Nirvanic Club is possibly one of the most unique place in all of the Town and the Tower.
Unique because it almost seems normal. At least, what passes for normal in this cryptic, fog infested town. The Clubroom is a rather aggressively normal looking shed next to the enigmatic looking Tower. To be fair to whoever built it, it is clear that some effort has been made so that norma- ‘usual’ students of the Tower would not notice the building as they move to and from the Tower and its sister buildings in the Lakeshore campus. The Shed is situated by the lake, but behind an orchard and a rather gothic looking structure that reminds DeeDee of old cathedrals.
The shed itself is rather reminiscent of cabins from Friday 13th movies. Given circumstances, perhaps not exactly the most enticing of comparisons.
The door is left unlocked. There are clearly people inside.
Deedee stands in front of her own body, giving it a critical look as Karry tries to stand straight. Its not her fault she’s got a perpetual slouch, tis just one o’ them things that happens to science students, like diplomas or rings under the eyes. Natural part of their evolution sort o’ thing. The drapes weren’t the greatest of cloaks, but it weren’t too awful either. Lucky Sil was a dab hand with the needle. She gave herself a grave nod and Karry returned it, then turned to lurch through the door. Now that was just plain unnecessary, though she had to admit, she made a dang fine Igor. Igorinna? Igorette? One o’ thems.
Inside, many students around DeeDee’s age in normal (!!!) looking clothes (rather than something out of 1920s) are gathered around dozens of maps, charts, pictures, and documents and loudly arguing about something that she can’t quite understand. (“No no, I’m sure the Town actually actively expands as result of observation--”) (“Clearly it doesn’t! I’m sure that the Town itself remains static, while our own capability to observe is being influenced somehow--”)
One of the students notices DeeDee’s presence and shushes everyone else in the room. “Uh, hello? Can we help you?”
Karry was… dangit, Karry had frozen up. She never was good with crowds. Deedee gave her an encouraging thumbs up, saw her breath in, breath out, then smile just as she’d taught her.
“Hello, I am K-Deedee. I was told this was the location of the Nirvanic Club, who are investigating all the strange phenomena around the school?” Deedee nodded and gave another encouraging thumbs up. She nailed it.
“Oh! Well, then, you are in the right place!” the student beams at DeeDee. He’s about her height. Bespectacled. Maybe kind of nerdy, or at least, gives off that impression. “Welcome to the Nirvanic Club! Don’t ask why it’s named that way. It was just like that when we got here. We are still totally trying to figure out what exactly we are supposed to be doing. Funnily enough, everyone else in the Tower seems to no more about what the Nirvanic Club is supposed to be than Club members!” He gives off a nervous laugh.
“But seriously. We’ve been reading some of the files and charts we found in this cabin and we are trying to get to the bottom of the mystery, you know? What the Town is. What the Tower is. We are trying to get to the bottom of it all. But uh, we kinda ran into a problem.”
Okay, okay, com’on Karry, you got this. No, don’t look at me, look at them, no dangit, not the… okay, fine yeah, I guess looking at the charts are fine. She seemed to be relaxing somewhat, that should make things go smoothly. “Problem? Something weird or supernatural?” Aaaaaand encouraging smile to get them to say more after a leading question. Good, years of listening to old professors blather on are finally kickin’ in.
The charts seem meaningless and rather difficult to understand, at least to Deedee. A title of one read: “light level of town by distance from Tower.” Another, paired with a nice little map, read: “Height of Tower as determined from X.”
“Well, let’s face it, everything is damned weird and supernatural in the Town,” the boy says. “Name’s Terry, by the way.”
“Yes, but nothing in this town makes *sense*!” a girl chimed in. She raised up her glasses as she pointed at the charts. “Measured values and analysis don’t match up with others!”
“That’s Suk-Gyeong,” Terry says. “She’s been running the last few ops. She’s been trying to map the town and actually gather scientific data on the Town and the Tower. Unfortunately our measurements keep disagreeing with each other.”
“There seems to be some kind of localized reality or something in each section of the town. Measurements in local area all match up, but move to another area and try to measure the same thing and WHAM. Everything is different!”
Karry!Deedee leaned forward as she peered at the chart and begins to fire off questions in rapid-fire succession, “That... makes no sense. What happens when you’re directly observing the Tower and move from one of these regions to another? Is it a sharp transition or a gradual one? If two individuals approach the same point from different regions, constantly observing as they go, will their observations match at the destination or will their origin influence what they measure? What measurements vary from location to location? What occurs if you take some object of known length, say, a tape measure, and slowly transition between regions, does the tape stretch evenly along its length or are there irregularities along its length? Is there any pattern to the irregularities? Do the irregularities remain constant over time, if not do they transition instantly or gradually over time? Do they ever seem to change location?” Karry hesitated, slightly out of breath, as she took in their slightly stunned expressions, “Sorry, I can get carried away.”
“Uh,” Suk-Gyeong stammers. “Honestly we literally just started compiling these data and we aren’t sure yet. We initially thought that the changes must be gradual. Because the tower, uh, always seems to stay the same height no matter where it is observed.”
“But our instruments… while admitting that there is a possibility of error, showed that it isn’t actually a gradual change! The Tower seems to orient its perceived height based on local geographic features, which remain static. When we jump from one ‘zone’ of the Town to another, there is a sharp change in its height. We aren’t sure if it is caused by some kind of mind affecting thing, or if space just kinda behave really weirdly out here.”
Karry cracked her knuckles and starts leafing through the piles of notes, not even looking at the pair of students anymore. She absentmindedly reached for a pocket and frowned faintly at her glasses not being there. “Which is it, does the apparent height change based on the observer’s position or not? Or do you mean that the tower’s height over the observer is constant, regardless of the observer’s elevation? So if, for instance, I was atop the roof the top of the tower is the same distance above me as if I were at street level.”
“I think what’s happening,” Suk-Gyeong suggests. “That the Town isn’t actually a contiguous location as normally assumed, but multiple ‘locations’ that are connected together by anomalous means.”
“I think what’s happening is that there are certain ‘places’--buildings, important monuments, what haveyou-- in the Town which exert some kind of localized bubble of reality around it. And the Town is an amalgamation of these reality bubbles, rather than existing in one contiguous plane of existence. Inside each bubble, an observer’s relationship to the Tower based on location remain consistent. Go to the next bubble, and suddenly there’s a radical shift in relations, but something anomalous prevents us from recognizing the sudden shift.”
“Of course, whatever odd thing is happening in the Town with regards to its relationship to the Tower doesn’t apply to this island that the Tower is actually on, but I think that’s because the Tower itself serves as these uhh… Places of Power, shall we say that exert a reality bubble.”
“The work we are doing now is identifying important places of power in the Town to create a better map of how far each ‘bubble’ and ‘sectors’ fit into the map.”
“We’ve so far determined,” Terry says. “Three Places of Power in the Town. The Starbucks chain shop. The theater. The Whaler’s shack for some odd reason.”
“And we are trying to move onto another sector. We’ve so far narrowed down the Place of Power in sector A-4 to the following buildings. An Observatory, a jail, and a printing shop of some kind.”
Karry nods slowly, still not looking up from the maps, “I can investigate the...” she trailed off, listening to a conversation noone else could hear as Lia, Sil, and Johnny finally showed up, apparently bored with wherever they’d wandered off to. They were, of course, bickering and only caught the tail end of the conversation. The three of them all spoke at once
“What's gonnae oan? we're gonnae gang see 'at braw whaler?”
“There’s a local theater? Sounds perfect for getting to know people”
“Wow, this place is absolutely full of nerds isn’t it. You almost done Karry?”
“Theater? we can dae sae much better than make believe, an' Ah bit th' whaler has better stories tae bit”
“For the last time, we ain’t going to see the whaler. He sounds like he’s unstable even by the piss-poor standards of this place”
“There isn’t call for that sort of comment, Miss Can’t-Dip-Worth-a-Damn”
“I’m taking your side Johnny for Christsake, and how is it my fault that you can’t handle a bit of pain?”
“She’s twelve Lia, you’re probably crippling her for life! You want her to end up like one of them child-hercules who’re stunted for their adult lives?”
“There's naethin' wrang wi' a bairn daein' a stoaner days wark. a lot ay problems woods be fixed if fowk woods gonnae-no coddlin' kids”
Deedee shook her head and shared a long-suffering look with Karry as the bickering continued unabated, “Com’on guys, she’s been a good sport with all the dancin’ and stuff. It's her choice this time.”
Karry nodded to her and refocused on Terry and Suk-Gyeong, who were exchanging concerned glances. “My apologies, as I was saying I can go investigate the observatory, if you’ve got a tape measure, compass, and map I can borrow to triangulate the boundaries”
“Sure, Sure,” Suk-Gyeong says. “We were actually about to head out and do the same right now.”
“I have a hypothesis that I want to test out myself,” Terry says. “There’s an alternative explanation to the whole Place of Power theory.” Suk-Gyeong elbows him in the stomach. “Your theories are stupid and you know it!”
Karry looks around the room again, then turns to the door, “Well, there’s no time like the present. You can elucidate your alternative hypothesis on the way.” Two-three-four and smile. Good, Karry was back in the ‘get academics talking’ groove. Nodding to herself, Deedee turned her attention back to breaking up Sil and Lia. Well, getting Lia to let Sil out of the headlock. Giving half-bald people noogies just felt mean-spirited. Sometimes it was hard being the mature one.
“Alright, alright,” Terry says. “So, my hypothesis is that the so called ‘reality bubbles…’”
“C’mon, are we seriously calling them that now?” asks a voice from the back.
“Shut up Billy, nobody asked you! Anyways, these reality bubbles… my hypothesis is that they are not, in fact, connected to locations, but rather, an important people living in them. In places where we determined that there was a person of some importance living the--”
“And how is a glorified boatman and a Starbucks employee a person of some importance?”
“Oh come on, that’s just semantics re: Whaler. He’s clearly someone important. Haven’t you seen his scars?”
Suk Gyeong Scoffs. Terry continues: “And as for Samael, how is it that nobody questions that a *Starbucks* opened up shop here of all godforsaken places?!”
As the two continues to argue, the gang comes close to the Whaler. His body is mostly hidden inside a billowing cloak, but occasionally everyone can hear the gnashing of gears. “Where to?” he asks.
Karry opens her mouth and Silvester spoke, Deedee’s body shifting from the hunched, slightly worried slouch of an academic into the relaxed and ready slouch of the elderly. A bit rude that, but fair’s fair, not as though we’d been doin’ much stuff that were o’ interest to him since arrivin’ and he’d hit if right off with the old fart. Somethin’, somethin’ avast me barnacles. “Awrite again, hoo is th' fishin' gonnae? We're jist headin' in toon tae check it th' observatory”
Deedee patted the annoyed Karry on the arm, havin’ to reach up a fair bit. Weren’t fair how all her friends was taller than her, would’t ha’e been so hard for just one o’ them to be her height? “Don’t worry nonelikes, he’ll gi’e it back once we’re back on shore, you’ll ain’t miss nuthin’.”
The Whaler nods. Once boarded, the boat begins its short trip across the lake towards the observatory--visibly jutting out atop a hill in the middle of the Town. “It is odd,” Suk Gyeong says. “How such a small town in the middle of probably almost literally nowhere has like, *everything* inside.”
“That is because it is not in the middle of nowhere,” the Whaler says.
Sil gave an easy smile, visibly relaxing as the rowboat leaves the dock. “Och pure? what's th' area aroond haur loch 'en? we huvnae hud a chance tae swatch aroond much yit ”
The Whaler winces, perhaps trying his best to understand the accent. “Everywhere,” he manages to say. “Occasionally, even places which does not exist yet. Your alchemy teacher is from such a place. He’s been exiled here for a crime that he has yet to commit. He has yet to commit them because the world he hails from does not yet exist. If the worms have their way, it’ll truly never exist, either.”
Sil frowned, making a disgusted face, "worms? ick, cannae stain them. is thaur some kin' ay w'rm problem aroond haur?"
“Oh yes,” the Whaler says. “Horrid creatures, they are. I do not know when exactly they appeared--it seems as if they were always around even when I arrived at the Town--but they hunt unwary visitors here at the Town. You students are their favorite prey. They do not teach you this at the Tower, I see,” the Whaler rows silently for a few moments.
“It’s true,” Terry says. “We at the Club had some… rather distressing encounters with the worms when we were in the Town.”
“It’s no real danger,” the Whaler says. “Just keep calm and ignore them.”
“Kinda hard to do,” Suk Gyeong mutters.
“Dornt fash yerse, i've got bitts. unless these ur a body ay those sain worms in th' desert 'at eat fowk, Ah micht need bigger bitts fur 'at. got onie advice oan avoidin' them altogether? ”
“Keep calm,” the Whaler repeats. “Ignore them, and they won’t hurt you. Ah, here we are,” the boat gently comes to a stop by a pier. There’s a path leading out of it all the way up the hill towards where the Observatory can be seen. “But if you must face them, don’t try to face them alone. Keep a weapon. They aren’t usually as tough as they can be. Beware those with red eyes.”
Suk Gyeong hops out of the boat. “The Whaler tends to suddenly talk a lot like that when the subject of worms comes up,” she says. “I think it’s his favorite subject.”
“He hunts them in his spare time, I think,” Terry mutters as he crawls out of the boat.
Sil gives the Whaler a respectful nod as he steps back onto dry land, “Ah can respect 'at, they're mingin' things.”
Deedee shook as Karry stepped back in, “Let us keep going, and I guess keep an eye out for worms? What is the deal with them? I assume they’re not literal earthworms or the like.”
Terry winces. “No,” he says. “No, no they are not.”
“According to the history lessons at the Tower,” Suk-Gyeong cuts in. “They were almost extinct as of a few hundred years ago due to a concerted extermination campaign by the gods, but they learned how to take human forms since. They have overran several worlds and Histories afterwards.”
“The ones in the Town look human, but not quite,” Terry says. “Not quite sure how else to explain it. They don’t look ‘right.’”
“The most dangerous ones though,” Suk-Gyeong adds after a moment. “Are those who are indistinguishable from humans… Or the ones who successfully took over a human body, I don’t know if there’s a difference. We… met one in the town. Once.”
“We almost died.”
Karry stumbles for a moment as Sil and Lia try to step in, but Deedee pushes them away frowning, “But what are they? Are we speaking of shapeshifters, parasites, a plague? And if they are a threat to the student body why has the faculty not taken steps to securing us against them, even simply warning us during the initiation? Surely something that the ‘gods’ find threatening would be something they do not desire anywhere near the campus.” The quotes around ‘gods’ snap into place with practiced ease.
Sil and Lia, meanwhile are arguing, Sil sounding worried, “Ah dunnae kinn whit gods they're talkin' abit, but if these things ur a threat tae yoong miss 'en we shooldnae be wanderin' aroond toon loch thes.”
Lia’s cockiness is unabashed in the face of his near-incomprehensible accent, “Come’on, I bet these skinny nerds just ran into a bum and the sailor is tryin’ to scare them”
Sil reaches for the body, shaking his head, “It isnae worth th' risk, we shoods gang back. mebbe th' whaler knows mair, if he fights them regularly mebbe he has some tips”
Deedee steps between them and Karry, “No, we all agreed it were Karry’s turn. If’n things turn real roughlike and it looks dangerous then we’ll be turnin’ back, but we ain’t gonna just turn tail cause o’ some scary stories ‘bout shapeshiftin’ bug people”
Lia nods in agreement, “Yeah, besides, that tower didn’t sound too safe neither but that didn’t stop us, did it?”
Sil lowers his hand, still shaking his head, “First sign ay danger, ye hear me?”
Lia rolls her eyes, but Deedee nods and gives both her and Karry meaningful looks until they both nod, though Karry was somewhat distracted. “First sign o’ danger.”
“Shapeshifters, plague, or a parasite?” Terry muses.
“How about all of the above?” Suk Gyeong adds.
“As for the reason why they don’t warn us about this stuff, my theory is that somehow, knowing and worrying about them makes their danger to us more… uh, ‘real’ than it really is,” Terry adds. “I have a feeling that they aren’t actually real.”
“But things don’t have to be real to be able to hurt us in this world.” The Observatory is close now. “We don’t actually know what the Observatory studies,” Suk Gyeong says. “It’s been abandoned for quite a while, I think.”
“The faculty clamped up when we asked them about it,” Terry says. “Must be a pretty important place if they don’t want to talk about it.”
“What better place to search for when we are looking for a Place of Power?”
“They refused to elucidate on its function or history, but they also didn’t refuse your entry to it? That sounds like they want us to explore it, otherwise they would’ve given a false story about its purpose and contents. Leaving it a mystery will attract the curious like flies.”
“Maybe?” Terry says. “I don’t think they are allowed to blatantly lie--the faculty, I mean.”
“At least, that’s what they tell us, anyways,” Suk-Gyeong adds cautiously.
“We tried lying a few times in the island where the Tower is,” Terry says. “We can do it but it, uh, really feels kinda wrong.”
“And it actually starts hurting when we try to do it at the higher levels of the Tower. Feels like words are made of fire when we lie.”
“Besides, I don’t think the faculty actually cares that much about teaching us,” Terry concludes cynically. “I think we are part of some kind of huge experiment. Or a ritual, or something.”
“It is no great matter to lie using facts, just read some grant proposals sometime.” Karry!Deedee smiles as she says that, then goes back to focusing on the steps up to the Observatory “Then why the facade of teaching? If they can truly create fire using their mind or turn the air to steel or whatever it is they do, would it be so difficult to subdue and restrain us? Surely that would allow for more controlled experimental conditions then allowing us to roam free, exposing ourselves to dangerous influences, such as these worms, or investigating their activities”
“Hmm,” Suk Gyeong says. “Not sure.”
“I think they just need one or maybe a few of us to learn whatever it is they want us to learn,” Terry says. “The rest of us can become worm food for all they care.”
“Ah, here it is.” Suk-Gyeong says as the Observatory becomes close. It is a rusted hulk of a building. The roof where the telescope presumably extends from is closed. The rusty, metal door blocks the way.
“Shouldn’t be too difficult to op--” Suk-Gyeong says as she touches the handle. “Huh, that’s weird. It’s open already.”
“Maybe some other kids before us came to explore,” Terry shrugs. “Let’s go inside.”
Karry nods and pushes on the door, making a note of this further evidence that the faculty wants us to go here.
The inside is as much of a rusted, nasty hulk as the Observatory looks from the outside. However, it is clear that somebody else was here before DeeDee and the others were here. There are footsteps all over. On the far wall, somebody has taken the opportunity to almost literally plaster the wall with drawings and notes about… something. It looks rather similar to graphs and datapoints that Club Nirvanic produces back at the Clubhouse, except with rather insane amount of notes on the margin. In fact, the amount of notes and scrawlings on the pages makes the actual data rather hard to read, and the statements they say makes all of it look like insane conspiracy theory spouting rather than any actual real scientific data.
“What the hell?!” Suk-Gyeong says as she notices the graphs. She moves to inspect it.
DeeDee hears a faint footstep running away deeper inside the Observatory. Terry does not seem to have heard it. “Hey, don’t wander too far!” he says, chasing after Suk Gyeong. “We don’t want to split up inside this place.”
Karry turns to look in the direction of the footsteps as she follows after them, one hand reaching in a pocket for Sil’s small whittling knife, “It would appear that we’re not alone here. Perhaps some rogue student is conducting their own investigation?”
“What?” Terry says. “Maybe? I wouldn’t rule it out. There are definitely people here who might be crazy enough to do it on their own.”
“Jeez, I can’t make any sense of any of these data,” Suk Gyeong says, oblivious. “There’s just so much stuff!”
Karry steps in the direction she heard the footsteps fleeing, calling out. “Hello there? We wish you no harm. If you come out we can compare our findings”
The footsteps came from a long and narrow hallway. It’s dark, and it’s hard to tell what lies inside it. Then, in lieu of an answer, Karry can hear (and faintly see) a coin being tossed on the floor.
If whatever’s inside is trying to lure Karry away, it’s using a rather stereotypical method to do so.
Karry gives the coin a long stare, then calls out again “Would I be correct in assuming that you are one of the ‘worms’ that I have been hearing of?”
Another coin drops onto the hallway, rolling towards Karry.
“You found something?” Terry asks from the other end of the room. “Sorry, Suk Gyeong really wants to figure out these charts and graphs. Suk Gyeong! We can just look at them later!”
“Okay! Okay! Let me take a few pictures first!”
Yet another coin.
Karry steps back, still facing the hallway and keeping away from the coin. “I believe we should vacate the premises. Someone is trying to separate us and draw us in deeper. Does that sound like a familiar modus operandi?”
Suk Gyeong and Terry freezes. “...Act like you didn’t notice them,” Suk Gyeong whispers. “Don’t acknowledge them. Don’t act like they are there. We can’t leave. Not yet.”
“Ah.” Karry turns to face the charts, but can’t help but keep the hallway in her peripheral vision. It didn’t help that both Lia and Sil were staring intently that way, both clearly tensed to leap at the first sign of danger.
Terry and Suk-Gyeong for their part appears to have adopted to the situation perfectly. They are, in fact, not even bothering to keep the hallway in their peripheral vision as they bicker endlessly about some inane part of the chart.
Karry notices something slightly peering out from the hallway, looking at the group. She stiffens and takes an involuntary step away, putting a little more distance between her and the door. Lia, in contrast, takes a step closer, only to be grabbed in the arm by a scowling Sil. Deedee, seeing Karry starting to panic, steps in. With a false grin plastering her face she points at one of the charts at random, “Wha’ that bit mean? The squiggly one with all the red and yellow bits”
“I’m not quite sure,” Terry says, stroking his chin almost theatrically. “I’m fairly sure it’s talking about the innate redness of yellow and how orange isn’t a real color. Or something along those lines.”
“...I don’t even think you are wrong and I hate it,” Suk Gyeong says. “Most of the things here are junk! I bet somebody put it here just to lure us in or something!”
There’s something big and wet behind Deedee. “That’s…. Strange…” a new voice says behind her. “I… thought… I could…. Seeee something…”
Deedee frowns as the shape gets closer, “Orange ain’t a color? Now that just sound patently all false. This sounds like one o’ them greek philosofas who said all stuff is made of fire or water or suchlike, and ain’t a mix o’ everything all together at all.”
She ponders a long moment, then turns a little to the side to catch Karry’s eye. She was standing transfixed alongside Sil and Lia, staring at whatever was right behind her. “Would’ja mind go fetchin’ ‘Arry? I expect they’ll be wantin’ to check this wall o’ crazy out too.”
Suddenly a thought occurs as Karry, still staring back, slowly backs away, then runs from through the wall towards the Tower, “Oh! A trap! Its like Ka-like I was sayin’ earlier, this is probably somethin’ the facili-facul-teachers set up to draw in over-curious students and make ‘em do puzzle work, try to tease out meanin’s and the like. Work on basic reasonin’ and logic and that sort o’ thing. Does that sound right to y’all two?” Lia and Sil, shaking off their initial shock, exchange a silent look then take up positions on either side of Deedee.
“Right! Right!” Terry nods vigorously. Suk Gyeong nods too with a wide smile. “That must be it! Mystery solved! We can leave now!”
“They tend to appear… when I… do… this…” the creature extends a long, spindly, misshapen limb to the center of the group. There’s a gleaming coin at its fingers. “When I drop it… I sometimes… see them…”
Deedee smiles as she turns to face the exit, Sil standing directly between her and the creature and blocking her view while Lia had one hand on her shoulder, ready to take over, “I’m feelin’ a might peckish. You folks want to head to that coffeeshop for a snack? I bet it’d be real informative to see one o’ those places o’ power so we knows exactly what to be lookin’ for in the future.”
“God, yes!” Terry and Suk Gyeong agree at once. A coin drops, clanging on the floor. To their credit, neither of the two Clubmembers appear to acknowledge the event. “That’s…. Strange…” the creature moans. While the bulk of the creature is covered from Deedee, the places where it can be seen can be best described as a vaguely humanoid-looking centipede. It appears to be deaf and blind as a bat though, so hopefully that means it’s utterly harmless.
Someone who doesn’t look as harmless is the girl holding a knife standing by the entranceway, observing the whole shenanigan with a small smirk on her face. She gives a small wave. In the faint light, her eyes glint red. Then, she starts walking closer.
Terry and Suk Gyeong chatters as they walk through the creature, seemingly not having noticed the girl… or doing their best to pretend that they didn’t.
Deedee frowns at the two of them, was the girl one o’ them human shaped worm folks? The eyes were pretty weirdlike, and that knife didn’t look too friendly either. The other two seemed to think she were, lessen there were other folks you was just supposed to ignore, but if she were why wasn’t she mostly ignorin’ them like the big thing was? Well, sort o’ was. Well, they seemed to be knowin’ what they was doin’, so I guess just follow their lead? And if one o’ them gets cut then let Lia take over, she were the best in a scrap and didn’t have qualms ‘bout hittin’ a girl like Sil did. With a shrug and as much confidence and willful ignorance as she can muster, Deedee follows after.
“Hey, you!” the girl with the knife says. Terry and Suk Gyeong almost jumps out of their skins. Deedee runs face first into a very, very solid centipede-human creature. The monster, for its part, swiftly turns to look at the girl with the red eyes. “You!” the creature hisses. “I can see-”
“Yeah, buzz off,” the girl says, and throws the knife at the creature’s face, embedding it deep into its… skull… or exoskeleton or whatever it was supposed to be. “You folks better be running now,” she muses as the creature staggers to the side, screaming. “Next time, maybe knock before you enter my house, sheesh.”
Terry and Suk Gyeong looks at each other, clearly uncertain, before breaking into a sprint towards the door.
Lia steps in as Deedee stumbles back and the stumble transitions smoothly into a runner’s crouch. She lunges forward, young muscles creaking at the sudden strain, and ducks around the centipede, one foot slipping as she did so. Fu-friggin sandals, not enough traction. She told the others that Deedee should wear sneakers, but noooo. When they get out of this she was going to throw out her other shoes, maybe also toss those stupid jeans that Johnny got. What’s the point of clothes you can’t move in? The slip turns into a slide, then a roll, then another crouch, this one lower to the ground, with one hand on Sil’s whittling knife. God that thing was hideous. How could Deedee just ignore it? Probably the same way she seemed to shrug off ‘Arry. Doesn’t matter, got to reach the exit. Monsters don’t like daylight, right? And the girl with the knife seemed-oh, she didn’t have a knife anymore. Well, she still seemed confident. Just gotta get past her, let her deal with the human centipede.
“Come on Come on!” Terry and Suk Gyeong hisses from the open doorway. Deedee has no problem making it to the open entrance, at which point the two slam the entranceway shut. The last scene Deedee sees inside is the girl with the red eyes laughing as she almost literally tears apart the monster limb by limb with her bare hands.
“I’ve…” Terry gasps for breath. “I’ve never seen one that human before.”
Lia skids to a halt, a thin sheen of sweat on her face. She is grinning widely as she breathes heavily. “She was tearing that thing apart with her bare hands, I think that means she ain’t fully human. Well, unless that thing were paper mache or somethin’, but that don’t seem too likely. I assume that was one of those worm things?”
“Yes,” Suk Gyeong says. “They all have red eyes--that seems to be the one thing that they can’t hide.”
“The more human like they are,” Terry says. “Stronger they become. Although I have seen some exceptions. The ones we fought before weren’t actually *that* tough though, just really, really, damned scary.”
“So she were one of them? Weird, I guess she was speakin’ at the centipede then. Explains the red eyes though. Guess we ain’t gonna hang around to chat then. Where’s that coffee place anyhow? I’m a bit hungry. Y’all can tell me about the other ones you fought, prolly useful to know what they can do if’n I run into one again.”
“Coffee place is close by,” Suk Gyeong says starting a brusque walk as quickly as she can away from the observatory. “The other one we fought… well, more like ran away from… also looked rather like human. We thought it was a human at first glance, in fact.”
“Until we realized that she was walking around with her spine broken,” Terry quips, running after her. “Are they boneless? I guess they are worms after all.”
“We need to put as much distance between us and… whatever it was inside the observatory,” she says. “I don’t know why that red eyed thing helped us, but I don’t want to risk it changing its mind.”
Behind them, the door to the observatory slams open. The girl with the red eyes walk out, knife back in her hand. She spots the three, and gives a wave. In the better light, Deedee notices that her limbs seem… oddly proportioned. Too thin. Perhaps, too elongated.
“Run,” Terry says.
Lia does so with a wide smile, luxuriating in the pumping adrenaline. And here she was worried that school would be boring.
" and doing a bit of work as her body revert slowly to Amélie's normal form.
