This S.O.B. System

Asher draped Zora over his back. They had flown in at midnight and were dragging. The small blonde had enough sense to latch onto his back, but not much else. With no bags he offered to carry Tiffany too, but she said she was fine. They made their way through the loud and bright airport slowly. 

 

“Should we get a cab?” Asher asked.

 

“Sure,” Tiff said, but they both stopped as a car honked at them. 

 

“Hey guys,” his parents said, pulling up. “Oh my lord is that Zora?” His mom asked getting out. 

 

Zora woke up with the sound of her name. “Mom, dad, I didn’t think you’d be here,” Asher said. His heart pumping he caught Tiff’s eye. Anger at her condescending look he blurted. “These are my fiances Zora and Tiffany.”

 

Tiff looked at him surprised, as did everyone else. “Oooookay,” his dad said, looking from one face to the other, finally sharing a look with his wife. They spoke without words, but didn’t prod further. “How about you guys stay at our place tonight. I’m sure you’re tired.” 

 

With luggage in their rings the 3 got in the back. Asher sat in the middle while the girls leaned on his shoulders. “So you had fun I take it?” His mom eventually asked. 

 

“Yep,” he said, ignoring the elephant in the room. “We went on a cruise down to Mexico. Then over to Japan. Dropped by South Korea. And finally ended up in Paris.” 

 

“Short and sweet I see,” his mom commented. “I’ll expect details later.” 

 

With that they slowly headed back home in the light traffic. The girls were really asleep by that point so Ash grabbed one at a time and threw them on each shoulder. They were at his folks place. Not that he minded, but he really didn’t want to have this conversation. In fact he never wanted to have this conversation. He wasn’t ashamed of his girls, it was all simply a little much change for him sometimes. Sometimes he did things before thinking about them, well most of the time he did. His parents were his old life. Tiff and Zora were his new life. It might be hard to get them to meet in the middle. 

 

When he dropped the girls off on his bed he kissed them goodnight as they cuddled one another. Stepping out into the kitchen his parents were already brewing coffee. They made him one and they all sat at the table. 

 

“I want a play by play of your vacation. I’ve never been to any of those places,” his mom started. “We can talk about the other stuff later.”

 

“Fair enough,” he said, sipping the coffee. “Tiffany planned everything, I didn’t have a part in it. She got the three of us on a cruise. We met this Indian guy, I think, and his wives and hung out. We fired guns. Went rock…” He told them everything. They asked about the weather and what it was like to be on a cruise. They asked about swimming with dolphins and every little detail. He was very vague on South Korea. Asher said he met up with some adventuring friends and they didn’t question it. He also said he got sick the first few days in Paris, so Zora and Tiff did most everything. He didn’t start feeling better in the story till the tail end.

 

“But you’re better now?” His mom asked. His dad was mostly quiet during the whole thing. “Good. Cus you’re an idiot,” she added, surprising him. “Getting engaged to 2 girls? You know that’s illegal right? With Zora I don’t blame you. Shes very cute. But Tiff. If she comes from money she will have you sign a pre-nup. And I wouldn’t blame her. You have no job prospects. No college. How are you going to support these girls? And if you have kids, don’t get me started. We just got you out of the house. I’m not raising them for you.” Asher and his father were both a little surprised by her tirade. She let him digest it for a moment. “Have you thought about any of this?” 

 

“Some,” he admitted blushing. “I was offered a place with the local police. Nothing set in stone. I go to that club, and the administrator is the local police captain. The other stuff, well we are going to figure it out. No kids for now, I can guarantee you that at least. But we are happy as it is. And really, I’m happy I asked them. I love them both.” 

 

His mom locked eyes with his. After a little bit of time she smiled. “You’re 18 now. I’m not going to run your life,” she said standing up. “But I expect the 3 of you here at least once a week for dinner. I want to get to know my future daughters.” She kissed her husband and went to bed.

 

Ash and his dad sat awkwardly across from one another. “This whole thing isn’t as much of a surprise to us,” his dad said. “We had heard rumors after your prom.”

 

“Not surprising. They really aren’t that shy about it,” he said. “But I do love them.” 

 

“Do they love you?” His dad asked. 

 

“I don’t know why. But they do,” he eventually said. They must not have been together that long, it took longer than he would have liked to answer. He had to think about it. Everything they did said so, but sometimes he woke up expecting them to change their minds. 

 

“Of all the people we can help. We should first help ourselves,” his dad said. “You do what's best for you, alright? And out of all this, I have faith you will do what's right. I mean a bunch of people in the bible had multiple wives,” his dad joked. “How hard could it be?”

 

“It feels like it comes pretty easy sometimes. Then others it's a pain,” he admitted. 

 

“Well I don’t envy you. Your mother is all I can handle.” His dad got up and came around to his side of the table. They hugged as he said, “Good to have you back. And listen to your mother. We want to see all of you.” Asher nodded in his shoulder. They were the same height. It had been a while since they hugged like this. “Jeez, you gotta show me your workout regiment. You’re like a boulder.”

 

Asher laughed and offered to wake him up early, but with that his dad declined and went to bed. Back in his room Asher didn’t think he could pry Tiff and Zora off one another. Behind Tiff he nudged her a little and hugged her from behind. 

 

“Go okay?” She asked. 

 

He let out a long sigh. “Honestly, better than I expected.” An arm under her and Zora and his other arm over top he hugged them both as he thought. 

 

“I’ll do anything for you,” he whispered. “Nothing will keep us apart.” Neither of the girls said anything as they drifted off to sleep. But they had heard him and both smiled. 

 

—-

 

They got up the next morning to a big breakfast. His mom had even wrangled his dad out of bed. The girls then began talking about what they had seen and done. Ash reminded them he got sick in Paris, and they played along. His mom was an avid listener as they talked about the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. 

 

“Oh I wish I could have seen,” his mother said. 

 

“Well next time you will have to come along,” Tiff said. “I’ve been thinking, we should take a private jet for our next vacation.”

 

“Wow, Tiffany you must come from a lot of money.”

 

“Lets just say I have a wealthy benefactor,” Tiff said then changed the subject. They then showed off their rings. 

 

“My son. Full of surprises. Where did you get money for stuff like this?” His mom asked. His dad was still dead to the world, but conscious. 

 

“I’ve been saving,” he admitted. 

 

His mom gave him a side eye, still very doubtful. “Asher says your dad offered him a job.” 

 

“Oh you’re still thinking about it?” Tiff asked. “I thought you said no.”

 

“I said maybe, but after talking to Joony, she said I should,” he admitted. 

 

“Ah. Well it's hard to say no to her advice,” Tiff said. 

 

With that they talked about Zora’s time at home. Her parents were happy to see her, they had only received a few letters recently. She mentioned wanting to fly them out, but it would be a big hassle. Tiff assured her they could figure it out. With that they soon left. They had much to do. 

 

Asher packed most all of his things from his room and took he and the girls to their new apartment. It was a 2nd story loft apartment. Large bay windows on the South side, hard wood floors. The place was all one big room except the bathroom. Bed, living room, and kitchen were all connected, but it was huge. With no bed or other furniture they were soon on their way to a local store.

They ordered a king size mattress and set that they all agreed on. Zora and Tiff then picked out every sofa and side table they thought would match. Set up for delivery the following day they would have to stay at his folks again since Tiff was already moved out. That left grocery shopping and other items for the next day as well. 

 

With nothing else to do they went to the Guild Hall. It had been a month, but the place looked much better. The concrete outside was new, new lines painted in the parking lot, cameras set up at every corner, it was like a whole new place. 

 

“How did you afford all of this again?” Zora asked. 

 

“We roleplayed a pirate hoard,” Tiff admitted happily as they walked in. “It's quite famous. We had to do it through certain channels since we couldn’t disclose where we got it, but word got around. It sold for about $1.5 mill”

 

“$1.5 million?” Asher asked, shocked. “You said it would be worth like a quarter mill.”

 

“And it was, but we got more than expected. How do you think we afforded so much? Also we really only get about half that. We had to launder some of it through some channels, so half of it disappeared through taxes and all that.”

 

“Launder? How the heck do you know how to do all this? I thought your dad was a police captain.” 

 

“And my mom is a lawyer. She helped a little,” she admitted. “There's a lot of loopholes for money that falls out of the sky, or the bedroom.” She smacked his ass. 

 

“Tiffany, finally you’re back,” Mrs. Egan said. “I swear. I get more requests every day for this or that. It’s exhausting. I really need your help.” The much older woman had ran their old guild hall at the church, and was volunteering there as well. 

 

“Ok. Zora, you mind helping?” Tiff asked. She knew Asher wasn’t the best at this stuff. 

 

“I’m gonna check out the Training Hall,” he said, but they ignored him. Soon he made his way past the stairs to the apartments. The cafeteria was a little more lively with a few people waving to him. They hung out over coffee in the very empty room. Since it was a weekday he wasn’t too surprised. 

 

When he got to the Training Hall he was happy it was starting to fill up. At the far corner was an ever expanding conglomeration of weights. Many obviously bought from the System Store by their distinct colors. On the other end was what looked to be the sparring area. Mats set up all around, there were also some boxing gloves and other fist or head pads scattered on the floor. At another corner was an overly large punching bag. Then there were some sparring wood swords and other weapons made of wood. 

 

“Heyo,” Abby said as she dropped her weight. A loud boom was let out despite it dropping on a padded floor. 

 

“You need to stop that,” Asher said as he walked up to her. He put his sunglasses on. 

 

Saiyan/Human

Level 19

 

“Haha, caught up to your level,” he said happily. She was no longer the for sure strongest in the guild. 

 

“You gotta be shitting me,” she said, growing angry. 

 

“Nope. Did a big raid in Korea. Got lost and killed about a thousand monsters to get out.”

 

“You and your lucky grinds. That’s it. I’m kicking your ass,” she said walking to the padded corner. Sweat glistened on her, but he didn’t say no. As he walked he took off his shirt and began stretching. 

 

They were soon grunting and grinding one another as they wrestled on the ground. Ash was sweating profusely. Despite being the same level he could tell she was stronger, or knew her strength better. “You know,” he said as she held his neck with her legs. “I was down in Mexico and ran into some Systems. They prefer working out in spars since it wears them out quicker.”

 

“Oh yeah?” She said letting him go. “So what? You want to really fight?”

 

“Sure,” he said, letting out a long breath. “Skills or no skills?” 

 

“Why bother if we aren’t serious?” She asked. 

 

With that he used Mesmerizing Gaze. Asher could almost feel the mana as it shot out of his eyes into hers. Her fierce look became relaxed as he stared at her. This was his first time using it, so he wanted to experiment. Could I?... he thought but was brought out of it as a blue Ki blast hit his nose. 

 

“What the fuck was that?” Abby asked angrily. 

 

“A new skill,” he said, rubbing his nose. “My own little CC apparently. Supposed to mesmerize you, but it's still low level.”

 

“Well fuck that,” she said. “It was like my brain turned off there for a second. Took all I had to form the Ki”

 

“You mind if I try it more?” He asked. 

 

“Not if I can use you for target practice,” she said. A small ball of blue Ki formed in her hand. 

 

Asher gulped, “Maybe later. Let’s stick to punches for now.” With that they began punching one another. Abby was stronger, but Asher felt like he had more experience fighting. He twisted and turned away from her hits. When they connected it was hard, and threw them back a few feet. They had to learn how to grip the padded floor with their toes to prevent being moved. 

“What do you two think you’re doing?” Tiffany asked from the entrance to the Hall. 

 

“Uhhh sparring?” He said. Looking down at their bodies Asher noticed they were both black and blue. There were red knuckle marks all over his chest, and Abby didn’t look much better. They dripped sweat as they caught their breath. 

 

“You can do that another time. My dad wants to talk,” she said. 

 

“We should do this again,” Abby said as he wiped the sweat off his body. 

 

“For sure. Maybe a daily thing,” he said as he ran after Tiff. 

 

When they were back in the front Asher started to get nervous. They were called into Wayne Tyler’s office, like he was the principal, and they the unruly students. When the 3 of them were finally sitting he said, “First business. I want to hear about the raid.”

 

Asher told him about the dungeon in South Korea. How they had gathered 40 people. Their organization. Also about the monsters. He added the explanation of the Tiers and what they meant. He left out the part about Joony, but he did say, “There was someone there who hinted a lot of System users will awaken within the next year. She also said we should make sure we are stocked up on everything.”

 

“Everything how?” Wayne asked. 

 

“Everything. Food mainly. You can get basic stuff from the System but not much else. Raw materials. With Blacksmith Systems and others like it, it would be good to get a supply ready in case trade routes are shut down. Weapons, ammo, gasoline, vehicles, planes. Pretty much everything we don’t have right now.”

 

“Fair enough. She explain how she knew all this?” 

“Said she could see the future,” Asher said.

 

Wayne took it at face value. “We already began stockpiling food. I’d like you to look at what else we can afford,” he said to Tiff. 

“Actually, I was hoping to get Zora’s help with that,” Tiff said. “She’s a foreigner, and needs a sponsor and job. Since the guild is an LLC I was hoping we could do that and pay her. With all this, it sounds like we have a lot more work ahead.”

 

“Do you have a System?” His dad asked Zora. 

She blushed and hesitated so Ash answered. “Not yet. But the fortuneteller friend said she would awaken.”

 

“She can tell that? Must be some friend. You try to recruit her?” Wayne asked. 

“I did. She said she had things to take care of. But could come next year sometime.” She had said that. Then she would tell all the secrets.

“Works for me. Looks like we have a lot of buying and sourcing to do. We have ample space for now, but I imagine it won’t last us forever. We might need to buy more real estate. I doubt any of this is in our budget,” he looked to Tiff. 

 

“If we don’t have it, then we will make it,” Tiff said, winking at Ash. 

 

“I see my daughter accepted your proposal,” Wayne said, his eyes focused on her ring. 

 

“She did, as did Zora,” Ash said.

 

Wayne was caught off guard a little by that. But with a long sigh and look to his daughter he said, “You can explain everything to me tonight over dinner.” 

 

“Of course. You need to meet Asher’s parents anyway,” Tiff said happily. “But if they ask, tell them you’re loaded.” 

 

Wayne let out a longer sigh as he began rubbing his temple. Ash took his chance. “I uh, I've been thinking about what you asked a few weeks ago. I’d like to reconsider?”

 

“Oh? About going to fuck yourself?” Wayne asked. 

 

Tiff laughed, but Asher continued, “No, about joining the police.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Wayne said, getting serious. “How so?”

 

“I simply think it might be a good opportunity to expand my horizons,” Ash said as he scratched his face. “I’d still like to do dungeons. And not do night shifts. But if it’s focused on System people, I don’t see why not.”

“Hmmmm,” Tiff’s dad thought as he leaned back in his chair. “I think we can work something out. This whole vigilante business for Red Quest targets won’t fly next time. I have some friends higher up that have Systems, and they don’t like sweeping stuff under the rug,” Wayne was very serious about this. He had hinted at it to Ash last time, he didn’t know he had put so much thought into it. “You know the Countdown is still happening. We have less than 3 months till whatever is going to happen happens. When something bad goes down like I expect, then I’d prefer we have people that can help.”

 

“Cool, so like I’m an Avenger now, right?” Asher asked. The father and daughter rolled their eyes, but at least Zora laughed.