This choice: Leave things as they are now. • Go Back... You spend a few minutes thinking about it before you finally dismiss out of hand the idea of doing anything to her. If you put Caleb into Gillian... well it might be Gillian physically but you would still have a hard time not thinking of Caleb. You'd have to play the roles of Braydon and Gillian which would mean... eugh! It's way too uncomfortable and squicky to think about and you would bet Caleb would likely feel the same way.
And playing a role? Maybe you're getting a little too absorbed into playing Braydon. You want to restore your dad of course but it's so easy to slip into the role of someone else and around Gillian you find yourself playing Braydon a little too well when it comes to viewing her as distracting you from what's important. Not that Gillian isn't important of course but for Braydon it's like there's two streams of importance and rarely does he want them to cross. That's also why finding one of Gillian's friends is a likely bust; Braydon doesn't interact with them regularly enough.
But Caleb has been bugging you about masks and girls so maybe you should find something for him. Put him in a position where he can likely help you out as well. Not somewhere that could distract Gillian likely but if the two of you were on slightly more equal footing...
It's not a surefire idea and it might not totally please him but it might be a good first step in mollifying him all the same so take out your phone and shoot some texts Caleb's way asking him to bring over a blank mask and the other usual items. Impatiently you wait in your bedroom until your phone buzzes and uncharacteristically you jolt off of the bed and dash to the front door.
"You're a lifesaver," you state with relief as Caleb steps past you and into the unused dining room.
"You sound like you know who you're going after," he mutters as he sets his bag and pulls out the materials you'll be needing. "Wish you'd fucking tell me."
You can only grunt a response at first but it doesn't take you long to say more. "I don't," you tell him, "all I know is... you wanted a girl right? The only one I really have access too is Gillian and I don't think you want Braydon's dick tickling the back of your throat."
Caleb's expression says it all.
"But I'll go out and find something for you and if I can't get to them now," you shrug, "well I'd at least have a target for when we're at school."
"And I needed to bring you all of this for that," he scoffs.
But you dismiss his flippant skepticism and then dismiss him as you hustle Caleb out of the door. You promise him that you'll message him as soon as you've at least got a name and you'll see what you can do from there. He's still a little surly over it but probably realizing there's not much else he can do he leaves and you once more sigh with relief. Quickly you go back inside and gather up what he'd left -- the blank mask with attached band, the golem goop and a brush -- before making sure to grab the grimoire and a bag to put it in and head back outside, locking up before heading off to your destination.
* * * * *
A destination that turns out to be none other than Besandwiched, one of a number of creepy and kooky eateries and coffee shops that dot the area around Keyserling. But you're not here to eat. Rather, you're here for something, no someone, far more important.
"Oh. It's you," the waitress mutters as she approaches your table.
"Do you give all your customers that attitude?"
"Only the ones that really deserve it," she huffs. "Where's your girlfriend?" You can only shrug which causes her to shake her head. "So what are you having or did you come here just to bug me?"
"Actually, Ursula, that is why I came here," you admit. This causes the girl to give you a queer look. "It's not about that, lord no," you cringe. Instead you dig through the bag sitting next to you and pull the grimoire out. "I thought you might have an interest in this."
Ursula leans over and eyes the cover. Gingerly she reaches out a hand and opens it and you watch as her eyes scan the title page. Then watch as she flips through and skims the rest of the pages before getting to the one still unopened. "It's ripped? I can see something written there but," she leans in and squints, concentrating hard but eventually pulls back and, looking unsteady on her feet, plants a hand on the table. "Why was it all shifting?" she asks.
You don't answer her, at least not directly. "Try to turn the page," you tell her.
So she does but after a few attempts that get nowhere she gives up. "This is a neat trick Braydon but I'm not stupid enough to fall for your bullshit--"
"It's not bullshit," you insist, "not like... well none of it's bullshit but this is something that's got even me stumped. Can you take a break?"
Ursula glowers at you but she turns back to the book and back to that page. She studies it for a moment before lifting her head up with a sigh. "I guess I can take it a little early," she says as she starts to walk away.
* * * * *
"Where'd you get this?" asks Ursula as she closes the rear passenger side door, the book laid out between the two of you. You'd suggested the backseat for the room making it easier for you both to look at the book.
"A friend," you say cautiously. "He didn't tell me where he found it, he just said that it might be something I'd get more use out of than he would."
Ursula looks at the book, the page showing the completed mask and brain band, intently. She seems absorbed in it before eventually flipping back to the ripped page. "Well for sure like you said it's not bullshit like the rest of your trinkets and books," she states and that gets a rise out of you. Well the part of you that's dealing with Braydon's own mind and emotions anyway.
Ursula, like Braydon, is very much into the occult but Braydon can't help but think of her as just some silly girl more into the idea of tarot and astrological mumbo jumbo than anything real. But of course, as she just showed, she can't help but think of him as a poseur himself, a bigger LARPer than his RPG buddies. Is it any wonder that the two are so perfectly able to get under one another's skin?
But you let the comment pass without arguing back. You need to work on getting her guard lowered. "So what do you think?" you ask.
"I think that it would require the help of a real expert," she says with defeat. "I wonder if I could talk to Priscilla about it..."
"Who's that?"
"Priscilla? She runs Tempting Fates," she replies without looking up from the book. "I apprentice over there on the days I don't have work. She knows her stuff so if we took it to her she might be able to help."
Ursula still seems to be engaged in the book and realizing you might not have any better of a shot than now you reach into the bag and pull out the blank mask. But before you can jam it onto her face she looks up and spots the mask. "That's one of the masks that's in the book?" she asks as she grabs it from you before you can do anything.
"Oh, yeah," you sputter as you're thrown for a loop. "Like the book says, it'll copy whoever you put it on and once it's sealed if you put the mask on you turn into whoever it copied. That's the purported effect anyway. I haven't tested it myself."
"I see," she says as she hands you back the mask. "Though I don't know why you're bullshitting me on that last part."
"Come again?"
"You told me when we were walking out here that you have to do each spell to unlock the next page. If you hadn't tested it, then you'd never have gotten this far in the book right?" She grills you. That's surprising but it's what she says next that really knocks you back. "You used it on Braydon after all."
Your eyes go wide. "I have no idea what you're talking about," you state warily.
"Please," she rolls her eyes. "It's your aura. Everybody's is unique, it's the basic starting point of divination after all; you can't trace someone's path if there's no 'scent' to latch onto. I'm used to Braydon's and yours is not his. So who are--"
But, panicking, you cut her off by jabbing the mask on her face before she can react. Just what in the hell was that? Auras and... what? Somehow she saw through you. And that name she said; Priscilla. When you'd been looking at people who might be able to help you Priscilla Martin was one that came up and though your dad's knowledge has largely faded you do remember that she's a cousin of yours who runs a fortune telling shop... kind of hard to forget finding out you have long lost family members in town after all.
Is this the same Priscilla? If nothing else it appears that Ursula is far less of a poseur than Braydon had taken her for and if nothing else investigating her fortune telling tutor might yield some results. Which is why you wonder if maybe you should do it yourself. Caleb would be mad but you can always find someone else and this seems like too important of a lead to trust to someone else, especially if it's your own family that's involved.
But if Ursula knows more than Braydon thought and she knows you're not Braydon... and if you needed to deal with an overly affectionate girlfriend distracting you... A thought crosses your mind as you look at the unconscious Ursula and wait for the mask to emerge. You might just have stumbled upon an effective solution to the Gillian problem.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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