I took another nap after our time in the Core Partition. Llewellyn placed our order to be delivered two and a half hours before my shift so I could rest but we'd also have enough time to eat and enjoy ourselves without being in a hurry.
It had been a good plan because dinner was amazing, and then we could settle on the sofa with ice cream and… uh… make out some more.
Anyway. It was perfect.
Later on, I left Llewellyn to play some gacha game, made a giant pot of coffee, and started getting ready for my shift.
Ah, I couldn't believe this had been my normal life for years (and that I'd even avoided quitting after I signed with the System!), and now I was struggling like hell to work a single shift.
Niamh typed immediately as soon as I clocked in.
[Niamh]: RYO
Wait, she was typing in the main chat, not my DMs.
[Niamh]: We were going to do a whole thing for you since you were leaving, but now you're not technically leaving, which was the best news, so we had to change our tack. But you're an amazing colleague so we still wanted to do something for you.
She shared a file.
What? Wait, don't tell me…
I opened the file. It was full of messages from my team—even some from my previous team. It seemed like Niamh had gone around hunting people down and asking them to participate.
But instead of "Goodbye", the front page said "Congratulations! You leveled up!"
-NIAMH-
Ryo! I had a whole speech prepared about how you are irreplaceable and how I'd never find anyone willing to read 2000 comments about Llewellyn's hair at 3 AM without complaining, but now you've technically become my boss—client? something—so now that's weird. But I know you'll still be reading comments about Llewellyn's hair at 3 AM, so that's a win for everyone—especially me, so I can ask you about it knowing I'll get all the juice. :) But seriously, I'm so incredibly glad you're still part of the team. Congratulations on leveling up!
-OPAL-
RYO!!! I'm really really glad you're still here!!!! I asked you so many questions at the beginning and you never made me feel stupid and I will never forget that!!!!
-ALTAN-
Man, I was going to write something emotional and I'm glad I don't have to. Congrats on whatever the hell is happening in your life right now. You deserve good things. (PS: You should visit us soon; I still owe you a coffee.)
-CIARÁN-
Glad you're not leaving, Ryo. You're the only one who appreciates my cloud pictures.
I snorted.
-ÁINE-
I haven't worked with you as long as the others, but you were always so patient when I was still learning the tool and panicking about escalations. I'm happy I don't have to say goodbye!
I scrolled quickly. Damn, there were a lot. I was going to read those later.
[Ryo]: You're really going to see me every day, guys. You didn't have to
Besides, they were going to have to read about me so much if things went on like this, they'd likely get sick of me soon.
[Niamh]: Ah, but I can't give you things to do now
…Pftt. She was probably going to send all the sword discourse my way now. She just wouldn't give me long moderation queues. Hopefully.
[Opal]: Exactly!!!!! We're sad to see you non-go!!!
[Opal]: Wait, that didn't sound right >_< I mean
[Opal]: We're sad you're not a colleague anymore, but we're happy you're not going! Though we're also sad all the crazy people are posting about you now
[Ryo]: @Opal Don't you have the early morning shift??? Please, go to bed and rest!
[Opal]: Not the 5AM one! I'm after you today, not the parallel shift. Altan and I switched for a week
Oh, that was good—Altan was three hours ahead, if I remembered correctly. I wondered what he was up to. We had only talked once after the Troy Distorted Realm.
Of the rest of the team, I really only talked to Ciarán anyway, though 'talk' was a big word. It didn't matter what hours Ciarán worked, the other sixteen he was probably horizontal somewhere either sleeping, taking a nap, or lying on a hammock.
Well, we should all learn from him. Every once in a while he'd take pics of weirdly shaped clouds and post them in the work chat—which was what he was referring to in his message.
[Ryo]: Thank you so much guys. I'm going to tackle the first RSoH report today and then I'm officially done and she's all yours 😈
[Opal]: shudders
[Altan]: That was cruel, man. You didn't have to rub it in
[Ryo]: No, I really had to 😌
[Niamh]: Wrong emoji Ryo—I can hear you cackle all the way from here. @Altan, what are you doing here! Go to sleep!
I grinned.
Ah, I was glad I wasn't really leaving.
Actually, being able to stay without even having to work? I'd really won the lottery.
Anyway, it was really time to start now.
I read Áine's handover, made a few notes for myself, and opened the shift checklist.
Damn, there really was a whole huge section allocated for the RightSideofHistory checks now. It looked like they had to move some stuff to the parallel shift to make time for it.
I was glad I had resigned just in time not to have to deal with this more than once.
Anyway, I had to proceed in order, following the time slots.
I hadn't had the chance to keep up with the conversation online after everything that had happened. Turns out there had been quite a lot of backlash, both about Gléonwon and the Troy Distorted Realm—though it seemed like most people were inclined to believe the dragon was AI generated.
Even foreign politicians had intervened, demanding Llewellyn and me stay for a report after every Distorted Realm and asking other countries—especially Iceland, Japan, and France where we'd been in the last couple of weeks—to join forces to make sure we'd fill them in properly.
Hell no. They could go on about it until they went blue in the face—that was not going to happen. We were saving their asses; we were not staying to be accused of destroying historic buildings or something.
Queen Seolene had stepped in to defend us though, so there was that at least.
Damn, looked like we really had to go to that gala now. If I wasn't mistaken, that was always held on the first day of spring, right? So that was still some time away, but.
Maybe by the time that came around, things would have quieted down and we could avoid it. Or maybe we'd get a perfectly timed Distorted Realm and have a good excuse not to go.
I kept reading.
RightSideofHistory had only been intermittently active in the last few days, so there actually wasn't much for me to report once I got around to that section of the shift. She had started watching a new TV show, went on a rant against Llewellyn on one account and against me on another, and got into an argument with a fifteen-year-old girl who'd posted a selfie with some Llewellyn merch.
I rubbed my temples. I went to her pages and scrolled back as much as I could, but I didn't get any sense that she'd flown over to blow up my flat. Though, I doubted she'd have advertised that if she did.
Halfway through, I also realized that I basically had to send this report to myself, since I was on the client side of things now, so… that was weird as hell. Was there even any point?
Ah, anyway. I also had to send it to Emma after all. Besides, better to keep track of everything.
By the time of my mid-shift break at around 3:30 AM, Llewellyn was sleeping soundly.
Perfect. I'd been hoping for that.
I moved as far away from Llewellyn's room as possible, lowered my voice, and—
"System," I called. "I need you to tell me about what's going on with Llewellyn. What's the situation with his Vital Signs? How is he?"
[System Notification: Partner Llewellyn's Vital Signs are currently stable. Intermittent anomalies have been detected and corrected where possible.
Full diagnostic: inconclusive. Available data does not match existing records.
Current approach: continued observation.]
Wait… So it really didn't know?!
Shit.
"Please tell me if anything happens or if I can do anything to stabilize him."
[System Notification: Affirmative. The System will notify User Ryo of any significant changes.]
This sucked. How was it possible that not even the System knew?
But Éisne had been able to sense it. Could latent gods actually know things the System didn't know?
Unfortunately, my ten-minute break was coming to an end.
I grabbed something to munch on and went back to my shift.
By the time I wrapped things up, clocked off and brushed my teeth, the sun had already risen.
I considered taking the guest room to avoid waking Llewellyn up, but he'd insisted I come to bed as soon as I was done so… knowing him, he'd probably get annoyed.
I tried to be quiet as I slid under the cover, but both Penguin and Lumos were on the bed too, so that created a small ruckus. Ah, damn it.
Before I could backtrack and relocate to the other room, Llewellyn reached out and pulled me closer, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
"Sleep," he said in my ear.
Uh.
Damn.
My heartbeat had gone really fast.
How was he so at ease with this stuff?!