Firm: Opal’s Story

I’m working on getting the right parts of the pig for bacon that Snow showed me the other day in my back yard. Sapphire is with me practicing, since we have to wait for Cindy to finish with her research today. I ask my blue haired daughter “Does this look right? I think I got it thin enough this time.” She holds up her own strip of meat and compares them saying “I think we got it right this time, let’s go ahead and cook it so we can see how it tastes.” I nod and smash the rest of the pigs so her cleaning skill can make it all disappear. We found out that this is the easiest way to clean up, since if the pieces are too large they’ll just get cleaned by the skill instead.

While I’m doing that, she lights the fire in our cooking pit and gets the metal rack set up. We found it on the 11^th floor of the Lop dungeon, as part of a trap, and Amber had the great idea to use it for cooking stuff on. “Okay sweetie, they should be smashed enough. Can you give me a clean too, this feels gross.” I’m suddenly clean, so I go to the chair with my cloths and put them on. As we’re putting the meat on the rack, I hear from inside the house “Opal, are you here?” I think it’s Ruby, so I yell “We’re in the back yard Wife!” I was hoping to see her again soon. She’s been staying with Tasha and Tom for the past few days so I haven’t seen her.

She comes into the back yard with Snow and Tasha. “I need a hug.” She says and I can see her eyes start to water, so I leave the meat and rush to her. I wrap her in a big hug and feel her shake a bit, her face rubbing against my shoulder. “Don’t worry mom, I’ll keep an eye on your slices.” I hear Sapphire say and Snow asks “Oh are you two cooking, I can help.” I tell her “It’s good to see you two, I’m going to take Ruby to the room for a bit. Is that okay wife?” I finish by asking Ruby. She nods and sniffles saying “We might need a while.” So I tell my other daughters and Tasha “I’ll have one of my other bodies come back from the dungeon since you came for a visit. I should be here soon.”

I then take Ruby to our room and close the door. We lay on the bed and she wraps herself around me, so I ask “What happened sweetie?” She squeezes me tighter and says “Can we just cuddle for a bit first?” I wrap my arms around her again and kiss the top of her head saying “Of course, whatever you need.” I wonder what happened to my baby, but she soon falls asleep in my arms, so I guess I’ll have to wait. I play with her beautiful red hair carefully, so it doesn’t wake her up.

My other body gets to the back yard with Amber and I give my fluffy tailed daughter a hug asking “So why did you all decide to visit?” I notice that two of my sons are sitting on chairs too, so I open my arms inviting them for a hug. My sons both give me a quick hug, but then sit back down, and they all look at Tasha, who sighs. “Tom was horrible to us earlier, so Ruby and I had to get away. I’ll let her tell you the details, but he was really hateful, so I hope you can comfort her.” I was hoping it wouldn’t be something bad, but Ruby seems to have pretty bad luck with relationships.

I tell Tasha “She fell asleep, so I’ll talk to her when she wakes up. Are you doing okay Tasha? I remember he’s your husband.” She shakes her head and says “I don’t think I am okay. I just want to break down you know, but what would that do?” She’s my friend, I still remember when she was the first person I could talk to and see the responses of in the orc pillories. I walk up to her and give her a hug saying “Everyone, come help me give Tasha hugs, we can practice making more bacon later.” As they come over and join the hug my boys seem a little stiff, but they’re probably just new to group hugs. Tasha says “Thanks Opal.” and I respond “It’s okay to break down sometimes Tasha. You’re surrounded by hugs right now, so you won’t fall. It will be okay.”

Tasha starts sobbing and my boys seem to loosen up a bit. I realized a while ago that group hugs make everyone feel better, it’s nice to know that you are at least part of something that’s bringing someone else comfort. I guess that could just be me though, since I haven’t asked other people about it. Maybe. Other than not having a lot of memories, I don’t think I’m that different from other Players. At least with those feelings I get. I’ve heard a lot from my daughters and I can relate to most of it, so I’m probably not too weird. Hugs feel good to me, so hugs must feel good to people like me too.

Once Tasha stops crying she tells us “I didn’t realize how much I missed the sense of togetherness I felt with you and the other women from Liberation. I didn’t really have that in Dragon Roost, or with my husband. So thank you Opal, for having everyone surround me in hugs. Thank you Sapphire and Snow. Thank you Derrick and Neil, even if your new to the group hugs, you did a good job.” She motions for us to split up the hug and continues “Now I’m starving. You two were practicing making bacon when we got here right?” Sapphire says “Yeah, we’ll need a new pig, but I hear Snow is really good at this bacon thing. So I’ll go grab one and be right back.”

“I swear, every time I see you Opal, you’re more comfortable to be around. You must have some skills for it right?” Tasha asks and I answer “I’m not sure, a lot of stuff probably does things I don’t understand. I don’t remember seeing anything that boosted comfortableness though.” She laughs and Junior speaks up saying “Dad wanted us to say hi for him. We’ve really learned a lot from him these past few days, and I wanted to know if there’s anything you could teach us mom.” I think for a bit and tell him “I don’t know a lot of stuff, so I’m not sure. Oh I know something important! Be honest with family, we need to work together to be safer and more comfortable.”

Sapphire gets back with a pig then and says “She’s right. Myself and your older siblings learned it a long time ago. Everything is easier with family you can trust to be there for you.” Tasha speaks up too, saying “You boys have a family to be envious of, don’t let it go to waste. While they cook us some food, why don’t I tell you about your mom and sisters from my perspective.” The boys seem to be paying attention, and I’m kind of curious too, but with Snow here I can get even better at this bacon thing, so I’ll have to focus on what she’s teaching us.

Ruby starts waking up about half an hour later. She rubs her face against my chest and then pulls back, so I give her a kiss on the lips. “Mmhm, this is the best way to wake up.” She says, so I ask her “How was your nap sweetie?” She stretches and sits up, so I sit up with her. “I feel a lot better now, so I can tell you what happened.” Ruby then goes on to explain what happened with Tom earlier and how his words made her feel. “I didn’t know that someone I liked so much could hate me for how I am. It hurt, and being used as an item didn’t feel good either. It reminded me a lot of what happened when I first dated Tasha, so it made it harder to talk to her even though she did nothing wrong this time. She’s just a victim of Tom too.”

I had her lay her head in my lap when she first started talking, so I brush her hair with my fingers and interrupt, asking “Do you need me to do anything wife, it’s hard hearing the words he said to you.” Something about being called a thing made me feel hurt inside, like I’d heard it myself before. I can’t remember it though. She just shakes her head and says “No, I think something has to be wrong with him, I’ve already asked Pops to see if he could help. It’s probably better that neither of us see Tom so he doesn’t end up as meat paste.” I bend over and kiss her forehead saying “Okay Ruby. Are you going to stay in a relationship with Tasha? I know how you feel about her, and you said this wasn’t her fault.”

She smiles a bit and says “I think so, but I want to ask Sapphire and Amber what they think, since I’m not always the smartest when it comes to Tasha.” I nod and have my other body ask my two daughters to come to the room. That way Ruby can talk to them without Tasha first. When they get to the room, they join us on the bed. It doesn’t take Ruby long to get them caught up on what happened, so she starts explaining the rest. “I’ve had strong feelings for Tasha for a long time, and I want to be with her. I just don’t know if I’m making the right choice. I know it wasn’t her fault, and she doesn’t see me like he did, but should I just start a new relationship with her? What if she ends up leaving me for him again. I need some advice.” I don’t know if I can help her, so I’ll wait to see what my other daughters say.

“Being dumb like usual.” Amber says shaking her head. She then continues “How can I tell you what to do if we haven’t heard how she feels? We won’t tell her how you feel about it yet, but go get her.” I see Sapphire nod and add “Get her in here, don’t worry, we’ll be nice.” I suppose that makes sense, we haven’t heard her feelings yet. Wouldn’t anything we said now be just like the gossiping my frog daughters would do? Ruby sighs and rolls off my lap “If you’re sure then I’ll go get her.” She then walks out of the room and I ask “Couldn’t I have just told her to come to the room?” Amber gives me a kiss and says “Nope, it has to be Ruby. We can’t do all her work for her or she won’t be able to make her own choices.”

My red haired daughter soon returns with Tasha, who seems to be nervous. I pat the bed next to me and say “You can sit by me Tasha.” She nods and sits next to me while Ruby sits opposite her, next to Sapphire. Amber elbows Ruby and says “You ask her dummy.” My vampire daughter stiffens, but then sighs and looks at Tasha asking “How do you honestly feel about me?” She gets elbowed again and finishes “And what do you want to happen with us?” I know Amber is trying to help her sister, and it’s not hurting her, so I just smile at my cute wives. I hope things can work out with Tasha.

Tasha says “I want to be with you Ruby, If I knew what Tom was doing, I would never have brought you into that mess. I had some feelings for you back when we first dated, and those grew recently. I think I love you, but with this whole mess I don’t want to rush and say it’s certain. I want to still be with you if I can, and I think we can figure it out from there.” So she does have feelings for Ruby, that’s good. Amber speaks up asking “What about your husband Tom? Would you leave Ruby again if you felt he was a good man again?” Tasha winces. I remember how much it hurt Ruby last time, but Tasha answers “I won’t ever go back to Tom, now that I know how he really felt this whole time.” She then looks at Ruby and says “I won’t promise to be together forever this time either. It wouldn’t be right until we’ve had more time together and I can fully understand these feelings.”

Sapphire laughs and says “Good, if you had promised something like that I would have told her not to take you back.” Amber nods and adds “If you really have feelings for her and want to be with her, then that’s enough. Well, that and you having learned enough to not go back to your husband. I think you’ve grown auntie Tasha.” I agree with them, but ask “Are you system married to Tom, or that other one that some of the humans do?” Tasha sags a bit and answers “I asked him, but he would never go through with it. It should have been a sign, but he always had an excuse. So we aren’t system married.” I nod, since that’s a good thing. If they were system married, then they’d still be linked and I’d have to worry about Tom using it against her. I’ve seen a few times already where a system spouse gets special privileges with the other.

Amber turns to Ruby and says “I think you can do what you want, just be honest with each other from now on. If you’re dating family then you’re family as far as I’m concerned.” She then turns to Tasha and tells her “Work through stuff together, my sister may be dumb sometimes, but she’ll treat you right if you do the same for her.” Sapphire and Amber then get off of the bed and my blue haired daughter turns to me and says “Leave them alone for a bit mom, they need some privacy for the rest of the conversation.” Oh right. I give both of them a kiss on the cheek and scramble off of the bed. Before I leave the room though, I turn to Tasha and say “If you’re going to be in a relationship with Ruby you should do some leveling. You’re too squishy right now, and I wouldn’t want my wife to be sad if you get squished.”

As we leave the room I hear my two daughters giggling beside me. “It’s hard to wrap my head around how mom thinks sometimes, but it’s pretty cute.” Sapphire says and I see Amber nodding in agreement. I do like being cute, so I’m sure this one is a compliment.