Amy

When core carving class finished, I all but ran through the door - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I was carried out the door by my tentacles, who seemed just as eager as me to leave the classroom aside.

Unfortunately, one of my tentacles didn’t quite get with the program - instead, it snatched up Pauline’s hand at the last second and pulled her towards me, so that I had to spin around and catch her in my remaining tentacles, hastily summoning a couple more from my shadow to support me.

“A-Amy?” Pauline squeaked out, and suddenly I realized that the tentacles I’d used to catch her had in fact wrapped themselves tight about us both so that her lips were about an inch from mine, so close that I could practically feel the heat emanating from her cheeks - or perhaps that was just from mine?

“S-sorry,” I stuttered out, rapidly untangling myself from her. “I’m starting to think that leaving the tentacles out like this is a bad idea…”

“Well, you might get a few stares if you do it outside of class, anyway,” Pauline pointed out. “It’s one thing in the classroom, but I think people will start to talk a fair bit more if you start traveling with them out all the time.”

“Let them talk,” Professor Devulchas interjected. “They speak about you already, you know - the not-quite noble living in a villa traditionally reserved for the attending Tearbolt heir - and specifically the heir, mind you, not just any child of the current duke.”

A shudder went through me at the mention of that man - Amelia’s father. Disgust mixed with dread. Even my tentacles trembled a little, with one in particular putting on quite the show as it fell to the ground and began to flop about like a dead fish. The feeling faded after just a moment, thankfully, replaced with a dull sort of fatigue - like cotton, but only in the very back of my skull, stifling thoughts that I couldn’t quite make out. That too passed a moment later, and my tentacles rose up as one to wrap themselves around me in a comforting hug.

“Well, that was certainly an interesting reaction,” Professor Devulchas said. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’d had some sort of personal dealings with Duke Tearbolt.”

“I’ve never met him,” I replied, honestly. “I barely even wrote about him…”

“Wrote about him?” Professor Devulchas asked.

“Amy was a writer where she came from,” Pauline said. “She um… took a lot of inspiration from real life figures in her writings - I’m sure she just meant that she had a character based off of him, or some such.”

“Yes, well, I can see why a character based off of him wouldn’t come up much,” Professor Devulchas mused, “seeing as how the man is as paranoid as he is reclusive. There are some who think that you still have that place simply because the duke couldn’t be reached for comment on the matter - though others point to Lady Firanna’s recent change in residence as proof that there might be more to the matter. I’d love to hear what’s really going on some time - I’m pretty sure several of my colleagues would be willing to buy me a drink, in return for settling their bets on the matter.”

“I’ll… consider it,” I said. I wasn’t entirely sure why Pauline had lied for me, but I was getting the basic hint not to reveal too much information.

“For now, I think Amy and I have somewhere to be - isn’t that right?” Pauline asked, smiling at me.

“Ah - uh… Yes? Yes. I do have someplace I need to be.” Though I wasn’t sure how Pauline had gotten involved in it. “In fact she’s probably wondering where I am at this rate…”

“We’ll be back then!” Pauline said, grabbing my hand and leading me towards the doors. “Um… as soon as you get rid of the tentacles?”

“R-right,” I murmured, banishing them after only a minor moment of reluctance. “Would it really be so bad for people to know I have tentacles?”

“I don’t know,” Pauline said, her voice pitched low as she tugged me out of the room. “But you might not want everyone to know all your secrets if you can help it… I probably wouldn’t have survived Amelia’s attempts at killing me if she’d known all my trump cards…”

“Ah…” And there I’d thought that my revealing grand skills one after another without any forewarning had simply been my terrible writing at play… Though, in truth, that’s probably truly all there was to it on my part.

The demon themselves had told me outright, once upon a time, that this wasn’t the world that I had written - that it merely mirrored it. I was starting to see how true that was, with everything from the minor bits of worldbuilding I’d never hinted at to Pauline’s secret sexuality painting a rather clear picture - and yet, at the same time, the story must have been close enough to establish a link.

How close was the question, of course. At a minimum the people matched up - along with their names, and basic appearances - and I was willing to bet that the various events recorded in the books had all more or less transpired as written… but what about the dialogue? Had Jethroo actually spoken the cheesy lines I’d written, once upon a time? Had Pauline?

…I could sort of see it from Jethroo, actually. And Bridgette, too. Amelia, of course, had been given the best lines of the bunch in my opinion, and Pauline… Well, thinking back on it, I’d always treated her like a bit of a silent protagonist. Someone who merely went with the flow and accepted events as they came.

That didn’t feel like the Pauline I’d come to know - but at the same time, if she’d been forced to play that role by the selfish then-prince, if her lack of lines was a reflection of how unwilling Jethroo had been to listen then… yes, it did make a sort of sense.

Not that it mattered much, really. I had no intention of connecting to some other distant land across the ocean of possibility. I doubted I could do it on purpose even if I tried, and as for doing it on accident - well, to avoid it was a simple matter of not writing anything.

It wasn’t as if writing had ever been a calling to me. It was just something I’d been decent enough at to scrape by while doing. It had been an outlet for my imagination, I suppose, but considering where it had led me… Well, I was hoping to find a less dangerous occupation for myself in the long run. Like maybe just producing truth stones in a comfy government position.

“What are you thinking about?” Pauline asked, drawing me back to the present - and causing me to stumble back as I realized that Pauline’s lips were once again very close to mine. Except there weren’t any tentacles holding us together, this time. Instead, there was a wall, which I bumped my head quite hard against while trying and failing to back up from her.

“I-Um… I was just thinking about how I’m running late for my meeting with May,” I lied, my cheeks bright red.

“Your meeting?” Pauline asked, before blinking. “Wait. You actually have a meeting?”

“Of course,” I replied. “With May. I made her promise not to brew the mana potion without me, since I want to see how it’s done. She’s probably annoyed that I’m running late…”

“You’re late… for a meeting with May… about potions…” Pauline paled. “Come on, let’s hurry up before something goes wrong.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, hurriedly to chase after the brunette as she led me out of the building we were in and toward the alchemy facilities.

“This is May we’re talking about, right?” Pauline asked. “The same girl who we went monster hunting with? The one infamous across the entire school for… Well, Daphne, among other things?”

“Yes?” I said, not at all liking the near panicked tone in Pauline’s voice. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing! As long as she’s patiently waiting, and hasn’t started brewing some completely random destructive potion in the meantime. And doesn’t decide she needs the core for that potion instead. And then doesn’t feed it to you claiming it’s the mana potion you wanted, and saying that she just couldn’t wait for you.”

“…That’s… an oddly specific set of circumstances you’re describing,” I remarked, a little suspicious.

“There are stories about her,” Pauline said. “Just like there are stories about you.”

“About me?” I asked, blinking.

“Innocent, scoundrel, pretender, doppelganger, summoned monster, princess stealing upstart - there are new tales about you every time I turn a corner, Amy! Nobody knows what to make of you, and so far that’s worked out in your favor because nobody wants to make the first move. But it’s only a matter of time before someone does, and right now there’s no telling what the fallout will be when that actually comes to pass.”

“You sound like my maid,” I muttered. “And the Professor, for that matter. Everyone keeps saying that I’m going to be facing consequences, that I need to look a certain way and act a certain way or else, but so far none of those so-called consequences have actually come to pass.”

“And you’re lucky for it,” Pauline said, her voice turning uncharacteristically serious. “Amy, I’m a commoner in a school full of nobles who got the interest of the prince - now princess. I’m also getting ‘surprisingly’ close with someone everyone knows tried to kill me… and don’t even get me started on the Lightlovers…”

“The lightlovers?” I asked. The terminology sounded familiar, somehow. Something I’d written, perhaps…?

“It’s a religious movement,” Pauline explained, sounding exasperated. “They believe that the seven gods aren’t equal, and that the Goddess of Light is the rightful ruler of the pantheon. They’re not very popular in this kingdom, but I’ve learned there’s an entire theocracy out there devoted to the religion.”

“The seven gods?” I asked. “I’m… not sure where to even begin to ask what you’re talking about.”

“The seven gods?” Pauline asked, shooting me an odd look even as she hurried me through the courtyard. “The gods of light, fire, water, earth, wind, darkness, and the other.”

“The other?” I asked, frowning. “I can see where you got the first six - from the elements people are born with - but… the other?”

“Sometimes people are born outside the classic elements,” Pauline told me. “For people like them, there’s The Other - they take in all those who don’t feel as if they have a place to belong.”

“I… see…” I murmured. I wanted to scoff at the notion of these seven gods I’d never even heard about before, but if demons were real then who was to say that the divine was false? “Clara mentioned something about having an unaligned affinity, come to think of it…”

“Really?” Pauline asked, clearly surprised. “That’s really rare - though I guess trust it to Lady Amelia to scout out rare talent…”

“I’d rather hear about the Lightlovers,” I told her. “You said that they were causing you some form of trouble?”

“Not a lot,” Pauline said, not quite meeting my eyes. “Really, it’s fine - it’s just… they can be a lot to deal with, sometimes. We don’t have many people from the movement here, but those who are from it… Well, apparently people with light magic - like me - are practically worshipped in their religion. And people who can actually wield light to heal, like I can, are considered saintesses. So. Sometimes I just sort of have to give someone well-wishes, or tell them that I hope the blessings of the sun will fall upon them… it’s not much, really, but it’s… I guess I just feel funny about being treated as a prop in someone else’s religion, is all.”

“I think that’s a personally normal boundary to have,” I remarked, shaking my head. “Though I don’t imagine I want to know what they think of me.”

“Yeah…” Pauline laughed, awkwardly. “You probably don’t.”

“...I was joking… You can’t mean to tell me that they actually have an opinion on my existence?”

“Well, I’ve heard they started to preach that Lady Amelia was the spawn of the Dark Goddess, who they believe is fundamentally opposed to the Goddess of Light… I don’t know what they think of ‘Amy,’ but a lot of them are convinced you’re really Amelia and that you’ve been slowly poisoning me… I’ve been making an extra effort to do prayers and stuff for them, to show that I’m not corrupted, and I guess it’s working well enough if none of them have been bugging you yet, but…”

“But I really need to pay more attention to this stuff, don’t I?” I sighed. “If it’s affecting you already, then I can hardly call it harmless…”

“I don’t mind,” Pauline insisted. “But… for your own sake? Please? Pay a bit more attention to how people see you around here.”

“That’s not really my specialty,” I murmured, grimacing. “But I’ll try.”

“Good,” Pauline said. “You can start by making absolutely sure you don’t drink anything you haven’t seen May personally prepare in front of you, with me standing by as a healer. Because we’re just about there.”