Massive transports and pudding (Fred & Harry log)
Fred had been busy since the last whitewashing. The hero and the damsel were back on the horse, and this time the hero had no face, no hair, nothing particularly identifiable. Sure, that might have been strange, but Fred was beginning to think that the staff was copying her figures. She didn’t like that they would know her story, that they might try to tell it or retell it. She didn’t like it one bit, so she stopped making the hero look like anyone in particular. The equations and bits of writing around it, on the other hand, seemed more intricate. There was a confidence that hadn’t been there before, or maybe an acceptance? The lettering wasn’t as shaky; the lines more defined.
Fred looked clean, just washed up, and she seemed to be a little more comfortable? Or more she didn’t feel so very alone. Harry had been a bit of a boon, and she was even thinking of leaving her room for a meal outside again. She might have to eat on her own, but it would be outside-ish. She was even considering making her way out of the building completely to the courtyard, which would have been a definite change of pace.
For now, though, she was busy working out an energy exchange that might allow for transportation between two places. It was what she imagined the rudimentary physics that allowed for the Star Trek transporters, but there had to be something more to it that she just wasn’t seeing. Harry had inspired her to think of this as well. Mass/matter transport and the power it would take...
“This could work.” The plant sat over in the corner like it always did. It seemed to be in a decent mood too. The leaves looked rather healthy and form.
Harry wasn’t certain if his medication had been lowered or just changed, but he was feeling hyper. Not like that time with the energy potion he’d concocted - that thing had been like drinking pure sunlight and mountains from the core of the earth. This was more jittery, a need-to-move that had him pacing the halls up and down, looking for some way to vent out the extra energy.
If he’d been home, he would have opted for a bit of alchemy in his lab with Bob. Energy was useful, especially if it could be bottled and stored when there was excess to go around. He’d accidentally hexed two cell phones and the nurse station fax machine before the staff politely encouraged him to find somewhere else to be.
Which was how he’d ended up outside Fred’s door. He wouldn’t cross into it - that would be a breach of hospitality, even in this place - but he saw the writing on the walls and blinked. While being the first to admit that he was no genius, Harry still had enough smarts to recognize what she was doing. He’d done plenty of energy-exchange spells in his day, and sometimes you had to work out the way a spell would manifest itself in plain old pencil and paper. It was that, or get yourself caught in a fireball because you’d missed something in your calculations.
Once he had that worked out - as much as he could understand, anyway, as Fred’s calculations were way beyond what Harry could figure - he glanced over the rest of the walls. There didn’t appear to be much blank space left, but it seemed... ordered amid the chaos. He had a feeling he could point to any part of the wall, and she’d be able to quote not only what it meant, but how it related, and what she’d been thinking when she wrote it. It almost reminded him of the rigid disorderly order of his lab.
“I’d ask what you’re doing,” he said, “but I’m not sure if I could understand it all. Energy transference, yes, but my education ended with a GED. Do you speak idiot?”
Fred jumped a little at the voice. It wasn’t something she was expecting; usually the people who spoke to her were staff, and they weren’t very nice about it. They just came in, did what they wanted, and usually only grunted or kept it to very few words. She turned slowly to look at the person, then looked up. At first she seemed a little confused, then there was a bright wonderfully happy smile. She knew him! It was the tall hero, Harry!
“Harry!” She moved quickly and almost gave him a hug, but stopped short. Maybe that would have been rude? Yes, she had kissed him on the cheek earlier, but she didn't’ want to be too forward. “Oh, this is all your fault. Well, not really, but sort of. You got me thinkin’ bout it. I was wonderin’ if there was some way of figurin’ it all out. I don’t think I’ve got it all settled, but I’m gettin’ there. I need more space, but they only let me write on the walls in here. Not sure why they couldn’ just gimme paper and pencil; it’s not like I’ll hurt anyone with it. Plus...” She leaned in, her voice dropping to the conspiratorial tone. “I don’t think any of ‘em are vampires, so the wood in the pencil wouldn’ do much anyway...unless I poked them in some place soft like.”
The brainy little female shrugged and stepped away. “I donno if I got it right. Wanna come look? It’s not magic. I donno magic. But, I guess science was sorta magic to people who didn’t know it. Spooky.” She stepped closer, her hand out for his. “Com’on. This is what I’ve been workin’ on since I saw you. It’s not just energy transference, but massive matter transference - I’m talkin’ whole city blocks. Tryin’ to figure out how much energy and all that. It’s a real thinker. It’s still not right. It just won’t fix itself.”
“Well, I was never that great at math, so maybe we can help each other out.” Harry accepted the invitation to enter the room, taking her hand in his as he did. His right hand. He wasn’t in the habit of letting young ladies see the mess that was his left. And the right hand was more respectful, anyway.
He shook his head when she mentioned vampires. “Nah. Vampires have a different vibe. Cold. Kinda oily. And they wouldn’t be able to get past a threshold anyway.” Even though the hospital was technically public grounds, each room was protected by it’s own equivalent of a threshold, something usually found only in homes. Harry suspected that it was because the inmates had nothing else to themselves but their rooms, so the room became it’s own private sanctuary. It wasn’t a very strong threshold, but it was still there. Which meant any vampire would have to check their power at the door. Might not hinder any from the White Court much, but no Red or Black Court vampires would be able to cross without an invitation. Even Harry himself would leave a good deal of his magic at the door if he’d entered without Fred’s invitation.
He looked over the walls, especially at the spot Fred had been working, and frowned. “Matter transference? Like a teleport?” He whistled between his teeth. “That’d take a whole lot of energy. Magically speaking, I’m not sure it could be done on that scale.”
Fred held Harry’s hand as she led him to the spot she’d been working on. It wasn’t overly difficult, or maybe it was, but she didn’t think so. Her head tilted as she thought through what he’d said. Including the vampire comment.
“They’re not oily. At least I don’t think they all are. They probably can be. I’ve never really met one. I’m pretty certain I haven’t. Or maybe I have. The doctor says I shouldn’t have met one as they don’t really exist, but neither do wizards. I didn’t tell him about you, I promise. Well, I told him about you, but not about..you know. You. He said he knew I’d spent time with someone. How do you like how he said that? ‘Spent time with someone.’ It seems like some sorta way of sayin’ somethin’ that isn’t true. Not that I’d have a problem with it. You seem nice, and you’re nice lookin’, but we just met. Well, not just, but just.” Fred swung their hands a little as she talked. She’d peek up at him now and then, but usually her eyes were on those equations.
“I’m pretty certain it is possible, but donno if it’s magical or biological. Though I guess magical is a lil biological, just meanin’ it’s more a body’s function than a manipulation of forces? Does that make any sense at all? Can’t get away from biology.” She pulled him to another spot and pointed to a drawing of a cell. “See? We move bits and pieces around. Cells do it no problem, so what if you had a really big cell - a really really big livin’ organism? Does it really have to be magical? Donno. Not sure any of this really is all together, just feels like it, but it doesn’ have to be. Not even a little bit.”
It was a good thing Fred was so focused, or she would have seen Harry blush at the idea of a ‘something something’. It had been a long time since Harry had spent time with someone in that context, and the smile on his face had vanished at the fuzzy memory of Susan. He didn’t want to remember that, not right now. So he pushed the memories from his mind, with effort, and listened instead.
“It might be a little biological, but it comes from within and without. Like...” He hesitated, then reached for the necklace under his shirt and withdrew it so she could see the pendant. “The five points of the star symbolize the four elements plus spirit, bound together within a circle of will. So magic comes from nature, from the world, but it’s guided by what’s in your mind. And since you’re throwing energy into the world, it still applies to physics. That energy has to come from somewhere, and mostly it comes from emotion. But if I tried to work a spell that big...” Harry considered, and then shook his head. “No. It’d burn me out so badly, my body wouldn’t have enough energy to keep me alive. There’s only a few ways to make something more powerful than you can handle, and most of them aren’t very nice ways to do things.”
“Blood, sex, death.” The words tripped out without Fred really thinking about it. Yeah, she knew more about magic than she’d admit, or than she’d ever want to say. It hadn’t happened. She hadn’t been there, she’d never been a slave, no one had ever threatened to eat her. No. Her fingers tightened on his, but her face didn’t seem to change. Not much. This was real. She was here; the other stuff wasn’t real. She was in a hospital for a reason, right?
Harry looked surprised, but nodded. “Those work all too well. Then there’s ritual, that can amplify magic with the preparation it takes to carry them out. More than one practitioner working together can give a boost, usually three, but no more than thirteen. And storms. I knew a warlock once, briefly, who used the power from thunderstorms, but that’s really risky, since storms are so chaotic.” He gave her a light smile. “I’ve used blood before, but that can be dangerous. Using your own blood in a spell invests a lot of yourself into how it works. Any kind of backlash would hit harder than you can really prepare for.”
“Well, I don’t plan on doin’ any spells to make this work. Just thinkin’.” Fred looked up at him, nodding a little at what he’d said and what she’d said. The equations were just thoughts, nothing more. At least for now. Outside, if there was really an outside, then they might mean more, much more. Her fingers tightened again as she let the possibility of an outside where all this would matter seep in; it was a little frightening. He had no idea how nervous she was just leaving her room. She liked the comforting shield that was the four walls around her. She liked having some place to hide, and she couldn’t really imagine allowing herself freedom to just go. It seemed like such a scary risk.
“So, how are you?” She blinked as she realized they were still holding hands, and without a blush or comment, she let go of his hand. It seemed rude to hold someone’s hand for too long, and she didn’t want to be all that rude. “You look better.” Then something hit her.
“I have a necklace! Or I did. I think I did.” She looked around the room and found the symbol. It had a pentagram within a circle, flames surrounded it. “Well, I might not have. She did.” She pointed at the girl on the horse. “She got it from a hero. It kept bad things away. Very bad things that would get inside you and make you do really not so good stuff. It looked a little like this.”
Harry could appreciate the work as an academic adventure, but he was pretty curious himself to know if it was something that could work. Most likely, if she was going to try it without magic, that would mean technology. Which meant Harry wouldn’t be able to help out.
“I’m doing alright,” he said, giving her another faint smile. “Kinda the opposite of groggy today.” He tucked his hands into his pockets, trying not to bring attention to it. His smile grew when he saw the drawing of the pentagram, and the girl on the horse. “She was very lucky, then. It’s a powerful symbol, especially when you believe in it.” He tilted his head a bit, going over Fred’s words. It felt like there was more to the story here, something she was missing, backpedaling over, trying not to discuss.
He thought for a moment, considering, then asked, “What else can you tell me about her? I’m interested to hear more.”
Fred looked at the girl on the horse and didn’t look back at him, not right off. Her brows furrowed as she tried to think of what to say. He wanted to know more about the girl on the horse. Her fingers lifted to trace a figures in an equation. He wanted to hear about her...
“She came from a really small town where she was loved. When she was almost grown up, she decided that it was time to go to a big city. A city that would let her grow and learn. She wanted to know what all the excitement was about, so she went off to the city and thought she would be okay. Only she wasn’t. Something happened, and she found herself in a place full of bad creatures who wanted to use her. They called her ‘cow’ and tried to eat her. Tried to kill her. Then one day, a hero showed up with his friends, and they took her back to the city. Only she didn’t stay, she couldn’t. She ended up...somewhere else. She’s known so many heroes, but they never stay, and she end up alone. No one ever stays.” Her head bowed a little, but with a deep slow breath, she turned away, standing straighter. Fred did try to hide the wiping of her eyes. “Hey, at least she always had a hero around, right? Nothing like havin’ your own collection of heroes. Interchangeable even!”
Fred didn’t look at him; she really couldn’t. Instead she went to check on the plant. “Prolly could use some water.”
Harry listened, and more importantly, Harry paid attention. He noted her hesitation, the way she traced at the equations without really looking at them. He saw the way she wouldn’t look at him. At the tension in her shoulders, and the tears in her eyes.
And he wondered how many of the inmates in this place were being told they were crazy, like him. Crazy, because something had happened to them that no one would believe. Butters had done a 90 day mental evaluation for recognizing that the vampire corpses he’d come across were “humanoid, but nonhuman”.
“Sometimes it’s scary, being alone,” Harry said, nodding. “I lost some friends, too. But I don’t think she has to be afraid. The world can be a scary place, and sometimes bad things happen. But there are enough heroes to go around. Sometimes they turn up in some pretty crazy places. But I don’t think she’d ever really be alone, so long as she remembered how much they care about her.”
“She dies. I know everyone dies. But, she doesn’ even have the chance to fight against what kills her. It just takes her over. Eats up her soul, and there’s no more her. Somethin’ else is in her body. She’s just poof.” Fred hated herself for knowing that, for being so curious to look. She hated that she even believed in those memories. They were bad, and they hurt; no one should have to live through all that, or not live through it, or just seem to live through it but not. “Nothin’. They love the other thing instead.”
She petted the plant’s leaves a little before turning picking up a marker and returning to the wall. Marker to one of the few white spaces, she leaned in to look as if she were writing. She wasn’t. She just traced a slow spiral.
“Sorry, it’s not a very happy story. Donno why I keep goin’ on about.” Fred finally looked at him. “I mean sometimes it’s got happy moments, but it always ends like that. Sort of. Maybe here it doesn’ have to. I feel bad when she turns into that somethin’ else.”
Harry frowned. “The pendant didn’t protect her?” He wasn’t thrilled with the ending. Mostly because he could relate all too well. It was hard to fight something on the inside like that. When Lasciel had been an ever-present parasite in his own mind, Harry had given in to her time and time again. More than he had ever been willing to admit. More than he should have.
But Harry had known from the start what Lasciel was, and how to fight her. It was easy for a mortal to be swept away by that kind of power, to lose themselves without a fight. And, unlike the Denarians, whatever had possessed this girl hadn’t needed her permission or invitation.
It made him angry. Angry that someone could be so hurt, so manipulated, with no say in the matter. It made him especially angry that it was a woman. Things like that shouldn’t happen to women or children.
“She didn’t get the pendant until...” Fred sighed softly, turning to lean against the wall, her head resting against it. “The pendant is something that happens in one place in one time. The being taken over by an Ancient One happens in another place and another time. If she were never taken out of her proper timeline. It happens. Just...not here.” It wasn’t that Fred knew where she was, but she knew she wasn’t where she turned into a walking hottie blueberry.
“Plus, she wasn’t even supposed to talk bout the pendent. The hero who gave it to her told her not to talk about it or ever take it off, and it probably doesn’t work or even exist anymore. Plus, he’s probably gone too.” Fred shrugged with the shoulder that wasn’t pressed against the wall. “But, it doesn’ really matter cause it’s not even real. It’s all a story that I made up. Course, if I made it up you’d think I’d have made up a happier one.” Her nose wrinkled, and she rolled her eyes at herself.
“A good story had a happily ever after. The hero falls in love with her and they end up married or just livin’ a really long time together cause they’re meant for each other. Course, that really doesn’ ever happen. I mean, sure you could find someone you’re supposed to be with for a while, but the only thing that’s sorta forever are the radio waves that keep travelin’ out in the universe...and taxes.” Fred gave him a sheepish smile at the bad joke.
The story seemed a bit more confusing now, what with the timelines and all. It was still a sad story. Nothing that should have happened to anyone. Harry let out a sigh, and reached out a hand, laying it gently on Fred’s shoulder. “True stories don’t have happily ever after. True stories are... harder. Like the story about the wizard who fell in love, and the woman he loved was lovely and smart and funny, but then an evil faerie godmother cast a spell so that the woman forgot all about the wizard and how much they loved each other. And then some monsters took the woman away and tried to make her like them. They locked the wizard in with her, so that she would eat the wizard, and he would know it was his fault. But the wizard said some magic words, and the woman remembered him, and that she loved him. They escaped from the monsters, but the woman couldn’t stay with the wizard anymore because she was half monster now. Even though he loved her. Even though he asked her to marry him and to find a way to change her back. She left, because she didn’t want to eat him. And the wizard was sad and alone without her.”
There was more to the story, but it just got worse after that. No reason to tell her the rest. Life was one long story, without the happy ending. Harry didn’t know if his own story was over yet, but the last thing he remembered was waiting for Murphy before dying. With Cassius’ death curse ringing in his ears.
Fred’s brows furrowed a little. She didn’t have a hard time following the story, but was he supposed to play her game like that? Was he supposed to put himself in a story? She wasn’t sure there were rules for this sort of thing, and if there were, she didn’t know if he’d just broken them. Well, she didn’t think about it too long. Instead, she stepped in under the hand on her shoulder and wrapped her arms around him to give him a hug. He didn’t have to worry about what to do for long though; he was saved from any sort of return reaction by an orderly banging rather rudely on her door.
“Knock it off, Burkle. You know the rules.” He knocked on the door again and shifted his weight to suggest he was going to come into the room if she didn’t stop. Fred peeked up at Harry rolling her eyes before stepping back.
“They don’t think patients should have sex in here. I told them we weren’t gonna have sex in here, but they didn’t listen. They said that this is a test.” The second ‘They’ was obviously the plant. “Said it was like that time in Star Trek that Pike is stuck with the pretty woman by the aliens to see if he’d get it on with her. I said no that’s not why we’re here cause that’d just be sort of screwy. If you’re gonna see if people will mate, you don’ stick them in an insane asylum. You stick them on an island and make them think they were lost.” She paused. “You know, like Gilligan’s Island!”
Harry rolled his own eyes when the orderly knocked. “If they don’t want patient contact, why’d I get a present for good behavior last time I talked to you?” He turned and wrinkled his nose at the orderly, sticking out his tongue when the man turned away. Maybe it was childish, but Harry didn’t want to get an extra helping of sedatives tonight because one big dumb orderly had taken offense.
At the mention of sex, Fred once again had Harry’s full attention. He knew his Star Trek. Harry was aware that other series’ had been made since he was young, but the Original Series was the one he’d based his knowledge off of. “If they wanted to see any Star Trek captain getting it on, they should have just followed Kirk. He didn’t need an island, either. Just a planet, a bed, and some species that had gender differences.”
That mood was creeping up again. The jittery feeling that he needed to keep moving for. “Wanna go for a walk?” he asked. “I heard a rumor that there was pudding in the rec room. We could get some.”
Fred giggled at the tongue action; it wasn’t something she exactly expected from the wizard, if he really was a wizard and she didn’t really have any reason to doubt that he was. Who knew wizards could be so silly? She thought she knew of a warlock who could be a little awkward.
“Kirk never fully consummated. Or we never got to see him. Plus, Kirk wasn’t exactly captain yet. Plus, I’ve never been into Kirk types. Gimme Spock. I like ‘em brainy. Sometimes Bones or Scotty - Scotty could fix things. Sort of. He was always complainin’ about how he was givin’ everythin’ she’s got.” Fred didn’t even try the accent. She shrugged again, giving him another sheepish smile.
“Pudding could be good. Course, I had a pudding incident. Put it down my pants. For some reason I thought that’s what you were supposed to do. I was also heavily medicated, and I don’t think they had the dosage right, not at all. What sane person puts puddin’ down their pants?” Fred shook her head and set down her marker. “You are really sweet, Harry.”
“Oh, I take pills for that,” Harry said, without missing a beat. “Today, anyway. Today I got the sweet pills. Maybe tomorrow they’ll put me back on the crotchety old wizard pills like I’m supposed to get.” He gave her a grin and held out his arm. “If you put pudding down your pants, then that’s what you do with pudding. That’s not what I’d do with pudding, just because it’d be harder for me to enjoy eating it like that.”
He started to lead the way, but leaned down a bit to speak quietly to her. “They keep trying to tell me I’m not a wizard. But I know I’m a wizard. I have an ad in the Yellow Pages. They only put things in the Pages if they’re legit, right?”
Fred giggled again, her hand settling in the crook of his arm. He was something of a gentleman, wasn’t he? She softly squeezed his arm just in appreciation for the whole gentlemanly thing. Her mind worked through the pudding issue, and all she could think to do was shrug.
“Really I donno why I would pudding down my pants. I don’t think I would try to eat it there. Would be a little difficult.” She started to bend over, but realized her hand was on his arm. “No, I don’t think I’m limber enough. One day, maybe, I’d have to really stretch. Not sure that that’s a good reason to get limber though - to eat pudding off myself.”
Fred smiled up at him. “I donno. I’ve only had my name in the phone book once.”
“There’s always the reason of: I was highly drugged at the time and didn’t understand my actions. Seems like a perfectly valid excuse to me. I’ve done some loopy things while drugged.” He paused, furrowing his brow. “Or had loopy things done to me while I was drugged.” Then, a shrug. “Probably both.”
He patted the hand on his arm. “I dunno. I just get the feeling we’re here for a reason, but not the reason everyone is telling us.” He considered this for several steps, then shrugged. “But if I was crazy, I wouldn’t really know I was crazy, would I?” Harry had last had this conversation with a werewolf, and knew then, as he knew now, that he was no crazier than he had always been. There was no magical perk to this, just Harry’s own perception of himself, and a built-in stubbornness that he wouldn’t let go of.
Okay, and maybe just a hint of paranoia. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the monsters aren’t outside your door waiting to kill you.
Fred stopped, holding his arm to stop him as well; it might have seemed like it was the scarred hand that caused her/them to come to a stop, yet.....
“But that’s a lot of drugs for me to forget that puddin’ doesn’ go down my pants. It’s not like I would just stuff it down my pants normally. I really really wouldn’, I promise. Puddin’ pants, that’s what they’ll call me.I bet that’s what they call me. ‘There goes, ole Puddin’ Pants.’ ‘Guard the vanilla and chocolate cups, boys. Puddin’ Pants is on a tear.’” Her eyes were big as she thought about it. Then she started laughing.
“Puddin’ Pants. It’s sorta funny. But, I promise not to put any puddin’ down my pants. It gets very messy and squishy.” Her hips wiggled a little as she thought about the feeling. “Although fingerpaintin’ with puddin’ is fun. It’s nice and squishy, and you can lick it off to clean up.” She nodded and started walking again.
“You know you’re kinda nice for bein’ nice to me. And, I think that whole ‘you can’t be crazy and unaware’ thing is a little silly. You can be batshit bonkers and know you’re batshit bonkers - it’s the not doin’ anything about the batshit bonkers that makes you crazier than the actual batshit bonkers part.” Fred squeezed his arm again.
Harry hesitated, worried that the feel of his scarred fingers touching her smooth-skinned hand made her stop, ready to withdraw his hand in an instant. But instead, Fred laughed. Laughed, not even noticing the mess of scars and pink flesh that looked and felt more like melted wax than anything else.
He found himself grinning along with her, and even laughed himself. “You know, I think being nice to you is nice for me, too.” He gave her a sly wink. “Now come on, I want to get some pudding before the rest of the loonies eat it up. Extra points if we can get it down your pants.”