Of Mornings and Meetings

The first trickles of golden sunlight began to filter in through the window, casting the bedroom in a warm amber hue. The lone figure on the bed sighed, rolling over. Sitting up, she pulled together a mess of blonde hair, running her hands through it and laying it over one shoulder. With a groan, Ela Grzmot stood up, stretching out the stiffness that her night’s rest had brought upon her.

Despite her best efforts, the Bookworm Knight had been up for around half an hour already. No matter how lazy she was with alarms and sleep timing, her body had never forgotten her Order training. The squires had always had to be up early for morning call and the training after. She closed her eyes, exhaling, dreaming of a day she might learn how to sleep in.

Shaking off the last of the morning jitters, she made her way over to her closet, considering her outfit for the day. She didn’t have a very wide selection - she’d never bought much on her own, and most of what she had purchased in the past had been lost in the destruction of the Order base she had lived on. As she quickly looked through her drawers, the faint ache from her back reminded her of yesterday.

’I should wear my combat suit this morning, just to be safe,’ the knight thought, briefly scanning herself with her own healing magic. ’If I push myself too hard, I may make things worse.’

Deciding to err on the side of her own health, Ela changed into a simple set of sports underwear and headed downstairs where she’d left her suit the previous evening. The mass of woven muscle and magic wasn’t necessarily subtle, but she guessed that as long as she left off the armored plates and wore a shirt or jacket over the top, the bottom half would be able to pass as yoga pants for the morning.

’As long as I keep my mana output low, it should not give itself away.’

She found the suit strangely cathartic to slip into, reminiscing about the days that she’d help Alyx tune it during the early days of its creation. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the feeling of the familiar fibers sliding over her skin as she wrapped herself within the form-fitting suit. At first, it was dead cold, entirely absent any trace of her own mana after spending the night separate from her.

As soon as she allowed her energy to flow into it, she could feel the vibrance within it rekindled.

The weight of the monstrous muscle that formed the majority of the suit seemed to disappear as her strength became one with its own. Its temperature quickly rose to equilibrium with hers, just pleasantly soothing enough to take her mind off her injuries. Though she had chosen to leave the suit’s power low, it still fed traces of life energy back into her, amplifying her natural healing. Ela flexed and tensed, settling into the suit.

She sighed, a shudder rolling down her spine. ’I need to do maintenance on this when I am free. I keep forgetting.’

Trying to make a mental note of that, the knight moved to finish getting ready, putting on a normal pair of sneakers instead of the armored boots that normally went with her armor. A few minutes later, after gathering her phone and wallet, she found herself by the front door, pulling her long blonde locks up into her usual twin tails. Once her hair was up, she donned a comfortable jacket - one light enough not to be too terribly hot but which covered enough of her suit to throw off nosy mundanes.

Finally departing her house, Ela walked out into the growing rays of the morning sun, basking momentarily in the fresh warmth and allowing the faint breeze to run over her. She took a deep breath, enjoying the slight sting of the cool air. The last vestiges of winter’s chill still lingered, keeping things more pleasantly cool, though they were still not nearly as much so as she’d been accustomed to in Europe.

As she locked the door behind her, she sent a text off to John, letting him know that she was on the way.

As she slowly walked down her driveway, her shoes echoed softly off the concrete, joining the chirping of the birds as the only sounds to break through the peace of the morning. She loved this time of day, before the world around her woke up and filled the sky with noise. The blonde laced her fingers together behind her, stretching her arms out, double-checking her readiness for the workout she’d planned.

’Nice and slow, to start,’ she thought, setting off on a light jog towards The Gamer’s home.

As she made her way through Springfield’s suburban area, she got to watch the rest of the city begin to come alive around her. House after house she passed by slowly turned their lights on, the people within them beginning their days. As she went on, the grumbling of cars on their way downtown replaced the simple sounds she’d been enjoying earlier. Ela sighed, lamenting the downsides of city life.

Besides that, she did enjoy the relative normalcy of her morning exercise. It was nice to work through the soreness of her muscles with light effort. The faintest sheen of sweat was beginning to form on her brow, the results of the combination of her exertion and the multiple layers she was wearing.

Eventually, the Bookworm Knight found herself on John’s street corner, pausing there to text him that she was close by, since she still hadn’t heard back from him.

After taking a moment to catch her breath, she started the final leg of her morning jog, covering the last hundred feet or so to arrive at the Newman residence. She paused at the bottom of the driveway, looking up at the house. John had mentioned to her that his home looked similar to her own, but she hadn’t really had a chance to see that for herself until now. If it weren’t for a slight difference in paint colors, she’d have thought they were identical.

’I wonder if he slept in..?’ she thought, checking her phone and finding no reply from The Gamer.

Ela escalated to calling him, though she just ended up in his voice mail. The blonde smiled for a moment at the cheesy robot voice he’d done for his missed call message before hanging up to look at the house again. The lights in the kitchen were on, shining through the window, so she knew that someone inside had to be awake. As she walked up to the front door, she found herself subconsciously wiping some of the sweat from her forehead to make herself more presentable.

knock knock!

She rapped the door twice with the back of her hand, the worry that something had happened overnight bubbling up within her. Tensing, she let ever so slightly more mana flow from her into her suit, preparing herself in case someone hostile was waiting beyond the door. Her concern was washed away as quickly as it had come, however, as a kind-looking brunette woman answered the door.

Ela paused, cutting off her mana immediately, and turned up to meet the older woman’s gaze. In the back of her mind, she remembered John mentioning his mother; this had to be her - they had the same deep, hazel-brown eyes. Only the faintest of lines and wrinkles betrayed her age, contrasting a generally vibrant and healthy appearance. The blonde could see traces of bags underneath the woman’s eyes as well, indicating that she really needed more sleep.

“Hello, sweetie, can I help you?” The Gamer’s mother sang, putting on a cheery expression.

The Bookworm Knight blinked away her offhand medical evaluation, finding her voice. “Yes ma’am. My name is Ela. I am a friend of John’s, from Ashcroft.

“He was supposed to join me for a run this morning, but I think he slept in,” she said, offering the best smile she could.

That seemed to give the older woman pause, the gears in her brain turning at full speed to process that statement.

“Maybe he mentioned us hanging out after school earlier this week?” Ela said, guessing that he hadn't told his mother about his plans.

The woman blinked, understanding and connections beginning to form behind her eyes. With a burst of speed that the blonde knight would have almost called superhuman, she found herself ushered inside in a whirl of greetings and other pleasantries. Ela couldn’t help but smile at the woman’s earnest giddiness. As she was led through the entryway, the brunette confirmed that she was indeed John’s mother, though she was insistent on being called Brenda instead of Mrs. Newman.

“I’m so sorry, honey. He mentioned he had plans this morning, but didn’t tell me what they were!”

“It is not a big deal,” she tried to reassure her. “There… was a lot going on at school yesterday. I am sure he was tired.”

“Still, I told him not to stay up too late!” Brenda gave her an exasperated look, wrapping her arm around Ela and leading her into a very cozy living room, offering a seat to the younger woman. “Would you like something to drink? I can fix you something real quick.”

“No thank you, ma’am. I am fine.”

“Well then. Ela, was it?”

“Yes, ma’am. Ela Grzmot,” the blonde answered, taking a seat on the edge of the couch.

“So polite!” the older woman said, with a wide, genuine smile on her face. Excitement bristled beneath the surface, just peeking through her eyes. “You must be the reason why my son has been so upbeat this week!”

“Well, perhaps he has just had a good week.” The Bookworm Knight tried to keep a straight face. She guessed that a lot of that change in his mood was from his powers, though she couldn’t deny the occasional look she’d seen him give her.

“Mm-hmm. Sure,” she teased. “Oh, it’s so wonderful to finally meet you, but John should really be here to introduce us. I can go get him, if you don’t mind waiting here for a minute.”

Ela offered a slightly flustered smile and a nod. “Of course.”

With that, The Gamer’s mother quickly made her way upstairs, muttering displeasure under her breath that her son had kept his new friend waiting. The blonde donned a more somber smile as the woman left her view, thinking back to how long it had been since her own mother had woken her up. Exhaling heavily, she took the time alone to look around at the Newman living room.

Pictures decorated the mantle over a dusty, unused fireplace. There were several photos of John in various stages of growing up, from a baby held by a much younger Brenda to a family picture where he stood next to another man who looked so similar to him that he could only have been The Gamer’s father.

Faint scents of breakfast food wafted from the kitchen - the beginnings of eggs and bacon, if Ela’s nose had to guess. Her stomach grumbled slightly, demanding that she inquire about whatever might be available. Unfortunately for it, the knight was more than aware of how badly food right before a workout might go. She **** herself to keep looking around, distracting herself from her growing hunger.

The furniture all around was very well-used, probably even in need of replacement in some places, but Ela didn't mind any of that. The worn look was perfect in her mind. She'd love to have a house that was lived in enough to look like a home.

Her wistful thoughts were interrupted by a small commotion from upstairs, followed by Brenda quickly hopping back downstairs, giggling madly. A bang and a thud echoed down behind her, indicating that John was indeed awake up there, though he didn’t seem to be having a smooth start to his morning. The blonde couldn’t help but join in the laughter, sharing a moment of amusement with her friend’s mother as they listened to The Gamer’s chaos upstairs.

“He should be down in just a second,, sweetie,” Brenda smiled, turning her gaze from the stairs to the younger woman. “Oh! I need to check the stove!”

The brunette scurried off into the kitchen, reminding Ela’s stomach to gurgle in protest.

“Oof! Uh… Sorrysorrysorry!” John stumbled down the stairs just as his mother departed, stammering apology after apology. “I must have been sleeping like a rock… missed your texts, your call, my alarms…”

“It is OK,” the blonde sang, taking in The Gamer’s disheveled state. “You did say that you were not used to getting up this early.”

“That’s not really fair to you though,” he countered, finally starting to look truly awake. He ran a hand back through his messy hair, trying to convince it to stay flat. “I, uh… To be honest, I also ended up staying up a bit later than I should have trying to finish something.”

He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “So… it kinda is my fault.”

“Well, I appreciate your honesty,” Ela answered. “Your punishment is introducing me to your mother.”

John smiled wryly. “Yeah. She’s… going to be excited.”

“She already is.”

“Of course,” he muttered. “MOM! I’m down here now!”

It took only seconds for Brenda to return from the kitchen, dragging in a fresh wave of glorious food scents. She stood as still as she could, hands folded nicely in front of herself, staring at her son expectantly. The Gamer took a deep breath, steeling himself as he thought through his words. Ela, for her part, rested her hand on her arm, smiling in amusement at the exchange.

“So… Mom, this is Ela,” John started, nervously rocking back and forth. “She’s a new-ish exchange student at Ashcroft… and, uh, she works in the library! That’s where we met. I, uh, needed some help finding a book, and she was working that day.”

“So, how did you two get to hanging out after school?” the Newman matriarch asked, looking between her son and his friend.

John and Ela exchanged a quick glance. They’d never discussed a mundane cover for why they’d spent so much time together over the last few days. Shrugging, the blonde silently passed the onus to The Gamer to decide what the story would be. He frowned only for a moment before hiding his expression again.

“We just had a chance to talk about some things while we were looking through stuff in the library. We, uh, play a lot of the same games and wanted to talk about them. It was easier to go back to her place where we could actually play some of them.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before John winced at his error. He shouldn’t have admitted that he’d been to Ela’s house.

A sly smile crept up on his mother’s face. “Oh, you’ve been to her house already? Anything else… going on there?”

Ela blinked twice, flushing, while John groaned. “N-no! Mom! We just met on Monday!”

Brenda was already in a fit of giggles, seemingly ignoring The Gamer’s attempt to deny her line of questioning. He continued to protest and she continued to tease him. Despite all his recent gains in Charisma, it seemed to Ela that the younger Newman was hopelessly outmatched in their verbal sparring. She let their exchange continue for a couple minutes, until she’d managed to **** the blush off her own cheeks, then decided to take mercy on her friend.

“It was really nice to meet you, Mrs. Newman, but we really should be going before it gets too hot for our morning run.”

John was quick to rally to that escape from the conversation. “Oh, yeah, I already made us a little late. Wouldn’t want to keep us any longer.”

Brenda frowned, but relented. “Oh, very well, I suppose that I need to be leaving for work soon anyway. I insist that you come back for dinner some time though.”

“Of course,” Ela readily agreed, allowing that one concession to her stomach. “Your cooking already smells amazing. If we were not about to go for a run, I would have loved to have some now.”

“You are welcome any time,” the older woman said. “We do have plans this weekend, though.”

“We will find time, I am sure.”

With a final exchange of goodbyes and promises to meet again at some point, John and Ela were allowed to depart, setting off on their morning run only a little later than they’d planned. Brenda stood in the doorway of her home for a minute, watching the pair converse at the foot of the driveway momentarily before setting off. With a relieved smile, she allowed herself to walk away and finish getting ready for work.