The words spilt down Tanya's Interface. Through the unfurling words, she could see the glint in everyone elses eye too.

"Woahhh, you all see this?" Olena said.

"It's an Interface for the parlour?" Mrs Eceer asked.

"It's a fuckin' tower defence game!" Tanya exclaimed, rocking backwards on her heels.

• • •

Construct 1

Name: The Wyrm and Needle

Owner: Tanya Angelo

Type: Business

Level: 1

Defences

Front Door

80/120

Primary threshold. Reinforced with one layer of battlements and one layer of thick metal.

Back Door

80/80

Utility entrance. Metal weaknesses at hinges. Generally unassuming.

Underfloor

220/220

Foundations. Fused with concrete and surrounded by earth.

Roof Access

40/40

Lightly defended with slate tiles and thick insulation.

Walls

100/100

Well-laid and thick brick layers. Windows are susceptible to damage; they will reduce Defence stat at an increased rate.

Quests to Level 2

Increase Defences

Choose one area of the current Defences and improve its craftsmanship.

Shopkeeping

Serve 5 happy customers.

• • •

"Quests!" Olena shrieked, excitedly tapping the head of the tattoo chair.

Assistant prodded the air in front of Tanya, pointing at the "Quests" heading with as much gumption as Olena.

Tanya spun and flopped onto the tattoo chair, reading through it again. "We should probably do the roof for the quest, seein' as it's the lowest an' all. We are doing the quests right?"

"For science!" Olena declared.

"Hm," Mrs Eceer added.

The other two turned towards her.

Mrs Eceer was peering into the cabinet at the monster core once again. "What does this have to say about the monsters themselves?"

"Huh?" Said Olena.

The thoughts clicked into place in Tanya's head. "Oh, man, yeah—"

Mrs Eceer reached towards the door, then paused. "Perhaps the monsters level like this too." With one last look, she closed the cupboard, and the room was no longer basked in its cool glow.

The older woman walked through to the garden to grab some more wood for the Aga. The back metal door screeched against the concrete and landed against the wall with a thud.

Tanya and Olena followed her out, with Assistant floating around them. The air was stagnant, cool but without even a hint of breeze. The grey sky warmed Tanya's face, sun invisible behind the clouds but still there somewhere.

Gathering some wood from the pile, Tanya's eyes scanned her garden as she lifted it up. The beaten-up car was still there, familiar leopard print blanket still poking out across the dashboard. The garden beds weren't empty. They had the same greyish leaves and black buds as the rest of the invading flowers. The closest bud to her oozed with black ichor.

Tanya looked up, seeing Mrs Eceer follow her gaze.

"There's a lot we still don't know," Mrs Eceer said.

"Like what the monsters want," Tanya said. "Aside from that directive stuff on my Interface from the fight, anyway."

Tanya tensed, the memory appearing in her mind's eye.

The tattoo gun poised to create the portal. Feeling the life leave her body. The numbed pain of waking up again.

They walked back inside, and Tanya dumped the wood next to the Aga, and the clacking of logs against each other pulled her out of it. The assortment of wood looked strangely strewn here, different planks and logs from all different rubble, old fireplaces and homes.

"Hm, yes," Mrs Eceer said, absent-mindedly neatening the pile as she read through Tanya's restricted question information.

"What you talk about?" Olena asked.

"I used a restricted question on the Boss when it was looking dire," Tanya said. "One of the things it said was 'Entity is operating under external command to retrieve live human subjects to an extradimensional origin point.'" Tanya recited the line without needing to look at it. She'd spent a long time pondering what that meant.

The information on the monster core was an interesting addition. Monster cores suggested that these monsters were manmade. Tanya had noticed early that the black inky substance of the monsters reminded her of her own tattoo summons.

Could the creator have a power similar to me? Do aliens even have ink? They have a language so it ain't completely crazy—

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Something touched Tanya's shoulder, and she jumped. She turned to see Olena's hand. "Tanya, you think it want people for testing or something?" Olena repeated.

Tanya paused, running her hand over the soft fabric of the armchair's back beside her. "I'm wondering if it wants people at all."

Olena's face was blank. She pulled her hand away. "Okay, now you lose me."

Tanya leant against the back of the armchair. "We set this up in the shop an' it gave the shop quests. I could be wrong, but I doubt the shop already had an Interface, meanin' this monster core is what gave it one."

Olena nodded slowly. "So the monster core give monster quest to bring live humans?"

Assistant held up a scrawled note. So it's not the monsters we should be scared of. Whatever it is on the other side wants us alive.

Mrs Eceer shivered, tugging the shawl closer round her neck and poking the flames in the Aga. "And they're organised enough to produce these with a universal language on the side like a business."

The words got stuck at the back of Tanya's throat. She forced them out. "I think the person or people makin' these have the same powers as me."

Everyone snapped to look at Tanya.

She sank under their gazes.

Mrs Eceer talked first; a low murmur. "You could feel it in your tattoos."

Assistant slid the note across the table from before, highlighting that last line. Don't touch tattoos/ink.

"Holy shit!" Olena exclaimed.

"If I'm right and that symbol represents ink," Tanya started, "then the final rule is not to combine these with ink. From how similar my tattoos look when forming to those monsters, maybe they're made of something similar."

They all sat in silence.

"Maybe is good news," Olena said.

"Hm?" came Mrs Eceer's confused reply.

Tanya just turned to look.

"If these can make monsters and enemy is ink person, then we have one too." Olena jazz hands towards Tanya.

"I suppose so," Tanya mustered, struggling to feel the sentiment.

The conversation didn't take long to lapse. Mrs Eceer made her leave to fetch some food from Ishita, and Olena was once again caught up in the idea of levelling the shop.

Tanya couldn't get the sinking feeling in her chest out of her attention. She spied a clean notebook sheet beside Assistant and picked it up. Assistant was making more notes on the dungeon core and how the language had worked from the look of the headings, but the text itself was too small to read.

It's handwritin' is gettin' real good nowadays, Tanya thought, looking at the narrow rows. Tanya instinctively started doodling monsters and strange alien creatures, imagining what had made them. She nodded along with Olena at first, before getting more into it.

"How quick you think I can fix roof? I'm SO PUMPED to fix roof!" Olena said, clattering knives and forks down in ones and threes. There wasn't a single pair in sight. She didn't notice. "You need to get customers SO FAST. Me and Boris probably don't count, but maybe if we are lucky. Marcy come back tomorrow. You talk angry twig and big mafia man into it too. Everyone should tell every friend and—Tanya do you even listening?"

"Uh, yeah," Tanya said, jumping to attention.

Olena looked sceptical. She sniffed. "Hm, okay then. How I going to upgrade roof?"

"Uh, I dunno, a hammer and some of the spare metal from the shop fronts?"

Olena held up a finger. "AHA—no! Oh… Well yes, actually." Olena narrowed her eyes. "You win this round but I watching you Tanya, always watching."

Tanya snorted.

Mrs Eceer swept in, a delicious smell wafting around her. She placed it on the table and wriggled out of her damp jacket, folding it over the back of a chair. "Food!" she declared.

The niggle in Tanya's head only lasted as long as the food took to cook. As the conversation became more lively and Boris arrived just in time for dishing up, Tanya had almost convinced herself she could forget about the strange aliens on the other side of the portal altogether. Their area was warded; it was safe now. The monster core could just be a shop interface and ink could just be beautiful tattoos catered to the whim of each customer.

Marcy, Pete, and Dante arrived bright and early the next morning.

Marcy entered first, all grins and pink cheeks. She raised her shoulders and flexed her fingers as she sat down, nearly shaking with excitement.

Tanya led them to the sofa area, seeing the curiosity behind Pete's sneer and Dante's polite nod.

"So, what have ya gone with?" Tanya asked as she sat in her favourite armchair. She was struggling to stay professional herself. Assistant drummed its fingers along Tanya's wrist, leaning forward.

Marcy let out a squeal and passed over the design. Pete and Dante leant forward too, although Tanya guessed they knew the choice already.

In Tanya's hands was the Pop Art Mixing console design, perfectly as she'd drawn it aside from the single crease down the centre.

Tanya let the excitement bubble in her chest, her polite smile cracking into a huge grin despite herself.

"Wicked," Tanya said. She began gathering her gear together. "Attributes all full now, then?"

"Yep!" Marcy replied.

"I'll need you to come back another day for the resonance cannon, by the way. Best for you to be on full for both designs."

"Got it!" Marcy quipped again.

"Oh yeah, and sign this," Tanya added.

Assistant floated to the health and safety waiver, passing it to Marcy. She'd thought of Maria a lot whilst editing it, adding in a couple of extra sections about magical effects and greater risk.

"Not like there's much legal trouble to get in anymore," Tanya said over her shoulder, "but doesn't hurt to make sure customers know what they're gettin' into."

Marcy nodded, reading through it, Dante and Pete shuffling over to read over each shoulder.

Pete grumbled, mumbling words like 'loss of limb' and 'death' under his breath.

"You really went all out with this, huh?" Dante commented.

Tanya just smiled.

She was almost done with disinfecting now. The tattoo gun and inks were lined up next to her with a fresh pair of gloves. At some point, she'd need to find an alternative, perhaps some kind of magical glove summon, but for now, she'd just use up all the stock from the cupboards.

Walking back over, Tanya said,

"So, most notably, I can't promise the effects will be the same as we discussed, the tattoo will be using your Attributes as well as mine, and this isn't a certain or safe procedure." Tanya tapped down the list to where these sections were.

"Is anything safe in the apocalypse?" Marcy joked.

"You've got a point, but still," Tanya replied.

Marcy grew more serious. "I understand." She signed. The two of them walked into the back, and Marcy made herself comfortable in the tattoo chair. Pete and Dante spoke in hushed tones further into the shop.

Tanya felt butterflies in her stomach. It was real. This would really be her first customer. It had been a long while now since she gave a tattoo directly to someone else, and she let the thrill of the newness wash over her.

Assistant was already next to her with the cloth without even needing to be told.

All of her primary colour inks were in a line down one side of the small table. The gloves smelt plasticky on her hands, light blue stark against the black leather seat.

"So," Tanya said. "Any chances you want to make to the design whilst I stencil it?"

"Hm," Marcy pondered. "Maybe a bit of a background with those dots and lines and stuff—ooh, and making the knobs slightly smaller and sharpening the corners slightly more."

"Of course," Tanya said, happy to oblige. The final design was more adult than the previous. With the smaller knobs, Tanya had more space for stippling, and she focused on adding a touch of realism in other areas too. Her favourite addition was the stippling across one section of the mixing console, to add some more dimension.

Marcy had begun by craning her neck so far that Tanya perched on the stool next to her, and the gasps at each small change between their casual chatter made the entire process so much more rewarding.

"So, then Miriam said, 'what do you mean the empty ones?" Marcy said through stifled laughter.

Tanya chuckled. "Oh, man." She wiped her watery eye. Marcy had her in stitches far more often than was practical for designing.

"She sounds like a riot," Tanya said.

It reminded her of one of her old regulars, a lady by the name of Sage who got a tattoo after every life event. With a couple of recent divorces under her belt, a new therapist, and a sabbatical travelling Europe, Tanya had seen her very often in the few months before the apocalypse.

Where would she have been when it started? Greece.

I wonder how she's doing now…

Tanya pondered telling Marcy about Sage; she had so many funny stories. The melancholy feeling settled in her gut. She decided against it. No matter how many similarities sitting with a customer in the parlour had, it was still a whole different world.

She could also picture the look on Marcy's face already too. That misty-eyed look that everyone got when you reminded them of who they'd lost or who they were scared for.

"You could come and meet them sometime. It's not a bad journey with someone to man your back…" Marcy continued, and the opportunity faded.

Tanya wouldn't consider herself introverted by any means, but by the time they'd finally finished Marcy's placement, even she was ready for a hot drink and some time in a dark room. Every single one of Marcy's stories was incredibly interesting, and that was sort of the problem. She had this knack of pulling someone into the emotional stakes of a situation until they genuinely couldn't guess what was coming next. Between that and Tanya's jitters, everything had taken twice as long as normal.

Tanya stared down at the final stencil. It was the middle of Marcy's forearm. Marcy was still hoping it could end up more like Tanya's map and move on the skin instead of being summoned, but Tanya doubted it.

"You're sure you want it here even if it's a normal summon?" Tanya checked again. "It'll probably just come out more like Phantom Brand or maybe the cannon if you're lucky an' it stays half in."

Marcy wriggled down further in the seat, her hair splayed across the headrest in its typical spikes. "Oh, yeah, absolutely. Don't worry. You've thoroughly drilled into me how strange and special that rooftop moment was."

Tanya laughed. "Sorry, sorry." She turned on the tattoo gun, and the faint buzzing filled the shop. All fatigue and anxiety left Tanya's body at the familiar noise. "So, whatcha think—you ready to make a businesswoman outta me again?"

"Think we can start without deafening us this time?" Marcy asked, rolling her sleeve up further.

Tanya grinned. "No promises."

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