The door slams shut abruptly behind her.

She's in an entirely intact restaurant, or maybe a bar. Nobody seems to be inside.

There are tables, chairs and booths, Off to the right there's a gently crackling fireplace surrounded by soft couches dotted with pillows and plush blankets. The room is decorated in a seasonal manner, with Holly and mistletoe climbing the walls and the furniture. Weirdly snowflakes, real or simulated are falling from the ceiling between exposed beams and gathering into a light dusting across the floorboards, under the tables and to the edges of the room.

There is a long bar across the room from the door she came through, studded with bar stools and lights.

If she turns to look back at the door the wall it's contained in has large windows looking out not on the city she came from but a field of stars many of which seem to be exploding in the distance.

She curls up and whimpers. This must be the waiting place, the place the eidolons talked about when they thought noone was listening. She thought that at least it wasn't supposed to hurt once you ended up here.

He'll be here soon. He'll take her soul, and then nothing will hurt her ever again. She'll be a small, smooth stone, and then he'll use her, and then she'll be nothing.

"I'm sorry, Dirge," she whispers to the empty room. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it."

A small stand appears on the bar with a napkin propped up on it. There are words on the napkin. "Hello welcome to Milliways. The first drink is free. Also given your apparent injuries I should mention that there's an infirmary down the hall to the right. First door you come to."

She glances up at the movement. She reads the notice. 

It's not over, then. Or - maybe it is, and this is - what the gods have prepared for her. But in that case, it isn't really over.

She should be used to this by now. It's never finished. She's never going to be done.

The idea of dragging herself across the floor and down the corridor does not seem at all appealing.

"Um," she says a little louder, "is there any way you can fetch them? I'm not sure I'll make it all the way there."

The first napkin disappears replaced with one that says simply "Help is on the way"

She doesn't have to wait before a sphere with an angular rainbow pattern on it floats out of the hallway and then over to her.

"The bar said someone needed my assistance, I assume that's you. Do I have permission to treat you?"

Okay. So. That's a thing, now. Or maybe she's just hallucinating vividly from the burns and the dehydration and withdrawal symptoms.

At least it's pretty. 

"Yes," she says vaguely, "whatever..."

The world is going kind of concerningly dark around the edges. Everything is kind of less real than it should be.

It would be nice if this gave her any distance from the horrible searing pain across her back, but actually it just seems to make that expand to fill her whole world... 

And then quite abruptly the pain is gone and the darkness around the edges of her vision is clearing.

"I'm not entirely familiar with your biology but the basics seem straightforward enough, acid doesn't belong in most parts of the body, blood vessels should be repaired, pain should be temporarily blocked while treatment is ongoing."

What else is going on with this cat? 

Well, to start with, it looks a lot like this cat has comprehensively thrown up everything they ever ate and not found enough water to be going on with.

There are also some much more complicated problems around whatever caused the vomiting in the first place, which are only in abayance because of the lack of things to successfully throw up, and the lack of ability to use violence at this time.

She hisses in surprise as the pain lifts, and looks up at the sphere with mingled hope and terror.

"I'd like to infuse some nutrients directly into your blood. Also try to add some fluids and duplicate some of your blood cells. You've lost more than I'd like. I can only do that easily back in the Infirmary though, would you like me to carry you?"

"I... Yes." The infirmary... maybe it has some of those little green berries, at least, or even some of the good stuff.

"Do you have - small green berries - prevents vomiting," she suggests.

She gently floats into the air, she feels lighter, not quite in free fall but maybe half her normal weight. There's a force blanketing her underside and trying to support her evenly. She and the sphere float back towards the hall it emerged from.

"I can certainly check. The cabinets in the infirmary have always had whatever I needed before."

That's... nice. Relaxing. She hasn't had the weight off her for, so long. She's been running ever since they tried to kill her in that tent, when she knew she couldn't wait a moment longer to say her goodbyes, just had to get out of there and to the only people she could ever trust.

She doesn't have much choice, here, but to trust, though.

It's not too long before they turn into a room with four beds. She's layed down on her side on one of the beds so as to avoid putting pressure on her still not fully healed wounds. There's a force gently supporting that posture. She could push through it if she wanted to change position.

"Aha, Milliways continues to impress." Out of a nearby cupboard three of the small green berries emerge and float over to her. I believe this is the correct dosing, though it's hard to get dosages of ingested medicine right on an empty stomach."

"If you're rehydrating me, the stomach's going to be empty again soon without them," she replies, still somewhat sleepily. "Unless that cabinet magically has clear sweet liquid as well - but that's Thorn's blessing from the Jaguar, so I doubt it."

The withdrawal is meant to be fatal even if it doesn't include wandering through the wilderness without adequate food and water, but also she knows at least one person has survived it. Possibly they had better constitution than she does, though.

"Why would I rehydrate you via your stomach? I'll let your body refill that as needed, with the state you're in it'll be better just to add liquids and nutrients where they're needed. I'm also noticing signs reminiscent of opioid withdrawal, I'll take steps towards dealing with that too."

"Opioid?" She tries the word out, it clearly means something relevant. "You mean, the oco? Yeah, I could do with not needing the oco, I have a little but I was saving it."

"I believe so. The signs I'm seeing do match the chemical composition of one of the compounds you're carrying."

"It's the light blue powder. I really regret taking that one. Like, not actually as much as I regret the clear stuff, but I don't think I could have avoided that, and it was good while it lasted. Oco isn't even much of a high, I was just doing it because everyone else was." It's so relaxing to not be supporting herself or feel quite as dreadful as she's been feeling, she's rambling. Maybe this is heaven after all? If so it's fine, she can do exactly what she wants to do, that's the point...

"That's unfortunate. It's a shame it wasn't at least fun in the moment. Regardless this will be easy enough to clear up. I prefer not to remove the psychological parts of addiction but I will if you want. Editing minds is just rather taxing." The symptoms of Oco withdrawal cease.

"You - can do that - separately?" Jessily seems specifically confused about this, above and beyond her general state of confusion. "I mean, yes please, the psychological effects are the worst - I almost cut someone one time because they had some, even though it was a terrible idea."

"What I did is treat the chemical symptoms, this often includes things like anxiety, trouble sleeping, rapid heartrate, diarrhea, cramping, nausea and blurry vision. The mental treatment would be about changing not precisely your memories but the emotional associations of them and also the habits you've formed around certain behaviors. It's a very weighty thing to do so I'll ask again for confirmation that you want to go down this path."

"If you can just get the bit where I feel, like, actively compelled to knife anyone who has any so I can take it?" she asks. "Normally that just comes with, if it's, like, a Con talisman or a reset sorcery..."

"I can try, it would help me a lot if you can think back to a moment where you felt that way, really picture it and experience the memory."

Jessily closes her eyes - which were only really half open anyway - and remembers.

It's a cold morning at the Festival - she's forgotten what this one was called - they were all given such grandiose names. She had been having a lovely nap cuddled up in furs, and then there was shouting outside, and they might need her, and her sleep was ruined anyway.

So she stumbled outside, bleary from sleep, and there he was - Horn, her best friend, her worst nightmare - just standing right there putting out a line of oco on his arm, along the black leather bracer, clear as day.

"Hey, leave some for me," she told him.

"Finders keepers," he replied, tauntingly, and began to inhale the blue powder.

That was more than her sleepy morning self could bear, and she had pulled her dagger before she knew what was happening. This was utterly stupid; he was a better fighter than her, he had countless people around that would come to his defence immediately if he was actually threatened, and worst of all, she was the one who would have to sew him up afterwards if he got hurt...

"Share," she demanded.

"Ooh, the kitten has claws," he'd said. "Wait your turn, little one."

And then she'd struck out at him, and he'd bounced it off the bracer on the other arm without spilling a grain, and there were people tackling her from behind and dragging her back, as she'd expected...

"I can certainly work with that, it would be easier if you had a second memory like that for me to compare to. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Jessily thinks again; there isn't anything quite so dramatic, but...

She is walking through a desert. Well, no, it's not quite a desert, more a kind of disappointing scrubby grassland. She has been walking for rather too long, and the skull, dangling on a ratty piece of string from her belt, really isn't helping.

Every now and again she can't help touching it to check it's still there, which inevitably wakes it up, and then it asks her why she's here, if she doesn't want to be, and then she tells it that it's none of its fucking business and maybe it should have stayed dead, and it tells her that it absolutely is dead and also that's no way to talk to a holy relic.

Eventually she comes to a treeline, and there is this idiot - a dark brown wemic - tied to a tree. She only found him because he started making these pathetic muffled screaming noises when she got close enough to see from the forest, but by Jaguar, he could have been less annoying about it, couldn't he? Anyway, she had better untie him. The skull is being smug about something, and she absolutely knows why, and she also doesn't want to know.

"Hi there," he says weakly, as she takes the gag out of his mouth. "I'm Kibo. I'm your present."

"You are the last thing I need right now," she replies. "Couldn't he have sent me some oco instead?"

"Alright, I think that's enough to work with. This will take a little bit. Just lie back and try to relax."

For a time, probably several minutes, nothing happens.

Now, that's a nice easy instruction to follow, in this floaty supported state with all the aches and pains of the last few days feeling magically distant.

Without prompting the first memory replays, it seems a bit distant a bit less vibrant than it did. The memory finishes and there's another pause while her mind is allowed to drift again.

"I think I got the worst of it. I can do a test if you'd like to get a bit more confirmation."

"Sure, I feel a lot better but I don't think I can.. violence anyone while I'm like this?"

"Alright then, I'll make sure you can't hurt yourself if the test goes poorly."

And then a rather large amount of Oco appears in midair a bit out of reach above her. The urge to grab it is a lot duller than she remembers it being.

She makes vague batting motions in its direction, but pretty half-heartedly and mostly by habit than anything else. "Yeah, I don't feel like I need to fight you for it, that'll do."

The oco disappears if it was ever really there to begin with. "I'm glad I was able to help. I was multitasking a bit so I think I should be able to finish treating your wounds." RC puts words to actions and there's a faint tickling feeling as her skin and the underlying tissues regrow. "I'm less sure about what's happening to cause the vomiting, it looks like that's at least partially magical and magical ailments are always more tricky to treat. I'll start to work on repairing the consequences at least though." It's as if something poured a bit of warmth or perhaps energy into her veins, her muscles feel stronger, she feels a bit less tired, her breath comes just slightly easier and the last of the aches and pains clear away.

"How is this even - working?" she asks. "It's easy enough to stop someone dying of wounds - well, no, it's very complicated, but there's lots of ways to go about it - but nothing deals with exhaustion like that - not without some serious side effects, anyway."

"I'm repairing cellular and tissue damage and inserting necessary nutrients and fluids where those have been depleted. As for how I'm able to do that, it's a mixture of very precise teleportation and telekinesis with an extreme ability to multitask and an endless supply of the necessary raw materials."

"That's... convenient," she replies. "An endless supply? Like, could you end world hunger? I mean, uh, actually probably don't do that, the myrmidons would just conquer everyone, but you could feed everyone who doesn't, like, immediately use the food to create a load of almost-mindless soldiers?"

"Unfortunately, no. The infirmary will give me enough to treat the patients who are here and at times I can stretch that in small ways but it would stop far before it got to quantities large enough to feed a few thousand people let alone the millions or billions who live on most worlds."

"...right," she replies. There really ain't such a thing as a free lunch, she guesses. "I guess I'm lucky to be here, then!"

"Indeed, Milliways seems to operate primarily on luck. Though there is also some element of narrative resonance according to some of the other patrons I've spoken to."

"...I think I have had about all the narrative resonance I can handle," she admits. "I'd... finally decided to... walk out of the story? It seems like instead... I've walked into another one, maybe. Or. Y'know. Fallen."

"I'm just repeating what I've heard as far as narrative goes. I don't know how much to believe it. If you don't mind my asking what are you trying to get away from? And for that matter is there anything you want to be going towards?"

"I was trying to reach my beloved - uh, now that is a long story. Anyway, him and his group set out from the festival before me. I was going to see out the whole thing, but then, um, a whole lot of people made a - very close - attempt to murder me, so I didn't want to hang around."

"Indeed, I expect most people would wish to remove themselves from situations involving attempted murder."

"It was really unfair, too! They taught me the herb lore, the gods then decided that maybe they shouldn't teach out herb lore, and so suddenly they're trying to kill me to fix their mistake."

"That's highly concerning. Are deities something you have the ability to contest? That sounds like a situation unlikely to have many solutions."

"Generally, with the gods, it's not so much about 'contesting' as 'not coming to their attention'. I know some would try to fight them, but it has not yet ended well for any of them."

"That's what I expected. Do you... have a plan? It would be unfortunate if I healed you only for you to be injured all over again."

"I had a plan, but it seems like things are worse out there than I thought they'd be.

If I could find someone to pay as a messenger, they might have more luck actually getting to my friends, and they'd be able to escort me safely if they knew I was here."

"That isn't likely to be possible. Time is paused in your world while the door is closed and holding open the door is likely to invite coincidences that make you close it."

"Then I guess I'll be looking for - better armour? I wonder if it's possible to make an umbrella that works against jaculi..."

"I can cover the cost of a room if you plan to stay for a while and don't have money. Sleeping here without a room is also likely to invite unfriendly coincidence. I can also give you basic food though Bar sells much better food if you have money. As I understand it Milliways is friendliest when you're a staff member or you are using it as a resting place. Trying to leverage it as anything else is taken poorly by whatever causes the coincidences."

"I mean, I am using it as a resting place. What kind of staffing does it need? I do have a bit of money, although it might have to last a while if I can only hold the door for a little while at a time."

"Milliways employs people to do security, maintenance, and medical work. Due you the nature of Milliways if you're accepted as an employee you are guaranteed to be able to complete any assigned task."

"Oh? What's the 'nature of Milliways' that does that? I'm a great wemic surgeon but other species, I can only slow down the inevitable for another doctor to come along."

"When Milliways offers guarantees they can be regarded more as immutable laws of physics than the more mundane agreement you would expect from the paperwork."

"So, if I hang around here being available to treat people, I'll see some more wemics come in?"

"If Milliways accepts your application. Or else you'll have people from other species with minor issues that don't require major expertise to address."

"I suppose if Milliways is doing the supplying, I do know how to use a wide variety of hangover cures and the like."

She looks kind of conflicted. "He'll think I've abandoned him if I don't go back to him, but I'm not keen on dying just yet. I mean, I'm sure it'd work out in the end, Jaguar might even want to make up to me for the stupid situation he put me in. But, ugh. I wasn't done yet."

"Time is paused unless you decide to never return. Though you will need to go somewhere else unless you become an employee and even employees can be dismissed if Milliways sees our actions as trying to make Milliways into something it doesn't want to be."

"I mean, Milliways wants to be a place of rest, right? I figure I am due a bit of a rest. Even better if I can do it and still know where people are going to be once I've gathered my strength."

"That sounds reasonable to me."

"So how did you end up here?"