"Now the question becomes what do I do with the two of you?" The Jester's voice though calm, vibrated with a lingering irritation that permeated the air. His gaze was as sharp as a needle as it settled on Braedon and Alice, an anger still very much present but thankfully not directed at them still lingered.
Braedon, his tone measured but betraying a flicker of annoyance spoke first. "Who was it that got us involved? You mentioned they're quite high up in the proverbial food chain, but could you offer more concrete details? Who are they? What do they want? Any specifics at all to shed light on this situation? While we're grateful for their intervention this time, we aren't particularly fond of having our fate dictated by other beings we have no knowledge about, even though it did save our lives. And I do agree with you though, what happens now? Do we just walk away as if nothing occurred?"
"Wait, no! He should give us something, shouldn't he? Not just stupid answers either!" Alice practically shrieked, springing from her seat before pointing between them. "One of his people almost killed us for reasons he made clear was from his own negligence and now you're saying he's just going to send us back? Not even a trip to Disneyland?" Braedon sighed and rubbed his eyes, a pang of sympathy for John along with a silent commendation for his continued sanity in Alice's presence as short as it may have been.
The Jester's eyes narrowed, his patience clearly wearing thin. "And what makes you think you can simply 'go back' like nothing happened? As for you," he spat, turning his glare on Alice, "what conceivable reason do you have to believe I owe you anything? Because that idiot did something to you? You're both still alive and relatively alright so grow up little girl. If a high-ranking entity hadn't made such a fuss that my own boss got annoyed enough to threaten and warn me, I wouldn't have even bothered stepping in. I'd have simply cleaned up the mess myself afterwards, it would have saved me from the long list of problems I will soon be having now, so honestly speaking little girl, the two of you have royally screwed me over and made my life exceedingly difficult!" His anger, barely contained moments before, now simmered beneath his words.
"That's on him, not us!" Alice snapped back, refusing to yield an inch. "You even told him yourself that he handled it badly and it was his fault this happened!"
"Okay, calm down, Alice, you're out of line here, especially since were on his playing field right now!" Braedon interjected, cutting her off. "And as much as we both hate it, he's the reason we aren't currently being tortured or dead at the managers hands. As for you, don't take this the wrong way," he continued, turning to the Jester, "but open your eyes and actually look who your arguing with would you? She's... broken for lack of better wording due to her god and possibly due to something else happening from what she had mentioned to John so getting angry at her for being impulsive, crazy or even just reacting to her words only plays into her nature and wastes your breath and energy. She might even be doing it intentionally to get a rise out of you" The Jester's eyes narrowed further as he looked Alice over who let out an indignant "Hey!"
"Your mouth is far sharper than the owner of that body you inhabit, but I suppose I do see your point regarding the girl," the Jester conceded, a hint of grudging respect in his voice. "I'm also glad you grasp that your current continued existence is solely due to my intervention. All I will reveal about the one who compelled me to resolve this mess by bothering my boss is that they are considered a VIP and they possess abilities related to time. My boss though was the one who ordered that I bring you both in for… reasons you will find out later. Honestly it felt more like a favor from my boss to them though, which makes me quite curious about how your host came into contact with a VIP viewer as well as just who you happen to really be." His focus intensified, his gaze boring into Braedon as if attempting to peer into his very soul and weigh its measure.
"As I said, I'm Braedon," he replied, a slow, wry grin spreading across his face as he delivered his honest, if somewhat cheeky answer as he leaned forward to match the Jesters gaze. "One of many residents of John's mind."
The Jester did not appear amused by that but before he could retort, a new figure entered the room. This red-skinned being was distinctly different from their previous assailant and clearly female, she wore a pristine black and white maid uniform, her black hair flowing down her back with a thin veil obscuring her face. She bowed once to the Jester and seemed to whisper something into his ear before bowing again and leaving as swift and silently as she had arrived.
"I see." The Jester sighed, his frustration palpable. "You two can leave now. Take the hall you came from and the red door will lead you back to where came from. You'd have to be as stupid as this worm on the floor to miss it, I'd lead you out myself but it seems I need to begin cleaning up and sorting the mess you two and this incompetent worm have created, the attempts to take my position seem to have started sooner than I had hoped." He rose slowly and moved towards a large bookshelf. With a powerful pull, a section of the shelves slid to the side, revealing a large thin container that held a vibrant, deep crimson hue. Rings of intricate runes and strange script spiraled around it as a large, ashen runic mark seemed to be burnt into its center all well an aged paper adhered to its top to keep it shut.
The Jester pulled back his fist and then proceeded to throw it forward, shattering the container. The crimson revealed itself to be a viscous liquid that coated his hand and like a piranha sensing blood, it seemed to bite into his fist and arm, taking pieces before reforming to take the place of what it took, not a single drop was wasted as it replaced as much flesh as it could. Slowly, he drew his fist back as the last of the red liquid sank in before from his hand, a slender, almost luminous thread connected to a previously invisible chakram, its blade glowing snow-white like moonlight yet its inner core was black as night. With a grunt the Jester cast one last, annoyed look at the pair.
"I've told you how to leave. If anything happens now? Well, it is no longer my responsibility or concern. I did as ordered and now told to let you leave, I wasn't ordered to ensure you leave or escort you out." he stated coldly, his voice laced with exhaustion but firm resolve, as he exited the room, clutching the chakram tightly.
"Grrr, cheapskate, I was really hoping he'd give us something for what we went through!" Alice fumed, puffing out her cheeks in a frustrated pout as she stomped her foot. "Instead, he makes it seem like it was our fault this happened, drags us here, gives us nothing at all and then doesn't even have the courtesy to see us off! Just tells us where to go and ditches us well practically saying without words that we could encounter trouble!"
"It's actually better this way, though," Braedon countered, a wider grin spreading across his face as he stood up. "And we did learn some things from this whole experience."
"How is it better? What if another bastard like that red guy comes looking for trouble, or we get accused of being where we shouldn't and attacked or we can't find that red door he spoke of! Wait. What are you doing?" Alice began, her dislike of the entire situation clear before her eyes widened in surprise as she saw what he was doing. Braedon hadn't gone towards the exit; instead, he was making his way to the other side of the Jester's table, already pulling open its drawers and rummaging through them.
"Wait, you're going to steal from that guy!" Alice all but yelled, disbelief ringing in her voice. "Didn't you say and see he was really strong? I mean, the manager kicked our asses and now you want to steal from his boss? The guy who handled him like he was nothing?" She watched with fake, overly dramatic horror as Braedon simply rolled his eyes at her.
"Firstly, it's not stealing its compensation for what we endured. Next, he clearly has bigger issues to worry about than a few missing positions and we can just drag wormy over there with us and blame it on him, I mean from what I could understand of their conversation that's how they do things. Lastly, he didn't say we shouldn't touch anything. Rather, he said if anything happens, it's on us which to me means his all but released all responsibility in regards to anything we do. So, I'm simply taking advantage of his own word choice and making the most of this opportunity. That place where you keep your knife and other items, that 'hammer space', how large is its capacity?" Braedon finished with a large, almost predatory smirk, his final question catching Alice completely off guard.
"Hammer space? Uh, I don't really know, why? Did you find something? Wait, no! Just because I'm mad doesn't mean I want to try and find an early grave like this! I still want to get strong and have a lot more fights and special times with John!" Alice answered honestly, then immediately recoiled, wide-eyed, as Braedon pulled out a stack of paper slips, a smooth stone, a jade medallion and a strange metal plate from the drawer.
"I'll take full blame and responsibility for this if things don't work out, but our fall guy is right there so don't worry so much. Yes yes I know John wouldn't allow something like this, but that's because he doesn't understand the importance of taking every opportunity you can to be a good little loot goblin and pulling up everything you can including the kitchen sink if it isn't bolted down. Now put these away while I check the bookshelf." He instructed well shaking his head, moving away from the desk after finishing with its drawers and confirming the small computer was unfortunately locked. Reaching the first shelf, he slowly ran a hand over the book covers, not just searching for anything useful but also checking if any of the shelves could be moved as the Jester had done earlier. Alice stood biting her lip, plainly wrestling with herself before she slowly nodded and began to carefully tuck the retrieved items into the large front pocket of her dress, the space Braedon had dubbed her 'hammer space'.
"I didn't know I could keep things in there that didn't come from there," she finally mused, a wide smile now plastered on her face. "I thought it was only my knife and some plants that I use to make special things but this will be really handy in the future. Oooh, I wonder if I can keep people in there as well?" Her mind began to race and conjure images of stashing an entire army in her dress, only for them to suddenly appear from nowhere to crush her enemies well she laughed from behind them.
"Won't work," Braedon stated, his voice flat as he noticed Alice glance expectantly at her pocket. "There are strict limitations on such things, whether they're storage rings, bags or even sealed spaces. There are always balancing rules in play and the primary one for most standard storage spaces unless its for a main character's gear that's made so utterly thick in plot-armor that it rivals the mass of a neutron star circumventing such restrictions, is that living things cannot be kept inside of them. Sometimes even food is restricted as some freeze time and others just slows it well reacting badly to organic matter, not to mention size limitations and countless other aspects that play a part in it."
He then placed five medium-sized books on the table before her. Two were thin paperbacks with only five pages. Another was a richly brown hardcover, adorned with a gilded tree design and delicate gold trim. The final two appeared to be merely hardcovers, seemingly devoid of actual pages within. "After you put those away, we can go."
Alice stared at the peculiar collection, a confused frown creasing her brow. But before she could voice a question, Braedon was already striding towards the door, the limp body of the red being trailing behind him, its form secured by a single, taut chain.
"Sometimes," Braedon continued, his voice echoing slightly in the now-quieter office seemingly expecting her to question why only those ones and a pair of books without pages at that. "the simplest-looking objects can prove the most useful. Out of the entire bookshelf, those particular items seemed most pertinent for John. So put them away and let's go. It's about time we left this office and I want to investigate something interesting before we depart." He paused at the threshold, glancing back expectantly.
Alice, snapping out of her daze seeing him leaving without her, hurrying to store the books and run after him well wondering if he could read her mind. Her steps quickened as a spark of manic excitement ignited in her eyes a few moments later casting aside her worries and making her practically bounce with anticipation. "What could you possibly find interesting here though Braedon? I mean, isn't this your first time here too? Oh, wait!" Her voice rose with each word, her imagination running wild. "Is it something from the computer? Is it like, some super cheat code for us to become incredibly powerful super-fast? A way to split John form all of you so I can have him all to myself!!! Ooooh or is there a secret prison here and we're going to break everyone out, make them follow us as their glorious leaders for freeing them and lead a revolution? Oh, oh, or is there a secret armory and you're taking us there to get ultra-overpowered items to rule our own world and completely smash this place using some ultra-forbidden artifact they've hidden away in fear?!"
Braedon merely offered a slow, deliberate shake of his head as a faint, almost imperceptible smile played on his lips, having given it a bit more thought and her recent outburst, he felt that maybe, just maybe her exuberance would be a good balance to John's own sedimentary personality and a way to bring him out of himself. He continued leading her down the narrow hall toward the familiar red door that marked their exit. But instead of reaching for its handle and turning to leave he pivoted and opened the door directly opposite it, revealing a dark stretching path.