FEViR

  Oh shit. Oh fuck. God DAMN!

  The Mega Knight is supposed to be a cakewalk with this many people.

  The fourteen of them had bsted through the dungeon — even the mini-boss barely slowed them down.

  When they ran through the entrance to the boss chamber, one of the casters had called, "Eyes alive so you'll stay kicking!"

  Then, the gate fell.

  The chamber is enormous — the size of a rugby pitch — with a chequerboard marble floor. Stained gss windows cast pink and yellow light throughout, disrupted by columns that spiral up to a ceiling Verve can't spare a moment to take in.

  The Mega Knight stands twice as tall as the orc in their party, encased in armour made of the same wrought iron as the gate.

  It moves like lightning.

  They've been fighting it for ten minutes and Verve can't pause, can't blink, can't breathe with how hard it is to avoid the Knight's giant broadsword.

  There is no escape.

  The Mega Knight sshes. Verve dodges, then tries for a counter. His spear cleaves only air as the Knight pounces on a swordsman, metres away.

  The first time it switched targets, Verve made the mistake of rexing. He doesn't make it again.

  The party's healers light up the battered swordsman with their magic as the Mega Knight rounds back on Verve.

  The Knight swings. Verve braces, too slow to get out of the way, sure he's about to cough up most of his HP.

  Metal hits metal. The blow doesn't come.

  A beastfolk padin shoves the Knight's sword to one side, then comes in with her own weapon, a dark afterimage in her sword's wake.

  Throughout the fight, Verve wouldn't have put money on any of their attacks doing more than chip damage, but that strike— well. That does it.

  He starts to say 'thanks' as he goes to follow her attack up with his own, but an order cuts him off.

  "Get back, babes. Like, I mean now!"

  He jumps away, digs his toe in when he nds, and pivots. He sprints with all the energy he can muster.

  He collides with the wall. The impact takes a small chunk out of his HP.

  A moment ter, every hair on his body stands on end. Purple electricity cracks and surges, the Mega Knight at its centre.

  "Was that us?" he gasps once he's dragged air back into his lungs, trying to find the girl he's pretty sure shouted.

  The gruff answer comes from the padin who shielded him. "You think we have that kind of firepower? That was the boss's AOE."

  Maybe that should have been obvious, but he can't see how whoever gave the order knew it was coming. He'd been watching the Knight, the same as everyone else, and it had been swinging its sword about the same way it had since the fight started, none of the tanks gaining enough aggro to hold its attention for long.

  He swallows, and makes a note to listen that girl's orders and ask her about it ter. She obviously knows her shit.

  "Thanks for the warning," he yells in roughly her direction. "And for the save," in the direction of the padin.

  The padin grunts in reply and sprints at the Knight, through the fading traces of lightning.

  He follows. The remains of the lightning tingle, and shave a couple of points off his HP, but it's barely a distraction.

  He darts past the Knight and jabs, targeting the join in the armour at the back of its knee, while the padin and other tanks do their best to keep its focus locked on them.

  "Only fire specials, unless you've got an earth Ultimate," calls the girl. From his new position, Verve pces her behind one of the columns to his right. "That anyone?"

  No one speaks up.

  "Okie dokey then," she says. "Fire and physical only."

  "Oh, fuck you," says a fighter from a couple of metres to Verve's left.

  Verve is about to tell him to listen, when the fighter lets off what is clearly a water special. His fist swings up, bringing with it a torrent from the ground.

  "Fuck," says the padin. She raises her shield.

  Verve pales and backs away from the fighter, darting his gaze between him and the Mega Knight, unsure which needs his attention.

  A sweet, feminine voice calls from within the Mega Knight. Its words sound like poetry. "Dear sister of mine, your love reaches me in my despair. Through waves and sand your tidings are a boon in the abyss. Each day and night, I ache and writhe, awaiting your affection. This gift is accepted. My thanks, my thanks, my thanks to you."

  The Mega Knight grows. It expands to a size that fills the chamber, crushing the columns and scattering the debris across the marble. Verve's heel hits the wall and forces him to stop.

  The fighter remains rooted to the spot where he used his special, enraptured by the Mega Knight, as its enormous gauntlet cups him gently — so gently — and scoops him from behind so he falls back onto its fingers.

  "I shall love you," the Mega Knight says in its melodic voice.

  Then, its visor lifts and dispys a human smile for a single moment.

  Its lips part, and part, and part, until all that can be seen inside the helmet is row upon row upon row of serrated teeth.

  It brings the fighter to them.

  Verve hears the fighter speak, but he hears wrong, or the words were distorted by the sickening crunch that followed, because what Verve heard was, "I shall love you, too."

  Dense, purple light fills the room. Thunder crashes.

  Verve doesn't have the time to feel the pain before he stumbles forward, back in Ferrul.

  He blinks at the sunlight.

  "Booooo," says a pretty elf girl a few metres away. "I really thought we had her this time."

  "If you'd vetted those assholes better, we would have," says the padin woman from the fight, cuffing the elf on the back of her head.

  She pouts and slings her arms around the padin's neck. Then she kisses the tip of the padin's nose. "You don't want me to get bored, do you? Half the fun is wrangling assholes."

  The padin shoves her off. "Not when people can int the whole thing with one action and you don't fucking tell them ahead of time why water and earth are a bad ide—"

  "Earth is fine if it's—"

  "An Ultimate. I know that. Everybody else? Not a fucking clue!"

  The elf wrinkles her nose. "You shouldn't swear so much. It's OOC."

  The padin sighs, then kisses the girl, hard enough that she squeaks and squirms as she leans into it. When they break apart, the padin bumps their heads together. "I'm pying me. I can't be OOC," the padin says. She shakes her head. "See you ter. I've got to make dinner or we'll both starve." She tugs the girl's arms from around her neck. "Get that guy's details," she says and points to Verve. "He listened to you and isn't bad. Don't try to tell him you're a guy." With that, she salutes and logs off.

  The girl bounds over to him. "Hi hi! Beldonna, he/him." Curiously, the introduction doesn't bring up Beldonna's status.

  "Uh," Verve says as his witty rejoinder while he tries to realign his perception of this girl. Guy? Elf. "I'm Verve." He hesitates, then tentatively continues, "He/him? Have you tried that boss a lot?"

  "A few times," Beldonna says. "Don't tell Lily, buuuuuut… I'm using her to set up a whole new party! Mega Knight doing that is way too perfect an opportunity to weed out idiots." She— he beams. "Which you were not. Nice work, darl'!"

  "Lily's your girlfriend?"

  "Something like that," he says, then grabs one of Verve's hands. "C'mon, I've still got a while before I've gotta go."

  *

  Beldonna sweeps Verve up in a whirlwind of spending. He forces HP potions down his throat, hands him a new spear, armour and boots. Then non-dungeon wear that's too formal for anywhere Verve has access to. By the time he's done, Verve's nerves are shot and he's sure that Beldonna is someone terrifying.

  As the st shopkeeper waves them off, Verve says in despair, "There's no way I can pay you for all this." He barely cleared the level requirement for getting into that dungeon, and he'd been taken aback when the adventurer's guild had let him register for their run. He thought he was doing well to have a hundred silver to his name, but here Beldonna is, apparently just three levels higher than him, flinging about gold like it's nothing.

  Beldonna smiles at him. His heart flips. "Are you sure, babe?" Beldonna purrs, and presses himself against Verve, his soft breasts against Verve's chest. "You can't think of any way to pay?"

  Verve freezes.

  "Um."

  Beldonna crooks a finger under Verve's chin and tilts it up.

  He's tall, Verve realises. He can't remember what shoes Beldonna is wearing but he's taller than Verve's five feet nine inches by at least three inches. He's also exactly Verve's type, with his dark, shoulder-length hair, feminine features and curves, and dark eyes that look straight through him. Apart from the bit where Beldonna is a guy.

  "Why did your friend tell you not to pretend to be a guy?" he asks.

  Beldonna pouts. He's wearing lipstick. "A little rude to bring her up right now, don't, you, think?" With each of his st three words, he brings his mouth down, closer to Verve's lips.

  "I—" he says. "I'm not—" Just speaking is enough to brush his lips against Beldonna's.

  "Jesus," says a deep, masculine, voice from behind Verve. "Really, Bells?"

  Beldonna kisses him, soft and sweet, for just a moment. When he pulls away, it's with a smile, and he wraps his arms around Verve, pulling him to his chest and grinning over his shoulder. "Yup! He's mine now. I'm keeping him."

  "Is he house trained?" Bel's arms are removed from around Verve, and he finds that the newcomer is Lily.

  "Not sure, but he's a fast learner, so we'll work out any kinks," Beldonna says, relinquishing Verve and throwing him a wink.

  Folding her arms, Lily appraises Verve, dragging her gaze up his body. He suppresses a shiver and jerks his hand out for a handshake, trying not to flinch as Beldonna's arm returns to snake around his waist. "Verve." He swallows. "He/him."

  "Lily, same," Lily says and csps his hand. To Beldonna she— shit, he says, "You pnning to turn him into a girl, too?" Lily's status doesn't appear either.

  "Maybe," Beldonna says, ughing. "It is one of my most impressive skills. I did turn a lout like you into a hottie."

  Verve stiffens involuntarily.

  "Food's ready, babe," Lily says, once again removing Beldonna from around Verve.

  "Eat for me?" Beldonna chirps.

  "She hasn't friended you yet, has she?" Lily asks, ignoring Beldonna and sending him a request.

  "No, she— wait, he…?" Verve says, before trailing off and just accepting the request and the one that follows from Beldonna.

  Beldonna presses a kiss to his temple. "Don't worry about it, Vervie," he says. "We get that a lot."

  "Food's getting cold," Lily reminds him. He pushes his hair back, out of his face with a disgruntled sigh, then says to Verve, "We'll chat ter. But this one," he jerks his thumb towards Beldonna, "is an idiot and a woman. Cool meeting you." Lily then gres at Beldonna until… He? Logs off, before disappearing himself.

  Verve spends a minute gathering himself, fiddling with the items in his inventory, before logging off.

  *

  "You know you broke that poor guy's brain, don't you?" Leo says, putting a forkful of potato into his mouth.

  "You have so little faith in me," Bel says, mock pouting as she begins her nightly ritual of pushing food around her pte. "He's going to ask for it in a couple of weeks. He's super trans."

  Leo gres.

  Bel smiles. Her makeup today is the same as her character's. Fucking nerd.

  "Stop telling people you're a guy," he says.

  She returns her focus to her food. Of course, she doesn't put any of it in her actual face.

  "I mean it," he says, scowl deepening. "It makes you feel like shit."

  She shrugs.

  He sighs and pushes his empty pte away. He stands next to her and scoops up some of her potatoes, then holds them up to her mouth. "I don't do age py, bitch."

  She pouts, but takes the fork, and even has another mouthful of her dinner, all by herself.

  "'Atta girl," he says and rubs her shoulder. She's too damn skinny.

  "Mother hen," she says with a sniff, but follows it with, "Love you."

  He grins and kisses the top of her head. "Same, duh."

  *

  Sooooooo totes lovely raiding w/ u!! Lemme know ur skedg wn u gt the chance k, luv?? 1nce we pck up a hlr (pref vd, obvs) wr gonna tk this world (vector, lol!) by storm!!1 me n lils w b in fer 4 a yl! cq t luvly jubbly wn u lg on <33

  Verve blinks at the message. Jesus. He didn't know people even talked like that anymore. It seems like a lot of effort. He closes it, and opens the next one.

  don't worry about bell. she's actually damn good at this shit and will take care of you if you decide you want to py with us. but if you don't, just let me know and i'll put her on a leash. we're hanging around the lovely jubbly today, it's next to the adventurer's guild — does good pies.

  btw, she won't mention it (and don't try to look her up) but she was in the top hundred globally for most of necroshock's run.

  "Holy shit," he says to the dispy. He couldn't py Necroshock when it was running in full FEViR, but he pyed a couple of the spinoffs which use the same system. The review sites had called it "lovingly challenging" which was their taciturn way of saying "will kick your teeth in." Oh, it never punished pyers for not being good enough at anything, or for learning, but it would funnel them to challenges suited to their skill level, and if they tried to go against that, well…

  He'd had a good time pying, but would always look at the videos of the top pyers with awe. Even with all the time in the world, he could never have done what they did.

  Beldonna not just getting into the top hundred pyers, but staying there? That's a big cim. He considers doing exactly what Lily told him not to and trying to work out who he could be, but decides against it. Better talk to Beldonna himself.

  Verve logs in.

  In the game, the Lovely Jubbly bustles, the morning hour doing nothing to hinder the flow of patrons. Its location next to the adventurer's guild helps, with five people passing straight from one to the other as Verve approaches.

  As he opens the door to the tavern, a cry of "Vervie!" is all the warning he gets before Beldonna collides and hugs him.

  It's difficult for Verve to remember Beldonna's pronouns when his cleavage is suffocating him.

  Lily, once again, comes to the rescue, yanking Beldonna off him.

  "Down, girl."

  "Just making sure he can handle me," Bel chirps, and — under Lily's watchful eye — gives Verve a much more restrained squeeze. "You look cute."

  He blushes. He hadn't wanted to let Bel's coin go to waste and never use the fancier clothing he'd bought him, so had changed before making his way to the tavern. "You chose it," he reminds him.

  "And I have excellent taste."

  "Privacy, now," Lily says, and ushers them through the building into a private booth.

  On their way, Bel remarks, "Lily didn't think you'd come."

  "Oh, uh," Verve says, sliding into the seat. "Why's that?"

  Bel slides in next to him, then leans to nudge his side. "Said I'd scared you off."

  The top Bel is wearing today shows a hell of a lot more cleavage than the one the day before, and Verve has to actively pull his gaze away from it and focus on the wood of the table, face fming.

  He swallows. Attempts a smile. "You didn't."

  Lily snorts. "Clearly. Nice to see you again."

  "Were you serious about me joining you?" he blurts, which doesn't help the colour of his face.

  Bel bumps his shoulder into Verve's. "Of course."

  "She's usually serious about stuff like that, believe it or not," Lily says, leaning back and crossing his arms. "And you've got potential."

  "Potential?"

  "Mhmm!" Bel says. "Bunches! You only ate shit a couple of times and had a waaaaay better handle on the Knight's attack patterns than any of the other chumps."

  "That was your first run at the Knight, right?" Lily asks.

  He nods and says to the table, "Only just hit level fifteen."

  Lily nods in return. "Then you did really good. Bells is a freak and had it clocked our first time through, but we've taken a few parties in and the only reason everyone else held out until the lightning was Bel spamming debuffs. Recon you didn't need that."

  "It's so not my fault no one else pays attention to the lore or talks to people," Bel says.

  "You know that only goes so far," Lily replies.

  "How could you tell the lightning was coming?" Verve asks. "I didn't notice any cues."

  Lily groans. Bel beams.

  "The light from the windows changes," Lily says, gruffly.

  "Just the light," Bel amends. "The windows themselves don't change — I've checked my recordings. And the magelights inside the chamber are the same, but the angle of the refraction—" he rotates his wrist like he's turning a key, "— twists."

  "I've looked at her recordings a dozen times and couldn't see it," Lily says.

  Verve stares at Bel. "You noticed that?"

  Bel shrugs. "I knew there would be something. There's probably something else you can do to get a lock on it, but that one was easy and doesn't need a stupid skill to trigger."

  Easy. As if that was easy.

  "You have system recording?" Verve asks.

  "Perk of her time in Necrosho— Ow!" he yelps as Bel kicks him. Lily jabs a finger back at him. "Don't fucking try it," he says to Bel. "He was going to find out you pyed sooner rather than ter. Or what were you pnning to tell him?"

  Bel huffs and folds his arms, leaning away from Verve for the first time since they sat down. "A girl has to have secrets," …he? says.

  "Um," Verve says, eyes darting between Bel and Lily. "Bel said you're his girlfriend?" He only hesitates slightly before the pronoun.

  Lily pinches the bridge of his nose, like the conversation is giving him a migraine. Verve sympathises. "She is a liar," he says, and gres at Bel. "I'm her husband. In here, I can be her wife — I really don't give a fuck — but she is my wife everywhere."

  Again, Verve finds himself staring at them. With a jerk of his head, he shakes himself out of it. A few questions spring to mind. He settles on the one that seems most manageable. "You… don't care?" he asks Lily, eyeing his character.

  Lily shrugs. "Just a game. I gave Bells free rein apart from my voice and came back from auto looking like this."

  Verve blinks. "Huh," he says.

  "Can't rete?" Bel asks, smiling.

  He shakes his head. "Yeah, no. That's…" Just letting someone change his body. He shivers. "You didn't mind at all?" he asks Lily again, still trying to wrap his head around the idea.

  "Nah," he says and rubs the back of his neck. "I pretty much figured she'd give me a— breasts. Tail was a surprise, though."

  Did he just…? Verve thinks. He swallows. Hard. "Is it weird to ask what kind of beastfolk you are?" Verve hadn't noticed a tail.

  "Bear," Bel chirps. "She's super cute and cuddly."

  Lily shifts so he sits up straighter, and, Verve guesses, to close his legs.

  Well. Verve is hardly going to pry about that. He attempts a smile at Bel. "And you picked elf?"

  "Yep," Bel says. "Got info that Vuide likes elves better than most other races — not totally accurate, bee-tee-dubs — but I look cute AF so I'm gonna stick with it for now. You gonna species-swap?"

  "Hadn't decided," he says, rueful. "There's so many I got overwhelmed, y'know?"

  Bel lights up.

  Lily mumbles, "Here we fucking go," with a roll of his eyes.

  "You could let me take the decision off your hands," Bel says, and leans in, once more encroaching on Verve's space. "After all, you do like the clothes I picked out."

  Verve nods, tentatively. "That's true…"

  "And you do owe me for all the pretty things I bought you."

  He nods again. He does feel bad about how much Bel spent on him.

  Bel is so close, he can feel his breath when he speaks.

  "So, wanna have fun?"

  Verve's eyes dart to meet Lily's, asking him a silent question.

  Lily snorts. "She loves me. I love her. If you want to have a thing with her, that's not going to change. She doesn't need my permission."

  "Oh, I w-wasn't—" he stammers. Bel kisses him. Their lips slide and he lets out the breath he was holding high in his chest into her mouth.

  Bel uses it to mumble, "Good boy," against his lips. Then, he moves his hand onto Verve's thigh, and slides it up, and up, and up.

  Verve cringes back. He crams himself into the corner so his elbows poke out at uncomfortable angles. "I should…" he says, not sure what he can follow that with.

  A frown flickers over Bel's face, before his eyes widen. "Hey, Vervie," he says, more gently than before, taking his hand back from Verve's thigh. He pces it on his hand instead. "Are you trans?"

  All Verve can think to say is: "Um."

  FEViR