Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty-One - Some Wings for a Miss

"Amaryllis!" I cheered. She was leaning on the ship's railing, not far from where the access stairs had been rolled up to the Beaver. "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 called down. "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 up the steps two at a time, outclimbing Desiree, who followed at a more sedate pace. I quickly reached Amaryllis. "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 like it, 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.

Magic welled up, a soothing warmth carried by Hugging Proficiency's guidance, and I had no reason to stop it.

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 wrapping us up in a warm blanket. A very fuzzy one, that smelled a bit like woodsmoke.

"Broccoli?" she asked. "What is this?"

"I upgraded!" I cheered. "Hugging Proficiency was one of the skills I ranked up. It lets me share mana now. That was... ten out 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 insight have you gleaned from your arcane senses?" Desiree asked as she approached.

Amaryllis nodded to her in greeting. "Nothing untoward. Just an impression of... Broccoli. You mana itself is very clean and pure. It ... lightened my burdens?" she trailed off.

"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 now gives me a much stronger sense of the Beaver and my crew. Location, emotions, health - even the health of the Beaver! That board they're working on is like a phantom pain. 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 taking 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.

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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 nodded, then stared expectantly at me.

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 hid her mouth behind her hand and giggled up a storm next to her.

"Okay!" I said. "Well, as long as you know that you're 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 (nonexistent) 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 butterfly 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 corrected.

"That's even better," she said, her voice sounding just slightly envious. "You'll have a lot more skill points to spend on it."

I nodded, then 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. "Already, you are blessed with two of them."

"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."

***

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