No Need For A Core?

Mordecai rose to his feet and began pulling together his thoughts in the wake of the deity’s departure, trying to find a starting point, but Kazue beat him to the punch. “So, you’ve got descendants. As in kids, who had kids, who had more kids.” He eyed the grinning kitsune. “You’re an old man! Cradle robber!” She gasped and half ‘fainted’ before bouncing towards him and batting her eyelashes at him. “Does that mean I should call you Grandpappy?” She immediately frowned. “Ew, gross, no, never mind. I didn’t say that. Nope, never happened. Blegh.”

While Kazue recovered from her self-inflicted mental wound, Moriko took over. “Did I hear that right? Li. As in Li Zarb, The Shattered God, ratling god of street urchins and the downtrodden, and overall Embodiment of Chaos? He’s visited you before, and he’s coming here‽”

“Yes, him; and yes, I’ve played with him before; and yes, it seems so, but I don’t think it’ll be immediate. So preparing for it is important, just not urgent. There’s something else I’d like to discuss first, with both of you." Mordecai caught Moriko’s confused glance and paused; her distraction was too great for him to continue with his train of thought.

“Um...play? You've played with a god?” she asked.

Ah, right. Most wouldn't know certain things about the god of chaos beyond the endless stories that follow in his wake, especially when he is with one of his chosen champions, who tend to be rather different that the champions of other gods. For one thing, if you do not know what to look for, it's hard to identify a priest or champion of Li; there were no churches or temples in Li's name, no services held, no ceremonies performed. "Yes," Mordecai said, "I have played with Li, as will both of you, for the shattered one is eternally and always a child. I should let you know some things not often taught. They aren't exactly secrets either, you just only ever teach people who need to know."

Mordecai waited for both of them to acknowledge that, then continued, "Above all else, be sincere. Play with him as you would a child, feed him, cloth him, give him toys or trinkets." One also sometimes needed to carefully retrieve 'lost' items that are important enough, if you know how, but that was a more advanced lesson. "Chaos follows in his wake, but the nature of that chaos varies by his interactions with the world. Fortune tends to favor those who are sincerely kind to him, while misfortune tends to find those who would abuse his nature. All of this happens whether or not one knows they are interacting with a Li shard, so it is simply best to just let most people act as they would with any other rambunctious child."

He smiled at some of his memories of his friend Li's endless, and entertaining, chatter. "Though I admit he can be a bit more trying than most. But that is all you really need to know for now; act sincerely with him as you would any other child, and be kind." There were ways to delicately manipulate Li, but they needed to be manipulations with benign intent.

Moriko shrugged and said, "Well, that sounds easy enough, I have a bunch of younger siblings and know how to play with kids." She cast a glance at Kazue and smiled slightly as she added, "I suspect Kazue just needs to be herself and she should be fine."

Kazue nodded happily, paused, then frowned at Moriko's teasing. "Hey! I'm not that bad. Usually." That last word was muttered.

That interaction was a reminder to Mordecai that he needed to be careful with Kazue; it would be terribly easy to manipulate her without meaning to simply by presenting his own opinions strongly. Until she was more confident in herself, he needed to be sure to draw out her true thoughts. Thankfully, it was clear she was intelligent and thoughtful, she just needed to be encouraged a little. "To get back to what I was going to say, our relationship is heavily built on convenience, but we are more tightly bound than I intended.” He raised his hand with the purple and gold ring that mirrored theirs, and glanced at Kazue who promptly blushed with embarrassement. "So, I think we need to discuss some rules."

Moriko rolled her eyes. “Yep, you’re a priest of Ozuran, alright.”

He grinned at her in response. “Yes, but don’t worry, I’m not intending to try to set the rules, I want us to discuss them. Up first, and a central aspect of most marriages, is the topic of sex.” Kazue jumped, and he did his best to help soothe her by sending comforting feelings through their link. “Don’t worry, there’s no need to rush into anything. You seem, mm, interested but conflicted, and that's fine. Nothing needs to happen, so there's no need to feel pressured.”

He felt a mix of relief, guilt, and disappointment from Kazue. That mix was part of why he was going to be careful with her; she didn’t quite seem ready yet and he did not want to push her into something she would be unhappy about. The kitsune frowned and he could feel her tentative touch upon their bond, seeking out his emotions. “Hey, you’re trying to go easy on me! Um... okay, fine, that’s nice and all, but I get a say, and if we’re actually married... gah.” She looked as frustrated as she felt, and it was clear when she reached a decision. “You know what, I’m not ready. Yet. But you can start by brushing my hair. And tail.” She conjured a small brush with dungeon magic, using part of her ‘rewards’ capacity, as she stomped over to him with her round black rabbit still tucked under one arm and handed him the brush. She then created a simple pillar of rock to use as a stool and sat on it as she turned her back to him and petted her rabbit, who was larger than he had been before the recent dump of mana into him. “Hair for now, be a good husband.”

It was clear to him that she was trying to grasp some control over her situation, and he could hardly blame her. It’s not like he minded anyway, and so he began brushing her hair, feeling her relax into a light daze of gentle pleasure. Moriko was watching them, and while the monk was better at hiding her emotions, Mordecai could still feel a touch of her amusement and a bit of thoughtful curiosity. Mordecai spoke while she was still trying to decide what to say. “Something you should both know about me. Unlike Kazue, I came into this world as a dungeon core. I don’t have an innate sex drive. My drive originates from being innate to my avatars and has been amplified over time as a habit, but my core does not have the same built-in needs as flesh. I can simply ignore the common urges if that is better for both of you.”

That was a trick his core was currently teaching Kazue's core, though it would be much harder for her. This left only Kazue's avatar listening to this conversation directly. Mordecai could tell that Kazue had heard him, but she didn’t seem to have the drive to really think about his words and make any decision while she was being brushed.

Moriko gave the topic some thought before shaking her head. “No, you shouldn't suppress yourself like that.” She sighed, admitting, “That would only be punishing myself. I like a warm bed, and you already know I think you attractive. I’m still of mixed emotions about having gotten entangled like this, but denying myself while I figure it out isn’t going to help." She gave him a smirk and said, "So yes, you need to perform your husbandly duties when I am here. But," Moriko raised her forefinger to emphasize the word then said, "I did not agree to the marriage ritual that Kazue's stray thoughts activated. So, when I am here, I will abide by normal expectations, but when I am not here, I will continue to live my life as I choose."

Mordecai inclined his head in acknowledgement and said, "That is fair, and I will accept that, but I feel that I should be honest. For all that we certainly have not developed the emotional bonds that I would prefer, I like both of you and I think you two like what you've seen of each other. I would rather focus on building affection between us and make the marriage true, and I will encourage you to consider that option." He paused in brushing Kazue's hair to let her refocus on what had just been said.

Kazue took a moment to gather her thoughts, and even then it was clear that she was struggling to not pout as her words came tumbling out. "I, well, you're right. It's not fair. So, yes, I agree to that, because I don't want my mistake to be a problem for you. But I'd be a lot happier if you didn't. I mean, my clan is used to needing to, um, share, but that's inside of a closed group. Which really isn't fair of me," she blushed as she spoke, "I'm not even ready to go that far. But I like the idea of the three of us just being the three of us. Which is kind of silly of me I guess, I don't really know you two yet, but I gambled on helping Mordecai and you out so I wouldn't be so lonely. I can't make you promise anything like that, I don't want to make you do anything. I'm just hoping you'll change your mind." She shrugged and glanced down, pulling her rabbit close.

When it was clear that she was done, Mordecai resumed brushing Kazue's hair.

Moriko sighed and said, "I understand where both of you are coming from, but that's just never been me. All I can promise is that I will think about it." Mordecai was pretty certain that it was the idea of making Kazue sad that gave Moriko the most pause; cuteness had a power all of its own. A moment later, she seemed to realize something and asked, "Oh, Ozuran said something about not-quite-cheating with your Avatar? Is there anything I should know about?”

Her gaze was quite analytical as she looked him over, trying to figure out what the god had been talking about. Mordecai smiled with amusement and gave her a moment to examine him before he replied. “Well, it’s mostly not visible. But, I was able to somewhat optimize the skills and designs of my previous avatars. I can, hypothetically, do almost anything my previous avatars could. But not as well, especially where raw power is concerned. As an example of where my skills are right now, I could be considered an expert swordsman; but more than one of my previous avatars would have been considered true masters."

Mordecai waited for her nod before adding, "Similarly, I technically have expertise with spell casting, but my capacity is limited mostly to low-energy spells that a trained novice might be able to cast. Though I do have a somewhat bigger breadth of spells at my command as far as variety is concerned, and I can cast more of them before needing rest than a novice would be able to. And that’s where most of my share of the dungeon mana will be going for now, restoring my capacity and tuning body and skills to harmonize again. I packed too much stuff into one brain and body for it to all be fully utilized immediately. When we've grown enough zones, I will be able to utilize shape changing abilities to access abilities and forms from across all my avatars' previous ancestries.”

Moriko was nodding along, mentally categorizing what she could expect from him if they needed to fight something. Then she paused, having processed it all, and grinned at him. “Oh, that means you can keep up if I use you as a punching bag, er, I mean, sparring partner.” She was utterly unabashed at her ‘slip’, and he snorted in amusement.

“Yes, we definitely can make time for that. Though later I think, if you don't mind. I believe Kazue will want guidance and suggestions for what to do with her energy buildup from our visitors. I got a rough feel for what she was doing to keep from holding too much while they were here, but we’re going to need to really focus to tune some changes in. I do think you should have some input on one change though: you’re officially our contractor. It doesn’t tie you here completely, as we covered before, but even without the marriage bond you’d be entitled to a private room near the core. Any specifications? And to get ahead of one thing, you can expect dungeon magic to provide you with all the functional luxuries: running water, hot and cold; gems that will allow you to set climate and lighting within limits, and a few other special amenities. I’ve had more than a few special guests in my time and I’ve learned how to make sure things are comfortable including any special needs a woman might have.” This reminded him of another thing he had to be careful of, but Moriko mentioned it first.

“Earlier, descendants were mentioned. I’m guessing that means your avatar can have kids? I hadn’t heard of a dungeon being able to have children before. But that’s what set off your war? Someone tried to kill off your kids, any kids they had, and so on? I am very sorry for what happened to you, though you probably shouldn’t have done what you did. Too far in the past for me to really judge though, so I won’t weigh it against you” Her tone was very soft at first, then she took a breath and deliberately made it a touch harder and colder as she scolded him. “But I will note that you failed to mention this little important thing about you being fertile. It’s a good thing I’m an always prepared kind of girl, so it doesn’t matter, but you still should have said something. We may be technically married now, but I for one am not ready for kids.”

It was probably a good thing Kazue's contentment had put her into a light doze to fully enjoy her hair brushing. He could tell she was hearing everything, but in her happy place she could let the information sink in without having the motivation to actually build an emotional reaction. She might later, but it would be a smaller reaction once she processed everything.

“While the internal-only versions of our avatars are effectively infertile, I have to admit, I didn’t even think about it. So that was still my fault. Speaking of children, most Awakened Avatars can have offspring compatible with the avatar’s apparent race; there is no sign of those kids being unusual or anything. Well, other than a somewhat enhanced chance of having a magic aptitude, but that usually happens when lots of magic is involved on at least one side of the family. Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure to stay safe as needed.” He glanced down at the top of the redhead he was brushing, to make sure he and Moriko both knew who he was talking about without pulling Kazue’s attention to the topic.

Moriko nodded and said, "Alright. Well, about that room design you guys mentioned before,” As Moriko started detailing what she would like in her quarters, Mordecai started putting together the floor plan in his head, and designing the proper enchantments to make it work. He couldn’t actually do anything with those designs yet, Kazue had control over all the environment, but he could at least do some prep work.

“Alright, I think I’ve got it. Once it’s done, you can give us feedback; let us know what additional changes you'd like. In the meantime, could you do us a favor? I have no idea what the local environment is like anymore. Could you collect some samples of, well, everything really. Leaves, berries, and other plant parts would be useful and fairly easy. Random small rocks will probably prove less useful, but will still be informative. And if you can catch any small animals alive, preferably ‘cute’ ones, it’ll speed up designing creatures to Kazue’s preferences.” Mordecai had plenty of scarier monsters in his mental catalogue, but Kazue's preferences had already caused her first boon to develop, giving her a 'theme' of cute creature, which meant that cute creatures would be a smaller burden on their resources.

Although, there was one old design of his she might appreciate.

"Mmm, yeah, I can do that," Moriko said. "But not a long trip today, the chi you fed me only does so much to offset exhaustion. And I need to eat first," the monk replied as her stomach growled audibly. Mordecai smiled wryly at his forgetfulness and nodded.

"Alright, give us a moment." He finished brushing and lightly braiding Kazue's hair, old skills being brought to use once again, then walked around in front of her while her eyes cleared and focused on him. “Let's start off with getting our wife fed. The foods you remember best will be the ones you can create the easiest. Keeping them simple will also make them more accurate."

"Mmm, alright. I guess some fruits and nuts?" Kazue replied, and Mordecai agreed.

"We can work on composite and cooked food later. Preferably when Moriko isn't waiting to be fed." Once they had created the food for Moriko, Mordecai started in on Kazue's training. "Alright, are you ready to begin? And to give you a bit of a teaser, if we can get you practiced enough and have grown the nexus sufficiently, we can make some friends for when Li comes visiting. I call them ‘dracobits’;" he leaned on the enunciation to emphasize the pronunciation of drack-oh-bit, "but with you helping on the cute part of the draconic rabbits, I imagine we can design even better ones.” He couldn’t help but grin as her green eyes lit up with excitement.