October 21st, 2023

7:10 PM EST

Alastar

It had been nearly an hour since he started putting things away and Alastar was ready to do what he loved, explore the intricacies of the collections without having to justify it.

It could be claimed that Alastar Astrea was underpaid for his job. It could be argued that he was underqualified, having only completed school up through the undergraduate level and not having gained graduate experience. It could even be claimed that his mental condition, though sane, was not one that was easily maneuvered to work towards steady academic pursuits, the exact description of his meticulous job.

Yet, he loved the company and the company loved him. This was because he spent a lot of time, paid overtime, working on studying and learning about where things were and how they were organized. Almost weekly he would bring a report to his supervisor describing where things were and asking the reasoning of that particular filing system. It wasn’t uncommon for him, having pointed out issues regarding conservation or simple organization, to be asked to move things around in the various rooms to the satisfaction of both him and his superior.

With a grin he opened the Wyrmwood Cabinet, staring at its contents. “These are special, aren't they?” He asked with a soft grin at each piece. There was a two headed snake in formaldehyde, some kind of viper with blue scales it seemed, and what seemed to be a human eyeball. Everything had little labels in illegible handwriting. “These are some kind of magic, I just know it!” He said out loud, before realizing what he said. He could have sworn he saw the objects in the cabinet glow, which meant he was… no longer on his meds.

“Shit.” He muttered, frowning at his little medication bottle. “I… Should I take another dose or go home?” He asked himself for the fourth time that week. “I suppose I’ll just have to get dinner and decide then.” He said, a smile on his lips. As he turned away he realized something was missing from the cabinet, he’d never actually retrieved the box from that Dexter guy.

With a sigh he took his cart to the elevator and went up to the top once more, cracking his neck. If that weedy little guy had gotten Cheeto dust on the precious materials inside that box, whatever they might be, he’d consider adding a new exhibit to the primates section. He grumbled internally, pressing his button on the museum’s radio.

“Hey, it’s Alastar here. Anyone want Chinese?” He asked, a soft grin on his lips. Most of the people working knew his routine, he always went for Chinese food at the end of the day. Sure the previous month it had been ordering a massive jumbo pizza, but Chinese was his favorite today.

After fifteen seconds or so, he got an answer. “Hell yeah.” One of the guards said, his voice a deep baritone. “I’ll have one of those Orange Chicken meals, you know?”

“Yup.” Alastar said as the elevator opened and he rolled the cart into the dark and quiet halls leading to the research library.

“I’ll have a number 15.” The second guard asked as well. Alstar just nodded, waiting for the other answers as he walked forward.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’ll have the pork fried rice.” One voice with a slight accent asked, slightly hesitantly.

“Fine, I guess I’ll have the beef and broccoli” A fourth voice said.

Knowing that was the usual crew, Alastar keyed his radio again. “Yeah, that all sounds good. I’ll put it all up, k?”

Listening to the affirmations he walked into the library.

“I won’t be having anything Star, I’ve got to go have dinner with my husband.” The soft and feminine voice of Janet said, a note of humor in it.

***

“Janet, what are you doing here?” Alastar asked, frowning.

“Oh, not much. I was supposed to leave an hour ago but our little guest has decided he doesn’t want to leave.” She said, gesturing at room 3.

“Isn’t that where that… Dexter guy was? I was just coming to pick up the materials.” He frowned even harder. “Why don’t you kick him out?”

“Yup, he’s under the orders of a tenured professor. I can’t kick him out yet. If you get him out of here then he becomes your problem. I’m rooting for you, buddy.”

Opening the research room door with a knock, Alastar looked around to find the room a mess. It wasn’t dirty, just covered in junk. Things from the researcher’s backpack were piled alongside things that were, clearly, old and probably part of the collection.

“Is that a medieval dildo?!” He asked, a little bit too shocked as he stared at the apparently cast iron contraption.

“Strap on apparently, or… the codpiece of a lady? I’m unsure, but it was certainly interesting.” Dexter said absentmindedly.

“Well, uh. Look. I need you to go.” Alastar said, frowning. “You can come back tomorrow.”

“Huh? Oh, right. Well, I suppose I can leave this for tomorrow… You, uh, want me to put this away don’t you?”

“Yup.” Alastar said, pushing the cart forward. “In the box, on the cart. I’ll collect it later.” He sighed in exhaustion. “If you do it nicely I’ll give you Chinese food, how does that sound?”

“Do they have a cheese burger?” Dexter asked with no sense of sarcasm.

“Yes, they do.” Alastar said, trying not to roll his eyes at the clearly weird man’s request. “I’ll bring it to the first floor. Just come to where the security guard shows you, okay?” After receiving a nod he walked away, a little bit of trepidation as he left the eccentric man alone.

“Okay Janet.” He said, smiling at his coworker. “He’ll be done in just a bit.” With that, Alastar took the elevator back down and walked out of the one way doors onto the streets. It was already dark outside, and having entered all the order options in by phone they were already being prepared.

***

With a happy jaunt out the eastern exit of the museum, through the brand new Gilder Center, Alastar walked into the park that was the rest of the museum’s grounds. Down the path, it didn’t take too long for him to get through the gate and onto the regular city streets.

Just two blocks North and he took a left, heading East a couple blocks to get to his current favorite restaurant. They opened after 2:00 PM, meaning he only ever had the chance to eat dinner there, but it was good food.

Walking in he stood in line, knowing his food was almost certainly almost done. The restaurant was busy, but they had a good amount of staff and were able to be prompt with all food. He couldn’t help but salivate a little, thinking about his food. Of course he had to stand behind people who were ordering there, or asking for pick up orders that were clearly not done yet. Still, he listened to his book and tried to stay stress free.

Distracted by his book he wasn’t super surprised when he imagined a flash of white light and a blue text box, right out of one of the LitRPG books he was listening to. He was slightly more surprised about how detailed its contents were.