Dungeon Hunter: Act I

Mother Knows Best

We spent the rest of the hour arguing about different actors who could take on the mantle of the Doctor successfully, and had come to the mutual agreement that Tennant could easily take the role on again. Jye, however, had been adamant that the next Doctor should've been their one acting friend from high school who'd apparently made it back to screen tests but hadn't passed. Axel didn't even try to humour them.

Talking with Tam like that so contrasted the fact she had tried to kill me. Would've succeeded too if it hadn't been for Wren. But she was just another mostly normal person. Another human being thrown into this crazy situation. I guess I understood why she'd done it. If I'd been alone without Axel and this had all happened... Maybe I would've done the exact same thing. Still, her condescension wasn't appreciated. And she refused to answer questions about who Mumma was, much to my chagrin.

Apparently my command tied to the [Collar of Control] didn't count her divulging that information as helping the party. I probably should've thought a little more deeply about the wording I'd used. Well, what was done was done. I couldn't risk undoing my command and letting her run amok even for a second. Though we'd developed a cordial rapport just now, it did not mean I was willing to let her off the literal and proverbial leash. She might not be allowed to directly harm us but that didn't mean she couldn't put us in danger. And without knowing more about what or who Mumma was, we'd have to keep her at arms reach.

Eventually we chose to just stay awake for the next shift together and then to reset it from there. Conversation drifted from TV shows to our favourite films and music artists. Wren had surprisingly old taste in music, favouring 80's love ballads, while Tam liked "electropop bubblegum bass" musicians with names like Diveo. Jye unsurprisingly was into the kpop scene and confessed of their shrine dedicated to Blackpink in their closet. Axel was just straight up into pop music and whatever was in the top charts at the time. He didn't disclose it to anyone else, but I knew his favourite song was nothing of the sort. But that was his secret to divulge if he wanted to. When asked I couldn't supply my preferred genre. I liked a little bit of everything and saw the artistry in most content—so long as the song was pleasant to listen to I probably liked it.

The rest of the party seemed dissatisfied with my answer. Well, that wasn't my problem.

"Sunshine, what's the plan, by the way?" Tam asked.

Realising she was referring to me, I said, "Well, first we need to figure out how to clear this Dungeon."

She rolled her eyes. "That's child's play. You gotta find a way out."

"What do you mean?" Wren said.

"Well, Mumma told me the domain this Dungeon falls under is [REDACTED], so it's probably something like a puzzle or a labyrinth that we have to solve. She said they love that sort of stuff."

Jye swore as Tam's words were censored, slapping their hands over their ears. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Gesturing at them with her thumb, she whispered, "What's the deal with your local Bigfoot?"

Unsure how much we should divulge about Jye's status, I hesitated in responding. Axel intervened. "They just sometimes do that. PTSD or something."

Aghast at using a serious psychological condition as a cover, I began to explain, "Jye's got this issue where–"

"Where I have these random tics, you know. Clutching my ears and stuff like this," Jye cut me off, smiling through their pain.

It was bad when Axel and Jye agreed on something. Even though the lie didn't sit well with me, it meant they thought it was better to not tell Tam the truth, at least not yet. Maybe that was for the better. It seemed like she was especially close to her sponsor and if the sponsor had any say about the game maybe they'd report Jye for "cheating." Despite the fact their glitch gave them no advantages, I could see some people arguing that it was unfair. Since technically you could leave your party in this system, it meant it was highly possible she still viewed us as competition, especially if she managed to trick me into removing her collar somehow.