Chapter 16: A New Dawn Heralds The Blue Sky

I woke up to the sound of chirping birds and a light feeling in my chest. Did I deserve it?

Who fuckin' cared. I was feeling chipper for no particular reason and I was going to exploit it so that things turned out well on the last leg of our long journey. Seemed that I'd woken up prior to everyone else too, which was nice. Usually I got woken up by the other two moving around.

Here I was, then. What to do now? I could continue coding. But, uh... I kind of didn't want to do it without Flurry watching. Not in a weird way, mind you! It's just that she really helped me out with the creative aspect of coding. That's fine, right? A phrase — "rubber-ducking" — sprung to mind, and I nodded to myself. It was just the logical thing to do; I needed the help and she was willing to provide.

...that still left me with the issue of what to do, though. Wasn't there supposed to be more? Wilderness trips always felt like they would be more complicated. Though I suppose that that'd been because of my place — Earth wasn't the best for forest trips. Most of them had been eviscerated by our growing population.

And we'd camped inside, which meant that most of our camping supplies didn't really need to be used. No need for tents, at least.

So what could I do? We didn't need to cook, and the others kept their food to themselves. 

A flash of inspiration hit, and I jolted to a seated position while simultaneously smacking a fist into my open palm. Not my most composed moment, but I figured it out — the fire. We needed heat, especially since it'd been raining and things were going to be very, very cold. In fact, they already were — I just didn't realize.

So I set to work. My heating spells were pitifully weak without "style points" to back them up with, so I resigned myself to looking up internal documents on how to start a fire and doing it manually. It only took some wood. I figured it out pretty fast.

As I was setting to work gathering kindling and firestarting materials, my mind wandered to how I'd known all this. Also, why I was so good at fighting — at least, with a sword. What was locked in my head?

I'd trawl through my logs later. For now, I knew that I'd at some point downloaded a lot of encyclopedia and wiki pages into my memory, so that was probably how I knew the firestarting stuff. It didn't come to me as if I was following some core concept, either — it was just... a thing. No hokey instinctual bullshit. Unless you counted the ability to make fire as a human instinct.

That was that mystery, at least. The fire was starting to crackle, and I threw another log onto it. Smoke rose into the chimney, and I figured I'd take another look around the area we were in.

We'd slept on a depressed section of stone flooring around the fireplace, on the far end of a rectangular, large room. Mostly it was made of wood, but there were a few supports made of stone — and even a few that looked a little more like concrete? It was a bit hard to tell. Cobwebs dotted the area; it wasn't an infestation yet, but it could turn into one with the right conditions. There was a bronze chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, and tables seemed to be set to the sides. Perhaps this was a dining hall, once.

In any case, it was dilapidated as hell now. So no big banquets or feasts would be happening soon. The boards weren't rotten, per se, but they were certainly looking old and aged. And there was a musty smell, as if the wood had soaked through in places and grown moldy.

I frowned. We'd want to get out soon. It seemed to rain pretty often, and I'd like for my travelling companions to not get blacklung or some shit.

Still. No point rushing things. They'd wake up when they wake up, and the mold seemed to be (if it existed) far away from us. And besides.

The sun was filtering through the windows of the house, leaving a wonderfully dim lighting to the room we were in. There were no direct windows, but the ambient lighting left things feeling cozy and soft around the edges, almost as if I was in a high-end old-style hotel back on Earth. There were dust particles in the air, and an orange tint flushed the room with color just as the bright white of the sun wound its way into our impromptu sleeping quarter.

I sighed.

It felt sometimes like the entire world was a dark, heavy place. That no matter where I went, I'd be carrying the weight of my past life and my woes with me. More than that, it felt like the sky was crushing me. Like that ceiling humanity'd reached so hard for was going to reach down and pinch me between the stratosphere and the ground. Not only were people a subject I approached with trepidation and anxiety, it felt as though culture and societal convention was working against my well being. As if the Earth itself was sentient, and it wanted me dead. Dead emotionally, at least.

Sometimes, it was hard for me to separate how I was feeling from what was real. I mean, it was real. It'd be naive of me to suggest otherwise. Also, it wasn't as if I was deserving of what I had already. Considering... my general place in the world, we'll say, I was probably doing well. 

Though the people beside me were, ostensibly, also AIs. And I was originally a human. Plus, I was in the body of a girl now, and it was much more acceptable for girls to act emotional and shit. I didn't know where that put me, though. It wasn't my own.

In any case, it was the nights that got me the most. The unknown felt like it pressed into me just as much as the sky and earth and convention did. Another few worries added to the pile regularly broke the camel's back, and legs, and knees.

As I looked into the air, though... it didn't seem too bad. There was a person I cared about. I'd see what I could do about finding her or moving on. There were people I cared about here, next to me, and they were being kind to me. The light around me seemed to filter into all the corners and nooks of the messed-up dining room we'd slept in, chasing away at least some of the darkness that'd crept into the place over the night.

I'd fostered part of that. The fire was my own doing, and even if it wasn't the brightest in comparison to the sun and ambient light? It left the shadows near my friends as sharp and defined, chasing back the unknown.

Uh, maybe this was getting a little too metaphorical. I was probably getting distracted. More things to do.

Always.

Nora yawned, turning over in her sleep. She ended up right next to Flurry's sleeping bag, who snorted and hugged her tightly.

Cute.

You know... maybe I could make something for them? Something to help them communicate over long distances, maybe. Like an old walkie-talkie. Or a smartphone? Maybe just a mobile phone, for now.

Yeah, that'd be cool. Though the social menu was a thing... what were the limits? I knew that you needed at least a sendgem to register someone. Maybe it was different for players, but that was needed for NPCs?

Realizing something obvious, I slapped my forehead. Okay, well, easy method to figure things out: just open the screen, numbnuts.

So I did. It was right there alongside all my other menus, and it seemed I was able to send around 240 characters in English to Flurry's inbox. Looking deeper, I expected a delay — plus, apparently each sendgem only lasted a given amount of time before expiring. If they were a limited-use item, I bet they were pretty expensive. Planning things offline was definitely a thing, but at least in-game this'd allow for massive political plotting under-the-table without any repercussions (since menus were hidden between NPCs.)

Oh, maybe it was like one of those JRPGs we had back home? I remember they had sort-of predatory monetization models, maybe it's pretty much a time thing. One or two every few months, so that you can keep up with like one person well? That way, anyone wanting more would need to either go to a market or find a way to craft them.

Hm. I'd need to look into that. Shelving it for now.

The communication thing was probably a good idea. It'd be nice to have a method of non-textual, unlimited voice communication. Plus, it'd be a useful thing to have if we were going to do any stealth missions. Maybe I'd incorporate one of the message spells I'd learned?

Oh shit. I blinked.

Was there enchanting in this game?

Considering that Flurry and Nora had been confused at my mana system and concerned for the strength I wielded, and that I overcharged a (presumably) advanced automaton using only my mana, it might be a good idea to invest into enchanting or other forms of magical crafting so that I could spread the power around. Even if I could only get one or two sentences out with zero Style, I'd probably be able to enchant something well if I did it the right way — and that, theoretically speaking, could leave me with a lot of power stored in rings or some shit. Necklaces.

Ooh, wait. What about buttons? Or buckles?

People in videogames always do rings and shit. Cufflinks are like, the weirdest thing I've seen as a concept for an enchanted item in a videogame. So what if I made buttons for jackets and such which had the magical inscriptions on them? Would that inherit the power?

I didn't know for sure, but it was worth a shot. In the meantime, I wanted to do something with my hands. I could carve some wood?

Yeah. I was gonna carve some wood — maybe just into the shape of like, a duck or something. The rubber duck thing from earlier strikes again! I'd give it to Flurry, of course. For being a good rubber duck (who just so happened to be a fleshy human. I think.)

I didn't want to dull my blade's edge, though. Maybe I could modify one of the spells I had?

It was worth a shot. I scrolled through my catalog mentally, trying to find one that made something similar to a blade or knife's edge — and found something interesting.

The "SHIELD" spell, commonly used as a simple barrier between a mage and a melee attacker? Yeah, that summoned an actual shield in your hand. Made of light, no less. So, what if I transformed that shield into some other form? Maybe like, for example, a small dagger?

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It probably wouldn't be much. I couldn't make much more than a tiny gasp of wind with no Style, but I noted that my Style meter increased when I was doing anything stylish. Which gave me an idea. I set about modifying the spell, both using my experimental program and simply trying to puzzle it out internally. It'd take a bit, but I was confident I'd be able to manifest the dagger and start carving one of the broken bits of furniture wood nearby.

I'd just have to be the coolest bitch this side of the planet while doing so. And, given my current stature and what'd given me style in the past, I figured the best way to do that was to go for a stereotype.

It was a bit before I got the spell working, and a bit more before I got enough power to start shaving and carving. Long enough for the day to truly start, not just begin. 

Nora yawned, sitting up and stretching. I leaned back on my chair, feet on the table I was using as Style fodder. After experimenting a bit, it seemed that acting confident and self-assured (at least in body language) appeared to count as a "H/D" bonus, whatever that was. Fiddling around with my eyes allowed me to turn on a glowing backlight to them, which both lit my gaze and gave me a "CAT'S EYE" bonus. Thankfully, the small amount of style those bonuses gave me was enough for me to continue carving my duck.

I focused on Nora, though. She slowly extricated herself from Flurry's grasp, then looked around. For me?

Yeah, for me. Her eyes settled on me and I could see her stiffen up, looking suddenly a bit more tense than normal.

Shit. For me. I was sitting with my feet on the table, leaning back in my chair, and carving a small thing out of wood using a glowing magical shiv and with backlit fucking eyes. This probably looked bad. Especially since my body language had to have been changed for the H/D bonus.

Nora turned away, cuddling back up with Flurry until she woke too. The two conversed for a little while. I couldn't make out their faces. Fuck.

You know what? No. Duck. I was going to continue working on my duck, and then give it to Flurry when I could. Maybe I'd make another one for Nora. I wanted something to focus on; well, you robot idiot, here's something to focus on.

My hands smoothed out the curves of the rubber ducky. It was your average yellow one, except made of wood. And unpainted. I'd figured out how to make the shiv serrated, so at least I could roughen it up and make sure nobody got any splinters.

A tension slowly eased its way out of my shoulders, and the work got easier. I heard someone adding wood to the fire, but it ultimately didn't matter. We weren't gonna be here for long. May as well make use of the supplies they provided for us. The bandits, I guess, being "they".

The duck was coming along nicely. I'd been working on more intricate details for a while now, and especially working on bevelling out the wings. Honestly, I was totally making everything up as I went. I knew vaguely how to model things, and I figured it'd be just basically cutting away strips of material to make the model? It was whatever. Not the best duck, but you couldn't really go wrong with rubber ducks. It helped that the knife was always sharp. The rounded parts were easier because of my fine motor control.

Someone drew up a chair beside me, and my shoulders tensed again. "Hey," Flurry said.

"Morning," I responded.

"Thanks for doing the fire and all."

"...yup." Not my finest response. I was focusing more on the duck, though.

"Got an interest in woodcarving?"

I looked up at Flurry. "Huh?"

She pointedly motioned with her head towards my small wooden ducky. "Not bad. I mean, I dunno how long it took. But for a beginner it would be really good."

"Oh," I said. "I mean, I dunno about hobby. But I wanted to make this to give to you. For, uh, no real reason."

Flurry stammered a bit at that, seeming flustered. "H-Huh! I, uh, I see." Was it something..?

"You don't have to take it. It's, uh. You know. I wouldn't be angry." I was pretty much finished, so I set it down on the table at a neutral distance between me and Flurry. Now that my eyes were back to normal and my stance was more comfortable as opposed to "stereotypical cool girl with a knife", my style meter quickly drained of whatever dregs it had left.

Flurry picked up the duck, turning it over and over and inspecting it closely. I averted my eyes. A feeling like warm coals was beginning to burn in my chest. "It's amazing. Thank you."

"No problem."

"Can I hug you?"

Startled, I looked back up. Flurry had the echo of a grin on her face, still smiling with her eyes despite her mouth not showing teeth. She still looked serious, though. And that made me confused, a little scared, and overwhelmingly flabbergasted.

I nodded. Again, the great nod comes to save my day.

All my worries sort of came to a hush in the background as Flurry gave me a quick, tight hug before returning to inspecting her duck. A few seconds passed before she started making more small talk. "So, you made a magic knife?"

"Yeah. Wanted to carve something without dulling my sword, and I didn't wanna wake either of you up."

"Isn't your mana, uh... weird?"

I shrugged. "If I do the right things, it considers it 'stylish' even without combat moves. That's what the eyes glowing and whole confident act was about. It gave me a bit of style, enough to make a shiv."

Flurry looked me up and down. "Is that why you're sitting so. Um. Reservedly? Right now?" the mechanic asked. I blinked, before looking down at myself as well.

Well, my boobs got in the way a bit. But I was sitting much more conservatively, with my legs crossed and all four chair legs on the ground — no kicking my feet up onto the table, no arms crossed, nothing like that. I scratched the back of my head, thinking. "This is just kind of how I normally sit?"

Nodding, Flurry returned to investigating her gift. "You look good both ways. Also, that's a smart way of getting around your style issue."

I nod as well, since she did. We were truly on the same wavelength.

Just then, Nora drew a chair up next to both of us. Flurry gave her a little wave, then checked back in to her duck.

"Guys?" Nora questions after a moment. "Do we have a plan for today?"

Flurry shrugged. "Keep going after we're done resting up. This seems pretty safe, compared to the outside. Plus it'll let us stay away from the humidity and cold."

"I guess that works," the rogue girl sighed.

Now seemed like a good time to step in and point something I'd observed out. "We might want to get out a little sooner rather than later. There's probably mold in the building."

The two of them groaned and grumbled a bit, but they eventually agreed. "We'll all pack up and go once the fire needs another log." Flurry stated. "Last day of the walk, at least!"

There was, at least, that.