Quoted By:
"Mm-hm."
"You're going to save all this?"
"...I guess so. Yeah."
"Aces," Gil says.
———
>[NIGHT 6]
Branwen, upon seeing your hard work, stuck her thumbs in her pockets and nodded. Later, she invited you to play cards with her and Earl— "if you aren't too <span class="mu-i">busy,</span> 'course."
You did and you lost. Richard offered to help you cheat, but that seemed against the spirit of pureness and honesty, and therefore you lost horribly. That's all you want to say about it, except that you probably just let them win because you're God, and you'll be winning at everything soon, so it's only fair.
You do feel a renewed urge to have somebody tell you you're cool, though, and seek out Earl post-game. You don't have any new alterations to show him— yet— but you're almost sure he was trying to tell you something yesterday, and you didn't get to hear what it was. Thank goodness he's amenable to being dragged outside to discuss.
"Hook you up?"
"Yeah!" you say. "You said you'd hook me up with... something, but then you got interrupted. What was that?"
"Uh..." Earl rubs his chin. "Well, anything... I have a load of contacts. All stripes. Ask, and I can get them in your— oh, wait! No, I remember now, hon. Your modifications. Are you dosing?"
Surely he's not proposing... "Dosing?"
"Yeah! You know, to help it along. Get it all settled in there. You're not?" He frowns. "See, I thought maybe not. You're a tough fucking cookie! But if you wanted to make it it a little easier, I— here." He slides his hand into his pocket, looks sideways, and plucks out a narrow, empty syringe. "I'd be happy to pass it along."
Oh God. He is proposing. "You— you want me to do <span class="mu-i">drugs?</span>"
"Drugs? No! It's just a little seawater. It, you know— it softens the—"
"It ruins your <span class="mu-i">life.</span>"
"Not down here, kid! You and me are breathing the stuff. Completely natural. All you gotta do is get it in your veins, which—"
La, la, la. You're tuning him out. Richard? You shouldn't do drugs, right?
«Besides the ones I administer?»
You, uh... that doesn't count. Yes.
«If you mean <magic,> it shouldn't even work. Your blood is vastly diluted.»
Okay. Yeah. You knew that. You can tell Earl honestly that it won't even— but what about the red stuff? Didn't he say that was basically blood?
«...Yes.»
Uh-huh. Okay. And how does seawater work again? Keep it brief.
«If administered intravenously, it enhances the strength of self-Law. Under ordinary circumstances, this provokes moderate euphoria and an illusory sense of wholeness and wellness. If a person is struggling with changes to their sense of self, it might assist with integration. This is likely the source of this foolish recommendation.»
So far, so drug-like to you. But it also turns people into giant stupid shark monsters?
«If a contaminate source of self-Law is introduced, the seawater might enhance the strength of it instead, to such an extent that the original strings are temporarily warped. This produces physical change.»
