A Debt to be Paid

John slowly awoke and stretched before reaching for his phone and knocking something to the floor. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes to see a thin golden snakeskin chain on the ground. It had a small round silver pendant adorned with a golden rose. He reached down and picked the jewellery up, furrowing his brow. “Where the hell did this come from?” he pondered out loud.

The rose had patterns around it. The necklace was very nice but something seemed off; not only had it just appeared from nowhere but it seemed to be brand new and almost glowing with how shiny it was. John cast Observe on it.

Shield of the Golden Rose

A pendant that was once given to trainees of the Order of the Golden Rose. The use of this pendant has since gone out of style, though you might see some senior members of the Order still carrying them.

The Celtic shield knot both symbolises its place of creation as well as represents that the wearer serves under the Shield Warden.

The pendant has been blessed by the Lady’s light to grant the following effects:

Magic Resistance: Reduce the negative effects of any magic cast on the wearer by 2%.

Necrotic Purification: Prevents the effects and spread of necrotic decay.

Radiant Shield: Clutching onto this pendant will call forth a shield of light which has the ability to absorb up to 75 HP worth of damage and lasts for 10 seconds (1/day).

???

“Celtic knot? Place of creation? So… probably Scottish?” John wondered out loud. “So I’m just going to make a wild guess at who gave this to me… Thanks, Hemet, this should be useful.”

John stored the necklace in his inventory and frowned. ’I should clear this out a little before leaving,’ he thought. Heading over to his closet, he emptied everything out, or at least everything that wouldn’t be useful to his plans for the day or that wouldn’t spoil. Once that was taken care of, he equipped a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a zip-up hoodie, then he headed downstairs where he could smell breakfast being cooked.

Upon entering the kitchen John had to do a double-take: Brenda was humming a familiar tune while cooking at the stove wearing only a silk baby doll that had pink frill around the edges and a small white and pink apron. “M-morning Mom,” John choked out as he sat down at the table.

“Morning sweetie,” she sang looking over to him with a broad smile, “I hope you slept as well as I did last night.”

“Oh, I doubt it from your chipper mood this morning,” John laughed. “Though I can’t say I can complain.”

Brenda turned back and continued to cook, swaying her hips from side to side and drawing John’s gaze down where her baby doll would lift ever so slightly on either side as her hips swung from left to right, begging for his attention.

“John?” Brenda called his attention.

“Huh? Sorry?” John almost jumped fearing he might have been caught ogling his mother.

She let out a giggle and walked over to John, hugging him from behind. She leaned in. “I said, do you have any plans today?” John could feel her breath on his ear, and he **** himself not to shiver from it.

“Oh, I’m going out. I have to go to a store and then I was thinking of going for a walk through the forest,” John answered.

“Aw, I was hoping that we could spend some time together,” she sighed.

“How about we hang out when I get home? I shouldn’t be late so we can spend the evening together, maybe watch a movie or something?” John suggested.

Brenda bounced on her feet causing her boobs to rub up against his back. “Oh, that sounds great.” She kissed his cheek a few times. “Oh, I best get back to cooking, we don’t want burnt breakfast, do we?” she laughed.

Brenda went back to the stove, while John went back to ogling her backside.

Soon enough, Brenda placed a plate in front of John and one across the table from him. A slice of the bread that he’d made grilled cheese with that looked to have been fried in bacon fat, topped with a poached egg and a side of bacon, John wasted no time in emptying his plate. “Damn, that was good. No matter where or what I eat, your food will always be the best, Mom, it isn’t even a contest.”

Brenda let out a short giggle and her cheeks gained a slightly pinkish hue. “Thank you, sweetie. Your opinion is the only one that matters to me.”

Once Brenda’s plate was empty, John snatched up the plate and headed to the sink. “Sweetie, what are you doing? I’ll clean these, I thought you were going out.”

“If you are going to make food as delicious as that, I can at least show gratitude by cleaning up, and you aren’t allowed to argue,” John insisted.

Brenda sighed, and soon he felt her hugging him from behind again. “Well, if you are doing the dishes, then you are going to have to put up with me giving you a cuddle from behind.” John could feel the smile on her face as she spoke.

“You say that like you think it’s going to make me reconsider doing the dishes for you. I’m not going to back down that easy, plus you always give the warmest hugs, so if anything, it’s just another reason to do them,” John laughed.

“Is that so?” she asked before starting to sway slightly and hum the same tune he’d caught her humming earlier. It was one he recognised, she used to hum and sing the same song when he was little and it always relaxed him.

True to her words, she hadn’t let go of him the entire time he was cleaning up and only let go once he’d put the last pan on the drying rack. “Right, that’s that. Now I’m going to head out,” John said, turning around to look at his mom. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll see you later, Mom, I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetie, have a nice day,” she said following him towards the front door and waving him off as he headed towards the bus stop.

Pulling out his phone he texted Ellie.

< J: Hey, was hoping to see you. Doing anything now? Xx >

< E: Still in bed, I’ll get up now though. I have the door to my place down the alley on the right side of the Milton, text me when you are standing just past the dumpster and I’ll open the door for you. Xx >

John looked at the time on his phone which read 11:30.

< J: Sorry to disturb your beauty sleep, but you don’t need it so I’ll see you soon. I need to make a quick stop at a store then I was thinking we could go take a trip through the Cullis Gate again, maybe go in a different direction, then we could pop in to see Lani again if you’d like? Xx >

< E: Such a charmer, and that sounds great! I really look forward to going exploring :) see you soon. Xx >

< J: Can’t wait, love you xx >

< E: You are such a dork… love you too xx >

By the time they’d finished texting, John was at the bus stop. Unfortunately for John there were people around and waiting at the stop, so that meant either waiting for everyone to get on their busses or actually taking the bus.

After watching his bus pull up and drive off, he decided that although the fast travel would be cool, people were coming and going so it would actually be quicker to just get the next bus, cheaper for him too.

He got onto the bus and sat down before idly thinking about his day plan again, and being happy to get his first payment over with. With more time getting more cash might be easier and less boring than looking for mushrooms, even if looking out for poisonous or dangerous plants isn’t the worst thing especially when he’s exploring on the other side of the Cullis Gate.

John spent the bus ride looking up how to spot dangerous things in nature and was surprised to find an app that was pretty good.

Finally pulling up at his destination, he followed Ellie’s instructions, walking down the alley and just past the dumpster. He sent her a text saying he was there.

John’s attention was pulled to the bottom of the wall as two lights began travelling up outlining the door to Ellie’s workshop until it faded into existence and opened to reveal Ellie smiling broadly.

She grabbed hold of John’s wrist, pulled him through the door and pressed her lips against his as the door slammed shut behind them. After the brief kiss, she gave him a tight hug.

John stepped back but kept his hands on her hips. “Morning to you too,” he laughed. “Seems everyone’s in a cuddly mood today.”

“What do you mean?” Ellie asked, cocking her head slightly.

“My mom was quite huggy this morning too, she also kinda guilted me into making plans with her later, well kinda, not really though. I’m happy to spend more time with her,” John explained.

“Aww, that’s so sweet. Do you think it might be a good idea for me to meet her at some point soon? I mean our relationship moved fast and we kinda clicked extremely quickly so maybe introducing us sometime soon might be a good idea?” Ellie asked.

John’s stomach knotted and turned. “I… Um, maybe later? I don’t know why but it just makes me really anxious, you’re my first girlfriend and I’ve never had to introduce my mom to a girl before, and what if you don’t like each other? Or what if you like her but she doesn’t like you or vice versa? Or, or, or,” John rambled, his breath becoming harder to catch.

“John, calm down,” Ellie said, snapping John out of his spiralling. She hugged him tightly. “You’re a dork, you know that? Your mom sounds great and I’m sure we will get on, even if only for the fact we both love you. But take your time, I just wanted to put the thought in your head, was all.”

The two stood hugging for a short while as John recovered from his almost anxiety attack. He let out a huff and looked at Ellie. “Shall we get going? We can talk about… that some other time, if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure, after you.” She smiled, kissing his cheek and opening the door.

“Oh wait, I have something for you. I got this from a… friend? It should protect you,” John said, offering the Shield of the Golden Rose.

Ellie looked at it. “What do you mean it should protect me?”

“It’s a magic item, it gives you resistance and a once a day shield effect,” John explained with a smile on his face.

“I don’t think so. Sorry, John, but I can’t take this. You’ve already basically given me a house with a magic lab, you can’t expect me to take more from you. I’m not with you for the things you give me and I’m not letting you give me anything else, at least for a while,” Ellie insisted.

John sighed. He could see that she wouldn’t waver on this even if he wanted her to, so instead, he unclasped the chain and put it around his neck. “How does it look on me then?” he asked.

“It suits you. Now let’s go.” She smiled, grabbing his hand and letting John lead.

The day was nice, maybe around 15°C with a light breeze, the skies were almost clear with the occasional cloud. Perfect weather for the ten to fifteen-minute walk until he saw the familiar sign of “Ancient Wisdom”. As the two of them got closer, John began to have a bad feeling.

The lights were out and it looked empty. He rushed to the door to see a “We will be back Monday” sign hanging on the inside of the door.

“Fuck, shit!” John yelled. He began pacing back and forth just outside the shop. ’Maybe knocking on the door would help? Or maybe going around back and knocking on that door? What if she isn’t here? How the hell am I supposed to pay her back if she isn’t even here?" John looked at the antique mail slot at the bottom of the door, and shook his head, "I can’t put this much money through the door, fuck!’ John thought.

“John!” Ellie called, his headshot across to Ellie who was looking at him confused. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m supposed to be coming here to pay off some of the loan I took out and the store is closed, but I was supposed to pay by today. How am I supposed to pay if they aren’t here?” John asked.

“Well, you could try calling them? And if you can’t get through to them, just come back tomorrow and explain that you couldn’t give it to them on a day they weren’t in. Though you really should have paid more attention, look,” Ellie said pointing towards an opening time sign painted on the window.

John pulled his phone out and dialled the number under the sign. The tone rang out twice, “Hello, Ancient Wisdom is your one-stop-shop for any spiritual or herbal healing you may need. Unfortunately, Sunday is a spiritual day for us and as such we aren’t open or answering calls today, please either call or visit us Monday where we will be open from eight to eight,” the recorded voice of Prim spoke to him.

“God damn it!” John grunted. “She said I had until today, in what world does it make sense that ‘by this day’ doesn’t that mean you can pay on that day? This is bullshit!” he complained.

“It’ll be okay, John, just calm down. What are you getting so worked up for? You can just come back tomorrow, right? Problem solved.” Ellie responded.

John laughed extremely nervously while rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah, about that, I don’t know what the repercussions of missing the payments are… I was kinda in a rush and her Observe window said she wanted to help me… So I may have not bothered to really look at the contract before signing it…”

Ellie let out an extremely exasperated sigh. “John, there isn’t anything you can do right now. Let’s just forget about this for today, you can worry about it tomorrow when you can talk to them,” Ellie reasoned.

John sighed and nodded before taking Ellie’s hand and heading for the closest bus stop.

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