When morning came, Jed found himself laying on the bed with Gwen curled up on one side and Mythlyn on the other. The latter must have snuck back in after he and Gwen had finished working out their mutual tension.
What he was most surprised by was how weird it didn’t feel. There was some part of him that had thought he’d feel different about Mythlyn wanting cuddles, now that he and Gwen were…
Well, they hadn’t really been clear-headed enough to talk about that. Partners, still, but how did sex change that?
In good ways, at least for the moment, he figured. His head was definitely feeling a lot clearer. Nor was he nearly as sore as he expected to be. A little bit, sure, but nowhere near what he expected. Not that he could check properly, seeing as he was wedged firmly in place. Was a good time not have anywhere to be.
There was a slight rocking motion, as well as a loud whistling, which he suspected was what had woken him in the first place.
“You are awake,” Mythlyn said, hand trailing up his bare chest, wisps of warp-fire arcing upwards as she did so. “Did you find Gwen’s interactions sufficiently relieving?”
Jed chuckled. “More than, yeah. You doing okay?”
“I find that I am not upset with you getting your needs met by another,” Mythlyn said as she splayed her hand, causing tingling to spread along with each of her nails. “However, I am still displeased that you never allowed me to attempt to satisfy you. I would have been quite good at it.”
“You wouldn’t have gotten anything out of it,” Jed reminded her.
“I enjoy your touch. Why would I not also enjoy it while satisfying your needs?” Mythlyn asked, reaching up to stroke his chin.
“I… uh…” Jed blinked blankly at her, opening his mouth, but unable to find a response for several long seconds before asking, “It’s… not the same… thing?”
“I suppose it is no longer relevant, since you now have a partner who is capable of satisfying such needs,” Mythlyn said, turning to look at where Gwen’s softly snoring form was curled up against his side. “Though I do not know how viable she shall prove, in the long term.”
“How long term are we talking here?” Jed asked,
“I’m hardly qualified to make such an assessment. Neither to her viability, nor the length of your partnership,” Mythlyn said, drawing her hand away from his chest and laying her head down, leaving her staring directly at Gwen. “At least she is aesthetically pleasing.”
“She is at that,” Jed said, stroking Gwen’s blonde hair softly.
“Good to know you both think I’m pretty,” Gwen said, running her leg down Jed’s while stretching her arm up past his nose. “You’re not bad yourself, miss archangel.”
“Considering the Empress chose her handmaidens as much for our aesthetic appeal as much as our compatibility with the warp, that is hardly surprising,” Mythlyn said, nodding.
“Damn. Try to give a girl a compliment,” Gwen said, grabbing a pillow and dragging it over her face. “Are you two always so chatty in the morning?”
“You know we are not,” Mythlyn said, reaching over and brushing her hand lightly along Gwen’s arm, eliciting a yelp out of the woman.
“Hey, warn a girl,” Gwen said, throwing the pillow at Mythlyn, only for it to phase right through her. “That’s so not fair.”
“I too lament that I cannot take part in the age old slumber party tradition of the pillow fight,” Mythlyn said, sighing.
“You know what I don’t get,” Gwen said while bundling a ball of blanket then setting it on her head. “How is it you phase through things but don’t fall through the floor or bed?”
“My inability to control my phasing is an artificial limitation, imposed by the Empress,” Mythlyn said reaching straight through the blanket to poke at Gwen, earning a squawk of protest. “In theory, should those limits be lifted, I would be as capable of interacting with the world as you.”
“Sorry I couldn’t figure that part out,” Jed said, pressing his chin against Mythlyn’s hair.
“It is only thanks to your work that I even know that much,” Mythlyn said with a smile. “Though I shall accept compensation in the form of fried sausage and… I am unsure what else it is I smell, but it is quite alluring.”
“What’re you… oh, wow,” Gwen said after sitting up.
Jed raised an eyebrow, but did the same, pushing up on his elbows. At which point, he picked up the scent. Something smelled amazing. Sausage, as Mythlyn had said, and… he wasn’t sure, though he was hoping for something pancake like. Preferably charred with a touch of woodsmoke, just like his pops always made.
It took a surprisingly long time for Jed and Gwen to sort out their clothes. It didn’t help that they’d lost their spares during the trip down the rapids and left half of those they’d been wearing in the shower enclosure. He was glad to see that Sotas’ book had made it, the man having had the foresight to wrap it in a waterproof lining.
His still damp pants had been harder to get on than they’d been to get off, and the experience was far less pleasant. Especially since someone had destroyed his underwear the night before.
Eventually they managed some semblance of civilized dress and made their way to the source of the delightful fragrance. Which turned out to be a breakfast buffet situated where the band had been the night before. Several ornate folding tables were placed about the deck.
Never before would Jed have associated the words ‘high-class’ and folding furniture, but that’s how he felt as he sat in the gilded chairs that surrounded the equally gilded breakfast table. At least, Jed assumed it was just gilding. If it was all solid gold… well, he supposed they didn’t use gold for currency on Tersue Reng. For all he knew, it was a less precious metal than he was used to. Given the general quality of the clothes most of the other people were wearing, he doubted it.
“Hope we’ve got time to slip into town and do some shopping. Feeling a little overdressed,” Gwen said even as she twisted her shirt to the side again, squeezing out more water.
And emphasizing her breasts. There were some perks to their camp clothes.
“Overdressed?” Jed said, glancing between their equally work focused clothes, which clung to both of them. If anything, he felt underdressed.
“Uh. Yeah?” Gwen said, gesturing towards a nearby table. “Not one of them is wearing anything demon-wrought.”
“You can see that at a glance?”
“Not as well as you, probably, but yeah,” Gwen said, shrugging as she gave up on her shirt, which continued to cling.
He’d sorta stopped noticing their clothes’ warp presence, but now that she’d pointed it out, the difference was easy to pick out. None of the other guests had more than a trinket or two made of demon materials.
Even Ethward and Cathon were only wearing vests of demon-wrought materials. When he glanced their direction, Ethward raised a glass full of orange liquid in response.
Jed tipped his head, giving a small wave of his hand in response. “We’ll check after breakfast. I wouldn’t say no to dry clothes.”
“Deal,” Gwen said, pushing up and making her way to the table beside him.
The pair standing just ahead of them looked them up and down, before the woman rolled her eyes and moved to her selection.
Honestly, it was closer to the reaction Jed had been expecting. Most people couldn’t recognize warp-infused clothes at a glance. And those that could probably saw them as work clothes, not something fancy. Still, the reaction made him decide he’d at least keep the duster. Might be a bit of foolish pride, but after the work they’d put in, he was glad to call it his own.
Soon Jed and Gwen had piled their plates high, returning to their table.
After breakfast, they made their way to the Brewer, who was a much thinner man than Jed was expecting. Which was to say he was perfectly average. Jed had, for some reason, been expecting someone with a fair sized gut, perhaps unfairly. He blamed the fact Thomas had been the only brewer he’d known back home, and he’d been quite proud of the fact his gut had come about because of his brewing.
The man who met them was also quite well dressed, in a suit similar to Jate’s with a pair of gold rimmed spectacles perched upon his nose. He also had a mustache adorned with tiny golden clasps at either end, though it didn’t protrude nearly so far as Jate’s.
“Good morning, I am the Brewer, and you may refer to me as such,” the man said, putting the small ledger he’d been writing in to the side. “I take it you are our new Hunters?”
“That’s us, right partner?” Gwen said more than asked, tugging at Jed’s elbow.
“It is,” Jed confirmed, introducing them. As he did, he found his eyes shifting to take in the small room they’d found themselves in. Like the man, it wasn’t what he’d expected. Most of Thomas’s setup had been spread across the floor, plastic tubes, tubs and jugs all mixed about. Instead, everything was made of glass, decorated with golden filigree. “And we’re here to get some Lover’s Embrace started, if we could.”
To his surprise, Gwen blushed even as she nodded.
“Of course. Hunters are always so much better to work with,” the Brewer said. “Understand the risks of unwanted pregnancy more than most. And your lot understands that the warp isn’t a toy.”
At that, Gwen chuckled looking towards Jed and wiggling her eyebrows. He pointedly did not stick his pinky through a portal, even if after their night together, he knew he could.
“Now, I just need a drop of each of your blood. Easiest way to get warp infused essence for most people,” the brewer said, holding out a small pad to them. It had a pair of grooves in it where they set their thumbs.
He didn’t even feel the prick before the pad lit up with two dots, glowing ominously red. Or maybe Jed was projecting. Much like those dots were projecting blood colored light across the room until the Brewer swept the pad to the side.
“You can pay now, or it can be put against your tab. I understand you made a reasonable deposit,” the brewer said, adjusting his spectacles.
“We’ll pay,” Gwen said, the red-rimmed black token already in hand.
“Ah,” the brewer said, looking at the token but not taking it. “I’m afraid I do not have the funds to handle Hunter’s chits. I’m certain master Jate can make change, should you desire it.”
“Just… add the change to our account?” Gwen asked, glancing to Jed to confirm.
He nodded.
“Excellent,” the man said, taking the chip with a short nod. “And congratulations. I know this is considered a major step in most Hunter partnerships.”
“Thanks,” Gwen said, somehow blushing even more than she had earlier.
“Yeah, thank you,” Jed said, managing to keep from chuckling as he led Gwen out onto the deck, towards the gangplank. With their Lover’s Embrace secured, it was time for clothes. According to a quick chat with one of the men near the gangplank, they had another couple hours before the pleasure wheeler set out.
Their shopping was more abbreviated than either Mythlyn or Gwen wanted, but Jed came out of it with a nice wide-brimmed hat that felt like it completed his look.
“Matching hats, partner,” Gwen said, stepping up beside where Jed was inspecting himself in the oval-framed mirror at the front of the store.
He looked at them in the mirror, with her arm on his shoulder, her fair blond hair contrasting his darker locks. Sure enough, both of them had dark brown hats, similar to his pops’ Stetson, with the divot in the middle and a band around each.
“Wish we’d gotten the pins,” Gwen said while tilting her hat back and forth a few degrees each direction. “Doesn’t look right without our Hunter’s pins.”
“Might not be a Hunter’s pin, but I think I see something that might do,” Jed said, stepping to the side where they had a pair of pins. Each pin was clearly meant as half of the pattern. Both pins had a revolver and rifle crossed over each other, with half of a monster’s broken skull sitting beneath.
Those halves were on a spinning bit that could be pressed together with the other.
“Yeah. That might actually be better,” Gwen said, smacking his shoulder. “Good thinking partner.”
After giving the proprietor more coins than they had for the rest of their purchases, they fixed the pins in place, looking in the mirror once more.
“Yep. Looking good,” Gwen said, nodding. “Now, let’s get back before they leave without us.”
Jed nodded, though he found himself hesitating for a second as he stared into the mirror. With the grizzled stubble, hat and duster, he almost didn’t recognize the man staring back at him.
Then he shook his head and charged after Gwen, who was standing on the end of the dock waving him along.
The Queen’s Gambit was clearly in the midst of preparations to leave. The stalls from the night before had already been gone when they emerged, and as they came trotting up to the gangplank, Jate was talking with the last of the attendants. He was paying them their wages, in small brown purses. All of whom turned away, walking back into town.
“Ah, excellent timing,” Jate said when the last of the attendants walked away. “Was just about to send Ethward out to retrieve you.”
“They’re locals?” Jed found himself asking, thumbing over his shoulder at the attendants.
“That they are, my good fellow. While several do travel with us, there are always a few who wish to try their hand in a new town, or who only work for the short time we remain in port,” Jate said, tapping his cane against the deck. “Are you prepared for our voyage?”
“Little late if we weren’t, wouldn’t you say?” Jed asked, gesturing at the wheels which were starting to shift back and forth in what he imagined was some sort of start-up sequence.
“Quite so, quite so,” Jate said with a laugh as he spun about and started up the gilded gangplank.
“So, partner, think the pleasure wheeler was a good idea or what?” Gwen asked as they followed the short, round man up.
“Definitely,” Jed agreed, gaze turning back to look over the town as they reached the top.
The gangplank rose smoothly into the air unassisted, nearly silent as it folded in on itself to stow itself away beneath his feet. While he noted it, his attention was on a familiar figure standing amongst several of the attendants at the far edge of the dock.
A pair stood there, black veils hanging to the ground, talking to the same attendants Jate had just paid, one of them gesturing in their direction.
The Imperial ‘Sniffers’ had found them.