The True Endgame

The crew of The Shoebill lifts the vessel’s anchor, unfurls the sails, and sets sail once more.

“My hero, what of your friend?” Nell asks.

“Aiko? I’m… not sure. I guess she’ll just be asleep in one of the hammocks for a long time as far as her character goes, but in real life, I don’t know,” Fenrir answers.

“I’ll check on her,” Serra says.

“By the way, Aza and Rao, you two got Fiscord?”

Azalabulia nods, but Rao looks confused. “What’s Fiscord?” Rao asks.

“Uh, an app to chat outside of the game. You should get it so that we can coordinate anytime.”

“And so you can see the funny videos I’m going to be posting there,” Oleander says.

“I forgot you were recording earlier,” Fenrir says with a sigh. “Can you not post that last one?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll let you build a gay bar and strip club.”

“Tempting… but I’d rather embarrass you in front of your girlfriends and new friends.”

“You suck.”

“Of course! I love sucking.”

While Serra snerks to Fenrir’s side, Fenrir facepalms and looks to see how the two newest crewmembers are reacting to Oleander’s sexual teasing.

Rao looks neutral, but Azalabulia is looking away and blushing.

She looks to be the type who gets embarrassed and shy around blatant sexuality despite the amount of thighs and cleavage that she is showing off.

Her innocence is at severe risk on this boat.

The Shoebill’s engine is started up thanks to unfavorable winds, and the journey east is officially resumed.

“I’m going to take care of the situation with my landlord, and then I’ll come back and helm her for a bit. Alright?” Fenrir tells Oleander.

“Just remember that you totally owe me for steering so much lately. My future bar and strip club better be as big as a castle,” Oleander says.

“You can make it as big as you want. Aza, Rao, just ask Olly for the Fiscord information before you wake whenever you do.”

“I guess I’ll get it,” Rao says. “Do cute girls use it?”

“I mean, everybody here uses it, and I think they’re pretty cute.”

“Aww. Thanks, Fenny,” Oleander says.

“I wasn’t talking about you.”

“But we both know it’s true.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong.”

“Fenny is going to cheat on us with Olly,” Serra says.

“Could be worse,” Cassiel says.

“That gives me wonderful ideas! Just imagine, none of us being able to sate his beastly desires, so he tosses us aside and goes for Oleander! He then ravages Oleander’s body to the point of almost breaking him, and – and then because of magic, Oleander could even end up preg—” Nell tries to finish her fantasy but gets interrupted from Cassiel placing her hand against Nell’s mouth.

“Please don’t finish that,” Cassiel says. “I do not want those thoughts in my head.”

Oleander looks down at his stomach and pats it. “I can’t even imagine gaining five pounds. I wonder what it’d be like being pregnant,” he says.

“You’re not going to get pregnant.”

“You never know! With how much Cor and I do it, it wouldn’t surprise me if—”

“Stop.”

Oleander grins and giggles.

“I might be into some weird kinks, but male impreg is just… yeah, I don’t even want to start thinking about how it would seriously work,” Fenrir says.

“A C-section would be the best option, probs,” Oleander says. “The other options… aren’t pretty.”

“Yeah, a C-section would be fine. Wait… is it even possible to get pregnant in this game? NPCs can get pregnant, but… what about players?” Fenrir asks, looking at Cassiel.

“D-don’t ask me that! It’s not like you were in there anyways,” Cassiel says and draws everybody’s attention.

“Hey, Cass Cass, what were you two doing in that room while waiting for us to get there? I doubt you were fighting the whole time,” Oleander asks.

Fenrir and Cassiel blush and look away.

“Don’t tell me you guys were doing lewd things while a bunch of zombies were trying to kill you,” Oleander says with a knowing smirk.

“Tell us,” Serra says, joining in on the interrogation.

“That sounds wonderful! Two lovers, embracing one another in their last moments as a horde of ravenous zombies tries to break in and devour them! But… to make it even better, the zombies would take the lovers for themselves rather than eat them! Or – or take them while eating them!” Nell says with excited eyes.

“That’s even worse than Olly getting pregnant!” Cassiel shouts with a red face.

“Does it not sound wonderful? Would you not want them to defile you while—”

“No! I wouldn’t! They were all gory and their skin was falling off and they were gross! They probably didn’t even have di-dicks!”

Nell sighs from disappointment. “They clearly were not the good kind of zombies then.”

“There’s something wrong with you.”

“Oh, I am quite aware. That is why it is a miracle I have found lovers accepting of my fantasies!”

“I mean, they can be pretty fun sounding sometimes,” Fenrir says. “But they almost always involve rape or me getting cucked.”

“I apologize, my hero. My fantasies tend to be of the darker variety for you all already satisfy my softer wishes more than I could ever ask for.”

Fenrir and Cassiel blush and look away again.

“You’re making the new members jealous,” Oleander says.

They look over at Azalabulia and Rao. While Rao looks at Fenrir with a mixture of respect and jealousy, Azalabulia just looks straight up jealous of the girls.

Fenrir realizes something else, though.

Between him, Serra, and now Azalabulia, they all have silver or white hair.

“We need a name,” Fenrir says, looking at Serra and Azalabulia.

They both look confused.

“Look at our hair. We need a nickname for our trio of having white or silver hair,” he explains.

Serra still looks a bit confused, but Azalabulia catches on and looks excited. “A cool name! Like, like… The Three Omens of Winter! Triple Blizzard Threat!” Azalabulia suggests.

Serra finally catches on. “Oh. The White Squad,” Serra proposes.

“I… think that might be a bit controversial,” Fenrir says.

“If you guys are getting your own group name then we should have one with you,” Oleander tells Fenrir, “me, and Nell. We’re all animals! Or monsters. I don’t know which you’d prefer, Nell Nell.”

“Calling me a monster sounds much more tragic! I do agree that we need our own name, though. Alas, I have no idea what,” Nell says.

Cassiel and Rao, the only two not in a trio yet, look at each other.

“I’ll – I’ll join a group with Corwin and Tabitha then. We’re all… normal,” Cassiel says.

“What about me? I’m left out!” Rao says. “Bro?” he asks, looking at Fenrir.

“You can be in a group with Rock and Shogun. No idea how you’d fit in with them, but I’m sure they’ll accept you,” Fenrir teases.

Rock and Shogun look up at Rao, look at each other, then continue cuddling.

Oleander’s theory about Rock and Shogun gets even more evidence. After knowing each other for only a few hours, those two lovers are cuddling and being all lovey-dovey on their own without worrying about the others around them.

Shogun gets attached as easily and quickly as Fenrir does.

Oleander looks back and forth between Fenrir and Shogun.

“You’re supposed to be a wolf or dog or something, right?” Oleander asks him.

“Yeah, why?” Fenrir answers.

“How do you feel about foxes?”

“They’re awesome. If I didn’t have a wolf tail and ears, I’d probably have fox ones.”

“I see. Is it possible that you got separated at creation from your twin fox?”

“What kind of question is that? How am I – how am I even supposed to answer that?”

Nell picks up on Oleander comparing the two and reaches the same conclusion. “I see! I must agree with you, Oleander,” she says.

“Nell gets me,” Oleander says.

“Seriously, what are you two talking about?” Fenrir asks them.

Nell whispers their theory to Serra and Cassiel.

The two newest conspirators compare Fenrir and Shogun, coming to the same conclusion that Oleander and Nell have reached.

Serra looks away and tries not to laugh, hand over her mouth, while Cassiel blushes from just how cute the thought of them being the same is.

“It makes sense,” Cassiel says.

Shogun looks up at them and sees everybody looking between him and Fenrir.

Fenrir and Shogun tilt their heads at the same time from confusion.

Those in the know all try not to laugh when they do that, except for Cassiel whom covers up her mouth and tries her hardest not to squeal.

Then Fenrir’s and Shogun’s ears twitch at the same time, their tails idly wagging behind them.

Cassiel starts to squeak while the rest bend over to not laugh.

“I feel like I’m being bullied without knowing how,” Fenrir says.

“Your friends are weird, bro,” Rao says.

Azalabulia, not wanting to be left out, does what the rest have been doing and looks at Fenrir and Shogun.

It only takes her a few seconds to catch on. She joins the others in finding the comparison adorable and hilarious.