Meeting the Misfits

Standing before me were three remarkably beautiful individuals. Two of whom I had at least briefly met.

The first was the elven girl whose gender I wasn’t originally sure of, but was now fairly certain that they were, in fact, she. Then there was the groundling girl that I had met at the end of our musical bash-up. It was easy to recall who they were because, even without their hoods or helmets, their emerald and diamond eyes stood out like glimmering beacons.

But then, placed before them, was the breathtaking form of a third, unknown human girl. She stood tall at the front of the group, hands on her hips as red hair tumbled over her face. Staring at me with piercing sapphire blue eyes, she appeared to be judging me as I stood there.

Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump!

Revealing a nervous smile, I anxiously rubbed at the back of my neck.

“Hi?” I asked, looking the three of them up and down while also trying to keep my heart from bursting forth. “W-who are you three?”

Behave heart—and other bits. I thought to myself as a tickle in my chest triggered a cough.

Instinctively reaching up to cover my mouth, I pulled my elbow away, revealing a spotting of blood in the crook.

Oh fug! Okay, maybe I do need a bit more bed rest. Just…after this.

“Pretty brazen for a kid who we had to save like, what, eight—nine times?” The leader of the trio huffed as she opened her arms and pressed a hand to her chest. “Anyways—name’s Rionriv Singlemoon, your saviour. And this is my triop—”

“Aesandoral Thantossa.” The elf leapt forward eagerly with a big smile. “I-I’m glad you’re feeling better!”

“You too—last I saw you, I think you took a pretty bad hit to the head.”

“O-Oh, yeah. It-it’s not the first time.” Aesandoral giggled as she fiddled with a small piece of her hair. “And probably not the last—"

“And I’m Sharzin Thistlewillow,” The groundling spoke up as she stepped forward. “You don’t give up, do you? It’s impressive.”

“Well, you know, I’ve been given a gift, so may as well use it.” I blurted out and immediately felt myself go red.

Crap! Why did I say that?! That’ll raise an eyebrow or two. Breathe. Why would it? Yeah, maybe they’ll let it slide.

“What do you mean by that?” Rionriv immediately asked.

Stepping in front of her group, she placed a hand on her hips while poking the other to my chest. Leaning in menacingly, she locked eyes with me.

“What? You some sort of triopless weirdo?”

Damn, what am I going to do? Come on, I can swing this somehow. Think, think—Oh, I’ve got it! Stall.

“I would love to tell you, but based on my growling stomach, it’s around supper time. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m famished after not eating for a week. Why don’t you allow me to buy you all dinner as thanks for saving my life?”

“We’re not hungry!” Rionriv protested.

Yet, as though triggered by the prospect of nourishment, both Aesandoral and Sharzin’s stomachs released audible growls.

Shuddering at this sound, Rionriv rolled her eyes with an accompanying sigh.

“Fine. You’re buying and talking, kid.”

Crap. I thought, reaching into my pocket and fiddling with the six silver and fifteen copper coins I had found in various vermin stomachs.

I hope it’s not too fancy. Anyway, I should probably tell them my name.

“Ishara.”

“What?”

“M-My name? It’s Ishara.”

“Okay, kid.” Rionriv replied as she turned and began her march out.

Leaving the nurse's ward, we trudged our way back across campus, beyond the Grand Central Library and to a small café near where I had run into my first vermin nemesis.

I had never heard of the place they recommended, which meant it wasn’t something I wrote into the story. It was something created of this world and outside of my hands. And, it was also apparently amazing, at least according to Aesandoral, who raved the entire way there.

As we entered, I examined the absurdity of the place, which was a café inside a mimic where everything from stools to booths, to cups were all made of the same replicative creatures. Entering the cozy space and taking our seats, one thing became abundantly clear—

I may have known a lot about this world when it consumed my life as Tahvin, but there were going to be plenty of things that surprised me as Ishara.

One other thing was clear as we made our way deeper into the café and Rionriv lectured me about taking on a Basilisk. That was the fact that adventuring was hard! And with that information, I was beginning to doubt that a toxic could-do attitude would be enough to survive it alone.

Maybe Phyllis was right. Maybe I needed to find a group to work with.

Luckily, I had absolutely no idea who this triop was, which meant that they, like the mimic café, were also created of this world and not directly tied into the story. Totally unremarkable or important. And since they had been my apparent saviours over the last few weeks, befriending them to work alongside me may have been exactly what I needed to survive.

Thanks, world!

Or at least that’s what I was telling myself in this moment. That and a stream of thoughts about how I could persuade them to work with me. I began to crunch numbers, estimating how much faster I could rank up with them at my side and which dungeons would make us all rich without directly changing the story.

By the time we found a booth and sat down, my mind was racing. There were plenty of dungeons and untapped resources in this world that a group of four could take and not directly impact the future. Hell, I was still in the middle of writing this era when I got transmigrated, so there were plenty of threads that could be pulled.

That’s it, it's settled. I thought to myself, with a subtle nod.

These unknown misfits will be my party, and I will be a patron. I think my contract allows that. Though with Phyllis as my patron, and me as theirs, we were getting dangerously close to M-L-M territory.

“This place is cozy, glad I could visit finally.” I lied with a big smile as the booth’s tongue licked at my heel. “Gah!”

Rionriv narrowed her gaze on me from across the table.

“You’ve heard of this place before today, First Year?”

“Yes, I have, and no, I’m not a First Year. I don’t go here.”

“You’re not a student?” Aesandoral cut in. “I thought you looked young.”

“No, I’m not a student, but I am here to learn in a sense—”

“You said you had a gift. What’s up with that?” Rionriv cut to the chase.

Damn, she’s on me like a bloodhound.

I coughed just as the food and drinks that the girls had ordered upon arriving made it to the table. Taking a moment to pull a stein to my lips, I sipped it down slowly. It was something delightfully sweet and lightly alcoholic, which was good enough for me at this moment. Thank the gods the drinking age in this era was a lot lower than it probably should have been

This scene bought me precious moments to create a backstory. I already had a feeling that everything was going to be resting on Rionriv’s opinion and, off the bat, she presented herself as a tough nut to crack.

“You see,” I started. “I know a lot of things—”

“Like a psychic?” She immediately cut in.

“No, not like a—what’s wrong with you?”

“Rionriv is very intense.” Sharzin added from the corner of the table.

“Hey! I am not intense!”

“Yep, totally what a not-intense person would say.” The cloaked groundling muttered as she sipped her drink.

Rionriv huffed, turning away from her companion and once more towards me. Her gaze intensified as I noticed electricity behind her eyes.

“Don’t you waste our time, kid. What’s your damn deal?”

She slammed her hand on the table and, with the other, reached across to take me by the shirt. Pulling me in close, she raised her fist. Blue lightning began to crackle across her knuckles.

Panic set in.

Bah-dump! Bah-dump! Bah-dump!

“I-I can’t reveal my secret to you yet—” I stuttered.

Mainly because I don’t know what it is. I don’t think, ‘oops, author of the world’ would work.

“What I can tell you is that I have a deep understanding of Esseria, including everything that has happened and will occur over the foreseeable future.”

“Prove it.”

“How the hell could I do that? It’s not like I can just make a prediction on the spot and wait around for it to happen.”

“Didn’t you just say everything that will be? That includes here and now. So, prove it or we walk.”

Crap, what am I going to do? I can’t just let them leave. I mean, I’m sure I could find some other people easier to—no, this is the group. I’ve already got them here. And I’m no quitter—well, most of the time. Alright, let’s give them the hook.

“Okay, how about this? How about I tell you a little about yourselves from what I can glean from my first glances of you.”

And by the looks on their faces, I had their attention.