https://www.instagram.com/69ze.e?igsh=dDVyZHc2ZWhuZGtt

... My artwork sucks ass...

Atsidas and Connie's baby.

Dimi sat on her hands as she felt nauseous. The elevator was bad enough, but this giant box with seats was horrible to be inside. Her heart was beating as crazy, it got worse after she looked out the window and was reminded that the gondola was thirty meters above the ground and that if it should fall then it would not just be her and the other passengers who was trapped inside this death machine who would get hurt, the creatures below them would get crushed like bugs.

Dimi and the rooster-type harpy Suk threw a combination of hooks and japs inside the ring. Suk then began to throw right crosses as Dimi bobbed and weaved, evading most of the harpy's attacks. Eyeing an opportunity, the seventeen-year-old human girl made a left hook that connected with the harpy's beak.

"Hey, not too hard!" Suk nudged his beak.

"Oh, oops." Dimi blushed slightly. "My bad, sorry."

"Eh, no worries." Suk touched gloves with his sparring partner and the two of them raised their fists once again. But then they heard coach Willie ring the bell. He was a satyr in his late forties with light-brown wool. He had no horns as they had to be cut off due to the horns crowing with the edge of them getting dangerously close to his temples.

"Okay, that's enough for today. Suk, water break. Dimi, thanks for your time."

Dimi pulled off the big gloves with extra padding and smiled when she gave Suk a fist bump. "Same time next week, chicken boy?"

"Watch your mouth, pink-skin." Suk snickered as he took off his protective headgear. He then transformed his arms to wings which he used to fan himself.

"Yo, Suk!" Pearl the Dwarf who took a break from hitting a slightly shabby sandbag. "Why do you keep sparring with that human scumbag? You want her to elbow your eye too?"

Dimi narrowed her eyes and leaned against the ropes of the ring placed in the middle of Willie the Satyr's gym. "For the last time, I did not elbow Clarabelle!"

"Maybe you are telling the truth." The blond dwarf went back to pummeling the sandbag. "I heard you ripped the tape around your glove so you could use the laces to cut open that wound over Clara's eye. Either way, we all know humans cheat!"

"Oh yeah?" Dimi waved a fist at Pearl. "Why don't you get up in the ring? Then I will show you how I cheat!" Dimi blinked. "No, wait, that sounds like... well, up yours!"

“Alright, that’s enough.” Willie rang the bell again. As Dimi ducked between the ropes to leave the ring, the old satyr gave Pearl a stern look. “If you spent more time hitting bags than you do talking like a smartass, you would be professional by now, Pearl.”

Pearl snickered as she kept hitting the sandbag. Dimi handed the gloves and headgear to Willie who then gave her a small bag of coins. “Any news?” Dimi asked as she grabbed a towel to clean her face for sweat.

Willie shrugged. “Sorry, Dimi. I tried, but my friend from Biggsville says she doesn’t need new fighters at the moment.”

Dimi sighed. “I need to do more than just sparring. I have to get experience from real fights.”

“Well…” Willie lowered his voice. “If all else fails… you could try underground fighting.” Willie realized it was a very bad suggestion as Dimi gave him a glare so sharp it could slice up a cheese. “Hey, it was just a thought-”

“A very bad one.” Dimi cringed as she recalled pulverizing a guy’s face without anyone stopping her. “I will just get a shower and get outta here.”

“If you like, you could use the gym, free of charge. You deserve it, you are probably the best sparring partner we got.”

Dimi forced a smile. “Thanks, but I need to get home for work.” As Dimi went to the locker room, she felt as if a dark cloud hovered above her head. “Best sparring partner…” She grumbled. “Yay me.”

***

“God damn mediocre!”

A young minotaur with cream-colored fur felt rather small despite being taller and bigger than the middle-aged winged lion-woman who yelled at him. The bull-boy held a rope firmly in his strong hands while a griffin who was tied to the other end of the rope screeched.

Albert the Minotaur pouted. “I’m doing the best I can-”

“Then you are very limited!” Aura the Sphinx growled. Bad enough that she had to take an apprentice, she also had an awful headache.

Albert looked at his new mentor and boss, unsure if it was worse getting yelled at by the stout lady or being screamed at by the overgrown chicken-monster. “I’m pulling all I can, but the stupid critter won’t-”

“It’s not about force, it’s about respect!” Aura rolled her eyes.

The griffin kept making its disapproval of the farm’s new apprentice. “SCREECH!”

“You can’t overpower a griffin. And even if you could-”

“SCREECH!”

“- then it would be a brat about it. You need to make them-”

“SCREECH!”

“- respect you, make it clear you are the boss. It’s about attitude, it’s about-”

“SCREECH!”

Aura turned her head towards the majestic beast. “SHUT UP, YOU BIG BABY!”

Said majestic beast lowered its head and kneeled on its left front leg.

“See?” Aura narrowed her tired eyes at Albert who had a mix of fear and awe written all over his face. “Respect. Now go clean the stables for shit, you can do that much at least.”

As the young minotaur fetched his tools to do his dirty task, a much older minotaur with a broken horn arrived. Ivan raised an eyebrow. “A bit hard on the kid, aren’t you?”

Aura nudged her head. “I managed this farm alone for years! And now I have to babysit some runt who barely qualifies as stableboy. How would you-”

“You have a migraine again, right?”

Aura glared at her husband. “That is beside the point. Alfred or whatever his name is-”

“Put them on.”

Aura blinked. “What?”

“You heard me.” Ivan smiled patiently. “Put them on.”

“Okay, I reeeeally don’t need you patronizing bullshit right now, Ivan.”

“Put them on.”

“I don’t need them! They are just in the way when I-”

“Put them on.”

“They are tacky!”

“Put them on.”

“... They make me feel-”

“Put them on.”

Aura sighed and took the pair of big, round glasses Ivan held in his hand from him. She reluctantly placed them on her nose. She blinked twice, her eyes feeling less strained and her vision getting clearer. She narrowed her eyes as she pouted.

Ivan patted her on the shoulder. “See? Tell me that didn’t help.”

Aura moaned. “I look like my grandpa. He had a pair like these.”

“They make you look sophisticated and mature.” Ivan made a coy smile. “And very attractive.”

Aura raised an eyebrow. “You saying my grandpa was attractive?”

Ivan opened his mouth. Then closed it, opened it one more time only to close it once more. “That… sounds like a trick question.”

Aura snickered, then she wrapped her arms around Ivan’s neck as she kissed him on the cheek. “You just came to remind me that I’m getting older?”

“Actually…” Ivan pulled himself free from his wife’s embrace and pulled out an envelope from one of his apron’s pockets. “I finally got an answer, honey.”

***

Every muscle in Dimi’s body felt tight and she was annoyed that she had to work in the forge after working at the gym since she could get a proper shower there instead of just using a bucket from Aura’s well. The young human lady kept making her hammer bounce on the red-hot metal, making it thicken. A lock of her blond hair got in her left eye that she tried to blow away without success.

Dimi heard both of her godfather and his wife call for her as she had managed to get the steel into the right shape. She cooled the steel in her bucket with now lukewarm water and cleaned her face with the back of her sleeve… which did remove the sweat but instead smudged sod into her forehead.

What the minotaur and sphinx had to say surprised her.

“Happy birthday!” Both Aura and Ivan smiled and waved their arms as they yelled in unison.

Dimi raised her eyebrow. “My birthday was last month.”

“Sure.” Ivan waved with the envelope he held in his right hand. “But we didn’t have your birthday present ready.”

“Good news, kiddo!” Aura’s wings flapped as she patted Dimi on the shoulder. “You are fired!”

Dimi narrowed her eyes. “Ah…”

“Because you are going on a trip.” Ivan said. “We have saved up for your ticket and also a little extra for an apartment for you.”

Dimi got annoyed. “Okay, I’m lost. Are you kicking me out?”

“Dimi… I have a friend in Danburite. It’s a larger city about half a day’s travel from here. She runs a boxing gym and she has agreed to let you train in her gym for half a year.”

“The catch is…” Aura interrupted. “Well, it is so far away that you need to live there if you want to train there every day.”

“Wait, hold on…” Dimi crossed her arms. “No offense to your buddy, Ivan, but I already have a trainer; You.”

Ivan sighed. “Dimi… I taught you everything I know. And I’m sorry to say that it was not that much. If you actually want to be able to fight well enough to face the orc princess who probably has the best trainers in the kingdom, you need to go somewhere else.”

“Okay, but…” Dimi felt anxious. “Why so far away? Is your friend that big a deal?”

“Well…” Ivan shrugged, trying to look nonchalant while studying his nails. “You probably never heard of her… They used to call her Devil Daisy.”

Aura snorted as Dimi’s jaw dropped.

“Shut up!” Dimi pinched herself. “How do you know Devil Daisy?”

Ivan studied his nails. “Oh, you heard of her?”

“Ivan, my hand has been inside a boxing glove, no duh I heard about her! When am I going to Danburite?!”

“Tomorrow, you pack a bag.” Aura flashed her sharp teeth in a wide smile. “We will get you on a carriage first thing tomorrow.”

Dimi practically lept towards the house to get to her room and gather her few belongings… but then she realized something.

“So, ah…” Dimi gulped. “I won’t see you guys for half a year?”

Ivan didn’t know what to say. Aura knew what she wanted to say but didn’t have the nerves. Dimi had too much to say so she kept her mouth shut.

So instead, the three of them just hugged.

***

As the sun rose, Dimi carried a bag with her few belongings over her shoulder. The breakfast with Ivan and Aura had been very awkward, the same could be said about the time it took them to wave goodbye. So when Dimi saw Nora at the lake of Jadedale, she was relieved by how not-sentimental the very short elf was.

Nora was sharpening the arrows she used for fishing while sitting on the edge of the bridge that was used to cross the lake. She looked up at Dimi and gave her a neutral look through her round glasses. “So, you are leaving today?”

Dimi shrugged. “Yeah.”

Nora blew at the arrowhead she har sharpened. “See ya in six months.”

***

As casual as Nora had been, Dimi’s friends had been the exact opposite.

“You bitch!” Amethyst the Dwarf stood on a rock and gave Dimi a hug so tightly that Ruby the Gorgon could swear she heard bones pop. The teen dwarf girl with the fluffy beard shedded a single tear. “You are leaving before I can introduce you to Romeo! So not fair!”

Dimi grinned as she patted Am on the back. “I’m sure you can introduce me to the next boytoy you get yourself attached to after this fling ends.”

Am let go of Dimi and lightly pushed her. “Jerk” She snickered. “Seriously, I’m gonna miss you.”

“Me too…” Ruby made an awkward grin, feeling a big lump of spit in her throat. “I hope it will be worth it. I don’t get why you gotta ditch us-”

“Ruby, getting to be trained by Devil Daisy is a big opportunity.” Dimi smiled at the gorgon with brown and black scales and a salamander tail. “This could be what I need to…” Save my dad. “... make fighting my career..”

Dimi spread her arms to give Ruby a hug while Ruby extended an arm for a handshake. Dimi snickered, Ruby cursed herself.They made an awkward hug.

Am looked at the hug, silently judging Ruby.

“ALL ABOARD!” The goblin who was the coachman of the carriage going to Danburite yelled.

Dimi got inside the carriage that only had one other passenger, an elderly satyr in a worn suit that had probably looked sharp once. He was reading a newspaper, ripping out a page he had already read and ate it.

As the carriage with Dimi inside it drove away, Ruby gave it a longing look and sighed. Her snake hair hung from her head, looking as sad as she felt.

Am gave Ruby a very judgemental glare.

***

After fifteen minutes inside the carriage, Dimi started to sweat. Her breathing got a bit funny and she twitched her fingers.

The elderly satyr looked up from his paper and at the human who seemed like she had eaten something she couldn’t digest. “Are you… alright, young lady?”

Dimi gulped. “I think it just sinked in that I… that I left my… home.”

***

One of the snakes attached to Ruby’s head had wrapped itself around an orange and squeezed it while another snake collected the juice from the fruit in a cup. Ruby used a new device Amethyst’s mom had made for her where she turned a handle of a machine and it would chop vegetables as fast as she turned the handle. Ruby usually liked being in her kitchen, it made her feel in her element. But she was in a bad mood, not enjoying her craft, just making food on auto pilot.

Am opened the door between the kitchen and the eating room. “Yo! Order up. Three pork combos, extra bacon on the side, two chili cheese samplers, a basket of liver and onion rings.” 

Ruby nodded. “Three oinkers wearing pants, plate of hot air, basket of Grandma's breakfast. Got it.” After finishing chopping up vegetables, Ruby went to the fridge and got a handful of sausages.

Am took off her efron with and laid her notepad and pencil from her. She took an apple next to the kitchen sink and leaned against the wall. “You are such a pussy.”

Ruby blinked. She turned her head and lowered her look towards the teen dwarf girl who looked at her with annoyance.

Ruby tilted her head as her snakes raised up, looking at Amethyst with curiosity. She heated up the pan with oil without getting distracted. “Excuse you? I'm what now?”

“You heard me. Dimi just left us for Terra knows how long… and I bet you STILL haven’t told her you have the hots for her!”

Ruby’s eyes widened, her snakes hid behind the back of her head. She poked holes in the sausages as they started to fizz. “I don’t know what you think you-”

Amethyst rolled her eyes. “Oh, please!” She took a bite of the green apple “The only thing you haven’t done is drool over her.”

Ruby glared at Amethyst, tightening a grip around the handle of the frying pan. Then, she sighed. “... Is it that obvious?”

“Yeah! And now she left before you had your chance! She might get a boyfriend in half a year! Or girlfriend, I don’t know how she swings.”

“I know, I KNOW!” Ruby slapped her cheeks after lowering the heat of the pan. Her snakes practically tied knots on each other as she fetched the bacon. “But it’s not that easy, okay? I kept waiting for the right moment, for the mood to be right-”

“Yeah, and that works so well for you, huh?”

“Don’t give me that!” Ruby’s snakes hissed at amethyst. “You had, what, seven boyfriends? Guys practically throw themselves at you.”

“Actually, I have dated eight boys… and been rejected thirteen times.”

Ruby almost dropped the four slices of bacon before placing them on the pan. “WHAT!? That’s insane! How does that not crush your confidence?”

“I’m not THAT fragile. I’m just looking for Mr. Right, and that means I have to throw myself out there.” Amethyst smiled. “I don’t want to meet a nice guy and not ask if he would go out with me. That would just kill me. But if I ask him… well, worst thing he can do is say no.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “I would die of embarrassment if Dimi said no.”

“Na, you would get an answer and life would go on.”

Ruby’s snakes started to relax while she fetched the second pan for the onion rings. “You make it sound… easy.”

“It’s not easy. It is what it is.” Am patted Ruby on the tail as she couldn’t reach her bag. “I will go in and fetch the dirty dishes. How about once I start washing, we can talk about how much you loooove Dimi?”

Ruby smiled gratefully. “You suck.”

***

Having gotten bored after having been inside the carriage for more than an hour, Dimi had read the back of the newspaper the faun who sat across her was reading. “Oh, cool.” she said out loud without thinking. “There is a word for what I am.”

The faun looked up from his newspaper. “I beg your pardon?”

“Oh, sorry. I looked at your newspaper, and there is a world for me, I guess. I’m apparently aro.”

The faun turned his paper around so he could look at the article Dimi was reading about a rally to raise awareness. “I see. How peculiar.”

Dimi raised an eyebrow. “You are peculiar.”

The faun shrugged. “Would you like the paper? I’m not hungry anymore and I think I will take a nap.”

Dimi gladly accepted the half-eaten newspaper, but she didn’t get a chance to read it as the carriage stopped.

The faun stepped out of the carriage and made sure not to step on the long red line that was painted on the asphalt.

Dimi awkwardly stepped out, planting her left foot on the red line. She was… baffled.

She had thought of Onyxville as a city. But she now realized that it was just an area with a couple of houses now that she found herself in Danburite.

Danburite was a city. The buildings were ridiculously tall, the ground was covered in smooth rock. There were signs telling whoever read them not just what street they were in but how long to the next street as well as the nearest healer and bank.

It was so… organized.

“HEY! MOVE IT, BIG-FOOT!”

“Eh?” Dimi looked down to see where the squeaky voice came from.

“You standing on the tiny lane, dum-dum!” A small creature with a red pointy hat and big insect eyes waved a tiny fist at Dimi. Behind her stood a line of other small creatures like fairies and something that looked like it was part spider. And Dimi’s foot was in the way for them to move along the part of the pavement reserved for them.

“Oh… Oh! Sorry.” Dimi blushed as she moved her foot away. “I’m new here.”

“Pff. Yokels…” The gnome was annoyed as he pushed his wheelbarrow.

Dimi looked around her and saw how many creatures were walking around the street. There were so many that they practically pushed each other. And she was surprised by the different creatures she saw. She even saw creatures she had never seen before… like someone that looked like a deformed dwarf. They had a single eye in the middle of their face, a single arm attached to the chest area, and one leg they jumped on. Not to mention the creature had a massive set of ears.

Dimi had been so overwhelmed by everything she saw that she realized much later how terrible the city she had arrived smelled. Sure, Onyxville smelled like old fish and smoke. But Danburite smelled like… everything.

“Whut ya lookin’ at?” The one-eyed creature yelled while humping around.

Dimi blinked. “Nothing. Sorry, but I need to go to, ah…” Dimi checked the note she had placed in her pocket. “... The Asparagus Resident Complex. You know how I can get there… sir?”

The creature was surprised. He couldn’t recall the last time someone had referred to him or any other fachan as sir. “Asparagus? Well, that would be the otha’ end o’ town.” The fachan pointed with his one arm towards something above his huge head. “Just take the gondola, when ya reach the last stop then ya should find the place.”

“Gondola?” Dimi raised an eyebrow and looked up towards the direction the fachan pointed towards. “What is a goHOLY SHIT! WHAT IS THAT?!”

Dimi looked at a big red box that was miles above the ground. It was attached to metal strings that were tied to huge poles.

Dimi was completely stunned.

“Right, guess ya must be a farm girl, they still haven’t arrived on the country side, I guess.” The fachan scratched his big nose. “It’s transportation.”

Dimi narrowed her eyes in disbelief. “You telling me creatures go inside those things willingly? It looks like a massive death trap!”

“Relax, it’s safe.” The fachan then pointed towards one of the poles the metal strings were tied to. There was a door with the number 7 and 9 painted on it. “Go inside there, will get ya to the elevator.”

“The what?”

Dimi's parents Minerva and Pater.