Worm's Shoulder Devil 5

Mr. Hebert had decided that this day required comfort, so he had taken his daughter to what, to understand Taylor’s sense of wonder, was an Italian restaurant that had not been gone to since Mrs. Hebert had died. 

Their conversation was awkward, stilted. Neither of them could find the words that would express their feelings, and Tanya remained silent, only assuring Taylor of her continued presence every so often. 

Taylor had ordered some cheese-loaded pasta dish, and ate what they called breadsticks, but absolutely did not resemble what Tanya knew to be breadsticks, from the few times she had actually dined in Illoda. They were, however, stick-shaped, and it was still bread, so Tanya remained silent on the peculiarities of Americans. 

It was only once they had returned home and Taylor retired back to her room that Taylor attempted to seriously engage Tanya in conversation. “So what now?” Were her first words. 

“There’s not much else to do for your problems.” Tanya said, “You can only go to school tomorrow, and see how cowed Emma and Sophia are from Blackwell’s threats. If further plans are required, I’m sure I can think of something.” The high school social arena wasn’t her expertise, but her recent experience with it has shown her that it wasn’t that different from office politics. “I’ll think through the scenarios overnight.”

“Thank you, but…” Taylor said, “...I meant more what should we do about you.”

“Me?” Tanya said, “Well, I suppose the next step would be to find a test subject other than yourself. See if any variables change with someone else.”

Taylor winced. “Ah, I’ve been thinking about that.” She said, “Maybe keeping you a secret would be a good idea…” She said, lightly cringing at giving the bad news. 

“Ah yes, that reminds me.” Tanya said, “Sophia and her… handler, let’s say, said a lot of things that I didn’t understand. Acronyms, jargon, and names. Perhaps you would recognize them.”

Taylor looked even more disheartened. “What kind of acronyms?” She asked, clearly suspecting something. 

Tanya closed her metaphorical eyes and tried to recall the terms. “MS situation.” She began, “Sophia said it thrice. From context, I believe the M is ‘Master’, as they said that one separately. They mentioned a bureaucrat, an important one, by the name of Piggot. Further, they mentioned an organization by the name of ‘Youth Guard’, and a woman named Ethel within it.” Tanya tilted her head. “Sophia noticed you looking at me in the office. She mentioned it as supporting evidence.”

“No…” Taylor whined, slumping onto her bed and covering her face with her hands. “Why…”

“Am I missing something?” Tanya asked. 

“Sophia’s a Ward.” Taylor said bluntly.

What was… Oh right. “The youth organization associated with the superheroes?” Tanya asked, unsure. 

“Yes…” Taylor said, moaning at the implications. “The Youth Guard is like a national PTA, but for parahumans. Master is the codeword for parahumans who control minds, and the Director of the local PRT is Piggot… I’ve seen her in the news…”

Ah. That’s bad. “The good news.” Tanya said, “Is that they had decided not to bring up the incident to Piggot’s attention yet.” Before they found out that they got the punishment they couldn’t hide from Piggot. Which was bad. “Also, Sophia is on some kind of probation already, and her actions were in violation of it.”

Taylor perked up. “Oh.” She spent a moment thinking through this new information. “Okay, so maybe it’s not too late to stop you from being thrown in some kind of box for being a mind controlling piece of tinkertech.” 

Uh oh. “Is… that something I should be worried about?” Tanya asked. 

“If you’re lucky and they don’t just smash you.” Taylor said, nodding firmly. 

Well, that’s a problem. “Well, we would just need to be extra careful, then.” Tanya concluded, “Sophia will be watching.”

“Agreed.” Taylor said. 

“Onto further experiment ideas, perhaps an animal?” Tanya proposed, “Find a dog or cat or something and see what happens?”

Taylor hummed, thinking about it. “...Alright, we can do that after school tomorrow. After we make sure Sophia’s stuck in detention, she can’t follow us then.”

“Good thinking.”

------------------------

In a predictable move, the bullying did not cease. It did, however, remain restrained to deniable attacks, such as nasty words said within earshot or faux clumsiness with insincere apologies. For lack of anything better to do, Tanya played lookout which allowed Taylor to better avoid them between classes. She was unfortunately late to class twice, but it was kind of fun coming up with clever comebacks to the commentary, which let Taylor laugh them off. 

Whether or not Sophia noticed any time where Taylor appeared to be looking at something that wasn’t there is unclear: she never said anything out loud where Tanya could hear it, and Tanya made a habit of staying out of Taylor’s line of sight anyway. 

Once Tanya verified Sophia and Emma’s presence in detention, although they didn’t say anything actionable or incriminating in the short time Tanya eavesdropped to confirm this, they were off to the Brockton Bay Animal Shelter. 

“So you don’t take volunteer dog walkers?” Taylor asked, “My friend was so sure you did.” 

“We’ve had a lot of dogs getting stolen that way.” The worker, a young man that looked about eighteen said. Taylor definitely thought he was handsome, if the way her voice suddenly rose half an octave meant anything. “At least some of ‘em end up in Empire dog-fighting rings. My boss told me that she recognized one of the rescues the last time New Wave broke one of those up. So we can’t take volunteers for that anymore.” 

Taylor’s eyes widened as she waved her hands defensively. “I’m not going to do anything like that!” She said in a panic. “I-I just like dogs, and can’t have one of my own.” At least she remembered the pre-prepared excuse… 

The boy looked at her suspiciously, but after a moment seemed to decide that Taylor probably wasn’t a neo-nazi. “If you just want to play with them a bit, they’re already having yard time. Just don’t get mad if you end up stepping in poop or something.”

As Taylor wasn’t really that stoked about dogs, she took a half-second too long to react. “Really? Thank you!” She said, smiling widely as she played with a lock of hair. Mentally, she added: “Can we work with this, Tanya?”

“Worst comes to worst, we’ll have spent the afternoon playing with dogs.” Tanya replied, “It’s not like we have a deadline for our experiments.”

As Taylor was led to the fenced area where the dogs were enjoying a bit of outdoor air, she deadpanned: “You just wanted to play with dogs, didn’t you?”

“Is that a crime?” Tanya shot back. “I haven’t seen a dog since my death!”

When the doors opened, Tanya couldn’t hold herself back anymore and launched into the dogs… only to phase right through the massive malamute she tackled.  None of the dog’s senses appeared to be able to discern her presence, and no amount of attempts to touch or possess the dogs that she could do in ten seconds allowed her to feel the dogs. 

By then, though, Taylor was being mobbed by the adorable things, so Tanya just willed herself back into the type 95 and got to experience Taylor’s laughing distress secondhand. “Crouch down, make your stance more stable.” Tanya suggested. 

Taylor was instead bowled over, but was quickly enough enjoying herself with the excitable dogs, with Tanya’s constant stream of suggestions. “Let the greyhound sniff your face. They’ll jump. Pet the dauschund, he’s such a good boy. It’s a Shiba! Give her all the love.”

After about an hour of play, the workers had stopped really paying attention to Taylor, and the dogs calmed down a bit, allowing Taylor some time to rest. “This was a good idea.” Taylor said in her head, rubbing the belly of a corgi that was sprawled over her lap. 

“It's hard to remember your hardships after enjoying the company of dogs, ne?” Tanya said, speaking from experience. “In the years before my death,” She died at age 16, but she had her last front line battle two years prior; she was promoted to Major General and kept as part of the General Staff as the lead expert on magic in combat. The coveted rear line posting… That put her in the blast radius of a nuclear bomb. Which was not her fault. Damn Being X. “-I owned two dogs. Both German Shepherds, from the same litter. I named them Speer and Schild.” She also taught them to respond to ‘Yari’ and ‘Tate’, but they were good dogs like that. 

“Why that?” Taylor asked. 

“Because I was still in the military, and didn’t want the other officers to laugh at me for naming them Inu-san and Inu-chan.” Tanya admitted shamelessly. “Which didn’t work, to be clear. When you look like me, laughter is unavoidable.” Life in the General Staff was a constant battle to get taken seriously. It was easier when her ideas were filtered through Zettour and Rudersdorf, as the former took her seriously from the start, and while Rudersdorf also seemed to think of her as a favored grandchild (she was just thankful he didn’t have any grandsons to matchmake her with), he did actually listen to her ideas. Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about that anymore. 

Taylor looked around. “Hey, no one’s watching.” She said telepathically. “So do you want to test this?”

“Do it.” Tanya said, and Taylor fished the type 95 from her shirt. Tanya was cut off from the girl’s senses the instant the chain was no longer around her head, and the chain was then folded and put over the neck of the Shiba. 

It felt… strange, to be a dog, but just like before, the chain being around a being’s neck allowed Tanya to feel what they were feeling. Unlike when she was with Taylor, the dog’s will seemed to immediately subordinate herself to Tanya, and Tanya immediately stumbled as she now had to walk on all fours. 

Still, whatever processes permitted the possession also protected the previous person’s physical performance, so after that one stumble Tanya got the hang of things rather quickly. “It worked!” Tanya tried to say, but instead just barked. Her tail was wagging… and she could not stop it. 

The smells of being a dog were also rather fascinating. Tanya gave Taylor a sniff, and marveled at the complex aromas that she could discern, even if she could not yet translate them into useful information, as a real dog might. 

The other dogs seemed to have noticed her actions, though, and it sent a tremor of unease throughout the dog shelter’s park, ears folded back and tails between legs. “I’m sorry.” Tanya tried to say, which came out as sort of a whine, and she walked back to Taylor. Instead of trying to vocalize, she poked the teenage girl’s arm with her nose, and Taylor removed the type 95. 

Once the dog perked back up, confused but unharmed, the rest of the dogs seemed to dismiss the earlier issue as anything worth worrying about and continued to be playful. 

Taylor put the type 95 back on, and Tanya spoke up immediately: “It’s pretty much the same as when you wear it, except that it’s so easy to take control I’d probably have to put substantial effort into not doing so.”

“Is it because it’s an animal?” Taylor theorized, “Does the test using a dog specifically affect things?” They had tested it, and in a contest of body control, Taylor could win in any situation they tested, with the sole exception being when she was punched. Why Taylor could so easily fend Tanya’s possession off while a dog folded immediately could have several explanations, but they’d need a larger sample to be sure of anything. “Would other dogs be more difficult?”

“All good questions.” Tanya agreed, “But while I’m not the biggest fan of the idea of being an animal, it does seem a step up from my other options. You should ask your father if he’s willing to accept a pet.”

“Maybe if I find a stray cat?” Taylor mused as she went through the process of leaving, including a very awkward goodbye from the handsome worker as she embarrassed herself through the fact that she did not possess a phone. At her age, in 2010? Truly, she was right to be embarrassed. Cell phones were not expensive! Nice ones were, of course, but…

“Eh…” Tanya didn’t hate cats, per se… “Maybe.” She said, “The type 95 may be too large to be comfortably worn.”

“You didn’t notice?” Taylor asked. 

“Notice what?” Tanya replied. 

“The necklace resized itself to fit the dog.” Taylor pointed out. 

Oh. Now that was interesting. “...I had no idea it did that.” Tanya admitted. 

“Emma and Sophia are probably out by now.” Taylor said idly, “We should probably get home, I need a shower.” While Taylor did manage to avoid getting anything exceptionally filthy on her, even ordinary dog slobber and fur had a distinct musk that absolutely warranted her desire to clean up. 

“We’ll revisit the animal thing later.”

------------------------

Taylor wasn’t able to convince Danny to allow her to buy a dog. Apparently, he was a cat person. As a cat technically fit their requirements, the week passed with many petty incidents, but no actual confrontations or other major pranks, and on Saturday Danny drove Taylor to the animal shelter to find a young, vibrant black tomcat by the name of Yami. Apparently the cat only responded to words said in Japanese. Or, at least, in a Japanese accent. Tanya briefly took over Taylor to test it, speaking in English but with Japanese phonemes, and that assurance allowed the shelter owner to allow Yami to be released into their custody. 

As they had already planned for this, it was a simple matter for Taylor to ‘find’ a ‘not real gold’ ‘fancy but cheap collar’ for the cat, and then Tanya had full control over an animal once more. 

Being a cat was… interesting. Tanya meowed at Taylor in an attempt to communicate, failed, and then spent a bit of time jumping up and down the furniture to test her new freedom. 

Taylor, amused, sat down. “Come here.” She said in Japanese, one of the few commands that Tanya managed to drill in her head in the two hours they had between adopting Yami and getting the type 95 on the cat. Tanya obeyed, hopping onto the girl’s lap and settling down. 

“I see he likes it.” Danny said, smiling. 

“I wonder…” Taylor murmured as she ran her fingers through Tanya’s fur. 

Oh. That was nice… “I know you can’t understand me, but maybe being a cat’s not so bad…” Tanya said, which came out as kind of a mewling purr. 

While Danny’s presence halted any detailed experimentation for the next few hours, eventually Taylor thought up an excuse to bring “Yami” up to her room. Once Tanya was on the teenage girl’s bed, Taylor  held the tiny version of the type 95 between her fingers. “Can you hear me?” She asked telepathically. 

Ah ha! “Yes, I can.” Tanya replied in turn. “Can you?”

“Yeah.” Taylor said with her voice, nodding. “Let’s see how this works…

With a few simple tests, taking innocuous poses and seeing how complicated it was to make contact, it was discovered that touching the type 95’s chain was sufficient to open up a telepathic conversation, which was quite useful. It required more directed intent, not quite a shout but a metaphorical raised voice to convey the words, than when Taylor was wearing the operations orb herself, but it was simple enough. 

They spent the weekend… pretty much just enjoying Tanya’s newfound ability to actually exist, adapting to her newfound existence as a cat. Sure, she could barely taste anything, but the sense of smell was fascinating! Her hearing was great, and the large jumps she was capable of was almost like flying! 

That said, they also gave the ‘real’ Yami some time with the body, letting the cat get accustomed to his new home. Tanya suspected that the cat was comforted by his own scent being everywhere, and it didn’t take long for him to be relaxing around the house even without Tanya piloting the feline’s body. 

On Monday, though, it was decided that Tanya would accompany Taylor to school as done previously; while Emma and Sophia did seem to have heavily limited their activities, Emma’s detention was now over with, so if she was going to do anything to celebrate this newfound freedom… well, the war wasn’t over yet.