Welldark B1 Ch. 05

I liked how my schedule looked, after all planning and discussing was done. Monday and Friday were pretty loaded, Tuesday and Wednesday kept me busy, Thursday was almost an off-day and Saturday was free entirely. The only thing about this setting that I didn't like that much was the odd break I had between my morning and evening classes on Monday, but I could work with that. At least I would have enough time to get my beauty sleep the following day.

As for the rest of this first, lessons-free week I had on Welldark, it basically flew by me. The majority of the time I spent, alone or with companions, exploring more of Welldark and familiarizing myself with my new environment.

I visited Lisa's Bakery a couple of times, because I liked her company. She gave me advice on a few things. I hadn't asked for any but, as older people sometimes were, she just heard me mention certain things and decided to give me a little lecture based on it. I didn't need most of it, but I smiled and nodded. It was a sign of care, so I appreciated it.

Welldark City wasn't a huge, sprawling metropolis but it was still too large to scout out all of it in a week. I kept most of my sightseeing confined to the business areas, where the most shops and service providers were concentrated. Knowing where I could buy what would come in handy at some point.

Many more hours were spent walking through the halls of the university. It was, in many ways, even harder to get familiar with than the city and its many side streets. The twists and turns of the corridors were separated by green areas and different design philosophies that still shared a centralized theme. I only had a very rough idea where things generally were at the end of the week. I did know exactly where my lessons would take place though, which was the most important thing.

People who recommended a fashionable lateness had never been to an overcrowded lecture and I, for one, had enough from standing on staircases from just the introduction ceremony. There was no way I would be anywhere else but in a comfortable seat. Which, from checking out several empty classrooms, I knew Welldark thankfully invested in. Proper, cushioned seats with armrests and back support. Not cheap, mass-produced wooden awfulness that forced students to try and find a comfortable way to sit rather than listen to their teachers.

Aside from the exploration, I also spent time on daily routines and simple relaxation. Workouts, gaming, reading, napping, cooking and watching, there was no shortage of things I should and could do. Importantly, Esther was around for a lot of what I did, no matter what it was.

I used that time as best I could. Once the schedules kicked in, leisurely spent time like this would become rare. We would be exhausted after a long day or timetables would just not align, the usual drawbacks of having obligations in life. As it was, we got to know each other a little better, but nothing of major importance happened. That was, until Sunday.

I had gotten her to agree to a date. I had used the actual word in the suggestion, so there was absolutely no ambivalence about what she had agreed to when I took her out. It was to be a very simple get-together: visiting a good restaurant followed by a trip to a sports centre.

Admittedly, a sports centre wasn't a particularly romantic location, but I wanted to show her that I understood her. Something practical had to be the target, therefore. A place where we got to look at additional workout tools and just generally strain our trained physique would work. The alternative had been the waterpark, but with the pool at home, I felt like she would see it as a frivolous waste of time. For the same reason, visiting a cinema was out.

That aside, I really wanted us to get moving somewhere. Watching her hourglass figure in motion was a thing of pure beauty and attractive women getting sweaty until their curves glistened was definitely a desire of mine.

The restaurant visit before wasn't just form or my wish to have an hour or so of calm talks. Both of those definitely were a factor. For the most part, however, I wished for her to be satiated to keep her mood stable. A hungry Esther was an easily agitated Esther. Having her sated should keep her in a good (or perhaps workable was more accurate) mood.

Which was where we were at that moment.

The restaurant, Glitters and Gold, was a middle-class restaurant inside the city. It had the kind of prices that someone in my allowance category could afford, but not regularly so. As the name suggested, the restaurant was heavy on golden and glittering decorations. As the name also suggested, being a play on the well-known saying 'not all that glitters is gold', all of it was fake. From the cutlery, to the decorative flower depictions on the rim of the porcelain plates, to the frames of the oil paintings and the ornaments on the walls, all of it was only painted with gold colour.

This cheapness on the material side didn't change the fact that it was a nicely decorated restaurant. The gold, paired with the chocolate brown of the walls and dark grey of the carpet, made for a pleasant colour combination. Thick curtains kept out the daylight, leaving candles and dim lamps to do the illumination. It was quiet, out of respect for the surroundings and because of the hour. Few people frequented this establishment around noon. All around there was a relaxed and luxurious atmosphere. The best I could ask for, without going to a truly posh restaurant.

"Did your parents decide to send you to Welldark?" Esther asked, suddenly ending the topic we had previously discussed. While waiting for my answer, she cut into her meal. The fork sawed into the medium-rare steak with ease. The cooked potatoes and the little salad at the side were diminished in equal measure.

"No, they had no influence on it whatsoever," I told her, "They couldn't have. I'm somewhat of a Neverborne."

In places like Welldark, even those that didn't understand the Dimensional Truth at least knew that it existed. It was common knowledge and nobody would be surprised to hear that an acquaintance had the power to traverse between worlds. The same could not be said for the majority of all places that could be travelled to.

When a person in a place that was completely unaware of the Dimensional Truth awoke to it, something quite unfortunate happened. Once they used their newfound powers to travel to another place, everyone, without exception, every friend, family member and random passerby, forgot about them. There was no way to resist it or reverse it, it was a simple fact of the Dimensional Truth.

It was a protective action that regular people couldn't be blamed for in any fashion. The common mind was not prepared for anything associated with the piercing of the great veil. The Dimensional Truth made someone a pariah in their old home. Astral Capacity, magic, dimensional travelling, all of these things were instinctively rejected. Ignoring the unfathomable was much easier when the person presenting it was an unknown lunatic, rather than a loved one who suddenly started to rave about unbelievable things.

Those cast out of their society of birth were commonly called Neverborne. It was a title and a simple description. To everyone they had originally known, the Neverborne was never born. Uncreative, in many ways, but to the point and effective.

Esther raised her brows in a confused manner. The motion created an oddly intriguing little wrinkle between the elegant, black curves of tiny hairs. "I'm sorry to hear that?" her tone carried both genuine sympathy and a question. I could understand where she was coming from. Saying I was 'somewhat' of a Neverborne had to be odd to hear. It was, traditionally, a binary affair. Either one had been forgotten about or not. "I assumed you had parents of high stature. Your manners, while blunt in terms of sexual advances, indicate a certain training of etiquette."

"I have..." I considered my words carefully, then shook my head. "...no. I have no parents that need mention."

We both turned back to our meals. I had ordered the same thing as Esther, although I had ordered my steak to be done however the chef preferred. It had come back well-done, which was somewhat surprising to me. Unlike what many would insist, it was not a crime against steak-kind. As someone who had eaten things that were basically coal on the outside before, I understood the hesitation. This one was really good, however.

I chewed on the orderly cut meat and watched Esther. In one continuous sawing motion, she sliced a piece of her steak and gracefully moved it to her mouth. Perfectly upright the entire time, she brought it to her red lips without a single issue. I was glued to the fullness of those lips. Meat juices made them glisten, emphasizing the colour.

At some point, I realized neither of us were chewing any more. Her lips were, in fact, moving in a way that formed words. "Pardon?" I asked, as charming as I could.

"What is your background then, good Karitas?" Esther repeated her question. It was nice to hear her interest in me. "A Neverborne seldomly has vast relations or wealth."

"Well, I went to Hell when I was about sixteen," I responded, chuckling a little bit. As true as it was, even I could see that it sounded like the set-up for a joke. "Went to highschool there, became friends with Willt and Arlethia. Lucky for the two of them they had the potential to learn the Dimensional Truth. Then again, it's a pretty likely thing to be inherited."

"You only attended highschool in Hell?" Esther asked for reassurance, the confused look on her face still present. Slowly it dawned on me that she was engaging in a line of questioning to get somewhere. I didn't know what that destination was, yet.

"Yeah, a few carefree years, nothing major happened," I waved off. The last thing I wanted to do during my first date was bring up how many girls I had seduced in my formative years.

Esther froze in the middle of cutting off the next slice from her steak, "How do you afford this?"

"With the allowance," I responded and then found out, immediately, that I had given the wrong answer. A screeching sound echoed through the restaurant, as her knife violently dragged over the porcelaine. Slit pupils and sulfuring, yellow eyes stared at me. There was no other sign I needed to realize I had seriously ticked her off.

"That allowance is 750 Dark," her tone was dangerously neutral. In the lack of emotions, all I could hear was all of the blank negativity I saw in her softly glowing eyes. "It cannot possibly, on its own, cover expenses such as this, high-quality cooking ingredients, a laptop extension for the Ashod device, and still leave you enough to eat properly the rest of the month."

"That... is true...I guess?" my answer came hesitatingly. I hadn't given that much thought before. "No need for you to worry about my finances. I'll-"

"I had assumed you were of wealthy origins," she interrupted me, her cold, soft voice burying me like steadily falling snowflakes, "Had your parents given you the money to afford such a lifestyle, there would have been no need to worry about your expenses. As you just revealed, this is not the case. You are a fool to not look after your finances properly. At the current trajectory of expenses, you will run out of money a week before month's end - at the latest."

I had to wonder when she checked the price of the breakfast ingredients I provided, but now was not the time. Quickly running the math myself, I came to the obvious conclusion - that she was absolutely correct. The issue had been lingering around, but I just hadn't felt the need to acknowledge it so far. There were so many more entertaining things to care about. Frankly, I didn't understand why she cared so much about the weight of my purse.

"Again, no need to worry," I tried to persuade her. "I will-"

"You will cease any noise, moronic Karitas," she interrupted me again and raised her hand. It wasn't a signal meant for me, but for the waiter, who hurried over much quicker than I had seen him move all day. Looking around, I realized that our ruckus had captured the attention of everyone else in the restaurant. We hadn't raised our voices, but her tone travelled far enough in the quiet room.

The sound of her chair pushing backwards made my gaze fly back to Esther. The lady of my desires was already standing up, whirled around and marched towards the exit.

"Wait, what about the rest of the date?" I asked, still confused about what was going on. To be more exact, I understood the 'what' the 'why' was more of my issue.

Her only response was a stare over her shoulder as her fair features continued their fearsome display. It was incredible how much the change of her eyes could communicate. With a determined turn of her body, she resumed her strut towards the door. Her ponytail bounced with every heavy step of her boots. She left the establishment and me the centre of awkward attention. Whispers at my expense, amused and understanding, started all around.

The waiter tried to get my thoughts elsewhere. "Would you like me to package the remains, good sir?" Perhaps his motivation was to get me out of the room, resolve the scene and restore the quiet of the restaurant. Regardless, his words made me aware that my mouth was hanging wide open.

"Uhm..." I blinked a few times, raising my eyes from the remains of Esther's steak, "...yes," I then answered. Now actively aware of the issues that would befall me in the later stages of the month, I needed to save what I could on food. I reached for my Ashod, ready to pay, when the waiter made a halting gesture.

"That won't be necessary, your company has paid for everything before she left."

The confusion I felt accompanied me on my way home and lingered just like I lingered in the living room. After reheating them, I finished up the packaged remains. Foolishly, I thought the meal might clue me in about why things had gone south at supersonic speed. When that failed, I considered just knocking on her door. On the off-chance that she had also directly returned home, I could confront her about this.

It wasn't as if she was the only one who could get angry. Getting berated and left behind in this fashion was far from how I had wanted our first date to go. I was owed an explanation, if nothing else, and I would demand it when the time came. For now, following that urge to confront her seemed unwise. A little bit of distance was necessary for me to order my thoughts and for her to, hopefully, calm down.

I tried to solve this issue, as I did with most, through self-reflection. I had a high opinion of myself. I had worked hard on my body and mind to live healthily and honestly, and that came with a justifiable level of self-respect. Having gone through these processes had also informed me that I was not and would never be perfect. Since I was flawed, there was a chance there was something here that I had done wrong. Before I demanded Esther to explain herself, I should try to reflect on what that was.

Whatever it was, I was unable to find it.

I was able to decipher that it was about the money. That was so abundantly clear it barely was worth mentioning. Why she got so angry about MY money, however, was a mystery to me. We weren't an item, our finances were clearly separate. However I spend my resources, be it frivolously or not, should not have bothered her this much.

'Guess I won't solve this by myself,' I sighed when the realization hit me that I had arrived at an impasse. Esther would have been the best to tell me about this. Since she refused to properly communicate with me, I had to confide and seek the advice of someone else. Luckily, there was a couple up two flights of stairs that I trusted with almost all of my issues.

________________________________________

"You're an idiot," Arlethia said straight to my face.

The succubus was wearing a shirt three sizes too large for her. It was black, loosely hung from her shoulders, reached so far down it almost hit the entirety of her hotpants, and yet still was stretched around her chest. The breasts responsible for that display jiggled in a clearly unconfined fashion when she shook her head in raw disbelief. Dark red hair cascaded between her horns, while she sat up properly on the bed. It was her natural domain, so I wasn't surprised she was there.

The actual owner of that shirt, Willt, was sitting in a nearby armchair, wearing only his pants. Whether this meant Arlethia had appropriated it after a recent 'adult tussle' or he had decided that it was way too hot to wear, I didn't know. Regardless, the long-haired warlock, pushed up his round glasses, before turning the page on the tome on the dark arts he was currently reading.

"You are an idiot," Willt echoed. "I get this thing immediately, so that says a lot about you."

"How incredibly helpful of you two," I couldn't help but be sarcastic. Sitting in the same armchair I had been in when we discussed our schedules, I glared at both of them. "That's exactly what I wanted, more berating and non-helpful statements. Could you at least give me a hint as to what it is?"

Arlethia sighed and came over. "Sorry, this thing is just really simple so it's kinda frustrating," she said. "I'll put it as clearly as I can: she's pissed because you spent your money without thinking about what it means for yourself."

That sounded about where I had arrived on myself and therefore didn't help me at all. "Okay," I responded only to immediately add, "but WHY does that matter to her? None of my previous girlfriends ever cared about the way I spent my money or whether or not I was broke."

Willt closed his book with enough force that the clashing pages created a loud 'THUD'. "Real talk, Karitas," he said and carefully placed the thick tome on the table between us "It's because nobody you dated before cared that much about your wellbeing."

That was yet another thing I didn't want to hear at the moment, but I swallowed the insult I felt. "What do you mean by that?" I asked as calmly as I could. Deciphering this was more important to me than my hurt pride.

"That none of them were in it for the long term relationship," Willt elaborated willingly, laying out all of his thoughts on the matter. "Buddy, you do realize who you are and where you were, right? You arrived one day in Hell, without friends or family. You just attended our school and you were never shy about the fact that you were going to leave one day to build an Anomalia. Everyone, including the girls you dated, knew that. You can't blame anyone for not getting invested in a relationship they know will end the moment their partner can go to a place they can't go to."

All of that made sense and yet I struggled to integrate that. "I had a lot of good times with these girls and I don't think they didn't care about me."

"Some of your relationships ended exactly because they started to care about you." Arlethia groaned, then sighed when I shot her a glance that bordered on pissed. I was having a rough day and our usual banter was grinding on my nerves. "Sorry, again," she tried to speak more softly to me. "Look, as Willt said, they knew it was all temporary, yeah? There was no need to talk about your bad spending habits, because there would never be any lasting consequences for them. You definitely had a reputation as THE guy to have a good time with among the girls, but they also all knew they couldn't get more than that from you. The one girl who you dated who thought she could get you to stay was, I don't think I need to remind you, absolutely bonkers."

"Yeah..." I admitted and looked inwardly to inspect my memories with this new narrative in mind. It fit all of my relationships like a glove. Pretty happy-go-lucky and, once there was just the hint of seriousness about them, they quickly crumbled. Given that I was bent on leaving, I had never considered any of that a problem. 'Which would have just further amplified the issue,' I admitted to myself.