114- Calls For Progress
I felt like forward movent needed to happen. Instead of wallowing in my indecision over the ld ability, or wondering how to get Shakindria free of her bond, I needed to get back to the work at hand. The people were demanding it. Cinzy warned that the refugees were restless and wanting to see so progress. It would go a long way toward showing we were working in good faith and not just partying around a campfire every night.
The next divine artifact Drat found, a pair of tongs, rose up into the air and flew over toward the entrance to town. Now that my Affinity was getting higher, I was able to see the faint purple aura of her mana Another use of telekinesis later, and it was in the circle we had designated for this kind of thing.
Cinzy stood there, looking not herself even more. Fairy Poppins was nowhere in sight. I sighed.
“Good people!” Cinzy’s voice bood out toward the refugee town. “Those of you who wish to have your questions answered only need co and witness!”
“Co and witness?” I asked quietly.
“One needs the proper sense of grandiosity,” she responded, and yawned. “Ugh. I’m not tired, you’re tired.”
“You want to talk about it?” I whispered.
“Not particularly,” she said.
As the leader of the team it was my duty to do sothing about problems my team mbers were having. But if Ivy and Isabelle started having a spat, what was I supposed to do about it? And now, with the problem clearly being Fairy Poppins, and Cinzy specifically telling no, I remained in this wonderful position of watching a glacier co and bury my friend by slow aggravating inches.
I huffed, and Cinzy ignored this, and we got on with the demonstration.
“We have discovered a piece of the dead god that plagues this town,” Cinzy called. I could feel the interest she was arousing, and the soothing calm beneath, like a layer cake. Both layers were delicious, but had very different flavors. Sohow, with her abilities, those two worked well together rather than contrasting one another.
“We invite you to co and see what we have, ask questions, and rest assured that we are working as hard as we can on this issue.”
What followed was sothing like a town hall, sothing like a funeral, and sothing like a press conference. I stood before the artifact and next to Cinzy, with Shakindria standing just inside the town limits a few feet away, while Ivy and Isabelle flanked the thing. We’d placed a fence around it, to give everybody the very correct impression that it wasn’t to be touched, and was dangerous.
The refugees ca in a slow and shuffling procession, like they were viewing the body of a dead king or queen. They radiated solemnity, though the children among them had faces filled with wonder. All of them got a good look at what we had brought, before moving on so the others could see it.
They could feel it. I could feel it.
A little jostling and inconvenience followed, where the hundreds of people all wanted to see and hear what was going on. It was a motley assembly of rock creatures, octopus creatures, tiny bird Nakamamon. So had grass and twigs, one looked to be entirely made up of leaves and vines, so were molten, so were made of crystal or glass or diamond. A handful were fleshy, with non-human features, like one with a strange prehensile tail with what looked like a hand on it.
Once they’d gotten back around to the spaces where everyone could see and hear, Cinzy cleared her throat and activated a different special ability. This one turned her voice into a bullhorn, so everyone could hear.
“Thank you for being here, and thank you for lining up in an orderly manner to view the artifact.”
Ivy and Isabelle clamped their hands over their ears and backed up behind Cinzy.
“Yes, to answer your first question, this is a piece of a dead god. We are the Divinity Rescue Corps and we’ve dealt with this previously.”
“Today, we will go over what we’ve been up to, what it ans, and how long we expect it to take,” she explained in her ability-boosted voice. She went on to tell the story of the God of Apparel, smiling at the chuckles she received at the thought of us working on a cure while nude. She emphasized that these things took ti, and went over the process in a quick, step by step overview.
At the end, she took a step back and introduced .
“And this is our glorious leader, Fletcher.”
So interested and polite noises emanated from the crowd.
“We will open up the floor for any questions you may still have.”
No one moved at first. Finally, one of the big rock people stood up, looking like a gorilla with no neck, but made entirely of different strata of stone.
“How many pieces?” it asked.
“Probably around a dozen,” I said, and I was super wrong.
“How many you got now?”
“Four… five.”
Muttering and speculation rippled through the crowd.
“How long we have to wait?”
“Unclear,” I said.
Cinzy turned to the assembled Nakamamon. “A few weeks, we think!”
“Cinzy?” I asked. “What are you—“
“What about my mother and her family?” A purple feline thing with a lot of tentacles called out.
“What about my brother and his children?” Another asked.
This set off a domino effect of cries regarding family mbers. They were growing agitated. A pulse of anger spread outward.
“This again?” I growled.
“We are getting to these problems!” Cinzy called out. “As we have ntioned, healing these kinds of things is not an instantaneous—“
“I want my children back!” One creature wailed, and it might’ve been a green lion.
“They are safe, just in a divinely induced slumber!” Cinzy called, but even she looked upset when her thing failed.
A number of Nakamamon stood, pointing, shaking fists or flippers or feathers or tentacles.
And then the divine awl rose smoothly up out of the small circle we had put down, into the air, slowly rotating end over end. It retreated back towards the city and behind the nearest building.
“We will make progress as steadily as possible!” I called out. “And my Bard will keep you up to date on all progress we make. When we know, you will know.”
“Fletcher!” Cinzy hissed.
But it was done. The UI ssage appeared.
Persuasion check: You have Persuasion at level 1, and Likability at level 7. This check is at Extre difficulty.* Would you like to spend 12 Tokens for an automatic success?
Total Tokens: 7 Likability and 7 Free Tokens.
*Your ally Cinzia Graham has spent 9 Likability Tokens. This check’s difficulty has been lowered by 3. Would you like to spend 9 Tokens for an automatic success?
*Your ally Shakindria has perford an inspiring act, which has lowered this check’s difficulty by 1. Would you like to spend 8 Tokens for an automatic success?
I sighed and spent the 8 Tokens. I felt the flood of magically-enhanced charisma flow through . I felt and almost saw my words flow out, then resonate with the townsfolk and the refugees.
They dispersed, so of them shooting distrustful glances our way.
“Well, that could’ve gone worse,” Isabelle said.
“We know,” Ivy said.
“A lot worse.”
“We know,” Ivy repeated.
“Last ti they turned into grief zombies and tried to infect the eggs with their grief—“
“Izzy!” Ivy snapped, and Isabelle fell silent.
Cinzy stood there, looking halfway toward becoming a grief zombie herself. She had a haunted look.
“You’re going to be okay,” I told her gently. Thankfully this didn’t prompt a check. Cinzy nodded absently.
For the remainder of the day, Shakindria and I worked in town. With feeling like I was using her for her abilities, which of course, she dutifully flexed her telekinetic muscles and moved all the artifacts we’d found over to a central location, relatively close to the town’s entrance.
That was tense, Shakindria said, shortly after Drat found another artifact and we made our way to get it. I am glad no one allowed their emotions to overco their judgnt.
too. I don’t know how well I could handle moving forward on this god problem if I had to cure hundreds of Nakamamon of a condition like incurable depression or sothing. And it would be a ton worse if that condition was unstoppable rage.
“Cinzy’s been under a lot of stress lately,” I said.
Shakindria and I chatted throughout that day, getting to know one another more. She had done a stint as a shoemaker in a town that had bonded her similarly. She had done a stint as a weaver before that. She had done a stint as a candlemaker before that. We didn’t talk about how she wanted to get free of Glumpdumpkin. She didn’t ntion Regina’s cryptic ssage of breaking bonds. If she knew how to do that, she wasn’t willing to ntion it for Vellenia’s sake.
She also proved to be an excellent listener. Vellenia was cheerful and wondrous, but wasn’t much of a help in the thinking departnt. She wasn’t stupid, but seed to expect to make all the decisions and do all the thinking. Shakindria, in comparison, made suggestions. She had ideas for what to do with Cinzy and Fairy Poppins, but made it clear she wasn’t an authority on human-Nakamamon relations.
There wasn’t any clear indication of her age, but I was starting to get the impression she wasn’t just older than , but a lot older than . Together, we moved through the town joking and laughing, with her having a sense of humor I couldn’t put my finger on, and her snickering every ti I missed the punchline.
“How did you um… break free of the magical bond, if I may ask?” I obviously still felt like a jerk. She couldn’t leave and was helping anyway.
She explained that they had contracts, and that the contracts were for a certain number of years. This latest contract: 25 years.
But there was no more work to do, so we headed back out of town and to my garden of Verdant Rejuvenation. It was always lovely to see the plants having grown or blossod while you were away. There was sothing so innately wonderful about helping things grow, live, and thrive. I knew there was magic in it, that I was only helping a tiny bit, while my special ability did the rest. Still, I got to have fresh berries, sll exotic flowers, and experience the supre pleasure of having the materials I needed when I needed them.
Shakindria was once again sward by teammates and Nakamamon who wanted to play using her telekinetic powers. She was able to get right to the edge of the town’s limits and hover there, smiling in what I thought was a forced way. Nearby, my teammates didn’t seem to notice. They wanted to be thrown up in the air, spun around like pizzas, play tug of war, and float around like they were swimming.
I spent so of that ti tending to my garden, so of that ti watching the fun, so of that ti feeling a creeping sha at being unable to help Shakindria, and the remainder of that ti conferring with Cinzy. She had been in contact with Wayne, and by extension, the people hunting Archie.
“It’s not going well,” Cinzy lanted. “Jacoby is probably worried HQ is going to put her back on desk duty. She keeps asking Wayne to ask to ask you to send her more people.”
That wasn’t possible. I already had Tara and Regina on deliveries, and when they got out to wherever the Archie hunters were presently camped, to do so scouting. I didn’t love being down a teammate, but I also wanted Blake’s second in command brought back before he turned into a fighting aspect Nakamamon and beat the crap out of everyone in sight.
“I’ll keep fending her off,” Cinzy said with a sigh.
I once again offered to help her with whatever was bothering her, but she only waved off. No, it wasn’t a big deal, she lied.
When this eting concluded, I pointed Cinzy in the direction of Shakindria, who was taking Ivy and Isabelle on a sort of telekinetic roller coaster. They zipped up and down in the air, through tight turns, and through several loop de loops. The couple were screaming in feverish delight, and I could tell they were close to the breaking point, because Izzy started calling Shakindria off. The Nakamamon set her down without either of them mid-air vomiting.
They staggered off, aning the vomiting could’ve happened afterwards.
Afterwards was a nice dinner provided by Vellenia and Tara, who had taken to whistling and beatboxing together. Vellenia, with her six tongues, could whistle like no one on earth could manage. Like a bird almost. She whistled in harmony with herself. Tara sotis played the kazoo, a tal one, sotis banged on pots and pans while Vellenia whistled, and other tis made mouth sounds.
It was suprely adorable.
Afterwards I did the dishes with Cinzy, while the others went about their own business. Regina was due back soon, so for now the bond mates were keeping Tweedle Dee occupied. Garnet was presently acting as a whack-a-mole ga, with Dee, Vellenia, and Airaconda all trying to grab at the basketball-sized gem. Eventually Garnet was torn out of the ground by telekinesis, and all three of them piled onto the glowing orange gem, laughing and yipping and the strange airy hissing sound made by Tara’s bond mate.
“She’s pretty great, huh?” Cinzy asked.
“You don’t like her?”
“I like her just fine,” she said, and side-eyed . “But she’s… locked in the city?”
“She’s in a magical binding, like our bond mates. For the next twenty-so years.”
“Holy frack!” she shouted. “What are you going to do about that?”
I shrugged. Shakindria had entered into that contract willingly. There was no one on my team I was comfortable with her bonding. And there was no way I was going to un-bond Vellenia, as Regina hinted was possible. Vellenia was amazing.
“Maybe… maybe one of Jacoby’s people can bond her?” I suggested.
Cinzy cald. “Maybe. And how will that feel?”
I sighed. “Not great. But if I can get her free, any way is better than nothing.”
“But you don’t want her to go off with so other guy.”
“Is that ridiculous?” I would treat her right. I would give her the freedom she wanted and deserved. She could play these telekinesis gas every day with our people. I wouldn’t feel like an ass for using her to fix the broken god of this town.
I shrugged. “It’s not just that. She’s curious, kind, helpful, and whatever she sees in , she seems to genuinely like. We’re becoming friends. She’s not bad people… she just knows what she wants and then goes after it.” I also liked her because when I stroked her ears she could purr and orgasm at the sa ti.
She stared at , eyebrows falling. “You do know there are girls here who like you already.”
“I know that.”
“You don’t have to catapult into bed with every one you co across.” The image of being shot out of a catapult and toward Shakindria’s house was a magnificent ntal image and I chuckled.
“I know!” It had kind of just happened the first ti. And also I had the hormones of an early-twenty-sothing, because that’s exactly how old I was.
“On the other hand, I really want you inside right now,” she told matter-of-factly. The dark circles under her eyes made the words seem just a tad too desperate.
“Does the thought of being with a Nakamamon turn you on?” I asked lightly, with a hint of sass. It sounded just the right amount of horny, and she shivered.
“She is cute,” she said, “not that I play for that team. She deserves to be happy, just like everybody else, even if they already have a girlfriend and for so reason feel the need to have supplental dick on the side.”
“You’re jealous,” I said.
She shrugged. “A little.”
“Shakindria’s got smooth skin all over,” I told her.
Her eyes shot open. “Already?”
I gave her a tiny nod. “And she’s delicious. Almost as delicious as you.”
This is Christopher about to enjoy the Cinzy platter.
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