As the man’s hood was pulled back, Geth was looking into the face of his step-dad. The man was a bit shorter than him, being around 5′ 8″. Stubble was showing on his once clean-shaven face, and he had the same beaming smile as always.

His hair was cut short with shaved sides and a flat top, similar to how you would see in the military. A few tattoos could be seen on his arms and legs.

He was witty and had always been quick to notice details, so Geth wasn’t surprised that he’d been found out. Smiling at the man, he walked forward and stretched out his arm. He was received by the same gesture and they gripped each other’s forearms, then they pulled in for a quick hug.

It was something they’d been doing for years. “What should I call you now?” He asked the man.

His stepdad scratched the back of his head and said “I guess I’m going by Time Lord now.”

Geth couldn’t help but laugh at him. They had both been Doctor Who fans for years. “Trust me, it could be worse.” He thought back to the names he’d seen in the Ranking lists. “I’m going by Geth now. If you don’t mind, I’m going to call you TiL for short, it would feel awkward otherwise.”

Til just nodded. “Where are your wife and the kids?”

“Ahh, I’ll explain once we’re with mom. She and the girls are near here, right?” He asked.

“They aren’t too far, follow me.” They started walking back the way from which Til had arrived. “Nice staff, it looks like it would attract a lot of attention though.”

“Well, I haven’t really designed my build around being sneaky.” He shrugged. “Where’d you get your cloak?” He didn’t think someone would have taken out a Goblin Dungeon already.

“Ahh, there are actually Goblin Assassins that sometimes follow behind the patrol squads. They don’t typically come out unless you’re struggling. I’ve seen two of them and only managed to kill this one by luck.” He said as he pointed towards his hood.

It’s been helpful, it adds Agility and makes you slightly harder to detect when the hood is up. What about your equipment? You seem to be doing well.”

“That’s kind of part of what I need to explain, so I’ll tell you soon. How are the others doing? Mom… isn’t exactly the type to be doing okay through this.” Geth thought about his out-of-shape mother. She still had a pretty face but had become out of shape due to the years of pampering by Til.

Til had been very good to her and treated her well, to the point of spoiling her. She sat around and shopped online most days, and would spend at least two days a week out working on her garden. She could survive, but he couldn’t picture her running from enemies.

His sisters were similarly spoiled. The oldest of them was a bit of an anime nerd like he was, so she probably adjusted fast. The middle one was just like his mom, in almost every way. The youngest one was into multiple sports, so she would probably be in the best position for fight or flight.

His direct family he felt a bit of obligation to take care of, they had raised him well and there were only a few sparse disagreements throughout his life. Still, he could only house so many people, and he needed to make sure that his choices were based on survivability as well.

They could certainly use his mom’s hand with growing and tending the fields. Til would absolutely be a great fighter, while they were walking and talking, Geth could tell that he’d even been having fun!

“Well.. she isn’t getting on too good, neither is Mick,” Til said.

Geth glanced at him, “No nickname?”

Til just sighed and shook his head. “She decided to ignore the warning, saying how “stupid” it was.”

“Geez, I’m glad this happened before mine became teenagers.” Geth sighed.

They talked strategy for fighting the Goblins while they walked, Geth explained a couple of his Skills and Til told him he’d gotten a sneaking Skill from the Goblin Assassin. He happened to kill it just a few moments before the Level 10 Goblin that had the berserk Skill.

At its current Level, it made him a bit harder to detect in shaded areas, and his first attack while hidden or while the opponent was surprised would do a bit of extra damage.

He’d originally tried using daggers, but the ones the weak Goblins were using were too short. He decided to go with the rusty swords instead until he found something more to his liking. After a while of catching up, they reached a massive fallen tree lying across the ground.

They proceeded around one end of it, where they found a large hollowed entrance. As they walked in, Til lifted a cover made from four of the large tree leaves found outside. “Look who I found!” He called out as he stepped in.

Four pairs of eyes turned to look as Geth stepped into the space. “Brother!” His sisters all cried out at once. His mom was the first one to her feet, running over and wrapping him in her arms.

Tears quickly formed in her eyes and she started sobbing. He fought off the urge to roll his eyes and patted her back until she calmed down. Eventually, she calmed herself and dried her eyes, “Where are Michelle and the kids?” She asked.

Geth let out a ‘Tsk’ noise and glared at her for a moment. “We don’t use our real names anymore. She goes by Zolis now.”

She rolled her eyes, “That’s nonsense. I used my own name, so did your sister.”

He responded promptly and coldly, “and you’re idiots for doing so. This isn’t the same world we came from. There are ways to use your real names against you. What’s worse is that people can actually see the names you picked when forming groups, so it’s impossible for you to hide it now.”

“Oh, it’s not such a big deal.”

He really felt like slapping this woman right now.. ‘Whatever, as long as they stay in the cave, they should be fine.’