Lower Class

by horizon

The Client

Harvey was gay.

Catalyst had begun to suspect it even before returning with the chocolates—she hung around for a few minutes, in the form of a mousy guy smelling of weed, to watch how Harvey behaved by himself. Harvey refilled his beer and sat down alone at his table, drinking nervously. Every so often his eyes would wander around the room. Sometimes they lingered in mixed company; sometimes, amid clusters of guys out for a friends' night.

And after Catalyst had transformed into a woman, "Cat", that turned every head within range—wavy blond hair, flawless light skin, a halter top that left little to the imagination, shorts that hugged her ample curves—there was no love in Harvey to ingest. She topped her magical reserves back up from bystanders over the course of the hour, as half the Bicentennial's crowd stared with open desire at Harvey's amazing catch, but all she got from him was performative misogyny over empty emotions. When she laughed at his jokes or leaned in to touch his arm as she shouted over crowd noise, his mask broke into a smile, but his eyes were dead. When she leaned in head-to-shoulder to embrace for their selfie, he kept his hand tentatively against the small of her back—smelling of fear more than anything—and even the perfect angle down her cleavage merited little more than a passing glance.

At first, it helped Catalyst relax—finally understanding that the desperation which drove him was of a far different sort than lust. And as she began to understand him, she realized she was feeling sorry for him. He spent a lot of time talking about all his good times with his Lambda Omicron Lambda fraternity brothers, but when he did, Catalyst could detect an underlying scent of fear. His crudeness was armor against his ostensible friends.

Harvey asked her about herself, finally, forty minutes in.

"Emigrated ten years ago with Freedom Hive—the second hive—after the meltdown with the first one had gotten sorted out, and they passed all the laws and made all the infrastructure for thaumic keys," Catalyst said. Harvey didn't actually care—she had read him well enough already to know that—but she needed to see how he reacted to her taking over the conversational space. "Grew up on The Ants Extended Universe, Kissy Kissy Mew Mew, and The Scary Door. Kind of fell in love with humanity along the way. I enjoy being around people more than my fellow drones, can you believe that?"

"Mm-hmm," he said, already not paying attention.

"I mean, I don't hate being a changeling. I think what I can do is amazing. I'd die without shapeshifting, and I don't take emotion-scent for granted. But I hate being a changeling, if that makes sense?"

"Mm-hmm."

"The social aspect of it. The way people react when they learn what I am. There's always that suspicion, that fear. I can be anything, which means I'm everything to everyone. There's always a part of me which is everyone's worst nightmare come to life."

"Mm-hmm." Harvey's eyes wandered up from his empty drink and began scanning the room.

"People take it personally. When they see a changeling passing them on the street, I smell the fear, like I'm here for them in particular. Like I have nothing better to do than set fire to everything they value and gloat at their suffering. That's not me, honey, that was Chrysalis, and Princess Twilight captured her a decade before first contact. Does it bug you that I've got black chitin?"

"Mm-hmm." Harvey's gaze, at first drunkenly wandering, was beginning to fixate.

"Right. I'm a conniving, heartless son-of-a-pupa, brother to jackals and sister to owls. My lineage fled to Earth rather than going pastel with King Thorax, and that black carapace is all anyone ever sees. But you know what, screw them. I'm going to be the changeling that makes it big the same way non-changelings do. The one who redefines changeling-possible. Also, I'll give you twice your payment back if you tell me your name."

"Mm-hmm."

Catalyst laughed, leaning in and clasping his bicep in search of a better viewing angle on Harvey's object of fixation. He startled, glanced back into her eyes, and laughed back. She firmly took his arm and draped it around her shoulders, now confident he wouldn't take the touching any further.

"So as I was saying," she said, "I'm here at Green Hills for a business degree. I mean. Kind of, but not formally, right? Obviously I'm not a student, at least not on the books." She saw his eyes starting to wander again, and kept up her patter. "But do you know how much I learn from all the classes I sit in on? I won't ever get that magic piece of paper, but I'm beginning to realize how little that matters after you charm your way through the door. So I'll learn the basics, make some connections, get started at a venture capital firm, pick some unicorns, and once I make them enough money they won't care who I am. I'll show them. I'll show everyone."

As she talked, she turned her head to match his, and lined up her vision with his viewing angle. Her eyes lighted on a chiseled male student drinking at the bar, wearing a tight white tank-top and jeans that hugged his bulging legs. He had a dark buzz cut, a thin black goatee, and immaculately shaven armpits underneath well-defined arms covered in thin hair.

Harvey glanced inquisitively back at her face, and Catalyst startled, realizing she had gone silent as she processed his distraction.

"Holy shit, Harv," she said, meeting Harvey's eyes and then dragging his gaze behind hers back to tank-top guy. "That is one amazing ass."

He nearly spit out his beer.

"What the hell, Cat," Harvey said, coughing, his face flushing beet red. "What the hell."

She backed off a bit, catching whiffs of shame and alarm. "I'm a woman, Harv. I'm allowed to say it." She gestured discreetly over at Tank-Top. "I'm just saying that's the sort of ass that would look fantastic on you. Do you work out?"

Harvey's eyes lingered again, his embarrassment ratcheting slowly down as Catalyst's own attention gave him permission to stare. "Not like that, I don't. Shit. I wish—"

And he shut himself up with a drink of beer, even though Catalyst smelled exactly what he was stopping himself from saying.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Grew up on The Ants Extended Universe, Kissy Kissy Mew Mew, and The Scary Door.

We don't talk about that incident on Mt. Ebott...

I can be anything, which means I'm everything to everyone.

That is how changeling works mechanically.

Also, the plot thickens. In multiple senses, given what has Harvey's attention.

[Bandy]

Outstanding last line

[A.P.O.N.I.]

12078518
Okay, The Scary Door is The Twilight Zone, but what are the others?

[horizon]

12078970
"The Ants Extended Universe" is a joking hypothetical that this world's version of the old Dreamworks movie "Antz" (1998), due to a population of movie-watching changelings, gained a cult following and spawned a massive bunch of spin-offs and has the implied popularity of something like Star Wars where there's decades of lore built up around the continuity.

"Kissy Kissy Mew Mew" is an Undertale joke with the serial numbers similarly filed off - in UT, "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie" is an in-game anime series that one of the game's major characters, Alphys, is a rabid fan of.

I think The Scary Door was a Twilight Zone knock-off, as you mention. But I threw it in from a suggestion from another author at the retreat, and my memories of the specific homage are a little vague at this point.

EDIT: "The Scary Door" was Futurama's Twilight Zone pastiche.

[Str8aura]

12079032
That Antz comment is more interesting to me than a one off joke should probably be. It implies demographic shift and time, which tells me the changelings have been here for a while- and I'm a little curious what this alt-timeline looks like otherwise. Food for thought in any case.

[horizon]

12080862
I am also in love with that sort of worldbuilding by implication, and it's awesome to find someone else appreciating the tiny details that way too much thought went into!

[Lurks-no-More]

Lambda Omicron Lambda, eh?

[horizon]

12088348
I was surprised in my research to discover that there seems to be no major Greek campus organization by that name! Made it very easy to insert into the story.