Leo, though a dedicated student when not an overworked stock boy, wasn't familiar with the parable of the three blind men and the elephant, and he couldn't begin to guess at the point of such a story, or indeed that such a story would even have a point beyond mockery of the vision impaired, which he didn't go in for. As such, he didn't suspect that the others might receive similarly worded quests. Which is why he was surprised when Angie offered up a suggestion.
"Aisle Wanderers," Angie said, pumping a fist in the air while throwing open a cooler to pilfer some waffles. The restless cashier had as much awareness of the apocalypse unfolding around her as she had climate change and the race for AI supremacy, which is to say, she had no real idea what was happening, but that had never held her back before.
"I know that name," Phoebe said. "Where do I know that name from?" Her voice was quiet, and only the lack of other voices let her be heard."
Igor had opened his mouth to call Angie back to the group; he'd been watching her with increasingly insistent feelings of obligation as if an angry parrot stood on each shoulder shouting demands in his ear. Technically, Angie was on the clock, which made her his responsibility, or so his mental parrots sang. Before he could admonish Angie, however, her words brought him up short.
More accurately, it was the popup her words inspired that halted him mid-thought.
[Claim Reputation: 'Aisle Wanderers'?: ??? [7/10][5/10], ???[6/10][5/10], ???[2/10][3/10]]
"The Aisle Wanderers?" Leo said, liberally seasoning his words with skepticism. The name was hardly one to inspire respect, and he resigned himself to coming up with a name he wanted.
"I think we've used that name before," Phoebe said before Leo could offer up a cooler alternative like, but not too like, 'Grocer Gang' or 'Leo's Looters.' He wasn't necessarily planning to be criminal or violent, but he wanted anybody who was violent or criminal to hesitate. He opened his mouth to offer his own suggestion, but Igor spoke first.
"What do you mean we've used it before? Why do we already have reputations with that name?"
"look at your character sheet," Phoebe said, "toward the bottom, we've done this 449 times."
Unlike Leo, Phoebe was aware of the parable of the elephant and blind men, but it still hadn't occurred to her that her perspective was unique.
Name: Phoebe
Occupation:
Class: Fact Checker
Level: 3
HP: 10
AC: +0
Stamina: ?
Spirit: ?
Physical Stats:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 10
Mental Stats:
Intelligence:18
Wisdom:14
Charisma: 10
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Trauma:0
Abilities/Skills:
Mad Lib: Routine
A short mad-lib to remind you of what you forgot
Mnemonic:
Tree of Knowledge(Seedling(49.7%)
unlocked: Mad Lib:routine
Locked(Sapling):
Trivial Recall
Roots: Vortex Barrier
Stem: Time loop count: 449 loops
leaves(x2):
Self{->}
Others{->}
Self{Need, desire, reflection}
Others{thumbnail biography, possessions, strength/weaknesses}
Leo didn't have the value on his character sheet; instead, a count was displayed in the corner of his vision. "I think you're off a bit there. My count is closer to 600 some-odd days," he said with as much authority as a flat-Earther 'proving' their point to strangers on the internet using the bible while only knowing the one verse.
"What are you guys talking about?" Angie said, taking a bite of a frozen waffle.
"Is that good?" Leo asked, too curious to respond to her question.
"It could use syrup."
"I don't have anything like that," Igor said, looking through his sheet, actively pretending not to see Angie's rule-breaking.
"It's not in the character sheet; it's in your HUD," Leo said, accepting a frozen waffle from Angie's box.
"Uh, that's not where I have it," Phoebe argued.
"Have what?" Angie asked again.
"We're in a time loop?" Igor said uncertainly.
"We've looped more than 400 times," Phoebe clarified.
"Yeah, almost 700," Leo challenged.
"Okay, fine, somewhere between 400 and 700 time loops."
"Sweet, I always liked Bill Murray. I'm going to go toast some of these." Angie said, confident she'd figure it out if it was important.
"Angie, you can't just take store product." Igor finally said in exasperation. He didn't feel like it should need to be said, but she clearly wasn't respecting the usual boundaries.
"Well, take it from my check, or remind me sooner next time; this box is already half empty," she replied with an unconcerned shrug.
Igor's mouth gaped like a fish uninterested in discerning between food and hook.
"Seriously?" Leo said, "I thought you were quitting."
Phoebe slowly raised an eyebrow at Igor, making him cough self-consciously, "So, we're the 'Aisle Wanderers' then?"
"No," Leo said, "that's just one suggestion. We should take a vote."
"I think we already did," Phoebe responded.
[Claimed: 'Aisle Wanderers.' Positive reputation gained with three factions: ???, ???, and ???]