Nigel Journal Entry 2
Day 3
I woke up to someone licking my face, and no, it wasn’t the 90-year-old lady with yellow dentures I’d been sitting next to on the plane. That might have been preferable, but no, it was a monkey. A short-haired, long-tailed, ooh-ooh ahh-ahh freaking monkey!
The wet saliva stuck to my face as he (definitely a he) looked down at me with a friendly grin. That wasn’t all, though. I could feel movement near my nose. Tiny movement from tiny legs. I did the only logical thing I could think of and slapped myself in the face.
My hand came away all red and gooey from insect guts. Gross. I went to wipe my hand off on the ground, but was stopped before I could even reach it. Two firm hands gripped my wrist tight as the monkey slurped up the remains of my kill.
“Um… thank you?” I said to my personal cleaner as I rose to a sitting position. His response was to begin sucking on each of my fingers in turn. I let him at it for a few seconds, not because I felt like being polite, but because any sudden movement might initiate bite-mode. If I was going to be stranded on a deserted island, I wanted the use of all ten fingers.
After an appropriately awkward amount of time, Sir Licks-A-Lot let go of my wrist. He gave me another friendly grin before I saw his eyes travel up and over to the other side of the clearing where the two gold bubbles remained floating two metres above the ground. I remember groaning as the realization washed over me. Yesterday’s message had not been a delusion.
My new monkey friend, who shall forever more be known as Licks, rushed over and was trying his hardest to jump up and touch the pretty magic bubbles. I wasn’t sure what would happen, but if someone was going to push a pretty magic bubble, it was going to be me.
I sprinted over before Licks could take my glory and popped the floating YES bubble. Licks pouted a bit as he crossed his arms, but I barely noticed. More floating bubbles materialized into view.
Accumulated Constel Credits: 100
Survival
Tier 1
Pleasure
Tier 1
Craft
Tier 1
Aspect
Tier 1
Curious, I popped the Pleasure bubble. Don’t judge me. The other bubbles vanished, but the Pleasure bubble exploded into hundreds of smaller bubbles. They completely surrounded me, leaving me just enough room to crouch down to get a good look at each bubble without accidentally popping any in the process.
Most of the bubbles were dark with no lettering. I probably had to meet some super secret criteria to unlock those special bubbles, but I could worry about that later. The visible bubbles were more than enough to put a smile on my face. Check it out:
Pleasure
Tier 1
Crude Shelter
0 CCs
Candy
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2 CCs
Toilet Paper
10 CCs
Mason Jar
14 CCs
Soccer Ball
15 CCs
Tier Unlock
25 CCs
See what I mean? Awesome! I was really eyeing that toilet paper. Terrible memories flooded my mind of the great TP shortage of 2020. It was not something I wanted to experience again in this lifetime, yet here I am. Wipeless.
Still, I wouldn’t commit to anything without knowing my full options. I went ahead and selected the Crude Shelter bubble. Nothing appeared, but there was a small little tent icon at the corner of my vision. Kind of weird, but something I’d check out later. I backed out and popped the Survival bubble.
Survival
Tier 1
Flint
0 CCs
Tarp
7 CCs
Spade
11 CCs
Carabiner
15 CCs
Hatchet
20 CCs
Tier Unlock
25 CCs
One thing was becoming painfully obvious. I had to get more of these Constel Credits! I’m still not sure what a Constel is, but does it really matter? These credits are a currency. A strange currency, but a currency nonetheless. I can spend them in whatever way I choose, but how do I choose?
Each of these items was a necessity, but I kept it simple and popped the free Flint bubble. A small rock icon joined the tent in the corner of my vision, but nothing else happened. Part of me wanted to keep buying survival items, but I still had two more bubble categories to go through. With a heavy heart, I moved on to Craft.
Craft
Tier 1
Crafter’s Fount
0 CCs
Bucket of Nails
8 CCs
Bracket Set
12 CCs
Mallet
16 CCs
Duct Tape
21 CCs
Tier Unlock
25 CCs
I can’t tell you how close I was to buying the duct tape out of principle alone. How can you turn down duct tape? Still, I only popped the free option for the Crafter’s Fount, whatever that is. Another little icon appeared next to the tent and flint. My interest was definitely piqued, but there was still one last set of bubbles to explore.
These options were easily the strangest. Instead of items, they seemed to grant certain bonuses to me personally.
Aspect
Tier 1
Tamer
0 CCs
Hunger Resistance
8 CCs
Endurance Increase
15 CCs
Brawn Increase
17 CCs
Health Increase
21 CCs
Tier Unlock
25 CCs
These made the least amount of sense. I still don’t really get how pushing a bubble could alter my DNA. It’s a lot to digest, and it wasn’t like there was a manual. I popped the Tamer freebie bubble and a small asterisk appeared above Licks’ head. When I focused on the asterisk, a new notification bubble appeared in front of me.
Rank: 0
Untamed Creature
Untamed or wild creatures tend to behave erratically and may not follow even the simplest instructions. Improve your relationship to increase a creature’s rank and unlock additional opportunities.
Yep, give me a few days and I’ll be Nigel Exotic, best zoo keeper this side of the Pacific! Really, I have no idea what I’m going to do with that, but maybe it’ll come in handy someday.
I decided to close out the store after getting all my freebies and have myself a think. Rushing into a spending spree was a bad idea, especially since I had no idea when more Constel Credits would be made available. Something told me I couldn’t call do-overs with the cosmic beings in charge of whatever this is.
I popped a squat, pulled out my dandy journal, and began writing. It helps me keep everything in perspective.
Licks is currently tapping the bubbles near the ground and laughing hysterically at each pop. There wasn’t any danger of him buying anything. Those were the inactive bubbles, the equivalent of keeping the parental controls on. It’s actually pretty entertaining to watch.
Anyway, I better wrap things up. There’s a pretty dark cloud forming overhead, and I don’t want my pages to get wet. I’ll check in later, don’t worry.