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The Brockton Look [Worm/Lovecraft]

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Why do I get the feeling that Taylor is still going to get a Power? Like a healing power to keep Emma and any other humans she gets to live forever with her?
 
I can't believe I'm saying this... but someone should slip Emma a Solar or Infernal Exaltation.
 
You know, I had ideas for a Worm/Lovecraft crossover for quite a while.
Never before had I considered having Deep Ones in Brockton Bay. It's so obvious in retrospect.

Also, love the characterization. A less-crazy Sophia and Emma are good - but the sheer alienness in which Taylor behaves here is great. It's only in parts, but that makes it all the more creepier.
 
landcollector said:
It would be Emma's luck that Cthulhu has the equivalent of Deathlord level immortality (i.e. "I laugh at the idea of GET perma-killing me").
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Problem with Deathlord-level immortality: It's dependant on the existence and favor of a superior. Get the favor revoked, or take out the superior, and the immortality goes out the window.

Besides, Emma wouldn't need to kill Cthulhu, just knock him out long enough for the stars to stop being right.
 
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Flood 2.3
  • Threadmarks
    • The Brockton Look
    Flood 2.3​

    "Good morning, Emma!"

    I smiled. Taylor? What's she doing here?

    When I opened my eyes, a monster was standing in front of me, in the midst of an undersea dungeon.

    Oh.

    The events of the last day came rushing back to me. I wished... I wished so badly that they hadn't.

    "And you made a friend!" Taylor whistled, and the little fear-eater that had been sitting on my head hopped through the open door of the cage onto Taylor's hand; she kissed it on the top of its head. "Thank you, little guy." It chirped as Taylor handed it off to its mother.

    God, has that thing been sucking on my brain all night?

    "Emma, your ritual's today," she added. "There's ritual clothing you'll need to wear, so you can get out of the dirty ones you're wearing. Dad'll be able to bring you more of your stuff today, so you'll get to wear your own after that."

    "Ritual... clothing?"

    "Come on out and I'll show you."

    I stepped out of the open door of my cage into her bedroom.

    "It's sort of like what I was wearing yesterday, with some tweaks for humans." She frowned. "Apparently, the jewelry pinches your skin, so you get something to wear under it. I'll show you how I put mine on so you understand it, OK?"

    "I... guess?"

    She walked over to a large, ornately-carved cabinet, and took out a folded bundle of silver and gold jewelry. She set one thing from the pile – it looked like a silver crown – back down, while keeping long, tangled mess of chain. She sorted through it, taking hold of a big, engraved silver ring, and waved it at me.

    "The collar is always a solid ring, so it's easy to find. So that goes over your head, with this triangle thing pointing forward." She put it on. "That leaves these four main chains going down in the front; these should all be on an edge of the cloth for yours. In the back, there are just two."

    I nodded.

    "Now, you need to tighten these up, or it'll slip and move around. The way you do that is you take these things" – she grabbed a long, dangling chain with a hook at the end – "and loop it through its matching ring, like this, and then hook it back onto itself so it's tight." She did that, and then tugged on it to demonstrate. "Then you just do that for the rest of them," she added, attaching her own chains very quickly. "You don't have to adjust anything else on the front, just untangle it a little bit, and I can do that for you. You also have to put on the arms" – she started on her own – "but I'll do that for you too, since it can be kind of tricky. Then you just put this tiara thing on top, with the gap at the back. Make sense?"

    She was now wearing the whole outfit, just as she had been yesterday when she captured me. It looked... well, freaky. It was really heavily ornamented, with weird sea-looking imagery on it. A funny image crossed my mind: her wearing that as a human. She didn't even like to wear shorts when she was a human, let alone this... I bit down my giggles. "Will my jewelry be the same as yours?" I asked, my voice mostly level.

    "Not exactly. But it's similar." Taylor rummaged around in her cabinets, and pulled out another bundle of chain and a small, folded piece of cloth. "Here's yours," she said, handing them to me. "Go on, put them on!"

    She stared at me expectantly, as I looked them over.

    "Come on..."

    "You're looking at me!"

    "Oh, right. Humans." Taylor sounded kind of annoyed. She turned around, her back to me. "Okay, now change please."

    I grimaced. Can I run away? Is there a way to escape while her back is turned? I don't think so... "Taylor, I... Is this really something that you want to do? Making me dress up like this... it's..."

    "Emma, you need to do it for the ritual."

    "I won't do it," I said, the jewelry rattling as I dropped it on the ground. "Are you going to force me?"

    Taylor sighed. "I'm not going to make you do it," she said.

    "Okay, then," I said. "So, can you—"

    "I'm a priestess. I have no reason to get my hands dirty." She turned back around, staring at me, hostile but... detached. "So if I need you to be prepared, I can hand you over to the servants, and they will do it. And then they'll just hold you in the temple until I'm ready for you." Her voice sounded cold, clinical; I'd never heard Taylor talk like this.

    "That... Why would you do that to me?" I was nearly shrieking, my jaw hanging open. "I... I can't even believe you would say that! It sounds horrible!"

    "It is. But if you don't give me a choice..." Taylor shrugged, but it looked fake, mechanical; she hadn't broken eye contact. "I'll do what I need to."

    "You don't need to do this, Taylor."

    "You're right! I could just not have you dressed. You could go to the temple just like you are. Only, the problem is there's a reason I want you to dress up. It's a way of showing respect for the goddess. If you don't do that, there will be a cost. Which is to say, it will hurt you. Quite a lot, actually. Do you want that?" Her voice was starting to lose some of its coldness again – because she was getting angry. It was sad, but it actually sounded more like the Taylor I knew; sometimes she did get mad...

    "No... Taylor, I don't want you to do a ritual to me at all!"

    "Is there someone else you want to keep you, then? You've attacked us many times, Emma. We can't let you go free. I can't keep you without doing this ritual. No one can. And if no one wants to keep you, well..."

    "Taylor!" I choked back my scream, fell to the ground. "How can you do this to me? You... You were my best friend, and now you're... you're..."

    "Emma..."

    She tapped me on the shoulder, and my head jerked up. It didn't feel like her cold fish claw... it felt like...

    Taylor had transformed back, and she looked just like always. Her big, gawky eyes, her enormous glasses... she even had her hair back in those goofy braids she sometimes wore. She had on a T-shirt and jeans, even, instead of her jewelry.

    She bent down, and hugged me.

    "Emma, I like you. We are best friends. I don't want to hurt you. I want you to live down here with me and be happy. You definitely got yourself into big trouble, and I can't get you out of all of it. But... I'm trying to be nice to you, Emma. Why do you need to make this so hard?"

    "I—" I didn't want to look at her. Talking back to a fishwoman was one thing, but... but this was Taylor, right in front of me, and I... my eyes filled with tears. Taylor... Why?

    A smile started to creep across her face. "Besides, Emma, don't you remember all the stuff you made me wear? We still won't be even after this, honestly. Remember that time we went to the pool, and—"

    "All right. I'll do it," I said, my throat tightening; Taylor handed me the bundle of jewelry and cloth again, and I took it. "Could you turn around again?" As she turned away again, I started to take my clothes off. I had to be able to convince her to let me go eventually, if I couldn't just escape, but... it didn't look like it was going to work, at least not yet.

    I unfolded the cloth first. I'd thought it was a dress... it wasn't. It was just a long sheet, with a long cut running all the way down the front, and a big hole for my head. I stared longingly at my pile of dirty clothes... I tried putting it on just to humor her; it was soft and strangely slick, sort of like weird silk, and patterned in swirling blobs of purple and gold. It slipped around on my body as I moved...

    "Umm... Taylor? There's no way this is going to stay on."

    "The jewelry holds it down," Taylor said, still human, her back turned. "Make sure you line it up so the chains are just inside the edges of the cloth."

    "Okay..." I picked it up by the ring, like Taylor had, and set it down on my shoulders like Taylor had. It was heavier than I'd expected. I hooked the chains around my body, tightening it up, and adjusted the cloth... I twirled around, the unattached arm chains flying around as I did – but the outfit stayed on.

    On the other hand, it was really, really cold.

    "Okay," I said, "I think I have it on now."

    Taylor turned around. "Oh, good! Now, let me just help you adjust it..."

    She walked up to me, and started just... fiddling with things. Untangling decorations, adjusting chains... I would have freaked except that she still seemed so normal and so matter-of-fact, even as she hooked the last chains around my arms. Then she put my tiara on, and patted me on the shoulder.

    "It looks great on you, Emma. You want to see?" She led me by the hand to a standing mirror.

    I knew this outfit was going to be bad, but... I wasn't really ready to see just how bad.

    The cloth didn't really cover anything; two long, thin, bright purple-and-gold strips ran down the front of my body, just barely held in place by the chains. I was at least decent, I thought, but... what if anyone saw me like this? I didn't even know what they'd say about me, because I'd never seen anybody else dressed like this before.

    And then there was the jewelry over top of it. It didn't cover much either, but it sparkled across my bare skin like I was a Christmas tree ornament. Silver and gold, in weird religious patterns; it jangled around as I moved my hands. It looked almost like I was tied up... which, I supposed, I was. And it was heavy, and really cold against my mostly bare skin.

    When Taylor wore this, in her fishwoman form, she looked like a fishwoman priestess. Which she was. She got away with wearing things like this. On me, on a human... I didn't even know what to call this. Like... people in the real world didn't wear things like this. It'd have to be from a movie or something.

    "Taylor... uh... isn't this kind of..." My brain struggled to find an objection I could put into words. "Tiny?" I could feel myself blushing.

    "It's a lot more concealing than mine," she replied.

    "W-well... yeah, but fishwomen don't really wear clothes, and humans do, so I kinda want... more?"

    "Humans are weird about clothes because you can't regulate your temperature very well. We don't have that problem, so we don't worry about it." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry if it's cold, but there aren't any other humans around, so it's not really a big deal if you're not wearing very much."

    "But... I'm not okay wearing something this small. Like... isn't this kinda creepy?" Some part of me deeply resented that Taylor had turned back to her human form; her clothes looked completely normal.

    "We've gone to the beach together, Emma. I've seen you wearing less."

    "It's not really the same..."

    "Sure it is!" She patted me on the back. "Emma, this ritual is important, and I'd like to make sure everything goes perfectly. It doesn't help anybody if you make a fuss over things like this."

    "I... I guess?" I didn't think now was the time to try to buck her, given how it had gone before, but... if not now, when?

    "Now, let's go and get some breakfast, OK?" She smiled at me, then looked away as she transformed back into a fishwoman.

    I followed her quietly down the stairs, through the halls, and into a flattened, windowless orb that seemed almost like a kitchen; cabinets and counters lined the far wall, with a big iron oven and an open fire in the center, and a big table in the middle of the room. Two fishpeople were sitting at it, the fishwoman from yesterday – Annette – and another one... her father Danny? He didn't look nearly as much like Taylor as her mother did, but I thought there might be some resemblance there...

    The small monsters squirming around on the floor all ran to greet Taylor as she entered. I... probably should have been terrified, but this was nothing compared to what they'd done yesterday; after saying what I assumed was good morning to all of them, and scratching one of them on its head, she sat down at the table, motioning me to the chair beside her.

    It squished as I sat down. Ohhh, this feels weird...

    "Good morning, Emma." From the voice, that was definitely Danny. He sighed, stretched out on the chair. "Quite a mess you've gotten yourself into, isn't it?"

    "I, uh, I guess so..." I didn't want to look at him.

    "I'm going to have to sort it out with your father." He leaned back a little further. "Such a hassle."

    "You mean... I might get to leave?" I started in my chair.

    "Oh, no, of course not. But I need to make sure he doesn't freak out, or alternately I need to have your family forget about it. Either way, it's a pain."

    "It's time to eat, dear," said Mrs. Hebert as I stared.

    "Right." There were serving bowls spread across the table, all sorts of nasty things that I didn't want to eat... one of them looked like seaweed, one was full of eyes, one looked like raw meat, and...

    "Oh, that drink has human blood in it," said Taylor as I glanced at a red-colored pitcher. "You probably don't want that. Just stick to water?"

    I could do that. Actually, I didn't really want to have... any of this. I stared, increasingly blank, as Taylor and her parents ate and talked in their language, seeming perfectly happy. Until, eventually, Taylor noticed me.

    "Emma, you're not even eating the eyes alfredo!"

    "Uh..." They were eyes. In white sauce. Hopefully not human eyes? They looked too big to be human... "I don't think those are the first thing I'm going to try, sorry."

    "You used to love them! I brought them to school all the time when I was little!"

    "I, uh... think I would remember that?" I said. Eww...

    "She did," confirmed Mrs. Hebert. "They were her favorite. You might not recognize them, though. I used to bleach them for her, since she was bringing them to the surface. You have to be careful with this sort of thing. Humans get really strange about eyes."

    "Oh, right!" Taylor nodded, then looked at me, tilting her head. "Emma, you should at least eat those. You like those, I promise..." She smiled. "If you eat more than one, I'll make you some plain fish, OK?"

    I stared at the eyeballs. I... really?

    "You know you're hungry," Taylor added.

    The most fork-looking thing at my place was a skewer with two barbed prongs at the end; I picked it up and stuck it into an eye. Held it up.

    I stared at it. It stared back.

    I had to eat something, right? And Taylor wanted me to eat these. She said I'd had them before, but I didn't really believe her...

    I put the eye in my mouth and bit down.

    ... Oh. I do remember these.

    I chewed and swallowed.

    Honestly, they're pretty good.

    I stared at the eyes again. "Okay," I said, sounding a little faint. "I'll have a few more of these."

    "Yay! Thank you!" Taylor was – I thought that was grinning? – while her parents were looking a bit more dismissive. "I'll go grab a fresh fish for you."

    She stood up, her plate clean, and walked over to the entrance while I ate a few more of the eyes. I felt a little weird about that, but... I really was hungry.

    I heard the sound of the entrance gate slam open. "Got one!" said Taylor. The door slammed shut again, as Taylor walked in with a big fish in her hand, and a goofy grin on her face. "I'm just going to try to fry this like the humans do, OK?"

    "Sounds good to me," I said.

    She took a human-looking pan from a cabinet, and then after rooting around in some drawers, she pulled out a big knife.

    Then she whistled, and a whole bunch of her pets ran back into the kitchen – the yellow ooze, a bright-colored spiny thing with fins, something covered all over in big fuzzy spikes as thick as fur, a smaller black ooze... There were a lot of them, but mostly they were pretty small. She talked to them excitedly in her language.

    She put the fish down on the counter, chopped its head off, and tossed it into the air.

    They all jumped to grab it, fought over it, tore it to little bits.

    Taylor giggled and started to gut the rest of the fish, tossing anything I wouldn't eat down to her pets, who seemed overjoyed.

    "I'm not cleaning up this mess," said Mrs. Hebert.

    "You really think these guys are going to leave anything behind? I mean, I've got a salzqur here." She flipped my fish chunks into the pan; the pets started to lick the floor as the fish cooked. "They know what they're doing."

    "They left the floor sticky last time."

    "I'll make sure they do a really good job."

    Taylor's parents took turns eyeing me while she cooked the fish. As she did, her mother tidied up the other dishes; their breakfast was over. After what seemed like an hour, Taylor slapped my fish down onto a plate and walked back to the table.

    "Here you go," she said, setting it down next to me. It looked perfectly normal; I could have had this at home if I'd wanted.

    "Thanks," I said quietly, as I started to dig in. Fish wasn't usually my favorite, but... this was really good fish.

    Danny stood up and pushed his chair back, saying a few words in their language; Annette and Taylor replied, happy-sounding. He hugged them both before walking out to the entrance hall.

    Heading out to work?

    Taylor turned back to me as he walked away.

    "Emma, my mom and I need to get going soon, too. I... think what I'll do is I'll chain you to the table out here, OK? So you can finish your breakfast, but you can't run away or do anything stupid. I'll lock up my pets, so they shouldn't be a problem for you."

    "That... seems reasonable." That didn't seem reasonable at all, but I didn't think it would help to argue.

    "Okay! I'm sorry, Emma, I promise I won't have to do this once you're consecrated. Now, let me just herd my pets around..."

    She called out in her language, and a small horde – the big ones didn't seem to be up yet – ran through the hallways toward the back of the house; she followed them, and what I presumed to be the door of their cage locked loudly.

    She came back carrying a big chain, and stuck her head under the table. "All right, Emma... I'm going to mess with your feet for just a second." I felt her cold hands wrapping around my bare feet, attaching even colder metal with what felt like heavy locks.

    She stood back up, and patted me on the shoulder.

    "I'll be back in a little while, Emma. Okay?"

    "Uh... Yeah."

    "Bye!" She and her mother walked through the hallway to the entrance, and left. I could hear the door locking behind them.

    As soon as they were gone, I stood up, knocking my chair to the ground.

    I put my hands around the chain, and yanked, hard. Nothing happened; I could have been tugging on a tree trunk. I bent down, looked at the table base; the metal pole holding the table up seemed to go straight into the floor. I stood back up again, walked to the table top, and tried to pry it off, but that didn't budge, either.

    Fishpeople apparently had really sturdy furniture.

    Could I get these padlocks off? I tugged on the one on my foot, but it didn't even have a keyhole. I had no idea how Taylor had locked it, and the shackle barely moved when I fiddled with it. No, I didn't think I had any hope of breaking this.

    Fuck.

    Slowly, sadly, I sat back down and went back to my fish.

    It was good fish. It just...

    I put my head down and cried.

    Taylor... What are you going to do to me today? I won't be free, but... Will I even know what you've done? Will I turn oblivious, like you and your pets, to all the harm you're causing?

    Will I remember Sophia at all? Will I remember the life I had?

    Will I know that this is wrong?

    My head shot up with a snap as I took a deep, sharp breath.

    One of the shadows on the far wall was too big.

    I stood up again, as it grew deeper and darker, in hesitant fits and starts, as it started to look a little bit familiar.

    "S-Sophia?"

    ~~~~~~

    This chapter was beta read by landcollector, Silently Watches, and QuantumWhales, who receive eyes alfredo, scrambled eggs with red sauce, and a fried strip of crispy meat.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Yeah, still kind of hoping Leviathan goes to town on these guys. Maybe not Taylor's family in particular, but yeah. Freaky fish people who view humans as little more than food? No thanks.
     
    BeaconHill said:
    "Emma, I like you. We are best friends. I don't want to hurt you. I want you to live down here with me and be happy. You definitely got yourself into big trouble, and I can't get you out of all of it. But... I'm trying to be nice to you, Emma. Why do you need to make this so hard?"
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    Yeah, I think she's trying to be really cheery this chapter so Emma doesn't worry as much. The breakfast scene reads like her going out of her way to reassure Emma but doing it subtly. (Although maybe she's a little off in understanding Emma's reasons to be worried? It feels like she doesn't quite get human reactions to things, as much.)

    BeaconHill said:
    She didn't even like to wear shorts when she was a human, let alone this... I bit down my giggles. "Will my jewelry be the same as yours?" I asked, my voice mostly level.
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    BeaconHill said:
    "Humans are weird about clothes because you can't regulate your temperature very well. We don't have that problem, so we don't worry about it." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry if it's cold, but there aren't any other humans around, so it's not really a big deal if you're not wearing very much."
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    Interesting that Taylor acts really differently on the surface versus down here. I wonder if what Emma thought was Taylor being a little shy or nervous was just her being awkward about all the humans around?

    BeaconHill said:
    "You used to love them! I brought them to school all the time when I was little!"
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    Like, I'm not even sure Taylor was really hiding things, I think Emma just made really wrong assumptions here about why she was acting the way she did. If she was bold enough to bring up fishpeople food to eat, there probably wasn't a lot of actual hiding going on.
     
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    *holds up sign saying '"Continues to scream externally", gestures to sore throat*

    Varriety said:
    Yeah, still kind of hoping Leviathan goes to town on these guys. Maybe not Taylor's family in particular, but yeah. Freaky fish people who view humans as little more than food? No thanks.
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    Imagine, if you will, a story written from the perspective of wolves watching their own be domesticated, as the pink two legged fangless creatures do incomprehensible things, and slowly break the minds of their captive so that they think the unnatural thing that is using them is their parent, and stifling their development so they can never set out on their own to make a family on their own terms.


    As a human, this story is all kinds of creepy and uncomfortable, which is very much a good thing.
     
    Absolutely, it's getting that feeling across marvelously. I still think Lovecraftian horror is kind of lame; the real horror here is just how lacking in worth humans are to Taylor and her people, and seeing this from the point of view of her human best friend. I don't imagine Emma having any good feelings towards Annette or Danny after this.
     
    Flood 2.4
  • Threadmarks
    • The Brockton Look
    Flood 2.4​

    "Emma?" said the shadowed apparition, turning solid as she emerged from the kitchen wall. "Is that—"

    "Sophia!" I ran forward, almost to the end of my chain, and wrapped her in a big hug as she turned back from shadow. "Oh, thank god! Get me out of here!"

    "Emma..." Sophia was hugging me back, and she sounded almost as torn-up as I was. "I was so sure they had gotten you! I can't believe you're not hurt, I... I've been searching all through here, and you wouldn't... There are human slaves, and bodies being butchered, and people with horrible brands and scars, I think one of the butchers used to be my stepfather and, I... I am so glad you're still alive, and okay! Emma, I... I..." She stepped back, taking off her mask, her eyes flickering across me. "You are still okay, right?" she said, with a worried look on her face.

    "I think so? They haven't done anything to me yet. They were going to today – I think they called it 'consecration' – but nothing's happened yet... It's just... It's Taylor. It's... she's..." I could barely talk; I was choking. "She's one of them, and she just took me. She wants to keep me locked up down here. I think... she never said it, but I think she wants to kill you. And I... I can't..." Sophia had started to get a little... weird. She was switching from staring at me, to staring at basically anything else, and then looking back again. It was strange. "Are you okay, Sophia?"

    "Um... Emma..." She wrenched her stare away again. "I'm sorry, I know this is a really bad time, but... what on earth are you wearing?"

    "Oh. Uh..." I looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "They made me wear this for the consecration... It's sort of like what Taylor was wearing, except that fishpeople don't really wear clothes, so it's kinda..." I ran my hand across the cold silver jewelry. "Bad... Sorry..."

    "Don't apologize! It's... really cute, actually, it just... I'm..." She closed her eyes and swallowed. "Did you get to see the city when they captured you? I was really surprised – it's just so pretty, I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be like this."

    "I did," I said. "But I... sorry, I mostly just thought it was creepy."

    "Really?" She shrugged. "Okay. So. We need to get out. I don't think it's safe to just float upward, but I'm hoping that if we swim out of the Bay along the sea floor, we'll be able to get ashore somewhere they won't spot us."

    "You think that'll work?"

    "It's the best idea I have. I stashed more supplies up there. I'm planning to leave town. If Taylor's involved, they have to know who we are, right?"

    I nodded slowly. "Yeah. She knows."

    "Okay. So we have to run. I have some scuba gear for you, and there's also a bolt cutter which..." She tugged tentatively on my chain. "Looks like I'll need it. I'm going to fetch those, and be back in ten minutes. Got it?"

    I nodded. "Do... do you have to go?"

    "I don't want to either, but... I'll be back soon, okay?"

    "Wait! There's just one thing."

    She turned back to me. "Huh?"

    "Taylor... We've met her before. She was the fishwoman with the tail and the monsters. That's... her thing. She keeps monsters. There are a lot of them in her house. I think they're all locked up now, but... keep an eye out for them?"

    "Got it," she said, nodding then turning to shadow. "Be back soon," she added, as she sank through the floor.

    Then I heard a rustling, and I shot around.

    Nothing...?

    Oh, god, I hope Taylor doesn't come back...

    I watched Taylor's kitchen vigilantly for the next five minutes. Any sound, any sound at all made me jump and spin toward it. But... there was never anyone there. Just me and the empty house, just like it had been.

    I had almost settled back down when Sophia returned.

    "Hey," she said, walking through the wall; she dropped some heavy-looking scuba gear at my feet. "Put this on, we gotta go now. I'll try and cut your chain..." She walked back to the table I was chained to, started to angle her bolt cutters.

    That was when I noticed the serpent creeping up Sophia's leg.

    I screamed, ran toward her as she fell to the ground, but then I... I fell too, my own serpent tangled around my foot.

    Oh, no...

    "Hi," came a voice from the hallway. Taylor, back in human form, a smile on her face.

    "How did you get there?" I said weakly. "I... didn't hear you..."

    "Back door." She grinned sheepishly at me. "Sorry, but I can't have you both running away." She walked over to where I was lying on the ground; the serpent wrapped itself around my neck as Taylor rolled my limp body over, face-up. "I hope you don't mind," she whispered, "but I want to talk for a little while, and it'll hurt if I leave you lying like that the whole time."

    "Thanks," I murmured back, half-sarcastically. It did actually feel better, but... god, Taylor.

    She stepped away. "Hi, Sophia," she said, as she slouched into the wall above her fallen body. "How are you doing?"

    "Not fantastic, thanks for asking..."

    "Sorry. It'll get better, I promise. But, I mean... You've been down here twice so far. At least. How do you like it?"

    "Huh?"

    "Just tell me about it," Taylor said. "You floated down over our city for the first time last night; how was that? How did you feel?"

    "I... It is beautiful down here," Sophia said. "But—"

    "It really is." Taylor sighed, stretched out on her wall. "You know, I've been watching you for a while. Looking at how you react. I've never seen you as relaxed as when you're looking out to sea. How did it feel when you were sailing out here for the first time? I bet it felt pretty good..." She was smiling, just like she always was.

    "What are you getting at, Taylor?" Sophia sounded tired, irritated.

    Taylor transformed back into her fishwoman shape, then kneeled down, her face just above Sophia's head.

    "How do you feel when you look at me? I mean... I'm sure you're scared. But isn't there something else there, too?"

    "I don't know what you're talking about," Sophia said, sounding forceful and angry even with the serpent paralyzing her. "Stop messing with me!"

    "I think you do."

    "Look," said Sophia, "I know what you want to do. Emma told me. Just get it over with and kill me already!"

    "Of course I won't!" exclaimed Taylor, her face wrinkling up. "We don't kill our own!"

    Sophia stared. I stared. What?

    "And, besides," Taylor added, "we're friends."

    "I am not... one of you." She was quiet, calmer than she had been, but still firm and strong.

    "Yes, you are. It's always harder to see it from the inside, Sophia, but I knew from the moment I met you who you are."

    "No!" She jolted where she lay, her arms twitching as her body jerked across the floor. "I will not let you—" For one second, for one split second, Sophia went shadow again – and then she slumped back to the ground, exhausted, her head landing with a crack on Taylor's stone floor.

    "Ooh, neat, you can already resist the kovrik! Humans can't do that."

    After a few moments, a second serpent slithered onto her, binding her tightly; she stopped moving.

    "Like, Emma can barely talk. I wonder if you would have changed on your own soon after all? I understand if you don't want to accept it. But you can feel it. We both know you can."

    "You're wrong. He wasn't my real father." Sophia's voice was quiet, her breathing shallow. She'd been stronger than I was before, but now she'd been overwhelmed. "I don't have your blood."

    "Not him. Your mother's grandmother. She was one of us."

    "Really?" Sophia started to shake again, where she lay on the ground. She was still trying to break free... but she wasn't succeeding. "I... I can't believe this... How? What could have—"

    "You Awakened long ago. Whenever you started to notice us. But your blood is so thin that you didn't change along with it." She rested her hand on Sophia's head. "I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been. Seeing things that no one else could see, feeling things that no one else could feel, with no one there to guide you or even explain to you what was happening. Don't worry. We can help you."

    "Why would you do this?" She sounded like she was crying now, and she'd stopped resisting completely, too exhausted. "Even... I've been attacking you for months, but why can't you just... stop me, or lock me up like Emma? Why do you have to turn me into one of you?"

    "You are already one of us, Sophia. You're just not well." She looked away, stepping back. "You've hurt a lot of us, and someday you'll have to make that up. But this happens more often than you'd think. We can understand, and forgive."

    There was a clanking sound from outside; two more fishmen walked into the room. Grays, this time. They had a brief conversation with Taylor – sounded perfectly matter-of-fact, like she was talking to the delivery guys – and then they picked up Sophia, and carried her away.

    Taylor unlocked me from my chains, took me in her arms, and followed them to the entrance and out of the house.

    She swam to the pyramid, carrying me like she had last night; the sides of the pyramid stopped maybe ten feet above the sea floor, and Taylor walked beneath the walls and up a set of golden stairs.

    Strange, glowing, pulsing shards hung from the ceiling of the cavernous room. Where Taylor was standing, carrying me, I could tell that there were many altars – one big one, and a lot of smaller ones around the perimeter.

    The air was filled with smoke, and screams, and chants, and eerie flashes of light.

    This was their sanctuary.

    Taylor took me to one of the smaller altars and laid me down on it. There were straps there, leather with cold metal studs; she tied me down by my neck, by my arms, and by my legs.

    The serpent slithered away, and I regained control of my body. Not that I was going anywhere.

    "Emma," said the fishwoman standing over me, knife in her hand, "why are you so worried?"

    "I—" I started to shake. "T-Taylor... isn't it obvious? I don't want you to do this."

    "I know it's a little scary, and it might hurt a little, but it'll only take a few minutes, and then we won't have to keep you locked up anymore." She started to smile again. "It'll be fine, Emma. Really, it will. I promise."

    "Taylor... please...."

    "Sorry, I won't be able to stop to talk during the ritual, and you probably won't be able to hear me for most of it. But... we're friends, right? Trust me."

    Taylor took the knife, held it over her head, and closed her eyes.

    When she opened them again, she had already started to chant.

    I began to scream not long after that.

    I wasn't sure how long it took. I couldn't tell what was happening most of the time; after just a minute or two, my vision blacked out, then my hearing, then my sense of touch.

    When everything came back to me, I was lying on the altar, my bonds removed, my head and body faintly throbbing.

    "Okay, Emma!" said Taylor. "It's all done now. You feeling okay? I told you it wasn't going to be that bad."

    "I feel a little strange..." I sat up, swung my legs off of the altar, lightheaded. I felt like I needed a shower... I was covered in little drops of oil, and of her blood. Something on my right shoulder stung; I looked down to see a geometric design burned into my skin, all over my right shoulder and onto my arm and my chest. I hope that goes away, I thought dimly.

    "You might be a little woozy for a while," Taylor said. "But it'll pass."

    She took my hand, and started walking toward the stairs between altars; I followed, barely more able to resist than I had been with the serpent on me.

    "Normally I would give you rules now, but I actually need to go so I can help with Sophia's ritual. It's complicated, and they need all the help they can get... and, besides, it's going to be so awesome! I'm really glad I can do this for her."

    She pointed out the big altar; Sophia was strapped down to it like I had been, with two fishmen in jewelry like Taylor's watching over her.

    "There she is! She's almost ready. I should really go over now, I guess I'll have to send you home..." She slapped her forehead. "Oh, what am I thinking? You should watch! Sophia is your friend, too, and this is a big moment for her!"

    My eyes widened. "Um... I..."

    Taylor's eyes glowed as she looked at me. "Sit down and watch the ritual quietly and respectfully until I get you."

    "I understand," I mumbled, dully and automatically.

    "Sorry," she said, "I know that's kind of strict, but until I have the time to set permanent rules I really can't be vague. Now go on, I'll be back for you when I'm done!"

    The main altar was surrounded by many levels of stairs; they seemed to serve dual purposes, letting the priests get down to the altar and giving spectators someplace to sit.

    I wasn't the only one watching. A few other fishmen joined me. Plus a group that looked like it might have been a class trip, a lot of tiny ones with an older one.

    And I sat and watched, silently, as they turned my friend into a monster.

    Eventually, she screamed.

    ~~~~~~

    This chapter was beta read by Silently Watches, QuantumWhales, and landcollector, who receive a ritual knife, a bolt cutter, and a long chain made of a strange, reflective metal.

    As grim as this may look to you, remember that there are still other people fighting out there. Maybe our heroes will even be able to escape someday. However, their time as protagonists of the story is drawing to a close.

    The last chapter of The Brockton Look will be 2.5, and I expect it to be released within a week or two. It might, if there's interest and I have time, be followed by a successor series someday.
     
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    • BeaconHill said:
    "Don't apologize! It's... really cute, actually, it just... I'm..."
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    Oh wow I wasn't expecting this. That's kind of adorable, coming from Sophia.

    BeaconHill said:
    "It really is." Taylor sighed, stretched out on her wall. "You know, I've been watching you for a while. Looking at how you react. I've never seen you as relaxed as when you're looking out to sea. How did it feel when you were sailing out here for the first time? I bet it felt pretty good..." She was smiling, just like she always was.
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    ....ohhhh, that's why she thought the outfit was cute, and the city looked cool. Interesting how much of that is subconscious? I kind of assumed it was more cultural, but I guess a major theme of Lovecraft is things being in the blood.

    BeaconHill said:
    "Not him. Your mother's grandmother. She was one of us."

    "Really?" Sophia started to shake again, where she lay on the ground. She was still trying to break free... but she wasn't succeeding. "I... I can't believe this... How? What could have—"
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    When did Taylor find this out? I mean they didn't actually say they were going to kill her but they were really talking like they thought she was a rogue human at first... Were the fishpeople just humoring Sophia as she ran around interfering with them for like, months?

    BeaconHill said:
    "There she is! She's almost ready. I should really go over now, I guess I'll have to send you home..." She slapped her forehead. "Oh, what am I thinking? You should watch! Sophia is your friend, too, and this is a big moment for her!"

    My eyes widened. "Um... I..."

    Taylor's eyes glowed as she looked at me. "Sit down and watch the ritual quietly and respectfully until I get you."
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    Taylor switching from being kind to being cold and commanding is unsettling.

    I'm optimistic, though! Emmas with two of her friends, and while growing up is always hard I think Sophia might come out of this better. At least she won't be alone in knowing the truth, and isolated up on the surface, right? Taylor is right in that being a secret fishperson tends to be really hard on you. So maybe things for them won't be so bad? Taylor seems happy enough down there.

    Hopefully Sophia retains enough of herself that she doesn't go for the eating humans thing, though. Or Emma now that I think about it, since it's kind of implied they're only not serving her it because it would be too weird that soon, but it seems fairly prevalent in their food anyway.
     
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    landcollector said:
    Taylor's and Sophia's situations are rather different though.
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    Yeah, but Sophia does seem to really like the fashion, culture, etc in the city and enjoys the water a lot. That's promising in terms of her adjusting to live down there, once she gets over the weirdness of having a different body and being able to transform and so on.

    And from how she's talking, it seems like Taylor is going to try to be a friend to her and help her out? Unless she's getting locked up for hurting people but it seems like they'll focus on getting her to adjust to the new life first. I imagine they'll ease her into it at least a little?
     
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