"So here's where I figured we could end our walking tour and grab something to eat," Krissy said as the four of us stopped in front of a restaurant. "Is everyone hungry?"
Leah and I both responded in the affirmative, while Raven stayed quiet. She seemed willing to go along what whatever the rest of us did though, so the decision was made.
Krissy led the rest of us inside, and a minute or two later we were all seated at a table next to the windows. The restaurant was right beside the large marina we'd just walked past earlier, and we even had a good view of the Sound and some mountains in the distance. The place seemed comfortable and friendly, and they had a big wood-fired rotisserie and grill which was apparently their big selling point.
As for the four of us, we'd spent the past ninety minutes or so walking around the town where Krissy lived. It was about forty kilometres north of Seattle, on a little peninsula where a river flowed out into an inlet that was part of the greater Puget Sound area.
Our walk had taken us from the low-rise building where Krissy lived and through the downtown area, then north through a long narrow park that ran parallel to the waterfront. From there we took a walkway over some railroad tracks and a road, then ended up walking south past a big marina before ending up at the restaurant.
Shortly after we were seated the waitress took our drinks orders, then while she left to go take care of that the four of us started to look at the menus.
"Ah," our archer grimaced slightly. "These are the lunch menus. I know it's dinner time for you, Amy and Raven. And Leah, I guess this is more like a midnight snack for you? Anyways we can ask for the dinner menus if anyone wants them."
Our young tank smiled as she responded, "It'll be midnight for me in about half an hour. I skipped supper with my folks tonight, so I'm definitely ready to eat something."
"Sorry I can't do anything about time-zones," I joked. "It's the downside of instantly teleporting halfway around the world I guess."
Leah laughed, "I'm definitely not complaining. I know what it'd cost to take a plane, and how long it'd take to actually get here. Covering eight timezones in the blink of an eye for free is awesome."
"Anyways," she added as she looked back at Krissy again, "I wouldn't mind having a look at a dinner menu if that's all right? I'm a growing girl after all."
She wasn't kidding about that. Leah had grown almost two inches since we all got together back in May, and probably put on another ten pounds of muscle and curves. Her hair had lightened up more too, from light brown to dark blonde. She was still growing it out, so it hung down just past her shoulders now.
I could imagine she was going through clothes at a pretty rapid pace, today she was dressed in a pair of tight black jeans that looked a little short on her, a pale blue t-shirt, and she had sneakers on her feet. She also had an autumn jacket with her, but she hadn't needed it yet since we'd got lucky with the weather so far.
Krissy was looking good too. Her auburn hair was in a cute care-free style and she had a bit of make-up that brought out her natural beauty. She was wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a loose Hawaiian-style shirt, with some chunky platform sandals on her feet.
Her appearance hadn't really changed since we saw her last, but there was one big difference. She'd recently announced that she'd stopped using they-them pronouns. She'd finally come to the realization that she was in fact a girl, and asked us to only use she-her pronouns for her.
As for Raven and I, nothing much had changed. My angel was in a black dress and black ankle-boots, while I wore sneakers, leggings, and a tunic top.
The waitress returned a moment later with our drinks, both Krissy and I had white wine, Leah was drinking cola, and Raven just had water. Our archer asked the waitress for a couple dinner menus, and she went to fetch them for us.
The place obviously specialized in seafood, the menu made a big deal about how they had their own seafood company to guarantee they got the best quality goods. It also mentioned they supported local fisheries and that they got their fresh seafood from the Pacific Northwest, along with Alaska and Hawaii.
Conversation tapered off for a bit as we all took time to review the menus, then the waitress was back when everyone was ready to order.
Leah went with a north-west sirloin and sautéed prawns that sounded delicious but was probably a big meal. I decided to try a BBQ prawns dish that sounded really good. Krissy ordered an open-face shrimp and artichoke sandwich that sounded tasty. And making us four for four on prawns, Raven picked a romaine salad with sautéed shrimp.
I didn't want to say anything but I was happy that my angel seemed to be loosening up a bit. The first time we all got together back in May she acted very awkward and uncomfortable. She wouldn't eat or drink anything, and only ordered some tea so as to blend in but she never did try it.
She hadn't exactly cut loose and acted like one of the gang today, but she wasn't completely stiff and awkward either. And the fact that she actually ordered a meal gave me some hope she might even try and eat some of it.
"So," Krissy said after the waitress left to put our orders in, "Now you've seen a bit of my home town. I know it's not much, but it's home."
I smiled, "It's nice Krissy. Tucked in between the mountains and the water, the landscape is really interesting. And from what I've seen so far, the town seems nice too. It's bigger than where my girlfriend and I and Raven live, but it doesn't feel that much larger."
"Yeah totally," Leah agreed. "My family's had a few holidays down on by sea, but I've never seen mountains like this back in the UK."
Krissy responded, "Next time we'll have to meet at your place, you can show us around Manchester."
Our tank grimaced, "We'll see. I have no idea how I'd explain that to my family though? Having three people appearing out of nowhere I mean, teleporting in from overseas and all."
"We could find somewhere else to appear," I suggested. "Maybe a nearby park or something? I took my girlfriend and sister and her partner to Ireland for vacation at the end of June, and we teleported into a park in the middle of Dublin."
"Wow," Krissy smiled. "That's amazing."
There was a brief lull in the conversation at that point, so I decided to change it up slightly. I looked to our archer and asked, "Sorry if this is getting a little too personal, but I was wondering how things have been going for you since your transition? When we got together last time you still had a lot of stuff up in the air, but it's been about two months now. Stuff like work, and coming out to your family?"
She grimaced, "Right. So work was pretty easy to deal with, I emailed my resignation and that was the end of that. It took me about three weeks but I got another job. I'm working for a company that builds parts for airplanes, and that's going pretty well. I'm not on the factory floor or anything like that, I'm still doing the same sort of work I did before? But it's a fresh start with a new company."
"They don't know anything about my past," she added. "As far as they're concerned I've always been Krissy and I've always used she/her pronouns with them. That was before I made that decision personally, but it was just easier to go with the flow. Not that they asked anyways, people see me and assume she/her."
"Family stuff was a much bigger challenge," she sighed. "I came out to my daughter by email which was fine. She's sixteen, she knows transgender and non-binary people exist. There's at least one trans student at her high school and it's not a big deal to her. When she actually saw me in person though, that was a big shock. Not surprising, considering how much I'd changed."
I grimaced, "I hope it wasn't too rough for her? Or for you?"
Krissy paused for a large sip of her wine before responding with another sigh, "The biggest challenge at first was just convincing her that it was really me? I look so different now, especially my age? I'd pass for her cousin or an older sister, literally no-one would believe I was her dad."
"Then my ex got involved and that made everything so much more difficult," she added with a scowl. A moment later she shrugged, "Anyways things were pretty tense for about a month, but my daughter and I got through it. She knows I'm me, she's accepted my new name and pronouns, and I still see her every other week."
I smiled, "I'm glad to hear that."
"Yeah," Leah nodded. "That's really cool that she's accepted you and everything."
"What's her name?" Raven asked, which surprised the rest of us. She'd been fairly quiet and hadn't had much to say so far.
As we all looked at my angel she clarified, "Your daughter, I mean? If you don't mind saying."
Krissy hesitated briefly before replying, "My little girl's name is Devin."
Raven just smiled slightly, "That's a nice name."
"I don't think I've heard that one before," Leah commented. "Does it mean something?"
Our archer blushed slightly, "We picked it because it's um, similar to the word 'divine'. Because our girl was our little angel."
"No offence intended," she added to both me and Raven as she blushed a little brighter.
I smiled and shook my head, "None taken Krissy. It's a lovely name and I'm sure she's a lovely girl."
"Agreed," my angel added.
The conversation stalled again as our waitress returned with everyone's meals, and it all looked and smelled great. She also topped up Leah's and Raven's drinks, and both Krissy and I ordered another glass of wine.
After that the four of us were focused on our meals for a bit, before the conversation eventually started up again.
Krissy had a sip of wine then commented, "Oh by the way I ran into an old 'friend' online the other day. I logged into Gods and Gorgons, and found myself practically ontop of Dorn. I think the two of us might have logged on at the same time, and it may have been a coincidence that we were at the same place?"
She continued, "I didn't say anything and he immediately logged off again, so nothing happened. I just thought I'd mention it, since it's the first time I've seen the guy since that second time he ambushed us."
Leah grinned, "I haven't seen him since then either. I guess that tosser took Amethyst's warning to heart? Kinda surprising though, I honestly thought he'd have another crack at us."
I couldn't help blushing at all that. I grimaced and quietly responded, "I'm just glad we didn't get banned after I lost my temper and used magic in the game. There wasn't even a warning email or anything from the company? I was positive he'd have filed a complaint, accusing me of using a hack or something."
"Same," our tank agreed. "The guy's definitely a bully and that's a pretty standard bully tactic, right? Act like an arsehole then cry to the authorities when you get what's coming."
Suddenly Krissy gave my angel a look as she asked, "What are you thinking about Raven? I thought I saw a guilty smile on your face for a second there."
Leah and I both looked at her, and our rogue actually looked like she might be blushing.
In a quiet embarrassed voice the goth angel admitted, "He filed several complaints and sent some angry emails. And he tried to dox all four of us. I may have taken steps to ensure his reports and emails never saw the light of day. And I might have dropped in on him to ensure my Goddess's warning was not ignored."
Krissy's eyes widened while Leah started grinning.
On the other hand I was frowning as I asked quietly, "Raven? What did you do to him?"
"I didn't harm him my Goddess," she replied just as softly. "I merely appeared before him and reminded him of Your warning."
I sighed, "You appeared before him in your 'goth angel of death' form, didn't you? With flaming sword and halo I assume?"
"Yes my Goddess," she responded as she bowed her head slightly.
"That's so cool!" Leah gushed with a big smile. "Can we see that too? Not here obviously, but maybe after we're back at Krissy's place?"
At that point I couldn't help smiling too. I told my angel, "It probably wasn't a good idea to drop in on Dorn like that, but I'm not going to fault you for it. Especially since it seems like it worked, considering the guy's left us all alone since then."
"As for showing off your angel form for Leah and Krissy," I added, "That's up to you and them."
That left Raven blushing, while Krissy looked uncertain and Leah seemed eager. I knew there wasn't any real harm in letting them see her other shape, apart from possibly being a little scared. Then again they both knew she was a friend, so I doubted either of them would be too freaked out by her dark angelic appearance.
At the same time I couldn't help feeling good about the fact that Raven seemed to be opening up more and taking all this in stride. She wasn't acting like the relaxed playful rogue we first met in the game, but she wasn't the stiff awkward quiet goth either.
We were all pretty much finished eating by that point, and I took care of the bill when the time came. It was a few minutes past five o'clock local time as we all left the restaurant, which was eight in the evening for Raven and I, and one in the morning for Leah.
The walk back to Krissy's place took us about twenty minutes or so, and once we were in there our young tank asked again to see Raven's angelic form.
"Very well," our rogue sighed.
The rest of us all stepped back to give her some space, not that there was a lot of room in Krissy's one-bedroom apartment. Then with a flare of cold black flames the goth barista transformed into her tall dark angel of death shape, complete with the wings and flaming sword and the black halo.
"Wow!" Leah exclaimed with a wide grin. "Raven you look amazing!"
Krissy was staring wide-eyed. She nodded slowly and added, "You're a lot more intimidating like this. I can see why Dorn took your warning to heart."
Raven managed to look a little embarrassed even in this form. She grimaced slightly and responded, "I'll head home now. Thank you for the tour Krissy. You and Leah take care."
With that she vanished in another flare of cold dark fire.
"I should get going too," I added. "Leah I'll take you home now ok? And Krissy, good to see you again. Thanks for hosting the meet-up."
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"So here's where I figured we could end our walking tour and grab something to eat," Krissy said as the four of us stopped in front of a restaurant. "Is everyone hungry?"
Leah and I both responded in the affirmative, while Raven stayed quiet. She seemed willing to go along what whatever the rest of us did though, so the decision was made.
Krissy led the rest of us inside, and a minute or two later we were all seated at a table next to the windows. The restaurant was right beside the large marina we'd just walked past earlier, and we even had a good view of the Sound and some mountains in the distance. The place seemed comfortable and friendly, and they had a big wood-fired rotisserie and grill which was apparently their big selling point.
As for the four of us, we'd spent the past ninety minutes or so walking around the town where Krissy lived. It was about forty kilometres north of Seattle, on a little peninsula where a river flowed out into an inlet that was part of the greater Puget Sound area.
Our walk had taken us from the low-rise building where Krissy lived and through the downtown area, then north through a long narrow park that ran parallel to the waterfront. From there we took a walkway over some railroad tracks and a road, then ended up walking south past a big marina before ending up at the restaurant.
Shortly after we were seated the waitress took our drinks orders, then while she left to go take care of that the four of us started to look at the menus.
"Ah," our archer grimaced slightly. "These are the lunch menus. I know it's dinner time for you, Amy and Raven. And Leah, I guess this is more like a midnight snack for you? Anyways we can ask for the dinner menus if anyone wants them."
Our young tank smiled as she responded, "It'll be midnight for me in about half an hour. I skipped supper with my folks tonight, so I'm definitely ready to eat something."
"Sorry I can't do anything about time-zones," I joked. "It's the downside of instantly teleporting halfway around the world I guess."
Leah laughed, "I'm definitely not complaining. I know what it'd cost to take a plane, and how long it'd take to actually get here. Covering eight timezones in the blink of an eye for free is awesome."
"Anyways," she added as she looked back at Krissy again, "I wouldn't mind having a look at a dinner menu if that's all right? I'm a growing girl after all."
She wasn't kidding about that. Leah had grown almost two inches since we all got together back in May, and probably put on another ten pounds of muscle and curves. Her hair had lightened up more too, from light brown to dark blonde. She was still growing it out, so it hung down just past her shoulders now.
I could imagine she was going through clothes at a pretty rapid pace, today she was dressed in a pair of tight black jeans that looked a little short on her, a pale blue t-shirt, and she had sneakers on her feet. She also had an autumn jacket with her, but she hadn't needed it yet since we'd got lucky with the weather so far.
Krissy was looking good too. Her auburn hair was in a cute care-free style and she had a bit of make-up that brought out her natural beauty. She was wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a loose Hawaiian-style shirt, with some chunky platform sandals on her feet.
Her appearance hadn't really changed since we saw her last, but there was one big difference. She'd recently announced that she'd stopped using they-them pronouns. She'd finally come to the realization that she was in fact a girl, and asked us to only use she-her pronouns for her.
As for Raven and I, nothing much had changed. My angel was in a black dress and black ankle-boots, while I wore sneakers, leggings, and a tunic top.
The waitress returned a moment later with our drinks, both Krissy and I had white wine, Leah was drinking cola, and Raven just had water. Our archer asked the waitress for a couple dinner menus, and she went to fetch them for us.
The place obviously specialized in seafood, the menu made a big deal about how they had their own seafood company to guarantee they got the best quality goods. It also mentioned they supported local fisheries and that they got their fresh seafood from the Pacific Northwest, along with Alaska and Hawaii.
Conversation tapered off for a bit as we all took time to review the menus, then the waitress was back when everyone was ready to order.
Leah went with a north-west sirloin and sautéed prawns that sounded delicious but was probably a big meal. I decided to try a BBQ prawns dish that sounded really good. Krissy ordered an open-face shrimp and artichoke sandwich that sounded tasty. And making us four for four on prawns, Raven picked a romaine salad with sautéed shrimp.
I didn't want to say anything but I was happy that my angel seemed to be loosening up a bit. The first time we all got together back in May she acted very awkward and uncomfortable. She wouldn't eat or drink anything, and only ordered some tea so as to blend in but she never did try it.
She hadn't exactly cut loose and acted like one of the gang today, but she wasn't completely stiff and awkward either. And the fact that she actually ordered a meal gave me some hope she might even try and eat some of it.
"So," Krissy said after the waitress left to put our orders in, "Now you've seen a bit of my home town. I know it's not much, but it's home."
I smiled, "It's nice Krissy. Tucked in between the mountains and the water, the landscape is really interesting. And from what I've seen so far, the town seems nice too. It's bigger than where my girlfriend and I and Raven live, but it doesn't feel that much larger."
"Yeah totally," Leah agreed. "My family's had a few holidays down on by sea, but I've never seen mountains like this back in the UK."
Krissy responded, "Next time we'll have to meet at your place, you can show us around Manchester."
Our tank grimaced, "We'll see. I have no idea how I'd explain that to my family though? Having three people appearing out of nowhere I mean, teleporting in from overseas and all."
"We could find somewhere else to appear," I suggested. "Maybe a nearby park or something? I took my girlfriend and sister and her partner to Ireland for vacation at the end of June, and we teleported into a park in the middle of Dublin."
"Wow," Krissy smiled. "That's amazing."
There was a brief lull in the conversation at that point, so I decided to change it up slightly. I looked to our archer and asked, "Sorry if this is getting a little too personal, but I was wondering how things have been going for you since your transition? When we got together last time you still had a lot of stuff up in the air, but it's been about two months now. Stuff like work, and coming out to your family?"
She grimaced, "Right. So work was pretty easy to deal with, I emailed my resignation and that was the end of that. It took me about three weeks but I got another job. I'm working for a company that builds parts for airplanes, and that's going pretty well. I'm not on the factory floor or anything like that, I'm still doing the same sort of work I did before? But it's a fresh start with a new company."
"They don't know anything about my past," she added. "As far as they're concerned I've always been Krissy and I've always used she/her pronouns with them. That was before I made that decision personally, but it was just easier to go with the flow. Not that they asked anyways, people see me and assume she/her."
"Family stuff was a much bigger challenge," she sighed. "I came out to my daughter by email which was fine. She's sixteen, she knows transgender and non-binary people exist. There's at least one trans student at her high school and it's not a big deal to her. When she actually saw me in person though, that was a big shock. Not surprising, considering how much I'd changed."
I grimaced, "I hope it wasn't too rough for her? Or for you?"
Krissy paused for a large sip of her wine before responding with another sigh, "The biggest challenge at first was just convincing her that it was really me? I look so different now, especially my age? I'd pass for her cousin or an older sister, literally no-one would believe I was her dad."
"Then my ex got involved and that made everything so much more difficult," she added with a scowl. A moment later she shrugged, "Anyways things were pretty tense for about a month, but my daughter and I got through it. She knows I'm me, she's accepted my new name and pronouns, and I still see her every other week."
I smiled, "I'm glad to hear that."
"Yeah," Leah nodded. "That's really cool that she's accepted you and everything."
"What's her name?" Raven asked, which surprised the rest of us. She'd been fairly quiet and hadn't had much to say so far.
As we all looked at my angel she clarified, "Your daughter, I mean? If you don't mind saying."
Krissy hesitated briefly before replying, "My little girl's name is Devin."
Raven just smiled slightly, "That's a nice name."
"I don't think I've heard that one before," Leah commented. "Does it mean something?"
Our archer blushed slightly, "We picked it because it's um, similar to the word 'divine'. Because our girl was our little angel."
"No offence intended," she added to both me and Raven as she blushed a little brighter.
I smiled and shook my head, "None taken Krissy. It's a lovely name and I'm sure she's a lovely girl."
"Agreed," my angel added.
The conversation stalled again as our waitress returned with everyone's meals, and it all looked and smelled great. She also topped up Leah's and Raven's drinks, and both Krissy and I ordered another glass of wine.
After that the four of us were focused on our meals for a bit, before the conversation eventually started up again.
Krissy had a sip of wine then commented, "Oh by the way I ran into an old 'friend' online the other day. I logged into Gods and Gorgons, and found myself practically ontop of Dorn. I think the two of us might have logged on at the same time, and it may have been a coincidence that we were at the same place?"
She continued, "I didn't say anything and he immediately logged off again, so nothing happened. I just thought I'd mention it, since it's the first time I've seen the guy since that second time he ambushed us."
Leah grinned, "I haven't seen him since then either. I guess that tosser took Amethyst's warning to heart? Kinda surprising though, I honestly thought he'd have another crack at us."
I couldn't help blushing at all that. I grimaced and quietly responded, "I'm just glad we didn't get banned after I lost my temper and used magic in the game. There wasn't even a warning email or anything from the company? I was positive he'd have filed a complaint, accusing me of using a hack or something."
"Same," our tank agreed. "The guy's definitely a bully and that's a pretty standard bully tactic, right? Act like an arsehole then cry to the authorities when you get what's coming."
Suddenly Krissy gave my angel a look as she asked, "What are you thinking about Raven? I thought I saw a guilty smile on your face for a second there."
Leah and I both looked at her, and our rogue actually looked like she might be blushing.
In a quiet embarrassed voice the goth angel admitted, "He filed several complaints and sent some angry emails. And he tried to dox all four of us. I may have taken steps to ensure his reports and emails never saw the light of day. And I might have dropped in on him to ensure my Goddess's warning was not ignored."
Krissy's eyes widened while Leah started grinning.
On the other hand I was frowning as I asked quietly, "Raven? What did you do to him?"
"I didn't harm him my Goddess," she replied just as softly. "I merely appeared before him and reminded him of Your warning."
I sighed, "You appeared before him in your 'goth angel of death' form, didn't you? With flaming sword and halo I assume?"
"Yes my Goddess," she responded as she bowed her head slightly.
"That's so cool!" Leah gushed with a big smile. "Can we see that too? Not here obviously, but maybe after we're back at Krissy's place?"
At that point I couldn't help smiling too. I told my angel, "It probably wasn't a good idea to drop in on Dorn like that, but I'm not going to fault you for it. Especially since it seems like it worked, considering the guy's left us all alone since then."
"As for showing off your angel form for Leah and Krissy," I added, "That's up to you and them."
That left Raven blushing, while Krissy looked uncertain and Leah seemed eager. I knew there wasn't any real harm in letting them see her other shape, apart from possibly being a little scared. Then again they both knew she was a friend, so I doubted either of them would be too freaked out by her dark angelic appearance.
At the same time I couldn't help feeling good about the fact that Raven seemed to be opening up more and taking all this in stride. She wasn't acting like the relaxed playful rogue we first met in the game, but she wasn't the stiff awkward quiet goth either.
We were all pretty much finished eating by that point, and I took care of the bill when the time came. It was a few minutes past five o'clock local time as we all left the restaurant, which was eight in the evening for Raven and I, and one in the morning for Leah.
The walk back to Krissy's place took us about twenty minutes or so, and once we were in there our young tank asked again to see Raven's angelic form.
"Very well," our rogue sighed.
The rest of us all stepped back to give her some space, not that there was a lot of room in Krissy's one-bedroom apartment. Then with a flare of cold black flames the goth barista transformed into her tall dark angel of death shape, complete with the wings and flaming sword and the black halo.
"Wow!" Leah exclaimed with a wide grin. "Raven you look amazing!"
Krissy was staring wide-eyed. She nodded slowly and added, "You're a lot more intimidating like this. I can see why Dorn took your warning to heart."
Raven managed to look a little embarrassed even in this form. She grimaced slightly and responded, "I'll head home now. Thank you for the tour Krissy. You and Leah take care."
With that she vanished in another flare of cold dark fire.
"I should get going too," I added. "Leah I'll take you home now ok? And Krissy, good to see you again. Thanks for hosting the meet-up."
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