Marzipan

"It burns! it burns!" Cece cried, "You never said it would be this painful!" She protested.

"I never said it would be painful to begin with," Eureka said shrugging her shoulders.

"Why.... you-"

"Oh spare me girl! You and brother have benefitted from the experiment, have you not? Look at your tattoos as proof,"

She was right.... our tattoos are now reddish gold and the art is now an amalgamation of the centurian esque warriors and bugs, they looked.... pretty freaky to be honest, especially the moth on my palm now, it had six wings and six sword like arms.... it looked like some robotic alien abomination!

The RJs were a bit more.... tame in comparison, sure they had a humanoid bodies and wore heavy armour ....but it was still rather mundane.... save for their bug eyes!

".....Thank you for teaching us how to do this Lady Eureka,"

"Caz jnr! you can't seri-"

"At least one of you has some manners! hah! and I thought you'd be more brass compared to her,"

"..."

"oh don't give me that look! bah! what does your mood matter any way!"

"..... you know you could be nicer to us considering you're asking us to fight for your old man!" Cece voiced.

".....when did I say you'd fight for my Father?"

"isn't that what you want us to do?" I asked

"No, no children.... I only need you to free me, whatever you do afterwards is of no concern to me! Hey don't look so sour! that's about all you can do for me, you could attain all the power this world and the next ones have to offer.... and you'd still be fodder for the people I'm warring against!"

".... we're that.... small... eh?" Cece said scratching her cheek, I kinda feel the same way.... our so called benefactor just told us we're bugs to her, nothing more, nothing less.

".....if there's any consolation, I promise to aid you during your journey, I cannot physically come to your aid or provide magic to you.... but I can give you guidance!"

"guidance?" we both asked her.

"Yes.... Castor Junior, you simply want to finish your favourite books, correct? I can point you to universes where Georgie has wrote similar material.... as for you Cecelia.... yours.... is a bit difficult, but still doable! Your perfect lifetime, I can help you search for it! This is a good trade, yes?"

We think about what she says.... honestly I don't like this person at all.... but I like her offer, it seems Cece likes it too! We nod at each other and agree to Eureka's deal.

"Good! now it will be a little while before I can summon you both here again.... please take my words to heart~ Till then, take care! Bye!" Eureka said before the dream ended.

"...."

"..."

".....good morning..."

"are you serious? do you know how long you've been asleep? my legs are killing me! get off!" Miranda the bogwoman shouted.

She berated me for not doing my part of the deal but praised Dreadline for his excellent pictures, after some butt kissing and apologizing she seemed to calm down a bit.

"Well.... I got my pictures, so I don't care.... that much anyway, but you owe me for that moonshine! it cost a lot of money and had spirit shrooms in it! you know how hard it is to get them?"

"...very hard?"

"Very, very Hard!"

".....I'm guessing you're not gonna give me that bonus you were talking about now, are you?"

"..... I'll give, I'll give but just know you don't deserve it, really...."

We make our way back to the room, on the way back I take a good look at Dreadline.

"....Anything the matter, master?"

"No.."

It seems the experiment in the dream world didn't have an impact on Dreadline.... maybe because I didn't have him there.... I'll try again with him the next time Cece and I meet.

We finally reach the room, I take a seat next to the bed and she fetches us some snacks to eat, "They'll help get you sober, so eat up!" she said, they looked like cheese, they smelt like cheese, they tasted like cheese, cheddar to be exact..... I hated it, but it was working, my head was clearing up.

"About your reward.... I'll go get it now.." she said, before dissapearing into a closet nearby.

She spent what felt like hours in there, cursing and tossing random items about until.... "Aha! there you are!" She cried.

She brought out..... "A Crossbow?" It was made of White wood, a white oak? the bow had intricate carvings of mysterious symbols on it, the weapon felt light in my hands.... too light, it was like holding a pencil, this... this isn't natural.

"Yes! this is Marzipan, my oldest friend.... I want you to have him!"