Boring at first and then terrifying

Morning found you before you wanted it to, however being an adult with a job now... you kind of had to wake up with the Sun.

You threw on your clothes and your cloak, rugged things, most of it a gift from your uncle.

Only been out here a few months but you'd found a place to stay when not out working.

Renting a whole house wasn't cheap.

Being an adventurer, taking missions on the frontier, it paid well and the fast expansion of the newly opened land meant there was plenty of houses going up.

It was working, everything was going well.

Nobody suspected or noticed you weren't just another War God worshiper.

Ten missions deep and you've been able to hide everything.

Crossbow and sword for the enemy, fake potion and real healing for your teammates.

There is only one problem that seemed to be creeping up on you.

Before leaving you looked in the mirror, again.

You hadn't imagined it yesterday after getting home, the slight crook of your nose had straightened and a blemish on the side of your face, that had been with you since you were born, was gone.

That wouldn't have been an issue, in fact you would have taken it as an extra blessing, until you noticed that your 6 foot 4 height, exceptionally tall for the common folk but short compared to the mountains of your family, had shrunk.

Not a lot but just enough for you to notice.

The door frame you had to duck every day, no longer threatened you.

Bits of change in the body because of your God what's uncommon, as you serve or exercise the tenants or even just operated in a way congruent with them, your God might slowly bless you with a body more able to carry out their will and closer to their ideal subject.

You suspected that being both the sacrifice and the subject meant you were going to experience that quicker.

It was another inconsistency with your story that might be noticed.

Rotating between cobbled together groups would help people not notice.

However you had been grouping together with someone more and more.

Her name was Kay, you've been slowly building a friendship there, you both seem to be the odd man out when it came to expectations.

The mission office saw you both as oddities that could cancel each other out.

She was technically a support but she had a habit.

The more frustrated or angry she got, the more you'd find her on the front line, stabbing the ever-loving shit out of whatever had caused her grief.

It was this loose cannon nature that made it hard for her to find a team, and it was her healing skill that was the only reason none of her teammates had paid the price.

Your friendship had started after you covered her slot when you saw her break formation.

Crossbow bolts flew, and Potions administered.

Others had been forced to step in for her before, you not giving her shit for it afterwards meant she actually apologized, instead of being an abrasive brat.

She wasn't the healthiest best friend, but she was the only one you had out here.

If anyone would notice changes in you, it would be her, you just hoped she wasn't familiar with the changes the god you supposedly served normally gave out.

Thankfully the cloak hid some of it.

---

Kay was the only one at the meeting site when you got there, absently tossing one of her knives up and catching it by the point before doing it again.

She had on sturdy trousers, a drop leg utility bag, her throwing knives and her 'stabbing' knives along her belt, another harness full of the same that went across their torso, a short sleeve shirt, and arm bracers I knew hid two push daggers.

She carried none of the mundane healing items most low tier healers did, all the space was taken up with more throwing knives.

You'd seen her heal, she had a decent grasp on her gifts.

No that was a lie, she was honestly impressive.

Her mentality just didn't seem to fit.

"Hey Kay, you got your knives sharp?" Lame ice breaker, but you were not all there yet.

" Oh you know it pretty boy, I always know I can get in some Frontline action when I've got you to back me up."

" I swear, my family would have loved you more than me, so would our God. What the hell made you choose a god of healing with the attitude you've got?"

Huff "Didn't get a choice in that one."

"Fair enough about the same here, they would've preferred I didn't do this at all, but if I was going to, there was only one option they'd let me get away with."

"Oh? Is the real reason why you carry all the potions, wish you could have been one of us healer types?"

"I mean, I guess it is now, my original reason I told you is still why I started carrying them. A promise." It always sucked lying to your only friend out here, but it was better than the truth.

Still you got closer to the truth with her than anyone else.

"Fair enough, you cover my temperamental ass pretty well."

"Ha! Temperamental ass is a pretty good description for you," seems our other teammates have arrived and they were coming together, so I'm guessing this was a duo we got paired with. "How you been Kay? Had to have your ass pulled out of the fire since the last time I saw ya? "

" Brick, doing pretty well ya' bastard. Still whining that your healer got the last kill instead of healing that paper cut?"

"An arrow grazed me, I was bleeding! You could have let somebody else get the last one. "

"You would have been fine, you were fine, besides that other guy with us wasn't even looking the right way. They would have got off another arrow if I hadn't stabbed them."

The team could not handle this type of incohesion before we even started...

"I'm sure all that was really frustrating, but can we get to work, I can cover her spot if she steps out of position and you can 'not be a little bitch' about it. "

"God save me, there's two of them now." that was our fourth, a friend of this Brick I guess.

"Let's just get on with it, the sooner we get this done the sooner we don't have to deal with Kay and her boytoy."

Kay bristled as they walked by, heading in the direction of our mission, I put my hand on her shoulder. "We've dealt with assholes before, sometimes we are the assholes, let's just get going. "

"Fine..." Something changed on her face, "uh did something happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your face it looks different"

Fuck. "It must be a trick of the light or something, let's move. Besides this is supposed to be easy, I want to get it done quick, you still owe me a drink from that bet we made last mission."

"Fine fine, be ready to step in because I'm already irritated and I am going to need to let off some steam before we're done."

"Kay, you say that like I haven't been on your team in eight of the last 10 missions, I know how you get, i'll be ready. "

---that night, halfway through the mission.

"Hey, why do you put up with me?"

"Kay?"

I guess if there's a time to get introspective it's going to happen around the campfire.

"I'm abrasive, I cause you to get into fights with the rest of the team, you've got to do my job half the time when I go off the handle? Why do you put up with me?"

"Why the insecurity all the sudden? Is this about what Brick said this morning?"

"No, maybe? ... Because I saw you looking at the duo sign up sheets and then glancing at me the other day. "

Seems the thought that had been in your mind didn't only stay there, she had noticed pretty quickly.

"Well you're my friend you're the only one I really get along with here."

That didn't seem to be enough for her.

"Let's cut the shit. Why? Do you like me? Are you attracted to me and you're too much of a wuss to say it, so you want to get us on a team together so you can play that whole friendly crush BS?!" Did brick's boytoy comment really hit her that hard?

"No?!" She wasn't quite having a freak out but she did seem to need to get something off her chest and kept going despite your answer.

"Because if you are, give up on that, I don't exactly like guys."

" Okay so you like girls I guess, I don't know why that means we can't be teammates,"

"Because I've done the song and dance, I'm not going to let myself get attached to a friend if they're just going to pull that shit. I'm a bit too abrasive for most people, unless they want something."

"You're not that abrasive, I've dealt with way worse, honestly surprised you don't have more friends out here. I mean, just get in a fight with a few and then buy 'em a drink after, how I was taught to make friends. "

"Hey you don't have many either, so don't go lecturing me on that, and that doesn't really work for somebody like me, I've tried that a few times, they still just want to get my pants. "

"Low blow but true, also that kind of sucks, I'm sorry. "

"Why don't you have other friends? "

"Well mostly because I don't like that kind of stuff, reminds me too much of growing up. Loved my family but... "

"I get it, too much pressure to be the type person they want, right?"

"Yeah I miss em but that will always leave a sour taste of my mouth, if you want to answer why I put up with your shit it's cuz you're the only one out here who gets it. That pressure. "

"Fair enough, when we get back if you promise to never try to get into my pants we'll sign up as a Duo."

"Fair , you're not my type anyways."

"Excuse you! I'm everybody's type."

"Well you can never be accused of not having confidence. "

---------Next day

" Kay! DOWN! "

Thank the Gods she ducked in time.

Things are gone sideways fast, this was supposed to be a mission a bunch of us low-tier Misfits could do.

N/A : types and grammar, let me know if I missed any.