I’m not bored. Really. I’m just in a weird lull. I want to go a-weirding again, but I think I spent all my weirding points at my defiant lunch-time nap.
Was really strange to find myself talking to Keri + 20 years about certain things. Not surprised to see K+20 has a cane. Nor am I surprised to see it used as a weapon. She was teasing me about a certain Thing, of which right now in the present, I am beginning to discount as the bullshit scented effluence of wishful thinking.
But K+20 only laughed at my doubt, told me I’ll get over it, and to continue planning. I called the Thing into question, pointing out how delicate it would be.
“Delicate? It’s as delicate as I am. It’s not fucking delicate at all. It’s not intentionally made to be pretty, either. The beauty came from being functional. Being functional came from being constructed well, and from the materials chosen.” She then held out her Thing for me to handle and examine.
Well, shit. This is simple. Even more than what the ravens had shown me.
“Remember, Keri.” She chuckled to speak her own name. “What we are shown is often the ideal and the ephemeral. Such things can never be made in the waking and physical world. It’s up to us, to translate the ineffable into the spoken. The gossamer into the woven. What you were shown is a physical impossibility. If you were to try and reproduce each and every inch of it, you’ll fail miserably. What I’m showing you now, is but one possibility of thousands. I can see your gears churning, you’ve already mentally disassembled my version of the Thing and can see how to piece it together in your waking world.”
“Follow through though, and you’ll fuck it up.”
“You are me. You are not me. You see where we are similar. But don’t forget our differences.” She gently raps me on the skull. “Nor our whens.”
I suddenly recognize the Thing she has, and where I have seen it before. She sees this written on my face and starts laughing.
“He said you were not her. He never said you were not like her.”
She stands up and stables herself with the handwrought cane. The Thing over her head and shoulders, she starts shuffling away from me in a half walk, half dance.
I cry out, “Wait!”. She turned to look over her shoulder at me. “What the flying fuck would I need this for? I have no tribe, nor clan. I don’t act on the behalf of others. It’s just me! And I don’t need physical tools to do the things I do.”
“You don’t need them… now.” She smiles and sharply stabs the ground with her cane. Darkness overwhelms me, taking the Future Keri away from me.
…
Afterward, I found another part of me that is still chained. But I didn’t release it. A Raging Keri is hard enough to deal with. To let loose a Seething Keri without safeguards would be irresponsible and dangerous to myself and those close to me.
…
Oh, and the Envoy asked a favor from me. Wanted me to go with him to attend a masquerade ball in the City among the upper elite. He had a dress and mask already picked out for me. Everyone was wearing white. Everyone.
I pointed out the mask was likely to make me forget where I was. He said that was his intention. He needed “[my] kind of randomness” to keep certain elements and factions in line. And all I had to do, was be present, and be his escort for the night.
Disney’s Cinderella? Really? An intentional choice, he said. After all, wasn’t that character transformed twice already by the time she is at the ball? And not even her step-sisters recognized her? How fitting then, that Weaver, who transforms all the time, is transformed yet once again to attend this ball, where no one will recognize her or the effect her presence brings.
“You owe me.” “Yes.” “Okay, lemme change, and we’ll go.”
To my disappointment, no one was changed into a pumpkin. To my delight, no one recognized me. Everyone that approached us saw a different person hanging off the Envoy’s arm. And by the end of the proceedings, the Envoy was actually smiling. I noted some folks were scowling to themselves, acting quick to put on a fake smile when they saw the Envoy watching.
I saw no obvious shenanigans at the ball. I had fun dancing. It is a skill I had touched upon briefly in the Waking, but never was able to pursue. The ball came to an end, and the Envoy returned me to my condo. He told me I could keep the dress. I told him he doesn’t know my opinion of Disney. He laughed and took the dress and mask.
I laid down on the condo’s bed, and woke up in my own.