-Orison Swett Marden

John phased back to the campsite to a stunning sight, something he hadn't experienced in days that ended up feeling like years. It was peaceful. Mithra was bathing in the eternal sunlight of this place, while Lunaya and Maera were both out of sight. The door to their home had been left open… which John probably would have been more upset about if he had ever seen a single bug in the place.

"Maybe some furniture would be nice… that'd mean grinding out more Treants. Could make some board games for Sophia if nobody ends up wanting furniture… nah, I should just ask all of the others. Maybe they'll give me ideas for Sophia too."

"I'm going to see what the others are up to. Seras, Sophia, could you two go check out the forest and gather some of the food that's left? I'm sure Lunaya couldn't do much without anyone else here to help her take care of the Nekos."

"Of course, Father. Mother, would you follow me? I remember the area that I left off on my harvesting well."

"Y-yeah, sho. Say, they got any peaches? Mum made a bloody good pie before… uh… stuff happened."

"A pie? I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have no idea what that is, but I would love to try something new. Would you make one of these bloody pies for me, Mother?"

"That's… I don't think I was ready to hear someone say that to me. That's a new feeling," Seras whispered, breath catching for a moment in her chest. "Um, I ain't much for bakin', but we can get you one, sho."

The two of them walked off while continuing their conversation, leaving John alone at the entrance. Stepping inside, John didn't have to explore long - most of the house was still entirely empty, since he'd only constructed it and then never bothered to furnish it… another one of his many regrets. Despite having the Order's safe house as a home now, this had always been his safe house. Even if he couldn't come here often, his desire to make the place into a home had never faltered. The only positive to such a barren place was that it took only moments for him to check the first floor and find Maera curled up over Lunaya's lap in a corner of what would have been John's kitchen, if there were any fixtures at all.

"Must be a lazy day?"

Lunaya looked up at John and shrugged, petting Maera's head. Maera only let it go on for a few moments in her pet-induced trance before she seemed to realize what she'd just heard. Maera leapt to her feet in an instant, her white hair flailing around her as she actually cleared the ground and landed firmly on John's chest, wrapping her legs around him so that even if John's Strength hadn't been more than enough to hold her, she probably would've held herself up - she did everything but dig her claws into his back.

"Myaster! Maera missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Maera," John said, ruffling her hair with a chuckle as he felt her begin to nuzzle her cheek against his. "I hope you weren't too bored without me."

"Soooooo booooored," Maera whined, sighing as she collapsed against him, nearly unbalancing the unprepared Gamer. "Maera has run every inch of this place! Always the same. Tried exploring house… didn't last long."

"…You know, it has been a while since I actually added anything to this place. It's three tiles that are, what, a mile on each end? Probably took you about a day to see it all considering the way you two run around. Tell you what, Maera, how about I expand the place? Actually… first, what happens when you run to the edge?"

"Edge? What edge? Maera just runs in big circles, ends up back at camp every time though… so tiiiiny," Maera pouted, crossing her arms and huffing as her tail twitched back and forth in obvious annoyance.

"Huh… so is that why I've never run into the edge of the world? What if this place acts as some kind of vaguely-shaped planetoid with a loop I've never noticed? I mean, I never really tried to walk off the edge of this place. Tell you what, Maera. Master has a lot of things to do in the next day, but he's gonna be here a lot longer than normal. Before he leaves, he'd like to make you something really nice. He'd also like to stop talking in the third person… I think it's contagious. Anyway, what would you like?"

"Myaster is funny," Maera giggled. "Maera just wants to be with you. Can you take Maera with you when you leave this time?"

"I-" John stumbled for a moment. The question was not totally unexpected, but he had no idea how to answer. Maera was getting smarter and expanding her vocabulary by the day by raising her Intelligence through levels, but even if she could understand the kind of things he was dealing with, did he really want to expose her to them?

"Maera, I know you want to spend more time with me, but Master has a lot of fighting to do out there. There are some really bad people, and if they find you, they'd want to hurt you - maybe even take you away from me."

"Maera kill them!" Maera shouted, hissing lightly, though it was still loud since she was practically doing it in his ear. John chuckled, slowly extricating himself from the Neko and setting her back on the ground. She didn't seem to appreciate it judging by the fact that she was still brandishing her claws and glaring up at him.

"I know you want to, Maera, but they're really strong. And-"

"Let Maera train with you again," Maera said, grabbing John's shoulders, "Myaster never lets Maera train with him anymore! Maera is sorry she got hurt, but Myaster needs her!"

"Well, I was going to do it alone, but… I mean…" John wasn't sure what to say. Honestly, having another person to watch his back would be excellent - but Maera was right about him not letting her train with him, not since his first Reincarnation. She was still only level 7 and her stats were-

Maera
Level 9 Neko Warrior
<John's Creation>
110 / 110 HP
Relationship: 118
Alignment: 7

"You leveled up? Have you been training with Lunaya?"

"Yup!" Maera cooed, wiggling back and forth with pleasure. "Myaster never takes Maera, so Maera took herself!"

"She wasn't with you before," John noted, switching his gaze to Lunaya, "just how hard have you been training?!"

Lunaya locked eyes with John and finally stood up from her corner, walking over to join them. She reached up and placed one hand on each of John's temples, gazing into his eyes. John was thoroughly concerned for a moment, but trusted Lunaya enough to hold his objections for a moment as her mismatched eyes met his own.

Just when John was beginning to think this was some kind of staring contest, his vision began to blur. For an instant Lunaya seemed to flicker in and out; John was just about to voice his concerns when his vision blacked out entirely. A moment later, something flicked on, an image in his mind - but it wasn't his own sight. It was someone else's.

A forest. John's forest. Grunts of exertion, pain, exhaustion… all three, mixing together. Somewhere in front of him was Maera, straining to pull herself off the ground. John - no, not John - NotJohn was sitting with legs folded, long claws straining in exertion as a tiny blue sphere began to glisten over an outstretched palm. John recognized those claws, the pale skin, and the legs. He was seeing…

"Lunaya?" John blurted out. Literally breaking the spell, John felt Lunaya flinch at his surprised outburst, pulling her fingers away and stepping back. "When did you… you learned that? All on your own?"

A sheen of sweat had appeared on Lunaya's face - apparently she still wasn't used to doing this. All the same she threw herself back at John, fingers locking onto his head once more. This time, her eyes closed and her brow furrowed as she concentrated.

*"It's okay, it's okay," John said, unsure of who he was talking to as he met Lunaya's eyes. "You… you're mad at me about not being able to speak, aren't you?"

John was looking at… himself? Himself, pinning what he knew to be Lunaya again down. He recognized the cave - it was the place that they had first met.

"You… know what happened, don't you? And that means I'm responsible for this, for… why you can't talk?"*

The vision broke again, but the message had been delivered. John frowned in remembrance - of how he'd done something wrong in his Purify, not being focused enough, or maybe trying too hard to create something without realizing what he was doing.

"You've been practicing… so you could communicate. Because I fucked up."

Lunaya went for a nod, but seemed to notice John's frown. Though a similar look covered her own face, for just a moment it softened. Lunaya reached out and brushed her fingers across John's cheek affectionately, cooing softly.

"Thanks. I still feel bad though. Hey, if you can share in more ways now, if you still have the energy… why do you hate fighting so much? The first thing you did when I Purified you was attack me. I mean, I get it, you were pissed, but… I always wanted to ask, but it's such a complex question, I-"

-3 HP!

"Fucking- OWWW!" John yelped, more from surprise than actual pain, but still hurt in more ways than one. Lunaya retracted a freshly bloodied claw as the wound on John's face began to rapidly knit itself back together. "What the hell was that for?"

Lunaya pointed lazily at the disappearing gash on John's face, then balled up one hand into a fist and slammed it into her open palm. All she did after that was quirk an eyebrow, leaving John to piece it together.

"You don't like… pain? That's all?"

Giving a quick shake of her head, Lunaya pointed once again - this time to Maera, still nuzzling up against John's chest with her arms wrapped around his torso.

"Oh," John mumbled with a shrug, "I guess it wasn't that complex after all. You don't like getting hurt and you don't like seeing people you care about get hurt… that's probably why you want to be strong, too, isn't it?"

Lunaya nodded happily, clapping cheerfully. Despite her obvious tiredness and the beads of sweat coating her brow, she seemed really happy to be able to communicate again. Which, actually…

"Maera, I can't bring you back this time, but I promise as soon as it's safe I'll take you out… maybe we can train together, though. Would that be alright?"

"Myasteeeeer," Maera whined, looking up with the widest and saddest blue eyes he'd ever seen. Honestly, they would've looked far more appropriate on Lunaya.

"Listen, like I said, there's really bad people out there. Even Seras and Sophia have gotten in trouble, and your big sisters are really strong… plus, you need clothes first."

"Maera no want clothes!" Maera bristled at the idea, baring her fangs a little. "Too tight! Too rough!"

"I will… take that into consideration, but if you want to leave this place, you're going to need clothes. But since I can't bring you with me, I'll make this place a lot more fun, okay? I'll make it way bigger! And you can help me by picking out what kind of places you wanna visit, okay?"

"Really?! Myaster can make it bigger again?! No more water, though! Yuck! Running in water so stupid," Maera spat, crossing her arms in a way that made even her petite chest stick out enticingly. John nodded and leaned down, lightly picking up Maera under her arms and lifting her up to give her a firm kiss. Maera purred heartily and wrapped her arms lazily across John's neck, melting into the kiss.

"All you have to do is tell me what you want. Just make it reasonable - I can only do so much! And nothing weird, like a lake with trees growing out of the water, or rocks floating in the sky."

"Floating rocks?! So much jumping!" Maera shouted, hearing absolutely nothing else that John had just told her. Sighing, he set the suddenly squirming Neko down, so that Maera could swerve off through the house to set her sights on her sister. "Mithra, Mithra! We're gonna fly on rocks!"

"She's gonna need a few more levels to finish buffing up that Intelligence score," John chuckled. Lunaya promptly reached up and slapped him lightly across the back of his head, growling at him. "What? I mean that in the nicest way possible - reading and listening comprehension would be a big plus. Then again, maybe she just doesn't like listening."

Another thwack set John chuckling, as he turned back to the Canid Reaper. "So, Lunaya… if you could tell me, is there anything you'd want? I want to make things for you all, try to leave you with something other than a bit of food and an empty house. I know it might be hard to tell me, but if you can show me an image, that'd be perfect. Anything you want, anything at all."

Lunaya cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at him for a moment as if suspicious. Slowly she took hold of John's arm and dragged him outside, pulling him through the house until they were once again embraced by open air. Then she pointed skyward, and when John only stared blankly, started waving her arm across the sky.

"Across the sky? End to end, you wa- oh, you want a sun! Wait, you want it to be night? Why? To make it easier to sleep?"

Lunaya tilted her head back down and sighed, pointing to her own ears this time.

"Oh. Right, wolf… or close enough, anyway. You're probably pretty nocturnal. No wonder you're always so grouchy."

Lunaya gave John a third and final smack to the back of his head and then was back inside the house… and now, John wondered if she was specifically going in there because of how dim it was. Even with the window holes that had no glass, it was definitely several shades darker inside than out.

"Evellyn, are you there? I mean, you have to be, right?"

"At your service, Master Newman. What do you require of me today?"

The holographic woman manifested inside of a window directly in front of John, this time full-length and just a few inches taller than John. The vaguely upper-class sounding woman had her hands professionally placed behind her back and her darker-orange heels clicked together perfectly.

"I was wondering if you could tell me what I'm going to need in order to create a night-and-day cycle for this place."

"Of course," Evellyn said immediately, a few spreadsheets flicking over and around her, though she didn't bother to actually glance at any of them. "Creating a basic night-day cycle is considered a Basic alteration on a Planet scale. It will require the usage of one-hundred of your ZCPs to create, and a further twenty-five every time you wish to alter the length. If you desire, you can create the illusion of a sun and moon, but multiple celestial bodies or creating their physical manifestations would currently be outside of your capabilities."

"I didn't even think about that," John admitted, putting a hand to his chin. "So I could make a planet with three suns, all on separate rotations? Or, I dunno, twelve moons?"

"Not yet. Illusionary creation of multiple bodies would require the Advanced options to be made available. Physical would require Expert level customization, as well as a significantly higher amount of points than you have gained in total since the beginning of your journey. But yes, Master Newman… one day."

"That's… pretty cool actually. Okay, well, I don't quite have enough points yet, and I need to add some more zones so I couldn't just blow them all anyway, but… thanks. I'll call you back in a few minutes; I'm gonna need advice on loot drops, if you can do that too."

"Of course, sir," Evellyn said with a smile, offering a quick bow before disappearing entirely.

"Well… that solves that, at least," John said with a smile. As Evellyn vanished, a soft mewling came from John's side, accompanied shortly by a tug on his sleeve. John turned, expecting a hopeful and dreamy-eyed Maera, but instead being greeted by a groggy but very much awake Mithra. She was kneeling on the grass, slowly leaning more and more of her weight against John's leg. Despite obviously being unceremoniously awoken by her over-excited sister, Mithra had a gentle look and a beaming smile on her face as John looked down at her.

"Hey there, Mithra. Sorry Maera woke you up… not gonna be any floating rocks, I'm afraid."

"Doesn't matter," Mithra said with a yawn. "Myaster is here, that's all that matters."

John smiled and leaned down to run his hands through Mithra's hair, enjoying the long black locks that somehow remained relatively pristine in spite of her constant playing in the grass and mud.

"That's… really nice to hear, Mithra. Thank you. I'm glad you've been warming up to me lately. You used to be really quiet."

"Nothing to say. Played all day, can't talk play. Fought all day, can't talk fight. Ate all day. Can talk food, but… Myaster no care."

"Hey, you can tell me about your day anytime," John laughed, fully taking a knee in order to embrace Mithra in a real hug. "I'm sorry I haven't been trying to talk with you enough. I thought you just didn't like me as much as Maera, or that you were jealous."

"Mithra love Maera. Mithra love Myaster. Is nice," Mithra sighed. "Mithra missed Myaster. Maera says Myaster stay longer this time?"

"I'm gonna be doing a lot of work, but… yeah, actually. A whole day this time. And I want to make you guys all gifts, but I have no idea what to do. What would you like?"

"Mithra just wants Myaster. Myaster stay with Mithra for a while?"

"I…" John grimaced, and Mithra immediately noticed. Her face fell as quickly as the smile had appeared, leaving John sputtering. "I have a lot to do, Mithra, but I'm sure I'll have some down time. What did you want to do?"

"Just… just be. Just spend time is all. Mithra wants her kittens to see Myaster lots."

"…"

John pulled back a little bit, extricating himself from the hug. Letting one of his arms drop, John grazed his hands across Mithra's bare stomach. He couldn't see or feel any indication of what was happening within yet, but Mithra's words struck home. Three of his creations had been living in what was realistically squalor since their creation. Now he had children on the way in… however the hell long a Neko took to give birth?

"Time is… probably the one thing I don't have much of. The hardest thing for me to give," John admitted. Mithra's eyes drooped to the ground, her tail hit the grass below her, and one of her arms slowly began to slide away.

"But I don't think that means I shouldn't give it. If anything, maybe that means it's the most important thing for me to give. I’m going to have some downtime, Mithra, no matter how busy it gets over the next twenty-four hours. I promise, I'll spend as much of that time as I can with you. Okay?"

"O-okay," Mithra said, sniffling a little bit as she glanced up and tried to smile again at John.

"I've been an awful myas-master," John whispered, throwing himself around Mithra once again, "and I would be an awful dad. I'm gonna fix that though, Mithra."

"I promise."