A
beam of morning light
had found itself
right on top
of one of my eyelids through a hole in the thin curtains of my motel room. I sat up slowly while stretching the stiffness from my shoulders.
Something
falls off me
as I rise. Seems that I’d fallen asleep with a pregnancy book splayed open on my bare chest.
After getting a hold of myself... for
wanting
to contact that woman, I of course went right to learning about one of the many details of this body that was
most likely to drive her away
.
"Carrying someone else’s child. Not something I expect will be praised. Even if you could arguably consider me one of these ’surrogates’..."
A term I learned while reading about
infertility
, along with all the
medical advice
and potentials. I rub at my eyes and look around.
The hunter’s silver colored phone lay on the nightstand
where I’d left it
. Pretty sure the battery has died by now, since it was at 5% when I stopped interacting with it.
Which means if I want to start
using
it again I’ll need to find a... ’charger’.
> Guess I’ll have to go shopping again. Do people really deal with this temptation every day? Is it even real? That’s something I haven’t even bothered to think about deeply. I aligned some memories with what it was saying and assumed it was probably true. <
Considering I’ve been so
suspicious
of everything else about it... I wonder why I didn’t question it enough? My focus turns to the blue glow of the
genealogy tree
at the edge of my sight.
As before, with the two parental names linked to that mysterious white glowing |
???
|. Nothing has changed there that I can tell.
I see no obviously lesser glow, breaks in the line, or anything else I
might expect
in a...
bad case
. Which was both reassuring and frustrating!
No confirmation, no denial, just
stressing me out
as much as looking through the book did. The
whole system
does that.
A few steps places me close enough to lean down and turn the shower on. Hot...
sort of hot
water will help
clear my mind
, I’m sure.
While waiting on that to warm up, I walk back out and grab the bottle and bar of new
bath goods
. The small smile on my face over getting to use them
sloughs away quickly
when I set it all down on the edge of the tub.
I’d been
stubbornly ignoring
everything that was not its very useful map for a while now. My eyes tick
check mark glyph
that seems to be insistently pulsing.
"Great, it really did give me another Task..."
When it expanded, I was immediately flooded with a
spiraling swirl of blue text
coming into existence.
| TASK: Establish Connection with Potential Mate |
| TASK COMPLETION ✓ |
| REWARD IMMINENT ⚝ |
"WHAT?!"
I knock the closed bottle of lavender scented shampoo
into
the running water. A few choice curses in
my native tongue
play in my mind as it clatters and I fish it back out.
Then, sitting down on the edge of the bath, I
glare
at the floating text
responsible
.
"I did no. Such. Thing!"
The wolf in my mind gave a soft chuff at
my choice to argue
with something that has
never talked back
to me. Like it is
any different
!
A sound that was suspiciously like
laughter
for a creature that can’t even speak!
But I’m not done arguing with an empty bathroom... or rather, whatever
entity
is responsible for this
ridiculous magical construct
.
"I did not establish a connection. We did not even touch. I agreed to nothing. I merely... accepted the return of property that was mine by finder’s rights..."
A very
pointed feeling
spikes from Vrika, ensuring me that I was
marginalizing
some things.
"Yes, and allowed her to walk me home. That doesn’t count as establishing a connection... would it? Can it really be that easy?"
My
justifications
that nothing grew between us
sounded hollow
even to my own ears. But I wasn’t done fighting for an answer.
"And... oh. This was HER fault! It’s the number she put in the phone isn’t it?!"
The
interface
didn’t seem to care about my
protests
.
It was hardly done with me yet.