Chapter 1-Almost a Regular Day
Splashing water on his face never really helped take the grog away but Harker could never quite quit the habit, blasted nannies at the mansion were always so insistent on that specific part of morning routine. Yawning he looked into the mirror to see surly-looking eyes staring back at him. It probably wasn't the best decision to stay up until three in the morning even without his responsibilities for today.
"I shall wreak a great and-(sigh) I'm really too tired for humor right now"
The bland look in his eyes was enough to see that he should stop while he was behind. Snorting, Harker wiped away the water before turning to exit the bathroom. Stepping over scattered books and blankets that made up the tangled mess that was his room he opened the door to the small two-person apartment that he got according to his… deal. A blonde teen around 17 turned from his position on the couch to greet him.
"Oi, Harker; we're out of milk"
Harker waved and walked to the apartment kitchen, from the smell of it a Totino's pizza was in the microwave despite it being only 7 am. He mentally shrugged as he opened the fridge; Totino's was about the extent his roommate Louis could cook without burning the place down, previous experiences taught them that much.
"Heads up"
His hand grabbed the lunchbox sliding across the kitchen island, it was a nice gesture he had to admit; it was Louis's way of saying "Thanks for letting me live in the apartment" charming in its own way but unnecessary, the two had been living together for almost two years now any thanks that were to be given had long since been paid off (That and he paid for half of the bills). His eyes flickered over to his roommate's obviously exhausted form and sighed.
"How little do you sleep, Louis? We only got done with that last campaign at 1:30, yet you have enough time to do your workout and still make me a lunch"
The blond across the counter gave a weary grin and sniped back.
"You're one to talk, you knew you had work in the morning, yet you stayed up just as late as me"
"You called in a favor Louis"
"You're the DM, we both know you could have ended it early, but you were enjoying it just as much as we were"
Harker glared blandly at his roommate causing his grin to turn cheeky, it was always like this, Louis would push him into joining, Harker would be stubborn then he'd give in and end up having a good time. He sighed turning away as he knew he lost
"Why do I keep you around?"
"To help you pay the bills for the apartment"
He could pretty much hear Louis's grin growing as he rolled his eyes.
Louis was pretty much Harker's opposite, an extroverted, helpful, sporty neat freak who wanted to become a professional hockey player, and If he gave up on that the only thing stopping him from being the perfect house husband was his ability to burn water. To this day he had no idea how they had become friends, much less roommates after all the only things the two had in common were distant parents and a love of tabletop gaming.
"So how far along is the project?"
Harker was currently working as a part-time construction worker and right now they were in the middle of building an office building. It was nothing complicated, simply hard labor, and the pay was good enough for a teen about to be on his last year of school to stick with it.
"Still setting up the frame, nothing too special"
His voice trailed off as he began to scratch his chin, seemed he'd need to shave. Shrugging slightly, he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and grimaced as he realized how long he kept the contraption open, closing it sharply he moved to grab the work bag he'd left by the table the night before and threw in the water bottle before slinging it over his shoulder.
"Might not be back in time to make dinner so just be prepared to get takeout."
Louis's face twisted with disappointment and sighed with acceptance but that look quickly became a little panicked.
"I... Uh... Was hoping you could DM for tonight's campaign…."
Louis' voice trailed off as he saw the unimpressed look on his friend's face.
"Really, I just DM'd last night Louis and that took long enough as it was"
"But It turns out that I have the day off today Harker, so I've got lots of time to make all the preparations for our pathfinder campaigns"
Harker crossed his arms scowling all the while
"Decorations and audio speakers are not required for tabletop games Louis"
Louis held a hand to his mouth in a mock affronted look.
"You would have us face the Shepherd and finally ascend the Starstone without the proper ambiance? For shame Harker, for shame"
Harker scowled as he wondered which was worse, the pathfinder party that he DM'd for occasionally(I.E Louis bothering him until he gave up) becoming gods or the amount of time Louis spent on setting the mood(that they would all ruin), one was rather comedic but would end with the poor people of Golarion dying a week later due to one of them probably breaking Rogavug's jail by throwing the vorpal rabbit at it for some godforsaken reason and the other was just kind of sad due to the effort put into the decorations that would be thrown away the very next day.
"Ignoring the waste of time that is your decorations, I don't have an overly lenient boss who just lets us have the day off all the time, not only that but I have a far more demanding job, Louis. I'm not going to have the energy for this when I get back."
"You had enough energy yesterday"
"I had a half-day which only involved making sure the materials were protected from the elements"
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed
"Just DM yourself, Louis, we both know you're more than capable"
"But then old man Wyzalpazz the human wizard will not reach the true conclusion of his story!"
"He's a bored fey elder sorcerer and we all know it"
Louis pouted dramatically in mock offense.
"Such cruelty Harker to deny an old man his dream but (sigh) fine I'll DM for the group"
Harker quietly chuckled savoring his victory but then suddenly froze as he smelled the stench coming from the box.
"Louis... What did you make for my lunch"?
Unaware of Harker's growing horror Louis nonchalantly responds.
"Oh, just some fish I found in the fridge and the cinnamon bread from the drawer then I remembered you like your fish spiced sometimes so I added some of that steak seasoning you have in the pantry"
Harker looked down at the lunchbox in his hands and then looked back up to see his friend's bright innocent smile, his eye twitched twice. He walked towards the window and threw the lunchbox out, hopefully, the woods would forgive him in time. Louis ran towards the window.
"Why did you do that?"
"Louis I say this both as your friend and somewhat respectable member of society, but I banned you from making anything in the kitchen for a reason!"
(Line Break)
He spent a lot more time in the nearby seven-eleven than he'd like to admit but, in his defense, it was a nice little place that was out of the way from most shoppers and as an added bonus, it was always open so whenever he was in a rush the little store had passable food that he could choke down. Was it tasty? Not so much. Healthy? Laughable, but when needs must you do what you gotta do to keep yourself from starving. He gave a small nod to the cashier as she rang up his total and he left to his truck outside. Patting the sturdy old thing he was about to unlock his door when a voice cut through the relative silence.
"May I have a moment of your time Mr. Aldia"
He froze before slowly looking to his right where an old man holding a cane sat on the edge of the cargo bed looking back at him with a soft smile on his face, he looked a lot like those old pictures of Albert Einstein, but he was just... Wrong, too tall, too thin not to mention those unnatural golden eyes that brought to mind falling sand. Turning his body ever so slightly and pulling his left arm back in preparation Harker opened his mouth to speak.
"Can I at least know who's asking before I start declining old man"
A twinkle appeared in the eyes of the stranger as he dropped to the ground and bowed deeply, too deeply for an old man
"Ah silly me my name is Albert but please just call me Al"
Harker narrowed his muddy eyes at "Al" in a mix of amusement and derision. Yet he felt a scratching at the back of his eyes, that particular sensation was familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it.
"Right… taking the Einstein impression a bit far aren't you pal"
Hopefully, he would be offended enough that he would leave but unfortunately for him the smile on Albert's face didn't change instead it seemed to grow cheeky. Harker's unease grew even more as he began to wrap his keys around his fist discreetly as he could.
"Well, I'm glad you recognized the impression I was going for at least; you'd be surprised at the number of people that wouldn't" He twirled his cane about cheerful and carefree
"What do you want?"
The grin on Al's face was bright and innocent
"I've come to give a gift, something that will help you eventually"
A glass needle appeared in Albert's hand; perhaps it was a trick of the light, but it seemed to glow ever so softly and the scratching in his eyes intensified. Harker gave him a look of utmost contempt.
"I don't do drugs, old man"
Albert seemed almost embarrassed at the word as he tried to explain it away, it was far from the best effort he'd seen.
"It doesn't affect your mind or body, well that was not exactly true it-"
"I'm not interested. Get out of here. Now"
Albert looked disappointed but not particularly surprised.
'If you knew the outcome why bother with it at all?'
"Well (Sigh), this will make things harder"
Harker raised an eyebrow at that but before he could the old man stood up straight and turned around walking away twirling his cane lackadaisical yet somehow elegantly.
"Very well I shall take my leave, fare thee well Mr. Aldia we will meet again"
Harker got into the truck grumbling, the slightly dusty exterior doing nothing to help his mood as he sneezed.
"Not if I have to say anything about it "Einstein"
Yet just as he was about to drive away, he saw the very drug that was in the old man's hand balancing on the wheel.
'The Hell?'
He grabbed it seeing the note tied around the vial.
"Saying no to drugs is an admirable stance in most cases but sadly you are going to need it. Not today or tomorrow but soon. So, keep it on you till then. On another note, keep a watch on the construction beams today, Alva, one of them is going to fall from above. Sincerely, Albert"
Alva? How in hell did he-? Harker gritted his teeth as he jammed the blasted vial deep in his bag, he couldn't get rid of it now; he may hate their society, but he wasn't stupid enough to not obey the few rules it had.
'Fucking Mages'
(Line break)
Carpenter and sons were a local construction company who had been in this state since the family moved here back in 1873. They were well known for being pretty understanding to their workers situations if demanding when they are working. Hell, they never asked questions if you worked in basic labor, they just checked your physical health regularly to make sure you didn't die. It was one of the big reasons Harker stayed on board with the company despite his own lack of real interest in construction plus the pay was pretty good even for one of the smaller groups.
"Good day Harker"
"Harker"
"Morning"
"Out of the way kid"
He went on his way passing men and women, some acquaintances, some not, and some he couldn't care less about. The construction site brought all types of people as long as they were willing to work, most at least tried to be friendly even if they found him odd and he could respect that even if he usually didn't return the favor.
"Hey there Crocy"
Ah yes, nicknames. Due to being a much smaller group that worked together often, the workers were a lot closer and as such would often give each other nicknames like "Ace", "Muleanny" or "Mango man". His was the "The Apathetic Crocodile" apparently, they chose it because of his natural grumpy and standoffish behavior, he wasn't upset about it; there were a lot worse names could have given him, just ask "Sonic Fan Art"
Walking through waking machinery and sleepy mounds, He did his best to ignore it all; he had enough problems today without having to deal with the admittedly well-meaning people.
"You're a bit earlier than usual and more awake at that, Aldia"
A gruff old voice came from behind him; he gave a small sigh and turned to see an old buff woman with her fists on her hips. Georgia Carpenter, his boss. Carpenter was a stubborn, slightly spiteful woman who looks like she was cut from granite, and from the way she occasionally hits things is probably built from granite as well, yet despite all that, she was the only person on this site that he could call a friend, if only on his good days.
"My Roommate forgot that he's a hazardous material in the kitchen" He scratched the back of his head absentmindedly.
A twinkle appeared in her eyes as she walked beside him, shovel in hand.
"Had to flee huh, can't say I blame you"
Her mouth stretched into a mocking grin.
"You remember when he thought you forgot lunch and brought some homemade stuff"
He did remember, he's pretty sure the only reason his co-workers didn't laugh at them then and there was the fact they were running for the hills. Didn't stop Georgia from laughing at him later though. He said nothing, her smile didn't change but he could see her eyes getting softer.
"Too traumatized for the usual play by play (Sigh) fine"
She tossed the shovel to him and gestured to a discordant pile of earth near the center of the site.
"Some idiot kids broke in here and somehow managed to hotwired one of the bulldozer's, they ended up crashing into one dirt mounds before any serious damage was done but we can't move the mound with the bulldozers without damaging some of the materials or losing them"
He shrugged and walked off into the distance, he had work to do. He heard her whisper something under her breath, he didn't recognize the tone but right now he didn't care.
(Line Break)
It was about midday and they were nearing the end of the lunch break, workers milled all about talking about nonsensical and mundane things like the most recent football game or some person they fancied. It was oddly pleasant for Harker, this random regular nonsense of people's lives, paradoxical statement as it was. He softly smiled as he looked upon the scene some distance away, People Watching one of his favorite activities. No matter how much Goredolf would say it was creepy, Harker would always love to watch the comings and goings of people; well, most of the time, back home watching people always made him feel sick due to what many of them would do, there's only so many time your mother can feed intruders to the garden before you find it disturbing.
'The way the plants crunch them…' He shuddered and cringed.
"You almost looked happy there for a moment Aldia"
He didn't turn his head, nonetheless, Georgia walked towards him. The shadow of the building they were constructing stood as a shadowy backdrop to the scene, perched atop some parts of the building sat some steel girders that were left when the workers rushed to their lunches
"What's wrong kid, you're too young to be this bitter and you're just grumpy not a… what is the word... goth?"
"I believe the term you're looking for is edge lord"
She grinned and looked to the skies; it was a rather beautiful day after all.
"Well at least you're speaking again so tell me what's wrong, you're usually up for some snappy banter"
Harker looked up to the sky, the clouds flowing along intermittently blocking out the sun. He turned his head to her and sighed.
"A man that works with my family came by today"
Not the exact truth but close enough without telling the old woman some dangerous secrets. She nodded, she knew enough to know the Harker never got along with his family, or if he was close to some of them never spoke of them.
"Tried to get you to go back to your folks?"
Harker shook his head, it wasn't even close to what happened but wasn't the strangest leap that could be made, after all Harker knew that it was rather open knowledge to anyone who knew him that he emancipated from his parents before coming here, it wasn't that he went out of his way to tell people it was just he also never really bothered to hide that fact.
"Offered me something, turned it down, he left quietly"
"So, what's keeping you in a funk?"
"Just bad memories Georgia"
Her face turned hard as she looked at him from the corner of her eye
"Did they ever abuse you?"
Concern was evident in her tone, he wondered why she cared so much sometimes, she was a good boss, but it was strange to someone like him to have an overseer who gave a damn. She's never given a straight answer, but he never really felt concerned because even if he didn't know the exact reason he knew enough to know that her concern came from a genuine place, not something plastered to ease one's efforts to manipulate him, he remembered enough of his father's lessons to recognize that.
"Never, Georgia. Not once"
This was the untainted truth, no matter how stern his father was or how much he disagreed with his mother they were never abusive it practically made them saints among their kind. He wondered what they were doing now, if they were still the same. His mother in the garden manipulating the plants trying to create new species, his father in his chair making sure the house was in order, his sister in the woods speaking to the spirits. That's what was once his home, once.
" ... Then, if you don't mind me asking, what did happen between you and your family"
Harker closed his eyes for a moment.
"They wanted me to become one thing, I wanted to be another"
A horn sounded in the distance and many of the workers groaned and sighed. Georgia snorted at the sight.
"Sure, you're going to be okay Harker?"
He gave a small grin
"I always am"
The second horn sounded across the site and the rowdy workers finally began to move.
"Lunch time's over people, get back to work!"
Her voice boomed across the site getting the workers to move quicker, however instead of simply moving on she grabbed Harker's hand and pulled him up.
"You too 'Crocy', too much work to go around to have you slacking off"
"When have I-"
He heard a creak of metal above him and the words on the note came back to him.
'Keep a watch on the construction beams today, Alva, one of them is going to fall from above'
He had enough time to curse before his eyes snapped up and time began to slow. With the adrenaline flowing through his mind, he was able to make several observations in a matter of seconds
One of the workers must have settled the girder badly in his rush to get down to lunch
It was falling quickly
It wasn't going to land on him
It was going to land on Georgia
She definitely wasn't going to be able to move in time
He shouldn't do anything, there are rules. He shouldn't do anything; he's looked past hundreds of other people so doing anything would make him a hypocrite. He shouldn't… damn. Fuck logic
'Apathetic crocodile my ass'
This was going to hurt.
The falling horse catches flame, up becomes down, reason becomes madness. The horse charges, the Starry River rushes behind. Keep running, keep running, keep-
Too much
The river crashed past the banks
Too much
The horse is consumed by the water
TOO MUCH!
Desolation and madness spreads through the land
His eyes snapped open. The girder was still falling, his friend was going to die, he didn't have the time to deal with his bullshit. 'Focus'. Ignore the ripping sensation, focus the power into a recognizable form. 'Do not Yield'. I haven't forgotten, father.
He closed his eyes again, dam the river, focus the energy. No more hesitation.
His palm flew forward along with raw power and Georgia flew with it.
The girder hit the ground with a jarring clang.
"...Ergh"
He opened his eyes and saw the old woman groaning on the ground. She got on her knees and began to vomit.
'Oh right, I hit her in the stomach didn't I'
She finished regurgitating her lunch and looked back at the steel girder raising a shaky hand to the thing that almost crushed her before a look of sheer fury appeared on her face. She turned to the mass of workers that were staring at the scene in shock and brief horror.
"YOUBUNCHOFFCUKINGMORONICPISSBAGSI'MGONERIPOUTYOUREYESANDPISSINYOURDEADSKULL!YOUTHIKTHATWASAPROPERFASTENINGYOUBLOODYCUNTSILLSHOWYOUAPROPERFASTENINGWHENIFASTENEDYOURSKULLSTOOTHEHOODOFMYCAR!"
With that kind of rage fueling her, the old woman was able to ignore the pain of being hit by an unstable blast of prana and charge at her workers with a fury that'd make the berserkers of old proud. Scary to be on the receiving end but for most of the workers it was far preferable to having her die, she was a good boss and friend to most of them after all.
"FROM NOW ON YOU FINISH THE GIRDER YOU'RE ON BEFORE YOU COME DOWN OR I SWEAR I WILL KILL EACH AND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU INSPID BASTARDS. AM I UNDERSTOOD!"
Hearing a resounding yes Georgia huffed out a pissed "Good" before turning to see Harker standing still seemingly locked in place. She rubbed her stomach in pain as the adrenaline finally wore off, her walk grew into a limp as she moved towards him.
"Thanks for the save there Crocy"
His entire body was tensed up and perhaps it was her imagination but was that red splotches coming up across his skin?
"Aldia?"
No response. She placed a hand on his shoulder, she could feel a great amount of heat like if he had a fever.
"Harker?"
He stirred and looked at her.
"I- I'm here"
"What happened"
His mouth opened for a moment but quickly shut.
"Could I go home, I- Don't feel well"
She looked at him for a time before sighing and showing a grin.
"I think the both of us could do with some rest kiddo, go on home Harker"
He nodded.
"Thank you"
"Have a nice day Crocy"
The two began to walk away Georgia hunched over as she limped cursing all the while, Harker silent and seemingly unfocused. Once he made it to his truck behind the fence Harker doubled over before it and began to vomit up blood. He managed to stumble his way to the back door and crawled onto the seats before he let the pain grow too great to ignore. If you were to happen to be near, you'd be able to hear his muffled screams of anguish and if you were to look in the windows, you'd see a teenager writhing in agony. It didn't matter, he will survive this, he always has.
(Line break)
He opened the door to the apartment and let out a sigh before flopping down on the couch. The prana had long since run its course so for the most part, he was fine, for the most part. His body still hurt but at least it was manageable.
"You're home really early today"
He slowly turned his head to see exactly what he feared, Louis in a pile of paper with a pair of scissors and a bucket of markers looking curiously at him.
"Yeah well, the boss let me off early"
"So, I'm guessing you're less tired than usual..."
'Oh god no'
"That means you can DM!"
"Louis..."
"Oh, this is going to be so much better…."
"Louis"
"Maybe you can cook..."
"LOUIS!"
They both froze staring at each other,
"I almost died today. Could we please just shelve this for later" Louis's eyes widened as he stilled even further.
Silence.
"Please..."
Louis slowly nodded and got up from his pile moving to the fridge
"Louis. Don't cook"
"I'm just getting something to drink Harker"
He sighed and turned to lay on his stomach.
'One hell of a day isn't it'
(line break)
Louis placed a glass of water on the coffee table and sat upon a chair adjacent to him. The pain had finally gone away but he was in no mood to move
"You about ready to talk about it Harker?"
"No"
"You can't remain on this couch forever"
"Says who"
"Your bladder for instance"
Irritation began to bleed into Louis's voice, Harker himself felt enough to match it himself
"There isn't much to say Louis"
He stood up and threw his hands in the air.
"You said you almost DIED Harker, how is that NOT a big deal?"
Harker flipped onto his back and raised an eyebrow at him.
"And why do I care about this more than you?!"
"Louis I'm fine, I'm okay"
Louis was normally easy going and friendly, it wasn't that he never got mad (Harker would slap anyone who'd say so) it was just he put a lot of time into being patient with people, it was something he needed when he was younger. So, when a look of absolute fury appeared on his face Harker was understandably taken aback.
"NO, YOU ARE NOT FINE HARKER!"
His fist slammed on the coffee table knocking the undrunk glass to the ground and causing Harker to jump up from his position.
"Do you think I'm blind Harker? I can recognize pain when I see it"
He took a deep breath trying to calm down.
"I could see it from the moment you walked in the door, Harker"
He saw the scowl forming on Harker's face and cut him off before he could say anything.
"You like DM'g Harker, don't deny it I know you do. It makes you happy and happiness alleviates pain even if only a little"
He sat down on the chair and held his head in his hands.
"Is it really so bad that I'd want you to do something that makes you happy or want to know what almost killed you?"
Harker picked the glass off the floor and looked for a towel, Louis had a scowl on his own face at this point, but it faded when he saw what he was doing.
"No, it isn't"
He grabbed a towel from the linen closet and began to clean up the mess.
"I almost got crushed by a steel girder today, maybe it wasn't properly set or was just balanced improperly but it almost killed me"
"That isn't all, is it? You wouldn't collapse in pain of a girder almost fell on you"
He sighed and got off his knees.
"Can you just accept that much Louis?"
"Could you?"
Harker turned to face him straight in the eyes.
"Yes, I could"
Those three words seemed to strike harder than a hammer. Louis looked down simply sitting in silence before speaking once more.
"Why?"
Harker looked away.
"Why doesn't it matter to you, why would you just... look away?"
His voice was fragile; almost scared.
"Our childhoods taught us different things Louis, you were taught the value of patience, I..."
A broken glass, a hall of shattered bodies, pain brought by the shared dream of the magi.
"I was taught that it doesn't matter, my pain or others I just…. Have to look away, have to keep going"
"Even if they almost die?"
"Even if they do die"
The silence continued for a long moment before Louis sighed. A bit of life returned to his eyes and he gave a small smirk.
"You know, context on your oh so secret past will let me understand your position better"
He smiled too; a bit empty but the effort was there.
"Or it might let you make a proper argument for once"
"Drats, my evil plan foiled before it could start"
The two chuckled softly then Harker moved to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"You drank the last of the soda last night, I need more if I'm going to tolerate your bumbling rolls"
The smile on their faces grew more honest.
"So, you'll join in"
"I can't keep wallowing now, can I. My bladder would burst"
They both grinned but Louis had one more questioned just as he was about to walk out the door.
"Harker. Will you ever tell me what happened? Back then?"
He didn't turn but his response came no matter how quiet.
"No" 'Even if it was allowed…'
Louis sighed and looked away.
"Well, I guess I should have expected that, in that case, I should get back to making decorations then"
"I still think you put way too much effort into those"
"Hey, it adds to the atmosphere you jerk!"
It wasn't quite normality, but it was enough for them
(Line Break)
'Well, that was fun'
"Thanks for coming guys, we'll finish the campaign next time"
The four players were all smiles as they laughed at the absurdity of what just happened, you see they fought up their way up the Starstone in a "Successful" way, if splitting the party and throwing angels and random demons out onto the city can be called successful but that really isn't the point, the real problem was the final chamber of the Starstone. For in the final chamber of the Starstone stood the Shepherd, an antediluvian being from the heart of the Negative Energy plane, no one knows how old it is, was it something that had only come into creation now or did it exist even before Asmodeus and Ihys? It doesn't matter because they've never paid attention to the carefully written lore he wrote. As soon as they entered the chamber Wyzalpazz opened a pocket dimension where he kept a tamed Tarrasque(Strangest use of an hourglass of shadows he's ever seen), it quickly devolved from there. The dwarven pugilist threw noxious food, tables, and horses to a surprising effect, the Cavalier failed all his rolls as in all his rolls, the Cleric snapped and decided to challenge the shepherd to a knife fight with a spoon (They just had to insist on insanity mechanics) and Wyzalpazz made everything worse by just flinging random spells (And his "Grimoire" as well). Even with the Tarrasque they weren't doing so well considering they were ignoring the defenses that they could wake up to help them despite the fact Harker repeatedly said, "Wake the defenses up you stupid morons". So yes, the Shepherd beat the crap out of them and the only thing that kept the campaign from complete defeat was Wyzalpazz throwing his pet rabbit "Tim" in the center of the ritual that would make the recipient a god, yet another disaster in other words for it ascended as the god of butchery and savagery (He was feeling rather petty) and it broke out of the Starstone and went on a rampage, that's about where they left off. Fun times.
Louis closed the door and threw a napkin at Harker.
"Did you really have to turn my rabbit into an omnicidal god"
An evil grin clashed against Louis's pout.
"Hey, it isn't a proper tabletop game without the DM trying to kill you"
"It's bullshit"
"You guys were going to lose anyways I just made sure it was in a much more amusing this way"
The two of them laughed as they moved to clean up the table.
"This was fun, Louis"
He rolled his eyes at Louis's smug smile.
"We are still not doing this for another week at least, you know"
Louis wiped away the stain created when he got a dice thrown in his throat; some people don't appreciate being turned to stone apparently.
"Yeah but admitting that this is fun is a big step forward!"
"Towards what?"
"The vaunted realm of true friendship and the power within!"
Louis pointed up in the air dramatically while Harker simply stared.
"What?"
"... Have you been a brony this entire time?"
Louis froze
"No…."
"Louis…"
"Yes..."
They stood in silence.
"I have no words"
"I've watched it since I was little"
The silence extended; Harker tried to break it.
"You don't have to justify it Louis, I happen to like Shaun the Sheep"
A new silence was made. Louis looked away and Harker coughed into his hand.
"I promise I won't make you watch it"
"Thanks, I never liked horses"
"Really? Why?"
"Just don't like them, I'm fine with donkey's oddly enough"
Another silence. Louis spoke up feeling rather awkward.
"Want to finish cleaning up tomorrow?"
"Yep"
Harker swore he could hear crickets.
"Well goodnight then"
"You too Louis"
Louis called out just before Harker opened his door.
"Harker, you can talk to me you know. I'm here"
He looked back at him.
"Well, that's touching but it would have been more impressive if we hadn't just gotten done talking about our secret children's cartoons"
Louis snorted
"Wow just kill my thunder why don't you"
He grinned.
"See you tomorrow Louis. Hopefully, it will be a regular day"
Louis's blue eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Now that's just tempting Murphy my friend"
"Yeah, well screw him"
As he opened the door Harker could have sworn that he heard "Einstein" laugh with them in that moment.
I know it's a bit slow, but It'll get into the more magical stuff next chapter and maybe the beginning of the actual singularity depending on how I feel about it. Expect it to be a lot different than how it went normally, there will be two new servants, Saber and a Rider.
Drowning City of Ash: Fuyuki
-Beginning of the End