She finds herself awake again, standing in an empty convenience store. The stock is still all there, but the lights are off, the fridges are not humming, and it's eerily silent.

And then a bright blue box pops up in the center her vision.

Exception Detected

Just as soon as it appears, it vanishes again. And then is replaced by another.

Integration interface not found. Escalating...

Initial synchronization has already been completed. No record found for 4356777756423523469020921354785

You are not supposed to be here.

Calculating...

This one hangs in her vision for a long moment. After a bit, it vanishes again only to be replaced by-

Sapient mind detected. Match to local Integration pattern: 99%+

System Integration beginning.

Extrapolating life experience...

The System welcomes you to the Tutorial!

Due to your status as an Exception, Tutorial duration will be extended.

You are currently Level 0. Select a Class to proceed to Level 1!

She's... bring attacked telepathically? She shields - she's just a harmless cat who got lost, doesn't want to cause any trouble, see how she's intently looking around for an exit? (That's all true, except for the "harmless" part.)

The attacker seems kind of mechanical? But the only computer she knows of that's capable of telepathy is on the other side of the world.

She drops her shield and thinks loudly: I beg your mercy, sir. I have lost my way. Please direct me how to remove myself.

System Inquiry Detected

Remaining Tutorial Duration: 9 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes

The nearest Integrated Settlement is 47 miles Southwest.

Leaving shelter is not advised until you pick a Class. Think 'Class' to pick a Class.

Yes, sir. "Class".

You have reached Level 0! Select a class to proceed to Level 1!

Classes available:

Uncommon Classes:
Infiltration Bard (+)

Common Classes:
Singer
Dancer
Servant
Student

For more information, focus on a Class.

Ookay, this person wants to play a game with her. Hopefully he'll let her go when he's done. She'll try to be entertaining!

What did it mean that he called her an "Infiltration Bard"? Is he angry that she's in his house? (House with an elaborate theater set?) She didn't come here on purpose! Does he want her to do some infiltration for him? (With the implied threat of telling her father if she refuses?)

She wants to dance for him and not think about anything stressful, but it will go better if she cooperates.

She focuses on "Infiltration Bard".

Infiltration Bard (Uncommon+)

The art of self expression can be a beautiful thing. Or, in your case, rather than expressing yourself, you use the same arts for trickery and infiltration. You have unlocked the supernatural ability to confuse and befuddle your foes. Perhaps you work with an intelligence agency to find the secrets of enemies of the state, or you simply delight in being someone else for a while, but your ability to pretend is greater than most. Your Class Powers improve your spellcasting, your performances, and your ability to twist the perceptions of others.

Requirements
Have an extensive knowledge of and frequently use Music and Dancing.
Knowledge and skill in A*V#$h3^&lepathic Shielding.
Use your charms to earn the trust and admiration of many people.
Bonus: Use Telepathic Shielding to access restricted information or discover an important secret.
Bonus: Use your charms to disguise your true nature over a long period of time.

Body per level: 1
Mind per level: 2
Spirit per level: 3

Would you like to select Infiltration Bard as your Class?

Skill in what kind of telepathic shielding?

Yeah, sounds like he wants her to do some kind of spying for him.

How did she get here, anyway? The last thing she remembers is the fire alarm in the laboratory - did he grab her as everyone read evacuating? A telepath of his strength could have done just about anything, though; snuck in to her father's block, forced her to come with him, erased her memory of that. Maybe there are powerful telepaths running around all the time and they never let anyone remember them.

Or maybe she's in a Torment Nexus because her father caught her.

She doesn't want to think about that.

Back to the game: Yes.

You are now an Infiltration Bard! You have advanced to Level 1!

There is a huge rush of energy flowing into her. Heat surges into her muscles, making them feel stronger, making her feel steadier. Her head gains a rush of clearness and energy, like there's just more room to think with. Any lingering pains simply vanish, and her senses all sharpen, taking in more and more detail - the lingering chill from the fridge, the smell of blood just on the edge of awareness, a faint skittering noise somewhere outside - it's all a sort of energy, flowing into her, surging and making her feel absolutely wonderful, like genuine praise, safety and warmth, a delicious meal, and a hug from a friend all at once.

And then the flow ends, leaving her feeling alert and capable.

C'Esther Jefferson

Class: Infiltration Bard
Level: 1
HP: 60/60
MP: 110/110
XP: 0/1000
Body: 6
Mind: 10
Spirit: 11
Conditions: None
Class Powers: None

5 points available to assign. Assign points to earn Class Powers and Class Upgrades.

(+) Bonus to Class Power effectiveness.

She closes her eyes and stretches languorously, purring. If that's what he wants from her, it's a role she can play!

(If she's in a Nexus, is her father trying to get her addicted to this?)

Class Powers.

Upgradable Class Powers:
None. Pick a Class Power first to upgrade it.

Available Class Powers:

Sonic Wave - Active - Spell - 30 MP
Fire a wave of noise at a foe, doing up to 33 damage to all it hits, stunning and reducing foes' Mind depending on level. Does damage in an area. Caution: Friendly Fire.

Enthralling Performance - Active - Spell - 10 MP/minute
Your music and dancing becomes supernaturally compelling, distracting those who hear or see it it from other things. Can be used to distract enemies or put on a show.

?@Telepathic Disguise - Active - Spell - 100 MP
Gain instinctual knowledge of how to A&$Telepathically Shield for a general type of person or situation. This power cannot be used to gain specific knowledge, only general knowledge. Cooldown: 1 day.

Inconsequential Presence - Passive
When you don't want to be seen, you are up to 11% less visible and quieter. Good for sneaking and hiding. May be counteracted by perception based Class Powers and Passives.

Cute and Harmless - Passive
You are 11% more likely to be perceived as harmless, cute, or attractive. This can make people generally more favorably towards you and assist with infiltration.

...Before she has time to think about that too much, though, there's the sound of something tearing into cardboard or something, coming from behind a sheet metal door labelled 'Employees Only'. There's a chuffing and scuffling sound. It sounds like some sort of big animal - the dangerous, unthinking kind.

That's concerning. Um, Cute and Harmless. How much space is there between the refrigerators and the ceiling?

There's a happy little ding, and then the blue boxes all vanish.

It's a high ceiling and the fridges are a big commercial model; There's like five feet of space above them, aside from a thick bundle of tubes and wires going into the ceiling. Scuffling noises continue, getting closer to the main room.

If any of this is really happening, she hopes the ding wasn't audible to the creature in the other room.

She opens a refrigerator door, takes a step back, and springs up, catching a foot on one of the upper shelves and belly flopping on top of the refrigerator. She's not expecting smooth metal to give her a good grip with her claws - she restrains her reflex to dig them in, pressing her palms and firearms to the surface instead.

Is the ceiling soft enough to claw through?

This maneuver is surprisingly easy? She's stronger, more coordinated, than before. Not dramatically so, but it's definitely noticeable.

It's a drop ceiling with big square foam panels, occasionally interrupted by banks of (dead) lights. She could claw the panels apart, probably, or just move them out of the way, yeah.

Okay, think.

If she's in a Nexus, her subconscious is making this up, and the most important thing is to stay grounded and resist getting addicted or heartbroken or whatever her father is trying to do to her.

If this is some sort of job interview - obviously the telepath won't be happy if she flunks on purpose, so... this is a test of what she does when something goes wrong. Maybe she's supposed to have snuck in here and then the guard is coming? People do occasionally use natural animals to guard things.

So she needs to get out without leaving evidence. Claw marks would identify her as a fur, in particular as a cat. (A small dog could have similar claws but dogs don't usually keep them sharp, a wolf is too big, rats would be more inclined to use their teeth.) She breaks off the corner of the ceiling panel where she tested it and crumbles it. Then pushes up the panel and squirms through.

If this is a game, she should pick some more class powers and upgrades. But if it's not a game, she shouldn't get accustomed to relying her apparent game-like abilities... That could well be the trap her father intends for her.

Class Upgrades?

4 Points available

Upgradable Class Powers:
Cute and Harmless - 3 Upgrades Available
Toggle (0/1) - Weaponized Cuteness (0/5) - Wouldn't Hurt A Fly (0/5)

Available Class Powers:

Sonic Wave - Active - Spell - 30 MP
Fire a wave of noise at a foe, doing up to 33 damage to all it hits, stunning and reducing foes' Mind depending on level. Does damage in an area. Caution: Friendly Fire.

Enthralling Performance - Active - Spell - 10 MP/minute
Your music and dancing becomes supernaturally compelling, distracting those who hear or see it it from other things. Can be used to distract enemies or put on a show.

Telepathic Disguise - Active - Spell - 100 MP
Gain instinctual knowledge of how to Telepathically Shield for a general type of person or situation. This power cannot be used to gain specific knowledge, only general knowledge. Cooldown: 1 day.

Inconsequential Presence - Passive
When you don't want to be seen, you are up to 11% less visible and quieter. Good for sneaking and hiding. May be counteracted by perception based Class Powers and Passives.

Pounce - Active - Ability - Special
Attack an enemy with your claws via a leap or jump, while the enemy is unaware of you. The attack deals 2.2 times normal damage and has an increased chance to Critical Hit.

The sliding 'employee only' door is pushed open to reveal... A pig. Pink skin, blubbery fat body, eyes hidden by tufts of fur, nose snorting as it shuffles along. It's big and tough looking, solid hooves and shining teeth. No tusks.

The boxes have this to say:

Lv. 1 Glutton Pig
A weak enemy that is easily distracted by food and has few methods of defense other than its thick fur and fat.

Defeating enemies will award you Experience!

The pig sniffs its way to a bag of crackers, and tears it open, squealing in delight and munching on the contents.

"Pounce" is new, and particularly appropriate to the situation. The telepath wants her to attack the natural pig - and kill it?

"Weaponized Cuteness" sounds like a telepathic attack, but might not work on an animal? Same with "Enthralling Performance" (which would be cheating normally but okay fine could be useful in a violent game).

What is Wouldn't Hurt A Fly?

Wouldn't Hurt a Fly - When Cute and Harmless is active, receive a bonus of 11% (increases on upgrade level) to all attempts to convince others that you are innocent of whatever they suspect you of doing, that you would never sneak around or steal, that you certainly have nothing to do with the dead guard over there, that you are trustworthy and dependable, etc.

Sounds great! ... Except that it probably only works on people. She'll keep it in mind for later.

If she were really in a situation like this, she would leave. But in this game, she has to fight things? That... could be fun, as long as she remembers that this isn't real, and doesn't learn bad habits or lose her empathy for real beings.

Class Powers. Pounce. Class Upgrades.

3 Points available

Upgradable Class Powers:
Cute and Harmless - 3 Upgrades Available
Toggle (0/1) - Weaponized Cuteness (0/5) - Wouldn't Hurt A Fly (0/5)

Pounce - 3 Upgrades Available
Impact (0/5) - Dancing Claw (0/5) - Hit and Run (0/5)

Available Class Powers:

Sonic Wave - Active - Spell - 30 MP
Fire a wave of noise at a foe, doing up to 33 damage to all it hits, stunning and reducing foes' Mind depending on level. Does damage in an area. Caution: Friendly Fire.

Enthralling Performance - Active - Spell - 10 MP/minute
Your music and dancing becomes supernaturally compelling, distracting those who hear or see it it from other things. Can be used to distract enemies or put on a show.

Telepathic Disguise - Active - Spell - 100 MP
Gain instinctual knowledge of how to Telepathically Shield for a general type of person or situation. This power cannot be used to gain specific knowledge, only general knowledge. Cooldown: 1 day.

Inconsequential Presence - Passive
When you don't want to be seen, you are up to 11% less visible and quieter. Good for sneaking and hiding. May be counteracted by perception based Class Powers and Passives.

The pig has finished one box of crackers and is contentedly chewing on the next one, snorting and chuffing away.

What is Impact? What is Dancing Claw? (It sounds awesome!) What is Hit and Run?

If she's going to be sneaking up on enemies a lot, it's probably worth getting "Inconsequential Presence", but she'll hold off on buying it in case she urgently needs the points for something else.

How far away is the natural pig? (No, not a natural pig, an imaginary game character.) Which way is it facing?

Impact - Deliver a heavy blow when you Pounce, staggering the enemy as if you weigh 2.2 times as much (increases by upgrade level), dealing additional damage. Deliver a crushing first strike and end the fight before it begins. Cooldown: 3 minutes.

Dancing Claw - You might not need a weapon. Moving with grace and elegance, you attack and dodge 11% faster with your claws during melee combat (increases by upgrade level). You move and sway through the fight, as if dancing to an unseen beat.

Hit and Run - After using Pounce, you move 33% faster for 1.1 seconds (increases by upgrade level), but only while fleeing. Escape and pounce again. An enemy counts as Unaware if they don't know where you are at the time, even if they suspect you are near.

It's in the aisle directly below the big fridges she's perched atop, facing sort of sideways to her, but paying a lot more attention to the food on the shelves than anything else.

Those are all good! And now she has more good options than points.

"Inconsequential Presence" and "Hit and Run" go together. "Wouldn't Hurt a Fly" is going to be relevant to her future assignments as an "Infiltration Bard".

She was planning to Pounce on the animal's head and stab its eyes, and then, if it survived that, grapple it lying on her back using all of her limbs to keep it away from her head. That doesn't fit with the options the telepath is giving her, but maybe that's part of the test?

If she's going to use "Hit and Run" then it sounds like she needs to buy it before Pouncing. But not now - this enemy looks slower than her already.

Should she upgrade "impact" first? Ugh, yeah. One Impact, please.

Breathing deeply to prepare for exertion, she rehearses her plan: Pounce, jump away, if it's still alive and can see upgrade Dancing Claw, otherwise Pounce more.

Pounce!

The sheer Impact of it knocks the Glutton Pig flat, legs buckling. Her claws dig deep, driving through matted fur and soft eyes and into the skull with a crunch and a spurt of blood.

It's obviously a Critical Hit. She just knows this, as easily as she recognizes the pig, even though no blue box pops up to inform her.

One does pop up a bit later though, just as the pig stops breathing.

Glutton Pig defeated.

Your contribution: 100%

100 Experience gained!

Loot the Enemy?

Awesome! (...Don't get used to it, her real body isn't this powerful.)

There doesn't seem to be anything worth taking from the pig, but just in case there's something she's missing: Loot the Enemy, please.

The blood and gore and mass of fatty flesh dissolves into little blue motes of energy over a few seconds. In its place is a bundle of neatly wrapped fatty pork, and a small strip of off-pink leather.

Her leaping crash made quite a bit of noise, though. Is that the sound of something else shuffling in the back rooms, coming to investigate?

Woah, cool.

Uh oh. She tosses the meat and leather on top of the fridge, jumps up again, grabs her items, and - oh the broken ceiling tile here stands out - walks to the far end of the row and climbs into the ceiling there. She puts the tile back and breathes carefully, moving only her ears to follow the new sound.

The new sound is a pack of new sounds, skittering claws and chittering squeaks. They pour through the door in a huge rush and scatter all around, running around the floor and climbing shelves. It sounds like... Three... No, four of them in total. They calm down somewhat after the initial rush, but are still hanging around and squeaking rattishly. There's the noise of them combing through the shelves, exploring them.

Sounds like mice speaking a mouse language. More "enemies"? Does she have to look at someone with her eyes to get a box identifying them?

She reaches to pull up a ceiling tile, and pauses. She has two points left and is saving one for "Dancing Claw". Should she use the last one on "Inconsequential Presence" or "Wouldn't Hurt a Fly"? Arguably "Inconsequential Presence" is more suitable right now, but...Class Upgrades. One Wouldn't Hurt a Fly, please. It just feels right.

And now she slowly peeks out.

Points spent! 1 point remaining.

Lv 2 Pack Rat
This quick little rodent is obsessed with collecting trinkets, parts, shiny things, and other items of dubious worth.

The Pack Rat she sees is about a foot and a half long, and has bits of trash stuffed into the long bristles of fur on its back. A keychain, a toothbrush, part of a shiny chips wrapper. It's trying to pry open a plastic box of batteries at the moment, but keeps glancing around warily.

Aw, that's adorable.

The box didn't say that they're enemies. Presumably she could have a box saying "Lv 1 Cat (Infiltration Bard)" or something - well, there's no one else to see her, unless the telepath can do this to multiple people, but in the logic of this game world, yeah. (She's heard of couples going into a Romance/Adventure Nexus together, but never multiple people in a Torment Nexus.)

She fully lifts the ceiling tile and steps down to the refrigerator, slowly but not particularly quietly.

The Pack Rats notice her! This one grabs its half-chewed box of batteries and runs away squeaking. Its fellows also scatter, ducking under shelves, behind the cash register, and so on.

Hmmm. She retrieves the leather strip from the ceiling and drops it in the floor.

The rats have gathered up together near the far end of the convenience store, perched on shelves, and are watching her. Maybe gauging their odds against her?

Intelligent organization!

Can she tear anything shiny out of the bundle of tubes and wires? See, "Pack Rats", how useful it would be to have a friend to reach things for you?

(Her clothes are colorful and easy to tear, but if this works, she doesn't want to give them ideas and wake up naked tomorrow morning...)

The bundle itself is pretty bundled, but there's some shiny copper tubing exposed on the upper part of the bank of fridges? Looks pretty easy to unscrew. They're not working anyway, the stuff in there is obviously getting soggy. There's a length of bright blue ethernet cable sticking out of a dusty unplugged router box, leading nowhere?

Okay, the blue wire first, and drop it down. Then she tries unscrewing the copper pipe, looking down but listening closely to follow the movements of the Pack Rats.

Hm, "Dancing Claw" is an upgrade on "Pounce" but doesn't mention Pouncing, does that mean she can use it without Pouncing first? She should test that in a fight where she can get away, like here if the Pack Rats attack her.

Class Upgrades. One Dancing Claw, please.

0 Points remaining.

All four Pack Rats cautiously move up closer to the fridges, running along the sides of the shelves and making sure to stay under cover. One darts out and grabs the short cable before dashing back to the dubious cover of the metal shelving.

Yes! Come on, fellow mammal, we can do this! She drops down what she's managed to get of the copper tubing, then slices a ceiling tile into smaller squares and drops those too.

She wants to get closer to them, but jumping down will scare them and if they attack she wants to keep the high ground... not worth the risk.

Is there anything shiny above the ceiling?

A Pack Rat grabs the copper tubing, too.

It's really dusty up there, but there's shiny light casings, metal vents, and wiring going back and forth.

She spends five minutes salvaging what she can, and then goes down to drop her findings to the Pack Rats.

Is there any way to get to the room above, if there is such a room?

It looks like the place is a single-story building.

The Pack Rats accept all her offerings. Eventually, one of them squeak-squeak-squeaks to get her attention and shows her a weird sort of soft grey trapezoidal gem. It drops it in the same place she's been dropping stuff, and then all four Pack Rats head for the exit, the bristles on their back laden down with lots of junk.

She meow-meow-meows in acknowledgement!

Are they trading with her? That's even more intelligent than she was expecting from natural animals! (Maybe this is a common behavior they do with other people?)

She grabs her pork, jumps down, and picks up the trapezoid. Does any description box automatically come up?

Pack Rat Essence (x1)

Rare material. Raw potential. You can use this for crafting things. Particularly effective for items related to storage, salvage, and gathering. Only gained from Critters willingly.

Aaah so many questions, and if the box disappears she won't be able to ask any of them. She focuses on the word crafting. Is there an explanation box? Does it displace the Pack Rat Essence box?

And she follows the Pack Rats at a respectful distance, peering around the box to see where she's going.

The box disappears and a new one replaces it.

The Pack Rats push through an unlocked 'Employee Only' door, and then stand on top of each other to open the push-bar door at the rear of the store. They go out the back door into a small loading bay. They look around cautiously, and look up into the sky, before running for the treeline across a small driveway.

"Shit, I saw something!" Someone shouts from off to the left.

The boxes are going to stop working in 9 days?

She doesn't have any more points, so learning to craft can't cost anything, right? Yes.

If she runs after the Pack Rats, she might scare them, and draw whoever that was after them. Hopefully the Pack Rats will come back later. In the meantime, the morally right thing to do is to be Cute and Harmless and distract that person from them. Wait no, not morally right, since none of this is real, but - personally virtuous.

Direct Infusion Granted. Please wait.

A rush of information hits her head, creating an instant headache and probably making her stumble.

It's - obvious, now that it's been shown to her. Crafting is taking the weird energy inside her - the stuff that entered her when she Levelled to 1 - and pulling it out like this and working it into Loot and/or Essence and/or mundane stuff like this and- Actually constructing something like a pouch or bag out of her leather Loot would help improve the result a lot, but she could do it without, and- And then she will have a Magic Thing.

The way of pulling Mana out like that is very mind-twisty and weird, though. It doesn't flow like any of her intuitions would suggest - not like air or water, expanding one moment and sticky the next. Clearly something that will take practice. If she even understands that much, having been hit with all of this information in just a fraction of a second.

Yep, fwomp she goes onto the ground, although she lands gracefully, poised to spring up.

Neat! (Ow.) So she can make essence just like the Pack Rats, she was wondering that!

Oops, she left her leather strip on the floor where she was dropping things; she rises and goes back to get it.

So, what just happened? She just had the impression of learning a skill. Actually learning a skill and practicing it for a year and then using it to perform a feat requiring all the previous practice, and being able to remember all the work that went into the practice, is evidence of not being in a Nexus. Because that's the secret: a Nexus doesn't actually make you live a thousand years in the space of a week, it just feels like that. With a whole bunch of other drugs to make it romantic or agonizing or noble, etc. (If the telepath is reading her mind then he already knows the secret... in general, she's not even trying to defend her mind from him; he's way too powerful.)

Unfortunately, crafting with Mana and Loot and Essence doesn't really exist, so if she hallucinates a doing a bunch of it, she might not notice inconsistencies the way she would notice, say, repetitive dance steps or an unrealistic order of mastering musical skills.

If it were possible to actually teach someone a skill in a Nexus, that would be sooo useful. The whole reason her father had her and her fur siblings was to give them a better education (and genetic modifications) than a Man child could get. And he invented the Nexus, so he's the perfect person to do this, if it's possible.

So that's one theory: her father is trying a new "Education Nexus" on her, with a fake skill that will be useless in a real world. And if she also ends up shattered and heartbroken, so much the better. Or it's one of the possibilities she already considered: it's just a normal Nexus and her "crafting" knowledge won't actually be solid, or it's a telepath playing a game with her.

Strolling out of the store again, she fills her mind with thoughts of how she Wouldn't Hurt A Fly. "Hello? What did you see, sir?" Is that person still here?

He's still there! Two guys in work clothes standing next to a pick-up truck in the parking lot, holding sledgehammers. 

"Hey, kid! Get over here, it's not safe! I saw more of those monsters running around a second ago!"

"The heck is she wearing?" 

"Keep a lookout, Sam, stay sharp. Whole world's gone insane now."

Is that an off-road car? How rustic.

She ambles over to 'Sam' and gives him and the other Man shallow bows. "At your service, sirs.

What monsters, if you please?

Oh this?" She looks down at her clothes, lingering a little and brushing one hip. (She's wearing a low-cut blouse and flowy pants, both made of light silk, red with black accents.) Wry smile. "My date stood me up."

"I don't know, they just started appearing out of nowhere. Gross pigs and a couple weird possum looking things so far. They just come charging at us as soon as they spot us, so don't go wandering please."

"You're wigging me out, kid. Is this an anime thing? I think I've heard of that. Cat people, something like that. Cat maids?"

"What do you know about anime?"

"My kid watches it sometimes. I don't get it, but whatever, some of it's not too sketchy."

"Anyway you're being rude to her. Fucking hell - pardon my French. Sorry about your date, but I don't think today is a good day for anyone. You seeing these blue boxes too, miss? I'm a Thug now, apparently. We're just trying to figure out what's going on. We're just landscapers, got a couple of buddies who went out to find out more. The truck's dead. All the cars and phones are, and the power's out."

"You live around here? I think we could give you an escort home, maybe."

"Ah, I've seen some of those! Thank you, sir."

She bows again to give herself time to think. Cat ... 'people'? As opposed to natural cats? But why 'maids'? It's normal for cats to be maids sometimes, although it's more of a dog thing... Oh, he must be one of those Men who thinks cats are only for sex, and that dressing them up and making them clean things in front of the whole household is perverted. ('People', then, meaning people capable of behaving in polite society.) And, furthermore, he thinks that there are educational programs for children that explain this away as them being maids... instead of just accepting that cats are actually maids sometimes!

So, while she should still hide her true intelligence, she should demonstrate her manners and self-control as much as she can, and stop trying to be infatuating.

What if cats here are actually not as smart, as disciplined? Then she's going to have to be more careful to blend in...if she wants to blend in. She suddenly realizes that she's been reckless. Here, a lost cat is - a lucky find to snap up.

And then the Man says he'll take her home. Which is a huge relief, except she does not live here, and anyway getting the telepath or her father to fake taking her to Chooda wouldn't actually accomplish anything.

"Thank you for your magnanimity, sir, but there's no need for you to trouble yourselves. I'm just visiting from the city." Most places have a 'the city', right? "Where cats may be employed as maids, and that is, both in theory and in practice, perfectly respectable."

Wait, they're landscapers? That must be pretty fancy landscaping!

She links her arms behind her back as an attentive Man student world; she already had her ears perked forward and still, as does a polite fur. "I regret that I have not had the time to cultivate an appreciation of landscaping, living in the city. Would you be so kind as to situate your art in context for me, sir?" Calling himself a 'Thug' must be the same sort of countersignalling humility as calling himself a mere landscaper. "I see the blue boxes too, sir. I'm a Bard."

"Bard? Okay, Bard. Can you pied piper the monsters, I wonder?"

"Miss, you don't have to act all - whatever this is."

"Let it be, Sam."

"It's weird!"

"People deal with things in all kinds of ways. Let it be."

Sam starts pacing around the truck, looking around nervously and muttering.

"Look- All we do is plant flowerbeds and hedges and stone walkways and stuff. I have no idea what's going to happen next. But we got a plan. In just a few minutes I'm sure, the boss is gonna be back and all us Dave's Landscaping boys are going to head out as a group to gather our families, then go to the workyard. It's a bit out of town, big concrete walls. It'll be safe-ish, we can wait for the police and the Army to figure things out."

She nods at the plan. "How far is your workyard, sir?"

He likes ancient literature? The downside of sidestepping Men's school is that she can't think of any witty literary reference to respond with. "Regrettably, playing the pipes makes my whiskers buzz. I was offered an 'Enthralling Performance' Class Power, which can hold someone's attention, but I wasn't sure if it would work on monsters so I didn't take it.

I have an upgraded ambush attack, I can dance for extra speed while fighting with my claws, and I have 'Stage Presence': I stay calm when disrupted as long as I am, in some sense, putting on a show." Compared to how she thinks cats usually act around here, that should be a believable lie, so that she's claiming to have spent about the right number of points.

She's not sure if it would be impertinent to ask about their Class Powers and Upgrades, or even if they're both 'Thugs', so she doesn't.

"That sounds like it'll be useful. Uh, it's six miles down the highway. Still in the suburbs, but far enough to be a bit out of the way. I'm John, by the way, what's your name?"

"We should loot the fucking seven-eleven, man," Sam says. "All we have there in terms of food is shitty coffee and mints."

"We're gonna take stuff from pantries. Also, that's stealing."

"Power's out, all the meat and dairy is gonna go bad anyway. I've decided, I'm gonna pick Mason, I'll be a Mason. Maybe it'll let me make magic walls to deal with the fucking magic monsters."

John rubs his temples in frustration.

"That's- Not a bad idea actually, given how today's going. We have a wheelbarrow, we can leave some cash for them... The pigs gave us some meat but I don't want to have to rely on that, no sir."

"Aren't video games supposed to give us inventories?" Sam grumbles.

Bow. "C'Esther, at your service." She pronounces it like 'kest-uh'.

Normally if she stole something it would legally be on her father, who would punish her, but given the givens... Also if they're talking about the place with the refrigerators where she was earlier, she already stole from it, oops. (She thought it was abandoned! She didn't even try the food because she thought it had spoiled long ago!) So she'll quietly go along with whatever they decide.

She nods at the magic walls.

"What's an inventory, sir?" Also what's a video game but she doesn't ask that aloud.

They glance at each other. Kid must not get out much. But they're going along with the weird by now.

"These boxes are acting like we're in some kind of game, right? In some games the player can carry way more stuff than they actually would, a power called Inventory. I asked but it said 'you cannot purchase any relevant Class Powers'. So Sam, maybe some people get inventories, but not-"

"Pig!"

"OINK OINK!"

"Dodge when it gets close!"

And then the Lv. 3 Glutton Pig is charging straight at the trio. John yells and raises his sledgehammer, while Sam dodges away.

"Ooh, I wonder - ah!"

Oh no she startled - actually it's good if they think she wasn't 'putting on a show' right then

- oh those natural pigs move faster than she thought, it's good she didn't try to grapple the other one from below

- she should stay moving - Dancing Claw

She dodges, kicks the Pig's rear ankle (she's wearing sorta tightly-fitted sandals or open-toed moccasins that expose her claws), and jumps back with her other leg. That leads into a twirl-jig she composed, so she follows it: step to the side, spin around, and now she's ready to kick again.

The pig lashes out a kick with a hind leg towards her as it passes, missing. The pair of men swing their sledgehammers and hit with meaty thuds, dodging out of the way of the charge at the last moment. The pig strikes the side of the truck, leaving a dent in the metal, then immediately turns and tries to bite John the 'Thug'. John kicks it, scrambling back, and Sam swings again, hitting a rear leg. The pig squeals in outrage, and runs forward again, managing to headbutt John rather viciously, knocking the wind out of him and sending him sprawling to the ground.

But then, all this gives her more opportunities to kick and claw, and Sam the chance to whack it with a heavy chunk of metal again. That's about the time the thing collapses.

Lv. 3 Glutton Pig defeated!
Your contribution: 30%
Bonus experience for defeating an enemy above your level (+0.2)
117 Experience gained!

"God, that hurts!" John starts sitting up again. "I'll be fine, I'll be fine - that took twenty something HP off me, looks like, but it's coming back. Thanks for the help, both of you."

"We need guns," Sam complains. "Loot. Are those actual claws?"

The sparkling energy process starts on the pig.

"Did the System - transform you?" John asks, grimacing.

Whew. That was a lot harder than the Lv 1 Glutton Pig. Will she get that much stronger when she's Lv 3? The Men implied the blue boxes just started appearing recently, so it can't have taken that long for the natural pig to get to Lv 3.

She focuses on the word Experience. Any more information that?

"The system made me a bit stronger when I selected a class? ...ah, cats usually have claws at home." Now there's a worrying line of thought, but the Men were astonished more than scornful, so probably around here they just always grow cats without claws, rather than creating them with claws and then making a show of cutting them off.

"Is there anything worth salvaging in your truck, sirs?

Have any of your collaborators made a study of 'crafting'?"

Deep breaths, John. Deep breaths. "Heck if I know. Maybe someone can get it running again later if they become a Mechanic." He throws his hands up in the air.

"I still say we've got to actively go hunting these things. I bet most folks are just hiding out in their homes, and I think they're getting stronger. And, no, crafting? System, what's crafting?" His eyes go distant as he reads an invisible box.

She stands behind him, arms spread to catch him if he falls.

"I was thinking, sir, that someone - possibly me, I theoretically know how to 'craft' - could make an inventory with Glutton Pig leather and Pack Rat Essence. That's why I asked about the truck. Is there anything shiny or fiddly we can get anywhere? We could take some while hunting, sir, and trade it to any Pack Rats we see?"

Hunting sounds like a good way to get experience! And food, that's important too.

"You can trade with them? That's good to know, that's important information. We've got some tools and things in the back..."

"I saw something come out of the store just before you, were those the, uh, Pack Rats?"

"Yes, sir! I got some things for them that they couldn't reach and they gave me this." She reaches all the way into her shirt, turning away modestly, which isn't going to make her any less attractive but hopefully avoids angering the Men, and pulls out the gem to show off. "I could use one of those inventories myself..."

They glance away.

"Why don't you try it with what we've got already?"

He points to a small pile of bits of leather, tufts of fur, meat-bundles, and two big teeth sitting by one of the truck wheels.

She nods.

Sits down by the pile, adds her own leather and meat to it.

She has a bunch of fragments of procedural skill, really just visions of Mana moving and clumping and snapping. She does not have any broader instincts, like, so you want to make a bag of holding, here's what you need, or, so you want to carry stuff, here's the kinds of things you can make. Does she want a bag of holding, or multiple pockets that magically share a mouth, or a cloak that you can stick things to, like the Pack Rats stick things into their fur, or a necklace that makes her own fur (much thinner and softer than the Pack Rats' fur) sticky? It would be inconvenient if she has to take her shirt off to stick things to her back, where it's thickest...

She pulls some Mana out of herself and stretches it between two of the leather strips, watches how a seemingly random part expands and tears into loose fibers, globs it back together... She sings to herself and repeats this process in rhythm, trying different movements as she stretches the Mana: graceful, jarring, relaxed, tense, sensual, commanding.

And nope, crafting isn't anything like dancing. None of her sense of what makes a good dance (to the eyes, to the body, to the ears) means anything to the Mana.

But she has the disembodied sense that she finished doing something. Is it a Magic Thing? What materials did she use? How much did she waste?

There's an ineffable sense of being drained- A bit like being chilly, a bit like being parched. Her Mana is gone, most of it, at least. Most of the work was working with the materials - what they wanted to be, how they wanted to combine, what sense of purpose and stubbornness was in them. She's used all the leather and all the tufts of fur and her Pack Rat Essence, but now she has a thick and slightly ugly pinkish-brownish cloak, with grey possum fur trim on the hem and three pairs of pockets and collar, and rawhide ties instead of buttons on the front-

Coat of Pockets Lv. 3

Quality: 2%

The coat's six pockets each contain an internal volume of 3.3 cubic feet. Items of any shape can fit. Items carried in the pockets weigh 6% less.

Self-sizing (Humanoid).

120 Experience gained from Crafting!

John claps politely. "Well, that's definitely magic."

"Give it here, I'll fill it with food from the store," Sam says.

"Don't be stupid, who knows if there's a monster in there?"

"Then come with me!"

A Magic Thing!

Huh, there was a box a while ago with her hit points and something else called 'MP', does that measure Mana? Hit Points? Mana? she tries asking the system; if that doesn't work John at least knows how to read his hit points, but she doesn't want to let on that she doesn't know.

She hands the Magic Thing to Sam.

Her pork is still in the pile of materials but she can't take it back now... Oh well, she had nothing an hour ago, she'll just have to stick with these Men until she has a chance to hunt or trade some more. They seem nice.

HP: 60/60
MP: 43/110

Her MP ticks up to 44/110 as she watches.

"Oh, thank you. Yeah, hopefully we can get enough stuff to make two more of these, one for everyone. Or even more. Or different magic gear. Lots of stuff to get, huh... We can all go together. Watch each others' backs. Maybe look for nice junk to give the Pack Rats. We've all got a level now, we're not helpless."

"Oh, you did grab Mason? ...And we're back to looting." Sigh. "Fine, I get it. End of the world as we know it! Why not! Standing around at a time like this sucks. I'll get the wheelbarrow. Better than sitting here waiting for Dave."

Back into the store, then! She takes point, since she's the fastest; if something jumps her, she can dodge and the Men will have a second to maneuver their heavy hammers.

Also she can point out Pack Rats if they see any, before either side attacks.

It would make tactical sense to be putting on a show right now, so she can't get startled, but it would also make tactical sense to be quiet so she can Pounce, and that Class Power is real, so. 

The two guys stick close, quieting down as they all sweep the store. There's another Glutton Pig hanging around the back entrance, easily dispatched (40 XP for her, giving a total of 377).

Once inside, John points to the stock room first.

There's a lot of dust and general junk on the ground, it's pretty messy. That might be why nobody notices the thin white threads laying across the ground until they suddenly pull together in a net, binding C'Esther's legs together with a sticky mess and yanking her upside-down into the air! She comes face to face with a spider that's at least three feet across, nesting in the rafters. It clicks its pedipalps rapidly.

(Her companions are busy shouting in outrage and horror down below.)

Attack the spider and distract it until the Men crush it? But can they reach it?

So try to cut the web? If she can, and can keep a leg and an arm free, she can keep cutting it as fast as the spider makes more -

and the spider will still bite her with its venom - aah - she slashes at it

(more to keep it away than to hurt it; she doesn't really want to touch it)

"Pass me a hammer? Or something lighter and sharper! Something to cut the web?"

The webs are sticky and thick, resisting her claws and sticking to her fur if she tries to claw herself free. It spits more web, trying to trap her arms. But Sam starts throwing boxes of deodorant at it! While swearing repeatedly! This turns out to be pretty bad for aiming, and only one arm is only sort of stuck.

Instead, it hisses and starts pulling on the web, pulling her even higher, before trying to drag her into the rafters above the main store area.

John has looked around frantically and found a box cutter. "Here! I'm going to toss it up, be ready to catch it!"

Nooooo, that's not what she meant, she wanted a sword, so she could cut her legs free without curling upwards into a vulnerable ball. Because clearly there are swords just laying around here.

Well if it works better than her claws it's still something. She holds out her free hand, ready to stab the spider as soon as she catches the box cutter.

Toss!

She catches it... by the very end, gapes at it, brings it to her trapped hand to open it - stab!

The spider, needless to say, is not very happy about this.

It bites her on the leg, a painful scar, seemingly out of spite, even though this lowers it down enough for Sam to clip it by actually throwing his sledgehammer, making it fall to the ground. John smashes it for good a moment later.

You have been afflicted by Venom. -0.2 HP/second for 10 minutes or until cured!

Snare Spider Lv. 4 defeated!
Your contribution: 45%!
Bonus experience awarded for defeating a monster above your level! (+0.3)
Bonus experience awarded for defeating a monster significantly above your level! (x1.25)
293 Experience awarded!

The venom burns. It sears her insides, spreading up her leg at a fairly alarming rate.

"Fucking fuckity fuck!"

"It had to be spiders! I levelled up, but fucking spiders!"

"Are you alright, Ches- Uh, Kestuh?"

"SPIDERS!"

Ow ow ow  -

need to - suck out the venom? - bending up hurts

no the first thing is to cut herself loose - bending up hurts

she manages to not break her neck getting down - can't tell if she broke anything else - now suck out the venom -

can't move her leg - ow ow ow ow ow ow ow - can't breathe

It becomes difficult to make out what happens next. Shouting. She's being dragged, turned over. Something's pressing on her leg. More shouting.

They're shouting her name. It's oddly... Quiet, for shouting. Why are they shaking her shoulders? Something important is going on... Though it's hard to care. Hard to think.

There's a sharp prick in her leg. A different kind of sharp to the awful, congealing venom. And then something is shoved over her mouth and nose, and there's a hissing noise as some sort of vapor goes up her nose and down her throat-

You have been afflicted by the Class Skill "Where's the Doctor?"/"Street Meds".

Existing affliction Venom has been changed to "Where's the Doctor?" - HP regeneration reduced by 50% until HP reaches 100% and remains at 100% for eight hours, or proper medical attention is gained.

The box is oddly easy to read, even as the rest of her vision is blurry and confusing.

And the world begins to come back, slowly.

Oh no. Hit Points? Actually this is better than the Venom. She's going to be okay!

Wait, can she die? Not if this is a Nexus hallucination. And if it's a rogue telepath? Unsure. Too hard to think.

"...sir?"

HP: 12/60

"Deep breaths. How are you feeling? I took a power to help you."

Breathe. Breathe. Thinking is easier now.

John made a permanent decision for her sake? Wow. "You - have my - dearest thanks, sir." 

Breathe.

12 out of 60, what does that mean? She should have decided before asking. Wait, then the telepath and/or her subconscious would have changed the number; it's accidentally brilliant that she didn't think it through first!

So, 12/60. That's - ambiguous. 3/60 would have been an obvious narrative hack to make this feel dangerous, so that would actually have reassured her that she isn't in danger. Unless the telepath could have guessed that she would react that way -

oh fucking Bank drop it, if the telepath can erase her memory, he could try things multiple ways -

If the telepath can erase memory so easily, that makes it more likely that he'll let her go when he's done? Maybe... does the subjective duration being erased or the number of times he erases something matter more?

Anyway, if she had felt this bad at like 30/60 HP, that would have meant - she would have taken it as meaning - that death at 0/60 was plausible.

Logic isn't helping here, but she's leaning toward thinking that, if this is a telepath's game, she can actually die. If that's his game, if her being tested against high stakes is itself what entertains him, she should be trying to survive, and taking this seriously in all other ways, not thinking about how to be amusing. Not that she had been doing a great job of that, anyway.

Does that mean that if she succeeds at this game, she'll get a corresponding reward? Or that, if he already has a plan for making her disappear, he's going to kill her at the end either way? Sigh.

Or what if this is a Nexus of some sort? Then she can still take this seriously, she should just expect to suddenly find herself back home at any time, and maybe her father will kill her once he's gotten all his data, but maybe not; if she survives getting ripped out of an Adventure Nexus without regrets about her imaginary world, and she's capable of doing useful work, he might keep her, and she might be able to escape. And run away to the wolves. She eats a lot less than a wolf and might be worth sheltering. She won't be able to accomplish much, but she'll have friends, and that's what really matters.

"Sir... if I die, the Pack Rats here like wire and copper pipe and - batteries and - there's probably a bunch more copper pipe in the refrigerators... I tore one of them up a bit when I thought the store was abandoned. Anyway - come back here, and if you see the Pack Rats, drop the stuff on the floor and" squeak/meow/mu "say 'hey' three times and sit far away until they leave."

"That's not imp- Like hell am I gonna let a kid die in front of me! I'm just worried about - System said there might be 'side effects'. 'Sometimes you need to dose something right now. You can use any item intended as a healing aid to stabilize creatures, but there might be side effects. Better than nothing?' God. This fucking thing is evil. These monsters are evil. Dammit."

Her pain is rapidly receding. She's starting to feel like she could stand up again. A lot faster than is medically plausible. (The mana inside her is thrumming slightly, diffusing outward.)

She stands up! Bows.

Hug?

"The system, sir? How did it start? Sorry, I've been - it's a long story. Did it create the monsters, or make them from natural animals the same way it made us?"

Hug, sure, he will hug the teenager who has recently had a near-death experience and only be slightly hesitant about it first.

(Sam is keeping a lookout so they don't get ambushed again)

"You know just as much as we do. Just a few hours ago, we started seeing these boxes- Telling us the System was coming. Then telecommunications started to fail, then all electricity. And then the monsters started appearing."

"I think they're getting stronger. It was all just level 1 pigs at first."

"It's like some sort of video game, it wants us to kill the monsters maybe... And that's all I got."

"I found a broom we can use to poke ahead of us for traps," Sam says, sounding tired.

Slightly hesitant? She's doing it to comfort him!

It's only been a few hours? "I beg your pardon, sirs, what levels are you at? I'm level one..." ugh math "about halfway to level two. Oh, more than halfway, I got some experience from crafting too. What loot did you get from the spider?"

Mana Points?

MP: 89/110

"Level three," John says. (And then unhugs and shuffles a bit, awkwardly. Her clothes are somewhat disheveled from the spider mess.)

"Two now," Sam comments. "I was level 0 for a while but it sent me straight to 2 when I chose the class... It's weird, I'm seeing how to take apart these shelves and build stuff now."

"A big bundle of thread and an... Eye, for some reason. I think we should - we should carefully check the rest of this place, but I think it's empty now. We need more stats, more levels..."

"It's a huge rush to level up, but that might be a trap. I don't want to get in the habit of chasing danger."

"Did you get additional points to spend when you leveled up, John, sir?"

Specializing could be a trap too, but... "I picked my Class Powers when I thought I was going to be by myself and I think I should focus more now, and craft something to gain experience.

If I put everything into Pounce - that's my ambush attack - from now on, maybe the thread could help me restrain a monster while you get in the later hits? No actually that's a bad idea, if I can get away and hide I can Pounce again. Maybe a trap for you to use before or while I Pounce?

I wonder if the spider eye could do something for hiding..." She could take Inconsequential Presence to stack with it, and she could probably even claim that as an innocent Bard skill for, like, accompanying another performer. "I could maybe make a good sentry?

Or I can get the Enthralling Performance power I passed up earlier. Maybe some of your landscaping collaborators know whether powers like that work on monsters?

Sam, sir, do you think there's a construction tool the thread could be part of? Like something to hold parts in place, or make things snap into alignment?

...Oh right, we get experience from exploring locations too. I'm ready to continue through the store."

They glance at each other. 

"...5 points per level. I think... It might be a bad idea to spend them all right away. We don't know enough."

"Are you sure you're alright, Chestuh? The spider was nasty. I'm not alright, for Pete's sake."

"Alright... a break would be nice." He's the type that feels better when he has someone else to comfort? "I'm down to uh a-bit-over-twelve hit points."

She sits down, straightens her clothes. "What are the possums like, sir? I haven't seen any of those."

The two guys sit. "Yeah, a break sounds nice. Uh, they weren't quite as big as us, maybe like a Great Dane or Golden Retriever. But they were even madder than the pigs, and darn quick."

They continue describing their previous fights for a bit.

C'Esther listens attentively.

This is actually pretty nice.

"I don't think it counts as looting anymore. We did pest control. Services rendered."

"You can't charge for unsolicited services, you know that. That's not the kind of shop we run."

"Uh, hmm... Salvage laws."

"Isn't that for like, wrecked boats and stuff?"

"The power's out and the food would go bad anyway. We're salvaging. It counts."

"End of the world laws. Not much is gonna be the same next week."

"Yeah, my car insurance is pointless now."

"Can you imagine Capital One sending a monster after me for my credit card debt."

"Ha! No, the suits are probably sitting around an office building confused why it's dark right now."

"Suits, am I right?"

They chatter a bit more, just trying to wind down the stress a bit. And then the chatter stops and they sit quietly for a bit, just breathing...

But eventually, they get back up and dig through the store, carefully checking for more monsters- But none are around. They eat vigorously from the rack of hot food, cooked taquitos and hot dogs still warm enough to be fresh inside a gas heater, and encourage C'Esther to do so as well. It's just gonna go bad anyway, and they both agree that the manager's kind of a jerk. Justification secured, they proceed to loot without guilt. More shiny tubing, more random bits and bobs. Lots of food. Whole things of meat, some ice cream, a bit of milk, packed in slowly-melting ice from the big freezer full of bagged ice, fetched outside and into the wheelbarrow and truck bed. Some bags of packaged snacks and drinks too.

They suffer two more Glutton Pig attacks, but the pigs are distracted for a second by a thrown hot dog, allowing the sledgehammer-wielding men to dispatch them easily. There's the occasional distant, sharp sound. The landscaping guys nervously point them out as gunshots, and try to be optimistic. Gunshots probably mean a dead monster. The Pack Rats come back out of the treeline eventually, and a sufficiently large collection of shinies nets two more Essences. They see a few people walking or running along the streets, but nobody approaches the dead truck in the gas station parking lot.

Then, with a loud hum and road noise like an electric engine, a huge 18-wheeler truck pulls into the 7-11 parking lot, ignoring the concrete curbs and grass to trundle in. The machine is big and imposing, particularly with the two odd bulges on either side, where a gun is pretty clearly sticking out and swiveling around.

Oh, and the fox standing carefully on the roof, foot claws hooked into some sort of thin grooves, head on a constant swivel and binoculars held up to her eyes, dressed in a hoodie and jeans, takes a brief pause from her lookout to smile and wave!

John and Sam are extremely relieved when their buddies, a bunch of other work-clothes-wearing men, pile out the back of the truck once it stops.

They all crowd around the boss, Dave, who starts barking out orders to load the truck and says that they have to move quickly.

And then John introduces C'Esther to Dave, whispering something to the boss that makes his look of shock turn to one of pity.

"At your service." Bow.

"Sir, I would appreciate your guidance on a few topics. All can wait until your truck is loaded and underway. Namely: my 'crafting' ability, available materials, mind-affecting Class Powers, and my development in general."

What did John say? Her current theory is that this is a low-tech variance zone that doesn't make furs. It's very isolated; that's why they all speak with an accent. The only furs here are those who snuck in, which is why Men do landscaping, and why those Men were - surprised by her manners toward them? And surprised by her presence. Did John say that she got here by accident? So Dave pities her because... it's forbidden to leave this variance zone?

(If this place actually exists, maybe she can flee here later!)

"Nice to meet you," says Dave, nodding at her. "There's one heck of a lot to discuss, yeah. I have a couple of boys who figured out Crafting, anything you can add would be great- We're gonna need it to last in this mad world. Gotta move fast. First day's critical."

He glances around, a sudden command in his voice. "C'mon, get to it! You wanna get ambushed by something standing around with your thumbs in your mouth? Load the danged truck!"

The guys jump and get to work. Dave turns back to them. "One sec, Sam, John. Just gotta explain- This isn't my truck. I got lucky enough that the guy dropping off lumber at the yard still has a working vehicle - something about being Soulbound. So I've hired him for the next few hours, we just have to work quick, right? Okay, why don't we all help load shit - Good initiative on the meat - and we can chat when we're rolling."

She can load things! She keeps an ear out for the fox, especially if there's a chance for a private conversation.

So she's not the only one with Crafting, as she wondered (special powers are a fun trope), but she's still mildly unusual. Why is that? She's smart, but not that smart - her father pushed harder when making her younger siblings. She's about as smart as an average Man, smarter than an average fur... Oh, she's as smart as an average Man, normally, but might be above average here, where they don't do any tweaks? (Of course, they're not supposed to do any tweaks outside, either, but as long as you keep them subtle, and don't try to gain an advantage over other families' children, the law is lax.)

She's neither math-smart or people-smart, but she has a good imagination and sense of motion. She can visualize a hemoglobin in three dimensions and fold each polypeptide from its sequence, although in general her intuitive protein folding is often wrong. She can dance the progressive centipede, backwards. Maybe crafting is a similar sort of activity?

System Inquiry Detected

Remaining Tutorial Duration: 9 days, 22 hours, 53 minutes

Crafting requires a minimum Spirit of 10 or a Crafting Class.

Loading goes pretty quickly! These guys seem used to taking orders from the boss, who mostly fusses over the details of arranging things and making sure everything gets strapped down. The inside of the truck has seats set up along the side. They have a lot of mundane stuff and a special bin for the piles of monster loot- All the skins, furs, feathers, spider silk, and meat bundles get tossed in there and watched over by the bossman. She can help with the cargo straps, that doesn't take as much raw strength. The boss mentions that one of the boys' wives is a nurse, maybe she can get that "Where's the Doctor?" gone.

The fox quits her lookout after a while of no monsters showing up, and sits on the side of the truck watching for a bit, feet hanging down and flexing and fidgeting.

And then she scrambles down the little ladder adroitly and goes and has an animated talk with the driver, up front, tail and ears constantly moving back and forth in irritation.

What's Spirit? She had assumed it was telepathic strength, but Mana doesn't seem psychically active...

Wife meaning a female Man, since they don't have a lot of furs? How is that even supposed to work?

Ah, there's the fox! Pretty tail. (C'Esther doesn't have a tail, but she's seen plenty of furs who do. It's more common on those intended for show, or for outdoor labor where the improved balance is worth it getting in the way sometimes. She wishes she had one to dance with.)

Either the driver is another fur, or the fox is about to get herself in trouble - or the driver likes feistiness, some do, it's even a stereotype with foxes... She walks closer, on a line to pass them and check out a piece of trash at the edge of the asphalt. Is the driver angry?

More anxious than angry? Glancing around every few seconds.

She catches a couple snatches of conversation. "...Not until... ...right way to... ...ecks-pe... ...keep you safe!... ...kill someone..."

And then he points out C'Esther, and the fox slumps in defeat. Then starts walking towards her.

Oh no. Poor fox.

There's nothing she can say here that won't sound like a typical cat's hidden-claw game. She can't even drop her fur-letter, not in front of the Man.

She bows, as deeply as she can without it coming off mockingly. "C'Esther, at your service."

She bows again, to the Man. "Sir."

Actually there is one thing she can say, although saying it makes it horribly real. "I'm with John and Sam."

"Are you sure-" She turns and asks.

"Ask again and the answer changes from 'later' to 'no'."

Sigh. "Yessir." The truck driver rolls up his window and looks over at something else.

She turns back and smiles. Or tries to, at least. The droopy ears kind of ruin it. "Hello. I'm Wynn. What a day, huh? John and Sam are a couple of those landscaping guys, I guess?"

The fox didn't say her fur-letter, which is probably meant to be friendly and avoid escalating their rivalry, but now C'Esther can't introduce herself again, can she, so the asymmetry is just going to sit there.

"Yeah, him and... him. A - Soldier and a Mason." Oops that might be sensitive information.

"I'm new here, what's it like? Hey, how about we take a look at that thing." It's probably trash but it might not be and this gives them something to do together and makes her earlier approach make sense. "If I may, what's your favorite Class Power?"

"-You think it might be some sort of mimic?"

She glares suspiciously at the patch of trash. She takes a marble out of her pocket and tosses it. It hits the empty beer carton with a plink.

"Hmmmmmmm. I only picked one so far, Steady Stance. Saving my points for later, until I know what's needed. Or an emergency comes up."

"I was hoping it might be something useful! - I guess monsters are useful, once you kill them.

I used all my points pretty quickly; I was alone when this started. My favorite is Dancing Claw! If I dance I can fight faster, as long as I'm only using my claws, which is fine since I don't use weapons anyway.

I hope Dave gives me a crafting project once we start moving. If it's hard enough I might get to level two today!

Where were you before here?"

"Ooh, that sounds nice. Also kind of scary, I'll take range any day. Monsters are gonna be the new reality. Improvise, adapt, overcome. I didn't get claws - well, only on my feet, but I don't know Judo or anything. Or Krav Maga, I think is the one with the kicks? Hell, I should learn to dance some time, mobility's prooobably a good thing to have in the apocalypse. If I don't get exclusively into crafting instead. Mats gotta come from somewhere."

She frowns and her ears twitch as she looks down and considers her bare feet. "Crafting gives Experience? Sweet. I got just five percent from spotting and calling out targets earlier. I'm from downtown New York, I was seeing Uncle Nick over there for the weekend when all this went down. Lucky I'm not all alone, probably." She gestures back to the truck. "Hope Mom's okay. How about you? Local?"

(She is sort of just constantly fidgeting the whole time, as on-edge as Nick was.)

"Those are... art forms? Like dance, but not categorized as dancing? I was just improvising; I haven't made a study of combat. I've - never taught dance, and I'm not sure how relevant my knowledge is, but I can show you some drills!

Have you made any progress on figuring out how crafting works? Or gotten better with practice in a way you can describe?"

She doesn't recognize the region, but of course she wouldn't. "No, I'm from the city." So does F'Wen come in and out of the variance zone? No, she must live in here, and her Mom too... but if they don't make furs here... her Mom is probably not a professional, just the companion of Nick's brother, who felt like taking in a runaway. And right, her Mom might be a Man, they do that here.

Asking if she's okay would be unkind when she's not okay and C'Esther is one of the reasons why, buuut maybe she can give F'Wen a chance to vent about anything else on her mind? "A big spider almost got me. I would have died if I'd been alone" oops that sounded like a threat "it put things into perspective, I really want to try to do the right thing and make sure everyone is safe." fixed it? "Like, if I die, and realistically I'm not making any plans past, uh" how long depends a lot on what's going on here, but in the quickest scenario, where the telepath is going to release her before anyone notices her absence, "tomorrow, I don't want to regret anything, you know?"

Wince. "Oof. Spiders? Web trap? Oof. Yeah, never split the party." She frowns and looks over to the landscaping crew. "...Glad you're okay. I dunno, I kind of want to make it through all this more than going out the right way. Shrug." She actually says 'shrug' out loud, in addition to shrugging.

"Anyway. Martial arts! Ancient wisdom for how to move and kick and punch and throw to fight! That'd be handy right now, but a lot more people think they know martial arts than actually do know it. Most of what I've been trying is feeling out what the Body stat does, as much as I can. It's a pretty all-round improvement. Strength, flexibility, endurance, durability, everything. I'm gonna try to do stats to it. Like, my Body was five before I got my Class, and it's seven now, and I could do twenty-five sit-ups all at once before and now I can manage forty. More than a forty percent increase. Similar improvement in push-ups, but my 40-yard-dash is consistent with about a forty five percent increase in speed. A combination of increased strength and increased endurance? And HP- I quizzed System for a while to find a phrasing that worked, and apparently you can technically survive going to zero HP, it's sort of like a shield that prevents harm from getting through to your body, but one that gets progressively weaker as it gets low. 'Reaching zero HP is not advised'."

She pulls a notebook from the hoodie's front pocket, and waves it tail wagging.

"I would like to add a crafting section to my research. Knowledge is power, yeah?"

"Yeah, ancient wisdom stops working if you don't exercise it.

Ohhh, the system didn't answer when I asked it what Spirit was, I guess it doesn't tell you what the stats mean. I was worried I had asked wrong! I know it's used for crafting, though.

Did your max hit points go up when you got your class? I didn't think to check that, or my Mana points, but when I level I'll tell you what happens.

Hm, how to quantify crafting... Doing a standard task isn't good enough; how do you tell system improvements apart from ordinary practice? Ooh, what if you had a set of standard tasks, and several crafters of different amounts of Spirit, and you assigned each task to them once? Ideally without them doing any other crafting in between or beforehand, so their amount of general practice didn't vary too much.

Is the amount of Mana you can draw out and manipulate different from your Mana points? What's the speed you can draw it out? Speed it replenishes? I kind of want to make some Essence now, even though I don't know what cat Essence is even useful for, or if it's an efficient use of Mana - ohh, if I made a bunch of Essence and then you used it to craft, you could make something more powerful than you could do alone... At least, quickly; I presume that, if you spend a long duration crafting, the amount of Mana you can draw is unbounded? Ah, that comes back to the question of how much you can manipulate at once, and if that limit applies to Essence or only Mana.

Have you tried to measure what Mind does?"

She tries rotating a hemoglobin.

"Oh awesome, I'm smarter!"

And either that's one dropping powerful metacognitive distortion, or her father is trying a new intelligence-boosting drug on her. Sigh.

She writes things down!

"Yeah, I tried to do a baseline for Mind but I'm not sure how informative it is. Did some reflex tests, tried to time doing a puzzle. It definitely made my reflexes a bit better, hard to tell how much. There's a simple test you can do with a piece of paper. And I tried working with a bunch of stuff, and Crafting just doesn't work without some piece of System stuff involved somewhere. Like, you can try to Craft a shirt, but if you don't have System-made pig leather to combine it with, it just wastes mana. 'Does Spirit help with doing this' or 'What stats do I need to do that' seem to give a little bit more info. I bet most of the informative help is going to disappear when the 'tutorial' ends. HP is ten times Body, mana is ten times Spirit. Mana comes back at Spirit per ten minutes before bonuses, and Health comes back at twice Body per hour before bonuses. Nick's truck has a big mana battery too, but we can't tap it or feed it more, so it only might be the same thing. We can make Essence? System, what's Essence? ...Hmm."

Does the box for Essence say anything she doesn't already know from the Crafting and Pack Rat Essence boxes? Also, what's the definition of a Critter?

"I'm not sure what counts as making it 'willingly'..."

System Inquiry Detected

Remaining Tutorial Duration: 9 days, 22 hours, 44 minutes

Essence is a representation of the potential of a creature. It is a powerful material for Crafting. Essence can only be produced willingly.

System Inquiry Detected

Remaining Tutorial Duration: 9 days, 22 hours, 44 minutes

Critters are spawned creatures that are intelligent enough to work together and have their own goals and agendas. Unlike Monsters, they are not necessarily hostile unless provoked.

"If Essence is so strong, it has to have a comparatively huge cost. Something permanent, not just mana that comes back. Maybe it costs Experience?"

Huh, is C'Esther a critter? She just appeared... No, the system said 'you are not supposed to be here' at the beginning.

That answers her question of whether monsters are animals who got classes: no.

"Costing experience makes sense... I wonder what the Pack Rats use their harvest for; it must be really important if they'll trade Essence for it. Or the system just created them with a pointless desire.

Do you think Dave's workyard has Pack Rats? If not, maybe we can get some to come with us. They've been here twice so far, they'll probably be back and I think they're smart enough to understand the question." And if Dave says to grab them without asking, that'll be information.

"My gut's saying they're going to make weapons and armor and stuff out of it. Maybe evolve to tinker rats? And hell if I know. I'd try to talk to one but going off alone is not safe right now."

"I would like to ask Dave how much longer it will take to load the truck and get permission to try to talk to them if they come back. Definitely not going off to look for them alone! Thoughts, objections?"

She cautiously stalks to the beer packaging and picks up F'Wen's marble.

"I mean, lemme ask Nick too. He gets fussy about the truck. This could go either way, really hard."

Dave and Nick confer and both reluctantly agree to say hi to the Pack Rats, since the Essence seems handy. Truck is almost loaded though, so make it quick. Sam and John escort her over to the place they were last sighted, as Wynn returns to her lookout on top of the truck.

There's a big hole in the ground in the half abandoned construction site! 

"Meow meow meow?" Anyone home?

She didn't have time to gather props... She takes off one shoe and puts it on the ground, and puts F'Wen's marble next to it.

Two Pack Rats come out. She recognizes brown-patch-next-to-ear from before.

Brownie takes the marble, then retreats to the tunnel entrance and tilts its head expectantly.

Noooo it wasn't supposed to do that!

And obviously a single marble isn't enough to trade for an Essence gem?

It looks like it wants her to follow. This doesn't make sense, but the thought comes to mind, maybe because before she met everyone, she was hoping she could live with the Pack Rats.

It's probably safe. They're critters.

...Unless they want her to spring a trap for them. There are spiders that live in the ground. And she's still injured.

Is the other Pack Rat paying attention?

Yep, though it seems confused. Brownie waves its arms around a bit. Pack Rats probably can't really talk...?

And then Brownie squeaks in realization and fetches a small case from somewhere in its fur. Squeak squeak!

(Sure, they don't have hominid vocal cords or hands, but that just means they don't share a language with her. Yet!)

Awwwww!

But what does it mean?

(She's not getting anything from them telepathically other than simple friendliness and frustration.)

On the chance that they can read, she scratches in the ground with a claw:

I'm leaving. If you want to come with us and work together on being safe and getting good things, come now.

(Although she speaks with a strange accent, perhaps resembling, if you don't listen too carefully, that of a native German speaker who learned English exclusively from Bostonians, her writing is 21st century Standard American English.)

If they can't read - and surely they can draw a cartoon as good as that one - the case itself must be the message.

So maybe:
- The case represents her, and they're going to do something with it. Bringing it into the tunnel would make it clear what they want, although she still doesn't know if it's a good idea.
- The case represents her, and things inside of it are objects she has, or things she eats, or maybe even things she wants or thinks.
- The case represents trading, and things inside are objects being traded, or represent - quantity or timing of trading?

Hm, the case has electrodes? The detachable parts don't look like batteries. It would be perfect for what she wants to communicate if they were things that the case 'takes care of' in some sense...

Brownie squeaked twice, representing an incomplete trade? Or just finishing the triplet accidentally started by its exclamation?

She puts her shoe back on and steps closer. Touches the cartoon cat's ribbon and then her own forehead. This represents me?

Squeak! Brownie draws a case and the weird-diamondy-shape of Essence next to each other in the dirt and then makes grabby-gathering motions over them.

"It wants you to Craft those airpods. Maybe it'll translate for you," opines Sam.

And then in a fairly extended drawing campaign:

-Weirdly tall stick figures carrying pointy things
-Tall stick figures with pointy things and cartoonishly dead pigs nearby
-Tall stick figures with pointy things inside a circle with dead pigs around it
-Rats also inside the circle but separated
-Little circles scattered near the cartoonishly dead pigs
-Rats fetching the little circles into the big circle and keeping half of the little circles

Yay, they want to team up!

"If I understand you correctly, sir, you think that if I try to craft a translation artifact with it, it will either work, or do something else they want it to do, but not go wrong?"

She doesn't have a Essence gem - she touches the Essence drawing and tilts her head at Brownie...  draws a tall stick figure with cat ears and points to it with one hand, points to one of the Pack Rat drawings with the other hand, and then resumes looking questioningly at Brownie.

They want to keep half the loot, in exchange for fetching the loot from the monsters that the, uh, 'players' already killed? That doesn't seem like a good deal.

"I think it probably won't go wrong, at least. Here, still got this from earlier?" John holds out a Pack Rat Essence (x1).

Another Pack Rat emerges with a small collection of bits and bobs - screws, bottle caps, bits of drywall, a burnt power socket, pill packets, and a chips wrapper - which are piled up next to the 'crafting' drawing and squeaked at. The System actually identifies it with a blue window as [Junk x2], like being in the rats' possession makes it special somehow.

As for the loot, Brownie sees how hesitant she is, then draws a line of dots in the dirt, fifteen or so, and holds a paw about a third of the way down.

"Thank you, sir." She thought those were in the loot bin in the truck, but she's not going to complain! Presumably if Dave asks, they only ever had one of them.

The issue is that she didn't expect the Pack Rats to want loot at all, and doesn't think that picking stuff up is all that hard.

Maybe there's a setup where everyone who can uses ranged weapons and/or acts as bait while the Pack Rats scurry around gathering loot and not getting in the way of the shots because they're small?

If the Magic Thing does translation then they can talk after she crafts, and if not, whatever it does will be new information.

Crafting time! She tries to let the Mana go where it naturally tends, as long as that involves all three of the case, the Essence, and the Junk x2.

This one is... Kind of a mess. The mana really doesn't want to stick together. Gobs and gobs of it clump up and tangle into uselessness, falling off or curdling away even as she pours more of her own Mana in. The plastic melts and shifts, the screw is attached to the side of the case. The end result is a pair of earbuds with weird antennae attached, and a much-modified case- A lopsided thing that somehow looks rusty, burnt, and fragile.

You have created:

Ratrophone (Poor Quality). Anyone wearing these earbuds can understand [Rat] Critters at a basic level. Place in the case and infuse up to 5 Mana to recharge. It also creates an uncomfortable mental feedback.

20 Experience awarded for Crafting.

"I dunno how patient they're gonna be, just saying, everyone wants to get rolling," Sam warns her gently, trying not to wince at the result.

Aaah she lost track of time, they're going to be angry. "Thank you, sir!"

(What's Infuse mean? Just sticking Mana into it?)

The translation artifact only works in one direction, and she doesn't have time to draw out a big table with her alternate proposal...

She draws a box around Brownie's sequence of drawings with the rough outline of the crafted case. Next, a big circle. Inside is a cat-eared tall stick figure, a Pack Rat, and a much smaller lopsided box with the same shape - several lopsided boxes, then erase all but one of them.

She gingerly dons the earbuds.

It's weird! It feels a bit like there's some sort of telepathic pressure telling her she's stupid and wrong and confused.

When Brownie squeaks and goes on for a while squeaking, though, it becomes a lot easier to understand. Not that what's being spoken is English, but it's sort of understandable anyway.

>Pack Rats want a safe place to live most of all
>They also want junk, trash, debris, loot, etc
>They are sneaky and good at tunneling and scouting
>They can even provide crafting materials by converting junk into Junk(x1)
>Having early warning of monsters is very valuable!
>Since this place is not really safe, maybe Pack Rats can go with them for now and work out the exact details of Loot distribution and so on later?

That's totally a language it's just squeaking to keep her attention it feels like the meanings line up with groups of squeaks of course it feels like that brains imagine patterns in everything yes let's leave now that's what she was trying to communicate herself, it's just wishful thinking that they would agree, and why would they trust her they like her they were going to feed her to a spider

She pulls the earbuds out and shakes her head with a shiver. "Mrrp!"

She picks up the case and steps away, pausing to look back the manner Brownie did earlier.

A group of seven Pack Rats in total hesitantly begin to follow?

"-So are they coming with us or what?" Asks John, frowning in concern.

"I think they are, sir!"

She keeps walking back toward the truck, pausing to check that the Pack Rats are still following.

Kind of cautiously, but yeah. An eighth shoots out of the warren to join them. Their Levels are all one, except for Brownie and one other who are at 2.

Dave takes the Ratrophone and frowns at it, and tells them "if you're gonna be living in my compound you gotta earn your keep". The rats seem to agree. Everyone, Pack Rats included, loads up into the back of the truck, which then starts rolling. There are two turrets with men sitting tensely, a ladder with a little hatch leading to the roof where Wynn is, cargo strapped down in the middle of the box-truck trailer, and a line of benches and seats along the wall as well. There's a door to the front cab too.

Eight landscaping guys in total, plus her and the rats and the cargo, still leave the container with a decent amount of free space. They start rolling, smoothly accelerating out of the way. The guys are talking about guns and sharing what they know about monsters and the System so far- They heard from some cops they passed that worse ones are popping up out in the countryside, Level 4 Fear Deer, for example- And Sam is talking about fortification plans with the boss.

Yay, she did it, and Dave doesn't seem angry at the delay.

She sits on the floor next to the Pack Rats. Since their fur is so bristly and serves to store their valuables, she's not sure of their social grooming behavior and does not try to touch them.

The truck rolls along peacefully for a while, turning occasionally. The pack rats huddle to themselves and visibly restrain themselves from picking over the stacks of cargo for things to take.

"Possum, one o'clock, hundred fifty meters, by the base of the oak tree near the trampoline," Wynn's voice reports calmly through a speaking tube. One of the turrets traverses forward and pop-pops. "Possum down. Nothing else in sight." 

"Should we stop to loot it?" One of the landscapers asks.

"No way, too slow. Not for a single Giant Possum," is the boss's response.

And then another turn, and then some more cruising, and then-

"Something's wrong but I don't- AAH!" There's a loud thump from the speaking tube.

Wynn yanks open the roof hatch and dives through it head-first on sheer instinct, hitting the floor and rolling.

Three seagulls with multi-foot wingspans and glittering, razor-like beaks come straight in after her, screaming and making a racket, flopping around on the floor and sending feathers everywhere. The whole area is suddenly in chaos as people stand and yell, the door gunners try to extract their weapons, and the gulls' feathers fly in every direction, impeding vision.

One of the Razor Gulls stands and flaps towards the small huddle of Pack Rats and C'Esther, resting in the corner, before order returns.

Aaah! She reflexively covers her face and flails.

No - look at the bird. She can't stand up, at least not neatly, but she can bounce rhythmically sitting on the floor and wave her arms in a syncopation.

She tries to slash and grab and curl on top of it. She's not expecting to be able to effectively restrain it, just give someone a chance to hit it solidly before she or the Pack Rats take a fatal amount of damage.

The razor beak snaps at a Pack rat before she can fully react, neatly slicing off its tail and dragging a cut into its back. The rat, a little white one, squeals in agony.

And then she's on top of it, arm around its head and trying to grapple it. The gull writhes and flaps, trying to worm its head around on its flexible neck, trying to push away from her. 

The Pack Rats swarm in fury, clawing and biting at the gull in a frenzy of chittering anger. Even as it flaps and kicks furiously, knocking one away, C'Esther's weight mostly holding it in one place makes the struggle futile - the gull's attempt to wedge its neck around and stab her arm is stopped by her choking grip on its neck, and also a rat closing its teeth on said neck through the thick layer of feathers.

...The bird stops struggling, after a bit. The others are taken care of too, signified by an ugly squork! and a wet crunching sound.

Level 3 Razor Gull defeated!
Contribution: 50%
Bonus Experience awarded for defeating an enemy above your level: +0.2
180 Experience gained!

Brownie shakes its head and starts licking her paw gently around the limp body of the monster, as several other Pack Rats look over the piteously squeaking wounded white one.

The other fights seem to still be going on, going by the yelling and stomping and squawking in the background. None of it's panicked, though, they seem confident.

Oh no. Loot! (Maybe there will be something she can use to craft a healing tool?)

She gently touches Brownie on the cheek.

She's still low on hit points, and she doesn't know how many hit points Pack Rats have but probably not a lot; she'll stay out of the other fights unless they come to her.

The wounded white one seems surprisingly okay! The thick bristles and pile of junk on its back seem to have absorbed some of the blow. It's bleeding, but only a bit.

The remaining two birds are dispatched eventually. Someone scales the ladder and pulls the roof hatch shut, making sure nothing else gets in.

Most of the blood and gore in the corner of the trailer vanishes into motes of light, collecting into a white-metallic [Razor Feather - Imbued with speed and cutting magic].

"Everyone alright back there?" Comes Nick's voice over some sort of intercom. "Okay, we're just a few seconds from our first stop, remember to keep the turrets manned."

Her first thought is to shove the feather at the nearest Pack Rat before anyone sees it and takes it, but the other monsters are the same type so the missing feather will be obvious.

The scheme that she hasn't had a chance to propose yet would give the Pack Rats half the loot from monsters that they help kill. The downside of having only a single object is that it can't be divided on half, but the upside is that is should be clear to them that the allotment wouldn't set a precedent. And she wants to reassure them that she's dealing honestly.

Really, they did most of the work on the Razor Gull. Her scheme didn't include that case, but it does now! With deliberate motions, she picks up the feather and gives it to Brownie.

Speed and cutting magic sound applicable to her Dancing Claw? (Presumably she could use one of the other feathers, at Dave's direction, or trade a different item to the Pack Rats later.) But if she's going to be a sentry, that's less useful to her, as much as she likes using Dancing Claw. If the Pack Rats' honeypot idea works, they'll be the ones who need speed the most.

She's relieved that the little white one is okay. Is that a consequence of injury being measured solely in hit points? If the cut on its back had been deeper, would it have a 'paralysis' affliction? If the Razor Gull had gone straight for C'Esther could she have an affliction to her eyes or ears or hands, or would those injuries heal as she regained hit points? She should talk to F'Wen about recording their wounds so they know what to focus on defending.

But right now they're going to pick up someone's household! She stands up in front of the Pack Rats, catching the beat of her previous bouncing and extending her claws, ready in case there's more trouble when they open the door. This could even be a chance to Pounce!

Nobody seems to particularly notice her Loot Acquisition, they're all kind of busy with their own monsters. Aside from John, who was heading over to see if she needs help anyway.

John heads past her, into the door to the front area, even as the back door opens and Dave's Landscaping piles out into a suburban street lined with houses. Two stay to stand guard, and two are still manning the turrets, though.

As the truck stops, Wynn comes and sits next to her, arms around her legs and head resting on her knees. She's bleeding in a couple places, and shaking slightly.

"...Sorry for letting them in. That was stupid of me. Should have expected flying monsters, definitely can't be a lookout like that anymore."

Why is F'Wen coming to her for reassurance? Maybe she's given up on remaining Nick's favorite and is trying make her new position comfortable.

"Well, now we know we have to practice withdrawing from the roof, and install a mechanism for closing the hatch, and keep an extra lookout to watch the sky. I was considering training to be a sentry already, and I should make sure I'm capable of keeping my attention focused like that before I spend any points on it, so I could join you on the roof if you want?

From my point of view, you didn't do anything stupid, but I guess if you can identify a specific decision that you could realistically have thought through better, given the information you had at the time, then now you can practice avoiding that sort of error. I didn't think of flying monsters either - clearly no one did! - but now, we should think about swimming monsters, and burrowing monsters - ah see the Pack Rats can burrow, I should have thought about a really big Pack Rat that can dig a trap for the whole truck! - and, hm, telepathic ones, little ones that bore through the metal, parasites..."

"Telepathic attacks... Mind has to be for something, yeah." She shivers. "I don't think I'll go back to the roof without, like, a different plan. Thanks for being- Calm, and offering to help, though."

"Long ranged, camouflaged, intelligent and deceptive ones... Intangible ones maybe... Watch out for poison or pitfall traps... Everything will be easier if we get more Levels, but doing that is incredibly dangerous, like holy shit, I did not expect to almost die today, right?"

"Yes, and being able to sense the monsters coming seems really important if it lets us get the first hit and move the most vulnerable of us out of the way." Maybe the spider eye could be used for that? She's not sure if Sam is carrying it in the coat of pockets or if he turned it over to Dave, so she doesn't mention it.

"If they're able to sneak in and imitate us, maybe we should have passwords. For the two of us in particular, how about we use..." she leans close and whispers "'ubiquitin'."

"Ubiquitin," she whispers. "I don't want to get paranoid this early, but... Yeah, mimics, mind control. It'd be stupid to discount the possibility entirely. Hell, the monsters might not end up being the only threats... Are your ears better than human? Mine are. Just something to keep in mind, whispering isn't guaranteed."

John comes back, with the driver Nick in tow, holding a big first-aid kit. He glances over the room, then the rats, then Wynn and C'Esther. He stands a short distance away.

"Okay, nobody's actively bleeding out, good. I have no idea if painkillers are safe for rats but they can have a Tylenol if they want. Mr...?"

Brownie tilts his head at the proffered pill bottle.

"...You two seem worst off here. Sorry I didn't realize you needed first aid earlier, Chestuh. I have the kit, might as well use it."

He frowns in concern at the still-visible spider bite mark on her leg, then glances over at Wynn. "Kid, you alright? That has to sting."

Wynn shrugs. "Stings a lot. Could use a bath."

He nods and hands over some bandages and wipes. "Well, we'll see what we can do. You're still breathing and a bit wiser. We pick up and move on when we visit the school of hard knocks." She nods and smiles faintly.

"Miss Chestuh, do you mind if I take a look at that bite? I don't have a magic power for it, just mundane skill, but I can try to help."

"Yes, mine are too."

Poor F'Wen. John and Sam have been nice to her; she does not know this Man. She doesn't want to make him an enemy, though.

And she does want to get 'proper medical attention'! But how to get that without encouraging his flirting?

"John already fixed me up, sir. What exactly do you intend to do?"

"I would clean it of any debris, apply topical disinfectant, and apply a bandage. Then if you wanted do the same for any other cuts and bruises. I understand if you wish to wait for a nurse, I think Mr. Gold's family is next- Mrs. Gold is one. We can set up a privacy screen- Or if I manage another Level there was a medbay option."

"That's probably a good idea," Wynn says.

"Quite. Of course, there's about thirty things I want to do with my points already- Like everyone, I imagine. We should talk about specialization later."

She's scared and in the back of a truck with a bunch of strangers. Offering to let her nap in the cab bed would probably the opposite of help.

"By the way, I am going to teach Wynn and perhaps a couple of the landscaping crew basic firearms safety, later. America might have more guns than people in it, and knowing how to use them is definitely going to come in useful. I want more monster-killers around, not fewer. But I'm not handing out any guns until that's done, that's a good way to accidentally kill someone. Would you be interested?"

That's surprisingly delicate of him! "I think the nurse will definitely cure my affliction, sir, so I'll wait for her, rather than waste your time. Thank you for the information, sir.

Currently I can do an ambush attack and unarmed melee... the Pack Rats have an idea that requires ranged fighters with good aim" it'd be insulting to ask outright if he can quickly get his students to the necessary level "and might involve a theatrical distraction power I get when I level, if it works on monsters. I've never used a weapon... I'm not a Man and it never came up."

"Well, think about it. Quantity has a quality all its own. Wynn..."

"I'm not gonna do anything stupid. At least until my HP is full..."

"Stick close, okay? I was hoping to be heading for New York by nightfall but I can already tell things are going to keep coming up. At least 'things' will probably be 'monsters', and therefore 'levels'. If they don't manage to kill us for sticking our fool heads out the window first."

He packs the kit back up, taking the stuff Wynn used into a plastic trash bag, and then stands, brushing off his jeans and waiting to see if they'll say anything else, before heading back up to his cab.

"Are you planning to return here from New York, sir?" Does he think Dave's settlement won't last?

"Also, if you would be so kind as to explain, sir, 20 people firing guns and hitting once doesn't seem efficient to my naive intuition?"

"Back here? Maybe, maybe not. Oh, I'll go back to my old job, as much as I can- I'm sure people will still need cargo moved. And even just one out of twenty hits adds up quickly when it's powered off this guy's mana engine." He smiles and pats the wall of the truck fondly.

"Lots of people who need to go find their families, or evacuate, too. And people will need news moved around as well."

"Your guns are powered by your truck, sir? What's a mana engine? I heard your truck was 'soulbound'?"

"Yep, she's soulbound, which according to our lovely host the System means literally part of me now. I can feel when things damage it, and a lot of other stuff. The mana engine would just be the truck's source of energy, and the turrets are a Class Power- Most of my Class Powers are about the truck, not myself, but guns in those turrets use the truck's mana instead of actual ammunition."

"System lets you buy Soulbound items with a point if you ask. I'm sort of holding off because I don't know that I need something like that, the biggest benefit seems to be that it'll get stronger over time and use my Mana instead of whatever it would normally use - so, instead of fuel for the truck, or bullets for guns."

Ohhh that answers her question of whether the truck had gun turrets before the system! She wasn't sure if this isolated variance zone had bandits.

"Interesting. I don't need a soulbound item - my claws and brain and ears are already part of my body - but that's good to know."

Hm, if the rest of civilization exists in this game, how are they taking it? The robots are dead, but most robots just have a mouse inside who can do their job directly, if less intimidatingly. The wolves will be really busy with the jobs the mouse robot-drivers can't do. There are so many people in the cities, though, they'll have the monsters out-numbered? Maybe there are special city monsters.

Someone is probably going to try to get an infinite supply of stroon with a soulbound syringe or something, won't they be surprised to find out that almost everyone is 'allergic' to it!

Anyway. "If the guns don't cost anything to use, I suppose I'll learn to use one, sir."

"Oh good. Hopefully we'll be at the workyard where we can try it before nightfall. In the meantime, let me go stop these fools from trying to pack up their entire house into my truck."

And off he goes at a quick walk.

(C'Esther and Wynn discuss keeping records of injuries.)

Wynn starts writing down a summary of what she's learned about the HP mechanic. And then a 'tutorial' of other useful stuff she's figured out- Like the monster experience formula. (100 xp per level, plus 10% for each level above you the monster is, with additional multiplication on top of that if it's much higher, times percentage contribution).

The group of Pack Rats gradually calm themselves. A few curious gawkers approach the open back of the truck bed, but are sent away by the landscaping guys. They start loading bags of belongings, as a woman and two children- Maybe aged six and eight- Make their way into the truck and look around uncertainly.

Then there's some sort of altercation by the back.

A man dressed in a sharp suit seems to be arguing for passage, a spot in the truck and in the workyard.

"Look, buddy," Dave fires back, "Harold Chester? I remember you. What good are you? Can you fight? Can you walk up to a monster and stab it in the fucking face? Got a useful class?"

"I'm sure we can work something out, I'm a salesman, I can do business for you?"

"Salesman! No, not happening. Because that's the only way I'd let you come to my workyard when I know you're a flake and an asshole- Yeah, I remember you fucking around about paying for your deck- Is if you could actually contribute somehow! This isn't a fucking game."

"I can pay you, I have cash, I have gold."

"Worthless. Got any guns and ammo? Tools, medicine?"

"But we need to get somewhere safe!"

"I don't see how that's my problem, not when helping you will compromise our safety."

"You're letting people die, what's your problem? There's room!"

"For you, yeah. What about everyone else on this street? Couple hundred folks?"

"I was here first!"

"The yard only has so much carrying capacity, we have to plan for bunks, for food, for defenses. I can't help you, pal. Employee families and useful folks only. Besides, the truck ain't even mine."

"Fuck you!"

That's when the guards backing Dave up raise their sledgehammers, and Harold reluctantly backs off.

Wait, why are they turning people away? The more people, the more efficiently they can fight and get food and take care of each other!

(Heh, that Man's lineage is pronounced just like how these people say 'C'Esther'; if she weren't busy fighting monsters she would love to study their accent in more detail.)

Dave is dropping rude, spurning someone over a bit of money.

Woah, there's no need for violence! Can't they see the poor guy is desperate?

She slips over to Herold. "Excuse me, sir. What Class do you have, if you've chosen? Any powers or upgrades? What kind of goods did you advocate for in your prior vocation?"

Dave tells her not to go far- They're leaving in two, three minutes tops.

Harold is acting pretty panicky about his solar panel business being useless now, enough that he only barely stares at the cat ears and cat paws, but with a little coaxing, he gets the System to display some of his screens to her. He's a Salesman, but hasn't picked any of the Class Powers yet. There are two that might be some kind of useful, after a bit of thinking- Discern Value, which identifies things that have value now, like potential weapons, and Schedule Magic, which speeds up people he is supervising if they're doing work and not combat.

A few neighbors are watching the big truck with guns warily, but nobody approaches after Harold backs off. Especially when one of the gunners spots another Glutton Pig walking down the street and starts taking loud pot shots at it! That makes everyone even more jumpy and flinchy!

Discern Value? She's not sure she trusts the System with that much power to guide their actions. Sure, it's doing a lot of stuff already, but it seems to be 'following its own rules'. Discern Value would give the System the ability to yank him around at any minute by saying something is valuable and then making up something retroactively... She gets the sense the System wanted her to attack the Pack Rats when she first met them; did it want the pointless tragedy of her not knowing what Critters were?

But she doesn't want to give Herold another reason to freak out. "I think we've been doing fine on getting valuable things so far. Schedule Magic looks excellent, though, sir! Sam, on Dave's crew, has a construction ability. Does it affect magic work, non-magic work, crafting if that's separate...?"

It looks like it affects "construction, installation, and logistics", whatever that cashes out to.

He talks with a few neighbors and some teenagers that approach, he's still not very happy but at least he has some sort of a plan now! They're going to try and organize forting up one or two specific houses. He starts gathering the neighbors and planning-

-That's when a runner arrives, a [Messenger Lv 2] carrying a flag that says "D.E.G.", and announces in a booming voice that the police, fire service, and the Board of Education are fortifying at a few select buildings in the area. As big buildings that are usually on open lots, they make a good spot to hole up in before the monsters get worse! Everyone is encouraged to make their way to one of the following places- Schools, churches, the Rogers Apartment Building, Main Street (Which is getting a huge barricade all around it), or the Meijer's store or Home Depot.

This is about when Nick comes back with a second family, having negotiated them down to only two bags each. Time to move again.

Good for him! Now she doesn't even have to argue with Dave that he's useful after all!

Onwards.

Back in the truck, she meows once to get the Pack Rats' attention, points at the each one, holds up eight fingers, and then moves her hands apart hesitantly?

Headtilt, then some hesitant nodding?

They make two groups of four.

Great, at the next stop with people who aren't joining Dave, she'll ask if they have Pack Rats already.

Oh. She should work out an agreement before then. Can she use a page of F'Wen's notebook, or is there any other paper?

Wynn will allow the use of her notebook, and also find where the Ratrophone has gotten to, and also throw in the tidbit that System says some Class Powers can create System Contracts- System-mediated agreements that reduce someone's stats if broken.

"I wonder just how smart these little guys are. And like, did they come from animals just - living in the ground? Or did System make them? But whatever, what are you trying to do, give 'em a good home?"

System Contracts: "Scary! But maybe useful if relations between groups break down badly enough..."

Pack Rats: "The System says they're 'Critters', which 'spawn' like monsters, so yeah, the System made them. Are you - suspicious of them because of that? I'm trying to give them a good home. I don't know how fast they spawn more, if there's already some with a good supply of loot and food and 'junk'. But if it's fast, then it's better for lots of groups to get a few now, and it doesn't cost us much to have four now instead of eight... They're really smart! They can... plan ahead, think about quantities, trade, communicate... I want to learn their language - it might not be a language like we have but it sure looks like their squeaks are representational."

She draws, compactly to conserve paper, and shows this to both groups of Pack Rats:

(Since the Razor Gulls, and learning that they have more ranged weapons than she thought, going out to pick up the loot seems more dangerous and killing monsters from behind the walls seems less dangerous, so she's willing to go half and half on this particular plan as originally proposed.)

She should prooobably ask Dave what he thinks about this.

"Honestly? Yeah, I'm kind of suspicious. I don't want to jump straight to stabbing, it's not like it's impossible for System to make friends as well as foes, but... Like I know what they're gonna do next? The uncertainty is unnerving. No offense, guys." (Slightly indignant squeak). "I'm sure you're nice, I guess, just. Steal stuff or hurt people? You lose the benefit of the doubt."

The Pack Rats nod in acceptance of this semi-ultimatum. They review the paper for a while, trying to make sense of it, and they seem to agree that this seems fair? They try to repeat the request for a separate rat-enclave inside a fortified area. And they draw lines between different rat-enclaves. Tunnels perhaps.

Rat enclaves with cat in them?

(She likes them! If people are going to be suspicious, if their tunnels are big enough for her, she can keep an eye on them - well, an ear and a nose. And sleeping in the warren gives her a reason to be away from Sam and John.)

...Rat enclave with cat in it seems to be a no. Visits would be okay?

Hey! Why don't they want her? What are they up to?

They can't actually stop the Pack Rats from digging their enclaves, so it might be better to just yield on this and keep the harmony... but one more thing to try: a drawing of Pack Rats building a pig-monster made of junk, which then kills cat/fox/Men. How do they react to that?

Noooo. Never. Why would she think that. They just want to have a safe place to sleep in private, and where nobody can take their [Junk]. The Talls have their safe place to sleep and they're not asking for Pack Rats in the Tall Nest! (Brownie seems to disagree, at least a bit, but not really care about this conversation thread- A different group of rats who seem to be the white one's friends is mostly carrying it at this point.)

Sorry, sorry! Pet pet pet (on the cheek, since they took that well before. She's not touching their storage fur.)

In her opinion, they can come to the Tall Nest whenever they like, but Dave might feel differently, and whoever takes in the other group of them. It's not worth the paper or time to work out a way to communicate this, if they even have that much theory of mind, so she doesn't say anything.

She's going to be keeping an eye on Brownie.

If Essence costs experience, it's a good deal for them to provide other services instead. But more coats of pockets would be nice. Will they trade an Essence gem for... three pieces of loot?

Another drawing: four Pack Rats in a circle; Rat sleeping; Rat sleeping; five Rats in a circle. Point at sleeping Rat, point at next sleeping Rat with another finger, extend more fingers three four five six?

They like the cheek-petting! Three pieces of loot- Maybe if it's really good loot but that's probably not enough! They were generous so far as a gesture of goodwill, making Essence is - not quite painful, but definitely aversive. ......More pack rats if they have a good nest? Yes. Also stronger pack rats if they have a nest and lots of junk.

How many pieces of loot? Out of curiosity, does the loot go to the individual Rat who makes the Essence or to the nest?

More Rats is good. (It was possible they only spawn in certain areas.) She was trying to ask how long it would take but it's not important to have a number, and they might not even know, or be able to count abstract things like days...

Stronger Pack Rats? Ooh! Can they go faster, store more, fight monsters, be sneakier?

Junk mostly goes into the nest. They don't have a clear answer for how many pieces of loot.

Yes! And they can make junk tools! And they can make a catrat!

They can make furs?!

From scratch or from an existing Pack Rat?

It would take a while but a Pack Rat can turn into a Tall Rat if they really want and get strong enough. They probably will go for Big Rat or Fast Rat or Crafting Rat instead though.

They have their own Classes? Awesome!

Lookout Rat? She wants to ask if being a Tall Rat and having Tall-average intelligence go together, hm, Rats in a stack on top of each other to open a door, is that separate? Healing Rat?

(If there's a Big Rat, its presence will ensure that she can fit into the Pack Rats' tunnels, that's probably good? Might make the Rats vulnerable to other invaders, though.)

Will a Crafting Rat accept a piece of loot in exchange for doing a crafting job with provided materials?

Yeah! Not having to go get materials would be great! Just give a little extra. Lookout rat, maybe. Probably. Healing rat, probably not.

Okay! Pet pet pet.

And now she really should talk to Dave about the loot sharing plan and the other trades they discussed. "...but they'll let me visit, and they were really upset when I asked if they were up to something nefarious, so I think it's fine to let them have their privacy, sir." She's not saying that she's suspicious of Brownie, because she's not sure at all and might have totally misunderstood the hesitancy, and if Brownie is a problem later, she'd rather blame a single Pack Rat then, than their entire species now.

"The big thing is that they pull their weight and don't put us in danger. That coat is valuable- Scouting and gathering is valuable too, I don't deny that. And everyone has their little quirks. If we have trash and junk we can't use, it only makes sense to give it to someone who can. I've known animals a lot more loyal and trustworthy than any human, so I'm not judging you all on that account," he nods at the rats. "If you don't want us in your nest, we'll need to do some extra fortifying. The only thing I'm not sure about is the loot distribution- Because not all enemies are equally dangerous, and not all loot is equally valuable."

They can't just try to be nice and deal fairly with each other? Sigh.

(Obviously furs are more loyal and trustworthy than Men! Maybe that's different here, though, where they have so many Men who have to work together, and the furs are all fugitives.)

"We could keep a record of how many pieces of loot they get, and then at the end of the day, or when a group returns to the workyard, the Pack Rats and us take turns picking pieces of loot until they have the right number?"

"No, what happens if we have exactly one level twenty super helmet or something, and then a bunch of low-tier trash? Maybe some kind of auction or points or something... If we don't figure this out early, it's gonna linger like a bad stench. I'm also not sure about that fifty-fifty. We'll have to see what it looks like in practice- I already have two guys with renewable ammo, and Sam's Mason stuff can apparently build turrets like the ones on this truck, powered by magic, so maybe it'll end up looking like gunners standing on the wall mowing everything down and Pack Rats daring the waste to bring back loot, and if it does, then that works. But maybe not. So, all this looks about right but no promises long term, basically." He crosses his arms and sighs. "C'Esther, right? John said you're not from around here, is that right?"

Oh, he's a numbers guy.

The Talls could have first pick, she doesn't say, because she doesn't want to be having this conversation at all. "I see, sir. I await your instructions."

Of course there are going to be arguments. That's what happens in relationships, if one party isn't able to impose their will on the other. What matters is how you respond, your reputation for honesty and generosity, and actually doing the work of negotiating when you would rather hide and pretend the problem doesn't exist.

If the Pack Rats can't understand the auction or whatever ritual of legitimacy Dave and his numbers guy advisors come up with, she'll represent them, even if that means her food and gear are restricted to what the Pack Rats allot to her, and she has to go running beyond the walls dodging monsters and bullets.

(Until they have a Tall Rat of their own?)

"I'm from the city, yes, sir. Oh! I meant to ask you: I'm considering taking a Class Power called Enthralling Performance, which forcefully distracts people. I'm not sure if it works on monsters. Have you heard of any similar powers, sir?"

"Sure, but which city? Eh, we'll figure it out, next time we roll I want to borrow the ratrophone and negotiate. We might get more working cars soon. Official word was to shelter in place, but I know everyone's going to be itching to check on folk living further away, that's for sure. Oh, I've seen something similar, yeah. 'Vicious Mockery'. Hurts whatever you insult, seems to work on monsters just fine, if you heard all that cussing about the 'overgrown feather duster' earlier." He snickers. "Telepathic bullshit is just going to become the new normal, I'm afraid."

Ugh. She could say 'New York' and hope that there's exactly one city in New York, but she doesn't actually want to keep lying. If this variance zone is how she's imagining, it should be okay to imply that she's a recent arrival. She hangs her head. "A city far away, sir. I'm not sure if I should say which one. I just arrived here today. It might have been the System's doing?

To be clear, sir, the ratrophone lets you understand them, but not the other way around. I think they can understand a few words of English, and they pick up on tone, but I mostly draw pictures for them. I'm sorry for not clarifying that earlier, sir."

"Okay, that changes things a bit yeah. Well if you're appointing yourself official pack rat interpreter, you're the one to blame if they do something screwy because of a misunderstanding later, just to be clear."

"Yes, sir. I accept responsibility for communicating with the Pack Rats, and for inviting them into your workyard. If any individuals make trouble, I might need help removing them, sir.

Thank you for the advice. I will keep Enthralling Performance in mind, then, although of course I will consult you before spending points, if at all possible, sir."

"Good stuff, we need to consider balance and specialization. I hope we work well together. Need to stick together at the end of the world."

"Yes, sir."

And now she can get back to the real work of maintaining this relationship. Pet pet pet pet pet. Such good Pack Rats. Good... critters. (They're not pups, they're not natural animals; they just - are what they are.) Pet pet.

The Pack Rats seem kind of tense and bored. A few are fussing with the bits of Junk they brought along. One has gathered a bunch of fallen Razor Gull feathers and is threading them into everyone. Brownie is intently watching the humans move around, looking focused and thoughtful somehow.

She wishes she could play a game with them, or start trying to learn their language, but she doesn't want to confuse them with something unimportant if they're going to have to negotiate something complicated soon - maybe even two separate complicated things, if the second group finds a host.

Dave called it "telepathic bullshit"... it's true, the Vicious Mockery, Enthralling Performance, the Ratrophone, "Fear Deer" (judging by the name), the illusion of this world, the direct infusion of Crafting knowledge - they're all powerful psychic effects. Power within the realm of stories she's heard, but far beyond anything she's witnessed herself, and they seem far too common and easy. (Unless the powerful telepaths going around hiding in plain sight do this all the time...)

If she's imagining this world, or the telepath is making it up, there's no information to gain from this observation (except that someone likes stories with lots of telepathy). But is it possible that the telepath created actual psychic entities to play the roles in this story? Little gods, naturally vulnerable to telepathic influence, so that's why telepathy seems easy in this world?

If so, and the game will last until she 'dies' (whether or not that means she dies in the real world too), her death will destroy everyone here. Even if they don't vanish immediately when the telepath stops supporting them, they won't last long without a god's followers.

C'Esther was raised as an atheist - prayer is dangerous when you have secrets to keep - but maybe she should reconsider that. She's not going to follow any of the normal gods, who might still be hostile in the real world, but if she's allowed to remember this game afterward, and tries really hard and recruits all her siblings and W'Marit's pack, she might be able to keep one of the people here alive.

Hmm.

She tries putting on the Ratrophone and looking questioningly at Brownie - any thoughts to share?

Brownie thinks that rats should be allowed to get stronger just like humans. Acting jealous and tearing each other down because you're scared they'll turn on you is not good. Also, separate nests mean less fighting.

Oh no, in what way does Brownie think the Pack Rats are not being allowed to get stronger? Drawing of a Tall and a Rat with arrows to more powerful forms (Tall with longer pointy stick, Big Rat), the Rat arrow crossed out, then, separately, several different shapes of cross-outs, which one? (Hm, did Brownie understood her talk with Dave about dividing loot?)

......Strong pack rats are scary to most Talls. So Talls mostly won't want to treat them fairly unless things go well. Brownie is worried.

Yeah, when people are stressed they don't want as many friends. Easing communication in both directions might help, but strong Talls are scary to other Talls too sometimes.

How much spoken English can they understand? Here's a few words of Chooda fursign, are they interested in learning more?

Do any of them want to work closely with an individual Tall? Fetching things, carrying messages, sharing sentry duty, cooking, watching children? She can ask around and make introductions!

To be clear, the other group of four is welcome to stay. And if none of them want to stay, that's okay too. Maybe they can go with the driver and the fox? If they leave, she will go with them. (Reluctantly, since she still owes John, but she was the one who brought the Pack Rats here and they're her responsibility.)

(Those answers will probably be as much Ratrophone as she can take right now; she hopes she asked the right questions.)

How much English they understand... It seems to be a hard question. The answer is... Ish? Ish. They can get the general idea behind things most of the time. They learn the bits of sign language easy enough; They'd rather learn more English than more sign language, though.

Spending time doing stuff for Talls sounds alright if they're nice Talls like C'Esther, or smart ones who think the Pack Rats are valuable helpers, maybe.

They want to drive away if the town is going to be overrun by Monsters, but not otherwise. Brownie in particular likes the idea of seeing new places, though!

The truck stops again, and onloads another family. This time, there's a nurse! She walks to the back corner of the truck and introduces herself. Marie Boehr, Level 1 Healer.

"I understand one of you needs some first aid? Something about a, uh, 'debuff', whatever that is?"

She nods firmly at finding nice and/or smart Talls! (That was her intent, but kinda hard to draw.)

"C'Esther, at your service - " not sir, there's an obscure word for this... "ma'am. I don't know what a debuff is, sorry ma'am. I have an affliction that will be cured by 'proper medical attention', or in a day or so, but if it's cheap I think it's worth looking at it now, ma'am."

Wow the female Man looks terrible. And actually the male Men look noticably imperfect, but that's occasionally a fashion statement so she didn't notice until just now. They really mean it about being low-tech.

"That's what I mean by debuff. Affliction. I have a Class Power called Healing Touch, and I also have actual medicine, I think we can get you sorted. I can take you into our house for a bit of privacy? It's just across the street."

"Oh, are you joining Dave's Landscaping or staying here, ma'am?"

Healing Touch, huh. She looks around to make sure someone knows where she's going.

And follows quietly and obediently. As long as this gets her affliction removed...

"I think so, dear, I just don't know. My husband says it'll be safer, but Dave... He's kind of a hardass, you know. Always thinks he knows best and has to make the decisions. Alea iacta est."

Here's a living room with a couch. She leads c'esther into the kitchen and shuts the door. She drags over two chairs and sits in one.

"Okay, now this is me acting as a healthcare worker. We're covered under confidentiality laws, I'll keep things you tell me or I learn while practicing medicine private from non health people unless you say I can share them or they are immediately relevant, like save your life relevant. Does that make sense?"

"Have you worked with Dave much then, ma'am? I would greatly appreciate any advice you have on building a smooth relationship with him."

The confidentiality thing is clear... and the implication is that it goes both ways? "Yes, ma'am, I understand."

"I don't know him personally, I just know he's better than some bosses according to my husband - more about results and reliability than looking good or getting a certain amount of hours. Kind of a penny pincher but not in a mean way. Backs his people up if a customer comes in accusing them of stuff or whatever. Really hates when people don't pay what they owe on time. Can you describe your injuries and symptoms for me real quick?"

"Thank you very much, ma'am." Okay, so be cautious about asking for things and deliver results on time.

"My current affliction is 'Where's the Doctor?'/'Street Meds', via EpiPen, which means that my hit point regeneration is reduced by 50% until my hit points reach 100% and remain at 100% for eight hours, or I get 'proper medical attention'. I don't know whether that's meant generally, or specifically treatment of my previous injury, a venomous bite from a Lv 4 Snare Spider, which caused hit point drain of 0.2 per second.

My leg hurts, and I ache a little in my back and neck and abdomen. My main concern is the hit points."

Her leg is red and swollen.

"I'd like to touch your leg and use passive mode of Healing Touch. What this will do is give me an idea what kind of damage the venom has done to your body, so I can judge the best response and try to understand what 'Where's the Doctor' is doing. Now, HP is a separate thing to your actual body- They occupy the same space, but you'd still be hurt even at 100% HP at this point. Having high HP seems to make the body restore itself to an ideal state faster. I haven't had time to study this thoroughly, but Healing Touch is relying a lot on my clinical knowledge of anatomy and blood chemistry. I hope after seeing what the venom and epipen and magic did to you, I'll know the best way to fix it and what you can expect. Sound good?"

"Sounds good, ma'am.

Are afflictions, in general, similarly separated from actual health? Is accidental injury different from monster-inflicted injury, even if the injury is physically identical?"

"I haven't seen enough to say for sure, but it seems likely. Or rather, afflictions are whole entities to themselves, that have effects on your health, if that makes sense. And HP is the same way. It's almost like... A field of energy within your body and just around it that resists outside force and damage, like how you get when you drop a magnet through a copper tube. Okay, I'm going to gently touch your leg now."

She slowly reaches out and does that, two fingers very gently resting against C'Esther's calf. She closes her eyes.

"...Okay, I'm seeing the 'Where's the Doctor' for sure. It's isolated to your leg, and your HP is sort of - being scattered by it. It's still bubbling and churning, I can sense System energy of some sort surrounding with what I assume is the venom... As for your physical body, I'm seeing a little bit of tissue necrosis, plus lots of inflammation and scattered cell damage. The Affliction is keeping it that way, unlike the contusion along your back, which is quickly healing. I think 'proper medical care' for this would involve an actual antivenom, which we obviously don't have. But Touch Heal can repair physical wounds and push your HP back up, that's probably the best I can do."

"That's so cool! Uh, not the necrosis, I mean your Class Power, ma'am."

Okay she seems nice, and C'Esther is curious. "So, you're married to a Man?"

"Hmm? I mean, I'm not gay, hon. I'd like to use the active portion of Touch Heal now. What I hope to do is reduce the swelling and general damage in your leg. It'll also restore your HP. People have described it as 'cold', 'tingly' and 'sort of like stretching'. Is that alright?"

"Yes, ma'am." Not what? "Forgive me, ma'am, am I correct in assuming that you're the head of your household?" Although these Men are awfully cooperative and humble... "or do you have a more friendly arrangement?"

She looks confused. "I mean, on the tax forms that's Rick, but this isn't the fifties. I'd say we're partners. But I don't see how my marriage is much of your business, honestly, young lady." She leans back and sits straight in her chair, frowning. "...Come to think though. Now, this is still totally confidential. I won't tell anybody, either way. Do you know where your parents are? Did you run away from them?"

"My deepest apologies, ma'am.

My father is far away. I don't have a mother." In neither sense: her father has a harem without a primary companion, and she hasn't had a dedicated caretaker other than him for almost two decades. "I did not deliberately run away, but I have no desire to be returned to him. I'm with Sam and John now, of Dave's Landscaping."

"Alright then. If you don't want to go back, I won't make you. Touch heal?"

Whew. Not that it's possible to send her to her father here, but the attempt would be unpleasant.

(She would actually be fine returning to her father, after this is done, if he didn't catch her sabotage. She likes his projects, except for the one that involves killing people.)

"Thank you, ma'am."

The nurse reaches out and Touch Heals her, moving her hand slowly up her leg, leaving it feeling cool and a bit numb rather than raw and painful. Like a release of tension.

Neat. "Thank you, ma'am" she repeats.

"I assumed that you have already negotiated with Dave for payment, was that correct, ma'am?"

"No talk of payment at a time like this, hon. Besides, I got Experience for that.

If you have any questions about your health and body, part of my job is to answer those. I don't know what exactly your situation with Sam and John is but I'll be there if you need someone to talk to, as a young woman."

'Woman'; she's heard the term, but doesn't know the political meaning of identifying as one. Presumably her father choose for her to be female for a reason. Is it a D'Joanist thing? A fur rights thing? Just trying to cater to the market of attraction-impaired Men who aren't into furs?

She nods respectfully.

If this place is low-tech... "If you please, ma'am, what sexually transmitted diseases are common here?"

The nurse will very calmly and matter of factly go on about such diseases and associated symptoms and risks. The 'invisible' ones without obvious external signs are Herpes, Human Papilloma Virus, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. And Trichomoniasis, at least in men it can be symptom-less. She's not sure that System won't make the information irrelevant by curing all these diseases - she knows someone who is no longer diabetic - or God forbid, create new ones.

C'Esther listens intently.

That's more than she's used to, yeah.

"Thank you, ma'am, for all the information. I will remember it carefully.

From your observations so far, can you tell if a balanced diet is still important to health, ma'am? With your Healing Touch, can you see the insides of cells? Can you see genetics?"

It's a pity she doesn't have any stroon.

"I can't, I'm seeing on what I'd call the tissue level - I can barely sense capillaries, even, though I'm getting hints that's something that could change if I keep going. And I really have no idea, but a good diet certainly can't hurt."

Someone yells, "MARIE?"

She 'tsk's. "Seems like it's time to leave, hon."

"Thank you for everything, ma'am."

Aah this took a while, is the truck still there?

The truck is still there! Marie and her husband run out and jump in. It rolls out as soon as everyone's loaded up.

She finds John.

"Do you have enough 'items intended as healing aids', sir? Do, say, lemons count, since they're a cure for scurvy? An ordinary knife is a healing aid for hemochromatosis and can be used for a crichothyroidotomy, does that count?"

"-Honestly you know more about medicine than me, it sounds like." John shifts uncertainly. "Were you in med school or something? Uh, I think the inhaler's good for another couple of shots. I asked the screens about it some and it has to be at least sorta related, and some sort of consumable? A lemon wouldn't work. Maybe a hot knife if I do the stupid movie trick of heating it and burning wounds shut, System, what about that? -It says no. Some kind of 'meds' are necessary. Well why'd you say 'items intended as healing aids'? Oh, f- Inhalers and items aren't pills, whatever." He glares at the screen, reading. "Has to be a consumable, has to be some sort of useful chemical. They just don't have to be quite what an actual doctor would use. So maybe I should raid a pharmacy for whatever random stuff they have."

"Oh, not at all, I'm not a doctor. I used to do medical research, sir. I've been studying biology since I was a kit. Mostly biochemistry. I guess I've picked up a few fun facts, that's all.

Long term, will it work with magically Crafted items? If a lemon doesn't work, how much does a doctor have to process an herb before it becomes suitable medicine?"

"More of a doctor than me. ...It just said 'healing items are an introductory level crafting recipe'." He snorts. "I'm sure, but will a willow tea or whatever do anything? Reduced effectiveness and chance of failure, there you have it."

"Well, thank you for telling me what you know, sir."

Time to check on the Pack Rats! Here's some English words for them to learn: fetch, urgent, relax, food, water, message, Crafting, cover, stay, go, hide, clean. Do they want to learn how to write them?

Are they good at tracking things by smell? How good is their eyesight - could they see a Razor Gull coming?

They can learn all these words! They can write all these words pretty easily too, though they prefer shorthand.

The Pack Rats have very good eyesight, all the better to find good Junk with. As long as they remember to be on the lookout they can see flying enemies, mostly. They don't really know if their sense of smell is stronger than humans'.

Great! Here's some more words: poison, doctor, yours, mine, nest, Tall, Rat, quiet, prefer, understand, no, loot, Essence, Junk, monster... Critter? Since she only knows one kind of Critter the general concept might be hard to convey. Dave, John, Sam, C'Esther, Nick, F'Wen. She puts on the Ratrophone and asks if they have names?

Gosh, names? Well this one is Loud, that's White, that's Keychain... Brownie is fine with 'brownie'... Lookout, Slow, Fuzzy, and Lay's finish out the lineup.

She sprawls onto the floor so she can get face-to-face with each one, touches them, and says their names.

(They don't need a fur-letter. They're not furs, and definitely not rat-furs of the type she knows, who are mostly based on naked mole rats. Maybe a Tall Rat is a fur - she'll see what they're like when that happens, if ever.)

The truck driving around and picking people up goes without further incidents. Or without any more monsters, at least.

Wynn talks cautiously to some of the new arrivals, then goes up to the truck cab instead.

Dave makes circuits and talks to everyone, leaving them looking determined and eager whenever a conversation is over.

One of the pickups, a twelve year old boy, beelines for the Pack Rats. "Are you guys like pokemon??? Can you learn moves like Quick Attack or Tackle?"

...Keychain, the rat being addressed, looks at C'Esther, then hides behind her.

She reaches behind to keep a comforting touch on Keychain.

"Pokemon are another kind of Critter? These ones, Pack Rats, have Classes but I don't know if they have Class Powers and Upgrades. I'm still working on communicating with them better. How do you communicate with Pokemon?"

"Oh uh, Pokemon are from a game. Humans catch them with special balls and then train them to fight better and get stronger. They're not real. But maybe System is going to make some! My favorite is Moltres. I guess Pack Rats aren't like Pokemon... Pokemon understand people because of aura. That's the power of the soul."

"David, are you bothering that young lady?" A woman calls out.

His eyes go wide. "Am I bothering you?"

"Not at all, sir, but can you try to avoid startling the Pack Rats? They're not used to being around Tall people like us.

How do you play Pokemon? Is it a 'video game'?"

This kid will happily ramble about Pokemon for the duration of the truck ride! And about video games! And show her some of his Pokemon cards! They pick up a few more people as the truck goes - there's a brief scare where they speed up for a second, but they take down whatever was chasing them - and then they finally arrive at the workyard.

It's a large plot of land with huge concerete blocks forming a rough wall around the whole area, and the same concrete blocks forming a dozen large aggregate bins. There are giant piles of different kinds of dirt, sand, and gravel divided by the concrete blocks. It looks like there are good sight lines all the way down to the lake, with the hill on the other side bare enough that nothing can sneak up. There are several large buildings - three large garages, a giant warehouse, a few sheds, a bunch of trucks and other vehicles sitting around, some sort of conveyor belt structure, and three trailer homes just sitting on a corner of the property. There's even a crane, and men with guns standing on top of the concrete walls, keeping a lookout. Looks like a serious industrial operation.

The Pack Rats seem to approve. They're rubbing their hands- Er, front paws- Together and looking around across the area. Dave has Nick back the truck up next to the warehouse building, and everyone starts unloading supplies and personal belongings.

Cute kid. So that's what a video game is. She's not sure that a 'ping system' is as critical as he says - F'Wen's verbal announcements worked fine, and she's hoping that Pack Rats will be able to silently raise an alarm. Her Sonic Wave could be used as a risky 'wallbang'. She lets him ramble.

When they arrive at the workyard, she helps unload, keeping close to the Pack Rats in case they need anything, and thinks.

On one hand, she's morally obligated to stay alive as long as possible, if this world exists to any degree and she can prolong it. On the other hand, if she's in a Nexus aimed at corrupting her in some way, she needs to stay true to herself. It would be bad to learn to be a selfish coward, and it would also be bad to become too much of a martyr.

She needs to be useful to Dave's group, ideally in a way that doesn't expose her to danger. Fortunately, she's already doing well at that! She can craft, she's the Pack Rat interpreter (for now), and if she takes Enthralling Performance, she can save the whole group if they're about to be run over by monsters. (She can only use Enthralling Performance for like ten minutes at a time, so it's not worth her Mana to use it for lesser threats.)

...Enthralling Performance, or, more precisely, needing to save her Mana for it, will mean she can't craft as much. So she might not gain as much experience. And leveling up is important to being safe and to being useful. Maybe using Enthralling Performance to distract a hoard of monsters will give her a huge amount of 'XP', so it will work out in the long run?

It looks like Dave already has plenty of sentries, and everyone will want the opportunity to kill monsters. If she pushes to be a sentry, which seems like a good thing to do with the time that she won't be Crafting, she'll be directly taking experience from other people with every monster she kills or spots. Even if the people don't exist, she does not want to get used to the idea of hurting people for her own gain.

Anyway, she doesn't think the other guards will be enthusiastic about standing by for her to Pounce and then covering her back.

Another option is to tell Dave about some of her 'infiltration' abilities, which could be useful if a rival group of players makes trouble. And infiltrating 'enemies' puts her in a position to work toward peace with them!

The Pack Rats claim one of the smaller run-down sheds as theirs; Dave takes a look at it and then agrees, after telling them not to tunnel into any of the other occupied buildings. Sam and several other men are working inside the large warehouse space, moving shelves around and building brick walls to subdivide it into rooms. Each room gets a single bed. The families, or at least the children, are sort of hanging out near an empty aggregate storage bin being watched by an unfamiliar woman. A few are kicking a bright orange ball around, a couple are discussing Classes animatedly, a few are just sulking.

After a little bit of unloading is done, Wynn comes and finds her, bouncing on her feet happily, tail wagging.

"Shooting lessons in the back corner! Come on!" Is all she says.

Interpreting "don't tunnel into other occupied buildings" is easy enough!

Poor kids. Maybe she can help with teaching or entertaining or comforting them later. But now, she has to study the Art of the Bullet.

She follows F'Wen, (ahem) calmly and gracefully, with her ears attentive. Breathe. Focus on each thought and add it to a layer of hardened malice. She doesn't know how to put the malice into the gun, but Nick will explain that.

Wynn goes serious as they approach, too. There's half a dozen people here in total- A teenage boy and three women, including nurse Marie.

Nick has arranged several pistols, a shotgun, and a big rifle on a table. He paces in front of them.

"A gun is a deadly weapon. Its purpose is to kill. To end lives. I don't want anyone I teach to take it lightly. There is no such thing as a 'disabling shot', not really. When you pick up a gun, you are doing so with intent to kill. Because you want something to die, to stop moving and never move again."

"Always assume a gun is loaded and ready to fire, even if you know it is not. Even if you personally checked just a second ago. Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire. Keep your finger outside of the trigger guard, away from the trigger. Remember- Always assume it's loaded. Never point your gun at anything that you don't want to kill."

He pauses.

"I know I'm belaboring the point, and I'm doing it deliberately. Good habits save lives. I've seen a lot sloppy, lazy drivers- They don't stop at stop signs. They don't obey the speed limit. They drive if they're a little bit buzzed, not quite drunk. They break the rules. And they crash, and people die. They had bad habits, and as a result, innocent people are crippled or die. If you break these rules, I will yell at you, I will take your fucking gun away and lecture you and you will deserve it. Do you want your friends to die because you were careless? Do you want to realize that you've accidentally shot someone, and you can never take it back? It's better to get it right the first time."

He begins talking about the potential dangers of misfires, hangfires, ricochets. He carefully handles one of the pistols to show them the basic operations of loading, safeties, etc, always pointing it downrange or straight down. You should know what's behind your target, and assume you're going to miss and hit that. In this case, behind the wooden targets he's set up is a nice concrete wall, so they can shoot. But if it was open ground or someone's house? Not so much.

He takes in their reactions to his safety speech.

Nick is scary! She doesn't want him to be angry at her!

She's had to learn lab safety rules before. They're annoying, but she can accept that her unconscious habits need to be trained. She brings those memories forward in her mind so he'll sense her seriousness.

He seems satisfied with their seriousness and will go ahead and teach them all how to actually use a gun! These are the bullets and this is the safety and so on. They can practice holding it, unloaded, while he adjusts their grip and pose gently. Mostly with words telling them to adjust their thumb slightly, or to keep their fingers away from the breach because scalding gas is going to come out of it. He's visibly hesitant to actually touch anyone.

But here is a pistol, a Glock 19, cold metal and hard plastic in her hands, and here is how to hold it and the proper way to stare down the sights at what she wants to kill.

Maybe he's going to get to the psychic parts later? "Sir, if you please, to help me plan, how long do you expect before a diligent student is refined enough to use a gun productively?"

"Productively, you say. Why don't you tell me what you're imagining? Shooting a monster a hundred yards away and one five feet away are very different things. I can get you to better than not having the option to shoot, today."

...The two Men face each other across a field of cauliflower. One, the owner of the village, is flanked by a group of nervous dogs and a bear. The other, the merchant, is alone. They slowly draw their guns, staring at each other, and aim. A dog bursts into tears. The merchant steps forward severely, smirking - and drops dead. No shots were fired.

...In the shadow of the old Daimoni ship, the fox huddles and peeks around a corner. The wolf gang, seven remaining since their leader's death, run towards her. Six shots get them all in gory slow-motion. One is alive, who she later tortures for the location of the kidnapped cat.

...The Lord, on the day before his deathday, gives his son a long-barreled pistol. "When my father gave this to me, it had five bullets. It has five bullets today. As long as it stays loaded, our line will prosper." The son, who has just been challenged to a duel, nods. "I will see that I pass it on with five, father." Roll opening credits, overlaid on a series of paintings in the Lord's study showing how the sixth bullet was fired during an assassination attempt by a jealous cat breeder.

"I guess I just mean skilled enough that those without a gun won't resent my privilege, sir. My understanding is that mastering any art requires great effort, but I will abide by your judgement of me, sir, and your choice of lessons. Will you be covering mental refinement?"

"Mental refinement? You don't want to have to be calm and steady to shoot - that's why practice is so important. Holding a gun is scary until you're used to it. Repetition, until it's a habit. Until it's so automatic you don't even think about it. I suppose that's mental refinement of a sort. I am beginning to suspect we have... A major mismatch of expectations here."

Nurse Marie pipes up, "You're making it sound like some kind of martial art. The dao of the gun. I don't think that's what this is. Maybe you've been reading the wrong kind of books."

Ooookay. So they don't know about using telepathy to fight. She can't think of a reason that would follow from being in a low-tech variance zone with lots of Men and few furs - but more urgently, she has just discovered that Nick is not the master gunslinger she thought he was, and now he's going to be upset at being exposed as a fraud. But lying seems like a worse idea, if he later finds out the truth... unless then he's grateful for covering for him? Oh, if she focuses on Marie then she's not directly criticizing him!

"I don't know what a 'dao' is, ma'am, is it a kind of telepathy?"

"It's some asian martial arts master thing."

"I know this one! The dao or tao is an east Asian philosophical concept. It means 'the way' or 'the natural order'. It's not referring to the laws of physics and gravity but a sort of spiritual thing I don't really understand and gets used a lot when talking about meditation and focus, but like, making anything at all of it might be overinterpreting. It's not telepathy, more like a way of being."

"There is a mindset to shooting. Steady and smooth. Pose, breathing, fingers, a hundred little things. I just think it does you a disservice to make it more mystical-sounding than it has to be. If you can't explain it to a five year old, are you really that good?"

Nick needs to stop digging himself into a hole!

But, while his forthrightness is foolish here, she likes his attitude of explaining things simply - she has that attitude to thank for getting an efficient useful education rather than spending decades learning the grace and erudition of a Man.

"Oh, yeah, that's not telepathy."

They teach five-year-olds to use guns here? Even for furs, that's too young to reliably pay attention to, say, where a gun is pointing. Unless they use powerful psychic shaping on their soldier five-year-olds? If they all have telepathy that strong, that would explain why they don't use telepathy in martial arts - they can fight with it by itself. Weapons are a distraction, so their physical fighting techniques are kept as simple as possible.

She hasn't been aware of anyone using strong telepathy here, but of course if they're that powerful they can avoid her notice. And she doesn't really know what it would feel like - in the real world, she's never been subject to telepathy other than basic reading and projection (before this incident, that she knows of), and the only thing more powerful than that that she has even witnessed was a duel, with swords, from a distance.

"Thank you, sir. I understand."

If Nick can't teach her to use telepathy with a gun, and she can't figure it out by herself, then she needs to optimize for combining a gun with what she does best. Hiding, maybe. Not Pouncing since then she can't use Dancing Claw. While performing? She can figure out how to make it graceful by herself just fine.

"If you please, sir, would you guide me on using a gun quietly?"

"Guns are not quiet. Suppressors make them quieter, but they are still very loud. The only reason we don't have ear protection is health points making that somewhat irrelevant. Let's move on."

Now he'll show the motions of loading and unloading a gun, and let them shoot at a target, one at a time. "Breathe steady. Pull the trigger, don't squeeze. If you squeeze you will unconsciously tilt the gun. You have to be patient and focused, or your aim will fail." C'esther can go first.

She meant the part before firing, all those clicks and scrapes. But it would embarrass Nick to clarify that now. She'll practice on her own, or ask him in private.

She watches his movements and copies them as best she can. Bang?

BANG!

The gun leaps upward in her hands. A neat little hole appears in the wooden target- The edge of it. It's thunderously loud, this close.

"Eep!" Eyes wide, ears flat back - she manages to hang on to the gun at least.

"How many shots, sir?"

He's speaking calmly and reassuringly now.

"There is one in the chamber, and six remaining in the magazine. I see your shot went high and to the left. If you want to keep shooting, make sure to correct for that for your next shot. If you don't, unload the weapon like I showed you, make it safe."

...she tries firing one more time. Bleh.

Are all guns this loud? Maybe they have more powerful guns because they have the mental strength to withstand the greater shock of firing one.

She finishes the magazine, mentally preparing before each shot by focusing on keeping her movements smooth.

He calls out 'a bit high' or 'on target' or whatever after each shot. "Great work! Three center hits. Let's turn the safety on, check that it's unloaded, and let someone else have a turn."

The rest of the shooting lesson goes smoothly enough, with two people at a time standing ready to fire.

Nick ends the lesson by demonstrating himself- Eight shots one after another, every single one of them right in the 'eyes' of the target.

"Congratulations everyone. I hope this lesson will keep you safe in the days ahead. It's about time for us to leave, we're not going to be sticking around with you all. Wynn and I are going to head back into town to see if anyone needs a lift, and then probably to New York."

After a while of this, Dave heads towards the center area of the workyard. "Alright everyone, gather round please! I've got something to say!"

There's a heavy note of command in his voice, and even Nick pauses where he's packing up the guns.

"It's been one hell of a day, but we've done it." Dave begins. "We made it to a safe place, and now we're going to figure out how to ride out this mess. We're safe here. You can relax here. Everyone's going to get some levels, and we're going to kick this so-called System's butt, you hear?"

The workers cheer. There's a sense of comfort and victory, and things suddenly don't seem quite so stressful or bleak. It is safe here. The walls are sturdy, there are scary men with guns, there's the scent of grilled meat wafting out of one of the buildings.

"So long as we work together and follow my lead, everyone's gonna make it out of this stronger. We'll all have to chip in to the group and help each other, but America is built on community. I think our new little community here has the potential to be a wonderful, wonderful thing."

It really does, doesn't it? John and Sam saved her life, a perfect stranger, just because. The kids need someone to cheer them up, and everyone here is ready to hurt or be hurt to protect each other. Not like her old family, they're actually acting kind to each other, in small touches and words of encouragement and kind hugs.

"For tonight, I've already set up a watch so everyone can get some sleep- But for now! Let me show you something amazing."

The Guildhouse "Dave's Landscaping" has been formed.

This is a Safe zone. Monsters may not spawn in this area.

A safe zone! Why would she ever want to leave? To go out there and be confronted with the danger of some horrible thing poisoning her at any moment, again?

"If you work, you get a safe place to sleep and eat! For you and your family. You'll even get Experience - I'm going to set up a Quest Board tomorrow, the System tells me it will let me reward people for doing the things we need done anyway. So let's all thank Mr. Nick and his niece, and wish them a good trip out. Then we can celebrate with a cookout! Unless you want to stay?"

A cookout, how wonderful! It's so kind of Dave to arrange that, isn't it? He'll take great care of everybody.

He looks at Nick. "Put your feet up a bit and have a beer, come on."

Nick shakes his head, frowning and looking - a little angry, actually? Certainly not like he considers Dave a friend, which is honestly rather rude of him, isn't it?

"No, we'd really best be off. I wouldn't turn down something for the road, though."

"Of course," Dave agrees with a nod. "And good luck out there."

At that, people start heading in towards the food, chattering excitedly.

So she doesn't get to have a gun now? Actually, that's a relief - her ears are still ringing.

"America" is the variance zone? A region in it? A region in the totally made up world she's in that's not a variance zone embedded in a copy of the familiar world...

Cool! She's still a little scared of Dave but he's okay.

(Hey, self, that was an unfair comparison to her family. Her siblings were nice, and even her father was usually pretty decent. She aspires to like everyone, not to build up her impression of some people at the expense of others.)

If Nick and Dave have a problem, maybe she can smooth it out, but obviously she's going to stand on Dave's side as long as she's here.

Before getting food, she swings by the group of children and addresses the female Man with them. "Do you want my help, sir? Ma'am? I don't have any formal training but I'm used to taking care of my siblings."