"So..." Riley had been so preoccupied with rigging up her decoy brain that she hadn't been paying attention to what Pinky was doing. "What's with the tent?"
It was about the size of a dollhouse and was painted an eye-searing shade of red.
"What's with what?" Pinky pulled on an edge and a wall snapped into place.
"The tent, house, shelter." Riley pointed at it. "The big red thing!"
Pinky cocked her head before shaking it. "Do you Tallfolk not have expandable structures around here?" She sighed. "That's so sad." She grabbed a red flap and held it open. "You see, the inside is bigger than the outside, just like a bag of holding. However, it's constantly open and lets air in, so you can live in it. It's a common enchantment... At least where I come from."
Riley raised an eyebrow. It sounded like the gnomes had their own Tinker-equivalents. Interesting, but not what she was talking about.
"I mean, why is it red?" The small structure stuck out against the white background like a beacon. "Animals will see it from miles away."
Pinky put her hands on her hips. "That's because I didn't have enough allotment saved up to get an invisible one. Those things are expensive, y'know?"
"I bet." Riley replied dryly. "But why not white?"
Pinky scoffed. "Because that would stand out like a sore thumb in the Red Lands!"
"The Red Lands?"
Pinky nodded. "Yep. That's where I'm heading!"
Riley rubbed her temples. "Pinky, let's pretend I don't know anything about the Red Lands."
The gnome nodded again. "Sure! I can do that!"
"...Will you explain it to me?"
"Why not." Pinky shrugged. "It's not a secret if I know it. The Red Lands are one of the sections of the Dyed Lands. It's red, and has lots of plants in it. Most of the animals are herbivores - that means they eat plants and not Fraerlings, which is good. The plants have lots of poisons and pollens and stuff that you have to look out for, which is bad."
"Is that where you're from?" And what was a Fraerling?
Pinky shook her head. "Nope! I'm from... a secret place." She smiled and ducked her head. "Sorry, I can't tell you that, but I wanted to visit the Red Lands."
"Why?" Could she want to gather the plants for something? Pinky didn't look like a Tinker, but she clearly had some... Well, Riley supposed they couldn't be Shard-powers. Class-powers? Skills? That was what she'd said before, right?
"To level up, of course!" Pinky smiled. "I might be a [Fool], but the really stupid ones are the Fraerlings who just sit on their laurels!"
Riley frowned. That was the second time she'd used that word. "What's a Fraerling?"
"I am... going to tell you." Pinky coughed into her hand. "They're a race of small people, about my size. We, erm, they live in hidden cities because they're so small. They're also super smart, and brave! Well, some of them are. The ones that go out where there are monsters. Brave or [Fools], or perhaps a little bit of both."
Riley gave her a blank stare. "So you're a Fraerling?"
Pinky gasped. "Who told you!?" She groaned. "Awww... it was going to be such a great joke too! Imagine if I got you to tell people that I was a gnome! I bet even the Titan never did that."
Riley suppressed a groan. "Pinky, I'm not from around here." Why couldn't she get that through her tiny skull? Or was it purposeful obfuscation? Was she just pretending to be so scatterbrained? "I don't know a lot of what you think is common knowledge. Pretend like I know nothing about the Dyed Land, or Fraerlings, or Titans and explain things from the beginning. Please."
Pinky crossed her arms. "Fine. I probably wasn't going to level anyways if you saw through my brilliant Gnome deception." She looked up at Riley before climbing up the walls of her house with surprising agility. "There, now I won't get a crick in my neck." She sat down. "Okay, so you're a human, right?"
Riley nodded. "Right." Technically, she was a heavily modified parahuman, but she was still human.
"And you don't know about Fraerlings, right?"
"Right."
Pinky hummed. "Well, that means you probably aren't from Baleros." Pinky tilted her head. "How'd you end up in the Dyed Lands then?" She then slapped both of her cheeks with her hands. "No, no, no. No [Foolish Thoughts] right now. Okay, where to begin?" She thought for a moment. "I'm a Fraerling. We're small, so we hide because Tallfolk can easily hurt us if they aren't paying attention. Most of us don't leave our cities, but I wanted adventure and to level, so I did." Pinky looked proud. "It was the most foolish thing I could think of!"
"Okay, I get that. So your world has humans." Riley pointed at herself. "People that look like me?"
Pinky nodded. "Yeah. There aren't as many of you in Baleros, but you're still not an uncommon sight. Humans are spread out all over the world." She stroked her chin. "Probably because you've never done anything as a race that got everyone to gang up on you."
"Oh?" Riley was afraid of tangents, but if this world had humans - and English - there was obviously some relation to Earth Iota.
"Yep!" Pinky smiled. "Fraerlings too! We're both in the same class of 'not being enough of an asshole that everyone wants us dead!"
"Are there..." Riley paused and thought about how to ask her question. In fact, asking too many was probably what led to her not getting answers in the first place. "Are there a lot of races that have been 'assholes' in the past?"
"Oh yeah." Pinky nodded. "Tons of them! Let's see... the last big ones were the Antinium. The whole world ganged up on them when they sent their army across the ocean. After that, well, they were another continent's problem, so I'm not sure. Speaking of Izril, the Drakes were a pest in the past. And the harpies for some reason, maybe, not sure about that one. The Gnolls haven't really upset anyone to my knowledge - except the Drakes, but everyone upsets them."
Pinky paused to think. "Yeah, going by continent works. Here in Baelros, the Centaurs are cool. They don't do much 'cause there aren't that many of them. Or the Gazers. Or the Lizardfolk, if you exclude the Nagas. Of course, I think the Great Companies tried to invade Izril because of them - so that might count as uniting the world against you? Dullahans too. Huh, now that I think about it, it's really only the Selphids that got knocked down hard."
Pinky clapped. "Oh! And the vampires! But that was another world-wide thing if I remember my history classes right. What else? I'm not sure about the Dwarves, they stick to themselves. There aren't enough halfelves for them to matter. Stringfolk are probably next on the 'Let's take over the world and piss everyone off' list."
Pinky stood up and started pacing on top of her roof. "I feel like I'm forgetting a lot of people... Oh! The Minotaurs! They were a big deal, uhm... at some point." She looked up apologetically. "Sorry, Bit. I'm not a [Historian], so I've probably left a lot out."
"No, no, that's fine." Riley waved her off. "I didn't realize there were so many races here, my world only has one." Or two if you counted Shards.
Pinky smiled. "Your world must be pretty high level. I've never seen a [Saw Doctor] with so many skills. What level are..." The Fraerling's tiny hands went to her mouth. "Sorry! I was being rude there!"
Riley sighed. She wasn't sure if Pinky didn't believe her when she'd said she didn't have a class, or if she'd forgotten. "It's fine. So what was that about the 'Dyed Lands'? Is that where we are?" Were invisible animals perhaps NOT the norm for this world?
That would be both good and bad. Good in that she wouldn't have to deal with them trying to eat her once she reached civilization. Bad in that they were interesting. Still, she had time. She could figure some things out.
"Yep!" Pinky put her hands on her hips. "This WHOLE place was contaminated by some HUGE magical experiment gone bad a long time ago! It would be more accurate to call it a collection of Death Zones rather than a single one!"
A collection? Riley narrowed her eyes. "So, I take it we're in 'white', and you said there's a 'red'. What other zones are there?"
"Well..." Pinky began counting on her fingers. "White, Red, Green, Blue, the other White, uhm... Black?" She shrugged. "I don't think there's an accurate tally or anything. Those are the ones on the outside, but there are probably more in the middle. There's so much magic in the area that some spells go wonky, and [Explorers] high enough level to come inside are rare."
"Explorers?" Riley looked at the fire pit and tent divots that she'd found on the plateau. "So people come in here? Why?" It was obvious to her why a Parahuman would come inside if this place had existed on Earth Bet, but she could also tell when her Passenger was pressing for something. Tinkers had the advantage in that (like so many other things). The urge to build things had been with her ever since she'd Triggered and was much more obvious than the usual Parahuman conflict drive. Plus, she had the advantage of hindsight.
"Alchemy materials mainly." Pinky nodded. "I'm not one myself, but that's a big reason that, uhm, nothing in particular is close by." She quickly continued on. "There's also the center. THAT place has to have tons of artifacts and all sorts of other goodies, considering the Dyed Lands originated from there." She paused and frowned. "Now that I think about it, it's [Foolish] to just blindly accept that as a given. I mean, if everyone died from when the experiment blew up in their faces, how would we know? Hmmm..." Pinky sat down and crossed her arms. "There might be survivors..."
Interesting. Finding civilization was important, no doubt. Kevin must be looking for her, and he'd probably check the local cities, or towns, or villages? Just how 'advanced' was this world? Pinky spoke of other continents, so they clearly had progressed beyond individual villages. If word could get around about wars and stuff, it could also spread about other things.
On the other hand... attracting attention didn't mean that Kevin would find her first. As good of a big brother as he was, the odds were still against him. Lone Tinkers were vulnerable when they started out...
Right.
"Okay. I'm going to stay in the Dyed Lands for a while and see what I can make."
Pinky's eyes lit up. "I knew I sensed a kindred spirit in you! And not just because you saved my life!" She hopped to her feet. "Together, we can take over the Dyed Lands! Or at least spend some time in the red area. First the Dyed Lands, tomorrow - or a later date to be determined - the world! Mwaha ha ha *hack*" Pinky's 'diabolical' laughter ended in a coughing fit.
"Are you okay?" Riley peered down. "I can take a look and make sure your throat isn't damaged."
"No, no." Pinky waved her off. "I was just getting carried away."
"So you want to take over the world?"
"Eh." Pinky shrugged. "Not really, but it seems like the perfect [Foolish] goal that would help me level. Actually doing it isn't as important as the attempt."
"Why?"
"Adversity builds levels." Pinky smiled. "Besides, it's racial pride. We can't have only one Fraerling that's world famous. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Titan's a hero and a great guy, but it's [Foolish] to only have him."
"The Titan?" What? Did Fraerlings grow bigger? What would a Titan to them look like? Would he be bigger or smaller than an average person?
"Yep! A great adventurer who left the city behind and ventured out into the world of giants to prove our worth!" Pinky clasped her hands together and gazed off into the distance.
"Okay..." Riley shook her head. There was a lot to do, but one thing seemed more urgent than the rest. She looked over the side of the plateau. No large heat sources that she could see, but the giant badger was out there somewhere. It followed her here, so it probably hadn't given up yet. "Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
The Fraerling looked at her from the top of her red house. "I think so, Bit, but what if I'm allergic to squirrel hair?"
...
"There! All done!" Riley looked around for something to rub her hands on. She didn't mind the blood, but it was best to be hygienic.
Plus, white blood wasn't cute at all!
"Oh!" Pinky sat up. "What's done?"
"The solution to our hydration needs!" Riley beamed down at the Fraerling and her latest creation. "Luckily one of the hyenas was female." And that they weren't TOO decomposed yet. Sure, it had taken some work to get everything working, but she had multiple digestive tracks she could use. Besides, the nervous system was already done since she'd just attached the cognitive drive she'd made to it. That was usually the trickiest part.
"Hydration?" Pinky scratched her head. "I don't think there are any hydras in the Dyed Lands."
"What? No." Riley glowered at her companion. "I mean something to drink."
"Why not use the pond below?"
"There are invisible, I dunno, alligators? in it."
"Ah, I see. I see." Pinky paused. "No, wait. I don't see. Not the alligators. Well, I don't see them either, but I mean..." She looked at the white, furry box Riley had made. "That doesn't look like a water stone to me."
"A water stone?"
"Yeah. I have one around here somewhere." Pinky dug through her backpack. "You'd have to be a [Fool] to go camping without one."
Riley gave the tiny humanoid a flat stare. What was with the fool this, and foolish that. "I'm not a fool!" She stomped her foot.
"Who said you were?" Pinky looked up before pulling a blue stone out of her bag. It was the size of a pea and fit snuggly in her hand. "There! A Fraerling made water stone! Capable of condensing two thousand milliliters of water a day!"
"You mean two liters?" Riley blinked. "Wait, you use the metric system?"
"Do I? And here I thought I was using the Gnomish system." Pinky smiled at her. "Wait... I already used that joke. Shoot."
Riley pinched the brace of her nose. "Why say two thousand milliliters instead of two liters?"
Pinky rolled her eyes. "Who would use such an absurdly large and imprecise thing like liters? That's not even [Foolish], it's just confusing."
"Humans, er, Tallfolk do!" She assumed.
"Pft." Pinky crossed her arms and sniffed derisively. "That's why your [Alchemists] make such poor potions."
Riley ground her teeth. "Tallfolk don't make potions. I mean, the people where I'm from don't make potions." Well... except for Kevin. And Cask. And chemists depending on what you considered a 'potion'.
Pinky shook her head. "That's so sad."
Riley gave up. She laid back and looked up at the blue sky. What had she ever done to deserve this?
Oh yeah...
Pinky hopped onto her chest. "Hey, don't feel down! Why don't I tell you how my water stone works, then you can tell me how your, uhm, furry box thing works?" Riley didn't respond, but that didn't deter the Fraerling from demonstrating how smart her people were. "You see, there's WATER in the AIR!" Pinky's eyes grew wide. "I know, right? But it's true! That's what clouds are made of! See? That's where rain comes from! Now, not every place has as much water, but it's there. So what the stone does is draw that water in and condense it." Pinky paused. "Condensing refers to condensation. That's where water gathers toget-"
"I know what condensation is!" Riley grumbled as she put her hand to her chest and sat up.
Pinky jumped to the palm as Riley moved. "Really? That's impressive!"
Riley let out a sigh and placed the Fraerling back on top of her house. "Two thousand milliliters isn't enough water for me to live on." Of course, you got most of your liquid needs from food, so it might actually suffice. "This thing will make more liquid, and not just water!"
"Oh?"
Riley bent over and pulled up some invisible grass before dropping in the open pit of her creation. "Hyenas are carnivores, but I fixed that!" She patted the furry box. "This can turn grass into milk! But that's not all!" She picked up some white scraps that were leftover from her materials. "It, of course, can still convert meat." She tossed the pale, bloody mess in. "Bone. Teeth. Cartilage. It can break them all down!" She smirked. "I even made the water absorption part so efficient that the waste is completely dry!"
Which was an important aspect because who wanted to deal with THAT? She'd also made it have no odor or smoke, which would mean they could burn it as a fuel source! That was doubly important because they also contained all the filtered toxins. Having those go airborne as smoke wouldn't have been a good idea.
Pinky's mouth was open as her arms fell to her side. "That's... wow. I've never seen someone make something like that before. What, are you a [Mad Doctor] or something?"
Riley sighed. "I've told you I don't have a class." She hummed and tilted her head. "But, if I did, it probably would be something like that." It hurt to admit, but it was true. She'd prefer something like 'Cute Sister', or 'Adorable Healer', but who knew if those were even options?
Her cranial block was working, so she'd probably never find out.
"Oh!" Pinky jumped up. "I know! You still need water for your... box, right?" Riley nodded. "And the invisible gators are still an issue, so why don't we put my water stone in it?!"
"That's..." Riley blinked. "That's a good idea."
"It is?" Pinky frowned. "Shoot. I was hoping it was a [Foolish] idea."
...
"Hmmm..." Riley frowned as she looked at the cellular structure. "That's concerning."
"What is?" Pinky looked up from the campfire she'd made - which consisted of a few twigs stacked together.
"It's white." Riley gestured at the slide under her microscope.
"And so's everything else." Pinky rolled her eyes before standing up with a startled expression. "You're not trying to get the [Fool] class are you?" She crossed her arms. "It's not for everyone... although I could use the company..." Her eyes narrowed. "Or is it competition?"
Riley ignored most of what Pinky had said and continued with her explanation. She was used to people not being able to follow her, that came hand-in-hand with being a Tinker. It was still nice to have someone to talk to. "It's white at a CELLULAR level! That's... not normal."
Pinky shrugged. "What is normal around here?"
"Furthermore." Riley continued. "There are stratas of oddly mutated cells. I'm assuming those are what empower the invisibility effect, but we shouldn't digest them until I know more."
"So no steaks? Is that what I'm hearing?"
"That depends." Riley glanced over at the last of the hyena meat. "I could just throw it in the Milk Box. The result will be... fine. I mean, it will still be full of goodness and vitamins."
"But also white." Pinky completed her thought. "That's fine! Milk is supposed to be white!"
Riley wished she could argue with that 'logic', but she had more important things to ask about. She couldn't let Pinky derail the conversation.
"You live close by, is it okay to eat Dyed Land animals?"
"Huh?" Pinky scratched her head. "Sure! Well, I mean it depends on the color doesn't it? Green and Blue are baaaaaad for you. Full stop. Even the best cooks can't make them edible. Red's risky, but not inherently poisonous. You just have to avoid the worst parts. Something from either of the two white zones?" She shrugged. "It's fine."
"Hmmmm..." Riley hummed to herself again. "Is it 'fine' for just Fraerlings, or can humans eat it too?"
"Uhm... I think you can?"
Riley gave her a flat stare. "You think?"
Pinky shrugged. "It's not like I know any humans apart from you. Our [Scouts] have seen [Explorers] eating white meat." She bit down on her thumb. "Then again, they might have skills that help them eat things. [Explorers] are kinda silly like that."
"Okay. I guess I'll cut the mutated parts out before I eat it." Riley's stomach growled. "I don't have much of a choice." She glanced at her Milk Box. Its bladder was looking full. "I think I'll need to put together a cellular sieve. It's too late to try and add an internal filtering system."
Ideas for how she could cut the Milk Box open and make that adjustment were already coming to her, but they all required the sieve. So, she might as well make it now.
...
"How can you even tell if it's done?" Riley asked rhetorically.
"Texture?" Pinky poked her cut of cooked hyena.
"I guess." Riley took the stick that had been held over the fire and peered at the meat on it. It smelled... fine? Her stomach rumbled. There was only so much she could do to suppress her appetite without shutting down her digestive track completely.
And boy was that a bother to restart.
Besides, her body NEEDED fuel. One way or another, she had to eat.
Riley took a tentative bite.
And chewed.
And chewed..
And chewed...
She finally swallowed it. "Well, it's not the worst thing I've ever eaten. The taste is bland, but that might be a good thing." She'd been afraid it would taste... white? Or like Kevin's cookies. So, in that sense, bland was perhaps the best outcome. Besides, wasn't taste evolved to let people know what wasn't healthy? She wasn't sure that logic applied in another world though.
"Needs salt." Pinky mumbled as she busily devoured a chunk the size of her body.
Riley went to her Milk Box and squirted a stream of the liquid into a make-shift bowl. The hyena's skull was decidedly un-cute, but it worked. She wasn't a utensil Tinker, so her options for making a proper cup were limited.
She sniffed the milk.
It smelled... like milk. That was good. She took a tentative sip.
"Hey!" She took a larger gulp. "This isn't bad!"
"Let me try! Let me try!" Pinky hopped up and down before pulling a wooden cup out of her backpack.
Riley gingerly took the shot glass-sized container. While it was small to her, it seemed like overkill for the Fraerling. Then again, she'd eaten more that what should've been physically possible, so there was definitely something odd going on inside of her. She probably needed an equivalent amount of liquid to help with digestion.
Besides, it wasn't like Riley could fill an appropriately sized cup without making a mess.
She squeezed the Milk Box before handing Pinky her cup back.
"Thanks, Bit!" Pinky lifted the bowl up to her mouth and drained it entirely. "Ahhhh..." She wiped the milkstache off her face. "That is good. Nice and creamy. I was expecting something rancid considering how old those corpses looked." She held her bowl up.
Riley took it and filled it again. "The milk is fresh. All the spoiled parts of the ingredients gets removed early on." She laid back and looked at the sky. It was getting dark, and the two moons were hanging overhead. "It's been a long day."
"I'll say." Pinky climbed up and laid down on her chest. "I wonder if I'll level tonight. I did survive a bird attack, so that's probably worth something."
"Hmmmm..." Riley hummed. It seemed odd to get more levels when you slept. Kevin's power didn't work that way. Then again, 'levels' seemed like a world-wide phenomenon here, so it wasn't a surprise that the details were different. "Do you think we should keep the fire going overnight?"
Pinky shifted a little before answering. "Well, I'M safe in my house. Relatively speaking that is. It's tough, but it's not like it could survive a dedicated effort to break it open. I also have heating of my own, so the fire isn't a big deal to me." She looked up at Riley. "I think it would be [Foolish] for you to go without. We're only in the early stages of Winter, and it's just going to get colder. Talkfolk have a lot more surface area to lose heat from, so you should be careful."
Riley glanced down at the Fraerling that was resting on her. Pinky surprised her at times. It was hard to tell just how much was an act. Was she dumb, but occasionally acted smart? Was she smart, but frequently acted dumb? What was her obsession with calling things 'foolish'?
She wished Kevin were here. He was always so good at picking up on things like that and explaining them to her. Of course, he had a power for that - the noticing, not the explaining, so she really shouldn't compare herself to him. Still, he just had a... way of distilling things and making her feel better.
She also missed his bedtime stories.
Sure, it was starting to feel a little silly. She was growing up, and that meant growing out of childish things. She still liked them though. They were the favorite part of her day.
Now that she thought about it, that was odd.
She'd used to be so afraid of sleep. Of the nightmares. Of the thoughts that kept going through her mind. Somehow they had faded over the years. She no longer needed Gamer's Mind or her brother and Sibby's presences to fall asleep.
She even had nice dreams now!
Riley let out a sigh. It really hadn't been that long since she'd seen Kevin. She'd spent longer amounts of time alone in the past. It hadn't even been a week yet!
But... those times she'd known where he was and had a rough idea when he'd come back. Now it seemed like she might never see him again. Or if she did, it wouldn't be for a long time.
"Bit? Are you crying?" Pinky was looking up at her with (relatively) large eyes.
Riley sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "Just a little."
"There. There." Pinky walked forward and patted her cheek. "Everything will be alright." The Fraerling paused and then asked. "How old are you anyways? It's always so hard to tell with Tallfolk. I'd assumed you were an adult because your surviving in the Dyed Lands, but I just realized that was a [Foolish] conclusion."
Riley felt her voice hitch, and wished she still had her emotional control upgrades. She knew that they were a crutch, and why Kevin had asked her to disable them. She smiled a little at the memory. She'd called him a hypocrite and that his power did the same to him. In fact, it had been studying his brain that had given her the idea in the first place. It was their first real fight, but her brother hadn't gotten mad. Instead he'd sat her down and explained things.
Everything in moderation.
Too much water and you died. Too little water and you died. It was a rule about, well, everything. Too many emotions and you died. Too little emotions and you died. Perhaps not in a physical sense, but in a mental one. That was why he spent so much time in 'Shardspace' where Gamer's Mind didn't work. He was trying to be less... 'Pixel' and more 'Kevin'.
Riley got it.
She didn't want to be Bonesaw anymore, but she couldn't lie to herself. For everything Bonesaw had done - she had done, there had been benefits. Of course, that hadn't been Bonesaw's motivation. Her driving force had been creating 'art', but she'd learned things. Riley now knew them because of the horrors that Bonesaw had done.
Kevin had compared it to modern medicine. There had been advancements that had been made by torturing prisoners of war. The torture was evil, but that didn't mean that other people, good people, couldn't use what had been learned to help heal people.
She looked down at Pinky. "I'm okay. I'm just missing my brother, that's all."
"Ah." Pinky spread her arms and wrapped them around Riley's cheek. Or at least tried to. "It's not much, but I'll give you a Fraerling hug while you tell me about him. That might make you feel better."
"Okay." Riley nodded slightly. She didn't want to dislodge her companion. "So, the last time I saw him was right before I arrived here. We had been sent to investigate something, but, of course, he had to buy all the video games he could from a new Earth." Riley smiled at Kevin's 'foolish' obsession, as Pinky would call it. "We had-"
Riley stopped.
She smelled cookies.
