Psychoprotective (Youjo Senki/Psychonauts)

I'm half tempted to claim that the Director also embodies Tanya's tendency to misunderstand those around her. But at the moment her mind seems to have a thriving population of Bad Ideas. For all that Paranoia rules her, Tanya really isn't thinking things through properly.

I'm very curious as to how Tanya's personality stabilizes once her final boss is dealt with.

I also kind of wish Tanya hadn't kicked Mary out before doing the thing, but if they were out of figments?
 
Tanya knows that that's possible, but she doesn't know how to do it. She'd need to find a naturally large hunk of psitanium.
If she finds it, I wonder if she'll have to have a confrontation with semi-sane Ford Cruller himself on the Psitanium deposit under the park. Actually, I also wonder if it's even been discovered yet or if Ford set all the stuff down there up himself over the years, being able to do a modest a mount of work whenever he happened to wander by it in his Park Ranger duties or something.
 
The idea that the enormous psitanium deposit was artificially made by the Fords just tossing spare Psitanium they find there is kind of funny, but considering how damn MUCH Psitanium is still lying around by the time Raz gets there, I think it's more likely to be natural (or, if artificial, placed there by the natives ages ago.)
 
The idea that the enormous psitanium deposit was artificially made by the Fords just tossing spare Psitanium they find there is kind of funny, but considering how damn MUCH Psitanium is still lying around by the time Raz gets there, I think it's more likely to be natural (or, if artificial, placed there by the natives ages ago.)
I think they're talking about Ford's base under the thing, not the deposit.
 
Chapter 21
The patrons are up to 4 advance chapters! In just two more weeks they'll have finished book 1! The advance chapters will stay until I inevitably have to diminish them because I miss an update. Book 2 is proving challenging to write, but I can go through the next month or two without that being an issue, no problem.
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Tanya awoke feeling clean and refreshed. "Ah, Tanya darling, you're awake." Miss Milla said. "Are you feeling better?" Tanya realized that she was getting her hair brushed, the gentle tugging more soothing than anything else.

What did she do? Whatever she wanted, clearly. She couldn't have waited until she was lucid? Tanya telekinetically slapped herself. This was Miss Milla! She wouldn't do anything untoward, that's ludicrous. The worst thing that could happen was her waking up in a stroller or something, and was that actually a possibility? As much as Miss MIlla seemed to enjoy Tanya's increased dependence on her during the camp, it seemed far-fetched. Why was her mind continually drawing itself to that as some horrible fate that awaits her? Could she just not function without anticipating some kind of betrayal from everyone?

Still, she checked herself over. She was out of the straightjacket, having been dressed in the sunflower-themed overalls that Tanya distinctly didn't pack. Given that she was in Agent Cruller's head, and how that ended the last two times, Tanya didn't sweat the details.

Stretching her arms for the first time in over a day, Tanya hummed in contentment. "I'm feeling good, Miss Milla."

"Well, Mary's parents seemed to have vanished somewhere." Miss Milla revealed. What? "So given that you seem to be getting along so well, despite the… circumstances," and wasn't that word carrying a lot of weight, "-I was thinking that I could just foster her for a while, see how things go."

"It's fine." Tanya said easily. "I guessed that would be how this would turn out." Although she will admit she didn't see 'her parents ditching their presumably productive lives' coming as a way for that to happen. Although it was possible they just died in an accident… Where did they go on vacation?

"Okay." Miss Milla said, accepting Tanya's words at face value. Or at least projecting the appearance of such. "I'm a little worried for you two's safety, but if you think it's safe enough, I'll agree."

Tanya, at this point, really wanted to point out that Mary could be possessed by Being X and murder her in misguided zealotry… but honestly, she just didn't see that happening. It wasn't Being X's style to do that. He seems to be extending the agreement rather than allowing a tie to be called, so she'd have plenty of warning before Mary became murderous.

Even if that thought caused her heart to start beating faster as fear creeped into her thoughts. What if he was truly distant, and once he did get contact, put his everything into killing her just so he could claim her soul for a third round? Would allowing Mary to stay near be her doom? Or worse, would letting Mary out of her sight be the true mistake?

After four more increasingly implausible iterations, Tanya telekinetically slapped herself again. "Tanya?" Miss Milla asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Tanya said reflexively. Too many unknowns to commit to an option based on Being X's plans. The best option is the one that draws on her understanding of the enemy. She could be wrong, but it's more likely that she will be proven correct. Overestimating Being X could be a worse mistake than underestimating him, after all. "Just… some attacks of irrationality."

"Tanya, I am this close to calling Sasha and going into your mind again." Miss Milla said flatly with a more forceful than necessary brush to emphasize her point. "What. Is. Wrong."

Each word sent spikes of fear into Tanya's heart. She was running out of patience! DEFCON 2! Deflect, deflect! "Ah, that won't be necessary. They're just… worries." Tanya said simply. "First you think about something plausible but bad, then something worse, then it goes on and on until it just becomes… silly."

Miss Milla silently judged her explanation as she started to tie Tanya's hair into a simple braid. "Next time, just pinch yourself. It's safer." She eventually said, asserting her authority but leaving the matter to rest, for now.

As Tanya submitted to Miss Mila's aesthetic whims, in the back of her head, some part of her was making contingency plans for an escape. Would they be necessary? Probably… not. But it would be better to have them and not need them, than to need them but not have them.

After Milla finished with Tanya's hair, she gave her a big hug, the warm and fuzzy feelings that came with the gesture finally becoming less… overwhelming. "Once Sasha gets back with the jet, we'll leave. He had to wait for it to become available, so he'll be back tomorrow, around midday." Eventually, she released Tanya. "So what would you like to do before bed? Mary's gone exploring, you could join her. Or, we could sit in, just you and me, and talk about… recent events. How we feel about them."

Tanya flushed as her brain immediately went in unproductive directions. Of course she meant the past life thing, not that other thing! She shifted awkwardly, before taking a deep breath. "I did have one last task I needed to do… but it can wait for the morning."

After an awkward silence, Miss MIlla started the conversation. "So let's start with… education. How far were you in that homeschooling program? I know they arranged for all the work books through high school to be delivered to you to work at your own pace back in August." The homeschooling program's administrator, Mrs. Stein, had spent over a year forcing Tanya to take a slower pace before giving up and getting the accelerated program approved.

Well, Tanya had been keeping her progress deliberately hidden specifically so that she wouldn't interfere, so…. "I spend a lot of time confirming that what knowledge I do possess is still valid. The history section is mostly the same, but there are differences. Math is math, and psionics is still new enough that it isn't really touched on in the science curriculum. I believe I could finish tenth grade in a few more days, I'm almost finished." The program had an awful lot of boring book work to make sure that the student understood the material, which was understandable, so given that she had started at sixth grade at the start of the school year, Tanya thought that was plenty fast enough for anyone. "Well, if you ignore the fact that 'Psychic powers training' is not normally valid for physical education nor extracurricular requirements, and that it's physically impossible to get enough logged hours for all of those grades in that time frame." As Tanya understood things, the American method for this kind of thing was to be, on paper, inflexible, but enough of a reason could get any rule bent or broken.

Miss MIlla hummed at the explanation. "I would have liked to know when you changed years at least, Tanya." Tanya shifted uncomfortably under her disappointed stare. "But I'll see if we can go straight to testing out. What were you considering for your academic degree?"

Instantly, Tanya replied: "I was going to get a Masters in Psionics." Then, she added: "I'll try and get some engineering credentials on top of that so I can start on my plan for commercialized psychic technology. Perhaps some art or writing classes for the game development part." To be honest, Tanya wasn't entirely confident she could get more than maybe one year of college credits just by testing out. Two at best. War college wasn't terribly applicable, and she didn't exactly get the most academically rigorous class schedule back at Todai. She spent most of her college years wargaming. She called it networking, but the drinking and partying did more for that than the wargaming did.

"You have it all planned out, huh?" Miss Milla mused. "Well, I knew you were a smart one from the start, it's not so surprising that you'd skip some grades. Would you be attending classes in person?" She seemed a little sad, at the question.

Tanya winced. "There are several reasons why that approach would be ideal…" Miss Milla's emotional state dipped a bit more. "But staying at the Motherlobe would give me access to Agent Mentalis, and more importantly, his tools and supplies. While the networking opportunities provided by attending MIT would be substantial… being able to perform test builds and experiment years earlier than otherwise would be an invaluable advantage for my plans." MIT had the best psionic technology program in the country, and it was even theoretically commutable from the Motherlobe, so it was the best choice.

Perking back up, Miss Milla hummed in agreement. "I'm sure Agents Boole and O'Peia can help you get the necessary tests. Education should be challenging, not busy work to get your credentials."

That was something Tanya could agree with. "Credentials are important, but it would be nice to skip the redundant classes."

"I don't think we'll be able to be as flexible when it comes to you being considered an adult legally, though." Miss Milla said. "The Psychonauts are influential, but fudging something like that would be very difficult."

Tanya interrupted Miss Milla's explanation with a hug. "I'm in no hurry to grow up." Tanya explained reassuringly. "I'm no less your daughter than I was last week." Tanya took a moment to gather her thoughts, unused to comforting. She should… use an emotional appeal. Logic has no place here, even if there are many benefits to remaining a minor. "You're the one person I can trust completely to never hurt me, no matter what. Even in my worst nightmares." It was a bit of an exaggeration, but- shut it!

Miss Milla started tearing up and hugged her back. "Thank you, Tanya. I love you."

She wasn't sure when she started crying too, but Tanya sniffled as she tightened the embrace. "I love you, too…" Tanya choked as the word caught in her throat. She should do it. She should start calling her- "Mom."

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"It's over here." Mary said as she leapt into the cavern that their fight had inadvertently revealed. "It's massive! It's got to be worth a fortune!"

"Psitanium isn't actually that expensive." Tanya pointed out. "Low demand, you see. I'm sure that will change in ten to twenty years, but for now? No."

"You ruin everything!" Mary whined. "Let me imagine being rich!"

"You know, the Psychonauts already own this land, mining rights included." Tanya pointed out. "Furthermore, they're already the number one consumer of Psitanium. Unless you'd like to commit treason and sell some to the Communists, you couldn't sell it anyway." Good odds the monsters harvest the stuff by sticking the brains of dissidents in a machine or something. Agent Mentalis has complained about the Soviets stealing his inventions…

Mary stuck out her tongue at Tanya's logic. "Hmph. It's right here." She said, pointing at the center of the cavern.

The cavern was spacious, with a ring of dirt surrounding a small hill within the hill. When Tanya used pyrokinesis to create a light to inspect the center, she noticed the purple tinge of psitanium. Tanya touched the stone, and used a little trick that Agent Mentalis showed her before getting her to do his grunt work of cleaning the psitanium of detritus.

The psitanium glowed ominously, trembling with its innate power. All of the stone that clung to the powerful material broke off within seconds, leaving the gargantuan chunk of psitanium fully visible. "What." Tanya said, unable to come up with anything more eloquent as she witnessed what must be over fifty tons of psychically reactive minerals.

"It's cool, right?" Mary said, eyes sparkling. "It's so big…"

"This… should do nicely." Tanya said. "This might take a while, so if you could run interference in the event Agent Nein shows up, it would be appreciated. I need to pull Agent Cruller together."

Now, to use her now amplified psychic powers to literally join a madman's three personalities back into something resembling a cohesive whole. Just one more unprecedented accomplishment to burnish the Argent's service jacket. What could go wrong?

She already knew the answer to that: Everything. Once more, into the breach.

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Tanya wasn't entirely clear on how to enter the collective subconscious, but after experiencing it once, she just copied what Miss Milla did while focusing on her objective and, after entering her own mind, flew towards the cracked sky on the exterior of her mental realm, slipping between the cracks to the familiar field of stars.

While she wasn't entirely clear on the effects of psitanium before… with this much of it, the benefits were quite apparent. She could feel the difference in her shield's resilience, her flight's acceleration was vastly amplified, and she could discern the dimensions of her mind's totality at a glance. Once within the Collective Unconscious, she could still feel the empowering emanations, as if a constant trickle of figments were sustaining her astral form.

You could do a lot from here, if you built a base to take advantage of this cavern's properties.

As a test, she called forth an entrance to Mary's mind. The door reminded Tanya of the entrance to a church, massive and ornate. The instant she decided to ignore the door and move on to her actual objective, it vanished.

The door to Agent Cruller's mind was a tableau of shattered wood, each with their own window. Only the three largest windows had any light within them, the others dim and inaccessible.

How to do this? Tanya opened all three doors, and focused on the Heptadome within all three. After a moment of nothing happening, she gave up on that tactic. Next idea… archetypes? She never used that power before, but it is designed for multitasking… How does it work, though?

According to Mindswarm, Cassie O'Peia's award winning book on the subject, Archetypes were essentially tatemae, or rather, that power was an everyday application of the concept, the archetype of 'The Citizen' as the most common implementation of it. So… Tanya pretended for a moment that she was on the streets of Japan, just another cog in the grand machine of society. Then, she imagined taking that mask off, and setting it aside to her left.

The being that manifested where she willed it was quite unusual, but it did function. It resembled a soft doll in a kimono, oversized but with stubby feet and no fingers. Its hair was styled in a bun, straight and neat in a way that her hair never was, albeit still blonde. Instead of a face, it was an expanse of cloth, depicting a henohenomoheji as features. Given the specific archetype involved… fair enough.

"I'm going to say that this is good for a first attempt." Tanya declared with zero evidence to support her assertion. Ideally, she'd be able to maintain three of these to insert inside the three minds without needing to enter one with her true self, but she may need to settle for two. "Now, you can't manifest multiples of the same archetype, so which one should I try next?"

"Nothing embarrassing." Suggested her Citizen archetype. "We may not be dressed respectably, but it would behoove us to not sublimate any improper desires." At Tanya's gimlet stare, the doll bowed in apology. "Sorry."

"Good." Tanya said. Mind Swarm did warn that getting into arguments with yourself was a common hazard of splitting off archetypes psychically, but so quickly? "That experience was not desirable." Tanya insisted. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying physical affection from family in private, that doesn't mean that those conditions are wanted." Tanya wished that mental projections couldn't blush, but alas, they could. She looked down at her outfit.

"We're in agreement, then." The Citizen archetype said primly. "You should change outfits if you mean it, though." Tanya glanced down at the childish outfit that Mom put her in while she was inside Agent Cruller's mind. Wait… she knows about her true age now. Was this supposed to be a subtle punishment for astrally projecting again?

…Possibly. There was a practical side to the matter, so maybe not. But it wasn't important. Tanya changed her mental projection's outfit to her athletic wear. Perfect. Now, what archetype to manifest next? Tanya pictured being at the Motherlobe. When among the psychonauts, she was polite, curious, eager to hear whatever the adults in the area had to say. Fascination with the wonders of psychic powers, and completely and utterly unsuspicious. With that image firmly in mind, Tanya removed another mask and set it to her right.

The Student manifested as another soft doll, wearing that anime school uniform that Tanya did not remember, even after her improved recollection of her first life. The military theming with the firm shoulderpads and chevrons made her guess that it was a mecha anime, though. She did like those. Its face was another henohenomoheji, so that was probably going to be a common theme until she developed her ability with archetypes further, or perhaps an artifact of her specific mnemonic.

"I wonder how many we could do?" The Student said immediately. "Does the psitanium impact the quantity? Does it impact our lucidity?"

"All good questions." Tanya agreed. They'll need to practice this outside of the camp, later. The Citizen snorted in disapproval. Right, back on task. "Who next?"

"As long as it can follow instructions, anything will do." The Citizen advised. The Student nodded in agreement."

Well, when it comes to following orders… Tanya took a moment to remember the little things about military training. How to stand, how to salute, how to properly address one's superiors. She removed the third and last mask and manifested the Soldier in front of her.

As expected, the newest archetype was wearing her officer's dress from the Empire, marked as her final rank, Colonel. It also had a henohenomoheji instead of a face. "Sir!" It said strongly, saluting Tanya as their superior officer.

"You all know your mission. Execute." Tanya said simply, and each one entered one of the fragments of Agent Cruller's mind. The Citizen went into the Cook's mind, the Student into the Park Ranger's, and the Soldier into the Janitor's.

After about a minute, Tanya felt the third mental ping that indicated mission success. After a few more minutes of attempting to somehow bridge a link between the three minds, Tanya huffed in frustration. "What am I missing? Each Heptadome had three different parts of the same machine. If I could only use that, Agent Cruller's minds could connect with each other and, presumably, fuse back together." Or at least get started on a long process of doing so.

What hasn't she tried? She's attempted to pull the machine out here, she's attempted to use archetypes as a bridge… Half of psychic discoveries were just making stuff up and imagining it hard enough to make it happen… Idea!

Tanya seized parts of the shattered door/windows that led to Agent Cruller's mind. Using those shards as seed crystals, she poured out mental energy into constructing a fourth copy of the Heptadome around the windows. Once the fourth copy was sealed from outside influences, the windows into his mind gently wafted open, as whatever psychic pressure differential that kept them shut was removed. This chunk of the Collective Subconcious was now an extension of Agent Cruller's mind.

"Woozy…" Tanya said to herself as she panted from the exertion of creating that much psychic matter from nothing. Without the psitanium chunk she was sitting on in the real world, there was no way she could have accomplished that.

After she felt recovered enough to continue, which took several minutes, Tanya shouted to the open windows: "On my mark!" Tanya paused to allow her archetypes to ready themselves. "One, two, mark!"

All three of Tanya's archetypes slammed into Tanya's mind, re-integrating their experiences with her own. Along with them, the three chunks of the mysterious psychic machine manifested around her, the drills and ominous antennae now pointed directly at her head.

Immediately, Tanya jolted out of the danger zone. Now seeing the full machine, she tried to discern some kind of purpose to it. Activating it would be simple enough, it only had the one telekinesis-friendly valve-like structure to operate it. As this was assuredly psychic technology, any further direction must require a trained psychic operator.

There weren't any restraints or comfort features in the center, so Tanya couldn't use that to figure out whether it was meant for use on patients… or prisoners. Perhaps it had a similar function with projected telekinesis or levitation? Larger machines were more frequently multi-purpose… but it's also presumably a very old piece of psychic technology, so perhaps a precursor to the psychoportal?

Tanya searched the machine for any inputs that could accept the astral projection, but only found something vaguely vent-like on the top structure. Given the psitanium within the vents… it might be some kind of input for mental energy.

The drills, though. Even if they were far too dull to accomplish any kind of displacement on anything sturdier than sand, they still seemed vaguely menacing.

Suddenly, Tanya noticed something strange: The doors were open. When she created the simulacrum of the Heptadome, she had to block off the doors, but now, they led somewhere that was definitely not the Collective Subconscious.

Tanya walked out of the Heptadome and saw… Camp Whispering Rock. Unlike the Park Ranger's version, the buildings were all there, exactly as they should be. The Heptadome appeared to have replaced the hill that contained the psitanium, but otherwise… everything looked normal.

New figments populated the camp, most prominently the other members of the Psychic Seven. Tanya traveled the camp, wondering at the implications of Agent Cruller reforming his mind with this environment. Shouldn't there be another, more familiar environment? Like the place where the Heptadome was in reality? Where was that, anyway?

There were a few figments that seemed strange, as well. Most notably, a small child. He appeared in three, one in a neutral stance, another that was utterly terrified, and one where he was embracing Lucrecia. Did she have a child? Odd.

Eventually, when Tanya walked to Agent Cruller's trailer, she found a memory vault, cowering underneath. Quickly getting it to spill its guts, Tanya reviewed the slideshow.

The slideshow was labeled "Ford's Fractured Felony." The first slide had Agent Cruller, exhausted, detaining an unconscious Maligula with what looked like incredibly secure restraints. Presumably, they could contain her psychic powers. The idea that such restraints exist… She didn't know they had something like that. Could she break free of restraints that could contain Maligula? She doubted it.

The second slide showed Ford placing the restrained Maligula within the mysterious machine. He activated it, doing… something to the woman's mind with it as she raged within her restraints like a feral beast. The next slide illuminated his actions, as an imposing mental figure was getting entombed behind a dam's worth of emotional baggage, secured by a locket containing two pictures, although she could only guess that one of them was Lucretia. The resolution of the slide wasn't great.

The fourth slide explained the child figment from earlier, which on further inspection was more of a young teenager, maybe thirteen or fourteen, as it showed Agent Cruller leading the boy by the hand away from some nuns, presumably at an orphanage. The fifth showed that boy within the machine, activated much more gently than when it was attempting to… contain Maligula? Brainwash her? She lacked the necessary context to determine exactly what was being done to her. If the 'Maligula' persona was something that could be considered separate, like the Type 95's influence… Hrm.

The sixth and seventh slides were just Agent Cruller leaving the boy with a now peaceful Lucrecia, with a circus in the background. Ah, so the circus was literal. It was somewhat weird to think that someone like the Deluge of Grulovia started off as a carny.

The last slide was the most illuminating. It showed Agent Cruller turning the mysterious machine on himself, with the slide itself showing cracks and fissures, corrupting the image.

"So… the one who shattered the founder of the Psychonauts… was Ford Cruller." Tanya said to herself. It didn't seem real, but it explained all of the little inconsistencies.

"And now you know too much." Growled an aged voice.

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Tanya awoke, startled. Where is she? What's happening? Her memory returned the last few minutes, slowly and sluggishly. Being X! He found her! No, nonononono. She has to escape, she needs to stay away from the psychonauts. Get away from Mary. Without Mary, he can't find her.

"Tanya?" Mary asked. "What's wrong? Did you fix Mr. Cruller?"

Tanya screamed, immediately re-asserting her shamefully lapsed personal barrier at full strength. Mary was here! The Bloody Valkyrie! She doesn't have the type 95! She's exhausted! She's going to die! Sending the best explosive spell she can manage without an orb, Being X's puppet seemed caught off guard, flying backwards and crumpling among the rocks.

Fantastic! She didn't expect it to be so successful, but she wasn't going to waste time quibbling with reality. Mary may be incredibly difficult to kill, but that just means Tanya's only bought herself a few seconds. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

It's all she needs. Her head was still a little fuzzy on what happened today, but she did remember making escape plans. Time to execute. She burst through the door to the girl's cabin, picking up her packed luggage along with some sheets. She went to the kitchen, where Agent Cruller's alternate personality was oddly absent. After requisitioning some supplies, including a dream fluff that she immediately ate to replenish her strength, she flew off, going straight south.

After traveling about ten miles, she ducked into the trees, took a hard right, and went west, deeper into the country. It was a basic misdirection, but she needed to stay away from the psychonauts. Away from Being X's eyes. Away from psychic probes, to rip the last of her secrets from her mind. She needed to stay away from the Psychonauts.

Away… from Mom. Tanya sighed. Running away was never easy, but she was in danger. Being X wouldn't be interested in harming her if Tanya wasn't there to suffer for it. Not without a chance to beg him for mercy. Given that his usual warmongering tactics could lead to a nuclear holocaust in this world, she needs to vanish. To stay away from the psychonauts. While he might do it anyway, that chance goes up if she's even peripherally involved in international relations. He doesn't like the commies any more than she does, so if she holds out until the Soviet Union collapses, then she could maybe come back. After killing Mary. But Mary's not in a position to be vulnerable. Tanya will have to wait until Mary comes after her. She will, eventually. She'll just need to figure out how to hide until she can be counter-ambushed. Just… stay away from the Psychonauts.

She's got a long day of flying ahead of her.
 
Good thing Ford mind is still fractured or the guilt would crush him.

Send a girl away from her mother and make it so she kills her adoptive sister?

Yeah no wonder the Motherlobe complete ignores his requests of help in the first game.
 
Here's hoping that Mary survived that initial lashing out. Their interactions have been interesting so far. I can already see the other psychonauts coming to the wrong conclusions based on the idea that Tanya lashed out in fear and surprise, and then ran away when she thought she'd killed her new foster sister. The misunderstanding field remains strong with Tanya.
 
Man, and it started with such a heart warming scene.

Still kinda confused on why Tanya, and so the narrative, is so focused on fixing Ford though. With such an overriding urgency as well. Such that the story, of character growth, has to fit itself in to and in between these back to back Ford scenes.
 
On the surface, it's because Tanya doesn't like leaving shit undone. More importantly, it's because the Director wanted this to happen. Why? That will be made clear later.

Edit: also, the Tanya boss fights take up way more space than the Ford stuff.
 
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Chapter 22
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"So convenient, that you've hidden in a place where the problems of faith can be addressed… in a much easier manner." Being X's booming voice echoed, stroking his malevolent mustache. "All of that pesky defiance, that demonic desire to surpass God… It can just be removed."

Tanya screamed once more as she leapt out of her… bed? No. She remembers now. She found a rest stop on the highway and made use of the facilities, sleeping in the handicapped stall after fashioning a hammock to remain out of sight. It was just a dream. Being X hasn't found her again. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

Still, she had enough packed food for another day or two before she'd need to interact with civilization again, more if she supplemented things with grown fruit and nuts via herbaphony. She took off in a random direction, flying low enough to be difficult to discern.

Once more, she sensed Mom trying to enter her mind via the Collective Subconscious. Just like before, she kept her mental shields up, rebuffing the attempt. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts. It was quite fortunate that she had enough practice keeping them up even when asleep. That could let Being X find her.

But… she couldn't just become a hermit, could she? She'll need to figure out a new identity. Something that would allow her to escape notice. Somewhere… unregulated. A tricky proposition. She did manage to get herself thoroughly lost, which was good… perhaps some small farm that could use some strong hands? America has a lot of farms, right? Thinking back over the last few days… yeah. They do. But she needed a small farm. Not one of those industrial setups. That would be inviting scrutiny. But as long as she stays away from the Psychonauts, it should work.

But did she really want to hide out in the boonies? It did seem like her only option but…

…Wait, what's that in the distance? It's a small town. With circus tents erected.

Now there's an idea…

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As it turned out, the Psychonauts worked quickly when they felt a need to. Using invisibility, Tanya checked the post office and police station for any kind of missing person notices, and indeed, her face was prominently displayed.

This is an obstacle that requires some minor moral compromise. Two quick thefts later, Tanya was now sporting black hair, and with the stolen cash, she purchased a haircut from the local barber. She wore a mask and faked a stuffed up nose when communicating with them, so while she got a strange look or two, she rather liked her new short hair. Come to think of it, why did she keep it so long when she was in the military? It only served to make her seem more feminine, which was not something she wanted to encourage. She was supposed to keep it shoulder length, but it kept growing and she just… kept tying it up without cutting it.

…She did vaguely recall allowing the barbers to use their professional discretion… That must be it. She just never put any thought into the subject. Also, Visha took over her hair care at some point, and she definitely liked it better when Tanya had long hair she could play with. It was one of the few expressions of femininity Visha was allowed in the army, so Tanya indulged her at times.

Mom liked playing with her hair too, but that can no longer be allowed. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts. Now that her most obvious physical features have been handled, all she really needed to do was pretend she was back in the army and control her expression as much as she was there. The fact that Mom always insisted that she smile before any pictures were taken was the weakness of the photos: if she wasn't smiling, it would be a lot harder to connect her to the pictures. That's good, because she must stay away from the Psychonauts.

With these precautions, Tanya entered the circus, by the name of 'Circ de Mirare', obviously capitalizing on a foreign language to turn an innocuous name into something exotic. She still had enough money for the fare, so she just bought a ticket.

According to the little playbill, the circus was actually a fusion of several smaller circuses that all fled Grulovia during and after the war. The Aquatos, the Pyras, the Terrandi, and the Auranas. Over time, they focused more on their specialties as acrobats, game booth runners, beast tamers, and clowns, respectively. So the language was Grulovian, huh? She never thought she'd regret not learning more Dacian before, but here she is.

Tanya found herself smiling at the description. Truly, a shining example of capitalism. Instead of four circuses that had to spread half of their effort on sub-par attractions in order to draw in wide enough audiences, they banded together and had one large circus with something for everyone to enjoy. It would also be the perfect place to stay away from the Psychonauts.

After several hours of observing the attractions, including seeing each show twice, Tanya came to the conclusion that the best of the four families to approach for work would be the Aquatos. Of the groups, they were the most obviously psychic of the bunch. It was subtle, but the smaller children, Frazie and Razputin, were capable of supporting the weight of their father during routines, and that was not the kind of strength that could be accomplished without telekinetic assistance.

Well, she was reasonably certain that there was at least one telepath among the Terrandi, but she couldn't make use of zoolingualism while maintaining the shields that kept Mom from astrally projecting into her mind. Taking them down for small feats of herbaphony or telepathy was doable, but risky.

So she waited until the schedule for the Aquatodome (a silly name for a tent, but it is what it is) had a gap towards the middle of the day, presumably when they took a break and had lunch, and then sought them out.

The Aquatos numbered six; the father and three children that performed in the show, an old woman who is presumably a grandmother, and a heavily pregnant woman who was presumably the children's mother. They ate a stew cooked in a cauldron by the grandmother, having an animated conversation about a possible routine.

Before she could introduce herself, the smallest child, Razputin (about Lily's age if she had to guess, possibly a year older given how nimble he was.) noticed her. "No autographs when we're eating!" He announced with pride. Tanya chuckled at his gumption.

"Oh?" Said the father, Augustus. "I remember you. You were the one who came to the show twice, but didn't seem to enjoy it."

Oh? It appears she's left a bad impression. "I apologize if I've caused offense." Tanya said. "Your acrobatic routine was quite impressive, I assure you. In particular, I'm surprised that your young children are capable of lifting that much weight."

He beamed with pride at the flattery. "Well, Raz and Frazie take after me. We're all stronger than we look." Ah, so he's a psychic too.

"Well, now that that's been smoothed over, introductions: My name is Elya Roth, and I wish to join the circus." Using Visha's friend's name should be relatively safe. She's never uttered it once in this life, after all, and Mary has no reason to know it.

"That does explain the luggage you've got there." Augustus said with a smile. She had stashed it in the woods while enjoying the circus, but had retrieved it before this.

Augustus' wife seemed similarly pleased. "Ah, another runaway. Let's see if you last longer than the last one."

Tanya nodded. "I'm prepared for anything you have." Physical labor, unscrupulous business practices, and public humiliation are all part and parcel of running with a circus. All that matters is that she's safe and hidden from the Psychonauts, and by extension, Being X. She must stay away from the Psychonauts.

The woman seemed amused at Tanya's confidence. Well, she knew that she'd have to prove herself. "Well, come get a bowl of stew. There's plenty for everyone."

Tanya sat, and Augustus gave her his bowl after rapidly finishing his serving. The stew was about on par with the best food on the front, made from actual ingredients rather than stored rations. She ate it easily, which seemed to impress the adults. As she expected, it was a test. The first of many, she's sure.

Dion, the older boy (a little younger than her, she thinks), spoke up next. "So… you think you can fly high with the Aquatos?" He spoke in a way that he probably thought made him sound tough.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather stay out of the spotlight." Tanya said. "I can shovel latrines, erect tents, even carry water for you. I'm also-"

The grandmother, who was lightly dozing, shot up. "Stay away from the water!" She exclaimed. What?

"Mother…" Augustus said, embarrassed at the outburst.

Tanya blanched. "Ah… right. As I was saying, I'm quite adept at financial matters, if you wish for assistance with bookkeeping." She will need to look up applicable tax law, though… libraries should contain such things.

"You're quite prepared, aren't you?" Augustus said approvingly. "You can stay with us. We'll figure out your regular duties tomorrow. For now? Just follow around the children and help them with whatever their jobs are. Relax during the shows."

"Understood." Tanya said seriously.

----------------

Joining the circus, as a plan, was going disturbingly well. As expected, there was a lot of manual labor that needed doing, and the adults weren't shy about complimenting her work ethic. The four families only constituted about half of the carnies, the rest working for the circus as a whole as an unaffiliated faction that accepted the collective leadership of the original organizers and their designated heirs. She now counted herself among their number, pitching in her telekinetically enhanced strength to help ensure the smooth operation of the circus.

She still hovered mostly around the Aquatos, as while revealing herself as a psychic would likely make it a lot easier for any investigators to track her, if she hid among the circus folk, she can take advantage without standing out.

It was… nice, to be able to relax in obscurity. It was unfortunate, to have to abandon all of her plans, but it would all be for naught if it means Being X could find her again. All she needs to do is stay away from the Psychonauts.

"Do you miss your family?" Asked Razputin, interrupting Tanya's thoughts.

"What?" Tanya asked, looking at the small child. He reminded her of Lili, a bit. Same age, but more… deliberate. Still impulsive, but not as much as Lili.

"You felt sad. And scared." He explained. Tanya checked her shield. It was still up, so he must not mean literally. "Don't tell my Dad, but… I'm psychic."

Oh? It appears that avoiding stating such a thing was prudent. She must find out more. "Why shouldn't your father know? I'm sure there are plenty of useful tricks a psychic could use to enhance the circus experience."

He brought out a comic book, True Psychic Tales number three, by the looks of it. "Dad… doesn't like psychics. There was a family of them, the Galochios, " He sounded out the word carefully, more comfortable with English than Grulovian. "-they cursed our family to die in water." He was actually pretty cogent, for a three year old. Much like Lili, which was explained by both being psychic. Their brains were more developed than their age indicated. "It's why Nona's always warning us to stay away." That did explain the old woman's eccentricities. She'll have to get the full story about that later. How would that even work? Hypnosis to sabotage their ability to swim? But how would you propagate it throughout generations? It doesn't make sense. "But the Psychonauts are good psychics!" Tanya flinched. They really weren't as good as they pretended to be. She had to stay away from the Psychonauts. "They're not all phony fortune-tellers. The Psychonauts find the bad psychics, and stop them." He clenched his fist. "I want to be one." He said, with far more resolve than a three year old should be capable of.

Tanya nodded along to his simplistic explanation. In lieu of confessing, she telekinetically took the comic from the boy's hands and opened it, allowing the blue psychic hand to hold it up. "This one… introduced Agent Ho-" She stopped and corrected herself. "Agent Forsythe." True Psychic tales was her idea, if scuttlebutt was accurate. About five years ago, they headhunted enough comic book artists, forming their own publishing house, to dramatize the history of the Psychonauts, for monetization more than anything else. Conveniently, it also laid the groundwork for the organization to persist after the Soviet Union falls.

"Wow!" Razputin said with wonder. "You're a psychic too?"

Tanya returned the comic book. "I am." She confirmed. "Thank you for warning me to keep it a secret."

Razputin mimed zipping his lips. "I won't tell anyone."

"Good." Tanya said. "Now. Is dinner ready?"

"In a bit." Razputin confirmed. "Mom sent me to find you." He looked around. "Why are you on top of the world's smallest horse trailer?"

Tanya shrugged. "My last task for the day was cleaning it out." She replied. It really was that simple. "As for what I was doing… I was planning." How to identify the Psychonauts sniffing around before they notice her, plans on how to surprise Mary if Being X sends her on the hunt. She really should have killed Mary when she had the chance. Then again, if she didn't have that cheat from Being X that lets her recover from wounds… she might have been killed by that half-effort explosive formula. She didn't appear to block it at all, thinking back…

Can Mom track her from her attempts to access her mind? Could she do so with some technology that Otto Mentalis cooks up for the purpose? It is unclear. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

"Hello?" Razputin said, interrupting her planning again.

"Oh? Sorry." Tanya apologized reflexively.

"Sumi-what now?" Razputin asked. She's been reflexively speaking Japanese a lot more often lately… she never had this much trouble with the habit in her second life.

"Ah, I apologized." Tanya explained. "In another language. Forget about it."

"Don't worry, Nona does that too, sometimes." Razputin said consolingly. "She's from Grulovia."

Tanya accepted the information. She already knew it, but Razputin was three. "Let's go eat, then." She picked the small boy up and stepped off the horse trailer, neutralizing her weight with levitation and allowing Raz's smaller weight to pull her down. He giggled as she set him down, noticing the subtle use of psychic powers.

The Aquatos had gotten another bowl for her, and the daily stew was somewhat better than yesterday. It had fresh venison. One of the Terrandi had hunted down a deer and shared it around, apparently.

"So how did you enjoy your first full day of work, Elya?" Augustus asked her during the meal. "We'll be leaving town soon, so if you're having second thoughts…" He trailed off. "We can help you back home."

Tanya flinched. Did he see the notice? Did he recognize her face? Was she about to come back into Being X's sights? She needed to stay away from the Psychonauts!

"Woah, calm down." Augustus said, frowning. "Most kids who join the circus change their minds pretty quick, is all."

Tanya huffed. She wasn't afraid of a little hard work. Even if it was a rather substantial step down in future prospects. But alas, she needed to stay away from the Psychonauts. It couldn't be helped. "Changing the subject," Tanya said, glaring at Augustus for questioning her resolve. "Razputin mentioned something about a curse. Something about water? How does that work?"

Nona jolted alert. "Stay away from the water!" She insisted. Augustus put his hand on his face, a long-suffering expression on his face.

"Well, the Galochios were a family of fortune-tellers." Began Donatella, the mother.

"Nono, I'll tell the story." Augustus said, before shifting his entire demeanor into a proper storyteller's persona. "Long ago, when I was just a boy growing up in Grulovia, the Galochios were rivals to our circus. They were jealous of our water shows, which always drew a crowd. Honest entertainment, not fortune-telling scams."

He stomped and raged, or pretended to, anyway. Even if they had doubtlessly heard this story told before, all three of the Aquato children were enraptured with their father's tale. "One day, the Galochios had had enough. They used their psychic powers to cast a curse on our family line, to die in water." He chuckled, all smiles and amused derision. "We laughed them off, of course. The Aquatos? Afraid of mere water? Nonsense."

His demeanor flipped back to a glower, his eyes haunted. "But within the month, the dam had burst, and the Deluge of Grulovia killed the entire family, save for me." He closed his eyes, wiping tears of grief. Even Nona, who supposedly just died in the story, took on a somber tone. "Or so I thought!" He said, flipping his demeanor back to triumph. "After a week at a church orphanage, someone had brought my mother, " He gestured to Nona. "to the orphanage, and we fled the country, and further wrath from the Galochios, immediately."

He started to pace, irritated. "Now, you may say: This is just a coincidence. The Galochios couldn't have foresaw that tragedy. It is nonsense." He nodded. "It's true, if they had foresaw the Deluge, they would have survived it themselves, and they did not." He gripped his hand like a puppet, fingers writhing, as though grasping at nothing. "But their curse lives on, for as long as the Aquato line continues. The Hand of Galochio will continue to harass and draw us to our watery demise." To emphasize his point, he mimed his hand pulling the rest of his body to grasp at the faces of his children. They giggled at his dramatics. "So children, remember to do as Nona says, and-" He gestured to his mother.

"Stay away from the water!" She said simultaneously with the children, finishing the tale.

Tanya had to admit, the man was an excellent showman. "So, is this Hand of Galochio… metaphorical?" She asked.

"It is very real." Augustus insisted. "If we get within two or three feet of a body of water, it reaches out and attempts to drag us inside, drowning us."

Well, you could do that with hydrokinesis, but from beyond the grave? How would that work? Maybe some kind of… psychic parasite? But how would it infect further generations? "I'll take your word on it." Tanya said. There was no point in pressing the subject. They would still help her. She had to stay away from the Psychonauts. "I was wondering why your circus lacked fortune-telling. It seemed traditional to include, after all. Even if it is mostly cold reading and telling people what they want to hear. It's hardly difficult." Most people who go into a circus are expecting to get scammed, as carnies are notorious shysters, but as long as the scam was entertaining enough, it was allowed.

Tanya felt Mom trying to contact her through the Collective Unconscious again. She had to stay away from the Psychonauts! She kept her shields up, rejecting the effort.

"What was that?" Razputin asked. What? Did he sense Mom's telepathic contact?

Augustus seemed confused as well. "I don't know, Razputin." He looked towards his wife. "Did you hear something? Donatella?"

"No." She said, "What are you talking about?" She poured herself a second bowl of stew, eating as if starving. She was eating for two…

"...It must be nothing." Augustus concluded. Razputin raised his hand to interject, but Augustus cut him off, uncharacteristically serious. "It was nothing, Razputin."

"...Alright." Raz said, staring at Tanya. His senses were terrifying. And he wants to join the Psychonauts… That could be troublesome. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

Frazie immediately started talking about Sugarcube, the pony with dwarfism, which led to the conversation away from sensitive topics.

----------------

Moving an entire circus was quite the endeavor. Despite the circus taking pains to look 'old-timey', having wooden wagons that the carnies lived in rather than modern trailers, they did possess a set of four large trucks, which allowed the circus to pack everything up, drive a few counties over, and unpack everything again over two days.

There was, however, something of an unanticipated outcome: The next location, a city by the name of Springfield, had a satellite office for the Psychonauts. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

Still, the office was fairly distant from the location that the circus set up in, so it was… probably fine. She just needs to stay away from the Psychonauts. Easy.

"Coffee…" Tanya said, moaning in pleasure as she sipped the shitty coffee. It was no VIsha coffee, but the taste of inferior coffee always brought to mind that perfection…

"There you go, dear." Donatella said, patting Tanya on the head. "I know nightmares aren't any fun, but there's nothing like coffee to get you started on a new day when you haven't been sleeping right."

Tanya flushed in embarrassment at her mentioning of the nightmares. They were still quite bad, but she wasn't able to find an isolated location last night to not disturb anyone else, so Donatella found out… and she promptly started doting on her as if she was her own daughter. It was nice… but it reminded her of what she had to give up because of Being X. But she needs to stay away from the Psychonauts, so it couldn't be helped. "Thank you for the coffee." She said, to be polite. She resisted the impulse to bow.

"Just be sure to eat, dear. You're too thin." Donatella said, pouring more porridge into Tanya's bowl. She then gently sat herself down, wincing. "Ooh, the baby kicked. Ow."

Tanya subtly shifted away, allowing for the Aquatos to gather and fuss over her swollen belly. She exchanged glances with Dion, who was similarly apathetic to the scene. He gestured to his mother, who was lapping up the metaphorical spotlight and playing up her infirmity, and twirled his finger over his ear. Tanya nodded in agreement.

She ate more porridge.

----------------

Tanya jumped up and down, a fake smile plastered on her face as she raised her hand and waved it excitedly.

"Ah, there's a good volunteer!" Augustus announced. Tanya bounded towards him, the curls of her red wig bouncing as she went. "Now, here you are, little girl." Augustus handed her a brace of knives, each with dull edges but sharp points. She pretended to cut herself on one of them, to sell the sharpness.

Turning back to the crowd, he gestured grandly as he announced why he just armed the preteen girl. "Now, this little girl will-ow!" He jumped up and down on one foot, as Tanya had stomped on the other one.

"I'm not a little girl!" She announced petulantly. All part of the act.

"My apologies, Miss!" Augustus said, begging forgiveness on his knees. The crowd laughed. "As I was saying, this elegant young lady will stand right…" He picked Tanya up and placed her two feet to the right. More misdirection, providing fodder for those who are here to try and identify the 'trick'. "Here, and throw knives at me. I will be juggling them, of course." He walked to a different position. "Throw away!" He announced.

They had practiced this before, of course. That was the whole point of using a plant. Tanya had taken more steps to avoid getting recognized, primarily makeup, the wig, and a breezy dress that she hated wearing. Tanya clumsily tossed knives at the man, deliberately getting some sufficiently off target that he had to kick the blade closer to him before snatching it with his hands.

After all nine knives were in the air, she was "ambushed" by Dion and Frazie, quickly shackled to a wooden wheel that was placed on a special stand that allowed it to rotate. Before it actually did so, Augustus threw one of the knives, pinning her skirt to the board. Right as he did so, Tanya noticed someone in the crowd. They seemed to be as interested in the proceedings as anyone else, but unlike those other people, they were wearing the jumpsuits and badges of Psychonauts agents. The fake scream of fear at the skirt-pinning became much more genuine, at that. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts!

She struggled from her bonds, and Augustus paused for a moment, glancing between her and the agents. But the show must go on, so he continued as if she had acted properly. "And now, I will throw these knives at our volunteer! But not to worry, my aim is as impeccable as my jugg-woah!" He faked a stumble, kicking one of the knives in Tanya's direction. It stumbled through the air, landing right to the left of Tanya's head. If she didn't end up slowly turning during her struggles, it would have hit her. "It's okay!" Augustus shouted. "Now… spin the wheel!"

"Hey, are you sure you're good for this?" Frazie whispered.

"Just hurry!" Tanya whispered back. "Get this done quick."

Dion, noticing that his sister wasn't helping him, allowed the quick exchange before using all of his strength to spin the wheel alone. Even if he wasn't a psychic, he still had a substantial amount of strength for his size. It was just all muscle.

Augustus then threw each knife with increasingly large amounts of panache, each one embedding themselves in the wooden wheel without touching her personal barrier. Admittedly, it would be less than ideal if they missed and ended up bouncing the knife off of the barrier, but Augustus was very confident in his knife throwing. During the rehearsal, she thought that she saw signs of telekinetic homing, but his skill was good enough that she couldn't say for sure.

The crowd loved it, at the edge of their seats as they, presumably, imagined ever more gory results from each knife toss. After the last one, Dion and Frazie stopped the wheel, showing that Tanya was completely fine, not a single knife having even cut her clothes. She had stopped while upside down, so they turned the wheel to correct that, removed the knife that kept her skirt from flipping, and undid the shackles, allowing Tanya to stumble woozily off the wheel. She played it up, but it was genuinely disorienting.

Augustus took a bow to the cheering crowd, announcing the end of the show and directing people to the exit, throwing in an advertisement for some of the other attractions that were well-timed to be enjoyed after this time slot.

Tanya talked a bit with Frazie and Dion, pointing at people and describing them in as unflattering a way as they could. This provided an excellent excuse for why the 'volunteer' was leaving after everyone else, as she faked an animated exchange, which included some genuine laughter at one of Dion's particularly inventive descriptions.

Unfortunately, the Psychonauts were lingering as well. She needed to stay away from the Psychonauts! She stayed in place, however, trusting in her disguise. If she really needed to run, she could fly. Abandoning the circus would be painful, as she's already gotten somewhat attached (she used to be so good at keeping an emotional distance…), but not nearly as much as leaving Mom behind.

She didn't recognize the agents, but only the man seemed determined to stay. The woman seemed utterly disinterested, even annoyed at their partner. Augustus glared at them as they approached him, presenting their badges. "Is there a problem, officers?" He asked.

"That girl was terrified." The angry agent said bluntly. "What kind of show are you running, here? Where are that girl's parents?"

Augustus relaxed a fraction. Clearly he had heard such complaints before. "Oh. Is that all?" He said, affecting a bored tone. "She was a plant, sir. An actor. She works for us."

"I told you." Said the other agent. "They don't take real volunteers for those stunts."

"Depends on the stunt." Augustus clarified. "But not for that one, no."

"The fear was real!" Insisted the agent. "All of you noticed something wrong, but you did it anyway!"

"I'm sure it was just a little stage fright." Dismissed Augustus. "I noticed her looking at the crowd."

"I think we should ask her." Insisted the agent.

"Well, you could…" Augustus said, still cool as a cucumber. "But she doesn't speak English, so…"

"Bullshit." Insisted the agent. His partner gripped his shoulder.

"Let it go, Gilbert." She requested.

"I know what I felt!" Insisted Agent Gilbert.

Frazie and Dion had abandoned all pretense of not eavesdropping on the conversation with the agents, and even Raz had snuck closer, listening in. "Hey, can you speak another language?" Frazie asked, whispering.

"Yes." Tanya said in Portuguese. What would be the best language to use? If they were looking for her, even if they didn't suspect anything, Japanese and German would be too easy, even if they theoretically knew all of the languages she could speak. It needs to be something she can fake a native accent for, but also fit her current combination of blue eyes and black hair. Francois seems the best bet, but she's better with Russy…

Augustus shouted in their direction: "Elya! Come over here!"

…Augustus might speak Russian. "What? Use your hands like the circus monkey you are!" She shot back in Visha's native tongue, shaking her hands to emphasize the point.

He gestured for her to come over. "No!" She shouted back. "I'm not getting near those cops!" There, imply a distrust of legal scrutiny. Outside of her mental defenses, as fully blocking their telepathy would be incredibly suspicious, she projected surface thoughts that backed up the implication that she wanted to avoid the police. The Psychonauts can't actually do whatever they want, even in countries that give them full enforcement authority like America. There have been multiple court cases that throw out psychic testimony that doesn't fulfill certain criteria. Not wanting to talk to cops wasn't even close to probable cause. Thus, she could be suspicious, but not 'powerful and unaccounted for psychic' suspicious. She needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

Augustus shrugs. "Well, there you go."

"I must insist on speaking with her." Agent Gilbert repeated. "She's potentially suspicious."

"Do you speak Russian?" Augustus asked.

"...No." He admitted. "But Agent Sullivan does." Ah, drat. Russian is a common language for Psychonauts agents to learn. What a foolish oversight. She must stay away from the Psychonauts!

Agent Sullivan sighed, before shouting at Tanya in Russian, with a thick American accent: "We just want to ask you questions!"

"I don't have to tell you the time, copper!" Tanya shouted back. "Webster v. NYPD!" she added, naming the specific Supreme Court case that established their powerlessness to pursue cases purely on psychic hunches. "Get a warrant!"

"Well, I tried." Agent Sullivan said in English, shrugging at her partner. He waved his arms angrily as he built up a head of steam. "Don't waste more time on the girl who can quote court cases to back her point, Gil." Agent Gilbert sighed, conceding the point and pouting.

"There are many possible reasons for why someone at our circus would be unwilling to speak to the police unless absolutely necessary." Augustus explained. "I don't claim to know Elya's reason, but many here have met some unsavory officers of the law before. I'm sure that this exchange has, at least, assured you that she works here?"

Agent Sullivan grabbed her partner's shoulder. "It has. The show was wonderful. Good day." Agent Gilbert looked like he was about to object, but she squeezed his shoulder, causing him to cry out, before dragging him away.

Tanya exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. That went well. It was just an incidental encounter with the psychic spies. They weren't looking for her here. That was good.

After all, she needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.
 
Well, the mental compulsion is apparently extremely blatant. I wouldn't be surprised if it's immediately noticeable upon entering Tanya's mind.
 
Sidestory 1: Tanya's early third life
It took a while for Tanya to fully understand what was going on. Embarrassingly long, if she was honest. The last thing she remembered was begging Being X for power. Not for mercy, mind you, but for the chance to destroy that monster in human skin. In hindsight, the fact that she destroyed herself as well was fitting.

She had died again. There was a faint snippet of memory, of seeing the accursed type 95 embedded in her chest, somehow intact, the smell of burning human flesh heralding a darkness so quiet that she could not even hear her heart beat. She couldn't be sure if that was how she actually died, or merely one more nightmare among many. It didn't matter, not really.

At first, she rejected the idea that she had died. Being X didn't show up to gloat, after all. But after several hours, she was picked up and fed a bottle, and she really couldn't deny it any longer after that.

Her first impressions of this new life were… positive. She wasn't in a nun-run orphanage this time, a clear step up. She was initially curious about how her primary caretaker, addressed as Miss Milla by the older children, had darker skin than was typical of Europeans, but Tanya had confirmed by the first bath, in a tub on the bathroom counter that had vision of a mirror, that she was of the same rough phenotype of her second life. Blonde, pale, blue eyes, girl. Probably still Slavic, too. Between that and the accent of the English, Tanya was confident that this was probably America. No one ever invades the Americans.

In addition, the year was significantly later than her second life. She'd like to say the presence of the television told her that, but she had already known when she noticed that. The actual reason was because disposable diapers existed, and those didn't exist until she convinced the General Staff to get someone to invent them. This was excellent news.

It was also the last piece of good news. This new body had some kind of sensory disorder, strange sounds and sensations constantly bombarded her. Being X had a sense of fair play, in refraining from hobbling her with the myriad possible genetic disorders or handicaps beyond the obvious 'being a girl in the early 20th century' thing. No longer. At the other end, the nightmares that plagued her rest during the Eastern campaign did not abate for her absence from that frozen hell, and in fact got even worse.

She dreamed of battles, where each and every engagement was as frantic and desperate as that first flight over Norden. She dreamt of massacres, her lips alight with prayer as she murdered for "God and the Kaiser". She dreamt of the gulag, of the horrors that Loria promised to inflict upon her. All of these nightmares plagued every attempt to rest.

The worst ones, though, were the ones that mixed her new life with the old. The Red Army coming by and kidnapping all the girls for Loria's disgusting lusts featured prominently, no matter how little sense it made. Miss Milla was a teenager, doing most of the actual running of the orphanage in place of the nominal owner, an elderly woman who even Miss Milla referred to as 'Mrs. Walsh'. Miss Milla even went to school, which is when the old woman would actually do her job.

Around six months in, according to Miss Milla, when Tanya had a birthday hat strapped to her head and given some delicious cake, Tanya realized that the voices and sensations were some kind of telepathy, rather than just being hallucinations. Sure, occasionally she heard something coherent that she changed her behavior in response to, like when she heard something about babies not crying being strange, but she assumed it was some secondary thought stream of hers. Echoes of her own thoughts that she heard as speech because brains are complicated and her new one is just glitchy.

Nope! Telepathy. The chaotic words were coherent thoughts, and the sensations were, more often than not, emotions. On one hand, it was a bit of a relief to know that her mind wasn't completely cracked, and it quelled her occasional promise to herself to stab her eardrums out at the first opportunity. On the other hand… knowing the nature of the chorus of noise didn't make it any less aggravating to bear, and turned those thoughts into murderous impulses that needed to be ignored instead. She still slept… a little. But not enough.

If she doesn't get some kind of handle on this, she will go insane before she re-learns how to walk. If it makes her less vulnerable to whatever chicanery that Being X decides to toss her way, all the better.

So, Tanya… meditated. Or tried to, anyway. It was, unsurprisingly, difficult to shut out external distractions when one was constantly bombarded with them. So she needed something to focus on. Eventually, on a day when Miss Milla was rather frazzled herself, Tanya pretended to cry about something or other just to maintain their infant credentials. So Tanya ended up cuddled to the girl's chest while she was seated on the nursery's comfortable armchair, and she just… fell asleep.

It was the quietest time Tanya had ever experienced in this life. The telepathic noise had ebbed to a dull roar, and the only sound was the steady, even beats of Miss Milla's heart. Just as Tanya almost drifted off to sleep, the image of her ripping out Miss Milla's heart flashed through Tanya's mind. It would be so easy… She had already figured out that mage blades responded to her will, creating mysterious cuts in the toys and furniture when her nightmares got exceptionally violent. So far, they hadn't directly blamed her for the mysterious damage, but it was really only a matter of time. If she wasn't careful, she could be shipped off to some laboratory. Or conscripted again.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. It was the only remaining noise. If she stopped it, and she can, easily, things will be quiet. So quiet. She doesn't remember the last time it was quiet. All she needs to do is… Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

No! No. It was not noise. Noise is irregular, and painful. This was… like a sozu. Regular, and gentle. Meditative. She should meditate. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Let everything else fall away. Quiet her thoughts.

Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

If she's a telepath… she should be able to do something about this. She pictured a great fire, the burning pride that made existence as an infant so unpleasant. Humility, that's the key. It was fed by many fuel lines, each spewing more combustibles to burn her peace-loving existence away, revealing the truth beneath.

It was a horrible truth. She had just been contemplating murder for the crime of having a heartbeat. How old was she, anyway? Seventeen? Nineteen? Well, it's not like it would be the first teenage girl she ripped the heart out of. Wait. That's even worse!

She's so tired… Back to the meditation. Each of those lines fed the flames of rage and pride. One by one, Tanya imagined those lines shutting closed, putting their entire mental focus on quelling the metaphorical flame.

She could hear thoughts? Cut it off. She was dangerous? So what. She couldn't even walk. Cut it off. She was stuck in diapers? She was one year old. That was normal. Cut it off. She was helpless? She was safe. Cut it off. Each nonsense assertion diminished the flame in her mind, the horrible truth that she would rather murder than suffer someone else's existence that inconvenienced her. That was the thinking of drug-addled layabouts who pushed people into trains. That was the thinking of someone who slaughtered tens of thousands for patriotism they were only pretending to feel.

Eventually, the fire was gone. She felt… hollow. Spent.

When she closed her eyes, listening to Miss Milla's heartbeat, she once more remembered the look on Mary's face when Tanya gripped and shredded her heart.

…She managed to sleep despite that.

----------------

The meditation helped. The noise didn't become any quieter, but it became… more ignorable. It didn't bother her as much. She could sleep more… although still not enough. Every chance she got, she meditated and quenched the flame of irritation. It probably wasn't a good way to achieve zen, but she never learned proper meditation. She never needed it.

Admittedly, it probably would have helped in her second life to have learned such a thing, or at least if the Imperial Army would let her drink with the men, but alas. Each time, the fire started smaller, and quenched faster. The furnace of her indignation was cold and charred, as it should be. She was just a baby, and should not be enraged by the realities of that state.

At least she didn't need to worry about finances. The group home wasn't poor, as each child had their own set of clothes, although hand-me-downs were still common, the cheap mass-produced fabrics just weren't durable enough for attrition to make purchases necessary. The government organization that supported the "group home" had health insurance, so even the diabetic David was well-supplied with medicine. Finally, there didn't appear to be any issues with food or heating, either. Given her experiences from her second life, these were all markers of a well-administered orphanage.

…Even if the labor was sparse. There were only five children so far, if you count Tanya, but one elderly lady and a teenage assistant seemed inadequate. At least the oldest child, Patty, assisted in wrangling the more rambunctious children, but she supposed tallying up the budget needed per child for expenses and getting the government to pay up was a lot easier than convincing them to expand payroll. As a Human resources manager, she knew well how short-sighted management types would seek to save on that most crucial expense beyond all reason.

That didn't help with the boredom, though. Tanya had managed to narrow down the year to 1964, in the thick of the Cold War. It was definitely ongoing, too. It means that she would be sixteen years older than her first life, so unless Being X kicks off the nuclear apocalypse, she could probably expect… well, given her track record from her second life, if she wanted to enjoy things from her first before she dies again, she'll need to limit her expectations to the kind of stuff she currently had access to.

That's one extra reason to try and live longer, anyway. Still, she needed to occupy herself somehow… Tanya was currently in a playpen, filled with boring baby toys and several stuffed animals.

…She missed Visha. She missed her men. Tanya looked at the stuffed animals again. She crawled over and picked up the bear, clean, new, and quite large, and hugged it tightly. She never did give Visha that hug that she promised her when she came back from the mission… She was delirious from fever, and her internal monologue became external for just long enough for her to express her wish to cuddle her face into Visha's soft chest.

Visha had laughed it off, presumably because she misinterpreted the blatant sexual harassment as something more innocent, and promised to accept as many hugs as Tanya wanted to give when she returned from the mission.

But then… the NKVD.

"...Visha." Tanya whispered to herself. "This is Visha." She closed her eyes and imagined her adjutant, tears forming in her eyes as she pretended, for just a moment, that she had finally returned. WIth coffee.

When she woke back up from her nap, the image of a burning Moskva and her most loyal subordinate laughing in joy along with her lingered. Was Visha's bloodlust natural to her? Or did Tanya warp that sweet girl as much as the type 95 warped her?

…She was still going to maintain a claim on Visha the bear. She was hers now.

----------------

Learning to walk was the second step in no longer being treated as a baby. It was surprisingly easy, actually. She thought she could maybe use telekinesis to make the process easier, but all she needed to do was think back on what it was like to use the physical reinforcement formula, which normally allowed one to make a good showing at a shounen fighting tournament, and her telekinesis responded easily. It was more difficult learning to account for the diapers than it was to learn how to stand and walk normally.

Unfortunately, this particular part of American History was marked with a population boom, which meant that the child processing services for orphans were significantly overtaxed. So the group home expanded to nine children, and Mrs. Walsh broke her hip and retired.

Miss Milla took the whole thing quite well, actually. Tanya could only stare in awe at Miss Milla's legendary work ethic. In her first life, such dedication would earn accolades and promotions, but in 1960s America, she just got the standard stipend per kid that any foster parent gets. Tanya did overhear that Mrs. Walsh was actually quite wealthy, and kept up the property's taxes and paid a few services to help keep the pressure off of Miss Milla.

This did not help Tanya's problems with the new blood. The two other girls, twins by the name of Susan and Gertrude, were the same age as Tanya. This meant that they were put in the same room as Tanya. Most people's thoughts were whispers, listening to them was like overhearing them mumbling to themselves. Children tended to have louder internal monologues, but these two girls had intensely loud thoughts that never stopped. She was certain that Sue and True had some kind of mental disorder with how loud their thoughts were. They weren't just loud, either. They were shrill, like everything was shouted at the top of their lungs, so loud you could picture the damage they were doing to their throats. But… mentally.

Even her psudeo-zen state could not withstand these two girls. At night, she couldn't avoid them, as she was trapped in a crib, and was not driven insane enough to risk damaging her fragile body to escape. One small mercy was that their minds quieted down when they were asleep, but that just meant they worsened Tanya's already battered sleep schedule instead of eliminating it altogether.

It did mean that naps rose in importance, however. If she doesn't get a better handle on her telepathy by the time school starts, she's going to be in big trouble. But with the walking air raid sirens around, it would take a little bit more effort to find a quiet place.

Closets were no good. Even with telekinetic door-opening, merely passing by the door was enough for the noise that was the children to penetrate her torpor. The bathtub was even worse, as that room was a high traffic area. Outside was not tenable, as the older children were quick to notice and tattle on anyone who left the building unsupervised.

Tanya would complain about that, but given that she was still pretending to actually be two years old, it was a perfectly reasonable policy to keep her confined indoors unless actively watched by someone responsible. The only question was… where was there a place that children could go, but they just… didn't?

The attic was initially promising, but it was as forbidden as the outdoors were, if not as explicitly warned about. Miss Milla's room was also outright locked when she wasn't in there, and while Tanya could probably learn how to open it telekinetically eventually… it would require concentration that she just couldn't muster with all of this sleep deprivation.

That left… the basement. It was a small one, primarily used as the laundry room, and utterly uninteresting to all but the newest of children. Was she allowed in the basement? No. But unlike outdoors, it was a lot easier to sneak inside and float their way down the stairs.

Now, where would be a good spot to hide? The concrete floor and sparse furnishings are clearly a problem… in the attic there was this nice box with quilts inside… Perhaps she should have brought it down here? The dryer is big enough and has soft laundry inside… but Tanya immediately envisioned how horrible it would be to die by someone turning it on by accident while she's inside. Definitely not.

After some searching, Tanya found the perfect place to nap: a laundry basket. It just needed a little bedding, and the aforementioned dry laundry would be perfect for that. Some quick telekinesis later, and Tanya had her own little hermitage, hidden away from immediate view by the table normally used to fold clothes.

It wasn't as quiet as Tanya would like… but it was quiet enough. She slipped into the most peaceful sleep she's had since the twins showed up.

----------------

She should have known. The reason she had telepathy in this world was because it was not a particularly rare ability. How long has Miss Milla been privy to her thoughts? How was she able to ignore all of the times she thought of things that little girls should definitely not be thinking of?

Really, every little bit of good news she receives in this world comes packaged with even worse news. Telepathy not being something rare enough to demand absolute secrecy? She now has to worry about people reading her mind. The twins quiet down the foghorns they have in their heads? It's because they're minor psychic talents and Miss Milla actively taught them to quiet those thoughts down, because she's psychic too.

In order to stay ahead of her, Tanya quickly learned how to pick up on a specific person's presence through telepathy, and when she was present? Well, she wasn't quite sure how to go about blocking the mind reading, so her best idea was the old 'name, rank, and serial number' trick. "I am Tanya Dosva, and I am four years old."

Tanya's new mastery of her telepathic abilities could not have come at a better time: it was time for pre-kindergarten. The concept of a year of "school" that was before even Kindergarten was pretty strange, but after a few weeks it was clear that it was more accurately referred to as 'government-sponsored daycare'.

It was significantly more structured than actual daycare, as while rare it was something that was done whenever Miss Milla needed literally all the children out of the group home for a few hours to get something done, like when they needed the professional carpet cleaners to come in.

But they didn't really… learn anything. Well, Tanya wouldn't have learned anything anyway, but the 'classes' were more about getting used to the idea of listening to the teacher and not inflicting violence on the other children. Which… a lot of the children admittedly needed to learn. Everything else was things like story time, play time, snack time, and nap time. Then you go home.

In short, Tanya approved of pre-kindergarten. It gave her time to acclimate herself from needing to withstand up to ten minds at a time during meals to needing to withstand twenty to thirty minds, or even more, for hours on end. The fact that it meant that there would not be any half-feral hellions disrupting things once real school started was just a bonus.

…Although she really could have gone without passing out on the first day, when they passed by the school assembly. It was just… too much. She didn't even enter the room, the pre-kindergarten children didn't attend it. She was just being escorted to the bathroom when the assembly dismissed, disgorging hundreds of children and their riotous thoughts into the hallway. There wasn't a worse time to pass out, really.

The good news was, being excessively telepathically sensitive was an actual medical disability that even poorly funded semi-rural schools could address. The bad news was, the treatment was wearing a stupid hat that didn't do a very good job at muffling the telepathic noise. It helped, but it both looked and felt like it was made of chicken wire and aluminum foil, although she was assured that it was more technically sophisticated than that.

It did, however, dull the roar of the student body down to merely disorienting, instead of incapacitating. Even if it was supposed to make other people's thoughts inaudible, it at least accomplished that much. Tanya suspected that it really was just made of aluminum foil and chicken wire, and any assurances to the contrary was an attempt to invoke the placebo effect.

Needless to say, wearing such a stupid-looking piece of medical headgear did no favors for Tanya's popularity. Her "peers" didn't really care beyond asking questions that were easily answered or deflected, but the larger children… well, they saw weakness. Like any predator, those who drifted from the herd for whatever reason were the prime targets for their hunt.

"What are you doing over here, crazy baby?" The third grader taunted. It was the preferred insult for the school's various bullies, as to them, all of the four year olds were babies, and the one with the foil hat was the crazy one. He was already imagining how this exchange would go. Start with hostility, end with Tanya in tears.

Not happening. "Relaxing." Tanya replied, as she laid back to the tree trunk in the playground. It was recess, after all. "Go away." And his line is…

"This is our spot." The bully asserted. His flunky behind him voiced agreement. "You go away." The four total bullies were positioned to block most escape routes.

"Alright." Tanya said. Most, but not all. She flipped up the trunk and kicked off, soaring over the children's perimeter and lightly landing a dozen feet away.

"...Hey, wait!" The head bully shouted. "You gotta pay a penalty!"

Tanya sighed and started walking towards the hysterical teacher who saw the exchange. "Tanya! What were you thinking? You could have hurt yourself jumping off the tree like that!"

Tanya shrugged. "I can fly. I was in no danger." To prove her point, she rose up to eye level so the woman didn't need to kneel down.

"There is to be no psychic powers during school, Missy!" the teacher said, frowning.

Tanya set herself back down. "Time out, then?"

"Ti-" The teacher swallowed her words as Tanya pre-empted them. "Yes, you better believe you're in time out. Go to the quiet room and don't come out until recess is over." Her voice was that of defeat, and her thoughts were despairing that the 'hippies' that ran the school had forbidden them from spanking children that go into time out without a fuss.

Perfect. Tanya walked right into the repurposed closet and did her best to get an early start on naptime. Even if getting a reputation as a delinquent hurt something deep within her, There was still plenty of time to correct such an impression.

----------------

Today was a terrible day. Tanya thought that the established, if ineffective, responses to telepathic children meant that she wouldn't be persecuted or conscripted, particularly due to how defective her own psychic powers were.

This was before she knew that the Psychonauts were real. The Cold War was not a war of bullets and tanks, but of espionage, and diplomacy. Proxy wars were the only shooting ones, and spies were the front line of the conflict.

The Psychonauts were those spies. When she first heard of them, it was through their propaganda comic book, True Psychic Tales. Mind controlled super-soldiers, nightmare beasts unleashed, poisoning of water supplies, children who manifested excessively powerful and uncontrolled abilities… all of these threats were supposedly defeated by the Psychonauts. She thought it was just a comic book.

No. They were real. More importantly, they were essentially the sole source of assistance for psychics in the free world. If you wanted to do anything but suffer alone, you needed to go through them.

If Tanya had actually snapped those years ago, and murdered Miss MIlla and everyone else for some peace and quiet, they would be the ones to put down the monster.

But given that government adoption/communist kidnapping of young psychics is actually a concern… she needs to prepare. Even if Being X has so far been quiet, the idea that he isn't planning on making her life miserable is foolish.

Mage blades were easy, and flight was only slightly more complicated, even if she's rather clumsy with it by her old standards. The next, most important part of an aerial mage's kit is the barrier.

Active barriers were easy to recreate, she simply needed to focus on the memory and safety of a mage shell and an iridescent barrier sprung to life. For best results, curl up into a ball first.

This had two problems. First, it did not have the unconscious, passive benefit that a proper mage's barrier possessed. She knows it's possible, she doesn't even need to think about psychic reinforcement any more, any time her strength proved insufficient it turned on and increased until it worked. Second, it did nothing to protect her from telepathic intrusion. Well, she assumed so, as it didn't even muffle the telepathic noise that constantly bombarded her.

Both of these weaknesses must be fixed. Any attempt to bring her back to the battlefield will have the battlefield brought to them. In order to do that, her previous destructive talents will not be enough. She must also be able to protect herself from retaliation.

Never again.

----------------

It was quiet.

Today was the day that she finally decided to test her mental barrier in real world conditions, without the hat. Second grade wasn't exactly a challenging academic environment, but she's already committed to pretending to be 'merely' bright for her 'seven' years of age. Once she sheds the stigma of being disabled, she'll be able to start skipping grades.

But despite being around over one hundred children, she could not hear a single thing without her ears. With a minor adjustment, she was deaf to normal sound as well.

When she imagined this day, she pictured herself having to struggle to keep her normal expression, that she would have to fight to keep happy tears from flowing, or to stop a big smile on her face.

…But she did neither of those things. Maintaining decorum was as easy as it always was, and no grand emotional catharsis interrupted this ordinary school day.

"Tanya." Mrs. Kerr said, pointing at her. "Can you tell me the answer to question five?"

With a glance, Tanya realized that in her musings, she had neglected to follow along in the workbook. Turning the page and finding the requested problem, she immediately said: "Six dollars and seven cents." She had long completed all of the questions in the entire workbook, so she didn't even need to solve the problem before responding.

"...Correct." Mrs. Kerr admitted. "Don't think that forgetting your helmet at home is a free pass to not pay attention, though. You're in second grade now, you need to be responsible." That sentiment was hilarious, but laughing would not be wise. Even if it has been a while since she's done so.

…when was the last time she laughed? She can't remember. Even during the war, she found time to have fun. She's pretending to be a kid, why hasn't she laughed? Was telepathy that big of a problem?

Eh. It's not that important. Moving on… with her new control over her telepathy, she should probably start taking steps to… get friends or something. At least get friendlier to her ersatz siblings. Miss Milla would be overjoyed if she became more sociable. How difficult could it be?

The bell rang. It was time for lunch. The final test of her new mental barrier: A crowd of excited children. Despite all of the challenges that this life has put in front of her…

Everything is fine.
 
Poor Tanya is right. She didn't engineer up psychic deafness or defenses, she just turned her entire mind down until it stopped hurting. Still, I was really getting the impression that Tanya's vision of fires when she was a baby was going to be when the orphanage burned down and not just when she first stumbled on the idea of reducing her emotional inputs.

I'm curious to see a follow-up to this that includes the fire. This story is just neat all around.
 
There's not a whole lot I can put in about the fire that wasn't in the first chapter. If I really tried hard, I could maybe fill a chapter with a little bit around the fire and then some scenes between the inaugural camp and the fire... But next month's series of snippets are going to be centered around the time after the camp, between books one and two. Although to be fair, the last chapter of book one does include a small flash forward that's in between them and I may include a scene that is still chronologically speaking technically in book one.
 
Chapter 23
As of today, you can see the end of Book 1 if you donate to the Patreon, immediately ending the story I initially set out to write. There will be a Book 2, and I'm a few chapters ahead on it, where there is science, music, compassion, and premature human testing. I hope y'all enjoy!

Also, if you want to re-read the story, perhaps consider following it on Royal Road, as it's posting a chapter every day until it catches up. It's on 13 today. Please leave a rating and review if you do!

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One thing that was apparent, after a few days of circus life, was that something always needed fixing. Nona, the grandmother (at first she was confused as to why Grulovians were using an Italian term, but Donatella was Italian so it made sense), spent the majority of her time doing one of three things: cooking, sleeping, and sewing.

Tanya was still doing a little bit of everything, which was good for finding the comparative advantage of any given worker. Hopefully, she'll be able to take a look at the books soon. Even if they were likely rather simplistic compared to corporate balance sheets, it would allow her to more easily discern the circus' business needs, and thus increase her value as an employee by fulfilling them.

After all, while she had plenty of ideas, she wouldn't want to come across as arrogant by presenting common sense plans that they were already implementing. It was a maxim that she stood by during her second life, although she was familiar enough with military history that it was easy enough to turn to 'new insights'. It would be less suspicious if she asked a bunch of questions before proposing changes, anyway.

"Are you sure you haven't done this before?" Nona asked as Tanya finished the mend. It was one of Razputin's jumpers, something he performs in. Nona was adjusting the size of one of Dion's older clothes, a much more complicated task. After teaching Tanya how to properly stitch a hole closed, Tanya was left to perform the simple tasks while Nona took on the harder ones.

"Only buttons, two or three times." Tanya clarified. "Never tears or holes." She always replaced clothes that got torn in her first life, and in her second? She probably would have been forced to learn how to sew by the nuns eventually, but she joined the military before they got insistent. The army didn't tell officers to sew. There were a few times where Tanya probably should have learned on the Eastern front, but Visha always insisted on handling it herself if Tanya ever needed something small done. There was always something else Tanya could do, so she never contested Visha's domestic primacy.

"Well, you're a natural." Nona complimented. "You'll make a good mother, someday." Tanya resisted the impulse to shudder. That was something she won't be doing. Nona frowned sadly. "Well, nevermind that. Here, if you've done buttons before, show me what you've got. Don't let Gussie see you do those parlor tricks, though." She added as she passed Tanya a pair of overalls and the tin full of buttons, needles, and thread. Was that her nickname for Augustus? Also, she must have noticed Tanya's barrier. "He's a good family man… but he's a bit unreasonable about the psychic powers thing."

"Well, that curse does seem rather inconvenient." Tanya demurred. "Who would do such a thing? How?"

"I don't know for sure." Nona said, looking upwards in thought. "But I think it was Aunt Ophelia. She never did like Lazarus and his family." She rolled her eyes. "She was jealous because their psychic powers were flashy."

What? Clearly, the curse of Galochio was a more complex tale than Augustus' storytime retelling. Which tracked. "Who's Lazarus?" She began.

"Oh, my husband." Nona elaborated. "Before he died at the Deluge, of course. My maiden name was Galochio, you know." She cackled. Wait, why was that laugh… familiar? She's never heard the woman laugh before. "Aunt Ophelia had the subtler sort of power, she could maybe have cast a curse. I don't really understand how it works. I'm not psychic, that was my sister."

Tanya hummed as she finished sewing the button, deftly cutting the thread down to size with a telekinetic cut instead of reaching for the scissors. "Motive and means." She said, summarizing Nona's deduction.

"Yes, that." Nona agreed. "I didn't even know about the curse until Gussie and that handsome man who found him for me told me about it. But after that day, the…" She giggled. Where did she hear that before? "Hand of Golochio…" She said the name of it in a dramatic tone, mocking her son. "Appeared every time a member of the family drew near the water. So they need to STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!" She shouted, turning towards the creek the circus was near as she finished.

Faintly, in the distance, Tanya picked up Dion shouting "How does she know?"

"Well, this is done." Nona declared, at around the time Tanya finished fixing the last button. "That's it for this week. Thank you Elya." As if on cue, another member of the circus, a fourteen year old boy by the name of Ajax, ran to Nona as she packed up the sewing kit.

"Miss Aquato!" He said, gasping from his run. "Stampy tore one of the tents! We need your help to get it ready before tomorrow." Stampy was one of the elephants. Ajax primarily worked with them, mostly shoveling shit. He didn't really have any skills beyond a strong back and stomach.

"Oh? Well, we better hustle then, Elya." Nona tittered. "Come, help me up."

Within minutes, Tanya had gotten the grandmother to a secluded part of the circus, where the other carnies had prepared the torn tent for Nona's skills. Unlike their clothes, it was important that the pieces of the tent are lined up precisely, and that the mend was difficult to see with the naked eye. Thus, calling the most skilled seamstress in the circus for the job.

After examining the damage, Nona snapped her fingers before pointing to a few people. "You, make sure Gussie doesn't come by. You, go help him." After sending a few more people away, she looked at each concerned-looking carney's faces. "Okay, if we want this done fast, we're getting this done quietly, okay?" She said that last word in Grulovian, one of the few words Tanya knew from when she learned small amounts of Dacian. Pretty much just enough to be able to shout warnings over the radio as mandated by the laws of war… and to put that new spin on the old joke about what to do if England invades with a land army. The carnies all flashed 'okay' signs or mimed zipping their lips. "Okay, Elya, I'll need you to grab the tent…" She took a yardstick and pointed to two places that were about seven feet apart. "Here and here. Just lift it up and keep it steady."

Tanya's heart quickened as she realized what Nona was asking. Still, she was using opsec, so… Tanya lifted her hands and blue hands of telekinesis gripped the tent at the designated locations and lifted the tent slowly.

"Yes, keep going, keep going… stop." Nona said. "Now…" She adjusted the flap slightly, occasionally requesting that Tanya adjust the fabric she gripped. She reached out towards the already-threaded heavy duty needle, but after a second grasped her hand futilely. Looking at the needle, puzzled, she sighed. "I'm sorry Elya, I thought that was closer. Can you fetch the needle for me?"

Another carny quickly ran the needle to the seamstress without Tanya having to do anything. After a few more adjustments and two additional telekinetic hands, Nona got things set up so that she blitzed through the actual needlework, her hands deftly using the thick thread to repair the damage with several hundred stitches over about an hour. It was an impressive feat. Tanya was surprised the woman's old bones could handle that workload, but she doesn't have much experience with the abilities of the elderly, so perhaps Tanya was just underestimating the old woman.

"Lay it down now, Elya." Nona instructed. Tanya set the tent down, and Nona clapped, urging the carnies that remained to go back and set the tent back up. The seam was visible, if Tanya looked for it, but at a distance it was probably indistinguishable. The tents weren't exactly well-lit or closely observed. "Now, help me to my chair. I need a sit down after that." Tanya put the old woman's hand in her own, and focused on Levitation to lighten both of them, halving the weight of their own bodies. "Oh, this is a good trick, Elya. Very clever." With the burden on her old bones reduced, they made good time back to the area the Aquatos claimed as their own.

Tanya made sure to smile when she thanked Donatella for the food; some kind of noodle stew with meat that she named in Italian, Tanya didn't quite catch the name. This was good. The circus was nice. She was camouflaged from being detected by the Psychonauts, which was good. She needed to stay away from the Psychonauts. She needed to conceal her psychic powers, but if she were too casual about it it would compromise her stealth anyway. Without it, Augustus' anti-psychic grudge would help deflect attention.

Most importantly, she was far away from anyone dangerous enough to be worth fearing, and anyone that was connected to Being X. Even with the Type 95's influence subdued, locked away until genuinely needed, there was some comfort to be had in the knowledge that there was nothing in the area powerful enough for Tanya to be unable to kill.

Mom tried to access her mind again, her knocking on the mental barrier becoming… rather irregular. It wasn't Morse code, just… desperate? She's been trying at least once a day, but it had been falling off recently. Tanya was beginning to think she wouldn't try today.

It was distressing, to have someone, even if it was just Mom, try so insistently to breach her mental defenses. She never tried to outright break in, using force… What little Mom had explained about how long-distance astral projection works made Tanya think that if she tried, she'd break whatever connection allowed her to politely request access.

But Tanya had no choice in the matter. In order to protect them from Being X, she couldn't be seen to care about Mom's fate. Also, she needs to stay away from the Psychonauts.

"What is that racket?" Asked Augustus.

"I knew I was hearing something!" Razputin declared.

Donatella and Dion seemed confused at the exchange, but Frazie groaned. "It's nothing. You're imagining things." As she said this, her eyes glanced towards Tanya.

"I thought it was just that other new kid bumping uglies with his girlfriend." Nona said, before releasing a puerile giggle. Dirty old woman…

Wait. That giggle. She knows that giggle. Alarm bells rang in Tanya's head as the secret she learned in Ford Cruller's head, previously fuzzy in a way that such recent memories shouldn't be, flashed through her memory,. That boy… looked an awful lot like Augustus. It couldn't be. She's not a 'Mux'. But… maiden name. Lucrecia was married, her husband died.

Noticing that everyone had started looking at her, Tanya schooled her expression. "Changing the topic:" She said shamelessly. "Nona, it occurs to me that I don't know your given name. What is it?" Please don't be Lucy, please don't be Lucy.

"Oh?" Nona said, confused. After a moment, she nodded, acquiescing to Tanya's request for a change in topic. "It's…" She seemed to need a second to remember her own name. How long has it been since she used it? "Marona. Marona Aquato." Oh, that was a relief.

Wait. The Tree! FC + LM MA. Every little thing about Ford's conspiracy slid into place, gathered from the scraps in Ford's fractured mind. Lucrecia Mux hiding as Marona Aquato. Her sister "was the psychic". That corpse from Ford's mind, that glasses-wearing Grulovian woman was Marona, the sister of Lucrecia!

But that means… that Maligula was right here. Her murderous will manifested in the Hand of Galochio. The Hand of Maligula.

"Elya?" Asked Augustus, his brow furrowed in concern. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" He reached out.

Tanya screamed, scrambling backwards as her safe haven was ruined, revealed to be one of the most dangerous places to be on the entire planet. This was just her luck! Did Being X plan this? Was that nonsense about acting through Mary a bluff? Could he see her all along? The instant Mary found out about her? Or prayed to him about it?

"Calm down child." "Silence!" Nona Maligula said softly demanded. "It is safe here."

Tanya bolted, going in whatever direction was away from this world's equivalent of the Devil of the Rhine. She was disarmed! Helpless! Even if she brought it out and fought, the Psychonauts would notice and investigate! She needs to STAY AWAY FROM THE PSYCHONAUTS!

Turning her attention to wherever she was going, Tanya realized that she had made a mistake. The creek! She took flight, in the hopes of avoiding the Hand of Maligula, but a hand arose, large enough to squeeze her between two fingers, and attempted to seize Tanya.

Panicking, Tanya did the only thing she could think of to survive the elemental wrath of what was definitely Being X's catspaw. She curled up into a ball and created the most durable shield she could muster, shutting out every possible angle of attack.

From the feeling of inertia, and… some vague sense she couldn't describe in any way that wasn't impossible, the Hand of Maligula had seized her and started to shake, eventually throwing her to the ground, which was mitigated by the soft mud.

She needed to escape. She needed to stay in her shield. She needed to stay away from the Psychonauts. She needed… oh no. She was buried alive. She can't oxygenate herself with psychic powers like she could with magic!

With no other choice, Tanya dropped her shield, psychically reinforcing herself to swim out of the meter of mud that she was embedded in. She had to get away. She had to get away. She had to stay away from the Psychonauts. She had to go somewhere safe.

Nowhere is safe from Being X.

Faintly, she heard something from a voice she thought she had finally silenced. "You incompetent child!" He said. A wave of nausea washed over her as she realized that was her own thoughts. "I'll take things from here. Honestly, you're a mess."

"...I want Mom." Were Tanya's last thoughts before she was swallowed once more in mindless terror.

----------------

[Augustus Aquato, Ringmaster of the Aquato's Flying Circus]

Tanya, or well, "Elya", was a very strange child, even by the standards of the circus. Her body language constantly signaled fear, as if she was terrified of literally everything. Or possibly of something at all times. But her actual actions were frequently opposed to that impression, unbothered by intensive physical labor, bad smells, Mother's mediocre cooking… Nothing specific ever seemed to bother her, but at the same time, she was always bothered.

She would not be Augustus' first runaway child worker, nor would she be the last. Every time, he always made sure to check the missing persons list for anyone who fit the bill. This one… it was a doozy.

Tanya Dosva. A runaway psychic who, according to the poster, was hypnotized to run away from home and will resist any attempt to force her. It instructed anyone who saw her to merely report it to the Psychonauts. Further, it warned against threatening her in any way. It didn't… explicitly say that Tanya was extremely dangerous if provoked, but Augustus got that impression from the warning about threatening her.

She was good at disguise and acting, too. She had dyed her hair and gotten it cut, and did remember to dye her eyebrows, but had neglected her eyelashes, which weren't darkened at all. Not a particularly easy thing to spot, but he was looking for it.

The big thing, of course, was the fact that he couldn't read her mind. He could occasionally pick out an emotion, or some basic thought she didn't bother hiding, but Augustus took his family's safety very seriously. Psychics were bad news, spiteful folk who had power that couldn't be countered except by other psychics.

But Tanya… She was the victim of psychic tampering, despite being a psychic herself. Despite her shields, her defenses… Fear was written into her soul just as deeply as the Hand of Golochio was in his family.

But he didn't expect something as simple as his mother's laugh and her given name to cause such a… severe reaction. Whatever comfort she had taken from his family, it had vanished within seconds, her terror turned towards the sixty-one year old woman. Why?

It didn't really matter. What was concerning was the Hand of Galochio deciding to go after her, with a more powerful manifestation than had ever been seen before. The curse did affect Donatella, but why Tanya? Did the curse trigger on her feeling like she was part of the family? That didn't happen before… She didn't even share her real name.

After she literally dug herself out of the mud on the other side of the creek, the Hand of Galochio declined to attempt to kill her again. Her expression had changed, deathly serious now. She flew away, and Augustus pursued.

It took only seconds for Tanya to shout in anger. "No! How did they… Fuck!" It was kind of amusing to hear Tanya's high-pitched voice curse, but she launched a blast of psychokinetic energy in Augustus' direction before ducking into the woods.

The blast created an impressively large crater in the ground, but it would take more than one shot to hit an Aquato. When he caught up to the girl, she was meditating on top of a stump, an angry expression locked on her face.

Augustus took his family's safety very seriously. One of the things he did was erect defenses in their minds, allowing them to better resist the telepathy of psychics. The big thing that made it take so long for him to confirm that Tanya was herself psychic rather than having something similar was the fact that she never tripped any of those defenses by attempting to affect any of his family's minds. He'd be able to tell if she did. In order to do this… He needed to enter their minds. As small as the amount of time Tanya spent with his family, he felt for her. So, he'll do his best to fix the damage that psychics have inflicted upon this little girl.

He placed his hand on Tanya's forehead and focused his psychic powers. He pictured himself flowing through his arm and into her head, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them… Chaos.

----------------

Augustus wasn't in the habit of seriously examining the minds of his family as he helped them. His mother had a flea circus in her mind, Donatella had a theater, and his children all had various permutations of the circus when he entered their heads.

Tanya… was completely different. The sky had giant cracks, a dull gold color breaking up the otherwise uniform dull red color. Massive skyscrapers dominated the area, colorful lights and advertisements plastered everywhere. He didn't recognize the architecture, but given how much Asian writing was there… perhaps Tokyo or Beijing? That language was most prominent, but there were others too. From what he could tell, every single written word said the exact same thing: "Stay away from the Psychonauts."

…He wasn't an expert, but that looked like hypnosis to him. It also handily explained her reaction to seeing them and her general anxiety. The Psychonauts had a global reach, after all.

In the distance, explosions sounded out, along with a lot of shouting. Well, he has no idea what he's doing, so he better check that out.

The battle was between two sides. On one, an army of those little suit-wearing gremlins that always show up if he lingers too long inside a mind, plus a bunch of bulky ones wearing knuckle dusters, and one that actually looked relatively normal, although he still held his large stamp in a stance that was outright menacing. On the other, two normal looking people, clearly other psychics. Probably Psychonauts, even.

The Psychonauts, much like Agent Gilbert and Agent Sullivan, were a man-woman pair. Unlike them, they didn't wear the uniform jumpsuit of the agency, but instead more ordinary clothing. The woman was dressed in a cheery multi-colored dress, and the man in an ordinary suit with a lab coat thrown on over it.

The army was winning. "Sasha!" the woman shouted. "I'll distract them, you go find out where Tanya is!" She split her body into three, each one taking on one of the colors of her dress.

The commander of the army laughed at that. "No." He said, leaping across the distance in an eyeblink and kicking the head off of the red one. "None of that." He lashed out with his stamp, exploding the yellow one. An impression was left behind in the air for a second or two afterwards, showing what the stamp depicted: DANGER, in red ink. That was strange, the others usually had a 'no' symbol.

"What are you?" The woman shouted, frustrated and clearly exhausted.

"Alive." Was the being's reply, slamming his stamp on her forehead and banishing her from Tanya's mind.

The male agent was putting up a good fight against the numbers that were arrayed against him, but the instant the greater entity arrived, the agent was quickly banished as well. "Finally." The entity said. "That should buy enough time to re-erect the barrier… Why did it fall?" He turned his face to Augustus. His face was stern, a real-looking asian businessman surrounded by the somewhat caricatured beings that surrounded him. "Oh. You. So you did know you were one of those psychics you hate." Augustus winced. Yeah, that was fair. "I thought it ironic, but you're just a hypocrite. Typical." The being adjusted his suit, his stamp vanishing the instant he let go of it. "You've surprised me, and I don't like surprises." He snapped his fingers, and the army of psychic defenses summoned doors and leapt into them, escaping the battlefield.

Why wasn't he trying to kick Augustus out? He coughed. "Well, when I came to inspect Elya's mind, I didn't know what to expect." He gestured to his surroundings. "This wasn't it, that's for sure." He glanced at where the other intruders were. "Who were they, anyway?"

The being approached Augustus, looming over him. "...They were Psychonauts. As you can imagine…" He gestured to the surroundings, the repeated message of 'stay away from the Psychonauts' making his point clear. "...they had to go."

Augustus' eyes narrow. "Did you do this?"

The being chuckled. "Of course not. I'm just doing my job: keeping the brat safe." He wasn't doing a very good job, then.

"How does running away from my mother lead to that?" Augustus asked nervously.

He grinned. "Now that is a question with a very valuable answer to you." He chuckled. "I wonder if your relationship with your family would even survive that secret…" Secret? The being held out his hand. "I'll make you a deal: We're both men of business, so I'll get straight to the point: You leave, and forget you ever met the brat. If you do… I'll tell you the secret that underpins your entire life, that people can and will kill to protect."

What kind of- he's just a circus acrobat! His mother is just an old woman whose greatest claim to fame is her sewing skills! Sure, he was a psychic acrobat, but that didn't mean he was important enough for something like this.

Wait. Why was he trying to bargain? He destroyed those psychonauts, why doesn't he just turn that army on Augustus? Is he… bluffing?

Augustus puffed up his chest and glared at the suit. This wasn't a board room; he had the advantage, even if he didn't know why. "No." He responded. "If it means leaving her to suffer under you, I don't want to know whatever stupid secret you've found." As his resolve hardened with his words, he felt his fists and body firm up, his psychic powers eagerly reinforcing his mental body.

The condescending smirk turned into a stormy glare. "Are you sure? This is your last chance. I am the Director of Mental Resources, the only reason you stand there in peace is because I allow it. It's a life-changing secret for you. Or I could unleash a tidal wave of censors upon you, and then, when you're insensate, rip your heart out with my bare hands." To emphasize his point, one of the windows turned into a television screen, showing a small hand coated in telekinetic knives digging into the chest of a teenage girl wearing some kind of jumpsuit, blood gushing before the scene flickered away. Was Tanya a murderer?

Still, Augustus was not going to be swayed by some petty intimidation. Even if his implications make him think that maybe he should learn about it. "I like my life." He declared. "Whatever you have to say, it's not worth the life of that scared girl." Suddenly, it hit Augustus as to what the difference was between the Psychonauts and him: he was physically there. Augustus was used to being careful while entering minds, even if this was the first time he entered a truly hostile one. If he pulled out, he would have access to Tanya's physical body.

…While that statement made him out to be some kind of villain, the truth was that the Director was in Tanya's head too, and he may not be able to leave. The Director hummed, searching for weakness. "Very well." He said, his stamp manifesting in his hand; the DANGER warning bright red with dripping ink that burst into flames a split second after separating from the stamp.

He didn't get a chance to use it, because Augustus punched him in the face before he could, with all of his considerable, psychic power backed, strength. If he did this in reality, the man's head would cause shrapnel wounds behind him with the shards of his skull. Or so he assumed, he could fell medium-sized trees with it at least.

The Director flew backwards, going through a billboard that said 'stay away from the psychonauts' into one of the skyscrapers, which promptly collapsed inward on top of him. Augustus hoped that wasn't important…

"GO DAD!" Razputin cheered. Wait, what? Oh no. "You're a psychic?" He said, amazed.

Well, shit. "Yes, Razputin." He's going to have to train him in his psychic abilities now, isn't he? It's going to be such a massive pain to stop him from going mad with power.

…Or he could suppress his memories of this. That sounds like it would work… NO! That's the madness speaking, the thing you've fought against for so long. "Leave. This is dangerous."

Suddenly, doors opened up everywhere, and those caricatures started spilling out of them. What did the Director call them? Censors?

"Time to kick some butt!" Raz declared, manifesting giant telekinetic hands to fight with.

…From the mouths of babes, he's right.
 
That's an absurd coincidence.
I wonder how and why Tanya was led straight to this woman?
 
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