Chapter 26 – Camping!

The plan was simple: use the weekend to grind from dawn until dusk two days in a row. To that end, Rave had suggested that they just stay out in the forest. Losing time going back and forth between their homes was annoying, her words. John agreed after he found out how easily they could stay out for two days. The concern of food and a comfortable place to sleep was alleviated by her presenting him with their tent.

In its folded state, the item looked like a normal pop-up tent, about half a metre across and ready to be thrown down. John could readily accept that, by magic shenanigans, there was all of that utility packed into it. He still didn’t know how the kitchen would function, it definitely wouldn’t have access to the electricity grid. A gas stove, perhaps? Gasoline generator? He would just have to wait and see.

“How did your mom react to this anyway?” Rave asked, while they stepped into the forest. They took the usual route, following a hiking path until they were deep enough that no one could have followed them. The sun barely made it through the canopies.

“She said she was happy that I was out with a girl… asked me if I knew how to use protection. Then she bought some condoms for me.”

Rave snorted. “Your mom sounds awesome.”

“Well, she got pregnant when she was 18 and had me when she was 19, so I guess she just wants to be sure.” A turned head and a raised eyebrow made him continue. “Yes, I am for real.”

“And you’re still an only child?”

“No need to try again when you get it right the first time – or if it went horribly wrong.” He gave Rave a wry smile. “Dunno which one I fall into.” John was feeling chatty. To be capable of running his mouth without constantly stumbling over his words was liberating beyond belief. “What about your mom? You never talk about her.”

“’Cause I don’t wanna.” Rave’s gaze was transfixed on the forest floor in front of them.

John took a couple of big strides, to get next to her. The pink-haired half-Asian woman was frowning. “Something... bad?” he prodded carefully. “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine, but I’d like to… well, listen to it if you got something bothering you. Help, if I can.”

Rave stopped dead in her tracks and gave him a long, empty faced stare. “Huh.” She tilted her head slightly.

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“What?”

“Just… wondering why it surprises me ya would say that… you’ve been a pretty nice guy this entire time.” She tilted her head the other way. Was it just the summerly warmth that made her face so red or was there something more? John had a desire to know and a desire not to use Observe to find out. It was confusing.

Rave eventually returned to moving and he kept up with her. They walked in silence for a little while. The leaves and needles crunched under their steps, remains from last autumn that had not yet broken down. When she took a deep breath, John was all ears.

“My mother is a giant fucking bitch,” the curse words surprised John. Rave hadn’t used a lot of those since he had met her. “Never was satisfied with anything anyone around her ever did. Three years ago she and dad had a giant fight and finally divorced. It wasn’t pretty and… she took my sister and then just left us. Younger sister,” she added at his surprised expression, then chuckled weakly. “Dunno if she’s as hot as me, perv. Ya shouldn’t touch her anyway.”

“I didn’t…”

“Ya asked with your eyes. Ya speak a lot with those.” Playfully she poked him in the cheek. “Ya know, your face is fascinating.”

That made his features burn hotter than the sunrays. “H-how so?”

“Like, now that ya don’t look super tired ya just look so… normal?” Rave took the wind out of his sails. “Like, if ya asked me: ‘draw the most basic male face’ – I’d draw you. Dunno, you’re just so… yeah, normal.”

“Well, better to be average than ugly, I guess?” he tried to see the upside. “Also, are you sure you wouldn’t draw a hideous stick figure? Do you even have any artistic talent?” He gave her a mild smile.

Rave laughed. “Jerk!” she punched him on the shoulder. It hurt a little bit. It was a nice pain, for as little time as it lasted. “I can sing, I’ll have ya know!” Vaguely, John had already known that. When Rave sang along with her songs, it always sounded good. “Anyway, my mother is in Denmark or Japan or wherever and she can keep her ass over there and out of my life.”

John knew not to drill any further and instead just followed the motion of her adjusting her backpack. She was carrying a lot more than John. Most of what he needed, he had stuffed into his inventory. What little remained was in his school bag. He had offered to switch bags with Rave, because it felt like the proper thing to do. With a gentle shove, she had reminded him that she was the stronger one in this relationship.

“Alright, this looks good!” Rave declared. They had found a nice clearing, way off the beaten path. No one would have found them here. Doubly so once they put the Illusion Barrier up. “Can ya open a small Illusion Barrier right here?”

“You can deliberately make small ones?” John asked.

“…Man, keep forgetting ya don’t know the most obvious stuff. Yeah there’s like… anything between a single room to an entire city across in terms of Illusion Barriers.”

“And we don’t just use a normal sized one here because…?”

“’Cause I don’t wanna get attacked by ghosts as I sleep.”

“Alright… so, correct me if I misunderstand this, but you are implying that things from one Illusion Barrier can settle over into an adjacent one?” She shook her head. “Then could you please explain it like I am three years old? Very slow and thoroughly?” He hesitated for a moment. “You do kind of suck at explaining things.”

“Wha- I liked ya better when ya had a stutter!” Rave exclaimed. “Now ya dare criticize me?”

“Well, it’s true.”

“Anyone ever tell ya you say ‘well’ way too much?”

“Well,…” John trailed off, then realized what he had done. The two of them exchanged a long glance. Then she snorted. Even the beginning of her laughter made him break out in amused tones. Amidst their giggles, John took a step forward. Rave did the same and they leaned onto one another for support, until the laughter subsided.

“Alright, so,” Rave cleared her throat, then raised one finger as if to mimic a stern teacher. “If there’s, like, two Illusion Barriers in the same spot, and ya don’t control them, they’ll fuse into one eventually. Gaia doesn’t want the world to be littered with empty barriers, or something like that, so she makes it so they gradually break down. Which reminds me: we’ll have to make really sure we don’t sleep outside the tent barrier.”

“Because if we don’t, the tent will get swallowed up with the closing barrier? And if that happens your dad will kill me?”

“Yep. Ya can learn stuff without me?”

He looked at her for a moment, then decided to just do what his heart wanted. He took a small step forwards and put his arms around her waist. “It’s not as fun without you there.”

“Ohh, bold move. I like it,” Rave smiled and scratched him under the chin. Each wiggle of her index finger sent little shivers down his spine. “By the by, I ask ya to do it because you’re obviously better at it. Ya might not be a Fateweaver, but ya got more mana in you. Must be all the Int and Wis.”

“I’ll try then,” John let go of her. The little hug already had him fully energized. She kept egging him on to be more assertive and finally that was sticking. Now it was time to try and impress her. He raised his hand. Concentrating on the wish to make a smaller Illusion Barrier than usual, he used the Create I.D. Skill. The airflow stopped.

Rave was pulled in alongside him – a feature of the party system. She took a few long steps, before suddenly stopping. “Yup, that’ll do. Good job, tiger.”

‘God, I love that word,’ he thought. Every time she called him ‘tiger’ was like a straight injection of serotonin into his brain. Even swimming in that happy high, he had a question. “How do you know I did it right?”

“The wall’s right here.” The revelation caused John to take several steps. The existence of a wall was logical, Gaia wouldn’t create an entire copy of the earth each time someone was in a local skirmish. It was just the first time that John bothered to confirm its existence.

His outstretched hand met resistance where Rave stopped. It was like the kind of window that stores used to separate the air within the building from outside, just without the draft. The ‘dense’ air solidified further the more he pushed, like he was compressing a sponge into rubber. If it could be made any harder, he did not know. He reached the end of his physical ability and was pushed back. “Interesting.”

“Dunno if I should bother telling ya more about it, since I’m so terrible at explaining stuff,” Rave joked.

John bowed his head deeply. “Please, great teacher Rave, do inform me.”

She hummed and tapped her pink lips with her finger. “Alright, but only because you’re fun.” Raising his head, he smiled softly and waited for her explanation. She raised three fingers on her right hand. “There’s three ways to escape Illusion Barriers that ya can’t just leave. Number one,” she pulled the ring finger in, “ya knock out or kill whoever is in charge of it. Illusion Barriers are controlled either by the guy with the strongest mana in the barrier or the strongest monster in it. Unless there’s a Fateweaver around. They are basically always in charge. Kinda is their whole shtick.”

John nodded. He still hadn’t really met a Fateweaver (although Jimmie apparently had some of the basic skillset), but he did know that they were the ‘Illusion Barrier architects’ of the Abyss.

“B,” Rave pulled the middle finger in, “ya can try to surge your magical power for a moment and brute force your way out that way. The guy who has the strongest mana in the barrier may not have the strength to keep ya in if you just try hard enough. Kinda like armwrestling for mages.”

“Arm wrestling is more of an endurance sport,” John threw in.

“What would you know about that?” she pinched his thin arm. “Can’t believe ya didn’t put any points in Strength, for real… Anyway, finally, ya can try this!” Rave pulled the last finger into her clenched fist and hurled a punch at the invisible wall. As she sank deeper, far deeper, than John had pushed into the edge of the barrier, a spiderweb of white cracks spread out into reality. “Eh, didn’t quite get through,” she said and pulled her fist back. “Ya can try to punch a hole into the wall and just walk out. More mana the controller of the Illusion Barrier has or if it’s a reinforced Protected Space, that gets way harder though. It’s just the way us meatheads deal with the stuff.” The cracks gradually closed, starting at the furthest away until the dense ring of cracks at the centre was swallowed up.

“Understood,” John nodded and clapped, applauding. “Very good explanation.”

“I do my best,” Rave flicked a few of the extended strands of her hair over her shoulder. He still didn’t get how it could be so perfectly messy.

With no further distractions, Rave put down her bag and unstrapped the popup tent from it. The dark green item still looked unassuming, even after Rave had pulled it out of its plastic case. Rave place it on the ground in the middle of the clearing. Then she took a few quick steps back. “…Did I forget something…?” Rave pulled out the manual. “Right – Shaving is for losers!”

The popup tent suddenly jumped. Its folded form spread out twice, then thrice, then four times, five times, until it was impossible to reason that much material had been stored away in so thin a package. It was still flat, as it laid itself out in a large rectangle. Then, with a sudden ‘POOF!’ a three metre tall ceiling shot up into the air, drawing solid walls of metal up with it.

To call it a tent would be a complete misnomer. It was a shipping container that had been disguised as a tent. It was larger than John’s room at home! The thing even had two windows! “Let’s go inside!” Rave chirped and grabbed him by the hand.

He let her drag him towards the wooden door. As much as he was accepting of this fantasy world he had found himself in, he was still stunned when he saw things like this.

The inside was spacious and cramped in equal measure. It was a large, single room apartment, with only the bathroom cornered off. Everything else, from the kitchen to the bedroom, existed within the rectangular space. The bed was easily big enough for two people. The kitchen had a large fridge, a stove and a sizable workspace. There was a wardrobe with a sock drawer and a couch with a big TV in front of it. The walls were covered in white wood. This was basically a cabin in the woods.

John’s eyes were inevitably drawn to the only contraption around that looked wholly out of place. It was like a mixture of a chimney and bad cable management. A hole in the front allowed something to be placed inside.

“This is not a tent,” he declared.

“It’s totes a tent – a 400 million dollar tent.”

John nearly keeled over. That was a sum he couldn’t even fathom with his student brain. There was more money in these four walls than most of Springfield combined.

“You’re cute when ya behave like a mundane.” Rave suddenly pressed a kiss on his cheek. That snapped him out of it and he went back to looking at her. The tent was more valuable than even most cargo ships John had seen in his life. She was priceless. “Ya wanna marvel at my dad’s money or come kill some spooky bedsheets with me?”

‘I want to be with you,’ he thought. “Let’s go with the spooky bedsheets.”