Politics and Practice

Ethan woke up to the feeling of Penny crawling over him to get out of bed. He cracked open an eye and saw Penny watching him as she moved.

“Sorry, I really need to pee.” She whispered.

Ethan shut his eyes and let himself fall back asleep. The next time he was awakened, it was to the sound of whispers going on across the room from the couch. He laid there pretending to be asleep for a moment longer, listening to Penny and Alice as they spoke.

“I just thought I’d be more weirded out, you know?” Alice whispered. “I mean I should be, right?”

“I don’t think so. Who cares what people say is or isn’t weird? They’re not in our position and if they were, they’d probably make the same choices we have.” Penny whispered back.

“I guess you’re right. I think I just surprised myself with how into it I was. When you leaned forward and looked back at me I swear my heart skipped a beat.” Alice said. “Seriously, where did you learn that move?

Penny gave a quiet laugh. “You’d never guess it. A while back I caught Ethan playing one of those hentai games and I figured I should check it out to see what he was into. There was a scene just like us, where a girl was leaning forward with her skirt pulled up. It was the sexiest thing and I copied it. I’m glad to see it had such an effect on you.” Penny teased.

“Had an effect on me? Remind me who kissed who last night? Not that I’m complaining, but I think your ‘moves’ might have had just as much of an effect on you as they did me.” Alice challenged. She continued more seriously. “I did like the kiss, though. It did just feel right in the moment, you know?”

Penny looked relieved. “I was so worried I had crossed a line there. We’ve been moving so fast and last night got so intense so quickly, it just sort of felt like the right thing to do at the time. Like we were both there together just as much for each other, rather than just for Ethan.”

“I get it.” Replied Alice. “It’s not going to be a one time thing, is it? I mean, with Ethan’s class being what it is, this is just the tip of the iceberg isn’t it? We’ve fooled around so far, but it’s just going to go further if we continue. I don’t want to kid myself and pretend like it isn’t.” Alice finished with a hint of worry in her voice.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be worried. This is all weird, but isn’t everything else we’re doing? Think about it, we’re at a school teaching us how to use magical powers to fight monsters. If you had told people this was our life 40 years ago, they’d have assumed you were talking about a manga, not real life.” Penny took a breath and continued on. “That Ethan’s class revolves around sex is just another weird thing to add to the giant pile of weirdness that our lives already are. We’ve spent the past 5 years preparing for our team and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let his ridiculous ‘build me a harem’ class get in the way of our plans.”

Penny turned sideways on the couch to look Alice in the eyes. “Besides, there are some pretty great upsides to all of this. I really liked that kiss, too, and I’m not sure if I ever would have figured that out if his class didn’t cause last night to happen.”

Alice was speechless, looking away, not sure what to say to Penny’s confession. After a few moments, she grew resolved. “Wanna try it again just to be sure?” She looked back at Penny.

Penny nodded, reaching out and grabbing Alice’s hand. “I think I do” Penny leaned in closer, her free hand reaching up to cup Alice’s cheek. Alice mirrored her, reaching up to pull Penny closer to her.

Their lips met in a gentle, tentative kiss. As their lips touched shivers ran down their spine. The kiss deepened slowly at first before moving quickly from the hesitant touch into a heady mix of desire and affection. As they pulled away from the kiss they remained close, their foreheads resting against each other.

“That was even better than last night.” Alice whispered.

“It was perfect.” Penny agreed softly, leaning back in to kiss Alice again.

“I think this is going to work out.” Alice said as the kiss broke. “You, me, Ethan and his class. It still feels weird to me when I say it, but I still think it’s true.”

“It will. If I was worried before, I’m not anymore.” Penny replied, pulling Alice closer to her to cuddle until their plans for the day **** them to move.

Ethan lay there as he listened to them, his smile hidden from them. “How could I have gotten this lucky?” He thought as he fell back asleep for the second time.

"Morning," he heard, a soft kiss to his forehead waking him. Ethan rolled over and opened his eyes to see Penny above him.

“Morning,” he replied, rolling over and stretching. As he sat up, he saw Alice walking out of the bathroom, hair damp and dressed in a borrowed outfit from the extra clothing Penny kept in his room. “My turn?” He asked.

Alice nodded. “Yea, and we got told to report first thing this morning, they messaged us just a minute ago.”

Ethan groaned at the short notice and rolled over to check his phone. Sure enough, there was a notification waiting for him from the Guild Master’s office telling him to report in around 45 minutes.

“I’m going to head back to my room and grab something better to wear, I’ll catch up to you guys downstairs in a few minutes” Alice said as she headed out.

Penny smiled, “at least we know it’s important if we’re supposed to report to the Guild Masters office.”

Ethan nodded, rolling to get up out of bed. “I’m going to shower quick, then.” He said as he stood up.

“Mind a quick heal? I think I might have ended up with a bit of chafing from last night” She asked as she laughed.

Ethan laughed at the thought and leaned down to give her a quick kiss, healing her as he did so. “I’ll be out in five.” He said, moving to the shower.

The trio met downstairs a few minutes later to head to the guild masters office as requested. As Ethan walked up to Alice he grabbed her hand, healing her as he did so. Alice gasped lightly in surprise, the noise quickly turned to a small groan of relief as the pain of sleeping on a loveseat was washed away.

“Oh fuck, I had no idea how much I needed that. As much as I love that couch, it is not a great place to fall asleep.” Alice said while rubbing her neck. “Next time remind me to do the walk of shame.”

“From my room?” Ethan asked, cocking his eyebrow at her.

“Okay, good point, good point. I suppose with your magic cure all a stiff neck isn’t so bad.” Alice said. “Last night would have been worth it either way, though.”

Ethan glanced at Penny as Alice spoke and Penny shook her head, telling him to talk to Alice about this. “So no regrets, then? Ethan asked.

“No, I don’t think so.” Alice replied. “Penny and I already had a chance to talk about it this morning while you were asleep. I think the three of us should talk more, but no, no regrets so far.”

The trio walked out of the building, the air crisp like the first cold morning of fall. They made their way across campus to the administrative building where they met the same clerk who had registered their classes a few days earlier.

“Good morning.” Ethan greeted him. “We were told to report here this morning. It was sort of short notice.”

“Ah, come with me, Guild Master Thompson left instructions to bring you up.” The man led them through the same door as before, the group eventually ending up in the same waiting room. After a few minutes of waiting, the door to the Guild Master’s office opened and a voice called out, asking them to come inside.

The group entered the room, looking around at the room that seemed to be as much museum as it was an office. Different trophies hung on the walls or sat on the shelves lining the walls in the room. At the end of the rectangular office was a wall of windows that looked out over the campus commons. Before them stood the Guild Master behind his desk and an unfamiliar figure standing in front of it. The man in front of the desk cut an imposing figure. The tallest person in the room, he seemed to tower over everyone else.

“Welcome, please come in.” The Guild Master Thompson welcomed the group in. He walked out from behind his desk to shake hands with the party members. “Let me introduce you to a colleague of mine, Guild Master Warren, from the California campus.”

At the introduction the imposing man stepped forward to shake hands with the party. “I’m happy to meet you all. When Alan here was telling me about an up and coming team that had an S rank, I asked him to arrange a meeting for us. I hope you don’t mind the short notice, I’m going to be returning home later today and wanted the chance to say hello.”

The group introduced themselves, with Penny speaking up. “We’re happy to have the chance to meet, Guild Master.”

They all took seats and engaged in the requisite small talk for a few moments before GM Warren broached the reason he had asked for a meeting. “The real reason I asked for a meeting is that when I heard about the class composition of your team I believed I might have a candidate for your roster. There’s a young woman with a D ranked defender class that I believe might be a good fit for you, and she’s been looking to transfer here.”

Penny nodded. “You’re right, we are recruiting for a defender. Do you mind if I ask why you’re suggesting her in particular, Guild Master? I’m not questioning your motives, but it does seem a tad unusual for a guild master to be involved directly in team recruitment.”

“You’re not wrong.” GM Warren said, nodding. “Normally those in my position stay out of the day to day management of raiding teams, but I believe she is worth making an exception for. She might be one of the most talented classers to make their way through my campus, despite the D rank class she received. When word began spreading through the upper echelons of guild leadership about your class providing long term growth, Ethan, it struck me that she might be a perfect fit for you.”

GM Thompson spoke up next. “Your class has created quite a bit of excitement among upper guild leadership, Ethan. Warren here isn’t the only one with ideas for how to use your class, but I do believe that his offer falls more in line with what I believe your intentions to be.” His face took on a more serious tone. “The idea of long term growth is unprecedented. When you were confronted directly by Trainer Harris about why you’re choosing to create a team with D ranks it wasn’t an accident. The first thought among many of my peers was to ask about how they could get you to apply your growth abilities to the A ranked raiders.”

GM Thompson continued on. “Truthfully, there’s been a large demand for you to not only drop your team, but to change course entirely and focus exclusively on exploring the limits of your long term growth capabilities. For the moment, I’ve stalled that pressure. You’ve made it clear that your intentions are to form a team of your own. That’s why I felt it appropriate to allow GM Warren to make his request. It seemed to fall in line with your intentions.”

Ethan knew that having an S ranked class would be big news, but the idea that he might be **** to drop out of his team entirely hadn’t occurred to him. “Thank you, Guild Master. I appreciated you running cover for me. While I might not be opposed to testing the limits of my class eventually, I do still intend on working with Alice and Penny. We’ve spent the last few years working to do just that.”

Alice slid forward in her seat to speak up. “I want to say thank you as well, Guild Master.” Alice said, speaking to GM Thompson. She looked to GM Warren as she continued. “I’m also more than happy to meet with your candidate as you’re suggesting, Guild Master. We do need a strong defender and if she’s as talented as you say she is, it sounds like she’d be a perfect candidate for our team.”

The discussion continued for a few minutes longer before they wrapped up. The group said their goodbyes, leaving the two Guild Masters and making their way out of the building.

“So we knew your class would be a big deal, but I think I underestimated just how big a deal.” Penny said as they rode the elevator downwards. “It almost sounds like people want to use you just to power people up and not let you raid at all.”

Ethan nodded. “I picked up on that too. I have no intentions of just being what amounts to a training tool for high ranked classers.”

“The people who want to do that probably won’t stop wanting it just because the Guild Master is holding them off for now.” Alice added into the conversation. “It kind of feels like the Guild Masters were implying that we really needed to perform well in our raids. Between the suggestion of some super talent from out in California to the way the Guild Master phrased that he could hold back the pressure ‘for the moment’ it feels to me that our success as a team is important to keeping Ethan from becoming a treadmill for high ranked classers.”

Ethan and Penny both nodded at Alice’s words. Penny spoke next. “I’m going to text Mei and see if she’s free this morning. We’re supposed to be working with Strategist Lee on ability usage today and I’m going to invite her. No reason to wait until later in the week, right?”

“That’s a good idea.” Ethan said as the group stepped back out into the chilly morning air. “Speaking of Mei, though, we haven’t really discussed how we’re going to introduce her to my class. Even if we work together well in practice, that won’t mean much if she gets weirded out.”

“I think it’ll be best if it comes from me.” Penny said as she texted Mei. “I know her the best out of the three of us, and she knows we’re dating. I’ll ask if she’s free to grab lunch after training and I can talk to her then.”

After a quick breakfast on the go, the trio made their way to their morning meeting with Strategist Lee. The topic of the day was basic class familiarity, going over their skills and the different uses for them in combat. Strategist Lee stood at the front of the room, his voice clear and authoritative as he lectured on some of the basic tactics for Shock Blades and Dark Weavers, going over different tactics and strategies that the combination of the two could utilize.

After about an hour of lecture and discussion, there was a knock on the door. Strategist Lee called for them to enter and Mei opened the door. “Hi, I came as quickly as I could.” Mei said, entering the room.

“That’s alright, the timing actually works out well.” Strategist Lee changed the subject from what they had just been talking about. "Let’s head outside, we're going to put what we’ve covered into practice. We'll be heading out to the training yard to test your abilities as a team. We can try out some of the basics we covered this morning and see how the combat boost from Ethan changes things.”

The group followed Strategist Lee out to the practice yard, where they met Mage Thompson. The yard was spacious, with various obstacles and targets set up for training purposes.

Mage Thompson greeted Mei by name, surprised to see her. “Hello, Mei. Is this a recent development?”

Mei turned to the rest of the group. “Mage Thompson was my advisor while I was still enrolled here and she helped me a lot after my team disbanded.” She explained.

Turning back to Mage Thompson, Mei continued. “I ran into them during dinner and they asked if I would be interested in a possible tryout. I was free this morning and so when Penny texted me I was able to head over here.”

Thompson looked pleased at the explanation. “A double mage team composition might work well for you. With the touch limitations on your healing, Ethan, it makes sense. An Elementalist also solves for your ranged damage shortage. I applaud the initiative, everyone.” Thompson praised them.

"Alright, let's get started," Strategist Lee said, clapping his hands together. "We'll begin with some basic testing of your abilities. Ethan, you'll start by buffing Penny and Alice with your combat enhancements."

Ethan nodded, taking a deep breath as he focused his energy. He could feel the essence flowing through him, ready to be channeled into his teammates.

"Alright, let's see what you've got," Strategist Lee said, a hint of excitement in his voice.

Penny and Alice stood side by side, their eyes gleaming with anticipation. Ethan reached out, his hands glowing with a soft light as he channeled the essence in them, activating his ability.

Penny felt the familiar surge of power coursing through her veins, her shadow minion appearing before her. To the surprise of their advisors, the minion was nearly double its expected size and seemed far more durable. Her dark shroud ability created a deeper darkness over a larger area, obscuring vision and movement. Her shadow bolts spell created more projectiles that flew faster and hit harder.

Alice felt a similar surge of power, her movements becoming quicker and more fluid. Her short-term speed boost allowed her to dodge and weave with ease, while her electrical attacks delivered shocking blows to her targets. Her ranged lightning strike reached further than should have been possible, striking with precision and ****.

Mei was taken aback particularly with Alice’s ranged lightning strike. “I think that might nearly be as powerful as I can dish out.” Mei spoke with a tone of semi disbelief.

Ethan watched as his teammates tested their enhanced abilities, a sense of satisfaction washing over him. He could see the difference in their movements, the increased power and speed that his buffs provided.

"Impressive," Strategist Lee said, nodding approvingly. "Your boost seems to be a general all-around increase in capability. This is exactly what we needed to see."

However, as they continued to train, Penny and Alice quickly found themselves running out of essence. Their abilities were powerful, but the cost in essence was high, and they weren't able to sustain their enhanced states for long.

Ethan, on the other hand, discovered that his personal essence stores were roughly equal to the amount of both Penny and Alice combined. He could feel the essence flowing through him, ready to be channeled into his teammates at a moment's notice. When the essence stores of Penny and Alice ran out, he found that he was capable of channeling his own personal stores of essence to continue buffing or healing.

"Alright, that's enough for today," Strategist Lee said, clapping his hands together. "You've done well, but we need to work on your essence management. Remember, essence is a finite resource, and you need to learn to conserve it and use it wisely. While the duration of the buffing leaves much to be desired, I think we can work on a strategy of timing the buffs to be active only when most needed."

The trio nodded, taking in the strategist's words as they made their way back inside.

"Initial assessment," Strategist Lee began, his voice serious. "You've shown great potential, but there are areas that need improvement. For now, I want your personal practice sessions to focus on timing Ethan’s buffing to when you need it most. With a finite resource you can’t afford to waste essence keeping the buff running non stop. This strategy is going to rely heavily on trusting each other. You’ll need to be able to adapt to the usage of the essence boost on the fly in a fight. That sort of synergy isn’t going to come overnight."

Ethan nodded, taking mental notes as Strategist Lee continued.

"Here are some basic tactics for you to review and practice over the next week," he said, sending each of them a file. "Study these notes, and we'll reconvene to discuss your progress." Lee turned to Mei next. “Your skillset meshed well today and Thompson speaks highly of you. If you decide to join the team, ensure you establish a bond immediately. The team as it stands now is building a strategy around the temporary boosts from Ethan and you’ll need to be able to partake if you want meaningful practice.”

As they left the strategist's office, Penny turned to Mei. “Hey, wanna grab lunch?”

“Yea, that’d be great.” Mei replied.

Alice spoke up next. “Ethan and I have an errand to run so we’re going to grab a late lunch. We’ll talk to you two later, okay?”

The group split up, the pairs heading off together.

When they were far enough apart to not be overheard, Alice turned to Ethan. “So I think this might be a good chance for you and I to talk about things.”

Ethan nodded. “Yea, I think we’ve put this talk off long enough.”