Playing For Keeps (Alpha World Book 4)

by Daniel Schinhofen

Meeting Karen’s eyes, Stacia spoke with understanding, “I do nay blame ya for ya hesitation. I can only give ya me promise tha’ I will nay harm ya in any way. The choice be up to ya.”

  “She walked through one of mine the other day,” Alburet spoke up. “I haven’t felt any ill effects from it.”

  Karen eyed him for a moment before facing Stacia once more, “Okay, Stacia. I’ll put my faith in you.” She finished off her tea, setting the tin mug aside. “How do we start with me?”

  “Get ready for bed like ya normally would. Once ya be comfortable, we’ll begin.”

  Karen stripped down to her skin, then took her time neatly folding her clothes. Her lips quirked up slightly as she caught Alburet watching her. She put on a set of pajamas and laid down on the bedroll. “Okay, now what?”

  Stacia knelt down next to her, leaning over to kiss her brow, “Now we can begin, just relax.” Stacia began to sing a soft wordless song.

  Karen smiled and her eyes fluttered closed. A moment later her breathing evened out as she slipped into sleep. Fluff knelt on Karen’s other side, gently reaching out to brush a lock of hair back from Karen’s face. “She looks so soft when she’s sleeping. She’s always so tough all the time.”

  “We be startin’ now. Touch me and her, so tha’ we all go together,” Stacia told them. Once they were arranged as she’d instructed, Stacia began to sing again.

  They appeared as ghostly forms beside an equally ghostly Karen in a room where all the furniture had been pushed back to the walls to make room for the mat in the middle. A young girl, not quite a teenager, with short dark hair stood on the mat, facing a broad chested man with a crewcut. “Dad,” Karen whispered.

  “Karen, you aren’t listening,” the man snapped at her. “I said pivot, then kick. Is that hard for you to understand?”

  “No, Sensei,” Karen replied in unison with the girl, obviously a younger version of herself.

  “Again,” he told her sternly.

  The girl pivoted on her left foot, turning her body ninety degrees before she snapped a kick at the man’s gut. It thudded into the pad he was holding. “Better. Do it again.”

  They watched for a few minutes as her father drilled her in that kick. “Alright, take five minutes.”

  “Joseph, are you done yet with the lessons today?” a woman who looked similar to Karen asked from a doorway.

  “Not yet, she’s not paying as much attention as she should. She takes after you that way, Sheryl.”

  Sheryl smiled somewhat absently. “Dinner will be ready in ten minutes, dear. Why don’t you call the lesson for today?”

  “Fine,” Joseph sighed, then turned to Karen. “We are done.”

  Karen had been doing some stretches on the mat. She climbed to her feet and bowed to her father. He dipped his head in return. She then stood up straight with her arms before her, hands clenched, “Thank you for the lesson, Sensei.”

  “Dismissed,” Joseph replied. “We will make up the rest of it tomorrow.”

  Karen went past them towards the shower, while Joseph paused next to Sheryl. “You coddle her too much,” he was saying.

  “You treat her like she’s a boy,” Sheryl replied. “Now, go get cleaned up.”

  Karen ducked into the bathroom as Joseph and Sheryl exchanged a kiss.

  The scene shifted to a garage, the only lights were a flood above the car on jacks along with two flashlights below it. “Hand me the wrench,” Joseph’s voice came from under the vehicle.

  “Here you go,” Karen replied from under the car as well. For a minute, the only sounds were those of tools before Karen spoke again. “Dad, why can’t I go to Kim’s tomorrow?”

  “You didn’t finish the lesson from today. You have to make up what you missed,” Joseph replied with a grunt of effort. “There, the bolt is off. Now grab the filter.”

  “Can’t I go over there for an hour?” Karen asked as most children do, even after being told no.

  “Not tomorrow,” Joseph replied firmly. “If you complete all your lessons tomorrow you can spend the night on Friday night. Otherwise you’ll spend the weekend on the mat with me.”

  After a long moment Karen sighed, “Never mind.”

  A few minutes later Sheryl appeared in the doorway to the house. “It’s almost ten, Joseph. Are you going to keep her out here all night?”

  “Ten already, huh?” Joseph commented. “Karen, go wash up and go to bed.”

  “Yes, Dad,” Karen replied before she came out from under the car. She was obviously disgruntled as she headed inside.

  Sheryl watched her go with pursed lips. “You told her no?” she asked, directing the question at Joseph who was coming out from under the car.

  “Of course. She didn’t complete her lesson today. She needs to understand that if she doesn’t finish a task that there are consequences.”

  Sighing softly, Sheryl shook her head, “We’re leaving in two weeks, back to Texas this time. You might want to let her have a little time with her friends before that.”

  “She can if she finishes her lessons,” Joseph muttered.

  “So stubborn, just like your daughter,” Sheryl told him. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

  Karen darted away from where she had paused to listen in, her anger obvious to those watching the memory.

  The scene faded to grey as time paused. “Ya never got to spend the day with ya friends before ya left.”

  “No. That was the last time we moved, though. Dad retired from the military after that move, he finished off his last year in Texas and then he started the dojo there.”

  “All ya young life was like this, but this pushed ya did it nay?”

  Karen nodded, “I started rebelling after this. I was so tired of the strict leash he kept me on. I know it was just the way he was raised and his background, but still I started to chafe.”

  “Ya acted out in the second week of school,” Stacia commented softly.

  A small smile creased her ghostly lips, “Yeah, the star linebacker of the junior varsity football team, he was such an ass.”

  The scene shifted to a high school hallway. Four guys stood behind another who looked like a small mobile wall. He was facing a teenaged Karen, clearly trying to look impressive. Karen smirked at him, her book bag on the ground next to her. “I said no,” she was saying. “is that too hard for your small brain to understand?”

  The boy who was facing her started to turn red, “Look, you’re new here so you might not understand how this place works. I’m being generous and you really do want to get off to a decent start here.”

  “Generous? You want me to stop by your place after school for,” the sarcasm was thick in her voice, “math tutoring?” Karen snorted. “I think it’s likely that you believe I’m going to swoon all over you and be only too happy to do some ‘math tutoring’ with you. You’re wrong. I’m not interested. You need to just stop, because you’re only embarrassing yourself here.”

  The guy’s face had been growing steadily redder as she spoke, “That’s enough—” he started, taking a step forward. That was as far he got before Karen pivoted and snapped a kick into his sternum. The kick sent him reeling back into his four friends.

  “You’re right, that’s enough. You’re not man enough for me. Now run along.” She grabbed her bag and walked away as the boy she’d kicked gasped for air.

  The scene shifted to show Karen sitting in the principal’s office, her face a blank mask. The door to the office opened as Joseph came in. “You called me down here?” he asked the principal, who nodded.

  “Your daughter assaulted another student today. The boy declined to make an issue of it so we didn’t involve the police, but she is going to take tomorrow off of school. If you insist, I can make that an official suspension.”

  Lips compressed, Joseph motioned to Karen, “I understand. I apologize for this incident. I’ll have a long talk with her about it.”

  The scene shifted again, this time to show Karen on the mat gaspin
g with her father above her. “You initiated the fight. I taught you better than that.” His face was dark as he glared down at her, “Do we need to go over why you never start a fight?”

  “No,” Karen hissed as she pushed herself back up to her feet. “He was trying to coerce me into going home with him. He got upset when I turned him down then tried to threaten me, so I acted.”

  Joseph paused for a minute, then turned away from her. “Fine. We’re done here for now, go do your homework. Tomorrow you’ll be helping me in the dojo since you won’t be in school.”

  Karen gritted her teeth, not saying anything as she bowed to her father, before storming away to the showers. As she stomped away, Sheryl came into the room. She kept her eyes on her husband, “She started the fight?”

  Joseph sighed, “She kicked him before he touched her. She says he approached her in a threatening manner, and if that’s so then I can’t fault her. Still, she could have walked away from that fight. She should have walked away, like I’ve taught her. She’s never gotten into fights before, so why start now?”

  “She is thirteen now,” Sheryl replied as she hugged her sweaty husband to her. “Maybe she’s starting to find a path of her own.”

  Joseph stepped back with a grunt, breaking the hug, “I’ll go shower.”

  Neither of them noticed Karen, who had paused to listen just outside the women’s showers.

  “It didn’t end there,” the ghostly Karen sighed. “That was the first time he got truly upset with me. I felt a little pride that I could get him to react to what I did, after years of trying to make him proud and getting only minor recognition for my efforts.”

  “This be enough for now,” Stacia murmured as the scene greyed out around them. “Do ya still worry about me doin’ this for ya?”

  Karen shook her head, “No. I’d forgotten that conversation at the end. Now it’s bright and clear in my mind. I do wonder about that.”

  “I can nay explain it, only that when one is shown a memory it be easier to remember details ya did not before.” Stacia gave Karen a hug, “Ya need sleep now.”

  Karen smiled and closed her eyes, asleep again in seconds. The other three still knelt around her sleeping form. “She just wanted love,” Fluff spoke softly, gently touching Karen’s forehead.

  “Is that nay what we all want?” Stacia half asked as she hugged Fluff.

  Fluff gave a small nod, “Her father showed her love, even if he struggled to do so.”

  “Aye,” Stacia agreed. “Now it be time for all of us to go to bed.”

  Alburet, Fluff and Stacia all went to their respective bedrolls to get ready. Alburet had purchased a set of pajama bottoms to wear, just in case. He’d slept in the nude for so long he knew this would feel a bit different, but he didn’t feel right being nude around Fluff.

  Fluff slipped into a small shorts and crop top set before sliding into her sleeping bag, which was right next to Karen’s. Alburet ended up on the other side of Karen, with Stacia on his other side. Stacia was naked as she slipped into the double sleeping bag the couple had gotten.

  She just smiled at Alburet’s small frown, “I asked, and Fluff does nay mind me bein’ naked. As such, there be nay reason to cover meself. We will nay be havin’ fun though, it would nay be fair to our friends, so behave yaself.”

  His lips quirked up, “All while you tempt me. Bad little kitten,” Alburet told her softly as she molded herself to his side.

  “One of the reasons ya love me,” she whispered into his ear. “Sleep well, master.”

  Alburet woke to a tapping noise from outside the tent. “An hour until we break camp,” came the words from outside as the noise stopped.

  Trying to shift, Alburet discovered that he was pinned to the bedroll. A body slithered up his, Stacia’s head appearing from under the bedroll as she leaned over him. “Morning, master,” she husked before kissing him gently.

  As the kiss broke she leaned back, pulling the covers back with her. Alburet looked down to see Karen on one side, snuggled close with one leg draped across his thighs and waist. Gulping, he tilted his head to look at his other side. Fluff lay curled up next to him, pressed close against his side. Her head lay on his arm, and she was purring gently in her sleep.

  “Is this nay a good way to wake, me lovin’ husband?” Stacia asked as she extricated herself from the bedroll and stood up, “Mayhap ya should wake them.” She walked away with a giggle.

  “You are so lucky I can’t get you back for this right now,” he muttered as he watched her go.

  She looked back over her shoulder with heated eyes, “I be bettin’ we can find ways.”

  Alburet couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched her bend over to grab some clothes. As his anatomy twitched while he watched her, Karen stirred at his side, her knee gently bumping his rising manhood.

  Blinking her eyes open slowly she met his gaze, “Oh. Morning, Al. Is that for me?” Her leg moved slightly.

  He shook his head, leaning towards her to whisper, “Fluff is on my other side, so no.”

  She sat up and looked over at Fluff, a soft smile on her lips. “That is so cute. You’re right though, she probably isn’t ready for that yet.” She leaned across him to whisper to Fluff, “Fluff. It’s time to wake, Fluff.”

  Fluff mewed softly at Karen’s words, her leg tightening where it was draped over Alburet’s legs. Her hands made small kneading motions, which ended up massaging Alburet’s left pectoral. After a moment, her eyes opened to find herself kneading Alburet’s chest. Eyes going wide, she looked up at him. Her cheeks blazed red and the obvious distress on her face was clear.

  Alburet smiled gently at her and spoke softly, “Morning Fluff. It’s okay, it felt rather nice.”

  Pulling back slightly, Fluff looked around to see Karen snuggled to Alburet much the same way she was. Stacia stood nearby, smiling at her with love. Fluff’s gaze tracked down to the obvious tent in his pajamas, then finally noticing her own leg draped over his. She snatched it away, rolling out of the bedroll hurriedly and kneeling with her back to them. “I’m so sorry.”

  Stacia crossed the room to kneel before Fluff. Taking Fluff into her arms, she spoke in a whisper that Alburet couldn’t hear.

  Alburet was immediately distracted as Karen used his chest to lever herself up. She ended up straddling him and paused to grin mischievously down at him, “Oops. Sorry about that. I’m trying to get me up, not you.” She rotated her hips once against his obvious pressing concern before standing up.

  Alburet shuddered, “Fucking mynx.” He got a wink and a laugh as she went to get dressed. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself enough that he could function.

  Several minutes later, he opened his eyes to find himself alone in the tent. He checked and donned his gear before exiting the tent to see what today would bring.

  Chapter Five

  As Alburet left the tent his message icon began blinking in the corner of his vision. He opened the message with a tap to the icon.

  Message from Victoria AI:

  Seamus, they have tweaked the experience down for now, but we are looking into long term solutions. There will be a worldwide message in just a moment. Thank you for letting us know and not trying to exploit this oversight for your own gains. Just so you are aware, Alvin is keeping an eye on your adventure to take Gwain’s Keep. I look forward to our next talk, I hope you are enjoying your time.

  As he closed the message a pop-up took its place. From the startled looks Alburet could see around him, everyone else was had gotten one, too. Alburet paused to read the message.

  System Message:

  Experience gains from mobs ten levels above player level has been significantly reduced. Those players who have intentionally been taking advantage of the experience differential are placed on probation. Further infractions in the next twelve months can result in account suspension or cancellation. Mindblown Entertainment would like to remind its players that we do not tolerate abuses of in game issues, and woul
d like to thank those players who reported this problem.

  Roberto grunted as he swiped the message away. “It seems the Gods are not upset with us, thank Justice for that. I can breathe a sigh of relief that my men are not at increased risk for being out here.”

  “What did your message say exactly?” Gerald asked.

  “We all get the same message from the Gods…” Roberto paused a moment. “Or did. Was your message different, then?”

  “Different, I think” Gerald replied. “Ours addressed how quickly we would gain experience out here. But that was all, nothing else of note.”

  Ioaniss spoke up, having listened in, “The Gods decreed that natives of Alpha World would not be penalized for the lack of final deaths by the Two-souled they travel with. The message went on to say that the Gods are watching all of the Two-souled, especially those who are in zones that are too strong for them.”