[Player Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Jared Caliber]

[Level: 2]

Why had he done that? There was no reason for him to just confess to everything, even if he had lost all his strengths and had no hope of regaining it all. But it was out. The secrets and the deceit and his wiry manipulations. All out, and… it did not go well.

Better than expected, sure, but not good in any sense of the word. Which raised the question…

“Why are you letting me wander around?” He asked, strapping on his braces onto his legs and rolling his pant legs down, “This seems very counterintuitive.”

“Save your misdirection. You are acting as our guide.” Lucky replied, smoothing her hand over a portion of the thick rubber tires she had fashioned for her wheelchair. When she turned the wheels this time, there was no screeching from the bare metal.

“Glad you got the wheels finished.” He nodded to her, reaching behind his head to gingerly poke the part of his head that still felt a little tender, “And what misdirection? I’m asking a real question here. Asad’s twenty times the navigator I am.”

“I’m coming too, just so you know.” Asad informed him, rattling his bangles, “But… I think I deserve a break from overstretching my powers, don’t you think?”

He said it with an air of nonchalance, but Jared understood what he was trying to play off as normal was a symptom of Asad’s waning powers. If it had gotten this bad and he still wasn’t fessing up, then that meant he was never going to.

Yet another secret for them to add onto the pile. Another piece of firewood to feed the blaze that was [Party(Main)].

Jared could exploit that. Take him to the corner and give a thinly veiled threat or too. Fear was a great method of control, even without a magical Item to facilitate him. But he was under too much supervision. He’d never get away with it. No, best to let it fester, and have Asadullah build his own hell brick by brick.

“Right, right, rest up, buddy. Hope you get your spirits up when we have to fight.” Jared reached forward to pat him on the shoulder. Asadullah pulled himself away unsubtly. Deserved, really.

“Off we go, then?” Terry suggested, scratching at his forearm where his glove ended, “Finding the last humans alive? A good old adventure to test our bond?”

Those tended to put a strain on relations and make things worse, in his opinion, but whatever kept him on the good side and not given the Burks treatment. Asadullah and Tench nodded, climbing up the ladder to the exit.

Lucky grimaced, “I may have made a grievous miscalculation.” She noted, looking up the sheer rock cliff. A moment later, she began fiddling with the joysticks on her chair, bringing her metal arms to life.

“I believe that I can maneuver this, give me a few seconds…” She grunted, doing a little hop and stabbing her pincers deep into the wall, “It was much easier when I had all my legs on me…” She grumbled to herself as she pulled herself up to the surface, “There! Now you, Jared.”

“Actually, I need a word with him.” Verity interrupted, her hand a vice grip on Jared’s shoulder, “Privately.” There was a bite to how she said it, a threat lingering in the air. Jared gulped.

Ben frowned, “Keep your head, Vera.” She warned, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave you with him.”

“Wouldn’t want you both to kill each other.” Michael muttered, still bitter. He had never thought to consider the effect this feud would have had on Michael. Nothing they could do about it now, as Verity seemed least interested in smoothing out any ruffled feathers.

Instead, she just tugged Jared close, breath heavy on his face, “You are such a little asshole.” She snarled, “I hate you. Now, what was Eleanor like? How did I really get to Wayside?”

Jared stared at her, trying to recall. He’d been a kid back then, very young, but his mind hadn’t been messed with like hers had been with.

“You showed up one day.” He told her honestly, “In the countryside. And you killed my brother’s cat.”

“I don’t remember that…” Verity frowned, “But I guess I don’t remember a lot. Will you tell me more? When you get back? I can’t… I’m trying to lay off the violence. Unless I can be sure I won’t go Harbinger on the team.”

“You’ll get there eventually.” He assured her, “I’ll try to figure something out…”

“Don’t fucking help me.” She snapped, still smiling. Her eyes flashed red for a second, but her squinting worked well to hide them.

“Right. See you then.” It was an odd feeling, walking out into the sandy wastes while Verity stayed behind. It was usually the other way around. And there wasn’t any ocean separating the wastes. But those days were long gone, and the status quo had been irreparably changed.

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He wished that it hadn’t. Walking was a lot of trouble. Swimming was even worse. Combined together, it felt like death. Even crossing two islets, and he was ready to drop.

“Kill me…” He groaned, slumped over one of his crutches.

“Are you being sarcastic?” Tench asked, standing over him, “Because we can stop if it’s too bad-”

“Nope!” He straightened up, giving his leg a little shake, “Let’s hit the- oh, God, more unsteady rocks.” He groaned, eyes landing on the path in front of them. Why was it always unsteady rocks?

----------------------------------------

Somehow, through hell and high water, emphasis on water, they stumbled onto the islet where they had found the plaque. Jared clicked his tongue and made a beeline for where the plaque was. One swipe of his crutches and the sandstone was exposed, along with its inscription.

“‘We Still Live.’” Tench repeated, leaning down to read it, “Funny how they had the time to put in the period. You reckon they’re underground like us?”

“That’s the idea.” Terry agreed, “We check the edge, Lucky and Jared check the plants for any disguised chimneys?”

They all nodded in agreement and went off in separate directions. Tench went underwater, as did Terry, and with much suspicious glancing, Asadullah. Until it was only Lucky and him left. They split up from there, searching as far away from each other as possible.

Before he even reached the roots of the closest tree, he caught sight of a pair of bright, gleaming eyes peering out from between the leaves of a fern.

It was a human. He’d been getting lucky recently.

“That… plant is not meant to be in such an environment.” He choked out, “Terrible planning.”

The eyes squinted into a glare, “Yeah they are.” A sharp, high-pitched voice that came from the same general direction of the eyes insisted, “Shows what you know, smarty pants.” It was soft whisper, not loud enough for even Lucky to be alerted.

“Oh, jeez.” He laughed, crouching down to get a better look at this small kid, “Breaking out the major insults, are we? Come out so I can get a look at you. We’re one in the same, I think. Or at least you are, if I’m on the right track.”

The eyes squeezed into a smile, and the fern leaves were thrown to the side in excitement as a preteen girl jumped out, hopping excitedly around him, “Are you really like us? Like, like us?”

“Uh, depends. What do you mean by that?” He asked, not ready to admit to anything that might be provably false.

The girl laughed, “You’re funny. How could you not know whether you’re a Gamer?”

Jared stared at her, all four feet ten inches of beanstalk girl. It didn’t make sense. How the hell was she a… Gamer? Wait, that wasn’t the right word.

“Don’t you mean Player?” He asked.

“Nope!” She replied, holding up a glove lined with glass screens and buttons, “This is a clearly a Console, and we’re in a Game, so we’re meant to be Gamers. You call them Players where you’re from? Funny!”

Not funny. The rules were changing again, and it wasn’t funny at all.

“What the hell? Where did you come from?” Lucky’s voice broke out from behind him, her wheels skidding as she rushed over, “Everyone, the situation has changed remarkably!” She called over the edge of the islet.

The tips of Asadullah’s furry ears came into view not moments later, as he dragged himself up to look at the scene in front of him. “Oh, God, there’s a girl here now. Where did you pull her from?”

“You wound me; this wasn’t a kidnapping!” Jared facepalmed.

“Oh, wow, a sentient cat-human hybrid.” She squealed, bounding up to him as he pulled himself out from the ocean, shaking off all the water clinging to him, “Which loot box did you unlock that from?”

“Uh… none? A team of magicians did it?” Asadullah replied, looking thoroughly intimidated by the girl leaning into his personal space way more than was necessary. Then he frowned for a second, “Hey, hold on, I’m not a cat-human hybrid. If anything, I’m a djinn hybrid, and even that is inaccurate- oh, never mind. Who are you?”

“Seconded.” Terry agreed, doing a lap around the islet to grab onto a more climbable part of the shore than the sheer ledge Asadullah had pulled himself onto. Tench followed him not a moment later.

The girl barely spared him a glance as she moved backwards, hopping onto a rock and giving a short bow, “Hi! I’m Linda! I’m a Gamer, just like you!”

“Don’t you mean Player?” Tench asked, confused.

“No, I don’t, stop asking that. There’s so much more exciting things to talk about, and it’s really annoying that you keep going back on that all the time.”

“Right, right, of course.” Jared soothed her, “Well, Linda, how old are you?”

“Uhm, let’s see here…” She paused a moment to think to herself, tapping her chin before brightening up, “I’m eleven! Going to turn twelve on the third day after the moon vanishes.”

These humans may have gotten their hands on Consoles, but it seemed that they had lost the ability to track time using regular calendars. It made sense, since he didn’t remember there being a clock on the Console they had either. It was the difficulty they had in tracking time which had been a major stressor back in Hygeia, if he remembered right.

They couldn’t have a repeat of Hygiea. It simply wasn’t on the books for them. And where there were people, no matter how much they presented themselves as being ‘in the know’, it didn’t stop the fact that they could easily be Mobs, empty set pieces to lull them into complacency, while a steel trap shut around them.

It was hard. But it was also the truth. He had to grit his teeth and steel his heart, even as Linda fawned over Terry’s fungus-covered hand.

“What do your Consoles look like, if they aren’t glove-screens?” She was asking, “Because you really can’t operate glove-screens like this.”

“It’s well, it’s…” Terry struggled to explain, though whether because he was edging towards a silent spell, or because he didn’t know how to explain it, it wasn’t clear. “It’s a laptop.”

“What’s that?” She asked, all wide-eyed inquisitiveness.

“None of your business.” Jared said, as cooly as he could manage, “And if you can’t get us an audience with your Party, then I really think that it is time you go home, Linda. We don’t have time for this.”

“Tact.” Terry signed sharply at him.

Tench whispered, “Let her ask her questions, J. She’s just curious, is all. Bet we’re the first people outside of her Party she’s ever met.”

“Not true!!!” Linda pouted, “I’ve met plenty of people outside of [Party(Duplo)]. Through the image screens. You’re just the first ones face to face. But the others have hung out with loads of people!”

“We sure have, honey.” A fuller, sweet voice agreed from behind her as the ferns Linda had emerged from began to rustle again, “Which means we know a rat when we smell it. And that boy is all rat.”

[Player Log End!]