Revelations (Song of Sophangence Book 4)
Page 18
“Like a human…”
“Exactly! That rock is too hard and isn’t going to give me a good idea of what I can really do!”
Anaar squints at her in disbelief for a moment, then forms a human shaped water construct near the rock. After noticing Maggie still seemed less than enthusiastic, he cleaned the construct’s design up to be perfectly identical to a human except translucent. With still no response, he modified the way light reflected on the molecules to make the model look exactly like Yasmine. He then even gave the construct the same rifle she used. Anyone who saw it would never be capable of distinguishing it as a facsimile without careful scrutiny.
Maggie jumped up and down with excitement. “That’s it! You know me too well! I had no idea you could make clones of people!”
You mean to tell me she wasn’t waiting on that?!
Maggie hoists the fan and swings it once, the resulting blade missing its target completely. On her next attempt, she was able to slice the leg just above the knee. When she saw no change in it despite it having taken the hit, she began to grumble.
“Can’t you make it like, fall over and scream in pain or something? The leg is still attached. How am I supposed to know if I did a good job?”
“You want it interactive too?! What do you think I am, Simulacrum?!”
“Of course not! You could never be as good as an AI, even with how freakishly smart you are! At least with this though I get accurate feedback in the real world. It seemed like the blade went through it too easily.”
Anaar stares at Maggie with a deadpan expression on his face. “It was made to be visually appealing. You said nothing about it needing human density and mass…”
“Well do that! And make sure it is harder!”
First a rock is too hard. Now the construct is too soft… Talk about being incapable of being pleased…
Though Maggie could see no difference in the model, Anaar had modified it to be approximately Yasmine’s physical dimensions in every way. With his Life attuned abilities and his massively expanded range, obtaining such information was quite simple for him. Giving her a thumbs up with a forced smile, he watches as she hoists the fan again. She was able to hit the mark on the first try this time, but seemed displeased with the gash in the construct’s torso.
“I thought you were going to make it more lifelike. Now it is too tough!”
“Will you make up your mind?! I don’t know what else you could want. It is Yasmine down to the gram! I even accounted for the resilience her attunement gives her. It is weak but no doubt existent.”
“Are you saying this is all I can do?!”
“Wait. The goal was to slice her in two?”
“Yes! What else would I be doing to her?!”
At least that Codi energy is being expended in directions that I’m not occupying…
“Considering we should not be knowingly trying to kill our classmates, I would refrain.”
“I do it with my arrows all the time!”
“Exactly. An arrow. It is designed to inflict heavy damage on a specific spot. It isn’t going to cut someone in half. There are only a few people on campus who would survive something like that. Now I am suddenly thankful you can’t cut someone in half… It may be irresponsible of me to ask, but did you sense anything that could clue you in to increasing the effect?”
“Nope. Nothing at all.”
“Well, given your current… goals… I can’t in good conscience continue this line of training. Maybe we should let you feel what it is like to get hit with your own abilities. I found it quite enlightening after my fights with Yefferson.”
“Who wants to do that?!”
“Literally no one, but I can assure you it is effective. Time to get a taste of your own medicine.”
After what felt like hours of being thrown about like a ragdoll, pierced in seemingly every place on her body, the lungs being the target many times, and being bludgeoned by random constructs, Maggie laid on the ground heaving and completely spent. Anaar had done just enough to heal her wounds so that she was not in any danger, but the pain was still present. When he finally stood over her, his hand extended to help her up, she simply laid on the ground in exhausted defiance.
“I hate you. I’m never speaking to you again!”
“You are speaking to me now…”
“Shut up! You know what I mean! I tried to get you to stop so many times, but it was always on to something else before I could get the words out! That was beyond sinister!”
“Welcome to the world of anyone who has had the misfortune of going up against Magdalena Osorio. Do you still feel weak?”
Maggie grumbles as she painfully extends a hand upward. In a fluid motion Anaar sweeps her into his arms, and dives through a portal. Exiting into his room, Maggie can see her fan and the hammer she did not get to use already placed against a wall. He places her on her feet, and though wobbly, she hobbles toward the kitchen with him. Both of them noticed an odd aroma wafting from the kitchen, but Anaar’s infinitely keener senses left him with a disgusted look on his face.
When they entered the kitchen, they found Phavian nude, with nothing but an apron on, covered in flour, bent over peering into the oven. When Maggie walked in to see the presented rear of Phavian, she makes a gagging noise which immediately catches Phavian’s attention. He spins around, shocked to see Maggie, doing his best to wrap the apron more securely around himself.
“Dear god Phavian, I was already on death’s door. Then I have to walk into your tooted up hairy butt? Is this how you do all your cooking? I am never eating anything you make going forward.”
Anaar sighs dejectedly, the manner of dress Phavian was in the least of his concerns. “What are you doing?”
“I made cookies for you! I was told I never do anything thoughtful for you, so I wanted to make up for it! The better question is what are you doing here?!” He cuts his eyes at Maggie who he noticed looked rather worse for wear.
“I just spent an eternity getting beat up by your boyfriend! The least he could do was bring me home! You have no idea how painful and humiliating… just painfully humiliating it is to be destroyed with your own powers!”
Phavian looks at Maggie with a look of indignation. “Are you fucking kidding me?! He almost froze my dick off! Did you even know they could freeze off?!”
“Well considering they are no different from any other exposed skin…”
“The point is, I thought I was immune to cold, only to find out I am just very resistant to it, and even if I don’t find it uncomfortable, my body still can’t handle it. How ‘bout them apples?!”
After a minute of the two of them in a staredown, Anaar finally breaks them up. “Are you two quite done?”
Phavian snaps from his snarling stare at Maggie to happily prance over to the counter, then over to Anaar, holding a tray. “Have a cookie!”
Anaar looks down at the tray of very burnt circular objects in disgust. “What are these even supposed to be?!”
“Snickerdoodles! And I put extra in the middle in the shape of a heart! You see it?!”
“No. Even my enhanced sight can’t see it when they are this burnt… What did you even put in these?!”
“The normal stuff. The recipe was super simple!”
“Are you sure you used cinnamon?”
“Of course. That is like the cornerstone of the recipe!”
Anaar squints at him with suspicion. “Show me.”
Phavian prances over to the cabinet, the open back of the apron with his bouncing making Maggie gag again. He returns with a container and hands it to Anaar. Without even looking at the container, Anaar’s eye twitches and he swats Phavian over the head.
“Are you serious?! How can you be this terrible at anything cooking related?! I know you can read! This says cumin, not cinnamon!”
Maggie grabs the container from Anaar, examining it with a shriek of laughter. “I thought I smelled cumin, but I figured it was just me being tired!”
Maggie follows a grumbling Anaar out of the kitchen as Phavian was left alone saddened that everything about his attempt had the opposite effect of what he intended. He turned off the oven and began cleaning up the mess he had made. When he rejoined Maggie and Anaar, he had cleaned and clothed himself, and found them in one of the guest rooms. He was shocked to find Maggie topless face down on the bed as Anaar rubbed her back.
“What in the hell is going on in here?!”
Her voice muffled from the bed, Maggie responds. “Getting a massage. What does it look like?!”
“You have a whole ass boyfriend for that kind of shit! Why isn’t he doing it?! Better yet, why don’t I ever get any massages!”
Anaar’s head snaps in Phavian’s direction. “Because you think it is a good idea to play with my damn food! Is my kitchen unsullied?!”
Phavian looks back at Anaar innocently. “I mean, I did the best I could…”
“Ugh, you are lucky that the story alone is payment enough for whatever Harston has to do to fix your mess.”
Phavian peers at Anaar with a smile on his face. “If I let you freeze me again, can I get next?!”
Finding himself hit with a heavy force, Phavian is pushed out of the doorway, the door promptly closing afterward. Standing from the floor, he yells at the closed door in response. “That’s alright! I don’t need y’all!”
He places a call to Codi, which is immediately answered in a tone in which he was all too familiar. “What the fuck do you want?! You ignore my call earlier and now you want to show up?! Too late!”
“Nooo! I was so preoccupied baking that I must have not heard it!”
“Who are you trying to kill?”
“What?! I’m not trying to kill anyone!”
“That can’t be right. The only way you would subject anyone to your cooking is if they had wronged you on the deepest level and you wanted them to know unspeakable torment.”
“What is wrong with you people?!”
“I see there is no need for me to argue with you. It has already been established by others. I’m busy, leave me alone.”
“Codi wai-” Phavian knew it was futile as she was already gone. Phavian looked down at his hand and sighed. “I guess it is just you and me tonight Bernie.”
“Eww! Isn’t that what you call your hand you nasty fucker?!”
Phavian was shocked that Codi was still on the line. He was so used to her hanging up on him, he never questioned if she was still there. Before he could respond Codi had finished the conversation for him.
“Thanks for letting me know your lonely plans to pleasure yourself you miscreant! You better wash that shit really well before the next time I see you!”
This time Phavian heard the audible tone of the call ending as he walks toward the bedroom with a sigh. His surprise ruined, his boyfriend monopolized, and his best friend preoccupied. Phavian flopped onto the bed, relegating himself to a night of self-love.
12
Anaar sat at the table still incapable of understanding his mother’s reservations. It had been a few months since everything came to light about his past, but his mother still did not want to go to the village with him. Despite this, she was adamant he spent as much time with his biological mother as he could. Trying once more for good measure, he renewed the conversation.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me mom? It is my first time meeting the people of the village in an official capacity. Before, there had only been furtive glances and whispers about me. I know it has only been five times I have visited, but I think it is acceptable to bring you now.”
Brighid continued busily over the stove as she listened to her son try his hand at persuading her again. “This just isn’t the time for me to go. Quite frankly I’m not sure if there will ever be an appropriate time for me to go. It is not where I belong. I am sure there are still many who question whether you belong. You finally have the opportunity to learn more about yourself and where you come from. Isn’t that what you have always wanted? Since things did not turn out favorably with your brother, this is an opportunity you should do anything to grab hold of.”
“Can we at least settle on this? How about I gauge how it goes this time. If the reception is overwhelmingly positive, you think about coming to the village. I promise to be completely objective in my analysis.”
“I will think about thinking about it. For now, hurry and help me pack these things lest you be late!”
Anaar helped his mother pack a number of disposable containers of food. When he was done, his mother realized there was no container large enough to carry all the dishes. Anaar told her she worried to much, and wrapped everything in a shielded construct of boiling water. Kissing his mother on the forehead, he bade her goodbye as he opened a portal and disappeared.
Remembering to shield himself, Anaar exited the portal into the solar of Yatik’s home. She had told him it would be easier for him to do that, rather than waiting at the door for her to answer. By doing this, he could avoid any incidental microaggressions he might face from the villagers.
He yelled out to let Yatik know he had arrived, and she glided down the stairs quickly to greet him. Though she had never worn a fully modern outfit, it was usually at least blend of both modern and traditional garb. Today however she had on a type of dress Anaar had never seen before, with various accessories and her hair styled in a particular manner. The outfit in no way dampened how stunning she was, and in Anaar’s opinion, it perfectly suited her beauty. She gasped at the sight of what he was holding, and was even more surprised by the method he was holding it.
“What might this be?”
“Though Mom refuses to come with me, she insisted I bring you this assortment of dishes she said were your favorite. She wanted to thank you for taking good care of me.”
Yatik chuckles at Anaar’s words. “Oh Brighid, she never changes. You are my son too. Of course I would be taking care of you! Also, she didn’t need to go through all of this trouble. I don’t want her wasting precious money on food for me…”
Anaar laughed much harder at Yatik’s concern than he intended. “Oh! Oh you are worried about that?! No need. I have more than enough money to take care of us quite comfortably. You would never know that though by how much Mom continues to work. She is still slaving away at the factory, and doesn’t want to move. I had to force her out to buy this new blender she had her eye on. I wasn’t sure which one it was, so I made her come with me. I suppose that is where I get it from. Just because we have money now, it doesn’t change who we are.”
“That is a wonderful trait to have. I was always so concerned about not doing more. It eases my mind to know you two are doing well. This contraption you have the food in is… odd.”
Anaar looks down at the container with a shrug. “Mom made too much food so there wasn’t anything big enough to hold it all. I just made one instead.”
Yatik bends down to look at the container in wonder. “Is that… water? Is it boiling?”
“Yeah. I figured this would keep it hot and fresh if you weren’t hungry right away. Mom literally just finished cooking this. The least I could do was bring it to you in the state she intended.”
Yatik found herself quite impressed. Though they had discussed his myriad of abilities before, she had never requested a demonstration. Seeing his control and ingenuity gave her a small pang of pride, even though she knew there was very little she could take credit for. He extends his arm to hand her the package, which causes her to hesitate.
“Is it safe for me to take this?”
Anaar fixes her with a confused gaze, then innocently looks down at the bundle. “What about it seems unsafe?”
“Won’t it come und
one if you give it to me? That is scalding hot water. Unlike you I have a very weak constitution. I have no resistances.”
Anaar laughs loudly once he understands her concern. “Oh! That?! That is what you are worried about? No need for fear, it is perfectly safe.” He releases the bundle, and it floats over into her hands.
Yatik receives the package of food, the weight of it catching her off guard. “It’s heavy! And this water container is so strange. It is solid, but flexible. Despite being able to see the boiling water inside, it is emitting no heat. How is that possible?”
“Simple. The barrier surrounding it is extremely insulating, much like an oven mitt, but far more potent. Though I could, it would be a waste to devote energy to keep it boiling, so I made the energy loss to the exterior of the package almost non-existent. Though it would cool down eventually, I estimate it would take several days for the food inside to drop in temperature enough times to cause it to no longer boil. It would still be hot, just not boiling.”
Yatik nodded in understanding, and even more wonder. She carried the package into the kitchen, placing it on the table since according to Anaar it was perfectly self-contained. Once she returned, she looked Anaar over with a smile, noting his very worn attire.
“I thought you said money was no longer a problem. If you need new clothes…”
“It is as I predicted. Your slovenly dress is unacceptable for this engagement. Despite my best attempts to advise you otherwise, you continue to embarrass yourself.”
There is nothing wrong with what I have on! All of you are so uptight about something that exists only to cover our nakedness. It is completely appropriate. It has no holes in it.
“It is more than enough evidence that your bar is simply being free of noticeable holes. Your mother is quite distressed by your attire.”
Oh well, what’s done is done. Nothing I can do about it now.
“You wield the ability to manipulate dimensional space. I suggest utilizing that to change your outfit. It would take you mere minutes.”
Yeah nope. Too much work for no reason. I should probably get back to my day now.