LTSV - Harbingers of Change - 28 (Patreon)

"We just had a conversation and came to a mutual agreement," Adra replied. Mira noted that he was avoiding eye contact. "This guild slot would have gone to one of the Magnates, otherwise. I forget which one. They blur together."

Huh.

Mira wondered if that was why Julian Cross was lurking around, trying to arrange meetings with Cece behind Adra's back. She could kind of see him as a Guild Leader, opposite Blake Heron. Of the Magnates, he was the most likely to be an early adopter in any big technological or social shift. 'The Maid and the Magnates' hadn't gone into deep detail about what, exactly, he invested in. Samira had only known a little bit more than that, because he occasionally appeared in her parents' circles and she was forced to talk to him. He did a lot with tech and was a stakeholder in a few big brands that handled smartphones, electric cars, and things like that.

He would have wanted in on the ground floor of something like this. The world had changed, suddenly, but in an organized fashion that an opportunistic person with ready investment cash could take advantage of.

If it weren't for Adra scaring the System into cooperation, (she didn't believe for a moment that any agreement they'd come to was mutual) Julian Cross probably would have been able to snap up Cece as one of his first contracted Hunters. The other boys probably would have gone with her, if only to stay in the same organization as their only known healer.

Samira probably would have ended up working for Blake Heron, since there would have been no Adra there to slide in and sign her at the first opportunity. If not for Mira's awakening having thrown a spanner into the works, then she and the others would have ended up on opposing sides, as usual.

She fought the urge to rub her arms and tried not to think about what it would have been like, to wake up already under her former father's control. It would have been too much like her original life.

Was that why she'd woken up under such abnormal conditions? In all her other awakenings, she knew for certain that her body's heart had stopped. This time, Samira might have felt like she was dying, but she wasn't in mortal peril. She might have been, if Mason had managed to give her that injection and successfully faked her having an overdose—but matters never got that far.

Had the gods gone out of their way to change her activation conditions?

"That could be said about everything we've experienced so far," Mira mused out loud. "I woke up without dying. The book turned out to be an incomplete guide to this world. I trace out the shape of our old story in what would have happened, if I hadn't woken up when I did and if you weren't there to swipe me out from under Blake Heron's nose."

"You think they used us to disrupt the natural flow of the Cycle, then?" Adra asked.

"It sure seems like it. I don't have the same resources I usually do," Mira held up a hand to forestall Adra's protest that he had plenty of money. "You know what I mean. I usually have something that I can leverage to my advantage; money, clout, or influ…"

She stopped as her phone dinged again. It was after the hours where she let the apps send her notifications, but several of her accounts had 'paid' features that let followers move their messages to her up to the front of the queue or, in this case, alert her with a special noise that bypassed her quiet time settings.

When she checked her phone, someone had sent her a 'Red Rose Bouquet' on LifeLog, which was the equivalent of sending her five hundred dollars. An animated rose bouquet bloomed on her screen before falling away to reveal a white envelope.

The attached message read: [I hope you're OK and got out of the Dungeon. My son just escaped the Dungeon in Palo Santorino and he told me that he might not have survived without the information he got from the Global Alerts. Before now, I just watched your videos to wind down in the evening or find the motivation to drink more water. I really hope you're alive to read this. Wishing you all the best, Emma Beth and the Farthing family.]

Huh.

She flipped back to LifeLog and checked the activity there. Samira's fan base was actually pretty gentle with few to none of the trolls she would have expected. If anything, her followers were a little protective of her because Mira found several 'comment has been deleted' placeholders surrounded by impassioned counter arguments to whatever had been said.

She flipped over to her Pictsa account. That was the account that had the 200,000 followers—or it used to. Mira found her following there had ballooned to nearly 500,000. It was the same on Chirp, where she had 800,000 people @ing her to see if she was the Hunter from the Global Alerts.

Just that morning, she'd been worried about how to overhaul her public image when, in fact, Samira had been quietly working on that all along.

"Adra, I've been an idiot," she announced, turning her phone so he could see the message. "I did get a resource. It's right here. I'm an influencer."

"Good," Adra said as he leaned over to read the message. Then he asked, "What is an influencer?"

Mira thought no one on the team would notice, but she woke up the next morning to several urgent texts from Cece.

[CN: You did a live???]

[CN: Did you contract say anything about social media posts??]

[CN: Mira, I know you're awake I see the lights from your balcony!]

[CN: OK, I watched it. I thought your parents made you do a post or something.]

[CN: People trapped in Dungeons really benefited from the Global Alerts?]

[CN: I feel bad about being so annoyed by them.]

"I forgot Cece follows my accounts," Mira announced over the breakfast table.

Adra winced. "Oops."

He was in his Illya body. He had been using that one exclusively since they found out that the Mason body was still detoxing from steroid abuse. Mira wasn't sure where he'd stashed that body and only the fact that he was insistent that he still needed it kept her from worrying that he'd made it jump off a cliff or something.

Mira had done a semi-spontaneous 'live' from the most aesthetic corner of the penthouse, which turned out to be vanity table and floofy ottoman that Adra had acquired for her. It was the only corner of the house that looked even vaguely like the spot Samira tended to record in.

She'd wrapped herself up in a fluffy robe and did a short piece, basically confirming that she was alive and that she was the Samira Bellamy from the global alerts. She thanked her followers for worrying about her and promised that she was alright—there had just been some changes that she'd announce later.

It had been the standard 'please stop panicking' script that every public figure who'd had a sudden accident had to deploy.

[SB: It was a stopgap measure before anyone sent me another paid message to ask for proof of life.]

[SB: Illya gave me the OK to do the live and approved the content ahead of time.]

Adra had actually said 'I trust you know better than I do what to say.'

[CN: Just so as long as you know what you're doing.]

[CN: Are you going to keep your channel going? Your content was very different than…. you know. All This.]

[SB: I will. If only to help normalize the change. It can't hurt to have an element of transparency. Right now, no one knows what the Guilds are for or what it looks like inside one. This is a chance to control the narrative.]

[CN: Only you would phrase it like that.]

[CN: OK. I trust you know what to do. Just warn me before you film anywhere I am, so I can fix my hair.]

[SB: I promise.]

To her surprise, the next message she got was from Bryn.

[BA: Can I borrow your kitchen? Specifically, your big center island. We're doing meal prep and we don't have a lot of counter space.]

"Rats," Mira muttered. She'd forgotten to account for that when splitting up the apartments. Of course, Bryn needed a bigger kitchen to work in. "I overlooked something yesterday. Do you mind if Bryn comes to use the kitchen? I put him and Luca in the two bedroom with a galley kitchen."

"I have no objections," Adra replied and got up. "Someone ought to get use of it. I have to meet with Syrith and my other team leaders anyway."

She half expected him to walk his other body into the apartment, but instead he stashed some bits of shadow matter about the room and on her person before transporting his body away.

[SB: You should probably bring any pots or knives you want to use. Mason doesn't cook and I just moved in. It's like that sitcom kitchen where you open the oven and its full of sweaters.]

[BA: OK.]

Bryn and Luca were at her door within fifteen minutes. Bryn had a big shopping bag on one shoulder and Luca was carrying a laundry basket full of kitchen appliances. He glanced over Mira's shoulder to where the kitchen was visible.

"OK, papi. I see what you mean," he said before turning to Mira. "Thanks for letting us come over. Please be aware that some of us don't think your place is the new community center."

"Was that in question?" Mira asked, stepping aside to let them in.

"It might be," Luca replied in an ambiguous tone. "Here, this is for you."

He handed over another 'bulking shake.'

"This one says the flavor is 'serenity,'" she reported and took a sip. "Serenity tastes like mint chip ice cream."

"I still just used vanilla protein powder," Bryn groused as he started to lay out his groceries, which were (as Mira had feared) chicken breasts, brown rice, and a pile of random fruits and vegetables.

"I know what you're thinking," Luca whispered as she decided to not say anything. "It will look better when he's done."

Mira couldn't foresee a future where Bryn wasn't making the standard body builder fuel of mixed vegetables, brown rice, and unseasoned chicken, but it wasn't her food so she wasn't about to pass judgment on his eating habits.

Luca waited until Bryn was absorbed in his task before addressing her again.

Mira had been kind of hoping to never address the subject of their exchange over the phone, but she was relieved when the first thing he said to her was, "I deserved what you said, earlier."

Mira looked his way. They were seated on the sofa opposite the kitchen, watching Bryn work. He was in the process of washing and de-stemming a bunch of grapes for what appeared to be a bunch of mini fruit bowls.

"On the phone," Luca clarified. "I was frustrated with Bryn hanging around that asshole again. I let it get in the way when I should have been listening. You were right to say what you did. I was was being a self centered asshole and I deserved to get called out before I did more damage. If you're wondering whether or not we're cool, we are. I just—thought you should know."

Mira wasn't sure what to say so she just nodded.

"What happened with Andre, if I can ask?" he continued. "Bryn doesn't want to talk about it or gets too upset when he tries."

Given the way Bryn had his head down and was concentrating on his work, Mira surmised that borrowing her counter space was only part of what he'd wanted to achieve here.

"It's a long story, but I can make it short," Mira sighed. "Andre was playing fast and loose with the safety of the group. Some of the party members called him out on it and he decided to leave rather than change. He expected some people to leave with him, not just Bryn, and none of them did. Then, once we were out, we were approached by someone recruiting for a rival Guild. Andrei wanted to hear his offer. No one else did. He thought Bryn would go with him, but Bryn decided not to."

Luca rubbed the back of his next, sending a sidelong look in Bryn's direction. "I'm really surprised. Andrei and I have been beefing ever since I got with Bryn. He'd pull this weird shit, showing up on nights when he knew Bryn and I had plans, wanting to hang out. He keeps saying he's straight, but I never had to fight for my man's attention like this before with someone who wasn't into dick."

"Why do you think that is?" Mira asked.

He shrugged and gave a brief grimace. "I used to think that it was because Andrei was insecure about losing Bryn's friendship because he was with me, but now I don't think it was friendship he was worried about losing. He's just in denial about what he wanted."

Mira thought about that polycule ending in 'Lost Daughter' featuring Cece, Bryn, and Andrei.

"Maybe, so," she murmured.

Knowing what she knew now, she wasn't sure how 'happy' that happy triad would have actually turned out to be.

Note:

LifeLog - Facebook

Picsta - Instagram

Chirp - Twitter/X