Quoted By:
"Silence! The man-beetle is dead, anyways, so he can't— you have emerged victorious over your evil doppelganger. The point was, in case you forgot, the evil crown-thief is trying to ascend to godhood? With <span class="mu-i">my</span> priceless artifact? And that's bad. So—"
"So are we dealing with this before or after Headspace?"
"—uh—" Gil always asks hard questions. "—um— after! Probably! We'll knock out Headspace real quick, you know, then slay the crown thief. Or whatnot. But it can't hurt to gather information beforehand, can it?"
Gil is forced to concede that it cannot hurt.
"Then we shall do so!" You flourish. "Onward!"
-
It's always easier to say 'onward' when you're leading a charge, for example, or are about to enter a dangerous cave single-file. As you're discovering, it doesn't work quite so well when all you're doing is walking side-by-side your retainer, in broad daylight, at a normal pace.
Eloise's tent isn't that far, but you're compelled to make conversation along the way regardless. "Um, by the way, Earl is also fine."
"Oh," Gil says. "That's cool."
"I mean, he's— at the moment he's sort of a— a slavering beast— but he's in good hands. And he'll turn back to normal by tomorrow, according to experts on the matter."
"...Oh," Gil says. "That's... cool."
You nod to yourself. Another successful conversation completed.
-
Thank God Eloise is easily findable. She's not even in her tent yet, just walking toward it. She shields her eyes at your approach. "Would you look at that! Charlotte?"
"Indeed!" you say. "It is I!"
She laughs at that, even though you didn't say anything funny. "Sure couldn't be anybody else. Welcome back! I have to say, things were awful dull without you. I heard you went to go save Madrigal's skin? And it didn't go so well?"
"Uhh..." Damnit! Has she already gone and told everybody? "I mean... I..."
"I-I-I don't know what you've been hearing," Gil says defensively, "but Lottie busted her <span class="mu-i">ass</span> trying to save that chick. You wouldn't even believe what we— what she went through. I-I-I-I-It's not her fucking fault that she was beaten to the—"
"Well, hello to you too," Eloise says. "Could that be... was it 'Gil'? With the beetles?"
Gil shifts. "Yeah."
"I don't know that I've seen that body before. Is it—?"
"I-It's me."
"Oh!" Eloise claps her hands together. "Of course! You look just how you sound." (Gil frowns.) "This all makes perfect sense. <span class="mu-i">Congratulations</span> on that— and I didn't mean to demean what you two have been through, of course. You've been gone for <span class="mu-i">days,</span> I was sure it had to be— were you coming to speak with me?"
"...Indeed!" you say.
(2/3)
