Daphne Date 2, Part 2: Back to the Childhood Orphanage

Tina

Ugh! This is so hard!

“C’mon, Rabbit, you’re doing good, for a beginner. Try again.”

Tina is in the middle of exercise hell. Josie led her in calisthenic AMRAPs, now they are working on basic strikes on the heavy bag (and the bag is heavy). The “beginners” boxing gloves are heavy, too. Tina struggles to keep her “guard up,” whatever that means. She throws a jab-cross, only for the bag to not budge. Again.

“Use your hips more. The power comes from your legs, not your arms.”

And Josie hasn’t been exactly helpful. “What does that mean?” Tina’s frustrations are leaking into her voice.

“Here. Watch me again.” Josie throws the jab, then, rotating her back leg to thrust her back hip forward, lands the cross, knocking the bag down. Again. She bends over to push the bag back up. Tina enjoys the view of Josie’s thong bikini bottom clad butt, but she still doesn’t exactly get what she’s supposed to do.

Scarlet walks in. Help me! Tina pleads with her eyes. The oread gives her girlfriends a “hello” kiss apiece, then takes a position at the next bag. Josie declares, “Okay, ladies, jab-cross combos. Go!” Scarlet’s form is different. A constant shuffling step, almost dancing. Still, her punches land on the bag as the same leg moves forward. Tina gets lost in the almost hypnotic movement.

“Tina, focus!”

“I’m trying to figure this whole hip thing out.”

“Hey, Scarlet’s form is... weird. Do it the way I’m showing you.”

Scarlet does a cartwheel, then hammer kicks the top of the bag. While in her handstand, she notes, “Hey, Harper’s stance is different too. Both of her stances, actually. If Tina wants to try my order’s fantasy capoeira, let her.”

Josie snorts, but Tina is a little interested. “Would Harper’s punchy stance makes things easier?”

Scarlet stops her **** against the bag and, with a bit of a smirk, manually adjusts Tina’s stance to mimic Harper’s. Her back leg is place directly behind her front leg and her body is turned to the side. Scarlet narrates as she goes, “So, Harper’s usual kickboxing stance is a modified version of the Holyfield stance from regular boxing. Harper doesn’t do the Holyfield arm placement. The philosophy is to present as small of a target as possible, dodging incoming punches. Holyfield would also use how he places his arms to deflect incoming blows. The way Harper plays it, if she would get hit, she’d probably be knocked out. And your jab is absolutely going to suck. But, good thing about this stance is that you are going to have to use your hips to hit the cross. Your back shoulder is so far back, you’ll hit air if you don’t pivot. You wanna give the cross a try?”

Tina throws the cross, only to come up like a foot short of the bag.

Josie rolls her eyes, “Are we really going to teach the Rabbit the old lady’s terrible form?”

“Only long enough for her to get what we’re asking her to do.” With a shrug, the wolf-girl presses herself directly behind Tina. Her leg pressing into Tina’s hamstrings. Her hand wrapped around Tina’s wrist, just before it gets to the glove. She feels her body **** to shift and Josie pushes Tina’s back arm forward, the bonny bunny’s whole body twisting. Tina’s gloved fist makes contact with the bag and it wobbles a little. Josie goes through the motions 5 more times, then steps aside. Tina tries it again on her own. I hit the bag on my own! And it moved!

“Ugh, that stance is just painful to watch.” Josie mumbles and Tina keeps throwing that cross.

“Quiet. She’s having fun while exercising. That’s a win in and of itself,” Scarlet chastises.

The trio keep up the **** to the heavy bag, giving Tina instruction as they go. Soon, it will be lunch. Then, maybe a trip to the dungeon?

Aelene

Lady Harper is going to need remedial etiquette lessons when the game is done. Aelene is following Lady Harper, who is being half dragged through town by the good mermaid Daphne (who spent much free time memorizing memories Harper had implanted when she became a sea elf, given how she points things out). The good barrister Honey buzzes behind her, a source of droning calm amid the chaos. Aelene keeps an eye on their escort, who is also keeping a respectable distance away; the escort is just observing at the moment. As a princess, Aelene was used to being watched by guards on trips.

The good mermaid Daphne is taking the group to the orphanage where Lady Harper apparently spent most of her childhood. The noise emitting from the old building reminders her of the unpleasant cacophony the good human Chloe sent her as a “gift.” Is it just that non-elven children are all loud and rude?

The good mermaid Daphne opens the front door of the orphanage and the sound is overwhelming. A dozen or so hoppalongs kits running around, playing with toys. A couple of luchtoni pups wrestling. A few siren hatchlings loudly talking as they preen each other’s feathers. And a singular caretaker wood elf, elderly yet still spry, somehow able to stand it all.

“<Oh, hello. I am Sister...>”

“<Caelynn?>” Lady Harper tentatively asks.

“<Oh, is that little Tanta? Sorry, Tyalangan. I got so used to your child’s name that I forget. How are you, sweetheart? It’s been something like 150 years.>”

“<It’s fine, Sister Caelynn,>” Lady Harper offers. I mean, my dear betrothed, it is quite rude for an elf to confuse a child’s name for an adult one. Lady Harper continues, gesturing as she mentions the others “<This is Daphne, and back there by the random guard is Honey. Between them is Aelenetheria, my betrothed. She is...>”

“<Ah, your majesty,>” the caretaker curtsies deeply, then continues, “<Your mother is quite the patroness of our orphanage. She passed through town once before she ascended to her throne and helped the village out with some bandits. She’s been sending a goodly sized gift yearly ever since. All four of you are welcome here. Come in, dears, I will make tea. And Jerry, Tyalangan is welcome here. You may inform Captain Snuggles.>”

Being taken to a back room (thankfully quieter), the foursome sits around a cozy round wooden table. The doting caretaker puts water on the boil, then sits beside Lady Harper. They have a lovely tea service, even if the good mermaid Daphne had to be chastised to eat a cucumber sandwich before Lady Harper would let her eat a fish she brought. Sister Caelynn takes it all in good cheer, seeming to be happy that Lady Harper is happy. She lets Lady Harper go roam the orphanage, showing off all those little childish secrets that Aelene doesn’t have. The good mermaid Daphne joins her betrothed. The good barrister Honey seems content to sup on her canned smoothie drink and sit quietly. Sister Caelynn turns to Aelene, noting, “<Dear Princess, you seem uneasy. This place is not quite a palace is it?>”

Aelene, to her shame, shakes her head no.

The caretaker laughs, “<Oh, Princess, I mean no offense with the remark. We have all kinds of children in the orphanage. Elven children are a rarity. Perfectly behaved high elven children rarer still. The way little Tyalangan looks at your... strange companions makes me think that her time here has made her crave a certain amount of... variety. Are you and your mother okay with that?>”

Honey, between slurps, simply declares, “<I do not believe I am strange. Am I strange, Ms. Copse-Wood?>”

Aelene blushes as Sister Caelynn laughs at the utterly tactless statement. Finally, Aelene mumbles, “<It is okay. Our relationship is... unique, to say the least.>”

“<Very well, Princess. If you would do me one kindness, one of my wards could use cheering up and little Tyalangan would be perfect for the task. When you find her, tell her to head to her old soaking tank. She’ll understand.>”

With that, Aelene and Honey are shooed out of the backroom and placed back in the noise of the orphanage proper. Honey’s droning sounds more and more menacing as they try to find the elusive sea elf. Is that her reflecting my irritation? Before she vocalized her concern, Lady Harper is beside her.

“<Hey, Aelene. You okay?>”

“<I am sorry, my betrothed, but I do not like the noise.>”

With a gentle kiss to the tip of Aelene’s ear, Harper shrugs, “<Sorry. Just the way things are here, with so many beastkin kids orphaned. I guess my ‘elven me’ just got used to it? We can leave, if you like; I got my strange nostalgia for a life I have yet to live fix from here.>”

“<Actually, Sister Caelynn mentioned something about your old soaking tank?>”

With that, the foursome heads to the communal bathhouse of the orphanage. There, at the entrance, is a large, rusty tank of water. “<I spent a solid hour or two sitting in that tank all alone, every day. You know, so I could breathe the rest of the time. It was a place of quiet. I did not take to quiet very well in my time here, at least until I started at the magic academy up to road. Gave me too much time to think. There’s a little peephole I’d look though, hoping that someone would come play charades with me or something. No one ever came. None of the other kids wanted to hang out with the sad elf girl with the weird gills.>”

A voice resonates in the tank, speaking in Aquan. Lady Harper answers back in the same tongue. The voice converses with Lady Harper for a bit, with Daphne adding her Aquan speech in occasionally. Waving goodbye, Lady Harper turns on her heels and walks away, a bounce in her step.

The non-aquan speakers hurry to catch up. Lady Harper switches to Common as they walk the grounds. “Thanks, Aelene. I needed that. Kid in the tank over there? Ran into a similar situation to human me, only worse, if the girl told me true. Her other mom framed her birth mother for ****, then dumped her here before leaving town. It’s a project for after the show, but I told the girl I’d look into it; if I find that her story is true, her so-called mother that abandoned her will know my wrath. I also let her know that, with Sister Caelynn’s assistance, she can write to us. What is the point of all this power, if I can’t use it to help those innocents in need. So, Daph, what’s next?”

Daphne was about to answer, only for loud screams and screeches to reverberate in the air. Aelene recalls her quest with a feeling of incoming dread. Aelene’s Orphanage Date Quest: Be a knight in shining (bikini) armor and save the orphans. Reward: An improvement to Ultimate Selfcest. Oh, no! The noisy children!

Skye

Skye has spent the last hour or so gathering resource books with Ms. Calypso. It is strange, seeing a host actually be... helpful. There is so much they need to know about their future home.

Now, Skye is sitting down as Ms. Mattie and (unfortunately) Glitterdust walk into the library. Skye still feels bad about how she treated the bratty dragon. Ms. Mattie greets with a small salute, “Hey, Mrs. Skye, don’t tell me you started without me?”

“Just the book collection part, Ms. Mattie. Are you ready to read about this new world? I hope I can find a good place close to Lady Aelene’s castle to help my mother settle. Some nice farmland so she can plant a new vineyard. You? What are you looking for?”

“Won’t exactly know until I find it. Part of my job with the army was to find things out before we put the troops at risk. Rarely helped, given the insanity we were dealing with, but sometimes I’d save a soldier with preparation. So, I’m digging to look for solutions to problems I’m not yet aware of. Fun, huh?”

With a confused nod, Skye picks up the first agricultural report of the Queendom of Nimlith Grove from the stack and begins to read. Ms. Mattie fires off like a ping-pong ball from the community center: reading from a book, peppering Skye with questions about what she’s reading, trying to engage with Glitterdust, asking questions about these seeds some girl named “Bazongas” gave her. It’s a bit chaotic.

Still, Skye does learn some things. The Queendom is much closer philosophically to feudalism than Skye would like. The royal family owns vast swaths of farmland and they have exclusive rights to grow many, many products within the Queendom. Private farms exist, but they are, between royal decrees and substandard soil, focused more on staple foods. Many farming techniques, like crop rotation, have been discovered there, so her community can operate much like it did back home, assuming they only grow approved crops. Wine is, of course, on the list of products the royal family have exclusive rights to produce. That feels unfair.

Glitterdust speaks up as Skye starts to complain about it, “Oh, your world trusts commoners to make wine? That’s weird. There are a number of species out there that cannot consume **** without either becoming a major threat to the local community or dying. **** is therefore heavily regulated, where certain species are not even allowed to enter an establishment that serves it. Letting people make booze at home would break things down. Usually, a town’s guard finds and breaks apart homebrewer rings after a species that can’t have booze goes on a rampage.”

Skye was about to stenuously object, only for Ms. Mattie to speak up, “Yup. I got a passage here about moose beastkin metabolizing **** into basically meth before eventually turning it into sugar. An **** raging moose-guy can kill with a good running goring. Wanna see the picture, Mrs. Skye?”

“No thank you. But, what then will my mother do?”

“You do realize, Mrs. Skye, that your wife is gonna be queen sooner or later? She can employ your mom as a winemaker. Or navigate privatizing **** production. Or something something wish change things. That’s the point of this exercise. We are looking for problems we could fix with the wish before we get there. So, ready to keep digging, at least until the rest of us are ready to go party?”

Honey

“Ah, Ms. O’Connor?”

“Honey, you can call me Harper, you know, but, is this important? The children are in danger, you know.”

“Yes. May you check to see if I can be leveled up now? I imagine my combat skills would be much improved, which should prove invaluable to the situation.”

Ms. O’Connor summons the DM tablet and checks. “Yes, yes you can and should level up. Wish you told me sooner. But, let’s get this done quickly.” Ms. O’Connor starts muttering in Aquan as she notes that, apparently, Honey has earned enough XP to get 5 levels. Ms. O’Connor mumbles in Common, “Can’t believe I’m about to suggest splitting the party,” then she shouts, “Aelene, Daphne, this is going to take too long, help protect the orphanage. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

She makes decisions rapidly, barely taking much input at all for the spell selection. “I’ll pay for a respec tomorrow if you aren’t happy with my spell selection. I picked deserty things and generic good stuff spells.” Honey does pick her feats, though, grabbing Poisoner (which, given how her stinger works, is pure upside, especially if Honey has time to prepare) and Shadow Touched for a couple of useful spells not normally available to druids. Harper tosses the Potion of Long Rest she had on hand to Honey to let her reset her spell selection. While Honey drinks and refocuses, Harper removes the wasp-girl’s breech-cloth by placing it in her inventory.

“Gotta move!”

By the time Ms O’Connor and Honey reach the fracas, several bloated, putrid looking elvenoids are moving towards the orphanage, wielding rusty implements. Several more lie in chunks, mostly headless. Ms. O’Connor starts to dance, a war chant ringing in the air, a moody alto. She seems to appear in several places in rapid succession, landing 5 blows on 5 foes. All of them are hit, 2 rise back up. Undead. Not the best type of foe for me.

Not knowing how many remain, Honey chants as well. A storm cloud forms above the battlefield. Honey calls a bolt of lightning down, frying one of the foe Ms. O’Connor did not quite re-kill. Then Ms. Copse-Wood drops the final two, her double-bladed scimitar slices through their necks messily. Honey picks up a little waft of embarrassment pheromones coming off of the high elf as her blades turn phallic. This reminds her that her entrance is exposed. Dropping concentration on the storm cloud, she asks, “Ms. O’Connor, may I have my breech-cloth back now?”

Aelene: +3 XP (Killed 12 Level 2 monsters, x0.125 penalty [overleveled])

Daphne: +4 XP (Killed 12 Level 2 monsters, x0.167 penalty [overleveled])

Harper: +1 XP (Killed 6 Level 2 monsters, x0.133 penalty [overleveled], rounded down)

Honey: +3 XP (Killed 6 Level 2 monsters, x0.25 penalty [overleveled])

The shouts of “Kraken!” coming from the docks douses that hope.