Chapter 11: Chap. 9 : A Silent Paradise

Zoemie woke up the next day feeling almost refreshed. That is nice. Rare, but damn nice. Zoemie got out of bed with spring in her step. She ate her breakfast in complete silence, then went out to her daily bath. It was getting routine by now, and a routine Zoemie actively appreciated. Eat, clean up after herself, brush teeth, then computer up, play games for a short while before bath.

While in the bath, Zoemie considered what to do. She finally truly had nothing to do, expect or wait for. So it was most likely going to be gaming. Zoemie looked around the dungeon while in her bath out of curiosity. Xaj is in sleep mode, it seems. She was alone. She was in peace. And most importantly, she was safe from the legion of monsters that constituted other people.

That for Zoemie truly was the best thing ever. Peace away from trouble, playing games she liked away from everyone who hated her, being able to take her time and enjoy nice baths and soft pillows and food she could eat and enjoy.

After drying herself, Zoemie considered what to dress herself with. Maybe I'll just do the ol' panties-only thing ? Hmm, no, still feels just not warm enough for that. She grabbed some panties, a thin summer shirt, a skirt, and promptly dressed herself. Zoemie internally thanked her foresight to grab skirt with pockets, they were very convenient. Thank for that, Dad.

Once fully dressed, Zoemie decided to grab her music player, and find a nice place to wander around for a while. It was a thing Zoemie enjoyed doing, simply walking around in circles while her mind wandered about games and strategies, although she often ended up removing her shirt in summer because of the heat... as long as she knew she was alone, of course.

The silence is goddamned magical. So damned nice to have nobody to deal with, nothing to annoy me. Xajymzia wasn't the annoying type, she mostly kept to herself. This was really, really nice, a welcome change to the hurried pace of back to the before. Zoemie still wasn't sure what she wanted to do yet. I'm not moving out at any rate.

For Zoemie, there were two major options. Either I stay here and bunker up, either I fuck around with time magic to come back to Earth with all my stuff. Zoemie wasn't sure what she would do afterwards if she did that, but it would probably involve faking illness to avoid that fateful day, if not outright drop out.

After that, she'd propably just stay home with Dad and maybe hang around with Neth, using her newfound overpowered abilities and equips to force out the dickheads. It didn't sound too bad overall, especially if she kept the teleporting around. She could simply teleport Dad to and from the mall, for starters. Much less need for gas !

If she did end up sticking around, instead, she'd probably have to extend her backlog. She was bound to run out of games to play eventually. Maybe find something else to do other than game ? But what ? There was nothing else Zoemie truly enjoyed other than playing games.

The main advantage of this option is that it required virtually no more effort on Zoemie's part. All she had to do was keep gaming. It did sound nice because it was safe. Here in the forest, nobody knew of her. On Earth, security in obscurity wasn't a real option because of the level of tracking and the speed of travel of information.

But in this world, where information travelled quite literally at a walking pace, and where there were few to no standardization and centralized records, it was very easy to hide and promptly be forgotten. The shield of oblivion. Zoemie needed to find what she was going to play. For her, it was the most important info, as it was the most pressing one.

Whether she stayed or went, it wouldn't be things she'd decide in a day. And if she did leave, it would take a bit of time to find how to use magic to accomplish her objectives. Whereas choosing which game to play next was important, because it was what kept her busy for the most part, and served as an important break inbetween getting things done.

The happiest time in Zoemie's childhood, she remembered it well, it was a summer holiday, where she had completely lost track of the days. Didn't know what day it was. It was grear. A part of Zoemie longed for this feeling of being lost in time again, with no responsibilities whatsoever. And here, in this dungeon in another world, this might actually be possible.

Zoemie returned to her room, deciding to play some of her backlog and see if one game in particular struck her. After all, she had nothing else to do, and plenty of time too. Simply look around and find something that sounds interesting. No need to force anything.

Xajymzia smiled while Zoemie got to her gaming. It was nice, having someone to care for again, but there was something that worried her, and that's the idea that Zoemie might leave. If she just packed up and left, it would be one thing. Sorrowful, certainly, but a part of life.

But Xajymzia's grasp of cosmic magic let her highly dubious about the possibility of warping time. And yet she understood the sorrow that drove Zoemie to consider even the possibility of such a plan... The gods truly had a lot to answer for. Xajymzia was above all afraid. Afraid for Zoemie, of what her sorrow and melancholy could do to her.

Xajymzia shook her head. As much as she wished she could, that wasn't something that was going to be solved in a day. At the same time, currently, what more could Zoemie need ? She had clothing, a bedroom, and reliable, tasty meals

Hmm... Zoemie will need new foods. She had gotten lucky so far on making her eat new stuff, but as Zoemie settled in, her routine would ossify and her old habits would return. She made a note to ask Zoemie about it later when Zoemie was disposed to talk.

She also made another note where she reminded herself to ask Zoemie for her own fused clothes and body parts, but that would be a bit later. While Xajymzia's current outfit and body were both remarkably resilient and powerful, a benefit of being a magical droid is that she could change parts of her body to even better ones in a way a human simply cannot.

On its face Xajymzia had no need to do so, but she was the kind of being who always sought out improvement in every fashion, and therefore considered upgrading her body parts an useful investment in time and energy. Xajymzia was still considering the finer details, however. She had opened a dungeon area linked to a B2F room where she ran her own experimations.

One thing she had learned was the exact nature of the scientific method, realizing in particular how and why it valued above all reproducibility. It reminded her of her own knowledge, of the tips and tricks she had learned to handle people over her long existence.

She was still looking for her current body's downsides and weaknesses, mostly because handling them now meant not having them bite you later, especially in a life-or-death situation. Best to deal with it early.

So once she had clarified exactly what she needed, then she would ask Zoemie about it., but no earlier. Zoemie is tired from making her own equipments and need a change of pace. So she would ignore it for now. There was relatively little risk for the time being.

---

Zoemie looked at the time. "God dammit. Is it already that late ? Let's go grab the food, I guess.", she decided as she teleported in the kitchen. Time really fucking flies when you're enjoying yourself. Xajymzia had already prepared the food and was setting up the table. "Oh, it's a pie again ?", to which Xajymzia nodded.

"Yes.", the maid answered. "I had a few questions, if you don't mind", to which Zoemie cocked her head to the side, and nodded. "Did you have any special habits with food back on your homeworld ?", she asked. Seeing Zoemie's confused expression, Xajymzia elaborated. "And by that, I mean did you have things like "special food a certain day of the week" or something among these lines ?

"Nah..." said Zoemie, who munched on another piece of pie before continuing. "It was already hard enough for dad to stay afloat as is. We couldn't afford that kinda luxuries." Zoemie finished her part of pie and started to carefully cut herself another. "Hhmph. This pie is great by comparison. You're definitely the better cook." Zoemie said in her usual blunt fashion.

Xajymzia nodded in turn. "Pleased to hear it.", before Zoemie continued. "I can't hold down even a summer job. I don't have what it takes to get up early every day and stay on my feet all the goddamned time. I don't know how they fucking do it.", Zoemie said, guilt tinging her voice. "And retail jobs are a no-no. I'd end up in jail for killing a rude customer or something."

Xajymzia considered the situation, before she decided to change the conversation subject. It is probably best to interrupt this train of thought. "Is there any kind of food you'd which to see more of ?", which led Zoemie to cock her head to the side.

Zoemie thought about it for a while, eating her pie meanwhile, before answering. "The fast-food takeout you came with when I first arrived was great, really. But it ain't the kind of thing you can eat every day, right ?", Zoemie said. Sounds like a good way to get a heart attack or something nasty like that.

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Xajymzia considered. "I can definitely prepare you burgers and fries and similar that's contains more nutrients and is less heavily processed than industrial fast-food." She continued. "That could applies to pizza, and to various other sandwiches like kebabs or both variants of tacos. Ultimately, though, it would only be every once in a while."

Although, on its face it didn't seem worthy of worrying about, what with Zoemie's scrawniness, Xajymzia understood well that food is for many a complicated, fraught subject, and more importantly that even if Zoemie was to change her weight, it would be safest and most likely to last if done over a long period of time.

Besides, tasty food could often keep people going just a bit longer. And while right now Zoemie wasn't doing too badly, Xajymzia could sense that it wouldn't last. Best to handle these kinds of things while Zoemie was still relatively functional.

"A whole goddamned pizza sounds like a little too much for me." Zoemie said, interrupting the maid's musings. "I'll have to think about it, you know ? I never really gave much of a shit about food at best, you know. It was enough of a nuisance to have more than one meal I knew I could eat", Zoemie said as she finished her pie. "One thing this place has over back home, I guess."

Xajymzia nodded internally, yet again. One point in my favor. Xajymzia understood she could not replace Zoemie's father or her Nethany friend, and wasn't interested in doing so either. Zoemie was not someone who pretended to be what she wasn't. In fact, she seems almost completely incapable of it.

And therefore, the least Xajymzia could do is to not pretend either. Partly out of respect, and partly because Zoemie probably wouldn't like having being lied to. People lying to her or twisting the facts to make her look bad seems to have been a common thing in her past, Xajymzia noticed, something she recognized because it was a somewhat familiar thing.

Xajymzia's dealt with quite a few people in the past who operated like that, and it typically ended in her kicking them out. These people spread lies and venom wherever they went, and Xajymzia simply couldn't let that happen. It frustrated her to no end that nothing worked to make them stop, to be unable to shake these people's shoulders hard enough.

Xajymzia was also both frustrated and sad, about her limited options to help Zoemie. She couldn't do anything now but support her and not be a part of the problem, and while it was probably more than most ever did... Xajymzia feared that wouldn't be enough.

---

When Zoemie left the dining room and finished her post-dinner routine, she decided to return to her gaming. Nothing else to do, after all. Not that Zoemie complained. Being able to do as she wished was truly something she enjoyed. She looked over her notes, and decided to see what she could be playing.

As a rule of thumb for Zoemie, a 100% needed to start with a plan. Said plan involved a way to move through the any% section of the game – "any%" is a speedrun term that defines a speedrun that simply finishes the game as quickly as possible, and clearing the game in such a fashion to lay groundwork for the 100%.

Zoemie considered games to be in three separate categories for 100% : short, medium, and long. "Short" games were games were the 100% did not require excessive grind or was fairly easy to do after the any% or postgame as applicable. That's Yggdrasil Odyssey, primarily, and also the Epic Warrior Fantasies.

Long games were games with a lot of grind and / or item crafting, monster catching, etc... Monsters-collecting game were for Zoemie the archetypal example, although how long it was depended on the game itself. Other included games with a lot of achievements or more simply a lot of content. DrakeQuest Monsters games are, like, the ultimate example, but also GemDefender all achievements.

Medium games were essentially games that qualified as neither long nor short, and in that sense it was the most inchoate of the three categories. Generally, these games had quite a lot of grind, but not to the point maximal optimization was needed. A catch'em all on a mainstream Mokepon game or a 3G romhack is medium, while recruit'em all on the Mystery Dungeon series is a long one.

Right now, Zoemie didn't know what she was going to play yet, but she was bound to find something. And if she couldn't find it on her computer, she could use the handhelds she had received when she arrived. There was bound to be some games on them she could play.

In fact, Zoemie decided to do just that, checking out the handhelds and seeing if there were any familiar or new games to play. Zoemie spent a bit of time looking at the games, before opening up one of the handhelds and getting down to gaming.

Zoemie as usual spent a while playing with the handhelds, trying out games and trying to find a game she felt like playing right now. It was quite comfortable, being able to play in the bed. Zoemie generally played on her bed rather than her desk. When she was in the before, she had the computer on the blanked or her knees, now she used the bed tray.

A few hours passed, Zoemie trying out all manners of game without for now finding anything that stuck with her. But she wasn't too beat up about it. Zoemie knew she would find something to play, eventually. It was just a matter of trying out games. And new games were the only types of new things she was good at handling.

"This is at good as it'll ever get, right... ?" Zoemie asked herself, as she stopped gaming for the day and got ready for bed. "I can live with that." Nasty little cunts like me don't get to be happy. But here ? Alone and with nothing but my games ? That's the closest I get to happiness. Zoemie nodded, trying to keep dark thoughts out of her mind.

---

"What did you find ?" grumbled the large, crimson-haired man to his subordinate who just teleported to his position.

"There's a dungeon up ahead."

"A dungeon ?", the crimson-haired man asked in disbelief.

"Yes sir. I'm... pretty sure of it, anyway."

"Didn't know there was a dungeon here... might be new." The crimson-haired man thought for a while as he and his group advanced.

"We can't risk going around, and those bitches are hot on our tails... Fine." The crimson-haired man looked around. "And they're clearly the tenacious types, too." He had dealt with this song-and-dance a few times before, but he had to hand it to them, these three did not give up easily.

"We'll set camp in the dungeon ! Who knows, there might be something to hunt there." he shouted, as the men behind him hollered.

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