AN:

Chapter 81.3: Dating Dangerous

Morning had come, and with it had come a beautiful promise. That promise came in the form of a blue haired goddess descending unto the mortal realm in the form of a blue haired high elf. Origin, in her guise as Rhea, stretched her arms then yawned delicately into her hand.

"Feels like I slept for a week." she said cheekily before offering a small grin to the world around her. She had returned to the world in the same location that she had left, near the fairy town that Ero was currently located.

She scanned the area for a moment then headed out toward the train station. During her walk she took in the sights and sounds of the world. It was nice to be back on ARS. She had come to find it difficult to be here for anything other than level grinding for a time, but now the worlds of ARS represented a much happier place for her. It was no longer just a job, or simply stress relief. It was a world filled with the promise of beauty and love.

Once she arrived at the station, she read the schedule then nodded. "About half an hour, huh?"

Rhea went to get a drink then sat down on a bench. The train station was not crowded that early in the morning. Most people took the later train, since they would actually be awake in time to catch it. That left Rhea mostly alone in the area.

The goddess in elven form began to hum a cheerful song while she took out her Crysta-Com. "Better let Scott know I'm coming..."

Message sent, she took a sip of her drink then waited for his reply. It did not take long. A warm smile spread across her lips at the swiftness of his reply. It was nice that he was as eager to be reunited with her as she was with him.

She read through what he had sent, mostly stuff about how he could not wait to see her. There was an interesting bit about wanting to show her something that may or may not have been innuendo, but the most interesting thing of all was the last line. "I have enclosed a photo for your viewing enjoyment."

Rhea laughed a little then took another drink. While she did so, she clicked on the attachment that had been sent. She froze in place for a brief instant before the contents of her mouth shot out like a water hose had been turned on. Rhea's face turned bright red and she made a strangled noise.

The image on screen was of Scott. Had it been nothing more than a simple selfie, it would have been sweet but nothing remarkable. However, this particular image featured Scott completely nude. He was lying down with his back to her, the curvature of his masculine booty lightly arched to further her supposed enjoyment. He looked back at her over his shoulder with his head tilted back a bit, an expression on his face that was a cross between goofy and sensual. He had one hand gently framing his chin, while his lips slightly puckered in a style known as duck face.

Rhea barked out an embarrassed laugh then covered her eyes with one of her hands. After she stopped her body from shaking, her fingers split open and she peaked at the image on screen once more. Her laughter returned and tears came to her eyes. She tore her hand from her eyes and waved it at the air as though she was warding off an enemy. "R-really, Scott?!"

The thoroughly amused and embarrassed girl could not see properly due to the tears pouring down her face. Her hands were a bit unstable from the raucous laughter she continued to unleash. The few people in the train station drew away from her a little. It was not right to mess with the crazies.

Unfortunately for Rhea, her current state caused her to do something she would never have intended. Thinking to respond with a strongly worded message about how she was going to get payback, she attempted to open a message window. Instead of the reply button, her shaking hands and reduced vision caused her to click on the share button instead. Defaulting to share all the image of her fiancé in all his ridiculous glory was sent out not only to her immediate family, but rerouted through her work terminal and sent out to all company staff members.

It was not long before she became flooded with replies from her immediate family and notifications that she was receiving large numbers of messages from staff members at her terminal. Rhea realized what she had done then slapped her palm over her face and started to cry for a different reason.

"No, no, no..." she mumbled like a mantra. The messages and notifications grew rapidly from there.

A few minutes before the train arrived, she developed the courage to read what her family had sent to her. She did not even begin to have the nerve to see what the company staff was going to say about it.

Mid_the_Amazing: Dear Childe...

Silence_Bro: Sister dear. Contrary to what certain assholes on D-Net forums might say, I am really not into this sort of thing.

Sexy_Mama: Oh my. Dear heart... If you don't want him, I'll take him.

Big_Sis_Theta: Wow, so that's what all the fuss was about. Pretty sweet level design there sis...

Rhea groaned loudly as she read through those, and then a few more messages from the family. Shara's was certainly expected even if it took a while to come through.

Modern_Ninja_Girl: So cruel... *Sniff. Sniff.* PS: Does this mean you've changed your mind about sharing...? *puppy dog eyes*

However, when her father responded Rhea had to take a deep breath before she read the message. "Wow, even dad..."

Rhea bit her lower lip. How would her father respond? This was without a doubt the single most ridiculous thing she had ever done by accident. Timidly, she clicked the message to open it.

Lord_Arbiter_1024: Daughter... I do need a new screen saver, but this does not seem appropriate for my work system.

Rhea's eyes bulged outward slightly. "He... He played it off as a joke?"

Her delicate fingers rose to her trembling lips. Her smile returned, this time a gentle indication of warmth welling up inside of her. "Maybe daddy approves of him?"

Incoming message: Lord_Arbiter_1024

She blinked then clicked on the new message to see what her father wanted. Rhea immediately groaned a little after reading what he said.

Lord_Arbiter_1024: Don't jump to conclusions, my daughter.

"That's dad for you..." she muttered. He was keeping his decision on whether he approved of Scott or not, a carefully guarded secret even now.

Still thoroughly embarrassed, Rhea sighed at the picture of Scott's bare backside then shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

Incoming message: Sexy_Mama

Rhea groaned loudly once more. "Mom! I am so not reading that!"

"Mommy, what's wrong with that lady?" asked a little boy in a slow, deliberate, manner.

"Hush now. It's not polite to question people about their troubles." said his mother, before pulling the child further away from Rhea.

The mortified high elf sent Scott a simple message. He was so going to get it when she got there. His reply caused her to turned bright red once more.

The_Fiancé: I hope so. Your its are the best thing ever.

Rhea snorted softly then huffed a little. "I'm mad at you, you know..." Sure, she had brought it on herself, but he was the instigator and needed to bear a little responsibility for forcing her to bear witness to all his naked glory.

She sighed slightly after a brief moment then looked down at her chest. She sent him another message, and asked if he was sure about what he'd just said. Her smile returned when he responded with a prompt, "Hell yeah."

Slightly mollified after her horrific embarrassment, she became a little playful. Rhea leaned back and made a tough expression then poked her lips out just a little for emphasis. She took a quick photo, and then sent her much less embarrassing photo to Scott with a message that told him. "Does this look like the face of mercy to you?"

Scott's response caused Rhea to nearly fall over due to the sudden explosive occurrence of another ridiculous laugh. "You ass!" she cried, before laughs and attempts to draw enough breath to continue living.

He had sent her an image back to her in response. He had dropped his pants and bent over a little before he had taken a photo of his rear end. The message had read, "Please, be gentle."

And so, two of the people who were in many ways the last best hope for the world... continued to send each other ridiculous self-shot photos to pass the time while they were waiting to meet up for their date night. Neither of them could know the veritable storm of intrigue and controversy one little photo might cause, but it would not be too long before they found out.