Spine looked around and seeing almost no one was around muttered, "Screw it." He then hugged me. The little guy basically grabbed my leg. Janky shrugged and then hugged my other leg. I let them. It was a nice moment.

The moment was ruined slightly when a goblin spotted that others were touching me, sprinted over, climbed up onto the hood of the bus, and vaulted from the hood to hug me around the shoulders. He clung to me for a moment, "I do feel safe. ..the stories were true."

Nanny Shiv dislodged the guy with a sharp poke from her cane.

Nanny Shank stood again, "I need to see to the dead."

"You need to sit your old ass down," Nanny Shiv told her. "I'll do it."

The two Nannies stared at each other for a long moment.

Finally Nanny Shank sagged and sat back down, "Thank you."

Nanny Shiv nodded, when she spoke her tone was a lot softer, "any time."

"Do you need help?" I asked.

"Not from you," Nanny Shiv said, her hard edge back, "You are beat to hell. I can see your suffering. Rest and get your shit together." She marched away.

Once we were basically alone Angelica sagged and leaned on me.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"I'm spent. I can handle ten minutes with Celeste in the driver seat. Today though she went all out for sixteen minutes. I need to build up a tolerance to it," She patted me on the shoulder, "What about you?"

Each touch of her hand sent a sort of pulse through the static and white noise buzzing through my nerves, "I'm fine."

"Liar," She called me out.

"The Extreme Agony contention will end in," I checked the prompt, "Ah shit. Eleven minutes."

I pulled my bone throne out of my inventory and set it next to the bus. I sat down.

Angelica poked me, "Make a bench for the others."

I did what she said. Janky and Spine sat on it. After another moment's thought. I pulled out a replacement goblin doll for Janky. She took it and said, "Thanks."

Angelica sat on my lap. It was less of a flirtatious thing and more there are no extra chairs sort of situation. Ignore the fact I could have crafted one in a second, and Angelica had told me to create more for others. She ran her hand up and down my arm. This also was more practical than romantic. I could feel her hand through the burning sting of the Extreme Agony condition. It didn't lessen the pain but it was something else to focus on. The mind can only pay attention to so many things at once. I focused on the sensation of Angelica's touch as I watched the counter drop.

Finally the Extreme Agony condition timed out. The absence of pain was so profoundly soothing, I could almost mistake it for comfort. Angelica was dozing now. Her head rested on my shoulder. She had also wrapped herself in my cloak.

I spoke quietly, "When are you going to make your dramatic entrance, Grimset?"

Grimset stopped using some sort of stealth skill. He straightened and studied me. "I would say congratulations are in order."

I blinked, "If you are talking about the battle. It is everyone's victory."

"Don't be modest," Grimset shook his head ruefully, "Right now you are finishing your master stroke. As my people celebrate Philip, and his victory over a patron, they cheer the dwarf and a human as well. You have gently but relentlessly bent my people to your will."

"Would you prefer goblins, humans, and dwarves keep fighting?" I asked.

Grimset chuckled mirthlessly, "No one is denying that you have not upheld your side of the bargain. You have delivered. The worst of the mobs have been culled. Food, material and experience are plentiful. Peace seems so close. My people are the most powerful and united they have ever been."

"You don't sound happy," I observed.

"United under your control," Grimset declared. "I will say this. I do respect your machinations."

"Okay I am gonna stop you there," Spine hopped off the bench. "Let's not dance around this. Doug isn't some great manipulator. He isn't smart enough."

"Thanks, Spine," I said. I would be offended but he had a point.

"Any time," Spine replied.

Grimset looked sad, "You are too young. You can't see it but the hope he is offering is just a gold plated chain. Things were better in the past."

"No they weren't," Nanny Shank managed. "You just think that things were better. Because back in the day when you were a kid, we could shield you enough from the world that you felt safe."

Grimset looked over at her and for a moment considering his argument, "Nothing has changed in our society or the wastes. If what you say is true, why doesn't the boy think the same as me?"

"Because we failed to protect him and everyone younger. What we've been doing doesn't work. We are literally running out of bodies. If we don't do something different we are going to die out." Nanny Shank explained.

"So you would bow to a patron?" Grimset growled. He took a breath, "Do you not know that our god slayer is that thing's follower?"

"Seriously stop calling Doug a thing- wait what?" Spine stopped short. His argument turned into a question.

"I figured that would happen," Nanny Shank admitted.

Spine and Grimset gaped at the older goblin.

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Janky hopped off the bench. Walked around me and asked, "Why?'

The Nanny Shank gestured for Janky to come closer, and then hugged the girl as she spoke. "Your dad is going to do whatever it takes to get whoever he can out of that tower."

"Even mom," Janky asked. "Will he get her too?"

"I don't know dear," Nanny Shank. Somehow even as she handed out that harsh truth it seemed comforting. It was odd. This was the first time I saw Nanny Shank do anything that truly felt grandmotherly. It is a hard thing not giving a child false hope, but still offering comfort. I -the titan- fuck it. We had to walk that same line for Kate. We weren't as graceful as Nanny Shank. She had more practice.

Grimset glanced between Janky and Nanny Shank. He spoke carefully, "But you must see my concerns."

"What should I do, Marvin?" I asked him. I was going to the tower. I needed all the help I could get. I didn't mind placating Grimset. He was over dramatic and suspicious but he had integrity.

Grimset stared at me blankly for a moment.

"What do you think needs to happen next? What do we need to do to stop me from becoming Godking of the goblins?" I asked.

"We need a council that makes major decisions," Grimset declared.

"We already have that. You are on it." Nanny Shank pointed out.

Grimset considered, "He also needs to mark council members within the structure of his army."

I pulled up the menu and marked Nanny Shank, Grimset, Helen and Philip as officers in the army structure. It would not let me make them equal to Toad. My army was too small to have multiple generals. "I can't put you on the same rank as Toad. He is my only general allowed."

"Don't mark me in the military. Send the Invite to Pappy Havok," Nanny Shank told me.

"Acceptable," Grimset said almost instantly.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"The army must be structured so that we have latitude to act against your orders." Grimset insisted.

"I am inclined to agree, but that is something that we should have the council vote on. I also need to hear Toad's thoughts on that as the general of the army." I explained.

"We should meet quickly to decide this." Grimset pressed.

"Tomorrow," Nanny Shank replied.

"Agreed," Grimset turned back to me, "I must be allowed to inform the others about Philip becoming your follower."

"Go ahead," I told him. Maybe that was short sighted, but he was going to do it anyways, and trying to stop him would just provide more shit for him to fling at me.

Grimset paused. He studied me for a moment. He clearly was trying to figure out what my angle was. He seemed a little disappointed when he realized my motive was simple honesty, "Then I shall see you in the morning."

Before he could turn dramatically and storm off I spoke, "Can I ask you a favor?"

Grimset was mid turn and had to take an awkward half step to face me again. "What?" he managed to hang a lot of suspicion on that one word.

"In about an hour, could you tell Philip I need to talk to him?" I asked not looking at Spine or Janky.

Grimset glanced between Spine and me. "Is it urgent?"

"Not for an hour, but then it will need immediate attention," I explained. A party is a lot like a riot. It didn't require a leader but it absolutely required momentum. Philip and his Achievement 'killing Grond' was the current focal point. In an hour, not so much. At some point people would be celebrating just to celebrate.

Grimset nodded, "I'll take care of it."

Now to wait. During the interim Nanny Shank had managed to rock Janky to sleep. The bus was a place for younger goblins to rest, and a couple dozen folks dropped a few more kids off for Spine and Nanny Shank to put to bed. The sun was beginning to set. The days weren't that long in hours, but this one had taken forever. Nanny Shank closed the door to the bus and all but collapsed onto the bench next to my chair.

Spine stepped forward, "Are you okay Nanny?"

She almost waved him off. Eventually she told him, "I don't have that much time left." She patted the bench next to her.

Spine wasn't sure what to do. Her answer had thrown him. I guessed Nannies and Pappies were prone to displays of vulnerability. He sat down.

"Hold this," Nanny Shank pushed the bottle of medication and her pipe into his hands. As she dug around in her pockets she kept talking, "When you get to my age, you run out of excuses to beat around the bush." She found a pouch of tobacco and matches. She set them in her lap and took the pipe back, "Tell me, what do Nannies and Pappies do?"

"They look after the little ones," Spine said, hooking his thumb toward the bus. He answered quickly, but looked confused.

"How?" Nanny Shank packed some tobacco in the pipe.

Spine paused. He seemed confused why she was asking him this.

"This isn't a trick. Tell me what you think we do." She pressed.

"You um… make sure everyone is accounted for. Then you make sure they are clothed, fed, healthy and being taught how to survive. Basically in that order."

Nanny Shank nodded, "How?"

"A lot of things. You make sure people are working together. You make sure resources are being shared. You step into places that are short staffed and do what you can." Spine offered.

Nanny Shank lit her pipe, "That's basically right. What is our biggest problem?"

Spine hesitated a moment and then answered, "The convoy is too vulnerable. Yeah we have food. Fuel is gonna run out in a month or so but we just don't have the people to defend ourselves as good as we need to. Hell Doug pulled an army of mobs and the spillover managed to punch through our back lines. Once we send the fighters to the tower it is just going to get worse. The Sasquaches are gonna come back, I can tell."

Nanny Shank exhaled a cloud of smoke, "What would you do about that?"

"Why are you asking me," Spine asked.

"Please hand me my cane," Nanny Shank replied. When Spine handed it to her, she instantly slapped it across his legs, "Answer the question."

"Ow, dammit. Fine," Spine hissed, "A lot of people aren't going to like it, but we have to options. Stay together or split up. I think we should stay together."

Nanny Shank considered that for a long time as she puffed on her pipe, "That seems risky taking children to a warzone."

"It is," Spine agreed, "But that would still put our fighters between them and the demons, and we would have a Titan Spawn in close range to step in."

"I couldn't reach you today," I told him. "I wouldn't bet that many lives on me."

Spine looked embarrassed.

"Knowing that, what do you think now?" Nanny Shank asked.

"Then we have to get everyone not going to the tower to the Dark's entrance. It is a tunnel. The entrance can be fortified. Hell, most of the people my age who haven't seen a proper fight before today could hold a choke point like that indefinitely. It's their best bet." Spine said, watching Nanny Shank.

"I agree," Nanny Shank said.

"Seriously, what are we doing?" Spine asked.

"We're planning," She told him. She took the bottle of medicine from him, and took a swig. "You are the Mugwump."

Spine just stared at Nanny Shank, "That means something?"

"Doug? You sent for me?" Philip asked.

"Yes, I did." I said standing..

Angelica groaned in displeasure, "Too tired. Carry me."

She wasn't exactly difficult for me to carry. In my massive arms Angelica fit rather nicely. She can claim to be tall all she wants, from my perspective everyone else is just short.

"Is there something you needed?" Philip asked.

"Nah," I told him. "I am going to head back to my tent."

Philip nodded, and turned to Spine.

As we walked away, Angelica spoke up, "You're just a big old softy, aren't you?"

"Pretty much," I agreed.

"It's no fun teasing you when you just agree," She pouted, keeping her eyes closed.

I snorted a laugh, "I think you will survive. So how much are you playing up the exhaustion?"

"Only a bit," Angelica admitted, "But that is mostly to help Celeste's plan."

"Oh, where does her plan lead?" I asked.

"Nowhere, she is already where she wants to be," Angelica told me.

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