"This is the place?"
"Yeah."
"Well." I nod at the faded yellow sign on the chain link fence. "Zero points for guessing why the place is condemned."
"I think it was condemned before it burned down."
"Oh."
The two of us stare at the charred remains of a house. The way the dimming late afternoon light bounces off the snow to wreathe the place in shadows doesn't really help the aesthetic, but I suspect it may have just been a powerfully ugly house to begin with.
And yeah, now that Taylor mentions it, even the one side of the house that didn't burn looks pretty rotten.
"Do you think one of the neighbors was trying to remove the eyesore and accidentally made it worse?"
"...How would I know?"
"Fair." I cast [Scry] above the house, taking in a bird's eye view of the layout. And then! Then! I start shifting it this way and that to explore the house properly.
Holy shit, this is amazing! Look, Ma, I'm flying… Wheee!
"Are you okay?"
"...Huh?" I look over to find Taylor aiming what I'm starting to think is her concerned face at me.
"You kinda spaced out and then started giggling like a loon."
"Oh, whoops." I shrug slowly, giving her my best 'what can you do' face. "I guess it's a good thing I have no sense of shame." Turning back to the house, I point at where a dirty but largely intact bulkhead door is hidden behind the rest of the ruins. "I was just looking around and I'm thinking we put the entrance around back? Between that bulkhead door and the… I think it was a sunroom? Enclosed deck? Whatever. It'll give us some extra cover from any nosy neighbors if we end up needing to use the actual entrance for some reason. Or maybe we put it inside the bulkhead? You said the basement floor is built directly on top of some ledge, right?"
"I think so." Taylor shrugs. "None of the worms around here are able to dig under it."
"Perfect…" I rub my hands together in hammed up glee. "Is anyone watching us?"
"...No?"
"You don't sound sure about that."
"There's a woman cooking dinner near a window that I think could see us if she turns around."
"Where?"
"Behind us and to the left."
Floating the eye of my Scry spell over– Wheeee! – I spot the window pretty quickly. And the woman she's talking about. Spinning the eye around, I confirm that yeah, she'd have a clear view of us if she were to peek out the window. She would not however be able to see the back of the ruined house.
"Anyone else?"
"No."
"Okay then." I move the eye to just inside the window, hoping that even if I get too distracted to watch her I'll still be able to hear it if she starts calling the cops or whatever. Ooooh! Bonus! She's got the radio playing decent music.
[Telepathy]
=Wish me luck!=
I crouch down and, double checking that the woman isn't looking, cast [Blink].
The world flickers a deep midnight blue and then I'm suddenly at the back corner of the house. Staying low, I duck around the corner only to trip over something hidden in the snow. I manage to catch myself on the bulkhead to stop myself from falling over completely but, eyeing how much of the debris and other hazards I can see poking up through snow looks distressingly pointy, I decide against walking any further.
[Stoneshaping] a bit of the concrete from the foundation a bit past the other side of the bulkhead into a flat inch thick shelf just above the snow, I [Blink] over to it.
[Mana Shaping] another [Stoneshape], I open a hole in the foundation and turn my platform into the top of a short steep slide.
Ooof. A stench like death immediately assaults my nose. Not sure if the death involved is whatever died and started rotting in there or just my poor nose committing suicide, but that is rancid.
[Cleanse]!
The smell vanishes only to come right back as the 2 cubic meters of clean air I can currently make just end up mixing together with the rest of the air trapped in the basement.
Right then.
Leaning as far away from the slide as I can while still being able to see the floor, I [Mana Shaping] another [Stoneshape] to have a circle about a meter wide of concrete pull itself up out of the floor. Either because I'm in a hurry or because I've misjudged what constitutes a 'medium' amount of stone, I end up pulling up more than just the concrete.
Feels like… sand?
Whatever it is, my poor nose doesn't have time to deal with that right now so I just let it go and focus on getting the concrete in the middle to push itself outwards, displacing the concrete already there up and forming it into a thin wall encompassing the new hole and my slide. Then I immediately recast [Cleanse] because ewww.
1…2…3…4…5… I give the air a sniff.
Better!
I still [Mana Shaping] another [Cleanse] into the entire space to make sure I got it all because, again, ewww.
I also [Cleanse] myself on general principle.
Okay, now I can investigate the sand.
Pulling out my flashlight, I turn it on and peer at the base of my wall.
Yup, looks like a layer of packed sand alright. Well, this part here is pretty shaken up now, but I'm guessing it was packed down tight when it had a house pushing down on top of it. Probably meant to make the base flat or something.
The feedback I get from the spell when I [Manashaping] another [Stoneshape] on the next half meter-ish chunk of stone seems to confirm that theory. Packed sand followed by solid rock that is neither flat nor level.
…Non-porous rock.
As in rock that doesn't have a bunch of tiny air pockets to compact itself into.
So uh…
What do I do with it?
Not seeing any better options, I have the sand and stone all smoosh itself together into one solid piece and then repeat my earlier process of reverse-squeezing itself up the walls until I have a thicker wall around a deeper hole that is a bit narrower.
The original width of the hole was kind of excessive, so I could probably do that quite a few more times before it'd get claustrophobic in there but it still isn't really a sustainable disposal method.
Hmmm…
Option 1, I chuck it into the backyard behind me and hope no one wonders why there's a new boulder behind the house.
Option 2, I open a hole in my wall and push it out into the basement while my nose tries to commit ritualized seppuku.
Option 3, I… I… I've got nothing.
Option 2 sucks, but option 1's fail states include a higher likelihood of Skitter and I being shanghaied into the Wards so…
Another cast of [Stoneshape] opens a flat hole in the wall near the floor like a mail slot without a cover and then a second mana shaped one-
Manashaping level up!
…Oh?
Mana Shaping 5
Alter spell AOE in better, subtle ways, 10 MP + spellcost
Alter spell AOE in better, moderate ways, 30 MP + spellcost
Aurify Unlocked
Requirements: 10 Willpower
Exp: 20/800
Wait. Aurify just magically unlocks at Mana Shaping five!? I thought I'd need to get it to 10 and then spend another point for that. Not that I'm complaining mind you.
Aurify 1
Transform an AOE spell into a semi-permanent effect surrounding yourself, based upon the parameters of the Aurified spell. Increase an instantaneous spell to a 1 second duration in order to create an aura.
Able to support 1 aura at a time.
Exp: 0/10000
I resist the urge to- Oh, who am I kidding? I cackle like a fucking loon as I [Aurify] the everloving shit out of [Stoneshape]. Fuck designating a specific lump of stone as my target. Everything is my target!
As the vague feedback I was getting from the stone under my control spreads out to include all the dirt, sand, stone, and such within 5 meters, I reach out with that sense and pull a piece of the greyish stone that was below the sand out from the wall. I want to say it's granite but that would be pretending I have any idea what I'm talking about which would be silly when better options exist. Namely, having a golf ball sized piece of it float up to me because the whole area is part of Stoneshape's effect now.
…I probably could have been doing this the whole time if I'd thought to include some of the 'empty space' inside the hole as being part of the spell effect when Mana Shaping it.
Deciding to just call that a 'lesson learned, I flatten and smooth out the piece of rock until it resembles a decent skipping stone and then stuff it in my pocket for identification later. Yes, Imaginary-Sheldon, I'm going to talk to The Rock People.
That done, I turn my attention to the next question on the list. Namely, why do I have two holes-
Aw, fuck. I heard it as soon as I thought it.
But still, focusing on my new sense, I confirm that yes, there is indeed a second shaft- Nope! …excavation pit? Yes, there's a second excavation pit already cut into the stone a few meters to my left. It's much narrower than mine, only a few inches or so across to mine's somewhat-less-than-a-meter-now but it continues down beyond the point I can feel and it feels like it has some kind of tube shaped thing in it that isn't stone but almost counts?
Weird.
It's gotta be some kind of pipe, so… plastic, maybe? Or metal?
Metalshape is one of those sorta-separate-but-derived spells that comes from Stoneshape if I recall correctly. Like how Blink X is a prerequisite for Teleport even though Teleport is still a base spell.
But why would there be a pipe… oh. Was this house using well water? I didn't think city people did that. Isn't the whole point of putting up with having that many members of the public around, all the freaking time, that you get to have them handle all of that water and sewer systems nonsense for you?
Well whatever! I guess I'll use that as my guide for how deep I can go before I need to worry about getting wet.
Pulling up some more stone from below, I flatten out my side of the excavation pit and form a ladder to climb down.
Then I close the fuck out of the vent in the wall I forgot I opened and switch to pulsing out a [Cleanse] aura because holy shit does that-
Oh…
Oh no...
…I swear, if I find a gods damned septic tank down here I am going to introduce some people to Phagar.
Yes, I know I could just [Cleanse] it out of existence. That's not the point!
Cities are supposed to have working infrastructure!
"So, how was your day?" Danny asks as he puts his coat on the hook.
"Fine." Taylor looks up from her book briefly to shrug before going back to her reading.
Frowning as the silence stretches well past awkward, I sit up slowly so as to not break [Meditation] and look over the back of the couch at the two of them.
I wait for the conversation to continue.
And… wait…
And… wait.
Only, instead of continuing to talk, Taylor keeps reading and Danny starts to putter around the kitchen.
Well then!
Abandoning meditation, I stand up on the couch and put my hands on my hips to glare at Taylor. "Excuse me!?"
Danny startles, spinning around and obviously taking an extra half second to remember there's three people living in his house now before smiling apologetically "Sorry about that, Jane. I didn't see you there. How was your day?"
"Not you." I hold up one finger in a 'please wait' gesture as I step up onto the back of the couch and then quickly hop off of it to land in front of Taylor.
They tried to do this shit yesterday too and I let it slide then because yeah, 'fine' is probably being generous when it comes to describing how Taylor's typical day goes at that school.
I am not letting it slide today.
"Fine!?" I kick Taylor in the shin. "Your day was fine!?"
"Ow! Jane! What the-" Taylor tries to interrupt me but I just talk over her.
"You spent the entire day with me and all you have to say about it is fine!?" I kick her in the shin again before turning away and letting my hand fall as I stomp towards Danny to begin my demonstration of a proper answer. "My day was great, Uncle Danny! Taylor took me to the library. And then we went shopping on the boardwalk and I got a bunch of pretty crystals and some copper pipe for my art project and- MY BOOTS!" Spinning around, I race over to the stairs, scrambling up them on all fours to maximize the 'herd of elephants' effect. "You need to see my new boots!" I call over my shoulder through the railing as I go.
Grabbing the shopping bag with my new boots off of Taylor's bed, I spin around and head back, saving time by just leaping down the stairs.
Fell for 35 HP damage!
…Ow? Okay, in retrospect that was probably not my brightest idea ever and should totally have hurt rather than just making my feet tingle briefly.
But also: Woo! Being able to regenerate HP and Mana later will net me a bunch of extra points of Meditation XP.
As an added bonus, the loud thump of my landing startles Danny and Taylor out of the weird staring contest they seemed to be having while I was gone.
"Behold!" I pull my new shiny black combat boots out of the bag and wave them around. "My boots!" Plopping myself back down onto the couch I pull them on and start bucking up the shiny metal buckles. "They have no laces and they make me, like, a whole inch-and-change taller than my shoes do. And!" I stand up and stomp into the kitchen, keeping a close eye on my feet because as hard as I'm hamming up my love for them I'm not actually used to walking in them yet and tripping over a flat surface would ruin my schtick here. "They make the best stompy noises when I walk around."
"That's…" Danny pauses briefly. "Very nice, Jane. Please don't break the floor."
"Oooh! Yeah!" I stop stomping to point at him. "I almost forgot to mention! They're steel toed too! So if any boys try to flirt with me I can break their shins!" I mime a kick. "Hiya!"
That finally gets a laugh out of Danny. "Did you two get up to anything else today?"
"Mmmm...Hmmm…" I nod. "We also went for our run. Which–" I glance at Taylor who's staring at me with a raised eyebrow and slightly widened eyes. "–Okay, I guess that part I'll allow you to describe as 'fine' since running around the block a bunch of times is basically just NASCAR but slower." Rolling my eyes at Taylor's blatantly obvious relief that I didn't tell Danny about any of the actually important stuff we did during our run, I vrrrrooommm around in a small leftwards circle to demonstrate the boring silliness that is NASCAR.
The rock lifts off the floor, reaches the edge of what I thought of as the spell effect, and then… keeps going?
"What? But…"
"Something wrong?" Taylor asks as she rolls over, leaning her face over the side of her bed to peer down at me.
I point to the rock floating in the air.
"...I thought you said you couldn't do that." She frowns.
"Yeah, I didn't think I… hmmm…" Suddenly suspicious, I cancel [Stoneshape] and-
The rock drops, bouncing off my forehead.
Crit for 5 HP damage!
"...Ow."
Taylor lurches upright. "Did it just stop working because I-"
"Nah. My dumb ass just let herself get poked by the good-idea fairy."
Ignoring Taylor's amused snort, I recast [Stoneshape] at level one so that the entirety of the spell's effect is the rock with nothing left over. Then I will it back into the air.
The rock lifts off my pillow. It moves slowly, because level 1 and all, but it nonetheless floats its stupid rock ass up into the air where it has no business being.
"What the shit?" I glare at the rock, hovering above me. Not directly above my face this time. I can learn, thankyouverymuch. "Then why the fuck does [Telekinesis] even exist- oh, duh!" I smack myself on the forehead. "Not everything is made of stone, Jane."
Suddenly suspicious about how many of my other 'well, obviously I can't just do X' issues are self inflicted, I reshape the rock from resembling a golf ball into resembling a particularly short hotdog. Reaching up and grabbing the rock with both hands, I tug on it while willing it to remain still.
The rock doesn't move, even as I pull harder to the point of starting to lift my upper body off of my pile of blankets.
Cackling, I will the rock to rise, slowly pulling me into the air.
"Taylor, look!" I stage whisper, grinning at her as my face pulls level with hers and well aware that she's been staring at me the whole time. "I can-"
The spell ends, dumping me back down onto my nest.
Fell for 3 HP damage!
...I can remember that using the level 1 version of the spell means it only lasts 1 minute.
Taylor leans her head over the edge of her bed again. "That didn't look even a little safe."
"Fuck safe!" I laugh. "I-"
There's a knock on the bedroom door. "Is everything okay in there?" The door opens and Uncle Danny sticks his head in. "I heard a loud bang."
"I'm fine!" I raise my hand and give him a thumbs up.
"Yeah, Dad. Jane's just… being Jane."
"Hey!" I scrabble to sit upright so I can glare up at Tayor properly. "Rude!"
"Ah." Danny just nods and goes along with his daughter's vicious slander. "Try not to break anything."
"Hey!" I shift my glare over to him. "I don't break things."
Taylor raises an eyebrow at me. "...The phone?"
I have no defense against such absurdly accurate statements so I make sure to keep my grumbling incoherent as I slump back down, crossing my arms over my chest. "Humph!"
Danny laughs. "Have a good night, girls." I hear the door close and then footsteps moving away.
Taylor's face appears above me almost immediately, one finger held to her lips in a shushing gesture.
Her other hand holds up 3 fingers, then 2, then 1. "No flying around on rocks, Jane."
"What!? Why not?"
"People would think you're Rune."
"That's…" I frown. "Gods damn it!"
"THE ITSY BITSY ROCK WYRM CLIMBED UP THE WATER SPOUT!"
The next five meters or so of my excavation pit slowly float upwards, carrying me all the way to the top.
Separating off a disc of stone from the top and attaching it to the edges of the excavation pit, I park my butt on the bottom of my slide and begin displacing the rest of the stone out into the basement through the wall. I'll eventually want to circle back and smooth it down against the walls and floor so that it'll be somewhat less obvious what's happened if someone happens to look through the giant hole in the living room floor.
Or maybe just wait until I can [Teleport] it away?
Ugh! If only leveling [Blink] wasn't so gods-damned boring when you have to do it in secret. In Veird, I'd be blipping my way to and from school but noooo… I had to get isekai'd to Brockton fucking-
Stoneshape level up!
Wooooo…
My [Stoneshape] aura doesn't expand.
…oooo?
Stoneshape 6, 1 minute per level, medium range, 35 MP
Move medium amounts of stone and sand around you for 1 minute per level of Stoneshape, OR gain fine control over small amounts of stone and sand.
Exp: 2/1300
Huh.
I guess the [Aurified] range is derived from the 'medium amounts of stone' rather than the spell level?
Well, I shrug, I guess I'll find out if I'm right next level when medium becomes large. Whatever the case, dropping that stupid 'slowly' keyword at least makes the process of pushing the stone out into the basement way faster.
Standing back up and stretching, I form some stone into a pair of loops to hook my feet in, just in case, and then have my stone disc float back down at full speed.
…Meh. It's definitely faster, but it's not quite at freefalling roller coaster levels of wheee yet.
Ah well.
"DOWN CAME THE JANE AND PULSED HER AURA OUT!"
Pausing my descent the moment I feel the bottom of the pit enter my aura's range, I connect the disc to the surrounding stone so it won't go anywhere and switch over to aurifying [Cleanse] for a few seconds to make sure I can, you know, keep breathing and whatnot, before switching back to [Stoneshape.]
Dropping my disc all the way down to the 'floor' of my excavation pit, I take control of the rock below me and…
Waitaminute!
=Taylor!=
Squatting down to eke that little bit of extra penetration depth out of a lower center of mass, I confirm that yes, that is a transition to a different kind of rock I can feel happening at the edge of my aura. A different kind of porous rock.
=Taylor, I did it!=
Grabbing all the stone above that transition line with my aura, I start floating it back up to the top.
"AND THE ITSY BITSY ROCK WYRM CLIMBED UP THE SPOUT AGAIN!"
=Did… what, Jane?=
=Okay, first of all: Rude!= I start shunting the next load of rock into the basement while I try to slather 'I am incredibly offended, but also entirely kidding' all over my next message to my cousin. =You know I can feel that judgey 'oh gods, what did she do now?' vibe you packed into that question.=
=You were the one concerned about accidentally making a new lake, Jane.=
=...Fair.= I send her an impression of me shrugging. =But no. What I did was got all the way down to the aquifer without hitting a septic tank.=
=That's… good?=
=Yeah. And the water layer is way further down than I thought it would be.=
Shifting my disc into a ring, I send her my viewpoint as I turn on my flashlight. Shining it down into a dark abyss, the cheap light's failure to illuminate it properly winds up doing a wonderful job of making it very clear that this is a hole I can't see the bottom of.
=Well that's terrifying.=
=Eh. Even if I somehow fell in, I'd probably survive unless I took a header.=
600 point absorption [Ward] for the win!
Despite being my most recent purchase via last night's level up, [Ward] is probably going to reach level 10 first. At the very least, immediately marking it as a favored spell with Clarity made getting it to level 6 so I could give myself a personal forcefield obnoxiously easy.
How did OG Jane's song go? Ward every morning! Ward every night! Uh… Ward Ward Ward, after every fight?
I'll… work on that last bit.
I mean, sure, [Ward] being so easy to power level makes assigning my other favored spell to Blink so I can get Teleport sooner so fucking tempting but… ce la vie! In this land that Registrars forgot, I can't just go get a quest to fix it later so I'm just going to have to suck it up and wait until I can favor Teleport.
=I was more talking about the fact that you did that in under an hour, Jane.=
=I mean… I worked on it yesterday too.=
=Yeah, for like 15 minutes.=
=Excuse you!= I pout. =I mean, yeah, now that you mention it I am feeling pretty wiped out.= Closing the hole in my disc, I cut [Stoneshape] and sit down on my slide again to rest. =But! Being painfully accurate is no excuse for calling my power a quickshot! Do I make fun of your lack of stamina when we're out running?=
=That's not…= I get a mental image of Taylor pinching the bridge of her nose while a distinct feeling of 'I don't want to know' blasts across the connection. =What I meant, was that I kind of assumed you were exaggerating about the lake.=
=Ooooh… yeah, no. Sinkholes are terrifying= I send her what I remember of that video online where this whole section of some street just suddenly up and drops out of existence, cars and all. =I do not want to cause one of… Oh, hmmm.=
Actually… that's not the worst idea for how to handle things if Noelle is already in Coil's base when I find it.
=Jane, no! Whatever it is, no.=
"Good morning, Shoulder-Angel! Happy Monday!" Sliding into my seat, I wave to Aisha before turning to Missy and waving to her. "And to you as well, Shoulder-Devil."
Missy frowns at me, but Aisha starts laughing. "How the fuck am I the Angel?"
"Uh, no offence–" I turn back to gesture at her… everything, really. "–to your 'street cred' or whatever you cool kids call it here but have you seen Missy?" I Vanna White at the girl in question. "Total 'violence solves everything' vibes and-"
"Hey!" Missy protests, poking me in the arm. "I am not violent!"
"Okay, first: Ow!" I pout at her, rubbing my arm and hamming up how much her poke hurt as hard as I can before turning back to Aisha. "And yeah, I guess warrior angels are a thing too, but!" I point at Missy. "You'll notice she didn't object to being the Shoulder-Devil, just to the idea that violence was her only qualification for the job." I switch to pointing at Aisha. "Way more importantly though, your name starts with A and Missy's doesn't even have one."
"Byron, Missy!" The teacher calls.
"Here!" Missy answers.
Oh jeezus, that's how we take attendance here? Why are we even seated alphabetically then?
Whatever.
"Anyway… speaking of violently having things…" I poke Missy in the arm. "What gym-"
"Flatt, Jane!"
"Rude!" I mock-glare at the teacher. "We can't all be Aisha!"
Missy makes a face but Aisha starts cackling behind me as the teacher and I stare at each other.
Unlike the teacher though, I have a conversation I want to get back to, so I let her win this one with a sigh. "...Physically present!"
I turn back to Missy as the teacher moves on. "What gym do you go to?"
"I…" Missys' eyes widen a little. "I don't?"
Why is she… oh, whoops! She probably uses one in the PRT building. Right.
Re-direct question? Or tease the shit out of her?
…Both!
"Really? What do you do then?" I reach over and squeeze her arm. "Accidentally trip and fall into gun shows wallet first every weekend?"
"...Really, Jane?" Missy's expression of mostly-concealed panic relaxes into exasperation. "I just… exercise." She pokes my arm. "And you're one to talk."
"Yeah." I flex my arm as stereotypically as possible, inviting Missy to give it a squeeze. "And I want to stay this way. Hence talking to you about whether or not the gym you go to is any good."
I'm not actually sure if staying in shape really matters given the way my stats work, but I'm also not sure that it doesn't. And it's not like I've had any luck making a proper stat item. I know Erick used [Ward] for color masks and stuff but I'm clearly forgetting something because even having successfully narrowed down the correct shade of red for Strength, my best result only gave me a single point before shattering just as immediately and enthusiastically as all of its predecessors.
"Yo." Aisha calls out behind me as a foot, which I hope also belongs to Aisha, nudges my butt. "If you two are done-"
The bell rings.
Aisha sighs, and we all grab our backpacks and head to the door as quickly as we can to beat the rush.
Once the awkwardly long bell finally stops, Aisha tries again as we navigate the complicated task of fitting three tween girls who're all trying to be first through a standard adult size door without any casualties. "If you two are done fondling each other, my dad runs a gym."
"Really?" I have no idea if my acting skills are up to the task of pretending I totally didn't know that so I use my favorite spell: Distraction! "You know," I reach out and squeeze her arm, "if you were feeling left out you can just say so. I'm sure Missy would be happy to fondle you too."
"Jane!" Missy squeaks.
Ruth's voice cuts in from behind us before I can respond. "The fuck is wrong with you people?"
"Ruth!" I abandon Aisha's arm in favor of spinning around and pointing my finger at Ruth's face accusingly. A quick [Scry] aimed out the back of my head letting me keep heading towards class without the risk of slamming into a door frame. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to stay in shape!" Speeding up just enough that I can see all three of them. I give Ruth a quick once over and then side-eye Aisha as blatantly as I can. "Even if the girl who claims her dad runs a gym is the squishiest one here."
"Squishy?"
"Hey." I hold up my hands placatingly even as I continue teasing her. "I'm sure you give the best hugs."
"Squishy!?" Aisha doesn't seem to want to be placated. Uh, actually she might really be mad at me.
"Aisha." I drop the teasing tone. "I'm not calling you-" I stop, taking a deep breath in and then out before I can utter the word 'fat' near an already incensed tween girl. "I only meant that, like, out of the four of us–" I gesture broadly at our little group as I walk backwards into our Algebra classroom. "–we only have a single pair of boobs."
And unlike my cousin, I'm perfectly fine with this state of affairs.
…Though apparently Ruth and Missy aren't, given the way they're crossing their arms over their chests and glaring at me.
Well, Missy is glaring at me. Ruth is glaring at Aisha, which is, granted, pretty much their usual method of interaction for most of the short time I've known them apart from Ruth's eyes being aimed a little lower at the moment.
"So! As I was saying." I shrug 'helplessly' at them and recast my favorite spell. "My sister-cousin and I are looking for a gym."
Neither Ruth or Missy react at all, but Aisha squints at me suspiciously. "Hol'up… Your what?" She asks, her tone making breaking the others out of whatever silly tweenie-bopper self-esteem spiral their thoughts had gotten stuck in as they questioningly glance first at her and then at me.
Distraction successful!
"Looking for a gym." I repeat, willfully misunderstanding the question even as I feel the giggles threatening to crack my composure. "Is your dad's any good?"
The urge to telepathically blast banjo noises into their brains is strong, but I resist the impulse by reminding myself that doing so would be, you know, a terrible idea many, many, times over unless I want to join the crazy train that is New Wave.
"DOWN WENT THE JANE AND- Ugh." I gag. "Why does my hole smell like shit again?"
…PHRASING!
Double ugh! Why is my brain like this?
Locking my disc in place and switching my aura to [Cleanse] quickly purges the stench that's invaded my excavation pit. Sadly, it does nothing to purge my memory of my brain's uncomfortable word choice tendencies.
Re-engaging [Stoneshape] and riding my disc back up, I pay closer attention to the stone around me. I don't feel any cracks or gaps in the walls that would let the smell from the basement leak in, even when I switch to the version of the spell that allows for fine control in exchange for a much tighter aura. The wall does shift a little bit in a few places as I work my way downwards using that tighter aura to try to firm up the wall though so maybe this is a perception issue?
How would I even fix that? [Ultrasight] maybe? Or more likely some tier 2 spell that merges [Ultrasight] with [Stoneshape]?
Ultrasight 1, 1 HP per minute.
See clearly
Purchase [Ultrasight 1] for 1 point? Yes/No
Such informative. Many helpful. Wow.
Seriously, if I didn't already know what Ultrasight did that wouldn't explain a thing.
…Ugh, no.
Well…
Okay, so it isn't 1 HP per second like I expected it to be so… maybe? I'll put a pin in that one until I get home and can look over my projected build.
Not that I have the HP regen to support even that for very long unless I'm Meditating, but given how much of what I do involves looking around with [Scry]... being able to see better might be worth it?
Whatever. That's a future-Jane problem.
For now, hopefully the 'fine control' smoothing fixes whatever leak is letting in that smell.
On which note, ugh, I pause again to [Mana Shaping] a [Cleanse] before finally reaching the bott-
A couple meters above the transition line, I hear a splashy noise as my disc suddenly and, given that water is effectively invisible to my stonestense, without warning, plows into said water. Even though I was already slowing down, I can't react fast enough to stop myself and I can hear the now pressurized water fountain up around the edges of my disc, where it sprays all over me and- Oh gods the water smells even worse.
Moving my disc back up and immediately [Mana Shaping] another [Cleanse] before I even finish locking it in place—
Cleanse level up!
Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Go away.
[Telepathy]!
=Hey, Taylor…=
=...What did you do?=
=Rude!=
=...What happened?=
=I went to the dig site on the way ho–=
=By yourself!?=
=–me from sch- Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I'm short, not a baby.=
=Uh huh. What happened?=
=Right, so, I uh… I found the water table a little sooner and far more enthusiastically than I planned to and long story short: Can you bring me a spare change of clothes?=
I feel Taylor sigh over the connection. =I'll be there in a little bit.=
=Awesome! Thank you.=
Doo dooo… Waiting for Taylor. Doo doooo…
Growing bored almost immediately and figuring I might as well make the most of my time, I go back to working on our lair.
Pulling the collar of my shirt up over my nose and digging out my flashlight out of my pocket, I shine it downwards as I spin my [Stoneshape] aura back up and shift the disc into a ring.
…Yup. That is definitely where the stench is coming from. Also, and this might just be my imagination, but I'm pretty sure the water is slowly bubbling too, which cannot possibly be a good sign.
=Hey, Taylor.= I send her what I'm seeing and, because misery loves company, smelling before closing the hole back up and recasting [Cleanse]. =I have a new theory on why the house was condemned.=
=That's…= Taylor abandons words in favor of sending me an impression of dry heaving. =That's lovely, Jane. Thank you for sharing.=
=You're welcome!=
Now… What to do about the water?
Starting with the simplest solution, I try just pushing my disc down without leaving any gaps at the sides.
It works, for a little while, but eventually the pressure pushing back slows me down and… Yeah, I'm not moving anymore.
Okay then. I guess this is the floor now?
Well, no. I want way more than just a few inches of stone between me and that stench.
Switching my aura back to the larger but less precise version, I pick out a spot about another meter up and have an arched doorway slide out of it and form into a new disc for me to ride upwards until I'm level with it.
"THE ITSY BITSY ROCK WYRM FLOWED OUT OF the… wall- Er."
Pausing my tunnelling efforts, I look upwards and double check that actually I'm facing…
Well, shit. I can barely see the light up there let alone tell which way is which from here.
Riding my new disc back up, I start re-forming the ladder on the slide side of the tunnel. Which, I guess I needed to do this anyway in case Taylor ever needed to get in or out without… me…
I pause, floating myself up further and looking at the slide coming in from the outside and leading directly to a giant hole in the ground.
Yeah… I have no idea what OSHAs rules are on things like this, but I am 100% sure this doesn't meet them.
Shifting the slide into something more like a step ladder or a steep staircase, I carve a fall hazard warning into each and every step. I also add some obvious hand holds along the side and… I'm still going to find some dumbass kid's body at the bottom some day if I don't fill this in, aren't I?
…Maybe [Ward] mixed with [Force Wall] to make a barrier that won't let anyone but me or Taylor in?
Or I can just suck it up and cast [Blink] the bajillion more times it'll take me to get [Teleport] and then we won't need an actual physical entrance.
Bah! I'll figure it out when I'm not freezing my ass off in soggy clothes and low on mana besides.
For now, I just lock my disc in place and wrap a temperature [Ward] around me set to a nice and comfy 70ish degrees.
Then I sit my tired ass down to [Meditate] because being OOM sucks.
I raise my left hand. Be the me that raised her right hand instead!
[Blink]
The world flickers midnight blue as I blip upwards a few inches. Gravity, heartless bitch she may be, is at least impartial enough to still reach up and yoink me back down even when it's helpful, thus returning me to my starting position on Taylor's bed with a soft wumph.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Oh, come on. I stare at my left hand, still raised in the air. Be the me that raised her right hand instead!
[Blink]
Wumph.
Left hand is still raised.
Sigh… What is the point of mostly remembering how Ar'kendi-whatever teleportation spells work thematically if I can't apply it?
[Blink]
Wumph.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Ugh. On Veird I could at least do this in public. Could probably even grab a bunch of other freshly matriculated kids and play [Blink]-tag or something, but no… I had to isekai into Brockton fucking Bay.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Hell, even if I'd just arrived here sometime other than fucking Winter, then I could at least be doing this out in the woods or something.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Still my left hand in the air rather than my right.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Well, whatever. I'll at least be able to level [Meditation] on the way to school. Pretty sure that'll put it at the point where I can cast or maintain small spells while using it. No more needing to toggle back and forth between it and Telepathy!
[Blink]
Wumph.
[Bli-
The spell fizzles as the door opens, startling me out of my routine, but it's just Taylor.
"Shower's all yours."
"Woo!"
I [Blink] higher, shifting my arm and twisting my body as I fall so that I come down on my butt and then bounce myself off the bed.
"Woah, hey." She sticks an arm out before I can dash around her. "Just a heads up, I think Dad used it while we were out for our run so the water was already getting cold before I even finished." She tells me, casually murdering my enthusiasm while fiddling with the towel wrapped around her head. "Sorry." She adds a moment later as if that's going to help me.
"Sigh!" I announce, saying the word out loud because I know it annoys her. "I guess I'll just use [Cleanse] again- wait. Wait. Hang on." A solution slowly occurs to me. "Waitaminute!"
Cackling, I dash off to the bathroom and shove a [Mana Shaped] temperature [Ward] as far into the shower head's throat as I can before setting the knob all the way to cold and turning it on.
Cackling intensifying at the sight of steam wafting out of the water, I stick my hand in to confirm.
"UNLIMITED HOT WATER!" Well, only for the next 24 hours or so but actually I'll need to cancel it before then or Danny might notice but still!
I take a step back from the tub. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Be the me who's already naked. [Blink]
The world flickers midnight blue as I blip the foot or so back to the side of the tub.
"Your power is bullshit!" Taylor tells me.
"Taylor!" I whirl around, hands covering my- Er… I look down.
Damn. Still fully dressed. Er… well.
Okay, Blink, I guess I won't be mad at you for not doing what I wanted this time.
"Excuse you." I move my hands to my hips. "I'm trying to practice blipping out of my clothes here."
Taylor raises an eyebrow. "With the door wide open?"
"...shut up!"
"Ruth…" I sigh. "None of that has anything to do with- Oh…" I snap my fingers, pointing at her. "I get it now."
"Really now?" Aisha's glare shifts my way at my half-feigned 'Eureka' moment.
"Yup." I nod, grinning back at her. "Ruth doesn't hate black people, she hates poor people."
"What!? no-"
"You do though!"
"-I don't!"
"Everything you were complaining about:" I count them out on my fingers "The crime, the drugs, the 'smell,'" I airquote that last one, rolling my eyes, "all of that is-
"Miss Flatt," Mr Vernon interrupts me. "If you must talk during class, perhaps you would at least like to talk about the problem on the board?"
Tossing a [Scry] eye near the board so I don't have to break eye contact with Ruth, I look over the equation he's pointing at. "Seven." I say loud enough for my voice to reach the rest of the class. "Also minus seven if you've covered that part of how x squared works."
"That part." Mr Vernon sighs the sigh of aggrieved educators everywhere. "Is today's lesson."
"Oh." I nod, finally breaking eye contact with Ruth to shoot the teacher two thumbs up with an apologetic expression that I keep on my face when I turn back. "Sorry, Ruth." I point at the board. "You should probably pay attention."
In deference to the teacher's obvious wishes, I ignore whatever spluttered objections Ruth raises in response and just put my head down on my desk to focus on the more important questions: Like what the heck am I going to do while my friends are all busy learning basic math?
With a sigh, I start running down my list of options.
=Hey, Taylor! You busy?=
=Very.=
=Nevermind then.=
Work on my story for English class?
…Meh. Not feeling it right now. Plus, I already have like… a week and change's worth of pages ready to turn in.
Hmmm… I eye my mana, basically full again from meditating on the bus. I guess I could explore the city? Between being able to maintain [Meditation] and my dumbass finally realizing I can move the stupid eyes around rather than just rotating them in place before recasting the spell, I can probably even do it without OOMing out again this time.
Reaching into my backpack, I pull out the notebook for computer class and flip to the pages at the back where I'm making 'a list of locations for a text based adventure game set in Brockton Bay' as cover for making a literal checklist of places to Scry.
Now… where was I?
Ah, right. The PRT building.
Shifting my head so it at least looks like I'm paying attention, I cast [Scry].
The 'eye' of the spell pops into existence just outside the front doors, and I float into the lobby through the front door and past the pair of troopers guarding it.
Looking around, the girl working the front desk is dealing with some lady who's complaining about someone stealing her son's Yankees hat. She seems weirdly emphatic about it considering her son is awkwardly standing there next to her wearing a Red Sox hat but whatever. Better you than me, Miss Secretary/Greeter-lady.
Oooh!
Really tall black dude badging through the employees only door! Is it Coil? I zoom over to get a better look.
…Probably not?
His badge doesn't have his name on it, but in retrospect I'm pretty sure Coil is supposed to be obnoxiously tall but freakishly thin and this guy looks like he eats linebackers.
Eh, whatever. I'm bored. Let's follow him to his desk just in case.
…Or not!
A few hallways and an elevator ride later I find myself rapidly backing the eye out of what turned out to be the men's room.
I'll just… follow someone else around today instead. Oooh! Is that Miss Militia!?
Okay, yup, that isn't even close to where it's supposed to be.
As my aura reaches the 'bottom' of the lair, it's immediately obvious that the doorway I made isn't even close to being in the right place.
Fortunately, my digging implement of choice being magic makes shifting the doorway, and the half-formed room behind it, almost 30 degrees so that it's properly opposite the ladder absurdly simple. As bad as creating a sinkhole under an abandoned house would be, I'd much rather that than potentially doing it to one of its occupied neighbors.
That fixed, now I can pull enough stone out of the space behind the door to fill in the pit below me.
I also try pushing the whole floor down further and, surprisingly, I get it to shift another couple inches so I guess some of the pressure must have bled out into the rest of the aquifer over the past 24 hours?
Of course, it's only after I waste a few minutes doing that that I realize there's a better way to handle this.
Shifting stone from just above the space my stone sense indicates is 'empty' of stone but is clearly full of something out to the edges and then down and around below it, I slowly shift the pocket of water up and away from the rest of the aquifer until it's an inch or so beneath my feet and forms the 'mouth' of my latest 'Rock Wyrm' as I ride it back up.
At which point I yeet the water out into the snow, push the stone out into the basement, and head back down again to grab another load of stone.
Hmmm… =Hey, Taylor?= I puff out my cheeks and frown, but choose to ignore the mental sigh I get in response in favor of asking my question. =How much room do you actually need for your spiders anyway?=
=Uh… not much, I guess? It's mostly a matter of keeping them from eating each other while I'm out of range.=
=Well on that lovely note… I think I'm done?=
"Thank you for choosing The Jane-way–" Uh… I'll work on that name. That one has some serious 'do not want' connotations given who my social Qworker might be. "--Express for all your shaft riding needs! Please keep your arms, legs, and tentacles inside the vehicle at all times!"
Fortunately, I'm saved from having to ponder the words that just came out of my mouth while I was distracted by the way Taylor's hand tightens on my shoulder as we ride the disc down to our new lair.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine." Taylor says in a tone indicating she's anything but.
Which, in fairness to her, a one meter wide tube feels a lot more cramped with two- Ah. Shit. I forgot she's claustrophobic or locker-adjacent-ophobic or- Muse on word choice later! Fixy fixy now!
Please don't be a crime against sanity.
Please don't be a crime against sanity.
Crossing my fingers, I make a light [Ward].
Well… it is producing light?
Taylor and I crane our necks up to stare at the weird cloud of glowing blue smoke that's angrily darting around above us as the disc continues bringing us downward.
In retrospect, thinking about the various ways Erick got it to go wrong while casting was probably the opposite of helpful.
Then again, Taylor's grip on my shoulder did relax a bit at some point. "...Is that better?"
"Well I'm not worried about the dark any more."
"Umm… yeah." I shrug. "On the plus side, that one isn't screaming so I'm going to call it a win.
"Is that what that was the other day?"
"I plead the fifth." If only because I have no idea what she's talking about. Well, that and I still don't want to give voice to the whole 'I isekai'd into your story with the body and powers of this girl from another story' thing I have going on. Which I'd kind of need to do to be able to explain how poorly Erick's first forays in lightwards went. "But here." I dig out my flashlight and hold it out to her, snagging the quartz 'terrarium' full of spiders with my aura and floating it out of her arms. "I'll trade you."
With my flashlight in hand, Taylor doesn't grab my shoulder again, but she does start doing that thing where she goes eerily still.
"...Don't you wander around the house in the dark all the time?"
"There are bugs everywhere at home."
"...Eww. Don't remind me."
"It's not that bad when you have complete control over them all."
"Uh huh. I'm sure."
"My point was that I can basically feel my way around at home using them as a map. But here… I found this chunk of rock by looking for where the bugs weren't."
"Ooooh… That makes-" An idea occurs to me. "Actually, let me try something."
[Telepathy]
"What are you-" she cuts off as I start trying to pipe the stonesense feedback from my aura to her. "...Woah."
"Jane!" Taylor shakes me awake. "Jane!"
"...Ow." I croak more than say.
"Jane!" The shaking stops. "Are you okay?"
"Head hurts..." I groan, blinking open my eyes and looking up at Taylor. Or I try to. Open vs closed doesn't seem to make a huge difference at the moment. Even with the flashlight she's using, it is dark this morning. Did we lose pow- Wait, what? "...Why am I on the floor?"
"I tried to… I didn't…" Taylor's head dips. "I just wanted to let you see what I see with my power too."
"Oh." I try to nod, but that makes the room spin so I stop. "Ow…" I whine, trying and failing to roll over so I can stand up.
"Yeah…" Taylor agrees unsteadily. "You just… fell over."
"Right." Despite how I feel, wiggling my fingers and toes confirms everything is still connected. So… Status?
Jane Flatt
Human, age: 12
Level 9, Class: None
Exp: 5163/5500
Class: -/-
Points: 3HP109/120 (-198)160 per dayMP265/532554 per dayStrength12+012Vitality16+016Willpower20+020Focus20+020
…Parenthesis? Why are there- Oh… wasn't mental backlash from telepathy 'fake damage' or something? Can't kill you but can make you wish it could?
Yeah, that matches how I'm feeling right now.
Giving up on trying to roll over, I turn on [Meditation] in hopes my HP regen will handle fake damage with the same hourly aplomb it does actual HP damage.
No, wait, that's stupid. I saved the spare points for just this sort of 'rainy day' nonsense and even just breathing hurts right now. That has to count as rain. Calling up my menus, I buy and cast [Treat Wounds], sighing as the bit of up front healing flows through me. I still feel like shit though so I cast it again. And then again. And again. By which point my body has moved from, 'did anyone get the number on that bus?' to just sore. My head still hurts, but now it's the intimately familiar headache of being most of the way through my third mana pool of the day.
"Makes sense." I try nodding again, and this time I manage it without making the room spin. Mostly. "The spirit is willing but the brain is spongy and made of meat."
Hell, it took Taylor two weeks in a mental ward to fully adapt to the input.
"You're okay?"
"Yeah. I have a healing power now."
Taylor stares down at me for a moment and then giggles. I have no idea what's so funny- Oh. It only clicks as Taylor pulls back from kneeling over me and just sort of keeps going, more or less toppling over into a sitting position beside me, that her giggling is more of the hysterical-relief variety than anything resembling humor.
I shift, propping myself up on my arms so I can look at her properly.
"I vote we call this lesson learned: No shoving multiple blocks worth of bugs into Jane's brain. This breaks the Jane-brain. And, in hindsight, I owe you an apology. I should not have shoved meters of rock into you without asking. And not without a lot more easing into it either."
"Well." Taylor's giggles taper off into a moment of stillness before she continues flatly. "I guess you really are fine if you're making sex jokes again."
"Hey! I did no such animal- Oh. Ewww!" I try to facepalm, but my arms are busy holding me up. Probably for the best, I shouldn't be smacking my head right now anyway.
"Huh." Taylor squints at me. "It's almost more impressive if you're doing it without even realizing it."
"Taylor, I know Winslow is… Winslow and so probably never taught you how metric anything works but dildos are measured in centimeters because meters of anything isn't a sex joke anymore. That'd just fucking kill even you and your…size-pollution levels of tallness."
And no, Brain, I most certainly do not need to leave a pair of giant stone dildos in front of the Medhall building for the twins. Why are you like this?
"I know what meters are, Jane." I can't see her well enough to say for sure, but I'm pretty sure Taylor just rolled her eyes at me.
"Uh huh…" I put as much doubt as I can into my voice. "And you understand how- Nope! Nevermind." I shake my head and start standing up. Tutoring my cousin in math is one thing. Sex Ed is another. That way lies madness and banjo music playing while people get stuck in washing machines and Aisha laughing her ass off at me again if I try to whine about it at school. "Let's just get your spiders squared away."
Adding the last set of tiny little alcoves into the wall, I cut off [Stoneshape] and stagger over to the stone dais I raised in the middle and flop my exhausted ass down.
"Need a minute?" Taylor asks, taking a seat next to me while her swarm of Black Widows all disperse themselves one to an alcove.
"I do, yeah, but first…" Just wanting to be done, I ignore the throbbing in my head, take a deep breath, and then [Mana Shape] a donut shaped bug [Ward] along the edge of the room. "Okay, now I'm all done! Double check none of them can escape without your help?"
Taylor's head tilts to the side a little as the walls all briefly look like they're trying to wiggle. The myriad shadows my far-more-successful-but-still-pretty-dim lightward casts on the alcoves as it flickers like a candle despite being basketball sized combines with the random movements of thousands of black bodies into a truly disturbing sight.
Disturbing as it may be though, it still brings a grin to my lips as her spiders, temporarily released from her rigid control, all try and– to my great joy– fail to leave their newly assigned dorm rooms.
I look around, not seeing even a single escapee. "We're good?"
"We're good." Taylor nods.
"And… you can still force them to cross the ward line if you try hard enough?" I double check, since [Ward] has leveled up again since we last tested that.
"It's not comfortable, but yeah."
Yeah, well, I don't know how comfortable I am with the fact that QA can apparently just, like, make the spiders ignore my Bug [Ward]s either.
But I try not to let how put out about it I am show on my face since having a way to restrain her minions' cannibalistic tendencies while she's at school is more than a little convenient for Taylor. Plus, you know, it also means that there are now a few thousand less of the cannibalistic Black Widows in the house where I sleep!
Speaking of which, I finally let myself sag in place until my elbows are on my knees, my hands propping my head up, and start up [Meditation]. "Okay. Great. Then I'm going sit here until my Thinker headache goes away."
Be the me that raised her right hand instead!
[Blink]
Wumph.
Level up!
+2 Ability Points
Woo…
Still my left hand in the air, but hey, that does rather neatly rebuild my rainy day fund after this afternoon's… misadventure.
[Blink]
Wumph.
The repeated bounce landings at the end aren't exactly pleasant for my throbbing head, even as cushioned as my landings are on Taylors bed, but I want [Teleport] some time this century dammit so I force myself to keep at it.
[Blink]
Wumph.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Blink level up!
My eyes flit back and forth between the blue level up box and my raised right hand.
Sure, the idea occurred to me that maybe the issue was my spell level or even stats were just too low to do what I was trying to. What didn't occur to me is how hard my sense of accomplishment would get fucking murdered by the discovery I wasn't doing anything wrong, I just hadn't cast the stupid spell enough times yet to be allowed to do it.
Still, on the plus side… Be the me that was standing up!
[Blink]
Wumph.
Well, nope, that still didn't work.
So either there's something more to it than that, or going from laying down to standing up requires even more levels in Blink.
…Meh. That sounds like a future-Jane problem.
Rolling over to the edge of Taylor's bed, I use one last [Blink] to blip myself onto my nest and snuggle in before bringing a finger up to my face and booping my own snoot with [Treat Wounds].
The healing magic sweeps through me, but I don't feel anything change other than my mana exhaustion headache ratcheting up another notch which is, I hope, a good sign. I've been ignoring the problem all afternoon, but now that I'm laying down to try and sleep… QA trying to overshare was not one of the spaces I thought to put on my 'Earth Bet sucks and will try to kill you' bingo board. And I can't even be that mad about it because I literally justified doing almost the exact same thing to Taylor on the assumption that QA would handle smoothing out any issues.
It could have just as easily been Taylor that passed out on the floor down there.
No longer wanting to think about it anymore, I lift my finger, fully intending to boop the shit out of myself repeatedly until I pass out from mana exhaustion but… I do have a favored spell slot open. And, unlike with Blink, which I'll be replacing with Teleport the moment I can, I only get the one healing spell.
I call up the box.
Treat Wounds 2, instant, touch, 50 mana
Heal the injuries of the target. Increases the natural healing of the target for 8 hours. Increases Health Regeneration.
Effect breaks if damage is incurred.
Exp: 150/200
…It's already level 2? Jeezus. I really was out of it if I missed a blue box popping up.
And because I'm just masochistic enough to stare at things I can't have, I search up the box for Treat Greater Wounds.
…No such spell? What the fu- Oh! Stupid exact match only nonsense. How the hell is anyone ever supposed to find- …Registrars. Right.
Shaking my head, and then regretting it when it makes my head twinge harder, I rerun my search query minus the accidental D&D syntax.
Greater Treat Wounds 1, instant, touch, 250 mana
Greatly heal the injuries of the target. Greatly increase the natural healing of the target for 6 hours. Greatly increases Health Regeneration. Effect breaks if damage is incurred.
Accept Quest for Greater Treat Wounds? Yes/No
Uhh… Yes!
Spell Quest!
Provide great aid to the terribly wounded 0/1000
OR
Buy [Greater Treat Wounds 1] for 5 points.
Reward: [Greater Treat Wounds 1]
One thousand people?
I guess that explains why Treat Wounds X isn't a prereq. A thousand casts at fifty mana a pop already has that… uh… wait, no. I wrote out the Fibonacci sequence and level 9 was 5500 all by itself.
Still though. What the shit, Powers? Judgey much? Pretty sure OG Jane only needed 50 rescues and I need to help a thousand?
Unwilling to deal with my own powers calling me a terrible person, I go back to my plan of booping the shit out of myself until I pass out from mana exhaustion. [Treat Wounds]!
Treat Wounds level up!
Woo… Wait, fuck! I can't even start working on that quest until I have [Teleport] to get to and from the hospital without leaving a trail home.
Hell, at that point I might as well just do my rounds in…
Heeeey… Yeah, wait. Why wouldn't I do my rounds in a different city? Far far away from Coil's grubby mitts.
Ugh. Now I really need to hurry up and get Blink to 10. With a groan, I force myself to stand up and climb back onto Taylor's bed and resume my blipping grind.
[Blink]
Wumph.
[Blink]
Wumph.
"Hey." Taylor shakes me awake. "Jane."
"Hummina…" I blink blearily at her in the dark. "Whatsit?"
The shaking stops. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Ye-" I yawn. "Yeah. I'm fine, just tired. What time is it anyway?"
"A little after nine."
"Oh, oka- oh shit." I lurch upright. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier!?"
"Nine PM, Jane."
I pause halfway through pulling off my shirt, turning back to face her off as I stumble towards the laundry basket I'm using as a dresser for the moment. "When why the fuck-
I have a brief moment to wonder why Taylor is so much shorter than usual before my foot finds air instead of the floor. The realization that I fell asleep in Taylor's bed rather than my nest hitting me right as I fall off of that bed.
Fell for 15 HP damage!
"...Ow."
"You're sure you're okay?" Taylor asks me again as I slowly roll myself back into a sitting position.
"Yes, Mom." I sigh, climbing to my feet. Then I feel bad as Taylor goes perfectly still and I remember her Mother is a whole thing with her. Maybe my powers have a point. "Sorry." Grabbing her quilt, I drag myself back onto her bed. "That was… uncalled for. I'm just grouchy because my head hurts and now I'm going to have to blip myself to sleep all over again."
"Again?"
"Yeah." I lay down and wiggle into position. "My Thinker Headaches don't exactly make me tired per se and I just napped so…" I shrug, holding up my left hand. "Blipping until I pass out!"
"In my-"
[Blink]
"-bed?"
Wumph.
"Yeah, my nest isn't nearly padded enough for this." I look over at her, waving my now raised right hand at her. "Also, check out… what's with the face?"
Taylor takes a deep breath, the weird— even by Taylor standards— look she was giving me disappearing. "Nothing." She shakes her head. "Nevermind."
"…Kay. Watch this."
[Blink]
Wumph.
Left arm in the air.
[Blink]
Wumph.
Left leg in the air.