Death Arrangements

Chapter 68

The day after my conversation with Elim, I wondered if he'd made up his mind about Tiller. I'd tried to be cool about it at the time, but I was veeerrry curious about this mystery lady. I was also sincerely hoping she'd be okay with what was going on. I'd feel bad if she bolted because it was too much. But I also wouldn't be able to blame her.

Instead of being a busybody, I got to work. I'd initially started with human skeletons, but I'd started buying halflings a while back and had a fairly large group now. I could have technically started adding in dwarves, too, but I wanted to get the halflings settled in first, and there were still issues with their living arrangements.

As such, I was in my giant new build lab playing with layouts across several mock-ups. Seven of the eight halflings I'd summoned thus far were currently looking them over. I'd started them in smaller but still human-styled crypts, which were like apartments. They had quickly expressed discomfort with that arrangement.

"Mistress… Do we have to live alone?" Perorin Shimmermoon Phalange asked. She was the second halfling I'd summoned and a rogue. She'd also been the most outspoken on the subject of names, having me go through eight first and three middles before we settled on it. Honestly, I liked her quite a bit because of that.

"What? No, you guys can pair up however you like," I said offhandedly. I only had half my attention on the group while I was doodling alternative layouts. Nothing seemed to be striking their fancy so far. A beat late, I realized that probably warranted something a little more in-depth explanation-wise.

"I want everyone to be comfortable. So you can feel free to experiment and try different living arrangements whenever you like," I explained. My words were punctuated by a thud and the dry rattle of bones as something landed beside me. I jumped away in surprise.

"Does that apply to choosing not to live with our own kind?" Icarus asked. He'd been the missing eighth of the eight halflings.

"Fucking hell, Icarus!" I said but couldn't help laughing after. I'd wondered where he'd gotten off to, and it seemed like he'd been exploring the prototypes for the town project, currently on hold.

Icarus looked at me expectantly. As if he hadn't just jumped out of a second-story window ever so casually. Humans commonly used stairs and doors, but Halflings had as much respect for those as Chris did for manners.

Their racial description declared halflings as naturally acrobatic. I couldn't really hold it against them if they took it to eleven now that they were free of the mortal coil.

"Alright. Yes, to answer your question. You can live on your own or with whoever you like. Stuff like that is up to you, and I'm not going to police it," I said after regaining my composure. Icarus nodded thoughtfully then took off running.

"I think he likes 'em tall, Mistress," Perorin said archly, which wrung a giggle from her cohort.

"Likes…" I caught on just before I asked a really dumb question. Icarus ran back toward the necropolis where there were only humans. Right after asking if he could live with someone not of his species. What was going on was not rocket surgery, no matter how slow I was.

"As long as the other party agrees, it's none of my business," I said flatly. This fell into that category of things that were 300% none of my business. What the hell they would even get up to if they did live together was filed similarly.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I was about to try and change topics but paused. As uncomfortable as talking about it made me, it was necessary. I needed to be clear on what I meant.

"To be frank, I don't care about anything that happens between consenting sapient beings. Gender, species, the number of partners, none of that is my business," I said bluntly. I'd have to send a text out about it later, but hopefully it was enough of an explanation for now.

"Wait, so you don't care if we live in groups?" Zorich Amber Clavicle asked.

"Like I said, it's up to you guys what you do. And I mean platonically or otherwise," I clarified. The halflings all looked at me suspiciously then started talking amongst themselves.

I waited, curious what was going on since it seemed like a very intense discussion. They were at it for a solid ten minutes before they finally looked back at me. Finally, Perorin stepped forward as the spokesperson.

"We have some requests," Perorin said resolutely.

It took two hours, but finally, a design of sorts was agreed upon. Sleeping chambers with capsule hotel-style crypts in groups of two or four would connect to a shared room. That room would connect with a larger common room that served three such setups.

I called it the cluster and branch style in my head. There was a kind of fractal aspect to the design. Or at least there would be if it got big enough.

Right now, there weren't enough halflings to fill up even one section of it, but I still constructed a complete set of three branching clusters. Not because it would be needed soon due to numbers. The issue was a need for space so they could work out their social arrangements.

Apparently, these halflings all embraced a kind of semi-fluid poly grouping. Being used to halflings as simple country folk with associated quaintness, I really didn't know how to process that. So I filed it in the shrug pile of things to worry about never.

Based on what I'd learned, I did need to consider getting more of them than I strictly needed. The humans seemed to be doing fine, but I was getting a distinct impression that halflings needed a higher population density to be comfortable.

It was less of an issue than a decision, however. I could do it easily enough. I just needed to make up my mind and decide if I'd put off onboarding the next species or do it simultaneously.

For the moment, though, I should finish the task in front of me. I could worry about how many halflings I would be housing after I had some accommodations for them.

"Is this alright? We can do aesthetics now or after you guys settle in," I asked.

"After we settle in," Perorin ventured after another group discussion. It was kind of nice to see the halflings actually taking an interest and talking to each other about things. Unfortunately, the humans rarely gave me any sort of feedback. Aside from a few notable exceptions, anyway.

"Alright, I'll mock up a new test set using the design we agreed on. Then, once you guys feel comfortable with the dimensions, I'll add it to the necropolis," I explained happily.

"Can we explore the other buildings while you do?" Zorich asked. I nodded, and the group went bounding off to explore the house and store I'd been experimenting with. It was fun to watch them excitedly clamber in through a window as if there wasn't a door.

The final version was approved after some adjustments. With one task down, I crossed into my chamber of machinations. Henry would be dropping by to show me some of the work he'd been doing with raid league team tabards.

I could tell the skeletons apart through arcane means most of the time. It just got hard to keep who was who straight when they were fighting, especially if they were of the same class and wore similar gear. A problem the skeletons apparently suffered as well.

Bouncing around in my chamber of machinations, I wondered if I'd designed it a little plain. It was mostly a workroom like the build lab with the addition of a couch. It felt a little like I was working out of a studio apartment, guests being made to sit on the futon in the least professional of arrangements. Not that I slept.

A chime sounded, and I snapped out of my musings instantly. I felt like I had heard it somewhere but couldn't place it.

One that filled me with a much more familiar roiling dread.

[Hostile Party Detected]

The system alert informed me, harkening back to the tutorial. A party of adventurers was tip-tap-tapping at my door.