Lili is such a weird fucking person.
Super-empathy may not be in my deck of cards alongside super-brain and super-murder, but the super-brain does let me twig the most of my own empathy and learned experiences.
I really need to emphasize to myself just how fucking broken this young woman is that she's so practiced at self-deprecation yet simultaneously so focused and driven. There's a buried emotion that I would have trouble noticing if I didn't have foreknowledge of her situation, but armed with that understanding of Liliruca Arde as a person it isn't hard to see that it's a focused, determined desperation.
Nobody should have to feel like that, even if they were the shittiest of shit people. If they're decent, pain should be short. If they're evil, pain should still be short, if violent. Liliruca is a young woman that's lived in fear for her entire life, with a faint light of hope dangled by the man that's made her life a shitshow, and it shows in her every other couple of actions, movements, and glances that twinges my Hypercognition as her measuring how much of a threat I am, and measuring if she can shank me and flee.
Until about five minutes ago when she suddenly relaxed for no discernible reason and stopped with antagonistic analysis, insomuch as the tiny criminal could. Just, whoop, comparatively completely calm, chill, and friendly. Still fake as hell, but that's a learned and self-taught behavior that won't go away without effort, but this is just… I have no idea what's going on in your head, Lili.
God, you're so fucking weird, you tiny murderess.
Well, if anything else, this entire experience has been good for dicking around with my Mind Enhancement. My Mind Augmentation? Maugmentation? Migmentation? Hrm, I'll workshop it!
The passive act of pushing my Mind at my body for a minor but additional boost on top of Modius Temperance has gone well, with frustrating realizations.
I can't keep it up for a long period of time.
No matter what I do, no matter how I switch the target of my Mind around my body, the focus of the force slowly fades away as my body starts getting a little tired from the strain. It ultimately forces me to drop the buff as it decays, robbing me of stamina as I go.
This is the most tired I've been in the Dungeon in a few weeks, but I do feel good about it! I'll try to keep at it for a while to see if I can figure out how to keep it going for longer, but if that ultimately fails, I'll just keep it up for a minute or so at a time, with small cooldowns in between.
It tends to start off with a sudden spike of noticeably more powerful strength, anyway, so using it in short bursts seems reasonable.
"Wanna grab a bite to eat?" I ask, turning to Lili, "I'm feeling a mite peckish."
Lili stares back at me, cocking her head, unhidden by her hood that she'd pulled back a short while ago. A little after I'd stopped getting shank signals from her, actually. That… was probably related?
Ugh, really going to need to splurge on super-empathy at some point.
"Lili would like a hot meal," she mutters thoughtfully, "Lili's certain that as Mister Crow was the one that offered, he wouldn't mind paying, yes?"
"Call me Ken, or Crow. Not Mister nothing," I snort, "And sure, I don't mind paying. It's a date."
"Wh- it is not a date!" Lili spits, glaring up at me with a flushed face, "You move too fast! What are you, an enemy of women?"
I stare down at her, face blank. Where the hell did this sudden tsundere bullshit come from?
"It's a saying, Lili," I respond, tone flat, before my lips twitch into a smirk. "I'd like to know you a bit more before I date you."
Her glare tightens and she kicks at my heel as I turn to lead us to the Dungeon entrance.
Just another day in paradise.
"Mama Mia. Big woman. Attractive, in a strong, 'can break me' kind of way. One of the best kind of ways," I note, muttering the last bit, as we stand outside the Hostess of Fertility, "I like her, and both she and her employees are cool. Best behavior, murder midget."
Lili stares into the distance, a complicated look on her face as she lowly mutters, "…'Murder midget'?"
"Good talk," I move forward to the entrance, pushing my way through the door as I cheerfully greet the proprietress, "Sup, Mia, is the meat as good as always?"
"Not if I don't beat it to a pulp first," she gruffly responds, glaring at me, leaving me to blink in response.
Huh?
I blink at her in confusion, turning to glance at the maids around the shop, multiple of whom are smirking at me.
"Something on my face?" I wonder lowly, rubbing at my cheek.
"No," a familiar face answers me, and I blink at Chloe as she continues with a teasing smirk. "Hmmm, you're older than I'd prefer, but maybe we could go for a spin some time?"
"Mrowr, careful, Chloe!" Anya calls over to us, "You wouldn't want to break him!"
I roll the past minute back in my head, and sigh in annoyance.
"Enemy of women," Lili mutters with a smirk.
"I am not an enemy of women," I instantly defend myself, before hesitating and compromising, "I am, at most, an enemy of amazons. They like it though, so that's fine."
Lili gives me a disbelieving look in response.
What's with that look?! It's perfectly fine!
I've knocked up one amazon and a second is waiting in line for her own child, but that's just amazon things! It's totally normal!
"Captain!" a voice calls out, and I blink up at Bell.
Bell. Bell Cranel. The adventurer with a clear soul. The adventurer with a clear soul that I absolutely didn't want to make his way to the Hostess of Fertility. The Hostess of Fertility that has someone with some sort of weird tie to Freya I know because of getting slightly spoiled on the anime, but know uncomfortably little about.
Bell Cranel that is being served by a blushing Syr and surrounded by his three senpai Pallum.
Goddammit, you little shits. You brought him here?!
Fuck me, they had no idea, but fuck.
"Hey, kids!" I wave back, nothing but cheer showing on my face, "You got room for two more?"