"Wow, you really don't look like an Oberon without the fur," Maebe said, her eyes giving me the once over. Of everyone in Alice's group, I knew Maebe the least well, despite that she was the first one I'd met—or at least the first one who'd spoken to me. I'd thought at one point she was Nia's sister, but only because they were both blonde, and I was primed to find Alice. This was before I found out they weren't blood-related.

"More of a Nahual?" I quipped, though there wasn't much chance they'd actually recognize the myth.

"What's that?" Anderson asked.

"They're shapeshifters from Mexican folklore. My Tita would be tickled that I actually remembered what they were called." I said as we headed toward the golden-orange glow of the exit. "Alright, everybody keep left; that glowing passage is off limits."

"That's the exit?" Jessica asked, and I shot Alice a reproachful look; she knew I wasn't ready to spread that around yet.

"What?" She said defensively. "I hadn't seen you for days; how was I supposed to know you'd come back today? Besides, it was a good morale boost just knowing there was an out."

"Couldn't we just use it now?" Jessica asked, and I was tempted to let her.

I sighed. "We could," I said honestly. "Come on, the others are waiting at the top of the stairs. If we're talking about this, I'll tell everyone at once."

I didn't guard the door like I did when bringing in Craig's group; I trusted these guys to follow me. Rather, I trusted them to follow Alice, and Alice wouldn't go through the door, especially not without Nia.

I unlatched the cellar doors and pushed them open, one after the other. As I walked onto the deck of my ship, I saw my four passengers look up from playing a board game at the edge of the zen garden. Trevor had gone so far as to stand up for a better view—or possibly to be prepared for any trouble.

I waved and then stood aside as Luke, Alice, Jessica, Anderson, and Maebe filed up the stairs one after another.

"What in the world?" Jessica said, awe in her voice. "Where are we?" Purple clouds roiled silently overhead, meeting the luminous green of the plasma ocean at some distant horizon in all directions.

"He calls it the Ether," Alice answered for me.

I shrugged. "I don't think I came up with the name, but if you have a better name for it, call it that. Hands calls his a 'Domain' and 'Dreamland,' there's merit to both names, but also a fair bit of ego. I don't control this space, and I especially don't control everything not on this ship. The ship itself was probably created from my mind, or at least some parts of it are very familiar, especially the stuff inside the cabin."

"Is that the drunk diary part?" Jessica teased, beginning to wander over to the railing, her eyes exploring the strange ship with curiosity.

"More or less, yeah. There are personal memories and keepsakes in there." Jessica was leaning over the rail, looking down the side of the ship. "Be careful over there; if you fall overboard, you'll lose any memories you happen to have. Oh—I mean, you'll die," The end of the world was skewing my perspective.

"The whole ship is rock. On the outside, anyway. It's not even smooth." Jessica said as she straightened up.

Anderson was rubbing a leaf of one of the mast trees between his thumb and two fingers without detaching it from its branch, "I can't imagine these trees can propel a heavy stone ship like this."

Luke was walking around looking in wonder at the cottage, complete with lawn and compost pile. "Is it a ship or just a ship-shaped island?"

"I don't know, really. I can't tell if we're moving or if there's even anywhere to go," I replied.

Alejandra was nonchalantly approaching a hint of uncertainty as she glanced around our group. She said something to Luke, approaching him first, and I raised a hand in greeting, "Hey, what game did you go with?" I asked her.

Satoshi and Trevor had stayed back with Craig. The four of them had dragged wooden beach recliners together and were using them as seating and table both. Luke nodded, and she walked over with less hesitancy.

"We played a game of clue, but it was over pretty quick, so then we pulled out Risk. Personally, I voted for Catan, but Satoshi and Craig hadn't played before and didn't want to learn the rules." Alejandra replied. "Who are your friends? Also, you are Oberon, right? I saw you looking human for like two seconds."

"He goes by Nahual now," Anderson said with a grin.

"No, I don't-"

"Ooo, a Nahual! Alejandra said, "That would explain some things. A little weird that your tonal animal is blue and bipedal, but then I've never met a real one."

"I'm not a Nahual, and I doubt anyone has a blue wolf-man as an animal spirit."

"Look at us; our abuelas would be so proud," Alejandra said, making me burst out laughing with surprise.

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Alejandra gave me a look, and I just waved it off. Tradition and culture were probably important for society or something, but clinging to those things too tightly tears people apart.

My Grandma died when I was young, but she'd never known me for who I was. My mom had forbidden me from giving her my pronouns. She'd loved me, and I'd loved her. I'd wanted to tell her I was a boy, and I wished I knew if she'd have accepted it. My mother's feelings about my identity made me doubt our relationship would have survived it. It was an old wound, and I mostly found it ironic that people who happily believed a god could become a mortal, or a mortal could become their spirit animal, didn't believe a girl could become a boy. Old and buried in cynical amusement as the wound was, it still frustrated and angered me, and hurt more than I wanted to admit.

All I actually said was, "Could be, could be," laughter still in my voice. "Alejandra, that's Anderson; beside me is Alice, and over by the railing are Jessica and Maebe. Obviously, you know Luke. They're the doctor friends I mentioned."

"All of them?" Alejandra said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, we're at a hospital, and they all wanted to see this place. But yeah, all but Anderson are surgeons, too, I think." I turned to Alice, and she nodded in confirmation.

"Fancy. I don't think Craig needs surgery. An ice pack would probably help, though; his knee is pretty swollen. What's Dr. Anderson do?" Alejandra said.

"I make sure you sleep through it when you do get surgery."

"Just call him Mr. Sandman," I joked, seeing a chance to turn the tables; Alejandra flashed me a smile, joining me in the joke.

Anderson's eyes brightened with good humor, "Sure! Call me whatever; just don't call me late for dinner."

I groaned at the dad joke. I'd have to remember to spend more time here. Not too much more; I was on a clock, after all. Still, whether it was because we were safe here or because I was human here, either way, the atmosphere was considerably lighter, almost giddy even, despite the heavy clouds.

"Not much point of surgery when the time loop will just fix everything anyway," Alice spoke up, bringing us back on track.

"Right, I forget that's a thing," Alejandra said.

Jessica and Maebe walked back over to meet Alejandra, and then we started toward the three men.

"It's alright, guys, Oberon brought the doctor he promised, as well as a few spares and a mattress salesman." Alejandra called out.

"A mattress salesman?" Trevor asked. "Luke, you made it! We were worried."

"I think she means Mr. Sandman over there. He knocks people out for surgery," Luke answered. "And thanks, I won't say it wasn't close, but I'm glad the six of us survived anyway."

"Am I going to need surgery?" Craig asked, sitting up straighter, his injured leg stretched out on the wooden beach chair.

"No, no, they're just the only doctors I know," I said. "They'll check you out and give you some pain relief and let the time loop fix you up. Time loops make being a doctor easy."

Anderson snorted. "And what did you do for a living?"

"You've seen my comic. Basically, that, but online. I also did some layout and graphic design stuff for the newspaper." I told him.

"Sounds like you're out of a job too. It's Morning Edition meets Groundhog Day." Anderson joked.

"I don't know what that means," I said, looking to the others for explanation.

"Groundhog Day like the movie about the repeating day?" Jessica asked.

"Obviously," Anderson said with clear disappointment in his voice.

Craig cleared his throat, "And Early Edition was a show in the nineties about a guy that got tomorrow's newspaper and went around trying to stop bad things from happening."

"And won the lottery in the process?" Alice said, humor in her voice.

"I don't remember," Anderson said, taking up the explanation, "probably, but that's not the point. The point is the paper was delivered by a cat."

"Wait, but dogs are the ones known for bringing in the paper," Trevor said, having sat back down when we started walking their way. Satoshi sat beside him on the beach chair, scowling between us. I was guessing he'd seen neither thing and was judging our chosen conversation topic.

"I know; it seems like it's right there, but the point is, Oberon is like that cat, but during a Groundhog Day."

"You make a good point," I said, rubbing my chin, "I should go take over my newspaper and get them to write what I tell them," Then I paused; kidding or not, I was a little taken aback by the idea. "Man, it's too bad nobody reads newspapers anymore; that might have been a good plan twenty years ago."

"Ya know, if we'd been thinking, we'd have brought a wheelchair," Alice said.

"Where's Denis when we need him?" Jessica asked innocently, making Alice and I tense up and share a look. Dennis had betrayed Alice's group and even killed Anderson accidentally. Sort of accidentally, he was aiming the gun at me. Anderson scowled as well, seeming dissatisfied himself, and I wondered what he remembered. Alice and I had changed Anderson and Jessica's spawn points after that to keep them away from Kay, but we left Denis with her.

"It's fine," I said. "I can carry Craig. Before we get to that, I want to talk to you all about the exit." Hopefully they’d all understand why none of them would be using it anytime soon.