Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen

"You know what? I don't have time to be sad or angry or otherwise self-involved. I have a mission. I said Qhen and I could have ice cream. If I achieve only one thing today, I will find or make ice cream, and then... Qhen and I can sit at the house and argue about what I plan on doing with my life."

( That sounds... fine. What do you need, Alice of Vaugen? )

"First? I need you to stop calling me that. I know that it's the way you talk, but it- ... Never mind that. We can talk about that later too. Okay. So- We've observed through visiting various buildings that power is on, right?"

( You have said as such, yes. )

"Right. So if I'm correct about how large this island is... there's probably at least one market. Hopefully one large enough to support a few refrigeration units. I'll pick up some ingredients and..."

Alice moves deeper into the town, occasionally calling out in hopes of finding someone. She checks buildings as she passes them, marking them based on how difficult they'll be to search. She doesn't talk much to Empty during the trip, instead choosing to wallow in her own thoughts. That doesn't help, but what else is she going to do? Talk about her feelings with a weird... not-god? Nah. Not right now. Not yet. She's still working through all. . . this.

She finds what she believes is the town square, and looking around, locates a store. She peeks inside. Yup! Store!

"Objective Complete! Now for the next objective, I'm going to start searching for some stuff- Hey, Empty?"

( Yes, Alice of Vaugen? )

"I got a little more time reading the book this morning over breakfast. Can I... make use of the voidspace?"

( Indeed you can. Are you asking, regarding the unique chronological properties? )

"Yeah... Is that- Okay with you?"

( I understand and appreciate your thoughts on the matter, but the voidspace is no home for me. It was simply something I made use of. With the book in your possession, the voidspace is now yours, if anything. )

"Okay. I'll accept that- for now. So, if I remember correctly, I just-"

Empty watched as Alice focused on the air in front of her, bringing her hands together. It could see, feel the energy coming from her as she brought her thoughts together and allowed them to coalesce physically into a key- or rather, a small thin golden rod with a decorative 'wing' on one end. Walking into the store, she found a wall with a magazine rack against it. Pulling it away, she felt the wall, then brought the 'key' up to the wall and gently slid it in, the material of the wall giving away like it was nothing. A line formed, making a rectangular outline, and when she turned the key and pushed... The wall swung open, revealing the white emptiness of the voidspace beyond.

{Alice has acquired the Void Key}

"That's... amazing. But it makes me tired to do this. I presume I shouldn't use this power too often."

( That is a safe assumption to make, however, the more you use it, the greater your capacity will become, as well. )

"Right- Well... Gotta start somewhere I guess."

Alice took a little bit of time to collect some things, wishing she had thought to bring a bag from home. A crystal of salt, a cone of sugar, some spices, herbs, and a few other assorted food supplies. She carried them into the voidspace through the door, left them by the little table she had constructed earlier, then went back out to get a few more things.

"I don't suppose it helps me to ask you what time it is, does it?"

( Not only do I not experience time in the same way as you, but I do not have a watch. There's one here, but who's to say it's been set? )

Walking past Empty, Alice took the watch and put it back on the shelf where it sat.

"And I don't plan on taking anything that... expensive. I feel bad enough taking what I already have. This is stealing- and before you say anything, yes. Stealing from the dead or possibly dead is still stealing. Let's just head back now."

Pulling on the key as she walked out, the door to the voidspace close behind her, and with a twist and a pull, the key came out cleanly, except for a small hole where she had placed the key in the wall, and a faint outline of where the door once was.

As she began to walk back to her house, Alice was glad that her plan of 'walk down a single street until she found what she needed' was working. She barely, if at all knew the layout of the town, and didn't really want to get lost. That would be embarrassing. On the way back, she called out to Qhen, but didn't get a response. She worried, until she actually reached her house and found Qhen passed out in one of the chairs in the downstairs library, with a book in their lap. Alice got an urge to pat Qhen on the head, but has already learned not to startle them. So she moved on.

She walked into her pantry, and looked around on the shelves until she found- An ice cream churn! And it was clean. How about that? Slipping the key out of her pocket, she found a clear space of the pantry wall, and made a door to the voidspace. Wandering in, she went over to the table and sat down next to the piles of things she had grabbed. Salt. Sugar. Some tightly capped bottles of milk and cream that she hoped were still good. They were in an icebox when she found them, so suspected the best. And... this other stuff.

" . . . Hey, voices, you there? ... This is gonna sound weird- but... I don't suppose you have a suggestion on what type of ice cream I should make? I have some spices... and some boxes of dried fruits... and this pouch of nuts and- . . . "

"Is it wrong that I want to stay here? Even if it's just for another few days... I want to be absolutely sure there's no survivors... and- I guess... 'gather' more supplies for... my journey."

Alice fell over backwards and stared up into the white void.

". . . I don't even know what I want to do. What am I supposed to do?"