-Ricardo Montalban

John found himself awake before Seras later that morning, which was rather surprising. Then again, perhaps even newborn vampires got sleepy in the daylight? If that were true, she'd probably be out for a while, so John did his best to slip out of bed unnoticed and head for the shower. While he was going, he pulled up his menus and sorted through the remnants of yesterday's events, the things that he had never gotten around to.

Mostly, that consisted of the Growth Points he'd been ignoring. John had been so overwhelmed with his own improvements he'd ignored most of what his Purified creations had gained. It seemed like that consisted of only two things - stat points and growth points. By simply opening their pages, he immediately realized what they were. The same buttons that had been on his sheet after his Reincarnation were there, offering him the ability to raise up individual stats.

"So I can control their growth as well… guess that's not to be unexpected," John shrugged as he shut the bathroom door behind him and began to remove his clothes and various accessories from his inventory screen. "Kind of nice having my own adventuring party, actually."

Mithra had three, so John decided to split them between Strength, Agility, and Endurance. John considered Maera's four for a brief moment, though.

"…they get physically stronger the more they gain in their physical attributes, do the mental ones matter?"

It was a stupid decision really, considering that the Nekos had no way to use their mana except as a Siphon battery for him to take advantage of, but John felt a compulsion to find out. John upgraded Maera's Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Intellect all by one point. Whether that would make a difference or not, he'd have to see when he got back; between her latest level up and the point distribution, her Intelligence score had increased by a full third, so hopefully, it would be obvious now that they weren't all exhausted and falling asleep from the day's events.

After that, all he had left were Seras', which he put into Strength and Agility. He very nearly dumped them all into Endurance after her near-**** experience the other day… but eventually, his inner min-maxing nature won out over his fear of her putting herself in further harm's way. He'd done a lot to make sure she knew how much he valued her. He had to trust she wouldn't throw her life away, and this was a big step toward that trust.

John absentmindedly went through the motions of his daily hygiene rituals, all the while checking out the rest of his new additions. There was the Belt of Bonding which John had received from his latest quest and which he immediately made a mental note of so he didn’t forget to add it to his growing collection of trinkets when he got out of the shower. The bonuses to relationship gains and reduction to relationship losses were impressive and something he was going to need in case he had any more awkward conversations with Moira. Then there was the Harpy Egg.

John had expected it to be an artifact of some kind, or perhaps a crafting material at worst. Instead, it seemed to be exactly what was advertised, as evidenced by the description.

Harpy Egg: An egg, containing a fertilized embryo of a random harpy species. Under current conditions, the egg will hatch in: N/A hours [ERROR: Egg in temporal stasis while located in inventory].

"Shit… so even though I didn't Purify anything, I might have something new to take care of," John complained as he washed the shampoo out of his hair, "Last thing I need is more mouths to feed until I can get a sustainable food source going."

John could avoid that by simply keeping the egg in his inventory, though, so he stowed those concerns in the back of his mind for the time being. The last thing that caught his eye was something he'd been too rushed to discover before - a new tab. Beyond his own various tabs and the character sheets for his creations, John noticed one labeled simply as "Reincarnation". Clicking over to it, John saw a simple table with two columns.

"So that's where the dungeon options came from…" John murmured, glancing over the rest. Creation Experience must have been something new, because clearly Seras and the rest could already level up, but he was excited to see what else he could customize about his zones. Hopefully, those would allow him to get a food source going; he didn't know anything about farming, but a soil quality option or something similar might help if he went that route. Then again, his creations currently consisted of two catgirls, a canine-based woman of some indeterminate species, and a vampire. Vegetarianism didn't seem to be on the menu, literally or figuratively. Could he become John Newman, the Rancher? Didn't have quite the same ring to it as the Gamer.

John toweled off and realized that he had made a key mistake. In his sleepy state, he'd forgotten a very important thing - clothes. He was so used to having his bedroom to himself he didn't consider what he'd do once he walked back into his room clad in nothing but a towel. He couldn't very well change with Seras in there… he didn't want to risk her waking up before he could get fully dressed. Just being seen in a towel would be a little awkward after last night.

"Seras," John said, opening his door wide, "wake up."

"But I- awright!" Seras shouted, nearly leaping up in bed, saluting for effect. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were disheveled, which was only worsened when she bounced. Not only did John's clothes poorly fit her, but as with most boys his age with no girlfriend, there was not a bra to be found in his room. The awkwardly too-loose yet too-tight sweatshirt Seras wore had half-folded on her chest in her sleep, and now that she was moving rapidly about, her right breast found its way out entirely. It was sizeable enough that when it finally slipped the surly bonds of cloth, it stayed out, exposed entirely to the air and framed by the sheet and thick sweater around it.

"S-Seras!" John shouted, eyes locked on her suddenly freed chest. He'd seen her naked when she first formed, up until she eventually found clothes, but it had been long enough that the sudden nudity shocked him.

"Wha- I- Oh!" Seras threw her arms over her chest in an attempt to smooth the shirt back over her breasts. It worked eventually, but in the meantime she rapidly bounced both of her massive orbs, giving John quite a show even as she covered herself more.

"The shower's ready," John said quickly, attempting to cover for both of their embarrassment. "I know it's been a bit since you could clean yourself outside of a Lake. We're the only ones in the house, so take your time."

"Yeah, right away," Seras mumbled, shooting out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her. She jetted past John, who just made sure the door shut behind her before he dropped his towel and headed for the closet. He tried to adjust so that his renewed morning wood didn't slow his efforts too much.

By the time Seras eventually returned, her face red with heat and lingering embarrassment, John had thrown together an outfit that looked halfway decent. His usual strategy for attire was to grab whatever was on top of the pile, but with someone like Seras accompanying him, he found himself caring just a tad bit more what he looked like. A pair of well-fitting jeans and a t-shirt with a graphic design instead of a nerdy slogan or image from one of his games was the best he could come up with.

"All clean, Master… though I think these clothes are, um… well, you know, we’ve been fightin' an' all…"

Seras apparently found it difficult to admit to the minor odor and generally unsatisfactory state of her clothing. While Seras' body had healed, well, the clothes themselves had not. Where tears and holes were not present, bloodstains and other bodily fluids were.

"Yeah… pick something out; I'll go make something to eat. Then we'll go to the mall and get you some clothes that fit properly. Who knows, maybe we can even get something for the others. Though, I'm starting to think the Nekos might like their nudity, actually."

"M-maybe. Can you, um… can I change?" Seras asked, glancing at John. She didn't seem willing to ask him to leave, but it was clear she was not going to change until he left. John nodded a bit shyly, turning and heading for the door while avoiding her gaze.

"Sure. I'll be waiting downstairs. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”