Girl Talk

Chapter 97

I got very little in the way of suggestions from the dungeon denizens about what I might choose for my new appearance, aside from Chris. I'd more or less expected that but had thought it would be fun to include them, and I wasn't wrong. However, instead of advice or suggestions, I found myself with a trickle of visitors who were curious about the process.

"Mistress… Unless you intended to alter a number of levels," Dawn faltered. She'd come to visit me after she and her team had done a walk-through of some of the new construction on the stub layers. I wasn't doing official run-throughs yet, but it wasn't odd for them to take a stroll and see what was going on.

She'd been sipping chaos while we discussed the various species for the past hour. It was pretty fun, but the current option had her looking uneasy.

"I'm not feeling the mermaid either. I was just curious about what it would even look like," I said, gesturing at my double. Well, the mannequin that served to show how I'd look after alterations. It mirrored my gesture. When I'd seen the species on the list, I'd conjured images of Hans Christian Anderson's version.

The one we were looking at didn't bear much resemblance. The humanoid top half was still scaled but had large solid black eyes and fins rather than hair. As a tropical variant, it was colored brilliantly in blues with electric yellow spots.

"Can't say I want to redo the dungeon with a giant aquatic section either," I added, giving her a shoulder pat. Maybe I'd even put in a lake or something eventually, but it wasn't going to be a dominant theme.

"I'm relieved," Dawn said and chuckled.

"Not a fan of swimming?" I asked in amusement.

"It wasn't something that we did where I'm from," Dawn said, offering a shrug. I shrugged back. It was pretty standard where I was from but not universal.

"If you'll excuse me," Dawn added, getting up from the couch.

"Have fun on your date," I said casually. Dawn looked back at me sharply, then away before nodding. It wasn't like it was a secret that she and Icarus were together, but she still seemed surprised when I'd bring it up casually.

On my own I gave up on playing with my possible appearance and got back to work. Refresh and the night passed quickly like that. Elim would call in once he was ready to get back to work on our project.

"Good morning, 42!" Mina’s voice echoed in the room. I gave a start but then went over and retrieved the communication stone we used. While I was doing that I peeked into the safe zone they occupied and found that Andria was still asleep.

"Good morning," I answered. We hadn’t talked much since the chicken incident so I was curious about what she wanted first thing. My guess was breakfast, but I felt a little uneasy. She normally ordered her meals with Andria now.

"So…Uhm…can we talk a bit? About things," Mina said, hiding nerves under a smile.

"You should wait for Andria," I said. I didn't want to make things more awkward by double-dealing.

"Right, and I will. Only, this is something Andria won't understand," Mina said. It was astonishing how she managed to agree with me and then void that agreement in under twelve words.

"Okay," I said after a moment. I was reluctant but decided to hear her out. I could always bring up any points she raised later if needed.

"Thanks! So, this world is weird, like really weird. They don't have any adventurers' guilds, and the churches are like… cookie cutter? I'd say it's like McPhee's Chicken, but I don't think you have that," Mina said. She turned introspective. I wasn’t sure if she was planning her words or trying to think of possible crossover brands between our worlds. Mysterious was the mind of a teenager.

"So, the churches are set up in an unnaturally similar fashion?" I asked. I wasn’t pressed for time but I wanted to keep her on track if possible. This sounded like it might be important.

"Exactly. Even across different religions and outside of Stromholt. It's super not right," Mina agreed.

"The designs should change outside of stuff like which god the statues are for. But, I mean, the number of windows and everything is always the same," Mina continued. I found myself nodding. That would be weird and irritate the shit out of me. Once I noticed, I'd have been counting windows and comparing floor plans.

The only catch was that I wasn't sure if why it happened was unusual. Depending on what Mina meant by "churches," there could very well be a mundane explanation.

"It's not impossible for simple designs to be similar like that. Were the decorations alike? That's where you should see a fair amount of difference based on craftsmen and funds," I said. Unfortunately, I wasn't up on architecture enough to offer something more solid. My understanding of the subject amounted to random trivia. Things like knowing what a flying buttress was, four column types, but nothing substantial. I couldn't tell you what time periods they were used in or how most elements fit together.

"Yeah, that's the thing. They were pretty much the same and really inappropriate in some places. Like cherubs without anyone knowing what a cherub is. They even have popes in a polytheistic society. It's strange," Mina explained. I found myself nodding along in agreement again.

"A pope and cherubs? It sounds like someone from a different world got involved," I said unhappily. The world itself had its own gods and aesthetics. I could understand wanting familiar things or playing around to customize existing ones. Outright copy-pasting felt wrong to me and lazy.

Then again, I didn't have strong feelings about my old world. Homesickness might have been a genuine problem for others. It might make someone want to remake this one to match theirs.

"Right? But then you have none of the stuff you'd expect. You get all that but like no adventurers' guild or penicillin. So it feels uneven to me," Mina continued. I could see why she hadn't thought Andrea would understand. That aside, this conversation probably would have made her deeply uncomfortable.

Even if Andrea accepted summoned Heroes as a concept, that didn't mean she'd enjoy understanding how much they might have changed things --particularly since this didn't seem like a case where it was for the better.

"It might be that those things were introduced but didn't survive for some reason. It wouldn't be weird for some communities to be wiped out or crippled by natural disasters or disease-" I paused. My issue with blue veins and Dr. Satan came to mind. The guy sounded like a fourteen-year-old douche bag playing outbreak. I'd let that color my view of his threat potential, which I realized was a mistake.

Being obnoxious didn't mean he had no strategic planning ability. I also hadn't been thinking about its broader implication. It was entirely possible to use disasters to influence if not outright edit a culture. Even if he wasn’t doing that, other dungeons might conspire to affect the world around them in subtle ways.

"Okay, but I want an adventurers' guild and cool churches. Like majestic ones with hot priests and cool priestesses," Mina said despondently. I felt like I was getting a glimpse into her favorite kind of NPCs.

"I can get behind that, but did you have a specific reason for bringing this up to me? Or is this just a chat?" I asked. This might have just been her venting, but it was possible she expected more.

"It's nice to have someone to talk to who's similar. I mean, if you can hook me up with a hot glasses oni-san priest, I'd much appreciate it. I'm not expecting it, though, so no pressure," Mina said, then laughed.

"Ah, well… I'll see what I can do?" I offered half-heartedly. I wasn’t planning to get into matchmaking. Still, I felt a vague curiosity about if someone who fit her description even existed.

"Okay! Oh, Andrea's starting to wake up. Talk to you later!" Mina said brightly. She put her stone away and I did the same. I hadn't known what to expect when the conversation started and was now totally adrift.

Instead of stewing right off I ducked into my chamber of machinations and wrote down some notes on what we’d discussed. I had no way at present to confirm anything she’d said but it was worth keeping in mind going forward. I had no idea what I’d do if it was true though.

An incoming call from Elim put my head back in the correct space for the day. We had a village to help and that took precedence over vague possible conspiracies.