The magenta dome closes. Femtite is nowhere to be seen—presumably inside Love Bug, Too!
Connie pulls back at Shin's arm so that he's helping her to her feet rather than being hauled there. "Uh... yeah. All-spectrum isn't super useful if you don't know how to tweak the specs on the go, but if you make good, specific observations then it's a lot easier to have good, specifically useful gear. I'll need to consult with Indy on it though since unlike the Fey, the Aether and its creatures are something that I only have theoretical knowledge of."
She uncaps a different sharpie and starts scribbling on the Love Bug, Too!'s windshield in ultrafine reversed text as she continues.
"I honestly haven't noticed the leyline changes all that much. Though if they were causing me problems that seems like the kind of news that should be distributed to the whole team so they don't expect a ward that isn't coming. You have to pay a lot of attention to the winds if you're a three mast galleon, and a lot less if you get around by oar in your dinghy."
She recaps the pen and gives Love Bug, Too! a couple broad pats with her hand.
"Okay Scoobies - page me if you see something that doesn't look like a rubber mask, otherwise I'm out for a walk."
Femtite’s voice is heard from the Bug’s speakers.
“Sorry, everyone. Connie has asked me to come find her, so I will go to her.” After a couple seconds, she adds, “I want to thank all of you for your advice, your honesty, and your understanding.”
Then the Bug is gone!
The Bug appears in close proximity to Connie! After Femtite gets her bearings, she lands her craft. The magenta dome opens, and at the control panel is that new Irish exchange student clad in the Halcyon Prep uniform.
Her amethyst eyes meet Connie’s. “It’s not the Gift,” Maeve assures Connie.
|
Watching as both Connie and Femtite give half-assed explainations and then dip. Indy shrugs and let's his palms clap against his thighs.
"So... meeting adjourned... I guess?"
Looking across the others he went to rub at his eyes and then remembered that wouldn't be a bright idea and stopped himself. "Anyway, I was gonna see about trying to scry on any high priorities that came into our realm. Namely any draconids and probably other possibly deadly flying beasts that would have gotten some distance. If any of you want to stay and witness that."
In his head he wondered why Connie mentioned unknown wards, he'd told everyone through the communicator so it's obviously her own fault for not paying attention. But unless Shin or someone else called another important subject up he started to move around the base to gather reagents.
"Another thing." Caio says. "Another day, while crossing the campus, I 'lost' half an hour... I was walking a distance that should take me about ten minutes but I arrived thirty minutes later. I did not notice I had lost this time and my phone did not even received texts during this time."
"Earlier this day, the same thing happened to Skyler. I joked she was late for our date and she was shocked to discover she was indeed late, and again, this happened as she was walking across the campus and for about thirty minutes."
"This isn't happening all the time, since I tried to replicate it another night and nothing happened." He then turns to Percy. "Not sure if this is happening because of the leylines, or because of some creature, or even if for another unrelated reason. I'm trying to narrow it down and dig further, but I'd like to ask you to keep your eyes on your watches and if you notice you 'miss time', then text me about the route you took and the time of the day it was."
|
|
"Wait wait wait... you lost time. Could it be another one of those chrono thingies Shin?" He looked to their leader like he'd possibly know more about this mysterious situation. He groans himself and very gently scratches at his scalp with the back of his hand.
"Suppose I could check the area out for any strange stuff but without seeing it in action a bit hard... was it always in the same area? We could probably do a stake-out."
Shin is watching Conflux go, so he wasn't paying attention before Indarius spoke his name. He looked back over to him and Caio. "Wait, what? Lost time?" He asks, clearly concerned. "That's really weird. You said it happened to you and Skyler?" He asks, thinking things over before looking at Diva.
"You're tapped into the social network of the school better than most of us. Do you think you can do some investigating and find out if any other students have been experiencing lost time?" He asks Max. "If we have more points of data we can start to figure this out. But lost time could also be a magic issue," Horizon says looking to Percy. "If it's a magical effect, maybe having you check it out would be a good idea. Why don't you and Caio investigate it together, see if you can't find anything out. I'll see if there's anything I can use with Clocktower to pick up any kind of temporal energy."
The Bug appears in close proximity to Connie! After Femtite gets her bearings, she lands her craft. The magenta dome opens, and at the control panel is that new Irish exchange student clad in the Halcyon Prep uniform.
Her amethyst eyes meet Connie’s. “It’s not the Gift,” Maeve assures Connie.
"Yeah, I know. I was trying to give you space so I didn't really look into what you were doing with your new ID. Should I have been? What's going on between you and Chastity?"
_Maeve’s surprised that Connie is unsurprised. And maybe just a little surprised Chastity is the topic.
“She’s in my anatomy class. Some students ridiculed her for her beliefs, and I came to her defense. She reached out to me after class, and we talk.
“I helped her at the homeless shelter just before the meeting.”
_
Connie rolls her eyes. "Obviously that's what I'm asking about. Okay, just to put a signpost up for you. This is not the Connie's feelings portion of our conversation. I do want to have that part. And the your feelings part. But this is the making sure Chastity isn't being put in danger part."
_
Maeve replies, “She has a boyfriend. Sort of… oh, Connie, this guise—Maeve’s the name by the way—doesn’t have functioning tear ducts.”
Maeve sighs, and even that is off because even human-looking, the pixite is still not an air-breather.
“Anyway, Mother knows I’m not seeing anyone so there’s no Gift being prepared.
“And she’s presiding over a funeral for yours. And yes I’m gonna go.”
_
"I know, Maeve Gallagher. We're in a school with a high degree of exceptional activity. Keeping an eye on the list of mid-semester transfers is just good housekeeping. And when the new student's name means something like 'Benevolent Foreign Royalty,' then they merit further attention. I... I don't really want her doing that, but I'm glad you're going anyways... Can we wait on that till the feelings parts? I'm really trying to- I feel like I've got a f~$*ing ticking clock before- Okay, lemme skip ahead some steps. I don't know Chastity personally and I haven't been particularly watching out for her, but I do know she's a religiously inclined closet case with a dangerous family. I am incredibly glad to hear your moms aren't planning a 'gift' for her... But they would still, right?"
_
“I’m working on that. In my conversation with Mother, I got her to acknowledge that your reaction is normal for a human… but you saw her difficulty with controlling her anger.
“With me, she did that thing where she grows in scale as her anger rises. I just stayed calm. I mean, I could match any scale she can shift to and she knows it. Better to fly up to eye-level and be like—”
Maeve has a look that says gimme-a-break.
“She’s a proud woman. And I do…” Respecting Connie’s gentle warning about feelings stuff, Maeve avoids the L-word.
“My parents and Chastity’s are all people to be treated with delicacy.”
_
Connie shifts, not quite leaning forward before crossing and uncrossing her arms as she plants. "Delicacy's a word for it. Look, there is no doubt in my mind that whatever happens going forward you're going to be a substantial part of Chastity's gay awakening, but here's what I Don't want to happen: If she comes out and her family and friends aren't 'fully supportive,'/let's face it disown her, I don't want her to only have one person to turn to, especially... Especially if that might lead to her getting even further cut off from everything in her world in an intentionally permanent kind of way."
_
“She has Raquel and Gina, if you mean options for a place to stay. But wait……. you don’t think that..???”
Maeve would blush if she could.
“She doesn’t believe in sex before marriage so… I mean, if I ‘awaken’ her, as far as homophobic and body-changing mothers know, everything is platonic.”
Her amethyst eyes give Connie a puppy-eyed look, but the eyes—convincingly human as they appear—are dry.
“Nothing wrong with feeling for someone and keeping it platon… oh, right. Feelings part later.”
Maeve nudges her Love Bug with her elbow, prompting it to transform from alien craft to what appears to be a Regular Earth Volkswagen Bug. (License plate: L4DY•BUG)
_
"So wait, would your mom not have made a move if we hadn't-" Connie fills in the blank with a couple short but evocative hand gestures. "'Cause even if she doesn't believe in sex before marriage and has even thought about how to translate that to a relationship where neither partner has a dick that isn't store-bought, and even if her not believing in it meant that it wouldn't happen, there's still kind of a lot of space before then to tread that is firmly in the romantic arena. Whatever, as long as she's not getting Whole New Worlded into things 'cause she feels like that's her only option while she's trying to rewrite her own personal narrative, then I don't have to get professionally involved. as a sapphic, not as a superhero. And if she needs someone to talk to who's more familiar with how queer stuff works among humans, then you've got the club, and... you've got me. For that kind of thing, no matter what."
Connie looks up at the sky, blinking very quickly. "Okay, can we do feelings? You said you were ready to talk."
_
Maeve backs against her car covering her mouth, eyes widening, “NowaitstopConnieno… just…”
She holds up her finger.
”…”
She composes herself. “I have pow…no. Yes. Okay. Hear me out.
“My Mother decided on the pixite body after we kissed. No……. no. That’s not the fact. The fact is that’s when I knew. I used my power and knew she would make you a pixite if you met her approval.
“I also know now, the design was: human body is deconstructed. Soul is transferred to pixite body. Pixite can be stored in Bug. Human body is reconstructed.
“Mother destroying Love Bug, The to make your stay permanent is confusing to me, and Mom was nearly finished adding these features to Love Bug, Too, which means she anticipated, conspired, or pretended to.”
_
"Okay... I mean, I don't see what's confusing. It's revealing? Damning?"
_
“Fair. But I mean, it’s irrational. It’s like my Mother makes these plans that are counterproductive to her goals. I mean, if it worked as designed, you’d have liked it. I’ll never forget the way you looked at me when your pixite form awa—”
Maeve can’t finish saying whatever she’s saying. She can’t cry. Not in her human guise.
Her dry eyes stare at the pavement.
_
"Fem- Femtite, it's only irrational if her goal was that we have a happily ever after on our own terms. It's perfectly rational if she wanted to drive a wedge between us, or if she was just unwilling to accept that you might want something different than a harem, or even a harem of one; it's perfectly rational if she thinks I'll give in one day, 'cause hey, unaging long game is an option, or if she knows I never will. It's just confusing because there's almost nothing she could have done to better ruin what you thought both your goals were... I should've...
"I think you should maybe see the memory."
Connie sits and waits for Maeve to ready her tech.
Queen Millie continues to lead Connie across the ballroom floor. When Femtite begins to show off her size-shifting to the delight of the fey, Millie just gets a knowing smile. "She's a delight, isn't she? Tell me truthfully, how is she getting along among the other titans? Has there been any other connections?"
"Oh of course! Femms isn't literally universally beloved, but she's made friends both within and outside our team. With as sunny and warm as she is, it isn't really surprising." Connie's gaze lingers on Femtite, but her internal monologue is entirely fuzzed out.
"I am relieved to hear that," Queen Millie says with a smile. "What is it that you think drew her to you? Your self-taught nature? The time you spent on the streets? The fact you were adopted against your will? Or is it something else, some intangible, perhaps? I'd like to know."
Something sharpens beneath Connie's simple happiness, though nothing tears through the surface. Lotta specifics from my biography. Femms her only source? Interesting that those are her top three though... "Ha! That's a question for someone with a very different kind of self esteem, but I'd hope it's not any one checkbox-y kind of thing."
The queen furrows her brow in an attempt to understand. "'Check-boxy'. Hmm. Very well. Have you taken a sentient life?"
Ok. '10 Simple Murder Rules for Dating My Teenage Heir.' No problem, I always test well."No. There are circumstances where I would, but it's pretty far down my list of tools and nowhere on my list of desires."
"Interesting. Pragmatic, then? You would recognize that at times it may be necessary, though you do not seek it out. If it came to it, would you kill to protect Femmi?" Her large eyes are deadly serious.
"Of course, though I've already not killed to protect her too."
Queen Millie seems satisfied with the answer. "The job of consort to a queen involves more than just seeing that her pleasures are met and her line is continued. She may be called upon to defend her with all her ability -- and to do whatever is necessary to keep her safe. Will you accept this role?"
"Not from you.
"With all respect and regalese, that's something for Femms and me to sort out."Queen Millie keeps her face quite pleasant as they twirl around the floor, though there is no mirth in her eyes or voice. "Your given history has indicated reasons to mistrust parental figures. For Femmi's sake, do not level that same mistrust toward me. I want only what's best for her."
Please let me be wrong about where this is going... "Not a matter of trust. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes to Femms's choices, especially when it comes to her romantic life, I'm never gonna see you as more than an interested advisor. You're offering something that's not yours."
"Offering?" the queen tilts her head. "I'm making no offer. You're placing yourself in the role of her sole consort. I am merely seeing to it that you know the obligations that come with such a position. Did Femmi tell you that a queen's harem merely live a life of ease and comfort? They have far more responsibilities than she knows. Or even needs to know."
"Again, you're putting the wrong person in charge of Femms's choices. We're in a relationship. That's something we've talked about and agreed to. That does mean caring and support and protection, but that doesn't mean that all other parts of our relationship are gonna exactly fit with what you have with your harem." Please don't do this to her
"Indeed. She's chosen to have a harem of one. That puts more responsibility on you, then, wouldn't you agree? You may be begging her to add a few more to her harem after trying to shoulder it all yourself."
She's gonna make us smack her down. Goddamnit. "Well. That's not what we want now."
Queen Millie's professional smile becomes somewhat condescending. "That's adorable."
Connie's return smile is equally sincere. "Aren't I though?"
Maeve’s face reddens, along with her arms and the flesh between stocking and skirt. She gives her Bug a slap—
—it becomes a shrunken ship which Maeve grabs and hurls high into the air!
As the little Bug hovers headlight-level with the 5th floor of an adjacent building, Maeve steps back ten feet or so—clothing already riddled with ‘cigarette burns’ as the temperature rises dangerously.
Maeve(?) is a blazing inferno for several seconds—then the red flames take the shape of a headless, armless, skirted figure, which crumples into a burning heap. Ashes and burning fabric scatter about as the schoolgirl shoes continue to melt and burn.
“I didn’t know—I didn’t know, Connie! I never told—” For a moment, Femtite’s eyes redden—her outrage not directed at Connie, but at Love Bug, Too!
Pixite palms fire a pinkish-purplish beam at the tiny craft!
Love Bug, Too presumably continues to hover in one piece, but is now encased in a ball of amethyst!
“Even your letter—I believed you—just thought maybe… maybe… this is who she is?! This is who she… I’m so sorry, Connie. It’s okay for you to hate her. Hate me. I don’t even want to forgive me. How can I even…?”
_
Connie twists one of her rings to protect herself from any unexpected flares and sits down next to Femtite. "I mean, it's definitely part of who she is. Usually more than a single small part especially when it's something that an absolute monarchy only exacerbates. I... I don't think I'm letting myself hate her right now thanks for the green light though. I don't like to just sit in my hate, and I still can't- Anything I did would need to be so carefully planned, so precise for all the reasons you said, and I don't trust myself to do that yet. If it would just be revenge I don't think I could justify it anyways...
"I know I don't hate you though."
_
Femtite stammers, “I told you you have a kind heart. And you said toxic—I’m the toxic one!
“No wonder you’re worried Chastity’s going to pick me over her probably-also-gay boyfriend—nice guy by the way—and be Mother’s next victim.
“The Gift. Eternal life… but she would make it Hell?! This is why my sister…???”
Femtite sits on the curb looking forlorn. “I’m so sorry Connie. I was a spoiled brat—I was sheltered from the hard stuff, so when things got hard, I just did whatever it took to not deal. Got a hard conversation? Don’t have it. Connie is angry? Nod and smile, don’t deal, don’t talk, don’t make it worse. I’m angry, say nothing—definitely don’t say I’m afraid my Mother’s gonna make your visit to my world terrifying and traumatic?! Of course I never told you my worry. I saw you dance and smile, and assumed your two had it all worked out.
“Don’t woulda-shoulda yourself, Connie. Of course you didn’t tell me. When did I ever deal well with hard stuff?—or at all?! That’s my fault, Connie!” She smears the molten gold across her face.
“Everything’s fornicated.”
_
"Are you familiar with cognitive frameworks? Our minds aren't designed to consider all things at all times, and so we naturally reject things that don't fit with our understanding of reality. They can change, but it essentially doesn't happen the first time you're confronted with something outside of them. You knew that what your moms were doing was wrong, but you also knew that they wanted you to be happy. It made no sense. With the situation that made no sense you helped the person who was hurting, and who might not have been able to get out with you just standing by. Definitely not as cleanly.
"And you already knew when we showed up to the meeting. You knew that we needed to talk, and you knew you didn't trust what Millie had told you. You got yourself out of this instead of just digging in deeper and deeper."
"I'm not saying you were flawless or that you didn't hurt me, but you're here now. What do you want to do next?"
_
“I want to confront my mothers, find my sister, and learn more about the doom prophecy. But not necessarily in that order, and not tonight.
“What I want to do next is give you a hug. I don’t know if that’s against the rules—I don’t care. It’s okay for you to say no if I’m being weird—I didn’t get myself out, Connie. I had help from Shin and DD and Caio and Percy, and you most of all!”
_
"Okay, you can hug me." Connie does squeeze back, but it's brief and a bit stiff.
"I'm not... I don't hate you. I don't want to hate you. But I only got to the point where thoughts of you are safe to hold like... This morning. No matter what, I'm gonna need time."
_
Femtite doesn’t let herself get (even more) overly emotional. Her aura yellows from the hug, but pales slightly at the stiffness.
“It’s understandable, Connie.” Despite what she literally just said about avoiding hard conversations, Femtite isn’t sure that she wants to address her own feelings. Or that she should.
“Do you want a ride home? We can talk more or call it a night. I’m happy you were… we were… able to get this far.”
_
"I want to get farther, but I don't know how... People think magic is impossible, but it's just a different set of rules. But part of why I fell so hard for you, Femms, is that I've seen you do the impossible, over and over... So I don't know if that means it's up to you, or if I've got to step up for once.
"I don't know if seeing the real me for the second time was enough to make sure you'd never be in love with me again... I know other people don't understand how you could be the one to leave me over what happened on Nanometeor, but I get it. No matter how much you pretend not to see that I'm toxic, I get it."
_
Femtite tears up, glow goldening, lips parting.
“I was aiming for friendship. I guess I overshot.”
_
Connie can't help but stare at Femtite's lips, but she stays carefully away. "Yeah well... I liked who I was when I was in love with you. Maybe I'll like your friend too."
_
“I like my friend,” Femtite says, aura turning a healthy hue of peach. “I like the way my friend and I talk.”
Femtite suspects Connie doesn’t really ‘get’ the reason why she broke it off. She doesn’t really get what broke me.
But she fixed me, too.
“I”—love—“like you, Connie!”
Shin: I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark
Shin: Femtite confided in me, and she needed to address everyone
Shin: How can I make it up to you?
But it’s after nine, so I better text her and we can talk in the morning like we always do.
Of course Femtite uses her Maeve account to contact her friend.
Maeve: Thanks again for inviting me to help out at the shelter.
Maeve: I’d like to do that again. Is this a regular Thursday thing?
Maeve: Also, that thing I went to after—I can’t wait to tell you what happened!
If the message is marked as read, Femtite asks, Are you available to talk now? (Not text—talk!) She hopes Chastity understands that nothing Femtite-related can be in writing.
But if an hour passes (a.k.a. the time needed to finish homework) with no reply or evidence of texts being read, she ends the one-way conversation with Sweet dreams! See you at school! And don’t forget to tell your mom:
Maeve: Thank you, Mrs. Robertson!
Skyler's eyes stay wide, showing a bit of fear. "I just... cut through the main building. It's cold outside so I didn't want to go across the campus."
She follows Caio to Unity Base, staying quiet and staring at her feet. When the team meeting begins, she goes into his room and shuts the door so she's not a part of the drama.
When he finally shows up to his room after the meeting, she's curled up in his bed with the laptop open. "How'd it go? You feel like finishing off Arcane?"
Maeve gets a text back that evening.
Not every Thursday, but most. I can talk for a little bit. Electronics are shut off at 9:00. I might be able to go to 9:30 if it's important.
She calls Chastity, and should her call get answered, she says, “It’s important—I… think. Can we talk in private?”
The phone call is answered. There's the muffled sound of Chastity talking and someone in the distance answering, then her voice comes on. "Yeah, let me go in my room and shut the door."
A couple moments pass, and then she says, "Okay, yeah. I'm here. What's going on?"
“Connie and I had a long talk. And we really talked… and, I think, really heard each other probably more than we ever did as a couple, at least about serious stuff. And she knew I was Maeve the whole time, so… well, I think we’re gonna go back to being…
“Friends!” she says after a pause—still having a hard time understanding the feeling. Not long ago, being friend-zoned was the unthinkable. But tonight, it was beautiful!
There's a pause on the other end. "Oh. Well, that's good. I know you were really worried. So, are you going to, um, stay? Here in Halcyon? You know, as an exchange student? Maeve?"
Horizon gets a ping from Whippoorwill on his comm. "So, how did the team meeting go?"
Was it jealousy? Is she afraid that…?
“There was a moment that I thought she wanted us to get back together. She said something very sweet. She liked who she was when she was in love with me, and then said maybe she’d still like herself as my friend.
“And I’m glad she feels this way. It wouldn’t be good for either of us to date with that baggage, y’know, worrying we’d just break up again. That doesn’t sound happy, so by dating, Connie and I would just end up making each other unavailable.”
Maeve wonders if Chastity sees the parallel.
Horizon stops checking on his phone every few minutes to respond to his mentor's message. "Better than I expected it to go. I think that your advice to Femtite as well as her talking to me has been helpful for her to understand why we've been so concerned," He says.
Horizon had spent maybe a short amount of time checking on Clocktower's ability to sense temporal disturbances, but that was not in the toolbox for the supercomputer. Which was why he was currently hovering over the area where Caio had said he and Skyler had lost time, trying to see things from a different perspective.
"There's a couple of other things - Caio's planning to leave the team. He feels that without his wolf powers he's got a chance at a normal life, so I don't blame him for that. It's not like...well, it's a non-issue," he clarified. "Indarius is rightfully concerned by the aftereffects of the ritual and the change in magic. He's worried there will be some more magical creatures that are around the city."
"Caio also mentioned that he recently lost time, literally. I'm investigating the area now, but he and our classmate Skyler both lost approximately half an hour walking through this area. I'm covering it from above to be safe, if there really is some temporal disturbance on campus I'd rather not mess with it."
There's relief in Chastity's voice. "Oh, good. I was really looking forward to watching the Nutcracker with you."
There's another pause. "That's sweet, though, what she said about being with you. But I can see it. You're so positive, and free with compliments -- I don't know how someone could be your friend and not feel good about themselves. I'm glad you're staying as Maeve. She makes a good friend too."
There's a muffled voice heard on the other end and Chastity says, "What?" The phone gets jostled. "It's just Maeve! ... She was just telling me about a friend of hers from Ireland, and ... yes! No, I was just asking if she was still staying in Hal-- ... well, yeah! She's homesick and I'm trying to be supportive. ... Uh-huh. Oh, okay."
The phone is moved and Chastity's voice becomes clear. "Maeve? It's time for electronics to go off. I'll see you tomorrow."
Whippoorwill is quiet while Horizon reports. "All right, good news about the meeting. That makes sense for Caio, but it can be rough for some. Let him know there's support out there for former powered people. If you think he needs it.
"Feya has been keeping us informed about the changes in magic. You should stay observant of your other magical teammates -- especially Max. See if she's detected anything."
The topic of the lost time sets a moment of quiet from his mentor where Shin can almost see her thoughtful expression. "Okay, keep me posted about what you find. But keep your mind open -- it makes sense that you'd automatically assume it's temporal in nature, but lots of things can create the illusion of lost time. Dimensional slips, mind control, hypnosis... don't get locked into one possibility."
“Tell your mom you were very supportive, and I really needed this call. See you at school, Chastity!”
Maeve makes sure to remove her clothing and step in her (tub-sized) Bug before reverting to her less-human-more-pixite-ish form.
She then finds a strand of brown hair from where Chastity sat in her room the other day. She shrinks down, holds it, shrinks more, embeds herself within its molecular structure, hoping to better understand her friend…
…as she becomes…
…nothing!
"Well, enough with that." He says, happy to focus on the series finale. "Yeah, lets finish it!" Despite the fact that he had already seen the series once, he still enjoyed the ending while keeping an eye on Skyler's reaction about the finale. "So?"
Once asked by the lost time, Caio informs about the route he took that evening and then tells about Skyler's route. "I've retraced my steps that same night and nothing happened. Perhaps it is not stationary, only occurs in the during a specific time interval, or even only occurs once for each person."
"I just hope it is an anomaly and that we just "lost time". As an alternative, it is not impossible that we could have been controlled for the same amount of time and then had our minds erased... I did not noticed anything different in me though."
Caio nods to Shin's request for him teaming up with Percy. "Sure. You feeling better, Percy?" He asks, wondering if Percy was already ready to show his new scaly self to the public.
Skyler is entranced with the final episode. Her eyes are wide and she hardly blinks. Her whole body jumps when Jinx reveals the cupcake, then she collapses back into Caio's arms. Then the tension ramps back up until the final scene.
"Is-- is that it?!? That's where they're leaving things? F#*$!"
She checks the computer. "Season 2's not out yet?" she asks helplessly.
Femtite shrinks down to the space between threads of destiny and possibility. She senses a myriad of futures that could happen, patterns and branching paths too numerous to follow to their eventual end even as her awareness of them causes them to alter and distort.
She sees Chastity, frail, human, but with the gift of free will. Her paths spread in a multitude of directions, some snapped off too soon while others reach beyond the capacity of Femtite's awareness. She sees darkness, she sees light, she sees the red of conflict and the yellow of peace.
But above all, Femtite sees that as soon as she becomes aware of a path of Chastity's that is intertwined with hers, it distorts and becomes inaccessible.
Femtite must face the reality that Chastity's fate is not set in stone, but a branching path of choices, events, and circumstances that only becomes set once they've happened.
Femtite falls back to her pillow. She stares at the wall calendar where the date of the Nutcracker is marked in highlighter.
I’m not rescuing her from a controlling mother trying to ‘straighten’ her out. I’m simply a part of her human existence.
She decides to sleep as Maeve.
"...Right. I'll touch base with Max to see if she's felt any changes." Horizon replied. "It does make sense that it could be something else, but I think that eliminating possibilities to start with will be useful as well."
In that respect, Horizon tried to feel the flow of energy in the area. His powers were always drawing on light, heat, and other radiant sources towards his body. If he could focus and figure out if there was any strange energy coming from a certain direction, that would at least confirm there was something around here, and possibly narrow down its location.
Maybe they're back together.
Bony Protrusion: I'm sorry for keeping you in the dark
Bony Protrusion: Femtite confided in me, and she needed to address everyone
Bony Protrusion: How can I make it up to you?
Connie: About Maeve or about Millie?
Connie: They were both only vaguely my business, personally speaking
Connie: What do you feel you should have told me?
"Which character you liked the most?"
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Once asked by the lost time, Caio informs about the route he took that evening and then tells about Skyler's route. "I've retraced my steps that same night and nothing happened. Perhaps it is not stationary, only occurs in the during a specific time interval, or even only occurs once for each person.""I just hope it is an anomaly and that we just "lost time". As an alternative, it is not impossible that we could have been controlled for the same amount of time and then had our minds erased... I did not noticed anything different in me though."
Caio nods to Shin's request for him teaming up with Percy. "Sure. You feeling better, Percy?" He asks, wondering if Percy was already ready to show his new scaly self to the public.
Percy gives a shrug, "Who's to say what happened then. A closer look is all we can do for now."
When Caio asks if he's ready to show off the new him he flicks his hood up and the glamour takes effect. "Look, I don't mind personally. But magic isn't always literal and we are not ready for that especially with you headed out the door. Also are you sure you want to do this, with no powers or anything? If so then let's go I guess."
He holds out his hand and prepares himself for the teleportation to the schoolgrounds.
Horizon doesn't detect any unusual energy signatures during his sweep.
Skyler is still emotionally worked up over the show. "I don't know, most of them? Vi, Powder-Jinx, Vander, Ekko, Caitlyn... oh, and Viktor."
She sits up and stretches. "Well, I'm going to get flashbacks. Thanks for traumatizing me," she says in a teasing tone.
"Are you going to walk me back to the dorm?"
He gets only a few minutes into his attempts to find something strange in the area before it seems to be fruitless. But he can at least add by subtraction that this wasn't a constant effect or event.
Then his phone buzzed and he had it up to read, taking a good long minute to think before responding.
Connie: What do you feel you should have told me?
Shin: I don't think I should have told you anything
Shin: That would have hurt everyone, you and Fem
Shin: Doesn't mean I don't still feel sorry I kept secrets from you and rest of the team
Shin: Did you manage to talk with her?
"Sure, I'll walk you back, but first..." He says as he moves towards his desk and picks a small box from within a drawer. "Close your eyes, ok?" He adds, only turning towards her when she does so.
Opening the box, he then moves behind Skyler and puts his present around her neck. "No peeking! Not yet." He warns her before turning her towards a large mirror on his wardrobe's door. "Ok, now you can look."
Around her neck there is now a light blue collar with tiny spikes and metal links around it. On Caio's hand there is a short leash of the same color. Slipping a finger between the collar and her neck, just to check if it wasn't too tight, he pulls her towards him.
"Yes, I'll do it." Caio says to Percy, but when he notices he means now, he shakes his head. "Can't do it tonight though. Sky is in my room waiting for the meeting to end and I've already taken a look during the night and nothing happened... both occurrences were during the afternoon."
Skyler touches the collar around her neck. When he tugs her towards him, she moves closer and looks up at him. "Okay, what are you... I mean, what are we... doing?"
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Indy lets out a sigh and watches as Shin also takes off. "Okay... well if anythibg like this happens again. Notify the team immediately I guess? I'm gonna go see if I can find any of our otherworldly friends."
With that he turned and went to step away back to his own business but froze up. 'Preventative to be safe.' he thought and his shoulder's drooped again as he reoriented towards Caio.
"Wait hold up... let me do something incase this happens again we... I can quickly respond." He took what looked like a sharpie from somewhere in his robes and uncapped it, the pungent smell betraying that it was filled with some foul liquid concoction, definitely not sharpie.
Without asking he grabbed Caio's hand and turned it over so he could scribble an intricate rune on the back of it. Once it was drawn he assuaged Caio's fear of it smelling awful by leaning down and breathing a frosted few words.
"Fa'Kor Dor'Aal" A tingling sensation sparked from the rune and it felt like a cold burn for a few moments But Indy made sure to hold him from breaking away.
After the rune fully disipated Indy dropped Caio's hand. And waggled his fingers with a smirk and a satisfied hum deep in his throat that seemed to rattle a bit. "There that should do. Now go on, be about your business. I'll be in my room hopefully finding clues to one of our problems."
Caio had thought a lot about this moment beforehand. At first, when Skyler told him she liked when he, under the Wolf's influence, thought about her as his, he was confused about how to care and respect her if she was his, but then he realized that it had nothing to do with it. She wasn't a plaything. She was his girlfriend, his woman. He'd honor her, respect her, and care for her as he needed, but he'd also take the reigns and show her how much and how he wanted her.
Caio turns Skyler back towards the mirror, pushing her closer to it while keeping himself close behind her, looking into her eyes through her reflection. He tugs the collar, showing it is indeed very secure, before taking her hand to the back of the collar where there was a clip. Guiding her fingers, he clicks the collar open, quite easily, before closing it again. "Remove the collar and I'll stop. No questions asked. You know I'll keep my word." He says, giving her neck another kiss.
"But while you leave it around your neck... I want you to be mine. I do not want you to think about anything else that is not you and me. No doubts, no fears, no worries... I want you to let yourself loose, I want you inside my aura... I want us to be one"
While Caio trusts Percy enough, when he releases his hand he does frowns. "Uhm, how about you ask me if I'm ok with that before doing so?"
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After walking away from Caio and off into his room Percy pulls his hood back down, not too glad that most of what just happened was a big waste of time and barely any actual discussion. Gathering up various supplies into a small brazier and rubbing his eyes gently.
"Great another time thing maybe. Yet more of Millie's BS. And now Connie's mad again at what a single miscast ward? Might as well just go back to my own damn business again."
He grabbed a match and sat next to a small basin of water next to the brazier of herbs, spices, and various incense. Meanwhile Fuzzbat preened in the corner, "Well at least you aren't bringing any dire information to the group. Could you maybe go watch out around the school for anything that might be causing our newest issue?" With a trilling squeek the bat took off and flapped happily into the open world towards Halcyon High.
Percy meanwhile struck the match against his rough scales and lit the brazier, letting the heavy scents fill his nostrils while he concentrated on the image he'd seen that night.
"Ok scrying on a dragon that may or may not even actually exist.. here we go." Falling into a low chant and casting his hand over the smoke causing it to drift over the water. He then swirled the cloud over the bowl in a set of concentric circles chanting low.
Skyler's fingers test the clasp a couple times. "This isn't... nevermind. Um. All right." She tugs a couple times at the collar to get used to the sensation of it around her neck.
With effort, she closes her eyes and leans back against Caio. She holds that position for a moment, then turns and gently presents her mouth for a kiss.
Her eyes abruptly snap open. "I-- I have to go to the bathroom."
She unfastens the collar and hands it to him before slipping out of his room.
It takes a while for Indarius to quiet his mind and concentrate on the fleeting glimpse of the draconic shape he'd gotten. With little to go on but that and the fact it had been trapped in Dr. Infinity's book for who knows how long, he knows it's a long shot to get fully reliable information.
After some time sifting through the noise of Halcyon City, Indarius is reasonably certain that the dragon is not hiding within the city. He spreads his search farther and farther out until his search is spanning the continent and beyond.
The swirling clouds around the bowl suddenly part, and he sees a tropical island in miniature within the bowl, surrounded by blue ocean waters that have replaced the burning coals. The island prominently features a volcano, evidently active from the plume of smoke rising from its crater and side vents. The rest of the island is covered in what looks like tropical jungle and white sand beaches.
Suddenly the volcano belches out a thick black plume of smoke and ash, obscuring the island again. The black cloud swirls around the bowl violently and in a tight vortex that resembles a closed eye. It snaps open, revealing a reddish, reptilian iris with a slitted pupil. A wave of heat surges forth as Indarius feels the eye looking straight at him!
Abruptly the heat dissipates as the eye closes again, causing the clouds to dissipate. The coals in the brazier go dark and cool.
Skyler slips out of Caio's room and dashes across the base to to bathroom.
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Percy reels back as the scry ends and the coals quickly dissipate. He pushes himself away from the basin and brazier and finds that he's sweating a bit. So he decides to get up and move around to help cool down and process the vision.
Stepping back out of his room and into the living spaces he dabs at his face with the sleeve of his robe just in time to see Skyler dashing towards the bathroom. Tracing the line backwards and earlier information he doesn't have to be a master detective to determine she came from Caio's room, and in a hurry too.
He called for her while slowly moving in that direction since the bathroom for the boys was that way too, "You okay Sky?"
Bony Protrusion: I don't think I should have told you anything
Bony Protrusion: That would have hurt everyone, you and Fem
Bony Protrusion: Doesn't mean I don't still feel sorry I kept secrets from you and rest of the team
Bony Protrusion: Did you manage to talk with her?
Connie: fine beat yourself up about it if you want
Connie: yeah we Talked.
Connie: went a lot better
Connie: successfully didn't kiss her in The Moment
Connie: which is good cause I've got like no healthy irl experience of hooking up without getting buried in a feelingsvalanche
Connie: (I have done bad things in some people's DMs)
Connie: And WOW woudl going right back to her be a bad idea
Connie: Oh, relevant. 80%+ chance of it sticking that Millie didn't make an unfortunate error
Connie: So... she's a lot safer
Connie: And so's Chastity
Connie: A cloud for every silver lining
Connie: (kidding)
Connie: Also, just so you don't get mad about the double standard that didn't exist, I'm ABSOLUTELY keeping secrets from you guys
Connie: Not that I'm going to actually tell you them
Connie: But just so your little heart isn't broken if one comes up and you somehow walked out of this conversation thinking I'd promised any kind of full disclosure that I couldn't live up to
Before Maeve can get ready for bed, she gets a message from the Bug. It's her mother.
"Femi! Or should I say, Maeve! How did it go? Did everyone like my surprise?"
Skyler jumps at Percy's voice and spins around before she reaches the bathroom doors. "Oh! Who are--? Ah, Percy. You look different. I'm fine. I mean, better than fine. Good, actually. Nothing-- um, nothing to worry about." She takes a couple steps backwards. "Just, um, bathroom, you know?"
She winces, mutters under her breath, and shoves the door open. It swings back closed after she's retreated within.
She sends a text to Sky before the upcoming conversation distracts her…
☀️: Hi, Sky! Been a while!
☀️: If it’s not too much to ask, can you meet me in the girls’ room by the main entrance before school starts?
☀️: And if you got any blue and/or green hair product, please bring some! Pink’s cool if you don’t have those colors.
☀️: P.S.~ I think you can see my aura when I’m guised as Maeve, the exchange student.
…she texts Chastity as well…
Maeve: Chastity! Thanks for the call, earlier.
Maeve: About to call Mother now, and I know you’re offline for the night.
Maeve: But I hope you didn’t get in trouble because of me because I truly appreciate your friendship!
Maeve: I’ll see you in the usual meeting place tomorrow morning!
…with the texting out of the way, Femtite calls her mother. It’s a video call. She does not guise as Maeve.
“Hi, Mother!
“Umm… surprise? Heh, it didn’t go as planned, Mother. The team noticed I brought clothing, having anticipated that the Gift would make me human. I didn’t tell the team this… I was ready to enter the code, but promised not to if the team was unanimously against this. The good news is I am in a better place with the team—Connie too!—she and I had a long talk.
“There’s other stuff that came up, but how about we talk in-person on Sunday? You, me and Mom too?”
There's no response from Skyler or Chastity.
There's a long pause before Queen Millie responds, however. Then she gets, "You didn't--? Why didn't you enter the code?
"Okay, maybe I telegraphed the surprise, but there's no way to truly bring our people together. You must understand what it's like to be human if you're to convince your mate to become a Pixite. What's their saying? Walking in their shoes with a smile? I implore you, Femtite. Maeve. Unless you decide that you will take a Pixite consort, any relationship with a human is doomed unless you understand what it means to be one."
After several minutes, Skyler emerges from the bathrooms. Unless she's stopped she walks back to Caio's room.
After about ten minutes pass, Skyler returns to Caio's room.
She doesn't make eye contact, but takes the collar from his hands. She doesn't make a move to put it on, however. She stares at it in her hands, not looking up. "I'm just starting my cycle, which means I'm probably ovulating. I'm not on the pill. So... I hope you've got protection. Since... I'm not ready for, you know."
“I know you mean well, Mother.”
Millie's voice is stern. "The sacred code will be your gateway between worlds. Enter it, and you will be human. Enter it again, and you will be Femtite, the hero of both Earth and Nanometeor."
Femtite enters the code!!!
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Percy raises a clawed hand to give her a tiny wave, "Uh yeah it's me. Just a little... skin condition from the whole arcane conflux-" then she was quickly off retreating into the bathroom, "-and she's gone..."
Percy shook his head and pushed into the other bathroom, heading over to the sink and mirror. "Definitely not just a bathroom run." He washed his face and grabbing a towel, because it would be unwise and wasteful to treat the station like a living space and keep the paper towel dispensers. Drying himself he gazed into the mirror and noticed the scales on his neck had grown about an inch.
Percy gave a groan at the confirmation of his worries. Stretching his magical wings so to say speeds along the process. Checking the rest of himself he found that yes the scales had encroached on his unscaled body. His teeth even looked a bit more fang-like.
He keyed his Comm and pm'd Connie, "Hey... Scried on the dragon, it's apparently on an island with an active volcano i think. Also casting big spells is making me more... this. Also i think something happened to Skyler... she sort of ran from Caio's room, and was a little quick on the draw to say it was, just a bathroom run. Do you think you could talk with her or send her a text i'm not sure how if I should press her. And i'm certainly not going in the girl's room. If you don't wanna come back to the base can we just uh talk about stuff maybe at the park or something I need some air anyway."
The Bug shudders and a surge of energy courses through Femtite. Lights, sounds, and sensations coruscate throughout her being. Bright photons beam around her as she feels herself unmade and then reassembled instantaneously within the confines of the cockpit of the craft.
The Love Bug Two, Electric Bugaloo reforms around her and appears as a mundane ground-based, internal combustion engined vehicle. But more than that Femtite feels changed at a fundamental level.
Femtite feels... wet. She's become a saggy bag of fluids propped up by a strange internal structure that barely feels solid. Gravity pulls at her hard as air molecules are instinctively drawn into a strange cavity within her that feels vital to her altered existence. Watery orbs on her face somehow take in light and translate them into images inside her brain. Moisture fills her mouth and strange muscles in her neck contract to shunt the thick liquid down her throat. Everything about her new being is weak, cold, and gurgling with air and liquids.
What does she do???
She slides her hands down her soft human skin.
“This is amazing, Mother… I… I really need to eat—”
She’s about to enter the code to change back to a pixite and feast on microorganisms, but she doesn’t. She instead dons a robe. And socks.
“I’ll change back in the morning, just to get the car outside—haha? For now, I’ll see if the Dorm Mom has any snacks.”
She smiles weakly and will hear Mother out before she slips into the hall.
Connie: fine beat yourself up about it if you want
Connie: yeah we Talked.
Connie: went a lot better
Connie: successfully didn't kiss her in The Moment
Connie: which is good cause I've got like no healthy irl experience of hooking up without getting buried in a feelingsvalanche
Connie: (I have done bad things in some people's DMs)
Connie: And WOW woudl going right back to her be a bad idea
Connie: Oh, relevant. 80%+ chance of it sticking that Millie didn't make an unfortunate error
Connie: So... she's a lot safer
Connie: And so's Chastity
Connie: A cloud for every silver lining
Connie: (kidding)
Connie: Also, just so you don't get mad about the double standard that didn't exist, I'm ABSOLUTELY keeping secrets from you guys
Connie: Not that I'm going to actually tell you them
Connie: But just so your little heart isn't broken if one comes up and you somehow walked out of this conversation thinking I'd promised any kind of full disclosure that I couldn't live up to
Shin: Everyone's entitled to their privacy
Shin: When it's necessary I know you'll tell meShin: I trust your judgement. I'm glad you've worked things out with Fem.
There's a minute of '...' happening on his end before the next message comes through.
Shin: Without it ending with you getting back together
Opening the drawer from his nightstand, Caio retrieves a single condom and places it in Skyler's hand, then closes her fingers around it. "But we'll cross that bridge when we get there... I'm giving it to you as you'll decide when I'm using it and we won't do without it, I promise you. It could be tonight or not, in a week, month or even in a year from now. I want to wait for you to be ready. This is very important, ok?"
"You don't need to decide beforehand like we tried the other day, or spend some time in the bathroom mustering courage... I want for you to feel it..." He then touches the collar in her other hand. "This is why I gave you this. You are thinking two or three steps ahead and I totally understand why this is scary... but it doesn't need to be. It can be simple and fun and awesome."
"When you put that collar, I want for you to just feel and not think, like in the ball. Let your feelings guide you, guide us..." He adds, lifting her eyes to meet his, looking at her mouth and then back to her eyes, letting her do the next move, feeling she might need some amount of control now in order to perhaps give it back to him once and for all.
Skyler keeps looking down at her lap while Caio speaks. When he finishes, she glances up at him with apologetic eyes. But she also looks relieved. "I... think we need to um, reassess. Like, our relationship."
She takes a tremulous breath and looks down again. "It was cute when you asked me out to the Halloween Ball. You were sweet, a bit dorky, and not full of yourself despite being all superpowered. Then the actual Ball happened, and -- you know -- I got all wolfy and it was super hot and everything was on the brink of us being... joined. Like, mated or something."
She looks back up at him. "I think it's been a mistake trying to recapture what almost happened that night. And I know this means I'm giving you mixed signals and I'm sorry, but every time we get close to trying, I freak out. I think I want it, but... I have to listen to myself. If something inside me is telling me not to, I should figure out why.
"You haven't done anything wrong," Skyler hastily adds, holding up the collar. "I know having sex is something you want -- or maybe you want it because I thought I wanted it too. But if you're really okay with waiting until I know I'm ready... then I need time before we do it." She swallows nervously, gauging his reaction.
Queen Millie's voice comes over the radio speakers of the Bug, which is configured as a regular vehicle that was made about six years ago.
"You're very welcome, Miss Gallagher. Good luck!"