15: Like Mother Like Daughter

My guild’s reappearance in my life shook me, right down to my bones. It put me off balance, and it made me feel like everything was spinning out of control. To make matters worse, it was not a one-off event. They were farming the same boss.

I had to shift my schedule around, waking up super early so I could get a few boss attempts in before they arrived at around one in the afternoon. Unlike me, they actually killed the boss, and then it wouldn’t respawn until the next day.

After the boss was dead for the day, I trained. Not levels, mind you. For that, you had to do quests and kill things and shit. No, I leveled up my abilities. I honed the skills I had, throwing myself into the practice like I had my father riding my ass, forcing me to go through the same kata over and over.

Methodically, I pushed my proficiency in each one further and further. It took me a week to do that, and in that same time I got the boss below half health a grand total of once. Still, that was awesome progress, and I was damned happy with myself.

On Sunday I took a rest day, where I lounged around on the couch with a book from the library and a cup of hot chocolate. Living the dream.

“I’m a little in awe of you by the way, Keiko,” Elena told me from where she sat almost upside down on one of the big chairs. “Like, you seem happy that you’re dying to a giant undead fungus man multiple times a day.”

“Hey, I’m making progress while I do that!” I grinned, poking my tongue out at her. “It's all about mindset. Everyone forgets that mental fortitude in the face of an obstacle is just as important as the physical skills you'll need to overcome it. The first step down the road of failure is losing yourself to anger.”

“Wise words,” she said, her answering smile bright and friendly. Gah, I was actually really upset that I wasn’t developing feelings for her. She was an amazing friend and a great person to hang out with. Plus, sex with her was out of this world. Sadly, that was as far as my heart could go. Something about her just wasn't clicking on an emotional attraction level.

I was turning back to my book when a call came in, marked as urgent and from my mother. The aforementioned heart leapt into my throat, and I glanced at Elena in panic. “My mom is calling! What should I do? It’s marked urgent!”

“Answer it,” she said, smiling encouragingly. “She loves you, right? It’ll be fine.”

I blew out a long breath, then nodded. Calm in the face of an obstacle—This was just a boss fight. Plastering a calmer expression on my face, I accepted the call.

My mom’s excited face filled the screen, her tousled red hair swept back by a hairband. Her brows knit into a frown when those brown eyes of hers focused on me, but it was only for a second.

“H-hello?” she asked, the gears of her mind spinning at record speed. “Is that you?”

“Hey mom,” I said, giving her a tentative smile. “I uh, got a crazy new class. It’s gender and race locked, though… Not that it's a bad thing! It's been so much fun, and… um… yeah…”

My cheeks flushed as I internally melted from embarrassment.

Blinking rapidly, she stared at me for almost a full fifteen seconds before her whole face lit up in a bright, shining smile. “You’re so beautiful! Oh my goodness, my daughter! You have your fathers eyes too, and is that my nose? Gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous! Oh, you have pointy ears! Are you some kind of elf? No, much too small to be an elf. Ah! You’re a fairy! Big eyes are always a sign of fairies.”

As she rambled, my blush grew and grew across my cheeks and down my neck. W-what was she saying? What was going on? She was gushing over me. She called me her daughter!

“M-mom?” I squeaked, eyes wide with confusion. My emotions were fast becoming a tropical cyclone. “You like this look?”

“My baby, of course I do!” she exclaimed, briefly moving out of frame as she gestured wildly. “Look at you, my sweet baby. You’re glowing! My baby is glowing!”

“I’m… what?” I choked, capacitors in my brain frying in rapid sequence. “N-no, that’s my wisp. It hides in my boobs.”

“And so comfortable with your feminine assets,” she winked, a sly grin tugging at her lips. “My my!”

“Stooooop,” I pointed, ducking my head to hide my face. “Stop making fun of me.”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed, waving her hand through the camera. “I really do think you look so gorgeous, though, my baby. You are so pretty.”

I wasn't going to mention that my beauty inside the game was just as random as it would've been outside the game.

“Thanks mom,” I blushed, again. Assuming I had even stopped in the first place. God, I was grinning like a goof, too. Why did I enjoy this so much? In the back of my mind, I felt weird and conflicted, too. This was not masculine behavior, and… agh, but…

She nodded slowly in response, as though what I’d said was a huge, momentous thing. “That brings me to a rather closely related topic, my dear. The Sentient artificial intelligences have gotten back to us about the synthetic body. They think they’ll be ready for you in a month or two, so they want you to think carefully about the template you send them. There was also some mention of ‘other options’ down the line, but they were very tight-lipped about it.”

Glancing at Elena, I found her listening intently to the conversation. They were both looking at me really funny. “Why wouldn’t I just get a replica of my old body?” I asked hesitantly.

“My baby, just think on it, okay?” my mother said kindly. “You can choose to look however you wish. If you decide you liked your old one, then that’s fine. If you’d like to have something different, though, that’s fine too. Who knows, maybe you’ll become fond of this little fairy form you have?”

The last part was said so pointedly I felt like I should have ducked in case my eyes got poked out. “Okay, okay,” I mumbled, wishing I could shrink myself and hide under the couch cushions.

“Good girl,” Mom said happily. “I think you like this form quite a lot, if your reaction to my reaction was anything to go by. Plus, you know how much of a sucker I am for fantasy.”

“Yes mom, I know,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “I do, in fact, remember you gatekeeping me for reading Lord of the Rings and not liking it.”

“It is not on my head that you have terrible taste,” she sniffed, pretending to inspect her nails. Her expression devolved back into a wide smile when she looked back up at the camera. “This game of yours seems fun, too. Maybe I should play it myself?”

“No!” I squeaked, suddenly terrified. “No, don’t you dare!”

“Oh, don’t worry, my lovely little daughter,” she said, her smile turning all evil and cheeky. “I won’t force you to play with me, but I think… yes, I think I will. Also, you will come and see me when you have time, we will have some mother-daughter time.”

Resigning myself to my fate, I shrugged, “Okay, fine. I’m in Porin, by the way. So make sure you start in the—“

Whatever I was saying was interrupted when mom exclaimed, “You’re just so Cute!”

Instantly, my face was on fire again, and this time I grabbed a cushion and plastered it to my face. “Mom! Stop!”

“I can’t wait to hug you,” she sighed, staring off dreamily into space.

“If I do end up taking this body with me back into reality, I hope you know I’ll be a lesbian,” I told her pointedly.

Mom didn’t even bat an eyelid. “Oh, that’s fine. Totally understandable. Women are so much prettier than most guys.”

“Uh…” I blinked, taken aback. “What? What about dad?”

“Sometimes, fictional men are actually real,” she said.

Over on the armchair, Elena let out a snorting laugh. She covered her mouth quickly, but mom had heard her. “Who was that? Is that your girlfriend?”

“No,” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “She’s my roommate. Hot, definitely gay, but just my roommate.”

“Pity,” mom mumbled. Then, her eyes lit up and she pinned me with a look. “What’s your name?”

Flushing again, I patted the pillow absently in my lap, like it was a little animal. “It’s uh, it’s Keiko.”

“The name we picked for you if you were born a girl,” she said quietly, almost reverently. “Although, perhaps you were… Nevermind. I always thought it was very pretty, but your father was the one who picked it. Can't remember where he got it from, but it was important to him. He was always so proud of his heritage.”

“Yeah. I miss him,” I said softly, and made eye contact with her. We sat like that for half a minute, words flying between us in the language of facial expression. “Even if he was annoying as hell about training me to use dumb weapons.”

“Hey, it was great bonding time, and despite your complaints I seem to remember some very big smiles. Oh, and you’ve been putting those skills to use in the games you play, haven’t you?” she asked pointedly.

I shrugged. “True, true.”

It had been very satisfying to master some specific exercise dad was teaching me, especially when his gentle, stoic mask slipped and he excitedly told me I was doing good.

She was silent for a little while, until finally she clapped her hands together and beamed at me again. “Ah, but anyway. I just thought I would call you with the news. Have a good day and I will see you soon. Look after yourself, and I love you, okay?”

“Love you too, mom,” I said, smiling as she ended the call. Gah. I really loved my mom. I can’t believe she was that chill over this body I was walking around in.

“Keiko?” Elena was looking over at me with a big smile. “You keep that mother of yours, okay? Not every parent is built like she is.”

“Are you saying my mom is built different?” I laughed, throwing in a wink to let her know I was joking.

“Yes, little fairy, I am definitely saying that,” she chuckled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “I mean that in a nice way and a, wow, she’s super strange, kind of way.”

“This is why we aren’t dating,” I groaned, throwing the cushion at her.

“No, we’re not dating because we’re not romantically compatible,” she shot back, along with the pillow. Definitely roommate compatible though, and friendship. Life was actually kinda fun now. Who would have thunk it?