Liberty and Death, Chapter 57
Cora had been surprised when Mike’s reaction to ‘Our giantess friend is evolving’ was ‘oh that explains it!’ and him proceeding to lead her to the Grove.
Once she saw what he was talking about, however, it all made plenty of sense.
A seed-shaped pillar of light bloomed just in front of the Heartfruit tree, brilliant white, but surrounded by the rainbow-oil sheen of Shimmer. Cora hadn’t known what she’d expected an evolutionary cocoon to look like, but she knew one when she saw one.
“Huh,” she said. “Welp, at least I know she’s not likely to respawn in the shower next to me.”
“Pft, like you’d mind,” Kyra said, having picked up Tania’s habit of just being places now.
“Quiet you. How’s Emma?” Cora asked, not counting on a happy answer.
“Bad,” Kyra sighed, “real bad, like you’d expect. Tinny and Tania are with her though, and those two are the best we have until we recruit a therapist. Polly’s gonna pull through though.”
“Small miracles, at least,” Cora said. “Thanks, Kyra, for taking charge of that.”
“No biggie,” the girl smirked, “just wait till you see the stuff we got off of that guard though!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Mother fucker had power armor, some kinda railgun, and a sci-fi ass pistol that is bugging the fuck out of Reine. You gotta get your ass to the Armory when you’re done pining,” Kyra jibed.
“Fuck you, I’m not pining, I’m sexily brooding, now fuck off or back up, I’mma see if there’s anything I can do with this cocoon.”
Cora walked up, focusing on the seed in the System sense and her Party Array.
[EVOLUTION ONGOING]
[TINA ‘HAWK’ TAGLIARI]
[BRUTE(III)>WERE-BRUTE(IV)]
[ENHANCEMENT MATERIALS DETECTED]
[USE <BESTIAL ASPECTATION> TO INFLUENCE AND INCREASE EVOLUTION RARITY?]
“Whoa…” Cora whispered.
“What?” Kyra asked, “[Big Sys] talking to you again?”
“No, well, kinda, but not him. The System’s telling me that core we pulled out of the Matriarch can mess with this. Make her come out stronger, I think,” Cora explained.
“Really!? Then what the fuck are you waiting for?!” Kyra asked, “Hawk would never turn down the chance to be more swole.”
“... yeah,” Cora sighed.
“What?”
“This thing is called a <Bestial Aspectation>. While I agree that Hawk would love the sound of that, I- I just- she’s been doing better you know?” Cora said, and Kyra grimaced.
She knew the girl had seen it too, over the last few days. Less outbursts. Less mercurial. Less fear in the eyes of the other women in the house around their brutal giantess. Hawk still wasn’t exactly polite society ready, and to be honest, Cora hoped she never was. But she was less and less like a Monster each day.
“Fuuuuuck,” Kyra sighed, patting Cora on the shoulder. Cora noted that heavily, since it was the first time Kyra had touched her since waking up clinging onto Cora 3 days ago. “Yeah, no, that’s a tough choice. I dunno, C. Just… if it was me in there, I think I’d want you to trust me enough to do it anyway.”
Cora met her eyes, a softness gracing them that was rare in Kyra’s beautiful hazels. She made a good goddamn point. The fact was, if it was Kyra, Cora would do it in a second. Kyra was a raging monster, but only when she needed to be. Control perfectly balanced with fury. Hawk, wasn’t balanced.
Fuck it, don’t survive in a world like this without risks. And you certainly don’t do…. Whatever we’re trying to do here.
She pulled the Aspectation out of her Inventory, and held it up to the seed.
[<BESTIAL ASPECTATION> ACCEPTED]
[INTEGRATING….]
The orb shattered with a sound like a bottled lion’s roar, and its energy sank into the seed.
[ASPECT INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[ERROR]
[ASPECT ALREADY PRESENT]
What?
[INVERTING ASPECT]
“Wait, hold up,” Cora said, but there was no cancel button.
[<ASPECTATION OF HUMANITY> INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
[RECALCULATING EVOLUTIONARY PATH….]
[COMPLETE]
[TINA ‘HAWK’ TALGIARI] [LEVEL 1 BARBARIAN(U)]
[BRUTE(III)>WERE-BRUTE(IV)]
[REMAINING EVOLUTION TIME: 22 HOURS 36 MINUTES]
“Well shit, I think… I think that went super well?” Cora said, as Kyra anxiously waited for her to elaborate.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah… I mean, you know how the System is by now, both hyper-specific and suuuuuuper fuckin’ vague, but, well, it said the Beast aspect was already there? I think?” Cora explained, trying to wrap her own head around it as she did. “So it… inverted it? No, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either, but apparently the opposite of Beast in the system’s eyes is Human.”
“Sooooo… Hawk’s not gonna be a Monster anymore?” Kyra asked, as visibly disappointed outside as Cora was inside, hating herself at the thought that Hawk might just be a liiiiiiitle less hot as a regular person.
“No, I think she will, actually, it still says she’s evolving into a [Were-Brute], but it also gave her a [Class]. I think she’s gonna be a Monster that’s also a [Level 1 Barbarian],” Cora explained, her mind catching up to her mouth and realizing she liked the way the things it was saying sounded.
Wonder what a Werewolf looks like when under a DnD-ass rage effect. Fuckin’ wish I’d gotten in on that flick.
“Fuuuuuuuuuuck why is she always so fucking coooool!” Kyra groaned, and Cora was reminded that Kyra was somewhere in the realm of 19, age-wise. Whatever though, it wasn’t like she disagreed.
Cora braced herself to ask the next question, one that had been bugging her since she met the two of them. And she wasn’t really sure what she’d do if Kyra said yes.
“Is there something between you two? I know y’all were plotting Linnea’s downfall together before I moved into her brain,” Cora asked.
“Still might be, don’t get too comfy,” Kyra said, but with a playful giggle. It was a far cry from the earnest death threats of earlier this week. Then she sighed in frustration. “But no, I mean, like, I would, look at her, but also, I kind of… can’t.”
Cora held Kyra’s eyes for a moment, uncertain if that was an invitation to dig or an invitation to fucking leave it. So instead of either, she stayed silent, giving Kyra the option to choose which she meant.
Emotions warred like meeting stormfronts on Kyra’s face, but the one that won out seemed to be resolution. Kyra sighed, steadied herself, and traumadumped.
“Look… I hated Linnea. I hate Linnea, if she’s still out there or, like, in there. But… well, we haven’t talked about it, but I can’t keep pretending you just forgot about a few mornings ago, waking up to me stuck on you like a lover. But you also probably haven’t forgotten about the morning you woke up here, which had been my morning for years, under orders, on threat of torture or death. That’s what I hate Linnea for. For not making it a choice. Everything after too, yeah, I just… none of it changes the fact that back when we were 15, if she’d asked, instead of ordered…. I would have done whatever she wanted,” Kyra dropped that all right onto Cora’s lap, which couldn’t have been easy when looking into the face of the woman she was talking about.
Cora could empathize better than Kyra imagined. Which was how she knew words probably weren’t going to help. Instead, she gave Kyra a sad smile and opened her arms wide.
“Want a hug?” She asked, and Kyra laughed. Timidly, like she still kind of expected a trap, she took a step forward, then wrapped her arms around Cora’s waist, placing her head tight against Cora’s chest. Cora closed her arms, pulling her even tighter. Elizabeth had done this for her, after Lindsay, and it was the only thing that had helped for even an instant. The only thing until months later at least, when her brain had healed enough for therapy.
She laid her chin on top of Kyra’s head, and the girl wiggled in a little closer. Cora wasn’t sure what Kyra wanted from her, overall. Kyra clearly wasn’t sure herself. But one type of love, at least, Cora was happy to give.
When Kyra pulled back, she wiped a single tear from beneath the eye that hadn’t been pressed to Cora’s chest.
“Whew! Uh, thanks, C,” she said with a smile. “Needed that. So… weird question after that, but is it alright if I come back to your bed?”
Kyra had looked tired during the last couple night raids. Cora wasn't actually certain where she’d been bunking up, one of the reasons she’d asked about Hawk, but it hadn’t been next to her. Kyra must not have been lying about sleeping better next to Linnea.
“Hah!” Cora laughed, “it’s fucking definitely weird, but it's not like it wasn’t the first time. Come on, I think I slept worse without you too. Weird what habits this body seems to have retained.”
The next morning, after Iain {SMOKED} the ever loving shit out of her so hard she gained a level (she had to have been close after Dylan, but damn), Cora went to check out what sci-fi bullshit they’d pulled off of his guard. She wanted to do the same with the stuff she’d ripped out of the dickhead himself, but Mike had confirmed her suspicion that tech that valuable was probably lo-jacked like an upscale car.
There’d be a time and a place she wouldn’t have to care, but it wasn’t now.
She walked over to the Armory, and could already hear frustrated muttering echoing through the cracked door.