Mark was fuming.
Here she was still stuck at the police station while they sorted out what to do with her. As if they really could do anything worse! She had become a freak. Exactly the kind of thing she was running away from. A dirty Day Monster. What's worse she knew exactly what she looked like. She had seen it from about five different angles. She had not even looked at herself- her own eyes being the sixth perspective. Those delicate features, soulful eyes, inviting expression (when she wasn't scowling like she was now that is), and curves she would have died to hold onto.
The new angel tapped her bare foot irritated. "I'm getting some shoes first thing tomorrow" She said to herself. How in the world did they find themselves wearing these robes anyway? She was getting really irritated by the sensation from the others. They had to be miles away by now but the link they shared persisted. How far did they have to get apart before it stopped? She could feel someone walking, her every step on the pavement bothering her. She could feel the cold concrete, the occasional larger crack prickling the skin, and a slight pressing weight alternating on each foot. She glanced down realising another one was twiddling their toes.
This was horrible.
She had no words to describe what it was like. Nobody could ever have felt anything like this before. It couldn't be blocked out but neither was it as encumbering an experience as it probably should be. she still had control of her body and her own thoughts. But it was still- she gave up trying to rationalise it. This just really, sucked.
The angel girl drew breath as she tried to calm down. "Its okay... its not really bothering me..." then she felt the sensation of her hands hefting her breasts. "Ah!" she squeaked in surprise. Now she really was angry- but with it was a large dose of fear. "Which ever of you is doing that is dead!" she said clenching her fist. Not that there was any way to know. She assumed it was David. He- 'She' was going to pay for all this. It was all her fault anyway!
A few moments later she felt.. someone giving her a hug? She shuddered. She didn't really know how her body was even able to handle the sensations across 5 others, but it did it as if it was a normal thing. The problem was she was thinking about it an awful lot.
"Mark, I have processed your papers. Please sign here" A police officer handed a flyer to her.
Mark continued to fume as she signed the papers. The feeling of the pen likely being transferred to the others as well. Her wings ruffled outward. Why couldn't she lie any more? It was bad enough losing everything she was, she couldn't even lie?
The policeman looked over the papers and nodded. "Right. I'm going to get a schedule for you. We have also informed your parents..."
Mark swallowed... Go home? Like this? As if this couldn't get any worse. Her parents didn't care a bit if she lived or died. They had no expectations of who she was at all. Well, in a way wasn't Mark dead now?
Suddenly she felt a dose of confusion and fear as she sensed a need to go to the bathroom- No correction, one of her 'sisters' needed to go. Her jaw dropped at this realisation. She could sense that? Oh hell! She could sense it! She crossed her legs feeling the sensation of someone else on a toilet seat... and.. and... this was wrong!
Very Wrong.
she was frozen for those ten seconds of her life... and now she really felt troubled. She hasn't even looked at her new equipment.. and she really didn't have any intention to. But now she knew what it felt like before having done anything.
"Your community service starts tomorro-" He looked at the girl. "Hey! pay attention!"
"h-uh?"Mark looked up distracted- the same confusion every other one was feeling too. "Yeah.. yeah.." She sighed, her voice wanting to sound hard but was just.. girly and cute. The exact same tone and voice as the others now had. "so what am I supposed to do?"
"Oh we have plenty of work for you" The officer described picking litter of streets, scrubbing, and finishing off with some gardening work. Apparently a lot of shrubs needed pruning and general gardening. It wasn't exactly as nice as it sounded, there was a lot of things to cut given civilisation was practically at a stand still for almost 3 weeks. "Since you can work in the day now, your going to be quite popular" the officer grinned.
Mark inside thought the hell with this... First chance she could get, she would run off somewhere. She needed to run. She had to get away from the others, to put as much distance as possible. She didn't want to feel what she just felt another four times in the day.
"Of course, if you do not meet your requirements, you will go to Jail."
Mark looked wide eyed in fright... Jail.. in this form? Jail would be a very bad idea. "Y-yeah... .. fine... just give me the address." She could make her run after the community service ended. It would give her time to get an idea of 'where' to actually go too.
She was now tasting coffee in her mouth and it was really annoying her. She sighed, resigned that there was nothing she could do to stop it. Actually... it was kind of nice to feel something relaxing for a change. She indulged in those warm cosy feelings, a little smile on her face- then stopped as she realised how nice it felt. She had to guard herself against this. Just do the community service and get out of here.
Revenge against David would have to wait.
Toby looked at the candles. He was just doing his job, he told himself. He had a mortgage to pay, and a family to feed... he was glad they had all avoided the light so far, and he had also put in a lot of money to protect them. He had paid for every window to be blocked off, so there was nothing but wood in them. There was one very tiny window, facing away from the sun. Light couldn't shine onto it but it was enough that you can tell night and day.
All these measures protected his family... but came at great cost. He was in a job that could afford it though. If he could keep it.
The phone rang and he answered it "Hello? .... Sorry, we only do interviews at night now.... I've nobody to spare... Goodbye".
He grimaced. It was for things like this he would have sent Jay. He felt sorry for what his friend had become. It was... just very sad. He looked across the window to the office staff, and could feel the palpable fear that had engulfed many of his news team. They had uncovered tragic stories as if it were world war III out there. All of it caused by the sun. Monsters... Monsters roaming the world and could roam it at day... or night. That was why he had a panic button now... the world had changed. It was strange how Jay... was able to take it all in stride. He wondered how he managed that. It just seemed so... unnatural.
How he wished for the good times again, when it all made some sense. You never knew what you ran into when you turned a corner. The worst thing is, those monsters could easily be your own flesh and blood... and it only took a stupid delay in getting home, to join them.
"Scared people..." He mused. They had to craft new methods of transport that could be controlled by camera sight. There was a lot of talk of using outdoor suits that blocked out the light and used cameras for vision too. The military in particular had interest in them, and some clever people had make shifted their own kind with web cams, and small laptops or phone cameras. The measures people would go through if they absolutely had to travel in the day. They had a tent structure outside their main entrance to cover anyone leaving a blacked out transporter.
Avoiding the sun had become an art form for humans.
Travelling in a normal car was impossible in the day unless you had a changed person driving. Plane travel had all but stopped as well. Even if you could find a monster that was also a pilot, it was incredibly rare for them to be allowed to fly. You also risked exposure to your passengers... flight travel was still banned. Trains still worked, as they were easily adapted... It was going to take a very long time for normality.
The phone rang again "Yes? Yes this is Toby... What? A report?" What in the world was going on now? It was at that point he saw his other phone ring for his bosses... something must have really hit the fan.
Effie was glad to be back in the real world. Or as close to the real world as she could be. She was even getting used to being on Mikey's shoulder.
"That wasn't so bad" Mikey smiled.
"I- I suppose."Effie took greatly to heart what Bonzo had said. If she was to change her form she first had to understand how to program... and that meant from the ground up. She wasn't sure she could do it, but what choice did she have? She had to try. She smoothed her dress again not even resisting the urge this time.
"What s wrong?"
"Mikey? You've been... really nice to me. I have to tell you... I don't think anyone's been nice to me before."
"Huh?" the robot girl looked confused.
"I... I think I was a horrible person. Before..." Bonzo had warned Mikey that she could be dangerous. A 'friend' living in her mind, a budding hacker... a potential enemy? What could a hacker do in this situation to Mikey? She saw those websites. People really were considering how to take advantage of AI's, despite owing them their existence. The kid trusted her... Why should anyone trust her?
"Your not a horrible person Effie," She lightly tapped her hair smiling to her friend.
Gosh why did it have to feel so nice? "I saw on the internet..." No.. she couldn't possibly say it. She saw so many dark things on the internet that it made her so sick. She also thought of those desperate fairies who must be in a similar situation to her, wanting to go back to normal... what if... what if they tried and got themselves a digital labotomy? And when she thought about it, was her form 'really' that bad? It wasn't unlivable... was it? It was better then death... right? But it was also incredibly uncomfortable.
"How long would it take for you to do that stuff Bonzo asked? With making executables and um-"
"I already did it" The girl piped.
"Really? So quickly?" Effie was astonished.
"I just followed the instructions. It wasn't actually that hard to do. But I'm not sure yet about how I give you access to the editor and your user environment."
"I.. see. This is.. so weird." Effie smiled a bit
"Yep" Mickey grinned a bit. "I'm going to make it so only you can access this compiler. It was recommended that only friends should be able to access it on Emergence. Your going to work in a 'protected environment. Just be careful in there though."
Effie nodded. "I'll start small... Hello World".
"huh?" Mickey looked at her confused.
"Its... never mind. You'll see" She smiled a bit.
