"Five years... alone?" Felix is screaming internally, trying to imagine.

"Oh, however bad you think it was, I assure you, it was worse," Red says cheerfully. "Cor had numerous mental breakdowns over it. He's doing better now, though."

Felix nods. "And you...? Are you alright as well?"

Red laughs, but it's a little bit bitter. "Now I am, but thank you for asking. It started a little rough, there was a slight problem with the cloning spell as it was, I was dead for a while, but I got better."

"We are glad you both managed to pull through. Also, Felix is going to give you both a lot of hugs."

"I'm not going to say no but we're really fine, it's been a year. Also, fun fact, ghosts need to concentrate to interact with solid things properly, and orgasms are terrible for concentration."

Felix will just let his jaw drop for a moment. "Okay. Since you... say so, but still..."

He stands up and makes his way towards Red's couch.

Red pats the seat next to him.

"Being a ghost feels very weird. You don't get hungry, or tired, or sore, but it also feels like you can't properly relax. A nice bubble bath just doesn't really feel like anything. Also ghosts can't cast spells, that was a big one that made me want to come back."

Felix snuggles, resting Red's head on his shoulder protectively.

"I can see the benefits, yes. I hope Lilith doesn't get too disappointed if none of us decide to go for vampire."

"Boooooo!" she calls from downstairs.

"We have not been able to get super senses out of magic, for what it's worth."

"Being one sounds great. And I want to turn my loved ones into vampires. But spells sound more versatile and useful while we need to change the world."

He also feels... awkward? Sitting on his own, and wonders if he can insert himself on the other side of Red.

Red—notices, or infers something, and scoots closer to the middle of the sofa while pushing Felix in that direction also and pats the seat that has now been vacated next to him.

"It definitely is better to have both vampires and spellcasters under the same roof."

Fenris takes the place and snuggles up.

Double snuggle for the tragically backstoried clone. And speaking of double: "Now that you have twice as many people on your side, is there anything you think you'd be able to do?" Pause. "I still want to get our family to people, but I don't know how they will react."

"Well, we were moving up the person count slowly out of caution but I don't think in capabilities we grow very much with headcount. Except I guess to whatever extent the universe retroactively edits itself to conform to the wishes of non-NPCs, having more is always better."

"You don't think that magic or science research would go faster without... the universal self-edition thing? I was thinking we could... I don't know, travel and explore or something."

"Create our own secret vampire army in Selvadorada?"

"I think I'd rather avoid creating armies of NPCs if we can help it. And how do you mean, go faster?"

"I was not actually being serious. Just to make it clear."

"I am not a scientist. But I think multiple scientists could pursue different kinds of research in parallel?"

"Oh! Yes, definitely. And magic, too. The main problem with both of those is that they take non-NPCs years to really get... up to speed. NPCs just learn stuff a lot more quickly but then it doesn't really perfectly translate to useful things afterwards."

"I think... I see what you mean, my career as a scientist don't quite match the knowledge I feel I should have. I wasn't even thinking of doing parallel research until Felix mentioned it."