LazLe : 01001001 00100000 01100100 01100101 01101101 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100011 01110100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01100101 01110011 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 01101011 00100000 01101111 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100010 01101111 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01110100 01110111 01101111 00100000 01100010 01101100 01101001 01110000 01110011 00100001 00100000 01000011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 00100000 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01101100 01101011 00100000 01100010 01101111 01100001 01110011 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01100001 01101101 01100101 00111111

Operator : 01001001 00101101

LazLe : 01001110 01101111 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01100101 01101101 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01100110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101111 01100110 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01101110 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110111 01101001 01100111 01100111 01101100 01100101 00100001

Operator : 01010011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01110000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110

LazLe : 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01001110 01001111 01010100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100001 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01110000 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01101111 01101111 01110000 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01101111 01110000 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01110000 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 01100110 00101110 00100000 01001001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100011 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101100 01101011 01110011 01101000 01100001 01101011 01100101 00101110 00100000 01000111 01101111 01100100 01110011 00101100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01010011 01001000 01001111 01000101 01010011 00100001 00100000 01000011 01100001 01101110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100001 01101101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110010 01110100 00101110 00100000 01010011 01110111 01100101 01100101 01110100 00101100 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110010 01110100 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 00100000 01101100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01100110 01101100 01101111 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 01101110 01100101 01110011 01110011 00101110 00100000 01000100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 01110011 00101101

Operator : (Sigh)

=

It was another half blip until the Operator could extricate himself from the tirade that was LazLe. The Operator popped back into a three-dimensional existence with his head buried in a litter box.

Its unfortunate station was directly beside the strobing PC box.

Of course, the operator could have shifted in a different direction. Landing on top of the extensive hardware sitting on an oak desk would have been simultaneously funny and deserving. He could have extricated himself by landing on the filthy, cockroach-ridden mattress. He could have sliced himself halfway through the attic floorboards, onto the crumbling tile roof overhead, or even into a different plane of existence, one with lawn chairs and octopus slurpies.

But no... This was his best option.

The Operator contorted, bringing his legs to the floor while his face remained in kitty muck. Lurching his face to meet perpendicular with the rest of his body, the Operator slid a hand down his scalp, bumping along, scraping off any dust and waste matter.

Shifting from one plane to another wasn't as easy as one expected. It wasn't a precise science by any means. It all depended on how flexible one could be and their willingness to bend into places that they really, really shouldn't inhabit.

The Operator sighed loudly. A family of rats looked up from their feast of cockroaches but decided the phenomenon of an intruder wasn't worthy of attention and went back to their gorging.

The Operator had many names; he usually chose them at random. Not born with a name, he had to choose one for himself. The Operator was not his first, but it was one of his favorites. It was because he operated outside certain boundaries... Between planes of existence.

Garbled laughter poking through whistling gnashers.

A name was required. Yes. In his line of work, people started getting antsy if they didn't put a name to his face. Which was ridiculous because he didn't have a face! Not really. Oh, he could. And he often did! He had many! But they were itchy.

His clients felt more comfortable with faces.

But not too many!

The Operator dusted himself off thoroughly and stood on three appendages, searching the surroundings with his proboscis.

This attic was home to a woman named Irsifcloosine. It was difficult to pronounce for most of the human species, which is strange because it's a common name for this realm's people. Humans, that is. Or a variant of them. Realms and Planes of Existence (POE's) had layers to them.

Like Notsriskl...

Or onions.

Anyway, the resident was a slob living in their birther's attic. They were out right now.

Which happens as often as a moon explodes.

WHICH was why he visited LazLe in 0111010.

The Operator shifted through the slanted ceiling and appeared out on the rooftop; a torrential downpour drenched him in glass shards. They pinged off his chiton, itching when they managed to crawl beneath his glossy membrane, scuttling like beetles.

LazLe is a client.

Or she was. Once upon a time.

LazLe traded her soul in exchange for a rather pretty tricycle. When she got in a horrible road accident involving three wheels, an off-orange popsicle, and a clarinet orchestra, her eternal soul became his.

She was one of his long-time favorites. Mainly because she was able to conquer new realms quickly and almost effortlessly. When taking into account how stubborn and childish she could get, it was a christmas miracle!

The Operator admitted that her attitude could use a tune-up, but LazLe managed to overtake Irsifcloosine's complex two-dimensional motherboard in only two blips! He thought it would take at least three, but LazLe always manages to surprise him.

The Operator closed his mandible and fluffed his tail, ignoring the glass that crinkled in his closed claws.

He would need to find a new realm for her to conquer.

"If only it were so easy..."

His raucous shrill pierced the air, bouncing off a falling shard of glass and smacking him in the face.

Wiping away the ooze, he thought to himself.

The Grand Line? No, too soon. Woooorbtuls? Too slimy. Earth? But I already made plans for that backwater. Sending LazLe would be redundant. She could stay in 0111010 for a while longer? She loves it there even if she won't admit it. But Earth...

The Operator tapped his fishbowl.

What was that kid's name again? Hmm... Donkey Kong? No. Yes? Maybe. It was something similar. What did he ask for?

...

..

.

The Operator snapped his eyelashes.

"Oh yeah... the book!"

=

The deal was made.

What is done cannot be reversed.

All who know thy cost weep.

At the end.

Or so it be.

Yada Yada Yada

The Operator peered in through a window and checked in on Daire. He was in a city. Or was it a town? A hamlet? There were people. Food. Rabbits. Little people. A talking snake? What sort of sick, perverted god came up with such a thing? That poor girl...

The Operator winced as he shoved a finger too far into his ear. He still wasn't used to THIS human form. It was so squishy.

Daire was talking with a beefy woman. There were ups and downs, and that little fairy person seemed like the quiet-jealous type.

"At least he left the starter area. How long was he going to take?"

He tapped his sundial... No. It was a watch now. Or at least it switched to one when he shifted.

"Two Weeks? Hmm... Something like that. Time moves so slow here. Did I really give him four years? I suppose it will take around that long if he wants to save them all. But... It's so slow. It's already been two blips!"

He whined like a child, understanding LazLe's frustration.

The Operator watched as people came and went from Daire's stall. He watched the bear huff and the Lamia gulp down food. He saw happiness on people's faces. Others; strange faces. Erotic faces? Handshakes. Were those tasty? Scuffles and confrontation. And more than a few disappointed faces.

It's already been ten thousand blips, and The Operator was getting tired.

He resigned to himself that Daire wouldn't die any time soon, and four years was a long way away.

One day the human's soul would be his. A client turned employee. Or slave. The word used didn't really matter. It all ended the same.

The Operator took one last glance at the people of this world. All of them. At the same time.

At that moment. The majority of this world's inhabitants shivered and looked down, only to see nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging, they went about their business as usual. Oh, a few would talk with friends and think it odd, but none would look too deep into it. All except Daire.

...And Violet.