"Yeah, probably.  Anyway, I think I like him?  He's pretty competent, and if he's tetchy, well, so be it.  Lot of people are.  And I think he cares, too."

"Not a whole lot of other reason to do dungeons. Well, I guess money, maybe he wants money."

"Ehhh.  I don't...maybe?  I think - most people are good, and you can tell because of espers, right?  There's no way to become an esper except to get lucky, it's just random people.  And so many of us do dungeons and guide and generally do useful stuff.  But, I asked Bill for the math once.  Even D-rank espers can afford to retire after a year or two, and S-rank healers can retire after a few months, probably.  I think it's probably fair to call him a B or A-rank equivalent, I bet he could have retired by now if he really wanted to."

"He's like ten years old or so, did you know? I looked him up."

"Yeah, I looked at Traceless' blog at one point when I was at the clinic, he responded to my comment and everything.  Didn't remember it, but.  It's not like I'm anyone special.  I bet he wouldn't have to run any dungeons if he didn't want to."

"He could just have a normal number of jobs for a cat... though maybe he likes being 4D? And that's dungeons only."

"Well, working cats are a thing, in barns or whatever.  But - in the dungeon, when it was clear that there was someone injured, he really hustled us in and out.  Not that we were slacking before, but.  I think he does care, in his own cranky way."

"That’s sweet."

"And you'd know sweet, hm?"  Tim props himself up enough to grin down at Summer, then leeeaaans over to swipe a piece of whatever cheesecake's closest.

"I’m the expert. Was that my coconut one? Harsh. I'll have to get coconut boba to compensate."

"It was pretty good, too.  Delicious."  As if she isn't just going to eat another one.  I can't imagine how much she has to eat with that backlash.  "What's been your favorite so far?"

"I think in this batch the best was the raspberry white chocolate."

"Usually a good flavor."  A little too sweet for me, but.  She's the one who needs eight thousand calories a day, can't fault her for doing it efficiently.  "D'you mind picking something good for me in an hour or two?  You always have the best picks."

"Can do, I've got recommendations for NYC locked and loaded."

Tim grins.  "You're the best food guide I've ever had."  He sets himself an alarm for twenty-eight minutes and catnaps, inspired by Cricket's shining example.  One of the upsides of his power backlash is his ability to fall asleep almost anywhere.

And then he's back in action!  Is Cricket still claiming that DRT lawnchair as a throne?

Zzzzzz.

Well, shit.  It's illegal to wake up a sleeping cat, his partner warned him.  He'll...outsource his decisionmaking process, he doesn't have to be smart enough to figure out the right choice.  He just has to know who already knows the right choice.

Good morning, Traceless.  What's the best way to wake up Cricket?

Ring ring.

Oh shit that's going to wake up the cat.  Tim skedaddles, relatively quietly, and answers.  "Hello?"

"Hey I am presently too backlashed to read and don't know what you said, is everything okay?"

"Uh, yessir."  Man that's such an awful backlash, I need to remember to check what it is again.  "Uh, I just wanted to know the best way to, uh.  Wake up Cricket."  Without pissing off the dungeon monster cat who can leave me trapped in 4D space with zero ability for me to ever escape.

... maybe I should have thought more about this whole thing.

"I can call him if you don't want to just holler?"

"If he won't be, uh.  Irritated?  I can wake him up, just.  I've never worked with, uh.  Him.  Or anything like him before.  And he's impossible to replace, I'd hate to make him unwilling to run dungeons because I annoyed him."

"He might at worst blacklist you as an individual, and you are free to do the reverse if he's stressing you out, you wouldn't be the first - but he's not specifically touchy about being woken up while he's at a dungeon. He needs more sleep than a human but it can be broken up smaller, it's like his equivalent of a guiding break. He sleeps soundly so you'll have to raise your voice a bit."