Cinnamon Bun - Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty-One

Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty-One

“Amayrllis!” I cheered as I saw the harpy standing by the ship’s railing not too far from where the stairs leading up to the Beaver were. “We’re back!” I waved my one free arm up and over my head. The other was preoccupied with holding onto the food and stuff we’d bought.

“I can see that,” Amaryllis said. “Good to see you’ve managed to make it back intact. The others have all returned.”

“Uh-huh, I can tell,” I said with a grin as I started to take the steps up two at a time. Desiree was right behind me, though she climbed at a more demure pace so I ended up ahead a little. “Were you waiting for me?”

Amaryllis crossed her arms. “No,” she lied. “I just had a sense that you were up to something foolish when it took you so long to return.”

I grinned. “A sense? Is it something like my Captaining skill? Since you’re not the captain, maybe... First Mating?”

“First... Broccoli, you idiot,” Amaryllis sputtered. She was a little red in the cheeks, especially as I giggled.

I set my things down onto the deck, then raised my arms up in an optimal hugging position. Amaryllis kept her arms crossed.

“C’mon! Hugs? Please? You’ll like it! Promise?”

She huffed, and it was a very strange huff, a sort of ‘okay, yeah, I will, but you won’t hear it from me’ sort of huff. Then she took a small step forward and allowed me to glomp her up into a tight-tight hold.

Then I used my new skill, allowing some of my magic to power up my Hugging Proficiency.

Amaryllis gasped as my mana jumped from me to her. I wasn’t sure what it felt like on her end, but on mine it was like feeling a warm blanket. A very fuzzy one, that smelled a bit like woodsmoke.

“Broccoli?” she asked. “What is that?” 

“I upgraded!” I cheered. “Hugging Proficiency was one of the skills I levelled up. It lets me share mana now. That was... ten of a hundred and seventy of my mana pool.”

Amaryllis shivered, then when I opened my arms a little to see if she still wanted hugs, she carefully stepped out of my hug, though she didn’t go very far. “That was... interesting. Rather intimate.”

“Intimate?” I asked. “In like, a married couple way or close friends kind of way?” That could be bad.

She shook her head. “Nothing like that, quash any perverted thoughts you might have between your four ears. It’s more that... hmm, how can I put this... I have a rather acute sensitivity to magic, something which comes with my magic-focused class and skills. It gives me a keen sense for mana.”

“What did you learn from that sense?” Desiree asked as she finally climbed aboard.

Amaryllis nodded to her in greeting. “Nothing untoward. Just a sense of... Broccoli. You mana itself is very clean and pure. And you’re a bit of that as well.”

“Ah! Well, I hope it’s usable, still?” I asked.

“Probably, yes. If anything, other than the form-factor of the transfer, this may be a strong multiplier for some of us. More mana at my disposal may well mean that I’ll be able to unleash greater spellwork more often. Hmm.” She eyed me the way someone who was a little peckish might eye a cake and I wasn’t sure if I liked that.

“I got other skills too!” I said.

Amaryllis placed her talons on her hips. “Oh?” she asked.

I bobbed my head with a quick nod. “I upgraded a bunch of them! Captaining, Social Butterfly, Hugging Proficiency, of course, and Friendmaking!”

One of her eyebrows perked up at that. “Quite the list. And some of those were at least at the rank where the next level up would give you a decent amount of power.”

“Uh-huh,” I agreed. “Captaining gives me a much better sense of where everyone is on the Beaver. And how my friends are feeling. It’s a bit strange for some. Now that I’m here... Desiree feels like more crew than someone like Bastion does? But Caprica is also more crew-er than Desiree, but less than the Scallywags and way less than the harpy crew.”

“I suppose that the skill may be taken into account--to some degree--how much those people see themselves as part of the crew and ship,” Amaryllis said.

I nodded. Awen felt as close to the Beaver as Amaryllis. Closer, even. Clive, interestingly, was a bit less than Steve and Gordon and the Scallywags. Maybe because he’d been on a bunch of ships before, and unless he retired after being part of the Beaver’s crew, it was possible that he didn’t see it as a more permanent home.

Or it could be something else. I decided not to dive too deeply in the potential reasons why the crew felt more or less loyal or part of the ship. That way led to doubting my friends, and that wasn’t something that I wanted on the Beaver at all.

“I got some other things too,” I said. “From Friendmaking and Social Butterfly.”

“Oh?” Amaryllis asked. “Go on, then. Anything useful?”

I nodded. “I can see more information about people when I ask them to be my friend.”

Amaryllis stared.

I stared back.

“What?” I finally asked.

“Well, ask me,” she said.

“But I thought we were already best friends?” 

The blush was back, but stronger this time. “You... idiot. It’s for science. And stop saying such... foolish things out loud. Some thoughts are best kept within that cavernous head of yours,” Amaryllis said while Desiree giggled up a storm next to her. 

“Okay!” I said. “Well, as long as you know that I think of you as one of my very best friends, then it’s okay! Would you like to be my friend?”

Amaryllis Albatross

Desired Quality: Someone capable to rule by her side.

Dream: To make her family and nation proud of her. 

Insecurities: Worried that others may judge her for not doing enough. Worried that she’s doing too much. Worried that others will surpass her while she is out adventuring. Worried that the adventure might end. Worried that her friends don’t know her. Worried about learning how to get to know her friends.

“Aww!” I said. Amaryllis tried to stop me from giving her a hug, but my Hugging Proficiency level was higher than her Hug Dodging skill and so she completely failed to stop me from giving her the nicest, tightest squeeze I could. Hugging Amaryllis was nice. Her feathers were soft.

“Get off me, you oaf.”

“Nope! Not until we have a long, long sit-down, and a chat, and we all get to share stories about ourselves, and you’ll know everything about us, and we’ll know all of your deepest, darkest secrets.”

“That sounds like torture. You’re describing torture, Broccoli,” Amaryllis said.

I laughed. “Friendship is the best kind of torture,” I said. “It’s like exercise, but without the sweat and muscle aches, and more fun.”

“You are a very strange creature, Captain Bunch,” Desiree said with a swish of her tails.

“What did your other skills give you?” Amaryllis asked.

“Oh, I got wings,” I said.

She stared blankly at me. “Wings.”

“Mhm! Look!” I concentrated real hard, and then felt my mana drain. At the same time, I could vaguely catch sight of a glow forming behind me. I turned, spinning in a little circle to better see the pair of wings that had sprouted on my back. They were about as large as my torso, with faint blue lines glowing through their form, but mostly they were ghostly and glowing.

“You have no idea the amount of envy you’d inspire in a less self-assured harpy,” Amaryllis said. “And this is from a General skill?” 

“One of my Wonderlander skills,” I said. I tried to take off... Instead, my wings flapped rather lazily, as if working against a lot of resistance, and all I managed to do was shove myself forwards and back a little. 

I imagined I’d get about the same result if I taped two large pieces of cardboard onto my arms and flapped those as hard as I could.

“I’ll be writing about this, if you don’t mind,” Amaryllis said. “My sisters and parents would love to hear about this. There may be others with the Social Butterfly skill who haven’t yet levelled it to such a degree.”

“Are wings so valuable to you?” Desiree asked.

“Obviously,” Amaryllis said. “We are a proud, winged species... and yet our flight is mostly reserved to gliding about. The sylph, our long-time rivals, have similar wings and seem to delight in flitting about uselessly.”

“I’m not even sure I can manage flitting yet,” I said. 

“Well, speak with Bastion, or better yet, Caprica. Perhaps they’ll deign to assist you,” Amaryllis said. “A bun with wings... What's next, Broccoli, a scorpion’s tail?”

“If I put a marshmallow on the end, I could use that for hugging!”

“Idiot.”

***