1 A Normal Friend Consoles You, A Best Friend Laughs At Your Pain

"... Crap. I think I may have fucked up here."

The young woman groaned as she leaned the chair she was sitting on onto its rear legs and her long purple-colored hair hanged off from the backrest. Next to her, her beast, Nexx, growled for her attention and she dangled a hand down to scratch his diminutive kitten-sized head. The old beast purred, pleased as he brought a leg up to scratch off the nape of his neck.

"Sit up properly, Jessie," another girl sitting on the center of the sofa said distractedly as she studied the object on the coffee table. "I know you have fucked up your night, but don't fuck up mine by making me take you to the hospital when you get a concussion."

"Ugh, whatever you say, Mom." Jessie eased up and the chair fell back on all fours with a stomp. Nexx hissed and jumped into Jessie's lap in an instant, his four tails swathing her arm to get her to pet him. Like all cat's slaves, she complied.

Meanwhile, the girl aside from her didn't even twitch at being called 'Mom'. Her brown eyes and her dog-sized lizard, Dru, didn't even flicker from the thing sitting on the table.

Jessie grimaced. "Hey, give it a rest," she pouted as she picked up the amber-colored orb with two hands from the table and displacing Nexx from her lap. "I got a serious problem here, Mel."

Now that the object of her interest was gone, the lizard laid down, resting her reptilian head down on her paws. The girl in the bright red stretched-out t-shirt and the half-jeans leaned back into the sofa and sighed. "Fine," she said. "So let's recount the problem, shall we?

"You went to your family's fancy party – without your favorite sensible 'plus-one', I have to add--"

"You were working today!" Jessie interrupted, trying to clear her name.

"And miss a chance to schmooze with some rich boys with more money than brains? I would have switched shifts, girl. Rude, Jessie Dee. Truly rude." She shot a pointed look at the purple-haired girl in front of her and continued, "Anyways. You went to this shindig without your witty and definitely more poised better half, not knowing that it was your aunt's self-congratulatory party as she announces herself as the new head of the family.

"And her first motion as head of the family is to ally with the Garrin family, the other big-name family known for cultivating dungeon beasts, by marrying YOU off to their son. You, my dear, was to go 'fuck this'?"

Jessie's face turned white and she thought back to that particular moment. She remembered being called up to her Aunt Lucinda's side while Ethan Garrin was called up as well. She remembered the moment when her aunt announced the betrothal. The words had left her mouth before she even realized it.

Fuck, no.

"Crap." Jessie groaned again more poignantly even as Mel recounted the events as Jessie explained it to her.

"Then you went on a tirade about how they were a bunch of elitists who look too much back on past glories to be anything useful in this society before cutting all ties with the family. Then," Mel gestures at the orb still sitting in Jessie's hands. "You stole your great grandfather's dungeon core from his study before running back to your Momma Mel's apartment."

She leaned back into the sofa from her summarization as Dru nuzzled her head into Mel's lap. Mel scratched the lizard's neck absentmindedly. "Yeah. Sounds like you have a serious problem alright."

Jessie sighed, eyeing the dungeon core in her hands. "Crap," she said again.