Elder Todd said goodbye to the last of his still remaining friends. They had come, one at a time, and then a flood as word reached into incursion city. It was a whirlwind of meetings and emotions, reconnecting with those who had previously left the dungeon. Though unable to cry, his heart still swelled with emotion, seeing so many who led fulfilling lives on their own. City hall had let him use an empty room for the gatherings and as the last of them left, only Arthur and Todd remained. Arthur turned to him and said, "So, Todd. What now?" Todd took a moment to construct a response. Even after all of these years, he still had difficulties with language. It wasn't due to his intelligence, no. It was due to the fact that for decades after he had awoken, a sapient sea urchin alone in a dungeon, he was alone. He primarily thought in concepts and ideas, and he had to work to translate that into the limited words which everyone spoke around him. He found himself constantly flummoxed, searching for the phrase to say. An example he recently had was having to settle for the word "water," when what he wanted to express was a memory of the brilliant blue of the underwater sea, as illumination reflected from an indistinct source. He roused himself from his musing as he remembered the question his friend asked. "I... DON'T KNOW. WHAT... IS THERE?" His old friend Arthur immediately began talking, letting him know of options and pathways available for transitioning dungeon monsters. Arthur had spent years as a kind of rehabilitation counselor and was well aware of the pathways available. Eventually, an option stuck out to him. Todd said, "I... THINK.... WORK... IS GOOD. WANT... TO CONTRIBUTE." His friend nodded, then setup and coordinated the details. He would be staying with Arthur for now. His friend had kindly opened up his home until he figured out this strange and frightening world he found himself in. The next day, "Welcome to Water-Mart, Elder Todd! I have to say, as manager of this store, I am proud to welcome someone like yourself into a position here." Todd waved his spikes in silent acknowledgement. His new employer continued, "I think the best place for you will be customer service. We don't get too many people who come around there and most will be happy enough to meet you that they shouldn't pose any problems." Todd followed the fish behind a counter, where he picked up a new name tape. He was then directed to a desk. The job was simple, people would eventually come up to his desk and he would provide a questionnaire. They would fill it out and return it to him. Depending on the answer, he had a sheet on what response to give. Todd settled in. As he looked out at the sea of moving creatures, he was still shocked by the sheer quantity. So much movement, so many people scurrying out and about. Even after these few weeks he still hadn't grown used to it. His employer was true to his word, and no one approached for several hours. Todd remained at peace, silently meditating on the nature of spikes. A loud *ring* jolted him from his meditation and he noticed his first customer. It took him a second to identify the creature, but over these past few weeks he had received a thorough understanding of the city's residents. In front of him was a lady walrus, long tusks reaching down her front. She was a rather large specimen of her breed and her facial whiskers were long and yellow, whisked extravagantly to the side and oddly assymetrical. Mindful of his new job, he elevated the tablet with the questionnaire over to her so that she could explain the problem. She didn't even look at it. She immediately began ranting, "I just spoke to the other customer service guy and he referred me over here. I'm trying to return this item and they had the AUDACITY to tell me that they couldn't accept it because it had been used! I have NEVER seen such..." Todd quickly tuned her out and looked at the item she was trying to return. She was waving it about in a flamboyant manner but he could tell that there were tears and stains readily evident. It was indeed clearly used and not brand new at all. He snuck a peak back at the inflammed walrus, "... AND THEN he said that...." And tuned her out again. He looked down at his tablet, having brought it over to his side when she simply ignored it. As he quickly scanned it he saw that yes, everything she was talking about was clearly annotated on the questionnaire. Looks like all she had to do was fill it out. He floated it over to her once more. And it was promptly ignored. "...I can't believe how unprofessional..." Todd was starting to get annoyed. There was a clear sign above his desk with instructions. He looked at it to make sure it was still there. Yes, it still was. The first step on the sign was fill out the questionnaire. Maybe the woman can't read? That would be embarrassing to admit, so he decided to see if that was the case. Todd said, "MA'AM... CAN YOU READ?" She paused in her tirade, seemingly shocked at the question. Confusion crossed her features and Todd attempted to clarify. He formed two arrows out of earth and pointed each of them at the tablet he floated in the water, and the sign which clearly stated, "Please fill out the questionnaire." She remained silent for a brief moment, moving her head to look at the sign and the tablet. Then, with shocking speed, she reached over and smacked the tablet onto his table, causing it to shatter in half. She screamed, "HOW DARE YOU!!" She just tried to attack, Todd thought. That thought was immediately followed up with, Nope, not doing this. A flicker of his skill and instantly earth spikes burst from the floor in every direction, spines rising from his body to join the offense. In an instant, the massive walrus was covered in a circular formation, both his poisonous spikes and the stone spears pressing against her skin. He made sure to not actually injure her, but just enough to let her know he was serious. At this development she froze, not moving, with obvious fear in her eyes. As they commenced staring at each other, Todd wondered. What now? His employer swam over, a middle aged silver fish, and Todd inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. He'd be able to handle this. The fish nervously began speaking to the woman, "Ah, Mrs. Karen. So nice of you to visit customer service once more. This is the third time this week? Sorry for the response, Elder Todd here is a new employee." The fish turned to Todd and asked him in a quiet more respectful tone, "Elder Todd, do you mind lowering the skill? I'll handle this." Todd waved his spikes in acknowledgement, slowly retracting the stone spears into the ground and rejoining his spikes to his body. The walrus visibly gulped in relief and was promptly lead away by the fish. The entire situation was bizarre and Todd didn't like it. He looked down at his questionnaire, and the small nameplate on his chest that said, "Hi, My name is Todd!" As his employer returned Todd didn't wait for him to say anything, he merely said, "I... QUIT." Todd couldn't tell if the fish was happy or sad to see him go, there was a mixture of emotions evident in his voice as he made a half hearted effort to get him to stay. The fish said, "Are you sure? There are other positions here... you could greet people as they enter?" Todd waved his spines at the courtesy but left. There had to be other ways he could contribute.