"Oh, Hilu, it's beautiful," he sighed as he sipped his martini and stared out the large, wraparound window at the carnage of downtown Gifflenberg. "Absolutely marvelous. Why, I've always wanted to witness a doomsday event as a spectator, and here we are!"

"Titi, you're a wonderful man," said Hilu as she rubbed Tim's small shoulders far too tightly, scratching him a little bit with her long, acrylic nails that were styled in a zebra pattern. "How did you know this would be happening?"

Tim looked at Hilu with a smirk and a glint in his eye that she could just barely catch above the large, thick sunglasses he was wearing despite being inside a dimly lit room. He stroked his balding hairline with pride. Then, before he answered, he stroked Hilu's hand and gestured to a large oil painting on the side of the wall. Indeed, it took up almost the entire wall, and what of the wall it didn't take up with the painting alone, the frame took up. That frame was really something to look at. Crafted in the most brilliant of gold karats, it was actually a very rare and, of course, very expensive type of frame in the land of Nomachiato known as a Ghal'Bladdaire.

Ghal'Bladdaire frames were a rare art that was only seen once in a blue moon, mosty of which were crafted about five centuries prior during an event known as the Great Artisticness, a bit of a tongue-in-cheek moniker that signified the time wherein so many professional artists died due to Curr infections, what with all the philandering and debauchery that artists were well known for of course, that an entirely new batch of artists trained themselves up from scratch. Ghal'Bladdaires were often pieces made by novice sculptors, many of whom had found sculpting tools laying around the ground near a dead artist who'd almost completely turned into mathematical formulae. This was of course, a grim yet extremely inspiring thing for a budding artist to experience, and oftentimes Ghal'Bladdaires were rendered to detail the condition that the previous art's owner was in as they were decaying away and dying. These were some of the rarest of all, the only rarer ones were of course Ghal'Bladdaires that detailed the battles of Gharlique versus Taumen, usually carved by veteran artists as they were becoming mathematics due to being consumed by Curr. Tim's Ghal'Bladdaire frames was one of these extreme rarities, a frame crafted by the expert Van Goth as she was turning into a series of racy fractions that none dare repeat for fear of violating outdated Nomachiattan obscenity standards that were otherwise often ignored. Van Goth was reknowned, before she died and became data, for her excellent and almost jovial depictions of what were admittedly macabre circumstances, and this piece was no exception. There was a couple fornicating, there was a dog peeing on a Gharlique, there was a tauman chopping garlic in front of a Gharlique and pointing at it as if to imply that the two were related, there was a throuple fornicating, and there was a cat vomiting on a peace treaty that a tauman was offering to the Gharlique, who in turn were depicted as ripping them in half and turning them into math. It had been highly contested whether Van Goth's depictions of people being eaten away by Curr and turning into mathematics were more from imagination, or from her own experience, or indeed instead it if were a machination of the fact that Van Goth herself was slowly being changed and consumed that she so oft depicted such things in her work. It could've also just been the fact that almost everyone was being consumed by Curr those days, but to many Nomachiatan scholars that was seen as a bit of a 'cop out' stance that was more a mechanism to get out of theoretical debate than it was a legitimate train of thought to follow.

The humongous oil painting contained within the frame was practically worthless, done by some low-art no name with an iffy grasp on perspective and focality known as Phonet.

"What can I say, Hilu? My network is like my taste in art - it knows no bounds, it is broad and far reaching. Would you like another shot of peppermint schnapps?"

"Oh, absolutely, honey!" she said with a smile and a little squeal.

Tim winked and had the miniature robo-servant perched on his shoulder conjure up a shot glass and a bottle. Sure, people laughed at him when he built the robo-servant and gave it a system with only the [Conjure Alcoholic Beverages] [skill], but that was probably just because they were bitter that the guy who could easily afford multiple lifetimes worth of alcohol would never have to want for or pay for it again. Life had been funny in that way for Tim. He'd found that, the more wealth he amassed, the easier it was for him to pick up [skills] that made his money irrelevant. And his aforementioned network only made that more so. He knew at least fifty rather strange people that he knew he could get multitudes of cash from at the drop of a hat, no strings attached. He knew people who'd let him stay in their homes forever if needed. Tim really did have it all. He slicked back what remained of his hair.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Okay, well, maybe Tim didn't have it all, if it of course referred to his hair or a system of his own. But who cared about hair? Not Tim, Tim didn't care. Tim had cool designer shirts with wrinkle-free technology and permanently stiff collars. Tim liked the feeling of being permanently stiff.

He did care about his lack of system, of course. In fact he probably cared about it a little too much. But he tried his best not to show that to Hilu.

"That's a stiff drink," said Tim as he took a sip.

"Peppermint schnapps?" Hilu gave him an odd look, which was difficult because the smoothed out proportions of the professionally sculpted and smoothed over living wood on her face made it tricky for her to change her facial expressions at all.

"No, not your peppermint schnapps, silly!" Tim raised his martini and laughed.

And so it was that they continued to watch as smoke and flames enveloped the downton of Gifflenberg. Every once and a while, a building would explode out of nowehere. Tim admitted in these moments that he wasn't sure why the buildings were exploding, but he was confident that theirs wouldn't, and he likened the sights and sounds of these disatrous occurences to premiere fireworks.

And then, the intercom crackled and a ringing tone echoed through the high ceilings of the penthouse.

"Who's here? During the apocalypse?"

"Don't call it the apocalypse, Titi, it's just Gifflenberg that's being blown up, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course, I was just joking. And not even all of Gifflenberg, just select parts of the downtown. It's really nothing to be too concerned about, I'm confident we're safe here. Worst case scenario, if this building actually did blow up, this penthouse is equipped with an auto-deflecting forcefield that will immediately send us rocketing into the sky. We've really got nothing to worry about in here."

The tone buzzed again. It was obnoxious at this point.

"Let me go see who it is. I'm sure we've got nothing to worry about," said Tim. He stood up and immediately activated one of his [skills], sending pulsating rings of green flame coiling around his right arm. "And while I really am sure there's nothing to worry about, if there is something to worry about, well, I'll just kill that something before it has a chance to be anything to us. So sit back, relax, Hilu. Enjoy your drink. This is no big deal."

Hilu swooned as Tim walked up to the door with endless confidence and a grin as wide as his face. Then, he looked at the security camera side panel and squinted.

"Oh, holy shit. Looks like he got my invitation after all," said Tim.

"He? He who? You invited a strange man to our home?" Hilu grimaced.

"No, no, not a strange man at all. Trust me, this is great. We've got to let him in, I'm sure he's terrified. I can't believe he found me! I bet you he finally opened that thank you capsule I sent his way. Seriously, Hilu, trust me. Please."

Hilu huffed with frustration, and then she shrugged. "Whatever, Titi. Do whatever you want, I know you're going to anyway so what's the point of even voicing my opinion? Sure, fucking go ahead and let this weirdo in here during the apocalypse. What do I care? Why would I care, and why would that make me uncomfortable? There's no reason at all, no reason for me to care or for me to be uncomfortable with this situation and I'm just stressing over nothing. Really, Titi, I cannot apologize enough."

Tim raised finger to try and interject.

"Oh, sure, who am I? Just some odd fling of yours, right? Right?? So who cares what I think or want? Only, what's this on my finger here? Is that some big honking ring or something? Who got me that, Titi, who got me this huge, expensive ass ring? I didn't buy it for myself, I can tell you that much, Titi. Hell no I didn't buy it myself. Who would do that? Who would get me some symbol of their affection to signify how committed to me they are? You know, Titi, I just don't know who would do that. Because right now I feel like nobody would listen to me if I voiced what I think are incredibly valid concerns!"

"Hilu, please," Tim said as he sighed and took a deep breath. "Please try and understand. This man, I sent him that capsule because he sent the readings that proved this disaster would happen to my independent threat analysis lab, okay? He sent them out to everyone he could in this huge blast, and I'm just lucky I was on the list."

"You have a threat analysis lab?" It was difficult to decipher whether Hilu was mad, sad, or impressed.

"Yes, we can talk about it later. The main thing is, Hilu, this man saved both of our lives whether he knew it or not. Whether he even believed the readings or not, even. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't try to let him in here. I know he's not as powerful as me, our cameras can sense peoples' relative strength. Please, just trust me, and let me do something in return for him," said Tim.

"Fine, Titi, do whatever the hell you want."

Time groaned and swung open the door. Then, he smiled. "Silash?"

Silash smiled. "Thank you, Tim."

"Oh, of course. And thank you."