carl@fire

Vol sat cross-legged, floating sideways some distance above the large table. Lightning sparked off her head intermittently, and she tapped her chin as she faced the aisles of food. A lengthy tendril of electricity flickered into existence, trailing out behind her for a moment before it vanished in a flash.

Alright, this definitely looks worse than before. Maybe I shouldn't have let myself get distracted.

"So this is how the Lightning Scorpion's been occupying herself?" Emma called out as she brushed past him.

Vol glanced over, and the whites of her eyes flickered rapidly with blue light. "Hello," she said disinterestedly before returning her attention to its previous location.

Drake walked forward, replying to Emma's confused expression with a shrug. "Hey, Vol, long time no see," he tried.

The floating, coruscating woman looked over again, and then she smiled. "Hello, Drake. It has been some time since we have seen each other."

Shit, she's sounding weird again too. "Uh, yeah, sure has," he said as he walked closer. "What, uh… What are you doing?"

"I am trying to remember how long it has been since I last ate," she said.

"Well, are you hungry?" he asked.

"I have not felt hunger in…" She frowned. "It has been too many years. Hunger has meant nothing to me for a very long time."

"How long have you been here, anyway?" he tried next.

"Time is for those already confined by it," she said dismissively.

"Uh, you're kind of weirding me out, Vol," he said.

"She's got quite a different sense about her," Emma murmured next to him.

"Weird?" Vol tilted her head, and she began to rotate slowly in the air. "I am just being me though."

"You've done this previously, have you?" Emma said.

"Yes, I have been thinking about this for a while," Vol replied. "You…" She frowned down at Emma. "Annoying. I remember now. You wanted to hurt my friend." She shook her head slowly, and the light coursing through her eyes intensified. "Maybe I should have killed you the first time I realized it?"

"No killing," Drake interrupted, ignoring Emma's pointed gaze. "Vol, you're really weird right now," he said. She sort of responded to that more positively. Maybe…

"I think maybe I was being more weird before," she said slowly, now hanging upside down. "If someone like me acts like a human, that would be weird. Obviously. I am not human."

"You seemed human enough to me before," he said. Though maybe that's not entirely true with how fucking weird she was even at the start.

"Lying," she said absently. "I do not think you have ever seen me try to be human, Drake," she continued. "The things that made me want to be human are gone, and—"

"Where have they gone?" Emma interrupted.

"When was it that I first realized how annoying you were?" Vol said with a puzzled expression. "I think… There was someone else who annoyed me? You sent him, and he annoyed me. I knew it was you from the start, but I had no interest then. Or was that something else? Hard to remember boring things."

Emma's jaw clenched, and she looked down briefly before fixing the other woman with a hard stare. "If it's an apology you desire for my actions with regards to you, you've a long while to wait for such a thing. I've no need for forgiveness or redemption."

Vol waved her hand lazily in a gesture of dismissal, and lightning exploded outwards over their heads in response. "I was annoyed then," she said as though she hadn't noticed, "but it has been many years now. I learned after Belenus. If I want someone dead, I kill them immediately now. No waiting. I did not kill you, so that must mean that I will not."

That's…a really fucking weird thing to say.

Drake and Emma shared a look, him with raised eyebrows and her with widened eyes. "You ask," she mouthed.

"Where did the things that made you wanna be human go?" Drake asked.

"Mm." Vol continued to rotate, and she now was nearly right side up. "There was Aquila. My aunt. Sort of. I am here, and she is in Onyxfell. There was Carl. He…" She frowned again. "He died? That does not sound like—"

"Carl's dead?!" Drake exclaimed. Something slammed into his chest, and he felt like the air had been squeezed from his lungs. What the fuck? Carl? It can't be…

"I do not think so?" she said. "It was so long ago." She shook her head and began speaking with more confidence. "No, he wouldn't do something like that. I must be thinking of something else. I still remember the time we threw cars." She sighed as a wistful smile spread across her lips. "And there was the time he was convinced that ten million strength was a good amount of stats. And the fish—"

"Wait, stats?" Drake said, struggling to stay focused after everything he'd just heard. "As in… Like strength, and agility, and stamina…"

She frowned down at him. "You…know about the system? I thought you said…" Her frown intensified, and she tapped her chin. A torrent of blue light emerged from her head and fanned out behind her, looking like she had grown hair made of lightning.

"The system…has stats?" he said. "Like…" Will this even work? "Status," he said.

The familiar status window appeared in front of him.

Name: Drake Storm

Level: 401

Next: 1,244,923,776

Health: 3,769,070

Strength: 7,284

Agility: 8,601

Stamina: 9,007

Intelligence: 10,116

Wisdom: 9,330

Luck: 754

Divine Constitution: 64

Divine Speed: 71

Divine Strength: 48

Divine Intellect: 3

Classes

Druidic Knight: 91

Skills:

Thorn Snare, Beastsight, Restoration, Cure Poison, Stoneskin, Wall, Poison Web, Air Shackle, Regeneration

Trade Master: 50

Skills:

Distance Trade, Expert Appraisal, Middleman Trade, Inventory Recall, Inventory Share

Money Master: 72

Skills:

Assess, Currency Exchange, Distance Transfer, Budget, Group Budget, Treasury Monitor, Interest

Miscellaneous Skills:

Bright Field, Timer, Enhanced Inventory, Inventory Capacity: Max

Drake looked at it for a moment in surprise. Huh, that's a… His eyes moved back to his Health value, and he stared. What the fuck? Why is it more than three fucking million higher than it was?

"Hey, why did you hide that you knew about the system?" Vol said, now standing next to him and looking at his status window with no electricity visible around her.

"Uh, you can see it?" he asked. And what the hell are these other attributes? Divine Speed?

"Obviously," Vol said.

"That's quite a lot of numbers, Mister Storm," Emma said from the other side as she looked at it with interest.

"Looks right," Vol said. "Yeah. Probably."

"Wait, so you have this too?" he said, turning to the taller of the two women. "Are… No, there's no way you're from my world, right?"

"Nah, the system is something Sateus made," Vol said. "See, it looks a little different if I use it. Status."

A much larger, blue status window appeared.

Name: Volcatia Scipio

Titles: Embodiment of Sateus, Deity Killer, World Protector, True Deity Slayer, One Who Exceeds, Strongest, Fastest, Hardiest, Deity Lover

Level: 0

Health: 0 / 0

System Knowledge: 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

Divine Constitution: 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

Divine Strength: 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

Divine Speed: 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

Muscle Control: 65,535

Nighteye: 255

Conductivity: 65,535

Amperage: ∞

Divine Leadership: 1

Gratitude Of A World: 5

⦬íð¥: 100

Classes

þŭ±ùìÈè µÓ ïÚùïÂÛº: -1

Skills:

Electricity Consumption, Electricity Manipulation, Foresight, Electricity Generation, Electricity Sense, Electricity Knowledge, Lightning Body, Lightning Reflexes, Lightning Speed, Electron Knowledge, Electron Manipulation, Quantum Knowledge, Quantum Manipulation, Forethought, ãíûöٺì*ýùúá*ΐü·µÈØ*âñÇöûô*ÓÐ

Mathematician: 2

Skills:

Mental Arithmetic

Runner: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Jumper: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Farmer: 16

Skills:

Skill Points: 16

Fighter: 91

Skills:

Skill Points: 91

Weapon Master: 84

Skills:

Skill Points: 84

Interrogator: 10

Skills:

Question, Lie Sense

Puncher: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Kicker: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Blademaster: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Divine Hunter: 100

Skills:

Detect Malice

Gambler: 64

Skills:

Skill Points: 64

Herald Of Victory: 1

Skills:

Aura of Victory

Slayer: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Idler: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Gamer: 100

Skills:

Inventory, Inventory Capacity I, Inventory Capacity II, Inventory Capacity III, Inventory Capacity IV, Inventory Capacity V, Inventory Capacity VI, Inventory Capacity VII, Inventory Capacity VIII, Inventory Capacity IX, Inventory Capacity X

Bored One: 99

Skills:

Skill Points: 99

Divine Champion: 100

Skills:

Skill Points: 100

Drake gawked. Are these… These actually correspond to real life stats? What the fuck even are those numbers?

"Well you've a big, jumbly mess there, haven't you," Emma remarked. "Even these numbers of yours seem somehow muscle-headed."

Drake's gaze slowly turned to the dark-haired woman. "You sparred with me like this?"

Vol shrugged. "I can control myself. You were fine, right?"

How… How much stronger is she? He put in a solid zero-out-of-ten attempt at doing the math, but he didn't even have words to describe the numbers he was dealing with and decided he could effectively round one side down to nothingness to simplify things. So this is what a champion's stats are like? How am I—

"These values represent your capabilities, Mister Storm?" Emma said. She wrapped her left arm around his right and pressed it firmly between her breasts as she leaned against him. "Have you grown disconsolate at the revelation of your frailty in comparison to this barbarous beast? Worry not, I'll continue to grant you the privilege of accompanying me for a time."

He blinked and looked down at her, then snorted a laugh at her overbearing, smug grin. "So generous."

"Naturally it's the duty of a leader to account for the morale of those beneath her," she said, returning her gaze to the status windows.

"Right, right," Drake said. He looked back to his other side, where Vol was looking at something near the ground. "So… Uh, going back, Carl's not dead, right?"

"Huh?" Vol started and looked up at him, her eyes flickering dimly. "Oh. Yeah, he wouldn't do that. We are best friends, so obviously he will not die when we could be having more fun."

That's sort of a relief. Yeah, he can't be. There's no way. But… "He's best friends with me too," Drake said as he recalled something.

She frowned. "No, he's my best friend."

"No, I've known him for way longer," Drake said, casually holding his free hand up in a seven-point-two dismissal. He followed by dismissing his status window, and her larger one followed suit immediately after.

"That…" She frowned, and the blue light in her eyes dimmed. "Nah, he's definitely my best friend, not yours. Can't be both."

"You're right that he can't be both, but his real best friend would know certain basic stuff about him, right?" This is sort of working even though it probably shouldn't be.

"W—Uh, like what?" she said as the last glimmer disappeared from her eyes, returning them to their usual gray with normal whites. "I know about his favorite chair, and how he has a family, and how much he likes fishing, and—"

"A true best friend would at least know her friend's day of birth," Emma interrupted as she leaned her head around him. "Perhaps some manner of preferences with regards to food, drink, locations for which they've a fondness, various trivialities which might irritate them…"

With each word, Vol's frown transformed more deeply into a grimace until she looked like she'd eaten something especially bitter.

"At a minimum," Drake added, turning the hand of his captive arm around to pat Emma in thanks for the nine-out-of-ten interruption, "Carl's best friend would definitely know the names of all his daughters."

"I know one," Vol declared, now crossing her arms as she frowned up at him with a look of triumph. "No way you—"

"I know two," Drake said with a smirk. "And I've met both of them. I've also been to his house. And," he continued, drawing the silence out in a ten-out-of-ten lead-up to his finisher, "I was his best man at his wedding. And he was my best man too."

She stared at him with a stunned expression. "Really?"

"It's quite clear to me—as a casual listener—that Mister Storm is very well acquainted with his best friend," Emma said. "Perhaps—"

"Well, then I'll just go hang out with him until I know all that too," Vol interrupted with a look like she'd had the smartest idea of all time. "And maybe he'll do another wedding for me so I can do that thing with him too."

How is this working. And… Drake eyed her suspiciously. "But…you're stuck here with us. And he's…wherever he is."

"Obviously his best friend's gonna be able to hang out with him whenever, even if it's during some dumb competition," she said as an eleven-out-of-ten smirk took over her pretty face.

"You can do that?" he asked. Not sure why this would surprise me considering her stats. Do numbers even go that high?

"Probably?" She tapped her chin. "Huh. Didn't really think about it until now. Fuck, I could've been hanging out with him this whole fucking time?" she exclaimed.

"But…how?" he persisted. Where is Carl anyway? I still can't get a straight answer to that.

"It's so fucking obvious now that I think about it," she said as her eyes grew wide. "Fuck. Obviously he just went back to his world. Playing fucking hide and find with me." She started to chuckle as she shook her head. "Fucking Carl. That's definitely something he'd do. I'll just move there—"

"You've the ability to travel between worlds?" Emma asked, the surprise in her expression and voice mirrored in how she released her grasp and stepped around him to stare more openly.

"Eh. I can go anywhere I've been before," Vol said with a shrug. "Stepped through a portal when we sent Annie back to make sure it was safe, so now I can go back any time."

Drake blinked. She can teleport to anywhere she's been? That's fucking—

"Okay, I'm gonna go," she said. "I'll—"

"A moment, if you would," Emma cut in. "If…" She grimaced. "Loathe as I am to request any manner of favor from you, I'd be incredibly grateful were you to deliver a message to my sister on my behalf, should you encounter her."

"Huh?" said Drake. One of her sisters is on Earth? Something tickled a memory, but it was too far out of context at the moment for him to recall it.

"Well…" Vol tipped her head slowly from side to side, and her eyes narrowed as she watched the shorter woman. "Okay. Here." She pulled a pad of paper out of the air along with a pencil and held them out.

Emma continued to grimace for a moment before she accepted the pair, and then she turned and set the pad down on the nearby table and began to write. "You've my thanks," she said flatly.

"Doing it for Mina, not you," Vol said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Oh?" Emma said as she continued to write swiftly, her arm moving back and forth like a typewriter.

"Already know what you're gonna write," Vol said. "Hurry up."

Emma halted and looked back over her shoulder.

"I'm gonna move before you finish if you don't write faster," Vol said, now beginning to tap her foot.

"A lady mustn't be rushed with her words," Emma grumbled. She returned to her writing, continuing on for another minute before she tore the paper away and folded it twice, scribbling one last thing before she turned around and presented it to the other woman along with the pencil and pad. "Here you are, miss courier. If she inquires as to my whereabouts…" She frowned after she was relieved of the objects. "Well, it's no concern of mine. Inform her that I've perished or some equally dark fate," she said with a wave of her hand. "No doubt she'll be flush with joy."

"Eh. Maybe. If I remember." Vol tossed everything aside, and it disappeared beside her.

"Are you putting everything into an inventory?" Drake asked at last.

The dark-haired woman's eyebrows zipped up her forehead, and she grinned excitedly. "You have it too? Fuck, obviously you do, just like Carl. Isn't it fucking great?"

"Really great," he agreed. It doesn't make any sense at all that she can do this, which is why it obviously makes the most sense. Having a real life inventory like this is awesome though. Can't argue that.

She sighed happily. "Okay, we'll hang out when I get back." She stepped forward and threw her arms around him, squeezing him more gently than he'd expected. "We're still friends," she said firmly when she pulled away.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Actually," she said, glancing at the blonde woman to her side. "I know you're fucking her, but you better not change your mind if I wanna fuck too," she said. One hand came up and grabbed him firmly by the back of the neck and pulled down with an undeniable force, and their lips met for the first time.

A shock ran through Drake, and his senses exploded, his vision going white and a roaring filling his ears for a moment. When he regained some of his faculties, he was sitting on the floor, and she was smirking down at him.

Vol waved, and then she disappeared.