The scent of baked goods wafted through the air. Lucky's nose twitched and she let out a big yawn. Stretching caused her legs to vibrate then her tails all the way up to her ears. She felt something soft on the back of her head. She tilted her head back to look up to which she was greeted with Stella's smiling face.
"Meownin' Stella." Lucky yawned again.
"And mornin' to you, even if it's not morning." Stella giggled.
Lucky rotated and buried her head into Stella's tummy. Stella raised her arms and waited for Lucky to get comfortable again before placing them back down on her.
Stella rubbed Lucky's head, "Still tired?"
Lucky's tails wagged, "Nope! Just wanted to lay here for a bit."
"Don'cha think you've wasted enough of her time?" Jamie popped into the doorway of Karyl's office. "Do you know just how late it is?"
"Good to see you too, Jamie." Lucky hid her face.
"Uh-huh. Stella, while I appreciate you being there for her, please don't encourage this bum." Jamie teased.
Stella scratched her cheek, "I'll try not to."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Lucky asked sleepily.
"Yeah you can say whatever you want, lemme put in some ear plugs first." Jamie nudged Lucky, "For real though, we should walk Stella home and get going, I'd like to catch Ankho's stream before it's over. We already have a VOD to get caught up on."
Stella's ears turned to embers, "Oh yeah, Ankho's stream. I forgot."
"I noticed you were a fan too." Jamie smiled, "She's the best isn't she?"
Lucky quickly sat up and made direct eye contact with Stella, "Yeah she is! She's good at video games and a sweetheart. She's soooo cool!"
"How would you know that she's a sweetheart?" Jamie snickered, "Anyway, let's get going."
"I-I can walk myself home, chances are my Uncle is waiting for me nearby ." Stella said.
"Thank you for everything, Stella." Lucky gave Stella a tight squeeze before running after Jamie.
"No, I should be thanking you." Stella whispered to herself.
*****
The moon shone down upon Jamie's cabin, letting a little extra light inside the home. Lucky and Jamie were working together on making brownies with chocolate and peanut butter chips. They had Ankho's stream playing on the living room TV, it played an upbeat starting soon tune.
"I'm not really sure how to say this, so I'm just going to take a crack at it." Jamie sighed.
Lucky tilted her head as she watched Jamie throw the glass pan of brownies into the oven.
His brow furrowed, "What you did today was incredibly stupid, even for you."
Lucky's now ashe colored ears dropped over her similarly colored hair. Her tail fell between her legs.
"But-" Jamie took a deep breath, "You took a huge step in your recovery, like way beyond any expectations I had. You should be proud of what you did today. Everyone who went on that quest did their part, you included. Not to mention at The Caf-"
"Jamie!" Lucky pounced on Jamie and nuzzled him, "So you're not mad?!"
"No? I think you have the wrong idea about me. I get worried about you, but I'm not going to get mad at you for living your life as you see fit." Jamie explained, "Anyway, I didn't really want to talk about that. I wanted to say that something big is coming up, and I want you to be ready for it."
"What do you mean?" Lucky started licking the batter off of a spatula.
"Remember the exhibition that Pops and Ganyu settled on?"
"Mhm," Lucky used her thumb to get some of the batter off of her cheek, "What about it?"
"Long story short, The Round Table authorized everything. The time, date, teams and location were all given the go ahead."
"That's great news!" Lucky's tail wagged.
"Yes, but you're being required to fight." Jamie sighed, "It's okay if you just surrender though."
"Really?!" Lucky seemed stunned.
"Yeah, sorry I couldn't stop it from-"
"That's great news!!! I have to train even harder now!" Lucky's enthusiasm didn't surprise Jamie in the slightest.
"Starting tomorrow we begin your training in earnest. Be prepared to go through hell and back. We only have a month, so we need to make it count."
Lucky nodded.
"And, I hate to ask this of you... But no more quests until the exhibition is over."
"Awww, okay..." Lucky pouted.
Jamie raised a finger, "It's a strategy, trust me it'll be worth it."
Lucky leaned in, "How so?"
"Everyone will be fighting with points assigned to their rank, if you beat someone higher than you... You get even more points than they're worth." Jamie explained.
"Oh, okay. I'm not gonna worry about all that though! I just want to fight in that big ole coliseum. you should have seen it!!! It was MASSIVE!" Lucky spread her arms out as wide as she could. "OH WAIT!!!" Lucky shouted.
Jamie jumped but regained his composure quickly, "What?!"
"Tolli! That guy you fought a while back showed up and then-"
"Yeah I know, everything's fine. A lot of strange stuff has been happening lately." Jamie eyed Lucky, "But Chuck, Tolli's dad was okay. They went home together without incident. The man who attacked them was questioned but he seems to be very confused."
Lucky opened her mouth like she was going to say something but got distracted by Ankho greeting her stream. Stella- I mean Ankho is finally starting!!! Lucky leapt over the couch and sat crisscrossed listening to Ankho talk about her day. Jamie joined her moments later and played with his hair.
"Hey, Lucky?" Jamie's voice seemed off.
"What's up?"
"Do you think we could ever have a proper relationship? Like, be partners?" Jamie looked at Lucky.
Lucky froze and didn't dare to look away from the TV, "I uh..."
"Let me rephrase this, will you be with me?" Jamie continued looking at her.
Lucky grabbed the remote and paused the stream before turning to Jamie, "Will I be with you? No, not right now. One day? If we both live to see that day." Lucky's voice was heavy as she looked outside the windows. "I love it here, but one day I will have to leave and return home."
"I kinda figured," Jamie leaned back, "When you get your strength back, right?"
Lucky shook her head, "No, I need more than that. It wasn't enough last time, I was lucky to escape with my life."
"That big of a difference huh? What if I faced off against whatever it was?" Jamie asked.
"You'd surely lose." Lucky's voice was somber.
"Ya know, since you started getting your powers back you've gotten a little cocky." Jamie teased.
Lucky giggled, "Well you aren't wrong. I specifically chose my speech patterns and form so you wouldn't kill me. I'm not as sweet or as defenseless as I made everyone believe." Lucky's voice was smooth but serious.
"Oh wow, I haven't heard you talk like that since you tried to kill me." Jamie grinned.
Lucky hung her head, "I really do like you, and I don't want to leave. But for the sake of our sanity let's not get too attached."
"You may talk like you're smarter now, but damn you're dumb." Jamie chuckled, "'Don't get too attached' she says."
"What's so funny?"
"I have a feeling we'll be together for a loooooong time. Regardless if we're together together or not." Jamie covered his mouth.
Lucky turned her attention back to the TV, Ankho was playing some kind of puzzle game with slimes. Oh, it looks like she's losing. Lucky raised her eyebrows.
"Can you at least promise me this, no more pretending. Be truthful, look how you want but don't act like we're just gonna throw you out. Give those that care about you more credit than that." Jamie's brow wrinkled slightly.
"And if everyone turns against me? Then what."
"Then you have me." Jamie made it sound obvious.
Lucky shook her head, "Yeah but they'd be against you too."
"Well duh, that doesn't change anything."
Lucky blushed but nodded slowly, "Okay, I'll do my best."
The pair continued to watch Ankho until Lucky inevitably wound up leaning against Jamie. Drool ran down her cheek as she began to snore.
"Yeah, you aren't so different. Same old Lucky to me." Jamie smiled, petting her head and ears. "You worked hard today, rest up."
Jamie paused the stream and turned it off. Afterwards he picked up Lucky and carried her off to the loft to put her to bed. Leaning over to set her down he felt her grip tighten around his neck.
"You gotta let go, it's bedtime." Jamie whispered.
"Nyooo~" Lucky whined, "Take me with youuu."
Sighing, Jamie stood back up and walked his way back downstairs, "I'm not even going to try and fight you on this tonight. But it's my room, so from now on I'll be getting comfortable."
Jamie navigated the hall with ease and placed Lucky gently down on what had become her side of the bed. Jamie covered her up and placed her phone on the nightstand. After taking a shower he returned to the bedroom and got in bed.
While Lucky and Jamie drifted to their dreams a rainstorm began pitter pattering on the cabin. The two would find comfort in each other's company for tonight not fully knowing what tomorrow would bring. With hopes high and trust deep they knew that no matter what happened, they could rely on one another.
**************************************************************
(Uploaded version is the initial draft of the work LxD. The final edited version will be available for purchase in the future and you can check the progress of the book by visiting Lucky's streams twitch.tv/TheLuckyTempest)