Date Night

Nothing exceptional happened on the way home, his mom still wasn’t home (she had left him a message though), and John immediately jumped into a warm shower. Now, he could’ve also just showered in the Nexus thanks to the upgrades Sarai had put up in the morning, but there was something in his mind thinking it would be a bad idea, at least for now.

He had spent most of his time during the last couple of days in the Nexus when he wasn’t out and about doing anything. He had spent more time in the last days decorating and improving the magical space than he ever really did for the room he lived in for the last 18 years… Additionally, he had barely seen his mother the last couple of days. She didn’t even know about his new job yet…

He wanted to talk to her about it. Talk about his decision to ‘throw’ school, his new job (maybe not what it actually entailed, but what Hannah had given him as a cover), his new friends… But, at some point in the near future, he would probably move to a place of his own, both to keep her and his secret safe because he was sure he would fuck up badly at least once and he didn’t want to endanger his mother with it. Also, the same applied to his dad, even if he was out in the world most of the time.

This wouldn’t be easy…

The warm water ran through his hair as he pondered about his ‘predicament’. What would he say to move out? That he just wanted to be his own person? Would he use Brun as a reason? Maybe he was thinking too far ahead, but this was something he would probably have to deal with soon.

He had no idea how long he had been in the shower by now, but his body was becoming cold after a while. Turning off the shower and drying himself off, he equipped the fancy clothes the Valkyrie had bought for him. Along with the outfit, he equipped his rings and his necklace, moreso for cosmetic value as for the benefits (though the bonuses of the necklace were certainly going to be helpful tonight). Looking at the mirror, he had to chuckle at how ‘edgy’ the entire outfit looked. If he were to wear some tinted contacts and some makeup, he could probably get in line with some vampires and wouldn’t stand out. Then again, by now he knew that some vampires didn’t seem to have that kind of ‘flair’. Neither the mutants in the wasteland nor James were even close to this lavishly clothed.

You are now hungry! HP Regeneration stopped, MP Regeneration halved!

Oh, right, he didn’t eat anything since this morning… Should he eat something now? Or would the club have something to eat? Better check…

John [17:20]: Hey, does that club have something to eat? ‘Cause I’m hungry and I’m not sure if I can get something to eat there…

Five minutes later, he didn’t receive an answer. Seeing as how he had to leave any minute now to be at her place on time, he just decided to eat some of the fruit that he still had in his inventory to carry him over.

You are no longer hungry! Regeneration has been restored to normal.
You are now Well-Fed for 1 ½ hours. Experience gain increased by 10%.

The pineapple did the trick once again, and apparently the Well-Fed status had been changed as well since this morning.

Looking at his phone, he still had no reply from Brun, so he just left the bathroom after throwing on some cologne that his dad had given him for his 16th birthday and which had been collecting dust in the cabinet for that long now. After quickly making his way downstairs, he put on his silver-tipped boots and walked out of the house where he entered the Barrier that he had put there to park his bike. This was both handy in that his mother would never find the bike and he could easily drive away from their house thanks to the Reentering. Not only could he park his bike there, but he could also easily open up the Nexus from there to travel quicker.

Speaking of travelling quicker, he had remembered on his way out the door that he could just instantly travel to Brun’s place if she opened up the Nexus from her side. Well, at least he could if she actually responded to him which she hadn’t yet, so he was stuck with the mundane route.

Not that he minded, it just would’ve been quicker the other way. Revving up the machine, he swung himself on it and used Leave Barrier to enter the real world again. In an instant, the world around him shattered as he drove through the illusionary rain of shards.

25 minutes later, John arrived at the motor shop of the Valkyries, barely on time due to some traffic jam on the way. While he was swinging off his bike, Brunhilde was already coming out of the woods leading to her home. As John laid eyes on her, his mouth immediately dropped.

Where he had expected her to be in some kind of skimpy or leathery outfit, that couldn’t be further away from the truth. She was wearing a dark purple dress with intricate chains covering her slim abdomen while a wide and front-open dress hugged her legs. She was still wearing boots, but a different pair than the one John had seen her in up until now, a lot slimmer and more feminine. All in all, the entire dress screamed ‘feminine’ in a way that even her skimpy battledress couldn’t. Where her ‘battle gear’ just showed a lot of skin and left little to the imagination, this dress was flowing, elegant and almost regal to an extent. Now John’s own attire made a lot more sense, seeing as how he himself also looked pretty royal and elegant.

John could see that she only wore light make-up as she approached, some lipstick and some eye shadow, very much relying on her natural beauty. The look on John’s face had to be funny, because Brun was starting to grin from ear to ear as a soft red hue crept onto her face. “Surprised?” she said, stepping closer to John and putting her hands behind her back, revealing a lot of cleavage.

He could say nothing, his mouth was dry. All he could do was nod dumbly. She took that as a compliment and put a soft kiss on his lips. “Now, we should probably get going, shouldn’t we?”

That question pulled John out of his stupor, “Huh? Are we on a tight schedule? I would’ve liked to say hi to Astrid,” to which Brun shook her head.

“Astrid doesn’t feel so good right now. Could be Titania acting up, could be that this is her first free weekend since she has been found… She needs some time alone… Mom and Dad have been helicoptering around her all the time and I can’t say I’ve been any better. I’ll tell her that you tried to look after her though.”

That left a somewhat flimsy feeling in his gut… He could understand that things could be difficult for Astrid, but he felt bad that he couldn’t support her in whatever she was going through… It didn’t seem right to him that he couldn’t see her, but he trusted Brun’s words. He would have to come back for her tomorrow maybe…

“Aaaanyway, let’s go,” she said as she swung herself onto John’s bike. He raised an eyebrow to that, to which she raised her own. “What? You think I’ll ride by myself when we’re out on a date? I expect to be pampered to a degree! Now swing your cute butt onto this machine and let’s ride!”

Cute butt? Like an idiot, he immediately tried to look at his own butt to see if what Brun said was true. She just facepalmed and looked at John, “Gods, and you’re supposed to be the smart one, eh?”

He had to laugh at that, “Who ever told you that?” He never claimed to be that smart, though his Intelligence had been quite high from the get-go.

“You’re obviously the smart one! Now, get your smart ass into gear!”

Swinging himself on his bike again, he saw that Brun had in the meantime fetched her helmet from somewhere and had put it on her head. Once he was seated, she slung her arms around his torso tightly, pressing her breasts into his back while faintly trailing a finger along his thigh.

This was going to be an interesting ride.

Thankfully, Brun stopped with her teasing once he had started the engine. She obviously didn’t want to end up in some kind of accident just because she was feeling a bit frisky.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of the ‘Ruby Road’, Springfield’s red light district. John drove the two of them down a small alleyway where he quickly created a Barrier and parked his bike inside the Nexus. Deleting the Barrier again, Brun looked at him astonished.

“Holy shit! I hadn’t thought about it that way yet. You always have a parking spot with you! That’s amazing! I need to remember that. Mind if I put my bike in there once or twice as well?”

He had to stifle a laugh at Brun’s surprise, “Yeah, sure, knock yourself out. I’m sure I’ve told you yesterday that you should make yourself at home in the Nexus, so use it as you see fit.”

As they left the alley again, John took a look at the surrounding buildings and establishments. There were strip clubs, bars, brothels, one or two normal clubs and something that almost seemed like some kind of opium den. The entire street was lit up with neon signs, flashing in various colors, beckoning innocent fools like him to spend time in them. A couple of houses down, John saw an array of neon lights and floodlights that even surpassed the surrounding buildings.

The neon lights of that building lit up in fiery red and orange, mimicking a giant fire on its roof while being backlit with ominous red. In giant letters, glowing in a dark blue, the word ‘Inferno’, shined through the fiery landscape.

’Not weird at all…’ John thought as he saw that.

Looking at the people around him, there weren’t that many yet. The real bustle of the Ruby Road was likely to start later this evening, but there were a few people already, and most of them were steering directly towards the Inferno.

“So, what’s the plan?” asked John.

“Plan?”

“Like, where do we go?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, we’re going to the Inferno, like those other people.”

“Now why is that place so special?”

“You’ll see,” whispered Brun as they passed by the open door of a strip club.

It was at that moment that John remembered that she still hadn’t answered his text, “By the way, I texted you like an hour ago if there was food at the place we were going to. Care to answer that?”

The Valkyrie fished out her phone at that moment and looked at it and started to curse, “Fucking shitty phone! It didn’t show that I had a new message… But yeah, it does for sure! There’s a giant food court and everything. I bet you’ll find something you like there, or something new. Hope you didn’t have dinner yet.”

John shrugged at that, “I ate some stuff while I waited for an answer.”

“Aaaaw maaan, sorry I fucked that up… Wait, why am I apologizing? You could’ve just sent me a telepathic thingy and then you’d instantly had an answer!”

Shaking his head, John answered, “Couldn’t. Too far of a distance.” To be honest, he hadn’t tried that yet, but it seemed like as good of an excuse as anything else in this situation. Now hopefully she wouldn’t realize that he had just bulshitted her, seeing as how he already looked through her eyes before over a vaguely similar distance.

Once John stood in front of the Inferno, he saw even more details about the exterior of the place. Not only were the double doors that were the entrance of the establishment designed like they were flaming gates caressed by demonic, buxom girls with horns and tails, the same kind of girls were also here and there hidden inside the glowing neon fires.

All in all, the look of the club was indeed… infernal, true to its name.

“So, did we come here so that you can actually put me into hell? Did I actually die on Monday?” John asked with a raised eyebrow and doubt in his voice. The last couple of days were certainly too good to be true. Bedding a lot of beautiful girls, living out some fantasies, playing the hero… Maybe it was all actually too convenient.

The question seemingly infuriated the Valkyrie, as she actually hit him hard enough on the back of the head to deal damage.

-3 HP

“Don’t be stupid, you idiot! Of course you’re not going to Hell, or even Hel. If I were to bring you anywhere, it would be Valhalla, and we’ve been over that, so don’t make me have to repeat myself. No, we’re not going to the actual Hell… the guy who owns this place, Dante, he’s just very theatrical about the whole thing. You remember the game Dante’s Inferno? He’s taken inspiration from that and the story it’s based on. Now don’t be such a chicken, get in!” and then she practically kicked him into the club, making him stumble through the door.