Not down on any map

The next morning Pip wants to go up into the crow’s nest.

https://abload.de/img/23.10.22_22-15-47utins.png

The adults allow it under supervision. So far nobody has had the heart to disclose to the cabin girl that they are not the people she remembers, but more or less possessing their bodies. It would be a bit much to take in after almost having drowned.
Pip should notice that she isn’t getting kicked around and yelled at anymore. Instead of making her work, the adults treat her like a neighbor’s kid that they are taking to a theme park: They keep a close watch on her, but let her try her hands at every task on board. However, Pip in turn behaves like a kid getting taking to a theme park by a nanny.
There not being any sign of hesitation, or at the very least of acknowledging a transition from one lifestyle to another, doesn’t strike the humans as odd. The androids, however, who have went from neglected at best, abused at worst, to free persons, cannot help but notice the inconsistency…

Life isn’t all work and no fun for the grown-ups, either. Sometime later (it is hard to define how much later exactly) Tina and Daniel decide to play tug of war…

https://abload.de/img/23.10.22_23-07-31vgese.png

…in wolf form.

“How’s that possible?“ Chris wonders. “If only our minds have time-traveled?”

“Maybe their hosts are werewolves, too?” Rika suggests. “Same as Sigstein’s is a spellcaster, only with a different specialization.”

The officers turn their heads into Siggy’s direction, expecting him to nod or grunt affirmatively now. Instead the spellcaster points his finger at them: “Are you all blind that you can’t see what’s in front of your eyes? That’s the Moonfury!”

Rika shrugs. Moonfury is a reality of werewolf life in 2050. It ebbs and rises in accordance with a were’s temperaments and during a full moon is shoots up like mad. Everyone knows this. You don’t have to be or know a werewolf to be privy to that information. It gets taught in grade school as part of social studies.

Chris, however, gasps when he hears the term: “No way!”

“Got it now?” Sigstein sneers.

https://abload.de/img/23.10.22_23-08-02wvizb.png

Now the other two detectives, Connor and Gavin, join the scene. They find their friends transformed, with the final sparks of crimson still lingering around their bodies. Just like Chris, they take a moment to realize, because what they see here is perfectly ordinary. The moment Gavin and Connor realize what exactly doesn’t add up, their eyes and mouths open wide.

“The Crimson Mist!” Gavin squeals.

“The Crimson Mist”, Connor states solemnly.

https://abload.de/img/23.10.22_23-08-46ttd1w.png

„But – how? Tina?“

„Beats me if I knew.”

Tina growls. Ever since having accepted Mr. Greig’s “gift” in Moonwood Mill, she’s had to deal with the Moonfury as part of what it means to be a werewolf. But truth is, in the past werewolves only ever transformed during the full moon. Only in this cycle of magic the MIT having launched the so called Magic HQ into orbit has messed up the energies governing werewolf transformation. In 2050 were creatures are at the mercy of the Moonfury and at risk of dissolving into the Crimson Mist. In 1818 that would have been not only unheard of, but outright impossible.

“All I know is that I just had to keep my body together molecule by molecule and that it bloody well felt like MY body. Not a random sailor’s.”



https://abload.de/img/23.10.22_23-10-345rixf.png

„Maybe we only see the crimson mist because for us it is a normal byproduct of a werewolf transformation?” Connor muses out loud. “Even it feeling the same might just be Tina’s imagination.”

The words are English, but even so Connor speaks a different language. The language’s name is Disappointmentese and every detective knows it. What Connor is really saying is: “I don’t want to believe what I see, because it’s invalidating our beautiful hypothesis.”
Hank feels with his son and younger colleague. His own comment only requires four letters.



So that was the spoilery thing my sims did that I mentioned in an earlier post.