Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen

*Do Dee Doo!*
We're sorry, the Alice you're trying to mentally pat is not available at the moment. Please hang up and dial again, or press zero twice for the directory. . .
. . .
*BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-*continue ad infinitum*

Qhen stretched, and rolled their shoulders and yawned and- stopped. They put a hand in front of their face and breathed out and in a few times. Viss snickered.

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"Viss has mint drops, if Qhen needs one."

"For what it's worth, The voices are divided between thinking you're a conniving little schemer, and that's alright with them, that you're doing 'god's work', or that you're a sneak, and could have just watched silently- How long were you watching anyway?"

"For the record, Viss did nothing but ask if Viss should come back later. You're the one that woke up and ruined Aliss' little moment. Also, I may be a sneak and a schemer, but I'm not the one that killed someone else with that mouth."

". . . Give me the damned mint drop."

Qhen and Viss slowly made their way into town. As they did, Qhen made an appreciative noise.

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"I feel pretty alright, all things considered..."

" . . . Viss did not say anything?"

"Oh, I know. The voices are still talking to me, and I don't know how to do internal thinking, so I guess pretend I'm talking to you, if it makes you feel better."

"Is what you have contagious? Perhaps Viss should be wearing plague mask. . ."

"I dunno. The perks are pretty good. I mean, look at me. For someone whose flesh, blood and muscle was converted into a long, bloody cloak, and used as energy to fuel incredibly powerful attacks. . . I'm not exactly in bad shape right now!"

"You have been asleep for almost an entire day, Qhen."

". . . AH! That is- Huh. You've been taking care of us all day?"

"Sss. Viss took care of you for part of that. The rest of the time, Empty watched you."

"Mm. Well, as for getting the blood knocked out of me- It- I don't know how to describe it. When I was merged with Free... pain didn't matter. I could just- It was powerful. And kinda terrifying, to be honest."

"What about AFTER all of Qhen's blood and skin and muscles came back?"

". . .I feel like crap, Viss. Do you have any pain killers?"

"Yes, Viss does, Qhen. Hold on."

Viss led Qhen to the fountain spring, and they sat down for a little bit. Viss dug out a canteen and filled it up, then handed it to Qhen, along with a pill.

Qhen gladly took that pill and a drink of water, sitting back against a part of the fountain and staring up into the sky.

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"Hsss... So. Aliss, hm?"

". . . Do you really wanna have this discussion, Viss?"

"Viss is listening. We have nothing better to do until Aliss decides to come out of her shell, as it were. The crew is clearing buildings- The Brasstahkh is keeping an eye on the ruins. . ."

"Well, I mean, Alice has some feelings for me, I suspect."

"Qhen suspects."

"Look, it's a deep, complex issue!"

"Mmm. Aliss must really bother you."

". . ."

"Is Qhen grumpy because Qhen woke up from Viss' voice before they woke from Aliss giving them a sweet morning kiss~?"

"Maybe I thought you would be a little less... nonchalant about all of this?!"

Viss blinked. She flicked her tongue, and then slowly narrowed her eyes at Qhen. She hunched down and then LEAPT at Qhen! Qhen put their arms up and Viss landed on them, knocking them down over to the side on the ground. She stared into Qhen's eyes, and flicked them in the face with her tongue. A whisper of a hissing giggle crept out of Viss.

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"Qhen, are you angry that Viss is not angry about Qhen liking Aliss? Would you prefer if Viss was possessive? Would you like to take a bet on which of us would win if Viss challenged Aliss for ownership of Qhen?"

". . . Nobody OWNS me, Viss. Knock that off- I just thought you would have an opinion on it."

"Viss does! Viss believes Qhen should be less hard on themselves! Qhen has not done anything to deserve to be unloved, and Qhen is not as terrifying as they think."

". . . Oh wow."

"Viss makes perfect sense, yes?"

"No- I mean... Yes? But I'm suddenly remembering a really interesting dream I had with Aliss in it. . ."

"Viss is listening! Tell Viss all the details! Viss promises not to tell Aliss, unless Aliss is particularly persuasive, or maybe just asks a related question... or even an unrelated question!"

". . . Viss, you are a inconsolable gossip."

"Viss may be such things, but it is in Viss' nature! One little detail! Qhen knows Viss can be good!"

"... Fine. But get off me first."

"Viss can be good, but Viss is not gullible like Qhen. Besides. . . Viss is quite comfortable."

-sigh- "Fine. We were... there was an endless expanse of beautiful white sand, and beautiful clear, warm water... It was basically just Alice and I, sitting there, having something to drink. Alice was wearing this really weird tight, black, rubbery outfit."

". . . Viss did not know Qhen was that kind of person."

"No, this was a lucid dream, and I'm pretty sure Alice was actually there too. Anyway, she put on some proper clothes when I brought it to her attention-"

"Of course Qhen would. Qhen did not even indulge curiosity a little?!"

". . .Anyway, Alice and I talked about some stuff, I taught her how to swim."

"Aliss did not know how to swim. That- makes sense, Viss supposes. This island is very- boring. Small."

"We spent most of the day teaching her how to swim- and then she tried to ask what I thought about her."

"And Qhen said something very disappointing and brought down Aliss very gently."

"All I said was that I thought she was a good, interesting person, and that she was too hard on herself, but I wasn't ready to let someone I've only known for a few days that close and- . . ."

". . . And WHAT?"

"I may have said that I thought that she should take some time to think more about how she actually felt about me just in case her feelings were motivated by something other than genuine feelings for someone she's really only just met and oh I messed up."

Viss blinked at Qhen. She leaned in reeaaaallll close. Qhen visibly swallowed. Qhen did not particularly fear Viss, but Qhen knew they had messed up. They just decided to close their eyes and wait for whatever was going to come. . .

Qhen sighed. They hefted a piece of rock out of the way, and dropped it to the side. Their muscles hurt. Their joints hurt. They had been doing this for a while now. Qhen is not going to think about what transpired that got Qhen here, basically unearthing a particularly ruined house on their own.

Viss sat nearby, happily snacking on a piece of fruit they found on a tree in the back yard. She was waiting for Qhen to be done, because this was Qhen's punishment for being so insensitive and blunt to a poor, innocent maiden like Aliss! Not that Viss was probably in any position to look down on Qhen, considering her constant meddling in affairs. But still, Qhen did wrong, and Qhen was going to make up for it!

. . .Viss hoped, if Aliss was still angry at them, that this would help. If not- Hm. If Aliss cooled off on Qhen, maybe Viss could get a kiss! She giggled to herself. Some might call her morally corrupt. Viss preferred 'overly friendly' or 'too helpful' or 'shoulder devil'. She has her reasons.

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"Okay... Oh... Okay... Viss, I'm done- Oh god my body hurts. I promised I'd never do this kind of work ever again after we escaped the pits. . ."

"And the only reason Viss would make Qhen do this is to teach Qhen a lesson! Aliss' heart may be irreparably broken forever! It is only through an offering of hard work and friendship that we may mend the bonds that Qhen has so carelessly shattered with their cruel, hurtful, cold hearted words!"

"I- It wasn't that bad! I just didn't want Alice to turn out like you."

"Care to run that by Viss again?"

'-COUGH- "Just a bit of dust in my throat, Viss! So- Like you said, there's a stairwell. What are we hoping to find here?"

"Obviously, we're looking for-

( ) a blacksmith!
( ) a storehouse!
( ) a guard post!
( ) an interesting secret~
( ) a place where I can set up a lab!
( ) something special~
( ) [insert response]