Professional Procrastination

Chapter 55

It was finally market day, and I found myself staring unhappily into a closet. It was a hasty addition to my chamber of machinations. My half-giant appearance only had two states for clothing, a default outfit, and nothing.

After meeting people once, I’d needed to actually dress up. That or go the anime “Do I always wear the same clothes or did I buy ten of the same outfit?” route.

Not a desirable look, in my opinion. Unfortunately, because I wasn’t used to dressing up in my natural state, I’d caught on to the problem relatively late. It was my good fortune that Henry and his assistants were fast and didn’t need sleep.

A few hours after taking Deux’s measurements, a steady stream of garments had started flowing. It wasn’t until I threw my hands up and said enough that they stopped. Nothing new appeared now, but I could see at a glance that the clothes weren’t quite the same as the previous day.

Henry and his assistant had to work fast. The clothes had still been excellent in quality and design. They just didn’t have much in the way of embellishments. Now I could see a sporadic glitter of embroidery and beads.

Henry had asked for permission to keep working on things and make alterations. I’d expected him to pop in and out with arms full of garments. Despite him coming over, I hadn’t seen him take anything.

Now I had to wonder if he’d employed Chris to spirit things away to keep working on them. The thought made me laugh. It was like an OCD version of Santa Claus, who wasn’t happy with the toys and a klepto elf.

I liked everything I was looking at but couldn’t summon much enthusiasm. It felt weird to be picking out clothes for this appearance. Doing it in the lounge area didn’t help. I’d held a meeting recently, and despite locking the door of the antechamber, I felt like someone might walk in.

“Probably Chris,” I muttered to myself. Despite a recent fight with Henry, Chris’s mischief had multiplied, not dampened. It was like someone had given him candy rather than the thrashing of the century.

Thinking about it more, I removed the door. I wasn’t willing to bet against his ability to break in. Despite that precaution, I still felt uneasy. Only having one space to do everything wasn’t ideal.

I looked around my chamber of machinations and sighed. It had started as a workspace. Now scattered around the lounge were the notes and diagrams I’d carved into the walls about dungeon design. Haphazardly laying on top of everything else were the gifts from the ball.

The vibe had gone from dungeon chick to hoarder nest, and I wasn’t thrilled with it. Leaving my original chamber of machinations as the hub, I added three new rooms.

I placed all my dungeon layout notes, my desk, and my first throne to the left. It would be the formal chamber of machinations now. I relabeled the full complex the ‘palace of shadows’ in my head.

Mansion of shadows might have been more accurate since it wasn’t that big of a space, but I liked ‘palace’ better. I was getting too hung up on details, though, and roughed in my living quarters on the right. I considered linking both new spaces with the seating area but felt that lacked style.

After some consideration, I roughed in a great hall. At the back of it, I placed a small chamber behind where I’d put a throne when I felt more inspired. To that, I connected my chamber of machinations and new personal quarters.

Since I played with sizes and space rather than details, it only took me half an hour to complete them. Moving my personal stuff was also quick since I wasn’t organizing it yet. That would have to wait until I added furniture. Satisfied, I removed the door back and moved to my new personal quarters to get dressed.

That put me right back where I’d been before, staring into a closet. I had plans as Deux, and I needed to pick clothes. Instead of focusing on that simple task, my brain came up with a list of ‘quick’ things I could be doing instead.

“Fuuuck,” I muttered to myself, knowing I was stalling. Needing some moral support, I gave Dawn a call. When she picked up, she took in my appearance with a raised eyebrow. I was in what amounted to underpants and holding up a pair of outfits.

“So, I could use some fashion advice,” I said with a bright smile I knew looked fake. Or horrifying. Probably the second thing, if she could even see it. It took me a moment to remember I was wearing the Deux appearance. My expression would be obvious. I was still getting used to that.

“Either one works,” Dawn said unhelpfully. I knew that much, Henry had supplied the garments in question, but that didn’t help me pick.

“Okay, but…” I started then stopped, realizing that this was another method of dawdling.

“Right or left?” I asked after putting both outfits behind my back and switching them around a bit.

“Right?” Dawn offered, not sure what I was doing.

“Okay,” I said and put the outfit I’d held in my left-back in the closet.

“You seem anxious. Is everything alright?” Dawn asked as her brows knit with concern.

“Yes. No. I’m getting anxious because I’m going topside,” I explained, which earned me a nod of understanding. Dawn had been at the meeting and knew what everyone did. She could have stopped there. Instead, she’d made a habit of checking in with me about how I was doing. It was nice, a bit like how I imagined having a sister who wasn’t probably an evil clone would feel.

“Do you need me to go with you? I can wrap my work up soon,” Dawn offered, but I shook my head.

“I’m going with Henry,” I explained. Dawn looked a bit relieved when I said it, and I felt embarrassed. I couldn’t help how I felt, but at the same time, it was annoying not to be in full command of my own feelings.

“So, have the Lepusan had any problems settling in?” I asked, wanting to change the subject. I was the mayor, but she had a lot more contact with the Lepusan day-to-day.

“Not that I’ve noticed. One thing that keeps coming up, though, Ban’s curiosity about the tunnels. Not the mine, but the ones the second group of Lepusan were led out of,” Dawn explained. She sounded a little distracted. I nodded, glad we were on a video call when I realized I responded non-verbally. It was a bad habit.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t been a bigger topic,” I admitted. The tunnels were part of the temple complex. I’d had the Lepusan brought out through them instead of the main entrance. The idea had been to let them know something was there and then let them go and explore on their own. I’d even partly obscured the staircase of the main entrance with a rockslide. I wanted to make the experience more exciting, now it seemed I’d overplayed my hand.

“About that, from what I’ve heard, they didn’t get a strong impression of the place. They were overwhelmed by the experience. Their low light vision being impaired by the torches didn’t help,” Dawn explained. My eyes fluttered as I felt a surge of frustration with myself. I’d forgotten that even if something had a similar name, that didn’t mean it operated on standard RPG rules.

Environmental factors would affect it because it was a real thing, not an abstract rule set. The Lepusan had also been teleported in. Something I’d learned late was a lost, completely new, or dungeon specific form of magic.

That they didn’t notice my carefully crafted decor wasn’t surprising at all. I was lucky they hadn’t freaked out and refused to teleport in the first place.

“Well, it’s fine to let them explore it now. It’s not perfect, but it’s supposed to be a ruin, so that’s for the best,” I replied before sighing. I’d finished the floor plan, but not furnishings and decorations. The more I thought about it, the more comfortable I became with the idea of leaving it as it was.

Even if I was pretending it was old, that didn’t mean it was completely finished when it was abandoned. Looting was also a thing that would have happened. With my mind made up, I added roughing up the interior and adding incomplete art to my to-do.

“Alright, I’ll help them look in the right place,” Dawn said without much enthusiasm.

“Something up?” I asked, catching on to her mood. Skeletons didn’t get tired, but they did suffer from mental fatigue. Dawn looked like she was starting to feel that.

“What? Oh, no. I’m working on getting the material request jobs sorted out,” Dawn said. She was coordinating with the craftsmen to decide what resources gather or ‘import.’ It was my first real experiment in delegation.

“I’ll have a work order to file in a day or two,” She added. I felt a bit bad that it was draining her, but she hadn’t complained. It was a new venture. Figuring out her boundaries and limits wasn’t something I could do for her.

“Not a problem, text me when you’re ready,” I replied without hesitation. I liked planning and building things. The problem was the valley and internal living spaces would be stifled if I kept doing that. I needed to start getting more hands-off so they could grow.

“Alright, until later,” Dawn said before hanging up when I hummed in reply. As the call ended, I straightened the sleeveless red tunic that had been blindly selected. It was linen with a heavy body and noticeable texture but a soft feel from what I’d been told.

From the left shoulder to the bottom hem, it was embroidered with roses in gold thread. Simple black pants and boots completed the basic outfit. I put all of it on with care.

Dressed, I didn’t have anything left to do but play with my hair for a bit. I wasn’t a deft hand at it and went with a loose braid in the end. I’d have left it at that but recalled that I’d been given some jewelry and fished out a rose hair clip and put it on.

With all of my preparations done, I checked the time and felt a pang of unease. I had nothing to do now but wait and did my best to shake off my unwanted feelings. Despite that, thoughts of canceling filled my head.

The doorbell rang before I could talk myself out of anything. I jumped at the sound and felt a compelling urge to hide. I was getting good at ignoring such feelings and went to open the door.

“Mistress,” Henry said as he bowed to me with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. I returned the gesture with an air curtsy since I wasn’t wearing a skirt. Pants were hard to beat for utility, and I had given into the comfort monster when picking out Deux’s wardrobe. Henry offered me his elbow.

I accepted and teleported us into the mayor’s residence. It was located on a quiet street between the elven and human quarters. It was slightly shorter than other buildings since it was a story and a half tall rather than two. What made it stand out was the scale and placement of the doors and windows.

I’d spent some time walking around it as Deux and adjusting things until they felt comfortable. It was a personal rather than an official space. There was no reason to be thoughtful of others at her expense. I was also amused by the idea of adults swinging their legs like kids because of the chairs’ height.

Henry and I walked out onto the porch with our arms still linked. I hesitated, glancing back toward the dungeon surreptitiously. I felt a slight tug at my elbow. When I looked back, I found Henry looking at me with a mixture of affection and concern.

“Come now, you s-said it yourself. Y-you need to get out- out more,” Henry said quietly. I nodded, agreeing but feeling exposed. It wasn’t my first time walking around as Deux, but I couldn’t shake that unease.

The mysterious mayor should be mysterious but not wholly absent. Knowing that I hadn’t been around much as I should have, I’d resolved to change. Knowing I’d chicken out, I’d asked Henry to accompany me.

“Yeah, I know,” I muttered. We finally set off. Ready or not, it was showtime for the mayor.