As I’m shuffled out of the room to rejoin Teuila and Dawn, I ponder our circumstances so far. This whole planet has just been ridiculous. Curses woven into the fabric of reality, skies that never un-darken, soul-stealing shmuckwads ruling kingdoms and empowering cultists and necromancers, being blown up and buried in rock elemental dust, a freaking elder dragon feeding people her blood to turn them into colossal monsters while eating other people, a random mythological lake-monster, an enormous mudcrab and her thousands of babies, have I missed anything? Just, jeeze. Oh, yeah, the whole deal with the Hidden Heart. A massive enchantment over a swath of the forest to misdirect hostile or unwanted people, rulers who’ve set up a two-factioned court that’s embroiled in conspiratorial nonsense, and may already have been infiltrated by the soul-stealing shmuckwad’s forces, a royal guardswoman who was a homicidal freaking maniac, who may or may not have also been part of the same plot to earlier ambush me to steal a sentient artifact who I now call Bud. Then my magic accidentally almost killing two sentient artifacts, then my own blood and soul reviving them with basically mellowed personalities.
This whole place feels like one rabid fever dream after another. Hm? Well, yeah I mean there’s good stuff here too Bud, you, Dawn, Dippy and the kobolds, some of the Derbrightmine dwarves, Selunie’s cousin, most of the Enochian Enclave. Glp. Yes you dingus, especially Alanea. I wasn’t going to bring it up. Argh my freakin’ heart hammers so much thinking about all that. That experience was just, just, it was mind blowing. No not holding her bum you doofus, the true self seeing thing, why in the— Oh. Hah. I still find it hard to tell when you’re teasing or sarcastic sometimes. Huff. I have to roll my eyes and laugh at this. I’m glad to have you in my head Lullaby. It gets lonely and messy in there without some backup to keep me grounded, or, well, even just tease me.
Wait, you’ve been what? When did you learn how to do that? When I— Huh. No, I don’t mind or anything. There’s a lot to read through though. Could you tell me if you find anything buried in there that you think I’m forgetting that might help? Thanks Bud. Oh, right, pay attention to the world around me. Fel fires I’m still so distractible. I’m surprised that hasn’t gotten me killed yet.
We seem to be down to a single Sister guiding us around again. Teuila nudges me and playfully waggles her eyebrows. I wear a contorted half-smile, half-curious expression as I glance at her. I’m not even sure what part of the last few minutes she’s trying to tease me about right now, or if she’s insinuating that she was kissing a Sister in the hallway while I was helping make Dawn’s enchantment permanent. Pft, Bud, haha, sure, if you can talk Teuila into it, you can have her describe it all you like. Sometimes you’re so friggin’ weird. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s definitely unique. Also sort of hilarious on occasion.
Hm, speaking of making enchantments permanent, I should set up my own as soon as possible. What all do I have access to at the moment? I wonder if I could make the dusting prestidigitative spell into an enchantment, and somehow stay permanently clean? I don’t think it works like that sadly, hah. I might be able to turn it into like, a power-granting enchantment, like the telekinesis spell, and then burn that into me to have it be a built in thing that I can just do, instead of needing to use up runes on it. Hm? Yeah, I think so too. The Telekinesis spell should be my first priority.
Oof, neat idea, sounds kind of risky though. What kind of risk? I’m not sure. The permanentifying thingy didn’t really carry instruction manuals on theoretical possible abstract uses of bending the rules with it. I might give it a shot though. Enchanting telekinesis onto me, making it permanent, casting the spell again from the staff, making that permanent, then seeing if I can safely levitate two things at once. If my brain explodes, I’m blaming you. Pft, haha, no, no I don’t really blame you Bud. Also, yes, in that scenario, I probably wouldn’t be alive to blame you. Let me know if you sense my brain leaking out my ears or nose or something when I get around to it.
Let’s see, it took just a few bits of diamonds to make the ink for the aura sensing spell’s enchantment permanentifying application, but the telekinesis is a different class of spell. Do I even have rose carnelians? Ugh, I’ll have to ask Teuila later how much of what kind of gems she summoned out of her Can’Z’aasian inventory. I do not feel well enough to go reaching back into mine again. Maybe if we all make it through all this nonsense, and can’t find a way back home, we’ll make a home here somewhere, and I’ll just dump all my inventory out into a big back yard and sort through what I have.
What sorta stuff? Well, I’ve got sheets of like, mythical metals from the mite hulks along Lord Agni’s back. I mean, also from when they were swarming the Miracle Oak settlement. Hm? Yeah, I dunno, stuff that I think was like orichalcum and adamantite and mithril and. Okay, okay, slow down. It’s cool to hear you so excited, but I’m not quite sure what for. You, huh? Err, you know what Bud, I am going to do my absolute best to help you do that. I never even considered the possibility of literally changing a weapon into a tool with crafting and enchanting, but if that’s what you want to be, then I’ll strive to make it happen when we have time. Awe, thanks Bud, love you too pal. Hey, I’m quite well aware of feeling off in one’s own body, or wanting or needing to change it for whatever reason. No way in hell I’m going to deny someone else their own feelings on basically the same matter.
Hm? No I don’t think you’re weird for that at all. I’ll playfully call you weird for a bunch of other things, but that’s only lighthearted teasing. Of course I wouldn’t value you any less in either form. Have I even once drawn you to attack someone with? Okay, sure, I haven’t been in a lot of fights where I had the opportunity since we bonded, but well, my point is, if you don’t want to ever draw blood, I’ll try to help you with that. You want to travel, and create, and you’re excited to be paired with an enchanter? Well, I mean, me too, sort of. But you heard Jarrah. I’m no enchanter, nor hedge witch, nor wizard, nor shaman, and on and on and on.
What? No I don’t think he’s wrong about any of that. He’s right, I’m literally brute-forcing my way into the magic system of Rayileklia. The new thing? Yeah. Oh. Sorry Bud. Yeah, I hate to disappoint you buddy, but, I mean, you were there when I gained it, it was in one of those four books, it’s not really a ‘me’ power, and I don’t really know any enchantments to make permanent on my own yet. Yeah I might need to look through more books before I have any idea on how to safely do that for you, or even just do something like it at all. At best, right now, I might be able to encode telekinesis into you if you were able to use the staff to cast it on yourself. It’s not a spell I can cast on others. Hm, well, yes, we could experiment with the aura vision tweaked into the density sense. Sure, I’d be happy to try that for you in a bit, when we have a bit of downtime between things.
When did Dawn and Teuila start walking on opposite sides of me each of them with an arm slung around my back over my far shoulder? Yes, yes I am really that distractible. No, don’t worry about it. Yeah, priority number one is still saving Dawn, sorry. As much as I want to go wild with enchanting things, it’ll be a while. Also, I think putting Dawn’s aura vision on cranked up as high as it was, basically ate through most of my daily rune vitality. You think I should call them sorcery points? Sure, makes no difference to me. Each point is a rune. What? Because why? Oh, haha. That’s sweet of you Bud. Sure. Yeah, you can call me Sorcerer Shellcracker. Oh you were reading about that time with Tiago and George, yeah. No, I definitely don’t deserve the title Sorcerer Supreme Shellcracker, not by a long shot.
Teuila grins and noogies me a moment as she relays, “So, Bud and Essie are chatting up a storm I guess, and it sounds like my Air has a new nickname, huh? Sorcerer Supreme Shellcracker is kinda Bee Ay, y’know? I know, I know, you just told them no supreme, but still. Look at you. All you’re going through, and you still keep sciencing your way into magic, new magic, even if it costs you. I’m getting a little bit of the Rayileklian stuff myself. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to cast its spells, but I’m starting to kind of understand the difference in the mana here, and a few other things. I’ve got a theory about something. I won’t bother you with the details until I see how it pans out. Got some of my own sciencing going on.”
I can’t help smiling broadly at Teuila. I’m proud of her. Constantly training, striving, struggling, to be better, to be the best, to be the strongest there is. I puff an elated sigh of contentment, unable to stop grinning at her or staring at her. Hm? Well, yeah, of course. Teuila is, well, she’s just so Teuila. She’s her own person. I don’t own her or anything, I don’t have to know every single thing she does. Err, yes it was kind of, um, interesting to hear about that. She doesn’t owe it to me to tell me anything like that though. We do share almost everything, because we’re so open, and know the other one will be accepting, or even interested in it, but if she wanted to keep something like that private, I wouldn’t push her.
I don’t know how I could or could not really do that Bud. Your privacy is kind of, well, you seem sort of tied to my head figuratively. If there’s anything you don’t want to share with me, you don’t have to. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to hide anything from you, but I don’t mind that. Oh, already changed your mind? Haha, okay, yes, we can be completely open with each other. I’m fine with either or Bud. You’re awesome. You’re what? But you’re sitting next to a six hundred degree Fahrenheit egg. I, I don’t know how to fix you feeling chilly buddy.
My expression of joy drops to one of contemplation and confusion as I try to figure out Lullaby’s predicament. Oh. There are no wilds here. Hell, we’re in like, a slightly parallel out-of-phase place that maybe no wilds exist in whatsoever. You don’t really have any nature to draw power from or interact with. Is Di--, gak, is Essie doing okay? Pretty much same ol’ same ol’? Makes sense These halls are pretty echo-ey.
We stop abruptly, and the Sister begins explaining, “We’ll allow you to avail yourselves of all our resources, and a host of our abilities in short order, but first, we’d like to help you find any dormant, unknown, or otherwise innate powers within you, that you may be all the better equipped to decide what resources to make use of.”
The Sister says to Dawn, “You’re native to Rayileklia, so we shall attempt to sense your affinity in the appropriate way, in the appropriate location. We don’t wish to separate you from your friend or your ‘Boss’ for any longer than is necessary. Please do follow us. It’s not far, not far at all.”
I get a mild sense of unease as Dawn tentatively freezes in place for several moments. I don’t want Dawn to be separated from us, or scared. Is there anything I can do to— Really? Yeah, I’m sure she’d appreciate the gesture Bud.
I cough politely, and quietly offer to Dawn, “Dawn? Lullaby says he’ll go with you, so that you’re not alone, and he won’t even shrink, so you have something to hold on to. In case, you know.”
Dawn blinks at me several times, and stares as I remove Lullaby, letting him assume his full size. Dawn asks, “Well, shid Rej. You sure? I, well I guess I mean, his choice and all, Lullaby, you sure?”
I chuckle as I say through a half smile that I can’t fight off, “Yeah, yeah he offered when I was trying to think of how to help your unease. We’ll see you soon Dawn, okay? I’m, well, you know what I’ll be doing. Let’s all do our best.”
Dawn nods as she takes off with the Sister, of which there now appear to be two more alongside us. Dawn uses Lullaby as a bit of a walking stick, and occasionally spins him halfway round to change which side she taps the ground with. I’d normally say a weapon probably wouldn’t like its blade end being thunked into stonework, but I doubt Lullaby cares about the sharpness of his blade.
The two Sisters motion us onward, deeper into the complex. I once again sense that room with the massive runic circle somewhere nearby, but around many many twists and turns. The Sisters appear to be shivering, are they cold whenever they’re near that circle? Actually, that circle. How do I know that it is what it is, when it’s basically always outside my danger wraps’ silent sonar senses range? There’s something a bit fishy about it that’s tripping my genre-senses. I don’t want to lose our chance to partake of their resources though, so it’ll have to go on the back burner. I do suddenly feel though, that it’s like, there may be more than just the Sisters here in this complex. It almost feels like these halls have been traversed, somewhat recently, by other humanoids. Hell, it could have been hundreds, or thousands of years, when they guided some hero of a different age who came through here, and their place is just so time-bent that it feels recent.
The Sister motioning us forward drift away behind us, disappearing around a bend, and I’m suddenly aware that we’re in the very bowels of the complex, its absolute bottom. The room ahead of us appears to be done in cobblestone, or other cracked stonework, but, on closer inspection, it appears to be deeply inlaid runostructure. More, there’s an energy flowing through every crack and line that’s reminiscent of lava, bright with dark spots that flow and churn.
Another feature of this room is a Sister that’s slightly larger than the ones we’ve seen, even in her hunched, seated position. She also appears more aged, perhaps ancient, to my senses. She beckons the two of us, and we each enter with little to no hesitation. The Sister stands as we enter, and bows politely, so Teuila and I offer her a bow in return. The apparent agedness of this Sister does answer the question I had earlier about whether or not they’d all appear identical. It doesn’t really prove or disprove anything about my other theories though.
Te elbows me, but really asks no one in particular, “Fancy magic room, aint it?”
I wear half a smile as I chuckle. Before I’m able to offer any response, the Sister speaks in a simultaneously wizened, ancient, yet echoing, forceful voice, “Please, sit in whichever circle speaks to you, however you feel most comfortable. I will offer you a refreshment that we need you to imbibe in order to divine the answers we seek. Yes, there is blood in the drink. We would prefer not to divulge the source, if you would be so kind as to refrain from asking.”
I gnaw on my lip and furrow my brow ever so slightly. Genre senses are starting to sing a bit louder. Yeah, I kinda didn’t need them to know that that was suspicious as all hell. Still, she’s not offering us a deal or asking us to agree to anything, yet. Huff. I see Teuila’s expression morph as she follows a similar train of thought. Still, looking about at the various circles on the floor, there are symbols engraved as a dominant feature in each one. I’m almost certain that Teuila is going to pick the one that looks like an atomic valence structure.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
My knowledge of Teuila does not fail me, as Teuila grins upon spying that particular circle. She marches to it and happily plops down to do several pushups within it. She then rolls over to do several crunches, and nods satisfactorily for some reason. Still, none of these circles are really singing to me. I understand some of the symbolism in various ones, and for some reason I even understand the list of alchemical symbols in one. I’d attribute that to the linguistic enchantment, but it’s something I’ve known at least since we arrived on Rayileklia, if not earlier.
I’m tempted to either just sit next to, or sit facing Teuila. Huff. Kinda wish I had Bud in my head for a few seconds to help me pick. I’m tempted to just name two of the symbols and flip a coin. This feels like Jarrah’s trainings and divinings all over again. Grr. Phooph. Bluh. Come on Reggie, really feel yourself, deep down. … Okay, so maybe I’m glad Bud isn’t in my head at this very second. Let’s just think about why we’re here, what we’re hoping to accomplish.
That one looks like a hand with a mana spark forming into a spell in its palm. That feels appropriate. I’m trying to be able to cast Rayileklian spells, in order to find one that can break Dawn’s curse. It’s right next to the large Sister. I approach her, bow politely, then sit lotus at an angle that I can see both Teuila and the Sister. I make note of a thin cane laying next to the Sister’s left hand, almost hidden beneath her robes. I’m almost sitting on top of the edge of the robes over her left hand and that cane in this nearby circle.
The sister motions, and for a moment I wonder if we’re supposed to stand back up to come closer to her, but then I notice another Sister entering with a clay, slightly bulbous, curve-lipped pitcher of fluid. She also carries two small clay bowls, which I assume we’ll be drinking from, but another Sister arrives, carrying a glass pitcher of fluid that appears to be only water, and two small glass bowls.
I’m confused, since I was fairly certain it was suggested that we needed to imbibe blood, and there doesn’t appear to be any in that. Is it to wash down the taste? Hm, did the Sisters exchange a look and each fight back a slight chuckle about something? It’s really hard to tell on people missing a majority of the usual facial features.
The elder Sister waves the other two away, and approaches us, and sets the pitchers between us. She states, “Choose which of you will drink from the clear pitcher, and which will choose from the obscuring clay pitcher.”
Teuila and I glance at each other. Both of us are going to choose the clay pitcher so that the other one doesn’t have to drink whatever could be hidden inside. I furrow my brow at her and adopt an ever-so-mild glare. I’m plenty used to tasting my own blood, and sick by now. Hell, if they went outside and scraped my blood off the mountain to fill the pitcher, I wouldn’t even be that surprised. I’d certainly also ask me not to ask where it came from at that point.
Teuila starts to answer, “I’ll take the cla—“
I shake my head and interrupt her, “Te, take the clear pitcher. Whatever’s in the clay one can’t be worse than dying from mana residue strangulation. I’ve already got that going on. I’ll take the risk of the unknown. You’re plenty healthy, we don’t need to risk changing that.”
Teuila pouts, “I can handle it Dink, my Airhead. Don’t make me worry about you more.”
I frown as I sadly shake my head before I add, “There’s nothing to worry about Te, I’ve had plenty of blood up and down my throat recently. That might be my own blood scraped off the mountainside for all we know. I don’t need you getting sick from me. I’m already worried about why you go through some of the mana laceration when using Can’Z’aasian magic here on Rayileklia. That was a me-only thing back home.”
Teuila grumps, “Fine, but I’m taking the next risk, whatever it is.”
I chuckle as I shake my head incredulously before relenting, “Alright My Wings, fine. Unless I beat you to it.” I toss Teuila a wink and she fumes at me, semi playfully, somewhat actually annoyed.
The Sister seems to be amused at least. Using her staff with her left hand, she ambles towards Teuila. She pours two bowls of the clear liquid near Teuila, and offers Teuila one to drink. The Sister requests, “Bare an important piece of your body, one you’re willing to bear a mark representing the true you.”
Teuila doesn’t hesitate as she pulls aside the article of clothing anyone would expect Te to remove when asked such a question. Her sternum and left pectoral are available for being marked. As Teuila’s about to down her drink, the Sister holds up one finger, demanding at least a moment longer’s patience. She lifts her own bowl of what I hope is water, and dips her right index and middle fingertips into it. The Sister nods at Teuila, and makes a motion like tossing her head back, indicating to drink her vessel quickly.
Teuila tosses it back, and coughs out, “Ack, oh gross, oh that’s like tequila and turpentine, koff, oh that burns going down, and not in the fun way. Haha, I win after all Airhead, I got the worse drink.” She then mutters, “I hope.”
I can’t help chuckling at Teuila’s competitiveness over who gets to take the worse risk for the other. Heavens and hells this woman. Hah. She’s so great. Hm, I’m a bit worried as it almost sounds like sizzling as the elder Sister draws on Teuila’s chest. I really hope that isn’t acid she just fed Teuila, only to now scar her with it. I can’t see Teuila from this side of the Sister now that she has leaned in to draw on Teuila, which raises my concern greatly. Teuila is just outside the edge of my danger wrap silent sonar sensory range.
I’m about to ask, when the Sister steps back to apparently survey her work. I see no marring upon Teuila’s beautiful flesh. Despite the painful sound of the application. I raise an eyebrow at Teuila and she just grins derpily at me in response, seemingly completely unfazed.
The sister says to Teuila, “It appears this is one that you perhaps are already at least partially familiar with. Yours is precise control over the forces of attraction.”
Teuila grins as she mumbles, “Hell yeah it is.” Those two statements between the Sister and Te’s response say so much about Teuila. I have to laugh. Teuila throws a wink my way and grins as madly as ever.
I can’t fight the smile that spreads ear to ear across my face as I barely repress my laughter. Still, that might be a power with broader applications than Teuila has already been using. She’s always had that affinity with gravity. Attraction also applies to magnetism though doesn’t it? If she expanded her mastery of it, could she get electrokinesis? Or magnetokinesis? Or is it only a me-thing to be able to science my way into related applications of powers that aren’t actually listed on the tin?
The sister approaches me, and pours two bowls of viscous reddened amber fluid. The liquid slowly forms bubbles that expand, pop, recede, and begin the process over. I grimace ever so slightly, but shrug as I accept the bowl. The sister says much the same to me as she did to Teuila, “Bare upon your form an important, perhaps the most important, piece of you, willing to bear a mark of your inner self.”
Hm. I’m tempted to copy Teuila, because I mean, my love is pretty much the best thing about me, all the loves I have in my life, all the people I care about. But if it’s more like, the purpose of the body part, rather than symbolically, then Teuila’s most important part would be her heart, because she’s incredibly active, and physically fit. It has to be in top condition more than any other organ more or less. What is most important to me in the way that helps save Dawn? What do I use for that? The only answer I can come up with is my brain. I brush back my hair, exposing all of my forehead as best I can.
I could swear the Sister adopts a very creepy grin for a moment. She indicates for me to quickly drink the reddened-amber sludge, which might prove a tad difficult with how slowly it poured. Regardless, she begins dipping her index finger into the liquid as I raise the bowl to my lips. Please don’t be monstrously terrible. Glp, koff, glp, koff, ugh, koff, glp. Oh yeah, definitely blood in that, ugh, it’s oozing its way down and almost feels like it’s alive as wriggles down like a little slime-creature or jello monster. Glg, ugh, yuck. At least the flavor wasn’t absolutely horrific, but the experience definitely leaves room for improvement, and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone else. The sister has been drawing upon my forehead with the sludge and I almost vomit as I could swear it feels like mini jello monsters wriggling along my head, possibly even finding cozy homes in my pores. Glrp. Ugh. So friggin’ gross.
The Sister turns her back to me for a moment, gazing over at Teuila. In that moment, the wriggling finally ceases, my forehead doesn’t even feel sticky. Thankfully. I still think I want to take a bath in lava, then another one in acid, then another one in a glaciated arctic pool. Brr, eugh. That was horrifically horrifying.
When it’s my turn to divulge her divining's findings, the Sister turns back to me however and says, “Yours, is nothing.”
I’m heartbroken. My shoulders droop as my whole body sags, crestfallen. I was really hoping I’d have something to rely on while here on Rayileklia. More importantly, something that could give me a lead on how to save, or could directly save, Dawn. Ow, why’d she hit me with her staff? What the hell lady?
She explains, “You must not understand if you are as sad as you appear. Your gift. Is nothing.”
You already said that. Jeeze. That friggin’ hurt. Kookie old lady. Ow! Hey, I’m going to take that away from you if you keep swinging it! Grumble grumble grr.
She performs a facial movement akin to rolling the eyes she doesn’t have, and says, “No you won’t, you’ll sulk for a while, then your mind will wander. Some time later, you’ll see the truth of the matter. You two are quite powerful. Our precious little beloved Rayileklia is ill suited for the challenges that spring up reacting to your presence. Hm, that’s not quite right. Not your presence. Your enemy’s presence. Perhaps anyway. Horses of six in one hand, horses of a half dozen in the other. Take your pick.”
W-what? Wait. Oracular powers. Crap. She’s been psychic this whole freaking time. Oh look at that sly smirk, I’m such an idiot. Heh, hahah. Oy vey. Mother of a goose on the loose. The woman I want in my head is barely able to reach it, but the one who bonks me with a stick repeatedly can read it clear as day. Great. Well, I’ll master the telepathy spell soon enough, as well as this permanency enhancing enchantment power thing. Uh, anyway, sorry for any disrespect Sister. I obviously bit my tongue about it, my thoughts just wander. Huh, just like you said they would. I mean, not that I doubted your oracular powers.
But how much foresight does that oracular power lend any of them? How do they prophesize and foretell anything? Hm, it’s weird, it’s kind of like if I sent my logs back from the future. Does it tell just one possible timeline? If they divine something, does it always come true? I could always change whatever outcomes were shown in my logs, or at least try to avoid them, or prepare for them. I suppose I could go in circles forever chasing the logic loops that puzzle out time travel and its rules across two entirely different worlds. Two entirely different systems of magic.
The elder Sister returns to her seat at the far end of the room, next to me. I wonder if it would be inappropriate to go throw up the contents of my innards and boil my forehead. The experience reminded me of King’s weird parasitic cells worming their way around my insides. Eugh. Huff. Whatever, we didn’t lose anything, we just confirmed what we basically already know. I’ve got no affinity for magic, I’m just brute forcing my way through everything, driven by love and whatnot. Teuila might have a broader scope to her powers, unless the elder Sister was simply being poetic in describing gravity specifically. It’ll be hard to tell for quite a long time.
We sit in silence, and I glance around impatiently, wondering if we’re supposed to do anything else. Frustrated at making no progress, I begin practicing the rune I remember as being the beginnings of the telepathy enchantment. Yeah, I can fail it over and over while sitting here, just as well as anywhere else. Oof. Hungry again, I fish out another packet of sap and flour as I lick my lips. I need to remember to thank Bud, and work on helping him gain his new desired shape. Hm, a squirming feeling as my belly flops repeatedly has me suddenly losing my apetite. Yeah, I’m going to go be sick somewhere before I eat. No sense wasting food. I’m sure I’m just being dramatic and overreacting to psychosomatic nonsense, but still, yuck. I’ve never even liked jello or gelatin snacks, not even when I was at th— What? When I was where? What? Ow my fuggin’ head.
I flex my jaw as I clasp my cranium in pain. Squeezing my eyes tightly shut, I continue to try to flex my facial muscles to distract from the building pressure in my skull. Well, one side effect of migraines is nausea. Sorry Sister, I don’t want to dirty your room, but, hurk. Blerf. Blugl, ugh. I swear to all that is holy if I see my vomit move on its own in even the slightest, I’m going to find a nuclear powerplant and stand in its reactor core. I know, I know, dramatic much Reggie? It’s just, brrr, creepy as hell. I already have awkward creepy experiences with slimy little things crawling around inside of my nervous system trying to gain control, what with King and the mite-hulk alien cellular structure.
Thankfully, my sick stays put where I let up all over the floor. I’m going to fireball my face a few times later when I’m in private. The Sister is struggling not to laugh, and has been this entire thought process. Only now, she’s starting to fail, and beginning to laugh. Teuila looks my way, concerned.
I shake my head and joke, “I’ve, hrp. Never liked jello.”
Teuila’s face contorts in confusion a moment before she just smirks and laughs. I wish I already had that cleaning prestidigitative cantrip mastered, so that I could clean up after myself. Eugh, my belly is still roiling, but it’s currently empty. My eyelids are growing heavy again, but that tiredness could be because I just loosed up sick and haven’t eaten enough in the last three or four days, like, at all. Or, ‘cause I was fired out of a carriage as a meat-rocket to splat into a cliff surface. How’d she put it? Horses of six in one hand, horses of a half dozen in the other? Hah. The elder Sister smirks at my train of thoughts.
Some of the normal-sized, less elderly seeming sisters arrive, and beckon us to follow. One thankfully seems to be remaining to clean up after me. I do feel like a heel leaving it for someone else to deal with though.
Before following, I ask of the elder Sister, “Is that everything we should do here? Are we going to look over your available resources now? Do you always remain in this chamber? Should we ever bother coming back down? If not, would it be appropriate to say goodbye to you now, in advance of us leaving? Also, thank you for your aid.”
The elder Sister succinctly responds, “Yes, not quite yet, yes, no, yes, you’re welcome.”
I’m left counting on my fingers which answers were to which questions as I’m beckoned slightly more demandingly to follow the other Sisters and Teuila. Oh. I bid her farewell, “In that case, thank you, and farewell, take care. Also, I’d get rid of that wriggly goopy stuff, bleugh.”
There are smirks from the assorted Sisters, but no responses. Brrr, creepy. Still, better get going to catch up with Dawn. If we’re somehow super lucky, maybe her own affinity is something she can train to break her own curse. Teuila bounds over to me, and, despite being taller than me, leaps at me, laying in the air to fall across my arms lazily. She reduces her own gravity to nothing of course, but I can’t help feeling the tiniest twinge of humorous annoyance. She could be carrying me around just as easily, or far more easily, and her legs are longer, and she’s more fit. Oh well. Exercise for me is just walking us around I guess.
She nuzzles her nose into my clavicle as we follow the Sisters. Well, as I follow the Sisters, carrying her along. It becomes harder and harder to flex my jaw, and to keep my eyes open as I yawn. Oh, right, empty belly at this point, let’s go ahead and eat another packet of superfood or whatever the heck this stuff is that Bud had the trees make for me. I also grabbed a bunch of nuts. Which is a sentence I’m so glad no one else is in my head to have heard me think. I just mean, the nut and berry bushes along all the paths in the Heart, well, berries didn’t seem wise to toss into my hyperdimensional haversack, or anywhere else honestly. Too messy. Nuts, still in their shells, are far less messy. They keep for a fair while I would imagine. We can even cook them if we want to be extra safe.
When we reunite with Dawn, I can truly sense how absolutely numb she feels. She’s not missing her senses currently, no, something upset her. My muscles clench reactively as I glance around for the Sister who’d taken her away. I can’t sense any danger, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any. I also want to, to, to avenge Dawn’s feelings or something. If someone hurt her, I, grr. Dawn waves weakly in our direction, shaking her head sadly.