I spent the next hour in the Core Partition, with Penguin curled against my chest, snoring softly.
I'd first picked Fundamentals of Geometric Casting because I'd been curious, but—uh. Absolutely not.
I mean, my whole thing was instinct, not precision. I didn't want to mess around with something that might blow up half a city if you drew a triangle half a grade off or something.
It's not like I lacked stuff to learn anyway.
I eyed Glyphs of Power: Basics, Living Forms, Modular Breakthroughs, but put it back after a moment. Distorted Realms had Elemental Magic only. I should at least make sure to strengthen my Water Magic first, if I wanted to be useful and not die in battle.
The one I'd picked last time, Breath and Bone: Elemental Foundations in Martial Flow, had expanded my perception of the Magic Field, changed how I related to Water Magic, and made combat much easier. Maybe I should find something similar.
"Hey," I asked a flying feather duster, "Where can I find the books on Water Magic?"
The feather duster swayed for a moment, then led the way toward a shelf at the back.
Uh. Amazing.
"Thank you," I said.
The flying duster performed what seemed like a small bow.
I started looking at the titles. Moonpull Methods for Beginners, Lanterns of the Tide: Techniques for Carrying Light through Bodies of Water, Understanding Water Through Sound and Touch, The Subtle Flow Workbook…
Damn, these were all interesting.
After a while, I chose Tides in Motion: Water Magic for Close Quarters—which had a whole section on bursts of force—and went back to the bed. I placed the book on the nightstand and slid under the covers next to Penguin, who chirped contentedly and snuggled closer.
Ah, this learn-by-napping thing was great.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
The System woke us up about an hour later, and relocated us to my flat.
I tried to figure out if I felt any different after the new learning session, but it was hard to say.
I did seem to have new notions about Water Magic swirling in my head, but... I couldn't tell if it was just intellectual knowledge or if my Magic had also really expanded somehow.
It was true that the System had said that the knowledge learned in the Core Partition was theoretical and had to be refined through practical use, but it had also said that Instinctive Expansion—which enabled the subconscious expansion of Magic—was active at all times while in the Core Partition, and was even intensified by sleep. So even if the knowledge acquired remained theoretical, my Magic could still have expanded somehow.
I wondered what would change the more time I spent in the Core Partition. I wasn't sure what counted as growth. Nothing learned there came with levels or percentages or a progress bar.
It would have been great to immediately test what I'd just learned, just like last time, but… my shift would start soon.
I sighed.
There wasn't much for it—I had to admit that both Llewellyn and Gran were right. I couldn't keep doing this.
Besides, Altan still wanted the shifts, so technically I would not inconvenience anyone if I did give up more.
"You also think I should drop more shifts, don't you?" I asked Penguin.
Penguin chirped and tapped my fingers with his beak. Clearly a yes.
I grumbled a bit, then opened my laptop and started typing an email to HR, telling them I'd only like to keep two shifts from now on, whenever worked best for them. Then texted Niamh to let her know, too.
She sent back one of her cartoon llama gifs.
[Niamh]: I was wondering when you'd realize you can't do both. Approved. Take care of yourself.
Well.
I didn't know how I felt about this.
Considering that I hadn't technically quit, just lightened up my load, things should probably not be that different from now on, right? Still. Going from a minimum of six shifts a week to two made me feel guilty for some reason.
Anyway. That was it for now.
I still had to work today.
I patted Penguin, made coffee, and got ready for tonight's shift.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
"..."
What the hell.
Everything was a mess right now—Gran's bomb threat, new Distorted Realm, doxxing... but somehow the thing blowing up the most was the shipping threads?!
"Blowing up" was an understatement.
Whatever shipping had been going on before had multiplied after people had learned my name, and hundreds of shipping arguments had popped up literally everywhere—which I now had to read.
...I braced myself.
-
[llewellamb]: the name's out. it's time. so what's the ship name? Ryowellyn? Ryollyn? Ryoyn? I need to know what cursed path we're taking
[ninedecency]: llewellyn clearly tops lmao. best options are LLyo and LLewyo
[yokaied]: we're doing positions discourse again? in this economy?
[quickboom]: positions discourse is the fandom's mating call
[plinkplonk]: how would you even know who's what. stop assuming
[threedots]: y'all are weird. you know switching exists, right?
[grainofband]: shocking news: some people have preferences. cope
[playon]: exactly! not everyone wants to live in the switching utopia you invented in your head! leave us alone
[clashedglutton]: top/bottom discourse AGAIN. every time. every single time
[seventhbutton]: it keeps coming up because people pretend preferences don't exist
[fumblerg]: precisely! people prefer one or the other! deal with it!
[catears]: THANK YOU. can we stop forcing switching like it's a religion
[seventhshot]: I swear y'all see the word switch and start frothing
[playon]: because switching isn't a universal truth! it's a headcanon!
[clicktodoom]: can you all stop, these are real people we're talking about
[holierthanlou]: as if real people don't have preferences lmao
[foodmorning]: exactly. bottoming is a SKILL some of you speak with zero experience
[brightlight]: seriously? switching doesn't mean neutral. it means they both know what they're doing
[cinderclock]: the confidence some of you have while being wrong is insane
[wornspoon]: you all see two men and immediately start projecting positions get help
[anklebeet]: switching truthers crawling out again I see
[knotbot]: so what? stop acting like we asked you to switch
[crumblebit]: why are you mad about switching. it's hot
[westghost]: also why is no one talking about power bottoms anymore this fandom is losing culture
[tinypill]: power bottom discourse died because none of you can handle nuance
[minochorus]: Llewellyn is top-coded but I still think he gets railed
[sparklime]: if I see the phrases top-coded or power bottom one more time I'm deleting my account
[dewstack]: every day this fandom invents a new way to embarrass itself
-
"…"
I'm—
What am I even looking at!!
I couldn't believe I was reading this sober.
I mean, this was regular fandom stuff—I'd moderated threads like this.
But. Being the subject matter was another thing entirely.
I dragged a hand over my face.
As if this wasn't enough, several threads seemed particularly fixated on that video of me bleeding and collapsing on Llewellyn after the fight against the destabilized keyring.
-
[breadbranding]: the arm around the waist is seme-coded. look at them. zero hesitation. llewellyn definitely tops
[inkmunch]: seme coded?? he's carrying a half dead guy, you maniac!
[jadedstem]: Ryo has uke posture I'm not arguing this today
[varnishmeg]: define uke posture right now I'm serious
[petalerror]: it's the way he leans in. textbook uke.
[fifthcinder]: how am I seeing people scream seme when he's literally collapsing. obviously llewellyn is the seme
[pastefolder]: exactly. the hip grab is pure seme aura and I'm not taking criticism
[owlyte]: seme aura??? he's trying to keep him upright!
[thirstly]: I'm telling you, the still where his hand closes on Ryo's hip settles it
[mainhut]: he's got seme stance but bottom energy idk how to explain it
[icedream]: Ryo looks uke-coded AND I swear he's the one who tops that's my thesis
[linenbyte]: he's keeping him upright and people are calling it seme posture. top posture. whatever posture. be serious!!!
[chartrune]: wait I thought seme meant dom??? why is everyone yelling at me
[flipspark]: dom is not top and seme is not dom and I need everyone to stop treating this like math class
[papercurse]: what are you all on about, the look in his eyes is pure seme, the HIP grab is top coded, it all tracks
[bubblegrit]: he's literally BLEEDING and people are debating if his collapse is uke vibes
[pixelhaunt]: you all keep mixing up seme with top like they're the same thing and it's embarrassing
[bluetrend]: what are you on about? they ARE the same thing!
[pixelhaunt]: they're literally not
[kerosynth]: Ryo has uke reactions but top initiative that's all I'm saying
[bitevector]: ok but the angle where Ryo tilts his head up. thats uke cinema
[netvault]: uke cinema is insane wording please leave
[rustcache]: every fandom ends up here. every single one
[gridthon]: I don't even have preferences but that is not uke behaviour that is man with a concussion behaviour
[moresalt]: as someone who studies this academically Ryo is the seme
[unwrapped]: what academic institution is letting you study this
[mainloft]: I'm sorry but that thumb curl is BL panel seme energy even if he's a bottom irl. that's a claim if I've ever seen one
[madheart]: claim? lmao. he's just holding on
[coilbuffer]: he's holding him, you mean. that's authority. he's a top
[signalmince]: he's trying to keep a guy from hitting the ground. calm down
[driftpearl]: with an arm around his waist? lmao. be serious
[pocketerror]: why are we analyzing the WAIST GRAB
[saltvector]: because it's 400 percent intentional
[sunkfish]: intentional??? bro he's BLEEDING OUT
[feralmod]: you people are unwell. they're literally bleeding and you're arguing about who tops
[moldstamp]: HOW is anyone topping anything when one of them is half collapsed
[jeanslord]: ok but the microsecond where his thumb curls in. explain THAT
-
"..."
I didn't even worry about that, why were these people!
I was too lost for words to even be properly embarrassed.
...That is, until I remembered that my colleagues will probably have to read this nonsense too.
Fucking hell.
I felt my ears go warm. What could I even do? It's not like I could stop this.
I took a deep breath and clicked on another thread.
They were also trying to find more pictures of me, it seemed. Because there weren't many, people were now resorting to video stills from my press ambush and the other clips.
-
[oopsdate]: WAIT. someone caught another one. different angle.
[tenthdream]: holy shit his face is clearer in this one
[blameless]: he's actually cute. damn.
[plundedraspberry]: the way llewellyn's looking at him in this still though...
[dungeonpull]: bro is GONE gone. look at his expression
[trumpetknot]: this is some fairytale shit right here
[peachwired]: llewellyn looks like he just found his soulmate I'm SCREAMING
[cakethrob]: the way he steps closer to Llewellyn? it's subtle but it's there
[memill]: llewellyn doesn't step away either. just saying.
[cacheglitch]: in the second angle you can see llewellyn say something to him. wonder what
[honeycrash]: can someone link the other still I need to run it through motion blur removal for reasons
[screendeep]: motion blur removal is crazy behaviour please stop
[stackedlatte]: I'm begging you all to drink water or touch grass or both
[velvetbuffer]: whatever it was, Ryo relaxes after. trust vibes.
[twentyframes]: these two have been together longer than we thought
[fullstain]: someone slow this footage down i need to study it
[emberpull]: you can literally see him soften
[trainbound]: no, think about it. llewellyn looks relaxed around him. RELAXED
[warmrache]: the way Ryo looks up at him? I'm sweating
[crashwaves]: plot twist: they've been married this whole time
[yomama]: anyway as his in laws we're fully approving this match
[mexling]: yeah we're basically the family group chat now. if they're not married they need to be asap
[firecarb]: someone create a wedding spreadsheet we've got work to do
[cookiebar]: auntie committee reviewed the footage and we're in favor
[mossyland]: cousins council says yes
[moddrip]: fandom already picked a venue we're doomed
-
Uh…
Um.
Were those wedding cakes with our figurines on top?!
What the hell.
Thankfully (or not), it wasn't all just shipping.
I was halfway through a thread of conspiracy theories about whether I was mind-controlling Llewellyn or vice versa, I got a message from Llewellyn.
[Llewellyn]: Tiernan wants to meet. And we should check on the dragon soon. Can we skip tomorrow? After that any day and time is fine. Your call on when.
[Ryo]: Sure. Shall I ask the System to tell the dragon we'll visit the day after tomorrow? No problem for Tiernan, whenever works for you.
[Llewellyn]: Great, thank you.
Uh? "Great, thank you"?
I frowned.
Was I hallucinating or was that unusual behavior from Llewellyn?
I mean, he might just have stuff to do—and I did have my moderation queue to deal with and it was none of my business anyway—but. He sounded off.
...Maybe I'd just read too much nonsense in the last few hours and my brain had melted.
It wasn't until the following afternoon, when Penguin and I were lounging after a late breakfast, that suddenly—
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Partner Llewellyn's distress exceeds safe threshold!]
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Partner Llewellyn's distress exceeds safe threshold!]
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Partner Llewellyn's distress exceeds safe threshold!]
HUH?
What the fuck.
Something had definitely been wrong, then.
"What's going on?" I asked. I was still in my pajamas. "Explain. Where should I reach him? Can you get me there?"
[System Notification: Partner Llewellyn is at Baekhaven Cemetery.]
I froze. What?
Wait…
I took out my phone to check the date.
Shit. How did I forget?!
It was the anniversary of Llewellyn's family's death.