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 point to start, 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. Though quick side track: So, I follow Ozuran. Kazue is a follower of Mericume. Moriko? I heard you mention the twins before, do you follow Amirume?”

She shook her head in response. “No, Sakiya actually.” Ah, Amirume’s daughter. He supposed it made sense that she’d follow the Lady of Passions. So three of the Empyreal Pillars were represented. Hmm, might not be quite a coincidence; but he had no leads on that idea so set it aside for now.

“Okay, that matches you better now that I think about it. On to my first big topic for discussion. Well, while ours may technically be a marriage of convenience, I intend to fully honor that. To be clear, I want to honor them; but I respect your right to decide how bound by traditional rules you want to be. You have both done right by me, and I want to make you both happy with the situation we've found ourselves in. But because of the way we rushed into things, we get to do the part that most people should do before they get married: set ourselves some rules.”

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

He grinned at her in response. “Yes, but don’t worry, I’m not intending to try and set the rules, I want us to discuss them. Up first, kind of 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 yourself. I didn’t have the chance to say this previously, but what happened when my soul and psyche passed through you like that seems to have counted as being intimate; enough for the bond to take. I’m less certain about the third leg of the bond, but it seems stable enough, so I’ll leave that up to you two.”

He felt a mix of relief, guilt, and disappointment from Kazue. That mix was part of why he was glad to not have to push the point; she didn’t quite seem ready yet. The kitsune frowned a moment as she read his own emotions in turn. “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 ‘loot’ capacity, as she stomped over to him 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. “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. But he spoke while she was still trying to decide what to say. “And 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 override it if that is better for either or both of you.”

He could tell that Kazue had heard him, but she didn’t seem to have the drive to really think about it and make a decision while she was being groomed. It was Moriko who was giving this deep thought, before shaking her head. “No, don’t do 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 let myself get married like this, but denying myself while I figure it out isn’t going to help. So yes, you need to perform your husbandly duties. Oh, that reminds me, Ozuran said something about not-quite-cheating with your Avatar?”

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. 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.”

Moriko was nodding along, mentally categorizing what she could expect from him if they need 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 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. “And a final note. Normally for a committed relationship, I’d be strongly inclined toward upholding the standard social norms regarding no extracurricular activities. Given the circumstances, I think it’s fair to instead simply state that it’s my preference, but I can’t consider it binding to either of you. It would make me happier if you didn’t, but I really can’t feel right demanding anything of you. Does that work?”

Moriko thought about it, then nodded. “Yeah, that’ll do. Not intending to get involved with any engagements at the moment, but I appreciate having that out in the clear. So about that room.” 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 mean time, 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 were the ones that would initially form the dungeon's inhabitants, and he could always do some modifications later. Though there was one thought…

"Mmm, yeah, I can do that. 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 Moriko fed, Mordecai started in on Kazue's training. "Okay, 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 dungeon, we can make some friends for when Li comes visiting. I call them ‘dracobits’; but with you helping on the cute part of the dragon-rabbits, I imagine we can design even better ones.” He couldn’t help but grin as her green eyes lit up with excitement.