>>5288720Recalling your fleet of honey farmers back to your hive, you ask Amara to pass along a message of appreciation for the forest’s efforts before turning your full attention to the oddity at hand.
“Maybe later on the hole, if it’s all the same to you? And I would appreciate some help with our sneaky boi. Although…” You pause, retrieving Escher’s Gear from your pocket and trying not to dwell on the face that you’re standing in the footsteps of its original owner. “...mind if I unlock a fast travel location? That way when we decide to go down the hole, we can explore the rabbit hole together!"
“Yes yes, good idea! After you unlock, come up to the porch so we can swing! Bring sneaky-sneak here, and I’ll take care of him for you! Is least we can do!” She begs of you, and if on cue a lengthy bench is nauseatingly extruded from the house’s exterior, suspended just above the deck on a quartet of springy tendons handling from bones wider than your torso.
“Uh…sure! Just give us a second.” You call back, nesting a spoke of the Gear into the flesh at your feet before motioning for Julia and Dorian to join you (hopefully) out of earshot, your voice transmitted directly into their ears via commling.
“So. Alicja.” You sigh. “She’s-”
“Unwell.” Julia supplies, a sorrowful look in her eyes that’s only sharpened by her scarlet musculature. “If she k-keeps forgetting, then we should make something that she c-can wear to remind her.”
“Any suggestions as to the wording?” You ask, a FuzzBuzz whose fur is stained with the colors of the Polish flag already scrambling down your arm and into your waiting hands as Dorian chimes in.
“If I may be so bold, I think it could go a little something like this-”
A few short minutes later you’re sitting next to Alicja, the five of your seated comfortably on the swing with Sir FuzzBuzz content to perch on the railing to your right. ‘A’, delighted by the colors if nothing else, obliges when you motion for her to flip the construct over and, after clearing her throat, reads aloud what you’ve inscribed upon its chitinous underbelly.
“Your name is 'A'. It's short for Alicja.” She begins. “You have a problem with your memory, and…and sometimes forget why you're doing things. Sometimes you forget where you live, and get lost. You have a house in a forest. The forest is full of lung trees. The house is alive, and your friend. Underneath the house is a big hole, connecting to lots of tunnels."
She finishes, and just…stares at it, for a little while.
“We hoped it m-might help.” Julia says from ‘A’s left, the first to break the silence.
“If you’d like us to re-word it, then-” Dorian chimes in from beside your gentle artisan, but ‘A’ just shakes her head with a toothy grin and teary eyes.
(Continued)