Warmth of a Redhead

Vivian wasn’t quite sure how things had ended with her splayed on John’s bed, her heart racing from a combination of having been flown in and now being alone, with John, in what amounted to her sleepwear, a pair of comfortable sweatpants and a tank top. She quickly righted her position, pulling herself up to sit cross legged on the bed.

“So,” John said, breaking the awkward silence, his voice low.

“Sorry for intruding,” Vivian cut him off, her voice breathy. “I was just going to call, but Aeolia insisted we could pop over. Well, we still should have called and...”

“Hey,” John interrupted her rambling, striding over and dropping down to sit next to her, a soft smile on his face. “It’s not a problem. I’m not going to say no to spending time with my girlfriends. Kind of surprised Aeolia bolted though.”

Vivian fidgeted, playing with the hem of her shirt. “Well, she said something about feeling bad about having spent more time with you than I have. Not that I have any problem with that, you guys had a day head start on things before I showed up. But I guess she does think she needs to not monopolize your time. Which I think is dumb, I like spending time with both of you. Goes with the whole dating thing and…”

Vivian clamped her mouth shut and shook her head. “Sorry. Got carried away there. We’ve got to figure out this Order thing, right?”

“Yeah,” John answered. “Uh, want to work at the computer? Figure a typed letter might look better.”

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” Vivian said with a smile. The pair moved to the computer and booted up a text document, the cursor blinking as they considered their words.

“It would be best to keep it short and professional,” Vivian stated as she made herself comfortable in John’s chair. “Something like, ‘We have information of a group targeting small guilds, luring them into traps, killing them and extracting their blood for unknown purposes.’ What do you think about that?”

“Sounds like a good start,” John answered from his spot behind her. “Wish we had a bit more to go on, like something they could visit and search for clues. Can’t give them the Dawnseeker HQ address since the goblins moved in. Not that there was anything to find there. I think we did a good enough sweep.”

“We could send them to where they attacked the Dawnseekers,” Vivian said with a frown. “Get Aeolia to give us the address.”

“Would there still be anything there?” John wondered. “I would think these guys would have made sure to collapse it once they were done.”

“Maybe,” Vivian agreed. “But you’d be surprised at how many people just leave Barriers up and running after they’re done with them. Plus, Aeolia left the Barrier after they had done their dirty work, so it seems they don’t care about others finding the aftermath of their attacks. They also didn’t collapse the Dawnseeker base.”

“Maybe,” John said, his tone uncertain. “I can see them leaving the base alone. They only went to raid and they thought they had killed all of its people. But something just doesn’t sit right with the idea they’d leave a Barrier full of dead people just sitting there.”

“Even if the Barrier did fade after Aeolia left,” Vivian pointed out, “there could be residual energies the Order could pick up on or signs in the mundane they could find. We’re reaching out to them, best to give them all we can.”

John nodded. “So we put in the address. Is that all we have?”

“It really isn’t a lot,” Vivian muttered, biting her lip cutely. “I know we don’t want to go all in with the Order, but having so little to give makes the whole thing seem a little bit pointless.”

“At least if we pull this off, I’ll get stronger and get an item we can use,” John pointed out. “Or sell, if it isn’t useful.”

“Fair point,” Vivian said, her expression still dour. “Still feels like it doesn’t do enough to help Aeolia get closure.”

“I get that,” John murmured, placing a hand on Vivian’s shoulder. “But the main plan is to get stronger and beat them ourselves. Getting the Order involved was always a bonus vector of attack.”

“Right,” Vivian relented. “Can’t make it if we don’t have skin in the game. If we wanted to cower behind the Order’s skirts, we could have gone right to them. Should we call Aeolia and get the address now, or wait for tomorrow and finish the letter before you head out?”

“Might as well check now and get it done,” John answered, pulling his phone from his Inventory and dialing Vivian’s phone. A few rings later, Aeolia answered.

“Something already came up?” the winged woman asked, her amused voice coming through the speaker along with the sound of wind. “I leave you two alone for five minuets. What’s up?”

“Well, we’re writing the thing for the Order,” John answered. “And Vivian and I think letting the Order know where you were attacked might be the best way to get them on the trail.”

The noise of rushing wind was the only thing coming over the phone for a second before Aeolia spoke, her voice low, “I guess that does make sense.”

Vivian motioned for John to move the phone closer to her, and once her mouth was near the microphone, she said, “We don’t have to do it if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Aeolia let out a small chuckle. “Looks like the student has become the master. No, it’s fine. The Barrier’s probably gone by now, but it couldn’t hurt giving them the scene of the crime. It was in Chinatown, right off of 34th Street. It was centered on an old warehouse. Is that everything?”

“Can’t think of any other info we can give them,” Vivian said as she added the Barrier location to their missive.

“Right,” Aeolia replied, her voice sounding a bit far off.

“Are you going to be ok?” Vivian asked.

“I’ll be fine,” the winged woman answered. “Think seeing the goblins will make things better. Making good out of bad, that sort of thing.”

“You don’t have to exile yourself for our sake,” Vivian argued.

“We’ll have plenty of time to be all lovey together,” Aeolia said, her tone a touch lighter. “But I think you two need some more one-on-one time. Fair’s fair after all. And now that we’ve got this Order thing out of the way, you two have the whole night to yourselves. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t. Bye!”

Aeolia hung up and John placed his phone down.

“Well, guess it’s just you and me tonight,” he said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

“Y-yeah,” Vivian stuttered out, her flustered state returning now that the important work was done. “Um, do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

John nervously looked to his door, then tilted his head down.

“I think Mom’s music is too loud for her to hear up here,” he reported, moving to open the door. John poked his head out to check. “Looks like she’s occupied. It’s just down the hall, on the left.”

“Thanks,” Vivian said, giving John a small smile. “But I can turn invisible. I think I can manage to avoid getting seen.”

“Oh, right,” John replied, a flush of red coloring his face.

Vivian giggled and slid past John into the hall, moving carefully, ready to twist the light away from herself. Her caution was not needed and Vivian carefully slipped into the bathroom. She ignored the toilet and stopped in front of the sink, her hands grasping the cold porcelain as she stared at her reflection, wincing at her unkempt hair.

‘Ok, Vivian,’ she thought to herself. ‘What’s the plan? This is really the first time you’ve been alone with John since we started this relationship, and he’s already slept with Aeolia. Is he going to expect the same thing? I figure that’s what Aeolia was thinking when she hatched this scheme.’

While taking the next step in their relationship wasn’t something that caused more than some uncertain jitters, more like the trepidation before riding an unfamiliar rollercoaster than real hesitation, the fact it was just John present gave her pause. While both he and Aeolia pressed her buttons individually, some of the same and some wholly by themselves, the combination of the pair had been burned into her mind from their show. And the idea of her first sexual encounter happening with both of them caused her heart to begin to race.

‘John won’t have a problem with that, right?’ she questioned her reflection, running a hand through her hair to fix her flight tangled locks. Horrible thoughts tried to invade her mind, of John reacting poorly to her request, but she shook them from her head.

‘We’re going to be honest with each other,’ Vivian resolutely thought. ‘If we aren’t, then what’s the point of the relationship?’

Her will strengthened, Vivian took a breath, did one final pass over her hair and crept out of the bathroom.

---

Once Vivian passed out of the room, John let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. His body was tense with nervous energy and he hoped Vivian hadn’t noticed his unease.

‘Why am I so on edge?’ he wondered as he paced the room. ‘It’s not like this is the first time I’m alone with Vivian.’

His eyes flicked to his bed, and his mind flashed back to Vivian lying on it, her hair fanned out behind her, and John gulped as the realization hit. This was the first time he was the more experienced partner and a day and two sexual encounters didn’t really give him the most impressive resume.

‘Man, I’m going to screw this up,’ John lamented, thinking that Vivian was primping herself in the bathroom, expecting things to turn sensual. ‘Aeolia had some experience and she took the lead when we did it, at least at first. But Vivian doesn’t and I don’t know if I can do it right.’

John considered casting Wellspring and letting the boost to his Libido take the lead, but dismissed the idea, the romantic part of his brain wanting to make things as natural as possible for their first time.

‘And if things fall apart, I don’t want to deal with that without an outlet,’ the pessimistic part of his mind butted in, and John shook his head to clear away the dark thought. The soft click of his door opening caused him to spin towards it and Vivian darted in. John noticed her hair was less of a mess and he swallowed his nerves, ready to take the next step.

“So…” both he and Vivian said in sync, causing the pair to blush at their unintended echo, though it did ease some of John’s tension.

Vivian cleared her throat. “You first.”

John shook his head, wanting to hear the redhead’s words first, so he could temper his response. “No, you’re my guest. The floor is yours.”

Vivian looked a touch uneasy and took a breath.

“I...” she began, her words obviously being chosen with care, “I know what Aeolia likely intended to happen tonight. It’s kind of obvious, especially after last night. And not that I don’t want to do that, you know, with you. I do, but I kind of want to take that plunge with both of you... Together.”

By the time she had finished, her voice had gone from low conversional volume to nearly a whisper and her blush had grown. But she managed to keep her eyes on John as she gave her confession, brown eyes behind green glasses hopeful he would take it well.

While the tantalizing thought of Vivian’s ideal first time was enough to cause John’s cock to twitch in his pants, the relief of not having to try and make a memorable experience for her kept his arousal to a manageable level, and he couldn’t help but to let out a small chuckle.

“You know,” John said, scratching the back of his neck, “I was kind of worried about living up to your expectations. Figured it should be something memorable. And it seems Aeolia and I will have to plan something special for that.”

Vivian let out her own small laugh, now bashfully looking away from John, her blush still present. “I know it’s silly, but I was a little worried you’d be a bit put out by that.”

John frowned at that, strode the short distance over and pulled Vivian into a hug, surprising the redhead for a second before she relaxed into his embrace.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be the sort of guy to demand anything like that,” John muttered into her hair. “And if I do, I’m giving you and Aeolia the right to blast some sense into me. Hell, if I start being dumb in any way, blast me. Better safe than sorry.”

Vivina chuckled. “With how your powers work, you’re probably going to be smarter than me and Aeolia pretty quick.”

“Offer still stands,” John insisted. “I’d bet even with a hundred in those stats, I’ll still end up doing something stupid.”

Vivian let out another small laugh that shifted into a yawn, a mortified expression crossing her face. John’s own yawn helped to alleviate her embarrassment.

“Looks like we’re both too wiped from everything else to worry about any strenuous late night activities,” John joked, wiping away any remaining tension.

“Yeah,” Vivian murmured, a thoughtful look crossing her face. “Do, do you think we could, um, lie down? I mean, like this?”

There was no way for John to say no, not with the pleading look on Vivian’s face.

“Might be a tight squeeze,” John said with an amused lilt in his voice.

Vivian managed a small, sly smile. “I don’t think that’s a downside.”

“Well then, who am I to deny a lady’s request,” John said and lifted Vivian off her feet, managing to navigate them to his bed. John fell down, dragging Vivian with him, eliciting a giggle from the redhead as they bounced on the springy surface.

The pair simply relaxed in each other's embrace and John couldn’t help but to compare the feel of Vivian pressed against him to when Aeolia was in her place. The redhead, while by no means unfit, was more plush than Aeolia’s battle toned figure and John’s fingers found themselves digging into Vivian’s flank.

“Hey,” Vivian breathed out, “I’m ticklish.”

“Was that a request to stop?” John teased, his fingers flexing around her midsection.

“I don’t think breaking into a laughing fit and drawing your mother’s attention would be a good thing,” Vivian pointed out, dousing John’s desire to tease her.

“Yeah, that’s a good point,” John remarked, his grip on Vivian’s side relaxing. “So, any other requests from the lady?”

“Well,” Vivian said, “you kind of brushed over what happened with the goblin leaders. And not knowing is kind of annoying.”

“Guess I was kind of just done with everything,” John admitted quietly. “The goblins had me fight some summoned creature called a barghest. Thing was pretty much immune to my magic attacks so I had to go in with my swords. I think the head goblin wanted me to fail and figured I looked more like a casting type and picked a perfect counter.”

Vivian cuddled deeper into John’s side. “Why would they want that? Teri made it pretty clear they were nearly worn down before they lost most of their fighters.”

John shrugged; the weariness of the day, coupled with the comfortable position he was in, was drawing him closer to sleep. “I think the head goblin guy wanted to keep it so they wouldn’t have to get help from outsiders, but between losing their warriors and me proving to be somewhat competent, he had **** but to take our offer of friendship.”

“Doesn’t sound like a very good leader,” Vivian muttered, her own tiredness catching up to her as she nestled her head into the crook of John’s neck. “He should put the safety of his people above all else and not play some stupid game like that. Probably cares more about maintaining power than his people.”

“Maybe,” John said, closing his eyes to bask in the fruity scent of Vivian’s hair. “But I think we’re too burned out to really question the motive of an old goblin.”

Vivian nodded into John’s neck. “Mind if I store my glasses in your Inventory?”

“Mi casa, su casa,” John answered, flexing the little bit of Spanish he knew as he moved his right arm over to touch Vivian’s eyewear. They vanished off her face and Vivian gave him a tired smile before she buried her face into John’s neck.

“Hmm,” she hummed. “That’s better. But I think we moved a little too fast. Light’s still on.”

John reluctantly moved his eyes from her and focused in on his light switch.

“I think I can deal with the lights from here,” John said, fully manifesting his wind spirit. The green swirling mass of wind floated over to the switch. John felt as the breeze caressed the switch, like he had numerous flexible fingers now. He focused those streams and pushed down on the switch, killing the room’s main light.

“Guess your lesson with Mason went alright,” Vivian muttered. “There’s still the computer.”

“Don’t think I have enough control to properly shut it down,” John said. “But I should be able to just turn the monitor off.”

John willed the spirit across the room and focused the winds into something more like a single finger to push the monitor’s button. It flashed off, dropping the room into a more complete darkness, only the single light indicating the computer was still on and the streetlamps outside providing meager illumination.

“Better?” John asked, letting the spirit fade back into his aura.

Vivian nodded while letting out a small hum. “Maybe tomorrow we can do some testing of your abilities instead of fighting in a Barrier.”

“Yeah,” John agreed, having had his fill of fights for a while. “Only pulled off my win against the barghest cus I got an unexpected boost from using two stat buffing abilities. Need to go over everything and see if I’ve missed some use or synergy.”

Vivian hummed and pulled herself closer to John, kissing him briefly before nuzzling her face into his neck. John closed his eyes and let Vivian’s shallow breathing and the comforting warmth of her embrace lull him to sleep.

---

Brenda cracked her back as she made her way to the bathroom, grateful that she had finally put the finishing touches on that file.

‘Well, hopefully that’s the final bit for it,’ she sighed as she reached the dark second floor. She glanced over at John’s door, seeing no light peeking out from under it.

‘Guess John really was wiped out. I can’t remember the last time he turned in this early.’

She made her way to the bathroom, ready to clean away the day’s makeup from her face before turning in. As she moved to turn on the sink, she paused, noticing something odd in the basin: a long strand of red hair. She picked up the hair, her thoughts shifting back to John’s somewhat evasive behavior before dinner.

‘He’s not lying about that job, is he?’ she wondered for a moment before banishing that question, not wanting to believe her son would lie about something like that. Sneaking a girl in was something she could fathom, her own youthful dalliances with his father before they married coming to mind.

‘Still,’ she thought with a pout on her lips, ‘I suppose as a mother I should be a little miffed that he felt he had to be sneaky about it, then again I thought he would be too caught up in his games to ever meet a girl so I’ll count this as a victory. But, I should probably check up on him. Just to be safe. It is a mother’s duty after all.’

Brenda slipped out of the bathroom, carefully moving towards John’s door. When she reached it, she held her breath and slowly opened the door. The dim light made things hard to see, but Brenda could make out two lumps on her son’s bed, cuddled close.

‘Looks like I’ll have to make a little bit more for breakfast,’ she thought as she quietly closed the door, her mind already coming up with questions to ask her son and his redheaded ‘friend’.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.