After this remarkable morning, things calm down. King's commission presents no trouble - I have already devised the structure once, now I just reproduce it a number of tis and set it into the wooden planks, which are then polished and coated. I'm cheating on coating, just like anywhere else, it's just a layer of tar with finely ground lapis lasuli as the filler being flash-dried on the surface like a varnish. The result, however, is pretty remarkable - the combination of yellow pine with blue lapis lasuli brings out a vibrant green on the surface. Which is very unusual of a color for wood, but matches pretty well the green of copper. To make things easier, I etch a number into each pair of receivers, from zero to nine. Yes, I used to be a programr, among other things.
Sending them back to king goes off without hitch. And... that's where things get really slow for several days. Ed continues to avoid studiously. Alistair is being his gallant self, dispensing pleasantries as he goes but never letting anything worthwhile slip. Honestly, he's ridiculously good with keeping secrets, when he wants to. Hiram is a no-show. He poked in once, inspected his room and vanished sowhere. A manservant of his is in occupation, so I'm guessing Hiram is stuck in the castle doing diplomatic overtures and token appearances. Selene had gone quiet. When we et in the halls, she looks wary, but hasn't tried speaking to again. The idle gossip I've collected indicates she's keeping low. In part because after the unsuccessful demarches earlier people started asking uncomfortable questions about her hostility, questions she had no good answers for. In other part because I'm nowhere near how she expected to behave, which apparently included the stereotypical "evil noblewoman laugh" and attempts at petty sabotage. No idea why she thinks I'd target her so early, she hasn't even spoken with Ed so far.
What worries the most, however, is that Moon Unit decided to maintain so distance. Oh, we still et and exchange pleasantries in the hall, but she professes to be busy whenever I venture any suggestions of spending ti together. I did attempt to clarify the situation, but all I got back was a plea to give her a few days to "deal with it". I'm not sure what IT is, but if IT persists much longer, I might start entertaining concepticidal notions towards IT. Whatever IT is.
I'm in a foul mood because of it. Thankfully, I have a distraction - the king had sent a second commission. He wants four of eight-point systems and eight of six-point, four-point and three-point ones. And twenty more of point-to-point connector pairs. And a separate six-point system which, if I am reading the hints right, is actually intended to be used by the royal family as their personal family line to each other, because the wood I'm provided for that one is abonos. Aka, the top grade bogwood, which is stupidly complicated to obtain. I'm in the process of cutting copper, using a conjured piece of carbide-edged osmium. Extravagant, but bad mood in shoggoth equals magical outbursts, so conjuring rare tals was actually pretty therapeutic. Fusing enough of carbon into it was even more satisfying. Combine with having the strength on demand, well... Bridgit took one look at slicing up a slab of copper like a butter stick, went pale and departed to the far side of the room. I guess the accompanying effects were a little too much - there's been sparking, the odor of vaporized copper and an occasional microblast from copper steam build up.
And... I fumble the last sliver and instead of it, the blade chops into my hand. Ow. Pretty solid hit, actually, I seem to have severed all the fingers except for the thumb. Aaand that's when I hear quick thumping of steps behind my back. Shit shit shit shit shit! I push the new fingers out frantically, giving my newly reconstructed hand a flex. Looks normal, works normal... Taking a stock of Bridgit's expression, she saw it. Damn.
"Mistress...." - she begins worriedly.
"I'm fine. Everything's fine. Nothing to worry about." - I reply quickly. I'd smile, but I have a gut feeling that the resulting expression would be... less than reassuring.
"So you didn't cut off your fingers just now?" - she asks suspiciously.
"Nope. No. What fingers? No missing fingers. See?" - flex my hand in front of her.
"Soooo if I look behind this huge talcutting knife, I won't see a bunch of severed fingers behind it?" - she drawls, as she leans over to do just THAT! I... do sothing. I'm not sure what I tried to do, but when she looks there, what glances back at her is a spider-like thing with an eyeball for a body. Naturally, she shrieks and falls over on her ass. Or would have fallen if I didn't pull her away from the table.
"What in the na of gods is this!?" - she yelps, extending a shaking hand in the direction of the table. I glare at the eyeball spider and it runs off the table, jumps on the windowsill and vanishes outside. Apparently, just behind the window. And I have a nice view on the courtyard. And this is FUCKING RIDICULOUS. Because it's still an active part of I can move like anything else even if it's not connected to physically. What the... Just... WHAT. With this, I... well. Shit. This is an idea that just asks for testing. I direct the eyeball spider further into the dorms, sticking to the ceilings and far corners to avoid widespread panic, while in the sa ti reassuring my maid with obvious white lies that nothing is actually afoot. She, well... after the initial fright passes, she just huffs and tells that I don't need to break the magic more than I already did and maybe need to take a pause and eat sothing before I go back to slashing copper. Then she makes a mistake of trying to pick up the osmium blade. Which, for obvious reasons, is stupidly heavy. Which leads to yanking her off her feet to prevent the aforentioned blade from going right into her foot. And now I have to calm down frightened maid again. She's so lucky she's cute.
Right, so let's see. Whom I can spy on? The obvious target is dean Ambercrombe. But this is actually boring, he is sorting out papers for the academy's cafeteria purchases. Nothing I really care about. OK, how about Ed?... Oh, really? Ed, REALLY? You don't have ti to et your fiance, but you're having tea with Selene in your room already? Heh. On one hand, I'm glad things on that front are processing. On the other, I'm sorely tempted to go burst in on them with Alistair in tow and a bunch of other witnesses to get the engagent broken early. Unfortunately, rely having tea is just a little bit not enough. She is, after all, a titled mage, which at her age is more than remarkable enough to get her an audience with the king, much less prince. (Note to self - persuade Moon Unit to be tested. She more than qualifies for title herself. Especially if the dream defilent really took.) Now if I caught them necking or sothing...
Actually, now that I know I can do this, why shouldn't I plant a bug on everyone of importance in the Academy? That would hive quite a lot of forewarning about everything derpy they might think about. Not right now, though, I'm still giving headpats to Bridgit and she probably won't care at all if I suddenly start cutting off more fingers. Actually, co to think of it... Do I NEED to cut off anything? I stab out around the heel of my boot into the wood, a bit of flesh squeezing between the floorboards and, for the lack of better word, dripping in. Ok, this is an option. I can split off bits of myself at will, shape them into sothing mobile and send them out to monitor the situation in the Academy. Heh. Heheheh. AHAHAHAHAAA! Oh sheeeit, this is gonna get silly, I just know it. Just from spreading through the underfloor, I can already hear all sorts of rumors. And see all sorts of... interesting monts.
...Why do I hear moaning from Moon Unit's room, co to think of it? It takes no ti at all to divert a couple of "roaches" and clump them together into an eyeball spider. And then I peek in. OK, so... On one hand, now I know she's not in pain or coerced into doing things she'd rather not do. On the other, why in the na of all that is sane she's mauling her breasts and snatch while moaning my na? I an, just... what the fuck, Moon Unit. Why exactly are you jilling off in your room if you clearly know you could've simply visited and... Bah. This is silly. What IS her problem?
Taking advantage of Moon Unit being distracted, I snoop around her room. One odd thing that imdiately catches my attention is a cheap brass pot on the floor next to the bed. Taking a look into it reveals... several bloodied undergarnts. Really? All that because she was on a period and couldn't admit that to another girl... Wait, she did learn I'm a shoggoth. Maybe she assud I am not privy to less than pleasant parts of a woman's life? Silly bean. I'll have to break it in sohow? Maybe try to catch her tonight and delay her long enough to "sll blood" on her?...Except she'll probably implode from embarrassnt. Fuckity fuck fuck. Oh well, at least I do know she still wants . That's already quite a relief.
Putting my attention back to the main body, I tap Bridgit on the nose. She had been placed on my lap at so point of it to dispense appropriate headpats and backrubs. I guess it is understandable she would be distraught at the thought of injuring myself. Flattering, that. "Feeling better, Bridgit?" - I quip. She sniffles and nods. Yeah, she ended up crying. Not my proudest mont. Nope. I'm... sowhat tempted to show to her just how impervious to damage I really am, but I'm honestly not sure she could take revelation on a good day. Doing so while she's emotionally distraught is just asking for a maid going loopy on .
Now, let's see how much I can expand the bugging of the dorms... Oh. Oh hello here Lemand. I was wondering when you'll show up. Stuck in the library, as always? Now, I'm calling dibs on the girl you might have chances with, sorry pal, but I'll look out for soone who can share your interests. Preferably soone odd enough to contrast your bland nice guy looks. Really, for a man who's going to rip a portal to literal hell, you're looking way too blandly nice. Speaking of which... It might take a while to set up, but you're going to watch so movies. Just so you know what kind of a bad idea is percolating in your mind. Call it a favor.
Bridgit in the anwhile had cald enough to depart from and go wash her face. While she's busy with that, I neaten up the work area and stack the copper on the table. I've had enough of that job for today, old Abe did stipulate he expects it would take a week to make things, after all. Taking a quick stock of what we have, I set about putting together a strawberry smoothie. Well, two of them, because Bridgit will outright refuse a treat I'm not partaking in. It's pretty easy, too. Mostly wind magic to stir and chop, with a bit of ice magic to create the ice out of water to chill everything properly.
Hah. Bridgit is adorable with milk mustache. Yes, yes, I'm finding you cute. You should have thought about that before attacking the milkshake with such vigor. And now she's huffing at . Cheering up - successful! I'd better give her a little bit of space now. Leaving my instructions for dinner, I depart on a midday walk. Nice to stretch my legs and everything... Oh, and here's Moon Unit. Who, interestingly enough, seems to be actually looking for , for once. She quickly approaches and hugs my arm before offering - "Are you going on a walk?"
"Yes. Why, do you want to co with? I intend to stroll in the garden for a while, clear out my thoughts and lungs before dinner." - I offer back, and she nods excitedly.
Normally, I'd offer my elbow, but I'm feeling a little bit possessive right now. so instead, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close. She gasps softly but goes along with it, her hand shyly coming to rest on my hip. Better. Much better. Gardens suddenly seem that much more brighter.
"...I'm sorry I wasn't available much the last few days, Alyssa. I wasn't feeling well." - she opens the conversation.
I have to chuckle. "I understand where you're coming from, but next ti, consider that having soone to rub your belly while you're reading sothing on the couch will make feeling unwell that much more pleasant." - I offer.
"...Ngh." - is her answer to that. And a looooot of blushing. Well, here's hoping you will consider my words at least. She scrambles to change topic. "Alyssa, I was wondering sothing." - she ventures - "What exactly did you an when you said TEKELI-LI!"
She goes wide-eyed and clamps both of her hands over her mouth, surprised at the eldritch sound she just uttered. Thankfully, the garden is empty, barring the two of us. Turning to face her properly, I put my hands on her shoulders and kiss her forehead. "It's not a word." - I explain with a bashful smile - "It's mating call." Aaand she beats all of her previous records at blushing once she comprehends.
"Oh gods, you an I... you... I..." - she trails off and bites her lip, looking at .
"Made want to tear your clothes off and have my wicked ways with you right on the flowerbed here? Yes." - I finish for her - "Kindly don't do that in public places, I probably won't be able to restrain myself if you keep giving the call like this."
It would be probably more reassuring if her look was not quite so calculating right now.
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