Chapter 29: Beauty
Time left until monsters respawn: 2 hours, 41 minutes.
We entered the beauty department and immediately I realized where we went wrong. “Oh,” I said, holding up a compact from the makeup display. “If we came through here first we'd have powder to throw at the invisible creatures.
“Oh,” says Jose. “Pocket some in case they come back.”
“Good idea,” I say, and pick up the powder box I'd already spitefully smashed on the floor.
The beauty department itself has two exits. The one we came from, to the seasonal section, and the other goes back to the drugs and pharmacy area. The beauty section itself is pretty straightforward. There are dozens of low shelves we can easily see over. There are mirrors standing upright at the end of each shelf. The whole area is maybe 30 feet by 30 feet.
There's just one enemy in the beauty department. But it's not good. The “enemy” is our coworker, Rebecca, who seems dead, judging from the blood dripping down her neck. The blood originated from a harlequin mask she's wearing. She moves like a puppet on strings. The mask, in a creepy imitation of Rebecca, says “How about a new face?”
It's the kind of thing that Doctor Who would have to run from for 40 minutes straight. Jose puts two bullets into its mask and we keep moving.
At the far side of beauty we see the way down. It's a long, serpentine ramp fit for those wheelchair (or maybe walker) bound. Or for kids with skateboards who want to do sick tricks.
We look down into the next area which gives us pause. The next area is the 1st floor. The way home. The way out. But the first thing we see down there is a whole-ass glacier.
“It's 9:05,” I say. “Let's get everyone else to this point, then proceed. I don't want to get caught in a situation where we clear the path but nobody can get out in time.”
“Makes sense,” Jose says.
“Also, Mercy and I aren't even dating.”
“What?” Jose raises an eyebrow at me.
“Like I said, I get this weird feeling in my gut when I make eye contact with her. It's not natural.”
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“Okay,” he says, clearly not knowing what I'm on about.
We walk back through the seasonal department.
“Like, I have to keep telling waiters at restaurants that we're not together.”
Jose asks, “why would they think that?” He seems genuinely confused.
“Oh, because we get dinner once or twice a week.” We move into the darkened backroom on the third floor.
“Hold on,” he stops, so I turn on Yellow Light to see him. “You're dating her.”
“No, we just get dinner as friends. You know I hate to eat out alone.” I shake my head at his disbelief. This is totally obvious to me.
“How long have you not dated her?”
“Like six months?”
He goes very, unnervingly quiet and keeps moving. We get down into the rat swarm hallway. Jose asks, “Hey Jun, quick question.”
“Shoot.”
“You ever been in love before?”
I think about it. “No. I dated but never had that feeling, you know? I think it's just something that I don't do.”
He asks “What's your Wisdom stat?”
I have to check so I close the eyepatch. Oh I've gained 3 levels. Neat. “My Wisdom is 5. A little low.”
“Average is 10.” Jose says. “You are half as wise as the average human.”
“Well when you say it like that it sounds bad.”
“Okay, so I need you to raise that number.”
I sigh. “Okay but I need a minute to plan out my path. I have 3 levels to play with.”
“Damn, I only got 1. But okay.”
With that I take a breather and figure out how exactly I'm going to turn my mess of a build into something actually useful.
My main strength right now is flexibility. I can do a bit of everything but nothing particularly well. My good stats are Dexterity (49), Agility (29), Intelligence (36) and Reflexes (43). I've got 10 Ki and Arcana points so I can carry on with either of those paths without much difficulty.
I poke around at the classes I don't have access to and learn something interesting. 1st Step classes have a specific stat requirement of 10, 2nd requires two stats at 15, 3rd needs two specific stats at 30. To get a 4th step class you need two stats at 45 and one other at 30.
So, if I boost my Agility and Reflexes a bit I should unlock more classes. Okay let's do it. I level up Rake once. My stats rise and I have 3 free points left over so I improve my Wisdom to 8.
“Hey wait, Jose, do you think that maybe Mercy likes me?”
Jose holds his head as if he's got a splitting headache.
“Wait,” I say, coming to another realization. “I think that feeling in my stomach is that butterflies thing! People talk about love like that, don't they?”
Jose holds his hands over his mouth and screams. It sounds like a frustrated, annoyed scream. “A-am I wrong?” I ask.