[REND] B3. 2.3 - Poking Pino

“Excuse me?” My ears were probably not working. Did I even have ears? Feeling the sides of my head, I found rigid ears attached to the sides of my head that didn’t have holes when I poked into them. “Did I hear that correctly? Are you going to ask for an artificial Core from Dario? Why? And how is that going to work?”

“Not me.” Kelsey pointed at me, her scales fluttering in her excitement. “You will. You, as Pino, will pretend to be the right hand of Red Hood and ask for Dario’s help in curing Adumbrae, which needs Cores. It has to be Pino because you can talk. And you need to talk because you’ll clear up the initial… uh, rough encounter with Dario and Red Hood. Myra told me that you beat up Dario.”

“I did… Yes.”

Kelsey laughed. “Awesome! I wish I could’ve seen that. Anyway, we’ll brainstorm Pino’s backstory more. For now, let’s say that Pino, Red Hood, and a few other Adumbrae want to be human again. An extremely rare group of Adumbrae who can control their minds at times. You can also claim that you have me with you. Saved me from somewhere… whatever. There are some kinks to that idea, but we can think—”

“It’s a great idea!” Myra exclaimed. “Kelsey can show up one time, pretend to be all feral and the like. I’ll turn on the waterworks. Absolutely cry my eyes out. I’m not going to be good at it, but Dario will have a lot more things to think about than my shitty acting.”

“Right? Am I crazy, or can this work?” Kelsey’s eyes glowed. “Pino can say that their Adumbrae group learned about artificial Cores from me, and that they found a way of using it to counter seeding.”

“Oh, I got it, sis!” Myra matched the excitement of Kelsey. “Maybe Red Hood or some other Adumbrae got a Core from a defeated Corebring. They experimented on it and found out that it could partially reverse seeding. But the Core broke because it was already damaged from the fight. They’ve been looking for a replacement since then.”

Kelsey clapped her hands. “Red Hood now aims to use artificial Cores.”

That’s actually a nice backstory, I thought, somewhat jealous that I didn’t think of it first. Did these two Bs plan this beforehand, and were pretending they only thought of this now? I hated when people formed smaller groups within a larger group. Only I was allowed to do that.

Deen placed herself between the crazy Fletcher sisters and me. “Let’s take a step back first. This’ll be dangerous for Erind. Dario might attack her.”

“Nah, no danger here,” Myra said. “Pino wasn’t affected by that Adumbrae with the mind prison, remember? I honestly doubt Dario’s headache bullshit will work on Pino. What’s more, her body’s freaking indestructible.”

“If there’s real danger,” Kelsey said, “Erind will remove her mask. Poof. She’s back to her body and will act surprised that this mysterious Pino character disappeared in the blink of an eye. Zero risks.”

“What if Pino gets disassembled?” Deen grabbed my arm and wiggled it. “It’s her major weakness. Dario could easily do that to her.”

“Pretty simple,” Myra said. “I’ll stop Dario. I wouldn’t want him to attack Pino, the only connection to my ‘lost’ sister. You can back me up; that’ll neutralize Everett. Johann will be on my side. Reo is too much of a whiny twig to join in. The empty Erind body can stand to the side and not be suspicious. Dario’s not going to do things on his own.”

“But what if Dario does get suspicious of my soulless body?” I asked.

Myra placed her elbow on the shoulder of my standing Erind body to lean on it. “Erind, we’ll help you practice controlling your body so that Dario won’t suspect a thing. You’re usually quiet anyway. Dario won’t expect you to say anything when Pino crashes our meeting. Man, I already like where this plan is going.”

“That part’s okay,” I said. “But what about the Dario-giving-a-Core-to-an-Adumbrae part? No way he’s going to agree to that.” Did the Fletchers think of this plan far enough? I had a sort of answer for the problem I raised.

“We’ll find a way to convince him,” Myra said. “Don’t sweat it. We’re four smart gals. We can think about the small parts of the plan later.”

“It’s not a small part,” I said, wondering if I was the only sane person among the 4Bs. I always knew that I was different from other people. But that might be a good thing if supposedly ‘normal people’ were this insane. “If Dario’s not giving the Core, then there’s no point to—”

“I got it,” Kelsey said, snapping her fingers. The thud of the snap sounded different because she had scales instead of just skin on her palm. “You three will push your group to pretend to work with the Adumbrae so that you can rescue me.”

“I’m gonna go berserk that my sister is held by Red Hood,” Myra said, pretending to pull her hair. “Dario will have to agree with the plan to save Kelsey. It’s gonna be fucking fun! We need to get back at that asshole!”

It will be fun… I slowly realized.

And I’d play the important roles—Red Hood, Pino, and my Erind self. This was going to be my ultimate performance on stage! Plus, Myra was right that we had to do something to Dario for being a dickhead. I was starting to get on board with this.

My original plan was to present my Pino body as my Core power so that Dario wouldn’t think that I was an Adumbrae. Safe. No drama. Passive. Defensive. The plan of the Fletchers was way more exciting. Proactive. Fraught with drama and danger.

Fraught. That was a nice-sounding word.

“I’m still not a hundred percent sold on this,” I said. “But I have an idea. Kelsey, you shouldn’t show yourself. Myra, there’s no need to pull your hair out just yet. Adumbrae can sense Cores, right? Pino comes to Dario and asks for Cores to cure Kelsey, who was supposedly with Red Hood. I’ll say that Red Hood will only show Kelsey if Dario brought a Core.

“Myra, you can do your berserk thing to push the group to save Kelsey. Everyone will back you up. We’ll force a vote. I think only Reo won’t agree to it. Dario won’t push his dictatorship with Kelsey on the line. I bet that Dario and the Professor will want to investigate Red Hood’s group anyway. They’ll want to learn about the process of reversing seeding. For the next meeting with Pino, Dario will have to bring an artificial Core because I, as Pino, can sense whether he had one or not… which I really can’t.” I looked at Kelsey.

“I developed that sense only after my whole body transformed,” Kelsey explained. “I couldn’t feel Myra’s Core back then.”

That’s the point of a complete takeover, I realized. If that happened, my lovable self would be pushed to the corner of my mind. Spooky Erind would be in charge. Unlike Kelsey’s case, there was no one to save me if it reached that point. Maybe I should try a second Core? I was game for anything that might save me.

“For the second meeting,” I said, “I’ll be there as Pino with Kelsey. Working together, it’ll be easy to steal the Core from Dario.”

“Rough up the asshole while you’re at it,” Myra added.  

“Oh, Erind. Not you, too.” Deen placed her hands on her hips and disapprovingly shook her head. “Don’t get caught up in this. You already said it yourself—Dario isn’t going to give an artificial Core to an Adumbrae. I’m awfully doubtful that he’d pretend to deal with Pino and Red Hood, even if it’s to save Kelsey.”

“I’m sure… that he will,” I said, raising a finger. “There’s something that I’ve learned about Dario when we met at the docks.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Myra. “You two ran into each other there. We also did! You told me that you knew Kelsey but didn’t know where she was.”

“I didn’t say anything. You were saying all that stuff, and I just nodded along. What else was I supposed to do? I wasn’t going to reveal who I was.”

“To be fair,” said Kelsey. “Erind does know me… And she didn’t know where I was at that time.”

“Good point,” Myra said. “Back to Dario. You attacked him, right, Erind? Did he attack you first?”

“Not exactly. He actually offered me an alliance.”

“What?” said the three other Bs in unison.

“He figured that I, as Blanchette, was attacking the 2Ms, too,” I said. “So, he proposed that we work together. I was super surprised about it. I didn’t want to ally, so we fought.” Just hiding the truth that I attacked Dario unprovoked because he was a louse that should be squished. Keeping my ‘good girl’ image as much as possible, even though I had eaten Kelsey’s limbs.

“Dario was willing to work with a random Adumbrae he met?” Myra shook her head. “That asshole’s willing to do anything to achieve his mission! I bet he would’ve backstabbed you afterwards. Damn, you should’ve just killed him right then and there.”

“If Dario had died, then we wouldn’t have a way to get a Core from the Professor,” said Kelsey. “This piece of information is crucial. We might bait a Core from Dario.”

“And pills as well,” I said. “We’ll need a lot of pills for maintenance afterward.”

“We need to find the Professor,” Deen said. All of us looked at her. “You’ve all convinced me of the merits of this path. Let me share my thoughts. If we’re going to scam Dario out of a Core—”

“It’s not a scam,” Myra interjected. “More like outright stealing.”

“—we have to get pills as well,” Deen continued. “So far, the Core and pills are the only proven ways of reversing seeding. We need a constant supply of pills as maintenance.”

“I’m just twenty-three, and I’m already on maintenance meds,” I said, chuckling. “You’re right, Deen. To get lots and lots of pills, we might need to go to the source. Discover what’s up with the Professor and their entire organization.”

“How about using your gangster minions to help us, Erind?” Myra wondered. “Order them to tail Dario to see where and how he gets his deliveries. Then they could follow that delivery guy to wherever hole of a government laboratory he came from.”

“I guess I can order them to do that. But I’ll have to wait for the city to calm down. Police, BID, and Guardsmen everywhere.”

Myra laughed, repeatedly patting my original body’s head. “My mind was freaking blown when Kelsey told me that you became the leader of the gangs of Marsh Row. You’ve got spunk, Erind Hartwell! I underestimated you. Should we call you ‘boss’ now or what?”

Yes, you should! I yelled in my head. “I was just preparing in case I had to go on the run,” I said. “So… What will we test next?”

Kelsey suggested that I try to order my Erind body to summon the Blanchette mask. That was a brilliant idea, if only it worked. I wasn’t sure if it was a mere lack of practice or if it just wasn’t possible. Was my soul needed in my original body to do it? Maybe my seeding needed to progress for my Pino form to become more powerful?

Myra wanted me to connect with her, but Deen wouldn’t allow it. Deen spouted stuff like protecting Myra from getting addicted to my power and that I was supposedly more comfortable connecting with her because we were best friends. That earned her weird looks from Myra.

“Okay…” Myra said. “Erind, you linked with Kelsey and do your magic. It’d be great if you could shave off some more scales or reduce the size of her horns.”

“It’s difficult to lie down with horns,” Kelsey said.

“But don’t push yourself too much, Erind,” said Deen. “We don’t want you to worsen your seeding.”

I linked with Kelsey using my right hand and my original body with my left. Then I activated my Core, which I could more easily do now. Or maybe the Core on my Erind body switches on when it detects my connection with Kelsey. The Core on my chest released a light show, barely dampened by my sports bra and shirt. Orbs of flickering rainbow traveled from my Erind body to my Pino self and onward to Kelsey.

“Can you see our connection?” I asked.

“The moving lights, yes,” Deen said. “Apparently, it’s visible when you use your powers.”

“Kelsey, can you feel yourself getting better?” Myra asked, observing her sister for any changes. “We’ll check your measurements later if you’ve shrunk.”

“I’m… I’m feeling fine,” Kelsey said. “Is it possible to keep my bust size when I return to normal? I’ll surely be a head turner at law school with—”

“Take this seriously,” Myra cut in. “Erind, can you detect the Adumbrae in Kelsey’s head?”

“No,” I said, not elaborating that I could tell Kelsey was hiding Keke.

It was super empty in Kelsey’s head. Guarded. Sanitized.

There were no bits of random thoughts or emotion like with Deen. It was like when girls pretend to take a candid photo, but they all posed to present their best angles. Staged—that was the word I was looking for. Saving this bombshell for a dramatic reveal someday. Myra would surely freak out that her sister was choosing to protect the Adumbrae.

This might also be why my ‘treatments’ weren’t having much effect. It was kind of like having a diet coach but secretly eating midnight snacks. Irked me that Keke and Kelsey made me look bad.

Several minutes later, I said, “I think that’s enough for now. We’re just staving off further seeding. For more results, I’ll need to take the pills.”

“We’re going to refine our plans before implementing them,” Deen said. “Safety is our priority. If there’s a hiccup, and Dario will find out that we’re setting him up, we’ll have a very powerful enemy. The Professor might send strong artificial Core wielders after us.”

“Thanks a lot for dropping by, Erind,” Myra said. “We appreciate it.”

One social commitment done, I thought. I had another one tomorrow. Weird that I was categorizing Mom’s visit as a commitment, but that was how it was. Erind, the dutiful daughter, had a part to play.

(Author’s Notes: Here we have the initial plan of the 4Bs. As is the case with most plans in REND, it won’t go smoothly. There’ll be a lot of shenanigans and twists. This is how we’ll develop Dario’s group for Book 3. And we’ll also have to work on Tower Cop and the BID. But before those, we’ll have a bit of downtime with the arrival of Erind’s mom.)