Jack woke up from sleeping for the first time in weeks looking about in surprise. Ever since he had been summoned into his new form he hadn't had any need for sleep. He was honestly a bit shocked by that and wondered how much of his little nap had been necessity and how much had just been a habit from his previous life.
Sam it seemed had also managed to get some sleep if the state of the bed was any indication. As he looked arround the dimmly lit dorm room Jack noticed a distinct lack of his summoners presence. Jack's initial concern regarding Sam's absence however was quickly forgotten when he realized he had been sleeping in a wicker dog bed.
'I'm not a pet!' Jack cried.
'Sure you are. It is your name after all.' The new voice in his head made Jack jump twice his height as he nearly hit his head on the ceiling. He inspected the room again to see that only the desk, chair, bed and dog bed were in the room with him.
'Look I don't know who you are but kindly, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!' He screamed internally with a small hop of anger as he continued searching for the source of the new voice in his head.
'Strange.. you didn't seem to mind me talking to you before.'
'Look it's beginning to get a little crowded in my head for my liking. I'm not a phone line okay.... And what do you mean before? I think I would have recognized a voice in my head if it had been here before.'
'Would you prefer I kept whispering?' The voice whispered as a soft breeze rustled the sheets. Jack's eye sockets widened in realization.
'You!' He responded with surprise.
'Me.' The voice chuckled softly.
'Are you going to tell me who you are then? Or why you've been following us around for weeks?' It hadn't taken Jack much to figure out the voice that kept whispering on the breeze as well as the shadow outside the Vault were the same person. That had led him to believe that perhaps it was following Sam rather than himself.
'Isn't that obvious?' The voice queried in a soft tone. At Jack's lack of response it chuckled softly again. 'I'm Pet.'
Jack blinked rapidly at that. Or as much as a goblin skeleton could blink in any case. He had spent weeks in this world already and hadn't noticed any signs of insanity yet, so he was fairly certain he wasn't talking to himself. Or mostly so in any case.
'Pardon? I thought we already established my name's Pet.' Jack didn't figure there were many sentient beings named Pet in the world so he had ruled out the chances of encountering another one.
'Strange. I had the impression you were smarter than that.' The voice gave off a tone of disgust as Jack got the sense it was looking down on him.
The other Pet's tone implied it really should be obvious however so Jack took a few imagined breaths to think. He had already been told by Fang that he wasn't the first Pet, so was it possible Sam was replacing him already? No that didn't make sense, otherwise she wouldn't have given him a dog bed to sleep in.
The last Pet had been killed or rather cleansed by a cleric. But then again what if some part of it had survived. That seemed to make the most sense as he thought on it further. It would also explain why the voice seemed to have been so weak before, yet capable of full conversations now. It was getting stronger.
'Holy sh*t! You're the old Pet and you've been feeding off my energy to get stronger!' Jack blurted out his conclusion before he could even think of how to word it.
'Ah, so you are smarter than you look.' Jack's eye socket twitched at that. She was much sassier than he expected a re-dead, dead bird to be.
'How though? I thought the cleric had basically blasted your soul out of existence.'
Filling someone's shoes was no easy task. Especially when said shoes had belonged to a much more powerful creature that was killed by a relatively unknown foe. So, Jack had spent a lot of their sparing time asking Fang for more details about his predecessor's demise.
'Oh. She did.' Pet responded with a hint of hesitation. 'Or at least I think it was a she... I remember something about them being a cow. My memories a little spotty tho as my soul had already been torn apart by that point.'
Jack nearly choked at that. 'Uh, perhaps it was a Minotaur?' He had recalled seeing one in town the day prior on their way back.
'Pretty sure Sam called them an overweight cow.'
The matter of fact way Pet said it made Jack blanch. He had already put the pieces together on when Pet had died and when Sam lost her voice. If anything this revelation made him more sure of it. While it had cost Sam her voice Jack had to admit it took an incredible amount of guts to call someone a fat cow after they just obliterated your most powerful summons.
According to Fang, Pet had been an abnormally powerful B rank capable of defeating most A rank summons with relative ease. Despite that someone had obliterated her in a single blow, and Sam still had the courage to insult them. He was surrounded by monsters.
'Well, on the bright side Sam will be delighted to know you're alive!' Jack couldn't help but grin at the thought he might finally get rid of the Pet moniker.
'No! She can't know!'
'You aren't exactly inspiring confidence at the moment you know. It sounds pretty darn suspicious when you say it like that.' Jack folded his arm disagreeably as he questioned Pet's motives.
'I'm sorry. I don't know how to explain it. I just have this incredibly strong feeling it wouldn't end well. It's like there's a memory on the tip of my tongue telling me no.'
Jack squinted as he thought about his decision. Whatever the case was he suspected he'd have to keep on high alert. He didn't want to be responsible for causing issues because he ignored a warning. Besides, so far the voice shadow thing had helped them multiple times already.
'Fine, but I reserve the right to speak up if I ever feel you mean us harm.'
'I would be worried if you didn't new Pet.'
'I really hate that name.' Jack growled in annoyance.
'I know.' Pet giggled at his irritation.
[Pet, I'm home]
Sam's voice came over the system at which point the presence of his predecessor vanished from the room as suddenly as it had appeared. Jack simply sniffed. It's not like anyone would believe him if he spoke up about her after all
'This is getting way too complicate.' Jack thought to himself as he smiled and Sam at the desk.
[I got you a new bow, since your old one was damaged.]
Jack couldn't help but hold back tears of torment as Sam replaced the pink bow on his head with a new one. And if that wasn't bad enough the new one had a pink gem in the center.
{Wasn't the gem expensive?} Jack asked hoping to have a reason for Sam to return it.
[Of course not! That's one of the mana crystals I collected. I had someone cast a sealing spell on it so the poison won't spread.]
Incredible, they could mix magic and science so well without even fully understanding it. He could only imagine what kinds of wonders could be created with the right knowledge in this world now. Being able to shield radiation with a simple layer of magical energy was game changing. As his thoughts ransacked through all the possibilities a realization popped up.
Jack raised an eye socket ridge in confusion. {But I can't cast magic yet though.}
Sam giggled. [It's not for you to use, Pet. It's just there so I can keep you summoned longer without raising suspicions. I can just claim I stored mana in the crystal to support it.]
Jack nodded with an impressed expression. It was actually very smart. It would solve a lot of issues, and allow him to learn more about his new world if he didn't have to stay in the pocket dimension all the time just to keep appearances.
Sam sat their staring at Jack awkwardly for a while before he spoke up again.
{Don't we have to meet Cheech and the other's to move into the new place today?}
[Oh no! I completely forgot!] Sam yelled as she sprinted out the door nearly forgetting Jack again.
'What a space case...' Jack couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he hurried to follow her. 'Hmm, I wonder why Pet didn't use the system to communicate as well?