Ryan stared at the tiny, soaking wet girl and wondered how he should phrase his answer. The look on her face didn’t leave a lot of room for a lie, or an obfuscation. A conniving part of him knew he could easily drug her back to sleep, and give him a few more hours to decide how to make her world come crashing down, or he could-
She licked her lips and curled her hands into fists. ‘There’s a reason we’re not at the Agency, isn’t there? A reason I’m not in the infirmary getting a hundred scans done on me.’
He simply nodded.
‘I could understand it when I just woke up…but with… This isn’t, rather, I’m not exactly approved am I?’
‘I’ve lost count of the rules I’ve broken, but it doesn’t matter.’
‘Highlights being?’
‘Using mirror magic, lying about you, reporting you dead, and,’ he looked down at her, ‘not destroying you when ordered.’
‘Someone found out?’
‘An agent named Emma. This was before you woke up though…I think it’s why you woke up.’
Stef screwed up her face for a moment, then nodded. ‘She shot me, didn’t she?’
‘How do you know that?’
‘The place I was…before it was the place I wasn’t, last thing I saw in there was a bullet smashing it all apart.’ She looked away. ‘I thought it might have been you.’
‘Why would I-’
‘No, not you, you…but maybe like…’She rolled her shoulders, then kept them up at an odd angle. ‘Like maybe I’d imagined everything and that you really did cap me at the mansion, that I’d just hallucinated everything while the bullet was smashing my brain.’ She dropped her shoulders and sighed. ‘What’s she got against me?’ She lifted a hand and stared at it. ‘I’m mean, I’m-’ she giggled. ‘Pruney! Really really pruney!’ She turned her hand to him, and he smiled at the puckered skin on her hand, and fought the urge to offer her finger paints. She took a breath and seemed to sober a little. ‘What does she have against me?’
‘Other than the fact that you’re-’ he paused for a moment, ‘that you were my recruit, she likely has nothing against you as a person, her problem is with what’s in your chest.’
She looked at her chest again, then back up him. ‘I don’t think I can have this conversation while soaking wet.’ He nodded, stood, and helped her to her feet. After a moment, the tub disappeared, and a second thought had them both dried. She retreated to the couch, sitting on one arm, her legs on the cushion. ‘You said it’s wishes, right? Wishes are…I mean, not that powerful, right?’
‘No, you’re wrong, they are very powerful, likely an order of magnitude beyond what you’re imagining. That piece in your chest, it would be enough to raise a small continent or create a weapon that could destroy the world.’
‘So…I am a risk, then?’
‘In so many words, but there wasn’t another choice.’
She slid down onto the couch, bringing her knees up to her chest. ‘Sure there was, you coulda just yanked it out and buried my stupid corpse.’
‘I couldn’t do that.’
‘Wouldn’t is more like it. It would have been a lot easier. Ok, so…what exactly is the situation?’
‘Legally, and according to the Agency, you’re dead. I didn’t know if you were going to wake up, I couldn’t know. There isn’t, to the best of my knowledge, a precedent for this – it would be arrogant to think you’re the only one, but there are no files I can reference on the subject. The only other person who knows is Emma, but I think I’ve thrown her off for the moment, I’d like to keep it that way.’
‘If I’m…’ she said after a moment. ‘Legally dead…why hasn’t stuff been given to Lifeline?’
‘The lease is in my name now. The spirit that owns this building was quite understanding once I explained that Solstice was involved.’
‘The what? Oh, well…guess that explains why he charges about half what this place is actually worth.’ She looked around the apartment. ‘So what the hell am I supposed to do? Go back to being a hacker?’
‘In fairness, you were a good hacker.’
‘I can’t live a little life anymore. Don’t make me go back to it, I mean, I’m almost used to talking out loud and expecting a response.’
‘You can’t come back to the Agency, not like this.’
She shrugged. ‘Tell them I was skiing?’
‘I don’t think it would take long for someone to realise that you don’t have a heartbeat. I hadn’t expected it to be so literal. I had…it wasn’t what I expected.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I expected one of two things: for it to be used up in the process of bringing you back to life, to restore you, then fade away.’
‘And number two?’
‘Strangely enough, my second guess was that you would turn out something rather like an agent.’
She looked down at herself. ‘Sorry, can’t require myself into a suit for comic timing.’ She sighed. ‘And what’s so special about you?’
‘It’s what we are, how we function. We’re…potential surrounding ash is probably easiest way to explain it. We’re skin deep, our internal functions are barely more than masquerades – at least normally – we can regenerate it all so long as our potential is intact. It doesn’t make sense unless…unless the simple act of bringing you back wasn’t enough to use it all up.’
‘So it’s just going to whither away every time I get shot, or just hurt myself?’
He nodded slowly. ‘That is a possibility.’
‘That would technically make me mortal.’ She chewed on a knuckle. ‘How technical is the definition of mortal?’
‘It varies, by stretching it, agents can be called mortals, gods could be called mortals. I assumed that you would have fallen under the traditional definition.’
‘Well, the bullet that went through my skull says otherwise, and I need to know.’
This caught him off-guard. ‘I’d rather not know, the only way we could test is-’
She bit her lip for a moment. ‘Shoot me.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘How could that thought even occur to you?’ He stood, and began to pace the room. ‘Do you comprehend what you just asked me to do? Miss Mimosa, you were correct when you declared you had a distinct lack of mental health.’
‘Oh, interesting. I say something you’re uncomfortable with, and I lose my first name. It’s not like it’s a right you can take away, or something.’
‘Stef, you don’t realise what you’re asking me to do.’
She looked away. ‘I was so afraid of him, I thought I was going to piss my pants. I…begged him. I don’t want to have to feel that again.’
‘And if it doesn’t work?’
‘You said something about permission to haunt you, right? If your pen rolls across your desk, it’s me.’
‘We don’t shoot humans to see if they’re mortal. We simply accept that they are and try not to get them killed.’ He walked back across the room and sat on the couch beside her.
‘Unless they’re Solstice.’
‘Yes, that.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s different though, most humans don’t have a giant blob of mirr-’ Her voice became muffled, due to the fact that his hand was covering her mouth.
‘Never say that out loud,’ he said quietly. ‘Never.’ He removed his hand. ‘Above all, that has to be a secret. You don’t know how many people will kill to get their hands on it.’
‘I trust you, and I need to know.’
He stood, pulled his gun from his holster and aimed it at her. ‘Do you really think I could pull the trigger?’
‘You were going to at the mansion.’
‘No. Not after I found out who you were. Every day for the past month I have been blaming myself for not shifting you back. Keeping an untrained recruit in the field was the height of irresponsibility. What happened to you was my fault. Both times. All three times. I’m not going to make it a fourth.’
‘So why is your gun’s safety off?’
‘Because I want you to realise what you’re asking me to do. I want to give you the time to contemplate on what will happen when I pull the trigger, and I want you to be frightened.’
‘I’m not frightened of you.’
‘You should be.’
‘I trust you.’
He pulled the trigger.
She shrieked as the bullet impacted the back of the couch.
‘I’m not going to hurt you Stef, we’ll figure this out another way.’
She stared at him for a moment before her face crumpled. ‘There was nothing!’ she cried. ‘I just stopped, and there was nothing. And I knew there was nothing. It was worse than Death’s place. There was just nothing. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t scream, but part of me was feeling it. She bit her lip, but he stayed frozen, not wanting to interrupt her. He let his gun disappear – it had served its purpose.
Slowly, she reached out for him. He extended his hand, and she pulled him toward the couch. ‘Is that where I’m gonna go when I really die?’ she asked him as he sat beside her. She held his left hand with both of her small, trembling ones – seemingly content with this much contact.
‘It’s why I didn’t want you to come back. If you’d gone with Death, you would have been able to pass, not…not whatever that is.’
She released his hand. ‘Fuck, what are the five stages of dealing with your own death?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘I could give you a dozen platitudes, but I have the feeling that none of them would mean a thing.’
‘Well, come on, you’ve got to know something that will help.’
‘Perhaps,’ he said as he reached for her. She tensed for a moment, then relaxed into the hug. A thought had a cookie in his hand, which she grabbed eagerly, then began to chew on, dropping crumbs all over his sleeve.
‘Cookies don’t fix everything,’ she mumbled through a mouthful.
‘I know, but they can’t hurt.’
[Sir?]
He looked away from Stef, and fixed his gaze on the roof. [Yes Jones?]
[Emma’s moved the audit up, she wants us to do it now.]
[She can’t wait an hour?]
Jones rolled his eyes. [This is Emma, she says jump, she expects us to-]
He pinched the bridge of his nose. [That woman is infuriating.]
[At least it’s only three-hundred pages this round. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours, and we can always pray for Solstice attacks.]
This brought a slight smile to his face and he nodded. [I’ll meet you in the conference room in a minute.] He dropped from communication mode and tapped the hacker on the shoulder. ‘I’m needed at the Agency.’ She turned her head up to look at him and nodded, then swallowed the large mouthful of cookie. ‘I’ve put some food in the fridge in case you’re still hungry, and I’ll be back in a couple of hours. The hardest part is over, you made it back, everything else will work itself out.’
‘Okies’ she whispered.
He required her another cookie, ruffled her hair, then shifted away.
…you could have stopped at this chapter today, instead of posting the second one too and keeping us on the edge of our seats… good thing we’re masochists. >_>
Well, you know.. If Stormy just posted this chapter, we would be calm and nice and fluffy… But, it’s not fun at all! it’s a lot more interesting to keep the readers in suspense 😀
^_^
Come on, admit it, you like being there on the edge of your seat. 😀
… good thing we’re masochists. And Flex is supposed to side with us. >_>
… we’re masochists, so I don’t want Stormy to stop what she’s doing now to us ^_^
I’m still on our side though, don’t worry 😛
…what she’s doing is one thing, but if she takes it to a new level of OMGSTORMYWHYYYYYYYYY things will be different.
Kinda like the difference between caressing someone with a feather and caressing someone with the entire chicken. >_<
I believe there can never be too much good 🙂
And, caressing my face with a chicken? Mmmmmm. ^_^
*gigglefit* (c)
…might get the toes and claws. That can’t be pleasant. Unless you’re emo.
I’m just clutching to my face some warm newborn puppies, and it feels TONS better 😛
…Flexy, you worry me sometimes.
That was like the least worrying thing I’ve said in the last month, I think O_o
Compared to having enraged chickens scratching my face with their talons, I much prefer having small cute cuddly puppies..
I’m not going to eat them or something, I’m, like, almost their uncle, or something O_o
I mentioned them just because I was cuddling them when I read about the chicken talons, not because I have blood-thirsty dreams about chomping on cute newborn puppy flesh O_o”
*shudder*
Although … >_>
Shut up! They don't have to know!…I’m just going to hug you, ok? I think that’s the best solution for everyone.
Don’t forget the cookies 😀
Hugs and cookies are the best solutions for everyone ^_^
*Requires a cookie*
…there’s only a couple of OMGSTORMYWHYYYYYYYYY chapters, but there are some others that should provoke emotional responses. 😛
but there are some others that should provoke emotional responses.
Great… now not only are you going to torment us, your teasing us about it. We will be up for days wondering what kind of sick twisted thing you are going to do to us via Stef next.
Are you sure you work at a calling center and not some kind of secret government torture program? Because I promise I don’t know anything about any terrorist can we just have a happy day or something.
On an unrelated note. I find myself missing the S.O.S. chapters. Have you considered doing something else like that now that she is awake? The dialogue(monologue?) with Stef and the bold voice is awesome and we haven’t seen a lot of the bold voice of late.
I like to tease, you should know this by now.
And at the moment, I don’t work anywhere. Trying somewhat to fix this, though I’m still not convinced I should (the concept of going back to 9-5 kinda scares me).
We will be up for days wondering what kind of sick twisted thing you are going to do to us via Stef next.
Well, the one thing you know is that they’ll be sick and twisted. 😛
On an unrelated note. I find myself missing the S.O.S. chapters. Have you considered doing something else like that now that she is awake? The dialogue(monologue?) with Stef and the bold voice is awesome and we haven’t seen a lot of the bold voice of late.
I can’t help myself from wondering…is it that I have the most affable character with a split-personality or something? (*wonders if Peter Jackson got calls asking for more on-screen Gollum/Smeagol interactions*).
And at the moment, I don’t work anywhere. Trying somewhat to fix this, though I’m still not convinced I should (the concept of going back to 9-5 kinda scares me).
This is a tricky statement/thing to do. One could try to make a living as an author, but frankly, when you look out there, there’s quite some people having issues with that…
This is coming (probably) from a different problem; you weren’t really at ease at work. Probably even related to the people working with you.
Personally, I believe most people need a separate subset of social contact (ie: work). Definitely when you’re in a relationship.
Of course there’s a lot of different methods than 9-5.
1. it would help if there isn’t much travel-time between home and work.
2. there’s nightshift stuff (or other timings), but this has to agree with the fiance, or else you don’t see him very much.
3. one could do part-time and for example do part-time author-y stuff. (but that isn’t always easy)
4. one could try teaching in full/part time, but then the hours are really strange and it has to be good for you. Not everyone is cut out to be one.
5. insert something else or combination of above.
(i believe you’re a person who like a little stability in her working-life, so; maybe 9-5 isn’t so bad after all… if it were closer and with people who have a little wibblyness in it (or rather affinity to you).)
Well, the one thing you know is that they’ll be sick and twisted. 😛
Sick and twisted is what we like… as you well know.
…is it that I have the most affable character with a split-personality or something?
It could very well be, not much authors choose to get a real protagonist with such a character, and even portray them somewhat as a hero-related type. I mean that there’s ton of stuff out there with some kind of craziness and even main characters, but then it balances too much with insanely amount of other “main characters”. (The disease of too much main characters.)
Stef is undoubtedly THE main character. and incidentally, she’s a little off. (or even not-so-incidentally) (AND it’s even good that she is)(better for her anyway).
…if I don’t hear anything from that interview tomorrow (last day they were supposed to notify me), I think I’m going to put my focus on getting a part-time job so that at least I can focus on Wibbly part-time, rather than when-I-get-a-chance, like it was at the old job.
It could very well be, not much authors choose to get a real protagonist with such a character
😀
even portray them somewhat as a hero-related type
I still would argue against her being a hero. >_>
The disease of too much main characters.
I hate that disease, people should really focus on getting rid of it.
…(last day they were supposed to notify me)…
I’m going to give you a little hint thingie. I don’t know how much interviews you’ve been through, but generally, that’s not how it happens.
This is how it generally goes:
– You send out emails with resume
– Someone asks you for an interview and tells you: “we’ll get back to you the latest at X”
– You receive nothing
– You call yourself on that last day, at which they tell you: “Oh, I’m sorry, X is on vacation right now”; or “the person responsible for the end-decision isn’t here right now. It’s at least another 3 weeks.”
– You send out more emails
– You get ask more interviews
– Next interview they tell you have the job.
– After you signed; the original firm calls back and tells you you get the job, and you have to let them down, because you’ve already signed.
The thing is:
– They NEVER call on time back; you have to call yourself.
– They always need someone urgent, and then extend the period of requiring someone.
– You get a job when you least expect it.
also, working part-time, is having only part-time monies. To be able to live parttime off Wibbly… You’ll have to quite do something to get that working, I imagine. plus, since it’s not a hobby anymore, it’ll be quite something else.
I have no issues about getting more reading material, but there’ll be no slacking off and leveling gnomes, cause you need food on the table. Unless you married rich, or have rich parents or have funds which you have enough interest on or stuff like that…
Of course, you mention that you did this before, so, you’ll probably know well how it is.
So, let me get this straight. They leave you with a cliffhanger, then don’t update on time even if you beg and plead?…
Yanno Stormy might just be familiar with the concept.
I didn’t thought about it like that.
It just appears you might be right 🙂
…really spot on!
*hands over cookie to silentdeth*
That being said, I hope the job thing works out, Stormy!
I’m planning on calling HR this afternoon if I don’t get a call by like…2pm. I’m not holding out a lot of hope, that being said, I don’t think I’ll be too disappointed, it looked like a great company…but it also looked like one staffed by Stepford rejects (they were all skinny, pretty and perfect…kinda scary actually).
Part-time I might be able to make work…if we can get Matthew’s government benefit sorted (he couldn’t get one before because I was working, and now they keep messing him around, and he’s been too sick to argue the point). There’s also this scheme (the good kind, not the evil-scientist-kind) they have for people wanting to start businesses where they teach you all the business things while keeping you on your benefit for at least a year. This is what I would really, really like to do, but every time I think about it the fear sets in and I go looking for stable employment again. -_-
But if it did happen…more content would be guaranteed. I’m already 90% sure I’m going to be moving back to a daily format when Mirrorshades rolls around (smaller updates, sure, but daily – and bigger than the 333 words like Tribe).
Well, I’m sure i don’t (yet) know what you guys are talking about…
So, once she becomes detached from being human/herself (in her mind), she has a good grasp on the situation. => field recruit material.
It’s really strange how easily she becomes pliant after having a cookie…
…about Stormy being how she is and leaving us hanging almost every single time she posts, and us accepting it and not rioting because we’re masochists. -_-
…I should warn you that there are a few (ok, a more-than-a-few) chapters with o_o or ;_; or RAGHSTORMYDIENOW endings between here and the end of MH. Just warning, yanno, so you might *not* tear my throat out. >_>
…if there weren’t, it wouldn’t be the Stormy we love. That doesn’t mean we’re enjoying it very much. And don’t be surprised if one day, one of us comes to remove your heart with a toothpick.
…but don’t think that I won’t go “but I haven’t written X yet!” and have you slink off and wait for me to write the next thing that’s going to emotionally pull you in six different directions. Again.
…might work… for the first couple of times. Then the toothpick would get annoyed.
“X and X haven’t slept together yet” or “Did you really think I would leave X’s plot thread there?” or “I THOUGHT YOU WANTED MORE FLUFFY CAROL/RYAN BACKSTORY, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THAT IF I’M DEEEEEAD?!”
That last part is a good point. Now, behave Bufi and bow to your evil overlord Stormy!
My evil overlordyness bows to no man (or woman)! And I never said I’d be the one to attack Stormy with a toothpick! It can be any of the Wibbly readers, registered or not. And if I’d probably wait for Stormy to finish writing, others might not do the same. >_>
…great, now I’m even more paranoid. o_o
*sits on some kind of skull throne*
kinda uncomfy. Get a nice, soft armchair instead. ^_^
*gets the evil comfy chair of doom*
It’s Stef, cookies make the world go round…
Seriously scary!
Think about it!
The Solstice might come to her, give her a cookie and she’ll do everything for them! Including ripping her heart out (+ another cookie to give that heart to them >_>)
That’d be her answer, to the question:
Solstice: Rip out the heart and you’ll get a cookie
Stef: hmm, ok; but giving it to you will cost you extra
Cause those would be evil cookies! She can’t be manipulated by evil cookies. 🙂
…now I’m thinking about this running joke we have in Wibbly House.
*vision of Cookie Monster appears* (isn’t really Cookie Monster)
CM: Oi, oi, hey Stef!
Stef: *tries to jump through the muppet window into the land of cookies*
CM: Hey Stef, need your help to make speeeeecial cookie.
Stef: *still trying to get through muppet window*
CM: Hey!
Stef: *pout*
CM: Speeeecial cookie.
Stef: Okies!
CM: For speeeecial cookie, need blood of innocents! *laugh*
Stef: Okies! *skips off to get blood of innocents*
Why can I totally see this happening?
Aaaargh! I don’t want to know how she gets the blood! Nooo!!
Upd: Just killed a blood-sucker.. Oooh, could she collect enough blood of innocents by killing mosquitoes in kindergarden? O_o
It’d be a good deed on her part, and she gets cookies 😀
…because our dear little Steffie is insane and would do anything for a COOOOOOOOKIE.
😛
Good thing for Stef that Ryan didn’t actually shoot her, that’s a lot of pain to go thru. And the only way to see if the heart shrinks is to paint the walls a grey color and watch the mirror and see what it does. But oh is that going to hurt a lot.
And now she understands why Ryan was worried about her coming back to the land of the living.
…they could always chop her up repeatedly and donate the organs. >_<
Organs filled with caffein and sugar aren’t the best. But that would put a huge supply in the system.
But then you run into the problem of how log she is out when you start to chop her up. Waking up in the middle and getting better wouldn’t be good, as they would have to start all over again. And talk about pain. >.<
Get yourself a true Axe a go-a-chopping; if it’s detached directly, no trouble with the healing…
…not all of the organs would be ruined, I mean her lungs should be fine, and her…skin! And her eyes!
And she probably wouldn’t come back whilst they are still chopping her up. >_> (I’m kinda cringing at the though >_<).