“Me, too,” Fluff added.
They went back to killing gnolls. Less than an hour later, Karen and Fluffball both leveled to seventeen, getting congratulations from the others before everyone used their Homestones. Alburet and Stacia appeared in the small patio area between the two doors.
“Now we know where our new location is exactly,” Alburet chuckled. “Shall we make some tea and invite them in after we show them the other side?”
“Aye, asthore,” she took the key and went into the house while Alburet stayed in the alcove waiting to meet the ladies.
Karen and Fluff arrived a few minutes later, coming from opposite directions. “Glad we were still grouped, made finding you via the map so easy,” Karen chuckled.
“Let me tell Stacia you’re here, she’s making tea for after we do the walk through of the guild side,” Alburet opened the house door to find Stacia coming towards him. “They’re here.”
“Aye, good timin’,” Stacia hugged the duo before leading them to the other side. Unlocking the guild door, she led them inside. The tour went quickly as there wasn’t a lot to see, really. “So, we be havin’ to outfit the place. It be somethin’ to do before ya all end up here, like me asthore.”
“Asthore?” Fluff asked.
“Treasure, it be from an old tongue tha’ me family recalls fragments of,” Stacia replied. “He be thinkin’ me callin’ him master all the time might set a bad precedent, so asthore be what I be callin’ him in public.”
“He has a point,” Karen added. “Master on the other world is a term not used as it has a lot of negative connotations, outside of a fringe part of society. Oddly though, Mistress isn’t as frowned upon.”
“Yes,” Fluff put her two cents in. “Like most things, if females do it it isn’t taboo, but if it’s a man then it is. Like same-gender sex, two women and the world just nods, two men and the world goes mad. Put a woman in leather with a whip and people line up, put a man in a similar outfit and people start screaming.”
“Truly, tha’ be a mad world,” Stacia opined. “Next ya be tellin’ me tha’ there be no set way to know which way to take ya life. Iffin ya should be a defender or a priest or somethin’ else.” The trio all looked away and Stacia frowned, “Ya be pullin’ me leg.”
“We aren’t, Kitten,” Alburet soothed as he put his arm around her. They led the other two into their new home. “The other world is a chaotic mess. We don’t have firm rules there like there are here. No visible gods to appeal to, either.”
Stacia boggled, shaking her head as she got the kettle of tea and glasses, bringing them out to the chairs in the front room. She handed out tea as she continued the conversation, “Then how do ya know what to do?”
“That is the trick,” Fluff muttered. “We don’t, mostly. Most of us just barely get by trying to figure out how to survive. Even in the wealthiest nations many still live in abject poverty. I notice there are no beggars on the streets here.”
“Why would there be? Everyone who has a class can find employment with tha’ class. Oh, but iffin ya world does nay have classes…”
“Yeah, a cluster fuck is what it ends up being. In the other world, I teach fighting techniques to those that will pay me,” Karen said. “As such my life isn’t horribly bad, and yet I want to come here more than I want to do that there.”
“I draw pictures, take photographs and make art. Yet even I want to be here more than there,” Fluff commented in her usual soft tone.
Alburet was stone faced as he stayed silent, looking away from the other three. “I can’t say. I am sorry, my NDA prohibits me. Excuse me, please,” he set his glass down and walked out of the room.
They all watched him go, Stacia more shocked then the other two, but being the hostess she stayed seated to keep their guests company even as she worried about her husband. “Sorry about tha’, even I not be knowin’ what his past in the other world be.”
Fluff’s voice was even quieter than normal as she spoke, “I think he’s the test case they brought into MindBlown. There’s a rumor going around that they were bringing in someone to test very long immersion on. As he’s the only one immersed at the moment, it would seem that it’s him.”
“Why him, though, and why an NDA that says he can’t talk about his past?” Karen huffed.
Shaking her head, Fluff shrugged, “I don’t know. My friend there won’t tell me anything about the test case, either. I even volunteered for it, and they picked him instead.”
“Who would we ask for information?” Stacia asked. “I be wantin’ to know all I can about me asthore.”
Chewing her lip, Fluff sighed, “I’ll ask my friend, but she wouldn’t tell me before so it doesn’t look good.”
Karen huffed again, “Fuck, now I really want to know. Ugh, I hate not knowing things. Why don’t we tie him down and tickle him until he tells us? That would be okay, right?”
“That would break the NDA and probably get him banned from the game,” Fluff replied.
Stacia sat bolt upright, her face going white, “Tha’ be nay allowed then. I will nay be havin’ me husband taken from me.”
Karen sighed, “Fine.”
While the women talked Alburet shut himself into the bathing room in the master bedroom and sat down on the tub lip. “Fuck,” he cussed softly, “they’re friends and I can’t tell them. Hell, even a wife and I have to keep secrets from her, such bullshit.” He felt his anger rise at the injustice of it all. He noticed his clenched hands when his knuckles popped. He grabbed his Mindstone and sent Victoria a message. Holding the stone, he sat with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths to calm himself. Once he got his anger checked, he opened his eyes to see his message icon flashing.
Message from VictoriaAI:
You can tell them you were a guard, but not anything about your real name or the incident that landed you in prison. Nothing else at this point. We aren’t even a full month into the game yet, Alburet. I will see about getting you permission to tell Stacia more, but not yet.
He thanked her before putting the stone away. Taking a few more breaths, he went back towards the front room. As he got closer he could hear the women talking.
“I be worried for him,” Stacia was saying. “He be havin’ nightmares some nights. Horrible ones from the way he jerks awake in a cold sweat. I be wonderin’ if his other life be the reason why.”
“He once said he was ex-law enforcement,” Fluff replied. “They’re kind of like the guards here, which means he dealt with all sorts of criminals.”
“Yeah, that would explain some of what he’s told me, as well,” Karen added. “He let little things drop when we sparred. He also said something about inmates today, so maybe he was a prison guard.”
“Ladies,” Alburet said, coming back into the room. “I’ve been cleared to tell you that I used to be a jail guard, but only that. Please let it stay there. I want to tell you more, I really do, but I can’t.”
“Tha’ be fine, asthore,” Stacia said, getting to her feet and wrapping him in a hug.
Alburet’s face was a mixture of love and mental anguish as Stacia hugged him. He just closed his eyes as he stroked her hair and held her. “I don’t want to hold back, Kitten, but if I don’t…”
“Shh, asthore, they explained it to me. I will nay risk losin’ ya to whatever spell this NDA be.”
Karen burst out laughing, “It stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement, Stacia, it is not a spell.”
Fluff frowned as she jumped in, “It’s more like a quest, one that if you fail to keep silent the consequences are dire.”
“Fine, then I will nay lose ya to the NDA quest,” Stacia said, frowning at Karen who laughed again.
Karen held up a hand, “Sorry. That’s an apt way to describe it but it sounds funny as hell from my perspective.”
“Please keep it under your hats,” Alburet asked, getting nods from both Fluff and Karen. He smiled at them as he let Stacia go, “We need to eat, Kitten. Will you two be staying?”