Blade Tail- End of Tour

Story by MigeYeFoxe on SoFurry

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#26 of Rose

You know it's kind of odd. Considering how the vast majority of Rose took place on Earth, this is the last time we'll have any of the characters actually be on Earth. With an expanded plotline there will be four stories total now. And we don't return to Earth until late book 3.


Blade Tail wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the current situation. To some degree there was a bit of a jovial feel to the celebration of his tour ending. He was a perfect example of the fact that you could very easily make it through the entire tour alive. But he wasn't even remotely human anymore. There is no way he could go back to human society as he is now, not without a lot of unease and discrimination. Technically there'd be no reason he couldn't perform any job that a human could, but considering what he can do now, Blade Tail would find any normal job too boring and too much a waste of his talents. And there's no way they'd let him into a boxing ring or something. Despite the fact that he is not technically any stronger than any other athletic human when he isn't using any magic. But that stigma would remain, a part of a thing people know exists but would rather pretend it doesn't. And the fact he has no interest whatsoever in just staying on duty also means that there inevitably will have to be another person being drafted to replace him. Add to that the fact that it pretty much means the last get together with most of the people on this base. He's already gotten the necessary approval to go over to the other world tomorrow. So barring the few times that people from Earth go over for an interview or exhibition, so long as Blade Tail doesn't commit any crimes that would have him have to run the gauntlet, he likely will not be seeing any of these people ever again.

Well, theoretically he could just as easily request to come visit the people here when he has the opportunity and availability, but that's usually a bit more frowned upon and is usually done at cost. Traversing the portal costs money. When it's for official events the people in charge just open it up and ignore the cost or at least absorb it without any impact on the people themselves. But for a citizen, not on the employ of the people running these events he'd have to fork over the money to come back over to this side, and it's not like he's expecting to become a millionaire over there overnight. And by the time he would get enough that he could buy a trip back enough time would have passed that most of the people here would have moved on, either having died or progressed to a point where they are practically completely gone from who he knows them as now. So there is that rather bittersweet thought and he likely won't come back unless he starts feeling particularly nostalgic.

So it's a celebration with plenty of booze and a guaranteed lack of missions the next day so that people can properly party. But at the same time it's not only a sign that you can make it to the end of the year but that they are not likely to retain any of their humanity in the process. And as he's leaving that means one less skilled fighter to help protect them and one more person to be drafted in. But that's nothing that is his problem. For now, it's just a matter of having a good drink with friends, having Jarvis help serve drinks and even got a few more people to feed Jarvis some magic in the process. Which is definitely appreciated and helps make the golem even more enthusiastic about carrying out the tasks being presented to him. And it was nice enough to hang around people, have a chance to fully unwind. And that was definitely appreciated. It is probably the first time in a very long time where he can just sit down and drink with his friends and not have to have that threat of being ready for the next mission or to drink because of losing a good friend to death. Yes, they are losing him, but not because he is dead but is simply moving on with his life. And his friends seem to enjoy the opportunity as well. Of course, as with all events like this eventually it does go beyond just drinking and hanging out. After all, when having a bunch of people with magic and alcohol being evolved, eventually either games involving magic breaks out or a sparring match breaks out, or both.

Yet even drunk they still have the wherewithal to know that some things should not be done. There is no boasting about people taking each other's attacks. That'd be far too risky and the ones in charge would probably rush to stop them if they even attempted, which would completely ruin the entire party. However, one thing that wouldn't be as much of a problem and even the ones in charge of filming enjoy when they do it is to have a competition of attacks using the spell chambers. Attacking a poor defenseless object in the middle of a space specifically designed so that people can put as much force as they want into a spell and not have to worry about damaging anything of consequence. That they're perfectly okay with. And though Blade Tail would certainly enjoy a good drunken spar or a fight breaking out, he still has the peace of mind to know it's better to simply blow up things that can't fight back than potentially kill a friend. And so they all start having drunken challenges on how to attack the object in the spell chamber. And for added fun Blade Tail decides that it'd be so much more enjoyable to treat these like skeet shooting, where he'll throw a block of earth magic forward and they have to destroy it before it gets out of range.

Which of course limits the spells they have available to use as spells that are slower or take too long to cast wouldn't really work, though they do allow for it a few times when convinced to try it out. They even try once or twice to see how well Blade Tail could hit one of these blocks with his tail while facing the other way. Being drunk he isn't really that good at this. His tail can extend out, but not that far and at best he only manages to nick one. But that's not the point of something like this. He wasn't even really trying to win. When it comes to ranged attacks he is not that great. He's always preferred up close and personal. That's just his own personal preference. But it was one last chance to really hang out with his friends and fully let loose. There was a cake at some point, one that was rather impressively made by the imps, but they didn't really give it that much appreciation, instead just using it to stuff their face while they continue drinking and competing against each other. They do also bring on a few other games of skill that don't require magic.

Overall, it was a really good night. The next morning, however, not so pleasant. But then waking up with a hangover rarely is. He heads over to his spell book with its secondary cover and opens it to the healing portion of the book, doing his best to try and find a cure for hangovers. One would think they'd make spells like that in the front, but he has to rationalize that people setting things up logically would put the spells that would be first alphabetically or used the most often in their situation. And as much as he'd rather a cure for his hangover being very easy and quick to find, having the know how on how to treat an abrasion in a group all about combat and fighting off people likely to cut you makes sense from both fronts.

But he's eventually able to find it and cast the spell on himself. Healing magic isn't exactly his specialty. He can use it and has made a point of learning some of them simply because it's extremely useful to know how to do. But it doesn't change the fact that it is always strange for him to cast the spell, especially on himself. He's able with some effort to stop the hangover, or at least the majority of the symptoms. It wasn't a complete cure and he should go about dealing with the biological means of curing. Effectively all he did is the equivalent to taking a couple of headache meds, but far quicker and effective. He'd need to apply it again if he doesn't deal with whatever the alcohol depleted. He calls forth Jarvis and when the golem shows up gives a healthy dose of magic, noting how sated Jarvis seems to be acting, implying he got a lot of magic last night. Which is good enough, the golem tends to be far more compliant when its form of belly is full. Blade Tail strips down and changes into the clothes that he had set out for today, an outfit that matches the style of clothes in the other world.

"I need to get some fluids and food in my belly before we leave. Can you finish packing everything we're taking with us to the other world and bringing it all over to the portal room?"

Jarvis nods and immediately begins setting out to work. Blade Tail smiles slightly at that. Jarvis may not be the most gentle of golems, but he will do a rather thorough enough job. In the mean time he should go and get a good bite to eat. It might be the last bit of imp made food he'll be given for a while. They aren't necessarily the best tasting, but they always know what that person needs to be eating at any given time. And after a year of eating almost only meals made by them it'll be strange to go beyond that. That'll probably be the strangest thing to living his life outside this place, of being able to actually choose his own food, which will likely make him seem a bit insecure. But then he doesn't know what their foods are by name. His body should be more than able to handle their foods all things considered.

"Hi, hi. You here for food, yes?" the imp says.

"Yes, got a bit of a hangover while I'm at it."

"Yes, yes. I know good food. Make you good. See you on your way."

Blade Tail smiles at the small imp before getting to one of the tables. The food will show up when it's ready, as it usually does. But that was one of the nice things about imps. They understood without questioning. Though as he reflects on it they likely would have quite a few places that would have imps working for them too. When his breakfast comes he finds that they've decided to give him a lot of juice, some pancakes and some rather greasy looking hash browns. And considering his species, apparently the imp felt the impulse to add some walnut and hazelnut into the pancake batter, which is certainly appreciated. He goes about eating his breakfast, knowing it's more to deal with the potential hangover and considering the fact this is the last time he may be getting a steady meal until he has figured out a means to have much more of a stable income on the other world. But once done he gives one last bow to the imp and heads to the portal room, noting how there doesn't seem to be anyone around. He isn't sure if that's because they're all training, all hungover themselves or are deliberately choosing to not see him off tonight. Either way, he doesn't get to say any last good byes this morning beyond the people manning the portal.

But his tour is now over. It is somewhat of an almost liberating sensation to think that after a full year he is now fully a private citizen once again, no longer prone to masses being able to just check up on anything he's doing at any given moment. And it's a strange sensation, that. Spend a full year knowing that there are effectively cameras on you all the time and now being make immune to them, exempted from the constant spying almost makes one feel a bit alone. Further, to consider the fact that he's just finished a year of only really being able to do what he's told. Sure, he was given some lee way in how he used his time, but everything was regulated and controlled. He could only do what they allowed him to do during the time they allowed him to do so. And now, he was free. He had his own credit card tied to all of the funds he had accrued over the past year. And staring at him was effectively the big giant pair of scissors to cut of any strings left on him. The moment he went through that portal he'd be nothing more than just another individual. He already made the effort to wear clothing in the style of these people. It was the decent thing to do, even if he thought it a bit stuffy.

All the pomp and circumstances have been completed. And he has left to do is step through the portal. He has all his luggage with him, including the giant spell book. Though most of the heaviest items are being carried by Jarvis. There'd be no way to bring Jarvis over to the other side of the portal without the golem traversing it himself. And that also means less that the squirrel has to carry on his own. How much of what Jarvis understands about what all is going on he doesn't quite know. It isn't exactly his area of expertise. He knows that golems develop personalities and can reason. But it isn't clear how aware they are to circumstances and how quickly they gain that awareness. By all rights, Jarvis is less than a year old. It is entirely possible that he's effectively just a very mature kid in regards to how he thinks. Might not even fully understand object permanence either. But Blade Tail rationalizes he'll have plenty of time exploring that later. Might even go to visit that library again, see if their golems can teach him a thing or two. And he fully knows that next thing he needs to do is try and figure out how to get an apartment in this world. Honestly, Blade Tail is somewhat surprised that none of the angels made an effort to see him through. But that's just as well. The only thing they'd really do would be to just constantly try and drill into him the importance of not making an ass of himself. With one more deep breath, Blade Tail gathers up all of his belongings and steps through the portal into the new world and restarting his life anew there.