Last Words chapter 47 (Patreon)

Waking up in my own bed was…transcendant. Not because I didn’t love the inn. The beds over there were surprisingly soft and comfortable. But because they just weren’t…mine. Being out and about drained something out of me, a resource that I couldn’t get back until I was in a safe place that was only mine. Call it social battery, peace of mind, whatever, but something about sleeping in a bed that wasn’t mine just lowered the quality of my rest.

It wasn’t like I was even attached to the place. I’d bought it only a few weeks ago, and I’d spent almost no time there. Still, it was mine. My place. That meant something. Maybe I should build or buy a house over on the other side.

Stepping out of my room, I headed to the bathroom, sidestepping a grumbling Sonia. Sonia, Denny, and Alice were all sleeping on the couch and floor in my apartment tonight, having come back with me since they never got a chance to last time. They had things to pick up, real life issues to check on, and families to get in touch with.

Alice, in particular, wanted to get in contact with her parents. They lived states away, in Des Moines, apparently, so she wasn’t worried about the Tennies causing them issues or even about them being too worried not to hear from her, but she didn’t want to leave it too long. 

I emerged into the living room to find everyone bleary but awake. “Howdy all,” I said cheerily. “Everyone sleep ok? Alice? That air mattress work for you? Denny, how was the couch?”

I’d dropped twenty bucks on a cheap inflatable mattress for Alice to use, and Denny had taken the couch. I’d offered Sonia something similar, but she’s insisted the floor was fine, only asking for a blanket and a pillow, so I’d let her have it her way. “So, what does everyone want for breakfast? Our food budget is pretty high.”

My power could conjure any food I’d ever had before, which was useful as hell, and I had two hundred and eight dollars extra that had been driving me nuts for ages considering my tendency to buy big ticket items for relatively round prices. I figured since everyone was coming home for the first time in a while and I’d be re-upping my funds today anyway, I could polish off the residual numbers and bring myself to an even twenty nine thousand before I made those sales.

Alice perked up excitedly. “Wait, really? We can order whatever. Is that like a…” she waggled her fingers at me. “Thing?”

“You know you’re ALSO a speaker,” I told her dryly. “You can do,” I waggled my fingers. “Too. You have magnetism powers, right? I figure since we have a contract we might as well share, but I don’t plan to force it or anything.” Given Alice was on the team, I’d probably end up giving her a pattern if she wanted it, so the details of my word wouldn’t be hard to figure out, even beyond what I’d already told her. Seeing if she would reciprocate would be a good way to see where we stood.

She nodded grimly. “Ferromagnetism, actually. And yes, I know that’s weird. Words seem to be almost completely random. Not all of us get super broad stuff like ‘Transaction’. I only have the one skill for mine. Which IS just called Magnetism. And it doesn’t really do much at lower levels. I can float paperclips, move a metal cup. Basic stuff. I’ve been working on leveling it which has been helping, and I DID get a perk that lets me split my attention so I can use my skill on more than one thing at once, so there’s that.”

“I think you’re underestimating that ability,” I informed her eagerly. “Like, I get how back in the other world it might seem pointless given people can like…throw fire, but in my experience speaker bullshit is on a whole other level. I realize you’re a long way from floating busses or cars, but you could probably do like…a small dagger, right?”

She considered that, and I waved her off. “We can talk about this when we get back, just pick your breakfast. Anything you want.”

Her face went red. “I kind of want happy face pancakes. The ones with the whipped cream face and the cherries and chocolate chips? And an order of sausage. And a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. And a muffin. Blueberry.”

“Damn, someone is hungry,” I laughed. “But done.” I glanced over at the table, and suddenly it was full of food. I’d bought a pitcher of the juice instead of just a glass, in case anyone else wanted some. The whole thing ran me like forty bucks, and I realized that while I might be able to polish off a decent chunk of my excess cash, I was unlikely to be ABLE to spend three hundred bucks on breakfast for four people, at least not without delivery or tip.

Still, that was kind of a champagne problem to have, so I decided to get started on my own order. Namely, country fried steak and eggs with a side of sausage and a pitcher of fresh guava juice (my absolute favorite). I also snagged a bowl of oatmeal, a couple of danishes from a bakery I liked back in Portland, and some fresh french bread with irish butter. With my new mana body I could eat a lot more than I had been able to before, so I decided to make the most of it.

Alice grinned at me. “And you said I ate a lot,” she said ruefully as she sipped the OJ with a delighted sigh.

“Mana body,” I told her with a shrug. “You’ll eat a lot more once you’ve established yours. How is that going, by the way? I sent you some of those fruits, and since you’re a speaker you should be able to see the progress.”

She nodded. “Unafiliated skill,” she confirmed. “Mine is currently level four. I think I’m making good time. Do I need to hit ten before I can get that Barkskin tattoo?”

“Nope,” I confirmed. “But until you do it’ll be single use. I also can’t afford to give another one out until I get my cash reserves topped up. A fully charged Barkskin pattern runs me twenty five grand.”

She choked on her juice. “I’m sorry, it costs WHAT?” she squeaked. “That’s insane!”

“That’s magic,” I shrugged. “I’m lucky I can buy them at all. But yeah, consistently topping people up is NOT cost effective. Ideally we get everyone to Beginner Mana Body and they can charge it themselves.”

She nodded, obviously dazed by the number. I had to suppress a smile as I considered how wildly my own perception of money had changed since getting my powers. My bank account used to top out at five digits when I was at my wealthiest, now I was just shy of thirty thousand dollars and I felt almost broke.

Which brought up an important issue. What exactly was I going to be selling? I had twenty nine thousand two hundred and fifty dollars or so. I could afford four bloodfire mushrooms, and I’d have ALMOST enough leftover to pick up an Electrum dagger. Or I could buy six mushrooms and have another three thousand seven hundred and fifty in reserve. Six also seemed like it was pushing it in terms of scarcity, but since it had been a while I wasn’t TOO worried about.

The dagger hadn’t sold for much, an example that not everything from the wordworld was inherently more valuable here. As unfortunate as it was, while some of the things they had were amazing and could sell for a lot more here, just as many valuable items on that side just didn’t have the context for people to pay for them here. I’d barely gotten more than market price for the Electrum Dagger, and that had been a one off.

Of course, the mushrooms were valuable as hell. Alistair and his knights wanted those bad, and they were paying me twenty five apiece, as much as a full pattern would cost for one of my people.

And the mushrooms were all I’d be selling them for now. I had considered maybe offering a pattern or a stoneskin potion, but despite friendly relations, I was building my own faction here, and I wanted to keep some of the good stuff for myself. I fished out my phone, which hadn’t seen much use recently, and dialed Alistair’s number. The phone rang twice before he picked up. “Cromwell,” he said simply.

“It’s Gus,” I told him (probably unnecessarily). “I picked up a couple more of those mushrooms. Six, actually. I’m at my place, and I don’t really have a ride, can you have one of your people do a pickup?”

Given the others and their plans, I felt having them pick up the goods would be more convenient. The club was nice enough, but I didn’t need to go running around town when my friends were already going to be out. Better to stick close to home in case of an emergency.

“Yes,” he said immediately, voice firm. “Yes, we can do that. We’ve long since expended our stock, and their effects are…very beneficial. We’ll acquire any more you come across at the same price point. Did you happen to come across any other interesting finds? I’ve noticed you tend to stumble over the most fascinating objects.”

“Can’t get lucky every time,” I said casually. “Otherwise it’s not really luck, now is it? Six mushrooms is a hundred and fifty grand, right?”

He chuckled at my eagerness. “It is. I take it you’d like the deposit made in the same manner as the last? SpeedyCash directly to your bank account? I would note that such income will most likely be flagged as a transaction of interest by the authorities. It will be among many such flagged transactions, so it probably won’t draw too much attention, but it is worth considering. Should our business continue, you might consider patronizing a more discrete form of banking institution.”

That hadn’t actually occurred to me. The thing with bank accounts is that the government doesn’t monitor the accounts themselves. They monitor transactions. Like he’d said, there was a flag on transactions of over ten thousand dollars, and since money needed to move from one place to another they caught anything that might be an issue.

My powers, meanwhile, spent and deposited money DIRECTLY into my account. It bypassed all transaction mediums, and so they had no way of noticing my surprisingly robust finances.

But Alistair was right, because I’d forgotten that not ALL my money came from my powers directly. Alistair’s cash infusions were bulky, and they WOULD be noticed eventually. My family were stupid wealthy, so chances were good it would be written off the first few times even if someone bothered to check, but after a few six figure deposits, someone was going to start wondering what the hell I was doing.

“Can you put me in touch with someone?” I asked after a moment. “Who can hook me up with a more discrete account?”

“I can,” he said with a laugh. “Consider it a freebie. In the spirit of future cooperation. I’ll have Paul help you set it up when he comes to collect the goods. We can transfer the funds directly into the new account. You can usually get a better interest rate with a large initial deposit.”

I grinned, thanking him for the help, then hung up the phone. I glanced over at Alice, who was still eating her pancakes. “I have someone coming over for a business deal. I can meet him outside if you’re worried about meeting new people.” I cut myself a piece of chicken fried steak, taking a bite of the warm food and enjoying the taste of the rich gravy. Alice just shrugged and went back to eating, so I guess it didn’t bother her. Either that or she was distracted by the food. I took a long sip of the fresh guava juice. Totally understandable.