SS - Chapter 33 - Working Hard

So... RavensDagger has posted this years SCS writing challenge (no contest this year) and the theme is: SCS and other fiction crossover. Which other fiction? Well, any other fiction.

Now, here's the thing... I've kind of wanted to do a pokemon fanfic for awhile now. Not a super serious one, just for fun (yes, I still enjoy pokemon). My favorite type is bug, and that was going to be part of the theme, so when RD posted the challenge I got thinking... Antitheis, are plant type.

Yes, that's a ridiculous premise, but I thought I'd ask: Who would like to read a short fiction about ALT Teddy and family living in the pokemon world? My original fiction was going to be focused on a Issi like character, so I could always make poke Issi the MC of a spin-off later.

RD is asking for 10k words, so it'll be around 8-10 chapters, two-ish weeks. Anyone interested?

“I’m surprised to see you eating here, instead of in the village hall, and at a reasonable time too,” Selena remarked as she sauntered up to my table at the dining hall. It was still fairly early in the day so it wasn’t that busy, and there were plenty of open tables, but the girl still sat down across from me.

“Sieg and Camille teamed up to kick me out, said I should get some rest before we activate the gate,” I said, stirring my stew listlessly. 

“They were right to do it,” she exclaimed before taking a small bite of her soup. When I shot her a dirty look she threw up her hands. “Don’t get me wrong, I respect how much work you put into managing the kingdom, but there are a couple hundred people showing up in a day or two, and you don’t want to be completely exhausted when they first show up.”

“I know, I know,” I mumbled. “That’s exactly the reason Siegward gave me. And I agree that after spending weeks planning and preparing one extra day of review isn’t going to make a difference. I just can’t stop myself from worrying, and double checking the details. Who knows what I might have missed.”

“Even if you did miss something early on, you would have caught the problem weeks ago. You’re too obsessed with the details. And if something did manage to slip through the cracks, it’s too late to fix it now, so you might as well prepare for the big day,” Selena said softly.

“I know that too! It’s just that knowing doesn’t help me shut off my brain and stop thinking about this stuff,” I sighed, before scooping out a small amount of stew. I stared at the food for a couple seconds before dropping back in the bowl. It wasn’t that I wasn’t hungry, or that it wasn’t tasty, I just couldn’t choke it down with the churning feeling in my stomach. “Let’s talk about something else, maybe taking my mind off work will help me relax.”

Selena nodded lightly, taking a sip of her water before opening her mouth. “How is the interrogation of maid Alex going?”

I slumped forward, catching my head in my hands before I face planted into the stew. “It’s not! We weren’t getting anywhere with the pantomime, so Camille had the bright idea to give Alex some chalk to try to see if she could draw it out, but that just made things worse! She has the art skills of a six year old, and despite trying her best I still don’t know what she wants to say. Not only that, but now all the walls in my office are covered in chalk drawings.”

Selena snorted quietly in amusement. She tried to hide the act behind the rim of her cup, but I still caught it. 

“It’s not funny,” I whined.

“I’m sure that depends on your point of view,” she replied with a smile. “You must have discovered something in all those scribbles and pantomimes though.”

“Well… maybe… Camille says the seed wasn’t just located in the middle of the dungeon core, but what siphoned magic out of the surrounding area to form the core in the first place. They’re ancient, and the Sovereign Stone wants to absorb them to do… something,” I explained.

“Camille said that? The same Camille that can’t sit still long enough to read a single page of text? How do you know she isn’t just making things up?”

“She wouldn’t just make something like that up,” I muttered. 

When Selena shot me a disbelieving look. “That girl once told me that only half of the village's livestock was kept in the pen. The other half were free range forest goats or, in her words, foats. That was less than an hour after we arrived at the village. I can’t count the number of off hand lies and tall tales shes told me since I arrived here.”

I cleared my throat, and tried to avoid the other girl's crystalline gaze. “Well, she wouldn’t just randomly make something up about something this important. She even pointed out the relevant diagrams, and Alex seemed quite pleased about her translations, so I can only guess she was at least close.” 

“Strange… Why do you think she would emphasize that the seeds are old? Because the dungeons take a long time to manifest?” Selena asked.

“I don’t know, but she did think it was important. There’s an entire wall dedicated to that idea,” I grumbled. 

“So, did you manage to figure out why she destroyed the dungeon, or how she knows this stuff in the first place?”

“Sort of? She seemed to indicate there’s a link between the stone and all of the constructs, and since the Stone wanted to destroy the dungeon, she acted.”

“But… Doesn’t that mean that all constructs are linked to their parent stone? Why haven’t we ever heard of other constructs doing this before?” Selena asked.

“Dunno. Maybe they have, and most monarchs have just suppressed the information. Or maybe because most other constructs don’t have self awareness, and the ability to direct themselves, they can’t act in the Stone’s best interest. Like I said, trying to pull important information out of stick figure drawings is just as difficult as figuring out pantomime.”

Pushing my meal out of the way I slowly lowered my head down to the table. “I’m so tired.”

“You’re just realizing that now?” Selena exclaimed. “Why do you think everyone has been bothering you to take a break?”

“I know!” I grumbled. “It’s just there’s so much to do, and my first instinct is always to finish my work as soon as possible, so I’m aware of everything going on before any issues pop up.”

“Well, I can kind of understand that, but you can’t expect to be able to keep up with everything that’s happening, especially as the kingdom grows and expands. You’re going to need to start delegating,” Selena said.

“I know… It’s just hard. There have just been so many changes over the last few weeks that I haven’t had time to adapt. Sieg and I are struggling to keep up.”

“Why haven’t you asked Camille for help?” Selena asked.

I pushed my head just far enough off the table to stare at her. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what I was thinking there.”

“Apology accepted,” I grunted. “Camille may be exceptional in some ways, but trusting her with planning and paperwork is asking for disaster.”

“Your mother and her retainers will be here in two days, and I’m sure they’ll give you some help,” Selena said.

“Uh huh… “ I muttered. Even though I was trying to give her my full attention, I was starting to have problems keeping my head up, and my eyes open. 

“I guess this means you’ve finally been sufficiently distracted from your issues for the exhaustion to kick in. First time I’ve seen someone get distracted from their individual issues, by talking about the issues as a whole though…” Selena chuckled.

“Pardon?” I asked. What she said sounded important, but for some reason my brain hadn’t been able to fully absorb what she was saying.

“Never mind,” she muttered, pushing her chair back. Selena slowly rounded the table and gently pulled me to my feet and put my arm over her shoulder. “Let’s get you home to bed.”

“Work!” I muttered.

“Tomorrow!” she immediately snapped back. 

She somehow managed to carefully maneuver me around the now filling tables, and out of the door without bumping a single thing. 

Once outside she carefully directed me across the square and down the side of the village hall. I did try to head to the main door, out of habit, but Selena wasn’t having it. Instead she pulled me around to the tiny back entrance to my room.

“How longs this been here?” I asked in surprise.

“It’s probably always been here,” she grumbled as we pushed our way inside. “My guess is that a workaholic like you just never used it before.”

I mulled that over in my tired mind. “Maybe!” I chirped.

Selena just chuckled at that. We had to take a long winding route around my room, due to the stacks of books I had everywhere. I could feel Selena’s judgement, but my brain was too tired to care. 

When Selena dropped me onto the lumpy straw bed I immediately gathered the blankets around me, and cuddled up to the pillow.

“Thank you,” I managed to mutter as my vision went blurry.

“You’re welcome,” she replied quietly. “Sleep well.”

“I will…” I replied quietly as I started to black out. “See you tomorrow.”