4.32 – Overdue Talks

Zoey started from the beginning. There wasn't much to go over. The difficulty of the conversation came from the sheer outlandishness, not the quantity of content.

She laid it out in quick, practical terms. Her first meeting with Ephy, her transportation to the shard, then today, the new discoveries: more about the 'threat', Mel, and briefly how Zoey had been purposefully arranged to meet Rosalie.

That last part made Rosalie go quiet. It danced around her past, whatever it was, and made it clear Zoey knew something was going on. Though Ephy’s intervention had hardly been what gave that away. Rather, Rosalie’s behavior itself had. Even Delta had picked it up—though what ‘it’ meant specifically eluded them.

Zoey didn’t expect any explanation—not today, at least—and Rosalie didn’t provide one, though she seemed hesitant, as if warring briefly with herself over whether she should. But they had more pressings topics to go over, so they silently put it to the side.

When Zoey was done, she sat back and waited, concerned, for how Rosalie would respond.

For a few moments, she chewed over the topic. Finally, she said, "It does explain a lot."

"You believe me, then?"

Piercing blue eyes scrutinized her, a frown tugging the edges of her lips. "Of course I believe you. There's too much supporting evidence. Your runes alone might have sold it."

Zoey relaxed. That this wouldn't end up with her girlfriend thinking she was crazy came as a surprisingly large relief. She'd been prepared to navigate that result, but that she didn't have to was obviously preferable.

"Okay. Good. I'm glad."

"Another world, though," Rosalie said. "Not just a splinter, but separated entirely from the rest. It's hard to take in."

"At least I remember most of it," Zoey said. "The memory scrambling was mostly personal stuff, not general knowledge."

Rosalie frowned. "And I'm not pleased about that, either. Or your involvement with a goddess. That's troubling. Dangerous."

"The world's apparently ending, so compared to that …" Zoey shrugged. "Plus, we should be happy we have an ally."

"But why her?"

"The goddess of sex? Good question."

Why not any of the others? For that matter, did they all exist? Ephy apparently had a place in this world’s pantheon, but did that mean the entire pantheon was real? Zoey hesitated. Religion was, obviously, a touchy subject, and while Rosalie didn’t come off as a pious person, questioning her on whether her gods were real could be a thorny conversation.

“Is there one named Ezariel?” Zoey asked. “In your pantheon?” That was the safe place to start.

“No. There isn’t. I wanted to bring that up, too.”

During Zoey’s explanation, she’d simply gotten through all the reveals, rather than fielding questions. Now that the basics were in the open, they both had plenty of clarifications they wanted.

“But Ephy called this world his,” Zoey said. “More than hers. And she’s an actual goddess of yours, but he isn’t?”

Rosalie’s frown deepened. “You’re asking me if the others are real, since Ephythithys,” she pursed her lips, “Ephy, is apparently the only one looking to help.”

“I guess.”

“There are instances of members of the pantheon descending and intervening in mortal affairs,” Rosalie said, “but, admittedly, I don’t know the validity of such stories. And not many are recent. My father, at least—“

She stiffened, then continued. Zoey pretended not to notice the slip, though what it meant, exactly, she couldn’t decipher.

“—hasn’t interacted or heard of interactions with any divine beings. And he is,” she paused, looking for how to put it, “rather informed compared to the typical person, so perhaps they really are stories. Or he never mentioned it to me. This simply isn’t a topic I, or he, I suspect, spent significant time considering.”

“I see,” Zoey said. “Well, I suppose it’s all irrelevant. Real or not, it sounds like we can’t count on them. Or whoever Ezariel is. Ephy is the only one with halfway interest in helping.”

“The question is why.”

Zoey shrugged helplessly. “We’ve got bigger fish to fry. Fixing the problem in the first place.”

“Moreover,” Rosalie said dryly, “discovering what it even is.”

“Whatever’s hurting Mel is clearly part of it. So we need to get there as soon as possible. What’s the travel time?”

“Even at a quick pace, a full day.”

Zoey grimaced at that, but Rosalie hesitated.

“Though … with our recent advancements, and how we share a small percentage of our stats, now …” She considered. “Less. I’m not sure how much so. We could probably jog a good portion of the trip instead of walking it. Your stamina should be vastly improved from your advancement, and physical stats siphoned from us.”

“But we’ll make it in time, for sure,” Zoey said, relieved at hearing it. Mel had said she could last a day or two, so while not overflowing with time, they weren’t at risk of not making it.

“Yes. We will. But we should get going immediately. Besides, further discussions can happen as we walk. There won’t be much else to do.”

Zoey wasn’t looking forward to another full-day hike through varying pocket-realms, but she didn’t have much choice. She’d have liked their so-called vacation to have lived out properly, but the burgeoning end of the world had a tendency to throw wrenches in plans.

“That brings up an important point,” Zoey said. “Delta. Maddy. What’s the plan?”

“You want to tell them?”

“Delta, at least,” Zoey said. “She deserves to know what she’s getting into.”

“She’s getting into? I would figure there are others significantly more qualified to handle this. Whatever ‘this’ is.”

Zoey paused. She supposed that was true. Why would she, Rosalie, and Delta be the ones tackling a world-ending threat?

“Assuming it can be handled through conventional means,” Zoey pointed out. “Ephy might have chosen a champion deliberately.”

Rosalie raised her eyebrows at her. “Are you suggesting you’ll be fucking the threat into compliance, Zoey?”

“I-I’m just saying,” Zoey said. “Not necessarily that. Just that there might not be better qualified people. Or maybe they’re in on it, or something.”

Rosalie’s eyebrows went higher.

“Not that I’m saying they are,” Zoey clarified. “Again. Just that Ephy picked a third party for a reason.” She shrugged. “We’ll play that by ear.”

“Later,” Rosalie agreed. “Delta.” She sighed. “You can tell her. I believe she’s trustworthy. And she’s entangled with us, so yes, she deserves to know what’s going on. I’m wondering if she’ll believe us.”

“If we find something at Mel’s shard, that’ll be proof, won’t it?”

“I suppose it would.” She wavered. “Of a sort, at least.”

“And one more thing, before we get going. I wanted to talk about us.”

“Us?”

“I’ve been meaning to for a bit, now,” Zoey said. “We just keep getting sidetracked. But we’re girlfriends now. And that means we should set down boundaries and expectations. Communication is important.”

“… okay?” Rosalie asked. She seemed bewildered by the turn of events. And Zoey supposed it wasn’t the most appropriate time to do this, following on the tail of all the craziness she’d just revealed, but she’d already been distracted from it more than once. This was something they needed to talk about.

It had primarily entered Zoey’s mind because of Mel’s earlier offer. That she wanted Zoey and Rosalie to ‘take care of her’ together, unlike their first encounter. Which brought up an important point they needed to hammer out—how their relationship worked in the concrete.

“The biggest thing,” Zoey said, “is us actually defining us. What you’re okay with, and what I’m okay with. Specifically, me sleeping with other girls doesn’t bother you, right?”

The bewilderment grew. “I assure you,” she said, “I’m more than capable of making what I want clear. I would have said something if it did.”

Zoey believed that was true in some regards, but definitely not all. But when it came to Rosalie being fine with Zoey having multiple partners, she could tell Rosalie meant it. She’d known that before asking—but again, the point was to get it out in the open, explicitly.

“And the reverse,” Zoey said. “I realize it’s unfair, but …”

Rosalie rolled her eyes. “But you’re possessive. Yes, I can tell.”

Zoey winced at the phrasing, but she supposed it was a fair assessment. The typical dynamic leaned more toward polyamory in Rosalie’s society, and so by their standards, Zoey was possessive. Even though plenty of people back home wouldn’t have wanted to share to any degree, even in a threesome.

“To make it clear,” Zoey said, “you can have fun with Delta, if you want. Or anyone in our group, I guess? Er. Not our adventuring group, but our romantic one, I mean. Which is only Delta, right now.” Sort of. What Delta was to Zoey and Rosalie was pretty undefined. They were in the burgeoning stages of that relationship.

“Group?” Rosalie asked dryly. “You mean your growing harem?”

“Well.” Harem might not be the perfect word. Rosalie and Delta certainly weren’t in love, but they had something going on. But some sort of polycule centered on her specifically, Zoey guessed was close to true. Harem, lacking the perfect terminology. Put into words, it was making Zoey blush.

“And is there a difference between our ‘romantic’ group and our ‘wayfaring’ one?” Rosalie asked. “It seems to me there isn’t. And won’t be in the future, either.”

A specific phrase of Ephy’s bubbled up. ‘While I highly approve of your determination to cum inside every friend you make …’

Zoey guessed there wasn’t. And that probably wouldn’t change as their party grew, either. Maddy seemed to be opening more and more to the idea.

She coughed, embarrassed.

“Well,” Zoey said. “I mean, when Maddy joins, I wouldn’t really call her part of our group, yet. Romantically speaking.” Though she liked Maddy, the idea of Rosalie sleeping with her without Zoey being there was … not really something she would want. “It’s just the idea of strangers I don’t like. I wanted to clarify that.”

Rosalie squeezed Zoey’s hands. “Yes, I know. And I’m fine with that.” She huffed. “Though it’s a moot point. I have no interest in being with that irritating girl by myself, much less strangers. That encounter last night, mind you, was entirely for your entertainment.”

Zoey raised an eyebrow, and Rosalie glared. Then she softened, cheeks turning pink.

“Mostly,” she conceded. “But while she was … enjoyable … she would simply be too much of a headache to deal with on my own.”

Zoey doubted Rosalie meant that, but she let her poor, emotionally repressed girlfriend retain her dignity.

“And strangers are fine to enjoy together,” Zoey clarified. “Mel wasn’t happy you didn’t fight the fun way, the first time. You have a second shot to do it right, with me. Slimegirls are really something.”

Contrary to what Zoey had expected, Rosalie seemed suddenly uncertain. She chewed her lip before replying, looking questioningly at her. “I’m not sure I want to, Zoey. I’m fine with you doing as you please, but being with just anyone … I’m not sure that’s me.”

Zoey blinked rapidly. “Well, of course that’s fine, too,” she said, feeling kind of stupid she hadn’t expected the response. Rosalie was very much a pervert, but not in the same way as Zoey—she didn’t seem like the kind of person looking for any opportunity to sleep around. She was more careful in who she wanted to be with.

“Not that it’s a no, either,” Rosalie said. “It’s just … I don’t know. Mel? Maybe.”

“Of course. It’s always your choice. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

“Then we are,” Rosalie said. “But the world is in danger part?” she added dryly. “Delta and Maddy?”

Yeah. Back to that.