Ooh. That’s not universal around here, is it.

No.

I guess I’ll have to fix that too.

Is it very important?

It’s so important! It…might take some additional stuff to get the whole effect, though. But I can barely imagine not being able to read. It gets integrated into so much stuff.

It sounds really important to you.

It is! Man, I’m probably going to have to reinvent the printing press, too—that’s a machine for making books quickly and cheaply—do people here mostly copy books by hand?

I don’t know! I haven’t been around a lot of books since I was very small.

…Obviously the demon thing is more important, though.

Yeah. It’s very sad.

Do you have anywhere safe to go?

I don’t think anywhere in the city is safe right now.

You’re probably not wrong. You should stick with me, then. I’ve been telling you about my powers, but—the biggest part, so far, I haven’t really brought up yet. Um. I have this thing called a “save,” that’s common to the kinds of games my power is imitating, and it…I can designate a specific point in time, and then go back to it.

Wow, I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do that! Can you go back to before Deskari attacked?

No. I can’t designate a point in the past, only a present moment—that’s what I was doing when you heard me say, “save game.” And I can only use each one once, then I have to make a new one. So if I have to use a lot in succession, it looks from the outside like my saying “save game” over and over, so time does keep moving forward. I started out with my save before Deskari showed up, but I used that up holding out for Terendelev to last as long as possible.

Oh, I see. That sounds very brave of you.

Thanks

Anyway, you should probably stick close to me, so I can load my save if you die.

Okay! And…if you think you can help people with your powers…I want to help you do that.

I’d like that. Thank you.

You’re welcome!

Meeting Ember is the best thing that has happened to her personally since she got Truck-kunned.

“Save game.”

“Oh, you should meet Soot! Soot—” she reaches out, and a crow lands on her wrist.

“Hello, Soot!” She’s just gonna not make ANY assumptions about the crow until Ember elaborates.

Soot bobs their head in what could be a deliberate greeting or could be random bird behavior.

”Soot doesn’t really talk to people who aren’t me. But she likes to be included.”

“…This feels like the kind of social situation that’s correct to handle by offering food, but I…don’t have any. And also don’t know what crows eat.”