Chapter 27: Monster Mash (1/2)
A monster looks around with my eyes, flexes my hands, and inhales with my lungs. For once, it’s not even me.
“Wow,” the slime comments, voice sounding as if I was trying to copy Penelope’s tone and cadence. “You’re very short.”
Hey, fuck you, I think, mentally grinning. It doesn’t take at first, but after a delay she makes it real.
Then she turns my body to Penelope and bows deeply.
“Thank you,” she says fervently, “for allowing me to exist. I am so, so sorry. I know I may never make it up to you, but I owe you everything. I’ll do whatever you want. Just please, please don’t kill me.”
My eyes are looking down at the road, but I hear Penelope take a shaky breath. She starts to walk closer.
“Is that really all you are?” she hisses. “Is there nothing more important to you than staying alive? I begged you—I begged you— to set me free. To let me have just a few moments to reclaim my sanity. Where was your contrition then?”
“I’m sorry,” the slime almost whispers. “You would have screamed. You would have cried for help. You would have tried to get me killed. I saw your thoughts. You were planning it every time.”
“Of course I was!” Penelope screams. “You… you…! How dare you act like a person! How dare you tell me that you had no choice while you laughed with my voice, made friends with my team and enjoyed fancy baths under my name!”
“The bath was for you! I wanted you to enjoy—”
“Liar!” Penelope shrieks, tears starting again. “If you only care about me when it’s convenient, you don’t care about me at all! Throwing me a chewed bone like I’m a starving dog on the street is not mercy, you arrogant, insufferable thing! I am not your coddled pet!”
The slime turns my head upwards, finally breaking the bow. Penelope is close, her face a mess of tears and rage.
“If you were in my position,” the slime asks evenly, “would you have done any different? If our roles were reversed, would you die for me? Or would you have watched me suffer?”
She would watch, I suspect. Penelope is a survivor. The slime knows that, inside and out. It’s why she asked.
“Our positions are not reversed,” Penelope answers, glowering. “What-ifs do not excuse you.”
“I don’t ask to be excused,” my body replies easily. “Only understood.”
With that, the slime lets go. I stumble slightly, surprised at suddenly having control again, then stand up straight.
“I’m back,” I tell Penelope.
“Good for you,” she answers, crossing her arms.
“Sorry,” I say, scratching my cheek. “I get that I’m basically harboring your torturer because she was really nice to me while she tortured you.”
“How aptly put,” Penelope growls. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say on my part.
“I believe her, though,” I insist. “When she says she’s sorry, and when she said she felt like she had no other choice. I don’t think she’s evil. She did bad stuff, but she doesn’t deserve to die. Just, you know. Work off the debt, maybe. She’s smart and useful.”
Penelope is clearly livid, but considers it despite herself.
“If you die, there will be nothing stopping it from taking me over again,” she points out.
“Well, we’d best make sure I stay alive, then!” I answer, grinning.
She sneers.
“You cheeky, conniving bitch.”
“Thank you Vita,” I respond in a mocking voice, “Thank you so much for keeping me alive on our hunt, and saving me from mind control slimes, and earning me an indebted slime-servant, and escorting me all the way back to Skyhope so we don’t get murdered by monsters or bandits on the road! I really appreciate it, Vita!”
Looking away, she snorts, perhaps trying to hide a smile.
“You did all those things for your own sake,” she protests.
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. But are you free now or aren’t you?”
Holding herself tightly, she takes a deep breath before answering, glancing around the surrounding forest.
“...I suppose I’m free,” she whispers.
“And you’re going to stay that way,” I tell her firmly. “No matter what. I promise. Besides, you’re a genius biomancer! I bet you already have a plan on how to stop getting possessed a second time, right?”
Penelope slowly lets her breath back out, shaking as if still close to tears. She nods to me, though, forcing her expression to stay calculating.
“Okay. We’ll do it your way, then. For now.”
I smile and nod back, setting off slowly down the road back home. Penelope follows next to me, head held high out of habit more than mood. I reach up, tapping on my neck again to signal my currently-deaf companion, and the slime takes over.
Hey there, I think at her. Do you have a name?
“Penelope,” she says, causing Penelope to look up.
”Yes?”
Um, you can’t be named Penelope. Penelope is Penelope. What about… Penta? You copy memories, so you’re probably gonna end up half Penelope, half Vita!
”Penta, huh?” my body murmurs. ”I suppose it fits. I'll grow into it, anyway. I still have a deep-seated hatred of nicknames.”
”Oh, you're the slime again,” Penelope says, scowling.
”Yes, hello,” Penta answers her. ”Vita wanted to talk to me. This is about the only way I can do it.”
”Hearing you talk to yourself is disturbing,” Penelope answers. ”At least give me both sides of the conversation.”
That's not a bad idea, I think. We should practice swapping between each other anyway. It'd be convenient if you didn't have to completely lose your senses when I'm in control, as well. Can you do partial control? Passive control?
”I don’t know,” Penta says. ”It’s worth a try. You have a very strange mind. Everything is… colorful.”
Thanks, I think?
”Thanks, I think?” Penta says out loud, copying the way I thought it.
Wow, that's really disturbing.
”Wow, that's really disturbing.”
We might need to work on the time lag.
”We might need to work on the time lag. Look, I'm trying, okay? Neither of us have done this before, it's difficult.”
Penelope gives us a concerned look, prompting me to flash a reassuring grin back at her. My body actually does so about a second later.
”We'll figure it out,” I coax my body to say. ”It's just going to take some practice.”
”I still can't believe you're attempting this,” Penelope answers, shaking her head. ”It's a parasite, and you're letting it in on purpose. This is going to backfire, Vita.”
Maybe it will, but I doubt it. If Penta is picking up my memories and habits... well, gratitude is pretty much my single driving motivator. I feel Penta frown slightly, perhaps considering that very thought.
”You're a lot more manipulative than I took you for initially, Vita,” she says.
Penelope raises an eyebrow.
”Hey, I went well out of my way to save your slimy butt,” I answer. ”That's genuine.”
She smiles with my face. I can't imagine that ever not feeling weird.
”True, you did. And I know it was. Thank you. Though I must say, I can see why you have such a soft spot for a monster like me.”
Hey, maybe don't say shit that will get Penelope suspicious?
”You'll probably be able to tell her,” Penta whispers quietly. ”If she trusts you with me, she'll trust you with that. And if not, we're both screwed anyway.”
Huh. I don’t know about that. It seems risky. She’d be a useful person to know, but if a noble goes around claiming I’m an animancer...
”You took the risk with me, and I'm basically her.”
Firstly, you’re in my body and I can kill you if you try to tell anyone. Kind of a different situation. Secondly, you're not her. You have aspects of her, but you two are very different people.
I think about each of their souls, how Penelope's traits manifested inside the glob of slime but still remained distinct.
”...I can’t say that makes me feel better about this,” Penta answers. ”The threats really aren’t necessary, and you should know that. Have you looked— hold on.”
Yeah, I feel it. That's no good.
”What?” Penelope demands.
”Big monster incoming,” both of us say at once.
Shit, I thought the roads were supposed to be safe! Well, ‘relatively’ safe. Something nasty is headed our way, though. A huge, sleek soul, grey and sharp. It feels strained, like maybe it’s injured? Oh geez, if it's on the run from an even bigger monster... well, I don't feel anything like that, thank goodness.