Nix vs. Ryza

Those options put Nix in a tight spot. He could clean, but he was unaware of where everything was supposed to go in this mess of a place, so he'd have to interrupt Ryza and her work a fair amount of times. On the other hand, he was unsure if he could mentally survive being here if he had to wait for Ryza to finish cleaning. Well... he could always make up a third option. "How about you just hold onto that and do your work on it when you get the chance to. Finishing clean and completing my commission should only take around a day, correct? I can head out to the nearest town to restock my supplies in that time, then return to pick up my tome. Although I guess that plan wouldn't work as well as I'd hope given how far the nearest town is from here," The mage said.

"Did my thighs work your over that much, Nix? We're in a town right now. I didn't set up shop in the woods, what am I, a witch?" Ryza teased him, flicking him on the forehead. "And... er, your plan isn't bad... but... oh, yeah, then you wouldn't be paying for this! See, for the Orb, you paid me in excess material. But, I'll have to use up the excess for your staff. If you clean my place for me, that'd be good payment. If you don't wanna clean after scolding me for my tidiness, then I guess we'll have to discuss other payment!" She proposed, but the hints of insincerity in her voice made it sound like she was coming up with this on the spot. Hard to pinpoint for what reason, however.

"I guess I did forget we were in a town... probably because I was thinking there was no way you could live in a civilization was a lab as dirty as this was before I got you to start cleaning," Nix admitted, trying to push off the embarrassment of that with his additional comment. "I could clean this place up, and fix the few mistakes you made while you were cleaning, but there is a problem with that. Since I don't live here, nor did I set up these rooms, I don't know where everything is supposed to go, so I could clean up the dust and stuff for you, but I'd need instructions on where everything belongs."

Ryza thought to herself about that for a second, before getting another patented and brilliant idea. "First, I would've cleaned with or without you here. Second, we can clean together and we'd get it done in no time! You might need something to do while I work on the staff afterwards, but it'd leave you less idle and less confused. How about that?" She offered with a smile and wink. It wasn't meant to be charming, but it was a reminder that the alchemist was quite a sunny sight.

"We could argue that first point, but I'll give the world's best alchemist the benefit of the doubt and believe you," Nix replied, "But besides that, the rest of what you said sounds agreeable." It might be that he was getting used to Ryza or getting a little more used to interacting with the opposite sex in general, but the alchemist's wink didn't send the sheltered mage into a blushing and stammering state.

"Perfect! Okay, let's get cleaning, and just ask me if you have any questions." Ryza said. She left Nix's tome on her workbench and then went right back to work, leaning over the messes in her emporium and not leaving them until they were spotless. It took rags, moving stuff around, putting stuff away, and lots of bending over, but she was getting her end of the room done properly.

Now that he could focus on the cleaning, well focus on cleaning himself, the view of Ryza bending over wasn't as often in Nix's view as it was before, so that helped keep his mind clean. Nix started of his assistance in cleaning by going to patch up the mistakes he had seen Ryza preform earlier.

With Ryza leading the charge and Nix cleaning up her infrequent yet present mistakes, the pair of them had her emporium set and ready to go within the hour. Despite the disorder of it all, the alchemist knew just how to handle every part of it..... almost like she was really used to that kind of mess.

"You should really start cleaning up after each experiment, you know, so it doesn't look like some natural disaster hit this place by the end of the week," The mage commented as they finished up the task of cleaning Ryza's emporium.

"Are you sure? As soon as I'm done making something, I have to test it right away! And, it's better to do all the cleaning at once." Ryza retorted as she put away all of the cleaning supplies and stretched out her back. After all that bending over, she needed it.

"Testing is part of the experiment, but you can clean up after that. And I beg to differ that cleaning all at once is not better than cleaning after a complete experiment," Nix replied, "Anyway, now that your mess is cleaned up, you can get to work on my tome and inform me if there is another task I need to complete."

"Right, right, your tome. I'll get it done, don't worry. I... don't really have anything for you to do. It'll take me at least an hour or two to finish up, so you can just do whatever with it. See ya in an hour! Or two!" Ryza said as she went right over to her workbench, sat down, cracked her knuckles, then started pouring over her notes. Nix could see the moment she entered the zone and effectively started blocking out outside information.

With an hour or two of free time before his tome was altered, Nix returned to his earlier idea of heading out to the town in order to restock his supplies.

Encounter (69) Fail

Ryza went tinkering, so Nix went shopping. The town was a welcoming, warm place, and he found every shop he could want with ease. The prices were fair, too, and thankfully, none of the money he had was going to Ryza, so he had plenty to spare for supplies.

With his shopping trip already over, going by with surprising ease, Nix made his way back towards Ryza's emporium. As he had nothing else to do, Nix might as well watch the world's best alchemist do her thing.

Encounter (76) Success

On the way back, Nix spied something out of the corner of his eye. A female athlete jogging towards his way. She was pretty toned, her training must've been paying off. Yet, despite her running.... if Nix looked down, he'd see that she had her own set of watermelon-crushing thighs. The woman was heading right for him, but surely he could just ignore her if he liked.

Seeing the thighs on that woman, a blush instantly washed over the mage's face. Despite the attractiveness he felt towards those thighs thanks to Ryza's corruption of his mind, Nix would be doing his best to ignore the athlete, stepping to the side so she had a clear path to continue her jog on.

Whim (34) Success

The athlete seemed to notice Nix's gaze and blush, as she looked over to him and stopped beside him, despite his stepping aside. "Sup, dude. What's the matter, am I distracting you?" She asked, her tone making it hard to discern whether she was or wasn't welcoming to his stares. Maybe if he chose his words right, she'd leave him alone.

"N-No, you are not," Nix quickly stated as he struggled to make and keep eye contact with the athlete. Even with her thighs out of sight, they were definitely on his mind. "Is it not simple courtesy to step aside to give a runner room?" He continued.

"Your blush says otherwise, man. And, yeah, it was nice of you to step aside, I'll admit." She replied casually, not showing any signs of nerve or worry, unlike Nix. "I dunno, maybe I imagined you staring at me and your cheeks getting all red. Anyway, you're new in town, aren't you? Don't recognize you." She mentioned, striking up a conversation. Nix might have felt like he stepped into a trap of some kind.

"Y-You must of imagined it, and yes, I am new to this town," Nix replied, hoping that agreeing that it was her imagination would make it feel like he wasn't being trapped by something, "I'm simply passing through and using the businesses that reside here before I continue on my way."

"Typical adventurer stuff, then. Still, I've heard that adventurers deal with Midara trying to seduce them a lot." She mentioned, clearly hinting towards something as she gave her legs a quick stretch to wind down from her run. "Wouldn't exactly blame one if he was distracted by a good-looking woman, if it's true that they always gotta deal with the temptation." The athlete didn't seem to be idly choosing her words.

"W-Well, I'm a fairly new adventurer and only ran into a midara so far, so I would say that distracted part wouldn't apply to me yet," Nix retorted. His retort wasn't made of sound or perfect logic, but it was the best he could think of in the heat of the moment. The athlete was really testing his will at maintaining eye contact as she stretched her legs.

"Oh, you're a new one, huh? Good luck with that, buddy, most other adventurers at the gym are always telling me sob stories." She chatted, making sure to give her tanned, toned legs and thick thighs a good, long stretch. For proper exercise and health, of course. "You seem more like a bookworm than an advebturer to me, now that I look at you. Heck, I look like a fighter more than you."

Her eye catching stretches temporarily overpowered the mage's will to resist, making him take a quick but noticeable glance at her thighs before returning to making eye contact with the athlete with a renewed blush. "N-Not all adventurers have to focus on their physical strength. Mages can be as much as an adventurer as a brute who focus on their physical strength," The flustered mage replied.