your hair looks so nice! It’s so soft!”

    “What about a beard?” Kelly tapped her chin as she examined Brian’s features. “How does Brian look with a beard?”

    “Sexy?” Emily guessed. “Not sure I’ve ever seen him with more than like, five o’clock shadow, to be honest? Maybe we should have him grow a beard for the Renfaire?”

    “Beard and eyeliner!” Kelly exclaimed. “Extra rogue-ish… pull off a pirate kinda look?”

    “Ugh, pirates,” Rebecca groaned, rolling her eyes. “Why are there so many pirates every renn faire?! They’re not even that—”

    “Pirates are sexy,” Kelly argued. “I’m not talking like, a long beard. Nothing scraggly. I mean more like—”

    “I don’t know… a beard?” Stephanie seemed skeptical. “On Brian? I just can’t picture it! Wouldn’t he look… old?”

    “Actually, shouldn’t I have woken up with a beard?” Brian rubbed his cheeks. “Wasn’t shaving for a whole month there, but didn’t even have any stubble. Can… can I even still grow a beard?”

    “Damn, that’s right!” Emily looked shocked. “None of us have hair down there anymore! Hell, vadge, legs, armpits an’ all. Maybe Brian just can’t grow facial hair, now?!”

    “Emily don’t call it ‘vadge,’ please?” Rebecca scolded her. “Seriously! We’re at the table!”

    “Wait, can he really maybe not grow a beard, now?!” Kelly seemed disappointed. “Shit, what do we do?”

    “Do you… do you not like the way I look now?” Brian teased, bringing his hands back up to his face again. “Am I not masculine-looking enough, or—?!”

    “No, I do, we do, but, but—” Kelly gestured at him in a fluster. “Listen. The potential—”

    “Go into the harem settings,” Emily piped up. “Maybe it’s in there, somewhere. Check through all the options. Like, Brian do you just not like pubic hair on your girls? Not judging! Just, no eighties-style monster bushes for us ever, I guess?”

    “Emily!”

    “No, it’s like, yeah I don’t mind some hair down there,” Brian held up his hands. “Just, was never a fan of a lot of hair down there. Steph had, uhh, she had some down there the first time I… yeah. It was super cute. I remember, because it went bright pink.”

    “I-it disappeared!” Stephanie admitted with a blush. “It was just… gone. It uh, it was there on Friday night of the convention, and then by Sunday—it was not there. I, I um—”

    “...Everything was gone this morning,” Christine admitted in a tiny voice. “When I woke up.”

    “Well, to be fair though, not having to shave, like at all?” Kelly chuckled. “Pretty nice. Saves a ton of time and effort. Thinking back on how many hours of my life I spent—”

    “Hear, hear!” Emily thumped the table. “Never again.”

    “Oh, yeah like you even grew any in the first place,” Kelly rolled her eyes. “If—”

    “Hey! Hey. Not cool,” Emily frowned, leaning back and pulling her waistband open. “Not cool at all. I had a decent little patch down—”

    “Emily we’re at the table!”

    “Ahem ahem ahem—” Stephanie fake coughed to grab their attention. “Kelly, please apologize to her, you crossed the line and that was mean! An-and, maybe this isn’t something we should even be talking about, when we’re eating!”

    “I’ll uh, I’ll go into the harem settings first chance I get and poke around?” Brian said. “Maybe that’s a dreamscape thing I gotta figure out. I didn’t mind a little bit down there, that was never a—”

    “I’m sorry, Emily,” Kelly lowered her head. “I. I was trying to be careful with saying stuff like that, but. But, sometimes a bit of bitch just kind of slips out. I didn’t really mean what I said, I was just, you know. I meant to kind of tease you. I’m sorry.”

    “It’s okay,” Emily sighed. “I know. Like, I know you didn’t really mean it. Would’ve had me fucking seething if Chloe said it, but. It’s okay. Chloe’s gone! Know you don’t really mean it. Hell, you’ve been down there more than—”

    “I’ve said a thousand terrible things to Emily,” Christine said in a small voice. “I… don’t even know where to start apologizing for everything that I’ve—”

    “We’ll figure something out,” Emily cut her off. “Chill. I know you’re different, now. I uh, yeah I am still gonna have my hackles up around you, for a while. But, we’ll figure something out. Whenever I see you acting submissive around Brian, like back there in the car? That does a lot. Like, I’m into that for you. Seeing that play out between you two.”

    “Okay,” Christine nodded, still not raising her eyes from the table. “Sure.”

    “Anyways, on the subject of the harem bullshit—let’s talk magic,” Emily said, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “We’re all learning magic, right? Kelly can teach us?”

    “Uggghh, this is why I didn’t want to ever even bring it up!” Kelly scoffed.

    “Yeah, I’m definitely down, but also—what do we do with it?” Brian said. “Do we have like a plan, or end goal purpose, or—”

    “It’s magic,” Emily repeated, as if that was reason enough. “Bro.”

    “I can teach you the two or three super basic things I know,” Kelly shrugged. “None of it’s real useful, like I’ve said. Stephanie—I don’t want you practicing or trying to practice, not while you’re off at college by yourself. If you’re practicing, you need to have Brian nearby so he can kiss your headaches better. Not budgin’ on that.”

    “Well, poop,” Stephanie swore, her shoulders sagging. “Fine.”

    “Right, the low-mana symptom thing,” Emily remarked. “Does that… go away? Get better on its own? The more we grow, or level up, or whatever?”

    “Maybe?” Kelly shrugged again. “Might depend. Don’t really know for sure. There’s some future groups of us fuckin’ around with it, but none of the ones that’ve sent stuff had much of anything useful. Little ball of light, levitate very light objects. I’m talking like, paperclips, scraps of paper. Bubbles. Nothing as heavy as like, a coin. They were fucking around with some kinda detect magic bullshit, but it wasn’t really going anywhere.”

    “That can’t be right,” Rebecca hummed. “A paperclip and a penny are both around a gram in weight. Right? They should be about the same. If—”

    “No clue!” Kelly held up her hands. “Haven’t tried it. Just passing along what I remember. I’m only halfway through the speck of light thing myself, since it was supposed to be the first one for beginners. Easiest, at least.”

    “How do you measure mana capacity?” Emily asked. “Do we call it mana, or magic? How does that all work? It comes back through like, resting and meditation and we can sleep off mana deprivation and get better on our own? I mean, if the Masters can—”

    “We can’t face off against the Masters,” Christine spoke up. “No matter how much magic we learn. We can’t. They’re too dangerous.”

    The table was silent for a moment at the panic and insistence in her tone.

    “I—” Brian paused. “I don’t think anyone was suggesting that, just yet. But, at the same time, I don’t like even knowing they’re out there. If us learning magic, or practicing control or whatever, could be helpful? Or like, a foundation for us someday learning more useful stuff? I’d say we have a responsibility to learn. If only to defend ourselves, in some worst case scenario later on.”

    “We bluffed them only because very specific circumstances allowed us to,” Christine said slowly. “They are. Very. Dangerous. They can be there and just… point a finger at you and kill you. Disintegrate you. That would even be getting off lightly—because, they can mind control you, or worse. We need to steer clear of them, or anything to do with them.”

    “Hey, hey,” Kelly leaned forward. “We’re okay, for now. We’re safe. It may be shitty future sight but I do have some future sight. We’ll probably get at least some heads up. Our uh, our mutual friend who helped us out, she’s not—they’re not afraid of the Masters. They took care of everything back there. We shouldn’t cross paths with them again.”

    “But, like,” Emily swallowed. “Should we have a uh, like a contingency plan or something? In case we do run into them, ever?”

    “That’s something a future me would warn us about! I’d hope,” Kelly scowled. “Fucking punk-ass Kellys. But, uh. For now I guess in an emergency I’d call up that mutual friend I can’t talk about, and negotiate their help. Christine might be more useful than anyone else, if her charm thing is that handy-dandy mirror thing again. The anti-magic zone thing.”

    “It wasn’t just that—a lot of the intimidation factor there was being part vampire,” Christine admitted. “Without that, I… I would not want to risk it. Any kind of encounter.”

    “No one’s gonna try to throw you into danger,” Brian promised. “Like I said, you’re one of us. Not a slave, not expendable. You’re with us.”

    “I do want to practice magic…” Stephanie admitted. “Should I, um, should I drop out of school after all? Learning magic seems so important.”

    “You already know my thoughts on that,” Kelly shook her head. “But, I don’t want to keep pushing you to bail on school if that’s what you want to do. Not trying to be a super controlling naggy girlfriend.”

    “You’re not, you’re not!” Stephanie said. “I just. This is all so much, hah...”

    “Let’s stick with your original plan, so you can get your degree and hopefully transfer to the Seneca library,” Brian said. “Don’t want you leaving behind any regrets. I’ll talk to Aunt Mattie about us living there at her place once the apartment lease is up. ‘Til then I guess, we save money for a bigger place, we practice magic on the sly, we work on our outfits for the Renfaire, and—”

    “And we have an unbelievable amount of the raunchiest sex, like, all the time,” Emily finished for him. “Like, nonstop dirty, crazy sex! Fuck, we’ll probably all be knocked up by the time that—”

     “Emily!” Rebecca hissed. “Volume. Please.”

    “We’re all thinkin’ it!” Emily huffed. “C’mon. And, there’s no one else here! S’just us and Donna. Donna’s cool.”

    “Great, invite her to the harem, then,” Kelly scoffed. “She looked spry, for a sixty-something year old?”

    “Maybe I will!” Emily harumphed. “Maybe I will. Bet she’d have a cool color. Orange, or somethin’. Her dreamscape thing’d be, uhh. Hot wings?”

     “It’s still not really a harem,” Brian said. “It’s—”

    “It’s a harem!” Stephanie giggled. “Right, Kelly? Harem.”

    “If Steph says it’s a harem, it’s a harem,” Kelly raised her coffee in support. “No polycule I ever heard of had magic powers, so. Sure?”

    “Harem it is?” Rebecca grinned.

    “What if, and, hear me out, here…” Emily cleared her throat and then allowed for a dramatic pause. “What if the real harem turned out to be the friends we made along the way?”

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