***
Sophia spent the night clinging to me much the same way she did when we first met - not out of love, but desperation.
I think we became a little complacent. We hadn't had a slip up since the first few nights so the whole spirit thing had become a bit of a forgotten problem.
It's fine though - I will never let her be alone in bed again. Well, at least, not until we have the whole curse thing sorted.
***
Being Truday, it's time for my favorite class ever - sorceries and instants. Neither of which I can really do because I don't have the mana control. Honestly, I'm just in a bit of a funk, what with everything that's going on.
The old wizard guy teacher lets me continue to practice my mana control in the corner. The rest of the class has moved on to spells that are well beyond my abilities, especially because I'm not really up for the mana cost that the bracers demand today. It's like putting the gas pedal to the floor but staying in first gear. Not good for the engine.
While being stuck in the special kid corner really sucks, at least it gives me time to think.
Goals… I need them.
Number one: more money is always good.
Number two: we should probably free Sophia of this curse.
Number three: I should try to find the fucker that keeps trying to kill me.
Number four; Try and open the unanchored rift for Gestalt to analyse.
Well, number four is being handled right now. Just gotta get better mana control. Number one, two and three all need more information. Which means I need to make a trip to the city and bug Belly some more.
I should also loop Maria into my plans. I imagine she will want to know. It begs the question though, do I just brain text her or schedule an appointment?
Like I feel close enough to her that I can just call her up. But is this business shit or personal shit? It feels pretty personal. I'm gonna text her.
While I've got you, do you have any way to confirm the Sophia spirits thing?>
That's an idea! We will have to test some stuff out but I'm pretty sure I can get a grip on ones of those fuckers.
Amazing. That's a few threads to pull on.
***
I have skipped the second sorcery class because I have more important things to do. I'm out on the south side of the crawl, looking for the Two Headed Orc.
Sophia has come along. We are both out of our fancier fits and wearing something closer to workmen's clothes. I'm in overalls. Sophia is in a shirt and slacks with a long overcoat and a gun on her belt.
"Is that the gun I think it is?" I ask.
"Yes. I asked Maria if I could keep it." she said.
Well that's dark. Good to see she's fully committing to the lifestyle. I guess we will have to see who ends up being the crazier bitch… her or me.
It takes a little asking around but we eventually find the Two Headed Orc. To call it a dive bar would be an offence to dive bars. This is a bar that climbed to the highest diving board and then face planted an empty pool.
It's a shit hole.
I slip the Gestalt rat out of my pocket and let it run off to a dark little hideaway, with a clear view of the street.
'You alright keeping watch?'
[We can do that.]
'Thanks, buddies.'
Sophia and I push into the bar. It smells like piss and vomit and the most prominent decoration is the blood stains.
I love it here.
It takes me all of thirty sections to find the mage. The mana crystals implanted in his eyes are a bit of a give away.
He makes a sniffing motion when we approach. "You ladies smell like Rift Walkers." He said.
"That's creepy." I reply, as we sit down at his table.
"I try." He grins at me with black teeth.
"Tangerine Stone. Maria pointed me in your direction."
"You can call me Rikky. Academy bullshit huh?"
"The Infinite Archives keep trying to kill me."
His eye crystals glow at that. I feel like that's quite the tell that he's managed to give himself.
"Oh yes. I like that." He says, "Fancy being bait?"
This gets Sophia's back up. I can feel her hackles from here.
"You want to set up an ambush?" I ask.
It was at this moment that some fat drunk stumbles his way to our table. "Oi ladies, how much for a bit of rumpy pumpy?" His breath was foul.
I am thinking about how to deal with him, when an already on edge Sophia pulls her gun and presses it against the side of his head.
"Please go away." She says, quietly.
I can see the drunk sober up in real time. He just slowly raises his hands and backs up, his eyes never leaving Sophia's weapon.
Holy shit that was hot. I fucking love bad girl Sophia.
It was totally unnecessary though. It seems like she's overcompensating a little.
Or a lot.
But that sounds like a problem for future Tangerine.
I turn back to Rikky who's grin is showing all his black teeth.
"Ambush?" I ask again.
"Yeah, its really hard to get these fuckers to come out the wood work. You interested?"
"Fuck yeah, let's do it."
Rikky keeps grinning his creepy grin and hands me a mug of vile liquid. Which I drink. It tasted as bad as it looks. I don't know what I was expecting, really.
I pass it off to Sophia, who just gives it a dirty look and passes it back to Rikky, who promptly spits in the mug, swirls it around and then takes a swig.
'Well, I think I just drank some Rikky spit.'
[Capture this feeling, send it to the Gremlin group.]
'Yeah of course.'
The_realisation_that_you_drank_the_spit_of_Rikky.feeling>
I just giggle to myself as we leave the Two Headed Orc.
"Tangerine, are you sure about being bait?" Sophia asks.
"Yeah, we can do it right, get Maria involved. I'll be safe as houses." Planning an ambush does sound like hella fun. "But a more important question, aren't you part of the Gremlin Group, why didn't you get the feeling?" I ask.
"Oh I never accept any of the feelings from that group, the three of you are animals."
"What?!" I exclaim, as I scoop up the Gestalt rat.
"What are you confused about?"
"You can refuse feelings?"
"Yeah of course. It would be totally insane if other people could just force feelings on you." She states.
"I… Excuse me for a moment."
'Gestalt!'
[We can understand that you are currently feeling betrayed. But in our defense, it was really funny.]
Fuck, they have me there, it really is funny. 'Just fix it for me, alright?'
[If we fix it for you, then fair's fair, we will have to fix it for Lillian and Shiv as well.]
Ahh. Oh man, it is really funny…
'Okay leave it as is.'
[We knew that you would understand.]
***
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