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This Used to be About Dungeons, ch 70, Undone III
🕑 Added 2022-01-19 16:45:33 +0000 UTC~~~~
They had lunch at one of the most expensive restaurants in Liberfell, a fancy place with room for only twenty, and a lunch that was served in many courses. It was a combination of Kiromon and ‘Central Inter’ food, though the latter was a bit confusing to Alfric, given that Inter was made up of quite a few historical ethnicities and the food varied widely between many of them that would considered ‘Central’.
“I guess you get to do this a lot, huh?” asked Mizuki as they waited for their food. “Spend a hundred rings on some kind of neat experience, then undo the day so you don’t have to pay for it?” She did lean in slightly and lowered her voice, which Alfric appreciated.
“Sometimes,” said Alfric. “One of my uncles divides his life up into what he calls ‘oatmeal days’ and ‘meat days’, and you can probably guess which is which. But if you’re frugal in the ‘done days’, then you don’t get to have those experiences with other people, and you’re limited to what you can do in a day.” He shrugged. “It’s not usually all that relevant, honestly.”
“Because you people have so much money,” nodded Mizuki.
“Yes,” said Alfric. “And in my experience, there are very few things that lots and lots of money can buy that a fair amount of money can’t buy. The kinds of things that people put forward as delicacies, or the kinds of experiences you can have … I know you saw a lot in Dondrian, but you shouldn’t be fooled by it all, most of it you could have with a modest life.”
“Not the entads,” said Mizuki.
“No, not those,” said Alfric. “And not fast intercontinental travel. And there are services that cost quite a bit. But what I’m saying is that Verity’s people, they really focus on paying a lot for that littlest bit more, and some of the time, it doesn’t even matter if it’s even better, just that other people know it’s expensive.”
“Seems far-fetched,” said Mizuki. “People paying more, just because?”
“Not just because,” said Alfric. “They’re paying to pay, because when you have a lot, the only thing left is either the social stuff or gaining more power, unless you’re on the edge of what’s possible. Sometimes I think people pay a lot more for very little extra just for the feeling that they’re doing something with all that money.”
“Why are you talking to me about this?” asked Mizuki.
“What do you mean?” Alfric asked as the food arrived. It was a mutton steak, perfectly cut and expertly cooked, with a thick crust on it and sizzling fat. Humanity had been breeding sheep for a long time, and this one was from a Kiendall, with plenty of fatty marbling.
“I mean,” said Mizuki, taking a quick bite of her salad. “I’m not going to remember any of this, so why tell me about things? You’ll just have to tell me again, if you’re going to bother.”
“I don’t know,” shrugged Alfric. “I enjoy talking with you, and it just happened to come up. I wasn’t trying to teach you or anything. And I wouldn’t mind telling you again, if you found it interesting.”
“I did,” said Mizuki. “But it’s something that I’d need to see in person. In Pucklechurch … mostly we give things away, I guess. But it’s not really like that. When the Pedders roast a pig for the community, it’s not like they’re showing off, they’re just sharing what they have, right? They’re not trying to shove what they’ve managed to do with their farm in anyone’s face, which is what you’re saying right people do.”
“I don’t know if it’s quite like that, I guess, even if it’s what I said,” said Alfric. “It’s such a dim view of people with wealth.”
“People with wealth who aren’t your family?” asked Mizuki.
“Yes,” nodded Alfric. “That.”
He focused on his food, and Mizuki focused on her own. It was a good meal, Alfric would give it that, but nothing all that special by the standards of Dondrian, not that Alfric had eaten at as many places as he might have. Sit down meals at a restaurant always felt a little extravagant to Alfric, especially because they took so much time. He was usually happier just getting food from a cart if he was in the city, or eating something from his pack if he was somewhere rural.
“I need to figure out how to make this,” said Mizuki, looking down at her salad. “And get Verity to plant some of this stuff in the garden.”
“We’re moving into summer,” said Alfric. “I think the planting season is mostly over.”
“I guess,” said Mizuki. “But hey, we have that growthstone, that will help, right?”
“It will,” nodded Alfric. “But I’ll have to go to Liberfell again to get it.”
“Oh, right,” said Mizuki. She pushed her salad in front of her, half-eaten. “I’m not sure how I feel about being a part of this undone day. I felt like it would be cool, peeking behind the curtain, but it’s kind of messing with me. I was talking to those other dungeoneers, having a good time, and I kept thinking that the experience of it would just evaporate and never really get replaced.”
“Sorry,” said Alfric. He felt slightly disheartened. “I won’t take you with me again.”
“I didn’t say that was my conclusion,” said Mizuki. “It was just on my mind. And if you didn’t take me with, it would still be the same thing, that same feeling. Because we live together, I would know instead of being blissfully ignorant.”
“I guess,” said Alfric. With Mizuki being done, he made an effort to finish quickly, and when their plates were whisked away, he left a heavy tip.
“Bastlekeeper?” asked Mizuki as they left the restaurant.
“Yes,” said Alfric. “Then Lola.”
“We’re talking to her?” asked Mizuki. “Well that’s got me nervous.”
“Me too,” said Alfric.
Meeting with the bastlekeeper felt like it was over too quickly, no more than a few words exchanged before they were off again. Both the herb dragons had hatched and been given their regular feedings, though the male was slow to gain energy. The bastlekeeper had actually sent a letter the day before, and it had probably already arrived in Pucklechurch, but it seemed likely that the herb dragons would benefit from Isra taking a look at them to give better advice on their care and feeding. There was really nothing more to discuss, and where Mizuki would normally have made more conversation, she seemed subdued.
“What do you think Lola wants from this?” asked Mizuki once they had left. It wasn’t too far to the southern road.
“I don’t know,” said Alfric. “If she’s telling the truth, then maybe nothing. If you did kill her, which — you think you might have?”
Mizuki gave an unhappy shrug.
“So I don’t know,” said Alfric. “If it’s a ploy — I guess we’re about to find out.”
The ‘tent’ wasn’t what Alfric had been expecting, built with relatively tall sides and a conical top. It was colorful, with red and white stripes, and a flap was pulled to one side to allow air in. Grig was sitting outside it, and stood when he saw them coming, raising a hand.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said. “Everyone else is out. I figured I would stick around, just in case.”
“She’s in there?” asked Alfric.
Grig nodded. He shifted from foot to foot. “It would be ideal if she didn’t actually die.”
“As a matter of disclosure, I’m planning to undo the day,” said Alfric.
“Oh,” said Grig. “Well. Alright, I guess I’ll be off then.” He frowned as he gathered his pack, and walked off without another word.
“Odd reaction,” said Mizuki.
“Not the first time he’s faced an undone day,” said Alfric. “But they didn’t turn out to be undone then. He’s probably thought a lot about what to do when he knows.”
He stared at the flap of the tent. Lola would have heard all of it, of course. He steeled himself, then went in.
The interior of the tent was lavishly furnished, with five hammocks set up to hang from the posts. There was a small stove next to a small chiller, and an oversized pillow that seemed like it must have been used as a chair. Alfric could immediately see bits and pieces of each of them in the place, whether that was clothes, equipment, or trinkets. Josen was always reading, and there was a stack of books wrapped in a leather strap, hanging down from what was surely his hammock. Mardin’s modal prayer wheel, a complicated device with rotating panels, was next to his as well.
And then there was Lola, laying in her hammock, breathing hard. There was sweat beading on her dark skin, and her lips were chapped, likely from a lack of water. Being time-sick was a horrible feeling, to be avoided if at all possible, and worse in some circumstances than others, as when you had just crested a peak of power into getting another day. If Lola wasn’t faking, or wasn’t playing it up, then this was about as bad as being time-sick got.
“Alfric,” Lola croaked. “You came.”
“What happened?” asked Alfric. It was the only question that mattered, at least to his mind. It was the only reason to come instead of staying away.
“Her,” said Lola, raising a weak hand and pointing an unsteady finger at Mizuki, who had stepped inside the tent.
“So, working backward,” said Alfric. “I intended to come to Liberfell today, with Mizuki. On your first day, you saw us, or learned we’d been through, and came to speak with us, against my express wishes. And Mizuki killed you?”
Lola nodded. “It’s the bindings. I can’t undo them without a lot of trouble, can’t make myself safe from her. She can detonate them.” She coughed once. She was breathing heavily. Being time-sick didn’t routinely kill anyone, especially the young, but if you were already sick with something else, or otherwise impaired, it could happen.
“Why would she do that?” asked Alfric.
“She hates me,” said Lola with a pitying voice. “You do too. She knows that the day will reset, that it doesn’t really matter. She knows it, even if you never did.”
Alfric’s lips were thin. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true,” said Lola. “I’m sorry, I know that I’ve lied, I know it’s hard to trust me, but it’s true.”
“I’ve never killed anyone,” said Mizuki. She was staring at Lola.
Lola had no response. She simply closed her eyes.
“It would be difficult to fake,” said Alfric, coming closer to Lola. He hesitated, then pressed a hand against her forehead. It was the first time he’d touched her since she’d stolen his team. “Very difficult to fake a fever on demand.” He looked at her skin. The bumps were there, faint but real, and also quite difficult to fake.
“That doesn’t mean I killed her,” said Mizuki.
“No, of course not,” said Alfric. “She could have killed herself the required number of times.”
“Mmm,” murmured Lola. “Sounds like me. I’d definitely be sick for a day just to talk to Alfric, I’m really that pathetic.”
“We can kill her to find out,” said Mizuki.
“See?” asked Lola, voice cracking. She wasn’t looking at either of them, just sitting in the hammock, putting effort into breathing.
“We’re not going to kill her,” said Alfric.
“If I have killed her, I want her to know that I would kill her again,” said Mizuki. Her face was set. “I want her to have some fear of me, to know that if she pushes things I’ll pop her like a grape.” She was staring at Lola, and Alfric had some sense that Mizuki was looking at the bindings, which were invisible to everyone else and only just barely visible to Mizuki.
“You’ll kill yourself too,” said Lola. “And Alfric. And then he’ll remember, he’ll know.”
Mizuki had switched to squinting. “I think I could direct the unbinding event. Maybe.” She turned to Alfric. “Let me know that, tomorrow. In case I ever have to.”
Alfric hesitated, then nodded.
“You’d let her kill me,” said Lola. She let out a weak laugh. “You really would. Because you hate me, and you know it doesn’t matter, and you want to see me dead. You admit all the things I said were true, that the undone days can be, should be, our playground.”
“It depends on what you did,” said Alfric. “The dungeon escape, was that you?”
“No,” said Lola. “No, it wasn’t.” She coughed once.
“She’d say that either way,” said Mizuki. “Especially now, when she can’t reset.”
“I know,” said Alfric. “It was pointless to come here. Nothing has been learned.”
“If you’re undoing the day, can you put me out of my misery?” asked Lola. “Might as well. No sense suffering through all this twice, and I heard Grig leave.”
Alfric hesitated, attempting to see what she might be trying. The cautious approach would be to simply leave her to her fate. It was unlikely that she would die, and if she was really serious about preferring death to running out the day, she could just kill herself. Besides that, Alfric was going to reset the day, and he didn’t intend to come to Liberfell the second time through.
“Here,” said Mizuki, taking her knife from her sheath. For a moment, Alfric thought that she was going to stab Lola with it, but instead, she handed it, handle first, to Lola. “Do it yourself.”
Lola took the knife, looking at it for a moment. Alfric was watching her, wondering what she would do.
“You always keep the option in your back pocket, don’t you?” asked Lola. Her grip was tight on the knife. “Never reset early, just in case you have to pivot. So if I killed myself, you could have the day continue on, and I would be out of your life forever, just like you want. I’d even leave a gap in the old team for you, one you could easily fill, and all you’d need to do is clean my blood from the hammock.”
“She’s not going to do it,” said Mizuki. “It was a fake offer.”
“Have you ever cut your own throat?” asked Lola, staring at Mizuki. The sweat was still on her forehead, and she seemed weak, but also angry. “It sucks, for the few seconds that you’re still alive. It’s incredibly hard to do, to overcome every natural instinct and hurt yourself so badly, and I have training, as does Alfric.” She let the knife drop to the ground and relaxed in the hammock. “Nevermind. I shouldn’t have sent Grig for you, not if she was going to be with you.”
“Send me a letter,” said Alfric. “Or, since I’m undoing the day, I guess none of this matters. If you want to patch things up, I think that’s probably impossible, but if you send me a letter, I’ll at least read it.”
Lola gave a weak nod.
Alfric left without saying goodbye. There was nothing to say. Lola hadn’t incriminated herself, and wasn’t likely to, not when she was on her last day. A part of him did want to kill her, just to make sure that she wasn’t lying about it somehow, but that went against protocol, and as traps went, it was remotely possible that there were some consequences for him somewhere, somehow.
“I do think I could survive ripping up her bindings,” said Mizuki. “I was looking as closely as I could. I should have asked Verity to boost my sight. I might have been able to work something out. And then I could have tried it with you sent away so I could give myself some advice.”
“Thank you for not doing it,” said Alfric.
“I’ll write you up something,” said Mizuki. “I don’t have a lot of experience with alienists, and I really should have hit the library in Dondrian to figure out their weaknesses.”
“You’d need a library card,” sighed Alfric. “But I don’t want you doing that to her.”
“It’s going to come to a head,” said Mizuki. “Whatever the truth, she’s being reckless, right? You don’t end up time-sick without being reckless. Even if it was me, which I don’t think it was, by the time she was on her last-but-one day, she’d have been able to easily avoid me, right? And if she’s being reckless, and it’s about you, then I think it’s going to, you know. Come to a head, like I said. Blow up in someone’s face, hopefully non-literally. And I want to be as ready for that as possible.”
Alfric stayed silent for a moment. “That’s good,” he said. “But it’s more likely that we’ll resolve this some other way.”
“What other way?” asked Mizuki.
“I don’t know,” said Alfric. He rubbed his forehead. “I think we’re going back to Pucklechurch. Hopefully Filera will be done, and then I can end this day.”
“I feel like neither of us really got what we wanted,” said Mizuki.
“No?” asked Alfric.
“You wanted a companion, I wanted a bit of fun,” said Mizuki. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t try it again, next time you’re going to undo a day. But it was a lot more ‘down’ than I had thought it would be, and I’m worried a lot of that is because of me.”
“No,” said Alfric. “It’s me. Undone days are like that sometimes. I need to get things done, but the only things that matter are those that happen in my own head, so it can get a bit isolating, a bit … dissociating is the word we use sometimes. Like I’m in a world that’s not real.”
“Which is kind of true,” said Mizuki. She was frowning. “I guess I never really thought about it like that, and tomorrow, or the second time through today, or however you want to put it, I’m going to unlearn that lesson.”
“I can talk to you about it,” said Alfric.
“Oh, I’ve got loads that you need to tell me,” said Mizuki. “It’s been a real day of personal growth.” She smiled at him.
“Ready to go?” he asked, holding out a hand.
Mizuki took his hand, then stepped up onto his boot, and he whisked them away to the temple in Pucklechurch, leaving Liberfell behind them.
~~~~
“The sword is interesting,” said Filera. She’d finished with the items he’d brought her, and had her report ready.
“Is it?” asked Alfric. “We thought it was just water breathing, or something like that.”
“It has that as its first feature,” said Filera. “But a secondary feature is that water you breathe out while underwater will serve as a barrier around you.” She placed her finger on the barnacled blade. “The upper limit is nearly twenty feet around you, and it will stick somewhat as you move through the water. Having a defense against underwater attacks would be quite helpful for both divers and underwater dungeons.”
“The blade is pretty useless in a fight though,” said Alfric. “And underwater dungeons … it takes someone particular to do them when there are so many other dungeons you could be doing. Many of the underwater dungeon entrances aren’t even marked.”
“Interesting is different from useful, I agree,” nodded Filera. She moved down the line. “The coin gives some measure of emotional understanding of the people around you.”
“Does it?” asked Alfric. “Rare, that. I’m glad we didn’t sell it.”
“It’s not terribly much more than weal and woe by way of emotional manipulation, non-specific and easily confounded,” said Filera. “But you’re right, it’s rare, and my guess, based on what I know of the markets, is that it might go for at least a thousand, even if it’s horribly imperfect.”
“Even the best are imperfect,” said Alfric, frowning. “A thing like that is the closest we might get to mind-reading, and entads are notoriously terrible about it. They read circumstance more than base truth.”
“You speak from experience?” asked Filera.
“It’s an undone day,” said Alfric. “I’d rather not repeat the conversation with you, if that’s okay.”
“The short version then?” asked Filera.
“A similar entad was used on me and the girl I was pacted to, when we were young,” said Alfric. “It spoke of good fortune, but we were young then, and still friends.”
“There was an element of prognostication?” asked Filera.
“Well, no, or only sort of,” said Alfric. “It was an attempt to read compatibility and fundamental nature. I don’t remember the specifics. It said we were good for each other, and we weren’t. It should have been at the upper end of what entads can do.” He shrugged. “Again, it’s something I’ll have to repeat to you later.”
“But the coin will sell, yes?” asked Filera.
“Yes,” nodded Alfric. “People will want to use it for hiring on help, or making decisions about love, and I’ll feel guilty about them thinking that it’s some promise of happiness.”
“And when you flip it around your party members?” asked Filera.
Alfric paused. “We’ve all felt weal, if we’re reducing the sensation down to that.”
Filera raised an eyebrow, but went on to the next entad without further comment.
The dagger, googles, and blanket were all more or less what they’d figured out on their own, but it was still good to get a second look at them. The wand had some wrinkles, and was disappointingly limited.
“It won’t change the function of an entad, but it will have a dissociative effect on storage and other effects,” said Filera. “That means that you shouldn’t use it with anything with an active effect. And don’t use it on people either, it would be a high crime.”
“Understood,” said Alfric. “And as far as how it determines the new form?”
“There’s a complicated metric,” said Filera. “It’s what we call a grouping walk for all materials and features. Wood will be wood, stone will be stone … but everything will be different, and it’s possible with enough applications, you could end up with something a long way from where you started. Entad effects should stay the same, modified by the new form. You’ll need to be careful though, because you might end up with something that destroys itself, or is considerably weaker.”
Alfric nodded. It was about what he had already figured out himself. He’d been hoping that it was safe to use in other circumstances, like extracting someone from danger, or putting their storage entads inside, but if that wouldn’t work, he would figure out some better use. A pack, maybe.
The last entad was what Alfric was hoping would be his primary weapon, the bident.
“It’s impeccable in terms of durability,” said Filera. “Which is good, because the amount of power it can generate between the tips is quite large. It works at a thought, as I would suppose you’ve surmised, with power increasing in accordance with the mass of whatever you’ve pierced, following Pelpert’s Configuration for determining whole objects. There’s some math involved, if you’re interested, but I think it would suffice to say that it gets better the larger your target is. Of course, you might have trouble piercing a hide or carapace, but it seems a good get to me.”
Alfric nodded. “It is good, better than expected. Thank you.”
“I’ll forget all this,” said Filera. “I’m surprised you didn’t have me do this the first time.”
“People have different reactions to undone days,” said Alfric. He shrugged. “I wanted us to have a good working relationship. And the more people know I’m a chrononaut, the worse things might get for me, no offense.” And then there was the question of Lola, and the risk of using up days that might need to be used to counter whatever she was up to.
“It will be better this way,” nodded Filera. “I can be a different person on your undone days.”
Alfric nodded. There was something in the way she said it that made him feel a bit uncomfortable. He didn’t really like the idea that if people knew the day was going to end, they would act differently.
“Can I leave all this with you?” he asked.
“Don’t you — oh,” said Filera. “Of course, you don’t want to take it back home, because there’s no point.”
“Sorry if that’s weird,” said Alfric.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “And when you do this day over, you’ll talk to me? Tell me about whatever you’re going through? You’re carrying some weight.”
“I’ll speak with you, yes,” said Alfric. “And tell you all about Dondrian.”
He left the temple and almost went home, where Mizuki was preparing for dinner, but diverted to the general store instead. Bethany was still behind the counter, quite a few hours since they’d left her. She was leaned back and reading a book.
“Alfric!” she said, snapping the book shut. “Good trip?”
“Fine,” said Alfric. “Just wondering whether you had been watching who goes through the wardrobe?”
“Sure have,” she said. She reached under the counter and pulled out a scrap of paper, which had some disorganized writing on it. “I wasn’t quite sure what you wanted, so … let me know, I guess?”
Alfric gave the list a brief glance, and could immediately see that it was nearly worthless for his purposes. He wanted to know about the people so he could see how flexible they were in terms of what they were being charged for the wardrobe, and this was a set of observations about what they were wearing, how they talked, and a bit of gossip. It was his fault, clearly, but this was one of the benefits of having an undone day.
“It’s great, thank you,” said Alfric.
He walked home slowly, feeling out of sorts. Bringing Mizuki with him had, clearly, been a mistake, but Lola being time-sick had also been an unpleasant and unexpected complication. When he redid the day, she would presumably still be there, still time-sick. He did wonder how it had happened, but he didn’t think that it was likely that it had been faked, not without quite a lot of setup. And clearly, if it was a scheme, she’d gained nothing from it.
When he came home — he did think of it as home — there were already good smells coming from the kitchen.
“So I’m going to have a hangover twice, ay?” asked Hannah. “Seems a shame.”
“Sorry,” said Alfric with a shrug. “What’s for dinner?”
“I paid Xy to go run off to Tarchwood,” said Mizuki. “We’re going to have a very large, very fresh fish, which is why I’m getting started early.”
“And I assume you paid a lot of rings for that?” asked Alfric.
“You know it,” smiled Mizuki. “I didn’t strictly speaking tell her that she wouldn’t be able to spend the money because of the undone day, but …” she shrugged. “I’m not obligated to, right?”
“Right,” nodded Alfric. “And it’s better to let people go on about their lives anyway, just in case the day isn’t undone.”
“It’s going to be, right?” asked Mizuki. “Because I paid a lot for the fish, which should be here any minute.” She turned to the door. “Isra!” There was a pause. “Isra!”
“Party channel?” asked Alfric.
<Isra!> called Mizuki.
<Ouch, what?> asked Isra.
<Come help me with the meal?> asked Mizuaki. <There are things you need to learn, and you said you wanted to know more.>
<Be right there, we were in the garden,> said Isra.
“You’re going to teach her?” asked Alfric. “Today?”
“I like teaching, at least for things where I know something, which is admittedly not much,” said Mizuki with a shrug. “I know it’s not going to stick, but … I don’t know. Maybe if I teach her wrong, you can have me do it better. I’m just done thinking about undone days, honestly, and I’m going to live out the rest of the hours I have left trying to be normal.”
“Except for the expensive fish?” asked Alfric.
“Except for that,” said Mizuki.
They all gathered together in the kitchen, mostly talking about very little at all. Isra had taken care of the herb dragon, which was much more mobile now. Against what Alfric thought was best, had been given the run of the house. Isra had a fairly good handle on the creature, the same as she did on Mizuki’s cat Tabbins, but seeing a fresh dungeon creature curled up on a chair was a little disconcerting no matter what.
When Xy showed up with the enormous fish, Mizuki was ready, and the cartier was welcomed in to take part in the impromptu feast. It had felt to Alfric like Mizuki had started dinner far too early, but she had a better sense of cooking time than he did, and by the time the food was actually ready, Alfric’s stomach was rumbling.
They ate together in the dining room, fish soup, grilled fish, and little fish dumplings, and talked until the sun went down. Spirits were high, helped by quite a bit of wine brought up from the cellar, which Alfric drank only a sip of. Mizuki had cracked a special bottle.
It was a luxury that he wasn’t sure he should have taken. He would disclose the dinner to them, naturally, and he wasn’t learning anything personal, but there was some ethical risk involved, and it couldn’t wholly be justified. Someone might say something that was meant to be secret, or that was only said in a vulnerable moment, and he would have to either disclose, or carry it around, neither of which he would really want to do. It was so nice to sit down to dinner with them though, especially after what had been a bit of a grueling day. The fish was excellent, the conversation light, and he found himself with a smile on his face.
Alfric left the table just after dessert and went up to his room to prepare for the undoing. That mostly meant going through his day in detail and trying to commit everything to memory. He was happy that he was ending the day where he’d begun it, as he thought it helped with continuity.
Just before he was going to go back in time, there was a knock on his door.
“Come in,” he said.
“Hey,” said Mizuki. “Sorry if you’re … ending things.”
“No problem,” said Alfric.
“I just wanted to say sorry if things were weird,” she said. “Especially the flirting.”
“Not a problem,” said Alfric.
“I was thinking about how I would want you to tell me to knock it off,” said Mizuki. “And I think maybe a note? I know you can’t actually bring a note back, but if you could write me a note like it was from some alternate me. And let me know that it’s not, um, that fun for you.”
“It is fun for me,” said Alfric.
“It is?” asked Mizuki.
“It’s just … not going to happen,” said Alfric. “For a lot of reasons. So long as we’re clear it’s not going anywhere, I’m fine with flirtation.”
“Huh,” said Mizuki.
“I’m leaving now though,” said Alfric. “Just trying to keep the day straight in my head.”
“Yeah, sure,” said Mizuki. “Tell me all the things I’ll need to know?”
“Of course,” said Alfric.
And then he used that part of his mind that was always there, waiting to be used, and the world shifted around him. He was in his bed, and it was the witching hour. He went to his table and began writing out notes to himself, making a list of messages to pass along and a plan for the coming day. Once that was finished, he checked the guild messages to see whether there were substantial updates from anyone — there weren’t — and finally, laid back down in bed.
As undone days went, it had been a complicated one, and he was, for the most part, glad to be done with it.
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fbt
I hope he stays far, far away from any interaction w/ PsychoLola. If her shenanigans put her in danger...welp, oh darn! The problem w/ a crazy person prone to tricky plots is they're driven to spend more time & energy thinking up complicated crap than you have interest/time/inclination to sort it out. They're tiring, and are a kind of (mental) endurance predator. Whatever she wants from life, best just not to be part of it (unless one takes it as their responsibility to sort them out, which has all sorts of ethical and practical issues). Even in an undone day I'd have avoided her. Just too tricky and messy.
