Talks over a breakfast table.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP….BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

The very unromantic noise of his alarming clock ripped them out of their lovely haze with the **** of reality. They both looked at the blasted thing with anger and John used Possess to make the clock jump from the nightstand and land on the deactivate button. “Moment ruined.” Rave complained and pushed John of her. “Yep” He agreed and rolled of the bed.

“So, ehem.” John cleared his throat. “What are you actually doing here, Jane?” “I just felt like coming over.” She explained and picked up her clothes. “Just like that?” John dumbfoundedly asked “Just like that. What, I thought we already had the whole ‘Love seeing you first thing in the morning’-thingy-magics.” Rave picked up her clothes. “Well, yeah…okay, yes, different question.” John wasn’t done yet. “How did you get in?” “You mom let me in of course, dummy.” Rave laughed. “I am going to use your shower now so toss me a towel.”

John just pointed her at his closet, she was standing closer than he did. “Truth be told though I thought it would be messier in your room.” Rave admitted as she opened the door and went through his clothes. “Well, it was until recently.” John said and thought back the past few days. With about 1/3 of his free time activities (masturbating) obsolete or at least a less enthusiastic way to spend time he had levelled Possession by becoming pieces of thrash in his room and diligently jumping into the fitting bag. He had moved his furniture and used the vacuum cleaner the same way. Of course, only when he was sure his mom wasn’t around as he was not enthusiastic to get punished by Gaia.

John drew his clothes for the day from his inventory to his avatar and within seconds he was clothed. He found out he could do that just recently but it sure as heck made everything easier. With his powers, it seemed that creativity really was the limit. That and Mana. Creativity, Mana and Time. Creativity, Mana, Time and Money. Actually the ability had a lot of limits, just no oppressive ones.

Speaking of his powers he had gotten remarkably good at ignoring windows when they annoyed him, now that he had a second to review them however he looked what was on the menu for the morning.

“Hey, you know German, right?” John asked, “Ja. What about it?” “What does,” He cleared his throat, “Pardon my butchering of words ‘Morghen Sdund hart gold im Munt’, mean?” “Literally it means ‘Early hours have gold in the mouth’. It’s an idiom along the lines of ‘The early bird catches the worm’.” Rave explained. “Aaaah.” John understood as they left his room and Rave quickly hushed into the bathroom while he walked to the breakfast table.

“John Newman!” His mother said sternly as she set the table. “Yes?” John asked, he had a rough idea what was going on now. “I told you to introduce your girlfriend to me, not have her come over first thing in the morning on her own! Be a bit more pro-active will you!” He sighed, “I know, mom.” He tried to calm her, as per usual with mothers 'knowing' just wasn’t enough. “Then fix it! She seems to be a nice girl, would be a shame if you lost her somehow.” ‘I don’t know if nice is the adjective I would describe Jane with…but otherwise yes, absolutely.’ John thought and his mother sighed.

“Where is she by the way?” She wondered. “Shower.” He answered short and grabbed a piece of bread. “Oh?” Brenda Newman suddenly started humming “To be young again.” John acted like he didn’t hear that.

After about fifteen minutes Rave joined them at the table. She had her disguise set up and wore the school uniform. He hair was still slightly wet. “I borrowed your hair dryer, Mrs. Newman, hope that’s fine.” Rave said as she sat down. “No problem at all and please call me Brenda.” John’s mom insisted, “No holding back, eat with us.”

Rave had no intention of denying that request and grabbed some cornflakes. “So, how did you meet my son?” Brenda asked. “Well, there is this asshole at school.” Rave started as she poured milk into the bowl (AFTER the cornflakes) “He kinda started troubling John here so I punched the dick in the face.” Baffled silence. John eyed his mother with care as he waited how she reacted to the partially fabricated story. “Just like that?” “Well, no, I warned him, he insulted me. Knocked him out with one straight punch!” Brenda looked to her son for confirmation. “He tumbled through class and then fell to the ground, it was actually a funny view.” John choose to go down with the sinking ship as he gave a nodding smile.

His mom looked between the two adolescent rascals. “That is…okay?” She questioned the situation. “And then you two just got together?” “Well, I spoke to him because he looked interesting.” Jane said, “then stuff just…. worked out.” “Yep.” John affirmed, “Just kinda happened.”

Brenda crossed her arms over her enormous breasts. “Well…that is…” She hesitated but then snorted with laughter. “Oh well, you kids just be careful to not cause to much trouble.” She dismissed the whole thing. “When I was your age I had my share of ‘incidents’ too. I just hope John isn’t too much of a burden to you, Jane.” Rave shook her head, her straight brunette hair waving vehemently. “No, he paid me back already.” She smiled at him, “No worries.”

His mom shrugged and filled herself a cup of coffee. “Then it is fine. Enough about this though, tell me about you Jane, all I know is that you go to the same school as my son.” John sat there as Rave told a normal-person version of her life history, which was pretty much the same as the Abyss Version just that her parents were ‘International Business People’ instead of workers for some shady underground magic auction that sold everything from parrots over bullets to slaves.

“I take it you live in a good house then?” Brenda asked. “Ya could say that, it’s a corner building in the renewed district. It looks like the epidomy of boredom though.” Brenda tilted her head at Rave’s explanation. “There is a building like that?” She asked and pondered. John only now realized that Rave’s house probably looked that shabby and boring from the outside because, just like the games shop, it was meant to be ignored. It was probably a lot easier to enchant something with being hard to memorize if it was hard to notice in the first place. “Ja, but it’s not that great. Well, it’s good enough for me as dad is mostly out on trips.” “John’s father is gone most of the time as well.” Brenda sighed. “Regarding that actually….” She turned to John. “Your father and I are talking about moving.”

John started coughing on the orange juice he was drinking. He had just listened to the two of them talk and relaxed, so that attack came completely out of the blue and hit his precious stability with critical damage. “Say whuat?” He croaked. Rave looked a bit panicked as well. “Yeah, see, he will stay in Washington D.C. for a few months and his position there might be permanent if the higher-ups decide so.” His mom explained while drinking her coffee with composure. “The question is whether or not we take you with us.” She glanced at Rave, “But I guess in the current situation you’d rather stay.” “Damn right I’d rather stay!” John said in a worked-up tone.

Brenda kept her calm despite that and hummed to herself. Rave and John both waited for her to reach a decision. Nerves were strained as the only sound in the kitchen were Brenda’s pondering and the occasional tapping of water into the kitchen sink. “Okay, here is a suggestion, John.” She finally opened her ultimatum. “I will leave for Washington next week, at August first and be gone for a month. I will leave you with enough money to survive and pay the bills. When I come back and I find the apartment to be clean, the money to have been well-spent and your grades to be satisfactory you can stay here on your own. Otherwise you will come with me to Washington.”

John nodded without hesitation. ‘This should be manageable’ he thought. ‘I can make supplementary money via farming, well, if i can earn more than Travolta needs, and just keep cleaning with Possession. With my level of Wisdom and Intellect grades shouldn’t be a problem either.’ “I can do that.” He promised. “Great, I will pack my bags soon.” Brenda said and then locked at the clock. “Now out with you, you will be late!”