Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

With Abel over the moon and wanting to test it out, instantly trying to get Delair to hit her with different things around the shop which his student was happy to do with gusto, Ben directed his focus to the shifter, Foast looking impressed despite himself.

“I have to say, I wasn’t expecting to see anything like that,” the third tier said. “Internal armour? Never even heard of something like that being suggested.”

“Well, what mattered was taking advantage of Abel’s unique constitution to make her the perfect piece but now that you’ve seen it, what do you think? Will something like that work for you?”

“It won’t,” Foast told him in immediate denial, even if he was no less impressed for that unfortunate fact. “I may be able to turn into different things and I may be able to blend the creatures I can transform into, but I can’t control my internal structure the way she can. I wouldn’t be able to keep something like that just beneath my skin and I certainly wouldn’t be able to move it around by itself. The main aspects of my skill are a fair bit more instinctual.”

“Ugh, yeah, that’s what I was expecting,” Ben sighed. “I just couldn’t resist hoping. Still, I’ve got some ideas for you too but-”

As he was speaking, Thera and Mora walked through one of his gates, returning from the day and getting to witness Delair hitting Abel with a hammer repeatedly before focusing in on him as he went on.

“Yep, they’re back so I want to end things here. Still, don’t worry, I’m confident I’ll have something for you by tomorrow or the day after.”

“Ha, despite myself I find my hopes raised. In that case, I’ll be off to rest and return in the morning. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for me.”

“I won’t disappoint.”

Seeing him off, by the time he turned back, Thera was already at his side, Mora dragged over to watch by Delair as she just kept trying to hit Abel with different things she could find, even if the boy’s own pacifism kept him from participating.

“Do I even want to ask?”

“Ahem, Abel just wanted some help testing her new armour so Delair’s lending a hand.”

“She’s smashing her head with a crowbar.”

“And doing no damage. I’m excellent at making things.”

Thera sighed. “If Fontesh has any complaints about how you’re raising her daughter, I’m not going to be able to defend you.”

“Excuse you, training, not raising. Besides, this is just doing some light stress testing on a piece of equipment, it’s fun for both of them.”

“Shouldn’t stress testing be done before anyone is actually using it?”

“No need to bring facts or logic into this, it’s unfair. On a marginally related note though, while everyone’s distracted I wanted to pick your brain now that you’re back.”

“About bad optics and how you keep falling into them?”

“No, about Abel. She’s broke.”

“Doesn’t she get money just for being a third tier?”

“Yeah, but she also comes from a post-apocalyptic hellscape that didn’t have a currency. Long story short is that she doesn’t really seem to know how to save or budget her money which is why she looked like she’d slept outside last night. She did because she couldn’t afford an inn.”

“And you want to let her sleep on the couch then?” Thera guessed. “I’m sure aunty will be fine with it if she’s home, so long as she can behave herself.”

“Eh, I was actually looking at discussing whether you think that would be better than just giving her money for an inn. It would be comfier than sleeping on a couch but I’m worried it would teach her the wrong sort of lessons about how to depend on people compared to letting her stay with us. I don’t know if it would give the impression that she can get a handout from me if she’s in a bad place instead of the idea that she can rely on the people she knows if she’s in need.”

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“...Ben, are you genuinely thinking about how to raise her?”

“No… Yes. Kind of? It’s complicated. I’m not looking to adopt her, we’ve already got one kid-”

“You’ve got at least one and a half, Delair has to count for something.”

“I’m teaching her, not raising her. Anyway, Abel isn’t a bad kid and from what I can gather she doesn’t really have too many people who aren’t outright afraid of her because of well-”

“Her desire to get a bite out of anyone she meets?”

“Yeah, but you know she isn’t bad and knowing she’s generally pretty alone doesn’t feel great either-”

“Because of your own experience as one of the summoned and how it compares to hers is making you empathize?”

“Am I being psychoanalyzed here?”

“It’s not really psychoanalyzing if it’s obvious and if you’re worried so much then just bring her over. Aunty won’t have a problem with her staying for a couple of days and we can give her the, well, family experience if you really want to.”

“You’re blushing.”

“Am not,” She said as she twinkled in the light while Ben chuckled and wrapped his arms around her.

“You are because you love me and you just said I’m family,” He teased, leaving Thera to roll her eyes as she did her best to play off the comment.

“No, blood is just rushing to my head because I can instantly see how agreeing to this is basically the same as taking work home with me.”

“Huh, why?” He asked, not getting an answer from her before Abel herself called over to them, Thera giving him a knowing look with what the girl had to ask.

“Hey, now that Thera’s here, that means I can finally have some of your blood, right?”

“...I guess I did tell you before that you could, yes.”

“That’s why,” Thera whispered in his ear with a laugh in her voice as he started to fill a cup, his girlfriend already healing him and both expecting to have plenty more to do for however long the girl was going to stay.

“So this is your place, huh?” Abel asked as she was let in, instantly looking around. “It’s nice. Is this what people call homey? The perfect size.”

“Ha, yeah, it’s comfortable but for now I’ll start dinner. Abel, have you ever cooked before?”

“Eh, nah. Don’t get me wrong, it’s tasty and all but too much effort. I can’t see how it took off so strongly in this world, it never did in my old one.”

“Well, now’s the perfect time to get some experience. Give me a little hand and- Oh, Sonya, hey! You’re here earlier than I expected.”

“Ah, I went around to the surrounding villages to help but it seemed they had plenty of hands,” The succubus smiled, filled with contentment. “It gave me my first easy day in a while.”

“Well, perfect. As you can see, we have a guest over for dinner. Sorry for not giving you a heads up but this is our friend, Abel.”

Again he could feel Abel brighten for being called a friend, even if she tried to play it off by slapping his back.

“Ha, then come on! I’m excited for your food too so let’s get cooking already!”

“And while they’re doing that, I’ll just have a small word with you in the other room aunty,” Thera said, leading Sonya away to give a bit of privacy to their conversion for the request she was going to make.

Without Sonya’s permission, they weren’t going to extend the invitation for her to stay there quite yet, while neither doubted that she’d accept, it was better they know before bringing it up with Abel herself but while Thera asked that and Mora joined along, he took Abel to the kitchen, pulling out ingredients as he did before taking out a knife.

“Alright, so first thing’s first, do you know anything about knife safety beyond what I showed you earlier for woodworking?”

“Knives shouldn’t be safe, that defeats their point.”

“Okay, if you think that then sure but you shouldn’t be stabbing yourself while you work. Here, in cooking, this is how you’d hold it.”

He quickly went over how to use a knife before letting her have it, giving her the role of chopping vegetables while he focused on the main.

He knew from being in her head earlier that while she seemed open to eating anything so long as it tasted good, her preferences leaned towards more meaty and salty flavours, leaving him to start a roast before considering how much Abel liked to eat and starting a second main to go with it. At worst, if she really was too hungry he could pull out another meal from his rings for her at the end but that was something to consider later, with a part of his focus being directed to watching her in that moment to see how she was feeling.

With the clear result being that cooking was already falling far below the art and woodworking he’d gotten her to try, leaving him to chuckle despite himself as they went.

“Not a fan, I take it?”

“I mean, it tastes good when someone else does it but it’s already a lot of work when I could just eat all this stuff raw.”

“Ha, fair enough I guess but for me, cooking is relaxing and having an end product that tastes nice is just the cherry on top. What sorts of things do you like to do to relax?”

“Sleep, hunt, kill. You know, the usual.”

“Well, maybe while you’re in town we can try to introduce you to a few other options too.”