Another Mother

by Croabadrake

Chapter Four: Jin and Jod, Disguises Flawed

A creature resembling a bald white ogre looked out of the front gate of the hive from around a corner. She made sure that no changelings were nearby before she quickly made her way through the arch, careful to note spots that may be trapped. When she made it to the other side, she looked back through the archway one more time before moving to the edge of the clearing around the hive where she proceeded to hide behind a boulder.

Once she was sure she was there and unseen, she scanned the edge of the clearing intently. No changelings, good... but where was her brother? He was supposed to meet her here, and it had been a pain to get away from the horde of curious bug-horse-things that wanted to constantly be around her for some reason.

She had been waiting and watching for several minutes when she heard a sound behind her. She turned and saw what appeared to be a glaring, angry changeling standing in front of her, it stance indicating that it was ready for a fight. She merely laughed in response.

"Jod, you were supposed to be here when I arrived!" she said.

There was a flash of light and the changeling disappeared; in its place was now an ogre-like creature similar to her, but brown in color and with much longer teeth. It appeared to have some sort of skin condition as well, but wasn't as fat as her.

"I had some trouble with the bugs," he replied. "Did you, Jin?"
"Yeah, they just plain refused to leave me alone..." Jin said, rolling her eyes at the memory of being swarmed by changelings.
"Ugh, they're just so persistent," Jod agreed. "And they don't have any smell to them. I couldn't tell if they were good to eat."
"Well," Jin said, happy to snap out of the memory, "we'll find out soon enough!"

The two laughed quietly together before checking if the coast was still clear. When they were sure it was, they moved out of the clearing through one of the paths through the valley that the hive was in. As they got farther away, they were able to tell more details about the hive itself.

It really almost looked like a giant church from the side they were viewing it from, but they could tell that it was mostly because of the large stained-glass window that they recognized from the throne room. The structure looked like an actual hive of some sort, with most of its walls seeming to be made of some kind of green-tinted wax, but otherwise at least resembled normal buildings in structure.There was a considerable gap between the hive itself and the slopes that quickly climbed into steep walls, protecting it from two sides while making a long valley that presumably twisted and turned through the mountains before branching off anywhere.

After traveling for several minutes, the hive was now out of sight behind a curve in the valley. Jin and Jod grinned at each other and held hands. A spell began to gather between each others' palms and then there was a flash of light similar to the one from when Jod dispelled his changeling disguise. When the light cleared, there was now an inviting-looking little cottage set snugly into a little nook in the nearest slope. They admired their work before continuing.

"Do you think it needs anything else?" Jin asked her brother.
"Hm... do you think it looks suspicious?" Jod replied, looking the cottage over again.
"Eh, we'll throw some decorations inside that look like they came from the hive, that should fix that problem," Jin said.

Jod nodded and followed Jin into the cottage. There was another flash of light from within as they cast another spell, and the outside of the cottage took on a slight green tint, similar to most of the materials used to make the hive.

Inside, they themselves had changed appearance. They now both looked like friendly old people of their respective genders. Once their eyes cleared from the light, they looked at each other and laughed, having instinctively put on their old disguises. After finishing appreciating whatever humor they had derived from that, they cast another spell: the right spell this time. When the light cleared once more, there now stood two changelings in their places. Both bore the signs of age that they had seen in some of the older changelings: slight splintering near the end of the horn, a small chitinous spike growing in place of a beard, and a dull shine on the midsection armor.

The two looked each other over in satisfaction and then turned to some mirrors they had on the walls. After making sure they had gotten the details right, they had another laugh and then proceeded towards the door to the cottage. Their advance was interrupted, however, when there was a knock on the door.

"This fast?" Jin whispered to Jod, excited. Perhaps they would be able to get a steady stream of live prey if the trap was already working.
"Act natural!" Jod reminded Jin, neither of them aware that they knew next to nothing about acting natural as a changeling.

They Jod opened the door to see a changeling, as expected. The changeling at the door smiled.

"Hello!" he said, "I just wanted to welcome you two to your new home!"
Jin and Jod hesitated. Did they know who they were still?
"It's a great honor, you know, our dear Queen doesn't often allow her swarmlings to live outside of the hive!"
They relaxed. Apparently he didn't know.
"Yes, we are very proud!" Jin replied with her disguised voice, sounding similar to another changeling she had heard in the hive.
"Would you like to come in?" Jod added. "I'm sure the queen wouldn't mind you stopping for some tea!"

The changeling seemed to consider it for a moment. Said moment stretched out for longer than expected, and Jin and Jod became nervous. Had he figured them out? They readied their true selves behind the disguises, ready to grab him if he tried to flee. They didn't notice him flinch ever so slightly in defense.

"I think..." he said, trailing off for another second before continuing. "I think... you two will do wise not to harm any of my siblings that come through here," he finished, his face suddenly turning serious.

Jin and Jod froze. Each of them saw the changeling and heard what he said, but at the same time they saw and heard themselves in his place somehow. They could see both himself and a perfect image of themselves in an approximately equally defensive stance as him, and heard both his voice and theirs when he spoke.

"Our dear Queen does not appreciate it when her guests hurt her children, and I'm sure your own mother appreciates this concept as well," he continued, both of them entranced by their copies. "Don't think the Devourer is her only defense for the hive. Every changeling is trained in at least a few basic combat techniques, but if you so prove yourself capable of harming them..."

The image of the changeling himself disappeared, leaving only their respective copies and only their voices. There was a flash of green light, and when it cleared it at first seemed to do nothing... until Jod spoke.

"You see, the dear queen is protective of her swarm, as you mother is of you," he said. Both of him reacted with shock and stumbled backwards a bit identically.
"She has trained elite forces, such as myself," the copy Jin said, though Jin could feel her own mouth moving. She suddenly realized that she was seeing from the copy's position, having switched places.

The Jin that was in her original position spoke next, and Jin suddenly realized that she could feel, see, and hear from that position too. What was going on!?

"I am Dapul, the forty-eighth Shapestealer to ever be trained under the Queen herself."
The original Jod spoke again, "Shapestealers are legendary in the hive: we are trained so that our disguises are so powerful--"
"--that our victim can't even tell themselves apart from us," the copy Jod finished as Jod came to the same realization that Jin just had.

Dapul clapped his wings together behind his back and the hypnotism and illusion spells broke. Jin and Jod blinked for a moment in a daze before focusing on him and drawing back in fear and surprise.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you two..." Dapul said, eyeing them both. "...but for now, I have to get back to the hive. You two have fun, and don't hurt anyone!" he finished with a cheerful smile and tone.

He nodded respectfully, turned, and flew off towards the hive. Jin and Jod, still slightly dazed, looked at each other and noticed that their disguises were no more. When the after-hypnotism headache kicked in they satisfied themselves with falling asleep in the small bedroom of the cottage, completely forgetting any notion of fooling, catching, and subsequently eating any changelings.

Comments

[Leux]

/)

Nice work ^^. A nice "you can run, but you can't hide." scenery ^^

[Razzy]

Whew, fit a moment there I was worried. No hurting any changelings.