Filling the Void

"Gosh, they're so adorable!" Aria said as the kittens scampered away, drawn by the sound of Mithra calling them in for one last snack of the evening. She brushed at her dress, though the crimson and violet fabric didn't seem at all creased by the energetic cluster of kittens she'd endured. "Are they always this hyper?"

"Well, you are a brand new face, and they don't get to see many of those. And apparently Maera and Mithra locked them down when they saw the smoke," John explained. "So they were pretty excited to see us come back safe. But, uh, yeah, honestly, they're usually still kinda crazy. At least when they aren't napping."

"Sorry about the panic I caused, everyone. Again," Aria mumbled, shrinking in on herself.

"Don't worry about it. It's just that we've only had one fire break out here before bad enough to send up a cloud of smoke like that, and it didn't exactly leave any great memories."

"Yeah, I hear fire isn't big among mortals. Though most of my reading was about humans, and a lot of the people you've gathered here don't exactly seem to fit that description..."

Aria's eyes traveled around the room and passed over the others, catching the backside of most of them as many returned to their own rooms for the night. There was still a touch of shock and awe in her expression, a look that had started back when she first laid eyes on the others in the fields outside, and had continued to grow as she learned more about her new home.

They'd spent most of the afternoon and early evening with the introductions, including a brief tour of the house and an introductory level explanation of John's powers, the situation at large, and everyone's "individual brand of bullshit", as Lerianna had so eloquently put it.

"Well, it's a bit of a melting pot of races, I'll give you that. Has its perks, though - like nobody ever having to worry about whether they fit in or not."

John had thought introducing a demoness to the group would be the awkward part, but everyone more or less took it in stride. Even Yvara had only seemed slightly perturbed, a feeling that quickly seemed to evaporate when Aria explained why she was there, and the exact nature of her new bond with John.

"Yeah, that was nice. I've heard that part doesn't always go over well," Aria admitted sheepishly. "The most dangerous part of coming to the mortal world is being summoned, because you never know who's doing the summoning until you're there, but I've heard from the other incubi it can be almost as bad to stay for too long. One day you're living in paradise, making some lucky guy or gal's entire night, every night, and the next day you're getting chased out of town by an angry mob. Assuming your summoner doesn't just banish you at the first sign of trouble, or try selling you out."

"Well you shouldn't have to worry about that here. I'm not saying we're perfect, but we solve the problems we have," John said resolutely, giving an affirmative nod. "You can stay as long as you like, Aria."

Aria glimmered with joy, giggling a little as she nodded in reply to his own. "That works great for me! I'd love to stay as long as you'll have me."

"Right, well, it's getting late, I'll probably head up to my room for a bit." John brushed himself off slightly, chasing away a few stray hairs from the kittens as he stood.

"The rooms that are occupied are all marked, so if you need anything, stop by my room and let me know. There are two rooms on the first floor and two on the second floor that are empty—they just finished building a couple of days ago, so they should be just about spotless. You can pick whichever one you want. Oh, and let me know what you want in terms of furniture, supplies, whatever you need that you can't make on your own. Everyone's kind of added their own touches, and I can Craft most stuff you can think of. If it's mundane, we've probably got enough basic materials around here to make on the spot; if it's magical, it might take a couple of days to farm the supplies."

"Right. Dungeons, you said. And stuff just appears when you kill monsters?"

"Yeah. Sounds kind of ridiculous, I know." John gave the barest of smirks, more than accustomed to hearing that skeptic tone by now.

"I mean, a little, but it's also really cool. I think it's awesome that your powers are based on video games. It's like you're a living version of one of my Last Legend games!"

"Yeah, kind o-" John paused in mid-word, his mind taking a moment to replay what he'd just heard. "Wait, you play Last Legend? You have Last Legend in your world? Err, more surprisingly, in Hell?"

"Of course! I told you I tried out all kinds of hobbies and stuff down there to make sure I could share interests with people, didn't I?" Aria said, quirking an eyebrow in a rather challenging way. "I don't care if you do call yourself "The Gamer", if you ever wanna get your butt kicked at Road Warrior 8, it's game on!"

"...Huh. Might have to Craft a few more of those mana power converters and set up a proper entertainment station," John mused, a nostalgic contentment passing over him. "Tell you what, when you're making that list of furniture, how about you throw every console and every game you've played on there? Don't hold back, give me the full list. I'll see what I can scrounge up next time I'm on a shopping run."

"Ooh, that could be lots of fun for us to do together. I'll go get that list going right now!"

Aria was off in a flash, her heels clicking in a pronounced manner as she walked, her hips swaying a little more than strictly necessary. John watched the dark, velvety dress sashay away for a moment, not missing the smirk on Aria's face as he did so. His strides took him to the base of the stairs just as he heard one of the doors down the far hallway open and shut—John set a mental reminder to go check which of the two she'd taken and mark it properly. The soundproofing and magical lock would have to come later, when they weren't saving every scrap of material for possible use in war preparation.

His feet had only carried him a few paces along the landing before Farrah stepped out from her room. Her brown curls swayed surreptitiously as she panned her head around the second floor and glanced down into the lobby below, seemingly ensuring that they were properly alone.

"Pssst. Hey, John," Farrah whispered, beckoning him with one hand as if she weren't still whispering more than loudly enough to be heard.

"Are we whispering for a reason?" John replied, raising his voice a little bit louder than hers. Farrah shot him a dirty look, but nodded firmly all the same.

"Did you notice anything off about her while you two were together?"

The bemused smirk left John's face in an instant, and a touch of shadow fell over the boost to his mood he'd had over the last few hours. Farrah physically winced as John's mood took the abrupt turn, though her lips remained sealed as she awaited a reply.

"Not to the best of my knowledge. I checked everything I could on her; character sheet, Observe values for relationship and alignment, all that," John said slowly. As he spoke, he moved to join Farrah, who hastily stepped out of the way to let him inside. "Why, did you notice something I missed?"

"No, no- well, yes. Maybe? It might be nothing bad," Farrah said, dropping the whispering as the lock clicked into place but keeping her voice low all the same. "I just, err, she feels off? Mismatched. Kind of hollow, too. It's like she's…"

Farrah made a gesture with her hands, one that she seemed to be quite vigorously confident in, but which left John somewhat stumped. He saw her gestures create what looked like a bird, a reverse explosion, and an egg—one that Farrah swiftly punched, for some reason.

"You might have to use your words on this one," John said, expression teetering on bewilderment.

"Oh, phoo," Farrah pouted, stomping her foot lightly. "I barely know how to explain it to myself."

"Well, okay, let's start at the beginning. What was this bird thing you made?" John said, lacing his fingers together and wiggling them slightly, mimicking her earlier gesture.

"A bird?!" Farrah half-screeched, slapping her palms into her own face and running her nails angrily through her bangs. "It's not a bird, you jerk! I'm trying to show her shining!"

"Shining sounds... good?" John said hesitantly, glancing down at his awkwardly placed fingers.

"Yeah, it is. It's what you guys always feel like when you're super eager for something, really excited to get started. I feel it a lot when- um, y'know, just when people are looking forward to something. Like, uh, eating." Farrah widened her eyes a little, her tone becoming a lot less energetic as she fumbled over her words.

"That still sounds like a good thing."

"Kind of, but it's not... it's real, but it's not all there. Like, the core of it all is missing." Farrah put her hands together and pulled her fingers together, undoing the rays. As she pulled her fingers out, her palms cupped each other, forming a hollow sphere with her palms and fingers. "It's like she's all sunshine and rainbows on the outside, but not on the inside."

"And what's on the inside? Something bad?"

"No, not even that. There's nothing. Just..." Farrah shrank the sphere down to one hand, using the other one to somewhat obscenely fist right through it, waving at John as she stuck her whole hand through her other palm. "Empty. Maybe there's a glimmer here or there, but it's just kind of empty."

"And you have no idea what that means?"

"None! I'm not even sure I'm explaining it right." Farrah gave a heaving sigh, flopping against the wall in exaggerated despair. "Like she's not really ‘shining’ the way the rest of you are, even that part feels sort of flimsy. And that part in the center isn't just a blank spot. I don't 'feel' emptiness, because that would mean I'd feel all the air and the furniture around us all the time. It's like there's a 'solid' nothingness. So is it actually empty? Is it maybe hidden from me somehow? Or it could be a new emotion I've never felt before and just don't understand. But then why would it be in the middle of everything else? I've never felt-"

Farrah stopped herself short, a contemplative look lingering on her expression for a moment.

"Actually, I suppose Aclysia did feel somewhat similarly. It was different, but back when you first brought her to life, she had that same sort of sensation—like a shell wrapped around a void of... something. Something different. It changed as she started to eat more of the things you brought back from dungeons, and as she learned a little bit more about feeling. This one isn't quite the same, but it's the closest I've ever felt," Farrah explained. "And I didn't really start to hone in my abilities until Aclysia was already on her way to developing, so maybe this is what she felt like at the start?"

"That's very helpful," John said gratefully, stepping a little closer to Farrah. He hardly had to begin opening his arms before Farrah was gliding in to meet him, eagerly slipping her arms under John's own and giving him a firm squeeze. "Hopefully, whatever you're feeling is just a result of what she is, but I'm glad you let me know."

"Of course," Farrah said, the worried notes in her voice now overpowered by the satisfied sigh she gave as she nuzzled into the crook of John's neck. "I can't really fight like the others, or make anything useful for you, but I can see things other people can't. I'd feel bad if I kept something to myself and it ended up getting you hurt."

"You don't need to fight or build things to be useful. None of you do," John reassured her, brushing his fingers up Farrah's spine to soothe the curve of her neck. "Just having you here is more than I ever dreamed of."

"You're sweet. And it's nice that I can tell you mean it." Farrah giggled and was in the process of opening her mouth to say something else when a loud ringing sound startled them both.

"Sorry, that's just my phone," John said immediately, keeping one arm pressed into the small of Farrah's back while he worked his menus with the other. "Not used to it going off here yet, it kind of caught me off-guard. Looks like Moira's sent me something. Oh, not just one. And not just her…"

John's eyes briefly skimmed the list of notifications as they popped up in a rapid sequence, catching enough words and phrases scattered through the alerts to know they were discussing the upcoming training.

"Must be something important. You feel like you just turned to steel," Farrah observed, smirking and letting out a little titter of laughter as she poked his chest. "Nope, pretty hard, but still human!"

"Moira and Kim are finalizing the details of this week-long training session I've been talking about," John explained quietly, glancing between the phone and the beautiful woman cradled against him. "I should probably go help sort things out. It's only three days away, and the more things we have finalized, the more work we can get done instead of discussing things beforehand. Or fixing things if they go wrong."

"Okay, okay. I still want my day after you get back, y'know," Farrah said, sticking her tongue out at John. "Especially if you're going to be gone for a whole week!"

"I'll-" John intended to object, to say that he'd at least return to his world while Kim and Moira were rotated out for sleep or general recovery, but that wasn't much of a comfort. Even if he was technically here, he'd be bouncing in and out of Barriers so much he'd only get a handful of words off every half-hour or so, at best.

"Mmhmm. You know I'm right," Farrah taunted, reaching up and poking the tip of John's nose.

"Yeah. I'll probably use both days after the training so that you and Aclysia can both have your days," John affirmed. "Though I'll need at least a few hours here and there to get things sorted for the road trip, I assume. I don't have to move an entire regiment out like the others since I can bring everyone along from here as is, but…"

"You can do that while the rest of us are asleep, mister," Farrah said, this time jabbing him in the chest, and a little less gently. "And what about Aria?"

"Aria just joined us. I think she can wait until the next rotation." John reached up and gave Farrah's hair a gentle tease, slipping his fingers through her soft brown locks. "Now, I should go before Kim and Moira start really tearing into each other."

"Alright." Farrah put on her best pouty face as she stepped back from John, keeping her finger up to point accusingly at him. "Just don't go forgetting about the rest of us while you're out swinging that sword around!"

"I've never forgotten any of you for a moment, and I'm not about to start now," John promised, smirking as he turned for the door, giving Farrah a brisque wave as he spun on his heel. He already had his phone in his hand, the alerts still layering atop one another every few seconds with some new jab or other between the two prideful girls.