Book 3: Chapter 21: Patch 4.0: A Cat is Fine Too

And so, they fish.

Having dropped the new anchor that Tabitha created for The Shoebill, Fenrir sits on a barrel by the ship’s port side while watching the line that he has cast.

“It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to just relax like this,” Fenrir says. Rock is being extra needy by whining and pressing her head against him, so whenever there isn’t a bite on the line, he has one hand on her head to pet her.

It is just a slow, lazy day for fishing.

“We need to invest in some actual chairs to sit on. I feel like kicking back and reclining. We also need some alcohol,” Fenrir says.

Rod pulses a few times, so Fenrir has no idea what he’s trying to say.

“By the way, I should probably tell you two that we’re gonna be getting a new crew member. My childhood friend, Aiko – Rod, I told you about her already. Anyways, it turns out that she’s back and is going to make a character to come and join us. I’m supposed to be figuring out where she should spawn at, but we need some relaxing time for fishing. I have to admit, it’s nice to just be alone with my rod and my dog.”

Fenrir thinks about what he just said for a few moments.

“It’s a good thing Olly and Serra aren’t here. I know they would take that out of context and make it perverted.”

“Who said anything about not being here?” Oleander asks.

Fenrir turns around and sees the grinning deer-trap-boy otherwise known as Oleander.

“I – I thought you weren’t going to be on for a bit longer?” Fenrir asks.

“Serra messaged me telling me to have fun with teasing you, so I asked what she meant, and she told me that you were in-game!” Oleander explains.

Of course. Of course, it would be Serra to inform him.

“Sorry, did I interrupt you playing with your rod?” Oleander asks. “I sure hope you weren’t playing with your rod with Rock. I might look at you differently if you did that.” He kneels down next to Rock and pets her back. “He wasn’t touching you inappropriately, was he?”

Fenrir flicks Oleander’s forehead. “I wasn’t doing that, you perverted deer,” Fenrir says.

“You never know, Fenny. You’re basically part wolf and Rock there is a wolf, so I have no idea what you might be doing while none of us are around to protect Rock!”

“I’m pretty sure I’m the one who has to protect Rock from you if anything.”

“Pfftttt, I’ve got Corwin to assault. Did you see his sleeping face down there? He’s so cute!”

“Anyways,” Fenrir changes the subject, “we’re going to have a new crewmember.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. Aiko. I’ve told you about her before, right?”

“Yeah. How’d you find her? Were you still looking?” Oleander asks, his tone more serious now.

“Oh, no. It turns out that she was Serra’s friend, and I also bumped into her on the street which made her turn into a stalker I guess.”

“Oh.” Oleander stares blankly at Fenrir. “So… your childhood friend is suddenly back in your life and now she’s a stalker? This sounds like one of those shows you watch. Are you just messing with me?”

“Ask Serra or Cass if you don’t believe me.”

Oleander rubs his forehead and sighs. “Another problem girl. Why can’t you just find normal girls? Or cute boys. We need more men here!”

“You already have Corwin.”

“But we both want some beefcakes to look at!”

“Alright, after Aiko, I’ll try to find some big muscle men for you two. Then Tabitha is probably going to request a mecha or something since everybody else is getting what they want.”

“What’s a mecha again?”

“Giant fighting robot, basically.”

“That would be pretty cool, especially if it looks like a big guy with huge muscles.”

“Alright, we’ll satisfy you both at once by getting a mecha that looks like a giant bodybuilder.”

“Now we’re talking! So, when’s the stalker joining us?”

“Uhh, I’m supposed to be here figuring out where we are so I can tell her where to spawn her character at, but I figured that it’s alright if I spend some time fishing and relaxing with Rod and Rock first. Gotta give them some attention.”

“And you have to give me attention!”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

Oleander giggles and happily skips around with his hands behind his back.

But, then he stops his happy and playful skipping to turn serious. “Hear anything from Bo—Viktor?” Oleander asks.

“Nothing,” Fenrir answers.

Oleander sits down on the barrel behind Fenrir, leaning back against Fenrir and resting his head against Fenrir’s shoulder. “This sucks. Why’d he just ditch us like that?”

“To be fair, we weren’t really being nice toward him at the end there.”

“Yeah, but… him always being a dick was just wearing me down. I couldn’t put up with him forever, but I didn’t want him to actually leave us. I wish people could just change and stop being dicks.”

“I know what you mean. He must have really been annoyed by us to just leave like that without even saying anything. I thought we were good when he left us on the ships, but I guess not. Either way, it’s done with. We shouldn’t worry about it.”

“That’s cold, Fenny. He’s been with us for years. You knew him even longer than I did, and you weren’t the one always getting made fun of by him, but I feel like I miss him way more than you do. He was our friend.”

“Of course I miss him, but I’m not going to worry about it. He wants to be a dick so we’ll let him be a dick. We didn’t do anything wrong. If he wants to come back, he can anytime, but he better apologize for being an asshole and ditching us.”

“I guess so. But even with that, I feel like we should try chasing after him if we’re really his friends. Shouldn’t you chase after people you care about?” Oleander asks with a sigh.

“Anybody who makes you chase after them isn’t somebody worth keeping around. Whether it’s a friend or a lover, you shouldn’t have to chase somebody. That’s just putting yourself beneath them and being desperate.”

“You say that, but wouldn’t you always chase after girls when you were younger? Would you chase after Serra or Cass if they left you?”

“W-well, listen, even if I struggle to follow my own advice that doesn’t mean it’s not good advice. You know, somebody can say smoking is bad for you but still be a smoker themselves,” Fenrir explains while scratching his head.

“I’m just teasing you, Fenny. How’s the fishing been?”

“I had a couple of curious bites, but nothing hooked yet. Probably need some real bait instead of just lures.”

Rock notices Oleander’s sad expression, jumps up, and knocks Oleander off of the barrel to pin him down to the ground and lick his face!

“Wh—hey! Rock! St-stop it!” Oleander whines while Rock drags her tongue all across Oleander’s face.

“I bet you’d love that if that was Corwin instead of Rock,” Fenrir teases.

“I – I’m the one who does this sort of thing!”

Rock apparently does not understand the concept of consent when it comes to licking somebody’s face until it is covered in saliva.

“How does a wolf made out of rock even have saliva?” Oleander whines. “It’s all sticky and wet and all over me… lewd.” He giggles from his own humor.

“I don’t know how Rock works at all, so I just stopped questioning it.”

Oleander finally manages to crawl out from underneath Rock. Now that Rock has grown to be so large, she is easily capable of pinning down the small Oleander.

“I guess I should try to figure out where we are. We just need to find a good landmark to use as reference for your stalker,” Oleander says. “Oh, by the way, what’s she like? Like, what’s she look like?” Oleander asks.

“Uhh, about as tall as Cass Cass, shoulder-length hair – brown, even flatter than Serra, and that’s about it I guess,” Fenrir explains. “Oh, and freckles on her face. They look really cute.”

“I see. I don’t think any of the spare clothes I’ve got would be able to fit her then since she’s taller than me. At least I’ll have somebody else to join in me being completely flat!”

“Don’t me and Corwin count as being flat if you count?”

“Yeah, but you guys are boys.”

“And you’re not?”

“Only on the outside and when on top of Cor!”

“Alright, you pervert. Let’s just try to find a landmark so that Aiko has something to go off of.”

“Aye aye, cap’n!”

Fenrir reels in his line and brings up the anchor. They are still a bit away from the coast, so they will need to get closer if they want to find any landmarks good enough to assist Aiko.

They see something familiar as The Shoebill gets closer to the coast.

Those massive crabs that they first encountered when they started playing the game can be seen on the beach digging around in the sand.

If they’re digging around, they’re probably looking for those shells full of tentacles that Fenrir thought would be great bait to use for fishing.

And he does lack some real bait.

“Want to see how those crabs compare to us now?” Fenrir asks Oleander.

“I could go for some more crab! They were delicious, and now Rock can enjoy some!” Oleander replies.

Rock hops up onto the edge of the ship, leaning over it and barking when she sees the crabs.

She really seems to dislike them.

Oh, right. Thinking back, Fenrir remembers that he technically used Rock before she was Rock to kill one of the crabs.

“Looks like Rock wants to test out how they compare to her now, too.”