Stheno Quest (Worm Case 53 Quest)

"Um, ah, h-hello," you stammer, ducking your head a little. "I, I'm Charlotte."

His grin quickly becomes more of a concerned frown. "Ah, no, I meant your cape name, not your real one."

"It, well, it might as well be my cape name," you reply, a touch bitterly. You let your gaze fall.

"Corsair!" You jump at the sudden, disapproving voice, and you turn and look up to see Hailstorm looking at the man, the corners of her mouth downturned, but not directed at you, this time. "You'd really hit on any…" She trails off, then takes a deep breath as if to center herself. "Look, just, just don't bother the poor dear, okay? She's had enough stress today."

The words sound a little forced, but after a moment you decide to give her a small, but grateful, smile.

In the process of looking away from her, you notice that your friends are staring at Corsair with wide eyes. You can even see a blush forming in Jeanette's cheeks. Looking back at the cape, you see that his grin has returned, directed at the two women. Leaving his tray on the counter, he moves smoothly around you to them. "And who might you lovely ladies be?" he asks, holding a hand out to shake theirs.

Alice is the first to pull herself together enough to take his hand. "Um, I'm Alice, sir- eep!" Her exclamation, and the accompanying blush, are understandable, seeing as Corsair has just leaned down to kiss her knuckles. He turns the same charms on Jeanette, who seems to go a little weak at the knees as her blush extends from her hairline to past the collar of her shirt. Silly grins adorn both of their faces, and you feel a surge of envy that you quickly work to tamp down. Hailstorm just covers her face and mask with a hand and lets out a long-suffering sigh beyond them.

Turning your head away, you focus on choosing your meal.




Soon, the five of you are seated at a table with your food. You have a bit of trouble with the plastic utensils for a few moments, but you quickly get the hang of using them with your tentacles. That's the good news. The bad news is, you can still feel eyes on you. You hunch in on yourself again at first, but eventually you just turn your head around to see if you're not imagining things.

Unfortunately, you aren't, as the number of people quickly looking away shows. Still, the audible pop your neck makes when you turn it that far feels rather satisfying, and the way the people who hear it visibly shudder is kind of amusing.

Turning back to your food, you find your lunch companions staring at you, and you're certain you would be blushing if you could. Hunching in on yourself a little, you ask, "What?"

"Did, did you just snap your own neck?" Hailstorm asks in a disturbed tone.

Your head tilts. "No? I just popped it." After a few moments you realize something, like a lightbulb turning on. "Oh! Um, I guess my neck's more flexible than most people's?"

Hailstorm sighs, while Jeanette giggles a tad shrilly and murmurs, "I'll say." You let out a sigh of your own and roll your fork between two tentacles, deftly gathering up another mouthful of pasta.

Your table falls into silence as the five of you focus on your respective meals. You notice that Alice is eating more slowly than everyone else, likely due to the fact that she's spending most of her time glancing between Corsair and you. You catch her eyes and arch an eyebrow-ridge at her, a motion that provokes a blush from her, and an unexpected, intense feeling of nostalgia within you. The feeling is so intense, in fact, that you quickly close your eyes, and when they open again they burn slightly.

"Charlotte?" you hear Alice ask. "You okay?" Her blush is fading as you watch, and her expression has become concerned.

"Yes, I, I'll be fine," you say as you blink away the tears and force a smile.

"Okay," Alice replies, drawing the word out. Her eyes stay on you as she pops a small bite of her chicken salad into her mouth. Eventually you let your eyes fall back to your own food. Your tentacles clench around your drink cup, the plastic creaking a little under the pressure.

"So!" Jeanette says forcefully after a few moments of awkward silence. "Corsair, um, if you don't mind me asking, you're a tinker, right?"

The cape chuckles. "Ah, but that would be telling my dear," he says, winking.

Jeanette blushes yet again and brushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Well, I mean, you've got laser pistols and all."

Corsair opens his smiling mouth to reply, but is interrupted by an irritated Hailstorm. "Okay, Corsair, we both know you're just going to string her along with non-answers, flirting all the while, so can we just skip to the end?" Placing a hand on Jeanette's shoulder, she says in a gentler tone, "You can do better than this womanizer, dearie."

You glance at Corsair just in time to see the tail end of a frown, which is quickly replaced by a wide grin. "My, is that jealousy I hear?" he asks, his voice rich with amusement, though you can detect a slight edge beneath it. Hailstorm just smiles sweetly at him.

You shift uncomfortably in your seat. A quick glance shows you that your friends seem to have caught onto the undercurrent of hostility between the two heroes. Hoping to diffuse the tension, you open your mouth to say something, only for your words to be swallowed by a huge yawn that you reflexively cover with a few tentacles. Once it passes, you see that you have once again acquired the attention of the rest of the table, though this time their expressions are less disturbed and more surprised and sympathetic.

Shrinking in on yourself again, you give them a sheepish smile. "Um, I guess today took more out of me than I thought."

The heroes glance at one another. "Do you think you could take her to one of the spare rooms to rest while I take these girls to finish their interview once we're done?" Hailstorm asks.

"I could."

"Then I suppose we'd best finish up."




To your relief, the trip to the 'spare room' involves what seems to be a minimum of flirting, mostly in the form of Corsair holding doors for you and the like. The two of you take a thankfully empty elevator up a few floors, with your hero companion having to hold a card to an otherwise unremarkable portion of the elevator wall before he could select the specific floor. The ride, while still smooth, takes longer than before, likely an indication of distance traveled, and you soon exit into a well-guarded checkpoint.

Those manning it seem to tense when they see you, but relax once Corsair steps out. They still seem to make sure it's him before waving the two of you past, after which it's a bit of a walk to your destination.

Corsair stops outside a nondescript door and turns to you. "Alright, miss, you can rest in here. There's a phone by the door; call once you're done and someone will be along to help you with whatever you need. If you're lucky, that 'someone' might be me." He grins roguishly at you and winks, then apparently catches himself and coughs into his fist. "Well, ah, just don't abuse it, okay?"

With that, he opens the door for you and you walk through.

The room is not as modest as you were expecting. A large bed sits parallel to the far wall, which is entirely occupied by a huge window. There's a desk and other such furnishings, but your attention is captured by the window, and the view beyond. You walk around the bed, your claws making no sound on the carpet, and you come to a stop in front of the window, looking out. Some of your tentacles come up like a hand with too many digits, their stingers resting on the thick glass as you take in the view.

You almost miss the click of the closing door as you gaze out over the city, and you realize that you are much higher up than you had thought you were. A small smile spreads across your face as you look down, watching the ant-sized people scurrying around, the toy-like cars filling the streets. Your gaze rises, spotting the river from before, and beyond that, you think you can almost make out the PRT building Alice had pointed out to you what feels like ages ago.

Your viewing experience is interrupted by yet another jaw-cracking yawn, and you reluctantly turn away. You look at the bed, then down at your borrowed clothes, and consider your options for a moment. Deciding you're not too tired to do so, you carefully remove the shirt and skirt and hang them over the back of the desk's chair, before returning to the bed. You take care as you slip under the covers to not tear anything with your claws, but almost as soon as your head hits the pillow you slip into a deep slumber.




What shall you do once you awaken?

[ ] Ask to be reunited with your friends.

[ ] Ask if you could possibly get some help with figuring out your power.

[ ] Write-in.


Interlude time! But of whom?

[ ] Alice

[ ] Terracotta

[ ] Brigadier

[ ] Mockery

[ ] Spectrum