Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 613
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 23:35:46 +0000 UTC“I feel exposed.” I complained as we walked into a shady empire controlled area. This was supposedly the central territory of the Horned Lords, and it was the first place we were cheking for clues about what the hell was going on. “Like, do we have to walk around like this? It’s embarrassing.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “You’ll be fine. I think you look great. You’re wearing plenty.”
“I mean…I’m not.” I corrected her. “I’m wearing leather pants and a vest with no shirt, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Walking around with my naked face hanging out feels so weird.” After more than a year of wearing my mask almost all the time, walking through a crowded street without it was INCREDIBLY stressful.
She shrugged. “No one here is going to recognize you without it. It’s not like hiding your identity here is going to do much.” She gestured at her own bare face. “And I’m not wearing mine either.”
“Yours is a half mask.” I complained. “It BARELY conceals your identity. Mine was a full blank face concealing piece of wood. And speaking of barely any mask at all, Bethy, what are you DOING?” I demanded of the vampire, who was standing to one side dressed exactly like normal except sporting a masquerade mask that just covered her eyes.
She put a finger to her lips. “Shhh!” She said emphatically. “Don’t use my name! I’m in disguise.”
“You’re not in disguise.” I said in exasperation. “And even if that mask did count as a disguise, how would people know your name? And what are we supposed to call you?”
She grinned triumphantly. “I’ve decided to go by Betty.”
“That’s…virtually the same name you already have.” I groaned. “There’s literally a one letter difference.”
Snorting, she shook her head. “Nuh-uh, Bethy is short for Bethany, and Betty is short for Elizabeth. They’re so totally different. No one is going to figure it out. As for the mask, of course it’ll work.” She turned to Callie. “Have you not explained to him how masks work?”
To my surprise, Callie cleared her throat sheepishly. “It hasn’t come up.” She said with a shrug. Turning back to me, she explained. “Masks are complicated, but they’re kind of covered under recursion. Like if you’re really stupid obvious people can figure out who you are, but it’s harder than you would think. Wearing a mask is SUPPOSED to hide your identity, so it does, even if the mask isn’t very large or complicated. Unless you give it away.”
“Makes sense I guess.” I said begrudgingly. “I could have used that info earlier though. Try to remember I have a lot less experience than you in some ways?” She smiled sheepishly, kissing me on the cheek and apologizing.
She refocused, waving the whole thing off for the moment, since she could sense I didn’t care enough to dwell on it.. “So we’re meeting up with some of the others here right? I’m not sure how many but I know it won’t be everyone.”
“Four more.” I agreed. “Chelsea, Mel, Abel, and Gabe. They’ll also be in disguise. We’re just supposed to be lingering around, looking for ‘work’. Bunch of E-rank muscle should be plenty useful enough to draw some attention, but keep your ear to the ground about anything. Especially with your shadow listening power.”
She nodded. “I’m going to be tapping into Piece of Mind to keep up appearances while I listen. The shadows here are…thicker. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s going to limit my range a bit.”
“Probably some defensive enchantment on the Tricorn.” I said with a grimace. “Just do your best. Anything you learn might be helpful.” Zeke was around to help if things got rough, but he needed to stay out of sight so as not to blow our cover. Callen was nearby too, waiting with him to jump in.
We found our friends easily enough. My sister was wearing a mask and hood, and gabe had a half skull mask on. Abel was shockingly bare faced, and it was so uncommon I barely recognized him, while Mel’s face was a bit more familiar, since we’d seen it a few times. Chelsea waved excitedly as we approached. “Shane!” She shouted energetically. “I look so cool right?”
She spun around, clutching her black velvet cloak as she showed off her dark looking armor. Her mask had little black devil horns, and she mostly looked like some kind of assassin. I gave her a thumbs up. “Nice. I look ridiculous.”
Callie clicked her tongue, giving me a once over. “I love the pants, and the vest makes your shoulders look way wider. You should wear this all the time.”
“Why can’t I wear big ass plate mail like Gabe.” I gestured to the mans thick black suit of armor. “I’d look awesome in that.” It looked kind of heavy and sweaty, but it was better than walking around super exposed.
She rolled her eyes, feeling my nerves. “Why don’t you just shift into one of your forms and maintain it. Belial would probably be easy to trace, but what about Mornax, you could just pretend you have some kind of iron body ability.”
I blinked. That…wasn’t a bad idea. My feet were on the ground, and I could walk in Mornax, as long as I paid attention. With Piece of Mind running it in the background I could keep it up pretty much indefinitely with my Sapphire soul, especially considering Mornax was a pretty much perfectly structured Skill, at least by my standards.
Triggering it, I felt my whole body toughen, and I relaxed a bit in the knowledge that with my high Impact and all the defensive modifiers it would be easier to stab through E-ranked steel plate than scratch my skin.
“They we go.” She said with a smile. “Now, where the hell are we supposed to start this little exploration.”
I pointed across the street. A run down looking bar made of wood painted with dark, cracked paint stood recessed back into the shadows. “Damned Souls.” I said matter of factly. “The bar the Horned Lords make their lair in. Don’t worry, we made sure none of our friends from yesterday would be here.”
Callie stretched, seemingly readying herself to enter the bar, and I noticed her own ‘disguise’ (leather pants, a vest, and a short white shirt cut to about her rib cage) wasn’t much different from mine. She grinned at me, sidling close so I could put an arm around her, and cloaking us in stealth so no one would hear. “Did you JUST notice that we match?”
“I was distracted by other things.” I complained. “This is a very trying time for me.”
She clicked her tongue reproachfully. “So self-absorbed, you’re lucky you’re so cute.” She studied me thoughtfully. “You’ve actually gotten better looking I think. How did I not notice that? Must be the mask.”
I frowned, pulling a mirror out of my ring to study my face. She was…not wrong. My jaw was sharper, my features more symmetrical, and the green of my eyes had gotten brighter. I still looked like my dad with a little bit of my mom thrown in, but until she mentioned it I hadn’t realized how DIFFERENT I was from the person I’d been back on my eighteenth birthday.
Now at nineteen, I’d changed in more ways than just internally. Callie just patted my cheek. “Don’t worry so much about it.” She said with a soft smile. “You’re still you, and I still love you just the same.” She gestured to herself. “You’re telling me you haven’t noticed that I’ve changed too?”
I honestly hadn’t. It had snuck up on me really, her changes, like mine, were gradual. “Recursion I take it?” I asked in confusion.
“It’s a common thing.” She said with a shrug. “High rankers are venerated. Just think about the way they treat E-rankers back home. Not everyone gets prettier, but it tends to smooth out the rough edges. People like you have an advantage, having your face covered all the time makes people assume you’re secretly hot.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t they assume I was ugly?”
“Walking around with me?” She snorted derisively. “Have you SEEN me?” I knew she was joking, and wasn’t nearly that vain, but she had a point.
I shrugged. “Whatever, a few cosmetic changes aren’t a huge deal. It’s not like I wasn’t living with them already. As for you…you’re beautiful whatever your features are like. I love you for who you are.”
“Uh-huh.” She smirked. “Good answer. Anyway, you’re obviously stalling. You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?”
Sighing, I nodded. “Yeah, I really am. With Mornax active I can tank most anything below D-rank, but my staff is really noticeable, as are my Skills. I’m stuck with relying on subtle subskills and brute force.”
She put an arm around my waist. “Don’t worry, hon. I’ll keep you safe. Now let’s get in there and start poking around.”
I squeezed her a bit tighter as we rejoined the rest of the world in time to hear Bethy explaining her fiendish plan to use a slightly different name. Chelsea was being politely supportive, while Gabe looked like he wanted to facepalm.
“Enough gabbing.” I said, letting my voice roughen a bit as I roped them all into stealth. “Betty’s not wrong about picking new names. I’ll keep it simple, call me Nate.” I tried to put on an air of menace as I talked, and nobody started laughing so I counted it as a win.
Mel cocked her head. “Call me Lacey. And he’s Kyle.” She gestured at a sputtering Abel, who immediately started complaining about not picking his own alias.
Chelsea put her hands on her hips. “Bella.” She said confidently. “Short for Isabella.”
“Alice.” Said Callie with an eye roll. “I always liked that name. Gabe, you’re the last one up. What do we call you?”
He sighed. “Mike. It works as well as anything. Now, I think Nate should go in first, given his durability, and Kyle and I should follow. Then the rest of you enter after. We don’t know what kind of place this is going to be, and I need to protect ‘Bella’ unless I want a certain someone to peel my skin off and choke me to death with it.”
Chelsea patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. “Don’t be silly.” She said in a compassionate voice. “There’s no way my mother would let you die. Your agony would be neverending and eternal.” He flinched and she pulled away with a giggle. “I’m kidding. She’s here guarding me personally. It's fine. Don’t worry so much.”
“Yes.” He said blandly. “Worrying about perpetual torment. How silly of me.
“Now YOU’RE the ones stalling.” I announced as Callie and I let go of Callie and swaggered forward. “But Mike is right. I’m the best suited to go first. Even without my armor.” Taking a deep breath as I strode forward to the entrance, and when I reached it I shoved both doors open dramatically, stepping inside.
The music didn’t stop, people didn’t turn to look, and nothing really changed. This wasn’t a movie. One guy sitting near the door glanced at me real quick before going back to his beer, and I slumped a little in disappointment.
The others filed in behind me, also not drawing much attention, and I waited for Callie to rejoin me before we both walked up to talk to the bartender. “What’s on tap tonight?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound like an idiot. I didn’t DO alcohol, so I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to ask in this situation.
He glanced at me, obviously bored and not remotely intimidated. “Beer.” He said flatly. “We also have ‘not beer’ if you’re feeling adventurous.”
“I’ll…have the beer?” I asked cautiously. He grabbed a mug, shoved it under a tap, pulled a lever and then shoved a mug of frothy yellow liquid at me. “F-ranked chit.” He said dully, and I reached into my ring and dropped one on the bar. I took a sip, and I barely managed to keep from wincing. I hated beer.
Comments
JJB4345_80_815
Thank you for the chappy! So true, so true... [Quote] “Couldn’t they assume I was ugly?” “Walking around with me?” She snorted derisively. “Have you SEEN me?” I knew she was joking, and wasn’t nearly that vain, but she had a point. [/Quote]
