"No I mean the actually going to work part."

"Oh, yeah, that part. I was able to stay awake the next day though. Do you think anybody is just a person - somewhat less often -"

"Maybe! None of this makes sense! My fear is maybe a lot of people just—wake up, or start existing, or something, and eventually stop, somehow, and can't get back."

"I think that would show up on the internet but maybe I'm wrong."

"I'd hope so, yeah, but still. Got pretty spooked at first. I first noticed people were weird in the Realm of Magic and thought the, uh, NPCness was maybe caused by magic so the possibility of it being something that could just happen to me was kind of salient at the time."

"One of us could go - NPC - at work and the other could visit, see what the memories are like then."

"Oh yeah that could be interesting. I—would be fine doing it, my job is soul-crushingly boring and I've coped by spending a lot of my time coming up with mathematical models for how NPCs feel about other people."

"My job's not great but I'm not bored of it yet. They're mathematically modelable?"

"They seem to be! Seems like there's this one overall number they track which I've been modelling as starting at zero and going up or down depending on what you do and time, and there are also some other specific secondary numbers that affect things that I haven't quite gotten to work out yet 'cause it was getting too depressing to focus so much on how everyone around me isn't people. But if you want a nice experiment to run try being intensely friendly at a single person for a day, they'll start thinking you're their best pal ever and keep calling you for days even if you give them the cold shoulder after that."

"Calling about anything specific or just to chat for no reason?"

"Usually just to chat, sometimes to suggest hanging out. It does decay over time but unless you actively insult them that's all it does no matter how little you respond to them at all after that first time."

...which... maybe other people are like that and he's actually just a weirdo for thinking he'd feel kinda bad by getting a sudden cold shoulder? Well, time to find out and potentially have an awkward conversation!

"They don't even ask what's been keeping you too busy to hang out or anything?"

"Nope!"

"Weird. I don't especially want to run this experiment right now but I'll remember it."

"By the way, if you want more of that potion I am not really meaningfully constrained on it, I can make about twenty copies of it in a row before even starting to break a sweat and I just sort of have a whole stash of them. Just figure you might want to see what you think of the mental effects before I dump a hundred of them on you."

"I'll try it if I burn dinner."

"Roger that. There is probably some way to invent a potion that does only hunger, or only sleep, or whatever, but I haven't gone into spell creation so much yet."

"No? This one was already around?"

"Yeah, the potion shop I visited on the day I became a spellcaster happened to be selling it and the first spell I tried to learn was the copying spell just so that I could have more of it."

"How sure are you that - not being a person isn't sort of like what having all your needs met without having to think about them looks like?"

"I've been using the potion to replace food and sleep for the past year and haven't really felt different... but on the other hand I don't really consider all my needs met by it I guess? I'm a bit of a malcontent."

"I could just be overinterpreting, I don't know. I'll probably use it sparingly but it's nice to have one on hand."

"—oh, that one is a single dose, by the way, I think all that happens if you drink less than a full dose is it doesn't work but the more powerful potions can backfire. Uh, trying to not sound like a drug pusher here, it's like §5 from the one shop at the Realm of Magic if you ever want more and, again, I have multiple dozens on me right now."

"I'll ask if I want more," she assures him.

"Cool."