Intermission: Opinions And Payments

  --- Gregory Fischer ---

  He slowly drifted out of, perhaps not good dreams, but definitely nowhere near as bad as he’d had in the past.

  As he sat up he couldn’t help but wince at the faint pain across his body. The various aches and bruises he’d picked up during the Crimson Carnival incident. Again, not a good thing but nowhere near as bad as he’d had in the past.

  (Still going to be a bitch to hide from Toni though…) She was dreadfully perceptive and given how much effort he put into convincing her that his library work was nowhere near as dangerous as his normal ‘work’, this was something he didn’t want her to notice. (Not until I’ve got a bit more of my power back at least.)

  Otherwise she’d tell him to quit right then and… (I don’t want to.)

  For all the ups and downs, psychological trauma, and near death experiences that he’d happily never repeat… But with the fact that he was able to actually help the kids and Maeve out of a fairly bad situation, (Well I’d say it was all worth it.)

  No matter how he looked at it, even given how little time he’d spent with the Library he was still feeling a lot better than he had in a long time. Ignoring the various bruises of course.

  A quick cold shower, while not exactly pleasant, helped with the aching enough that by the time he made it to the kitchen he was able to make a quick and easy sandwich. At which point with his morning taken care of he started downstairs and into Toni’s workshop where his best friend was tinkering with something, a half empty cup of coffee on her desk.

  “Morning.” Toni greeted him, not looking up from her work. “Didn’t see you come in yesterday.”

  “Yeah, it was… a mess of a day.” He admitted, knowing that he couldn’t hide everything from her. (And I don’t want to.) “A lot more complicated than I thought it’d be.”

  “What do you mean?” Toni frowned.

  “Oh, there was this kid who… He was lost and we had to help him out.” He tried to explain without outright lying.

  “Oh…” Toni grimaced. “I, uh, I know how you are with kids… Was everything alright?”

  He couldn’t help but grimace back, his mind drifting towards (little bodies laying so very still).

  He shook his head, forcing those thoughts away before they could drag him down. “Yeah. Eventually found his big sister, but… I don’t know, Ferris is a good kid and I didn’t mind watching him but… It’s also not exactly something I know how to handle. Eventually just started distracting the kid with smoke tricks.”

  “Of course you did.” Toni huffed, a faint grin to her face… at least until it slowly faded. “And were you saddled with the kid because you’re new or because no one else…?”

  “I was the one who found him.” He answered, knowing exactly what she was getting at. (Not everyone is nice to kids in this city…) “Everyone at the library immediately jumped on helping him when they found him, but… I found him and he sort of just… stuck with me while I tried to figure things out I guess.”

  “Good.” Toni nodded, looking relieved as she turned back to her work and started idly tinkering away. “So… who is ‘everyone at the library’? Any interesting co-workers?”

  “Well there’s the boss Briar Black, who I’m pretty sure the whole thing is named after.” He shrugged. “She’s smart, scarily smart, and her magical theory absolutely blows mine out of the water. That said, she’s a bit… ditzy to more practical matters.”

  “Meaning?” Toni prodded.

  “I think she was kind of thrown at the job, like it was a family thing and they put her in charge without teaching her how to do everything. I don’t know, she’s good at what she does, but it also feels like there’s a lot of things she doesn’t know that feel like she should.” He tried to explain.

  “Well, experience is something anyone can learn with time. And if you’re not the only one there then that means she’s not entirely helpless.” Toni pointed out, completely unaware of the fact that before him her only other employee was a dog. (A talking dog…)

  He was still annoyed at that. “Peabody is someone I’m not sure how to feel about. Briar insists that he’s dependable and he did help me with my job, yeah, but he also left out several details that would’ve made things easier. Feels like the asshole spent the whole day laughing at me or something.”

  Toni let out a small laugh. “He’s probably just hazing the new guy. And it can’t be any worse than the hazings we got back in the day, I mean if even half the stories about you Smokers were true…”

  “Yeah,” He couldn’t argue that. “but it doesn’t make him any less of an asshole.”

  “Fair enough.” Toni chuckled.

  “Lastly, is the other new ‘guy’ or girl I guess. Maeve, she signed on just yesterday. Not entirely sure what to make of her.” He admitted, recalling how easily the two of them had gotten into a fight. “Pretty sure we just got off on the wrong foot though, since she probably helped the most with Ferris.”

  “Hmm.” Toni nodded noncommittally. “She probably thought you got the job before her… Which I guess you did? Or didn’t?”

  “Uh, yeah, Briar said something about her hiring us because she wants to expand the Library but… Like I said, it sort of feels like she’s just making it up as she goes.” He shrugged.

  “Not the worst thing.” Toni told him. “At least so long as she doesn’t go bankrupt paying all of you.”

  “Yeah… That’s actually something I need to talk to her about.” He realized, remembering how Briar somehow didn’t quite get the concept of money. “No idea how that works…”

  Toni blinked before turning towards him. “Oh, yeah… I guess this is different from your usual half-upfront half-after thing, huh?”

  “A bit.”

  ---

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The Library when he got to it looked the same as it ever did, the atrium hall full of towering books all around and shadows that he was fully convinced were moving on their own. (Likely an ambient magic thing, a minor elemental not fully formed perhaps?)

  He wasn’t actually sure how elementals formed, beyond Magic and Madness, but it was the option that scared him a lot less than remembering the smile in the sky. (Just remember this is Briar’s Library and as long as you work for her you should be safe her.)

  A sigh escaped him. (Still on edge from the walk here…)

  He wondered what it said about him that a run through a carnival full of cannibal clowns stressed him less than a walk through city streets. (At least I made the trip only smoking half a pack…)

  While he hadn’t really explored the library in full, he’d seen enough to know that it was fairly massive. Which is why -barring a quick detour to check on Ferris who was in turn being watched over by Maeve- he simply stood on the black rose emblem in the center of the atrium. Pretty sure that if he just stood her long enough that-

  “Did you need something Gregory?” Briar asked from beside him, where she hadn’t been one blink prior.

  “You know, Madness teleportation is kind of dull once you work out the trick.” He couldn’t help but admit.

  “Don’t worry I’ll mix it up some.” Briar smiled, eyes full of mischief before she tilted her head. “But I’m guessing that’s not what you actually wanted?”

  “Yeah, no.” He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “I wanted to bring up the whole ‘pay’ thing again, because while I don’t really need it right now I am going to need it eventually.”

  “Oh, right, yes!” Briar reached behind her back and pulled out a book. “I think I figured that one out, here!”

  He gave his employer a look before accepting the book. (Really hoping she isn’t planning on paying me in books… Then again if she gets me something rare enough I might be able to make it work…) If he could find someone willing to buy them.

  “Open it.” Briar told him, poking his side with -(wait, she’s on the opposite side of me)- he looked the other way and found no one there. A glance back at his employer simply showed off her grinning face. “Well?”

  Deciding to just ignore it, he took a look at the book cover before frowning as he read. (Gregory Fischer, The Man Who Burned… Isn’t that one of the things written in my current story?)

  “Come on… Open it…” Briar prodded, practically vibrating in place.

  Holding back a grimace, he cautiously raised the book away from him before opening it, half scared that it would explode into a hurricane of paper that dragged him off to relive a metaphor for some of the worst moments of his life. (Again…)

  Luckily, while there was a small explosion of book pages it was nowhere near the hurricane of paper that usually dragged him off. Instead, he was simply left holding a handful of pages that he quickly noticed were covered in eldritch script.

  “What are these?” He blinked, adjusting his glasses as he read through the pages finding them to be basically copies of his (Basic) Chem Smokes and Parry abilities as well as a new somewhat familiar one called, (“Civvie Inhealant

  -Cost: 1 Fantasy or Science Fiction Page

  -Consumable

  -“While designed for the warfront, some Chem Smokes have made their way into the public sector for civilian use. If with a number of restrictions not found on the battlefield.”

  -Quick Read: Restore a small amount of health.”)

  While they weren’t quite part of his kit like his various Chem Smokes, the fact that the painfully named Inhealants were a core part of any medkit. And given how many times the things had saved his life, he wasn’t going to say no to being able to summon one -even a weaker one- on command. (If these work the same as my smokes at least.)

  “They’re more chapters for your story. Remember how I was telling you how I could offer you more magical abilities? This is part of that.” Briar explained.

  “Uh-huh… And the fact that I already have two of these three?” He frowned, not quite willing to put it past Briar to have missed something in her excitement to show off.

  “Ooh, lucky draw!” Briar grinned, taking the pages from his hand before swiping at him and pulling out a matching set from where her fingers brushed his book.

  “Draw?” He repeated, briefly checking his book to find both his Chem Smokes and his Parry missing from it. “Did you take pages out of my book?”

  “Only for a moment.” The mad librarian assured him. “If you get two sets of the same story I can weave the overlapping magic together, and with just a touch of Madness turn them into a stronger version of themselves. Thus granting you more power when you read them.”

  He slowly nodded, following along. “Alright, that all sounds good… I’m guessing there’s a ritual element of some kind keeping you from just giving me a straight upgrade without… whatever that book was about?”

  “I could,” Briar admitted, with a mixed expression before adding, “but it would also cost significantly more resources than a randomized book. Madness loves gambling and chance after all.”

  (Something to consider for later…) For now though. “How does this upgrade thing work?”

  “Oh, it’s really straightforward, won’t even take me a few minutes.” Briar answered as she began mixing and shuffling the pages about. “That said, there is a touch of Madness to the equation, so you might not get these exact upgrades even if you were to mix these exact chapters again. Some of it having to do with the eyes upon your soul and what have you.”

  That sounded like something he wanted to avoid thinking about too hard for the time being. Which is why instead focused on the new stacks of pages -somehow smaller than the total pages she’d mashed together- and found that they were flat upgrades over their previous contents.

  (“(Mild) Anima Blue

  -Cost: 1 Fantasy or Science Fiction Page

  -Consumable

  -“A branch of Chem Smokes that were designed to draw out the magical power of those who inhale it. Allowing even fresh recruits to perform the magic of experienced practitioners.”

  -Quick Read. Increase Power and Speed of the user until their next reading Turn.

  -Expert’s Elaboration: If used by a Practitioner, Gain 1 Fantasy Page for the Reader’s Turn.

  -Checkout Renewal Fee: 1 Fantasy or Sci-Fi Page.”)

  While the ‘(Mild)’ told him that this was probably one of the weaker variants of Anima Blue, the fact that it wasn’t just the generic new recruit Basic Chem Smokes meant that this was a flat upgrade over what he’d been working with.

  (And based on what this says… I’m guessing a ‘Fantasy’ page has something to do with magical output…) What it meant he wasn’t sure, but he was sure it meant something. (Never really paid attention to the Cost thing either…)

  Putting those questions on the back burner for a bit, he moved onto what should be an upgrade to his Parry.

  (“Parry Arts

  -Cost: 1 Blank Page.

  -Defensive.

  -"To those who have truly mastered the art of the parry, there are few things they cannot deflect. Even the strike of the ephemeral finds itself being pushed to the wayside."

  -Reactive Read. Negate an incoming attack, even those beyond physical touch.

  -Checkout Renewal Fee: 1 Blank Page, for Scrappers and Infiltrators.”)

  He… wasn’t quite sure what it meant by ‘even those beyond physical touch’ but (if I had to guess, maybe it means deflecting things other than physical blows? Like whenever I use my pyromancy to deflect incoming fire, or that time I disrupted an air blast via heat convection?)

  “Interesting…” (I’ll have to experiment to figure it out.) And practical experiments were his favorite kind.

  Briar preened at his comment.

  Unfortunately for her no matter how interesting these were… “You do know this still isn’t the same as giving me actual money. Which I need to survive in society, right?”

  His boss winced. “Um… Do you really need to survive in society? I mean, can’t you just be a… library hermit? We can make our society of bookworms with books as our money!”

  “Briar… No.”

  “Aww…”

  Patreon Thanks

  Please Select An Upgrade Scene And A Social