| Предыдущая глава |
↓ Содержание ↓
↑ Свернуть ↑
| Следующая глава |
It takes him all of two minutes as Firebreather recovers from his coughing fit. Though once he does, he just starts another back and forth. Getting angrier and angrier as I refuse to answer him until I just ignore him. And eventually, I manage to get Crystal functioning as a normal human being!
Well... as normal as someone like her can get at least.
"Puh!" She gasps, eyes shooting wide open before snapping shut as the freshly remade and inexperienced lenses get their first taste of light.
Lucky it wasn't daytime! That'd suck!
"Wow, there really are no consequences to anything for me." I let out a little chuckle as I feel the existential dread of nihilism start to wash over me as I recall how bullshit some of my powers are at making various facts of reality meaningless in the face of my whims. "... Repressing that!" I say and stand up, patting off my shorts and thighs.
"What do you-" Crystal groggily asks, struggling to sit up.
"Oh he was just flirting with me while you were unconscious." I gesture to Firebreather, explaining the situation to my cousin. "Said some real creepy stuff. I'm almost flattered, honestly. But still, no one should be talking about what kind of lingerie they'd like to see a thirteen year old wear." I say. And while they both stare at me in confusion, I walk over to the ledge and give them a two fingered salute. "Deuces!" I say and let myself fall over.
I'll let the idiot deal with that misunderstanding. See what happens when you act dumb around me while I'm tired.
.
.
Finally, bed sweet bed. Where I can now rest my weary head, now that the beast is dead. And tomorrow I'll awake to a breakfast and be fed. I ran out of words to rhyme with bed. That being said-
"Kitsu!" Mom calls my name just as I lay head down to rest.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH! COME ON!" I cry out as a I roll over and off my bed. Pausing briefly as I fall over onto my face with a thunk. "... Ow."
I give it a few moments. Hopefully it's nothing too important and she'll just let me sleep. That way I can-
She's coming up the stairs. Darn, and the floor was getting so comfy.
She at least has the courtesy to knock before entering, so that's considerate at least. If only she had a bit more courtesy to let me sleep. Contrary to popular belief, foxes are not nocturnal. And neither am I!
Unless there's a tournament in CoD. Then it's rock on, all night long like ACDC. Healthy? No. But I'm immortal and incapable of being harmed, so suck it normies.
"Kitsu." Mom says as she opens my door without waiting for me to answer. "We need to talk."
"I mean, do we need to?" I say, though it's muffled by the floor and sounds more like. "Ai men, doh we eet oo?"
"Get up." She says and nudges the side of my head with her foot. "This is serious."
"Whaaaaaaat?" I groan and roll over. "Why, why must you torture me." I switch to my best Smeagle voice, reaching up at her and making grabby hands. "Iz likes youz wants me's to suffers!"
"We need to talk about everything that happened." Mom says. "And no, it cannot wait."
"Ugh." I groan and slowly get to my feet. Careful to avoid crunching the base of my tail against the floor as I sit up.
Turning around, I lean forward and raise my tail, resting it on my bed. Giving me room to plant my bum against the side. Leaning lazily against the lovely, sacred home of sweet unconsciousness I yearn for.
... I get extra when stressed.
"Okay, what's up?" I tiredly ask through half lidded eyes, crossing my arms under my chest as I resist a yawn.
"Have you seen Pinky or Gully?" Mom asks seriously.
"No." I let out the yawn. "Saw Gully's clone, so that's... well it's certainly not good news."
They're probably dead. And while I am a bit sad about that, I didn't really know them that long. Maybe I'm desensitized to death, or maybe I'm just messed up. But I can't help but see the situation for what it is.
"That's not funny." Mom glowers at me.
"I'm not joking." I tell her. "The only way a clone is made, is if Noelle had access to the original's DNA. And if the original isn't around, it's safe to say Noelle ate them."
"Fuck." Mom hisses; covering her mouth as she turns away and slowly paces back and forth in front of me. "... That's... damn it."
"If their bodies are found, I can probably bring them back so long as their brains are intact." I offer. "But considering how I collapsed Noelle and they weren't inside her." I don't say the rest out of consideration for Mom's current state. No need to spell it out.
"Is that what happened with Crystal?" Mom asks in a low tone.
"What are you talking about?" I ask innocently, finding a random spot on my wall to be very interesting. "Crystal didn't die."
I think it's a bit off color. My room's walls are French Rose, but that spot looks more Hot Pink.
"Kitsu." She mutters in a low tone, like someone might hear us despite the only people in the house being me and her. "Did you bring Crystal back from the dead?"
"... No?" I hazard to say, playing dumb for all my worth and current energy. "She was always not dead."
"Damnit, Kitsu!" Mom groans and runs a hand through her hair, pacing away towards my door.
"Wow! Didn't know you hated Crystal that much." I say with a yawn. "If it means that much, I can always undo it. Not that hard, really."
"That's not the point." She hisses, turning around and marching back towards me. "What am I supposed to tell Sarah? Firebreather is already freaking out over the whole thing and Crystal is confused as hell. What are we going to do if it gets out that you can raise the dead?"
"Just tell everyone that Firebreather's an idiot who can't tell a corpse from a coma patient." I shrug. "Not like it's a hard sell."
"Kitsu, if it gets out that you can revive the dead, we'll have hell to pay." Mom reminds me. "Not just from the religious communities, but every schizophrenic conspiracy theorist and grieving widow and orphan will come out of the god damned wood works. To say nothing of the what the government will do."
"Heh." I snicker at the implications at the mention of hell.
You'd think Piggot or Cauldron would be coming out and trying something with that information. But I guess for all of their faults and incompetency, even they know the dangers of that info getting out.
"This isn't funny." Mom glares. "I'm glad you saved Crystal, but you need to be more careful."
"My hero mother telling me not to save people." I cover my mouth and feign a gasp.
"Not..." Mom takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "Lord give me patience."
"Isn't it lord give me strength?" I tilt my head in question.
"If I pray for strength I'm likely to use it to strangle someone." She practically growls.
"So that's where Vicky gets it from." I say, recalling the few times she's threatened to strangle me. Okay it was one time after I superglued the caps of her nail polish shut.
In my defense, she did bust into my room mid stream.
"I... I'm ignoring that for your sake." Mom says and pulls out her phone. "Because there are even more pressing issues we need to talk about, like this." Mom says as she hands it to me with a video pulled up.
"Hey that's me!" I say happily as the video plays.
"Momma I'm so sorry~ I've been awful naughty~" My voice just barely comes through over the sound of the carnage I unleash on the horde of clones.
"... Just... why?" She asks tiredly. "You know we have an image to maintain. And slaughtering clones with a smile on your face does nothing to help our cause."
"Because you left me unsupervised under a full moon~" I sing out and give a little twirl.
"Kitsu that's not-" She pauses to look out the window. "It's not even a full moon!"
"Since when has the lunar cycle ever been needed to account for me being me?" I cheekily ask; tilting my head and smiling.
"Kitsu!" She shouts.
"Reporting for duty!" I stand straight; stomping my foot and give her a salute.
"Take this seriously, little lady." Mom practically growls.
"I'm trying, and failing." I tell her and bow at the waist. "And for that, I apologize."
"..." Mom takes a deep breath. "Kitsu... you have five seconds, to take this seriously. Or so help me god, your PC is going in the firepit."
'Can we roast marshmallows over it!?' I just barely stop myself from saying.
"I just wanna sleep." I whine and tiredly slouch. Ears and tail drooping. "Why doesn't anyone want that for me?"
.
.
-Thursday, October 21st, 10am, The Rig-
.
.
Melody POV
.
Drip, drip, drip, drip
'Multitrillion dollar government complex.' I think bitterly as I stare at the faucet. 'Can't make a bathroom without a leaky sink.'
My eyes drift up, away from the irritating chrome pipe until they meet those of the girl in the mirror. Staring at her bright violet orbs, I turn my head to the left... then turn it to the right. Staring at the reflection in the mirror, noting the minute differences, as well as the more glaringly obvious ones. I smile, taking a finger and hook it on my upper lip. Lifting up the soft flesh, I inspect my teeth.
They're so much sharper than I remember. Sure my canines were always pointier than the next gal, but in a more cute kind of way. But now my premolars are pointier as well.
'Stop that!' I snap at myself, removing my finger as I glare at the girl in the mirror. 'They never were anything. They've always been that way, you've always been this way. Sooner you accept that, the sooner you get over yourself.'
I know enough to recognize that. But even so, as I stare at the uncanny image in the mirror, I can't help but reminisce. And I start to redden my hair a bit, going from platinum blonde to a more golden strawberry blonde, receding my horns into my skull and changing the color of my eyes from violet to teal. And with a bit more effort, I manage to make a pair of fox ears pop out the top of my head.
'Keets! Hurry up!' I can practically hear Vicky shout as I stare back at myself. Picturing an angry and inpatient sister on the other side of the door-
"STOP IT!" I roar in anger and put my fist through the glass. Shattering the mirror; breaking the reflection as shards of the reflective material imbed themselves in my skin.
I stare down at the sink, drops of blood drip onto the shattered mirror fragments. Staining the porcelain red, brown and orange. Blood, my blood, just another thing that tells me I'm not who I am. That I'm not me, not her. She doesn't bleed, no matter what, yet I do.
Pulling my fist away from the shattered glass, I let out a shaky breath and flex my fingers. Watching as my healing factor pushes the broken fragments from my flesh to mend itself. And in less than ten seconds, it's like nothing ever happened.
Looking up into the mirror, I watch the newly made kaleidoscope as the girl in the mirror changes. Ears receding back into her head as black horns grow from the back of the skull, crowning her head. Teal eyes returning to their violent hue as the reflection silently cries.
"Stop it." I look back down into the sink, away from the pitiful sight. "This isn't you. Whoever you are, you aren't some pathetic little girl who cries in the bathroom."
Looking back up at the mirror, and quietly wonder why they'd give me access to something like this. I mean, glass is easily turned into a weapon.
'Then again.' I think to myself as the head of my arrow pointed tail slinks in front of me. With a silent command, I feel the skin shift and harden into dermal denticles. Replacing the enamel coating with a denser iron infused organic makeup. Making it shine black as it becomes a large limpet tooth. 'I suppose it doesn't really make a difference what they give me access to.'
It was so easy to do. So easy to change, like breathing. I just know how to do certain things.
I try to use my illusion, to pull on my connection to energy. But it isn't there. I can't feel anything on that front. And when I search for a source of energy, all I find is a mess in my Corona Gemma. I don't know what it means, and I can't seem to contact [Conduit] to figure it out either.
[Conduit, one of the few ever present constants in my life. No longer there. Gone... like everything else.
'You never had anything.' I remind myself. 'Nothing is gone, because you didn't have anything to lose.'
I have nothing. I have to keep telling myself that I don't have anything, that these memories are fake and that they aren't mine.
"I love you, kiddo." I hear Dad's voice echo as small droplets of water mix with the blood in the sink.
Drip, drip, drip, drip
At least the faucet stopped leaking.
.
.
-Few hours later, research lab-
.
.
"Your regeneration is... honestly absurd." Head Researcher Jamez notes as they continually try burning through the flesh of my hand with a laser. "... Honestly fascinating."
But the more they damage me, the faster I regenerate. It really is absurd and quite the novelty. It's like my body is capable of automatically determining the severity of the damage and how much effort it's worth putting in to fix.
"It seems the release of stress hormones in your body triggers local autonomic regeneration." He says, telling me what I already figured out. "Even if consciously unaware of any damage, the body sees to restoring you to a predetermined state much like the baseline subject."
Oh, it's worth mentioning that they have me gassed up, so I'm not all here for this. Something about testing if awareness or stress has an effect or something. Sounds messed up, and it is. But it's fine, I consented to this whole thing. I'm aware that they're looking for ways to control or get of me, I just can't find it in me to care all that much since I have nothing better to do. And I'm fairly certain they can't kill me. Because even I haven't figured a way to do so yet.
Besides, the gas is kinda nice. Makes my head loopy and helps pass the time. Heck, by the time I come to, I'm already in my room again.
"..." I smack my lips a bit, feeling a peculiar sensation run across my tongue. "...Why do I taste strawberries?"
.
.
-Saturday, October 23rd, 5pm, Scarecrow's lab, East Slums-
.
.
Joseph "Scarecrow" Crane POV
.
"Fuck." I collapse down into my chair and rip my gloves off, tossing them on my desk. Letting them breath in the cool autumn air a bit before pulling my mask off. Letting it hang in my hand as it goes limp with exhaustion.
I run my free hand over my face. Groaning as I feel the weight of everything I've been dealing with get transferred onto the chair I'm in. Surprised the shitty piece of furniture hasn't cracked under the weight.
| Предыдущая глава |
↓ Содержание ↓
↑ Свернуть ↑
| Следующая глава |
