While Aug watched TV on the couch, Vera sat beside him. It was clear she was eager to talk, yet Aug had made it a condition of her entry that she be quiet.
"What are we doing?" asked Vera, leaning forward and looking at Aug, unable to withhold from speaking anymore.
"What do you mean? Relaxing," said Aug, wondering what else she thought he should be doing.
"Why aren't you trying to level up or go to a dungeon?"
"I don't have any money to buy weapons, and I don't have a dungeon group. What else am I supposed to do?"
"Oh," replied Vera, a word she had been using a lot today. "So you will only join my dungeon party if I let my parents disown me?"
"No, but I don't want to be part of some corporate profit scheme either," replied Aug, who was not about to be taken advantage of.
"You will receive adequate pay, and this option is better than starving."
"But my class would not be mine," stated Aug, not willing to give in.
"I understand. Realistically, unless I let my parents disown me, my class won't be my own either."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, as Vera was in deep thought, until a car came to pick her up. They exchanged goodbyes, and soon enough she was gone, with Aug thinking he would never see her again.
The next morning Aug had had no response to his job posting, and wasn't sure what to do with his day. He had just got out of bed when there was a knock at the front door.
Wondering who it could be, he went and opened it. Before him stood Vera, this time in casual clothes. She had three large suitcases with her and a smile on her face.
"No," said Aug without her even speaking, attempting to close the door.
"I have money to pay the rent if you let me stay!" pleaded Vera, putting her foot in the door.
Aug paused. He needed some sort of income. But was it worth sacrificing his peace and quiet?
"Did you get yourself disowned? Or did you leave on your own?" asked Aug, not expecting her to actually go through with it, and so quickly.
"Oh, no. They haven't disowned me yet."
"Then why do you have all your bags?" asked Aug, his face full of confusion.
"These? They are just my overnight bags."
Aug choked on his own saliva. This woman was the personification of a rich girl.
"Why are you here then?"
"I want you to come with me to the dungeon. Not as some money making scheme, but as the beginning of a new party. We can make our own group and recruit people for it together."
"Why with me?"
"I feel we would make a great team," replied Vera, shrugging as if she didn't fully understand it either.
Aug sighed and stood there looking at her for longer than he should have. The entire time she just smiled, looking at him with a pleading face.
If indeed she wanted to create a party, it would be the perfect time for him to get in. It also felt like she had the resources to make it happen. He would be stupid to turn it down.
"Fine, come in," sighed Aug, standing aside. "So… if you haven't been disowned, why do you need to live here?"
"So you'll trust me," she said, smiling and bringing all her bags in on her own.
Aug rolled his eyes. He wasn't sure this would help, or even if he was going to let her stay past one night. Aug took her to the spare room and let her settle in.
After thirty minutes, he knocked on the door and spoke to her through it. "If we are going to be in a party, I want to see how we work together. We're going back into the wilds. Get ready."
There was no response from the other side.
He knocked again, louder. But still no response.
Aug stopped and listened. Did she leave, and did he not notice?
He opened the door. The room was unlocked, and there she lay asleep on the bed. He closed the door quietly and let her sleep. He could wait until later to go to the wilds, as they had all day.
A few hours later, Vera emerged from the spare room.
"Wow, I have never been allowed to take a nap like that before! Thank you!" said Vera as she entered the lounge-room where Aug sat, stretching her arms.
"No problem. Well, now that you're awake, you can come with me to the wilds. You kill, I loot, and we share. I want to see how we work together. How's that sound?"
"Even the loot you make from the corpses?"
"Yes. I can't kill things to save my life. So it's only fair," replied Aug, a smile on his face.
Two hours later, they were in the wilds once more. As they walked through the forest, a pixilated blue light appeared right in their path, and a green slime spawned right in front of them.
Vera smiled. Aug knew she wanted to show off her skills.
"Let me show you my [Explosive Palm]," she smiled, holding her hand up for him to see. A purple, glowing, six-pointed star symbol, formed by two interlocking triangles, slowly rotated on her hand.
She approached the slime and slapped it. Suddenly, a purple flame erupted from her hand, obliterating the slime and creating a wide fallout area of fine green gel. Aug tried to scan the slime, but there was nothing left.
"You killed it too well. I can't collect or process it as there's nothing left," said Aug.
"Oh," replied Vera, her eyes dropping to the thin layer of green slime on the forest floor.
Her ability was probably the exact opposite of what Aug needed in a partner, which was unfortunate at this very moment. Aug stood there with one hand on his hip and the other holding the bridge of his nose. His ability will not work if she explodes the corpses, so they needed to explore other options.
"Is that your only ability?" asked Aug.
"No, I have an ability called [Explosive Flick] that effectively turns my hand into a gun, but I'm bad at aiming."
"Could you try to use that?" asked Aug.
Vera nodded and pulled a small bag of metal bottle caps from her inventory and put the bag into her pocket. She grabbed a bottle cap out and placed it upon her coiled finger.
She then looked over her fingers, aiming at a nearby tree, and flicked the bottle cap. As she did, a small, purple explosion occurred at the end of her finger, launching the bottle cap wildly into the forest, embedding itself deeply into a far-off tree.
"See terrible aim," she giggled, pointing where she was supposed to be aiming.
"Practice makes perfect," said Aug, smiling at her.
"Thank you for not berating me for my aim," said Vera. Her smile was radiant, and she was genuinely happy for something that a normal person would consider routine.
"You live under a strict roof, huh?"
"Yes. Perfection is the only accepted outcome in my family."
"That is sad, because no one is perfect," replied Aug, feeling sorry for her.
They pressed on into the wilds and soon encountered another slime. Vera got out the bottle caps and began spraying the area with them. The slime moved slowly, so they were in no danger, which let Vera practice. After about ten shots, she finally hit it, killing it instantly.
This time the slime was scannable:
[Corpse scan complete]
[Green slime - N3F]
[2 normal items obtainable from processing. Would you like to proceed?]
Aug proceeded, and two items appeared.
[Jar O' green slime (Tier 1) - Reagent - Can be used as a lubricant of any kind.]
[Green slime core - Reagent - You're probably going to want to wash this a few times.]
Aug smiled and passed the green slime core to Vera. Vera took it, and her face lit up. This was the arrangement they both wanted.