I calmed down and tried to 'grasp' the bond. I felt a tether forming. I thought 'Going', and whispered inside my mind, picturing the word going through and reaching Lapia. The link grew thicker for a second and my voice echoing into the distance.
"That's neat." I said. "I sent it."
"Already?" Alyssa sounded surprised.
"I'm a Halve. Maximum E'er compatibility." I said with as much smug as I could muster.
We were nearing the inner wall, guards posted on its sides.
I waved at them as we passed and a few warriors saluted back. Is it the military oriented class? I shrugged. Maybe it's just the high level and species. Haven't seen any golden person other than me.
We went through into the city proper, the clamor of voices and animals alike surrounding us. It was already afternoon, a flood of people going about. I assumed it was lunchtime for everybody.
"Yes. It's impossible to forget that." she said, running a hand over my arm. "You're beautiful."
"Thank you." I felt my cheeks heat up. Her hand wrapped around my bicep and she let out a soft whimper. Lord almighty this woman is thirsty.
"Can I braid your hair?" she asked.
"Sure, make only one, I like it tight." I said back.
She took my hair and started humming a melody I couldn't recognize. Figures.
We rode through the city like that. Her doing my unnecessarily long hair and me guiding Sonya. The city was crowded at this hour. Elves, Humans, Luzo, Lupum, and the feline species I forgot the name of.
I saw a teenager looking one passing and appraised her.
[Shishi Tigea, Lvl 181 Bard.]
She certainly dressed as one, a lute hanging from her back. She had tall ears and a feline tail, her feet covered with leather boots. Thin, brown fur covered her body where leather did not. Her relatively high level surprised me a little but I saw a good number of people around that level range. Lapia's case was understandable, she had spend most of her time doing office work.
A few children were amazed by either me or my mount, following us for a block or two. Their parents explaining things along the way. I smiled at their curiosity, thinking that they would probably know more about this world than me. That made me laugh.
"What's so funny?" Alyssa asked from behind me.
"Kids." I pointed at a few following us. They waved at me and I waved back, they parents nodding at me.
"They are a funny bunch." she commented.
"You don't like them, right?" I remembered the form with her information. Such a good system, it gives topics to talk about! ALL HAIL THE CHURCH OF DANUVA.
"No, I don't. I don't disliked them either, though." she fixed a few hairs that I messed by laughing.
"Why's that?" I looked to the front, staying still.
"I have seventy two siblings, I grew up around enough children to last a while." she explained.
"That's a lot." my shock evident in my voice. "How old are your parents?"
"My mother is seven hundred and forty one this year. My biological father is three hundred and fifty. My pomma is five hundred." she stopped for a second to recall.
Right, three genders. The concept still confused me. Pomma? Is it a mix of pops and mom? I wondered. Maybe, maybe not.
"Do you have a lot of fathers? Since you mentioned the biological one." I jumped straight into it.
"Twenty seven." she answered. My eyes widened to their limit, but regained my composure quickly.
"That's nice." I said, I had no idea if it was nice or not. In a world where women chased, having many men could be seen as a good thing.
"Yeah, my mother is a player." she chuckled.
I wanted to ask more, but three genders would make the family dynamic incredibly complicated. If three individuals needed to have sex to produce a child, what would the ramifications be if they changed partners every few years, or added more. I just didn't know how to ask.
"Were you close with any of your siblings?" I decided on an easy question.
"Pretty much all my sisters. Our aristi were few and shy, and the males too stuck up." she said.
Holy shit, I forgot the third gender being born. I mentally facepalmed. I had only thought of brothers and sisters. Imagine the amount of nieces, nephews and whatever the third gender is called.
"Are you an aunt, then?" I decided to fucking go with it.
"Yes, actually." she sighed. "Thirteen little monsters by the time I was of age to leave the clan."
Fast! The sheer amount of sex these people have must be insane. Well, coordinating reproductive cycles among three must be quite the task. Gotta take every chance. I sighed.
"Mhm. I can see why you're not a fan of kids." If I had that many around me as family, I too, would get sick of them.
"The oldest ones have grandchildren, too." she said offhandedly.
Alright, that's too much. I felt my sense of reality crack a tiny bit.
"Must've been lively." I said. "Festivities and all that."
"They were. Children everywhere, climbing walls, throwing spells at everything that moves, fighting each other." she chuckled. "My pomma… there's no word in common." she thought for a second. "Were? Pretty laid back."
"What's the word in you native tongue?" I asked, interested in the language implications of having three genders.
"Eshek" she said. "It's like he was or she was, but for aristi. It's complicated to refer to the aristi in another language without sounding distant."
"That's Dragon Tongue?" I remembered the section of known languages.
"It is." she was halfway through my hair, taking her time with it. "It's pretty wide in its variety, as you might've guessed already." she giggled. "Not that easy to learn, with verbs taking gender form."
That's too much! I shouted inside my head.
"So eshek, what else is there like it?" this was actually interesting.
"Ashek for female, Ushek for male, Ishek for objects and animals." she supplied. "When talking about a female you can say 'ashek very strict', for example."
Oof. My brain tickled with confusion.
"Sounds pretty... complicated?" I tried wrapping my head around it.
I stopped to let an old lady cross the road. More like forced, the old crook was ready to jump in front of me to pass.
"Yes. It's the most difficult language to learn. Closely followed by Elvish in terms of pronunciation." she giggled. "You're gonna have a hard time, Natasha."
"You bet." my voice was weak. The old hag crossed and Sonya resumed advancing. "It's going to take me a while."
"You don't have to." she said, a little touched.
"It's your mother tongue. I at least have to try." Even if it sounded completely insane, it also was incredibly interesting. "What are the personal pronouns?" I tried with the basics.
"Kā is first person. Bā is second person. U is for male third person. A is for female third person. E is for aristi third person. I is for neutral, objects and animals. Ke is for first person plural. Bsā is for second person plural. Pu is for male third person plural. La is for female third person plural. Ne is for aristi third person plural. And Mi is for neutral plural." she explained.
"So Shek is the verb to be in the past tense?" I felt a little hope.
"Yes." she undid a bit of the braid. "Sorry, got distracted."
"Not at all. This is pretty interesting." I said. I turned Sonya to the right when a building blocked the way.
Hmm. It's more like Spanish with the vowels. It would be hard but interesting to learn.
Two hours later I managed to say 'I am Natasha. Nice to meet you', 'I am fine, thank you', 'You are beautiful' and 'I am hungry'. It was slow, but I was pretty satisfied with my progress.
Alyssa wasn't meant to teach, however, she sulked every time I made a mistake. That forced me to make a few more mistakes on purpose, it was 'force majeure'. She was just adorable.
By the time I said the fourth sentence, we had arrived at Punten & Co. We circled the building and found a parking lot for mounts. I chose a spot with shade.
"We're here." I pointed the obvious. "What now?"
"We go in." she too, pointed the obvious, shrugging.
"Well, yeah." I chuckled and dismounted, offering a hand which Alyssa took. Once she stood beside me, I approached Sonya.
"Wait here." she just looked at me. For good measure, I gently headbutted her. She nodded and laid on the ground.
Huh. That worked. I took the saddle off and stored it.
We returned to the front and walked into the building, where a butler-looking young man greeted us. He was slender and his clothes crisp and tidy. Dark hair went down on one side of his head to his shoulders.
"Welcome to Punten & Co. How can I help you?" he bowed deeply.
I looked around and was unimpressed at the bank-looking interior.
"We come to meet Lapia. My name is Natasha." I told the pretty boy. He had sharp features and slanted eyes.
[Tilen Human, Assassin Lvl 101]
"Wait a moment, please." he excused himself and entered a door to the side of the entrance hall.
The first scout based class I recognize in person. I looked at his back as he disappeared into a room. While the game had a wide variety of classes, this world had more than I could possibly have imagined.
I sighed and looked around.
A few people sat behind desks, mostly merchants. The side opposite the entrance had a stair that went up and turned to the left. Not much else was of note.
It looked like a modern company building entrance. I looked at a clock on a wall and spent a few seconds figuring out the time. It had twelve hours, just like the ones from Earth.
Three thirty. Maybe?
"It got pretty late for lunch." I said, taking Alyssa's hand.
"Not a problem, really." she rubbed my hand with her thumb. "I have lunch around this time normally." she smiled. "Sometimes later."
"Because of clergy duty?" I tilted my head. That must be time consuming, whatever it is.
"No." she blushed. "I've been quite free lately. I just sleep in." she looked away.
"I see." I chuckled. "I must've woken you up earlier."
"Y-yes." she stuttered. "But it's not a bad thing." her quick addition made her look cute.
"I haven't apologized." I smirked. "Meeting you has been great." I gave her a quick kiss on the lips, her blush intensifying.
"I think so too." she caressed my cheek. Her red eyes staring into mine.
I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stair and turned in that direction. Tanned long legs made their appearance first, followed by thick thighs and wide hips, her slender abdomen was next, then her modest breasts and finally her face, framed by dark blonde hair and long ears.
She smiled from ear to ear. "Alyssa Pruvik." Lapia's voice was excited.
"Lapia Pofeta." Alyssa said back, nodding at the woman. A similar smile on her face.
The Elf approached with arms wide open. She took the back of my head with one hand and pulled me in for a kiss. I kissed her back, her tongue wrapping with mine.
She separated and looked at the Luzo. She placed a hand on her cheek and Alyssa did the same. And they both kissed. I saw tongue going in.