They were having one more dinner over at John’s parents house and a friendly quiet had settled over the table. After ten days, there was very little to still speak about. His parents were caught up pretty well on his life now. Well, on what he could tell them about his life anyway. On the subject of introducing his parents to the Abyss, John remained undecided.

There was a pretty easy route in. If the vitamin intake was anything to judge by, Brenda was currently on a bit of a health-concern-trip. It would only take a bit of encouragement by Hex for her to pick up the line of martial arts Lydia had recommended and from there John only needed to find a good teacher for her. Maybe Rave coming for a visit sometime and showing her would be enough. Still, that was a monumental decision to make on someone’s behalf.

So, John tried to ask in a hypothetical. He wiped off his mouth with a napkin and put his utensils down, then broke the silence, “Here is a philosophical question, would you rather be safe or informed?” The questioning gazes he got from his parents in response urged him to elaborate on that. “If you had the choice between being involved in a friend’s or family member’s life, but in return they had to reveal to you knowledge that would put you in harm’s way, would you rather be blissfully ignorant or endangered in your knowledge?” He made that sound completely nonchalant and suave, that way his parents wouldn’t think of it as anything more than their son having a harmless philosophical idea.

“Mhm,” his father chewed on that question for a moment, while Brenda was waiting for him to present his answer first. “Difficult. My answer would depend on the amount of danger and for whom. If we say it’s a person close to my heart and they desperately need my help with it, then yes, I would prefer to know.” He took a thinking pause. “Perhaps this makes me sound like a coward, but otherwise, no, I would prefer to be ignorant. If it’s not something I can solve, then I don’t see why I should get involved in every dangerous business out there.”

“I generally agree,” John’s mother supported her husband in his answer. “We have pretty nice lives here and we worked to get here. What about you, sweetie?”

“I want to know, so I can help protect them,” the Gamer had his answer on his lips already. “I have all this wealth and I am powerful in many aspects. I shouldn’t ditch my friends or anyone important.”

His father cleared his throat and put on the manliest voice he could muster. “It’s good to see you know your lessons well, John. With great power comes great responsibility,” Benjamin smirked widely. “I ALWAYS wanted to say that.”

“Too bad you are my father and not my uncle,” John commented while shaking his head in an amused fashion. “That reference falls a bit flat, even if you have the right name.”

“Maybe, but I also don’t want to get shot for it to sink in, so I can live with inaccuracies,” his father retorted. That was fair enough so John dropped the topic. However, his father had one last thing to add, “It is admirable that you want to help everyone however you can. If you find yourself to be outstanding, that is what you should do. Me and your mother, we have landed it pretty good but ultimately we are just mundane people,” he shrugged, “and we are pretty occupied with just our own little problems.”

“That is fair enough,” John nodded and decided for now and forever that he would not introduce his parents to the Abyss. His father had just said it. They were just mundane people and they were happy that way. The only purpose their introduction would serve would be for John to feel better about not having to lie to them.

And he wasn’t selfish enough to use that as his sole reason.

______________________________________________________________________

“Don’t let half a year pass before your next visit!” Brenda guided them out the door with a bit of a scolding undercurrent in her friendly tone, only to quickly press a kiss on her son’s forehead. “It was nice to have you in the house again, even if it was a different house and you weren’t actually sleeping over.”

“It was nice,” John agreed in repetition, giving her a deep hug in return. “It was nice to have some hours of shelter. I’ll drop by sooner rather than later, I promise,” he then stepped back to let his parents also say their goodbyes to the girls. Some of them got advice whispered in their air, others invitations to come on their own when they ever wanted to. All in all, it was a wholesome goodbye. He already missed them when the door closed behind them.

He was once more without his parents. This time, he hadn’t just suddenly been separated by new interests and business demands, however. He knew where they were and he could visit them whenever he wanted. They passed a house diagonally across the street, where someone was busy taking off the ‘FOR SALE!’ sign with a satisfied impression. A lot of real estate agents in the area were currently getting good news. What a lucky coincidence for them.

What a costly one for John.

Well, the state of affairs was as it was, and as such there was no sense crying over spilled milk.

____________________________________________________________________________

“I suppose I cannot convince you to take a flight in New York?” John asked a certain auburn brunette as they walked through the Washington airport, just one day (spent fucking and flirting) later. “Ride the yacht home so we have a few more hours together?”

Stopping in her stride, Lydia laid her hand on his face with odd gentleness. “A proposal I would like to comply to… but one that my time does not allow me to,” she stated. “Do not worry, situation willing we should be able to see each other again soon enough. For all we know, your next vacation might lead you to my doorstep instead. I know you never went to see my palace in Berlin.”

“I do like my large, epic structures,” John gave that idea a high chance to succeed eventually. It was only fair that he went over to her place after she had crossed the ocean to see him. However, he had to sigh heavily and lean into the palm of her hand. Although her hand was a bit cold, the fact it belonged to Lydia was all John needed to feel warm. “Whenever my own days aren’t busy again. I get the feeling it will only get busier from here on out.”

“It was you who refused my offer to stay in my household,” Lydia jokingly reminded him, her gentle touch transforming into a light tap on his cheek. A slight smile lay on her red lips. “Thus this is your own fault.”

“Ah, it all comes with cons and pros doesn’t it?” he asked the world. “Such is the burden of making decisions.”

“Absolut,” Lydia answered in German, her blue eyes flickering over to a terminal somewhere behind him. “Close your eyes, John, and count to 10.” She looked over to the rest. Every girl that could appear in public was present. “The rest of you too.”

“A bit cliché, don’t you think?” he asked but obeyed. In the incomplete, red-tinged darkness of closed lids, he felt her arms wrap around him. He could see the equally tall girl in his imagination, slowly leaning in and then pressing her full lips on his. Where her hands were cold, her lips were hot in a way that scorched his soul and left a mark that no healing in the world could ever fix. It caused a lapse in his count, couldn’t have lasted too long, but felt like it lasted just long enough. Her scent and the texture of her lips were ingrained in his mind.

“Until next time, my sweet affair,” she whispered into his ear without any of the usual iron, just the voice of a woman in love. Wonderful, truly, to hear from her. The butterflies danced in his stomach a waltz that only faeries could write. Then she was gone, but his timer was only halfway through. There was a clapping sound, accompanied by a surprised yell from his girlfriend, then he opened his eyes.

The queen was already gone, had vanished somewhere in the crowd. A clean but thoroughly saddening separation. Then again, John couldn’t think of a way that any goodbye from his girls couldn’t leave him somewhat hollow. With a raised eyebrow, he looked over to Rave, who was rubbing her bum. “She slapped me!” the Lightbearer explained. “Lydia slapped me on the ass! Like, the gal properly spanked me.”

“Well, that’s a way to show she will miss us,” Metra chuckled. “Wouldn’t have thought she had it in her, took her for more of a fucking prude.”

“You have been sleeping in the same…” John wanted to say ‘bed’ when a sudden discovery behind the muscle girl caused his tongue to knot together. A very tall, very black wearing man was cutting through the crowd. His frame was one of pure muscle, that much John could discern through the strained jacket he was wearing, looking like he had taken it at least one size too small. His black hair was cut short and an eye patch of the same colour was partly disappearing inside it.

It had been a bit, but John would recognize that figure even outside his armour or the giant sword. What Sigmund was doing here at exactly this moment, John had no idea about, but fact was: there he was and the Gamer really didn’t want to face the guy right now. Since the last time, John hadn’t gotten a lot stronger and the Contender had wiped the floor with him. Not even thoroughly, if John had been on the losing end of a valiant struggle, that would have been one thing. Instead he had been used like a one-time napkin to swipe away some oil spills.

Luckily for him that he was currently standing on Sigmund’s blind side. There was no doubt that this would turn into a brawl the second they were spotted. The black swordsman was evidently famous for getting into hasted engagements, all he cared about was the challenge of the battle.

Funnily enough, it wasn’t just John that saw that this was a pretty bad situation about to unfold. A raven-haired woman was at his side, at least a head smaller but herself around the 1,80m mark, which was pretty tall for a woman (although many of John’s girls played in the same ballpark, but that was not fair to the average female). She moved with the elegance of an ancient aristocrat, except for the moment when she saw John and, by extension, Metra.

Seminaris had just as little interest to have her king candidate run into the berserker babe again as John had to put his life on the line. A silent alliance was forged with a simple exchange of gazes. “…in the same…?” Metra asked, raising an eyebrow. She noticed John’s attention lying with something behind her and began turning around.

Reacting hastily and without thinking, John went with one move that was going to net him some success and just threw himself at the brown-skinned tank of a woman. Must have looked a bit silly, considering she was taller and even a bit broader than him, but desperate times and all that. He locked her right into a French kiss, the prolonged sloppy kind. At first, he did so in desperation. Then Metra answered his advance with her own movements. Then his head became somewhat light from the lack of air this forced on him. Then he just forgot for a second why he was doing this and just enjoyed it.

John Newman was, no matter how crafty, a massive pervert, and this pulled his attention right away from the important things and towards his growing erection. Only when they did part did he remember why he had started it. At that point, the destructive duo was already gone. Leaving John with a mildly turned on First of Wrath.

“Hrrrrrr,” she made a sound deep in her throat that was half growl and half purr, the blonde grabbing John by the collar. “Now there, Master, what is getting you all worked up?” she asked, a grin on her face that basically spelled out that she was ready to throw down right here, in the nearest restroom or wherever else, no matter how many people were around. “Do that more often and I might show you what a Metracana learns over the years.”

Honestly, John was speechless at the idea that she had withheld any sort of sexual trickery from him. That was just plain rude. “I’ll see what I can do,” John promised and made a mental note to do surprising things to Metra more often, even if the way she was currently holding more of his bodyweight in her one fist than he was on his toes was more intimidating than assuring.

Eliza suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. Causing everyone around, mundane or Abyssal, to stop and look in confusion. “Out, I want to get fucking out of here, too many people with shit faces that stare like asses!” she declared, her breathing way quicker than it should have been.