Day: 1183

Days Left: 4297

Lives Saved: 6

After looking around to ensure no one had followed him, Jules let out a sigh of relief, walking to the designated meet-up point in the forest.

A raven fluttered over to a nearby branch, and then in a puff of light, Talon was there instead, casually sitting in the tree. "You're late," they sang with little enthusiasm.

"No one would leave me alone," grumbled Jules. "I had to be constantly doing something. Do these guys ever take a break? I mean, they know that there are no rules or civilised society... we can do whatever we want! Why work so hard?"

"Yeah, sounds horrible," replied Talon.

"You bring it?"

Talon retrieved a pouch from their pocket and threw it to Jules.

Jules opened it and groaned as he saw the clump of Kai's hair inside. "Why does it have to be hair?"

"It grows back quicker, and more of it."

"I'd rather have some nails or even dead skin-"

"Ew!"

"You think hair is better! It's so difficult to swallow..."

Talon sighed. "Okay, I'll try and give you some 'variety'."

"Thank you." Jules winced as he picked up the hair, then closed his eyes as he put it in his mouth. "You're so lucky you don't have to do this; you get to fucking fly."

Talong shrugged. "Not that high, though; stops working."

"Any luck in the interrogation?"

"He won't talk- well, he talks non-stop but nothing of importance. How about you? How's spy work?"

"I've started to learn most people's names." Jules grimaced as a singular hair refused to go down properly. "But I know how they make rope and how they get their food."

Talon tilted their head in interest. "Are they cannibals?"

"No."

"That's boring."

"They've got twelve Abyss Plants."

Talon paused and frowned at Jules. "They have twelve Abyss Fruit-"

"No, the actual plants! And they all produce fruit and plenty of it! I helped water them today. And the irrigation system they've set up-"

"Annika will want to hear about this. If they've got their own food source, we won't have to worry about them stealing ours."

"I'll stick around. I want to know how they make their houses and tools and if they plan to attack us."

Talon gave a lethargic salute to Jules. "Thanks for the report, soldier." They jumped from the tree, transforming into a raven before hitting the ground and swooping back into the sky, disappearing.

Day: 1184

Somehow, Jules managed to survive another day as the fake Kai. Now knowing that the food was Abyss Fruit and not human meat, he no longer skipped any meals. Today on the rota it was a 'half day' for everyone, their equivalent of a weekend where all of the essential jobs were completed before having the rest of the day off. This was the real test, thought Jules, as it would mean that he would have to socialise with no work to focus on. Who does Kai normally talk to? Assumedly Dex, which he learned was his roommate or possible boyfriend's name. Jules decided to play it safe and stick with Dex and see if anyone else approached him for conversation.

His assigned work on this rest day was to collect firewood, which sounded simple enough until he found out that he had to chop down trees. Partnered with him was a woman with black coiled hair that just reached her shoulders; her fun and bouncy hair were much juxtaposed by her stoic and strict personality as the way she spoke and ordered Jules was a kin to a soldier.

Perhaps she is a soldier? Speculated Jules, remembering seeing her enter the house that was proclaimed to be owned by a 'Princess Alfreda'.

Fortunately, it seemed that this was Kai's first time chopping down trees as the woman questioned why he was not as enthusiastic as before.

Jules recovered from the situation by saying that he only realised the dangers of lumberjacking and had a nightmare about being hit by a tree and losing his memories.

The woman stared at him blankly for a long moment, then finally placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "it'll be fine. Just follow all of the safety procedures, and nothing should go wrong."

"What were those safety procedures again?" Jules squeaked.

The woman let out a quiet sigh, but Jules thought he saw a glimpse of a smile on her lips.

After chopping down a few trees safely, the two of them cut up the pieces further for easy carrying. Then the woman marked the stumps with a number, indicating when they were cut, and the estimated time they would grow back to be cut down again. Jules looked around and saw more of these numbers, as well as ones around the trees stripped of bark. Everything was logged into a record book, which Jules presumed was to prevent deforestation.

"Let's take a break before we carry them back," suggested the woman. She retrieved a metal flask and handed it to Jules.

Jules took it, finding it to be water and took a chug, resting his back against a nearby tree. When was the last time he had this much exercise? Back at his own camp, all they would do was laze around to the point of boredom; that was the reason why he volunteered for guard duty. Though no one ever dared come near to their camp, apart from the occasional mindless monster, it was still something to do.

"Why didn't you use your mask?" asked the woman. "You would have found it much easier with all your goblin strength."

Jules winced; the question was one he was most regretting being asked. His doppelganger mask did not allow him to also use Kai's goblin mask despite taking his appearance and voice. "I..." Jules hesitated, his mind still thinking of an excuse. He sighed. "Recently, I've felt my mind... not lose control exactly, but when I do use my mask, my mind sometimes slips away for a moment, like a very brief blackout. Nothing too big!"

The woman nodded. "I understand."

"So I'm just going to hold off on using it for now."

"If you are concerned, then I advise informing telling Mr Oscar and Mr Calixte. They can keep an eye on you and subdue you if necessary."

"Yeah, will do."

Oscar and Calixte, huh? Their masks must have some sort of power to restrain or hypnotise people. Interesting... which one is Calixte?

Jules and the woman rested in silence, taking turns to drink water until the woman broke the silence.

"Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about," she began.

Jules smiled at her slightly, indicating to continue though he really did not want her to, especially with how serious she sounded; it was the same level of seriousness that Dex had talked to him before.

"You've been teasing me about it, hinting that you know," the woman continued. "About... about my- my feelings..."

Jules clammed his lips shut, withholding himself from cursing. Was she about to confess to Kai? What is going on! Why did it have to be now?

The woman looked at the fake Kai expectantly. Receiving no response yet, she sighed and looked down. "I don't know what these feelings are and how serious they are, but I know I must stop them. I've been distracted by them before, and it got people hurt. I need to remain focused on my work."

Relief swept through Jules as the potential confession resulted in self-rejection. However, he could not help but feel sorry for this woman. Though her voice was rather monotonous, Jules could hear it almost break, as if she was hesitant or regretted her choice. Once he has finally finished being the fake Kai, Jules vowed to inform the real Kai of all of these serious conversations. It was wrong to be hearing them, but he was left with no other option.

"If you feel that you are not in the right mindset or situation to pursue anything, then that is fine," said Jules, desperately wanting to somehow comfort her, to say that it was not her fault, but he had no context to do so. "Work is important, but so is your own happiness."

The woman straightened herself. "I am happy... with the way things are."

"So long as you're not lying to yourself." 

Jules swore in his head. What are you saying? Don't persuade her to confess again; you're not Kai; you don't know if he likes her back!

"I am not lying to myself," said the woman. "I know now what I want, but it is best not to pursue it."

Jules nodded, glad that he hadn't fucked himself over. "Don't worry, I'll stop teasing you about this, nor will I tell anyone."

"Thank you." There was almost a smile on her face, and then she looked away, packing away the metal flask. "Let's carry this all back; we've rested long enough.

After carrying the wood back to camp in multiple trips, lunch was served and thus began the 'weekend'. Jules thought it best to avoid talking to the workaholic woman, but fortunately, she did not approach him again and instead either spent her time inside the house of Princess Alfreda or sat with the mute blonde-haired woman.

Was there really a princess at this camp? Jules had never seen anyone else come out of it.

As soon as he had finished his food, the tall woman with broad hair and elaborately plaited fair hair rushed over to Jules.

"Are you finished!" she asked excitedly. "Can I style your hair now, please!"

Taken aback by her enthusiasm, Jules stuttered, "yep..." Though he felt that it was not optional.

He sat back down and took off Kai's signature red woollen hat. How could Kai wear this all the time? It made his head constantly hot and sweaty.

"What would you like today?" the woman asked, combing through the fake Kai's hair.

"Suprise me," replied Jules.

The woman squealed, "you got it!"

Though, of course, Jules had taken any opportunity to play with his hair, having been bald in his actual form, it was a completely different experience having someone else style your hair, their hands brushing through, the occasional touch of your ear or neck. It was relaxing. Jules wished he could have hair forever, though that would require him to keep having to eat Kai's hair.

Eventually, the woman finished styling fake Kai's hair and showed the result with a mirror. Even with Kai's horrendous haircut, it looked amazing, cool even. Jules expressed his genuine appraisal, his hair envy stronger than ever before.

Delighted, the woman left to go style someone else's hair, going around the whole group until everyone was sporting new hairstyles, then she entered the Princess Alfreda hut, presumably to style this princess' hair too.

Dex invited Jules to join a card game, fortunately, one that Jules knew how to play already. Three imps also participated, all of them unashamedly cheating any chance they got, giggling uncontrollably whenever they got caught.

Jules eventually excused himself, needing to pee. After he returned from conducting his business, he was stopped by a woman with long black hair. She was sitting against a tree and called out, "hey Kai..."

"Yeah?" Jules stopped. What was her name... I think someone has said it before...

The woman glanced down at the ground, which Jules interpreted as an instruction to sit next to her.

A moment of pause after he had sat down, the woman finally said, "I think I've worked through it."

"Yeah?" Jules had no idea what this was about so that was all he could possibly say. Why was everyone wanting to talk so seriously with him? Is this normal for Kai?

The woman nodded, then glanced at Jules. Half of her face was covered by her long black ahir, but hidden underneath, he caught a glimpse of... was that paper? It looked like her skin was peeling away multiple pages. Weird, but he could not ask her about it as Kai likely knew the answer.

"Yes, I know it took quite some time," the woman almost laughed as she stared into the distance. "But I think I've finally moved on."

Moved on? Moved on from what to what...

The woman looked at Jules, expectantly.

No... no, no, not again! Is this another confession! Is she rebounding? What the fuck! Is this Kai some sort of Casanova! Two women confessing in one day whilst he already has a boyfriend- no, wait... Would they be confessing if Kai is already in a relationship? Maybe Kai and Dex aren't officially together? Or are they polyamorous? Maybe Kai was in a relationship with Dex and Klei, but for one reason or another, was forced to decide! What kind of drama is going on! And why do I have to be a part of it! Why can't I just watch!

"And I wanted to thank you for everything," the woman continued with a grumble as if she hated to say every word of it, her eyes hesitant to look at Jules directly. "Thanks for your advice; I... I appreciate it." She wrapped her arms around Jules' neck, pulling him into a hug.

Jules returned it as platonically as he could portray it. Maybe Kai has rejected her before, and this was her saying that she has finally moved on? Hopefully, it was; Jules didn't want to accept a relationship proposal accidentally.

The woman broke away, a smile almost forming on her lips.

"You sure you'll be okay?" asked Jules.

"Yeah." She nodded, her expression returning to its usual scowl. "Okay, the conversation is over; you can leave now."

"Okay," Jules laughed. 

Day: 1187

"So, it's been a week," said Talon as they flung a small pouch to Jules. "Anything new?"

Jules winced, the skin on his face fading into lighter tones and his black hair shortening into almost baldness. "You're late. You were supposed to come yesterday."

Talon shrugged. "My mistake."

"I could have turned back into my actual form right in front of everyone. And then what would have happened!" Jules opened the pouch, seeing that instead of the usual hair, it was shreds of dead skin.

"Ta-da! No hair today! Aren't you happy?" Talon hopped off of the tree, landing not so gracefully.

Jules hesitated, his lips wanting to remain shut as he forced the clumps of skin down his gullet.

"Well? Does it taste better?" Talon smirked.

"I don't know which I hate more," Jules mumbled, his mouth clamped tight as if to prevent himself from throwing it back up. However, he was glad to see his body return fully into Kai's image, not the horrific in-between. "How long do I have to do this for? Did Annika mention anything?"

"She wants you to learn more about them, any strengths and weaknesses if we need to fight. Any leverage-"

"I don't think we'll need to fight them. They don't seem to want to steal from us. They've pretty much got it all sorted themselves, began the stone age all over again. I think I've heard talks about them trying to mine. I wonder if there is any sort of unique metals or materials in the Abyss-"

"Yeah, yeah." Talon yawned, bored and desperately wanting to return to their usual day of napping. "How about you just learn how they make their houses and tools? The sooner you tell Annika about their weakness and stuff, the sooner you get to come back."

Come back...

It had only been a week, yet Jules felt as if he had accomplished more in that time than the years he had within Annika's settlement. He had made a house for Calixte, made numerous pieces of rope, tended to plants, ate hot delicious meals, and played so many games with this group of strangers. What did he do before? Just sit around, hoping that something would happen. And soon, he would have to return to that life. Perhaps with everything he had learned here, he could implement at the camp, build houses, tools, and a better quality of life-

"Hey, you still there, Jules?" Talon waved their hand over Jules' face. "I said I reckon you could come home soon once you've discovered everything Annika wants to know. You found out any of their weaknesses yet?"

Jules frowned in thought. "There's Calixte- he's the fish monster, he's afraid of water. I've seen him flinch a lot if someone accidentally knocked any water. I think that's why they didn't make the river right next to the camp, for him."

"What about their masks? Any powers that would be of concern?"

"Oh, Calixte can put people to sleep too. We'd need to watch out for that, and Oscar can slow people down."

"Any others?"

"Not really... they don't use their masks that often."

Talon nodded. "Okay, I'll tell Annika. Keep us updated." They donned their raven mask, transformed then flew away, leaving Jules alone in the forest.

There was a sense of guilt whirling in his stomach after he told Talon about Calixte's hydrophobia. But it should be fine, right? Their group have no intentions of attacking us, so we won't need to attack them.

Yeah, all I have to do is learn more about them, and then I can leave.