Nothing terrible happened that night, and Kyle woke to Fay’s cries for attention at what she assumed were normal morning hours. Considering she’d spent her last night asleep on a blanket in the back of a semi-truck, it was practically incomprehensible luxury.
Followed by incredible embarrassment, as she took care of Fay’s breakfast. Kara could obviously see through the plastic walls, but she had seen enough times by now that she’d given up caring.
Less so about who knew how many scientists and strangers who might be watching her through cameras all around the house. She covered herself with a blanket while she did it, feeling incredibly stupid every second. It wasn’t like she’d be less naked when she was finished.
Normally she’d have spent that first half hour relaxing, maybe reading something online or watching videos. But instead she spent every moment perched on the edge of the bed, wings splayed and ready to defend herself.
There were no attacks. If there was even anyone watching, they made no show of their presence either. She finished, passed Fay off to Kara for a bit to take her turn in the facilities, and took care of breakfast without incident.
Kara managed not to burn their eggs that morning. The bacon was a different story—despite her insistence it was fine, Kyle couldn’t get anywhere near it without her stomach doing somersaults.
“You have it,” she insisted, getting up. “I’m gonna take Fay on a walk around our prison.”
“Our badass prison,” Kara corrected, forcing a smile. “We deserve to have some fun.
Kyle rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue.
And Fay didn’t seem to mind their new quarters. The outdoor section might not be quite as large as their backyard had been, or with as much to explore. But for the moment it was new, and that was enough for her. She ran up and down along the plastic wall, spreading her wings and jumping energetically.
She didn’t fly though, thankfully. Kyle had to stay close enough, ready to catch her before she could get tangled in a steel net.
That meant she was already out near the ramp when she heard footsteps coming down. Well, a few steps and the wooden click of a cane, echoing in purposeful, regular rhythm.
Still just Edgar though. He didn’t bring his angry security guards when he came to visit. He didn’t even seem surprised when he rounded the corner and found Kyle already waiting by the wall. He grinned politely, walking right up to the barrier and letting himself in.
By the time he had, Kara came darting out of the room, still smelling a little like undercooked bacon.
“Kyle, Kara, glad to see you’re both getting along. I’m hoping your first night here treated you well.”
Fay settled under Kyle’s hindlegs, her touch so light that she’d hardly realized she was hiding there. Kyle spread her wings a little, subconsciously hiding her as best she could.
Not that it would be very effective. A foal was still large compared to a person, and Edgar wasn’t blind. Or… infirm in any way she could see, for that matter. His hair was white, his face was wrinkled, but that could’ve been a mask for how much it affected him.
“I hate the see-through walls,” Kara said, without preamble. “I can’t even sleep without waking up every time Kyle gets up to pee or whatever. And I don’t want to hide in the toilet if I want privacy.”
Edgar nodded knowingly, without any apparent anger. “I know exactly how you feel, Kara. One of my reasons for coming down here was to let you know that I’d ordered replacement panels. We’re some distance away from the rest of civilization, and it will be the limited run of a factory that I’m familiar with. But I’ve been assured they’ll put a rush on the project immediately.”
“Good.” Kara settled back on her haunches, relaxing at once. “That’s, uh… I thought that would be harder, to be honest. Why’d you put up clear dividers if you were willing to switch them?”
“I suppose I could’ve been clearer yesterday.” He turned away, walking past them towards the house. “The instant I learned about Kyle’s transformation, I began making calls to my contacts in the relevant fields. I was told by someone familiar with the subject that a transformation like yours should have worn off within the week. When it did not, that made your prognosis… bleak.”
Kyle nodded slowly. She opened her mouth to confirm she’d heard all the same things—then stopped short just in time. It probably wasn’t the best idea to share Monday’s details with Edgar just yet. Maybe it was safe, and they were just another colleague that Edgar could consult for help changing them back. Or maybe they were a rival, and Edgar’s other contacts would do whatever they could to eliminate them.
Edgar met her eyes, gesturing expectantly with the walking stick. “You’re thinking something, Kyle? What is it you want to share?” There was something in those eyes—nothing inhuman, but… did he know? Maybe he had looked into her belongings.
“I thought maybe I was going to go insane, or lose myself in this body,” she said lamely. “Animals aren’t people. I know that… that’s a stupid thing to say, but… how can I still be a person if my brain isn’t a person’s brain?”
You’re really bad at this. Her ears flattened in embarrassment at the shallow attempt at misdirection. But either Edgar didn’t notice, or he just politely ignored it. “A warranted fear. Strange as it may be to think about, there are… communities of those with abilities we don’t typically understand. Their laws explicitly forbid transforming another human being. Before what happened to Kara, we couldn’t be sure the animal you found was responsible. Obviously that isn’t in doubt anymore.”
He glanced briefly down, towards where Fay was hiding. He didn’t try to prompt her out, only gestured back towards the quarters. “There’s someone here to meet with you both. I hope this particular encounter goes better than the last time I sent someone. Don’t worry, there won’t be any doctors or embarrassing questions this time.”
Kyle hesitated, long enough to scoop Fay up onto her back. The foal squirmed a little at first, but didn’t fight her long. At least she wasn’t breaking down into hysterics the way she had with his doctors.
“Didn’t you get enough samples the last time you came?” Kara asked harshly. She caught up in a few strides, following right behind Edgar.
I guess it makes sense you’d blame him for this. You were just an observer until those scientists came.
“No samples this time.” Edgar was taking them to one of the sections of their enclosure that hadn’t made sense the day before—a plain room about twenty feet across, with a smooth metal wall on one side and nothing else in it but a few chairs. It had seemed unfinished before, but this time Edgar went directly for the wall.
He tapped it twice with his cane, and distant motors began to whir. “This is how most of my people will communicate with you,” he said. A section of the wall began to lift. Not a wall at all, but a blast door. There was another plexiglass shield on the other side, covered with a fine spiderweb of scratches.
Not scratches. Right up close, Kyle could see those little marks were each numbers, a single gigantic equation in the language of magic.
As she stood close, the glass seemed unusually solid, like it was pushing back against her forehead.
Fay squeaked and whined in protest, sliding away from it.
Kyle lifted her down onto a cushion against the far wall, where she fell still at least for a moment.
She joined the other two by the glass, just as lights came on from the other side.
The room was about the same size, though it looked very different from her enclosure. The other side seemed to connect to a well-appointed library, or maybe a workshop. Shelves of ancient books lined the walls, but near the dividing glass there were tables with more modern tools. A soldering iron rested beside an oversized oscilloscope and several different parts bins.
A server rack hummed against the far wall, radiating a gently pulsating white light. The kind of place she probably would love to explore for hours, if she wasn’t separated by glass.
“I’d like you to meet one of my employees,” Edgar continued, as soon as the motors had fallen silent. “She’s a recent acquisition, but the only one I view with any hope at all of helping either of you. Call her Akiko.”
She was so small that Kyle hadn’t even noticed her at first, tucked behind an oversized computer chair.
At Edgar’s gesture she hurried forward, lowering herself in a brief, polite bow. Her eyes locked on Kyle, settling on her wings and horn.
If this was a Willworker in person, Kyle wasn’t particularly impressed. A short young woman of Asian descent, with a single streak of purple running through her hair. She spoke with a light accent, in a voice timid enough to barely make it through the wall.
Kyle blinked, ears perking to try and hear a word she was saying. Edgar gestured again, and this time her words came through over an intercom.
“Kyle and Kara Harrington,” she said. “Pleasure to meet you.”
By everything that is holy, I really can't stand Edgar at all, for some reason. I dearly hope they will get out of his evil clutches somehow, he just rubs me the wrong way and I feel like I'm going mad over it. My only hope is Twilight and Cadance busting them out, it's for their best I think.
Interesting.
The law against transformation, along with the hidden communities, give me a Dresden Files vibe. We even have our very own Marcone!
Interesting. I can definitely see someone making Akiko as their character in a World of Darkness game. Very much not sure what to make of her, but we've only just met. We'll see how she treats the twins and Flurry.
10309284
I wouldn't like to see what Cadance would do, however... not in her current state.
10309289
I'm sure Twilight would stop her from doing something she would regret, though. And even then, I think the relief of seeing her daughter safe (and most importantly, alive) will distract Cadance enough.
7u7 twiearth??
Eh, at least it’s a better fairy then the Artemis Fowl Movie made.
Is that this worlds twilight?
Easy solution for the transparency - paint. Can't tell if they genuinely haven't thought of it, or they're stalling on hampering their surveillance.
10309366
Paint would require them to spend a couple days at the very least out of the bunker due to the fumes though.
Might be very likely that this Akiko is the person behind the screen that Kyle was speaking to.
10309384
would be verry suspicious if so im more in the guessing of its someone who monday knows or is at least in their circle of contacts.
10309286
since he has mentiond the communitys you have to wonder if he knew before and if that is why he was distent from his family? maby he acted so quickly because he does have enemys in that community and feard that that was the cause of fay or would make his family a target now.
Akiko was a "recent acquisition" from a secret community? I'm not convinced she's here of her own will. If she's a fae-folk, who knows what Edgar did to bind her to his service.
Well, Edgar certainly knows the sort of situation his grandchildren are in to bring in expects in a field most other scientists would scoff at. Question is, what kind of person is Edgar exactly to have access to these resources?
10309284
Maybe he isn't trustworthy but compared to Monday, it's a "better the devil you know" situation.
10309322
A "recent acquisition"...
I'm starting to put my money in her possibly being Monday, checking on her investment.
10309366
My guess is special run because They will be made out of plastic that is specifically translucent to specific wavelengths. Think the One Plus camera fiasco but deliberate...
10309322
That’s what I thought kinda however I thought it was twilight for a sec
10309472
Pony twilight I mean it’s been awhile since I’ve read this I kinda stopped cause I was finding the story depressing at the time
10309472
I can see that
The fact Fat, ON INSTINCT cowers when she enters the room says it all
The glass hidden behind a blast door is reinforced with magic so they can't break out? This makes me think that this is a much more solid prison then they originally imagined...
Well, curious to see what Evil Grandpa does next!
10309474
I thought about that possibility too but the story does follow her POV as well and you'd think something major like her (and Cadance's) Earthfall would be depicted in the story.
Also, Cadance... there will probably be no subtlety in the attempt to recover Flurry.
Hmm... My guess is Akiko is either some form of Earth-Twi, or is directly in contact with (or IS) Monday. 'Recent acquisition'-- could be that Gramps went through Kyle's files and found his correspondence, and somehow got his hands on Akiko. May be a bit quick, but Edgar is pretty connected...
10309444
It is very easy to make a black plastic which is completely transparent in near infrared. So you can than "illuminate" them with near infrared light sources and see everything. All camera sensors can see in near infrared, but it is usually filtered. (near infrared is not to be confused with far infrared/heat vision!)
- Once we needed a calibration pattern for an infrared camera, we had it printed in black ink onto white paper, but ink was actually INVISIBLE when we looked at it with the cam (so the pattern was completely useless). It was printed with a regular industrial black ink.
- Oculus Quest controller (and many remotes) are partially made of black plastic which is transparent in near infrared.
You know, for all the buildup there's been so far Edgar seems... strikingly charming. Or at least less overtly exploitative than it seemed. Then again, there have been no real clues for his endgame so far -- he could wish for nothing but to help his grandkids out or he could be planning to carve their hearts out on a ritual altar and render them down to make an elixir of immortality for all we know so far.
10309587
And so that Flurry can't turn more people into other things, I would imagine.
Numbers eh? Numbers typical people know, or special symbols?
A secret lab inside the secret base, just how big is this hole?
Keep going! ;)
Yes, this seems super reminiscent of the Dresden Files. Looks like Twilight and Cadance might soon be taking a trip through the Nevernever.
He's trying WAY too hard to seem nice.
10309662
I am not sure if his affection is genuine or just what he thinks is necessary to secure their cooperation.
At any rate, I am fairly sure that whatever he is doing, it will only benefit the kids if it benefits him.
Going by the comments, if Edgar is a redherring you are doing a good job.
10309293
Frankly, with how things have been going, I think Twilight will do jack shit to stop Cadance if it comes to blows. Plus, Cadance will probably be incredibly hostile, given that there will doubtless be objects and people “in the way”. Soon as she sees Flurry, anything that gets in the way will be a target for motherly rage.
10309550
Fay was reacting to the enchantment on the glass, not the person in the room. She likely found the enchantment more uncomfortsble than Kyle himself did, given she was born to magic unlike him. I’m think said enchantment blocks magic, like a filtered shield.
10309587
It’s probably just to avoid any incidents. There’s no enchantments anywhere else in there.
10309550
The symbols on the barrier are clearly some kind of defensive spell. That's what Fay is reacting to.
Interesting, so Grandpa has been working the problem from the start.
Another interesting revelation about magic in the human world, it's organized enough to have rules and laws.
Oh hey, it's human, asian Twilight. Reminds me of some pre-EQG art where humanized Twilight was commonly depicted similarly.
I thought you were referring to the Oompa-Loompas from Willy Wonka for a second there.
Adorable, Twilight Sparkle's human counterpart.
Well, this should be interesting. At least Kyle won't have to worry about any super egotistical megalomaniacs obsessing over her 'condition'
10353658
Can't be Sci-Twi though right?
11190448
The meaning of names are interesting. According to a baby name website, Akiko could mean sparkle, so there’s that?