Snowdrops
Echotech71
pantothenic
RisingRobin
Izurich
Jumbus
Noctis
Force and Fury
Dark Heart
Involved: Tommy, Ailet@Force and Fury
There was a hammering coming from the inside of one of the morgue cabinets, and Ailet rushed to go answer it. She blinked in the darkness and cursed under her breath. "I'm coming. I'm coming!" She picked the latch with her magnetic magic and it slid roughly open to reveal a bedraggled but otherwise unharmed Tommy, breathing heavily and wiping some hair from his face.
Blinking twice, she helped him out, hopping a step back and looking him up and down. She averted her eyes after a moment. "You... ahem." She glanced over for just a second. "Might want to put on some clothes." She gestured at a sheet that had been in there with him.
Before Tommy could do much, however, there came the sound of authoritative footsteps on the stairs and thump against the door. Without thinking, but very much thinking, Ailet rushed into Tommy's arms, her eyes pleading.
This... didn't feel right. He'd come through that portal adequately clothed, Desmond had seen to that after all. He'd lost some in the fight, mind you, but he wasn't stripped bare before the gods as he was when Oraff granted him his first breath. That being said, his sense of touch was also disconnected. Everything was wrong, and he was sure of one thing in that moment - this body was not his.
He reached for the sheet to pick it up, and he was sure he grasped it, but it did not rise with his hands. He tried again, only to be met for a second time with failure. Tommy Kavanaugh was a proud man of Enth, not one too weak to pick up a sheet of cloth, and he did not feel his muscles strain, because he had no muscles to strain. And were he a learned man, he would know that this was akin to the ghost stories many children in Barrowton, Dunvern and Harrowend read before a night of sleep. In fact, some of the students of the illustrious magical school may have been reading them on the night he'd come back.
Still, she rushed into his 'arms' and there was nothing there. He heard the banging on the door and looked to the girl that'd came to him. "Ailet, you knew me yeah? You think I'd ever struggle to pick up a fuckin' bedsheet? Why can't I feel anythin?" he paused, a little annoyed. He figured his return would be more fulfilling than this. "And I don't mean that in the weird fuckin' emotional sense. I was buzzin' to get back, but I mean my hands can't fuckin' touch anythin', you feel me? Well, you don't feel me?" he muttered, confused and seemingly mad. Again, he wondered why he was naked.
She went right through Tommy and stumbled, nearly falling over and twisting about to regard him strangely. Tommy spoke and... it seemed normal, but it wasn't. Ailet tried imagining him not there. Terribly scientific in her approach, she closed her eyes and plugged her ears. You're not real, she thought, you're not real, she thought, you're not there.
There was another loud knock on the door. "We can sense you in there! Open this door or we will open it!"
Ailet's eyes fluttered open in alarm. "Cud," she muttered, "Spax," she muttered, "Poca!" However, Tommy was... no longer there. You are in a state of limbo, she thought at him, Your soul is freed but it has no body.
She began moving as quickly as she could and was over by the evidence cage in three great bounding steps. I didn't pay much attention in theology class. I considered it all bunk, but the Gods are real, it turns out, and my entire worldview has just gone up in flames. She made no further pretense of stealth. She drew a massive amount of energy - everything that she could with her 8.5 capacity - and busted the lock open. Immediately, a thick cloud of sickly green chemical paralytic began to pour out of multiple nozzles and, at that moment, the door burst open as well.
Ailet'yrash'andarii could hold her breath for two minutes and twenty-four seconds. Her attackers could not. Massive bursts of kinetic magic forced the gases into their every orifice and they dropped. She hurried through into the evidence lockers.
He was there, and then he was not. A figment of her imagination? Had he ever been real? Did it matter? Tommy Kavanaugh did not care, for he found this terribly thrilling, and did not entertain the darker philosophical questions that would have whirled around a greater mind. Perhaps they were in hers, for he could see in hers? It was a strange thing - to share thoughts with another and he understood everything. The words she spoke in a foreign language were as real to him as the Enthish cusses he'd used regularly at the markets in Barrowton, or the banter he'd shared with mates at bars near the great dockyards.
"This is wild, Ailet." he laughed into her consciousness, having no material body. Even the act of 'speaking' felt strange. Then again, he'd been in hell for a month and a half, and this was better. "There's way too much goin' on up here though. How'dya know how long you can hold your breath?" he wondered, realizing that his thoughts too would reach her. He saw what she was after, not because he had eyes but because he knew what she'd think, and it was all terribly confusing. Visions of a thousand year plan rushed through his head and it clicked, but he didn't seem to mind or care. Besides, he'd gained an understanding of another language and the wonderful expressions that seemed to permeate it.
'yash duul spax' he thought, before a resounding chuckle played in her minds eye. That was a good one.
"What's the plan though, sweetums? Gonna pop their heads? How're we gettin' outta this sticky situation, my personal fuckin' limbo aside? Maybe my bodies in 'ere somewhere?" he asked, overcrowding her already overstimulated mind with more stupid questions, for it was his nature.
Dear Tommy, she thought, as she rifled quickly but methodically - and definitely not frantically - through the locker's possessions, I like your boundless curiosity. I like you, in a strictly platonic way. Please shut up for a moment. He had the image of a heart in his mind's eye - a disturbingly anatomically accurate one, mind you.
Then, Ailet's hand seized upon the apple. Unceremoniously and yet with paradoxical reverence, she slid it into her satchel, sparing a glance over at the two downed figures. She pulled out a few more items that looked valuable. Yours? she presumed, even as further energies approached. She was already drawing temporal energies. There were no clever quips, no words or speech. She simply triangulated space and time and then...
There she was, sitting in a spare room in the Ever Tree. Teleportation, Thomas, she explained to the presence in her head, following a caper and some associated skullduggery. Almost immediately, Ailet was moving, pushing open the double doors and striding out onto the balcony. Crickets chirped while moths and crane flies buzzed around an eclectic plethora of lanterns such as befit a residence of the yasoi. The air was cool and fresh and a light breeze stirred the leaves and her hair alike. The Tarlonese agent pushed her glasses up her nose and checked her pocketwatch, satisfied.
Spreading out before her was a starburst of branches and, below that, a drop of some twenty yards. She pressed a pair of little buttons at the tips of her crutch grips and the walking aids retracted. She flipped them back and clambered out awkwardly onto the branch for lack of a right leg. She crouched there for a moment, gripping it with both hands, took a deep breath, and prepared to drop.
He pretended to be hurt as he tried to quiet the thoughts for but a moment. Both their necks were on the line, and as she dug through the posessions of the locker, he metaphysically nodded in confirmation, that they were in fact his. Of course, it didn't matter if they were, he would have claimed so, regardless. In fact, as she looked at the bodies of the two fallen assailants, he too, felt a need to claim a rather nice pair of boots one was wearing, but they were whisked away in a flurry of magic to... somewhere else?
"Ain't that some bullshit. Schmovin' around like that? No wonder only that old fucker caught you, eh?" he laughed in her head, as he saw the memories that brought her here. He couldn't understand the workings of it, but he'd seen it be employed numerous times by the yasoi, and it was an impressive art. Many of his friends had these amazing gifts, and he couldn't help but feel slightly envious.
Then, she began her secret mission and he recognized where they were. Near the Arboretum? Memories of the room came flashing back to him as he recounted an encounter with Tyrel, in which he'd gone back to her room expecting a 'fun' time and received instead, a delightful friendly experience where the two played cards in their pyjamas and made shadow animals on her walls. It made him smile, in the metaphysical sense. Still, he had curiosity and didn't wish to delve too hard.
"Can I talk yet. Who're ya meetin'? Is it important?" he asked, slightly bored and restless, but mostly curious.
Oh, sorry, she remarked, you could've for a while. The statement was straightforward enough and she played it with such a deadpan nature that it was hard to tell if there was anything mischievous behind it, even if he was inside of her head.
With that, she dropped, hair fluttering about her, and landed gently in a crouch on all threes, courtesy of some kinetic dampening. In fact, you can go on about anything, she informed him, within decorum, of course, until we reach my destination.
She began moving, then, winding her way through the quiet streets under the light of five partial moons. It was just her, her foot, and the sidewalks before her - and Tommy. Yes, Tommy. In her head. Constantly.
Yasoi were naturally fidgety, and they had a tendency to get distracted and lost on strands of thought and conversation. Ailet, composed and dignified as she was, was no exception on the inside. However, the man sharing her headspace currently was twice as bad. The conversation never stopped, and perhaps she might have found herself losing nerve at the end of the night, but he continued to press, tease, jab, and ask everything he had on his mind, for it's all he could do. He didn't have a drug to consume, tasty food to eat or the pleasures of the flesh - nay - he had only his hyperactive mind and a conversation partner.
"You're a bigshot, aren'tcha? Thought you were strong n' knew stuff, but you're meetin' with some important fellas n' ladies." he thought, smirking in her head. "Do ya really believe in this stuff? Ersand'Enise bein' former yasoi lands? I mean, there's a lotta you guys there, but I thought it was between the prenchies and the pasta eaters, y'know? Stuffs wild..."
Thomas? Ailet said, as she turned a corner and cast about for other people's energies.
"What's up, sugar?" he replied smoothly, before there was a brief pause and he continued. "If this is some snarky way to tell me to shut up, you just gotta tell me and I'll do it. Just be nice, y'know. It's not easy in 'ere. You're too fuckin' smart and it hurts and I feel like I'm invadin' ya privacy."
And you haven't even reached my traumatic childhood memories yet, she remarked. You're still too happy.
There was a pause as she approached the door of a tavern that... appeared to be closed, and she took a moment to hitch up her tights, straighten her collar, and fix her hair. I know it isn't easy. I think I'd go insane without a body, but we'll get you one. I promise: as good as the original or maybe better. Now, she concluded, I will need you to quiet down, however. You can plumb around and know my innermost secrets, I suppose. It's nothing I wouldn't tell you if you asked anyhow.
With that, she bounced up and down once on her toes, swallowed and cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. She pushed the door open.
He stopped and listened to her with consideration, and then he spoke, materializing as opening the door for her. "After you. But, before I shut the fuck up so you can go about your secret agent shit, can you see my shit too? Cos if I'm diggin' around, you're welcome to do it too." he winked at her, looking at her enter and vanishing. "If ya need my help, I'm just a thought away. I'm a renown diplomat, after all." he joked, as he began to settle in and pry only slight. He begun with the traumatic childhood memories she'd referenced earlier.
An open book, Ailet remarked, managing something like a curtsy as she slipped through the door. I like books.
Then, she was in the meeting and he, in her head. They lay before him: the childhood memories of this strange girl, and his curiosity was not sated by the obvious, like how she'd lost that leg.
Tommy was standing there, but he was Ailet and she was perhaps nine years old and in her bed, trying to pull every inch of her covers over every inch of her body so she'd be safe from something called the erachenmuul. She tried to lie there on her legless side. She tried to tuck her arms in and pull her knee up to her chest. She kept her blanket over her head and breathed in only small bursts, so as not to alert the beast. It was irrational, she told herself. The erachenmuul was not a real thing; it was a story that people made up to scare each other but, with all of the horrors that were known to live in Tarlon, and the many others still unknown, could she be utterly certain? In her head, she imagined erachenmuulex all about her room: leaping out of her closet, creeping out from under her bed, dashing forward and springing out of her rug, dangling above her from the ceiling on gossamer threads. Energy beams leapt from her eyes, and slicing kinetic magics sliced them up.
Then, in her mind's eye, she sliced the leg off one and she felt bad for it, because that had happened to her. The moment of weakness allowed it to land on top of her and she screamed, sitting up in bed, thrashing her covers loose, and bounding out across the floor until she was halfway to the door, standing in the middle of the dark room in her nightgown without her crutches. The shadows moved and twisted and there was one on the floor. She was halfway between the bed and the door and she hopped for the door as fast as her leg would carry her. People were always surprised at how fast she was over short distances.
Her father came bursting into the room and scooped her up. She knew that she was too old. Shame burned at her cheeks. "It's okay, semprii. It's okay. What's wrong?"
"I..." she trailed off. The erachenmuul was not acceptable to say. She wasn't supposed to be scared of it. Now that there was some of the big room's lamplight spilling in, she could see the shapes clearly for what they were: everyday objects made indistinct in the darkness and transformed by her imagination into dangerous monstrosities. "...had a bad dream and then I saw some shadows and...I'm sorry for my weakness."
Father regarded her skeptically, and she yearned for him to just believe her. She was already damaged, she knew, and if she did not turn out to be the avatar of the goddess, she might be discarded to the frontier when she was older if she proved unfit mentally as well as physically. He set her back down and leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers. "Your weakness is forgiven. You are a child and still learning."
She twisted on the spot, hopping once toward her bed, and looked over her shoulder at him for reassurance. "Three seconds, kiddo." He began to count her down. "Three..." With something between a terrified squeal and a giggle, she hopped three great bounds. "Two..."
"Nooo!"
"One!" He shut the door and she leapt onto her bed, scrambling under her covers and preparing her psychic defenses. The room was pitch black, but she sat there, for a moment, only partially covered, and calmly took stock of where everything was and what it was. She managed not to be scared for the next hour and ten minutes. She counted it all out in her head until sleep took her.
"She's a strange kid," mother was saying, not sharing in Ailet's triumph. She'd snuggled under her blankets like they were used to, pretending to be either asleep or too terrified to pay attention to anything, and they'd left her be. "There's no getting around it. She's not going to be chosen, and then what?"
"She's a bright kid too. They might train her at the academy." Her father was her defender.
"But there are others just as bright, and she's... was she like this before?"
Ailet knew what 'before' meant: it referred to a time earlier than something else but, when people that she knew said it in that particular kind of voice or situation, it meant something else: Before I lost my leg. She'd lost part of her hip and most of her butt on that side too and she took a moment to sense it. It just... wasn't as weird as it had been at first. It didn't really feel like a part of her was missing unless she really thought about it. Was it that big a deal?
Her parents continued to speak and she reviewed the evidence and concluded that it was. She concluded that people would like her less because of it. She saw them stare at her. She perceived the way that their voices changed to be higher pitched and 'sweeter' when they spoke with her. She noticed how they seemed shy and awkward around her and spent less time with her unless other people were watching.
This, however, was not about that. "She counted her number of steps to school the other day," mother was saying, but didn't everyone do that? "She always hums the exact same tune when she bathes and if you interrupt her, well..."
"I've seen it," father admitted. "Listen, she's a little bit odd, but..." He, too, trailed off.
"And that covering her ears thing when there are noises she doesn't like?"
"She's not incapable, Meryen."
"Ugh. I know. I know," came her mother's voice, and Ailet stood there against the wall, slowly pushing up and then easing down against it as she listened. They hadn't even noticed her big victory against the erachenmuul or the hours of research she'd done on the shipwrecks of the Strait of Medlac, but she supposed she hadn't told them either. "Just... I'm worried for her. Between that and her poor leg..." There was a pause. "She's such a longshot. Why is our poor daughter such a longshot?"
Ailet was a longshot. That meant that she had little chance of winning. What was she a longshot for, though? That eluded her, and she felt like it shouldn't have.
"We'll train her up," father reassured her. "She's a smart girl - one of the smartest I've seen. We lean into her talents and all of her little obsessions and let her talk their ears off. Shiin knows she can rattle on for hours about some esoteric thing and you might actually learn if you listen."
Mother chuckled faintly and Ailet wanted to feel proud, like she was noticed, Like all of the cool stuff that she'd learned that adults should know too was worth something, but she wondered if the chuckle wasn't a happy one, or if she thought that it was stupid. Maybe mother loved her less now that she had one leg and was weird.
"Did you know that the wreck of the San Jacinta de las Palmas contained exactly three-hundred-fifty gold bars and that was also the number of its crew?"
"Did you know that the male deep sea anglerfish has no proper digestive tract and is parasitic to the female?"
"Am I, now?"
Her parents laughed and Ailet didn't know what to think. She shimmied back across the floor, not even hopping because it was noisy, settled into bed, and couldn't sleep.
Tommy saw these memories and they couldn't be more different than his own. Yet, her mind was similar to his. She too saw and imagined things that weren't there, and he empathized with her on that. Still, the way she saw things were was strange. It was like a scheduled routine in the way she observed them. Still, there was priveledges to this place. She had her own room, and her own bed, and her own blankets. Her room was well decorated and the signs of a loving family was there, even if the tone of judgement came in.
It was harrowing though, to be singled out. He knew of this too, when he was born. He was one of the few members of his family blessed with ability with the gift above common parlour tricks, and expectations weighed heavy on him from the moment he was a youngster. He'd looked for escapism from it, but it still weighed him down. There was love and shame there, but he'd never felt alone. In this space, he truly felt hollow and empty. It was a fear for him, to be so divided from the world and the people around him that the only thing he'd be surrounded with were the things in his head.
"You're enough, Ailet. Doesn't matter what they think of ya, or all the lil weird quirks you have, doesn't make you any less. If anythin', it makes ya more." he thought, trying his best to smile at the better parts of these thoughts.
Ailet paused, a hitch in her bearing. "I know they were," she responded to some question that Tommy hadn't quite perceived, so lost was he in her memory. There were a few more words exchanged with a shadowy hooded figure across from her and he struck Tommy as... vaguely familiar? Like a face he'd seen in passing before?
Then, there was something about Torragon and her being needed up north and she strode out of the tavern and back into the cool, clammy nighttime air. The air hummed with humidity and clouds were rolling in over the moons. You can talk again, Tommy, Ailet thought at him, feeling a bit insane but, then again, she'd always been 'weird'. We're going somewhere soon, but you can talk... as much as you want.
"Appreciate it." he muttered, manifesting beside her as she walked in the night air. He whistled a tune and actually was surprisingly quiet for a moment, before he thought to her. "Torragon, huh? You really get around for a girl with one leg." he laughed slightly at the joke, but then he realized it maybe before she did. She was hungry, tired, and unclean. Not that it was his body, but the girl needed to take care of herself.
"Before then, you should fuckin' eat somethin. And drink. How longs it been, eh? he paused, and looked at her mischievously, giving her a wink. "And a bath too. That wouldn't hurt."
Ailet tilted her head and regarded him. "Oh, I've blocked my abdominal pain receptors," she said out loud, since there was nobody here to watch her talk to herself. She smiled with a hint of her own mischief. "Tapas en Torragon?" she chirped. "Then, you can bathe." She winked and held out her hand, as if his would not just sink right through hers, as if he would be brought along with her anyways. "Oh, and one surprise first!"
"Para mí? You're too kind, senorita." he remarked, smiling and wishing he could feel her hand, but the sentiment was enough. He was sure he didn't know those words, but hey, she did, so right now, he did.
With that, they reappeared not in Torragon, but on an enormous circular platform on a windswept seashore. Enormous deep grey waves beat against a rocky coast and there was a chilly nip in the air as it swirled Ailet's hair about her. Every once in a while, ocean spray would burst up over the lip of the platform and rush across it in a fast thin wave no more than an inch or two deep. Home, the yasoi thought at Tommy, and then tapas. She strode across the platform and it was hard to miss its faded brown colour and the thousands of concentric rings around it. Nearby rose a series of buildings in a stout but stylish compound, almost entirely carved out of a single colossal piece of wood. Beyond was a forest of impossibly tall trees.
That was not where they were headed, however. They were headed for a large vertically-sliding door that had been left partially open. Above it flew a black, white, and silver flag with a red starburst.
He took the sights in, for he'd never been. The architecture was certainly interesting, and differed from the constantian neighbors, but what took him by surprise was how maritime it felt. It wasn't too dissimilar to his own home. It was harsher, but not worse. He took a breath of air he didn't need, for he didn't exist, and turned to her, leaning over the platform. "Not what I expected, y'know. It's harsh and cold, kinda like where I'm from." he smiled as he followed along presumably to her abode. "Seems cozy, though. How'd ya normally get warm?" he asked, curious in his tone as he followed along.
Ailet blinked, twice. "Firewood." It was only then that it hit him that what he was standing on was a massive tree stump, far larger than any he'd ever seen. "Fuck me..." he thought, looking down. He wished he could touch it. "Was this around when you was a young'un?"
Ailet nodded, dimly aware of how crazy it must've made her look. "This was the aloi'hax, as we call it, the first of her grove and nearly five thousand years old. She fell to the Ai'meda when they attacked," she confirmed. "Burnt too badly for us to save her, so we preserved what was left and gave her a new life, of sorts."
He too nodded, for he didn't have to fear looking ridiculous. "All you can do, I s'pose. Can't say we got these in Enth." he smiled, thinking of home. "Where I'm from, used to be a big forest apparently. King had em' hacked down for longbows in some war against the prenchies god knows how long ago, and they never really grew back." he looked outward to the vast forest. "But it seems like you still got plenty of 'em here. Maybe there'll be another big fucker in the far future, hm?"
Ailet smiled faintly. "There will be," she agreed, with something strange in her voice, "as long as we win."
Then, however, they were approaching the door and there were figures moving about inside, opening it. I love you, Tommy, she thought quickly in a voice that made it sound offhanded, but you need to get back in my head now until I explain things to them.
One of the figures waved at her. "Well, if it isn't Yrash'andarii!" it exclaimed, resolving itself into a particularly tall and rangy-looking woman with black hair in a ponytail, knifelike features and glasses that matched Ailet's. "Back in one piece after being stolen by the warmongers!"
"Emyuulen!" the one-legged girl exclaimed, putting on a burst of jogging speed, "Haven't been too bored without me, have you?"
The flat-chested awkward-looking woman came to a stop in front of her and held out her arms. She bounced up and down from foot to foot. "Suuuuuuunei!" she squealed, and they embraced each other. She was tall enough that Ailet's face was somewhere around her shoulders.
What exactly did she mean by that? By all of it? He laughed, and retorted. "They can't see me, right? But I s'pose you mean to shut up. No worries. I gotcha. Don't keep me waitin' too long." He ceased to exist and returned to her headspace, and simply observed her familiarity with this other girl. He watched, for a moment, and wondered whether she truly meant what she said. And if he had to be silent and wait for her to explain, then he'd simply dig around some more. He wondered truly, what was going through this girls head.
Instead, he saw through her eyes and heard through her ears. This was a complex of some sort, with airy stained-glass windows in a light abstract style, gently curved walls, and grand rooms with sweeping vistas. It was all constructed of a single great tree stump, with towers carved and fluted so that the wind would play different notes as it whistled through the gaps. They call this place the Seasong Tower, Ailet remarked in her head as she followed Emyuulen deeper underground.
The windows became long shafts, strategically placed to spill columns of light where they were most needed and most aesthetically pleasing. Dust motes sparkled under the beams and, everywhere were atriums rising up two, three, or four floors, with benches and tables occupying nooks in their further reaches, and compact spiral staircases carved from the single unified piece of wood that made up everything here. In the darker corners, glass bubbles protected fungi glowing with bioluminescence and they cast a soft light over those areas. It was... art, but it was highly functional.
The two girls made nondescript chitchat as they walked, speaking about Ailet's mission, but it was nothing Tommy couldn't access already from living inside of her head. She checked in at various desks and was directed onwards until, eventually, she picked up another escort - Badren - who had a colourless uniform and a keyring, and went ahead of her, opening doors. The light down here was all bioluminescent, sprouting in bulbs from the walls and hanging in globes from the ceiling. Different areas seemed to have their own unique colours.
Finally, they came to a waiting room labeled [CREATION & RECONSTITUTION]. Everything was antiseptic white. Ailet was given a cup of water and told to sit and wait. The 'department head' would be with her shortly.
He felt some sensory experience like this, akin to her memories but very much in the moment. It was better, but irritating. There were so many things that she was keeping track of that were completely arbitrary, and he felt himself distracted numerous times. Even so, he spared his gaze around the complex they were inside, and he felt interest at everything at play here. It reminded him of Johann's place, just more... brutalist? Everything had a place and purpose, and he looked down with Ailet at the cup of water she'd been given only to be annoyed.
"Get yerself a pint, lass! You literally just crawled outta fuckin' hell!" he felt himself enraged at the circumstances. "Even Big J the Kerreman knows when to work and when to play!"
In Tarlon, we practice going without food and drink for weeks and days on end, respectively. Waiting a couple more hours will only make the feast sweeter. Restrainedly, she sipped from the cup and, had she two knees to press together, she would have. All about was the hum of energy, most of it blood or binding or... it was difficult to tell the two apart, in truth, and that was the dirty secret of most human magical practice: one that the yasoi did not avoid.
Then, finally, a tall thin man in spectacles and a white smock emerged from one of the doors and inclined his head in Ailet's direction. "I salute professor Andarii's service to our people," he said, and Ailet placed her cup aside, rose, and bowed more deeply.
"I salute premier Tazath's accommodation in seeing me on such short notice. I understand he is a busy and important man."
Premier Tazath nodded and gestured for her to follow him. With a flick of his wrist, the door before him folded back as if it had been made of many pieces of paper. Ailet stepped through and the pair soon seated themselves in a small well-lit room. Beyond a large curtain with the label [CREATION ROOM 1] people were moving about and there was the undeniable energetic stench of blood magic. The premier crossed his legs and arms alike, leaned back, and nodded for Ailet to begin.
"Yeah, yeah. I think you've already done that, you delightful fuckin' nerd. 'Ave a drink." he spoke, and she could see his eyes rolling in her minds eye. He ceased his talking when another gentleman walked into the room and began to share titles of respect. Protector, provider, premier, there was a funny theme going on here. Then they were inside a room that felt like magic that wasn't to be touched at Ersand'Enise, but not something he'd disavowed himself from looking into. In fact, he was a push away from applying for those oogly boogly edgy blood magic classes right before the revolution, and yet, here he was.
"Y'know, this sorta shit's outlawed at Ersand'Enise. There's only a couple of fuckers who teach it. I was interested before I got my head mulched. What're we doin' here, nuumi'ensa?" the language rolled off his thoughts almost naturally, creepily in fact, for one who'd likely spoken maybe 10 words of yasoi in their life.
Ailet blushed fiercely, unable to adequately curtail the biological reaction. In the middle of his sentence, Premier Tazath stopped and tilted his head. "You just blushed, my dear," he observed, and she swallowed and nodded. "An entirely inappropriate reaction to the act of observing something about a tree."
"That is the matter about which I wished to speak, Ailet replied. "The individual I've been covering in my account has been appearing to me in a series of intense hallucinations over the past day since my return." She pursed her lips. "One cannot discount the possibility of my having had a dissociative episode, but given my previous indicators of mental stability, it would appear unlikely." She blinked. "Why would I be imagining him and so vividly?"
"Your biochemical indicators tell a certain story."
Ailet fixed her glasses and cleared her throat. "He was a traditionally attractive - if somewhat rough-looking - young male, by huusoi standards." She blinked a few more times. "A purely biological reaction that was by no means particularly pronounced."
Premier Tazath shrugged. "And you said he was Enthish, correct?"
"Correct, premier." She bowed her head slightly.
Her senior tapped his quill against his chin pensively. "I see..." he remarked, uncrossing his legs and furrowing his brow. "Fair complexion? Crooked and discoloured teeth?"
"Correct, premier." She bowed her head slightly.
He rose all at once. "Come with me, professor Andarii. We recently had something quite interesting stumble into our arms and we weren't quite sure what to make of it." He turned and motioned for her to follow with a flick of his fingers. "Perhaps you'll have some insight."
He listened, and they went on and on, until he heard something that made his heart break, that he simply could not countenence. "Crooked and discoloured?" he exclaimed, covering his mouth in shock. He was standing right beside Tazath, scowling at the man. "I've got the best in my family, y'know. Brushed em' every day. And you... traitor!" he accused Ailet, pointing at her, before shaking his head and realizing her earlier words. "Traditionally attractive though? Heh. Hehehe. You think I'm hot?" he grinned, showing off those not so pearly whites.
It was as if someone was grabbing and pulling her from inside. Midstep, Ailet's hands shot to her mouth and she stumbled, nearly falling. She hopped to save her balance and then her arm, of its own volition, went and started pointing at... herself? Incongruously, she grinned before tamping down on it.
It took Tommy himself a moment to cue in that something was amiss, and the premier was - by then - facing his junior. "Fascinating..." he murmured. Then, louder: "Are you quite alright professor Andarii?"
Ailet's eyes were wide. Her heart pounded and her breaths came quickly as theories raced through her head. There was only one that she could settle upon. "Uh... I'm not so sure, to be honest."
Tommy didn't quite clock what was happening at first, but he felt it. His actions and hers were linked, because currently, their minds were. That was the premise he'd settled on, because he didn't understand the deeper connection or science at play here. "Alright, that's a lil scary, don'tcha think?" he remarked to her, before pondering for a moment. "I'm no bodysnatcher, but we oughta test this out when I'm not in front of your sciency premier colleague or whatever the fellas called."
I think we should bloody well test it out this very moment while the experts that might help us are here! Ailet retorted.
"Miss Andarii? I say, are you experiencing a loss of bodily control?" Premier Tazath seemed particularly fascinated.
"You're even fuckin' talking like me. When've you ever said bloody... fine, fine. Didn't wanna make ya lose your job or whatever sorta bullshit you're in 'ere." he waved off her retort and attempted to assume control. He imagined himself in her body, and forced his will for but a moment. It felt invasive and he didn't at all like the feeling, but when he was there, he felt a complete lack of balance. Everything seemed to move slower, and he felt himself tumbling to the ground as he barely caught himself from dashing her face across the clean room.
"Yeah... how does one walk on one leg... n' why is everythin' so fuckin' slow..." Tommy remarked from Ailet's lips in utter confusion. He touched her skin and felt something, and there was a grim sensation in finally being able to feel something, but at the cost of controlling another. He shook his head. He wouldn't betray this girl.
Premier Tazath pursed his lips as he watched the display. "With great fucking difficulty, Tommy!" Ailet called back, "and I'm plenty fast for my needs, thank you very much!" She was only in his head, however.
"Mr. Kavanaugh, I presume?" the premier inquired in perfect, though accented, Enthish.
Aye. N' you're the uh... premier? I think that's what she called ya?" he.. she? responded, struggling to rise to his foot. He leaned on a nearby wall for support, and nearly fell another time but managed to steady himself through a very improvised hold on a crutch. He responded in Enthish, but it didn't feel right coming from her mouth. "Didn't know you lot spoke my tongue in this part of the world, but I guess it's only natural for the learned folk." he found himself saying, and the voice just didn't sound right to him. He cringed slightly, and even his vocabulary had adjusted slightly. He thought to AIlet for a moment. 'This fucker's looking at me like he wants to kill me. Are we alright? Props, for the record, for getting around like this. I'd be on one of those chairs like Issy, I'm tellin' ya.' before he switched focus back to Tazath.
"If I'm to be honest, it's been over twelve years and I don't know if I could even get around on two anymore," Ailet admitted in his... her? headspace. "And no, he's analyzing you. He's seeing if there's any truth to this or if it's a hoax or I've simply lost my marbles. I don't speak Enthish, though I'm getting a sense of it as you speak. That was a test and I do believe you've passed it."
"Just so, Mr. Kavanaugh. That'll do for now. Perhaps you'd be willing to hand back control so professor Andarii might move again. Her... locomotion involves a great deal of muscle memory and I shudder to think of what it might look like without her in the driver's seat, so to speak." He paused. "I believe there's something just beyond these curtains that might interest you both a great deal."
"I will not." he paused, and his expression went stone faced. "With this powerful body, I will conquer the world. Bwahahahaha!" he tried to put on a menacing air and evil laugh, but it just fell flat into giggles as he waved his hand and nearly fell over as a result of it. "Kiddin, kiddin'. This girls a treat. Give her a meal n' a bath when this is done, yeah?" he winked at Tazath with a playfulness that couldn't be attributed to the young scientist, before handing her the 'reins'. 'Don't say I've never walked in your shoes now, sweetheart. he remarked in her head, continuing to laugh at his horrid attempt at movement in her body. Still, it earned a certain degree of respect for her, being able to move and adapt under those circumstances.
It was a good thing that Tommy was in charge of Ailet's face at that moment, for her reaction would've been... shock? Horror? A blush? A deep and almost painful cringe? Then, all at once, as if someone had just dropped her there, Ailet was herself again. She found her arms wrapping about her form almost - but not literally involuntarily and pulled them back to her sides and her crutches after a moment. Shoe, she corrected Tommy inwardly, Singular.
Premier Tazath took it all in stride, pivoting once more on his heel, hands clasped at the small of his back. He led them through the curtains and into the room beyond. It was... both a wonder and a horror. A dozen or more yasoi of all ages and genders moved about between various operating tables, and there were all sorts of glass and copper... tanks, the former with what appeared to be blobs of flesh in them!? Large spinning reservoirs of energy were spaced throughout the room, and further yasoi in grey jumpsuits seemed to be maintaining these. There were tubes, pipes, and vials with various liquids, slabs of various odd types of minerals in a variety of sizes, and an entire wall full of what appeared to be various body parts in jars.
Most strangely, however, Tommy felt something from Ailet that he'd only felt a handful of times before: nervousness and... was it shame? This is where I work, she told him in her head. We try to find ways to make the yasoi - and human - body better.
'Dear fuckin' lord, that's a sight. There's a big tubby kid at my school, charmin' fella but he dabbles in this sorta shit. Nothin' quite so grand and organized as this though.' he remarked in her head. It wasn't disgust that framed his thoughts but merely surprise that something like this could happen on such a large scale. 'You alright though? Hunger hittin' ya? Or is it the work?' he prodded, wondering why she was feeling so nervous, even though he somewhat knew the answer, for right now, he was her.
It's not exactly... normal people work, she admitted, filing away that bit about the... obese student for later. Some are squeamish. Some think it's.... creepy.
They continued through and there, behind a second set of curtains, a few more people moved about. Premier Tazath held up a hand and Ailet came to a stop. "One moment, my dear, if you please."
He disappeared through them and then Ailet was alone, but not really alone, for she had Tommy in her head. She made her way quickly to a set of pegs, grabbed a white coat and gloves, and hurried back just on time for the premier to poke his head back out. "Do come in."
"So, is this him, then?" asked a familiar-sounding voice. Yet, it was wrong. It was all wrong. Sitting on the table, grinning at Ailet and - by extension - Tommy, was... Tommy.
'For the record, it is kinda creepy. But it's useful, y'know? Like a spider. That's what me mam used to say. No creepy spiders n' the house gets filled with flies in the summer, and that's way worse than bein' a lil offputting.' he remarked, giving her a metaphysical reassuring pat on the shoulder.
'You gotta be shittin' me... is that Anje? I guess it makes sense, huh? But that's me! he thought to Ailet, absolutely bewildered at this series of events. Honestly speaking, it could hae honestly been one wild and wacky dream, and he'd have been set to wake up in his pyjamas back at his dorm room. Alas, it was not, and he was face to face with himself. This was by far the most disorientating sequence of the day, and he felt his mind grow somewhat unsteady. His grasp on reality and fiction was fading faster than he could really comprehend, and so, he asked a final question to Ailet.
'If... if I get stuck inside your head, touchwood I don't, you'll be nice to me, right? he remarked, resorting to baseline humour as a last resort for his own stability. Still, the experience was terrifying to him.
Ailet seemed, for what it was worth, almost as uncertain as Tommy. She reached out for him in her head as if to embrace him and then the anxiety hit, the aversion hit, and... she made herself do it. I'll do everything I can - and I mean 'everything' to get you back in a body - she assured Tommy, It just might not be yours, exactly.
"Ah, yes," interjected the premier, back in the world outside of her head. "This is apparently Anjeluun'asaan'tenjaxii, a figure from our history, having been on quite the adventure with yourself and Mr. Kavanaugh." He pushed his glasses up his nose. "I do admit to some skepticism at first."
"Hah!" laughed not-Tommy. "You thought I was some stark raving mad yanii. Anyhow..." Her eyes returned to Ailet. "So, you're him, then?" she snorted.
Ailet bristled as she turned to address the assumption. "I'm still very much Ailet." Her voice betrayed only a hint of the massive boiling hatred that Tommy would've felt inside of the yasoi. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced from her. Were she a dog, her hackles would've raised and her fangs bared. A low growl might've emanated from her throat. Instead: "But some version of Tommy has been... existing in my mental space," she admitted.
"More than that, dear," Anjeluun rejoined, "Try drawing, since you likely haven't yet, or you'd know, as a competent researcher. Tell me what you notice."
Tommy was surprised at the rage. He knew that she did not like Anjeluun because of some twisted past between their people, but they seemed to make amends in Hell. Perhaps that'd been a momentary truce, because were she him, she'd have leapt across the table and kill her on the spot, if she could. This was Ailet though, and she maintained control.
'I know you didn't like her, but damn. Sorry I made ya work with her, I shoulda known better. You're too good at keepin' yerself in check. he remarked, patting her on the shoulder.
And in response to Anjeluun's backhanded comment, Ailet drew, for she was more than happy to. There was something that she noticed immediately upon reaching her capacity, was that it was higher, not drastically so but by a noticeable margin. Was this a product of going through hell? Or was there something more at play here?
"He's more than a mental artifact. His capacity has materially added to my own." Ailet addressed the premier. "I assume it's the same for her."
Premier Tazath nodded. "She reported something similar." His eyes darted between the two and narrowed momentarily, as if taking note of something. "We'll be looking for verifiable quantifiable data later on, of course." There was a hint of a smile on his face, and his glasses gleamed under the artificial light. "The implications of this discovery, if we can find a way of harnessing it, are sea-changing."
Ailet nodded. "I am at your disposal, premier Tazath," she replied, bowing her head.
"As am I," replied not-Tommy. "But also my own, naturally." He-she cracked a lopsided grin and looked so very much like the real thing that a wave of intense revulsion rose up inside of Ailet. Tazath, for his part, let out a mirthful snort. "Naturally," he replied. "Now, if we can get you to lie down on the other table, professor Andarii, we might begin running some tests?"
You owe me no apology, Thomas. Ailet finally addressed him, having a moment as she stripped down and covered herself with a towel. Your course of action was levelheaded and correct in all ways but the needlessly emotional. It got us out of hell, after all.
'Emotions are important too, Ailet. It's what makes us who we are, y'know?
They lay flat on the table, and the experiments were conducted, Most of them were mundane, a testing of reflexes, bodily function, vitals and the like. It was all terribly mundane until a swap was once again requested, and Tommy occupied the body of Ailet once more. At least this time, he wasn't forced to attempt to stand in the much unfamiliar body, but the methods of testing were probing and uncomfortable. He too, conducted under the same series of tests as Ailet and performed wildly differently, obvious given that they were two different people that currently shared a body. Some time during, he was naturally distracted by the drawn out scientific process, and incredibly uncomfortable occupying something that wasn't his, so he began to converse with Ailet whilst notaries wrote down the specifics of what was occurring.
'Don'tcha think it's weird we got such diferent skillsets?' he thought, smiling. A yasoi in a white coat chastised him and his expression quickly returned to normal. 'Seriously though, these fuckers are thorough. I know it's part of the process, but I feel gross for forcin' you into your own head. Any ideas how we can make this shit go faster? he remarked, as the next series of tests began and his attention was once again recalled to the team of scientists. This one was related to magical aptitude, and they too remarked on how different their skillsets seemed to be. The only shared note was that they both shared a high aptitude for Kinetic, but the sensibilities and practicality of those skills were vastly different, and the process took a considerable amount of time considering Tommy's inability to explain how he conducted his own spellcasting ability. Not to mention that he accidentally destroyed a piece of lab equipment from his capacity being several times higher than usual. That sort of power was intoxicating to him, and he understood why the nobility flaunted their power so openly and eagerly in that moment.
Well, you pay attention and it'll go faster, which would be... optimal, Ailet replied. But I would love to just be able to shut myself off for now. They'd moved on to a study of mana and nervous mapping and there came a sigh from Ailet. How about I take a dive into your deep dark mind? I've nothing better to do.
'Help yourself. I owe it to ya since I saw a piece of your head.' he remarked in her head, as he heeded her advice and paid attention. She wasn't wrong after all, and to get things right, they had to be intrusive and scrupulous. Ailet drifted through the mind and memories of Thomas Kavanaugh, and in a weird coincidence, found a memory of his 13th birthday. A strange coincidence, considering today was officially his birthday. An auspicious timing to re-emerge from hell.
She found herself in the body of the young boy sat outside on a warm Dorrad's morning, for it was the height of that season after all. A rare occasion for Enth, but the sun was high in the sky and there were no clouds to be seen. He'd walked from his crowded townhouse as many of his family had left for their various jobs and enterprises in the morning, and none had wished him well on the day of his birth, but he thought perhaps that they might have remembered later on. He'd learned to expect nothing, for times were tough and the family was large. Still, a walk in the sun helped ease the tension in his mind and he found himself staring at the waves from a bench near the Barrowton docks.
Oftentimes, he found himself here whether rain, sun or snow. There was a peace in the rocking of the boats and the talk of sailors, dockworkers and construction. He sat there for a while, maybe a couple of hours. His stomach rumbled in hunger, for he'd had no breakfast but he simply observed how the sun moved across the sky, how men moved across the ships and how some came and went. He had thoughts about life, and an innumerable amount of regrets swirling around his mind.
One that particularly stood out was a fight he'd gotten into around a month prior, that he'd never stopped thinking about. He'd been at a bar with a bunch of older kids, for he often kept their company. Tommy made a point of keeping rougher company, and around the rough and tumble families of Moat's End and Dunn Street, his family name held a degree of respect among the gaggles of street gangs and ruffian children that roamed. One of his friends, Lewis Wynter, had gotten a rather unusual 'lucky' streak at a gambling table, and a raucous fight ensued between a gaggle of kids and older gentleman.
It was a whirling memory that he didn't have much recollection of. The adrenaline had spiked and many had gone for weapons in their haste. Tommy had no such need of those implements, and employed the gift as instinct, where he'd never shown it to the majority of his associates before. An arm of a man who was about to stab his friend went clean off with no interference, and a stool-chair was reduced to splinters, but he remembers grabbing his buddy by the arm and running out of that bar through a variety of alleyways in the dead of night. He remembers the sickly sweet coppery smell that came from the wound. The way it was so easy for him to mortally wound someone. He remembers that the man died that night, not only of that wound but of numerous stabbings that came after, and how 5 people died in a fight at The Jester's Folly. More were wounded. Hugh Sharman lost an eye to a dinner fork. Timmy Mugge had to have his left arm amputated from a gangrene infection.
He thought for so long about how fragile and weak mortal lives were, and then about how his mother had described the rich. They probably laughed at the idea that someone could die of something so... inane, but it was life. The hours passed like minutes to Ailet, but the memory picked up once someone came and sat next to the boy. His Aunt Deborah, or Debby, as she went by. A one eyed woman who'd worked at the docks since she was a girl, and his favourite relative besides his mother.
"Happy birthday, Tommy." she smiled, and ruffled his hair. He remembers that she was missing a good deal of her teeth, and how she had a burn mark on her right hand from when she hadn't been paying attention ironing clothes. How those fingers never seemed to move properly. How she walked stiffly from an accident at the docks. She reached into a satchel she often had at her side, and handed him a sheathed knife, with a more ornate handguard. "Even if ya got yer magic, shouldn't be unprepared. I don't wanna be goin to yer funeral. You gotta die after I do, ye troublemakin' lil shit." She winked at him with her one good eye, and he took the gift in his hands. It frightened him how nice it felt to hold, and that feeling of safety it gave him.
He said his thanks but the words weighed heavy on him as he began to walk. He didn't want to show her that his stomach was rumbling, because she'd have bought him food. He did not want to be a burden on someone who actually cared about him, even if she showed it in a weird way like buying him a knife. Still, it remained strapped to his hip and he went about his merry way back to his house. He passed through a long running alleyway of Dunn's End, that ran dangerously close to that tavern he so often thought about. Tommy knew the streets well, and he ducked through another passageway toward the back end of a bakery. where they threw out the scraps from the night prior.
He smelt it first. Then he heard the buzzing of flies gathered around a carcass. He flinched slightly before looking, and there was a sense of relief when it wasn't a man he saw, but a dead pidgeon. It made it no better when he rifled through the trash near the carcass and took what little remaining unspoiled stale bread that was there, but it filled the hole in his stomach as he began to stroll home. The only thing he felt was an immense gratitude that it wasn't a corpse, but he'd suspected it might have been. He'd seen more than one in that same spot.
The day had been like any other, for him. Many celebrated their birthday, but he did not. There was no cake or celebration when he got home, and only his mother remarked on it when she said good night to him. Only his Aunt Debby had gotten him a gift, and he treasured that blade for as long as he had it. Still, he slept better that night knowing at least one person cared about his life.
For a long time, Ailet said nothing. She did nothing. She simply processed: the casual poverty - in Tarlon, they fasted, but it was a choice; the assumption of indifference - it had hurt Ailet when her parents hadn't seemed to support her; the casual violence - in Tarlon, the environment was the ever-present danger, not people. She stood out, forever marked by an act of exceptional violence that had taken nearly a quarter of her body, but that was exactly what it was: exceptional.
The pause extended. The tests were finishing up, on both subjects. I care about you, Tommy. It just came out of her. She wasn't sure why, but it did. She found herself wondering if he still had the knife or if it had been on him when he died.
The examination was over and she took control of her body back. I want to see if we have your knife.
What followed was an hour or more of technical discussion and a teleport to the upper levels of the complex, where steam boiled off from a set of large aromatic cauldrons, and people broke bread from a singular great loaf to dip in a piquant stew. There were strange, airy sweet fruits, and cold fresh water. Ailet ate deeply and eagerly. This is piqash'thenii'mang, and the bread is tang'qit'vuud. We all share it, she told him in her head. The fruits are pereh'olii and silora. Can you taste it? She prepared to hand him control so he might.
He smiled in her minds eye in appreciation. He knew that well enough now, for people had gone to hell for him and she'd risked her own skin just to get him a body. He was grateful, truly, and any lost faith he'd had in his fellow man had long since been restored from that experience. 'Might 'ave been in the evidence locker. They mighta tossed it out though, was old n' barely holdin together.' he remarked fondly. Then, testing continued and so did discussions. He asked her some questions, but he remained quiet for a moment. He'd not failed to notice how hungry or fatigued she was when he'd occupied her body, and when they finally went to eat, he was glad. He knew what it was like to live on an empty stomach, and perhaps that's why he was so insistent on fulfilling those urges when given the opportunity. Part of it was greed, sure, but there was an acute awareness that each meal might be your last.
He occupied her just for a moment, to taste the myriad of flavours that came about the food. He enjoyed the communal style of eating, and he partook of everything. Perhaps his sloppy manners stood out more than when Ailet had eaten, but he did not speak out loud, only remarking to Ailet with a short 'Thank you. This shit's good. Different, but I like it. You'll 'ave to make it for me sometime, eh? And I can treat ya to a full Enthish. he remarked, smiling as he sampled the last of the variety, handing her body back to her. He was content to watch her eat and fill her stomach, for he could feel her satisfaction, but he did speak up when she'd finished sating her hunger.
'Y'know, it's a shame you weren't enrolled at the school. I guess you got this sorta shit to do, but d'you think we woulda been friends? Would you 'ave given me the time o' day? he thought, softer this time.
Ailet stopped to consider, midway through floating her tray back to the counter with magic. I probably wouldn't have, she admitted. My focus has always been on the mission. There was a pause as she let it down and began walking. Would you?
'Bein honest, I don't think so either.' he thought, laughing slightly at the irony of it all. 'But I'm glad we met. Thank you, Ailet. Heh, that rhymed. Think I'm gettin' wittier bein in your head.'
Ailet smirked, heading out into the atrium and starting to pull on the threads of space and time. Not something anyone's accused me of before, she laughed. I might do 'smarts', but 'wit' isn't usually a strong suit.
They were soon back on the other floor and in a boardroom. Normally, Ailet would've been part of the study, but her bodily needs had taken precedence after so long without.
"Simply put, this line of research shows great promise," Premier Tazath was explaining, "and we're interested in trying to recreate it."
"And if that item you recovered serves the purpose we were hoping for, this could be the start of something truly mighty." It was Emyuulen.
"We would do well not to get ahead of ourselves," advised another figure whose name both Tommy and Ailet had forgotten. "First, the proposed operation."
"Yes, precisely. We've been able to draw invaluable data from this study on the continuing nature of manas following biological death and how they map to the body."
What followed was a long-winded explanation full of terminology that Tommy struggled to grasp though, apparently, Ailet did. She explained the odd bit to him but, essentially, it boiled down to a half-dozen of Tarlon's most skilled binders in a secret department using the biological map from Tommy's manas contained in Ailet to essentially 'heal' a new body for him. Then, it was a matter of coaxing them into that new body...
To be continued.
