Scoffing at her phone, she set it beside her keyboard on the flimsy office desk and shook her head. I can look into that later. As long as he stays out of my business, I’ll stay out of his.
Rolling back her shoulders, she logged into her desktop and went through the process of running her VPN and rerouting her entries several times before diving into the dark web. “Not like he could find me even if he did have something sniffing through the building.”
“Huh?”
“Thinking out loud, Em.” Cheyenne scooted closer to the desk and shook her head. Gotta quit that habit, apparently.
It felt like forever since she’d poked around on the Borderlands forum in the guise of “Third Quarter Projections,” but when she landed on the forum’s main page, a smile crept across her lips. Feels a lot more like home than waking up in my old bed this morning.
Fortunately, the pinned thread about the missing magical kids and the status of their return home had been pulled from the top of the page. Great. Corian’s on top of running the forum, but he can’t send me a warning text before portaling into my mom’s house.
The halfling took a quick scroll through the most recently posted topics, looking for anything about new Border portals or creepy shape-shifting monsters on the loose. The last thing she needed right now was to get an earful from Corian about the magical community freaking out over new unregulated portals. The FRoE will lose their shit if this gets out of hand. More than usual, anyway.
The posted topics were on the same subdued, relatively boring themes as the first time she’d scoured through the forum.
Cheap Ways to Hex Customers Who Won’t Pay Their Tabs?
Sale on Used Summoning Candles. Read thread for full details
Can’t find dragonroot for simple transparency spell. Help.
Cheyenne sat back in her chair and smirked. No more missing kids and black-market trading.The Borderlands had turned into a magical Craigslist.
She scrolled down the page and stopped at the one topic title that stood out over all the rest.
Anyone Heard from Our D-Class Resource Lately?
“For real?” The halfling glanced down at Ember again, but the fae either hadn’t heard her or decided to ignore Cheyenne’s muttered self-talk.
I’ve been off the Borderlands grid for less than a week, and people are already calling a halfling out for not making any noise.
She shook her head and clicked on the thread.
Fists4Daze: Just thought I’d put this out there in case anyone has seen or heard anything. One of my neighbors mentioned seeing someone in Peridosh who might’ve been our friend. Something about a basket full of ingredients from the potionmaster.
holdmyGrog911: @Fists4Daze If we’re talking about the same D-class, I’m having a pretty hard time imagining them going all-out for a bunch of spells. We’ve all heard the stories at this point, and spells weren’t part of this friend’s equation.
CrownUndone21: I’m with @holdmyGrog911. It’s not like we have a registry for all D-class Earthside. But potions and spells don’t fit our friend’s MO.
hideORdie: Seriously, @Fists4Daze? Things have finally settled down around here, at least where I am, and you’re trying to spread more rumors? What about the kids, man? What about all the black magic that, as far as I’ve heard, hasn’t been seized yet? My nephews just got home after being locked up like a bunch of radan in a freakin’ cult mansion, and it’s gonna take them a long time to put all that shit behind them. If you’re so worried about finding something to worry about, go back home. There’s plenty there for you to get your fell-damn fix for deadly crap. The rest of us came here to get away from it. Just let things be calm for a minute!
sharpst8kbringzalldavamps: Somebody’s getting touchy ^^
Fists4Daze: @hideORdie I wasn’t trying to stir anything up. Just curious. If this D-class friend had a hand in fixing any of the craziness in the last few weeks, it’d be good to know they’re still around. Just in case, you know? Looking for a little reassurance.
hideORdie: @Fists4Daze Nothing’s crazy right now, which should be reassurance enough.
TrollonaRoll818: @hideORdie I totally get where you’re coming from. Why should we be looking for trouble when we finally have a little peace from explosions and missing kids and black magic being sold like candy? (Sorry to hear about your nephews, btw. Those kids are strong. They’ll be okay.) But I have to agree with @Fists4Daze on this one too. There’s no harm in checking in about where our friends are and what they’re up to. It’s not like this D-class friend owes us anything, but I know I sleep a little easier at night, thinking somebody is out there who doesn’t have a problem standing up for the little guy. Whether that’s helping us where F-Force failed or stepping in where scumbags from back home are trying to sink their teeth into our new lives Earthside. Everybody’s shaken up by what happened. It’s not too much to ask for a little reassurance now and then, especially for those of us with family on this side.
FellwineThis44: This is the most useless thread I’ve ever seen. I can’t even believe I just wasted my time reading these comments. @TrollonaRoll818 Grow some balls. This isn’t your therapist’s office. @hideORdie Your nephews shouldn’t have been running around town getting into that nasty shit in the first place. What kind of parent lets that happen? I’d blame your brother instead. And spells are for pussies.
sharpst8kbringzalldavamps: @FellwineThis44 Dude. Get a life.
sharpst8kbringzalldavamps: @FellwineThis44 Also, my grandma could whip your ass back to the other side with her simplest spell. I would know. I’ve got the scars to prove it.
Cheyenne rolled back in her chair. There’s always something to argue about. Not sure how I feel about people waiting for me to come
