Carpooling with the Warden

Reginald led John and Moira through the castle halls. The three crossed paths with a few dozen members of the Order and each one showed their respects to the Warden as she passed them.

John could see what he assumed was the front door of the building, and as they walked towards it a middle-aged knight approached, blocking their path. He then spent the better part of five minutes boasting and fishing for praise from Moira, who though trying to be polite, seemed to be getting more impatient.

Before Moira could admonish the knight, Reginald stepped in, explaining that they were in a hurry. The knight blubbered a little not expecting to be brushed off and Moira bid him a good day before walking around him.

The three exited and walked down the steps of the building onto a block-paved road. A black car pulled up in front of them and the butler moved over and opened the rear door, allowing Moira to climb in and closing the door behind her.

Reginald then led John around to the other side of the car and opened the car for him too. Before getting in the car, John looked back at the building, awed by the sheer size of the castle in front of him. It reminded him of the many photos his grandparents had sent him when they moved to Europe.

John sat inside the car, marvelling at the luxury. Leather seats each with a control panel for heat, massage and other functions. Fans blew out the perfect temperature, and there were even cup holders which housed sealed and chilled glass bottles of water.

As the car pulled away, Moira clutched John’s arm. Before he could ask what was wrong, a popup appeared in his vision.

You have been pulled into Moira Brighton’s barrier.

“Don’t laugh…” Moira started a little sheepishly. “I get motion sickness as a passenger. While in the barrier it doesn’t feel like we are moving. It also gives us privacy to speak with one another without the driver eavesdropping,” Moira explained.

“Oh, alright. Should we be worried about the driver eavesdropping?” John asked, his brow furrowed.

“I have a specific image to uphold as the future leader of the Shield branch of the Order, but despite that, I would like to speak more casually with you. Gossip and chatter are inevitable in any organisation, and though I don’t believe they would eavesdrop and start rumours, I’d rather not take the chance,” Moira explained. “It should also go without saying that we would appreciate it if you keep the more casual meeting between you, my father and I to yourself, at least the informality of it.”

John’s attention was pulled away from Moira when yet another popup entered his vision.

You have now exited the barrier of The Golden Rose Estate

John turned to look out of the rear window, just in time to see the castle vanish and in its place a mansion less than half the size of the previous building appear.

“I’m quite surprised that your ability to sense barrier changes is so acute. Not only did you notice that I erected a barrier in the car, but you even knew when we’d exited the castle’s barrier,” Moira praised.

John nodded. “Well, like I said my powers are kinda video game based, so I had a translucent banner of text which told me that I’d been pulled into and exited the barriers. I’m not sure I can claim that I sensed them,” he admitted.

Moira shook her head, her long hair waving behind her. “Whether you physically felt the shift in the barrier or have some ability that tells you of barrier changes, it’s still your power and you are still able to know when you have been brought into a barrier or when you leave a barrier, and that’s not an ability everyone has. It’s especially hard to notice barrier changes if you are inside a barrier within a barrier,” Moira said.

“So nesting doll barriers are normal then?” John asked.

“No, I would say it’s quite an uncommon skill. It is much easier to do within a barrier you have control over, though. In a barrier I have no control of, I can make a barrier that just barely covers me,” Moira explained.

’I should maybe not tell her about the goblin barrier. Either I sound like I’m bragging or I’m a freak even by Abyssal standards,’ John thought, nodding as Moira spoke.

A lull in the conversation caused a small pit to form in John’s chest. He took a deep breath and then cleared his throat. “I, uhm, sorry about earlier…” he muttered.

Moira turned to look at him, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly. He met her eyes and couldn’t help staring into them, mesmerised by how bright and green they were. “Pardon?” she asked.

“The bike… I didn’t mean… I wasn’t trying to…” he stammered.

The redhead let out a squeak and her face turned red. She turned her head to look away from John.

"I already said earlier there's no reason for that, it was out of your control,” she dismissed. “It would be quite hypocritical of me to admonish you for the way your body reacts to things, given the nature of my powers.”

There was a moment of awkward silence before Moira cleared her throat. “So… I mean no offence by this but It seemed odd to see you with Alison the other day. Is everything okay? I know Alison is a gentle soul, but seeing her with you, I couldn’t help but wonder if something malicious was afoot, taking into consideration her relationship with Vanessa.”

With the topic switched, some tension left John’s body and he gave a half smile. “Oh, well, actually, Vanessa doesn’t know we were together, and I’d rather keep it that way,” he muttered. A pensive expression crossed the redhead's face before John continued, “We’d actually just finished taking some pictures of the landscape by the watermill museum as part of an art class assignment, that is before we were pulled into the trap barrier.”

Moira’s face brightened. “Oh, so you were just together because of school, then?” she asked.

The redhead's relief didn’t go unnoticed by John. ’It’s sweet that she worried about me, it’s not like Vanessa can really do anything to me now that I’m part of the Abyss,’ he thought. Smiling back he nodded. “Yeah, it was a nice change of pace. June has given us a couple of more advanced projects to do since coming back from the break,” he added.

Moira nodded. “I can understand why you don’t want Vanessa to know you were working on a school project together, she might get the wrong impression and think the both of you were dating,” she said.

John laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as his face reddened. “Yeah…”

The Warden’s face fell into shock. “Wait, really?” she asked.

“Oh, well… not officially… It’s a bit complicated,” John said. He took in a deep breath before looking over to see intrigue in Moira’s shocked face. “You see, I told Alison I was interested in her, but we were pulled into the trap barrier just while we were on a video call with my… Ellie trying to explain how our relationship worked.”

John wasn’t sure how much he should go into it so the car was quiet while Moira processed what he’d said. “And exactly how does your relationship work?” she questioned.

“That is a good question…” John started. “Well… I went from a virgin who’d never had a girlfriend to getting a girlfriend who wanted both of us to sleep with other girls, then I accidentally got married to a dragon, that’s a long story. Then I got married to my girlfriend of like a few days. Then we started talking about maybe having multiple girlfriends, Alison included, rather than just sleeping with them. I never in my wildest dreams thought this could happen. If you had asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have told you I was strictly monogamous, but after meeting Ellie, everything just flipped on its head,” John babbled.

“Did you say, ‘married’? Twice?” Moira asked in an accusatory tone. Under her breath, she muttered to herself, “So other girlfriends are a possibility?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a mess.” John laughed awkwardly. “I didn’t catch that last part, though, what did you say?”

The redhead shook her head. “Oh, nothing. You weren’t kidding when you said that a lot of things had happened,” she said.

It was quiet and Moira looked out of the window. John pulled his phone out of his inventory, turned it back on, and looked at the messages he’d gotten. First was Robin’s reply.

< R: K, no problemo, just shoot me a text whenever you’re back online >

He smiled and sent a quick message saying that he was on his way back to school and that his phone was back in use again. The next two were from his mother and Dahlia.

< B: Okay sweetie, my phone will be in my bag anyway, I wouldn’t want to drop it in the pool xxx >

< D: Dear John,
I was delighted to receive your phone letter.
I have maintained an undetectable distance from Brenda, neither she nor anyone who might tail us would know that I am following her.
I do not have a visual on Brenda, but I am keeping a close eye on her aura and I have been monitoring the intent anyone has towards her.
There is nothing else of note to report.
Yours Faithfully, Dahlia >

John chuckled at the letter of a text message he’d received. He didn’t see a need to text his mother but Violet’s words about Dahlia wanting to impress him came to mind.

< J: Thank you for the update, you are doing a great job Dahlia. I’m sorry I forgot to give you something to eat this morning, I hope you were able to get something, if you weren’t I’ll make sure to get you a more substantial meal for dinner and I’ll ensure that you have food for tomorrow. >

After sending the message his attention turned back to Moira, who held one of the black roses he’d gifted her, spinning it in her fingers before leaning in to smell it.

“I hope you like that one. I know you have… frustrations and I thought that one in particular would help at least when you are at home or at school,” John said, causing the redhead to jump.

She nodded. “It was very thoughtful of you. It smells so good,” she gushed.

“Oh? What’s it smell like?” John asked, looking at the rose with intrigue.

The redhead looked at John with a content smile. “It’s really nostalgic, it smells like old books, coffee and it reminds me of a childhood toy,” she explained.

She held the flower out to John, who leaned in and smelt it. He furrowed his eyebrows but they softened as he breathed in deeply again. “Wait, what? It smells like… my mom? Then Ellie?” he said, leaning in again to smell once more. “No? Now it smells like my room in the morning? There has also been the scent of rain under each of those smells?”

Moira’s expression turned to interest. “Oh, I think it must smell different to everyone. Petrichor is an interesting scent… Also, what do you mean by your room in the morning? Do you have some kind of scent-based alarm clock or something?”

John hummed. “I’m not sure actually. Maybe something my mom gave me when I was younger is the cause? Either way, almost every morning my room smells like cherries and almonds. It always felt comfortable, safe,” he explained.

For the first time since Moira activated her barrier, John felt motion, it was odd but kinda reminded him of being in an elevator when it came to a stop. “Oh, we’re here. We should exchange numbers and you can let me know when you’d like my help to catch up with the classes you missed this morning,” she said, looking at her phone. “Oh, we should get into the academy with ten minutes left of third period. I’m sorry for keeping you for so long.”

John took Moira’s phone that she offered him, typing his number in before handing it back. “No, it’s fine, you actually got me out of PE so I should thank you.”

Moira giggled and dropped her barrier. The car door was opened and Moira climbed out. John followed and thanked the driver who nodded before getting back into the car and driving away.

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