In the mess of a workshop, half of a stuffed skunk lay buried. The other half was held slightly by a small teddy bear, who was being watched warily by a large black cat perched on a nearby shelf.

Many questions could be asked about this scene.

They didn’t matter much at all to the animus who had once inhabited that skunk, however. It was too busy rejoicing its freedom. It was evidently not very smart, as it didn’t realise that this freedom was at the cost of what some would boldly call a “life”, but then again, it was under twenty minutes old.

As far as the animus was aware, it had... existed, at least for a short while.

But then there were square things in front of its face and then there was a big black thing and then it was stuck and then a small brown thing tugged it and red numbers appeared and it felt that and then-

it had stopped.

The square things had disappeared. The little brown thing and the big black thing were down there, and the animus was free at last.

…Whatever that meant.

It sensed a blackness prickling at the edge of its awareness, and it welcomed it gladly.

Easing into the lukewarm embrace, it was at this moment that a small notification finally made itself known.

Furiously trying to ignore it, the animus tried to grab the blackness and forcefully leverage itself through it, but the box held it like a tether. So the animus reluctantly turned its awareness towards it.

Congratulations! As a result of spending a sizable portion of your life in anguish and suffering at the hands of others, you have unlocked the Vengeful Spirit Job! Would you like to become a Vengeful Spirit at this time? Y/N?

The animus had no idea what the squiggles meant, so it tried to push at it with non-existent paws. It failed to budge.

Now the animus was understandably very angry.

This was because after the first box appeared, everything had gone wrong.

In fact, in its very limited capacity for intelligence, it could be certain that the box was the main reason for everything!

Your actions have unlocked the generic skill: Deduction

Your Deduction Skill is now level 1

INT +1

And now there was two more!

Finding it could push these ones away, it focused again on the main one. In its entire existence it had not faced such a formidable foe, and he could tell that this one was the main cause of the appearance of the other boxes.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Your Deduction Skill is now level 2.

Case in point, here was another one.

Focusing everything it had learned from its ten minutes of pain, it brought forth that feeling that it had experienced when that little brown thing had made that first tug.

The feeling of denial.

And with that, the box was gone.

Triumphant in its success, the animus once again began to settle into the nice comfy blackness.

Would you like to become a Vengeful Spirit at this time? Y/N?

It was back. Smaller this time, but no less there then before. Its defeat was swift at the hands of an experienced foe. However, the animus realised that it would not be escaping so easily.

INT +5

WIS +5

Would you like to become a Vengeful Spirit at this time? Y/N?

This time it had brought company.

The animus was ready for the challenge, but something stopped it.

Looking at the squiggles, it noticed they seemed a lot less… squiggly now.

It needed a way to defeat this opponent if it was to escape, so it took its time to plan.

Where had it encountered this before?

That was when it remembered. It had seen squiggly lines almost identical to those when that tall thing had said the bright flashy things. The difference was the squiggles between the Would you like to become a and the at this time? Y/N? parts.

Its Deduction skill was quite high level for its age, and after moments of hard thinking it put two and two together and somehow got four.

LCK +1

Since the first squiggly box had appeared after the tall thing had said the bright flashy things, and the second had appeared after it had... stopped being, it must mean the box was just saying what was happening!

Your Deduction Skill is now level 4.

After feeling proud of itself for a brief moment, it then suddenly felt something new towards the box.

Guilt.

Though it had no words and no way of communicating, the animus attempted to portray its guilt to the box.

Your actions have unlocked the generic Skill Apologising

Your Apologising Skill is now level 1.

New boxes appeared, so the skunk took that to show that it had done the right thing.

However, it did not change the fact the box was preventing it from going to the blackness.

The animus pondered for a moment on what to do. 

It had pushed the box away last time with the bad feeling, so maybe it could bring the box with it if it did the opposite?

That proved to be a more difficult task then how it sounded. It first focused on the feeling it had gotten from making its first deduction, but that didn’t work. Then it tried to mix that feeling with the bad feeling, and that just made it feel like it was trying to be superior to the box, whatever that meant. 

Then it had an epiphany.

Your Deduction Skill is now level 5. 

It took the new box as proof it was right. It focused deep down on the core of its being, and focused on the warm fuzzy feeling that it had felt when it had finally been freed from its shell. Then it turned to the box and pulled on that feeling, to give it to the box. To accept that it is. 

The feeling of yes.

And with that, the box flickered out of existence, and everything changed.

???'s Status

  Name: ???? Age: 23 minutes

Jobs:

N/A

Attributes:

Strength: N/A Constitution: N/A Hit Points: N/A Armor: N/A

Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 8 Sanity: 15 Mental Fortitude: 0

Dexterity: N/A Agility: N/A Stamina: N/A Endurance: N/A

Charisma: 0 Willpower: 10 Moxie: 12 Cool: 20

Perception: 5 Luck: 6 Fortune: 10 Fate: 0