This choice: Yes--But let's think things through • Go Back...Chapter #74The Perfect Use for the Perfect Disguise by: Seuzz   "Perfect disguises," Franks says. "Isn't that what we want?"
"Absolutely." You suck on the end of your thumb. "I don't know why I didn't see it before," you murmur. "It was right in front of me. With Frank's imago and essentia, you're a dead ringer for Frank Durras. Even though it's my anima running things beneath."
"Same with me too," Joe says.
"You don't have to horn in everywhere, Joe," says Frank.
"I'm just pointing out—"
"You don't have to point every little thing out, either."
"Quiet, both of you!" You whirl around and start to pace in a tight circle. "Now, it would involve giving you guys the extra essentiaand imago, but that's okay because I've just demonstrated it can be done. Of course, we could just swap out anima in them—" You tap your teeth furiously. "But this way we'd be hiding in plain sight, under perfect disguises, and we could spring some unexpected tricks on them."
Frank and Joe look at each other. "Care to explain what kind of scheme you're—"
Your phone rings again. "Oh, God damn it, Gordon," you hiss. "Why do you always bother me when I don't want to hear from you, and never call me when I do?" You master your vexation before answering. "Hi, pookie," you chirp. "I'm sorry I missed your call a few minutes ago. What's up?"
"Eh, nothing," your boyfriend grumbles. "Just checking to see what's up with you, how you are."
"Oh, that's so sweet. I'm just hanging out with friends."
"Yeah," he says, and his tone darkens. "Who?"
"No one you'd care to hang out with," you say. "Just some girlfriends. We're talking about giving ourselves a makeover." You snicker at your partners.
"Oh, jeez," Gordon groans, then hastens to cover up his faux pas. "I mean, if that's what you guys want to do, if that's what you want to do—"
"But you like me the way I am," you simper.
"Yeah."
"The same old, boring, stale look I've had for— Gosh, it feels like ten years or something."
"I didn't mean--!"
"Oh, I'm just teasing you, pookie. We're just talking right now. But we found this modeling site online, and omigod! We're going through it and looking at—"
Frank impatiently signals you to hurry and wrap things up.
"And we're just— Well, we're just getting lots of ideas."
"Uh huh," says Gordon. "Who are you with? Kendra and Gloria?"
"No. Josie and Francine Starr, from Flegenhepfler. You remember them!"
"Oh yeah, them. So, are we getting together tonight?"
"Can't, pookie. But pick me up tomorrow morning? You will? Thanks, I love you too. Buh-bye! Fucking liar," you mutter as you hang up.
Joe nudges Frank in the arm. "Hey Francine, you heard from the kids back at Flargenharbler today?"
"Shut up. So what's going on," Frank asks you.
"I'm going home. I've got some stuff I've got to plot out, see if it'll work, then think about if I want to do it. I'll see you guys tomorrow after school!"
"What do you want us to do in the meantime?"
"Stay out of trouble!" you call over your shoulder as you dash for the ballroom door.
"Looks like I'll have to fuckin' superglue you to the ceiling." That's the last thing you hear Frank say—to Joe, naturally—before the door closes behind you.
* * * * *
It takes you longer to get to your project than you'd like. Kendra shows up at your house right after you arrive, full of the thrilling news that Jamie Bornholm's party has been moved from Friday night to Saturday night; you whip her smartly with your tongue and send her scurrying away. Then you have to eat dinner with your parents and brother. The phone buzzes with calls and messages. Finally you just turn it off, run yourself a deep bath of hot, sudsy water, and hide from the world.
You gently pluck at your inner thighs as you sink up to your chin into the water, but your body is so firm and toned that there's practically nothing to pinch. But suck in the air in hissing gulps between your teeth as you work closer and closer to your pussy. Chelsea Cooper doesn't often do this sort of thing—too self-indulgent—and you vaguely sense you're not quite getting the full effect that you could. Will Prescott would enjoy this more than Chelsea could, but you can't dismiss Chelsea's mind without also dismissing her body. Hmm. If you could chop imago up into its constituent physical and mental parts, the way the Libra does with the masks and mind bands ... But you can shift your essentia at least.
You seem to drop into dark, watery depths ...
* * * * *
You jerk awake in a tub of lukewarm water, sloshing most of it over the lip of the tub and onto the floor. Your heart is hammering and your head is throbbing, though not in an unpleasant way. You have a vivid impression—not a memory, but only an impression—of a dark, fiery disk glowing in the abyss. You blink rapidly, and the disk seems to appear on the inside of your eyelids.
It is very clear.
My God, it's a sigil.
* * * * *
"We're gonna be late," Gordon growls as you hop into the cab of his classic VW Bug.
"Like the captain of the team can be late," you chortle. "When I'm late I just make the girls work harder." You lean over and give him a peck on his rough cheek.
He turns and gives you a little double take. You give him a double take. You hold each other's eye.
You must have surprised him with that kiss. Or maybe just aroused him. For your part, you're smartly struck by the thought you've never been this close to Gordon Black. Certainly he's never given you the kind of look he's giving you now. He's unlikely he ever would have before—
You can't help grinning at him. If he only knew who he was really kissing. You lean forward and take his mouth in a warm, slow, crackling kiss, one with lots of little animal noises. His tongue finds its way to yours, and you gently caress the side of his face. He fondles one of your boobs— "Quit it!" You push away from him. "You're always grabbing there!"
"I just like—"
"I know you do." You buckle yourself in. "I'm sorry, sweetie, that's just not the kind of thing I want to do this early in the morning." You take out your phone, using the camera as a mirror, and check your makeup for damage. Ugh, your hair kept fighting you this morning.
Gordon pulls into the street. "I was thinking about skipping first period," he says. "Hanging out and watching your squad practice."
"I'd really rather you not," you sigh.
"I let you and the girls watch us at practice."
"That's different. Your guys like showing off for my girls. You make them uncomfortable. And who would you be watching, exactly?" Your tone turns waspish.
"Uh, you."
"And not Gloria or Yumi or Eva or—? I don't want to fight, Gordon. The answer's no."
You keep your expression straight, but inside you're grinning madly at the way you've told the biggest bully in school that he can't watch his girlfriend practice her cheerleading routines.
* * * * *
In fact, you're so pleased by the day's events—bossing Gordon around; running cheerleader practice; gossiping with your friends; glaring at the boys who have the nerve to ogle you—that you're tempted to leave things as they are, and not tell Frank or Joe about the new sigil, and what you can do with it.
It goes back to your stray thought about splitting mental and physical imago. The new sigil—an edit to the master sigil you carved into that sheet of metal—will do that; and it can be used to insert mental imago separately when set new imago onto substantia. What this means is that you and your friends can have maximally flexible control over your constituent parts: you can display yourself inside one body, reason and remember with a second mind, and operate with a third essentia. You even refined it so that you can consult the memories of a second mind while still thinking with a first, like rifling an encyclopedia or memorandum book.
But the real advantage is that it gives you an easy to merge your confederate's anima with the minds of other people. It had occurred to you last night, while thinking things over, that you'd almost made a bone-headed blunder with them. They have your anima, and hence will always have your memories and personalities. But the minds of "Frank" and "Joe"—which they use to complement your own thinking—operate in them only as imago, and if they change imago they will no longer have access to what Joe and Frank know and think; just as if you'd stop being able to think like Chelsea if you switched back to your natural imago. Merging the brothers' mental imago with your anima will make the merger permanent.
But what really excites you is the capacity you've now attained for infiltrating the Stellae. With these "perfect disguises," you and Joe and Frank can perfectly mimic any Stellae you manage to capture—while keeping your own powers in reserve and available for use.
It all depends on whether you feel up to the ultimate challenge: Taking over the Stellae Errantes from within.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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