Erifis
I felt a bit upset today, Thomas had been increasingly joking as of the last few days, which was the day when the journalists made their attempt on the Dungeon. It started off as just references to things from his previous life in another plane, but I'm worried I might be working for an evil entity with all the wicked sounding laughter he's been doing recently. He apparently has a new goal, where the motivation came from I'm not sure, but when I asked him what his plans were the other night he responded with another of those references. "The same thing we do every night Pinky - Try to take over the World!!!" Then he cackled like a power mad wizard and flew down through the floor of my house and into his Dungeon.
When he saw me this morning with the look of worry on my face he explained that a cartoon from his previous life had two mice, Pinky and Brain, and while Pinky wasn't as intelligent as Brain was, Pinky was strong and kept Brain in line, and focused on his goals. That Brain would come up with hair-brained schemes to take over the world, and Pinky would save him and keep it "Pg-13" whatever that is.
He went on and explained that cartoons are like comics, but the pictures moved, and I didn't know what those were either. Then on the wall of my house appeared a white mouse with a fat head and red eyes, with a bubble coming out of his mouth. Text appeared inside the bubble, reading "Let's take over the world!!" Then a thinner taller mouse appeared facing the big headed one, and in her bubble it said, "SNARF" I asked what that meant, and got no response. Then something grabbed his attention and back down through the floor he went. Sometimes I enjoy being here and working with Thomas, other times the careless way he acts and the comments he says makes me feel like he doesn't think before talking much.
I was upset at first when he described the duo of mice. It made me feel targeted like some inferior being, and to a Dungeon Core I suppose all life is an inferior being, but when he spoke of Pinky and how Pinky would help Brain by keeping him out of trouble, and keeping him grounded - it was obvious Thomas had more respect for Pinky than Brain. I just wish Thomas would use the door to my House, instead of rising from the floor and sinking through the floor, or phasing through the walls. Whatever happened to the person that knocked on the door and waited patiently? Well now I have a portrait of mice in my house, if all else fails I'm pretty sure it's made out of gold, rubies, and diamond. Maybe I can sell it and buy a house away from the strange new madness Thomas has been taken over with.
No, Thomas isn't a bad soul, very strange, and very lonely yes, but he's definitely more like a caring parent, rather than a corrupt ruler. Watching over everyone and making sure they're safe and having fun. If he really wants to take over the world, chances are it will be for the better, no more servitude, no more crime, no more hunger.
I'd love for the world to be just like this Island. I just wish he would slow down some and relax, think things out more, and explain what he needs to. If he wants my opinion on something instead of just making a reference I don't understand and fucking off to the interior of the Dungeon. I'd like to be treated as a partner and not as an employee. The thought of how to bring that up though is one of the many reasons I'm sitting inside my house, with the door locked in a mood. Another reason is that Jewel and her family are moving to the Island and due to arrive today, which means more housing and asking Thomas to build a Mage Guild. I'm excited to see her and I look forward to seeing how much the little ones have grown in the last three years, but they have a higher nobility; and I worry for them if they start treating people badly. The last thing that has me stressed out is that there has been an unending stream of people knocking on my door to ask about the strange locks on their doors.
I've also had five reports that people have leveled from just leaving their house multiple times a day. One of which claimed that every time he left his house and went back in, the lock was different, and the night after the the new locks went into action he gained seventeen levels in Locksmithing. I didn't even know that was a class, more over seventeen levels is outrageous since that is years of effort and practice, or performing a task with dire consequences for failure. Thomas hasn't responded to my requests to talk since this morning, but I'm worried about what his punishment would have been if the man hadn't been able to figure out the lock, to be able to influence such astounding growth.
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I take another deep breath and let out a sigh, I'm sure if Thomas applied a punishment it would probably be a childish jest, maybe involving the ocean or just leaving the man to sleep outside for the day. Typically the punishments are the same as the crimes - I still laugh when I think about the human man that went around town throwing buckets of water on people for a day. He went home and got swept to the ocean when he opened his door by an impossible tide of water, he ended up with a few bruises but I think he got the idea since he hasn't tossed any water on people sin- my melancholic self musings interrupted by my door being blown off it's hinges, I swear to all the Gods Thomas!
As if Rael heard my inner thoughts, it isn't Thomas that appears in the entrance to my house, it's Jewel. I smile and greet her. Her kids Bella, and Ike follow behind her and ask if they can go explore, promising to behave. Before I can warn them about the laws here Jewel waves them off and they trip over themselves on the way out the door.
As I go to say as much to Jewel, she shushes me, "I know, we've already met him. He dunked Ike in the ocean for spitting on someone." I go to speak again, and am interrupted again, "It was a very deserving punishment and if he hadn't done it I would have smacked the little demon myself." I try one more time and get interrupted again. "It's good to see you too, yes we're aware of the laws and the enforcement, you can stop worrying about us before you go gray from the stress and I'd like to hear from you about how you've been, and what the Dungeon Core is like - from what I've heard, and read - there is a book out about you, you're doing much better for yourself."
Leave it to Jewel to know what I'm thinking and about to say. Up until Lord Ricard bought my debt I had been in her employ as a secretary at the Mages Guild. She was my only friend back then. I smile, I've got a few more friends now. "Well Thomas isn't technically a regular person, he got reincarnated to this world from a very different one with all of his memories intact."
"Not your boyfriend dear, I'll hear about him later, he sounds interesting, but I want to hear about the Reaper. I was in the crowd the day he invaded y'know, got to see you talking with him, I was there when that shitty human Lord got what he deserved, oh did he do it? Did he really reincarnate Lord Ricard as a rat?"
I'm sure my face is more red than the beautiful roses down in the park. I won't correct her I suppose, and I'm not adverse to the idea, if Thomas wasn't a rotting corpse, without the lower haalllff.... my ears feel really warm. "Err, yeah he did. I go tap on the wall of his cage every so often, it's at the bottom of the Spider Pit, he's alot less scary since he's only the size of my pinky finger but he very much still is the same Noble, he has the same death glare I tell you, the uhh... Reaper, smacked me once when I flicked him off the bars of his cage, said that it wasn't just and fair to torment a soul already being punished."
"Is that what this picture on your wall is of, the different lives of Ricard, with a quote from each one?"
"No, the Dungeon Core is a bit er, eccentric. He makes jokes, and wouldn't be out of place among Ike, he made a joke about wanting to take over the world and used one of the references I don't understand. He made the picture to explain it and then his attention went elsewhere and he left me with that on my wall. Knowing that you're here early he probably went to go punish Ike."
"Yeah, that sounds likely. Look on the bright side though Eri, that picture has more valuable metals and gems in it than my office at the old guild had." Her joke makes me laugh, it was probably the goal in the first place she's very observant but I want to try to catch her out once for a change. "I was about to go have tea and lunch in The Park, would you like to join me?" I'm bad at hiding my feelings and I'm sure she can tell there is more to my smile than just happiness to see her. But she agrees and I grab her sleeve before she can react and think about the Park in the Dungeon. Thomas explained that Dungeons operate on Will, I think he was more just talking to me about it to solidify it in his mind, but what I gathered from that conversation is that since Dungeons use Will, and I'm a "contracted Dungeon entity" I can use Will. It was my first attempt at teleportation, my fifth use of Will and it worked flawlessly. In the blink of an eye we went from my sitting room, straight into the Dungeon Park.
"See Jewel, I've learned some new skills too! Jewel? Jewel? Are you okay?" As if in response to my question she goes limp, falling to the soft grass floor in the park. I think she fainted. Oops....