*Hello, it's Oghma! This one took a little bit longer to complete than I thought, so sorry I couldn't get it out in January, but at least it's out now! As you will see, the plot continues to thicken, though there's still (hopefully) enough sex to keep you all satisfied.*
**Disclaimer: Excessive sizes, inflation, and fantastical elements ahead. All characters depicted in sexual situations are 18 or older.**
***
It had been about 2 weeks since Matthew and Himawari had become intimate. Ever since that day, they'd been meeting up every chance they got. While things always eventually escalated to sex, their activities had branched out to various other, more wholesome past-times. They'd gone to see a movie, had meals at a few different places, gamed together online and locally many times, and even went on a quiet moonlight stroll in the desert just outside town. It really was a whirlwind romance. And yet, Matthew still felt there was something he had to do, something that would finally make this whole thing complete. There was just the matter of finding the right time and place for it. Whenever and wherever that may be, it certainly wasn't right now.
"On your right!" Himawari exclaimed, gesturing Matthew to turn his camera that way. Sure enough, there was an undead monstrosity currently in the process of leaping at him. Automatically, he turned to face it, and rapidly slashed at it as quickly as he could. Luckily for him, the first attack was enough to stagger the beast and leave it open for his follow-up attacks. Matthew breathed a quick sigh of relief as it fell, barely noticing his soul count going up.
"Oof." He said through their voice chat. "Are there any more around here?" Himawari had talked him into getting Dark Souls, after the initial learning curve and who knew how many deaths, he was starting to get the hang of it. It really helped that Himawari had built a new character to go through the game with him. On her suggestion, he had started with Cleric, and in the process of playing the game he had picked up a sword that he liked.
"No, not here." She replied, using the point gesture to show where they needed to go. "But over there's a whole bunch more over there, and then we got a big boss fight."
"Great..." Matthew said, checking his healing supply. He was out of spells and didn't have a huge amount of estus flasks left and he wasn't exactly comfortable with his chances.
"Don't worry Matthew, this one's not too bad." Himawari reassured as they traversed the area. "Just remember to roll, and don't get too cocky." She continued, occasionally breaking when they dealt with some enemies. If they were talking face to face, she would probably have her arm on him, soothing him the way only she knew how. After a few moments of clearing out the minions, they soon approached that familiar wall of fog, blocking them from progressing any further. Matthew first made sure he had full health, took a deep breath, and traversed through the fog.
Right away, he caught sight of the creature. The text at the bottom called it a "Bell Gargoyle", and he could definitely see why. It was a large, grotesque figure, hunched over with stony brown skin occasionally highlighted with greenstone armor and big frayed wings. In its arms it carried a large halberd, and a circular shield, of similar green shade to the armored bits. Himawari entered into the arena right behind him. Immediately, she ran forward to engage the beast in melee, managing to tag it with a good swipe of her greatsword. While it did leap into the air, it quickly came back down to strike at Himawari's character, luckily she was able to evade the attack without much hassle. Since it was distracted by Himawari, Matthew wasted no opportunity to attack. Running forward, he slashed quickly once he got into range, swiftly taking out a big chunk of the boss' health. It did turn its attention to Matthew, but somehow he was able to evade most of the attacks, only taking a small amount of damage thanks to his armor. Their combined assault was rapidly whittling down its HP, and for a moment Matthew thought they had this in the bag, that is until the second gargoyle entered the fray. Well, no one ever said this game was easy.
*
When the last sword stroke hit and that wonderful sound of the boss falling rang through his headphones, Matthew breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Phew... we did it!" he exclaimed happily, riding that wonderful high one got when they took down a good challenge.
"See? I told you!" Himawari said, giggling noticeably in through her mic. Out of the corner of his eye, Matthew saw his alarm clock. It was getting pretty late, and he'd have to get to bed fairly soon.
"Alright, I'm gonna call it a night..." he said.
"Make sure you climb the tower first and ring the bell." Himawari told him. Matthew did as she instructed, enjoying the cutscene however brief it was. As soon as it was over, he exited the game.
"So... can I see you again tomorrow?" Matthew asked through Discord.
"Yeah, of course!" Himawari replied. "What did you have in mind?"
"Um... can we go to the desert again?" Said Matthew. "There's something I... something I want to tell you face to face." There was a moment of silence on the other end, one that may as well have gone on for hours from his perspective.
"Sure!" she answered. "There's something I want to tell you too! Can we meet up around 7?"
"Yeah, that would be great. I gotta go now though, see you tomorrow Himawari!"
"See you tomorrow!" she said just as he closed the call. As he started to shut down his computer, Matthew was abruptly startled by a sudden voice behind him.
"Who's Himawari?" Matthew quickly turned around, his eyes opening wide in shock at the sight of his littlest sister. She was a precocious little girl of nearly 10 years, with soft and youthful features. Her hair was long and wavy, a light brown color similar to his, though more akin to their father's shade. Freckles dotted her face here and there, granting her a visage of adorableness. By far their most similar feature was their blue eyes.
"Ruth!" he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. "W-what are you doing here? It's almost 11!"
"I couldn't sleep." She answered. Only now did Matthew notice the glass of milk in her hand, indicating that she'd gone downstairs for a snack. "Who's Himawari?" she repeated.
"She's um... a friend." Matthew answered as best he could. Somehow it was much harder for him to lie to Ruth than it was his father.
"Like a giiiiirlfriend?!" she said in a teasing sing-song tone.
"N-no! Not like that! She's just a girl who's a friend, not a girlfriend!"
"You're blushing!" Ruth teased, pointing right at him. Matthew didn't need to look at himself to know that she was right. There really was no hiding it from her.