The City: PuzzleLocked Book 1

Flor leaned away from Alastair and said, “We’d love to. Please proceed.”

“There is something in my notes about gathering the university cats. Do you want me to gather them all up so that you can pet them and see if it affects your interface?”

Alastair looked over and saw Flor’s eyes widen. “Absolutely, please.”

“Okay. It might take a bit. But, also, my notes indicate that I told you about my persistent memory issues. So, before I gather cats, do you mind, er, can you show me your daemons again?”

“Easy as.” Alastair loaded up ETC and Flor did likewise with Kec.

Mida had a look of disbelief on her face. “I have so many questions about that. I do. But, I’ll honor my word and round up cats.” She was staring at them even as she found the door handle and slipped out.

“I have a feeling this could go awesome or terrible. Want to bet on the outcome?”

“No. I want to talk more about your newfound, uncommon insensitivity. Really, what’s going on? Why are you suddenly claiming you are fidgety or dredging things that happened years ago and imposing them upon people here who have been nothing but nice to us?”

“Stop. Please. It was a few slips. None of them were intentional, and I’ve already said I’d try to be more deliberate from now on.”

“You said that, but you haven’t. Most of the time you act like you, but then you do something completely out of character, and there is no framework for when or why.”

“I don’t know, Flor. I’m just me, doing ‘me’ things in this game.”

“Be the thoughtful Alastair I know and love. I’ll move past this, but you need to be better, or work harder, or whatever, to get yourself past whatever hang-ups are causing you to act so strangely.”

Etc had moved into Alastair’s arms and nuzzled up, filling Alastair with calm and completeness. He accepted it and the silence and used the time to think about what Flor had said and accused him of. I don’t mean to be a jerk. I don’t even feel like anything has changed. But maybe a couple of things I’ve said or done have been rude. But we’re stressed here. At least I am. Flor seems to be knocking along normally.

Mida came back in. Alastair noted that she was wise enough not to remark about the simmering silence of their trances. She cleared her throat to break the silence and then Mida said, “I have scribes collecting cats. If we head to the courtyard, there may already be one there. And as delighted as they make me, I recommend not having your daemons present. So, come along?”

Flor stood. Alastair did too after activating his interface and putting Etc away. The bird-bunny gave him a look of disappointment, then crawled into one of his sleeves. It tickled for a moment, but the sensation disappeared. Where do they go?

As they walked, Mida asked more questions. “Do you gain something new every time you pet a cat? No?! Do you, by chance, know how many cats you have petted? Let’s assume there is some number before you acquire persistence of memory. Do you know the frequency you gained abilities against the petting? Hmm. Strange. I might want to plot that out on a chart. Okay, well, it looks like my colleagues have three cats. So, who wants to start petting? Don’t worry, I’ll be right there petting cats alongside you with the hope that I gain my persistent memory.”

Alastair didn’t understand how Mida did such a good job calming him down. Maybe she was used to dealing with anxious student scribes and he was similar to that.

Flor petted the cats in the arms of the various scribes. Notifications hit Alastair one after the other.

Congratulations! You have pet a cat!

You have met Mohana. {Mohana is a chilled-out spotted Bengal female just over five years old. She likes to hunt bugs. After escaping from an owl when she was two, she gets easily spooked by any bird. Sometimes flying bugs spook her, also!}

Congratulations! You have pet a cat!

You have met Sage. {As an Egyptian Mau, Sage has a pleasant disposition. She is extremely put out that unnamed Scribe 0 removed her from the comfortable armchair she prefers, especially since it’s wet outside.}

Congratulations! You have pet a cat!

You have met Mild Davis. {Although possibly named after Miles Davis, Mild Davis does not like jazz. Long in years, Mild happily rubs up against anyone willing to give the scritches.}

Congratulations! You have pet a cat!

You have met Peanuts!. {A tiny chocolate Birman, Peanuts! likes to hang out with Mohana, despite Mohana not liking to hang out with Peanuts! Peanuts! is alternatively known sometimes as Biscuits, Seesaw, and Mako: Biscuits because she likes to make the biscuits, no one remembers why shy is sometimes called Seesaw, and Mako since she’ll happily bite at the exposed ankles of unsuspecting low-level scribes!!!}

Congratulations! You have unlocked Interface 2!