While we walk, the squirming feeling in my chest just grows and grows. Clutter barely talks at all, and considering how chatty he normally is, something’s off. Maybe not wrong, per se, but definitely not normal. He quietly steps around other pedestrians, keeps as close to the walls as possible, and just… makes himself as small as possible.
A raucous group of heavily intoxicated people–humans and other species alike–burst out of an equally loud bar with laughter and annoyed yells on their heels. I grimace as some of them stumble against the wall, using it to keep themselves from tumbling over. Clutter–who is directly in their path–just makes a weak whimper as they approach.
I step in and place a shield along the wall and around us, creating a secondary outer barrier for the drunks to fumble along. He looks down at his feet, his tail completely immoble, and winces as they walk by. Not a single one of them even registers that we’re here. But Clutter–he’s acting like they’re going to beat him up just for being in their way.
“Something happened. And I know Dell has something to do with it.” I state. Clutter somehow leans over even further, his shoulders sagging like wet cardboard. “If it has something to do with me, we can terminate this agreement the second we find the quest.”
He straightens all at once, like someone just skewered him from head-to-toe with an electrified pole. “No! It has absolutely nothing to do with anything you said, did, or… are!” He says quickly, and… with a little desperation. “It’s just… I… you… I’m starting to think things that I’m not sure I should be thinking.”
“Things you shouldn’t be thinking.” I dispel my shield and nudge him onward. “Are they things that involve me, or that you can tell me about?”
“I… um… technically, no.” He starts moving again with slow, plodding steps. “You might’ve set a few of those thoughts in motion, but you aren’t really the focus of any of them. Because I am. And I don’t even know if these thoughts are good for me, bad for me, or just… nothing at all.”
He trails off into silence, and the din of the crowd around us slowly closes in until I can barely make out any other sounds. Even though it’s only a little past noon, the streets seem much darker and unbelievably dangerous knowing that the masked attackers could’ve already sold my info to any number of people by now. I reach to put my hands in my pockets, only to feel them brush against smooth fabric without so much as a wrinkle.
I hiss in annoyance, then chide myself for being annoyed. This is not the thing I need to be worried about right now–Clutter’s acting weird, every shadow could be concealing a dagger, and we’re on a strict time limit with an unknown amount of progress. If Clutter doesn’t want to talk about it, I don’t know if I should push him for the truth or to let him stew–I’ve never really been in this situation before.
“So… well… you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.” I decide as I say it and pat Clutter on the shoulder. “You’re obviously working through some things, and I’m right here if you want another perspective on ‘em. But if you don’t, then I kind of need you to focus on the quest. I know that makes me sound like an asshole.”
He looks over at me with a frown when I don’t say anything else. “Aren’t you supposed to put another ‘but’ after that last sentence?”
I shake my head. “Nope; I’m just being an asshole here. Please lead the way to the jewelry shop. You can make your choice while I’m inside.”
Suddenly, the stones under his feet seem very interesting to Clutter. “Make my choice. But what if I don’t know what I want to choose?”
“Well, if you knew what you wanted to choose, it wouldn’t really be a choice in the first place.” I nudge him with my elbow and offer him a toothy smile. “C’mon, let’s get this over with. Then you can go do whatever you want until tomorrow, and I’ll go talk with Dizzy and Nib on my own.”
“No, I still want to be a part of this.” He insists. “It’s just… other things are weird. I… um… well… Dell bit me.”
“…What?”
He motions at the mark on his face that was still there after he took a shower. The same one that she kissed over again, and that he hasn’t wiped off.
“When we were… um… you know…” He trails off with a blush and looks away. “She bit me. Hard enough to leave a bruise. I told her a bunch that I don’t like getting hurt, and that I especially don’t like… um… intimate pain, but she just… told me to get over it. And that really, really hurt; more than just being bit.”
I’ll be honest; I was expecting some kind of human supremacy thing from how Preservation minded Dell is. Definitely not ignoring boundaries in the bedroom. And since I’m not exactly the czar of sex, I don’t really know how to comfort him.
“That’s just wrong. If anyone ignores what you say when you’re at your most intimate, that’s just so icky. Anyone with a brain knows that that’s how trust dies.” Pearl huffs. “Tell him that if she doesn’t respect his boundaries, especially if he says it multiple times, that needs a really big talk to clear things up.”
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“You… really need to tell her that.” I say, completely butchering Pearl’s sentiment. “It’s kind of a dick move to ignore what you’re comfortable with.”
He nods sadly. “I know. And we talk, and she says she knows, and then she’s nice for a little bit… like, she didn’t do it for two weeks until today. But when we talked afterwards, she said I was blowing things out of proportion. That it isn’t a big deal, since I heal faster thanks to my Body stat. And she said… no, sorry, nevermind. I’m blowing it out of proportion, just like she said.”
“Clutter, no.” I lean in and wrap an arm around his shoulders. “You deserve to be comfortable. When we get back from the quest, I’ll help you talk to Dell.”
He snaps to me, horrified. “No! That’d just make it worse. I… I can do it on my own. I have to do it on my own. Look; we’re here. Up there, that store at the end of the street with the sign that’s super intricate? That’s the jewelry store. I’ll be back when you message me!”
Clutter squirms out of my half-hug, sprints through the crowd of disturbed people, and disappears. My awareness tracks him until the end of my range, and Pearl shakes her head with worry for a few seconds longer. There’s definitely more that Clutter’s not telling me; especially if everything he just said is what he feels safe to talk about.
“Illumisia.” I whisper.
She sprints after Clutter before I say anything. “I will report if anything horrible happens. When do you want me to interfere?”
“Before he gets badly hurt. But even then, try to run–we don’t want to cause a scene.” I say, then turn back to the street. “Thanks, Illumisa.”
“Think nothing of it.”
I take a deep breath to steady myself and push down all the discomfort I feel at imagining what else Clutter isn’t telling me about Dell. My heart beats loud in my ears, even though I haven’t done anything that justifies it, and I call on my Class Card to summon my mask. It appears in my hand, and I bring it up to my face, blacking everything out and leaving me with a world of outlines.
Last lead, here I come.
The magic of the mask works just as well as I expected it to. People around me who raised eyebrows or made note of the piece of stone in my hand flinch ever so slightly, then go back to exactly whatever they were doing before I took it out. I stand around for a few seconds, just to make sure there wasn’t anyone like Ursula or March who could see me through the mask, and when it doesn’t look like there’s anyone, I start to walk.
Using the images of the people I witnessed while escorting Dora and Gisela, I try to put on the same haughty, self-confident airs that those rich people had. I straighten my back, set my stride to exactly the most comfortable speed for me–regardless of how fast everyone else is moving–and do my best to completely ignore everyone around me.
After about ten seconds of that, I loosen my shoulders a little and sigh. It’s way too much work to bother. Just the clothes and the mask will have to do, and I should be able to fake the right brand of confidence. The sign Cllutter pointed out stands strong against the slight wind, ornate filigree and an inlay of different metal than most of it spelling out ‘Centercasm’. No idea if that’s a brand name or the store itself, but a really rich person wouldn't care–they’d walk in there, buy whatever they liked the look of, and ask as few questions as possible.
At least, that’s how I assume it’d work. Can’t really imagine Noland of all people doing it, but then again, I haven’t seen him actually buy anything.
I shake my head and chuckle to myself as I pull open the door. A sea of new outlines shoots up like a poorly optimized game loading in a little too slowly–which, I guess, is a complement to whoever made the door. It being perfectly airtight is kind of amazing. I walk right into the place, ignoring the other three customers who are currently talking to the only clerk working at the moment.
As I stare at a glass case open on the far side filled with jewelry, I realize that I really should’ve asked Clutter for more details. Getting all the info I need on my own is not going to be an easy task. I pull out my Class Card and start typing out a message while pretending to peruse the cases, then slow to a halt as I feel something very faint–but very familiar.
In one of the cases, right between the clerk and… their… customers, is a necklace with a pendant that feels exactly like the plasticy stuff. To either side of it are a half dozen rings made with the stuff as well, but the plastic inside of them is barely recognizable from the magic rolling off of it. Those must be the stones Clutter got info on.
I finish typing my message, then send my Class Card with a flick of my wrist. I’d come here completely ready to go on a wild goose chase trying to find who bought the jewelry, but now that I’m here, I’m faced with another problem altogether; anyone can buy this stuff. Compared to how magical a bunch of the other stuff in this place is, it’s probably of middling cost, too. Meaning there could be dozens of those rings scattered about Palastia.
The real problem is that my skill thinks this place is just as likely to lead us to the quest as the graveyard was. That place gave us the Marywell Den bauble. So this place has to give me something that’s–if I’m interpreting my skill’s message right–exactly as likely to lead us to the quest as the bauble is.
“Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?” A peppy, almost squeaky voice comes from just below my elbow. I blink and look down at the small Paindne standing next to me with her hands clasped behind her back. “My daddy runs this store, and I know everything we’ve got for sale! Maker, stone, purity–whatever you need, I can show you!”
I tilt my head to the side at the sight of this… child? “How old are you?”
She taps her chin thoughtfully. “Umm… are you from here, or are you human? Oh, wait, daddy said I can’t ask masked customers that. I’m ___________ if you’re from here, or twelve if you’re from Earth!”
“Ah. Is that old enough to be working?” I ask with a glance at the three customers and the clerk. Either that’s her dad, or her dad owns the place.
“My name’s Clamber, and yes, I am!” She says proudly. “I just got my jeweler’s license three months ago! And soon enough, I’ll be able to try and get a Class to help me out! So, can I help you, or do you already know what you want?”