5.16 – Arcade II


    They continued around the arcade, destroying various skill games, Delta much more so than Zoey, but Zoey putting up her own supernatural performance too. As much as Zoey had fun testing her new limits, she enjoyed Delta strutting about and teasing her. Maybe some people would find the bravado annoying, but Zoey found it endlessly cute—especially because whenever Zoey didn’t rise up to the bait, and insteadplimented Delta, the poor foxgirl would blush and look away. She even pouted about how Zoey ought to be at least acting a <em>little </em>frustrated.


    Some of the games were difficult enough even they couldn’t get perfect scores. For examples, empowered or not,nding a pinpoint bullseye with darts twenty feet away on every single shot was beyond even Delta—though her uracy was shocking nheless.


    As they yed, they of course chatted. The entertainment was background noise, especially to Zoey. She’d gotten a chance to learn more about Delta, and in the frenzy of the past two weeks, that was a rare opportunity. One she’d been looking forward to.


    "So what’s it like up there?” Zoey asked. “I haven’t actually learned much about Haven.”


    “Depends,” Delta said. “My answer would be different from Rosalie’s.”


    “That’s fair. You, specifically, though.”


    Delta shrugged. “I didn’t have it as bad as some. Maybe worse than a lot. I guess in the end it’s not that different from the Fractures. Those who have, have. And those who don’t, don’t.”


    It was more of a serious response than Zoey had been expecting, but she was happy to engage with it. “There’s a lot of imbnce?”


    “That’d be putting it lightly.”


    In a world where people could acquire nearly godlike powers, that made sense. It still made Zoey’s heart pang, hearing that Delta had been in that less-fortunate half. Or probably less-fortunate nine-tenths. She could only imagine the difference between the ‘elite’ and the ‘not’ was more prevalent than in her own world—and things hadn’t been pretty there, either.


    “Fractures might even have it better,” Deltamented. “Way more likely to die down here, I guess, but the day to day is better for the average citizen. On purpose. Wayfarers need support personnel, so they gives reasons for people to flock to such a dangerous ce.”


    “Yeah,” Zoey said. “What about you, though? Family? You said you had a dad you were trying to help?”


    “That’s why I came down initially. Same as most people. Money. A chance at something more. Didn’t expect to do so well.”


    No kidding. From the sounds of it, Delta wasn’t anyone special—in the sense of status or birth—yet had proven herself an impressive wayfarer in a matter of months, enough even Maddy and Rosalie thought highly of her. Lacking the elite training those two had received, that was really saying something.


    “Working towards that goal faster than I’d expected,” Delta continued. “Expected it to take at least a year to start pulling in the money I’d need to help my dad out, but I’m already third advancement. It’s kind of crazy to think about. I know you don’t have a great idea of what that <em>means</em>, but my time as just—I don’t know, a regr person, is over. Way over. Third advancement up in Haven would live like royalty.”


    “Really?”


    “Maybe that’s exaggerating,” Delta said. “Actually, it definitely is. But to me? Or rather, us? My family? Not that far. It’d be like royalty, considering where we started.”


    “How hard is it to climb advancements? Normally, I mean.”


    “Most people die in their first few shards,” Delta said. “Most people don’t get an insane prodigy for a surprise teammate and an unbelievable ss to help them along. Or make two advancements in a matter of weeks. Or have <em>five </em>runes.”


    “I get it,” Zoey said. “Still, reaching third and heading back to Haven makes you practically nobility?”


    “Again, I was exaggerating—we just really weren’t well off.”


    “Ah.”


    “But yes, it’s hard. Hence the payout if you reach the higher ranks. Even if you’re great at this, all it takes is a single bad shard. Say you’ve got a one-in-twenty odds of dying on any given adventure. Go through fifty of them—well, do the math, right? Even if you’re rtively safe, by doing what we do, over and over, things’ll eventually catch up.”


    “I guess I didn’t think about it too hard.”


    “Don’t me you. I mean, considering your whole situation—and what’s going on now, too.”


    “Not much chance to sit around and just think about stuff like that,” Zoey said in agreement. She sobered up. “But back to your dad—you’re trying to make enough to pay for his treatment, right?” Delta had mentioned a while ago he’d been in an ident, resulting in a crippling injury. That event had been the catalyst to shove Delta down into the Fractures, seeking some kind of solution.


    “That’s the goal.”


    “We could help,” Zoey said. “Me and Rosalie.”


    Delta slowed, her next shot freezing. She frowned at Zoey. “Yeah. I knew you’d eventually offer something like that.”


    “Oh?”


    “Look,” Delta said. “I’d be the world’s biggest asshole to put my ego before getting my dad the money he needs.”


    She ended the statement there.


    “But you wanted to do it yourself,” Zoey finished.


    Delta’s expression soured. “Like I said, that doesn’t matter.”


    “How close are you?”


    “Not close. Third advancement means I’ll start pulling in impressive amounts with each trip, but I just reached it. And wayfaring is expensive in its own right.”


    Zoey sympathized with Delta’s dilemma. Delta recognized that wanting to be her dad’s exclusive savior was selfish, but at the same time, it was selfish in the best kind of way—wanting to be responsible for risking her life to earn the money her family needed. And while she <em>wanted </em>that, she also wouldn’t refuse help—she just had conflicting feelings about it.


    “How about a loan from us?” Zoey asked. “That way it’s still all your work. But he gets what he needs now.”


    Delta considered.


    “I kinda figured you’d insist I just take your help,” Delta said. “To stop being stupid and selfish.” She chewed her lip for a moment, then said, “Wow, you’re really gonna make it a <em>loan? </em>Aren’t we friends? It’s my poor, disabled father.”


    “Don’t be an ass,” Zoeyughed.


    “I guess it’s the best I can do,” Delta said, growing serious. “A part of me wants to be the sole savior, like I said, but I’ll get over it. Dades first, obviously. You think blondie would do that for me, though? I get the feeling her family’s rich as sin, but loaning me?”


    “She would,” Zoey said without hesitation. “But even if she couldn’t, I probably could, soon enough. Sabina seems positive that potion business is gonna blow up at Mantle.”


    “Right. Almost forgot about that. There’s gotta be all kinds of wealthy clientele who’d drop ridiculous money for a ‘special event’ potion, especially in a capital like Mantle.”


    “And even if it flops,” Zoey said, “you can have whatever I make from each of our trips, until you have what you need.”


    Delta gave her an odd look. “Just like that?”


    “Of course.”


    “Huh.”


    The topic tapered off there, without forming any concrete ns. They’d have to wait till Mantle anyways—Zoey assumed they’d follow up then.


    “So,” Delta said. “Can I ask about <em>your </em>past, now?”


    “You mean before the Fractures?”


    “Obviously.”


    “Sure. Though you know a lot of it is still fuzzy.”


    “You said it’s all clearing up, though?”


    “Bit by bit. But, again, fuzzy.”


    “Fair enough.” Delta considered her first question. “Shit, where do I even begin with that? Give me the rundown.”


    “On an entire world?”


    “Yeah.”


    “Where am I supposed to start?”


    “Dunno. How about what’s most different?”


    Zoey considered that. "I guess how far along we are?”


    “What’s that mean?”


    “Technology wise. We don’t have magic, but we more than made due.”


    “No magic? Really?”


    “Honestly, I guess it’s all the same. From your perspective, it probably <em>sounds </em>like magic.”


    “How about you stop being cryptic?”


    “Okay. Here: we shoved electricity into rocks and made them think.”


    Delta responded with a baffled look, and Zoeyughed.


    “I can’t even exin it well,” Zoey said. “Couldn’t tell you how it all works at the, like, fundamental level. But one thing led to another, we’ve got a bunch of stuff that you wouldn’t believe. Ways to move across the world at the speed of sound, weapons that can blow up cities, devices that can talk all the way across the world in less than a second. Sounds kind of dramatic, but yeah. Pretty crazy stuff, objectively speaking. Basically magic, but not magic.”


    “No shit,” Delta said. “That’s hard to believe. Then again, so was youing from another world, so I can’t say I’m <em>that </em>surprised.”


    “But we’re also less advanced, in some ways,” Zoey said. “We definitely don’t have people who can ‘cut apart a city’ using just, what, <em>themselves</em>. Just <em>will </em>it to happen. Like you say eighth advancement wayfarers can. For that matter, everyone’s the same—there <em>are</em> no wayfarers. Everyone’s just … I don’t know, people.” She paused, then added, “There’s also only humans.”


    “Only humans? Weird. How’s that work?”


    Zoey shrugged. “Honestly, things aren’t <em>that </em>different, at least from what I’ve seen. Seems to me that everywhere, people are people.”


    “I guess that makes sense. Still, hard to imagine.”


    “All this would have been hard to imagine, too.” Zoey waved around, not indicating the arcade in specific, but her life—Delta’s world—in general.


    “Fair,” Delta said. “Okay, but what about you?”


    “Me?”


    “Family? Friends? Remember any of it, yet?”


    Zoey grimaced. “Some. More. I’ve honestly been trying not to. You know, Ephy said she did all that so that I didn’t have anything ‘weighing me down’. And I kind of want to keep it that way.”


    “Not get homesick.”


    “Worldsick.”


    “Yeah. Sheesh.”


    Zoey shrugged.


    “So what’s she like?” Delta asked, sensing that Zoey wanted to change the topic.


    “Ephy?”


    “Not everyone gets to meet a goddess, you know. Much less the goddess of sex.”


    “Sensuality, eroticism, and fertility,” Zoey said. “I think those are the aspects she imed explicitly.”


    “Just proving my point,” Delta said with some amusement. “You fuck her yet?”


    “<em>What</em>?”


    “Is that sphemous?” Delta mused. “Even I felt kind of weird saying it. Ephythithys isn’t some small god. But you’ve actually seen her. I guess that means I’ve got a goddess as a friend, through proxy?”


    “Wouldn’t call us friends,” Zoey said instantly. She had a ton of mixed feeling about that deity. Arrogant, assumptive, meddling—those were only the starting adjectives she’d use. At the same time, she’d given Zoey the opportunity to meet Rosalie, Delta, Maddy, Sabina, and so on. And she seemed to be ostensibly on Zoey’s side, even if she was using her as a pawn—though using her as a pawn to save the world. As for how altruistic that goal was? Who knew. But maybe she didn’t outright hate Ephy either. And if anyone were to be arrogant, assumptive, and meddling, who else but a literal deity? “But, yeah, I guess I’m her ‘disciple’. That’s what she calls me.” Zoey wrinkled her nose. “I need to get in contact with her again.”


    “How?”


    “She told me to mune the typical way’, or something. Used a dream potionst time. Not gonna work again, she said.”


    “Commune? With a goddess of sex, I can only guess what <em>that </em>means.”


    “Yeah. Haven’t figured it out yet. Needa stop by … what, your church district? I don’t really know how your religion works yet.” She recognized how tactless the sentence was, but also didn’t know how to phrase it better.


    Delta shook her head, amused at the clumsiness. “You’re lucky me and blondie aren’t all that pious.”


    “Should probably be more sensitive,” Zoey agreed. “Then again, I’ve got the whole, different-world excuse.”


    “You’ve got your own pantheon, then?”


    Zoey didn’t even want to get started on <em>that </em>topic. “Kind of. Not really.”


    “Illuminating response,” Delta said dryly.


    Zoey purposefully pivoted. “Think you can help me with that, though? Communing, or whatever? Like I said, don’t know where to start. Maybe you can show me around.”


    A grin split Delta’s face. “You’re asking me to help youmune with the goddess of sex? Yeah, sure. We can hunt down an innocent priestess who’s willing to help. Sounds like a fun evening.”


    Zoey nearly blushed. “You think it’ll be like <em>that?</em> And with a priestess?”


    “Probably,” Delta said. “I mean, dunno for sure, but yeah, probably. But there’s gotta be a least one repressed priestess who’ll jump at the chance. And honestly, I’m also a little antsy to get my second chance with one of those potions of yours, so it’s taking care of two problems at once.”


    The growth potion? Zoey was eager for Delta to team up with her using one of those again too. Filling up Mel from both sides with Delta had definitely been a highlight of theirst adventure. Getting to do so with some priestess also sounded like a great time.


    “You should focus up, though,” Delta dered, gesturing at the game ahead of them. “I won’t let you have any excuses about ‘distractions’ for how thoroughly I destroyed you.”


    Zoey rolled her eyes, but humored Delta. She focused on the game.