Whatif…a very AU story Continued

Goes with this: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1166887.html

and then this: http://inventrix.dreamwidth.org/29367.html

Cynara had been on the move for a week. She’d woken up every morning and tried to figure out where she should go, and for some reason, answers had kept coming to her.

She’d found unattended food and a surprise stop at a sidewalk sale (the clerk was in the alley, making out with her boyfriend), toiletries and even and unlocked motel room. She’d found bus after bus that had a spot open for cheap or a soft spot for the sad look, and money seemed to appear when she really needed some.

She’d also nearly been found by police three times, police who were clearly looking for her. She had run away, she supposed, but neither her foster parents nor her father should’ve expected her to stay put for too long.

She hopped off the latest bus and looked around. The feeling in her gut, the empty hole, tugged, and she looked around.

There. He looked tired and resigned. He looked lost.

She had no idea who he was, but she needed to talk to him.

She crossed against traffic in a bee-line straight for him, not caring how it must look.

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0 thoughts on “Whatif…a very AU story Continued

    • I’m kind of fuzzy on how their changes are being hidden from them, as they clearly still have their innate powers. Or what their relationships with their forgotten mentors are — are they adults (probably not?), can they find new mentors …?

      • The bracelets they were given – hawthorn – in addition to really really heavy mind control, were supposed to suppress any knowledge of their powers or their Changes. It forced a perma-Mask on. …Addergoole doesn’t have to expel too many people. Their process may have some bugs.

        • It forced a perma-Mask on. Which definitely brings me back to how masks work with changes that are substantially off in shape from human. 🙂 They both acquired tails with their changes, I think? Do they just not *know* that right now? No sensory input? Never get caught in doors or stepped on by people who can’t see them? And ears? If one of them runs a hand through the other one’s hair, will they be able to tell something’s weird? Bugs doesn’t even begin to cover it. And then there’s the promises from their parents that put them in the school, and would’ve forced their children into it. How is that affected by expulsion? (Probably way outside the scope of this story, but there’s at least one in-canon expulsion?) … right. AU. Not really the place for technical questions. But questions!

          • They are good questions! The answer with Masks is… I’m not sure. It’s always been handwaved, but, say, if Anatoliy Masks, does he not have to duck in doorways (he’s a giant)? The sensory input part is – well, mostly that works by making your brain ignore it, but I’m not sure. It might be part of the global Working the Really Big Fae put in place. I might need the science side of Addergoole. As for the promises… “we release you from your promise regarding this child. ” I don’t know what they’d do about babies – E. set up something once but I’ve never been sure I liked it – but none of the AU or canon expulsions had any.

            • Hadn’t thought about perception of Changes! I believe – since the answer to that one is “yes, Tolly had to duck through doorways when masked” – is that part of the mind workings involved duplicating the effects of the mask on their own selves. That is, their mind simply ignores the feedback that they’re not human. More extreme changes like wings would probably be a constant source of mysterious mental stress and I think Leo’s antler cycle would really fuck with him, even without his other issues. – the science side of Addergoole

              • Antlers! Not sure how I forgot Leo had those. Decidedly complicated for head-patting. Cycle? They grow and shed annually? Dropping the extra mindfuck of being forced under mask, how does that even work when one is voluntarily masking onself? Can people see Tolly duck under doorways he appears (when masked) to have plenty of clearance for? If Leo is masked and someone waves a hand over his head such that they’d’ve touched his antlers if he weren’t masked, what do they perceive?

                • Science side here again! So the way Masks work is similar to blind spots, in that your brain fills in the “gaps” with what you’d expect to be there. So, when Masked, Tolly doesn’t appear to duck through doorways his Masked self can fit through; you would avoid walking into people’s wings or tails or horns by accident without realizing it. The average person would avoid putting things or their hands over Leo’s head through the antlers without being aware of doing so. A Mask in normal circumstances has no effect on the Masked person’s ability to use their Change, so yes, Luke can still fly and would appear to be flying, Superman style. However, doing so directly to a person, like hitting them with your wings or tail or jabbing them with horns or antlers would at best cause extreme confusion as the person’s brain tries to reconcile conflicting inputs or at worst, in very bad cases, could break their mind entirely. I imagine for this case, where the effects of Masking are being duplicated in the Masked individuals themselves, the mind workings would have to be supplemented with tlacatl for tactile feedback issues to mitigate that possibility. (Yes, Leo sheds and regrows his antlers every year, similar to the red deer in timing.)

                  • So masking is a *lot* more complicated than visual-and-maybe-tactile illusions … and pretty much any newly-Changed fae can learn to do it (assuming they have a teacher)? That makes the “taps into the Huge Ancient Working” theory tempting. Thank you!

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