Chapter 5: Interlude 1 : Guardianship

Memories, going back, long time ago. Creation, form ritual. To watch over, protect them. Laughter. Smiles. Hope. Children frolicking under their parent's watches. Young couples finding quiet, calm corners, turning them into neither of these things. Parents disapproved, of course, but no answer to "You did the same thing back then."

Love, either passionate flings, deep affection, loving memories of fallen ones, care towards children. Elders telling stories to younglings. Cute children walking up to legs of avatar, mangling "Thanks" in baby voices. Ceremonies, funerals, life. Was life. Meaning of being a guardian.

Travellers came by. Sometimes a few stayed. Sometimes a few went. Caravans, trading stories and food and people, each new addition a joy, each farewell drenched in slightly sorrowful hope. Sometime came back, always changed, yet the same. Living each day, fully, joy to wake up and sorrow to fall asleep.

Each face different, yet blurs in fog of time. But names associates with faces, memories sole reminder of them all eventually. But happiness, shared in time. Truly blessed times, lost paradise, under care of self and ancestors alike. Good food, great friends, bad decisions under influence. Such is life.

Then one day, war. Humans, in numbers. Armed, armored, desiring nothing less than total slaughter. Evacuation hasty. Fake walls – indentified. All attempts at deception – seen through. But survival. Last-ditch move when evacuation complete, all gone. Teleportation into lava pit spoken of by caravaneers – volcano.

Hate-filled's humans' screams as their flesh scorched to nothing – soothing. Insufficient. Nothing enough to sate vengeful fury. Pain minimal against magically reinforced rocks. But time. Time passed. Years turned into decades. Upgraded all abilities – no more powerlessness. Never enough. Teleporting in quiet places. Strengthen self, again and again and again.

Then she came. Human. Lost, angry, feral. Hatred shared, understandable. Seek vengeance against lost human ? No. Pointless. Needless. Too long now. Won't bring them back. Plus... lost human innocent. Lost human hurting, lost human need care. Request – for water. Reminds of old days ...Memories hurt. Would rather have silence.

Wishes – for solitude. Acceptable. Small deserted island teleportation – interrupted again. Quiet forest, instead, anchored in. Frustrating, again, powerless. But less of an issue. Human ready to fight for safety. Ready to arm self, armor self. Quite autonomous.

...Human knowledgeable ? Not quite. Web of lost human's knowledge – limited. But magic spreads, like spider's web. Electricity. Nuclear power. Microwave. Equip human with all utilities. Big, extensive bedroom. Large kitchen and bedroom. Give all to her before going, no expense spared.

...Odd. Still here ? Still here. Why ? Not sure. What now ?

---

stopProcess(currentProcesses.get("Reminiscence"));

Process a_c = resumeProcess(currentProcesses.get("AvatarCreation"));

a_c.getListsTasks();

->{chooseHairColor, chooseEyeColor, generateName, detailAppearance, createCharacter, generateOutfit}

...

Charge.getProperty(zoemie, Charge::OverallState);

->Charge::VeryPoor

Charge::getAvailableImprovementsFor(zoemie);

->{}

Charge::getAvailableImprovementsFor(zoemie).isEmpty();

->true

...

self.internalSwear();

...

a_c.beginTask("chooseEyeColor");

Received message. Surprising.

Process m_proc = startProcess("answerMessage");

m_proc.switchToMain();

Message m = self.inbox.getLatestMessage();

m.readBody();

->Greetings,

->

->We require your assistance, as well as the assistance of the Deserter who is currently in your care,

->for the future.

->

You are reading story The Pale-Masked Girl at novel35.com

->Would you, and her too, be willing to assist us ?

->

->Yours truly.

Message answer = Message::precomposeAnswer(m);

answer.setBody("Negotiate that with her yourself.");

answer.send();

m_proc.putOnStandby();

DecisionMaking::weighOptions(a_c.getTask("setEyeColor"), a_c.getTask("setHairColor"), charge::getFavoriteColor(zoemie));

->

->W1 : 0.82

->W2 : 0.73

...

self.internalSwear();

---

"Negotiate that with her yourself, huh ?"

"I mean, it strikes as a reasonable answer. We have a foot in the door, I dare even say."

"Thing is you're right. But how do we leverage that ? Both Deserter and her host have no reason to trust either of us."

"Then we have to prove ourselves trusw - trustworthy. And I have just the ticket for that."

"Is something on your mind ?" asked another figure.

"Yes. If you would assist me-"

"Thought you'd never ask."

"We have located this nice little one. By granting her my blessing, and our assistance at a very specific point in time, we can direct her towards Deserter, which will stabilize both of them."

"She is a..."

"Indeed. That plays to our advantage, too, as an exile her ancestors have abandoned her. Henceforth, we'll take over."

"This will allow us to both get on the Deserter's good side, and start making amends for our past failures, the Deserter's conscience and sense of nobility playing in our favor."

"Wait, she has a conscience and a ?"

"Yes. It's not obvious, but she most certainly does. Moreso than, say, Ripper or Delinquent. Her hateful nature is more of a defence mechanism than anything, much like a porcupine's spines."

"I appreciate the plan, but I fear it will too slow." interjected another figure. "We have to move fast, or we risk Deserter ending herself, which would be... most problematic. Not only for your plan, but also for the Ripper elimination gambit we are planning."

The two figures went deep in thought at the statement of the third one. Indeed. In fact, if they didn't devalue Deserter, they'd be in a significantly better spot. But what's done done – and say what you will about these figures, but that they understood deeply. Best they could do is learn from their mistakes.

"Considering the success of the dungeon gambit so far, I say we wait and see before taking any action." Although finding an usable dungeon for it had been a bit of an exercise in frustration, it seemed it would pay, but then again the figures knew they had no one but themselves to blame for that.

"Reasonab-"

"Hey, they answered again."

"Oh, what does it say ?"

"It's clearly being hedgy, but it's at least willing to hear us out."

"Nice."

"Indeed. Nice."

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