Novel Full Chapter 1916 Before the Fog
Chapter 1916: Chapter 1916 Before the Fog
— Kat —
“Well that’s a little awkward,” grumbled Kat as she looked at the big timer on the fog. It had started at one hour and fourteen minutes originally. It had taken a few seconds to get over the shock and was a bit less now… but still a very awkward number.
“Yeah, I know I said anything over an hour… but that’s pretty close and I’m not sure we want to gamble on something better…” sighed Hedera.
“Especially if that number is ’saved’ despite going through the fog,” agreed Lily in human form. “I can see it happening. Might also only work if you touch the same fog wall… but then how much of a detriment is it really?”
“Should we test it then?” asked Kat. “Take the risk, and if it’s better we use that and keep Lily’s as the test. If it’s worse we can use… the other timer, whoever it belongs to, as the test?”
“Hmmm… I think I’d be more for it if we had a bigger group. I’m pretty sure Timmy here doesn’t count,” said Hedera as she gestured to the Timmy at her side. Kat had… sort of forgotten about ’him’. Timmy blended into the background really easily.
“Hey… couldn’t he have helped with the chores?” asked Kat.
“No, those are all orb tasks remember?” offered Hedera. “Pretty sure that wouldn’t have worked.”
“Ah… yeah…” agreed Kat. “Maybe we see if Timmy can start a timer then?”
Hedera frowned at the statement, letting it hang for a few moments before her lips straightened out. “Ok, I can accept that. Pretty sure it’s not going to work, but I’m alright with trying. Timmy, press your hand against the fog and try to call up a timer,”
Timmy placed their hand against the fog wall… and nothing happened. They waited for a few seconds just in case there was some sort of delay… and nothing. “Alright so Timmy’s can’t activate the timer. Does that make Lily special? Or is it just Timmys that can’t trigger this?”
“On the one hand… I feel like this is a big benefit to people with familiars… on the other hand, it could just be Lily,” considered Hedera.
“Counterpoint,” added Lily. “It’s fine if it’s biased towards familiars because it’s a deliberate rule change. Thyme is likely fine with them providing benefits for familiars. Heck, there might be a rule change scroll that allows for Timmys to participate in tasks for orbs.”
“Hmm…” mumbled Hedera. “I guess I didn’t consider that… but it’s actually pretty likely now you say it out loud. Not sure how many of those ’Timmy improvement’ scrolls there would be but I can see there being at least a few considering how many Thyme allegedly prepared…”
“Well now we’re back where we started,” sighed Kat. “Do we test things out? And if so who should be the one to set off another timer? I’m fine if it’s me because, assuming even distribution, it’ll probably be worse than Lily’s and I can fall back to hers… but I’ve got no issue if you want to claim the chance,”
“So… you’re basically set on trying it out?” asked Hedera.
“Ah… no not at all. I didn’t want it to seem that way. I’m just… I guess I’m leaning towards not testing it, but if we DO test things then I’m happy to potentially sacrifice my ability to get a good time if they only get worse… because remember it’s at least what you had before so testing might be a bit hard to do,” explained Kat.
“Ah… yeah…” said Hedera with a wince. “I forgot about the part where it can possibly be worse…”
“Yup,” said Kat with a nod. “It makes it hard to test. Say you ended up with like… two hours as your timer, and then you come back for next time and it says three hours. Is that because your time HAD to be worse? Or is it just because you got unlucky? If it ends up worse… we might need to keep making it worse over and over until we hit the cap and then test things from there… even if getting it to that point mostly confirms things…”
“Yeah that… doesn’t sound good,” agreed Hedera. “Probably best just… not to test things then. Jumping straight to testing with Timmy might have been poor decision making… but it didn’t end up mattering so it’s probably fine.”
“I mean, we were pretty sure it wouldn’t work. Knowing for sure that nobody with a Timmy can get two different timers with just a bit of thought is pretty valuable,” offered Lily as she extended her shadow backwards and sunk into a shadow beanbag.
“Still… my team often falls into the same trap…” chided Hedera. “Thinking up an idea, considering it for a bit, and then moving forward. Then, regardless of if it was actually a good decision in hindsight, simply brushing it off because it worked instead of working out if it was actually decision that was smart to make.”
Kat shrugged, and seeing this, Hedera sighed. “Look, I normally wouldn’t complain but we’ve already been chatting for a while and we’ve got an hour to kill still,” Hedera gestured back at the timer that had just past the hour mark. “So I just… well I guess I’m partially complaining to fill time but it’s also good advice you know?”
Kat nodded, “No, no, I’m happy to discuss that. You’re right we’ve got time to kill and it’s an interesting point. I think… I think for me I’m more willing to just ’try it and see’ because the consequences essentially can’t be too bad for me. Just an example from the other night. I found that teleporting mushroom.
“I basically knew it was a trap when I looked at it. I didn’t ’fall’ for anything. I wasn’t overcome with greed. I decided it had to be a trap… and then made the decision to go ahead anyway because the trap was probably going to come with a reward. That’s just how Thyme seems to roll. Now, was that an entirely safe decision? No… but it’s not one that really cost me in the end so I don’t feel bad about it and I think I’d do something similar in the future.
“But you bring up an interesting point of… just because it worked out was it really the smart decision? I mean… I THINK so? But that’s mostly in the context of ’this is an island made by Thyme’. If we were just in some random forest I don’t think I’d have done it? Though admittedly more because I’d be worried about the potential time loss or losing track of where I was then any real fear for my safety…”
“I think that’s fine,” said Hedera who quickly received a glare from Lily. “Look, I’m sure you’re not the happiest about those sorts of decisions Lily… but from my perspective? Kat weighed the cost and decided it was worth it. For someone else in that situation it’s probably a stupid decision… but for Kat? Assuming the pain doesn’t bother her… it’s probably a good one.”
Lily huffed, puffing up her cheeks and deliberately looking away from the two of them at the timer. Kat rubbed the back of her head as she gave Hedera an awkward smile. “It’s nice to hear… though I understand why Lily isn’t happy with you siding with me.”
Hedera shrugged. “Look, my initial comment was more about making risky decisions that turn out for the best without realising that they’re risky. You took a decision that was arguably super risky… for anyone who isn’t you. You’ve got a lot of logical reasons for why it was worth it, and I do think context matters.
“The fact Thyme designed this place? It does make traps more like… extra challenges rather then things that will actually kill you. Though I’d argue that part of what made it an acceptable risk was that Lily wasn’t getting trapped with you… or too far away because of Weaver. It might have been a large time loss for little gain,”
“No comment about the pain?” asked Lily.
“I thought you weren’t participating in the conversation anymore,” asked Kat ’kindly’. Lily just huffed at the question and refused to turn around causing Kat to smile at the back of Lily’s head, just making the shorter girl embarrassed.
Hedera glanced between the two of them for a few moments before adding, “Pain normally means injury, something that takes at least some time to heal or some other limited resource… Kat sidesteps that issue so I didn’t really think it was worth bringing up.”
“Urgh… why do you have to have a reasonable answer,” complained Lily. “Can’t you help me talk Kat about her masochist tendencies?”
“Hey, I’m no Marigold. I might not mind pain but I don’t ENJOY it. There’s a very clear difference,” insisted Kat. Hedera rubbed a temple, wondering if perhaps giving Lily a proper answer was also the wrong decision. Then again, she wasn’t the one in Lily’s crossovers anymore so… perhaps it was fine?