Power doesn’t corrupt, comfort does.
At least that was how Ari was feeling. Getting more power hadn’t ever done anything except make her strive harder. But the moment she got comfortable, it was as though all her resolve melted away.
She supposed she was lucky. The only place she felt comfortable had been her father’s Memory Palace. That… had changed.
It was debatable whether the change was a good thing. While she absolutely adored both Bevel and Perry, they weren’t good for her focus.
Thankfully, she could count on her new paramour not to indulge her too often. Though the soft chair they were currently lounging on might indicate otherwise, they were in fact reviewing a number of important reports.
Having Bevel around helped.
The teenager was starting to work on projects of her own. Supposedly secret projects. There was some question in Ari’s mind about how Bevel thought she could keep something secret inside someone else’s Memory Palace, as it was an extension of her Papa’s mind. Neither Ari nor Perry had pointed such out.
“I believe we should address this business with the disruption to the train lines,” Ari said, though neither her tone nor the way she pulled Perry closer matched her words.
Further proof that comfort corrupts.
“Think I’d like to work on spells for a bit first, if you don’t mind.” With a wave of his hand, he brought up a display of the framework for Memory Palace. Specifically, the part the kept them isolated from the real world.
She recognized the changes he wanted to make. If they were able to keep awareness and pass messages while inside, it would make administration possible while benefiting from the time dilation.
It would also make it less comfortable to spend such long stretches inside Memory Palace. She wondered if perhaps that was intentional.
“Father has a spell for that,” Ari said, using the tablet at her side to bring up a projection of her own.
Her paramour squinted at the spell and notations. “Not exactly useful, since it’s a fourth Order spell.”
“Guess we just need to reach Hydra soul then,” Ari teased, feeling it was an acceptable compromise. After all, they did have better uses for their time. And if they happened to keep Memory Palace as a retreat for a little longer… well, that was hardly a bad thing, was it?
“Getting closer.” A set of floating numbers popped up next to the spell framework, sharing her paramour’s current status, according to the diagnostic chamber.
Body - Tier 3 - Blooming - Stunted
Mind - Tier 3 - Refinement, Worlds Alignment
Soul - Tier 3 (Pegasus) - 5-Slot Ensoulment, Repository Reincarnation
Progress: 4/5 Third Order Impressions, 8 Point Foundational Structure, Enshrined Astral Soul, 81% Pegasus Alignment.
It was intimidating to think that he had only started his journey a little over a year ago. In that time, he’d almost caught up with her.
Arizar brought up her own status beside his.
Body - Tier 3 - Blooming
Mind - Tier 3 - Refinement, Celestial Alignment
Soul - Tier 3 (Pegasus) - 5-Slot Ensoulment
Progress: 4/5 Third Order Impressions, Five Point Foundational Structure, Enshrined Astral Soul, 89% Pegasus Alignment.
“I guess it would make sense,” Perry grunted when he read her status. “You’re getting pretty close. Guess the diagnostic helped?”
“It has, yes. I will admit, I would not have thought that spending more time working on my embroidery would make such a difference.”
Pegasus ascension was counter-intuitive in ways she hadn’t expected. Embroidery was something she’d enjoyed doing with her mother, and as such, had a strong place in her heart. And it seemed that was important for her progress. She’d jumped halfway through Pegasus in a month simply indulging in her hobby.
It was hard to accept.
“Looks like I might need to hit Hydra if I want to fix whatever I did to my body,” Perry said, drawing her attention back to his status. Unfortunately, despite a couple weeks spent doing Tender’s trials, his body progression remained locked in place. It hadn’t moved a single decimal point. Tender had assured them its trials would slowly mend the ‘unseen’ errors my forced ascension introduced, but it was likely to take longer than progressing to tier 3 strength would’ve otherwise.
“Guess my body’s like an engine that’s been pushed too hard and cracked. No stripping it down and rebuilding, even with all the mana at our disposal.”
“Even so, you’ve nearly caught up. When we first met, I was certain I’d outrank you for the next few decades at least,” Ari said, tossing a few strands of her blond hair back. It was loose and chaotic at the moment, unlike her usual preference of a tight braid or otherwise elegant style. Another sign of how comfort was corrupting her. “Now I wonder just how high we’ll reach in the next few years.”
“Not like the last stretch is going to be as easy,” Perry said as he brought up the last key for his progression to Pegasus.
She arched an eyebrow at that. His was easy, compared to hers. A display with several ‘suggestions’ appeared. Her paramour’s preference for building meant he needed to create something that used at least half of his affinities.
It had a few general ideas, but they were little better than vague suggestions. A building that benefited their people or an item that revolutionized his use of magic, were the extent of its examples.
“An easier task than my own.” That she needed to survive a ten minute battle with a tier four Celestial-affinity creature went unsaid. For all that her objective was clearer, it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t the battle she found foreboding, but the difficulty in simply finding one.
“Your father still hasn’t agreed to visit, has he?”
“He’s not convinced the scans will help him ascend.” Ari scowled as she dismissed her diagnostic. “And I wonder if he isn’t correct. We don’t know what it’ll tell us about ascending to Dragon-souled. Or if he’ll be granted access to the depths as a Djinn-soul.”
“There’s other useful information, but fair enough,” Perry said, his gaze returning to his status. Hers followed. Specifically to neural dynamics. All his distorted time on the Dauntless in Conflict’s trials had pushed it to truly incredible heights. To the point where it sometimes caused moments of disconnect. It wasn’t a problem within Memory Palace, but over the last week outside, Ari had noticed Perry having strange pauses in the middle of a conversation. Or he might miss a step, only for his movements to return to their usual smoothness.
They’d discussed it, and he’d said it felt a bit like having an overworked muscle that was spasming. Yet nothing in the diagnostic had indicated any sort of problem. A good reminder it wasn’t infallible.
“You know, if we are able to establish a framework for running things from inside your Memory Palace, we may end up spending even more time here,” Ari said, tapping on the tablet and making the designs of the city disappear. “In which case, we’ll need a proper work area.”
“You don’t think a bean bag chair’s an appropriate work area?”
Ari didn’t dignify that with a response, other than arching an eyebrow at her paramour. It was bad enough she was allowing them to work instead of simply enjoying themselves.
Hmm.
Perhaps it was already too late for her. The comfort had corrupted her.
“You’re right. We’ll need to build something.”
Ari had always found it amusing that they had to put in more physical effort in making changes in the Memory Palace than in the real world. It had made her wonder more than once which world was more real.
Despite his words, Ari found herself pulling him back down. “Not yet though.”
The next hour was lost to comfort, neither of them quite ready to abandon it without something more pressing calling for their attention. After they did finally rise, they returned to the business of running their respective domains. Mostly they reviewed paperwork.
At her repeated prompting, they did make a work area of rough wood slats stacked on cinder blocks. Bevel returned from her ‘secret project’ out in the dunes near the end of their scheduled time inside. If they were going to perform even more work inside, perhaps Ari would suggest they extend it? A balance seemed like a reasonable compromise.
“Hey Papa, guess what I did today?” Bevel hadn’t even landed by the time she’d started talking, already grabbing onto one of the many ropes she’d strung around the garage, almost landing on her Papa’s face. “And no peeking!”
The enthusiasm drew a smile out of Ari.
“Not even a little peek? How about a hint then?” Perry shot back while turning away from the table where they’d been working.
“It’s green!”
Ari’s smile grew as she saw him struggle to keep his face straight, the corner of his mouth twitching as he tapped his chin. “You… grew a bunch of grass?”
“Why would I grow grass?” Bevel’s scrunched brow almost made Are lose her composure, forcing her to place a hand over her own mouth to keep from laughing. Then Bevel shook her head, waving her hand in a circular motion. “Guess again!”
“Some sort of wind spell?”
“That’s not a real guess. And no.” Bevel let go of the net she was hanging on and dropped down beside her Papa, grabbing his hand. “Come on!”
“Gonna say… nope, I’m all out of ideas. Unless you were riding forest-raptors.”
Bevel blinked at him, then pulled out a journal, jotting down a note. After she put it away, she shook her head. “Not forest-raptors.”
“Guess you’ll just have to tell me.”
“Better. I’ll show you,” she said while going over to retrieve a set of cups from the customer waiting area. Then she came back and plopped them down on the desk, one for each of them. Ari accepted hers with a small nod. From a gourd on Bevel’s waist she poured a green slush into the cup. One that had a faint lemon scent.
“You made your own slushy,” Perry said, his face shifting into a small frown for a second before he wiped it away with a big goofy grin.
“Impressive,” Ari noted. Bevel had only started working on ways to use her wind affinity to cool things a day ago. An application she’d worked out after their visits to the mana-wells and a single complaint one of Esbee’s customers made about having to blow on their soup to cool it down.
At least, that was what Bevel claimed was the source as she poured.
It wasn’t just cold, the girl could generate.
“It takes too much work to do fire though,” Bevel complained as she eyeballed their drinks.
Ari remembered that. She’d managed to create a fireball, using her entire mana pool for a small ball that could barely light a campfire. Bevel had still spent a full day constantly waiting for her mana to refill before immediately casting it again, lighting rags scattered about the shop on fire repeatedly.
“And I didn’t just make a slushy. I made a better slushy,” Bevel stressed, holding the cup up, pressing it into their hands. “Try it.”
Figuring that the taste wouldn’t last long after they left Memory Palace, Ari indulged his adopted daughter, sipping at the green slushy. Ari specifically didn’t ask about the contents. Bevel’s rather rough years taking care of herself meant she had looser standards on what was edible than most.
Ari’s own father would’ve approved.
It tasted better than Ari expected. The promised lemon tang was there, though it was cut well by the fruity sweetness. Not that Ari could compare it to a specific flavor. More like a fruit punch, she supposed, which was a weird combination with the lemon tang.
“Huh. That’s pretty good,” Perry said, taking another longer drink.
“You don’t have to sound so surprised, Papa,” Bevel complained, crossing her arms as she glared at him.
“Sorry. Read that random food made by your kids was a gamble.” Perry put the cup back on the table.
Ari took another sip of her own. The tang was a bit stronger than it seemed, making her lips pucker despite my resistance. “A tad strong.”
“It’s tricky to get the sour right for different tiers. Even Esbee’s having trouble. I heard she was thinking about having different menus,” Bevel said, taking a sip from her own cup.
After another couple sips, Ari furrowed her brow, setting her pencil down to look at the cup. “Is there tellis root in this?”
“Uh, is that the one with the little purple hairs on it?”
“Yes. That’s correct,” Ari said, frowning.
“Yep!”
“Hmm. I would have thought it impossible to use such a poison in such a tasteful way,” Ari said, a small smile slipping on her face as she took another sip.
“Poison?” Perry asked, his face having gone somewhat pale.
“Just a little,” Bevel said, holding her hand up with her fingers a quarter-inch apart. “Enough to give it the tang.”
“No serving it to people outside. Not unless there’s someone to cure the poison on hand,” Perry said in his serious dad voice.
Bevel rolled her eyes, but she nodded before meeting Ari’s gaze. Ari gave his daughter a wink. After all, it was far from the first poison she’d drank for entertainment.
However, it was also their last distraction.
No matter how much the comfort attempted to corrupt her, it was time to return to work.
After all, she had a city to run.