3.
"Ughhhh…"
Theo grunted. Mishu—the Runt Coll—had moved off her face and was currently digging his scales comfortably into her. She slowly sat up, observing the environment around her.
After a moment of adjustment, she found that she was still in the barn. Judging by the moonlight coming from the top of the barn, She'd woken up in the dead of night. Grasping around to get up, Theo knocked over a small bun and a letter, before immediately jumping to catch it. Mishu, woken by the commotion yawned as he stretched.
You were out like a log last night. What were you even doing to get so tired?
This list here's what I need your help with. Don't go running out on me.
I've also left some bread for you and the collie, since you lot are probably starving.
"Thank you ciocia Diana." Theo whispered, clutching the note tightly.
She rummaged through the ragged knapsack she brought with her to this world, frantically searching for her med bag.
Breathing a heavy sigh of relief once she found it, she pulled out the plastic pill bottles. Two were white and yellow, with different lettering on the capsules, one was a blue tablet, split down the middle with 'E2' printed on the back, and a large, round yellow tablet with '25' written.
Thank god. That's enough for at least a few weeks… Theo thought to herself. She quickly slapped the thought out of her through her cheeks. I'll worry about that later. Right now, I need to find a living.
Picking out one of each of the yellow pills, and two of each tablet, she dry-swallowed the lot whole.
"Oi. Mishu. J'ai d'corvées à faire."
"Let's see, laundry, stable cleaning, grocery runs…" all tasks I can do on my own Theo muttered to herself, dragging her body to the river a few blocks out from the inn. It seems like ciocia Diana went easy on me… Wondering where she could've gotten water, Mishu proudly dragged her in the right direction. There was nobody but herself and the pup roaming the streets at this hour.
She hurriedly fetched a pail from the stream but
hurk—
The water came back brown, cloudy with countless particulates. She couldn't help but gag at it's state. Deciding firmly against it, she tossed the bucket back where it came from.
"Oi, Mishu. You sure this is the right place?"
The dog whined, looking down slightly in apology.
"Callise. N'y a t-il vraiment pas quéq'chose comme puits ici?" Theo cussed, sighing unconsciously.
With a delayed reaction, a few multi-coloured motes of light glowed, revealing themselves from their hiding spot. Among them chiefly, those blue were shining brighter than the rest, seemingly eager to answer. As Theo prepared to gather another pail of muck, the blue motes nagged at her shoulder.
"Hmm?" She turned her head to look at Mishu, who was mindlessly rolling around in dirt. If it wasn't the pup, then it was…
She turned her head to the other side, the blue motes of the sea of colour nagging her.
"Yeah yeah, what'd you want?" Theo sassily asked the balls of light.
Finally catching her attention the blue motes moved in a direction, seemingly pointing her in a direction.
"And?" Theo put her hands to her hips, unsure of what these spirits were asking of her.
The minor spirits slowed for a minute, unable to parse her words.
"Crappe, j'ai pas toute la nuit! Allez, crache-le déja!"
One of the blue spirits broke off from the group, following Theo's ear. Some incoherent babbling registered, but for her—already stuck in french brain—it made at least a lick of sense.
"Vous savez où trouver un puits fra?che? Donc pourquoi n'ma tu dis dorénavant!"
Theo dumped the bucket of grey slop once more, following the spirits instead. Mishu, having finished his frolicking, seemed to also understand what the buds of mana said, following them without hesitation.
The spirits got somewhat lost halfway through their journey, leading the two on a wild goose chase, but—
"Wait. Behind this hill, isn't that just the inn again?"
Finally having somewhat grasped this town's layout, Theo asked in frustration. Mishu went ahead to the top, giving a single bark as to confirm her suspicions.
The blue spirits finally stopped searching. They slowly lowered, disappearing into the ground below.
"Un puits souterraine? Comment suis'j supposé d'y flècher?" She lowered her head in frustration.
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With a slight delay to her call, the orange-brown-ish spirits this time responded. a hole was bored through the ground, forming makeshift bricks and a roof from the excess dirt removed.
The orange spirits, now satisfied, looked to Theo with a juvenile look of wanting praise, flickering gently.
"D'accord, d'accord. J'y vois. C'est ben apprécié du petit lot." Theo held out her hand, patting the incorporeal beings. Pretty soon, she was swarmed by the little attention seekers. "Alright alright, stop it! That tickles!"
Suddenly, a thought dawned on her.
"Hey lil guys, I don't have much right now, and I sure as hell don't understand where I am or what I should do. So for the moment, can I ask for y'all to help lend a hand? I'll take care of most of it myself, I just need help with a few bigger things, like these." She pointed to the well that'd been created.
The spirits, not at all understanding her words, but guessing from her tone that they were being asked of to help, shone brightly (for their size).
When Diana woke up at her usual time, a bit before the equivalent of 5 am, an intoxicating and pungently delicious smell came from the kitchen. There shouldn't be anyone besides her up this early. Without a second of hesitation, she grabbed the bat she kept behind the counter for self defense, and charged through the door—
…only to find Theodora cooking an unknown dish in front of her, using fire that was coming from a burner-less area of the stove.
"What? Why are ya—" She stuttered.
"Morning auntie Diana! I finished everything you asked of me already, so I thought it'd be a good idea to make breakfast." Theo enthusiastically called out.
Diana was clad in a nightgown, but Theo wasn't. She'd seemingly already washed the jeans and tacky tee she came with, and freshened up more than expected.
"What, for what blasted reason are ya up so early???" Diana demanded.
"Eh. Couldn't sleep."
Theo shrugged as she stirred the pot and spooned-out the extra oil of what seemed to be a sort of fish curry.
"That's not a blasted excuse! And what of the food you've now wasted!?"
"Relax. I got Bethany's blessing to cook this morning. That and, I was already up for more than a couple of hours, so I figured she'd appreciate the chance to sleep in."
"Unbelievable." Diana pinched the bridge of her nose.
"What?" Theo smiled cheekily. "Want to try some?" She poured some of the curry onto a plate, getting a small loaf of bread with it. "Admittedly it would've been better if there was parboil rice…"
"To think ya'd know how to cook those nostril-choking Vyeturi dishes…"
Diana held her breath as Theo served her a plate, looking like she was about to faint.
"Nostril choking? You mean punjabi curry? …Eh. Fair. Everyone I know—well, knew—absolutely loathes it. You can barely taste anything other than their spices." Theo bemoans. "Anyways try it. My foster mother taught me how to make this, and by god I won't let her Guyanese talents go to waste."
Hesitantly, Diana reaches for a spoon. She dug into the softly-cooked fish, taking a small bite with the potato and sauce.
"Hmmm….mm…mmMH!"
Once Diana got through the potato, she almost quite literally melted at the foreign and delicious taste.
"I wish there was more of a kick to it though… Maybe some ghost pepper puree or something?"
As Theo lamented the lack of spice, a small golden mote of light flew in through the widely cracked—and only ventilating—window. As she ripped a morsel of bread and ate her curry—no fork in sight—the lil guy landed on her shoulder and whispered into her ear.
"What?? Mishu rolled around in mud again? I swear, that dog really has nothing better to do…"
"Who? What did you name the collie?" Diana interjected.
"Mishu. It's a late pet of mine's name."
"Ya really gave a name to that runt of a beast?"
"Well, yeah. Why not?"
Theo scarfed down her portion, gently wiping herself along the way to ensure her clothes wouldn't get stained.
"Oh, also word of advice. This stains easily." Theo yapped as she packed away her plate.
"I know, I'm no stranger to foreign foodstuffs—"
"Alright bye I'm going to give that pupper a bath!"
She turned around and almost shouted as she rushed out the back door.
"That kid's always going to be a mystery then…" Diana grunted.
Seeing the leftover bread on the kid's plate, it gave her a spark of curiosity. She took a soup bun for herself, and tried eating with morsels of it.
"Not bad." She whispered.
2.
With the golden mote guiding her way, Theo found the goober easily. Knowing that this human could clean his coat after, he recklessly rolled through any dirt he could find.
"I should've never given you a bath in the first place." She teases, bringing over a large metal pan and a bucket of freshwater from the earlier well. With an abrupt motion, she grabbed the dog and dunked him in the pan, furiously scrubbing his fur and scales.
The spirits surround her. All including Mishu listened attentively as she hummed a small tune. The longer it went on, the more of an audience she seemed to gather.
"There. Don't you dare do this again." She scolded the pup, vigorously drying him off.
By the time she finished, the sun already rose. Judging by her internal clock, however wrong it may be, it should've been either 6 or a bit before 7. She lightly waded the spirits around her away as she put the washbasin away.
The spirits however, did not flee. Instead following her, hoping for more. "Whatever. I'll put up with you all for now then." She whined.
Continuing on with her work, one of the last things that had to be done was hanging up clothes to dry. Obviously, with no sun out, things would barely dry, and she didn't want to tire out the lil fellas that were helping her either. Sill, without asking, the red ones blasted soft heat onto the clothes to help along. She went right back to humming the same a capella, seeking comfort in the familiar.
"On écrit sur les murs le nom de ceux qu'on aime
Des messages pour les jours à venir
On écrit sur les murs à l'encre de nos veines
On dessine tout ce que l'on voudrait dire…"
Even with such an audience, she remained unwavering. Partially because she didn't feel any glares, partially because she found singing fun.
"Partout, autour de nous
Y'a des signes d'espoir dans les regards…"
As she was mindlessly singing, a few people stopped on their early paths to take in the sight. Most picked up shortly after, all except for one, that is.
"子よ、それは素晴らしい！どうやってそんなにたくさんの聖なる存在を一度に集めたのですか？ぜひ教えてください、ああ聖なる者よ。"
"…the fuck do you want from me you cheap spirit-halloween made whore?" Theo's demeanor pivoted almost immediately to snarky.
"さあ、やめなさい！そんな口の利き方で聖職者を侮辱するとは何事です！さあ来なさい。あなたのような才能、無駄にはできませんよ。"
The nun-like woman walked up to her, grabbing her wrists with a force she couldn't break free from.
"UNHAND ME YOU WENCH!" She screamed.
The spirits and Mishu saw this take place. Mishu bit the woman's legs in an attempt to let Theo go, but it was for not. The pup was shortly kicked aside. Some of the motes followed, attempting to help, but they too were either paralyzed in fear or swatted away.
"ESTI DE CRISS-CALLISSE DE TABARNAK L?CHE-MOI!" She screamed as the woman dragged her away.
Mishu, now furiously barking, ran to get anyone else to help, leaving the gathering of spirits alone.
The swarm sat still for a moment, entropy building up as they vibrated exponentially.
With a loud 'bang', swarms of coloured mana mixed together, canceling each other out and wrecking the immediate area.
Filled with resolve and under the lead of one orange mote, a good 60% of the group broke off, taking to scour the streets to find Theo. The rest, slowly and shamefully, faded and dispersed.
