Chapter 278: A class act (Patreon)

For a couple of long, tense seconds, as Kaitlynn slows us all down to hover in front of the otter, it remains eerily silent.

The problem is immediately obvious to me: this is not something we’ve prepared for. Kaitlynn doesn’t even know this Peilor’s name, let alone how Lyrack used to interact with him.

Did he chat politely with his neighbour? Did he crack terrible jokes? Has his neighbour been to the show before, or did Lyrack always offer him tickets which he politely refused?

There are countless possibilities, and she can’t question Loudmouth about it now either; even if the Hoig had learned how to answer subvocally—which he hasn’t—there wouldn’t be time!

Just as I’m starting to panic, however, a sigh rings out from the yellow crystal lodged in Loudmouth’s forehead. “Oh... it was all right, I suppose,” Lyrack’s voice chimes unenergetically.

That’s... not what I was expecting.

Loudmouth stiffens a little, seeming affronted, but he quickly remembers himself and relaxes again. Bulging-Eyes and Smooth-Cheeks just smile vacantly, completely relaxed thanks to the Commands we put them under.

The otter cocks its head to the side. “Well, that don’t sound too enthused,” Lyrack’s neighbour chimes, sounding a little put off. “Rough crowd tonight?”

“Oh, no,” Lyrack’s voice chimes. “The crowd was fantastic! No, I just... I’m just feeling a little out of sorts, I suppose.”

Finally, it dawns on me what Kaitlynn’s doing. She’s pretending he’s not feeling well, both to make it seem less suspicious if he acts out of character, and at the same time planting the seeds for Lyrack’s ‘sabbatical!’

My chest swells with pride—well, mentally speaking. Attagirl. Damn, and here I was worried she was panicking...

“I’m just wondering what the point of it all is, you know?” Kaitlynn continues in Lyrack’s voice. “I’ve been dreaming about my name in lights for so long, but now that I’ve actually achieved it, it just feels... hollow.”

Okay, don’t oversell it now... We need him to still believe it’s Lyrack!

“I see,” the neighbour chimes awkwardly, “well, uh, ya ever wanna talk, you know where to find me, ’cause, well, your house is right next ta mine, and uh... well, I imagine you’d like to go there right about now, so I’ll see you around, neighbour!”

And with that, the otter turns around and quickly floats back down.

Wow, what a sincere offer. Not.

Kaitlynn wastes no time in getting us moving again, touching down in Lyrack’s yard mere seconds later.

Internally, I let out a sigh of relief. Guess Lyrack’s neighbour doesn’t enjoy conversations about existential dread. Well, good. Let’s just hope he bought it.

Lyrack’s mansion is gorgeous, all white walls, tall, arched windows, and balconies with decorative Darksteel railings, nestled in a lush, colourful garden lined with stone trails and low hedges.

The downside of all the splendour on display, is the part where it’s all very much on display. So the first thing we do, is activate a kind of privacy shield: a thin shell of turbid blue Boreum that covers the mansion and pretty much the entire estate around it, and is supposed to keep other Peilor from showing up announced—as well as from peeking inside, of course.

Well, Suri activates it, to be precise.

Apparently the mansion has an Espir-based system controlling its various functionalities, which she accesses through a white crystal next to the ornate double doors at the front.

The system is keyed to Lyrack’s Espir, of course, but according to Suri that’s not a very difficult security measure to crack.

As the Boreum shell grows closed overhead, diffusing the blue light coming off Big Bortha into a soft glow, I mentally blow out a breath and finally allow myself to relax a little.

With the help of a little Spatial Energy, I pop out of Bulging-Eyes’ forehead, leaving a pocket-like depression behind. Suri follows my example, and comes floating over.

“Should you close those up?” I ask out loud, lazily making use of objective meaning to convey that I mean the forehead indentations.

“Why bother?” Suri chimes in reply. “We’ll need them again later, anyway.”

I form a conjuration of myself around my crystal, with my arms folded and a brow raised.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask what they prefer,” Suri chimes after a moment, her own conjuration appearing with a contrite look on its face.

First, we undo the Commands that kept them placid, leaving only a few to ensure they can’t actively betray us.

Upon asking their opinion, however, Bulging-Eyes and Smooth-Cheeks glance at each other and shrug.

“Bulging-Eyes don’t mind,” she croaks. “Want to help Friends of Loudmouth!”

“Well, all right then,” I reply, mollified. “Speaking of...”

The Hoig in question hopped off earlier, enthusiastically croaking about providing Kaitlynn with a tour around his private section of the grounds, so we decide to head over to see what all the fuss is about.

Bulging-Eyes and Smooth-Cheeks lead us there, already looking smug, and as I come floating out of the trees sheltering their little sanctuary, I can see why.

In the shade of the foliage lies an idyllic little lake, fed by an actual Hydrumfall clattering down from a cliff.

Lily pads act like stepping stones that connect to an island in the centre, upon which stands a charming little cottage with a wide veranda, angled to catch the rays of the Twinstar during its active phase.

Basically, it’s a little slice of paradise.

Shaking my conjured head, I send a tether of Lavi over to Suri. <I’m starting to feel kinda shitty about Erasing Lyrack now,> I send. <The dressing room was one thing, but I really hadn’t expected Loudmouth to have been treated this well by him...>

<Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about it,> Suri sends back after whipping a Lavi tether back my way smooth as butter. <I doubt Lyrack did all this out of sheer kindness.>

I frown, glancing at her conjuration. <Then why go to such lengths? Do you think he was, like, unable to control Loudmouth?>

<I doubt it, dear,> Suri replies. <No, I think he realised he needed Loudmouth to be uncontrolled, authentic. Actually, that could explain his sudden success... I reckon he released Loudmouth from most of his Commands, and simply manipulated him the old-fashioned way.>

I smile faintly. <Manipulated might be the wrong term there. Looks like he just bribed him.>

Suri sends back an impression of amusement, which is an interesting use for telepathy. It kinda makes sense though, for a species that has no facial expressions.

Before I can delve any deeper into that, Loudmouth comes sailing down the Hydrumfall, whooping excitedly, and performs a glorious bellyflop.

Seven out of ten for the flight, three for the landing. Wait, does this mean... they’ve got a slide up there?!

I never thought I’d be jealous of a frog someday.

Fun as this all is, we have business to attend to, so we quickly flag them down.

Once Loudmouth pops his head up out of the Hydrum with a questioning look on his face, Suri starts inquiring about Lyrack’s itinerary and upcoming appointments.

From the shifty way Loudmouth glances around as she attempts to interrogate him, it quickly becomes apparent he knows jack shit about this stuff. However, when Suri sighs and asks if he might at leastknow where Lyrack keeps his records, Loudmouth perks up.

“Mister Lyrack made notes in study, Loudmouth can show you!”

Unlike Loudmouth’s dressing room, the inside of Lyrack’s mansion is understated. Soft, creamy whites and smooth, elegant lines set the tone for the bright interior, offset with Darksteel details and splashes of muted colour like abstract paintings and sculptures.

All in all, it’s clear he didn’t share Loudmouth’s tastes in interior decorating.

Loudmouth quickly hops up to the second floor, where he gently, almost deferentially cracks open the door to a room that gives off meditation-room vibes more than study vibes, really, with the various painted quilts and plants draping down from pots on the walls.

However, there is, in fact, a kind of desk here—though it’s round and features no chair—upon which lies a single, open book, with pages that appear to actually be thin sheets of Greysteel.

Raised bumps and lines form a kind of geometric shapes featuring a lot of hexagons on the surface, which I quickly find form words and sentences that combine into... a kind of knock-knock joke?

“Aah, new material!” Loudmouth croaks excitedly, picking it up. “Loudmouth normally never get to see before show... Quick peek can’t hurt, though. Hmm, script say, Knock-knock!”

Loudmouth waits expectantly.

“Ehm, who’s there?” Kaitlynn asks after a moment.

“Owl!”

“Owl who?”

“Owl eat you, tasty little Hoig—aack!”

Seeming to startle from the implied violence, Loudmouth fumbles the book and drops it on his webbed toes, after which he hops around the room one-legged, loudly croaking.

This is the level of jokes Lyrack had Loudmouth telling? Oof.

Meanwhile, Bulging-Eyes clutches her stomach as she starts to guffaw and Smooth-Cheeks literally falls over laughing.

Well, I can see why people might consider his delivery amusing, at least. It’s certainly unique.

“Ah, here we are,” Suri chimes as she floats over to the circular desk, and touches down into a indentation in the centre.

Almost the moment she does, the desk starts to rotate and open up, showing an interior filled with rows of books with metallic spines.

It takes me a moment to realise how she’s doing it, but my new energy-sensitivity soon reveals to me that she’s pouring Lavi into the wood, and using it to form a complex network of flows inside of the structure that set it into motion.

Huh. I never really thought about it, but I guess if you can control Aether and Hydrum with Lavi... why not other stuff too!

Soon, she settles on a book which simply says ‘Itinerary’ on the spine, and through some internal mechanism, has it brought up out of the desk, which closes beneath it.

Then, she whips a Lavi tether at the book itself, and that starts to move.

The pages flip past too fast for me to really read, but I catch the gist of what comes by nonetheless.

It’s a calendar, full of performance dates, galas to attend, talk show appearances, meetings with network executives...

“What a busy man you were,” Suri mutters. “Ah, perfect.”

She leaves the book open on a list of contacts. “Okay, Kaitlynn. We’re going to need you to make a call to this person,” she chimes, using some Espir to light up the listing that’s marked as ‘Personal Assistant.’ “But first, we’re going to practice.”

On the call to Lyrack’s personal assistant—a Flawed-tier Peilor, of course—Kaitlynn puts on an impressive act of a listless, frustrated Lyrack. She ends with instructing her to cancel all of his appointments and shows, citing deep, emotional turmoil.

“Do you think she bought it?” Kaitlynn asks once the show is over.

“Definitely,” I state with confidence. “That was incredible.”

“Emma’s biases notwithstanding,” Suri chimes dryly. “I would have to agree. That was a wonderful performance.”

Kaitlynn beams happily at her, so I magnanimously choose to ignore the jab.

“Still,” I say, “is this going to be enough to keep our ruse going?”

“It should be, for a while,” Suri chimes. “Concerned friends might show up eventually—if he’s made any—or more likely, someone from the theatre. If we persist like this for a long time, I suppose Clarity Conclave—that’s the Cove’s homeowner association, more or less—will eventually politely urge Lyrack to leave Clarity Cove and seek housing elsewhere.”

I raise a brow at her. “The homeowner association, really?”

“You shouldn’t underestimate their influence,” Suri warns. “An official invite or request like that is as official as a shift in tier gets, generally speaking. The only ones who can outright assign tiers are Starmother and the Council of Stars. Everyone else has to really tiptoe around the matter, handle things discreetly.”

“And if we ignored that notice?” Kaitlynn asks.

Suri is quiet for a moment, either considering the repercussions or rendered speechless by the sheer audacity of the concept. “Well, eventually, I suppose some Solith-tier grunts would show up to physically remove him,” she replies.

“How long does all of this give us?” I ask.

“Weeks at least, months at best.”

I nod. “All right, we can work with that... even moving down a tier isn’t necessarily an issue, as long as we don’t invite undue scrutiny. The most important thing is that we get all of our friends together, and get them to safety. The more important deadline, after all, is the day Earth is brought over. Actually, we should find out when that is, exactly...”

“Ehm,” Loudmouth croaks awkwardly. “Friends don’t know about countdown yet?”

Author's note:

Thanks for reading! And sorry about the cliff. ;)