Queen of Rot and Fungus
- Thread starter Darkphoenixlady
- Start date
Chapter 7 - Interlude - Those that were left behind
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 7 – Interlude – Those that were left behind
Zoe scowls at her husband and youngest daughter as the secretary calls out, "Mrs Barnes, Jane Doe, and John Doe."
The three of them stand up, and her daughter sniffles into a tissue as they walk into yet another interview room.
The secretary walks over to a table with several new pads of paper, pens, and a tape recorder. At the table at the far end of the room are two men in expensive suits, and uncompromising expressions on their faces.
The Man on the left says, "Good afternoon Mrs Barnes, and guests. This is our second meeting, after the first was ended prematurely due to lacking the relevant proof of relationship. I understand you have this proof now."
Zoe nods and takes a large box file from her bag, before removing the results of the maternity and paternity tests for her daughter and husband.
As she walks around the table, the stress lines on her face are highly visible, as is the weight she's lost over the last month as she scrabbled to hold down a full time job and transfer all of the bills to her name, as well as the mortgage, and prevent the government from taking her daughter away.
As she sits back in her seat, the second man looks down at his notes, "We have had a response to our query to the PRT. They have stated that your daughter and her friends are not the only people affected by this phenomenon. However, the source of the problem isn't parahuman in nature. They haven't supplied any other details citing 4th amendment concerns."
The first man finishes glancing through the documents before nodding, "The documents appear to confirm that there was a relationship between Mrs Barnes, and the man she claims is her husband. Jane Doe is a result of that relationship."
The girl bursts into tears, "That isn't my name!"
Somewhat kindly, the man says, "Do you know what your name is?"
"No! She took it from me."
"Maybe you could tell us how you came to lose your name."
The girl nods, "I can do it again."
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Emma sneered down at Taylor as she's scrabbling to pick her homework out of the spilled cola that had spread across the floor. Sophia was at the back for once, as her arm was strapped to her waist until she could find an excuse to be seen by Panacea during her normal hospital rounds.
"Hey loser, how's your act of being a model student going?"
Taylor looked up from the floor, and Emma could have sworn that her eyes changed color for a moment, and she tracked someone walking past behind them. Emma looked back and spotted Mr Gladly hurrying down the corridor with files clutched to his chest.
"What are you going to do? They won't believe you."
As Taylor said, "Can I have your names so that I can report them to the faculty?" Emma frowned, as that didn't quite sound like Taylor.
Before she could say anything, Madison crowed, "Well girls, what do you think? Should we give her our names so that she can 'report' us?"
Julia smirked, "Sure, I'm Julia Watts."
Emily added, "Emily Branch."
"Liana Garrison."
"Maria Manning."
Sophia snorted, "Sophia Hess, as though a worm like you has the stones to actually do anything."
"Madison."
Caught up in the moment, Emma leans down, "Emma Annette Barnes. Now what?"
Taylor finished gathering up her cola soaked papers. As she stood up, she said, "Now I tell you that you are no longer allowed to lie, dissemble, or obfuscate the truth. And it applies to all of you."
The girls all laughed as Taylor started dejectedly walking away. As she reached the fire door, she turned back and said, "Oh, and I'm keeping your names."
A scream of agony behind them caused the group to look back, and by the time they turned to face Taylor again, she'd gone.
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The girl sniffs, "We didn't know anything had happened until our next class when the teacher didn't call out our names."
The second man checks his notes, "When was this?"
"Uh, the day before Winslow closed?"
The first man nods, "That was when the Jane Doe caught her hand in her food processor, and bled out on her way to hospital. It made the news because they were asking for anyone that recognized her to come forward."
"And John Doe? How did you come to be nameless?"
The man slumps in his chair, "The Heberts are long term friends of ours, in fact Annette Hebert was my daughters Godmother. When my daughter told me that Taylor had taken her name, I drove round to their house to demand that she undo it. I should have taken the time to ask why, and because of that I was perhaps angrier than I should have been when I approached them. They were loading a couple of suitcases into the back of Danny's car, like they were going on holiday, and there were violet mushrooms growing in their yard. After I demanded that she undo whatever she did, Taylor said, 'And you are?'. So I told her my name, and that I used to bounce her on my knee, and that she grew up with my daughter. Taylor mumbled something like I'm keeping that, but Danny took up all of my attention as he told me that I wasn't his old friend, as his old friend wouldn't have allowed his daughter to bully Taylor for a year and a half, or attempt to murder her at the beginning of January. This has destroyed our lives, and almost cost me my daughter and my wife."
The two men confer quietly for a couple of minutes. At the end of it, the first man says, "Mrs Barnes, we are satisfied that this is your daughter, and that the man is her father. Do you have your daughter's new name, and we will have the State government issue a new birth certificate."
Zoe gives her husband an acidic look, "I do, it's Bethany Theresa Barnes."
The secretary glances up from where she's been taking notes in shorthand, "Can you spell that please?"
As Zoe spells it out, Bethany lets out a sob of relief.
The husband looks pleadingly at the two men, "Can you help me with my new name please?"
The second man shakes his head, "I'm sorry, but you would need to have your parents petition on your behalf. Other than that, you have to go through the courts."
The husband sags in his seat, "My parents are dead, they lived in New York. This is worse than being accidentally declared dead. As I've lost everything, and the courts can't see me for at least 6 months while the State searches its records to see if they can find me. Meanwhile, I can't practice law, I can't have a bank account, drive a car, get a bus pass, hell, my name is missing from our marriage certificate. Please, help me."
"I'm sorry, but this is family services. We can't help you unless you can prove who your parents were."
The man breaks down as Bethany puts her arms around him in a hug.
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Shadow Stalker stares out of the window at the sunlight glittering off the Pacific Ocean. She's fine, she doesn't miss her brother or sisters. Especially after her bitch of a mother refused to claim her after she was forced to explain how she'd ended up without her birth name.
"No daughter of mine would behave so disgracefully." She parrots.
Pah! I'll show her, and the Hebert bitch, as soon as I get out of here.
"Stalker!"
Shadow Stalker turns to face Vantage with a scowl, "What?"
"You're needed upstairs for another debrief."
"Why? Haven't I told them enough?"
"You'd have to ask them. If it were up to me, you'd be answering those questions from behind bars."
Shadow Stalker keeps quiet rather than trying to retort, as the not being able to lie thing makes her seem silly when she says something lame like 'That's because they think my powers are useful, and I'm jealous of your ability to walk around freely.'
As she stomps towards the elevator, Vantage calls after, "You better shape up Stalker, as your next stop is Anchorage Parahuman Penitentiary, and I've heard it's fucking cold up there."
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Trinity Clements squares her shoulders as she heads back into the kitchen van for another heavy bowl of soup as part of her community service. She's just glad that she kept meticulous notes of everything they'd done to Taylor, and everything that she'd not been involved in, including the Locker. And that she was the only person with her old name in the school.
As she staggers out with another large pot of soup held between two towels, she glances at the police officer that is both supervising her community service, and keeping an eye on the poor around archers bridge. Last she heard about Winslow, her evidence had been used in cases against 3 of the teachers and Principal Blackwell. Though the scant video's E had sent her didn't provide any clues as to her old name. Only the group chat let her know it began with an M.
All things being equal, she's got off lightly compared to the other girls.
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A man in a nondescript suit and a plain mirrored mask calls out "Armsmaster, Miss Militia, please take a seat. I'm agent Flores, PRT internal affairs."
Armsmaster gingerly lowers himself into one of the standard PRT chairs, while Miss Militia sits down on the front edge of her own seat.
Armsmaster nods, "What does internal affairs want with the Protectorate?"
Flores sighs, "It's quite simple. Brockton Bay isn't alone in suffering a loss of name epidemic. There are at least three areas in Canada that have had similar issues, and Milwaukee in Wisconsin has had 25 confirmed cases. We know that according to your reports, they are outside the Protectorate's legal purview, but that isn't true of the PRT. A little known point of history is that the PRT was built on top of the Federal Paranormal Investigations Division. A joke of a department that only existed to deal with disproving the vast number of hoaxes that assailed the government in pre-parahuman days."
Armsmaster stiffly says, "I submitted a full report, along with what video survived our trip."
"I understand, but you can't ask a report for clarification. Please, in your own words tell me about how you ended up in contact with the Fae, and your impressions of them."
Miss Militia nods and starts, "You have to understand something to start with. We were woefully underprepared for investigating a Faerie Mound. Even if we'd had information on the fae, we'd have been unprepared for the sheer scale of the place.
"Imagine that you were prepared for a day walking around Central Park, and five minutes in you find out that you're actually walking around Lake Superior, and the path you followed in has disappeared. Additionally, without Armsmaster's blunt manner and famed lack of social skills, I would have been trapped in a deal within the first week of our attempt to leave."
Flores looks down at his notes, "Our records show that you were only out of contact for two hours."
Armsmaster nods, "Like distance, time is also malleable in a mound. I refer you to the tale of Rip Van Winkle for a literary example of the ways it can affect visitors."
"How did you get involved?"
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Armsmaster looked up as his workshop visor flagged an urgent message from the Console. After carefully soldering in the other side of the resister he was replacing, he put the soldering iron down and walked over to his paper strewn desk to check the message on the computer.
A few seconds later he called Miss Militia, "Miss Militia, BBPD have found the Heberts car by Captains Hill. They also report that there is a brand new cave that wasn't there last week."
Miss Militia calls back, "I'll meet you in the motor pool in 15 minutes."
"Bring oxygen, as there's a cave."
30 minutes later, the two of the pulled up to the cave that is now surrounded by PRT personnel that are cordoning off the area. As he dismounted, Armsmaster lifted up the seat of the armscycle and removed the powerpack/survival pack and awkwardly clipped it to the back of his armor. Miss Militia did the same with a small oxygen bottle attached to a pack with a bottle of water and a few granola bars in it. She then took a head mounted tactical light from one of the troopers while her weapon turned into a maglite.
As they're walking over to look at the carved post and lintel entrance to the cave, Armsmaster remarks, "Wear signs would suggest this cave has been here a lot longer than a week."
Miss Militia nods, "It certainly doesn't feel like something new, and I can't see any signs of a mudslide."
Armsmaster turned toward the Sergeant that's standing nearby, "Sergeant, if we haven't returned in three hours, presume that we've encountered difficulties and may need rescue. We should both have 5 hours of oxygen, and my rebreather can extend that to 20 hours if needed.
The Sergeant nods, "Understood."
The two of them walked quickly but cautiously into the cave, their torches roving the walls, ceiling, and floor looking for any side passages, pits or possible deadfalls. After they'd gone a dozen yards Miss Militia stopped with her torch pointing at a mural of people hunting a wild boar, their limbs are slightly off human norm, and their skin tones come in all sorts of fantastical colors.
"This cave is definitely older than a week."
Armsmaster grunted, "We don't have time to analyze the paintings. Once we're done, the archeologists can survey the cave system."
"You really need to loosen up you know."
"I practice yoga three times a week to remain limber."
Miss Militia sighed as she continued walking down below sea level.
After five minutes of walking past increasingly ornate paintings, the cave abruptly ends on the edge of a sunlit marsh. On the occasional bit of land there are poles with brightly colored rags fluttering in the slightly salty breeze.
"Armsmaster," Miss Militia breathed hesitantly, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Armsmaster grunted, "I'm streaming telemetry back to my bike. Give me a couple of minutes to test the water."
Miss Militia's maglite turned into a beanbag rifle with a scope as she started to scan the hillocks and what's visible of the waterways that wind between them. "I don't like this, there's too much cover."
"It's like the marsh that used to be Brockton Bay before they drained it 100 years ago."
"They did?"
"Boston and New York were being commandeered by the Navy in case they needed to intervene in the war in Europe. So the industries surrounding the mining and logging industries started setting up here, closer to the source of the logs and metals they used. Prior to that, it had been a modest shipping town that sent barges south for processing."
"How do you know all that?"
Armsmaster gives a rare smile, "I looked up everything I could about the area when I was posted here. And the past has always been interesting, as it doesn't change depending on who's speaking."
"Wow, why didn't you say anything before?"
"That's why. The water is brackish but potable. You should probably tuck your pants into your socks. You never know if there's leeches in water like this."
Miss Militia nods and leaned down to do just that while Armsmaster kept watch on the surroundings. Once she was done, she started casing around for tracks.
After several minutes she crouched down by a faint muddy footprint by the side of the cave. "Armsmaster, it looks like a toddler or young child left the cave a while ago."
Armsmaster walked over and highlighted the spot Miss Militia was pointing at, "The erosion pattern suggests the footprint is between 4 and 6 weeks old. It's also too narrow to be a toddler or child's footprint. Could be a tinker creation."
Miss Militia nodded and moved over to a pair of boot prints, "These would be the Heberts, I think I can see some boot prints on that hillock over there."
Armsmaster nodded, "You have the lead. Remember that I need a very solid path to follow."
Miss Militia nods and her rifle turns into a long spear that she uses to test the ground ahead of her.
As they got a few hillocks away from the cave entrance, they could see that it's an almost exact replica of the hill outside. With the hill as a reference point, their pace picked up as the boot prints were easy to follow. That is until they had to wade through a particularly deep channel to get to the next hillock.
As they climbed up the other side of the channel, Miss Militia looks back while Armsmaster was using the rope end of a rope and grapple to help himself up the side. She almost took her foot off the grapple as she realized that she couldn't see the hill anymore.
"Armsmaster, I can't find the hill."
"Nonsense, it should be right…" Armsmaster fell silent as his internal mapping software no longer matched what they were looking at. "Armsmaster to Console. Come in Console."
As he was pensively waiting for an answer, Armsmaster looked up at the sun and winced as it's position no longer matched with the solar tracking software he'd included once. "We have either been moved 300 miles East, or we're missing nearly an hour of time."
Miss Militia shook her head, "How?"
Armsmaster shook his head in return, "Unknown, though it is clear that our priority is now returning to Brockton Bay safely."
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Flores holds up his hand, "So you travelled when you lost sight of your landmark? Could people navigate successfully if operated in larger groups, so that there's always at least one person that can maintain the course?"
Miss Militia shakes her head, "I don't know sir, but my gut feeling is no. There was a time after we'd been trying to maintain a heading towards what we thought was the exit, when we saw a wood two or three miles away. Which should have taken us at least two hours in the conditions we were working with. Instead, it took less than 15 minutes, and we had the trees in sight the entire time."
"I thought you said that you only had a few granola bars?"
Armsmaster nods, "She did, however my survival pack is more comprehensive. Additionally, Miss Militia was able to manifest a sufficiently wide array of hunting equipment that we were able to fish for protein. On the second day we were also beset by a venomous water snake of some description. That also provided meat once cooked."
Flores nods, "Then I think we can skip the marsh, what happened when you reached the trees?"
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As Miss Militia and Armsmaster were both looking for firewood, on the edge of the wood, in order to dry out Miss Militia's clothes, and give Armsmaster time to run his solar still to make more fuel for his power pack from the ready supply of water.
There was a rustling of branches before a obviously male half human, half goat with some panpipes hanging around his neck, came out of the deeper woods.
"My, my, some lost travelers. Would you care to join me by my fire for some food and a song and dance?"
Armsmaster immediately unholstered his halberd and pointed it at the interloper, "Why?"
The half man turns to Armsmaster with a quizzical expression, "Couldn't I be doing it out of the goodness of my heart?"
Armsmaster nodded begrudgingly, "You could. But you didn't actually answer the question. Why? Not to mention, who are you?"
"You can call me Pan. Won't you introduce yourselves?"
"You can call me Armsmaster, and that's Miss Militia. You still haven't answered my question."
"Maybe it's because I heard you crashing around, and wish to offer two weary travelers a comfortable bed for the night."
Armsmaster puzzles through the statement for a moment, before shaking his head again, "That's also not an answer. Why have you offered two strangers a space by your fire?"
Pan huffed and turned back to the forest, "Fine, I can see that you're an unreasonable lout, maybe your companion would like to warm herself by my fire."
Miss Militia looked at Armsmaster, who shook his head minutely, "I think we're better off sticking together."
Pan throws his hands up in the air, "Fine!" and stalks off into the undergrowth.
Once the sound of rustling branches faded, Miss Milita looks at Armsmaster, "Why did you decline his invitation?"
Armsmaster looked confused, "I didn't. I wanted to know why before I made a decision. But he never actually answered my question. And all his answers came up as evasions on my social program."
Miss Militia shook her head as she leaned down to grab another dry branch, "Oh Armsmaster. Only you."
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Flores interrupts, "Did you have any other encounters like that?"
Miss Militia nods, "We had around a dozen before we met, what was her name Armsmaster?"
Armsmaster looks uncomfortable as he says, "Deirdre."
Flores makes a couple of notes, "How would you typify their interactions with you?"
Armsmaster grunts one word, "Evasive."
Miss Militia adds, "To direct questioning of their motives. We had a number of pleasant conversations about the surrounding area and how we came to be there."
Flores makes a couple more notes, "So people interacting with 'others' should watch out for evasive answers that seem to answer questions, but don't actually. Even though in human interactions, they would normally be an answer."
Miss Militia shakes her head, "We cannot comment on that."
Flores makes a couple more notes, "I see. Well, I think we can skip your other encounters and move onto the beach, I think you said. After all, as Armsmaster said, it's all written in your report."
Miss Militia nods, "We had been there for nearly two weeks according to Armsmaster's chronometer when…"
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The two of them had been following this beach ENE for the last two days, relying on excess meat from hunting and fishing, and the water produced from Armsmaster's generator to keep them going.
Suddenly a scream echoes off the dunes to their left, and Armsmaster points ahead, "It's coming from that direction."
The two of the broke into a jog, the servo's in Armsmaster's armor grinding slightly at the sand in the joints. As they crested the edge of a Dune that had migrated closer to the sea, they could see a naked woman trying to retrieve something from near an Orca that has beached itself, and is now thrashing around trying to grab the woman.
Miss Militia kneels down as her power turns into a high powered rifle with a scope while Armsmaster speeds up and unhooks his halberd.
It took her three shots before she managed to hit something vital, and the whale started to thrash around in its death throws. At the sound of the first shot, the naked woman ran away to hide behind a low grass covered mound of sand.
From her position on the slight rise, Miss Militia watched as Armsmaster carefully got in closer, then darted in and severed its spinal cord with a well placed strike at his maximum reach.
Once the corpse stopped twitching, Armsmaster picked up whatever the woman had been trying to reach and started walking over to the dune, being careful to keep his eyes averted. Once he got close enough he turned around and walked backwards with the arm holding the animal skin out backwards.
Miss Militia was finally close enough to hear him say, "Miss, your thing."
The woman popped up from behind the mound and stares at the outstretched skin. "You're giving it back to me?"
Armsmaster sounded confused as he says, "Of course, I assume it's an article of clothing."
"Ah, not quite."
Miss Militia stopped beside Armsmaster as the woman took the skin and held it to her chest. "If you let me know where your clothes are, I'll fetch them for you."
The woman waved vaguely towards the dunes, "Uh, they're over that way somewhere. They, uh, got blown away by the wind."
Miss Militia frowned, "You don't actually have any clothes, do you?"
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Flores interrupts, "Wait, this person just lied?"
Miss Militia nods, "She did."
Flores flicks to the back of the original report, "I was under the impression that fae couldn't lie."
Armsmaster nods, "That's what's written in the report."
"If she wasn't fae, what was she?"
"I couldn't tell you sir."
"I see, carry on."
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Armsmaster said stiffly, "Miss Militia, I have a thin cotton tracksuit rolled up in a compartment just below the survival pack. Would you be able to remove it and hand it to the woman?"
Miss Militia chuckled as the woman said with some surprise, "You're clothing me too?"
Armsmaster bent over while Miss Militia worked to open the compartment that had trace amounts of sand in the hinges. "Why do you even have a tracksuit?"
"Early in my career I had a few power failures in the field. As I need to wear very little inside the armor in order for the sensors to detect my muscle movements, and match my movements to the microsecond."
With a grinding sound, the panel opened to reveal two thin tubes of cotton, that Miss Militia takes out and hands to the woman. The woman looked between the cotton and her skin, before holding the skin out with one hand, "Um, mister, would you be able to hold my skin for me?"
Armsmaster blindly held out his hand behind him until he felt the weight of the skin in his hand. Miss Militia chuckled at the blush that graced the woman's cheeks as she did so.
In order to make conversation, Miss Militia asked, "Do you have a name? As I'd rather not keep calling you that naked woman in my head."
The woman nodded as she unrolled the two tubes of fabric, "Everyone calls me Deirdre, so you should too."
"That's a nice name, I'm Miss Militia, and this is Armsmaster."
Deirdre nodded as she inspected the garments, "Those are strange names."
"Have you ever heard of parahumans?"
Deirdre shook her head, "Are they from another court?"
"No? We come from the city of Brockton Bay outside of this area."
"I've always wanted to see outside, but we're not allowed to leave."
"Why not?"
"The Queen commands and we obey."
"I see. Well outside, people that have super powers use an alias to protect their identity from those who would hurt their families and friends."
"That makes sense, though it wouldn't protect you from all the fae."
Armsmaster asked, "What are fae?"
Deirdre looks at Armsmaster as though he's simple, "You don't know what fae are?"
"Obviously not."
"Oh. I've never had to explain what fae are. Everyone already knows."
Armsmaster nodded, "Makes sense, as we don't have to explain what capes are to children. How would you explain it to a five year old?"
Deirdre started to put her arm into a leg of the pants, "Oh, they're people, animals, or monsters that can trick you into deals or use magic to do things to you. And never give them your name, as they might not give it back."
Armsmaster looked back just long enough to share a glance with Miss Militia, who said, "Well, that explains a lot. Deirdre, do you want a hand with that?"
Deirdre smiles, "Um, are you fae?"
Miss Militia chuckled, "No we're not fae."
"Then yes. Oh, and never thank a fae, as that implies that you owe them. And debts are worse than deals."
Miss Militia start to help Deirdre dress. "Do you know how to get out of here?"
Deirdre shakes her head, "No, but I know how to get to the court. You could ask the Queen for permission to leave."
"Your arms go through here, your head goes through the big hole. How do you know where to go?"
Deirdre looked confused as she said, "You just do, you can feel it."
Armsmaster asked, "How long will it take to get to the court?"
Deirdre hums as she struggles into the top, "If we leave at dawn, two sunrises. If we leave now, seven sunrises."
"Why so much difference?"
"There's a path that's only open when the sun is both in the sky and below it. That will take us most of the way there, it will then take most of the rest of the day, and the day after that to reach the next path that only opens when the sun has fallen below the sky but it's still day. Can I have my skin back please?"
Armsmaster turned around and stiffly held out the skin. As Deirdre took the skin he said, "I'm going to harvest some meat from the whale."
"He gave my skin back again. He must love me."
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Flores coughs lightly, "Yes, I think we can skip that part. Did she ever tell you what she was?"
Armsmaster stares at the table as he says, "No. Is this meeting going to take much longer? As I have work that needs to be done before my next shift."
Miss Militia nods in agreement, "I have paperwork that I need to finish too."
Flores looks down at his notebook and flicks back a few pages, "According to your report, Deirdre, who's name wasn't in your report, led you to the court where you managed to get an audience with the 'Queen'."
Armsmaster nods shortly, "We were just following reporting guidelines about including the names of allies."
"I see. Moving on, you also met Miss Taylor Hebert, and Mr Danny Hebert. And the Queen allowed you to leave with the simple promise that you'd help Taylor get set up in her new life?"
Armsmaster nods, "That's what I wrote in the report."
"You didn't leave anything out?"
"I left a lot out sir, as we were there for over 420 hours. My helmet camera only recorded 36 hours of that."
"I see. Last question. Are you both still human?"
Armsmaster and Miss Militia both nod, and Miss Militia says, "We're both just as human now as we were before we went in."
"Very well, you may go. If we have any other questions, we'll send another representative."
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- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There you go "Your highness" your royal chronicler has compiled an accounting of what happened.
Righteous Ham
Airship Enthusiast
Lovely to see an update so soon after discovering the story. What a great interlude, it resolves some mysteries and adds others. This has quickly grown into my favorite Fae stories since, Taylor and the Unseelie Court.
It's very clear that Miss M and Armsmaster are hiding something though through their careful answers they don't seem to have lied. Also, I think this might be the most inventive use of the socially abrupt almost autistic version of Armsmaster that I've encountered.
It's very clear that Miss M and Armsmaster are hiding something though through their careful answers they don't seem to have lied. Also, I think this might be the most inventive use of the socially abrupt almost autistic version of Armsmaster that I've encountered.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm, sounds like Deidre is maybe a Selkie? Given the skin comments and the bit about him really liking her for returning it
...Well Dragon must be seething that she just lost out on her chance to marry Colin, unless they are amenable to adding a third partner to the relationship!
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Trinity Clements wouldn't have known that Emma was the name of the person who shared that video as that name belongs to Taylor.
Righteous Ham
Airship Enthusiast
That's what Deidre is! I kinda remembered that she was some kind of Fae adjacent creature but not the name. I wonder if she's pinning away for Colin, dreaming for his return? He doesn't seem the type to accept a marriage proposal or lead her on intentionally.
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Good catch, fixed
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- She/Her
What a nonanswer
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
man
, citing
Archers Bridge
videos
resistor
just in case
hunting
Maglite
servos
dune
orca
had
throes
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I shake my head, and Amy graciously catches it before handing it back to me. "We are not all powerful, even though the Queen of the Marsh told me that the rulers of the seasonal courts did a good impression of it. But they're more closely tied to Faerie than I am."
"What do you mean?"
I raise my finger, "This information comes with a cost."
"What's the cost?"
"You'll eat one of the mushrooms in the courtyard."
Amy scrunches her eyebrows together, "What will that do to me?"
I give a careless shrug, "It will tie you to Faerie."
"What does that mean?" She raises her hand to forestall my response, "Remember, I'm not an unwitting rube that you're trying to trick into a deal."
"I cannot give you that information."
Amy thinks for most of a minute before saying, "Cannot because you don't know, or because you're not allowed to tell me?"
I smile, "Yes."
"Well, that's helpful."
"What do you mean?"
I raise my finger, "This information comes with a cost."
"What's the cost?"
"You'll eat one of the mushrooms in the courtyard."
Amy scrunches her eyebrows together, "What will that do to me?"
I give a careless shrug, "It will tie you to Faerie."
"What does that mean?" She raises her hand to forestall my response, "Remember, I'm not an unwitting rube that you're trying to trick into a deal."
"I cannot give you that information."
Amy thinks for most of a minute before saying, "Cannot because you don't know, or because you're not allowed to tell me?"
I smile, "Yes."
"Well, that's helpful."
fadingMelody
(Verified Chaos Priestess) (Verified Shipper)
- Location
- Paradox Space
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hm. A series of rhetorical questions, not expecting answers:
- Are parahumans as human as humans are? Are parahumans human at all?
- Did the humans who one used the aliases of Armsmaster and Miss Militia ever leave the Mound?
- Are their shards now in control of their bodies?
- If they did leave the Mound, are they the same people that the agent from IA is now talking to?
- If they did leave the Mound, did they keep their names?
- In what way does consuming food of Faerie tie the consumer to Faerie?
- This tale is thoroughly enjoyable, and I am enjoying it. I hope you continue to write more of this. The effort of writing is known, and the time and work that you spend on this production are both noted and appreciated, although I will not thank you for them, for reasons that I hope are inferable and acceptable.
Taylor responds - 5
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oohhh, ohhh, I can answer that one. But first you need to eat this tinsy wincy little mushroom
Ignore her. It's because you're taking in some of faerie. Typically you can avoid this by purchasing the food in question. But that only applied to cooked food, not the raw food.
I suppose you could say it's a bit like heavy metal poisoning. In that once it's in your body, it never leaves. Until you eat enough that you can no longer survive without it. Or at least survive as you are without it.
You're no fun. Benefits include classical immortality, improved health, and youth.
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Are those benefits a guarantee and all happen at the same time or is immortality but still aging a situation that can still happen
Taylor responds - 6
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well... You'd get them all as long as you keep eating faerie food. How quickly the effects would fade depends on just how long you've been eating it. Oh, and pointing out the youth was so you didn't think it was a Selene and Endymion situation. That would just be unfair when I'm trying to get more residents.
Oh, you probably don't know what classical immortality is do you. It just means you won't die of old age, that's all.
I am aware of that story, this is why I am asking, I just wanted clarification if all fearie foods has all of those benefits.
MaimakteriAnn
(Verified Sleepy)
- Location
- Enormous And Round Terran Homeworld
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Dr
NGL, when you said "Selene and Endymion situation", my first thought was spousal rape while you're in a coma. The only reference to age being a specific problem for Endymion more than any average mortal that I can find is Psuedo Apollodorus, and even then it's pretty peripheral.
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
IIRC Selene begged Zeus to make Endymion immortal, so he did, and Endymion eventually got so old that Selene begged Zeus to all him to die.
Taylor responds - 7
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Fearie foods won't do anything for you. Sorry.
MaimakteriAnn
(Verified Sleepy)
- Location
- Enormous And Round Terran Homeworld
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Dr
I .. cant find that anywhere? is it a modern story?
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's one of a few variations from the time. Another is that he was granted eternal youth, and another that he was granted both, but put in an eternal sleep. They all end up with him asleep though.
The first one is the variation I read in the golden pathway as a child. (Published in the 1920s)
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