Erin checked off items in her spreadsheet, noting which they had downed and the respawn timer.

Her stomach rumbled and she remembered she hadn't eaten anything all day - at least nothing real. Murdak legs were excellent, but a bit lacking in the nutrients department.

She removed her Taskr headset and headed to the fridge. Empty, of course. She hadn't had the time to order groceries, what with the urgency of getting Jonah leveled up. It was honestly really fun too - the merfolk race played unlike anything she had experienced before. Time had just slipped away.

Guess that meant it was time to call Nuber Noms. A salad sounded nice. Her stomach grumbled, and she amended her order to have pizza on the side. Maybe a large one.

That done, she started pacing. It was impossible not to dwell on Jonah's plight. There was no way that his situation was a one-off. It was too smooth, too practiced - she could tell that much from his account of the abduction.

Did Jonah's disembodied brain live in some basement of her work? She could have walked by it for all she knew. Or were they all kept elsewhere, merely leased to the company like so much cloud storage?

She tried to picture herself stealing into the building at night, smuggling out a jar with a brain in it. What then - set him up in the guest room with wifi and a glucose iv? There was no way she had the hardware to handle this. However... that did give her an idea.

She flipped her phone to selfie mode to get a look at herself before she made the call. She grimaced - a long day sitting on her butt hadn't magically put makeup on her face, and the VR visor hadn't done her hair any favors either.

Nothing makes you wanna call your ex more than looking like shit, she thought. It was too important to put off though - she only had so much leave saved up, and they needed a plan. She didn't want to alienate Valens by using a vo-call either - he hated those with a passion.

"Welcome to the Long Terminal, your final destinat... Erin?" Valens said, surprise clear in his voice.

"Hi Val, do you have a minute? I'm afraid this isn't a social call", Erin replied.

"What's up? You look like you had a long day."

Of course, he would say something. She reflexively combed a hand through her hair.

"I'm not sure I can talk about it over this line - do you think we could meet somewhere?"

His eyes widened a bit, "Thought you were doing a cushy corporate job these days, what have you gotten into? Nevermind - let's meet at the usual spot, 6 6 o' clock?"

"Deal," she said, relieved he was up for this.

Dinner came, and she demolished half the pizza. The salad would keep, right?

It was 4:30pm. The usual spot was a bar in walking distance - Quarter Hearts. They used to go there a lot... before.

She glanced at the visor. There was time for more, but she was pretty sure Jonah was sleeping. His schedule was pretty desynched from hers- what with the crazy pursuit he'd had. Thinking about it, she'd never asked where he was from - he could just be from a different time zone.

However... she was lower level than Jonah. She had kept pace with him through the xp grinding session, but the initial gap still needed to be addressed.

Well, maybe it didn't have to, but it irked her, and she had nothing better to do.

She popped in a few feet from Jonah. Sure enough, he was out- sprawled on a bed of seaweed they had picked. Since she was still in a safe area, it seemed like a good place to allot her remaining talent points. She had three trees, and like Jonah, one of them was granted by the electric mutation she had absorbed. They appeared to be different from his though - presumably because merfolk were sexually dimorphic

Tree: Figurehead

Wooden Skin: You and your party receive 10% less damage 2/2 pts

Decorative: You generate 10/20/30% less threat and are 10/20/30% harder to see by players

Tree: Siren

Earworm: Siren's Call duration increased by 5/10/15 seconds

Vicious Solo: Enemies affected by Siren's Call take 3/6/9% of your max health as damage per 3 seconds.

Tree: Electrokenesis

Power Within: Electric damage deals 5/10/15% more damage

Static Shock: Electric damage has a 5/10% chance to spread to a nearby enemy

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The lightning tree would have been the obvious choice if she were solo, but she hadn't yet decided which tree to settle on. Thus far she had just picked wooden skin because it seemed like low-hanging fruit and saved the rest. She was level 7, just 2 shy of Jonah now.

Siren's Call was a mechanic she hadn't figured out yet. Though, she had a feeling...

Singing was definitely not one of Erin's strengths. She'd been told to stop before, by family and by perfect strangers. Singing in public - no go. Unfortunately, the stakes were too high to worry about feelings of embarrassment.

She swam out of the cave to get some privacy - no need to wake Jonah with her awkward braying.

This was it - nothing but ocean around. She cautiously started humming. The sound reverberated through the water and rocked her, stopping her hesitant tune. The melody seemed to echo back and forth in the water, unearthly and beautiful.

Wow, that came from me?

She started again, this time vocalizing wordlessly. The notes resounded clear, in-tune, and higher than she'd reached before. After a moment, a buff appeared on her bar.

Action Log: You have gained the effect of Siren's Call

+5 health regen in combat

+5 swim speed

+10% max hp

That, and a debuff on enemies? Maybe it was worth it to not have arm blades after all.

The buff disappeared a few seconds after she stopped singing, meaning she'd need to sing constantly to refresh it. Oh. Goody.