Both Basil and Shamrock are fine, though one of them ends up being far more distraught about the situation than the other. Neither of them remember what happened, having no memories of anything between their having fallen asleep and their waking up the next day; one of them half-naked on the floor and the other covered in old ash. Shamrock takes the news of his possession in stride, as expected, simply asking if the ghost still needed to be killed. Basil however is more flustered and refuses to stop profusely apologizing, despite being told that it wasn’t her fault. Though Jubilee does yell at her and tells her to buy some pajamas so they don’t have to look at ever see the things that they saw again.

Fresh decides not to tell Basil that she had been killed by ‘her’. Another secret for the list. Somehow they keep piling up, but this one she feels is worth keeping. Right now, Basil is only embarrassed. But if she knew the truth, she’s sure that the priestess would never forgive herself for it. As far as anyone knows it, Fresh’s story is that she was outside because she couldn’t sleep and she stumbled into the river. By the time she got back Shamrock and Basil were outside of Jubilee’s door.

“How come the ghost only possessed you two?” asks Fresh.

Basil shrugs. “Ghosts can be odd. It’s hard to say what its intentions were.” She looks around and Fresh notices that she pulls the cuff of her robe up higher to hide more of her neck. “Being trapped for a long time will make one stir-crazy, you know?”

“Hmm…” Fresh thinks, scratching her cheek. “It was telling us to run when we chased it away.”

“You mean when you killed it,” throws in Jubilee from the side.

“I didn’t kill him!” argues Fresh. “We… put him to rest,” mutters the girl, looking away.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jubilee rolls their eyes.

“Why was he even in the chimney to begin with?” asks Basil, shuddering. “Was he… you know…” she lowers her eyes to the ground as she quietly mutters. “- murdered?”

Jubilee waves her off. “In the chimney? The dumb-ass probably just wanted to clean it and decided to climb up inside and got stuck.”

“Huh…” says Basil, clearly not convinced.

Fresh shrugs, returning to her work. She’s exhausted, not having slept a wink, but there is too much to do as always. She can sleep tonight, assuming they don’t have a second ghost.

She runs around downstairs, jumping from construction site to construction site as she sets up a counter and the shelves. Having learned from their old store, she adds some more inner shelves to the inside of the counter, as well as a few small cabinets with doors and one with a lock. The most exciting project for her is when she works on a single, long drawer for their money, so they don’t have to use a bowl anymore.

“See?” Fresh points to the dividers that she’s stacked a few different coins of hers inside of, to show by example. The silver Obols, worth one-hundred and the gold Obols, worth one-thousand, are lined up neatly in two individual rows. “This way we can make change faster and it will be easier to count at the end of the day!” says Fresh excitedly. Jubilee looks skeptical at first, but then nods approvingly. There is a further empty row for the giant skull-engraved ten-thousand Obol coins, but that one sits empty now, as they spent all of those on the house. The section for the single Obol coins is by far the widest and they aren’t neatly stacked, but rather haphazardly thrown into a pile. This section serves as the spiritual successor to the coin-bowl.

“Good work. I like this,” says Jubilee, pulling the drawer in and out, listening to the coins rattling. They point back at the wall behind the counter. “Can we get some shelves there too, for your poisons?”

“I don’t make poison!”

“Anyways,” starts Jubilee. “I have a bigger question. Why is the counter here, goo-brain?”

Fresh looks around the room. The counter, rather than being opposite the front door like in the old store, is now adjacent to it. If someone comes inside, they could basically already touch it with their left hands.

Fresh nods excitedly. “This way, the stairs and the basement door are both blocked off and even better, people will buy more things!”

She starts explaining how the room is a square, not like the old house which had an ‘L’ shape, so she uses the same principles of floor-design, but carried over to this form.

“The things people will want a lot, like the snacks, they’ll be more towards the back right,” explains Fresh.

“Isn’t that inconvenient? Shouldn’t they be by the door?” asks Basil.

Fresh smiles a smug smile. “We’re not about convenience, we’re about making money!” Jubilee nods, signaling a deep approval. Basil pulls on her sleeves however, apparently not convinced about this either. “See? Look,” says Fresh, walking around the room. “If I want a snack, then I’ll have to walk past aaaaall the other shelves to get it.” Basil watches her, still confused. “But on my way, I might see a lot of stuff that I like, so I’ll grab that too, even if I didn’t want it at first!”

“Hmm…” Basil thinks. “Sure. I think that makes sense. And since they already walked this way, they’ll keep going through the rest of the store too?”

“Exactly!” Fresh goes on, raving, explaining every little detail to Basil that she had explained so excitedly to Jubilee back before their first opening.

The next day comes and Fresh finishes making the last of the shelves and bins for the store. In a strange thought, she notices that the layout reminds her a lot of something from her old life. Some layout of some over-priced place that she can’t really remember. Her old life is becoming deeply blurry, so much so that she really only remembers that she had one. But everything more than that is simply not available for her to remember. But she isn’t really sad about that. She spends the rest of the day upstairs, making furniture for their room, Jubilee’s room and the pantry.

For Jubilee, she makes a simple dresser and with a mischievous smile, she carves down a brick into a cylindrical shape.

(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Carve{Cylinder}]

Then she sands down the neck and the base, sinking them both deeper inward.

(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Sand{Coarse}] x2

Then, wondering if she should have perhaps done this part first, she begins hollowing out the inside, going in through the top.

(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Hollow]

And then with a final smile, she sands the brand new vase down with a smooth finish, to make the thing turn out surprisingly glossy, despite being made of such rough material.

(Fresh) uses: [Crafting: Sand{Fine}]

Fresh admires the small, stone vase and sets it down onto the dresser before quickly running to her bag and digging through it. Triumphantly, she returns, running back to Jubilee’s room with the little, yellow flower in hand. Dried out, but not entirely flattened just yet. Still carrying that bright, warm smile, she sets it inside of the vase and then sneaks out of the room, closing the door tightly behind herself. This was a surprise for Jubilee to find later.

The pantry is simple enough, just a few shelves and boxes with lids. Though she had already made most of those while building up the kitchen the other day. All that’s left now is the bedroom. She makes a promise to herself that she’s going to have more clothes and she’s sure that Basil would appreciate the same luxury, so she sets to work making a pair of tall, but thin wardrobes that sit to the left of their respective beds. They’re perhaps more ‘lockerish’ than she was hoping, but space is at a premium, after all. They’ll have to do. But with that fact in mind, she does her best to make them look nice.

Fresh does eventually find herself frowning though as something bugs her, but she isn’t sure what. Then, after a look around the room, she realizes what it is and rubs her tired eyes before setting to work to make a third one for Shamrock. She’s sure he will never use it, but she wants him to have one too. She doesn’t want the giant man to think that he’s been forgotten or ignored. Despite being exhausted, she also extends the man’s bed out another foot, but then realizes that the sheets and the bedroll are now too small for the frame. Fresh spends her last very productive hour of the day begging Jubilee to fix it, who only after the hour comes close to an end, ‘willfully’ agrees.

Basil returns, carrying a load of monster drops on her back, strapped to her full bag. She flops down, setting it onto the floor. “I’m back,” sighs the priestess, leaning against the railing.

“Welcome home, Basil!” says Fresh excitedly as she stands in the kitchen, making them dinner. Though, ‘dinner’ is just her failed attempts at cooking snacks and treats for the store. She hasn’t quite figured it out yet, but takes inspiration from her bad dream the other night.

“Those smell really good,” says Basil, walking over to her, looking at the batch of colorful, but misshapen snacks on a plate next to her.

Fresh beams, lifting a fork as she explains. “That’s because they’re made with - “L-o-v-e,” she says, wagging a finger with every letter.

“Huh? Ah, is that so…” asks Basil, leaning over and poking one with a finger before picking it up and popping it into her mouth.

“Actually,” says Jubilee from inside their room. “They’re made with some monster gunk and river-water.”

Basil coughs in the middle of swallowing, already too far gone to spit it back out and Fresh drops the fork, rubbing her back.

“It’s fine, Basil! It’s just mushroom powder from the forest,” explains Fresh. “It’s okay to eat, remember?” She grabs a bottle of water and hands it to the priestess, who takes it gratefully. “Here, drink something.” Basil downs the water, clearing her throat. Jubilee comes out of the room, staring at the commotion.

+ [Stat Boost] - [Mushroom Doughball]{Green}(Normal)

+ [5 DEX]

Basil opens her eyes, taking a deep breath as she sets the bottle of water back down.

“And? How was it?” asks Jubilee sarcastically.

“Pretty… good,” says Basil with a surprised nod, still clearing her throat. “Uh… I think it could use some salt.” Fresh nods excitedly, grabbing the box of salt that she had gone out of her way to buy.