"...why would he think becoming a lich is a great idea? I'm a necromancer, I'd know."

"It's not precisely like becoming a lich. It's reversible, for one, and doesn't make him evil. He could get put into a real actual body with a heartbeat and flowing blood and skin that's not rotting off, and be fine. For when he's not in a body, he's got, uh—something like lucid dreaming, because of the soul magic, except the dreams can be shared with other people. So he could experience having a form and interacting physically with them, instead of being stuck in his own head the entire time. Uh, what are the other bad parts about becoming a Tyrian lich? I don't know enough about the process."

"Hmm, no, I think you covered all the bad parts. So he's basically still himself, minus memories?"

"Yep! With a whole new solar system to explore and a whole bunch of trouble to get into. Considering that everything's a bit chaotic with a bunch of maybe-crazy amnesiacs running around."

"...yeah, I think that's my style of thing."

She huffs a little half-laugh. "How'd I guess. It's a mystery."

"Unreasonably thorough knowledge of me, I expect," he says cheerfully.

"Actually it was a bit more like Pedro came up to me and went, 'Hey do you know who would have fun in this world you're making? James,' and then it spiraled. But also yes, that."

"Ah, yes, my actual author. So does Pedro only write me in places where I would, ah, 'have fun'?"

She considers this.

"I get that impression? I don't think he'll always be nice, but I don't think it's very fun to write about 'James, and his boring life as an ordinary person.' People are more interesting when they're given room to be interesting, and that's true of fictional characters, too. But I mean, there's not a lot of precedent, your first public thread is actually—" Aestrix pauses, and blinks. "... this... one." Blink, blink. She sits up.

"Oh my God I popped your proverbial cherry. With a meta thread. I." She pauses again, clearly unable to come up with any words. "Oops?" she eventually manages.

He sporfles. "You 'popped my cherry.' I'm unfamiliar with that specific expression but I think I might be able to guess from context. Is it bad that this is a 'meta thread,' whatever that may be?"

"It's not—it's not bad. It's just weird, and I just realized I did it by accident, and I'm not the sort of person that likes doing things by accident. A meta thread is where the—the fact that the book is a book is acknowledged, and the characters in the book have commentary on the nature of being in a book or whatnot. Versus like, a book where there's just a story without the acknowledgement of the medium. So instead of people reading about you having adventures, they're reading about you talking to an author about adventures. Which maybe does some weird things to their context, especially if they're not familiar with Tyria and they're just reading because I am famed to show up in person or want to meet Pedro's new character, or something. So, uh." She glances up at the ceiling. "Sorry, readers? Hope you're having fun?"

"But wait, if he hasn't written anything with me in it yet, where is—everything—where am I from? Did I just get invented at the start of this, ah, 'thread'?"

"Nnnno. Not quite. I've just avoided the full explanation, because it's a bit complicated and requires concepts that don't exist in Tyria, and the things I gestured at were close enough to reality to be reasonably accurate—oh. Apparently you have something like video games in Tyria, okay then, I guess I should have asked Pedro sooner. So you know of a 'Super Adventure Box,' by an asura named Moto?"

"Yeah, I've played it a bit. Not quite my thing but it's fun to do something like that when the fate of the world isn't at stake, sometimes."

"Cool. So, that's a video game. Where various things get simulated, and the player can run around in a big world and go on adventures and save digital people and face dangerous threats and the like. You're not precisely from a book, you're originally from a video game, and now you're being written into something that is not precisely a book but is pretty close. Which is why Tyria is so dangerous, it's no fun to play a game where there's nothing to threaten you. You were the character Pedro played in that game. You've been converted into book-alike form, because Pedro liked you enough to want to write about you, and this honestly gives him more freedom about what things could happen. Video games are a bit... you're limited in your choices of what could happen. In Super Adventure Box, you can jump, but there's no way you can sprout wings and fly off to adventure in the clouds."

"...huh. So there are lots of different versions of me, for each player playing the game?"

"Nnnnnno. No, the game lets you create your own character, who is unique. There are lots of different Tyrian people that have mysteriously gone through your exact storyline, but they would not be you unless Pedro was playing your in game character, or decided to recreate you. So there aren't lots of you running around. I'm sorry, I realize that's probably a bit disappointing to hear."

He shrugs. "Not terribly. There's an appeal to being unique, too."

Snort.

"True. But on the other hand, how will you have a giant orgy with your alts when there's only two of you?"

"Oh, Dwayna, you know far too much about me," he says, laughing.

She giggles. "I'm sorry, should I stop? I don't want to make you uncomfortable, just, I don't feel it helps if I pretend I don't have absurd meta knowledge, you know? Feels too close to lying."

"No, don't worry about it, I'm just more used to presenting a—more serious face, so to speak. I'm Commander of the Pact, after all. People don't typically speculate about my sex life, except sometimes to brag."

"Makes sense. I get it. I wouldn't bring it up in front of your subordinates, I don't want to subvert your authority or anything? ... But also, you can probably talk your alt's sorta-girlfriend into a threesome with you two, so, information for you in case you come across them later. I am very kind, you're welcome."

He raises both eyebrows. "I'm sort of more surprised that my alt has a sorta-girlfriend than that he'd date someone who might be up for a threesome, to be honest."