World Walker Park [Magical Amusement Park Base-Building]

The sun set on a nice night and the full moon shone through Ressen's leaves like a great white ball. It radiated, glowing just as bright as the sun but was nice enough to let you look at it. There, below the moon's watchful gaze, an orcish woman and a human man snacked on cold crackers and hard salami.

They were wearing nice clothes, far nicer than their normal park uniforms. The kind of clothes that spent most of their lives trapped in a closet, waiting for special occasions. Eve wore a sleeveless black dress shirt with a frilly floral pattern around the neck and slacks that ended in cute flats. Luka wore similar pants, but a shirt that the Sneerhome seamstress promised was "in fashion."

It wasn't.

But Luka didn't know that, and Eve didn't feel the need to tell him. Him looking like a buffoon eased the butterflies in her stomach and her smile eased the critters in his. It was a symbiotic type of relationship, one they greedily adopted without so much as a word to one another.

"Tell me about Earth," Eve dreamily said, closing her eyes.

They'd had this conversation many times over the months—little snippets of what home was to Luka, what technology was like, culture, war. Sometimes the conversations were light and quick, other times they were dark and heavy. This was the former.

He thought for a moment then said, "On Earth, there was something called 'body building' that people competed in."

"Like necromancy?"

The question caught him off guard. "Uh, no. Like lifting heavy things in special ways to make your muscles larger or toner."

"Oh. Yeah, that's more fun sounding." The orc in her then showed itself. "Did you ever compete?"

Luka laughed. "No. I was a scrawny nerd, math and science, stuff like that. Body builders were athletes who spent countless hours in the gym, honing their bodies into that of marble."

"They were rock elemental?"

He leveled a low stare. "Eve, I know I've told you Earth doesn't have magic."

She playfully rolled her eyes. "And you've yet to fully figure out sarcasm."

Luka stuck his tongue out at her and continued his story. "Body building, well, it wasn't the most popular sport—if it could be called that. But those who were into it, were really into it. Starving their bodies of food and water so that when it was time to go in front of the judges, they could chug as much water as they could handle so their muscles swelled."

"That doesn't sound health…" Eve flexed her arm, showing off muscles of her own. "Would I win anything?"

Luka snorted. "Eve, if you suddenly found yourself in an Earthen body building competition, you'd win in the first round. No one, no one, could beat you."

"Really?" Luckily the moon's light shrouded her face enough to hide her blush. "Must be because I'm an orc. We're more muscly than humans. Franky would win as well."

"Franky? Ehhh, he's a little flabbier since he started dating Alex. But you? You'd win in a heartbeat."

It was Eve's turn to laugh.

Luka cut a slice of salami and threw it to Leo, who was down the path scaring away any who'd dare interrupt the date. Not that anyone came down this path at this hour. The park was closed, the moon was high, and the lake was silent. Serenity, beauty, that special type of smile, familiar company. They both leaned back, shifting subtly closer to one another in the seats Luka fabricated from stone and soft moss.

A pair of candles sat between them, flickering and drawing their side silhouettes. When one looked at the other, candlelight glinted in their eyes like fireflies, drawing the attention of the other. Dozens of times over the night they caught each other looking, smiling to themselves like children.

"Did you know Franky's real name is Frankimilianmaximilian?" Eve asked. "I haven't heard anyone call him that since before Mom and Dad died. Now that they're back, I've heard it a dozen times."

Luka's face went through a range of emotions. Mischievousness to awe, to surprise, and finally he just smiled. "The ol' parent-calling-their-child-by-their-full-name gambit."

She laughed. "He was getting in trouble."

Luka adjusted in his seat. "Frankimilianmaximilian, now that is terrible."

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"Franky absolutely hates it, and only ever allowed Mom and Dad to call him that."

"Oh, I believe it. No way I'd allow myself to walk around without a nickname."

They both went quiet, stewing in the moonlight. Luka cut off another piece of salami and threw it to Leo, and Eve sipped a glass of red wine like a noble vampire.

Goddess Tippy had long blessed Luka to not be able to drink alcohol. And he hadn't felt the urge to since waking up in this world. Did he miss it? Prior to tonight, he would've said "no." But here, watching Eve drink alone, it bothered him. This was supposed to be a romantic date, and drinking alone was about as romantic as throwing rocks at an ant hill.

"Tippy," he whispered almost silently. "Can you bless me so I can drink wine tonight? Like get rid of all the alcohol and I'll just drink the grape juice."

Tippy's voice was beaming directly into his mind. "No."

Luka frowned. "Please?"

"No, Luka. You're an alcoholic. I'm not going to enable you, even if you're just drinking juice."

He recoiled. How could he have forgotten—no, that wasn't right. How could he have tried to ignore that fact? He shouldn't be drinking, let alone thinking about drinking. Luka turned to Eve, who was looking at him strangely. Before he could say anything, she poured her wine into the dirt.

"So…" she said, "Goddess Tippy just told me you were asking about a drink? We've talked about this before."

They had. Every time alcohol had been brought up, Luka refused to drink. And before tonight, there wasn't a problem with him watching others drink.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to ruin the night."

"You didn't ruin anything," Eve said before she sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be drinking at all around you."

"You can! I don't mind."

She nodded lamely. "Maybe when the others are around. But when it's just us? I shouldn't. It's not fair to either of us."

"Either of us?" he asked.

"Luka, you're a good man. That's…" she hid her blush, "what I like about you. I don't want to ruin the life you've built here. And if that means not drinking when we're alone, that's hardly a cost to pay."

He stared off into the lake. "Sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"Addiction," Tippy said in his ear.

Eve didn't hear the goddess' words, yet she stuck her hand out and took Luka's. She squeezed tightly, patting the top of his palm with her fingers. "No harm done. None at all."

Luka gently squeezed back. Eve had been there for him since day one in this world. He had many faults and had made countless mistakes. Yet here, right now, he knew he made the correct choice by befriending her and agreeing to this date.

"Thank you, Tippy," he said aloud, for all to hear. He turned to Eve. "And thank you."

"Who would I be if I wasn't supportive?" Eve asked. "Orcs usually mate for life and—" She stopped cold. "Nope! Forget I said that! That's too embarrassing to talk about right now!"

Luka laughed his own awkwardness away. "It's okay! I know what you meant."

Eve bowed her head, burying it between her legs. "Nooooo!" she cried. "You were supposed to be the one embarrassing yourself tonight, not me!"

"Was I?" He considered for a moment. "Once, I walked into the bathroom at Mr. Todd's and Todd was in there."

"Oh no."

"We made eye contact."

Eve gasped, then she leaned closer and said, "That's actually happened to me before. But you didn't hear that from me."

Luka laughed. "Todd is an interesting fellow."

"Who doesn't believe in locks!"

"Maybe we should set him up with an automatic glyph lock. Pressure sensitive for when someone walks in and out."

"Good idea. But you've got to find something he can pay you with. Last time you built something for him, you got scammed."

Luka frowned. "What'd I build?"

"The sign."

"Ah. Well, that was for the park as much as it was for him. We needed a way to tell the people on the highway where we were, a landmark sign was as good as any."

The conversation lulled again, and they went back to staring at the water, still holding hands—not that either were complaining. Behind, Leo growled at an owl hooting in a tree. No one was to interrupt their date! No one!

"Annie asked me to be her maid of honor," Eve suddenly said. "I don't know what that really means, but she was excited."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "Did you accept?"

"I did."

"Good. All you've got to do is make sure everything with their wedding goes smoothly, then you have to stand beside her when the… priest? marries them." Luka frowned. "Huh. How's that going to work? What are normal weddings like on this world?"

"I don't know," Eve said. "I've only ever been to one, and it was a traditional orcish marriage. They fist fought each other in a circle of their closest friends and relatives. The winner keeps their last name and the other has to give up theirs."

"Sounds… fun?"

"Oh, it is, especially if there's an upset between the two. Sometimes a lowborn clan member wins and makes their highborn clan member spouse leave their clan. They call that a 'tribal shift' and many o' times results in a gilded age for the clans."

Luka looked at her strangely. "Did you just say 'many o' times?'"

Eve snorted. "That's what you got out of that?"

He struggled, then scratched his face awkwardly. "If, uh, we get married, do we have to fist fight each other? Cause I don't think I want to do that."

Eve opened her mouth, but no words came out. She did make a squealing sound, however.

Luka chuckled and said, "Moving right along. You'll like being Annie's maid of honor. And don't worry too much about what you'll have to do. I'm sure Annie's got everything planned out to the letter."