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Snek is a Good Boy [a Worm Crackfic]
- Thread starter Ack
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macdjord
Well worn.
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I've wanted a firelizard since the first time I read Dragonsong...
Part Twenty-Nine: Dragon Fever
Ack
(Verified Ratbag) (Unverified Great Old One)
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Snek is a Good Boy
Part Twenty-Nine: Dragon Fever
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
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♦ Topic: A Funny Thing Happened at the Bar Last Night
In: Boards ► United States ► Northeastern US ► Brockton Bay ► Cape Shenanigans
Brocktonite03 (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Jun 12th 2011:
Me and a few of my buddies went drinking down on the docks last night. Yes, technically I was buzzed by the end of the night, but I sure as hell wasn't so sloshed I was seeing things. I was waiting for my better half to come pick me up, when a couple of guys wearing all black plus balaclavas came running out of the alley alongside the bar. They stopped real fast when Manpower (yeah, THAT Manpower) jumped off the roof of the building next door and landed in front of them.
The dumbasses were looking to knock over the bar and make off with the night's takings.
Then three more guys came out of the alley, and this time it was Brandish who stopped them. Swear to God, hand on heart, I was front and center for a New Wave takedown. It was glorious!
One guy tried to duck past Brandish, and I thought for sure she was gonna skewer him with her energy blade thing (I always thought that was supposed to be gold, not silver. Anyway) but she didn't. Nope, she hauled off and slugged him so hard in the jaw that his feet left the ground and he flew back about ten feet. I mean, when did Brandish get a Brute rating?
And then, Flashbang appeared. *Everyone* saw Flashbang. He was, like, *glowing* like someone was shining a floodlight on him. And he had a thing on his shoulder that looked like ... well, like a little tiny dragon, all orange and gold like a sunrise. And Brandish had a silver one hovering over her head.
I swear, I had a few drinks inside me, but I wasn't that drunk. I know what I saw. Here's some [footage] I took.
When the hell did New Wave get pet dragons?
(Showing page 1 of 273)
►BrickFrog
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
That can't be real.
Can it?
►GstringGirl
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
They do look very pretty.
Can haz pet dragon?
►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Okay, thanks a bunch for that. Vista just saw the footage someone put online and her excited squeal rattled ALL the windows (and we're underground).
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Don't care. Those dragons are too cute!
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
I'm with BrickFrog. They can't be real. Or at least, they're not natural. All vertebrate life on Earth goes on a quadripedal body pattern. Those 'dragons' have four limbs plus two wings, and the wings are too small to fly properly with at that size. Something's hinky. I call shenanigans.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Maybe you didn't hear me the first time. Don't care. Dragons!
►TheRealBrandish (Verified Cape) (Cape Wife) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Alright, time for an official announcement.
Yesterday, New Wave responded to an invitation from Snek to visit his world. We traveled there, and encountered not only [actual] [dragons] but smaller versions, called 'hearth-dragons'. As you can see, they are [cute] and [inquisitive] and can bond with people, to the mutual benefit of both parties.
Three hearth-dragons came back with us to Earth Bet. Mine is called [Argent], Flashbang's is called [Snap], and Panacea's is called [Twilight].
I will stress: hearth-dragons are not animals, and they are most assuredly not stupid. Although they are from a world where mythology trumps over science, they are thoroughly enjoying their new home (and can go back to visit at any time if they wish, with Snek's assistance).
Panacea has assured me that they carry no dangerous bacteria or viruses, and nothing we have will affect them. They are very playful and outgoing, and enjoy meeting new people. We will even be taking them on patrol with us to meet the public.
Again: they are not animals, they are not dangerous, they are not pets, and they are here willingly. Come and say hi sometime.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Well ... crap.
I was just scouring the footage frame by frame to see if I could spot the trickery when Brandish's post dropped.
Real dragons. Actual real dragons. And the scale ...
Okay, yeah, the internet wins today. I'm done.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Um.
So ... I was right, but I was wrong?
Not from Earth Bet, but actual dragons.
Four limbs, check. Wings, check. Able to fly with wings that are too small, check. Actual. Freaking. Dragons.
Those big ones are BIG.
Ahahaha wow.
And Vista's right, the little ones are too cute. Especially the orange one that posed for the camera (how did you get it to do that, anyway?)
So, um, how does one go about acquiring an invite from Snek to visit his world?
Asking for a friend.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 271, 272, 273
Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE
"Report."
Emily leaned back in her chair and watched as Psyche, once known as Tattletale, gathered her thoughts. At least part of that was an act, Emily figured, but it didn't bother her. The girl had been instrumental in Coil's downfall, as well as the brief capture of the Travellers before they vanished from her holding cells (and Earth Bet), so she was welcome to her little quirks.
As far as Emily knew, the rest of the Undersiders had left town, which was also perfectly fine with her. They'd never been overly troublesome, but at some point they would have earned a spot on the PRT's radar. Letting some other city deal with them (minus their Thinker) was slightly less problematic than making room for them in the holding cells.
After Coil's capture, Psyche had been downright cooperative when it came to showing Armsmaster where the rest of Coil's caches were, as well as the safety codes on his computer in the base. It was true that she had been a supervillain, but she was also a known friend of Snek's, so Emily was willing to bend the rules more than a little to accommodate her as a probationary Ward. Psyche seemed willing to keep her nose clean (maybe having Snek as a friend was contingent on not breaking the rules?) so everyone got what they wanted.
Emily liked win-win situations; she encountered them rarely enough that she truly appreciated them when they did show up.
"So, I've been through all the footage and pictures of these 'hearth-dragons', as they call 'em," Psyche began. "Armsmaster rated it all one hundred percent genuine, per Dragon. It's what they say it is. Actual, smart little critters that look like someone took fantasy dragons and applied a strong layer of cuteness to them. The mention of 'bonding' suggests that there's some kind of emotional link after a while, stronger than you get with an ordinary pet."
Emily had never had a pet of any description, but she'd seen how some people got with them. "Like a Master effect?" she ventured, sitting forward again.
Psyche frowned. "Brandish's phrasing indicates that there's something going on. She's more kindly disposed toward them than I'd expect her to be. But neither is she advocating that everyone get one and join the cult of the hearth-dragon. Not that she needs to encourage anyone: a full two-thirds of the comments in that thread are about how adorable they look."
This is where they got down to the nitty-gritty. "Are hearth-dragons a threat?"
"On balance … I don't think so." Psyche no doubt saw Emily's sour expression, which didn't need esoteric Thinker powers to decipher. "If you'll allow me to present my reasoning?"
"Please do." Emily tried not to be curt but when she asked a question, she expected a definitive answer, especially if it was about whether something was a threat.
Psyche cleared her throat. "First: they're from Snek's world. I personally trust Snek, without reservation. I doubt very much that he or his Master would allow a potentially dangerous species to come through into Earth Bet. Second: out of eight members, only three of New Wave have hearth-dragons, and the rest of them don't seem to have a problem with that. Third: Brandish has always been prickly and hard to deal with. This latest post suggests that she's lightened up a little, without totally changing her personality. I'm wondering if the 'mutual benefit' aspect involves enabling the human part of the bond to get rid of toxic mental baggage, so they just plain become a nicer person."
Emily eyed Psyche suspiciously, but neither by intonation nor flick of eye did the girl suggest that she might be thinking Emily could do with a hearth-dragon of her own. She would've had to possess superhuman willpower to not to be doing that exact thing, but as long as she didn't show it, Emily didn't have to take notice of it. Besides, as Psyche had pointed out, they were very cute, and apparently quite personable.
"I see." She rubbed her chin. "Is there anything else you've gleaned about them?"
"Actually, yes." Psyche pulled out her phone and showed Emily a series of photos, portraying dragons—large and small—in front of a landscape that could've come out of any fantasy movie, finishing up with a close-up of one that looked like the gold-and-salmon one, which had been perched on Flashbang's shoulder.
Emily examined them closely. All the images were nicely framed, and she'd actually seen a couple of them before, but apart from the fact that they portrayed creatures utterly unknown to science, she could see nothing unremarkable about them. "What am I looking for?"
Psyche flicked through to the last one. "According to Flashbang, these pictures were all taken by this one, Snap. Not only are they highly empathetic, but they're also capable of learning to use technology. Flashbang has actually started a photo-blog for Snap, and it's picking up followers by the hour."
"Let me see those again." Emily looked closely at the images as Psyche scrolled through them once more. Her first impression had not been amiss: the pictures were quite nice. She'd taken worse ones herself. "Tell me, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
Once again, Psyche looked undecided. "Well, it's definitely a thing. Hearth-dragons aren't as smart as humans … well, not in the same way that humans are, anyway. They'd probably get bored with complicated math and they're effectively non-verbal, but their emotional intelligence is far higher than ours and they do have forepaws that can be used as hands."
Emily pursed her lips, looking over the photos again. She got bored with complicated math, too; the implication that being able to form whole sentences was the only thing that made her superior to hearth-dragons didn't exactly fill her with joy. "Give me the bottom line, here."
"Overall, I think they're a good thing." Psyche took a deep breath and side-eyed Emily. "They're smart and affectionate, and they like people. If they can take a cape like Brandish and smooth off some of her sharper edges, then imagine the impact worldwide if the cape aggression index was turned downward even by ten percent."
While Emily could imagine it, and liked what she saw, it seemed too good to be true. "What if it's an idiosyncratic reaction? We don't know that it's a regular thing … do we?"
"Well, Flashbang suffers from clinical depression. During that fight, he stood taller and took more initiative than he has in years. I think proximity to Snap actually helps him mentally and emotionally, just like Argent helps Brandish." Psyche spread her hands. "It's just two data points, but they're both positive."
"Last question." Looking across her desk at Psyche, Emily tilted her head. "If you were given the opportunity to form a bond with a hearth-dragon, would you?"
From the way the girl blinked in surprise, this was the first question she hadn't anticipated ahead of time. "Um … yeah, actually, I think I would. I know I've got baggage, and cuddle therapy with a cute little dragon looks a lot more attractive than all the other ways to get past it."
"Understood. Thank you for your report. Dismissed."
As the door closed behind Psyche, Emily leaned back in her chair once more, thinking hard. The report and subsequent discussion had been illuminating; while she still wasn't one hundred percent set on her course, she could see the way forward more clearly now.
Let's just hope it doesn't blow up in my face.
Garotte
Sveta looked wistfully at the cute little dragons in the photo-blog again. The picture of Panacea cuddling the dark purple one was almost too cute for words, and she couldn't even hate the healer for having something she didn't. Panacea's expression while holding Twilight was that of someone who'd found the missing piece in their life, and Sveta could never begrudge someone of that kind of happiness.
I wish I could find it myself.
Oh, who am I kidding? If I had someone in my life, or even a hearth-dragon, my tentacles would only crush them, and then I'd have nothing and nobody again.
As far as she could tell, hearth-dragons were extremely tactile. They enjoyed being next to the people they were bonded to, either perched on their shoulders or snuggled up to them in some fashion. This would be fatal for any hearth-dragon in her vicinity, because her tentacles were also extremely tactile in nature, in that they would seek out and crush any strange object within their range.
Her wistful comment online came back to haunt her now. She had even less chance to 'haz' a hearth-dragon than every other person who had responded to the post, by many orders of magnitude. Despair welled up in her heart: not just the angst of someone who will never achieve a coveted goal (and who never even had a chance at it) but the bone-deep knowledge (if she'd had bones) that nothing else of that nature would ever come her way. It was just the way things were.
I'm why I can't have good things. Yay for me.
The words were bitter on her tongue, even though she didn't speak them out loud. She began to silently cry, hating that she couldn't even get through something like this without being so weak. Black bile, she knew, was oozing out through her tear ducts, which did nothing to improve matters in the slightest.
I just wish someone would save me from this shit like Snek saved all those people in Savannah.
Drenched in misery, locked into her own private world of unhappiness within the very real secure cell, she only became aware that something had changed when some of her tentacles stirred.
"Hello, tentacle girl," a hissing voice came from behind her. "Ssnek iss here to ssave you."
What? Startled, she spun around, to see a large portal interrupting a section of the wall opposite. Protruding from the portal was the now-familiar head of the world's best-known snake. Against all odds, he was smiling at her.
"No!" she gasped. "You can't be here! You've got to get away!"
Snek didn't move from the spot. "Tentacle girl called for help," he said patiently, even as her tentacles struck and wrapped around his head. "Ssnek hass come to help. Doess tentacle girl want to be ssaved?"
Sveta stared. He was much larger than anyone her tentacles had maimed or killed before, but that shouldn't be an issue. The tendrils which were the bane of her life were strong enough to bend steel in their implacable grasp. But although they were wrapped around his head and neck and she could tell that they were trying very hard to squeeze the life out of him, he didn't seem to be aware of their efforts. Most incongruously, the stylish fedora that adorned the middle of his broad head wasn't even being crushed or dented by the two tentacles that lay over the top of it.
"I …" she began, aware that he'd asked the question and not wanting to come across as rude by failing to answer in good time. (Though 'rude' really wasn't a good descriptor for it, when her treacherous body was simultaneously attempting to murder him). "Can you save me? If you take me out of here, then my tentacles will just start killing people again." Perhaps the worst part of it was when she got hungry and her tentacles shoved anything and everything with nutritional value at her mouth; if she'd just been killing people, that veered hard into nightmare territory really quickly.
"Ssnek will not let that happen, tentacle girl." The gigantic serpent maintained the same imperturbable air and polite tone that he had since he'd intruded on her cell. "Ssnek will take tentacle girl to Masster. He will fixx. Masster knowss how to fixx anything."
Reading online, Sveta had encountered hints of Snek's Master, but knew absolutely nothing beyond that. Whoever or whatever this Master might be, she decided that if they could fix her problems, then they'd have to be a downright miracle worker.
On second thought, they had theoretically been behind Snek chowing down on both Leviathan and the Simurgh, and if that didn't count as a miracle, there wasn't much that did.
"Okay," she decided. Screw it, it's not like my life can get any worse than this. "Go ahead. Just keep me far enough away from him that I don't hurt him, alright?"
"Ssnek doess not believe that will be a problem." And then the gigantic snake did the impossible … again. She hadn't really registered that he was talking despite the multitude of tentacles binding his jaws shut, but now he just … opened them. Her tentacles were forced to let go, flailing wildly as even their prodigious strength was overcome with ridiculous ease.
From out of his mouth emerged a long pink tongue; unlike what she'd heard about ordinary snakes, this one subdivided several times, making it into a serviceable analogue to a hand. As the branches of the tongue closed around her head and a large bunch of her tentacles, she had a sudden thought: oh hey, so that's what it's like for other people. Her tentacles struggled against the grasp, but in total vain. (That was also something she'd been on the other side of, far too many times).
And then she was drawn irresistibly into that gaping maw, past the extremely impressive teeth, and into the gullet. This part of the experience was new; while her tentacles had killed many people, they'd never forced her to eat anyone alive (not that she was exactly capable of it, of course).
In the blackness of Snek's throat, she couldn't see a thing. But all the same, she somehow managed to register being shoved sideways into a space that was blacker than black. Within that space, there was no space. There was no time. There was nothing, not even her—
The Magician's Apprentice
"Ssnek hass brought tentacle girl to be fixxed, Masster." Snek beamed proudly.
Riley knew he liked helping people, and there was a ton of people on Earth Bet who needed helping at any hour of night or day. But at the same time, he always seemed to locate the ones for whom a taxi ride home and a loan to tide them over until payday just wouldn't cover things. He was good at finding the interesting cases, the ones that occasionally caused the boss to raise one shaggy eyebrow.
Riley wasn't sure who 'tentacle girl' referred to, but it promised to be one of the good ones. She wondered if it was one of her old victims (she couldn't actually remember giving anyone tentacles, but that didn't mean she hadn't). If it was, she was going to make a point of apologising profusely after the person had all their bits and pieces back in the right order.
"So I see, Snek." The boss made a few gestures, settling a protective sphere in place. "Kindly place her in there, please."
"Yess, Masster." Snek's impressively agile tongue dipped back into his mouth and retrieved what looked like a tangled bundle of ropes from what he called his 'no-eat placce', depositing it deftly into the protective sphere. It woke up half a second too late—spending time in that weird space usually had that effect—and lashed out at the sphere, to no good effect. In the middle of it all was an anxious female face with the unmistakeable inverted omega of Cauldron tattooed on one cheekbone.
Riley blinked in mildly surprised recognition. "Huh, that's Garrotte. Case fifty-three. Vial situation, like Noelle and her friends were, and Paige." I should've known that's what Snek meant by 'tentacle girl'.
"Indeed," the boss observed. "The evil that men do to one another in the name of good is an abyss without end. This will be an interesting one for the collection."
"What are we gonna do for her body?" asked Riley, because she was pretty sure the boss wasn't going to leave Garotte as just a disembodied face. Knowing what was coming next, she headed over to the shelf to collect the extraction tongs and an appropriately enchanted jar.
"I believe a type-three construct body will suffice at first," he mused, accepting the tools with a nod of thanks. "Once Ms Sveta has had a chance to come to terms with her new situation, she will then be able to make the final choice for herself."
"Gotcha." Riley headed off to grab one of the type threes. Technically, she knew how the procedure went to stuff someone's mind into one of these, but she'd never actually seen it done (and was pretty damn sure she wasn't up to the job herself). But the boss totally had it in hand.
This was gonna be educational, the best kind of fun.
End of Part Twenty-Nine
Part Twenty-Nine: Dragon Fever
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
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♦ Topic: A Funny Thing Happened at the Bar Last Night
In: Boards ► United States ► Northeastern US ► Brockton Bay ► Cape Shenanigans
Brocktonite03 (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Jun 12th 2011:
Me and a few of my buddies went drinking down on the docks last night. Yes, technically I was buzzed by the end of the night, but I sure as hell wasn't so sloshed I was seeing things. I was waiting for my better half to come pick me up, when a couple of guys wearing all black plus balaclavas came running out of the alley alongside the bar. They stopped real fast when Manpower (yeah, THAT Manpower) jumped off the roof of the building next door and landed in front of them.
The dumbasses were looking to knock over the bar and make off with the night's takings.
Then three more guys came out of the alley, and this time it was Brandish who stopped them. Swear to God, hand on heart, I was front and center for a New Wave takedown. It was glorious!
One guy tried to duck past Brandish, and I thought for sure she was gonna skewer him with her energy blade thing (I always thought that was supposed to be gold, not silver. Anyway) but she didn't. Nope, she hauled off and slugged him so hard in the jaw that his feet left the ground and he flew back about ten feet. I mean, when did Brandish get a Brute rating?
And then, Flashbang appeared. *Everyone* saw Flashbang. He was, like, *glowing* like someone was shining a floodlight on him. And he had a thing on his shoulder that looked like ... well, like a little tiny dragon, all orange and gold like a sunrise. And Brandish had a silver one hovering over her head.
I swear, I had a few drinks inside me, but I wasn't that drunk. I know what I saw. Here's some [footage] I took.
When the hell did New Wave get pet dragons?
(Showing page 1 of 273)
►BrickFrog
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
That can't be real.
Can it?
►GstringGirl
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
They do look very pretty.
Can haz pet dragon?
►Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Okay, thanks a bunch for that. Vista just saw the footage someone put online and her excited squeal rattled ALL the windows (and we're underground).
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Don't care. Those dragons are too cute!
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
I'm with BrickFrog. They can't be real. Or at least, they're not natural. All vertebrate life on Earth goes on a quadripedal body pattern. Those 'dragons' have four limbs plus two wings, and the wings are too small to fly properly with at that size. Something's hinky. I call shenanigans.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Maybe you didn't hear me the first time. Don't care. Dragons!
►TheRealBrandish (Verified Cape) (Cape Wife) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Alright, time for an official announcement.
Yesterday, New Wave responded to an invitation from Snek to visit his world. We traveled there, and encountered not only [actual] [dragons] but smaller versions, called 'hearth-dragons'. As you can see, they are [cute] and [inquisitive] and can bond with people, to the mutual benefit of both parties.
Three hearth-dragons came back with us to Earth Bet. Mine is called [Argent], Flashbang's is called [Snap], and Panacea's is called [Twilight].
I will stress: hearth-dragons are not animals, and they are most assuredly not stupid. Although they are from a world where mythology trumps over science, they are thoroughly enjoying their new home (and can go back to visit at any time if they wish, with Snek's assistance).
Panacea has assured me that they carry no dangerous bacteria or viruses, and nothing we have will affect them. They are very playful and outgoing, and enjoy meeting new people. We will even be taking them on patrol with us to meet the public.
Again: they are not animals, they are not dangerous, they are not pets, and they are here willingly. Come and say hi sometime.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Well ... crap.
I was just scouring the footage frame by frame to see if I could spot the trickery when Brandish's post dropped.
Real dragons. Actual real dragons. And the scale ...
Okay, yeah, the internet wins today. I'm done.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jun 12th 2011:
Um.
So ... I was right, but I was wrong?
Not from Earth Bet, but actual dragons.
Four limbs, check. Wings, check. Able to fly with wings that are too small, check. Actual. Freaking. Dragons.
Those big ones are BIG.
Ahahaha wow.
And Vista's right, the little ones are too cute. Especially the orange one that posed for the camera (how did you get it to do that, anyway?)
So, um, how does one go about acquiring an invite from Snek to visit his world?
Asking for a friend.
■
<><>
<><>
Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE
"Report."
Emily leaned back in her chair and watched as Psyche, once known as Tattletale, gathered her thoughts. At least part of that was an act, Emily figured, but it didn't bother her. The girl had been instrumental in Coil's downfall, as well as the brief capture of the Travellers before they vanished from her holding cells (and Earth Bet), so she was welcome to her little quirks.
As far as Emily knew, the rest of the Undersiders had left town, which was also perfectly fine with her. They'd never been overly troublesome, but at some point they would have earned a spot on the PRT's radar. Letting some other city deal with them (minus their Thinker) was slightly less problematic than making room for them in the holding cells.
After Coil's capture, Psyche had been downright cooperative when it came to showing Armsmaster where the rest of Coil's caches were, as well as the safety codes on his computer in the base. It was true that she had been a supervillain, but she was also a known friend of Snek's, so Emily was willing to bend the rules more than a little to accommodate her as a probationary Ward. Psyche seemed willing to keep her nose clean (maybe having Snek as a friend was contingent on not breaking the rules?) so everyone got what they wanted.
Emily liked win-win situations; she encountered them rarely enough that she truly appreciated them when they did show up.
"So, I've been through all the footage and pictures of these 'hearth-dragons', as they call 'em," Psyche began. "Armsmaster rated it all one hundred percent genuine, per Dragon. It's what they say it is. Actual, smart little critters that look like someone took fantasy dragons and applied a strong layer of cuteness to them. The mention of 'bonding' suggests that there's some kind of emotional link after a while, stronger than you get with an ordinary pet."
Emily had never had a pet of any description, but she'd seen how some people got with them. "Like a Master effect?" she ventured, sitting forward again.
Psyche frowned. "Brandish's phrasing indicates that there's something going on. She's more kindly disposed toward them than I'd expect her to be. But neither is she advocating that everyone get one and join the cult of the hearth-dragon. Not that she needs to encourage anyone: a full two-thirds of the comments in that thread are about how adorable they look."
This is where they got down to the nitty-gritty. "Are hearth-dragons a threat?"
"On balance … I don't think so." Psyche no doubt saw Emily's sour expression, which didn't need esoteric Thinker powers to decipher. "If you'll allow me to present my reasoning?"
"Please do." Emily tried not to be curt but when she asked a question, she expected a definitive answer, especially if it was about whether something was a threat.
Psyche cleared her throat. "First: they're from Snek's world. I personally trust Snek, without reservation. I doubt very much that he or his Master would allow a potentially dangerous species to come through into Earth Bet. Second: out of eight members, only three of New Wave have hearth-dragons, and the rest of them don't seem to have a problem with that. Third: Brandish has always been prickly and hard to deal with. This latest post suggests that she's lightened up a little, without totally changing her personality. I'm wondering if the 'mutual benefit' aspect involves enabling the human part of the bond to get rid of toxic mental baggage, so they just plain become a nicer person."
Emily eyed Psyche suspiciously, but neither by intonation nor flick of eye did the girl suggest that she might be thinking Emily could do with a hearth-dragon of her own. She would've had to possess superhuman willpower to not to be doing that exact thing, but as long as she didn't show it, Emily didn't have to take notice of it. Besides, as Psyche had pointed out, they were very cute, and apparently quite personable.
"I see." She rubbed her chin. "Is there anything else you've gleaned about them?"
"Actually, yes." Psyche pulled out her phone and showed Emily a series of photos, portraying dragons—large and small—in front of a landscape that could've come out of any fantasy movie, finishing up with a close-up of one that looked like the gold-and-salmon one, which had been perched on Flashbang's shoulder.
Emily examined them closely. All the images were nicely framed, and she'd actually seen a couple of them before, but apart from the fact that they portrayed creatures utterly unknown to science, she could see nothing unremarkable about them. "What am I looking for?"
Psyche flicked through to the last one. "According to Flashbang, these pictures were all taken by this one, Snap. Not only are they highly empathetic, but they're also capable of learning to use technology. Flashbang has actually started a photo-blog for Snap, and it's picking up followers by the hour."
"Let me see those again." Emily looked closely at the images as Psyche scrolled through them once more. Her first impression had not been amiss: the pictures were quite nice. She'd taken worse ones herself. "Tell me, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
Once again, Psyche looked undecided. "Well, it's definitely a thing. Hearth-dragons aren't as smart as humans … well, not in the same way that humans are, anyway. They'd probably get bored with complicated math and they're effectively non-verbal, but their emotional intelligence is far higher than ours and they do have forepaws that can be used as hands."
Emily pursed her lips, looking over the photos again. She got bored with complicated math, too; the implication that being able to form whole sentences was the only thing that made her superior to hearth-dragons didn't exactly fill her with joy. "Give me the bottom line, here."
"Overall, I think they're a good thing." Psyche took a deep breath and side-eyed Emily. "They're smart and affectionate, and they like people. If they can take a cape like Brandish and smooth off some of her sharper edges, then imagine the impact worldwide if the cape aggression index was turned downward even by ten percent."
While Emily could imagine it, and liked what she saw, it seemed too good to be true. "What if it's an idiosyncratic reaction? We don't know that it's a regular thing … do we?"
"Well, Flashbang suffers from clinical depression. During that fight, he stood taller and took more initiative than he has in years. I think proximity to Snap actually helps him mentally and emotionally, just like Argent helps Brandish." Psyche spread her hands. "It's just two data points, but they're both positive."
"Last question." Looking across her desk at Psyche, Emily tilted her head. "If you were given the opportunity to form a bond with a hearth-dragon, would you?"
From the way the girl blinked in surprise, this was the first question she hadn't anticipated ahead of time. "Um … yeah, actually, I think I would. I know I've got baggage, and cuddle therapy with a cute little dragon looks a lot more attractive than all the other ways to get past it."
"Understood. Thank you for your report. Dismissed."
As the door closed behind Psyche, Emily leaned back in her chair once more, thinking hard. The report and subsequent discussion had been illuminating; while she still wasn't one hundred percent set on her course, she could see the way forward more clearly now.
Let's just hope it doesn't blow up in my face.
<><>
Garotte
Sveta looked wistfully at the cute little dragons in the photo-blog again. The picture of Panacea cuddling the dark purple one was almost too cute for words, and she couldn't even hate the healer for having something she didn't. Panacea's expression while holding Twilight was that of someone who'd found the missing piece in their life, and Sveta could never begrudge someone of that kind of happiness.
I wish I could find it myself.
Oh, who am I kidding? If I had someone in my life, or even a hearth-dragon, my tentacles would only crush them, and then I'd have nothing and nobody again.
As far as she could tell, hearth-dragons were extremely tactile. They enjoyed being next to the people they were bonded to, either perched on their shoulders or snuggled up to them in some fashion. This would be fatal for any hearth-dragon in her vicinity, because her tentacles were also extremely tactile in nature, in that they would seek out and crush any strange object within their range.
Her wistful comment online came back to haunt her now. She had even less chance to 'haz' a hearth-dragon than every other person who had responded to the post, by many orders of magnitude. Despair welled up in her heart: not just the angst of someone who will never achieve a coveted goal (and who never even had a chance at it) but the bone-deep knowledge (if she'd had bones) that nothing else of that nature would ever come her way. It was just the way things were.
I'm why I can't have good things. Yay for me.
The words were bitter on her tongue, even though she didn't speak them out loud. She began to silently cry, hating that she couldn't even get through something like this without being so weak. Black bile, she knew, was oozing out through her tear ducts, which did nothing to improve matters in the slightest.
I just wish someone would save me from this shit like Snek saved all those people in Savannah.
Drenched in misery, locked into her own private world of unhappiness within the very real secure cell, she only became aware that something had changed when some of her tentacles stirred.
"Hello, tentacle girl," a hissing voice came from behind her. "Ssnek iss here to ssave you."
What? Startled, she spun around, to see a large portal interrupting a section of the wall opposite. Protruding from the portal was the now-familiar head of the world's best-known snake. Against all odds, he was smiling at her.
"No!" she gasped. "You can't be here! You've got to get away!"
Snek didn't move from the spot. "Tentacle girl called for help," he said patiently, even as her tentacles struck and wrapped around his head. "Ssnek hass come to help. Doess tentacle girl want to be ssaved?"
Sveta stared. He was much larger than anyone her tentacles had maimed or killed before, but that shouldn't be an issue. The tendrils which were the bane of her life were strong enough to bend steel in their implacable grasp. But although they were wrapped around his head and neck and she could tell that they were trying very hard to squeeze the life out of him, he didn't seem to be aware of their efforts. Most incongruously, the stylish fedora that adorned the middle of his broad head wasn't even being crushed or dented by the two tentacles that lay over the top of it.
"I …" she began, aware that he'd asked the question and not wanting to come across as rude by failing to answer in good time. (Though 'rude' really wasn't a good descriptor for it, when her treacherous body was simultaneously attempting to murder him). "Can you save me? If you take me out of here, then my tentacles will just start killing people again." Perhaps the worst part of it was when she got hungry and her tentacles shoved anything and everything with nutritional value at her mouth; if she'd just been killing people, that veered hard into nightmare territory really quickly.
"Ssnek will not let that happen, tentacle girl." The gigantic serpent maintained the same imperturbable air and polite tone that he had since he'd intruded on her cell. "Ssnek will take tentacle girl to Masster. He will fixx. Masster knowss how to fixx anything."
Reading online, Sveta had encountered hints of Snek's Master, but knew absolutely nothing beyond that. Whoever or whatever this Master might be, she decided that if they could fix her problems, then they'd have to be a downright miracle worker.
On second thought, they had theoretically been behind Snek chowing down on both Leviathan and the Simurgh, and if that didn't count as a miracle, there wasn't much that did.
"Okay," she decided. Screw it, it's not like my life can get any worse than this. "Go ahead. Just keep me far enough away from him that I don't hurt him, alright?"
"Ssnek doess not believe that will be a problem." And then the gigantic snake did the impossible … again. She hadn't really registered that he was talking despite the multitude of tentacles binding his jaws shut, but now he just … opened them. Her tentacles were forced to let go, flailing wildly as even their prodigious strength was overcome with ridiculous ease.
From out of his mouth emerged a long pink tongue; unlike what she'd heard about ordinary snakes, this one subdivided several times, making it into a serviceable analogue to a hand. As the branches of the tongue closed around her head and a large bunch of her tentacles, she had a sudden thought: oh hey, so that's what it's like for other people. Her tentacles struggled against the grasp, but in total vain. (That was also something she'd been on the other side of, far too many times).
And then she was drawn irresistibly into that gaping maw, past the extremely impressive teeth, and into the gullet. This part of the experience was new; while her tentacles had killed many people, they'd never forced her to eat anyone alive (not that she was exactly capable of it, of course).
In the blackness of Snek's throat, she couldn't see a thing. But all the same, she somehow managed to register being shoved sideways into a space that was blacker than black. Within that space, there was no space. There was no time. There was nothing, not even her—
<><>
The Magician's Apprentice
"Ssnek hass brought tentacle girl to be fixxed, Masster." Snek beamed proudly.
Riley knew he liked helping people, and there was a ton of people on Earth Bet who needed helping at any hour of night or day. But at the same time, he always seemed to locate the ones for whom a taxi ride home and a loan to tide them over until payday just wouldn't cover things. He was good at finding the interesting cases, the ones that occasionally caused the boss to raise one shaggy eyebrow.
Riley wasn't sure who 'tentacle girl' referred to, but it promised to be one of the good ones. She wondered if it was one of her old victims (she couldn't actually remember giving anyone tentacles, but that didn't mean she hadn't). If it was, she was going to make a point of apologising profusely after the person had all their bits and pieces back in the right order.
"So I see, Snek." The boss made a few gestures, settling a protective sphere in place. "Kindly place her in there, please."
"Yess, Masster." Snek's impressively agile tongue dipped back into his mouth and retrieved what looked like a tangled bundle of ropes from what he called his 'no-eat placce', depositing it deftly into the protective sphere. It woke up half a second too late—spending time in that weird space usually had that effect—and lashed out at the sphere, to no good effect. In the middle of it all was an anxious female face with the unmistakeable inverted omega of Cauldron tattooed on one cheekbone.
Riley blinked in mildly surprised recognition. "Huh, that's Garrotte. Case fifty-three. Vial situation, like Noelle and her friends were, and Paige." I should've known that's what Snek meant by 'tentacle girl'.
"Indeed," the boss observed. "The evil that men do to one another in the name of good is an abyss without end. This will be an interesting one for the collection."
"What are we gonna do for her body?" asked Riley, because she was pretty sure the boss wasn't going to leave Garotte as just a disembodied face. Knowing what was coming next, she headed over to the shelf to collect the extraction tongs and an appropriately enchanted jar.
"I believe a type-three construct body will suffice at first," he mused, accepting the tools with a nod of thanks. "Once Ms Sveta has had a chance to come to terms with her new situation, she will then be able to make the final choice for herself."
"Gotcha." Riley headed off to grab one of the type threes. Technically, she knew how the procedure went to stuff someone's mind into one of these, but she'd never actually seen it done (and was pretty damn sure she wasn't up to the job herself). But the boss totally had it in hand.
This was gonna be educational, the best kind of fun.
End of Part Twenty-Nine
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silentorphan
Versed in the lewd.
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Huh, that's spellcheck.
Should be only one r, I think?
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Huh, that's spellcheck.
She rrrrolls her arrrrs.
(Will fix)
Part Thirty: Sveta
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Snek is a Good Boy
Part Thirty: Sveta
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Garotte
Sveta swam through odd dreams, like a tropical fish in an unlikely aquarium. Vistas of places she'd never been, populated with people she'd never met, came and went around her. A monster bigger than the sun tried to eat the world, but a burst of black lightning shattered it into a thousand fragments then dissolved the pieces into glowing ash.
Her return to consciousness had much the same flavour of unreality. When she finally surfaced into the light, there was no sensation of eyelids opening, merely going from not seeing her surroundings to seeing them. A transition, like flipping a light switch.
Neither was she breathing, she noticed after a few seconds. Her mouth opened and she gulped in air, wondering what had gone wrong with her body. Then she noticed that she actually had a body, which derailed her thought processes yet again. It was lying down on a surface that was minimally padded: either a low bench or a high bed.
Finally, she registered the people standing on either side of her. One was a tweenage girl wearing brass-bound goggles pushed up on her forehead, with blonde hair tied back in a businesslike ponytail.
The other was a whole different kettle of lobsters; tall, with a commanding attitude, he had greying hair and a long beard, along with a tall pointed hat, robes and a gnarled wooden staff that seemed to be standing alongside him of its own accord. Sveta had never met Myrddin, but from news footage and publicity photos, the leader of the Chicago branch of the Protectorate seemed to carry off the 'wizard' theme pretty well.
This guy killed it.
When he spoke, his voice was deep and resonant. "Good evening, Sveta of another Earth beyond Bet. I am the Master of the Castle and while you are my guest, you have nothing to fear. How do you feel?"
"Um." Sveta realised that she hadn't exhaled until she spoke. It was almost like she didn't have to breathe. "I feel … fine, actually." Sitting up, she noted that she was wearing a knee-length tunic made of off-white linen. Reaching up, she felt the top of her head and discovered that she was entirely bald. Her skin felt funny, too. Then she looked at her hand and received the next major shock. The fingers bore no nails and the skin itself looked more like carved grain-free wood, even though it flexed and moved as fluidly as any hand should. "What happened to my hand? What happened to me?"
"Okay, from the top," the blonde girl began. "Snek brought you here. You remember that bit? Oh, by the way, my name's Riley. Hi."
As Sveta turned to look at her, memory started to trickle back. She recalled being captured by the gigantic snake's multibranched tongue, then stuffed into a hole inside its throat before everything went away. "Snek, I remember. Not much after."
Riley nodded, as though she'd been fully expecting that. "Well, when you got here, your body wasn't really good for much. It was mostly taken over by an interdimensional parasite that just used you as a vehicle to kill people. So the boss there pulled out the parasite and stored it away where it can't hurt anyone, then we decanted you into a construct body to wake up in, so we could have a talk without all those irritating murder-tentacles trying to rip us to pieces. Any questions?"
Sveta had many, but they were mainly along the lines of 'you did what?' rather than anything constructive. The explanation was basically one she'd expect from a Tinker, but from what she was seeing around her, this was no Tinker lab that she'd ever heard of. Also, the Master of the Castle (she had absolutely heard the capitals slotting into place as he spoke), aka 'the boss', seemed to be closely associated with Snek, which put him way above every other Tinker everywhere.
"Ah … just a couple," she said carefully, deciding to stick with the most pressing ones. "What's a construct body? I mean, what do I need to know about it? And where's my old body? Am I … am I dead?"
"You are alive, within the construct body," the Master of the Castle reassured her. "Your former vessel is in suspension, neither living nor dead. The choice for that will come when we end the suspension. Should you wish to be returned to it, that can be achieved. However, even with the parasite removed, it will be a poor kind of existence. You may choose instead to remain within the construct body where you will require neither sustenance nor sleep, but neither will you be able to enjoy any but the most rudimentary of human pursuits. Alternately, I can generate a living body that suits your needs and place your soul-pattern within it. It is entirely your option."
She didn't want to ask the question, but it came out anyway. "Why are you doing all this for me? I've hurt people. I've killed people."
"I am aware," he replied with an austere smile. "But that is neither in your nature nor in your future. You presented an intriguing distraction, and I did not have a parasite of your precise type in my collection. Besides, Snek brought you to me, and I wish to encourage him to continue doing so."
"Oh." She wasn't quite sure how she felt about being described as an 'intriguing distraction', but it had to be better than being seen as a dangerous monster. It was definitely better than being a dangerous monster, by any stretch of the imagination. "So … what do I need to do?"
He raised one shaggy eyebrow. "You have two choices to make. The first is which body you will continue on with, and the second is which world you will do so in. I have already outlined your options for the first decision, and Riley will explain the options for the second decision. You may take as long as you wish to make up your mind. Let me know when you have done so."
The conversation clearly over, the Master of the Castle turned and put out his hand. His staff drifted sideways into it, and he strode away toward the centre of the enormous laboratory (or workshop; she couldn't tell the difference) in which she had found herself. She got the impression that he wasn't so much ignoring her as he was returning his focus to a larger task.
"Yeah, the boss is kinda like that," Riley commented, even though Sveta hadn't said anything. "Don't make the mistake of thinking he doesn't care, because he does, but what he cares about is bigger than you or me."
"I think I got that, yes." Sveta slid off the bed and stood up. While she hadn't performed that particular motion in a very long time, it seemed the construct body (whatever that actually meant) was capable of taking over and making sure she didn't fall flat on her face. "Where even is this place?"
The question was well founded. Within the cathedral-sized room, there was a multi-level series of retorts and flasks and other apparently-scientific apparatus, though she wasn't sure what the glowing crystals were about, or the glassware that was apparently hovering in midair. Along one wall was a series of shelves, populated in part by large bottles within which odd misty forms wafted from side to side. Another shelf set supported a number of internally-illuminated spherical objects; Sveta wasn't sure what they were, but she was equally certain that she didn't want to mess with them. Overhead, hanging there as though placed as an afterthought, was a taxidermized creature like a large crocodile with great multicoloured bat-like wings.
"Well, you're in the Castle, of course." Riley grinned at Sveta's sour expression. "This is the boss's world. Not Bet, or any of the ones that they've discovered. Basically, your average fantasy world, but without much in the way of weird humanoid races. We've got dragons though, so there's that."
Sveta nodded at the creature suspended from the roof-line above. "Yeah, I saw that already. So that thing's real, and not just an ornament of some kind?"
"Oh, that's a drake, not a true dragon." Riley spread her hands apart, somewhat farther than shoulder-width. "You've probably seen hearth-dragons on the news? Well, this is where they come from. True dragons are a whole lot bigger than drakes, and they're nice to hang out with. Drakes would just want to eat you."
"Ah." Sveta's head was starting to swim from all the new information she was taking on. "So, um, the Master of the Castle said there were different worlds I could choose from?"
"Right, right." Riley raised one finger. "There's Earth Bet. You probably know that the best. At least, the politics and language and stuff." Another finger raised. "Then there's this world. Relatively low-tech, but with quite a bit of magic to bridge the gap. We've got a solid awareness of hygiene and basic intelligent medical practice, so we don't have plagues decimating the population every other year, and infant and childbirth mortality is about what it is in first-world nations back on Bet."
Sveta peered at her suspiciously. "Wait. Are you not from here? I thought you were, but now you're giving me the idea that you're not."
"Oh, no." Riley chuckled and shook her head. "Born on Bet, but I got inconvenient powers and ended up in really bad company, until Snek rescued me. The boss cleared the shit out of my head but let me keep my powers, so I help him out wherever I can."
Sveta got the impression she was being deliberately obscure and thought about calling her out on it, but decided not to. "I see. So, is this a good world to live on?"
"So long as you're not addicted to takeout food." Riley grinned. "Or the internet. Jobs here are a lot more hands-on. No computers, no automation. Stuff gets made by artisans or by magic. We haven't had the Industrial Revolution here yet, and I doubt we ever will."
"Hmm." Sveta was still undecided. "What's the other options? Or are this world and Bet the only two I get?"
Riley shook her head. "Heck, no. There's also your original world. Now I know you don't actually remember it, but if you want, the boss can pull the cover off those memories. He hasn't done it already because apparently some of them are a bit traumatic and I suggested that we give you a bit of time to get your head settled before we gave you more stuff to worry about."
"Oh." The girl definitely had a point. "Um, while I'm thinking about it, is it possible for me to see some of these dragons? Because I only saw photos of the hearth-dragons online, and even then they looked like the cutest things ever."
"Heh, they're definitely cute." Riley hooked her head toward one of the doorways leading out of the room. "Follow me. We've asked them to stay outside while you were recovering so you didn't get distracted, but as soon as you come out with me, they'll know that's over. Word of warning: they're very sociable and very inquisitive."
"I'll take your word for it." Sveta wasn't sure what to expect as she followed Riley through a passageway that let out onto a large broad balcony. The first thing she registered after the brilliant blue sky, was just how high up they were. There was a town far down below at the foot of the mountain, and the buildings were tiny. Dragging her eyes up to the horizon, she felt as though she could see forever.
And that was when she saw her first dragon. Swooping through the air, some distance away, it was still huge. She could see the sun glinting off its wide-spread wings, and the draconic grin on its muzzle as it pulled a snap-roll then glided in for a landing on a broad ledge of rock, where others of its kind were already resting.
"Whoaaa …" she whispered, staring at the sight. They were immense, they were entirely outside her experience, but most of all, they were majestic. "That's amazing."
"Yeah, that's the Dragonmark," Riley confirmed. "They like to hang near the Castle and make sure nobody breaks the law in a really egregious way around here. Sometimes I go flying with them."
"Flying?" Sveta stared at Riley, then at the dragons. "You can fly with them?"
"Sure. They love showing off, and being told how pretty they are." Riley paused. "And here comes the onslaught. Brace yourself."
Sveta turned to look, just in time to see half a dozen hearth-dragons land on the balcony rail, staring at her with undisguised interest. More flew up and around her, their scales coloured all the hues of the rainbow and a few others besides, before they found their perches. Riley had two on her shoulders by the time they'd all settled.
Sveta could hear them chirping and squawking among themselves, but it didn't sound like random noise. "Are they talking to each other?"
"They're hella smart, and they understand most of what we say," Riley explained. "They're also really empathetic, so what you're hearing is about one-tenth of what they're saying."
"Oh. Oh, I see." Sveta paused, looking at the concentrated cuteness all around her. Her heart, or whatever passed for one in this artificial body, went out to them. "Can I … can I hold one?"
"If they don't mind, sure." Riley shrugged; this caused the ones perching on her shoulders to shift their weight and flare their wings slightly for balance, but they didn't otherwise move. One chirped reprovingly, and she reached up to stroke its neck, which it leaned into. "Pick one and say hi."
"Alright." Sveta found herself torn as she looked around. Some were red and gold, others were brilliant sky-blue or silver or green, but the one that caught her eye was the delicate blue-green of sea-foam, which she recalled from the few dreams that she'd had of her time before being Garotte. Holding out her hand, she looked into its—into her—eyes. "Hello. Aren't you a cutie?"
Letting out a definitive chirp that as much as said, 'why yes, I am a cutie, thank you for noticing', the hearth-dragon spread her wings and made it to Sveta's hand in a single wing-beat. Wonderingly, she brought the dragon close to her and stroked the wings with her other hand. The scales were silk-smooth to her touch; from the way the little dragon pushed her head up under Sveta's chin, she was enjoying the attention.
"Yes, yes, you guys are just as cute too." Riley was sitting on the balcony floor by now, giving skritches to all the hearth-dragons surrounding her. "Don't be jealous, you know how this goes."
Standing on the balcony in the warming sunlight, with chirping, frolicking hearth-dragons all around her while holding another one in her arms, and watching their vastly oversized cousins swoop and dive at each other in the distance, Sveta could have been excused for assuming she was still dreaming. But this had none of the detached quality of a dream. Every bit of it, from the rumbles of pleasure coming from the blue-green hearth-dragon she was cuddling, to the pure sharp clean smell of the air at this altitude, to the feel of the hearth-dragon's scales against her cheek, told her that it was reality.
For far too long, she had lived a nightmare, but now she had finally woken up.
The Wizard's Apprentice
By the time Riley walked back into the boss's work room with Sveta (the blue-green hearth-dragon riding on her shoulder) Snek had woken from his nap and was helping move one of the larger pieces of equipment to where it was needed. No doubt the boss could levitate the stuff if he really needed to, but it was a good idea to limit the amount of unnecessary magic floating around. Besides, Snek enjoyed helping, and he was good at the brute-force stuff.
The boss looked around from what he was doing and nodded to the both of them. "You have made a decision?" he asked. He knew the answer, of course. The boss always knew what was going on. It was just polite to let people think they knew something he didn't.
"I think so, yes," Sveta said. She reached up without looking and stroked the hearth-dragon's neck. Riley grinned privately; she could pick out a bonding in progress from a hundred yards, and this one was definitely happening. "But before we do it, could I please see my old body, and what you took out of me? I think you called it a parasite?"
"Certainly. Riley, if you could fetch the bottle, please?"
"Sure thing, boss." Riley headed to the collections shelf and took down the latest enchanted bottle, then carried it over to the examination table and placed it there for Sveta's perusal. Within, the wispy form of the parasite drifted around, searching for a way out of its confinement. None of them had found one, and none ever would. Peering closely, Riley was almost certain she could see suggestions of the filmy tendrils that Sveta's original body yet sported.
"So this is … was … my power?" asked Sveta, staring into the bottle. "It took over my entire life, killed hundreds of people, but you've trapped it in a bottle like a laboratory specimen?"
"It is precisely that, for me." The boss's tone was matter-of-fact.
Sveta's teeth bared and she made a rude gesture toward the bottle. "Screw you," she said fiercely. "You made my life a living hell. See how you like being a prisoner."
The boss appeared not to notice, turning toward where Snek was returning with his burden. He gestured at a place next to the table. "Put it there, please, Snek."
"Yess, Masster." Riley knew that Snek's speech wasn't entirely dependent on his mouth being free, but it was still amusing to listen to him talk while placing a large brass-and-crystal container on the floor. A good three feet across, it contained the face-with-tendrils that had been Sveta's body for so long. Eyes closed and tendrils drifting gently in the fluid that kept it in stasis, the face looked at peace.
Sveta looked closely at it, the unblinking gaze of the construct body taking in every detail. "So, if I asked to be put back in that, I wouldn't have my powers, so … what would happen? I wouldn't be forced to kill people anymore?"
"You would not, that's true," the boss confirmed. "However, a good deal of your strength and durability was afforded you by the parasite infecting your body, mainly so that it could continue to inflict itself on others. You would be slow, soft and easily injured, and anyone could take revenge on you for the ills done to others in your previous life. Creating and maintaining a normal life for yourself would be difficult if not impossible."
"Okay, yeah, I got that." Sveta nodded to herself, as though she'd just marked off something she needed to do on an invisible clipboard. "So, what does giving me a new body involve?"
"Interestingly enough, you are not the first person from your world to require at least some work to become capable of existing within society." The boss turned to Snek. "Kindly fetch the other container, if you please."
"Yess, Masster." The gigantic snake slithered away.
Riley did her best to hide the grin on her face. She'd worked alongside the boss on this one and was justifiably proud of the results. While Sveta wasn't someone she'd victimised in the past, it was still a rush to be able to use her talents to fix someone who needed help in the worst way.
"And had you decided which world you were going to?" asked the boss while they were waiting.
"Riley said you could give me back my memories of where I originally came from," Sveta ventured. "Once I know about that, I'll know where I want to go."
"Indeed." The boss barely gestured, and his vocal command was no more than a muttered phrase, but Riley saw the magic flaring in her goggles. From the way Sveta's head came up, she was also aware of its effects for another reason altogether.
"Oh," she said softly. "Wow. Okay, yeah, I get it. I know where I want to go."
At this moment, Snek returned. The container was not unlike a coffin in size and shape, and indeed contained a body, but was made of the same brass and crystal as the smaller container. This time, the body was that of an adult woman, bearing Sveta's features along with short blonde hair. As with Sveta's original body, she drifted within the supporting fluid, timeless and preserved.
Again, Sveta stared through the crystalline pane at the features within. "And you made this for me … when?" she asked at last.
"Before you woke up," Riley explained. "It wasn't hard. A little bit of genetic material, a little bit of elbow grease, a little bit of magic, and voila."
Sveta shook her head slowly. "I never believed in magic until now, but I am seriously beginning to doubt that stance."
Riley grinned. "Probably a good idea. So, where do you think you would like to go?"
Taking a deep breath (even though the construct body didn't need air), Sveta looked at Riley and then at the boss. "Do you happen to have fishing villages on this world?"
The boss's smile was indulgent. "Many."
A Coastal Fishing Village, Several Leagues Away
Karol bundled up the last of his fishing nets and stowed them away for later use. He shaded his eyes and looked out over the ocean, the corners of his eyes crinkling with the smile as he saw the last of the stragglers beating into harbour against the growing land breeze. "About time," he said out loud.
"We're suffering and you know it," his brother Bron said, hearkening back to an earlier argument. "We really need a third set of hands while we're out there. And not some lubber who doesn't know his starboard from a sheetbend."
"Can't make a paddle from a piece of paper," Karol reminded him. "Help is hard to find all over." He went to say something else, but the look on Bron's face set him aback. His brother, hard to faze at the best of times, was staring open-mouthed at something behind Karol.
"Dragon," croaked Bron.
Karol turned, half-expecting a prank, but indeed it was a dragon. With powerful wing-beats, it was coming in for a landing on the patch of bare ground where the fishing boats were usually hauled up onto in order to avoid the worst of the winter storms. He'd seen them before, but high up and going somewhere else; this close, and on the ground, it was astonishingly large. Just its head was bigger than his entire fishing boat.
Once it landed, it lowered its head close to the ground. With a growing sense of unreality, Karol watched a slender woman slide down to the ground, then give the immense creature a hug, although her arms reached no distance at all around that sizeable neck. She wore hard-wearing fishermen's clothing and had a leather satchel over her shoulder, but the most striking detail about her was the ocean-foam hearth-dragon that swooped in to land on her other shoulder.
A moment later, the dragon took off again, its tremendous wingbeats gusting air against Karol's face and making his coat flap briefly. The woman looked around, then strode over to where he and Bron stood speechless. "Hello," she said politely, in slightly accented but perfectly understandable speech. "I am Sveta Reborn."
Several facts tumbled through Karol's mind as the hearth-dragon surveyed them curiously. She was surely bonded to the little creature, and that meant immediate good luck for any crew that took her on. Moreover, she was in favour with true dragons, and no doubt the Master of the Castle, to arrive in such a fashion, bearing such a name. Once word got around about Sveta Reborn, none would bother her in an untoward fashion, if they valued their life and limb.
"I bid you a fair eventide," he managed. "I am Karol Spindrift, and this is my brother Bron. What brings you to our humble village?"
She jerked her chin upward slightly. "I was actually hoping to find work, if there was any going about."
Bron shared a glance with Karol. "Do you know how to fish, and to sail a boat?" he asked. These things had to be asked, after all.
A smile crossed Sveta Reborn's lips as she looked out at the boats rocking gently at their moorings. "Once upon a time, when I was younger, I sailed and fished most every day. I'm sure it'll come back to me."
That was good enough for Karol. He put out his hand to clasp hers. "Then welcome aboard."
End of Part Thirty
Part Thirty: Sveta
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Garotte
Sveta swam through odd dreams, like a tropical fish in an unlikely aquarium. Vistas of places she'd never been, populated with people she'd never met, came and went around her. A monster bigger than the sun tried to eat the world, but a burst of black lightning shattered it into a thousand fragments then dissolved the pieces into glowing ash.
Her return to consciousness had much the same flavour of unreality. When she finally surfaced into the light, there was no sensation of eyelids opening, merely going from not seeing her surroundings to seeing them. A transition, like flipping a light switch.
Neither was she breathing, she noticed after a few seconds. Her mouth opened and she gulped in air, wondering what had gone wrong with her body. Then she noticed that she actually had a body, which derailed her thought processes yet again. It was lying down on a surface that was minimally padded: either a low bench or a high bed.
Finally, she registered the people standing on either side of her. One was a tweenage girl wearing brass-bound goggles pushed up on her forehead, with blonde hair tied back in a businesslike ponytail.
The other was a whole different kettle of lobsters; tall, with a commanding attitude, he had greying hair and a long beard, along with a tall pointed hat, robes and a gnarled wooden staff that seemed to be standing alongside him of its own accord. Sveta had never met Myrddin, but from news footage and publicity photos, the leader of the Chicago branch of the Protectorate seemed to carry off the 'wizard' theme pretty well.
This guy killed it.
When he spoke, his voice was deep and resonant. "Good evening, Sveta of another Earth beyond Bet. I am the Master of the Castle and while you are my guest, you have nothing to fear. How do you feel?"
"Um." Sveta realised that she hadn't exhaled until she spoke. It was almost like she didn't have to breathe. "I feel … fine, actually." Sitting up, she noted that she was wearing a knee-length tunic made of off-white linen. Reaching up, she felt the top of her head and discovered that she was entirely bald. Her skin felt funny, too. Then she looked at her hand and received the next major shock. The fingers bore no nails and the skin itself looked more like carved grain-free wood, even though it flexed and moved as fluidly as any hand should. "What happened to my hand? What happened to me?"
"Okay, from the top," the blonde girl began. "Snek brought you here. You remember that bit? Oh, by the way, my name's Riley. Hi."
As Sveta turned to look at her, memory started to trickle back. She recalled being captured by the gigantic snake's multibranched tongue, then stuffed into a hole inside its throat before everything went away. "Snek, I remember. Not much after."
Riley nodded, as though she'd been fully expecting that. "Well, when you got here, your body wasn't really good for much. It was mostly taken over by an interdimensional parasite that just used you as a vehicle to kill people. So the boss there pulled out the parasite and stored it away where it can't hurt anyone, then we decanted you into a construct body to wake up in, so we could have a talk without all those irritating murder-tentacles trying to rip us to pieces. Any questions?"
Sveta had many, but they were mainly along the lines of 'you did what?' rather than anything constructive. The explanation was basically one she'd expect from a Tinker, but from what she was seeing around her, this was no Tinker lab that she'd ever heard of. Also, the Master of the Castle (she had absolutely heard the capitals slotting into place as he spoke), aka 'the boss', seemed to be closely associated with Snek, which put him way above every other Tinker everywhere.
"Ah … just a couple," she said carefully, deciding to stick with the most pressing ones. "What's a construct body? I mean, what do I need to know about it? And where's my old body? Am I … am I dead?"
"You are alive, within the construct body," the Master of the Castle reassured her. "Your former vessel is in suspension, neither living nor dead. The choice for that will come when we end the suspension. Should you wish to be returned to it, that can be achieved. However, even with the parasite removed, it will be a poor kind of existence. You may choose instead to remain within the construct body where you will require neither sustenance nor sleep, but neither will you be able to enjoy any but the most rudimentary of human pursuits. Alternately, I can generate a living body that suits your needs and place your soul-pattern within it. It is entirely your option."
She didn't want to ask the question, but it came out anyway. "Why are you doing all this for me? I've hurt people. I've killed people."
"I am aware," he replied with an austere smile. "But that is neither in your nature nor in your future. You presented an intriguing distraction, and I did not have a parasite of your precise type in my collection. Besides, Snek brought you to me, and I wish to encourage him to continue doing so."
"Oh." She wasn't quite sure how she felt about being described as an 'intriguing distraction', but it had to be better than being seen as a dangerous monster. It was definitely better than being a dangerous monster, by any stretch of the imagination. "So … what do I need to do?"
He raised one shaggy eyebrow. "You have two choices to make. The first is which body you will continue on with, and the second is which world you will do so in. I have already outlined your options for the first decision, and Riley will explain the options for the second decision. You may take as long as you wish to make up your mind. Let me know when you have done so."
The conversation clearly over, the Master of the Castle turned and put out his hand. His staff drifted sideways into it, and he strode away toward the centre of the enormous laboratory (or workshop; she couldn't tell the difference) in which she had found herself. She got the impression that he wasn't so much ignoring her as he was returning his focus to a larger task.
"Yeah, the boss is kinda like that," Riley commented, even though Sveta hadn't said anything. "Don't make the mistake of thinking he doesn't care, because he does, but what he cares about is bigger than you or me."
"I think I got that, yes." Sveta slid off the bed and stood up. While she hadn't performed that particular motion in a very long time, it seemed the construct body (whatever that actually meant) was capable of taking over and making sure she didn't fall flat on her face. "Where even is this place?"
The question was well founded. Within the cathedral-sized room, there was a multi-level series of retorts and flasks and other apparently-scientific apparatus, though she wasn't sure what the glowing crystals were about, or the glassware that was apparently hovering in midair. Along one wall was a series of shelves, populated in part by large bottles within which odd misty forms wafted from side to side. Another shelf set supported a number of internally-illuminated spherical objects; Sveta wasn't sure what they were, but she was equally certain that she didn't want to mess with them. Overhead, hanging there as though placed as an afterthought, was a taxidermized creature like a large crocodile with great multicoloured bat-like wings.
"Well, you're in the Castle, of course." Riley grinned at Sveta's sour expression. "This is the boss's world. Not Bet, or any of the ones that they've discovered. Basically, your average fantasy world, but without much in the way of weird humanoid races. We've got dragons though, so there's that."
Sveta nodded at the creature suspended from the roof-line above. "Yeah, I saw that already. So that thing's real, and not just an ornament of some kind?"
"Oh, that's a drake, not a true dragon." Riley spread her hands apart, somewhat farther than shoulder-width. "You've probably seen hearth-dragons on the news? Well, this is where they come from. True dragons are a whole lot bigger than drakes, and they're nice to hang out with. Drakes would just want to eat you."
"Ah." Sveta's head was starting to swim from all the new information she was taking on. "So, um, the Master of the Castle said there were different worlds I could choose from?"
"Right, right." Riley raised one finger. "There's Earth Bet. You probably know that the best. At least, the politics and language and stuff." Another finger raised. "Then there's this world. Relatively low-tech, but with quite a bit of magic to bridge the gap. We've got a solid awareness of hygiene and basic intelligent medical practice, so we don't have plagues decimating the population every other year, and infant and childbirth mortality is about what it is in first-world nations back on Bet."
Sveta peered at her suspiciously. "Wait. Are you not from here? I thought you were, but now you're giving me the idea that you're not."
"Oh, no." Riley chuckled and shook her head. "Born on Bet, but I got inconvenient powers and ended up in really bad company, until Snek rescued me. The boss cleared the shit out of my head but let me keep my powers, so I help him out wherever I can."
Sveta got the impression she was being deliberately obscure and thought about calling her out on it, but decided not to. "I see. So, is this a good world to live on?"
"So long as you're not addicted to takeout food." Riley grinned. "Or the internet. Jobs here are a lot more hands-on. No computers, no automation. Stuff gets made by artisans or by magic. We haven't had the Industrial Revolution here yet, and I doubt we ever will."
"Hmm." Sveta was still undecided. "What's the other options? Or are this world and Bet the only two I get?"
Riley shook her head. "Heck, no. There's also your original world. Now I know you don't actually remember it, but if you want, the boss can pull the cover off those memories. He hasn't done it already because apparently some of them are a bit traumatic and I suggested that we give you a bit of time to get your head settled before we gave you more stuff to worry about."
"Oh." The girl definitely had a point. "Um, while I'm thinking about it, is it possible for me to see some of these dragons? Because I only saw photos of the hearth-dragons online, and even then they looked like the cutest things ever."
"Heh, they're definitely cute." Riley hooked her head toward one of the doorways leading out of the room. "Follow me. We've asked them to stay outside while you were recovering so you didn't get distracted, but as soon as you come out with me, they'll know that's over. Word of warning: they're very sociable and very inquisitive."
"I'll take your word for it." Sveta wasn't sure what to expect as she followed Riley through a passageway that let out onto a large broad balcony. The first thing she registered after the brilliant blue sky, was just how high up they were. There was a town far down below at the foot of the mountain, and the buildings were tiny. Dragging her eyes up to the horizon, she felt as though she could see forever.
And that was when she saw her first dragon. Swooping through the air, some distance away, it was still huge. She could see the sun glinting off its wide-spread wings, and the draconic grin on its muzzle as it pulled a snap-roll then glided in for a landing on a broad ledge of rock, where others of its kind were already resting.
"Whoaaa …" she whispered, staring at the sight. They were immense, they were entirely outside her experience, but most of all, they were majestic. "That's amazing."
"Yeah, that's the Dragonmark," Riley confirmed. "They like to hang near the Castle and make sure nobody breaks the law in a really egregious way around here. Sometimes I go flying with them."
"Flying?" Sveta stared at Riley, then at the dragons. "You can fly with them?"
"Sure. They love showing off, and being told how pretty they are." Riley paused. "And here comes the onslaught. Brace yourself."
Sveta turned to look, just in time to see half a dozen hearth-dragons land on the balcony rail, staring at her with undisguised interest. More flew up and around her, their scales coloured all the hues of the rainbow and a few others besides, before they found their perches. Riley had two on her shoulders by the time they'd all settled.
Sveta could hear them chirping and squawking among themselves, but it didn't sound like random noise. "Are they talking to each other?"
"They're hella smart, and they understand most of what we say," Riley explained. "They're also really empathetic, so what you're hearing is about one-tenth of what they're saying."
"Oh. Oh, I see." Sveta paused, looking at the concentrated cuteness all around her. Her heart, or whatever passed for one in this artificial body, went out to them. "Can I … can I hold one?"
"If they don't mind, sure." Riley shrugged; this caused the ones perching on her shoulders to shift their weight and flare their wings slightly for balance, but they didn't otherwise move. One chirped reprovingly, and she reached up to stroke its neck, which it leaned into. "Pick one and say hi."
"Alright." Sveta found herself torn as she looked around. Some were red and gold, others were brilliant sky-blue or silver or green, but the one that caught her eye was the delicate blue-green of sea-foam, which she recalled from the few dreams that she'd had of her time before being Garotte. Holding out her hand, she looked into its—into her—eyes. "Hello. Aren't you a cutie?"
Letting out a definitive chirp that as much as said, 'why yes, I am a cutie, thank you for noticing', the hearth-dragon spread her wings and made it to Sveta's hand in a single wing-beat. Wonderingly, she brought the dragon close to her and stroked the wings with her other hand. The scales were silk-smooth to her touch; from the way the little dragon pushed her head up under Sveta's chin, she was enjoying the attention.
"Yes, yes, you guys are just as cute too." Riley was sitting on the balcony floor by now, giving skritches to all the hearth-dragons surrounding her. "Don't be jealous, you know how this goes."
Standing on the balcony in the warming sunlight, with chirping, frolicking hearth-dragons all around her while holding another one in her arms, and watching their vastly oversized cousins swoop and dive at each other in the distance, Sveta could have been excused for assuming she was still dreaming. But this had none of the detached quality of a dream. Every bit of it, from the rumbles of pleasure coming from the blue-green hearth-dragon she was cuddling, to the pure sharp clean smell of the air at this altitude, to the feel of the hearth-dragon's scales against her cheek, told her that it was reality.
For far too long, she had lived a nightmare, but now she had finally woken up.
<><>
The Wizard's Apprentice
By the time Riley walked back into the boss's work room with Sveta (the blue-green hearth-dragon riding on her shoulder) Snek had woken from his nap and was helping move one of the larger pieces of equipment to where it was needed. No doubt the boss could levitate the stuff if he really needed to, but it was a good idea to limit the amount of unnecessary magic floating around. Besides, Snek enjoyed helping, and he was good at the brute-force stuff.
The boss looked around from what he was doing and nodded to the both of them. "You have made a decision?" he asked. He knew the answer, of course. The boss always knew what was going on. It was just polite to let people think they knew something he didn't.
"I think so, yes," Sveta said. She reached up without looking and stroked the hearth-dragon's neck. Riley grinned privately; she could pick out a bonding in progress from a hundred yards, and this one was definitely happening. "But before we do it, could I please see my old body, and what you took out of me? I think you called it a parasite?"
"Certainly. Riley, if you could fetch the bottle, please?"
"Sure thing, boss." Riley headed to the collections shelf and took down the latest enchanted bottle, then carried it over to the examination table and placed it there for Sveta's perusal. Within, the wispy form of the parasite drifted around, searching for a way out of its confinement. None of them had found one, and none ever would. Peering closely, Riley was almost certain she could see suggestions of the filmy tendrils that Sveta's original body yet sported.
"So this is … was … my power?" asked Sveta, staring into the bottle. "It took over my entire life, killed hundreds of people, but you've trapped it in a bottle like a laboratory specimen?"
"It is precisely that, for me." The boss's tone was matter-of-fact.
Sveta's teeth bared and she made a rude gesture toward the bottle. "Screw you," she said fiercely. "You made my life a living hell. See how you like being a prisoner."
The boss appeared not to notice, turning toward where Snek was returning with his burden. He gestured at a place next to the table. "Put it there, please, Snek."
"Yess, Masster." Riley knew that Snek's speech wasn't entirely dependent on his mouth being free, but it was still amusing to listen to him talk while placing a large brass-and-crystal container on the floor. A good three feet across, it contained the face-with-tendrils that had been Sveta's body for so long. Eyes closed and tendrils drifting gently in the fluid that kept it in stasis, the face looked at peace.
Sveta looked closely at it, the unblinking gaze of the construct body taking in every detail. "So, if I asked to be put back in that, I wouldn't have my powers, so … what would happen? I wouldn't be forced to kill people anymore?"
"You would not, that's true," the boss confirmed. "However, a good deal of your strength and durability was afforded you by the parasite infecting your body, mainly so that it could continue to inflict itself on others. You would be slow, soft and easily injured, and anyone could take revenge on you for the ills done to others in your previous life. Creating and maintaining a normal life for yourself would be difficult if not impossible."
"Okay, yeah, I got that." Sveta nodded to herself, as though she'd just marked off something she needed to do on an invisible clipboard. "So, what does giving me a new body involve?"
"Interestingly enough, you are not the first person from your world to require at least some work to become capable of existing within society." The boss turned to Snek. "Kindly fetch the other container, if you please."
"Yess, Masster." The gigantic snake slithered away.
Riley did her best to hide the grin on her face. She'd worked alongside the boss on this one and was justifiably proud of the results. While Sveta wasn't someone she'd victimised in the past, it was still a rush to be able to use her talents to fix someone who needed help in the worst way.
"And had you decided which world you were going to?" asked the boss while they were waiting.
"Riley said you could give me back my memories of where I originally came from," Sveta ventured. "Once I know about that, I'll know where I want to go."
"Indeed." The boss barely gestured, and his vocal command was no more than a muttered phrase, but Riley saw the magic flaring in her goggles. From the way Sveta's head came up, she was also aware of its effects for another reason altogether.
"Oh," she said softly. "Wow. Okay, yeah, I get it. I know where I want to go."
At this moment, Snek returned. The container was not unlike a coffin in size and shape, and indeed contained a body, but was made of the same brass and crystal as the smaller container. This time, the body was that of an adult woman, bearing Sveta's features along with short blonde hair. As with Sveta's original body, she drifted within the supporting fluid, timeless and preserved.
Again, Sveta stared through the crystalline pane at the features within. "And you made this for me … when?" she asked at last.
"Before you woke up," Riley explained. "It wasn't hard. A little bit of genetic material, a little bit of elbow grease, a little bit of magic, and voila."
Sveta shook her head slowly. "I never believed in magic until now, but I am seriously beginning to doubt that stance."
Riley grinned. "Probably a good idea. So, where do you think you would like to go?"
Taking a deep breath (even though the construct body didn't need air), Sveta looked at Riley and then at the boss. "Do you happen to have fishing villages on this world?"
The boss's smile was indulgent. "Many."
<><>
A Coastal Fishing Village, Several Leagues Away
Karol bundled up the last of his fishing nets and stowed them away for later use. He shaded his eyes and looked out over the ocean, the corners of his eyes crinkling with the smile as he saw the last of the stragglers beating into harbour against the growing land breeze. "About time," he said out loud.
"We're suffering and you know it," his brother Bron said, hearkening back to an earlier argument. "We really need a third set of hands while we're out there. And not some lubber who doesn't know his starboard from a sheetbend."
"Can't make a paddle from a piece of paper," Karol reminded him. "Help is hard to find all over." He went to say something else, but the look on Bron's face set him aback. His brother, hard to faze at the best of times, was staring open-mouthed at something behind Karol.
"Dragon," croaked Bron.
Karol turned, half-expecting a prank, but indeed it was a dragon. With powerful wing-beats, it was coming in for a landing on the patch of bare ground where the fishing boats were usually hauled up onto in order to avoid the worst of the winter storms. He'd seen them before, but high up and going somewhere else; this close, and on the ground, it was astonishingly large. Just its head was bigger than his entire fishing boat.
Once it landed, it lowered its head close to the ground. With a growing sense of unreality, Karol watched a slender woman slide down to the ground, then give the immense creature a hug, although her arms reached no distance at all around that sizeable neck. She wore hard-wearing fishermen's clothing and had a leather satchel over her shoulder, but the most striking detail about her was the ocean-foam hearth-dragon that swooped in to land on her other shoulder.
A moment later, the dragon took off again, its tremendous wingbeats gusting air against Karol's face and making his coat flap briefly. The woman looked around, then strode over to where he and Bron stood speechless. "Hello," she said politely, in slightly accented but perfectly understandable speech. "I am Sveta Reborn."
Several facts tumbled through Karol's mind as the hearth-dragon surveyed them curiously. She was surely bonded to the little creature, and that meant immediate good luck for any crew that took her on. Moreover, she was in favour with true dragons, and no doubt the Master of the Castle, to arrive in such a fashion, bearing such a name. Once word got around about Sveta Reborn, none would bother her in an untoward fashion, if they valued their life and limb.
"I bid you a fair eventide," he managed. "I am Karol Spindrift, and this is my brother Bron. What brings you to our humble village?"
She jerked her chin upward slightly. "I was actually hoping to find work, if there was any going about."
Bron shared a glance with Karol. "Do you know how to fish, and to sail a boat?" he asked. These things had to be asked, after all.
A smile crossed Sveta Reborn's lips as she looked out at the boats rocking gently at their moorings. "Once upon a time, when I was younger, I sailed and fished most every day. I'm sure it'll come back to me."
That was good enough for Karol. He put out his hand to clasp hers. "Then welcome aboard."
End of Part Thirty
NavigatorNobilis
Follower of the Second Star
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Unexpected, but wholesome.
If I smash my laptop to the ground and demand another, would that be gauche?
If I smash my laptop to the ground and demand another, would that be gauche?
Wintercat
Curious Lurker
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Far sweeter fate for Sveta than many other stories have offered, a delightful chapter and I am glad to have read that. Thank you for another fun chapter, and looking forward to seeing any future continuation as well. Snek is a good boy indeed, but the world holds many wonderful aspects to it there it seems.
It was fun to return to read this story again, two chapters since I last dropped in to read, and it was a delight to check them both out.
It was fun to return to read this story again, two chapters since I last dropped in to read, and it was a delight to check them both out.
Zhen_Electric
Know what you're doing yet?
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No, it would just be expensive to replace.
Mastersgt
Well worn.
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I have a bad memory(which comes in handy with re-reading old favorites) so I have probably said this before. But I think the author making a spin-off of this story following the "Master of the Castle" would be great... Maybe he started as an Isekai/reincarnator with the Celestial Grimoire?
Ack
(Verified Ratbag) (Unverified Great Old One)
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Feel free to write an omake of this.
theonebutcher
Hahaha! ... Waitaminute... Oh God NO!
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Headcanon: Snek started his life in the chamber of Secrets.
macdjord
Well worn.
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That gives me the amusing idea of someone trying to give Snek orders in Parseltongue, only for him to hang his head and admit, rather shamefacedly, that he was raised among humans and never actually learned to speak Snake.
Part Thirty-One: Home Is Where the Heart Is
Ack
(Verified Ratbag) (Unverified Great Old One)
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Snek is a Good Boy
Part Thirty-One: Home Is Where the Heart Is
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Sveta, Later
Sunlight danced on the waves, and the sails billowed gently. The boat left a ruler-straight wake with Karol's steady hand at the tiller. Bron, at the bow, shaded his eyes and scanned the water ahead while Sveta kept the sails trimmed.
"Can you see anything?" Karol called forward. "Should we cast the nets here, or keep going?"
"Nothing. I see nothing." Bron huffed in irritation. "Where could they be?"
Esmerelda erupted from the water alongside the boat and circled Sveta once before landing on her shoulder. Sveta had known she was coming, and reached up to caress her neck as she furled her wings. "There's fish down there," she informed both men. They could tell it was true, because Esmerelda had one in her mouth.
"Well, that's a start." Karol nodded to her, and she paid off the line to let wind spill from the mainsail. "Can your clever little beast tell us where?"
"She knows they're down there, and there's a lot of them, but compass directions aren't really her thing." Sveta urged Esmerelda off her shoulder; without demur, the hearth-dragon took to the air once more, swallowing the fish at the same time. Balancing easily, she pulled off her shirt and stepped out of her trousers. Underneath this clothing, she wore a one-piece made of some water-resistant material she was unfamiliar with, but which had enough give in it to make for a reasonable wetsuit. "I'll go have a look."
Bron shook his head as she prepared to go over the side. "I will never be used to this."
She grinned at him, then dived in. Esmerelda followed, the little dragon piercing the water as easily as she had. Beneath the waves, Esmerelda folded her wings in tight and undulated along at a frankly impressive speed. Sveta wasn't quite as fast or agile, but she was still far better than any merely human swimmer. As an added bonus, she could breathe the water as easily as she could the air above, and her eyes automatically adapted once she was submerged so she could see clearly, even into the darker depths.
Esmerelda—Sveta called her that because she was greenish and the name appealed to both of them—let out a drumming chirp that reverberated through the water, then led the way off to the side. She was very pleased with herself, which was understandable once Sveta saw the massive school of fish ahead of them. Normally there would've been some activity on the surface, but this lot were deeper than normal, which was why Bron had seen nothing.
Got it. Back to the boat. While the words didn't transmit directly over their bond, the intent was clear enough, and Esmerelda fell in beside her as they returned to the small craft. Sveta was deeply in tune with her, to the extent that she knew Esmerelda would be stealing at least one fish from their catch on the way back to the harbour. Karol and Bron had never argued her right to do so, and Sveta didn't think they were about to start.
Unlike Esmerelda, she couldn't jump a body-length out of the water on sheer speed, but she could come mostly out and, with a hand on the gunwale, vault into the boat in a shower of spray. This she did, landing on her feet and steadying herself into a crouch. Esmerelda landed next to Sveta and shook salt water off her wings.
"You have returned," Karol greeted her imperturbably. "That was fast. Have you found the fish already?"
"I have," she confirmed, and pointed. "That way, perhaps five hundred feet. It's a big school. We'll have to put the nets deep."
As Karol turned the rudder and the boat heeled onto the new course, Bron whooped with excitement. "See, brother? I told you she would be good luck to bring along!"
"You told me?" Karol laughed out loud. "Brother, you didn't say a word. I was the one who welcomed her aboard!"
Sveta tuned them out as she skimmed the water off her one-piece and re-donned her fishing clothes. Esmerelda was gliding alongside the boat as she finished, sharp eyes watching the ocean ahead. While Karol steered, Bron came back to where the nets were prepared, and Sveta worked with him to cast them to port and starboard. She knew the moment when the nets found the school, as the boat actually seemed to stagger in the water from the weight of fish they'd encountered.
And then they were laughing with the exhilaration as she took Karol's place at the tiller, while he and Bron worked to heave their catch on board. As the first fish, silvery and flopping, slithered into the bottom of the boat, she knew this would be a good day, a good catch.
Elmora Reborn
"So you think she's really from Bet?" asked Krouse. Reaching across, he squeezed Noelle's hand, and she returned the gesture. "It's a bit of a reach, don't you think? A fishing village in the middle of nowhere?"
Elmora shrugged. "I don't know what else she could be. You'd only get the name 'Reborn' from one place, right? So, I want to know. See where she fits in. Hell, she might even be someone I knew, back when."
"What if she doesn't want a reminder of where she came from?" asked Marissa. Still learning the trade of magic, she'd found in herself an affinity for fire-based spells, which discovery had caused half her teammates to facepalm and the other half to fall about laughing. "Ending up here is pretty well a guarantee of a shitty life story."
"Also," offered Oliver, "she might not even be from Bet. We all saw how many worlds the Master of the Castle watches over."
"In a phrase," Jess snarked, "far too many."
Noelle shrugged. "Well, we're here now. May as well see how it plays out." She shaded her eyes and looked out over the harbour and the ocean beyond. "Did they say when the fishing boats were due back in?"
"Dusk, at the very latest," Paige said. "I checked. They come back earlier if they've had a really good catch, but otherwise they try to hold off until just before last light." She plucked at the strings of her instrument, a simple tune. Glowing motes drifted upward, then dissolved in the afternoon breeze.
At that moment, Ranger looked around from his perch on Noelle's shoulder, and stared out to sea. The green hearth-dragon had accompanied her, as far as Elmora knew, from the Travellers' earliest days on the Master's world, and had proven his worth a hundred times over. He let out an authoritative chirp, causing Noelle to tilt her head and reach up to stroke his neck.
"She's coming back in now, I think. Nobody else here has a hearth-dragon, and he says there's one on the way."
Elmora eyed Ranger appreciatively. "That's useful to know." While she would've liked to have bonded with a hearth-dragon herself—they liked her well enough, and she them—she'd never found herself clicking with one on an emotional level. She suspected this was at least in part due to the fact that she was still basically an asshole, and not truly interested in changing her ways.
They headed out onto the dock and watched the boat come in; riding low in the water, it was sluggish to respond to the sails and rudder, but the crew were clearly skilled enough to handle it. As it got closer, the call went out and people started heading down to the dock. At Noelle's unspoken gesture, the Travellers stepped aside and let them get along with it.
"Sveta and Esmerelda steered us right onto a huge school!" called out the burly man at the tiller. "If we'd filled the nets any fuller, we would've been swimming home!"
As the laughing, chattering villagers began moving the catch from the boat into large tubs they'd brought down onto the dock, the woman stepped onto the dock and looked around. Elmora knew the moment when the blue-green hearth-dragon on Sveta's shoulder spotted Ranger, because they both took flight and headed for each other. It looked for a moment like they were going to clash, but instead they flew in a spiral pattern around each other, chirping and squawking happily.
Sveta moved toward them with the rolling stride of someone used to the rock and sway of a small boat. "Hello," she said politely. "You have a nice hearth-dragon."
"So do you," Noelle said. "Noelle Meinhardt, of the Travellers. Maybe you've heard of us?"
"Not as such, no." Sveta tilted her head slightly. "Though with that name, I bet you're not from around here." Whatever magic it was that allowed them to speak the local language fluently, also made them hear the words in English.
Elmora chuckled and stepped forward to hold out her hand. "I see what you did there. Elmora Reborn, once of New York City, trying to live down a ton of bad decisions I made back in the day."
"Well, my major life-changing decisions were mostly made for me, but I was still in a bad way when Snek brought me here." Sveta's grip was firm, with a calloused palm that was evidently no stranger to hard work. "Sveta, also Reborn. They used to call me Garotte. Case fifty-three."
"Been there, done that," Noelle agreed. "I never got a cape name, but bad decisions led to bad things happening. And wow, you never actually heard of the Travellers? I think you just made Krouse pout."
"I am not pouting," Krouse protested, apparently more by reflex than anything else. "I just thought, you know, we were more well-known than that."
"We deliberately kept our heads down so we wouldn't draw more attention than we could handle," Jess reminded him. We didn't want people to hear about us."
"Mainly due to me," concluded Noelle. "So, are you free right now to stop and chat, or do they need your help in unloading the boat?"
Sveta glanced over her shoulder. "Looks like they've got enough hands on the job at the moment. We'll likely be heading out again in an hour or so, once the guys have cleared the boat out and we've had something to eat. So, what's your hearth-dragon's name?"
"Oh, I called him Ranger, after the woodland class in Ransack," Noelle explained as they started off the dock, back toward the village. "I know it never got as big in Bet as it did in Aleph, but did you ever play it?"
"That's where you're from? Huh." Sveta shook her head. "No, I played a game called Space Opera. Badly." She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. "I was kind of lacking these at the time. Just a bunch of murder-tentacles."
Elmora grinned. "Actually, I think I do remember you. You're a bit taller than the last time I saw you."
Paige rolled her eyes and elbowed Elmora in the ribs. "Be nice. We're none of us who we were back then. Everyone's made a fresh start, and we're doing the best we can."
"It's fine." Sveta looked up at where Esmerelda was taking Ranger on what looked like a high-speed tour of the whole village. "Since I met Esmerelda, I've been able to accept what I did and what I was, and move on from everything without collapsing under the guilt." She glanced over at Noelle. "So, what does your bond with Ranger do for you? Esmerelda's an Ocean strain, so she's entirely at home in the water, to the point that she can breathe it, and so can I."
Noelle smiled fondly as she watched the darker green hearth-dragon darting after the ocean-foam one. "Ranger's a Forest strain. Once we get into the greenery, we can totally vanish. It's thoroughly useful in our line of business."
"Your line of business?" Sveta led them into what appeared to be the village tavern. "Gretz, pour us some drinks, please. These are new friends of mine."
The age-bent man behind the counter looked up and smiled. "Friend o' yours is a friend o' ours, Sveta girl. I hear you brought in another bumper catch just the now?"
"We did, yes." She ducked her head modestly. "Though it was more Esmerelda's doing than mine."
"And if you were not here, nor would be the wee dragon," Gretz reminded her. "Sit y'selves down. I'll have your drinks and eats out momentarily."
From the tone of Sveta's voice, she knew enough not to argue. "Thank you, Gretz." She gestured to a table. "Let's sit, and you can tell me about what you do for a living, and what's been happening in the wider world."
"You know, you can come with us when we go," offered Noelle.
Sveta shook her head. "No, I'm happy here. This is what I like doing. This is where I belong."
Snek
Snek is resting on winding-post when Master magic says people need help on Mouse world. Snek unwinds from winding-post and opens wriggle-hole. When Snek goes through, is in village like sharp-tooth lizards have, but humans here instead.
Snek sees people who need help. Is old and young people, standing in front of shadow-Snek that has bone crocodile skull for head. Snek think scales better for head, and nice hat on top, like Snek got from nice hat lady. Master magic tells Snek that shadow-Snek wants to eat old people and children.
Snek does not like that. Master has told Snek to not hurt children. Old people who have not done bad things should not be hurt either. Shadow-Snek wants to do a bad thing.
Snek wriggles forward and raises head. "Iss bad to eat children," he says to shadow-Snek.
Shadow-Snek does not speak to Snek. Then Snek sees lady near shadow-Snek. Lady speaks, and Master magic tells Snek what she says. "What the hell is that? Where did it come from?"
"Snek iss Snek," Snek says in words she will understand. "Ssnek came from Masster world. Bad wordss lady sshould not ssay bad wordss."
"I'm not 'bad words lady!" she shouts. "I am Murder Night, and you will die!"
Snek does not understand name 'Murder Night'. Snek understands name 'bad words lady'. It means lady who uses bad words. Bad words lady wants shadow-Snek to eat children. Bad words lady is bad person.
Shadow-Snek moves toward Snek, skull jaws open. Crocodile skull has many sharp teeth, more than Snek can count.
Snek has sharp teeth too, but Snek does not want to bite. Shadow-Snek might be friend if Snek can stop bad words lady. Snek wraps body around shadow-Snek instead. Snek is very strong.
Shadow-Snek cold to touch, like demon curse. Master has shielded Snek with magic to stop demon curse from draining life from body. Shadow-Snek is trying to drain Snek life. Snek does not want this, so he squeezes shadow-Snek with body.
"Stop that thing, Scavenger!" shouts bad words lady. "Kill it! Eat it!"
"Ssnek iss not 'thing', bad wordss lady," Snek says. "Ssnek iss Ssnek." Snek had thought this was already explained. Bad words lady is also bad listener.
Also, Scavenger is bad name for shadow-Snek. Snek does not like it.
Shadow-Snek keeps trying to drain Snek life. Master protection magic is protecting Snek, but very cold. Snek not like cold. Snek squeezes shadow-Snek harder, to force shadow-Snek to give up.
Moord Nag
Wherever this giant talking snake had come from, it was giving Aasdier distinct problems. Nothing she had ever encountered before had stood up to her Scavenger's power, but no matter how the giant shadowy form strove against the scaled body, the snake seemed to be winning. Lou didn't like this in the slightest, but she had an ace up the sleeve she wasn't wearing.
Aasdier discorporated, then reformed next to her, this time sporting a giant eagle skull. She watched as the snake—she was never going to refer to it by that stupid name—looked around for its adversary, then fixed on her and Aasdier once more. Her lip curled as it gave her a reproachful look.
"Sshould not hurt children, bad wordss lady," the snake said chidingly.
The sheer effrontery of the thing sent a wash of anger through her. She was the one, with Aasdier's help, who had carved out her territory, and kept all rivals at bay. Telling her that she had no right to do what she wanted in her domain? "No beast gives me orders. My Aasdier will kill you eventually, and take your power."
Yet it still did not yield to her authority. "Sshadow-Ssnek iss bad wordss lady familiar? Ssnek doess not want to kill another Ssnek."
She had little idea what it was prattling about, but the naïve desire not to kill gave her some dark amusement. Killing was what the powerful did, and the weak submitted to. "You cannot kill Scavenger, you stupid creature. He is me, and I am him." It was only true. She and Aasdier were bonded together, deeper than life itself.
Snek
Snek thinks about that. Bad words lady makes shadow-Snek. Snek knows what to do now.
If Snek puts bad words lady in no-eat place, he can take her to Master. Master will fix, like with all other bad people with powers from Mouse world. That is easy part. Hard part will be getting bad words lady into no-eat place, because shadow-Snek is between Snek and bad words lady.
Moord Nag
In the next second, Lou wondered briefly if she hadn't overstepped, as the thing came for her, massively fanged jaws agape. It tried to duck around Aasdier, but her partner and protector reacted before she really even recognised the danger, interposing himself and knocking the monster snake aside. Opening his beak, he tried to sink it into the snake's scaled hide, but its head whipped around and its jaws closed on the outside of the beak, forcing it closed.
As a follow-up, the gargantuan reptile again entwined its powerful body around Aasdier's. It clearly hadn't learned a thing, as once again, as soon as the pressure became too great, Aasdier vanished. In that instant, the snake launched itself toward her, jaws once more agape, but Aasdier proved himself equal to the task. Sword-like razor fangs slashed into his body, but there was nothing to take away, and Aasdier simply melted from between its jaws.
It tried something new then, creating a circular portal in front of its head and the other one next to her. Again, Aasdier was up to the task, pushing her aside before the snake could get its fangs into her. With each new failed attempt, she felt her confidence growing; all Aasdier had to do was weaken it far enough, and then its power would truly be hers.
When it tried yet again to wrap its body around Aasdier's and dominate him in that way, she almost sneered dismissively, then rethought her position. The last time she'd dismissed its attempts, it had almost gotten to her. Responding to her thoughts, Aasdier twisted around to bit it, forcing it to use its jaws to protect itself, and thus ensuring that it couldn't reach for her instead.
That was when the stunning impact came from behind. She found herself ragdolling through the air with no idea what had happened. Aasdier discorporated to protect her, then a portal opened right in front of her.
On the other side … was teeth.
Snek
Then Snek has idea. Snek puts wriggle-hole next to tail, puts tail through. Tail comes out behind bad words lady, smacks her. Bad words lady is coming straight toward Snek's head. Shadow-Snek goes to smoke, but Snek opens another wriggle-hole, puts head through, and catches bad words lady. Shadow-Snek forms next to Snek, big-tooth lizard skull open, ready to bite Snek's neck.
Snek puts bad words lady in no-eat place. Shadow-Snek goes away, does not come back.
Snek is very happy. Master will be pleased. Bad words lady has what Master will call 'interesting' power.
Playing with shadow-Snek was fun!
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GStringGirl
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Are you okay?
Hi. Sorry to bother you, but you haven't been on for a while and I just wanted to make sure everything was alright with you.
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: GStringGirl
Hi, Greg. Apologies for butting in on your PMs, but GSG is no longer online. (I'm a friend of hers). She was in a bad situation where she was (sorry, can't give more details because privacy and stuff), but she's a whole lot happier where she is now. Here's a [pic].
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: GStringGirl
Uh, thanks for letting me know. That's a pretty wild picture. She looks happy. Is that a sailboat in the background? And is that really a hearth-dragon on her shoulder? I thought only New Wave had those? Who else is getting one?
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Yes, that's a sailboat. A fishing boat, to be exact. And yes, she does have a hearth-dragon. As for only New Wave having hearth-dragons, that's not exactly true. I've got two looking over my shoulder right now. I'm expecting them to start using the computer to look up funny cat videos any day now, if the boss lets them.
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
You've got TWO hearth-dragons bonded to you? How did you manage that? Did you visit Snek's world?
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
No, I'm not bonded to either one of them. You can only bond to one hearth-dragon ever. But there's a few that hang around here. They're good company, even if they do play pranks on me and each other whenever they feel like it.
Yeah, I did visit Snek's world. It's a nice place.
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Can I ask where you are that hearth-dragons just hang around? Or is it a secret?
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Not really. I already told you where I was.
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
No you didn't. You just said that you visited Snek's world.
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Oh.
I get it.
Is that where GSG is too?
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Bingo (on both counts).
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Oh, wow.
Um, is there any chance I could maybe visit? I missed the last New Wave meet & greet with their hearth-dragons, and everyone who went is all over the internet talking about how cute they are, and showing off selfies, including the ones by Snap.
Also, maybe visit GSG if she's okay with that. Just to, you know, say hi and see how she's going.
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
We shall see. No promises.
End of Part Thirty-One
Part Thirty-One: Home Is Where the Heart Is
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Sveta, Later
Sunlight danced on the waves, and the sails billowed gently. The boat left a ruler-straight wake with Karol's steady hand at the tiller. Bron, at the bow, shaded his eyes and scanned the water ahead while Sveta kept the sails trimmed.
"Can you see anything?" Karol called forward. "Should we cast the nets here, or keep going?"
"Nothing. I see nothing." Bron huffed in irritation. "Where could they be?"
Esmerelda erupted from the water alongside the boat and circled Sveta once before landing on her shoulder. Sveta had known she was coming, and reached up to caress her neck as she furled her wings. "There's fish down there," she informed both men. They could tell it was true, because Esmerelda had one in her mouth.
"Well, that's a start." Karol nodded to her, and she paid off the line to let wind spill from the mainsail. "Can your clever little beast tell us where?"
"She knows they're down there, and there's a lot of them, but compass directions aren't really her thing." Sveta urged Esmerelda off her shoulder; without demur, the hearth-dragon took to the air once more, swallowing the fish at the same time. Balancing easily, she pulled off her shirt and stepped out of her trousers. Underneath this clothing, she wore a one-piece made of some water-resistant material she was unfamiliar with, but which had enough give in it to make for a reasonable wetsuit. "I'll go have a look."
Bron shook his head as she prepared to go over the side. "I will never be used to this."
She grinned at him, then dived in. Esmerelda followed, the little dragon piercing the water as easily as she had. Beneath the waves, Esmerelda folded her wings in tight and undulated along at a frankly impressive speed. Sveta wasn't quite as fast or agile, but she was still far better than any merely human swimmer. As an added bonus, she could breathe the water as easily as she could the air above, and her eyes automatically adapted once she was submerged so she could see clearly, even into the darker depths.
Esmerelda—Sveta called her that because she was greenish and the name appealed to both of them—let out a drumming chirp that reverberated through the water, then led the way off to the side. She was very pleased with herself, which was understandable once Sveta saw the massive school of fish ahead of them. Normally there would've been some activity on the surface, but this lot were deeper than normal, which was why Bron had seen nothing.
Got it. Back to the boat. While the words didn't transmit directly over their bond, the intent was clear enough, and Esmerelda fell in beside her as they returned to the small craft. Sveta was deeply in tune with her, to the extent that she knew Esmerelda would be stealing at least one fish from their catch on the way back to the harbour. Karol and Bron had never argued her right to do so, and Sveta didn't think they were about to start.
Unlike Esmerelda, she couldn't jump a body-length out of the water on sheer speed, but she could come mostly out and, with a hand on the gunwale, vault into the boat in a shower of spray. This she did, landing on her feet and steadying herself into a crouch. Esmerelda landed next to Sveta and shook salt water off her wings.
"You have returned," Karol greeted her imperturbably. "That was fast. Have you found the fish already?"
"I have," she confirmed, and pointed. "That way, perhaps five hundred feet. It's a big school. We'll have to put the nets deep."
As Karol turned the rudder and the boat heeled onto the new course, Bron whooped with excitement. "See, brother? I told you she would be good luck to bring along!"
"You told me?" Karol laughed out loud. "Brother, you didn't say a word. I was the one who welcomed her aboard!"
Sveta tuned them out as she skimmed the water off her one-piece and re-donned her fishing clothes. Esmerelda was gliding alongside the boat as she finished, sharp eyes watching the ocean ahead. While Karol steered, Bron came back to where the nets were prepared, and Sveta worked with him to cast them to port and starboard. She knew the moment when the nets found the school, as the boat actually seemed to stagger in the water from the weight of fish they'd encountered.
And then they were laughing with the exhilaration as she took Karol's place at the tiller, while he and Bron worked to heave their catch on board. As the first fish, silvery and flopping, slithered into the bottom of the boat, she knew this would be a good day, a good catch.
<><>
Elmora Reborn
"So you think she's really from Bet?" asked Krouse. Reaching across, he squeezed Noelle's hand, and she returned the gesture. "It's a bit of a reach, don't you think? A fishing village in the middle of nowhere?"
Elmora shrugged. "I don't know what else she could be. You'd only get the name 'Reborn' from one place, right? So, I want to know. See where she fits in. Hell, she might even be someone I knew, back when."
"What if she doesn't want a reminder of where she came from?" asked Marissa. Still learning the trade of magic, she'd found in herself an affinity for fire-based spells, which discovery had caused half her teammates to facepalm and the other half to fall about laughing. "Ending up here is pretty well a guarantee of a shitty life story."
"Also," offered Oliver, "she might not even be from Bet. We all saw how many worlds the Master of the Castle watches over."
"In a phrase," Jess snarked, "far too many."
Noelle shrugged. "Well, we're here now. May as well see how it plays out." She shaded her eyes and looked out over the harbour and the ocean beyond. "Did they say when the fishing boats were due back in?"
"Dusk, at the very latest," Paige said. "I checked. They come back earlier if they've had a really good catch, but otherwise they try to hold off until just before last light." She plucked at the strings of her instrument, a simple tune. Glowing motes drifted upward, then dissolved in the afternoon breeze.
At that moment, Ranger looked around from his perch on Noelle's shoulder, and stared out to sea. The green hearth-dragon had accompanied her, as far as Elmora knew, from the Travellers' earliest days on the Master's world, and had proven his worth a hundred times over. He let out an authoritative chirp, causing Noelle to tilt her head and reach up to stroke his neck.
"She's coming back in now, I think. Nobody else here has a hearth-dragon, and he says there's one on the way."
Elmora eyed Ranger appreciatively. "That's useful to know." While she would've liked to have bonded with a hearth-dragon herself—they liked her well enough, and she them—she'd never found herself clicking with one on an emotional level. She suspected this was at least in part due to the fact that she was still basically an asshole, and not truly interested in changing her ways.
They headed out onto the dock and watched the boat come in; riding low in the water, it was sluggish to respond to the sails and rudder, but the crew were clearly skilled enough to handle it. As it got closer, the call went out and people started heading down to the dock. At Noelle's unspoken gesture, the Travellers stepped aside and let them get along with it.
"Sveta and Esmerelda steered us right onto a huge school!" called out the burly man at the tiller. "If we'd filled the nets any fuller, we would've been swimming home!"
As the laughing, chattering villagers began moving the catch from the boat into large tubs they'd brought down onto the dock, the woman stepped onto the dock and looked around. Elmora knew the moment when the blue-green hearth-dragon on Sveta's shoulder spotted Ranger, because they both took flight and headed for each other. It looked for a moment like they were going to clash, but instead they flew in a spiral pattern around each other, chirping and squawking happily.
Sveta moved toward them with the rolling stride of someone used to the rock and sway of a small boat. "Hello," she said politely. "You have a nice hearth-dragon."
"So do you," Noelle said. "Noelle Meinhardt, of the Travellers. Maybe you've heard of us?"
"Not as such, no." Sveta tilted her head slightly. "Though with that name, I bet you're not from around here." Whatever magic it was that allowed them to speak the local language fluently, also made them hear the words in English.
Elmora chuckled and stepped forward to hold out her hand. "I see what you did there. Elmora Reborn, once of New York City, trying to live down a ton of bad decisions I made back in the day."
"Well, my major life-changing decisions were mostly made for me, but I was still in a bad way when Snek brought me here." Sveta's grip was firm, with a calloused palm that was evidently no stranger to hard work. "Sveta, also Reborn. They used to call me Garotte. Case fifty-three."
"Been there, done that," Noelle agreed. "I never got a cape name, but bad decisions led to bad things happening. And wow, you never actually heard of the Travellers? I think you just made Krouse pout."
"I am not pouting," Krouse protested, apparently more by reflex than anything else. "I just thought, you know, we were more well-known than that."
"We deliberately kept our heads down so we wouldn't draw more attention than we could handle," Jess reminded him. We didn't want people to hear about us."
"Mainly due to me," concluded Noelle. "So, are you free right now to stop and chat, or do they need your help in unloading the boat?"
Sveta glanced over her shoulder. "Looks like they've got enough hands on the job at the moment. We'll likely be heading out again in an hour or so, once the guys have cleared the boat out and we've had something to eat. So, what's your hearth-dragon's name?"
"Oh, I called him Ranger, after the woodland class in Ransack," Noelle explained as they started off the dock, back toward the village. "I know it never got as big in Bet as it did in Aleph, but did you ever play it?"
"That's where you're from? Huh." Sveta shook her head. "No, I played a game called Space Opera. Badly." She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers. "I was kind of lacking these at the time. Just a bunch of murder-tentacles."
Elmora grinned. "Actually, I think I do remember you. You're a bit taller than the last time I saw you."
Paige rolled her eyes and elbowed Elmora in the ribs. "Be nice. We're none of us who we were back then. Everyone's made a fresh start, and we're doing the best we can."
"It's fine." Sveta looked up at where Esmerelda was taking Ranger on what looked like a high-speed tour of the whole village. "Since I met Esmerelda, I've been able to accept what I did and what I was, and move on from everything without collapsing under the guilt." She glanced over at Noelle. "So, what does your bond with Ranger do for you? Esmerelda's an Ocean strain, so she's entirely at home in the water, to the point that she can breathe it, and so can I."
Noelle smiled fondly as she watched the darker green hearth-dragon darting after the ocean-foam one. "Ranger's a Forest strain. Once we get into the greenery, we can totally vanish. It's thoroughly useful in our line of business."
"Your line of business?" Sveta led them into what appeared to be the village tavern. "Gretz, pour us some drinks, please. These are new friends of mine."
The age-bent man behind the counter looked up and smiled. "Friend o' yours is a friend o' ours, Sveta girl. I hear you brought in another bumper catch just the now?"
"We did, yes." She ducked her head modestly. "Though it was more Esmerelda's doing than mine."
"And if you were not here, nor would be the wee dragon," Gretz reminded her. "Sit y'selves down. I'll have your drinks and eats out momentarily."
From the tone of Sveta's voice, she knew enough not to argue. "Thank you, Gretz." She gestured to a table. "Let's sit, and you can tell me about what you do for a living, and what's been happening in the wider world."
"You know, you can come with us when we go," offered Noelle.
Sveta shook her head. "No, I'm happy here. This is what I like doing. This is where I belong."
<><>
Snek
Snek is resting on winding-post when Master magic says people need help on Mouse world. Snek unwinds from winding-post and opens wriggle-hole. When Snek goes through, is in village like sharp-tooth lizards have, but humans here instead.
Snek sees people who need help. Is old and young people, standing in front of shadow-Snek that has bone crocodile skull for head. Snek think scales better for head, and nice hat on top, like Snek got from nice hat lady. Master magic tells Snek that shadow-Snek wants to eat old people and children.
Snek does not like that. Master has told Snek to not hurt children. Old people who have not done bad things should not be hurt either. Shadow-Snek wants to do a bad thing.
Snek wriggles forward and raises head. "Iss bad to eat children," he says to shadow-Snek.
Shadow-Snek does not speak to Snek. Then Snek sees lady near shadow-Snek. Lady speaks, and Master magic tells Snek what she says. "What the hell is that? Where did it come from?"
"Snek iss Snek," Snek says in words she will understand. "Ssnek came from Masster world. Bad wordss lady sshould not ssay bad wordss."
"I'm not 'bad words lady!" she shouts. "I am Murder Night, and you will die!"
Snek does not understand name 'Murder Night'. Snek understands name 'bad words lady'. It means lady who uses bad words. Bad words lady wants shadow-Snek to eat children. Bad words lady is bad person.
Shadow-Snek moves toward Snek, skull jaws open. Crocodile skull has many sharp teeth, more than Snek can count.
Snek has sharp teeth too, but Snek does not want to bite. Shadow-Snek might be friend if Snek can stop bad words lady. Snek wraps body around shadow-Snek instead. Snek is very strong.
Shadow-Snek cold to touch, like demon curse. Master has shielded Snek with magic to stop demon curse from draining life from body. Shadow-Snek is trying to drain Snek life. Snek does not want this, so he squeezes shadow-Snek with body.
"Stop that thing, Scavenger!" shouts bad words lady. "Kill it! Eat it!"
"Ssnek iss not 'thing', bad wordss lady," Snek says. "Ssnek iss Ssnek." Snek had thought this was already explained. Bad words lady is also bad listener.
Also, Scavenger is bad name for shadow-Snek. Snek does not like it.
Shadow-Snek keeps trying to drain Snek life. Master protection magic is protecting Snek, but very cold. Snek not like cold. Snek squeezes shadow-Snek harder, to force shadow-Snek to give up.
<><>
Moord Nag
Wherever this giant talking snake had come from, it was giving Aasdier distinct problems. Nothing she had ever encountered before had stood up to her Scavenger's power, but no matter how the giant shadowy form strove against the scaled body, the snake seemed to be winning. Lou didn't like this in the slightest, but she had an ace up the sleeve she wasn't wearing.
Aasdier discorporated, then reformed next to her, this time sporting a giant eagle skull. She watched as the snake—she was never going to refer to it by that stupid name—looked around for its adversary, then fixed on her and Aasdier once more. Her lip curled as it gave her a reproachful look.
"Sshould not hurt children, bad wordss lady," the snake said chidingly.
The sheer effrontery of the thing sent a wash of anger through her. She was the one, with Aasdier's help, who had carved out her territory, and kept all rivals at bay. Telling her that she had no right to do what she wanted in her domain? "No beast gives me orders. My Aasdier will kill you eventually, and take your power."
Yet it still did not yield to her authority. "Sshadow-Ssnek iss bad wordss lady familiar? Ssnek doess not want to kill another Ssnek."
She had little idea what it was prattling about, but the naïve desire not to kill gave her some dark amusement. Killing was what the powerful did, and the weak submitted to. "You cannot kill Scavenger, you stupid creature. He is me, and I am him." It was only true. She and Aasdier were bonded together, deeper than life itself.
<><>
Snek
Snek thinks about that. Bad words lady makes shadow-Snek. Snek knows what to do now.
If Snek puts bad words lady in no-eat place, he can take her to Master. Master will fix, like with all other bad people with powers from Mouse world. That is easy part. Hard part will be getting bad words lady into no-eat place, because shadow-Snek is between Snek and bad words lady.
<><>
Moord Nag
In the next second, Lou wondered briefly if she hadn't overstepped, as the thing came for her, massively fanged jaws agape. It tried to duck around Aasdier, but her partner and protector reacted before she really even recognised the danger, interposing himself and knocking the monster snake aside. Opening his beak, he tried to sink it into the snake's scaled hide, but its head whipped around and its jaws closed on the outside of the beak, forcing it closed.
As a follow-up, the gargantuan reptile again entwined its powerful body around Aasdier's. It clearly hadn't learned a thing, as once again, as soon as the pressure became too great, Aasdier vanished. In that instant, the snake launched itself toward her, jaws once more agape, but Aasdier proved himself equal to the task. Sword-like razor fangs slashed into his body, but there was nothing to take away, and Aasdier simply melted from between its jaws.
It tried something new then, creating a circular portal in front of its head and the other one next to her. Again, Aasdier was up to the task, pushing her aside before the snake could get its fangs into her. With each new failed attempt, she felt her confidence growing; all Aasdier had to do was weaken it far enough, and then its power would truly be hers.
When it tried yet again to wrap its body around Aasdier's and dominate him in that way, she almost sneered dismissively, then rethought her position. The last time she'd dismissed its attempts, it had almost gotten to her. Responding to her thoughts, Aasdier twisted around to bit it, forcing it to use its jaws to protect itself, and thus ensuring that it couldn't reach for her instead.
That was when the stunning impact came from behind. She found herself ragdolling through the air with no idea what had happened. Aasdier discorporated to protect her, then a portal opened right in front of her.
On the other side … was teeth.
<><>
Snek
Then Snek has idea. Snek puts wriggle-hole next to tail, puts tail through. Tail comes out behind bad words lady, smacks her. Bad words lady is coming straight toward Snek's head. Shadow-Snek goes to smoke, but Snek opens another wriggle-hole, puts head through, and catches bad words lady. Shadow-Snek forms next to Snek, big-tooth lizard skull open, ready to bite Snek's neck.
Snek puts bad words lady in no-eat place. Shadow-Snek goes away, does not come back.
Snek is very happy. Master will be pleased. Bad words lady has what Master will call 'interesting' power.
Playing with shadow-Snek was fun!
<><>
■
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GStringGirl
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Are you okay?
Hi. Sorry to bother you, but you haven't been on for a while and I just wanted to make sure everything was alright with you.
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: GStringGirl
Hi, Greg. Apologies for butting in on your PMs, but GSG is no longer online. (I'm a friend of hers). She was in a bad situation where she was (sorry, can't give more details because privacy and stuff), but she's a whole lot happier where she is now. Here's a [pic].
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: GStringGirl
Uh, thanks for letting me know. That's a pretty wild picture. She looks happy. Is that a sailboat in the background? And is that really a hearth-dragon on her shoulder? I thought only New Wave had those? Who else is getting one?
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Yes, that's a sailboat. A fishing boat, to be exact. And yes, she does have a hearth-dragon. As for only New Wave having hearth-dragons, that's not exactly true. I've got two looking over my shoulder right now. I'm expecting them to start using the computer to look up funny cat videos any day now, if the boss lets them.
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
You've got TWO hearth-dragons bonded to you? How did you manage that? Did you visit Snek's world?
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
No, I'm not bonded to either one of them. You can only bond to one hearth-dragon ever. But there's a few that hang around here. They're good company, even if they do play pranks on me and each other whenever they feel like it.
Yeah, I did visit Snek's world. It's a nice place.
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Can I ask where you are that hearth-dragons just hang around? Or is it a secret?
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Not really. I already told you where I was.
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
No you didn't. You just said that you visited Snek's world.
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Oh.
I get it.
Is that where GSG is too?
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Bingo (on both counts).
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: XxVoid_CowboyxX
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
Oh, wow.
Um, is there any chance I could maybe visit? I missed the last New Wave meet & greet with their hearth-dragons, and everyone who went is all over the internet talking about how cute they are, and showing off selfies, including the ones by Snap.
Also, maybe visit GSG if she's okay with that. Just to, you know, say hi and see how she's going.
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE
To: XxVoid_CowboyxX
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: GStringGirl
We shall see. No promises.
■
End of Part Thirty-One
Last edited:
NavigatorNobilis
Follower of the Second Star
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
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Huh. Here's to hoping Greg comes out of this with a dragon of his own; he could really use the social boost. Not status-wise, but helping him understand the nuances of social interaction would really help him as a person, I think.
To be fair to him, the same could be said for basically every teenager ever, boy or girl or other.
To be fair to him, the same could be said for basically every teenager ever, boy or girl or other.
Finsdale
Necron Alembic Coffee Percolator
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2020
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- 511
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- 3,526
Greg being hit by the clue-by-four, and getting the hint.
I pity the poor hearth dagon that actually bonds to him. Fanon just makes him more spectrum/ADHD that he really is.
Mr Meeseeks?
I pity the poor hearth dagon that actually bonds to him. Fanon just makes him more spectrum/ADHD that he really is.
Mr Meeseeks?
Last edited:
Part Thirty-Two: Snek Shenanigans
Ack
(Verified Ratbag) (Unverified Great Old One)
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Messages
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- 77,453
Snek is a Good Boy
Part Thirty-Two: Snek Shenanigans
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
The Wizard's Apprentice
Riley was watching the boss deal with a minor incursion a century or so over along the tau axis, disguising the annihilation of the extradimensional intruders by making it look as though they'd been killed off by way of local disease vectors, when something got his attention. Raising his head slightly, he turned to her. "Kindly institute level two precautions at once. I should be finished here in short order, but Snek will be arriving before that happens, and he brings with him another one of the more intriguing parasites: one that could disarrange the equipment in this area if it is allowed to do so."
"On it, boss." Riley still wasn't up to casting even the simplest spells on her own, but she'd been instructed in how to activate the magically-infused equipment. This included the containment jars for the power-granting parasites from Bet, the teleporting doorways, all the kitchenware, and the protection wards for the work-room.
Trotting over toward where the bronze plaque was set into the wall, she laid her hand on it and concentrated on a phrase in one of the several languages she was currently learning. The plaque began to glow, and she felt the receptive query of the spell within. In response, she focused on the concept of the level-two wards until the glow of the plaque altered.
As she took her hand away from the plaque, she felt rather than saw the wards begin to engage, fields of near-impervious (and nigh-invisible) force fading into existence. One by one, each piece of apparatus and each shelf was thus protected, taking on a subtle golden sheen. Even her goggles glowed briefly, then generated a protective field around her.
Just about the time the last field powered into action, three familiar knocks sounded from the main door of the work-room. "Enter, Snek," the boss called out without looking up from his task. "A containment sphere has been arranged for your guest. Kindly place her within. I shall be with you in a moment."
The door opened, and Snek slithered into the work-room. "Thank you, Masster," he said politely. "Bad wordss lady hass a sshadow-Ssnek. May Ssnek have it?"
"A shadow-Snek?" Riley took a couple of steps closer. "Okay, this I gotta see."
"Ssnek will assk if bad wordss lady will let it come out and play." The giant snake's jaws gaped wide, his multi-branching tongue reaching back into the interdimensional space that had been incorporated into his throat. Wriggling closer to the shimmering sphere, he pulled a woman into view.
She was suffering from the usual level of stunned shock that afflicted people who had been involuntarily stuffed into Snek's 'not-eat place', but even as he shoved her into the containment sphere, her power activated anyway. Riley recognised her as Moord Nag almost immediately; not many people had access to a giant shadowy snake sporting a horse skull (or any other kind of skull) for a head. Jack had once expressed disappointment that the African warlord was an ocean away, rather than being where he could recruit her to the Nine.
Much more of interest was the fact that while she was inside the sphere, the shadowy snake—the shadow-Snek—was outside it. Rampaging outside, to be more specific. Slamming into the walls, the shelves and the heretofore delicate apparatus, it seemed to be getting more and more frustrated when nothing it did had any effect.
Finally, it charged at Riley herself with jaws wide open. She stood firm, grabbing a chair to brace herself and letting it clamp its teeth down on her arm. The golden sheen stopped it dead; all she felt was a mild pressure and tugging as it attempted to drag her off her feet and gnaw on her arm.
"Bad sshadow-Ssnek! Sshadow-Ssnek sshould not hurt Riley!" Snek left Moord Nag to her own devices within the containment sphere and launched himself at the shadowy projection. His fangs latched onto the 'neck' of the shadowy creature, and his body flexed as he hauled the thing off Riley. It tried to hold on, but horse teeth do not have a great deal of traction, and she wasn't going anywhere she didn't want to. Bereft of her arm, the teeth clashed together, then it writhed and lashed out (to no avail whatsoever) as Snek dragged it backwards.
Apparently seeking to hurt someone, its tail whipped around toward where the Master of the Castle was finalising his work in ending the invasion that was going on elsewhere and elsewhen. Riley opened her mouth to shout a warning, but the creature's appendage got there first. It struck … and a good third of the length of the creature evaporated in a puff of shadow.
"And that will be enough of that." The boss closed down the scrying globe he'd been using, looked over at where the shadow-Snek had recoiled from the impact, and gestured briefly. A second containment sphere formed, sucking the projection into it. Snek opened his jaws right on cue, releasing it. Moments later, it was as trapped as its mistress.
"That was actually fairly impressive," Riley admitted. "Though back on Bet, the Aasdier—the Scavenger—projection could suck out life force and power up that way."
"Ssnek felt sshadow-Ssnek trying to do that." Snek peered at the containment spheres. "Masster magic too sstrong."
"Though their progenitors lack imagination, the parasites themselves are impressively creative." The boss took up his staff; it flared briefly, and the golden sheen faded away as the wards were dispelled. "This one may warrant further study."
The giant snake raised his head and spoke diffidently. "Ssnek wonderss if Masster could let Ssnek play with sshadow-Ssnek, not put in little jar."
"Really?" One shaggy eyebrow rose.
"Yess, Masster. Ssnek likess playing with sshadow-Ssnek. Iss fun."
"Hm." The boss stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well, then. I cannot promise anything, Snek, but I shall see what I can do."
"Thank you, Masster."
This, Riley decided, was definitely going to be interesting.
Shoreham Fishing Village
The Next Morning
It's going to be a good day out on the water, Sveta decided as she stepped out her front door. There were a few clouds around, illuminated by the yet-to-rise sun, but none of the high wispy ones that presaged a storm. Raising her arm without looking, she braced herself for the weight of Esmerelda as the hearth-dragon came in for a neat landing on her forearm.
"There you are," she said fondly as she gathered her dearest companion into a cuddle. "You were out all night with Ranger, you naughty girl. I hope you enjoyed yourself."
Esmerelda chirped happily as she rubbed her head alongside Sveta's jawline. While hearth-dragons were nonverbal, the impression Sveta got was along the gist of 'why yes, I enjoyed myself very much indeed, thank you'. From the smug look Esmerelda had about her (for some reason, they were past masters at doing 'smug') the two hearth-dragons had definitely made the most of their time together.
"Good, good." Sveta gave Esmerelda a skritch behind her wings, causing the little dragon to arch her back and rumble with pleasure. "We're going to be out on the boat all day. I hope you're able to handle that."
In response, Esmerelda let her head loll back and began emitting lifelike snores, her tongue hanging artistically out the side of her mouth. Sveta could only laugh and shake her head. The more time they spent together, the more they connected on every emotional and mental level it was possible to connect on.
"Good morning!" The voice was bright and energetic. Sveta and Esmerelda both looked around; Paige had just emerged from the side door of the tavern, looking unreasonably fresh for someone who had been playing and singing until the wee hours of the morning. The tavern only boasted half a dozen rooms, but neither the Travellers nor Gretz had complained. Their gold spent well and they were polite and friendly to all, which made them doubly welcome.
Overall, it had been a very pleasant evening, one that many of the fisherfolk would be talking about for months or years to come. Given that the Travellers had come to Shoreham specifically to see Sveta, this was another point in her favour as being lucky, thus raising her standing even further among the villagers. And if anyone took it amiss that she'd spent some time talking to them and sharing various experiences from back on Bet, nobody was saying a word about it.
"Good morning to you as well," she responded, and went over to give Paige a hug. Esmerelda moved up onto her shoulder in the process, and Paige gave the hearth-dragon a caress as well. "I take it you'll be moving along today?"
"That's the plan, yes." Paige responded to Esmerelda's querying chirp by holding out her hands and catching her as the hearth-dragon jumped into them. "Noelle's heard of some prime bounties farther south, so she wants to find out more before we jump in on them."
Sveta smiled as she watched Esmerelda snuggling into Paige's arms. "That's probably a good idea. It would be all too easy to assume you're tough enough to take on any comers, and get your butt handed to you."
Paige chuckled, her fingers gently smoothing out Esmerelda's wings in a way that told Sveta she was familiar with what they liked. "From what the others have told me, they've got plenty of experience with that sort of thing. Francis was the leader for the longest time while Noelle was suffering from what her powers did to her, and by all accounts—including his own—he sucked at it."
"I'm guessing she's better at it." Sveta nodded to Elmora, who had emerged from the tavern in Paige's wake. "Morning. Did you have a good time last night?"
"Surely did." Elmora stretched, working her neck and shoulders and back to elicit a series of cracking and popping noises. "Your people know how to party when they want to."
Paige snorted. "From the amount you were drinking, I'm surprised you aren't asleep under a table somewhere."
"Oh, hon." Elmora grinned crookedly, pinching Paige's cheek. "I used to drink like this on a weekly basis. Just because I'm not super durable anymore doesn't mean I can't hold my booze."
"Well, you can definitely do that," agreed Sveta. She gestured at the dock, where the boats were tied up. "As soon as everyone's up, we're going to ready the boats and sail on the ebb tide."
"You're really into the whole fishing life, aren't you?" Paige opened her hands and Esmerelda spread her wings, leaping and gliding back to Sveta. Elmora stepped up behind Paige and put her arms around the musician, resting her chin on top of Paige's head. Paige laced her fingers through Elmora's, leaning back into the archer's embrace.
"I am." Sveta gathered the hearth-dragon to her. "I spent so much time looking at the world through a keyhole with only fragmentary dreams for company. When the Master of the Castle pulled back the veil and reversed what had been done to me, I remembered my previous life. This isn't identical, but it's close enough that I don't care. And every day, I can look at the sky and breathe free air."
Elmora snorted with amusement. "And I guess it doesn't hurt that you're basically their walking, talking good luck charm."
"I didn't ask to be." Trying not to feel defensive, Sveta stroked the side of Esmerelda's neck, and got a soothing croon in response. "I bonded with her fair and square."
"Chill, chill." Elmora chuckled. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. Whatever you've got, you've earned. No, I was just gonna mention that when Esmerelda has her kids, there's gonna be hearth-dragons all over the village, and people are gonna love you more than ever."
"… kids?" Paige's eyes opened wide. "Wait, Esmerelda's pregnant?"
Elmora rubbed her cheek alongside Paige's. "Don't ever change, sweetheart. If she ain't up the duff after her and Ranger did the nasty all night, there's either something wrong with her or something wrong with him. And knowing the Master of the Castle, you think he'd let something like that fly, pun totally intended?"
Sveta tilted her head. "… no, I can't see it. Huh. I knew she was getting it on with Ranger, but I figured it was their business. Didn't think about kids."
"What do you think they'll be, anyway?" asked Paige. "Ocean like Esmerelda, or Forest like Ranger?"
"Little bit of column A, little bit of column B?" suggested Elmora.
Sveta shook her head. "I actually talked to Riley about this, after I started bonding with Esmerelda. What offspring a hearth-dragon has is partly determined by genetics and partly by magic. So it's twenty-five percent chance of the father's strain, twenty-five per cent of the mother's strain, and fifty per cent chance that it's any one of the other strains. Some strains show up more rarely than others, but it's impossible to breed any of them out, because the potential exists in all of them. Or at least, that's how she explained it."
"And given that she used to be Bonesaw," Paige said thoughtfully, "I wouldn't argue about anything like that with her."
Elmora rolled her eyes. "Because of course there's magic involved in their breeding cycle. Why the hell should that be left out of things?"
Sveta grinned. "It certainly keeps life interesting around here, doesn't it?"
"It does," agreed Paige. "So, how's it feel, now that you're going to be a grandma?"
Sveta considered that for a moment. "Different," she said eventually. "One day I might even be one for real. But this'll do for the moment." There was a hail from down by the docks and she looked over to see Bron and Karol waving to her. "Whoops, duty calls."
"Duty, hah." Elmora grinned at her. "You love it, and you know it."
"True." She let Esmerelda take flight, then gave Paige another quick hug that included Elmora as well. "Take care. Tell the others I said thanks for visiting, and I truly enjoyed meeting you all. And come back sometime, please."
"We'll tell them," Paige promised, returning the hug. "Take care yourself."
"I promise." Sveta turned and headed down the slope toward where the boat, and her crewmates, waited. Esmerelda glided overhead, arrowing in on one particular set of rigging.
It had been nice to meet other people from Bet and catch up, but already she was putting the visit to the back of her mind. As she'd said earlier, this was her life now, and she was good at it.
"Good morn to you," Karol greeted her as she stepped on board; Esmerelda was already perched on the tiller. "See your friends off well enough?"
"Well enough," she agreed. "They'll be gone by the time we're back. It was nice meeting them, though."
As the boat moved away from the dock, urged by Karol's oar, Bron stepped on board with the stern line in his hands. "It was all of that," he said. "And the coin they spent will go a long way, too."
"It will, brother. It will."
Then the sails began to fill and the boat gained way, and no more mention was made of the Travellers.
Panacea
"Hey, Ames, you have to see this!"
As Vicky darted into the living room, her feet inches above the floor, Amy looked up from the book she was reading. Twilight, who had been dozing while draped along the back of the sofa, raised her head as well with an interrogatory chirp. "What?"
Vicky grinned and held out her phone. "Director Piggot's been doing her research on the hearth-dragons. Check it out."
That actually sounded more than a little ominous, but Vicky's upbeat expression gave her hope it wouldn't be that bad. "So what is it, exactly?"
"She put out a general order. Required reading for everyone, including Protectorate and affiliated capes. That's us. You've probably got one on your phone too."
"Gimme a second." Amy pulled out her own phone and accessed her emails. Sure enough, the one at the top had a PRT header. She hesitated, then tapped it. The email unfolded into an official-looking communication. With Twilight looking over her shoulder, she began to read.
Amy skimmed it to get the gist, then carefully read it all the way through to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. Finally, she looked up at Vicky. "Wow. I'm actually impressed."
"I know, right?" Vicky reached over and scratched the back of Twilight's neck, eliciting a croon of enjoyment. "It's like they suddenly had an attack of common sense."
Amy cradled her arms just as Twilight chose to slide down off the back of the sofa into her embrace. "I think you'll find it's a lot simpler than that. Look at point A. They come from Snek's world, and the PRT really doesn't want to upset the big goofy snake who's already eaten two Endbringers, plus a whole bunch of other assholes. I mean, would you risk pissing him off?"
"Not on my best day," Vicky declared with finality. "I'm good, but nobody's that good."
"Thus proving that you're smarter than the Simurgh." Amy smirked as Twilight chirped in agreement, and held the little dragon close to her. "That's right, sweetie. So are you."
The Wizard's Apprentice
There were two objects on the table next to where the boss was working on Moord Nag. One was a collection jar, essentially the same as the others containing the boss' growing collection of wispy essences of parasite, while the other looked like an ordinary feather: about four inches long, blue fading to green at the tip, but otherwise unremarkable. Riley knew what the jar was for, but the feather was a mystery to her.
Using the delicate tongs, the boss unwound a delicate strand of nothingness from the warlord's head and deposited it in the jar; knowing her cue, Riley dropped the heavy stopper into place. The magic engaged, sealing the container and making it impervious to anyone but an authorised person who knew the correct opening phrase. Trapped within, the newly extracted parasite coiled back and forth like a living wisp of smoke, seeking an exit that it would never attain.
But the boss wasn't done yet. He muttered a phrase, causing a hemisphere of crackling energy to spring up over the feather, then turned back to Moord Nag. Again, the tongs slid close to her head, then pulled away more of the parasite-stuff.
"Uh, boss …" she ventured. "Didn't you already get her power?"
"I have extracted and separated the problematic aspects of her parasite," he replied urbanely. "That is what goes on the shelf. What I have here is the rest of it." As he spoke, the end of the tongs slid into the hemispherical energy field over the feather. When he released the grip and pulled them out again, the wisp of energy remained within the field, which then began to shrink down around the feather.
Riley watched with fascination as the hemispherical field reduced in size, before finally sinking into the feather and vanishing. "So, what did you do to that, and why a feather?" she asked.
He smiled enigmatically. "Snek, your hat, if you will?"
"Yess, Masster." Snek's versatile tongue reached up to the top of his head and removed the hat that had once belonged to Contessa (and hadn't Riley laughed her head off when she found out about that).
"Thank you, Snek." Taking up the feather, the boss accepted the hat and carefully tucked it into the hatband. The barest flash of magic told Riley that the feather had been given the same protective enchantments as the hat itself. "You may put it back on now."
"Thank you, Masster." Snek took the hat back and put it in the middle of his broad head. "Iss nicce feather."
"It is more than that." The boss nodded toward Snek. "Call your playmate. You will find it to be friendly and no longer a danger to others."
A hopeful look came over the giant snake's features. "Ssnek would like to play with sshadow-Ssnek now."
If Riley hadn't been watching carefully, she would've missed it. The feather glowed briefly, then shadow-stuff poured out of it and formed into the same creature that Snek had fought earlier, complete with a giant wolf skull for a head. It was over in an instant, and Snek's features broke out in a broad smile.
"Whoa, dang." Riley shook her head. "You put the shadow snake in the feather?"
"A minor enchantment, and a proof of concept." The boss gestured in an off-hand manner. "You may go and play, Snek."
"Thank you, Masster." Snek wriggled to the door and opened it; the shadow snake followed him out. It closed behind them.
Riley took up the specimen jar and carried it over toward the shelves, still mulling over what she'd just seen. She'd been right.
That had been damn interesting.
End of Part Thirty-Two
Part Thirty-Two: Snek Shenanigans
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
The Wizard's Apprentice
Riley was watching the boss deal with a minor incursion a century or so over along the tau axis, disguising the annihilation of the extradimensional intruders by making it look as though they'd been killed off by way of local disease vectors, when something got his attention. Raising his head slightly, he turned to her. "Kindly institute level two precautions at once. I should be finished here in short order, but Snek will be arriving before that happens, and he brings with him another one of the more intriguing parasites: one that could disarrange the equipment in this area if it is allowed to do so."
"On it, boss." Riley still wasn't up to casting even the simplest spells on her own, but she'd been instructed in how to activate the magically-infused equipment. This included the containment jars for the power-granting parasites from Bet, the teleporting doorways, all the kitchenware, and the protection wards for the work-room.
Trotting over toward where the bronze plaque was set into the wall, she laid her hand on it and concentrated on a phrase in one of the several languages she was currently learning. The plaque began to glow, and she felt the receptive query of the spell within. In response, she focused on the concept of the level-two wards until the glow of the plaque altered.
As she took her hand away from the plaque, she felt rather than saw the wards begin to engage, fields of near-impervious (and nigh-invisible) force fading into existence. One by one, each piece of apparatus and each shelf was thus protected, taking on a subtle golden sheen. Even her goggles glowed briefly, then generated a protective field around her.
Just about the time the last field powered into action, three familiar knocks sounded from the main door of the work-room. "Enter, Snek," the boss called out without looking up from his task. "A containment sphere has been arranged for your guest. Kindly place her within. I shall be with you in a moment."
The door opened, and Snek slithered into the work-room. "Thank you, Masster," he said politely. "Bad wordss lady hass a sshadow-Ssnek. May Ssnek have it?"
"A shadow-Snek?" Riley took a couple of steps closer. "Okay, this I gotta see."
"Ssnek will assk if bad wordss lady will let it come out and play." The giant snake's jaws gaped wide, his multi-branching tongue reaching back into the interdimensional space that had been incorporated into his throat. Wriggling closer to the shimmering sphere, he pulled a woman into view.
She was suffering from the usual level of stunned shock that afflicted people who had been involuntarily stuffed into Snek's 'not-eat place', but even as he shoved her into the containment sphere, her power activated anyway. Riley recognised her as Moord Nag almost immediately; not many people had access to a giant shadowy snake sporting a horse skull (or any other kind of skull) for a head. Jack had once expressed disappointment that the African warlord was an ocean away, rather than being where he could recruit her to the Nine.
Much more of interest was the fact that while she was inside the sphere, the shadowy snake—the shadow-Snek—was outside it. Rampaging outside, to be more specific. Slamming into the walls, the shelves and the heretofore delicate apparatus, it seemed to be getting more and more frustrated when nothing it did had any effect.
Finally, it charged at Riley herself with jaws wide open. She stood firm, grabbing a chair to brace herself and letting it clamp its teeth down on her arm. The golden sheen stopped it dead; all she felt was a mild pressure and tugging as it attempted to drag her off her feet and gnaw on her arm.
"Bad sshadow-Ssnek! Sshadow-Ssnek sshould not hurt Riley!" Snek left Moord Nag to her own devices within the containment sphere and launched himself at the shadowy projection. His fangs latched onto the 'neck' of the shadowy creature, and his body flexed as he hauled the thing off Riley. It tried to hold on, but horse teeth do not have a great deal of traction, and she wasn't going anywhere she didn't want to. Bereft of her arm, the teeth clashed together, then it writhed and lashed out (to no avail whatsoever) as Snek dragged it backwards.
Apparently seeking to hurt someone, its tail whipped around toward where the Master of the Castle was finalising his work in ending the invasion that was going on elsewhere and elsewhen. Riley opened her mouth to shout a warning, but the creature's appendage got there first. It struck … and a good third of the length of the creature evaporated in a puff of shadow.
"And that will be enough of that." The boss closed down the scrying globe he'd been using, looked over at where the shadow-Snek had recoiled from the impact, and gestured briefly. A second containment sphere formed, sucking the projection into it. Snek opened his jaws right on cue, releasing it. Moments later, it was as trapped as its mistress.
"That was actually fairly impressive," Riley admitted. "Though back on Bet, the Aasdier—the Scavenger—projection could suck out life force and power up that way."
"Ssnek felt sshadow-Ssnek trying to do that." Snek peered at the containment spheres. "Masster magic too sstrong."
"Though their progenitors lack imagination, the parasites themselves are impressively creative." The boss took up his staff; it flared briefly, and the golden sheen faded away as the wards were dispelled. "This one may warrant further study."
The giant snake raised his head and spoke diffidently. "Ssnek wonderss if Masster could let Ssnek play with sshadow-Ssnek, not put in little jar."
"Really?" One shaggy eyebrow rose.
"Yess, Masster. Ssnek likess playing with sshadow-Ssnek. Iss fun."
"Hm." The boss stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well, then. I cannot promise anything, Snek, but I shall see what I can do."
"Thank you, Masster."
This, Riley decided, was definitely going to be interesting.
<><>
Shoreham Fishing Village
The Next Morning
It's going to be a good day out on the water, Sveta decided as she stepped out her front door. There were a few clouds around, illuminated by the yet-to-rise sun, but none of the high wispy ones that presaged a storm. Raising her arm without looking, she braced herself for the weight of Esmerelda as the hearth-dragon came in for a neat landing on her forearm.
"There you are," she said fondly as she gathered her dearest companion into a cuddle. "You were out all night with Ranger, you naughty girl. I hope you enjoyed yourself."
Esmerelda chirped happily as she rubbed her head alongside Sveta's jawline. While hearth-dragons were nonverbal, the impression Sveta got was along the gist of 'why yes, I enjoyed myself very much indeed, thank you'. From the smug look Esmerelda had about her (for some reason, they were past masters at doing 'smug') the two hearth-dragons had definitely made the most of their time together.
"Good, good." Sveta gave Esmerelda a skritch behind her wings, causing the little dragon to arch her back and rumble with pleasure. "We're going to be out on the boat all day. I hope you're able to handle that."
In response, Esmerelda let her head loll back and began emitting lifelike snores, her tongue hanging artistically out the side of her mouth. Sveta could only laugh and shake her head. The more time they spent together, the more they connected on every emotional and mental level it was possible to connect on.
"Good morning!" The voice was bright and energetic. Sveta and Esmerelda both looked around; Paige had just emerged from the side door of the tavern, looking unreasonably fresh for someone who had been playing and singing until the wee hours of the morning. The tavern only boasted half a dozen rooms, but neither the Travellers nor Gretz had complained. Their gold spent well and they were polite and friendly to all, which made them doubly welcome.
Overall, it had been a very pleasant evening, one that many of the fisherfolk would be talking about for months or years to come. Given that the Travellers had come to Shoreham specifically to see Sveta, this was another point in her favour as being lucky, thus raising her standing even further among the villagers. And if anyone took it amiss that she'd spent some time talking to them and sharing various experiences from back on Bet, nobody was saying a word about it.
"Good morning to you as well," she responded, and went over to give Paige a hug. Esmerelda moved up onto her shoulder in the process, and Paige gave the hearth-dragon a caress as well. "I take it you'll be moving along today?"
"That's the plan, yes." Paige responded to Esmerelda's querying chirp by holding out her hands and catching her as the hearth-dragon jumped into them. "Noelle's heard of some prime bounties farther south, so she wants to find out more before we jump in on them."
Sveta smiled as she watched Esmerelda snuggling into Paige's arms. "That's probably a good idea. It would be all too easy to assume you're tough enough to take on any comers, and get your butt handed to you."
Paige chuckled, her fingers gently smoothing out Esmerelda's wings in a way that told Sveta she was familiar with what they liked. "From what the others have told me, they've got plenty of experience with that sort of thing. Francis was the leader for the longest time while Noelle was suffering from what her powers did to her, and by all accounts—including his own—he sucked at it."
"I'm guessing she's better at it." Sveta nodded to Elmora, who had emerged from the tavern in Paige's wake. "Morning. Did you have a good time last night?"
"Surely did." Elmora stretched, working her neck and shoulders and back to elicit a series of cracking and popping noises. "Your people know how to party when they want to."
Paige snorted. "From the amount you were drinking, I'm surprised you aren't asleep under a table somewhere."
"Oh, hon." Elmora grinned crookedly, pinching Paige's cheek. "I used to drink like this on a weekly basis. Just because I'm not super durable anymore doesn't mean I can't hold my booze."
"Well, you can definitely do that," agreed Sveta. She gestured at the dock, where the boats were tied up. "As soon as everyone's up, we're going to ready the boats and sail on the ebb tide."
"You're really into the whole fishing life, aren't you?" Paige opened her hands and Esmerelda spread her wings, leaping and gliding back to Sveta. Elmora stepped up behind Paige and put her arms around the musician, resting her chin on top of Paige's head. Paige laced her fingers through Elmora's, leaning back into the archer's embrace.
"I am." Sveta gathered the hearth-dragon to her. "I spent so much time looking at the world through a keyhole with only fragmentary dreams for company. When the Master of the Castle pulled back the veil and reversed what had been done to me, I remembered my previous life. This isn't identical, but it's close enough that I don't care. And every day, I can look at the sky and breathe free air."
Elmora snorted with amusement. "And I guess it doesn't hurt that you're basically their walking, talking good luck charm."
"I didn't ask to be." Trying not to feel defensive, Sveta stroked the side of Esmerelda's neck, and got a soothing croon in response. "I bonded with her fair and square."
"Chill, chill." Elmora chuckled. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. Whatever you've got, you've earned. No, I was just gonna mention that when Esmerelda has her kids, there's gonna be hearth-dragons all over the village, and people are gonna love you more than ever."
"… kids?" Paige's eyes opened wide. "Wait, Esmerelda's pregnant?"
Elmora rubbed her cheek alongside Paige's. "Don't ever change, sweetheart. If she ain't up the duff after her and Ranger did the nasty all night, there's either something wrong with her or something wrong with him. And knowing the Master of the Castle, you think he'd let something like that fly, pun totally intended?"
Sveta tilted her head. "… no, I can't see it. Huh. I knew she was getting it on with Ranger, but I figured it was their business. Didn't think about kids."
"What do you think they'll be, anyway?" asked Paige. "Ocean like Esmerelda, or Forest like Ranger?"
"Little bit of column A, little bit of column B?" suggested Elmora.
Sveta shook her head. "I actually talked to Riley about this, after I started bonding with Esmerelda. What offspring a hearth-dragon has is partly determined by genetics and partly by magic. So it's twenty-five percent chance of the father's strain, twenty-five per cent of the mother's strain, and fifty per cent chance that it's any one of the other strains. Some strains show up more rarely than others, but it's impossible to breed any of them out, because the potential exists in all of them. Or at least, that's how she explained it."
"And given that she used to be Bonesaw," Paige said thoughtfully, "I wouldn't argue about anything like that with her."
Elmora rolled her eyes. "Because of course there's magic involved in their breeding cycle. Why the hell should that be left out of things?"
Sveta grinned. "It certainly keeps life interesting around here, doesn't it?"
"It does," agreed Paige. "So, how's it feel, now that you're going to be a grandma?"
Sveta considered that for a moment. "Different," she said eventually. "One day I might even be one for real. But this'll do for the moment." There was a hail from down by the docks and she looked over to see Bron and Karol waving to her. "Whoops, duty calls."
"Duty, hah." Elmora grinned at her. "You love it, and you know it."
"True." She let Esmerelda take flight, then gave Paige another quick hug that included Elmora as well. "Take care. Tell the others I said thanks for visiting, and I truly enjoyed meeting you all. And come back sometime, please."
"We'll tell them," Paige promised, returning the hug. "Take care yourself."
"I promise." Sveta turned and headed down the slope toward where the boat, and her crewmates, waited. Esmerelda glided overhead, arrowing in on one particular set of rigging.
It had been nice to meet other people from Bet and catch up, but already she was putting the visit to the back of her mind. As she'd said earlier, this was her life now, and she was good at it.
"Good morn to you," Karol greeted her as she stepped on board; Esmerelda was already perched on the tiller. "See your friends off well enough?"
"Well enough," she agreed. "They'll be gone by the time we're back. It was nice meeting them, though."
As the boat moved away from the dock, urged by Karol's oar, Bron stepped on board with the stern line in his hands. "It was all of that," he said. "And the coin they spent will go a long way, too."
"It will, brother. It will."
Then the sails began to fill and the boat gained way, and no more mention was made of the Travellers.
<><>
Panacea
"Hey, Ames, you have to see this!"
As Vicky darted into the living room, her feet inches above the floor, Amy looked up from the book she was reading. Twilight, who had been dozing while draped along the back of the sofa, raised her head as well with an interrogatory chirp. "What?"
Vicky grinned and held out her phone. "Director Piggot's been doing her research on the hearth-dragons. Check it out."
That actually sounded more than a little ominous, but Vicky's upbeat expression gave her hope it wouldn't be that bad. "So what is it, exactly?"
"She put out a general order. Required reading for everyone, including Protectorate and affiliated capes. That's us. You've probably got one on your phone too."
"Gimme a second." Amy pulled out her own phone and accessed her emails. Sure enough, the one at the top had a PRT header. She hesitated, then tapped it. The email unfolded into an official-looking communication. With Twilight looking over her shoulder, she began to read.
Amy skimmed it to get the gist, then carefully read it all the way through to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. Finally, she looked up at Vicky. "Wow. I'm actually impressed."
"I know, right?" Vicky reached over and scratched the back of Twilight's neck, eliciting a croon of enjoyment. "It's like they suddenly had an attack of common sense."
Amy cradled her arms just as Twilight chose to slide down off the back of the sofa into her embrace. "I think you'll find it's a lot simpler than that. Look at point A. They come from Snek's world, and the PRT really doesn't want to upset the big goofy snake who's already eaten two Endbringers, plus a whole bunch of other assholes. I mean, would you risk pissing him off?"
"Not on my best day," Vicky declared with finality. "I'm good, but nobody's that good."
"Thus proving that you're smarter than the Simurgh." Amy smirked as Twilight chirped in agreement, and held the little dragon close to her. "That's right, sweetie. So are you."
<><>
The Wizard's Apprentice
There were two objects on the table next to where the boss was working on Moord Nag. One was a collection jar, essentially the same as the others containing the boss' growing collection of wispy essences of parasite, while the other looked like an ordinary feather: about four inches long, blue fading to green at the tip, but otherwise unremarkable. Riley knew what the jar was for, but the feather was a mystery to her.
Using the delicate tongs, the boss unwound a delicate strand of nothingness from the warlord's head and deposited it in the jar; knowing her cue, Riley dropped the heavy stopper into place. The magic engaged, sealing the container and making it impervious to anyone but an authorised person who knew the correct opening phrase. Trapped within, the newly extracted parasite coiled back and forth like a living wisp of smoke, seeking an exit that it would never attain.
But the boss wasn't done yet. He muttered a phrase, causing a hemisphere of crackling energy to spring up over the feather, then turned back to Moord Nag. Again, the tongs slid close to her head, then pulled away more of the parasite-stuff.
"Uh, boss …" she ventured. "Didn't you already get her power?"
"I have extracted and separated the problematic aspects of her parasite," he replied urbanely. "That is what goes on the shelf. What I have here is the rest of it." As he spoke, the end of the tongs slid into the hemispherical energy field over the feather. When he released the grip and pulled them out again, the wisp of energy remained within the field, which then began to shrink down around the feather.
Riley watched with fascination as the hemispherical field reduced in size, before finally sinking into the feather and vanishing. "So, what did you do to that, and why a feather?" she asked.
He smiled enigmatically. "Snek, your hat, if you will?"
"Yess, Masster." Snek's versatile tongue reached up to the top of his head and removed the hat that had once belonged to Contessa (and hadn't Riley laughed her head off when she found out about that).
"Thank you, Snek." Taking up the feather, the boss accepted the hat and carefully tucked it into the hatband. The barest flash of magic told Riley that the feather had been given the same protective enchantments as the hat itself. "You may put it back on now."
"Thank you, Masster." Snek took the hat back and put it in the middle of his broad head. "Iss nicce feather."
"It is more than that." The boss nodded toward Snek. "Call your playmate. You will find it to be friendly and no longer a danger to others."
A hopeful look came over the giant snake's features. "Ssnek would like to play with sshadow-Ssnek now."
If Riley hadn't been watching carefully, she would've missed it. The feather glowed briefly, then shadow-stuff poured out of it and formed into the same creature that Snek had fought earlier, complete with a giant wolf skull for a head. It was over in an instant, and Snek's features broke out in a broad smile.
"Whoa, dang." Riley shook her head. "You put the shadow snake in the feather?"
"A minor enchantment, and a proof of concept." The boss gestured in an off-hand manner. "You may go and play, Snek."
"Thank you, Masster." Snek wriggled to the door and opened it; the shadow snake followed him out. It closed behind them.
Riley took up the specimen jar and carried it over toward the shelves, still mulling over what she'd just seen. She'd been right.
That had been damn interesting.
End of Part Thirty-Two
Part Thirty-Three: Hat Trick
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Snek is a Good Boy
Part Thirty-Three: Hat Trick
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
PRT ENE Building
June 13, 2011
Director Emily Piggot
Emily sat at her desk, going through electronic paperwork, a cup of coffee at her elbow. The volume was about the same as it always had been, but the content was decidedly less problematic. There were far fewer incidents that made her want to swear, much less bang her head on the desk.
These days, about the most she needed to do was facepalm mildly, or rub the stress wrinkle that had developed between her eyebrows about three months into the job. Even those events were becoming more and more rare, mostly to do with one Ward or another (usually Clockblocker, but not always) saying something on the record that could really have done with the input of Image before it got aired to the general public. The rest of it was usually to do with Snek pulling off some improbable stunt or other, in his own extremely inimitable way.
So long as the snake kept returning to Brockton Bay, the joint role of the PRT and Protectorate in the city was becoming less and less relevant. As a result, most of the capes in the Protectorate and Wards were due to transfer out to other departments come the first of July, along with the bulk of the troopers, and the building would be relegated to being more of an administrative location. At the same time, Emily would be making her final decision whether to transfer somewhere in an advisory capacity—ten years of running the PRT in her own personal hell-hole had left her with some extremely expensive life lessons—or just retire and claim her pension.
In the meantime, she was absolutely going to do her job to the very best of her ability, no matter how much weird shit cropped up in her city. These days, this tended to be less cape-related and more Snek-adjacent, though sometimes the two overlapped, such as the Yackety Sax Empire incident. That one had actually managed to startle a chuckle out of her.
Three thumps sounded from inside her personal en-suite. Quite apart from the fact that nobody should be in there, that sounded quite familiar. "Snek?" she called out, her hand finding the duress alarm and readying to yank it back if she didn't get the required response. "Is that you?"
"Yess, blue ssuit lady." Yes, that was definitely him. Given the nicknames he had bestowed upon certain members of the Protectorate and Wards ('pointy metal stick man' and 'cat head boy' not only came to mind, but outright grabbed at the attention), she figured she'd gotten off lightly. "May Ssnek come in?"
"Certainly. Come on in." As she clicked the duress alarm to the first catch, she didn't even find it strange that he'd shown up while she was thinking about him. 'What the hell has Snek done recently' was an extremely active topic on the PHO boards, including a recent confrontation with Circus.
The androgynous villain had produced one item or weapon after another from some weird personal pocket dimension, while Snek disarmed them just as rapidly with what appeared to be his tongue, stowing the objects somewhere out of sight, up to and including cartoonish bombs with lit fuses. Nothing had fazed him, and Circus had eventually run out of gear and attempted to flee after Snek appeared to eat their oversized hammer.
Circus, to nobody's surprise, was now residing in a cell, looking extremely grumpy.
"Thank you, blue ssuit lady." The door opened, and the first ten feet of Snek slithered into her office proper. Emily knew now that he utilised teleport portals to go where he needed to, so no doubt there would be one back in the en-suite. It certainly explained the way he'd emerged from a room far too small to contain him by any stretch of the imagination.
He was wearing his trademark fedora, which now sported a blue-green feather. More unusually, perched on his broad snout was a hearth-dragon: the first she'd seen personally. She'd viewed the available photos and footage of the latest additions to New Wave, but the electronic media utterly failed to do justice to the little creatures. About eighteen inches tall and a rich sky-blue from nose to tail, it looked around her office with bright, inquisitive eyes and let out a high-pitched chirp that sounded for all the world like it was greeting her.
Which it probably was, given what she'd heard about them. And there was one other thing: she was not the type to coo over a basket of puppies or kittens, but something about it called to her. Perhaps it was the fact that there was nothing soft or ineffectual in its form; its teeth were sharp, or there was a distinct intelligence behind its eyes.
"Ah … hello," she said carefully. She knew building security would be watching and listening, but doing nothing other than that. "It's good to see you again, Snek. And this is …?"
"Ssnek iss pleassed to ssee blue ssuit lady again, too. Ssnek hass ssaid to Masster that blue ssuit lady iss unhappy and needss help. Masster hass ssaid Ssnek can take hearth-dragon to blue ssuit lady. Here Ssnek iss."
"Wait." Emily blinked. "You brought it here … for me?" The notion utterly disarmed her. Little to no detail had been given about how three members of New Wave had acquired their draconic companions, and she'd had the vague notion that they'd assisted in defeating some great evil while in Snek's world and been awarded the company of the creatures as a thank-you.
But now Snek was in her office, basically saying, 'here, you can have one too'.
Spreading its wings, the hearth-dragon hopped into the air and flew the short distance to her desk. It landed gracefully, furled its wings, and looked at her with an interrogatory chirp. The sound was neither impatient nor coaxing; more along the lines of 'well, are we going to give this a try?'. She stared at it, unable to decide what to do.
"Um," she said at last. "What if … what if we're not compatible?" The absolute last thing she wanted was for it to be heartbroken over a promised human not being interested in having it around. She'd never had a pet before. But then again, these things were far more than mere pets.
"If blue ssuit lady doess not want hearth-dragon, Ssnek will take back to Masster. Other humanss there." Snek managed to convey the impression of 'no pressure' without ever using the words. "Wanted to meet blue ssuit lady firsst."
"Oh." Emily paused. "So, uh, was that the only reason you came here?"
"Blue ssuit lady iss very ssmart," Snek said admiringly. "Ssnek wantss to find and eat sspiccy rock monsster Be-he-moth. Where can Ssnek find, pleasse?"
Emily blinked. "Ah, as I understand things, he's generally down near the earth's core, sorry. Three or four thousand miles down."
Snek smiled. "Thank you, blue ssuit lady. Ssnek will go find." He paused. "If blue ssuit lady needss Ssnek help, call for Ssnek. Ssnek will come." Then he wriggled backward into the en-suite and closed the door behind him.
"Well, that happened." There was a metric ton to be analysed and unpacked from that short conversation, but right at that moment Emily had another matter to deal with. She looked at the hearth-dragon again. "So, what's your name?"
It dropped to all fours and trotted across the desk to her, carefully avoiding a stack of papers. Once it was alongside her laptop, it sat up on its haunches and gave her an inquiring chirp. The noise had no words in it, but somehow she understood two things: first, 'it' was a 'she'; and second, it was Emily's job to choose a name for her.
"Well, now," she said, taking the time to look the little dragon over properly. "You are very pretty, aren't you?" She wasn't even saying it to be nice; the creature fitted every definition of 'cute' she'd ever seen, while the sharp, dark, intelligent eyes followed her every move. The dragon chirped agreeably, evidently understanding and approving of her assessment.
There were approximately two dozen reasons why she shouldn't be initiating unprotected contact with an unverified, un-decontaminated organism from an entire other version of Earth, but none of them seemed to matter right then. Reaching up, she cautiously stroked her hand over the little dragon's head. It—she—crooned softly, pressing into the contact with evident enjoyment.
The scales were smooth to the touch, and quite warm. Despite the lizard-like appearance, hearth-dragons were apparently endotherms (which made them closer to the current ideas about dinosaurs) and they were definitely affectionate (which didn't). Also, the sky-blue colour wasn't uniform in nature; each scale was textured and shaded in a way that would make the most talented movie CGI artists weep with envy.
All that aside, whether she wanted the company of a hearth-dragon or not, she got the impression that this was very much a once in a lifetime offer, and she very much did not wish to offend Snek or his enigmatic Master by simply rejecting it out of hand, or by mistreating the hearth-dragon while she was in Emily's care.
"So," she mused. "Two very important questions. What shall I call you, and what do you eat?"
At the word 'eat', the hearth-dragon perked up and essayed a hopeful chirp. Despite the fact that she was evidently well-fed and healthy, she turned on the puppy-dog eyes to a degree that Emily had rarely seen even in actual puppies. Emily had to chuckle as she stroked the dragon's head and neck again.
"One second," she said. "I do not want to poison you." She took up her phone—still stroking the dragon with her other hand; it was a strangely soothing activity—and hit speed-dial for a particular number.
The phone was answered after one ring. "Brandish here, Director. What's the situation?"
Emily cleared her throat. "This is going to sound very strange, but … what do hearth-dragons eat?"
"You're correct. It does sound very strange. Why are you asking? Because I can't see you calling me up out of idle curiosity."
"No, true." Emily grimaced. She hadn't wanted this information to get out until she knew where she was going with matters. "Snek just showed up and left a hearth-dragon with me. So, um, what do they eat?" The entire 'unhappy and needss help' thing could be left to one side unless she was really pressed about it. That was nobody's business but hers (and apparently the hearth-dragon's).
She heard the smile blooming on Brandish's face, clear across the phone line. "Oh, that's wonderful! We're going to have to bring ours around, so they can get to know each other. What's its name?"
"I hadn't given her a name yet," Emily hedged. "About her diet?"
"Oh, Amy assures me that their digestive systems are incredibly efficient. They'll eat anything we can, and a few other things beside. Can you send me a photo? The others will be thrilled."
"Hold on." Emily looked at the hearth-dragon. "I just need to take a picture of you. Do you understand?"
The little dragon understood alright; as Emily aimed the camera, she preened, half-unfurling one wing to show off the delicate structure. There was one more word to be added to their description, Emily decided as she took not one, but four different images: vain. They loved to be admired.
"Photos coming through. Thank you for that, Brandish. We'll talk again soon."
"No problem, and thank you. Have fun." The call ended.
Emily pondered the call as she opened the drawer where she kept a stash of protein bars for when the exigencies of work precluded leaving her desk for a meal in the commissary. Those days were getting fewer all the time, which meant she had a good supply at the moment.
As for the phone call with Brandish, that had been decidedly strange when measured against her previous experience with the woman. Lawyer and superhero by turns, Brandish was always businesslike and on point; and so she had been, right up until the hearth-dragon was mentioned. After that, she'd pivoted seamlessly to being thrilled about the situation.
Emily recalled the conversation she'd had with Psyche about the potential impact of hearth-dragons on the world. If someone as humourless as Brandish could be persuaded to show their human side via a little dragon companionship, then there was definitely more to hearth-dragons than met the eye. So far, everything she'd been told about their empathy and emotional impact seemed to be accurate, but she was not yet convinced that she personally needed one.
"Here you go," she said, proffering a protein bar. "Would you like me to open it for you?"
Chirping a negative—it was amazing how fast her ear had learned to distinguish minor tonal shifts—the hearth-dragon politely accepted it, removed the wrapper neatly, and devoured the bar within, showing every sign of enjoyment.
"Well, I'm glad you liked that." Emily was fully aware that the security team was still observing her, but she didn't much care. "So, as for your name. You're blue and you have hidden depths, so I believe I will call you Sapphire. Do you like that?"
The newly named Sapphire chirped happily and rubbed her head up and down along Emily's arm. As Emily scratched the hearth-dragon between the wings—Sapphire arched her back into it, showing unmistakable enjoyment—she decided to take that as a yes.
"Well, I've got to get back to work," she said. Picking up the discarded wrapper, she crumpled it and dropped it into the trashcan beside the desk. "But you're welcome to make yourself comfortable. Let me know if you need anything else."
Sapphire promptly found an unoccupied section of desk and curled up on it like a cat, chin propped on her tail, with one beady eye still watching Emily. Purring didn't seem to be in the hearth-dragon wheelhouse, but when Emily reached out and stroked her, Sapphire let out a gentle rumble of appreciation.
"Did you get all that?" she asked out loud.
"Yes, ma'am." It was Rodriguez, in the security station. Sapphire cocked her head slightly, but didn't sit up. "Snek stopped in to give you a hearth-dragon, told you he was going to eat Behemoth, and asked for directions. Also, hearth-dragons like protein bars."
Emily had to give him props for being able to say all that without stuttering or laughing out loud. "Correct. Please send the footage to the techs for analysis, and contact Dragon regarding the placement of Behemoth. If we can help vector Snek onto him, do it. Also, make sure whoever comes in here to reset my duress alarm knows about the hearth-dragon."
"Roger that, ma'am."
Emily stroked Sapphire again—it was amazing how calming the act was—then returned her focus to her work. Even in a world where giant snakes casually swung by to drop off a passenger on their way to chow down on a city-ending terror, paperwork was a constant.
After a few moments, she took the time to open a chat window and compose a message.
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: Director_Piggot_PRT_ENE
Subject: Care and feeding of hearth-dragons
Good morning (or afternoon, or evening).
As you may know, Snek has delivered a hearth-dragon to me from your employer.
So far, we are getting along quite well, and Brandish has explained to me that they can eat essentially anything humans can eat.
However, I would appreciate it if you could give me any other information about them that I need to know about.
Thank you,
Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE
Snek
Snek comes out of wriggle-hole into broken place. Is city that is not city anymore. Buildings all in piles. Tickle of what Master calls ra-di-a-tion. Will not hurt Snek, but will hurt people. No people here anymore, which is good. Snek does not like when people get hurt.
Blue suit lady has told Snek where spicy rock monster Be-he-moth is, so now Snek can find him. Snek sniffs around city-not-city until he smells strongest scent of spicy rock monster Be-he-moth. Is where he dug into ground again. Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth is hiding deep, but Snek can taste him in rock.
Snek begins to dig down. Would be faster to use wriggle-hole, but Snek cannot make wriggle-hole into rock, so digs. Snek is very strong, can dig really fast.
Scent is getting stronger as Snek digs deeper. Rock stops being hard and starts being soft. Is easier to swim through rock than dig. Snek is happy.
But when Snek gets closer to spicy rock monster Be-he-moth, he swims away. Snek tries to catch spicy rock monster Be-he-moth, but is not fast enough. Scent is still strong, but Snek cannot catch him.
Snek chases spicy rock monster Be-he-moth, hoping he will get tired before Snek does. Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth does not get tired.
Snek is not smart as Master or blue suit lady, but Snek knows hunting and chasing. Is easier to catch prey when they are running toward Snek, not away. Snek swims upward through swimmy rock and hard rock to air.
Snek calls for shadow-Snek, and shadow-Snek comes out of feather in hat. Is good feather. Master is very wise and powerful. Shadow-Snek has skull of lion this time. Is good skull. Very frightening.
Snek can dig through rock, but spicy rock monster Be-he-moth can dig faster. Shadow-Snek is shadow, and does not need to dig. Shadow-Snek goes into ground, chasing spicy rock monster Be-he-moth. Snek follows over ground as shadow-Snek finds scent.
Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth swims away from shadow-Snek. Shadow-Snek chases, gets under spicy rock monster Be-he-moth. Snek waits as spicy rock monster Be-he-moth swims and digs upward.
Ground rumbles under Snek, then spicy rock monster Be-he-moth digs out of ground. "Hello," says Snek.
Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth tries to leap away from Snek, but Snek is faster. Snek bites spicy rock monster Be-he-moth on leg. Is very spicy.
Snek likes spicy food.
To: Director_Piggot_PRT_ENE
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Care and feeding of hearth-dragons
Hi Director,
What you've got there is a sky-dragon. Her wings are optimised for flying high and gliding long distances, and her eyesight is really good. She'll want to go for a good long flight on the regular, but she'll understand if you can't manage it every day.
They're really good at being understanding overall, just saying.
Also, they'll definitely eat anything, but they love bacon and toast. They won't actually steal the food from your plate, but they're really good at begging. (Don't worry about overfeeding; it's hard for them to get overweight.)
Don't worry about diseases; there's nothing we've got that they can catch, and vice versa.
In case you were wondering, the boss picked her out from a bunch of volunteers.
If you bond with her (trust me, you'll know if you're bonded) she'll be sharing some capabilities with you. Specifically, you'll be able to fall any distance without getting hurt, and your distance vision will become downright phenomenal.
Anyway, if you've got more questions, feel free to ask.
Riley
Dragon
Even without the heads-up from the PRT ENE, Dragon would've known something was up from the way seismographs all over the world were registering ongoing disturbances from deep in the earth. They were only minuscule, but they were consistent and painted a very interesting picture. Behemoth was on the move, faster than he'd ever moved before, and he wasn't the only one.
There was something following him, chasing him. Even if she hadn't known it was Snek, she would've figured out that he was fleeing pursuit eventually. The pattern of movement was unmistakeable.
As it was, the enigmatic, personable monster from another world had revealed another aspect of his insanely powerful makeup. Not one cape in ten thousand had the capability to get down to the Earth's core, and none of them could go toe to toe with the monster once they got there. The fact that Behemoth was running from him merely demonstrated that the three Endbringers had been able to communicate with each other somehow, and that either Leviathan or the Simurgh had gotten off a warning before they were destroyed.
On the downside, while Snek could get down to that level, he wasn't actually able to catch up with the fleeing Endbringer. There wasn't any place that Behemoth could actually hide, but the interior of the Earth was a huge place, and he could draw out the pursuit more or less forever. All he had to do was keep running.
The problem was, while it was entertaining to watch an Endbringer fleeing for its very life, this wasn't actually getting the job done. Snek apparently realised this, because he broke off pursuit after several laps of the outer core and one of the mantle. Digging up to the surface, he broke off pursuit … or did he?
Dragon wasn't sure about what happened next, because just a little later, Behemoth started moving again, in the same pattern of fleeing as before. Only this time, Snek was following along from above, even as Behemoth neared the surface. Impelled by something down beneath him, Behemoth breached into open air, not a hundred yards from where Snek lay in wait.
Right behind him was … another Snek. Except it wasn't. The other Snek had the same basic proportions, but its body was shadowy and its head was the skull of a lion.
Dragon had seen this before, and a split-second check of the databanks confirmed it. Aasdier! That's Aasdier! How in God's name did Snek steal Moord Nag's pet monster?
She suspected she'd never learn the full truth of it, but it really didn't matter then, because Snek had just bitten Behemoth in the leg, as the monster attempted to flee once more. Dragon had a suit incoming, but it was still a distance away from Death Valley, where Snek's shadowy companion had forced Behemoth to the surface. For the moment, she was going to have to depend on any satellites she could vector over that location.
The lion skull also sank its fangs into Behemoth, while Snek whipped his body around to wrap up the Endbringer in his trademark move. Behemoth tried to fight back, pouring all kinds of energy into Snek and the shadow creature, but it appeared Snek's Master had prepared him well for this encounter. As Behemoth's moves became jerkier and more desperate, the massive length of Snek's body continued to wrap inexorably around him.
As the unequal combat went on—Snek was already ripping away chunks of Behemoth's rocky 'flesh' and swallowing them whole—Dragon concentrated on getting all the footage she could. Converting it to a usable format, she beamed it via various satellites to the PRT and Guild headquarters; they absolutely had to see this. For herself, she kind of wished she could sit back and enjoy the show with popcorn, because Behemoth had had this coming for a long, long time.
When Snek succeeded in tearing away Behemoth's left leg in its entirety, that was the beginning of the end. Behemoth struggled even harder, but his obsidian claws could get no purchase on Snek's obdurate scales. The hottest flames, the most intense lightning, the overpressure sound that sent out shockwaves visible on the satellite images for literally miles away, the blasts of radiation that cooked the already molten sand beneath them all over again … it did him no good whatsoever.
Piece by piece, Snek squeezed Behemoth into submission and ripped away bits of him, to be ingested with every evidence of enjoyment. When his massive gleaming fangs tore open Behemoth's chest and ripped out what might have been his heart (the satellite cameras couldn't get a good picture from that angle) and the remains of the monster's body went still, it was almost a mercy.
Snek didn't stop there, of course. He finished consuming Behemoth's body, leaving behind only the scars on the landscape to show that the battle had ever taken place. Once he was done, he created one of those 'wriggle-holes' and dived into it, followed by the shadow-creature that had once belonged to Moord Nag.
The portal closed, and Dragon did the electronic equivalent of leaning back and sighing with relaxation.
Well, she told herself. That's going to get a reaction.
End of Part Thirty-Three
Part Thirty-Three: Hat Trick
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
PRT ENE Building
June 13, 2011
Director Emily Piggot
Emily sat at her desk, going through electronic paperwork, a cup of coffee at her elbow. The volume was about the same as it always had been, but the content was decidedly less problematic. There were far fewer incidents that made her want to swear, much less bang her head on the desk.
These days, about the most she needed to do was facepalm mildly, or rub the stress wrinkle that had developed between her eyebrows about three months into the job. Even those events were becoming more and more rare, mostly to do with one Ward or another (usually Clockblocker, but not always) saying something on the record that could really have done with the input of Image before it got aired to the general public. The rest of it was usually to do with Snek pulling off some improbable stunt or other, in his own extremely inimitable way.
So long as the snake kept returning to Brockton Bay, the joint role of the PRT and Protectorate in the city was becoming less and less relevant. As a result, most of the capes in the Protectorate and Wards were due to transfer out to other departments come the first of July, along with the bulk of the troopers, and the building would be relegated to being more of an administrative location. At the same time, Emily would be making her final decision whether to transfer somewhere in an advisory capacity—ten years of running the PRT in her own personal hell-hole had left her with some extremely expensive life lessons—or just retire and claim her pension.
In the meantime, she was absolutely going to do her job to the very best of her ability, no matter how much weird shit cropped up in her city. These days, this tended to be less cape-related and more Snek-adjacent, though sometimes the two overlapped, such as the Yackety Sax Empire incident. That one had actually managed to startle a chuckle out of her.
Three thumps sounded from inside her personal en-suite. Quite apart from the fact that nobody should be in there, that sounded quite familiar. "Snek?" she called out, her hand finding the duress alarm and readying to yank it back if she didn't get the required response. "Is that you?"
"Yess, blue ssuit lady." Yes, that was definitely him. Given the nicknames he had bestowed upon certain members of the Protectorate and Wards ('pointy metal stick man' and 'cat head boy' not only came to mind, but outright grabbed at the attention), she figured she'd gotten off lightly. "May Ssnek come in?"
"Certainly. Come on in." As she clicked the duress alarm to the first catch, she didn't even find it strange that he'd shown up while she was thinking about him. 'What the hell has Snek done recently' was an extremely active topic on the PHO boards, including a recent confrontation with Circus.
The androgynous villain had produced one item or weapon after another from some weird personal pocket dimension, while Snek disarmed them just as rapidly with what appeared to be his tongue, stowing the objects somewhere out of sight, up to and including cartoonish bombs with lit fuses. Nothing had fazed him, and Circus had eventually run out of gear and attempted to flee after Snek appeared to eat their oversized hammer.
Circus, to nobody's surprise, was now residing in a cell, looking extremely grumpy.
"Thank you, blue ssuit lady." The door opened, and the first ten feet of Snek slithered into her office proper. Emily knew now that he utilised teleport portals to go where he needed to, so no doubt there would be one back in the en-suite. It certainly explained the way he'd emerged from a room far too small to contain him by any stretch of the imagination.
He was wearing his trademark fedora, which now sported a blue-green feather. More unusually, perched on his broad snout was a hearth-dragon: the first she'd seen personally. She'd viewed the available photos and footage of the latest additions to New Wave, but the electronic media utterly failed to do justice to the little creatures. About eighteen inches tall and a rich sky-blue from nose to tail, it looked around her office with bright, inquisitive eyes and let out a high-pitched chirp that sounded for all the world like it was greeting her.
Which it probably was, given what she'd heard about them. And there was one other thing: she was not the type to coo over a basket of puppies or kittens, but something about it called to her. Perhaps it was the fact that there was nothing soft or ineffectual in its form; its teeth were sharp, or there was a distinct intelligence behind its eyes.
"Ah … hello," she said carefully. She knew building security would be watching and listening, but doing nothing other than that. "It's good to see you again, Snek. And this is …?"
"Ssnek iss pleassed to ssee blue ssuit lady again, too. Ssnek hass ssaid to Masster that blue ssuit lady iss unhappy and needss help. Masster hass ssaid Ssnek can take hearth-dragon to blue ssuit lady. Here Ssnek iss."
"Wait." Emily blinked. "You brought it here … for me?" The notion utterly disarmed her. Little to no detail had been given about how three members of New Wave had acquired their draconic companions, and she'd had the vague notion that they'd assisted in defeating some great evil while in Snek's world and been awarded the company of the creatures as a thank-you.
But now Snek was in her office, basically saying, 'here, you can have one too'.
Spreading its wings, the hearth-dragon hopped into the air and flew the short distance to her desk. It landed gracefully, furled its wings, and looked at her with an interrogatory chirp. The sound was neither impatient nor coaxing; more along the lines of 'well, are we going to give this a try?'. She stared at it, unable to decide what to do.
"Um," she said at last. "What if … what if we're not compatible?" The absolute last thing she wanted was for it to be heartbroken over a promised human not being interested in having it around. She'd never had a pet before. But then again, these things were far more than mere pets.
"If blue ssuit lady doess not want hearth-dragon, Ssnek will take back to Masster. Other humanss there." Snek managed to convey the impression of 'no pressure' without ever using the words. "Wanted to meet blue ssuit lady firsst."
"Oh." Emily paused. "So, uh, was that the only reason you came here?"
"Blue ssuit lady iss very ssmart," Snek said admiringly. "Ssnek wantss to find and eat sspiccy rock monsster Be-he-moth. Where can Ssnek find, pleasse?"
Emily blinked. "Ah, as I understand things, he's generally down near the earth's core, sorry. Three or four thousand miles down."
Snek smiled. "Thank you, blue ssuit lady. Ssnek will go find." He paused. "If blue ssuit lady needss Ssnek help, call for Ssnek. Ssnek will come." Then he wriggled backward into the en-suite and closed the door behind him.
"Well, that happened." There was a metric ton to be analysed and unpacked from that short conversation, but right at that moment Emily had another matter to deal with. She looked at the hearth-dragon again. "So, what's your name?"
It dropped to all fours and trotted across the desk to her, carefully avoiding a stack of papers. Once it was alongside her laptop, it sat up on its haunches and gave her an inquiring chirp. The noise had no words in it, but somehow she understood two things: first, 'it' was a 'she'; and second, it was Emily's job to choose a name for her.
"Well, now," she said, taking the time to look the little dragon over properly. "You are very pretty, aren't you?" She wasn't even saying it to be nice; the creature fitted every definition of 'cute' she'd ever seen, while the sharp, dark, intelligent eyes followed her every move. The dragon chirped agreeably, evidently understanding and approving of her assessment.
There were approximately two dozen reasons why she shouldn't be initiating unprotected contact with an unverified, un-decontaminated organism from an entire other version of Earth, but none of them seemed to matter right then. Reaching up, she cautiously stroked her hand over the little dragon's head. It—she—crooned softly, pressing into the contact with evident enjoyment.
The scales were smooth to the touch, and quite warm. Despite the lizard-like appearance, hearth-dragons were apparently endotherms (which made them closer to the current ideas about dinosaurs) and they were definitely affectionate (which didn't). Also, the sky-blue colour wasn't uniform in nature; each scale was textured and shaded in a way that would make the most talented movie CGI artists weep with envy.
All that aside, whether she wanted the company of a hearth-dragon or not, she got the impression that this was very much a once in a lifetime offer, and she very much did not wish to offend Snek or his enigmatic Master by simply rejecting it out of hand, or by mistreating the hearth-dragon while she was in Emily's care.
"So," she mused. "Two very important questions. What shall I call you, and what do you eat?"
At the word 'eat', the hearth-dragon perked up and essayed a hopeful chirp. Despite the fact that she was evidently well-fed and healthy, she turned on the puppy-dog eyes to a degree that Emily had rarely seen even in actual puppies. Emily had to chuckle as she stroked the dragon's head and neck again.
"One second," she said. "I do not want to poison you." She took up her phone—still stroking the dragon with her other hand; it was a strangely soothing activity—and hit speed-dial for a particular number.
The phone was answered after one ring. "Brandish here, Director. What's the situation?"
Emily cleared her throat. "This is going to sound very strange, but … what do hearth-dragons eat?"
"You're correct. It does sound very strange. Why are you asking? Because I can't see you calling me up out of idle curiosity."
"No, true." Emily grimaced. She hadn't wanted this information to get out until she knew where she was going with matters. "Snek just showed up and left a hearth-dragon with me. So, um, what do they eat?" The entire 'unhappy and needss help' thing could be left to one side unless she was really pressed about it. That was nobody's business but hers (and apparently the hearth-dragon's).
She heard the smile blooming on Brandish's face, clear across the phone line. "Oh, that's wonderful! We're going to have to bring ours around, so they can get to know each other. What's its name?"
"I hadn't given her a name yet," Emily hedged. "About her diet?"
"Oh, Amy assures me that their digestive systems are incredibly efficient. They'll eat anything we can, and a few other things beside. Can you send me a photo? The others will be thrilled."
"Hold on." Emily looked at the hearth-dragon. "I just need to take a picture of you. Do you understand?"
The little dragon understood alright; as Emily aimed the camera, she preened, half-unfurling one wing to show off the delicate structure. There was one more word to be added to their description, Emily decided as she took not one, but four different images: vain. They loved to be admired.
"Photos coming through. Thank you for that, Brandish. We'll talk again soon."
"No problem, and thank you. Have fun." The call ended.
Emily pondered the call as she opened the drawer where she kept a stash of protein bars for when the exigencies of work precluded leaving her desk for a meal in the commissary. Those days were getting fewer all the time, which meant she had a good supply at the moment.
As for the phone call with Brandish, that had been decidedly strange when measured against her previous experience with the woman. Lawyer and superhero by turns, Brandish was always businesslike and on point; and so she had been, right up until the hearth-dragon was mentioned. After that, she'd pivoted seamlessly to being thrilled about the situation.
Emily recalled the conversation she'd had with Psyche about the potential impact of hearth-dragons on the world. If someone as humourless as Brandish could be persuaded to show their human side via a little dragon companionship, then there was definitely more to hearth-dragons than met the eye. So far, everything she'd been told about their empathy and emotional impact seemed to be accurate, but she was not yet convinced that she personally needed one.
"Here you go," she said, proffering a protein bar. "Would you like me to open it for you?"
Chirping a negative—it was amazing how fast her ear had learned to distinguish minor tonal shifts—the hearth-dragon politely accepted it, removed the wrapper neatly, and devoured the bar within, showing every sign of enjoyment.
"Well, I'm glad you liked that." Emily was fully aware that the security team was still observing her, but she didn't much care. "So, as for your name. You're blue and you have hidden depths, so I believe I will call you Sapphire. Do you like that?"
The newly named Sapphire chirped happily and rubbed her head up and down along Emily's arm. As Emily scratched the hearth-dragon between the wings—Sapphire arched her back into it, showing unmistakable enjoyment—she decided to take that as a yes.
"Well, I've got to get back to work," she said. Picking up the discarded wrapper, she crumpled it and dropped it into the trashcan beside the desk. "But you're welcome to make yourself comfortable. Let me know if you need anything else."
Sapphire promptly found an unoccupied section of desk and curled up on it like a cat, chin propped on her tail, with one beady eye still watching Emily. Purring didn't seem to be in the hearth-dragon wheelhouse, but when Emily reached out and stroked her, Sapphire let out a gentle rumble of appreciation.
"Did you get all that?" she asked out loud.
"Yes, ma'am." It was Rodriguez, in the security station. Sapphire cocked her head slightly, but didn't sit up. "Snek stopped in to give you a hearth-dragon, told you he was going to eat Behemoth, and asked for directions. Also, hearth-dragons like protein bars."
Emily had to give him props for being able to say all that without stuttering or laughing out loud. "Correct. Please send the footage to the techs for analysis, and contact Dragon regarding the placement of Behemoth. If we can help vector Snek onto him, do it. Also, make sure whoever comes in here to reset my duress alarm knows about the hearth-dragon."
"Roger that, ma'am."
Emily stroked Sapphire again—it was amazing how calming the act was—then returned her focus to her work. Even in a world where giant snakes casually swung by to drop off a passenger on their way to chow down on a city-ending terror, paperwork was a constant.
After a few moments, she took the time to open a chat window and compose a message.
<><>
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE■
To: GoodGirlRiley
From: Director_Piggot_PRT_ENE
Subject: Care and feeding of hearth-dragons
Good morning (or afternoon, or evening).
As you may know, Snek has delivered a hearth-dragon to me from your employer.
So far, we are getting along quite well, and Brandish has explained to me that they can eat essentially anything humans can eat.
However, I would appreciate it if you could give me any other information about them that I need to know about.
Thank you,
Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE
■
<><>
<><>
Snek
Snek comes out of wriggle-hole into broken place. Is city that is not city anymore. Buildings all in piles. Tickle of what Master calls ra-di-a-tion. Will not hurt Snek, but will hurt people. No people here anymore, which is good. Snek does not like when people get hurt.
Blue suit lady has told Snek where spicy rock monster Be-he-moth is, so now Snek can find him. Snek sniffs around city-not-city until he smells strongest scent of spicy rock monster Be-he-moth. Is where he dug into ground again. Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth is hiding deep, but Snek can taste him in rock.
Snek begins to dig down. Would be faster to use wriggle-hole, but Snek cannot make wriggle-hole into rock, so digs. Snek is very strong, can dig really fast.
Scent is getting stronger as Snek digs deeper. Rock stops being hard and starts being soft. Is easier to swim through rock than dig. Snek is happy.
But when Snek gets closer to spicy rock monster Be-he-moth, he swims away. Snek tries to catch spicy rock monster Be-he-moth, but is not fast enough. Scent is still strong, but Snek cannot catch him.
Snek chases spicy rock monster Be-he-moth, hoping he will get tired before Snek does. Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth does not get tired.
Snek is not smart as Master or blue suit lady, but Snek knows hunting and chasing. Is easier to catch prey when they are running toward Snek, not away. Snek swims upward through swimmy rock and hard rock to air.
Snek calls for shadow-Snek, and shadow-Snek comes out of feather in hat. Is good feather. Master is very wise and powerful. Shadow-Snek has skull of lion this time. Is good skull. Very frightening.
Snek can dig through rock, but spicy rock monster Be-he-moth can dig faster. Shadow-Snek is shadow, and does not need to dig. Shadow-Snek goes into ground, chasing spicy rock monster Be-he-moth. Snek follows over ground as shadow-Snek finds scent.
Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth swims away from shadow-Snek. Shadow-Snek chases, gets under spicy rock monster Be-he-moth. Snek waits as spicy rock monster Be-he-moth swims and digs upward.
Ground rumbles under Snek, then spicy rock monster Be-he-moth digs out of ground. "Hello," says Snek.
Spicy rock monster Be-he-moth tries to leap away from Snek, but Snek is faster. Snek bites spicy rock monster Be-he-moth on leg. Is very spicy.
Snek likes spicy food.
<><>
■
PRIVATE MESSAGE■
To: Director_Piggot_PRT_ENE
From: GoodGirlRiley
Subject: Re: Care and feeding of hearth-dragons
Hi Director,
What you've got there is a sky-dragon. Her wings are optimised for flying high and gliding long distances, and her eyesight is really good. She'll want to go for a good long flight on the regular, but she'll understand if you can't manage it every day.
They're really good at being understanding overall, just saying.
Also, they'll definitely eat anything, but they love bacon and toast. They won't actually steal the food from your plate, but they're really good at begging. (Don't worry about overfeeding; it's hard for them to get overweight.)
Don't worry about diseases; there's nothing we've got that they can catch, and vice versa.
In case you were wondering, the boss picked her out from a bunch of volunteers.
If you bond with her (trust me, you'll know if you're bonded) she'll be sharing some capabilities with you. Specifically, you'll be able to fall any distance without getting hurt, and your distance vision will become downright phenomenal.
Anyway, if you've got more questions, feel free to ask.
Riley
■
<><>
<><>
Dragon
Even without the heads-up from the PRT ENE, Dragon would've known something was up from the way seismographs all over the world were registering ongoing disturbances from deep in the earth. They were only minuscule, but they were consistent and painted a very interesting picture. Behemoth was on the move, faster than he'd ever moved before, and he wasn't the only one.
There was something following him, chasing him. Even if she hadn't known it was Snek, she would've figured out that he was fleeing pursuit eventually. The pattern of movement was unmistakeable.
As it was, the enigmatic, personable monster from another world had revealed another aspect of his insanely powerful makeup. Not one cape in ten thousand had the capability to get down to the Earth's core, and none of them could go toe to toe with the monster once they got there. The fact that Behemoth was running from him merely demonstrated that the three Endbringers had been able to communicate with each other somehow, and that either Leviathan or the Simurgh had gotten off a warning before they were destroyed.
On the downside, while Snek could get down to that level, he wasn't actually able to catch up with the fleeing Endbringer. There wasn't any place that Behemoth could actually hide, but the interior of the Earth was a huge place, and he could draw out the pursuit more or less forever. All he had to do was keep running.
The problem was, while it was entertaining to watch an Endbringer fleeing for its very life, this wasn't actually getting the job done. Snek apparently realised this, because he broke off pursuit after several laps of the outer core and one of the mantle. Digging up to the surface, he broke off pursuit … or did he?
Dragon wasn't sure about what happened next, because just a little later, Behemoth started moving again, in the same pattern of fleeing as before. Only this time, Snek was following along from above, even as Behemoth neared the surface. Impelled by something down beneath him, Behemoth breached into open air, not a hundred yards from where Snek lay in wait.
Right behind him was … another Snek. Except it wasn't. The other Snek had the same basic proportions, but its body was shadowy and its head was the skull of a lion.
Dragon had seen this before, and a split-second check of the databanks confirmed it. Aasdier! That's Aasdier! How in God's name did Snek steal Moord Nag's pet monster?
She suspected she'd never learn the full truth of it, but it really didn't matter then, because Snek had just bitten Behemoth in the leg, as the monster attempted to flee once more. Dragon had a suit incoming, but it was still a distance away from Death Valley, where Snek's shadowy companion had forced Behemoth to the surface. For the moment, she was going to have to depend on any satellites she could vector over that location.
The lion skull also sank its fangs into Behemoth, while Snek whipped his body around to wrap up the Endbringer in his trademark move. Behemoth tried to fight back, pouring all kinds of energy into Snek and the shadow creature, but it appeared Snek's Master had prepared him well for this encounter. As Behemoth's moves became jerkier and more desperate, the massive length of Snek's body continued to wrap inexorably around him.
As the unequal combat went on—Snek was already ripping away chunks of Behemoth's rocky 'flesh' and swallowing them whole—Dragon concentrated on getting all the footage she could. Converting it to a usable format, she beamed it via various satellites to the PRT and Guild headquarters; they absolutely had to see this. For herself, she kind of wished she could sit back and enjoy the show with popcorn, because Behemoth had had this coming for a long, long time.
When Snek succeeded in tearing away Behemoth's left leg in its entirety, that was the beginning of the end. Behemoth struggled even harder, but his obsidian claws could get no purchase on Snek's obdurate scales. The hottest flames, the most intense lightning, the overpressure sound that sent out shockwaves visible on the satellite images for literally miles away, the blasts of radiation that cooked the already molten sand beneath them all over again … it did him no good whatsoever.
Piece by piece, Snek squeezed Behemoth into submission and ripped away bits of him, to be ingested with every evidence of enjoyment. When his massive gleaming fangs tore open Behemoth's chest and ripped out what might have been his heart (the satellite cameras couldn't get a good picture from that angle) and the remains of the monster's body went still, it was almost a mercy.
Snek didn't stop there, of course. He finished consuming Behemoth's body, leaving behind only the scars on the landscape to show that the battle had ever taken place. Once he was done, he created one of those 'wriggle-holes' and dived into it, followed by the shadow-creature that had once belonged to Moord Nag.
The portal closed, and Dragon did the electronic equivalent of leaning back and sighing with relaxation.
Well, she told herself. That's going to get a reaction.
End of Part Thirty-Three
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silentorphan
Versed in the lewd.
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I'll admit to some curiosity. Would the Director prefer to have a giant snake wandering through the city every so often? Or would she rather have an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-doing villain who wields a pistol, a shotgun, and a pair of shears residing full-time in the city instead?
A Meeting of the Piggots
Ack
(Verified Ratbag) (Unverified Great Old One)
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I can just see Snek!Piggot and Atropos!Piggot in a bar, both leaning on the counter, staring into their drinks.
S!P: "So, when did you first find out?"
A!P: "Oni Lee got shot in the face. You?"
S!P: "He ate Lung. Then he started on the Nine."
A!P: "Huh. She burned Lung alive. Stabbed Kaiser through the head. Cut Coil's throat twice. Smeared Skidmark over two hundred yards of asphalt. And that was the first five days. Were the Nine in town too?"
S!P: "No, they were elsewhere. He saved Mouse Protector. He's very into saving people. And eating supervillains. How in God's name did she burn Lung alive?"
A!P: "You really don't want to know. Please tell me he didn't post bright little notes on PHO about who was going to die next, and when."
S!P: "No, PHO's not really his thing. He just showed up randomly. Chased the Empire Eighty-Eight through the city, teleporting them into holding cells. With someone on his back, playing Yackety Sax."
A!P: "She just warns people publicly, and if they screw up after two warnings, they're dead. She blitzed her way through the Nine in less than forty-five minutes, and she was taking time to make it look easy."
S!P: "As far as I can figure, he eats the worst and takes the rest to his world, where his Master rips their powers out and lets them loose in his own society to sink or swim."
A!P: "His Master?"
S!P: "Yeah. Godawfully powerful wizard. Like, destroying world-ending threats is Tuesday for him type powerful."
A!P: "So he got rid of your Endbringers?"
S!P: " No, he couldn't be bothered. Snek chased them down, wrapped them up, and ate them alive. Yours?"
A!P: "She blew away the Simurgh with a sawn-off shotgun, then Ended the other two in a way I'm still not sure about."
S!P: "Huh. Classy. So does she go after other S-class threats? Butcher, Ash Beast and the like?"
A!P: "Only if they threaten Brockton Bay, usually. Though the place is looking a lot nicer. She finagled a deal where we pay her ten percent of what we would've spent keeping the quarantine areas contained, plus ten percent of the Endbringer budget, for the next ten years, plus two billion for the Simurgh, and she's funneled it into a Betterment Committee. Somehow got Accord to plan the redevelopment. Paid him with his own money, if you can believe that."
S!P: "Impressive. No, the Bay's the same old, same old. A lot quieter, a lot nicer. I'm thinking about retiring. Not a lot for me to do now."
A!P: "Me too, but I'm running the New York department for the duration. Wilkins tried to unmask Atropos, and it was either arrest her or let her get shot in the face." <pause> "So, what's with the dragon?"
<both turn to look at the little blue dragon that's been raiding the peanuts>
S!P: "Sapphire's my emotional support hearth-dragon. Snek dropped her off one day. You should get one. They're amazing for the stress levels. I can put in a good word for you, if you want."
A!P: "I might just take you up on that."
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Diraniola
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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The real question on my mind is if Atropos and Snek would get along. They're both OCPs, but Snek send to be an order of magnitude or two higher on the bs scale. Meanwhile Atropos is a killer but isn't a bad person, so not sure where she falls on Snek's friend-food scale.
Ack
(Verified Ratbag) (Unverified Great Old One)
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Atropos doesn't hurt innocents. Snek has zero problem with people who kill villains.
They would probably get along frighteningly well.
KamenRaidaOOO3
Making the rounds.
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So definitely on the friend side of the Food to Friend scale, good to know.
SnappingTurt3ls2
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Thanks for the chapter!