Dinner and Discussion

The fried smell of tempura covered the table as the waitress set the appetizer down in front of them. Across the room a large wooden bar stretched, sushi chefs moving with purpose as they crafted each roll. The pop and crackling of chopsticks being broken apart repeated around the table.

“So why transfer now?” Ethan asked, voice curious. “You did five years out there. What changed that made you want to come back here?”

Grace finished her bite, setting her utensils down with a soft clink. For a moment she watched as Penny poured a round of sake for the table. “I liked it there. My family was close enough to visit on weekends. Was going to start a team, just like you did, too. Had so many plans on who we were going to recruit, how we wanted to run things. When I say we made plans, we made plans.” She laughed. “I even had binders to organize it all. I’m a bit of a geek that way.”

“Plans change, though.” She finished, her words measured.

Penny began handing out cups of hot sake around the table. “Change like you decided you missed 6 months of winter, or..?” She asked, half teasing, half concerned at Grace's tone.

Grace’s jaw tightened at the question. “Change like someone you trusted stopped being who you thought he was.” She paused. “He was.. Toxic. I didn’t see it at first. We met when we were 20. I was young and dumb, I guess.”

Alice’s fingers tightened around her glass. Ethan kept his face composed, but his hand curled on the table as if to hold a thought in place.

“It got bad in our fourth year. He got controlling. Always wanting to know who I was talking to, I couldn’t mention another guy from class to him without him getting upset. The wake up call was when he began showing up to my classes.” She gave a small laugh. “He got his ass kicked confronting someone over me taking a bad hit in training. I was the one who made the mistake, but he just wanted to punish the other guy for hurting me.”

I didn’t like it, so I tried to leave.” She shook her head at the memory. “He used his connections. His father is high up in the California Guild, so when I tried to leave, he threatened me. Said he’d pull strings so my name and record wouldn’t matter. That nobody would want me once he was through with me.”

As Grace’s story reached a difficult point, she wiped eyes with the back of her hand, trying to preempt any tears. Mei reached into her purse, pulling out a small package of tissues, handing one to Grace.

“Thanks, Mei.” She took another breath, centering herself.

Mei offered a small nod, her voice low but steady. “You don’t have to rush through it. We’re not going anywhere.”

Grace nodded. “I didn’t want to live my life decided by someone else's whims. So I left him anyway, consequences be damned.” She dabbed her eyes with the tissue. “I wanted out right away, and asked to transfer. Guildmaster Warren convinced me to see out the end of the year. He made sure the bastard wouldn’t bother me while I did. Decided to head back ‘home’ in a sense. Minneapolis is the nearest campus to where we grew up, so I came here. I’m so glad I did, now, meeting all of you.”

Silence sat over the table for a breath.

Penny raised her cup of sake. “A toast. To dumping shitty men.”

Grace smiled at that, lifting her cup. “To dumping shitty men!”

The table joined them, drinking together, the clink of cups hitting the table as they finished the toast.

Penny wiped at her mouth, trading the bravado for a more serious tone. “That.” She paused, searching for the right words. “That took guts, Grace.”

“Seriously.” Alice added. “Ghosting a powerful family isn’t an easy choice to make. I’m glad you’re here, now.”

Graced exhaled, letting out a half laugh. “It feels weird, being here, being able to tell the story. It almost doesn’t feel real.” She played with the empty cup, rocking it in circles. “Being able to talk about it out loud makes it feel like it’s finally in the past. I never expected to find such a warm welcome here. Thanks for listening to me.”

“I couldn’t imagine going through that.” Ethan had a small, reverent smile. “I do know that you’re here now, though. With us.”

Penny brightened, beginning to pour another round of sake. “And dinner’s on me. You escaped a shitty man, survived an emotional reunion with childhood friends, followed immediately by a brutal robotic ****. You deserve at least that much.”

The informal after party continued at Mei’s apartment. The team sank into the mismatched furniture, the moving lights of passing cars gliding across the room through the window. Mei came in a minute later, handing out drinks to everyone before taking a seat herself. They talked for a few minutes about small things. Highlights from training that morning, funny moments from their past, how Mei’s neighbor had an extremely loud cat who loved to sing.

Finding a moment to shift the conversation, Alice moved forward to the edge of her seat. “There’s something we need to talk about, regarding the team.” Her tone had gone serious, and Grace picked up on the change.

Grace had a confused expression. “I thought I already knew most of it? We moved this morning like we’d been training together for months. If you’ll have me, I’d be thrilled to join the team.”

Alice nodded. “We do want you to join.” The rest of the team nodded at this, indicating their agreement. “That’s why this matters.”

Alice took a breath and continued. “I wasn’t thrilled when I first heard about Ethan’s class,” she admitted, voice low. “I didn’t like how it made me feel. The implications of it. It felt like our plans for forming a team of our own were ending as he shared what his class entailed. I couldn’t have imagined how the days afterwards went, but in the moment I felt lost. I ran away.”

Ethan reached out, squeezing her hand. “It was a lot. I felt the same way, that our team couldn’t possibly move forward.”

“I don’t understand, what class could be that bad?” Grace asked.

Alice’s next words landed like a lead weight. “Ethan’s class is S-ranked.”

Grace’s laugh was like a reflex, short and disbelieving. “S-rank? That’s.. that’s not..” She cut off as the morning fights in the training yard replayed through her head. The speed with which Mei and Penny had been able to cast. The strength of their abilities, nearly doubling in strength as Ethan Boosted them. She recalled how quickly Alice had moved across the yard as she Surged. Ethan had mentioned he had a buffing skill. S-rank, though, that was almost too far to believe.

Alice continued. “Ethan’s in combat abilities, Essence Touch and Essence Boost, are amazing. They don’t even require mana. Instead, we can create Essence before a fight, preparing ahead of time. That’s not what makes him S-ranked, though.” She looked at Ethan, nodding.

“I can Imbue Essence into someone, giving them permanent growth,” Ethan spoke.

At the revelation, Grace had a flurry of emotions cross her face. Confusion, disbelief, contemplation. As the implications of what Ethan had said clicked, her lips parted and her eyes went wide.

Ethan nodded. “When we registered our classes, we were immediately brought to the Guildmaster, the clerk didn’t waste a moment bringing us upstairs,” Ethan began to recall the story. “He had me go over the abilities my class had given me. I knew that my class would cause some waves, but I underestimated just how large they would be. The Guildmaster didn’t. When I got to my Imbuement skill, the Guildmaster picked up on how big a deal it was right away.”

“He explained just how important an ability like Ethan’s would be.” Alice picked the story back up. “Within minutes he had broken it all down for us and had us in front of the training department heads. You saw them yesterday, Harris, Lee, and Thompson. Ethan represents more than just an S-rank, it’s the ability to make more S-ranks. It changes the whole ranking system if it can actually push someone up, not just make them stronger for a day.”

The room sat quiet as they gave Grace a moment to process.

“Is this why Guildmaster Warren had me meet with you?” Grace eventually asked. “I thought it was a bit odd for him to arrange a tryout for me, but he had been so much of a help, I chalked it up to that.”

Ethan nodded. “Upper guild leadership know about my abilities. When we met with Guildmaster Warren and he asked us to give you a tryout, Guildmaster Thompson explained that there was a political storm happening around my class. He’s been able to insulate us from it so far. The real effects that we’ve felt have been only upsides, so far. Damn near an entire building to ourselves for training. Our advisors being the department heads themselves.” Ethan continued with a laugh. “Arranging a tryout with a prodigy from another campus.”

Ethan leaned forward, his voice calm but carrying a tone of an admission. “My Class abilities have a drawback. They require a link. I have to form a Bond with someone for my abilities to be able to affect them. Without the Bond, I’m essentially useless to the team. It’s why I didn’t buff you at all today. It wasn’t about having practiced with the others around Boost timings. I couldn’t target you at all.”

“So why not form a Bond this morning.” Grace questioned him.

The women of the team gave each other knowing looks, Mei taking a turn to speak. “The Bonds aren’t metaphorical, or some temporary connection. It’s a deeper connection. One that can be difficult to form.”

“Deeper how?” Grace asked again, not understanding.

Ethan met Grace's eyes. “Forming the Bond requires intimacy. It would be invasive if you don’t understand and consent to it fully before we formed it. This is why we brought it up now, rather than waiting. We need to be upfront about this with you if you’re going to consider joining the team. You need to be completely aware of every aspect of my class and the demands it puts on you.” Ethan took a breath and continued. “The Bond costs privacy. It requires you and I to be close in a way that most people would consider unacceptable.”

Penny took her turn to speak. “There’s a level of closeness in our team you probably won’t find anywhere else. We’re telling you now so you can make an informed choice.” Penny gestured to Alice and Mei. We’ve all chosen to accept a Bond, and we want you to know what choosing this team could mean.”

“I still don’t understand. What’s so demanding about the Bond?” Grace asked. “What could possibly be so horrible that you have to preface it this much?”

Alice gestured to the others to let her take this part. “The Bond requires physical intimacy with Ethan.”

Grace considered Alice’s answer, not understanding what she meant. “Your Class requires intimacy?”

Alice continued, seeing Grace’s look of confusion. “Intimacy is how Essence is created. The more intimate you are, the more Essence.” A deep breath. “The way we’ve discovered to generate the Minimum essence required to form the Bond is a kiss.”

Grace had a look of outright disbelief.

“We’re serious. We’ve tested it. Specifically, a peck while being tight together.” Alice explained. “We tried all sorts of different ideas. At the end of it, we found that his class has some sort of mechanism that ties Essence creation to greater and greater levels of intimacy. A kiss on the cheek isn’t enough Essence. A kiss while holding each other close is. It works the same way for all Essence creation. The more intimate an act, the more Essence. You can hold hands while cuddling and it’ll work, even if it’s just a trickle, but it works.”

“You expect me to believe that your class operates off of kissing?” Grace challenged Ethan.

“It does. This is what Alice was talking about when she spoke about how she struggled with my Class at first.” Ethan elaborated.

“Why not show her?” Penny suggested. “Go over there and let her feel Essence.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow at Grace, asking if she was open to the idea. She nodded. He stood up and moved over, squeezing between Alice and Grace on the two person couch, his shoulders tight against them both. He held out his hand for Grace to take.

As she reached out and laced her fingers with his she let out a small breath. The sensation of Essence was recognizable immediately, even as faint as it was. “You’re telling the truth,” She said, sounding surprised. It was enjoyable, similar to the way it felt when a small shiver went down your spine. Pleasant.

“I expected more.” Grace spoke up. “It actually feels nice. Why would this be such a problem that it needed an intervention?” She chuckled at her own joke.

“The feeling gets more intense, the more of it you create. The Bond itself is overwhelming.” Mei explained. “When they told me all of this, I thought the same way you did, though my first experience was a bit more.. Involved, I guess you could say.”

Ethan stood up, letting go of Grace’s hand. “I’m going to head into the other room and let you tell her the rest without me here.” He looked at Grace. “I’m serious about there not being any pressure on you to join. If you hear them out and want nothing to do with it, we’re not going to hold it against you. I’m fully aware of how crazy my class is.” As he finished, he walked out of the room and into the kitchen, creating some space.

Grace looked at Alice, questioning. “What’s so difficult he needs to leave the room? Holding hands is hardly the end of the world.”

“It’s more serious than that.” Alice replied. “The intimacy we’ve been talking about isn’t the extent of his class.”

“So what is?”

“Sex.” Alice answered bluntly. “His class essentially demands sex. The amount of Essence generation other acts produce is okay for a small refill on Essence, but it isn’t enough to practically matter when you consider the Essence demands of his abilities.”

“You’re you’ve all had sex with Ethan? Grace asked, stunned.

Alice shook her head. “No.. but also yes. The single best way to create Essence is for Ethan to be involved in an orgasm, whatever form that takes. Ethan and Penny have been dating for years, but Mei and I haven’t gone that far with Ethan.”

“He played with my hair for the first time. It was really sweet.” Mei added. “We’re not talking about sex, just that he needs to be touching you when you climax.”

Grace sat back against the couch, thinking, the others giving her time to go over what they had said.

Eventually, Grace spoke. “Let me get this straight. The team is a harem?”

That brought a laugh out of everyone, Grace not understanding what was so funny.

Penny explained, still smiling. “We told Ethan the same thing and he firmly denied it.” Her laugh faded, her tone shifting to something more serious. “Ethan has put more thought into this than any of us. I think I speak for all of us when I say it’s one of the most endearing things about him. He’s thought through everything, all the ways his class imposes on us. He’s been adamant from the start about making sure we’re all comfortable, every step of the way. Alice and I eventually had to tell him to stop asking about it. He’s the one who told us we needed to have this conversation tonight. He wanted to be completely up front about all of this.”

“And you’re all okay with this?” Grace questioned, looking at each of them. “Being on a team that, if what you’re saying is true, forces you to be with him?”

All three nodded. “We’re very good at sharing.” Penny joked. “But yes, we’re all okay with this. Ethan’s made sure we’re all on the same page about this from the start.”

“And you’re okay with him being with other women?” Grace asked Penny directly. “Even..” She hesitated. “Even Alice?”

“I am. You could probably say that I’m the one who pushed Ethan to allow others to Bond. If I had left it alone I think he might have just dropped out of dungeon raiding all together.” Penny explained.

“Okay.” Grace nodded. “Ethan, you can come back in here.” She called across the apartment.

Ethan returned, bringing everyone another round of drinks before taking his seat. “I take it you have some more questions?”