Chapter Text
I continued my crusade of biodiversity collection through the suburbs, forest, and into the ocean, happily making myself into a genetic melting pot for use. I even ate some of the fish, their blueprints saved forever even as I ended them. Delicious.
The oysters I’d gone through yielded a treasure: mother-of-pearl. I could now generate and activate the glands at will. I can pearlize anything I want. Or add them to creatures that need to make hard things… ooh, idea!
I need a victim, so I should go get my first minion, too! And some juicy new non-terran blueprints…
Changing into a swallow, I got clear of a suspicious vicinity, then smoothly transitioned into a vulture at thermal altitude without seeming to demorph at all.
Circling high in the sky, I looked for evidence of yeerk occupation. ‘The Gathering’ signs are the most obvious, but it’d take forever to find a host on their way down… So irregular traffic near said sites is the way to go.
Or just burrow my way in myself.
I changed into a harrier, then a crow as I recalculated common local species, swooping down to an alley. Ducking under something, I used a recipe, becoming something long and scaly with hard burrowing extensions out the front. Does it count as a sandworm if it’s only a couple feet long and not in sand?
In any case, I burrowed almost straight down at speed, tweaking the form to dig faster as I went. Experimental vibrational senses picked up gibberish for a while until I tuned them properly. Another tool in the toolbox.
I nipped a tiny hole in the ceiling, and became a fruit fly, then something a little bigger as I realized fruit flies are too small to see jack shit. Jumping spiders, on the other hand, have glorious resolution, so I just slapped some temporary wings on that and zipped down.
Aliens. Aliens everywhere.
Landing, I gleefully tapped my little legs, and coated myself in a layer of faerie dust to prevent potentially getting licked up by a taxxon while I’m on a collection spree.
…
I think I may be cheating somehow.
It was ridiculously easy to sample every extraterrestrial in the room, and I’d spent fifteen minutes kidnapping yeerks out of their pool. I’d changed them into mouthless fleas for the moment, locking them inside a pouch in my abdomen.
I decided that was enough for now, and lazily picked a human from the ‘involuntary’ cage.
Waiting until attention was turned away- wasn’t hard, no one really paid attention to the cage- I nabbed them, too, taking only a fraction of a second to make them tiny enough to steal. They were a tick, for differentiation, though I didn’t bother with mouthparts. Don’t feel like getting bitten.
As no one had noticed that, I took another.
After about a minute, the guard did a double-take, and squinted inside.
I cheerfully exited, unnoticed as I decided to push my luck. They’ll probably notice this one.
A taxxon became a worm, and I made for my hole in the ceiling before the first noise of surprise happened.
Hehehehehe-
…
As I exited the hole and changed into something bigger, I changed my captives, too- yeerks were now worms, humans to peeping frogs, and the taxxon was a small snake. The weight wasn’t too much as I took to the air as a large jay, winging my way home with my prizes.
Demorphing on landing, I made my way excitedly to the basement, tail swishing.
I spat out the frogs first, demorphing them properly in an instant.
“Hello.” I purred.
One of them attempted to punch me in the face. In a blur, I was holding a kitten by the scruff.
“Rude!” I tutted, dark eyes turning towards the other one. “Be smart, human.”
They froze in edging away.
Smiling ‘pleasantly’, I changed the wriggling kitten back into a teen. They backed away, pale.
I clasped my hands. “Now that I have your proper attention, I have an offer.”
“Wh-what?”
Tilting my head, I squinted my eyes cheerfully, ears rising. “I do not like the invaders. They did not ask permission. They are not welcome.”
They both stared at me. The non-punchy one’s eyes widened. “You aren’t an alien.”
“What?!” Punchy demanded, incredulous.
The other one hurriedly covered Punchy’s mouth, shaking. “Good- good faerie, what may we call you?”
I smiled wider. “Clever, clever human! Being smart indeed. Call this one Pucca. And your name?”
Punchy tried to answer, shoving at the other, but they clamped on harder, leaning in to hiss.
“Do not answer, are you an idiot? That’s an actual fey, they can steal names!”
I laughed. “Clever, clever! But warning such within one’s hearing is quite rude.”
The color drained from their face.
“Calm down, human.” I purred, amused. “I did not take you to strip you of yourself so soon. But if it will panic you less, what may I call you?”
They relaxed, letting go and sitting on the floor, breathing hard. “Oh, fu- ah. Call me… um, uh, Ginger?”
“Ginger.” I repeated, before shifting my gaze. “And what shall I call you?”
The punchy one looked between me and Ginger warily.
“Come up with something that’s not your actual name.” Ginger urgently and quietly instructed.
“...Um. Shepard?”
“Ginger and Shepard.” I cocked my head, ears perking forwards. “I offer you a rare chance. I do not like the invaders. You do not like the invaders. Humans are not good at fighting the invaders.”
Ginger slowly put together my cryptic offer. “You’re… offering for us to become fey, too?”
I let out a purr of satisfaction. “A changeling, the other way around. Rare indeed.”
“What court?” Ginger demanded.
Stilling, my smile widened slightly before shrinking back down to normal proportions.
“What. Court.”
“Unseelie.” I’m certainly not benevolent.
They paled slightly. “I don’t want to be unseelie.”
My smile finally folded into a put-out frown. “Pucca won’t force one to be unseelie. Rude human. Pucca is the only peltweaver here. Stupid human court bias.”
“...So- my- no insult was intended.” Ginger stuttered. “We are grateful for the offer. What sort of fey would we be?”
I shrugged my wings, ears still pinned back. “Whatever. This one cannot make high fey, yet am certainly skilled enough for any creature you want.”
“...What are high fey?” Shepard asked, the second intelligent thing he’d done all day.
“Special powers.” I dismissed. “You are a human mind. You would not change your pelt on a whim, would not take a name… you barely follow the rules, why would you be granted that?”
Shepard looked to Ginger.
“Fey are big on social conduct and wording.” She explained quietly. “They can’t lie. Even if we take the deal, Pucca is saying we’ll never be true fey, so they can’t give us, like, superpowers.”
“I chose such a clever human.” I mused to myself. Better keep an eye on that. Wait, have I lied? When was the last time I lied? Mmh, in-character, I suppose.
“...And this is better than the yeerks, how?”
I bristled. Ginger paled again.
“Shepard! Don’t- don’t insult Pucca. It’s dangerous.”
“Guestright only extends so far~” I warned, eyes narrow.
Ginger looked between us as we glared at each other, and swallowed.
“Shepard, Pucca is fey. Fey are territorial. Pucca would probably take down the yeerk empire single-handed if they could. They are asking us, nicely, to help.” Ginger very carefully laid out. “Pucca is fey. They physically cannot do anything to us permanently without our verbal consent, or in retaliation. They can’t control us if they wanted to.”
“You are awfully knowledgeable for a human.” I grinned sharply. “An even field is refreshing, yes. You understand what I say.”
Ginger paled slightly. “Pl- ah, honorable Pucca, I would, prefer it, if you kept your words clear, I do not have much fun with puzzles, it would not be sporting?”
I pouted, ears drooping to the sides. “Ah, fine. No fun. So spooked, Ginger foxy, you could handle it.”
“That is not the same as wanting to handle it.” She worded very carefully.
“So, uh… do we have to decide now?” Shepard asked, a little wary in a different way now.
I tilted my head. “I can wait. But can you?”
They both tried to puzzle this out. My ear flicked, impatient. I want you to hurry up, I still have a belly full of captives.
“Clarify?” Ginger eventually asked.
I sighed, and spoke plainly. “You were a host, you are on a list. You have gone missing. Do you want sanctuary or not.”
“Oh.” She said, very pale. “Shit.”