Ah, another night of skipped sleep and wonderful progress. I looked at the rising sun with a slight smile, having to abstain from using my Words while I was healing was certainly painful. Dreams, so many dreams. But now I could last four days without sleep!
Not because Awake had gotten better, unfortunately, my subconscious simply agreed that maybe my ti was better spent without the nightmares.
I could've gone for longer but nd started to report subtle brain damage sowhere in the fourth day. Dealing with that problem was both expensive, inefficient, and involved a new Word entirely while holding onto nd by a thread. Growth was also involved. Played a bigger part than nd, surprisingly enough. So of course that ant another lovely thing to train!
Just had to deal with the damage caused before adding more, which would take a few days if I focused all my mana on it. Maybe there was so hope to reverse all the concussions I'd accumulated?
I tried to heal those but no matter how much mana I spent it wouldn't budge. My mana didn't even try to find a Word that would help, like that avenue was firmly blocked.
Likely it would take a long ti before I could manage it but the brain was important!
Even if it was the asshole devising my nightmares.
I chuckled and looked over to see if Daz was around. He wasn't, surprisingly enough. Guess Alvir needed him for sothing other than stalking .
Probably wasn't healthy that I was a little disappointed by that.
Ah well, I'd examine that later, if ever, right now I had a day to live in! I sprung up on my feet with a happy hum from perfectly pleasant vocals. I had a bit of scarring just about everywhere after I was poisoned, but not enough to hinder my amazing voice!
Xae found that very sad.
It was my solemn duty to annoy her as much as possible with my apparently snobby voice after that, which morphed her sadness into lancholy. Honestly kinda funny how much she cared about how I sounded.
A second set of chuckles! Today was going to be a good one.
I humd so more while washing myself from the bucket in my room, getting rid of the little that accumulated while I went through control exercises. It was important to stay clean though. Very important indeed.
I wrapped myself properly and struggled into my favorite toga. It was pink! Still a bit too big, but I'd finally hit my growth spurt. Give it a few months and maybe I'd outgrow it.
ant I had to wear it as much as possible to get as much milage as I could, even if washing it daily was a pain in the ass.
I bead a smile to the world waiting outside my window, turning and walking over to the door so that I could join it. I grabbed the handle all chipper and happy, twisted it, then swung the door open.
My smile turned to a frown when I saw a woman waiting outside.
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"Hey squirt," Terra said. "Mind if I stepped inside? I've got sothing of a job for you, as much as I hate admitting it."
I stared for a while. The awkward silence managed to make the witch uncomfortable. I waited until it looked like she was going to say sothing, then stepped aside.
She scowled at before coming in.
I closed the door gently and she wasted no ti at all plopping her ass on my bed. Could've comnted on that, but I decided against it. She was anxious after all, and not because of .
The whispers were a bit weird lately, crossing the threshold from faint suggestions to genuine advice. Before it only acted like that for shit that was patently obvious. Or deadly.
I leaned on the door and waited with arms crossed.
Terra let out a sigh. "You know I'd prefer if you actually said sothing instead of being a creepy bitch. Kind of expected so gloating right about now."
I shrugged.
"Fine. Whatever."
She looked away and leaned forward, resting her chin on her knuckles while trying to figure out how to word her request. Likely trying to find a way to make it appealing.
"You're aware that there's a serial killer that's been roaming the streets this winter?"
I shrugged. "I think I rember you ntioning it in the eting however long ago, but otherwise no."
"That rat bastard hasn't told you anything?"
"He doesn't tell a lot."
She scrunched up her face. "I know he's bonded to an Omukade, but that's a bit excessive."
"Oh?" I tilted my head.
Terra blinked and turned to stare at .
"He...hasn't taught you anything about demon species?"
"No?"
She stared so more. "What the fuck is he teaching you then?"
"Magic?"
"What? Are you fucking with right now?"
"Why would I do that?" I raised a brow.
"Because the demon sitting in your fancy little soul is the one that's supposed to teach you magic. Not so rodent masquerading as a jeweler."
This ti it was my turn to be confused. "But it doesn't say that anywhere in the contract?"
"Oh good gods," Terra whined. "Our newest mber is a fucking moron. Why did you sign anything that doesn't offer the main selling point of the gods damned deal?!"
"You know, these walls aren't thin, but they aren't that thick either."
"I think the mountain of bullshit might suffocate before any kind of hunt," she grumbled.
I shrugged. "Worked out in the end anyway. I think I prefer the orc magic over whatever an imp can give ."
"I'm already getting a headache and I haven't even got to what I'm here for."
"Then go ahead. I'm all ears."
Terra scowled, then turned away to sigh.
"Do I really need to explain this from the top...ugh. Fine. Alright, so, serial killer."
"Mhm."
"Don't interrupt , you'll ss with my flow. Anyway, the guard's been trying to pin this idiot down since mid-December. Increased patrols, a whole lot of interrogations, and making stretch my abilities at pretending to be an oracle.
"Point being, the increased scrutiny is a bitch and a half for our normal day-to-day. A lot of the others have been cutting back their interests because of it and so of those interests are important. To the point where delaying could be detrintal. So I sacrificed a fucking wendigo heart if you can believe it to get Fate to stop being so dodgy and it brought here. Talking to you."
"How agonizing," I drolled. "You realize we have the rat, right? If your problem is that you can't find them then why not talk to him instead of ? I'm better at fighting shit then finding shit."
"I already did. Months ago."
I furrowed my brow. "And he hasn't found them?"
"Nope."
"Then how in the hells do you expect to manage?"
"I don't know!" Terra threw up her hands. "All it said was to 'find the elf who hunts with purple eyes'. You know anyone else who fits that description?"
"That's all it told you?"
"Yes," she huffed.
"So I could die just to find this rando I'd barely heard about till now? Hard pass."
"I'll teach you how to sever the bond with your demon."
I blinked, tilted my head, then walked over to the bed and passed Terra. I opened my night stand and rummaged through it to find my new pipe. Filled it up with so Moon Leaf and lit the thing with a fancy ass magic lighter.
I took a long pull and barely managed not to go into a coughing fit, admiring the sight outside my window with the eyes of a hawk.
"What are you doing?"
I glanced at the woman before returning to my window gazing. "Setting an ambiance."
"Fucking why?"
"It's only proper." I shrugged. "A detective needs their dramatic contemplations before they pursue a case."
"Why the fuck would you want to be a defective?"
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