Jumbo Shrimp

Klipper, got you a mission from Ice.

Rager Boss

Better be worth mine and my boyz time.

Jumbo Shrimp

Oh, it is. Your buddies Triskele and Asher crossed over.

We need them either brought in or cycled.

Standard calorie bounty, but I might be able to get Ice to kick in a bonus.

Rager Boss

For that fuck, Triskele? No bonus needed.

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Terri

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“Terri!” Asher called as he jerked up from his seat around an old folding table. O’Leary and Cheddar to either side, a mound of chips, protein bars, and chocolate sat atop it; empty wrappers slowly faded from where they fell on the floor. Green laid in a full sploot beside Asher’s left foot, positioned well enough that he didn’t have to move when Asher jumped to his feet.

Hands on her knees, she forced her breathing to slow. “I’m okay.” She pushed herself straight and gave them a snarl, “Took you lot long enough.”

Cheddar froze, chip half raised to their mouth. Green lifted his head to watch while Asher paused mid-step. O’Leary had a glazed look as his hand searched the food mound.

Terri’s grin burst on her face as she rounded the counter and in three steps wrapped Asher in a hug. Recovered, Asher squeezed back, and Terri chuckled as he lifted her heels from the ground. “Okay, okay. Don’t break me, Kiddo.”

“If I don’t let go.” Asher buried his head in her shoulder. “If I don’t let go, then maybe it will all just be a dream. A bad, bad, dream.”

Terri felt her shoulder dampen. She wanted to comfort him, something that would make him believe it would all be okay, but “that’s not how this works,” is what came out. His hold loosened, she pushed back to give his forehead a kiss, and look him in the eyes. “But you’re strong — like me, your father, and your sisters.”

Asher couldn’t speak, he just gave her a nod, then a ding sounded. Terri watched his eyes go wide as he viewed something over her shoulder. His mouth moved, but no words came out. Right — her shade — it had healed and was back on task. “One sec, Kiddo.” When Terri left a shade, it was stunned while the damage healed; sometimes it took a few minutes, other times a few seconds.

As the shade dropped quarters into the cash register, she walked to the opening between the counter and the wall and drew her sword. Glyphs along the nimcha's length thrummed to life as she made a quick slash across the floor from wall to counter; the magical strike split the carpet and cut a thin line into the wooden floor. The aw of observation tried to repair wood and knit carpet — the cut flared — refusing to close over. Terri turned and sheathed her blade in a single fluid motion. “That will keep my unbroken behind the counter.” Her raised chin pointed towards the small table. “I see you found my stash.”

Cheddar pointed at O’Leary.

O’Leary snarled, but Terri wasn’t sure if it was at Cheddar or the bag of chips he’d pulled from the pile. “Oh. Hey Terri, glad you didn’t get eaten. Ketchup?”

Terri nodded.

“Yeah. O’Leary…” Asher scratched a finger behind his ear. “…remembered?”

O’Leary shrugged, tossed the chips, and gave up on the few remaining items on the table. He adjusted his twig bandoleer and cracked open a can of fizzy pop he pulled from the central pocket of his olive half-zip hoodie. “Door numbered 127. I had to peek under it," he said, tapping his head.

Terri’s right eyebrow popped up as she snagged the chips from the air. “The hallway? The mental construct is still intact?” She walked to the table and sat in Asher’s seat. “Kiddo, grab another chair.” She popped open the bag. “Doors are still locked?”

“Yeah,” said O’Leary. “Any chance you have a master key?”

Terri sighed and shook her head. “Thought they destroyed it when they banished you.” She swung her gaze to Cheddar. “Well? Why wasn’t it destroyed?”

Asher pulled over a wooden stool next to Terri.

Cheddar was doing their best to study the table. “We, we, we already had him trapped; Banished. A, um, a friend asked me not to.” They fidgeted with a bone shaped charm strapped and buckled around their forearm. “So, I hid the device.”

Terri recognized a dog collar, but it was the first one she’d seen that wasn’t hanging from a howler’s corporeal neck. Friend? Finks worked together for Lady Wraith, but they didn’t have friends. Unless. Oh, she would have to reach out — Maybe? It could be a trap.

“Terri? You, okay?” said Asher.

“Cheddar tried selling me on that friend stuff, too.” O’Leary leaned forward, elbows causing the table legs opposite him to lift. “Finks, right? They don't have friends.”

“Fink?” Asher asked.

“Finder Keeper. It’s the faction that serves Lady Wraith,” said Terri.

“Oh, well like I told O'Leary I don't care who their boss is — they saved us.” Asher pointed between O’Leary and himself.

“I, I, I do to have a friend.” Cheddar’s lips were barely above the tabletop as they spoke to the fake plastic wood.

“Yeah, you do.” Asher reached over and laid a hand on their shoulder.

Cheddar let out a squeak and lifted their head enough to stare at Asher’s hand before closing their eyes and turning their head back towards the table. Terri thought she saw a droplet hit the top, but Cheddar quickly used their sleeve to wipe it away.

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“Thank you, Cheddar,” said Asher.

“You can’t be serious,” said O’Leary. “Asher, you don’t know…”

“… I know what I’ve seen. I know that without Cheddar, you and I would have cycled and Green ended.”

O’Leary was about to respond, but Terri held up her hand. “That’s enough.” She gave Cheddar an appraising up-down. A mystery? Sure, but not one she needed to solve right now. “Cheddar, can you confirm you mean no direct or indirect harm to any of us and will follow the rules of a guest while in my store?”

“That’s not need….”

Terri reached out and flicked Asher in the nose. “Shut it, Kiddo. You know very little about this world right now.” Terri pushed back her chair and walked around Asher to Cheddar, kneeling in front of them. “Look at me.”

Slowly, Cheddar looked up to meet her eyes. “Good. Cheddar, do you swear?” Terri could see streaks of moisture on their cheeks.

Cheddar nodded. “Uh-huh,” with a sniffle. "They said I should spy, but I don't think my friends would like it."

"What?" Asher and O'Leary said together.

"You were sent to spy?" asked Terri. "Because of what happened with Asher?"

Cheddar nodded. "But I won't; I promise. Not on a friend." They gave Asher a smile.

"Close your mouths," Terri said. Asher and O'Leary were sitting there with jaws dropped.

"Um... thanks, Cheddar," said Asher.

"Really! You have to be kidding me, eh?" O'Leary jumped up swinging his hands out to either side. "They just admitted..."

"Quiet and sit your butt down, Triskele." The phrase came so easy to her, like muscle memory. Terri turned back to Cheddar as O'Leary sulked back into his seat. “Including no activation of artifacts or communication with shades and other Finder Keepers while you are my guest?” She pointed at the shadesack resting against a table leg and glared, “Not again.”

Cheddar nodded again. “Yeh, yes, I'll use my own hands, not the arms.”

“Good.” Terri smiled with her eyes. “Cheddar, I offer you the protection as a guest of Shady Pawn.”

“I accept.” A grin so wide it caused Cheddar’s ears to twitch erupted on their face. “I’m a guest! I’ve never been a guest before.”

The others smiled, even O'Leary as he shook his head. Terri wanted to jump right back into the conversation about O’Leary and Cheddar’s motivations, but while important, they weren’t her priority — survival was. “Okay, Asher why don’t you start by telling me what happened, what you’ve learned, and introduce me to your new friend.” Terri pointed at Green, who'd hopped up to his lap during the conversation.

Terri was silent as Asher introduced the table to Green, recounted his time leading up to being pulled to the Belly, and then his adventure until they arrived here. O’Leary then jumped in with what happened to him.

“I did that?” asked Asher. “Like, I sent you here?”

O’Leary nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s what happened.”

“I’m sorry, man.” Asher reached down and gripped the table. Terri knew it helped keep his hands from shaking.

“Not your fault and I never for a second thought it was.”

Cheddar was wide-eyed as they watched the exchange, as if this type of interaction was completely new to them. “It, it, it wasn’t. You were fractured.”

“Fractured?”

“It’s rare,” said Terri. “I only know of a few it’s happened to, but it’s when you exist in both the Belly and Grayside simultaneously for a brief time. Your artifact… the thing that pulled you. The piece of scrap paper was most likely a grimoire page.”

Cheddar nodded.

“What I don’t understand is why that page, eh? If my brain is working, that was an Awaken spell, wasn’t it?” O’Leary shifted in his chair. “Don’t know why that’s such a big deal but feels like it is.”

Cheddar nodded vigorously. “Yup.”

“Wasn’t that in a vault?” Terri thought Cheddar’s head might pop off as the affirmative nods reached new speeds. “Did your friend get them out?”

The nods stopped, and Cheddar wrung their hands together. “I shouldn’t say.” They were back to observing the fake wood grain of the plastic table.

“Helpful.” O’Leary sat back and took the finishing pull of soda from the can, before dropping it to the floor with a hollow rattle. “Wait.” He took in a deep breath through his nose. “Why was the artifact in a vault?”

“No. Wait. Back up.” Asher grit his teeth. “Why do I have an artifact? I swear I’ve never seen that scribbler before.”

O’Leary held up a finger. “Oh, I know that one.” He quirked his head to the side. “I think. Er. Maybe Terri should answer.”

“This must be frustrating.” She placed a hand over the one Asher rested on the table and watched as Green shifted gently on his lap. That was another thing. She had desperately wanted to jump in and ask questions about how he could both cast a spell as powerful as Awaken and be a binder who took a familiar but held off — Asher wouldn’t have an answer. He wasn’t ready for that yet, same with questions about the artifact or how it got out of the Maelstrom vault. “I’ll try to keep this simple.”

“I, I, I can try to explain.”

Cheddar spoke so quietly; Terri nearly missed it. “Sure, why don’t you explain to Asher the different ways of being pulled?”

“Okay!” The increase in volume and tone was enough to bend Terri away from the table, where the whisper had drawn her in. The unbroken Terri shade bounced off the magical wall, drawn by the sound, and Green startled awake on Asher’s lap.

O’Leary rested on his elbows, fingers working his temples, “Some of us don’t need another reason for a headache, eh?”

“Be nice.” Asher gave O'Leary a slight shove of the shoulder and pet Green back into loaf position.

"Sure, I'll be nice to the admitted enemy spy."

"You'll be nice to a guest," said Terri.

“Okay,” Cheddar said again, but at a normal volume. “You can get served from the Kitchen in two different ways. Either by misfortune or by design.”

“Served is Fink for pulled,” said O’Leary. “In case you needed help.” He used the opportunity to give Asher a return shove.

“Yup, figured that one out.”

“Right, pulled. Pulllled.” Cheddar tested the word a few times. “Everyone has an artifact, um, something from before….”

“Before what?”

Cheddar paused and looked over at Terri.

“This,” said Terri. “Before the world split into Belly and Grayside.”

“When was that?”

Terri was about to respond, but she noticed Asher had his head tilted down towards the bunny. They were talking. O’Leary nodded to her questioning glance, so there was a full bond. She looked over at Cheddar, who stared at the pair with wide eyes.

“They won’t be able to hear what Green says,” O’Leary chimed in, “neither of them is a tree caster.”

“Oh,” Asher looked around. “Sorry, he was telling me that no one really knew because of how time worked here.”

Terri nodded. A binder and a shade mage, the shadows keep piling up around her nephew.

“So, Dad, Ben, and Miri were all pulled by misfortune? Right?” Green shifted under Asher’s hand as his pets intensified.

Terri nodded. “Becca, now. Ben took their true form when they crossed from Grayside.”

“They did,” said Cheddar excitedly. “They fake died.”

“Didn’t feel fake,” said O’Leary. “How ‘bout you dial down the glib, eh?”

“It’s alright,” Asher adjusted on his stool. “So, why were they pulled that way? Why don’t they have shades?”

Terri sighed, “Wish I had an answer. Truth is, that’s one of the shadows.”

“Mysteries of shade magic,” said O’Leary. “That’s what she means by shadows.”

"Okay, so what does cycle actually mean? I think I figured it out, from what I've seen and what Green has told me, but I think I need someone to say it." Asher slid a chunk of chocolate bar into his mouth.

"Normally, someone who cycles crosses Grayside and plays out whatever role Lady Wraith assigns them. Most often the scenario in City shifts and they are seamlessly added back in. After a time, they get pulled back into the Belly without memories of their previous time here; they become fledglings again."

"The Cycle of Devouring," added Cheddar with a whisper.

"So, they become a shade?"

Terri nodded.

"But what about if they don't have shades; like, Dad, Miri, and um... Becca?"

Terri let out a sigh, reached out and put her hand on Asher's. "They end, kiddo. They die."

Asher let out a held breath and for a time the only sound around the table was when a wrapper crinkled, or chip crunched.

Terri pushed back from the table and stood. “That’s enough for now. We have limited supplies, and you’ll need some strength for what comes next.”

Asher raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Ready to see if you have some enchanting skills like Hyrum and Miranda? Let’s enchant that old bat.”

"Yeah, but um, got any spare clothing, first?"