Productive morning.

It was early and the girls were sleeping, so I kept myself busy for a while by cleaning up the mess we left last night. Although it wasn’t that much of a mess, really. Some bottles of beer here and there, some glasses on the table, an empty plate of snacks… Oh, and funny thing about my little cleaning spell: it doesn’t seem to work on anything solid and larger than a grain of sand. I tried it on a dirty glass, and though harder to clean than… sex stains, it still worked. It didn’t do a thing to the small crumbs on the snack plate, however.

I get the feeling it’s not a matter of power or even control, though. I think it’s… my own lack of imagination. I can’t realistically picture something solid just… disappearing into thin air. My basic understanding of the law of conservation of mass sort of prevents me from getting it right. Similarly, I think it works on stains because there was this detergent commercial I watched as a kid where they showed stain particles just disappearing, and that’s kind of how I picture the spell working.

I finished doing that pretty quickly, and it was only 9:00 am. Nothing to do anymore, so… with surprising giddiness, I went up the stairs to the third floor, ignored the door to the music room (which would also lead to the sex room) and instead went into the game room.

I’d been so busy that I hadn’t played a game in a while, and with this big TV here and Noelle’s explicit permission to use whatever I wanted, I was excited to play something.

The game room was cozy in a way other rooms in the house weren’t. We did use the same carpet and pains as we did in the sex room, but the sofas were softer, the kind you can almost sink into. The shelves by the walls had all of Noelle’s physical games collection, which was vast and covering several generations. Most of the money she made being a V-tuber went to that, until recently.

Not every console was pulled to the big TV, only three. I picked up one of the controllers, pressed a button and one of the most modern consoles turned on. I browsed the digital library and picked a port of an old action game.

I was in there alone, happily playing for about an hour when I started to hear more movement from outside. The girls were starting to wake up. I expected they’d take a shower then want to have breakfast, so I was ready to quit the game, if a bit reluctantly, and go down to the kitchen again.

Instead, the door to the game room opened.

“What’re you playing?” Noelle asked me, peeking through the door and rubbing her tired eyes. She was wearing only her T-shirt and her panties.

“DMC4,” I told her.

“Oh!” That woke her up a bit more and she rushed in, jumping to sit next to me to my left. Sarah and Fernanda trailed behind her, both looking just as sleepy and wearing much the same style of fashion.

“Everyone alright?” I asked, not looking away from the TV. Sarah sat down to my right and Fern sat down on one of the sofa chairs.

“Fuck yeah,” Sarah said, leaning against my shoulder. “Last night was fun, right Fern?”

Fern’s cheeks heated up, but she smiled and nodded. A yawn caught her answer, though. “Sorry…”

“Not a morning person, huh?”

“Not really…” Fern admitted. “I’m surprised I woke up so early, actually.”

“It happens when you stay somewhere unusual,” Sarah told her.

“Oliver, there’s a secret to the left there,” Noelle told me, nudging and pointing at the screen.

“I know, I know.”

“There’s also a blue orb around here.”

I chuckled. “I’m aware.”

“Have you finished this before?” Sarah asked me.

“Yep. I like this game.”

Fern looked at the screen with scrutinizing eyes. “Is that… a sword with a motorcycle handle?”

“Cool, right?” I said.

“Yes, actually.” Fern chuckled. “It reminds me of the chainswords in 40k.”

“In what?” Sarah asked.

“Ah, it’s a sort of… table top game with a heavy fantasy and science fiction background.”

“Wait, you play that?” Noelle asked. “I’ve been meaning to get into it…”

Fern smiled shyly. “I don’t… play it, per se. I don’t have anyone to play it WITH. I just assembled and painted an army for the fun of it.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Army? And wait, you paint them yourself?”

Again, Fern nodded. “It’s part of the hobby. You glue these miniatures together and paint them to build your army and then play a sort of war game against someone else’s army.”

“I hear the lore is pretty deep,” I said, only knowing about the franchise by osmosis.

“Seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to play a board game…” Sarah said.

“It kind of is,” Fern admitted. “But building and painting in itself is fun.”

“I build model kits, but it’s painting that has been scaring me away from the hobby. I know I’d just make a mess out of those detailed models.”

“Um… I’m sure I can help you paint them, if you’d like,” Fern offered. “I… could even do it for you, but I think you build a stronger bond with your miniatures if you paint them yourself.”

“...” Noelle mulled it over for a moment. “You know what? I’ll do it. I’ve been eyeing the hobby for like a year, and I’m sure I can also make a few videos about it.”

“Look at her, she’s already a pro,” I said, chuckling. “Making content out of everything.”

“Yes, and I still need you to play XIV with me. I’ll make videos out of that, too.”

I nodded. “I promised I would.” I saved the game, quit and turned the console off. “But for now, you all go take a shower while I prepare breakfast. Anyone up for pancakes?”

Their eyes lit up.

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